so he comes to eisenhower to pitch the idea, and eisenhower arrives on an airplane. montgomery boards the aircraft and eisenhower is sitting there in the seat, and montgomery gets -- eisenhower gets nose to nose with him. this is what you do wrong. this is what is not working. you have to get away from this. you have got to let me go with a full thrust to end this war. and finally, after being paraded for a few minutes, eisenhower puts his hand on montgomery's knee and says now, now monti. remember, you are talking to your boss. [laughter] prof. dickson: and that is how he dealt with some of these tricky personalities, he understood he was coming in as a newcomer, as someone without the kind of cachet that comes with the decorations and the crucible in combat. he understood all that. but that was not as important to him as working with allies and making them feel part of what was going on, but never stepping too far. he wouldn't challenge them directly. it was more a lot of pushing and shoving in place and things like that. if you think for a moment, he put macarthur

he ran against eisenhower. the campaign used eisenhower as the perfect foil. kennedy was young, handsome, he was cool. he was sharp witted. he was smart, dynamic, bold, all those adjectives. by 60, eisenhower was 70 years old. he had had a major heart attack while in office. he had intestinal surgery. he had had a mild stroke. by the end of his time in office, he was starting to show the wear and tear of age. he had all the appeal of a dried prune compared john f. kennedy. and the kennedy people knew it and used it both for kennedy and against him. for years and indeed i think decades after kennedy's tragic death, kennedy's admirers continued to demean eisenhower in order to heighten the beauty and the glory of the kennedy era. arthur schlessinger jr., the son in his great testament 1965 book "a thousand days", he described the nation's capital as -- in the eisenhower years. under kennedy, fresh winds were blowing. [laughter] >> the kennedy presidency schlessinger wrote began with incomparable dash, one of his favorite words dash. everyone is dashing in the ke

eisenhower spoke. at times he didn't really believe that personally i don't think he thought it was vital. but it was just one of those canary in the coal mine. if this thing goes right on the knife edge, he thought they would have a negative impact on everything they been doing in south vietnam and this could be a significant problem saying enjoy the job. i'm off to the golf course. it's the biggest mistake of his presidency. is going to see as the biggest mass and unforced error that he did not have to do. the fact of the matter is alan dulles, that all of the security officials, advisers wore him down. we tend to think that eisenhower had been flying billions over this unit. so we see, no problem. then a couple more over there no big deal. on the contrary there were a few fight from 1956 in the 1957 and eisenhower grown the program in 1858 because he was terrified something that would have been. he said it would be a terrible disaster whatever gets shut down. i view that as a very uncharacteristic c

eisenhower and on the role of eisenhower's chief of staff, sherman adams. also is aberger specialist on the presidency of james buchanan, he has co-edited three volumes, the third will be coming out shortly, on james buchanan. it's hard to imagine you could even get a single volume on the canon, that was a cheap shot, i know you were expecting that. the professor is completing a book on the presidential and he isf 1952, researching another volume on american correspondence in the pacific theater as well. consider to bee our boot camp for history majors. is very popular and extraordinarily demanding and is often do not go hand in hand. guys a fewa bunch of years ago sitting around and they were talking about various things about their experiences here. every single one of them said the class and the professor that one needed to have fewer history major gettysburg college was professor berger's. obviously, they forgot that i was in their midst, what about me? but i get it. he has trained so many of our history majors who have gone on and i've had very success

that eisenhower thought. so after he appointed warren who had no judicial experience, every other appointee had lower court experience. whitaker and stuart. >> whitaker, i was in high school with his son. that was not my proudest memory of having a connection with a supreme court justice but that is a different story. >> whitaker had a very unhappy time on the court and he was not a significant justice and ultimately retired in poor health. >> let me bump back to eisenhower brown. you talked a little about warren and how he went to a major change. eisenhower seemed to have changed less and had a very back and forth, uneasy relationship with brown and desegregation etc. so that at least i find it harder to pin down a clear view of eisenhower on that issue. what is your interpretation of eisenhower and his reaction to brown and the desegregation problem? >> one, terribly disappointed and ultimately angry that eisenhower after the court announced the brown decision eisenhower held a press conference and was aske

