names like world war i's general pershing, world war ii's general douglas macarthur, and desert storm'sman schwartzkopf. >> two of the three astronauts on apollo 11 were west point graduates -- michael collins and buzz aldrin. you think of all our great generals and officers -- most of them were educated at west point. we've had two u.s. presidents that gained their education here. we've had all kinds of incredible personalities come through here and serve. >> when we return, we'll learn what it takes to attend west point. k >> ♪ screaming eagles >> ♪ screaming eagles >> ♪ pick up your ropes and follow me ♪ >> ♪ pick up your ropes and follow me ♪ >> the u.s. military academy at west point doesn't look like your typical college. and it's not. students here are called cadets. in all, some 4,000 attend the academy. >> and the author describes it as, it's basically the mechanical efficiency of that pump/motor combination. >> the education here at west point is outstanding. in 2009, we were chosen by forbmagazine as the best college in america. >> it is equal to 210 degrees. >> and it has ju

the new york times" declared "in then had two realize that was no match for geronimo but even douglas macarthur's father hoped they would be replaced and if they carry a dark secret nearly easygoing to those that had violent fits of temper when intoxicated although could control the consumption was relieved as military governor of this on diego district. and was summoned to the warehouse to be face-to-face for reelection on intemperance. and to deploy to the philippines with the infantry and honored his promise to live up to the lourdes reputation he had earned in 40 years of fighting. clot in lead from the front with little regard for his personal safety in look and talk like a hero in acted like a hero walking e rack even as he paced back and forth in polished until it shone like the head by of attention. and then to the sea share but on may 17 then to see the filipino capital. and then in then to effectively terminate the expedition. if they would give them to regimens would turn them loose to state the reputation in a position in the united states army would end the war to mood deliver dead o

privately come even general arthur macarthur, douglas macarthur's father, hope to otis would soon becalled and replaced by the more aggressive lawton. yet lawton carrier grade secret. normally easy-going lot and had a drinking problem dating back to the 1880s that produce violent fits of temper when he was intoxicated. although usually able to control his consumption on he fell into heavy drinking in cuba anders was relieved his military governor of their pisanti out of under the pretense of ill health. lawton was summoned to the white house to make face-to-face with president mckinley for a lecture on temperance. lot and promise the president present he would abstain from drinking in his new command and deployed to the philippines with two battalions of 217th and third grade. lawton honored his promise and set out to live up to the reputation he had earned in nearly 40 years of warfighting. where otis fell to the headquarters and never left manila lawton led from the front with little regard for his safety. lawton look like a hero, talk would be hereon acted like a hero. walking ere

don't come home and actively seek the nomination, my fear is that the delegates will nominate douglas macarthur. that was the ultimate hot button to push with eisenhower. three shortly after the letter was received, he heard the call of duty and came home. we talk about the split between taft and dewey, it was never more dramatic than that night when he whacked his finger at dewey and said you took us down the road of defeat twice. dewey had the evidence because the next night he was able to announce 87 delegates for eisenhower. finally, he was more responsible than anyone else for richard nixon been on the ticket. he spotted him as a young talent in 1948. he brought into new york to speak at the annual dinner of the republican party. he sat down, he took the cigarette holder out of his mouth. he said, making a promise. don't get fat. don't be lazy trade some day you can be president. >> we will go back to those moments later on in the show. the will talk about his legacy and what he was able to accomplish even though he was not successful for the white house. first, let's hear from a shell fro

army, general douglas macarthur looked out at the peaceful protests of the veterans camping out and saw an embarrassment for his commander in chief. mcarthur mustered troops on horseback against the veterans' camp and followed those horses with tanks. the destruction began. >> then troops began to set fire to their wooden shacks. one reporter wrote, "the blaze was so big it lit the whole sky. a nightmare come to life." the president looked out a window of the white house in the direction of the fire then retired for the night. >> and the roaring flames, the fantastic bonus army. that in so disastrously in the shadow of the capitol of the united states of america. >> two u.s. veterans were killed that day, but the movement grew. what does not kill you makes you stronger, they say. news of the raid, the first footage of what had happened reached americans in movie house, in newsreels they used to show in theaters before the main feature. as frank rich describes in "new york" magazine, when americans saw the newsreels of mcarthur's army destroying the protest camp, they cheered for the bon

great leaders like douglas macarthur and george marshall warned about cutting too much, too far, too fast. at about the importance of having an army in place that is ready to answer americas call anytime, anywhere. even some not so great leaders like a little known upstate new york congressman who saw and warned of the dangers of cutting too far, of hollowing out our forces and putting our nation at strategic risk. just weeks before the attacks of september 11, 82 of my colleagues on the house armed services committee and i wrote to secretary rumsfeld, warning about using cuts in the army as a bill payer for the programs. "said while we support the secretary's efforts to ensure our military is prepared for future conflicts, reduction in the armies forced structural would clearly undermine that goal." one of my own new york state newspapers was critical of that effort, accusing us of clinging to "relics of the old 20 a century force." they wrote for the that with high-tech air power and precision munitions increasingly dominating the modern battlefield, it makes sense to consider redu

