calvin coolidge. their son got a blister on the white house tennis court and died within about eight days. this was before -- >> 16 years old. >> just before we got antibiotics. had it been 20 years, 30 years later, he might have been saved. so sudden. >> i was telling -- i was doing panel on first ladies. the new york historical society, a man stood up and an elderly man said because of this death, his mother had always told him not to wear dark socks because it was apparently -- his mother thought that the dye in the socks that had -- did end this child. a whole generation was affected by that. >> how do you mourn in the white house? >> right. >> how do you -- she knew that it was not -- she had to mourn for the public. she had to mourn for the president and the fact that she wore not black but white in mourning the following year. she -- she showed how to mourn in the white house. in that she became a most important symbol because in that period, many, many people lost their children and the mail w

the coolidges. mrs. harding wanted to leave and then decided not to and another week at the willard, if you can imagine. they were extremely gracious. as gracious -- looking at theodore roosevelt, how to handle when a president dies and you come in because, of course, theodore roosevelt had that. what to do when she's there and we have her letters to her sorority sisters and said i'm like babe in the woods or alice in wonderland. pray for me, basically. paraphrasing the last part. then she rose to it because she understood this was not about her. this was about service. and when you see that it is a role and it is not about you -- that's all -- all right, and -- another tomb we are going to talk about how that clashes perhaps sometimes with your marriage, should i mention the thing we discussed this morning. >> go ahead. >> the coolidges, as all i imagine first couples were, individual cones. cone of chief executive, cone of the first lady. they had a terrible thing happen when they were president which

coolidge didn't like that. he thought that rather let the country do without one and she supported him in that. a first lady supported another style of presidency. >> but she also, as i think every first lady has felt, this sense of tremendous duty. and she said at one point this was i and yet not i. this was the wife of the president of the united states and she took precedence over me. >> in that she was similar to eleanor who said something like that and you go all the way back. you are playing a role. and it is hard but it's a value to the people. the presidency, the first couple as symbol. and when -- when they were out of the white house, she wrote poetry about her son which was eventually published. she wrote a book and they were both very much happier they were out of the prison at least to some extent. they were happier together. but during the period she -- they -- it is i but i. i am playing a role and it is incredible, wonderful work. >> this idea of the real woman and the charismatic figure. >> you

the coolidges were like the theodore roosevelts. she only had one animal who happened to be a rodent who came to eat all the food that all of the people came to -- when she had to receive as vice president and all of this -- and -- they were already talking about a new vice president

calvin coolidge. their son got a blister on the white house tennis court and died within about eight days. this was before --

i want to start with coolidge. i'm not ashamed to say i liked a free market coolidge.s a technology guy. he used radio, the first public address on radio, and your pal obama is now rewriting history saying he was social media. just like coolidge. what's up with that? >> it's so absurd, larry, i wouldn't believe it unless i saw it with my own eyes. the president is inserting himself into the footnotes of the official biographies of presidents on whitehouse.gov. in 1924, coolidge gave the first presidential address on radio. obama has a footnote at the bottom saying i used facebook and twitter, so i count just as much as calvin coolidge. it is crazy. >> so fdr. fdr started social security, and you know what? i'm going to give him a lot of credit for starting social security. now, obama is meddling in this, if i get this right. he is putting his own name in there because he says he's protecting social security. what the hell does that have to do with fdr starting social security? >> it has nothing to do with fdr starting social security. what's so strange about this was t

she's also a syndicated columnist for bloomberg news and author of a forthcoming book on calvin coolidge that will be the definitive biography of that very definitive body and overlooked president, an economics history we're very lucky to have amity as part of our panel, and finally we have our moderator cokie roberts. cokie, as i'm sure you all know, is an internationally acclaimed journalist who has won so many awards, including three emmys, she's in the broadcasting and cable hall of fame and was cited by american radio and television as one of the 50 greatest women in the history broadcasting. she's the author of two works that are especially relevant to our topic today, "founding mothers" and "ladies of liberty." cokie, it's a real honor to have you here, and with that i'll turn the proceedings over to you. thank you, thank you so much. thank you. >> well, what a treat it is to be here. mrs. bush, so good to see you, and mrs. collins, an old, old friend, dee collins, from many years in washington, and these two women are out of a great tradition of the women who come as the adjuncts

they -- their status was pretty low in washington, they felt, when coolidge was vice