it built that team that eisenhower wanted. the sense that we will work together as a team, the football nalogy comes back. >> hi, i am a history teacher here in virginia beach. prof. dickson: god bless you. >> thank you. i was wondering if you could talk a little bit about dwight eisenhower's reluctance to use nuclear weapons during world war ii? could that have been shaped by his world war i and world war ii experiences? being the commander? i know that he was later -- it was released that classified information that macarthur was not in favor of the use of nuclear weapons in japan as ell. i was wondering if you could talk about his position and stands in regards to nuclear weapons and how his experiences with warfare might have shaped that? prof. dickson: in europe at least, nuclear weapons were not considered, although the manhattan project was intended to develop nuclear weapons for germany. germany surrendered before the weapon was actually capable and could be deployed. so i do not think that was part of eisenhower's thi

so i do not think that was part of eisenhower's thinking. i do not even know if he was ready for the manhattan project. the employment of some colleagues we will talk about, harry truman. you can ask for further elaboration later on, but i think that the consideration, eisenhower was candidate for president, he threatened the soviet union and communist china that he would deploy nuclear weapons in order -- in north korea to break the stands off -- standoff. this rather aggressive approach, this new approach, as he said, i have a secret plan to deal with korea, and that message was very clear to the soviets and the chinese, i will consider and not stray away from employing nuclear weapons if necessary to get a resolution. i think that undoubtedly led to the situation of the armistice. eisenhower, of course, in his policy of massive retaliation said if anyone steps out of line, i go nuclear. and that stayed until the kennedy administration. so i do not think eisenhower was in any way afraid of using nuclear weapons as a diplomatic tool. or, as

he talked about both when he brought eisenhower into the war planning and then sending eisenhower to north africa. basically marshall looked at this as tests and evaluations for eisenhower. it depend on how eisenhower performed in that would have very on -- bearing on having eisenhower assumed the command. that's really how marshall did it. he met all the people at a time when he was able to note first contact in which he met people and remember what their strengths are. so, then your second question regarding the rotc and having leadership from rotc in the r.a. command structure. i believe general milly, the chief of staff of the army currently, is an rotc graduate. so, this is, i'm trying to remember who the last one was before that. it is not a thing that happens often but it does happen on cccasion where the rot holdates do go on to have high-ranking divisions of the military -- high ranking positions in the military. for marshall's perspective, that is a good thing because you're getting the experience of an rotc cadet may be different than -- at a west point graduate. to be abl

example he spooks about specifically is john eisenhower. -- general eisenhower when he rought eisenhower into the war plans division and sending him africa. north he had evaluations and depending how eisenhower performed that would have a bearing on his having eisenhower overlord.mand for memory wasle and his able to remember the contacts strengths.r their question regarding rotc and having listen from in the command structure, i millie the chief of staff currently is an rotc graduate. is -- i'm trying it remember the last one before that. it does not happen often but it where the consi occasion otc graduates do go on to have higher positions in the military. marshall's perspective that is a very good thing because you are getting the experience that rotc cadet and i have may be west point an graduate. so to have that balance is helpful thing to have. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2017] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> sunday on c-span 3 tour on the of congress centennial of world war i that shseamican ideas about he war through a

dwight since eisenhower, each president that succeeded dwight eisenhower diminished our enforcement worse and worse and worse, less and less and less. so from dwight eisenhower we ratcheted downhill. and so there were fewer that were deported and less border security under kennedy, under johnson, and under nixon and on down the line. when we got to bill clinton, i was very concerned that he was not paying attention to his responsibility to take care that the laws were faithfully executed and when i look back on what he had to say at the time, he was at least giving lip service to. it unlike hillary clinton who essentially came out and said, we're going to have to give people citizenship, reward them with citizenship for breaking our laws. i recall a time here in about 2004 or 2005, when the immigration debate was ramping up again. they had bused in thousands of -- many of them illegal aliens, i presume. out here in the west -- in the west lawn. and a lot of them had on matching white t-shirts. i remember what they said. senator teddy kennedy was active then. he went out to speak to them,

eisenhower commission. carl rigdell, and i suggest that a republican five-star general has warned us about the .ituation we are now in i in 1961,rewell address president eisenhower cautioned us against losing our independence as a democracy to the military industrial complex, the congressional corporate alliance that would compete the with the popular will as expressed through democracy. that was rise and analogous to what we should now be cautious about, which is come as we have ,, as we've learned since 1930's, much of our transportation policy is the product of similar complexes having to do with organizations like the american road builders association, national highway users conference, the associated general contractors of america, all of which deserve a place at the table, but their voices must not crowd out the voice of the citizenry of the country. thank you very much. [applause] >> i want to draw out electro themes. first of all, we learned that infrastructure is the physical object and also a ser

eisenhower,

eisenhower in 1952. did you know that?