or what douglas macarthur's reaction would have been to placing lawyers at his elbow to decide where he could invade or not invade and what his troops could do once they got there or what general patton's reaction would be. it is a very sobering thing that we have come to. judges essentially are told they can open their arms and welcome to the courthouse any controversy that they want because we are here to decide and no case too big or too small. that is not the way the framers envisioned the constitution but it is really up to the electorate at large and the people they elected including members of the legislature and the executive said it right. because they don't say it on their own. there has to beat was put in place limiting jurisdiction of federal courts which has to be red and respected by federal courts and actions taken and decisions taken that protect national security with the understanding that the people who make those decisions have to face elections. not simply abdicate to those with no responsibility whatsoever to the public at large and can pretty well unless they c

one other person who wanted to run although he never formally announced his candidacy, was douglas macarthur who was in the jungles of asia but his agent in wisconsin saw to it that his name was on the ballot and of course, one other candidate, who went to wisconsin, and saw his campaign end there, was the 1940 nominee of the party, wendell wilke. >> let's talk about the impact of the oregon primary and the debate you touched on earlier. why is it important? >> it's important for a number of reasons. first of all, i'm sure it's on youtube, i'm sure it's easy to get. anyone who is watching what passes for debates at the moment among the republican candidates, or, quite frankly, who has watched the fall "debates" in recent years between the opposing parties, i would just urge you, go and listen to the dewey-stassen debate. it is as close in a modern context to lincoln-douglas as anything could be. it is not a collection of sound on the contrary, it is an opportunity -- i believe it was an hour -- for these two men to develop thoughtful, opposing viewpoints on a very critical and very polarizin

one other person who wanted to run although he never formally announced his candidacy, was douglas macarthur who was in the jungles of asia but his agent in wisconsin saw to it that his name was on the ballot and of course, one other candidate, who went to wisconsin, and saw his campaign end there, was the 1940 nominee of the party, wendell wilke. >> let's talk about the impact of the oregon primary and the debate you touched on earlier. why is it important? >> it's important for a number of reasons. first of all, i'm sure it's on youtube, i'm sure it's easy to get. anyone who is watching what passes for debates at the moment among the republican candidates, or, quite frankly, who has watched the fall "debates" in recent years between the opposing parties, i would just urge you, go and listen to the dewey-stassen debate. it is as close in a modern context to lincoln-douglas as anything could be. it is not a collection of sound bites. on the contrary, it is an opportunity -- i believe it was an hour -- for these two men to develop thoughtful, opposing viewpoints on a very critical and very po

great leaders like douglas macarthur and george marshall warned about cutting too much, too far, tooz, and about -- too fast, and about the importance of having an army in place that is ready to answer america's call anytime, anywhere. even some not-so-great leaders like a little known upstate new york congressman saw and warned of the dangers of cutting too far, of hollowing out our forces and of putting our nation at strategic risk. just weeks before the attacks of september 11th, 82 of my colleagues on the house armed services committee and i wrote to secretary rumsfeld warning about using cuts in the army as a bill payer for other programs. we said, and i quote: while we support the secretary's efforts to insure our military is prepared for future conflicts, reduction in the army's force structure would clearly undermine that goal. one of my own new york state newspapers was critical of that effort. accusing us of clinging to, and i quote, relics of the old 20th century force. end quote. they wrote further that with high-tech air power and precision munitions increasingly dominati

to decide which targets he could bomb and which targets he could not bomb in japan or, what douglas macarthur's reaction would have been to placing lawyers at his elbow to decide where he could invade and where he could not invade and what his troops could do once they got there or what general patton's reaction would have been. it's, it's a very, it's a very sobering thing and a sad and perilous state we've come to and judges essentially are told that they can open their arms and welcome to the courthouse any controversy that they want because we're here to decide and no case is too big or too small. in by 9:00, out by 5:00. that is not, i think the way the framers envisioned the constitution but it's really up to the electorate at large, included and the people they elect, including the members of the legislature and the members of the executive to set right because the judges are aren't going to set it right on their own and there has to be laws put in place limiting the jurisdiction of federal courts which laws then have to be read and respected by the federal courts and, actions taken and

great leaders like and douglas macarthur and george marshall warned about cutting too much, too far,fast. and about the importance of having an army in place that is ready to answer america's call at any time, anywhere. even with some not so great leaders like an upstate congressman warning of the dangers of cutting too far and putting our nation as strategic risk. just weeks before the attacks of september 11, 82 of my colleagues and i wrote to secretary runs fell the warning about using cuts in the army as a bill payer for other programs. we said, while we support the efforts to ensure our military is prepared for future conflicts, reduction in the core structure would clearly undermine that goal. one of my own new york state newspapers was critical of that effort, accusing us of clinging to the relics of the old twentieth century force. they wrote for that with high tax here power and precision munitions increasingly dominating the battlefield, it makes sense, to consider reducing the conventional force. then came september 11, and an enemy that did not quite sure that newspaper's