and as alan brinkley writes in the introduction, in his views, this is one of the reasons kennedy and doors -- endures the way he does, the feeling of american possibility during his administration that we don't live with at least not in the same way today. in the peace corps, also, summoning americans to a higher purpose. to my mind, a really interesting piece and hereby eleanor roosevelt, actually, about the peace corps, in which he is making a very non-sentimental argument. it is not just about idealistic young people going out into the world. it is about containing the soviet union. she says, i spent time in russia and i see the way they train their young people. i spent time in places like morocco and i have seen the way the colonial powers are retreating. and these countries need experts, and the russians will be in a position to supply the experts to help them make the transition into a new era in full independence. if we don't have our people in there, we will lose the struggle in the long haul. which is a very kind of hardheaded argument on why we needed a peace corps. host:

bennett, talked earlier about alan brinkley's piece, talking about how historians don't give him such a great grade. but americans do. can you talk more about why that is? jade: -- guest: alan brinkley writes along with bill clinton to this issue and wrestles with this question, what is the explanation for president kennedy's enduring grip on the imagination. i think it's the glamour, memory camelot as jackie kennedy recalled the years in the white house. kennedy we remember him as popularly as this tremendously charismatic figure who called americans to a higher purpose and injected a new element of morality into public affairs. in fact, he was a deeply reserved and highly pragmatic man. in many ways extremely cold and calculating. but that impression of him endures. then a point both he and bill clinton make is that for all the turbulence of that year, i know the administration was cut short his assassination, it did wind up serving as a springboard to a tremendous amount of change on civil rights, on the conduct of foreign affairs, medicare, and so forth. the great society, l.b.j.