but maybe eisenhower was very charming and loved doing the receiving line thing. mamie eisenhower. jacqueline kennedy had zilch interest in the receiving line and doingas the lunches and the speeches. i am paraphrasing her own words. so, why was this? on the left is a picture of jacqueline kennedy standing next to lyndon johnson. they are opening -- she is opening the recently renovated white house treaty room. this room is on the residence. you can't see it if you go on a public tour. on the right is a picture of me and my oldest daughter. i really wanted to take her to the white house this year. in january i had that opportunity. we don't live too far away. i wanted to show her what was all about. putting muchnnedy invented the first lady prect, and her white house restoration was the first full on first lady -on first lady project. one of the things people ask me about melania trump is of course, what's her project going to be? we can credit those kinds of questions to jacqueline kennedy for inventing the thing. jacqueline kennedy did not want to spend her time as first lady doi

wow eisenhower's words still ring true today and that was really empowering to do but strike trump axed i am remember one person walked into a room when he was supposed to go this way and he said he was going this way and he walked in and he went this way and everyone said what happened. that was less empowering it was more like a freaky stroll down dementia road reporting from downtown l.a. john of o'donnell redacted. i never want to lip sync again ever i was scared his essence was going to like seep into my brain somehow and then i'd have to be trouble to. anyway i am thrilled to now be joined by my fellow redacted correspondents natalie mcgill and they only care of on the let me ask you this natalie so you did a story about prisons that was very informative very funny also incredibly infuriating are there any aspects of the story that you didn't get to go yeah so obviously there's this concern about the expanded role that private prisons are going to play in the midst of all these b o p budget cuts and last week the house of representatives they passed a bill called the first step ac

leaders, including a talk on price eisenhower's work -- eisenhower's work with troops and tanks. wednesday, a discussion of the declaration of independence. on thursday, former white house photographers discuss the reagan, clinton, bush, and obama administrations. and later, a program on the life of robert f. kennedy, acknowledging the 50th anniversary of his assassination. live on c-span3. the chalmettet battlefield, the site of the battle of new orleans. up next, we look at the very last ground battle of the war of 1812. >> the battle of new orleans was the battle but between the american forces and great britain as part of 1812. it was the last ground battle between the u.s. and great britain, the last place where the two armies came together on land. we are at the show met metteefield -- chal battlefield. back in 1815, this would have been the heart of the city, new orleans, there. it is located in st. bernard parish, a little ways outside the city proper.

eisenhower and on the role of eisenhower's chief of staff, sherman adams. also is aberger specialist on the presidency of james buchanan, he has co-edited three volumes, the third will be coming out shortly, on james buchanan. it's hard to imagine you could even get a single volume on the canon, that was a cheap shot, i know you were expecting that. the professor is completing a book on the presidential election of 1952,

the irish head of state presented eisenhower with shamrocks. he spent the 19th of march in washington and according to the irish times, he was a big hit. he flirted with maybe eisenhower , which were told around washington for weeks. he was to attend the traditional dinners in washington, and to everyone's amazement, eisenhower insisted on going with him. he set to her around parts of ur around- on a to parts of america. the irish consulate received a bill for the papers. both presidents and prime ministers came frequently to washington, for which the shamrock ceremony was responsible. in particular with reagan and clinton, but with other presidents, the ceremony often combined with a private meeting with the president, gave ireland opportunities unknown to other small states. take part in st. patrick's day celebrations helped to keep the irish republic's wishes in full view of the irish diaspora, and how could the irish republic lose? the power and influence of the united states in relation to the u.k. and ireland was manifested by the good fr

eisenhower. he was the only guy he met. the speed reader. guy he met. the guy talked about it when he was superintendent. people would come in with problem and mccarthy would up andto him and stand walk back and forth and repeat the other guya said to them. so mccarthy put a stenographer see if hef door to could really do it. if he was missing words and things like that. aring world warrer, i this is test by many people they sought many times and probably would meetings on this day and at this hour and mccarthy is say egg can't do that. why not? 7:30 that morning. thetide schedule for beginning implanted end that for the next two years. you know? that is the ability. that was installed by his father arthur mccarthy as well as the grandfather who is lieutenant judge, arthur mccarthy as well. want to be ignorant fuss all your life. you better start reading potbly can and people said, yeah. he would finish off three or four books before he did anything every day. so, monster capabilities, that why i think, as chief of staff. he excelled what did in world w