. >> calvin coolidge had it all.ion cubs, a goose, a bobcat, a raccoon and a pigmy hippo named billy. >> both teddy roosevelt and coolidge gave a large part to the menagery at the zoo in washington. even today many if not most of the pygmy hippos in the united states are descendents of the calvin coolidge hippo. >> reporter: but dogs have always been the most likely pick for first pet. for better or worse. for example, there was a story going around that during a tour of the aleutian islands, roosevelt let the dog fall off behind and sent the navy back to rescue him. fdr de-claude his critics with humor. [ inaudible ] >> reporter: it is a measure of how well the speech works that follows part of the memorial. richard nixon pulled a similar trick defending himself against accusations he received improper gifts by listing his kids' dog checkers as one of them. >> and i just want to say this right now, that regardless of what they say about it, we're going to keep him. >> reporter: voters ate it up. it does not always g

calvin coolidge, like roosevelt, had it all.b cat, a raccoon, and a hippo named billy. >> both teddy roosevelt and calvin coolidge gave large parts of their menagerie to the national zoo here in washington. even today, many, if not most of the hippos in zoos in the united states, are descendents of that original calvin coolidge hippo. >> reporter: but dogs have always been the most likely pick for first pet, for better or worse. for example, there was a story going around that during a tour islands, a scottish terrier was left behind and someone was sent back to rescue him. fdr declawed his critics with humor. >> my family don't resent attacks. but fala does resent them. >> reporter: it is a measure of how well the speech worked that fala wound up as part of the fdr memorial. richard nixon pulled a similar trick, defending himself against accusations he received improper giftings by listing his kids' dog checker as one of them. >> i just want to say this right now, that regardless of what they say about it, we're going to keep i

nineteen twenty four slogan keep cool with coolidge to ross perot's one thousand nine hundred two phrase ross for boss but it was like the obama campaign was trying to play it safe just one word boring one very boring word now we wondered how the selection process happened to pick this one very boring word and we version they kind of must've gone down like this. hi guys thank you so much for coming in participating in our focus groups figure out the obama campaign's new slogan for our two thousand and twelve campaign now you're just going to hold up the paddle the black side means that it's a good slogan and the white side means that it's a bad slogan should it be the other way. no no it should all right no the first slogan we're going to look at is born to lead. ok mr white supremacy what is your issue with this one going to lead i don't think the whole birth certificate being people are going to. say let's try the next one which is working thinking ever. ok what what's wrong with this one i mean don't you think that it's kind of like ominous like or. four or four. i mean i don't know i

>> it was taken by ship back, coolidge wasn't about to risk this national hero crossing the atlantic. >> he wanted -- lindbergh wanted to fly it, actually wanted to fly it around the world, i think. >> [inaudible] >> but coolidge, president coolidge knew that he was kind of important to the american people, and so he sent the cruiser memphis to pick him up and the airplane and bring him back to the united states. and then there were celebrations in new york, washington and st. louis, i think. a huge one in new york city, probably one of the biggest -- >> biggest ones ever. >> yeah. huge ticker-tape parade and one here too. >> but he flew it, he was the only person ever to fly it. it flew 480 hours total, something like that. >> yeah. >> but he was the only person ever to fly it. and he flew it all over the united states and all over latin america. on occasion he took up passengers, but on his lap. but he was the only one to fly it. but, yeah, he -- from my understanding, he's about the only one who could fly it. it's a very hard airplane to fly. the story goes that one of the replicas

