arthur schlesinger was historian for john f. kennedy. year 2000. in the here is what he had to say and i want you to break this down. [begin video clip] >> if he were here, i think most of the legislative program that was lyndon johnson's, would've gone to completion and the great society and had its origins in kennedy's new frontier. he would've been able to do that. i think it would've been a very different country. joshua: arthur schlesinger was contemptuous of lbj in the extreme. he was never willing to credit johnson. he had been assigned to all of the good of jfk and all of the worst of lbj. there is a moment i talk about in the book in 1968, when valenti was already out of the white house, he was at a dinner party and schlesinger was basically trashing the war policy. and says, if john kennedy had lived, this would not have happened. moyers was still in the white house. schlesinger says, what are you talking about? nobody from the kennedy-johnson administration very seriously doubted the way it was going in vietnam. it was a consensus opinio

back to the photo but here you write about this in your book, this was a contentious person, arthur schlesinger, historian forjohn f. kennedy in the white house. he was in in 2000, he's now deceased. >> the 1960's would have been different if he live. i don't think he would have americanized the war in vietnam. i think he would have found a ay to withdraw from vietnam. >> he was contempts you of l.b.j. in the extreme of he was said he -- one of the white house colleagues said he declared war on johnson the minute they put kennedy in the ground. he never was willing to credit johnson for his accomplishments. there's a moment in the book, lenti is at a party, schlesinger is trashing johnson, valenti said what are you talking about? there's nobody from our circle, nobody from the kennedy-johnson administration who before 1966 very seriously doubted the wisdom of being in vietnam. it was a consensus opinion and johnson's administration was heavily populated by kennedy holdovers. it's an interesting, you know, very clear that schlesinger who was the kennedy family's court historian was never able to

, on the road, when i became part of establishment and at the century club in new york with arthur schlesinger jr., jack kerouac is a bum. never on the the pantheon of great. what are you dabbling in kerouac for? it bothered me on that. other kerouac books, visions of cody and big sur i started a campaign to get him in the library of america. i did it. it is the road novels of jack kerouac. we have two volumes of kerouac in there when whitman and with frederick douglass because i thought he belonged in the american pantheon. i would like to do that with thomas wolff of north carolina, being derided all the time but wolff's book are out of fashion. but wolf is is he very potent voice. >> i wonder if each of you could talk for a minute about who would you like to write about now? i know you're writing about james madison now. do you have a thought beyond that? i'm particularly interested if there is somebody you would like to write about but you know what, your publisher says nobody cares? >> oh, no publisher would ever say that in cynical california. >> you're in cynical california. >> academic

tom: that is probably influenced from arthur schlesinger. who i quote around that same passage.he major thing you realize ours , is an experiment. who cheerith people on american exceptionalism and i would refrain that to say that ours is an american experiment. experiments can fail, as all of us who took science in high school know. experiments can fail. and we continually need to reinvent and reinvigorate and renew the american experiment so that it does march on and succeed. america is an idea. an idea that which family you are born into or which zip code you live in should not predetermine the opportunity to succeed in america, and everyone should have a chance to excel and to learn. there is an american dream. one of the authors in this book is horatio alger. i would not have thought about him, but after a while, as my list got bigger, i thought i have to work on that. brian: tell us about horatio alger. tom: he grew up in boston and went to harvard. he had some problems in the young ministry where he was active and he was kicked out of boston. he went to new york and had a

joshua: arthur/ginger was content to us of jfk in the -- arthur schlesinger was contentious of jfk. he was never willing to credit johnson. he had been all of the good assigned -- he had been assigned to all of the good of jfk and all of the worst of lbj. in 1968, when valenti was already out of the white house, he was at a dinner party and she was injured or was basically -- schlesinger was basically trashing the war policy. moyers was still in the white house. schlesinger says, what are you talking about? nobody from the kennedy-johnson administration very seriously doubted the way it was going in vietnam. johnson's administration was heavily populated by kennedy holders. schlesinger was the kennedy family's court historian, was never able to record johnson's place in history, which is not to minimize what a difficult man johnson was. brian: we have talked about lyndon johnson a lot on this network. how did you go about writing a book that was different than others, not duplicating? joshua: i can't wait for the next volume of his book. they are foundational. he is a biographer, an