patrick's day and gave a silver bowl filled with shamrocks to president eisenhower. presenting presidents with shamrocks became a tradition, although not necessarily by a visiting head of state or government. although it was by the irish ambassador, here. that's a picture of the prime minister giving it to george w. bush. march 1959 saw the first visit by an irish head of state, and he presented eisenhower with shamrocks. he spent the 19th of march in washington and according to the irish times, he was a big hit. he flirted with many eisenhower and madeeisenhower jokes, which were told around washington for weeks. he was to attend the traditional dinners in washington, and to everyone's amazement, eisenhower insisted on going with him. o'brien then set on a tour around parts of america. in new york, he had a tickertape reception. it must've come as a shock when the irish consulate received a bill for the paper. [laughter] >> both presidents and prime ministers came frequently to washington, for which the shamrock ceremony was partly responsible. in particular with re

after the war, general eisenhower served that plans are nothing and planning is everything. there's a lot of truth in that. emergency in london of outlined plan, three atheyachievable conditions had the potential to change the debate from whether to go with the cross-channel attack plan to how to implement it. the british chiefs of staff in london following churchill and advocating the mediterranean strategy, they knew that and they also knew that the u.s. joint chiefs of staff in washington were facing a strategy crisis of confidence within their staff. the next meeting at this point was only a couple of weeks away. cross act was ordered to send a team to brief churchill during's crossing to north america but told not to share their plan with washington just yet. lieutenant general morgan instead he risked his british army career and did the right thing by sharing his plan with the country's ally. he sent a team of three american officers carrying the overlord plan to catch from scotlandver to washington and the team snuck out of london to board the ghost train. but when th

and you know who else has won since eisenhower in 1952? eisenhower in 1956! ( laughter ) he's full of these fun facts. trump is like a snapple cap, but that ain't lemonade in there. ( laughter ) but you know what? ( piano riff ) there might be a lot of bad news out there. but we need to focus on those making this a better world-- specifically, a police dog in madrid named poncho who learned c.p.r. there's the officer, pretending to pass out. he's lying there in distress and -- porcho to the rescue! there he is, giving him chest compressions. then, he checks for a pulse, then more chest compressions! checks for a pulse, checks for a pulse. more compressions! more compressions! you can do it, poncho! and more and more -- and he's alive! i was worried. ( applause ) you know, poncho's thinking: "don't you die on me, dammit! you're only seven dog months away from retirement!" ( laughter ) now, it's not clear if poncho's c.p.r. technique is effective, what it says or the prompter, i'm pretty sure it's not, my writers have more faith in poncho than i do, but it cert

eisenhower was out of sight. about the americans who made sacrifices and gave their lives, not about me. >> michael, thank you. thanks for being on this morning. >> my pleasure. thank you, mika. >>> still ahead this morning, it was just two days ago that president trump said he had the absolute power to pardon himself. now he's reportedly become fixated on his ability to issue pardons. we have the latest reporting on this. >>> plus, steve kornacki will break down his biggest take aways from yesterday's primary elections. "morning joe" will be right back. get the lowest price on our rooms, guaranteed? let's get someone to say it with a really low voice. carl? lowest price guaranteed. what about the world's lowest limbo stick? how low can you go? nice one, carl. hey i've got an idea. just say, badda book. badda boom. badda book. badda boom. nice. always the lowest price, guaranteed. book now at choicehotels.com wearing powerful sunscreen? yes! neutrogena® ultra sheer. no other sunscreen works better or feels so goo

when a maybe eisenhower was eisenhower-- mamie was first lady and had a hysterectomy, it was referred to in the press as an operation typical of women her age. [laughter] prof. hummer: and that was it. but betty ford believed the time was right to speak out. personalthe era when issues were also political issues. betty ford decided to allow american women into her hospital room, her operating room, and her recovery room. i thought it would read you from my book about this particular incidents. intimate details of her hospital stay or covered in the papers. the night before her surgery, she dined on steak and fries. in the morning, woke up to three bouquets of flowers from her husband. she donned operating room socks and joked they would be featured in women's wear daily. it took doctors only 15 minutes to determine the small nodule nodule wastely -- cancerous. the surgeon removed her entire right breast and underlying pectoral muscle and lymph node tissue in the adjoining armpit. this was remarkable information to pass on in an age when breast cancer surgery was little understood by t