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coolidge did, too. talking about earlier with the story that the little boys brought their little pony upstairs. >> exactly right. exactly right. >> because that -- the animals are also a great comfort to you in the paths you have. >> did millie really sleep in between you and your husband? >> are you kidding? where else would she sleep? we now have two little people in there. two little itty-bitty dogs. >> was it fun to write the book? about the white house, through the perspective? >> yes. i must say, the white house photographers really helped me. we would have -- schedule a day to go to the red room and hope nobody saw us because -- dogs are not allowed on the furniture. we placed her beautifully in the room. she lounged in the red room. she -- the photographers were fabulous about helping. that was very much fun. she made over a million dollars for charity. as george says, i worked all my life, got the highest job maybe in the world and my dog made more money than me. >> there is a very touching mo

under coolidge awries calvin coolidge became the first president to make a public radio address. first president to hold virtual town halls with google, facebook, et cetera. >> there is nothing wrong with that. it's not like the president links to herbert hoover that says he let the banks destroy the economy. mitt romney would do the same thing. if he was doing that that would be wrong. who cares. megyn: chris plante, you tell me, if mitt romney wins or when george bush was president, if george bush had goon on there and tried to compare his policies to past presidents, especially democratic presidents, do you think our friend chris hahn would be sitting here. >> they would be filing lawsuits. >> george bush wasn't able to figure out how to do it on the internet. >> if you go to wikipedia and go to pages like the "i love lucy" page they have comments on how when barack obama was in italy he stomped on grapes in a big barrel, too. barack obama is everywhere. he's the kim jong-un of our time. that wine, i want some. it's a republican whining. i'll take the wine. >> what we like to

dinner, which i don't think occurred for an american president in many, many years, almost back to coolidge or wilson, so that was a big occasion, and so we -- ambassador and mrs. farish were the american ambassador and they were hosted there. he had his own chef, and it was an elegant menu, beautiful centerpieces of gorgeous fall apples, this was november, and bright red cloths, and a lot of gold, and when i was there early in the afternoon working and sorting out the seating, i did fully, immediately was aware of this tiny little dog, their dog, who really had free reign of this beautiful home, and i thought, okay, that's all right, the farishes live here all the time, they entertain all the time, this won't be a problem. the guests arrive, we had cocktails and the receiving line, and at the end of the line, welcomed in four officials, and everyone was seated and they had poured wine for president bush to make a toast for the queen, seated on his right and prince philip was seated on mrs. bush's right and at her table, i must throw in, michael cain, the wonderful actor, so that was our st

coolidge came up in the massachusetts republican party as a moderate. he did not bolt the party when theodor roosevelt did in 1912 but one of the few the progressive didn't run against. they thought of him as prit practice t pretty practical moderate guy. both of his successors as republican candidates, hoover and landon, his progressive republicans, they had bolted the party in 1912, and nonetheless came back to be nominees. then, of course, wilkey and tom dewey and eisenhower and nixon. so there was a tradition that seemed to resist an effort tosh right and the tradition was strong on civil rights. republican backed the civil rights bills of '64 and '65 in stronger percentage answer that the democrats did. the democrats -- >> how did it seem not to know that half the time? >> no, they don't. this is -- historic. and often took the leadership in creating those bills. and not people from big city constituencies. people from small towns in the midwest. >> not william mccaulered being one example. another impetus to be active in this group and that was on

followed was an enormous economic bubble that was mistaken for actual growth they even called it the coolidge prosperity in the mid one nine hundred twenty school which was the president right after hardy another republican but nine years after harding was elected as hoover came an economic bubble burst with a republican crash of one nine hundred twenty nine so more business and government led to a great depression and then in one nine hundred eighty ronald reagan came along. and he. he would have likely use hartings same exact platform of more business and government less government business had it not been badly tarnished instead reagan put in place basically the same exact policies as party and rolling back labor protections even single handedly breaking up the air traffic controllers union known as patco he pushed deregulation like harding did he gave nearly an identical tax cut to the rich as harding did top top tax rate from seventy four percent down to twenty eight percent and just like sardines policies led to an economic catastrophe within a decade or so did reagan when the newly der

