in keeping with the purpose of the interviews, but also in keeping with the times, arthur schlessingerasks fewer questions about her own activities or conception of her public role than an interviewer would ask a first lady today. and now that she's become sort of an international icon, it's hard to remember that she was only 31 when my father became president and totally overwhelmed by the prospect. it's interesting to track her evolution into a modern woman, and ironic that despite the hopelessly old-fashioned view she expresses, that transformation began in the white house. though she played a largely traditional role as first lady, like so many women, she found her identity through work. when she moved into the white house, she had a 3-year-old, and a newborn baby. her pregnancies had been difficult and she would lose another child in 1963, so caring for us and protecting us was her top priority. but it had been a long time since there had been children in the white house, and the obligations of a first lady included a busy official schedule. she fought to carve out the time that s

listen to this, in the 1962 poll arthur schlessinger asked presidential scholars to rank the chief executives, washington right up to eisenhower based on, quote, their greatness. of the 31 presidents rated, dwight d. eisenhower ranked 31st. he was tied with chad arthur. just above andrew johnson. most of these academics would have agreed at that time with the presidential scholar louis kuhning who said eisenhower would be presenting his appetite for leisure and recreation while leading the day to day administration of his office to trust the assistant to the president sheryl an axe. over the past 50 years, however, these earlier assess ams of eisenhower as a well meaning, but bumbling political novice have been challenged. the corrections of official records like right here at the eisenhower and personal papers and eisenhower revisionists have constructed a new edge in which the president emerges as a capable, clever, executive that led the nahition with a strong hand and a clear vision. the new scholarship has enhanced ike's reputation dramatically. a new poll placed eisenhower ninth. he the

that the academics who and arthur schlessinger jr. was a wonderful friend of mine. but the academics who were in the ivy leagues and great graduate scholars all supported almost to a man, richard hoffstetler, john kenneth galbreith, couldn't get a life. every time they worked and worked and worked, there was never a prayer for adlai stevenson to defeat dwight eisenhower. i mean, the first time in '52, stevenson lost by 3.5 million votes. the second time he only lost by 9.7 million votes. when these folks went back to their graduate programs, either consciously or subconsciously, they taught graduate seminars on what a twit eisenhower was and what a rat fink nixon was. and it became the stuff of the writings and of their graduate students and their graduate students' graduate students. and it's virtually lasted until now. there's a brand-new biography coming out on dwight eisenhower's president of the united states. man is a journalist who did enormous amount of research. he went to dartmouth to take a look at the papers. went to the library of congress. spent consid

that the academics who and arthur schlessinger jr. was a wonderful friend of mine. but the academics who were in the ivy leagues and great graduate scholars all supported almost to a man, richard ho hoffstetler, john kenneth galbreith, couldn't get a life. every time they worked and worked and worked, there was never a prayer for adlai stevenson to defeat dwight eisenhower. i mean, the first time in '52, stevenson lost by 3.5 million votes. the second time he only lost by 9.7 million votes. when these folks went back to their graduate programs, either consciously or subconsciously, they taught graduate seminars on what a twit eisenhower was and what a rat fink nixon was. and it

arthur was the greatest author or about stories about himself, i know specifically because kenny o'donnell told me, when dean rust came to see the president, he delivered a message, get ar sure schlessinger off the list of people that get my cable. why? because he was a party going person. because russ said listen, anything you get by cable is around town by night fall. and then he said to kenny, no, you better not, i'll have to do it. you are going to come out poorly in his book as it is. >> and one thing she says in here is how in many ways compartmentalized his life was, she mentions the staff. >> yes, and one of the things that i found remarkable but it's real. nobody in the staff really did business in memos. we communicated by phone and conversation and that is it. so, there are not great records. >> one reason the oral history program. >> that is right. and it made it very refreshing when you could know that something that you had seen or done was not recorded. but you could also see -- >> was there anything in particular that you would have been referring to, it's not too late, dick. >> no, no, i have saved up for my book. the thing that i remember best about all of that was when