of endless war and military spending is bankrupting the country but i do have time to lip sync eisenhower. and not even the go to military industrial complex farewell speech i've got a deep work on for you all from his nine hundred fifty three chance for peace speech and him every gun that you meet every war you're wrong every rocket fired signifier in the final. the bench. mongerer not. go to are cold and are not book wow eisenhower's words still ring true today and that was really empowering to do but strike trouble to axt i am remember one person walked into a room when he was supposed to go this way and he said he was going this way and he walked in and he went this way and everyone said what happened. that was less empowering it was more like a freaky stroll down dementia road reporting from downtown l.a. john of o'donnell redacted. i never want to lip sync again ever i was scared his essence was going to like seep into my brain somehow and then i'd have to be trumpeted to. anyway i am thrilled to now be joined by my fellow redacted correspondents natalie mcgill and they only care of

the time was right for edward bernays power play in january nine hundred fifty three dwight eisenhower became the new president of the united states. help me. i was in heart advocated a frontal offensive against communism. he placed two brothers in keeper john foster dulles became secretary of state. dollars head of the cia both had been legal advisors to the united fruit. company. the new ambassador to the united nations was senator henry cabot lodge a face a lobbyist for the company's interests. against family were longstanding shareholders. they were all men with an open ear for edward bernays messages. in august one nine hundred fifty three allen dulles as cia introduced new methods in iran it overturned the government of mohammad mosaddegh who had nationalized his country's petrol industry he was accused of communist collusion. in the success of the operation in iran convinced the eisenhower administration the cia was given a green light to intervene in guatemala. the operation was named success. edward bernays efforts were bearing fridge. the cia supported an opponent of the arbe

wow eisenhower's words still ring true today and that was really empowering to do but strike trump axed i am remember one person walked into a room when he was supposed to go this way and he said he was going this way and he walked in and he went this way and everyone said what happened. that was less empowering it was more like a freaky stroll down dementia road reporting from downtown l.a. john if redacted tonight i never want to lip sync again ever i was scared is essence was going to like seep into my brain somehow and then i'd have to be trouble to. go anyway i am thrilled to now be joined by my fellow redacted correspondence natalie mcgill and they only care of on the let me ask you this natalie so you did a story about prisons that was very informative very funny also incredibly infuriating are there any aspects of this story that you didn't get to go yeah so obviously there's this concern about the expanded role that private prisons are going to play in the midst of all these b o p budget cuts and last week the house of representatives they passed a bill called the first step ac

eisenhower would not even endorse nixon. in 1960 he was asked what the vice president's greatest accomplishment had been, and he said, i will have to get back to you, when nixon was running in 1960 and he never did. johnson and kennedy had a fraught relationship, but i think the dick cheney and george w. bush, their relationship really unraveled toward the end. steve: do you think that george w. bush was serious in 2004 in naming a replacement in to dick 2004 cheney? kate: i think they considered it more seriously than president obama did, because there was thought of replacing biden with hillary. and someone who worked for obama told me, the only person who would've been less happy about that would be hillary clinton. she did not want to be vice president. a lot of people don't want to be vice president. it is a difficult job. that i think that it , is an incredible opportunity, and especially for someone like mike pence, who very well could have lost his race for governor of indiana. now he is in a position where he could

moving on a little bit in history, mamie eisenhower. unlike beth truman, she was known as the champion handshake or. she could stand in an receiving line for 10 hours at a time, she would shake thousands of hands and find something nice to say. she was an extrovert. i think beth truman was the opposite. eisenhower was very charming and loved doing the receiving line thing. jacqueline kennedy had zilch interest in the receiving line and doing the team and the lunches and the speeches. i am paraphrasing her own words. so why was this? on the left is a picture of jacqueline kennedy standing next to lyndon johnson. she is opening the recently renovated white house treaty room. this room is on the residence. you can't see it if you go on a public to her. on the right is a picture of me and my oldest daughter. i really wanted to take her to the white house this year. in january i had that opportunity. we don't live too far away. jacqueline kennedy invented the first lady project, and her white house restoration was the first full on first lad

and first up tonight, here's historian william hitchcock on the presidency of dwight eisenhower.