he could note in the coolidge bio, for example, that president coolidge was known famously as psi lentor -- silent cal, whereas president obama has used the pronoun i more than any president in american history. megyn: that doesn't have the same ring to it, marc. >> jimmy carter -- megyn: i don't think this is likely, but, simon, i want to ask you -- [laughter] is it appropriate for the president, i want to just make sure our viewers know. the way it works is you've got the bio of ronald reagan, like, here and then the white house put on its little addendum on the bottom, right underneath. it's not intermixed, but it's on the guy's bio pages, and some are saying you can't be doing that, that's the white house.gov web site, it's not barack obama's web site. >> well, i think, i think if barack obama gets criticized for what he orders for lunch every day and what color tie he has on, so i think it's perfectly in keeping for him to get criticized over something as innocuous as this. the thing you just showed about george bush was pointing out that george bush had done something good, right

coolidge came up in the republican party as a moderate. he did not vote the party when theodore roosevelt to, but he was one of the few that progressives didn't want to ask -- run against because it is a practical moderate guy. both of his successors as candidates, who for an land and wereover and landon regarded as republican progressives nonetheless came back to nominees. loki and tom julian eisenhower and nixon. so there is a tradition to move sharply to the right. that tradition was strongest on civil-rights. republican impact those rights of '64 and '65 and stronger percentages than the democrats. >> they do not seem to know that half the time. >> they do not. this is historical. not people from big city constituents. people from small towns in the midwest. that was one issue. another impetus to be active in this group. that was one of our most pronounced decision. the democrats were encumbered by the fact they have this is southern weighing who were segregationists. it hampered the democratic party even though there were many civil r

may be calvin coolidge -- [applause] may be calvin coolidge is an example, he comes in right after worldr i. wilson does a huge bureaucracy which would become a model for the new deal state, but coolidge and office tries to do a lot to cut back on the sides of the federal government. people tend, -- but it raises the bigger question which is as sandy mentioned, there's certain contradictions in the office, at one of the contradictions is head of state versus being a prime minister. we expect the president to be both exciting is what i'm doing is making a pitch for the president not to be prime minister and to be more of head of state. i think sandy, just someone i can take them once the president to be more of the prime minister and less ahead of state. would want more coordination between the president and the leadership of congress hiring specials, like in england, specialist to the cabinet. but i don't, i'm not convinced that's actually the way to go. i look at what's going on in europe these days as a good example, the european parliamentary model not necessarily being superior to ou

interestingly during the 1920s and '30s, not just presidents hoover and coolidge insisted that they should be no payment to healthy veterans, but even franklin roosevelt insisted the same thing. healthy veterans are not entitled to anything from the republic for simply doing their duty. he changed his mind during the second world war, fortunately. i've also reflected on the composition of the military today. when the all-volunteer force was approved in 1973, there was really a great fear on the part of many that the military would become a force composed of the poor and minorities. visually has not happened today, but it's not a representative for speedy. it's more world than urban. it's a more southern and western, small town west and it is northern and eastern. there are very few college educated people serving in the military. and it's my strong impression, although there's no evidence i can give on this, but it's more generational. many of the people serving today our sons or daughters of people who served in the military, and that sort continues the demographic pattern that we have se

