and bob dallek author of "camelot's court, inside the kennedy white house," and "an unfinished life." to you all. >> nice to be here. >> ifill: it's famously known that kennedy's presidency lasted for 1,000 days. >> yeah. >> ifill: was there a legacy that could be formed after 1,000 days? >> you know, a lot of people must think so since there are 40,000 books that have been published about him since he tied. and there is a very important legacy. he's become an iconic figure. he commands 85% approval in a gallup poll. it's really kind of astonishing. the sixth briefest presidency in american history, 1,000 days, but you see, i think what recommends him so powerfully to people is they don't like his successors. johnson was vietnam. nixon with watergate. ford's frunicated presidency, jimmy carter, the two bushes. and kennedy, i think to this day, gives people kind of hope. he's frozen in our minds at the age of 46. people can't imagine that now he'd be 96 years old. but he's promised. he's the future. he still looked like us. he has a kind of halo over his head. and you can write anythin

i like bob dallek and i think he's done a terrific job. >> host: i agree. the most balanced of all of them i agree. >> guest: very fact-based but i don't think in the end people who write books that are a little too misty-eyed, i don't think they're contributing to what people really need to know about historical figures. speed reading he got it right down the middle. i think he got the tone just right. >> i agree. what makes a good historian? >> guest: i am actually political scientist. i am in politics and this is a very political but what i think whether you doing political history, regular history you have to be able to detach yourself to a certain degree. >> host: politics in your own personal feelings. >> everybody has opinions and we all come with batteries attached. opinions are a dime a dozen and everyone has one on everything. i think it's important to be fact-based. it's very important to uncover new facts that have been it nord or have been obscured in the past. that is what we have tried to do a in "the kennedy half-century." >> host: why did y

i'm going to mention on the kennedy side, bob dallek. he did a terrific job. >> host: the most balance. i agree with that. >> guest: its fact based. i don't think in the end people that write books that are a little too misty eyed. i don't think they are contributing to what people need to know about historical figures. >> host: he wasn't going too far but he got it just right. >> guest: i agree. >> host: what makes a good historian? >> guest: iem and politics and into this as a political book but i think whether you are giving political history, regular history, political science you have to be able to detach yourself to a certain degree. your own personal feelings. >> guest: everybody has opinions. we all come with batteries and opinions attached but they are a dime a dozen. everybody has one on everything. so i think it's important to be fact-based and it's important to uncover new facts that have been ignored or of skewered in the past. that's what we try to do in the kennedy half of the century. >> host: why did you write this but?