why don't we go back to kennedy's era or bill clinton's era or harding and coolidge. we have lots of examples what can really bring you out of a recession, but none of these are what these people want to do. they want to double down on this takeover of america, and it's killing america. i don't know why they won't change their answer when they see it's wrong time and time again. >> dean baker, let me ask you this question. it's a serious question. i posit that if we had done nothing, that is government action had stopped, if we had just let free markets adjust regarding stocks, regarding mortgages, regarding automobiles across the board, no policies, no intervention, i think we'd be in better shape today if we had just let the hiekian free market republican paul's idea of austrian economics, just let the marketplace solve the problem. this has damaged us. >> the evidence doesn't support you. we were losing 600,000 jobs a month when president obama came in to office. the stimulus began to kick in april and may of 2009. well stopped losing jobs very quickly. it fit very

right now most folks traveling through the area will take 580, 880 or one of the local roads, coolidge alternate through that area. we will get a live look south of here. oakland -- sorry, san jose. 880 and 17. we saw some trucks and flashing lights clearing from the area. we have one of the crews 280 at 17. 17 approaching 280 clearing. we have another one southbound 880. approaching 280. some more construction spots for the south bay. send it back to you. >> thank you very much. 5:37. the debate over gay marriage is hitting presbyterian church leaders against the church itself. first of its kind move, representatives of northern california presbyterian churches voted against the punishment. given to a retired north bay pastor marrying 16 zbai couples in 2008 when gay marriage was legal in california. the move defies 2010 ruling by the church which charged the rechd with violating the church's constitution. the charge does not care yea concrete consequence. appealed that decision to the church's highest court but the ruling was upheld in february. >>> 5:37 now. coming up on "today in t

calvin coolidge, 1924, the most recent presidential nominees hailing from massachusetts, john kerry in'88 and of course a guy named john kennedy. we'll be right back. you're watching the daily rundown only on msnbc. support team usa and show our olympic spirit right in our own backyard. so we combined our citi thankyou points to make it happen. tom chipped in 10,000 points. karen kicked in 20,000. and by pooling more thankyou points from folks all over town, we were able to watch team usa... [ cheering ] in true london fashion. [ male announcer ] now citi thankyou visa card holders can combine the thankyou points they've earned and get even greater rewards. ♪ home protector plus, from liberty mutual insurance, where the costs to both repair your home and replace your possessions are covered. and we don't just cut a check for the depreciated value -- we can actually replace your stuff with an exact or near match. plus, if your home is unfit to live in after an incident, we pay for you to stay somewhere else while it's being repaired. home protector plus, from liberty mutual insurance. b

britain to twice the production of great britain and more than britain, germany, france, and when coolidgeoods. during world war ii it was used on both sides to hit general motors for every shot fired at us general motors fired back four of them and here's what this country, the greatest is uniforms, french muskets and independent. what we did was the tax system had no taxes on american workers but we are going to tax the imports and tariffs. get the money from great britain, get the revenue, build the ports, build of these things up, the internal improvements and the united states, the cost of these things americans said with a minute we can produce that for less here. so the american industry built up and up and up and as i said in the civil war you have these tariff policies that meant they were charging money all the products coming in. no taxes, no regulations and our standard of living is high. so we simply shipped into the british market and exported 8% of all we've reproduced and had 40% of tea and coffee and things like that. >> let me tell you what the chinese. they would say wel

spending-- including the military-- declining to a share of the economy we haven't seen since calvin coolidge was president. how does he propose to make that happen? the stuff... all the stuff that's concrete is sharp cuts in medicaid, sharp cuts in aid to the poor. but that's more than offset by his tax cuts for the rich and the rest is fake. >> rose: let's suppose somebody says "i'm with you, let's stimulate the hell out of this economy." will you at some point say to me that the debt is a huge u.s. problem for the future and tell me when you'll be prepared to say that and what you'll be prepared to do to bring it down. >> not a problem. i'll give you my... i'll get trouble for this but i've been saying that the long-run solution to the u.s. fiscal problem is death panels and sales taxes. i'm being deliberately... >> rose: death panels? >> death panels and sales taxes. it means we have to make choices on health care. not in fact death panels. >> rose: to deal with the debt you have to make choices on health care. you have to fix health care. >> which means, among other things, say nothing t