>> guest: if you go back, i would say, eisenhower and nixon was not a great relationship with eisenhower would not endorse nixon and in 1960 he was asked by a reporter what the vice president greatest accomplishment had been and he said all have to get back to you when nixon was running in 60 and he never did. of course, johnson and kennedy had a very thought relationship but more currently dick cheneyh, and george w. bush the relationship unraveled toward the end. >> host: do you think the george w. bush was serious and naming a replacement in 2042 dick cheney? >> guest: i think they fiercely considered it even more seriously than president obama did because there was thought of replacing biden with hillary and someone who worked for obama said the only person who what event was happy with hillary clinton. she did not want to be vice president. a lot of people don't want to be vice president. it's a difficult job. i think that it is an incredible opportunity and especially for someone like mike pence who, very well, could have lost his race for governor of indiana. now he is in a positi

. >> any concern from president truman, president eisenhower, president johnson, that individual rights were being discriminated against or taken away? >> not part of the conversation 1960's.ter in the j edgar hoover himself saw ways he wanted to curtail the spying and surveillance activity over concerns like that. >> southern student organizing committee. what was that? mr. michel: the acronym was soc, a group that was white college students in the south in the 1960's. when most people think of what young people in the south at that time, they often think klan, or people opposed to civil rights. the people involved with soc were involved with supporting civil rights and supporting civil rights causes. they came together to form this organization. it existed on college campuses around the region. it was unique because it was white kids in the south, and they were native southerners. they were taking a stance that often conflicted with family members and the schools in which they attended. >> we are here in sacramento. you made a presentation. mr. michel: my presentation is about what th

others eisenhower everybody from 1950 washington. no spoilers so, i mean, a lot of fun in to learn about these people and figure out how to write dialogue for them by reading up on them and reading -- whether it's a robert book or others. it's try to get into their heads. if lbj were to meet my character and intern on the senate tram, and they overheard them talking about the father who was a democratic senator -- nobody has ever heard of him today but back then -- maybe this audience but -- a lot have never heard it have in 1952 ran as president from democrat from tennessee he won all of the primaries but because become then letterly it was rigged. the back room guys nominatedded by stevenson instead he was frustrated guy, and thinking about running for president again. anyway, what would lb say if he overheard us talking about that -- i shouldn't make that mistake everybody here knows everything. i know that from now on. [laughter] so you were writing this during the obama administration so why washington? >> if you're going to wri

truman, eisenhower, kennedy, johnson, nixon, ford, every one of them build their career not just in government but in washington. no surprise there, right? figure out what happened before this. go began. the federal government was widely credited with licking the depression, beating the axis. americans had a lot of confidence in the federal government. then along comes the vietnam war and the watergate crisis. starting with jimmy carter's election in 1976, the country still wanted people with experience in government but not in washington. that was part of carter's appeal as it was governor ronald reagan, governor bill clinton, governor george w. bush, we were experienced people but not part of the mess in washington. the next iteration of this trend is somebody who comes along and says i have no experience in washington and i have no experience in government and that is a reason to vote for me. that is sort of where we are now as people are looking ahead to 2020 and talking about mark zuckerberg or oprah winfrey, it is a way of understanding trump didn't just drop out of the sky. there has be

, we are joined by several descendents of former presidents of the united states, we have susan eisenhower, who is with us. we have matthew mckinley who is a descendent of both presidents mckinley and cleveland. not sure how that ties together, but i'm sure you can explain it for everyone. we have duncan santos, who is not a grandson or a relative of an american president, his virtual family in that he is the great grandson of former prime minister winston churchill. welcome to all of you here tonight. [ applause ] now, as many of you know, or certainly anyone who has had to sit through my remarks knows that the white house historical association was founded in 1961. by first lady jacqueline kennedy. at the very young age of 32 years old, as first lady of the united states, had the foresight and wisdom to know that what she and president kennedy needed then, presidents and first ladies would need over the course of time. that would be to have a private partner, not partisan, nonprofit, this private, public partnership that we have with the white house and have had since 1961. we provide no

senators, vice presidents, general truman, eisenhower, kennedy, johnson, nixon, ford, every one of themd sort of build their careers not just government but in washington. no surprise there. this is what happened before this. began with the federal government was widely credited with licking the depression and being the access and americans had confidence in the federal government and along comes the vietnam war and along comes the watergate crisis. starting with jimmy carter's election in 1926 we, as a country, still want people with experience in government but not in washington. that was part of carter's appeal as was governor ronald reagan and governor bill clinton as it was governor george w. bush. we were expense people but we are not part of that mess in washington. if you take the next iteration of this trend is someone who comes along and says i have no spirits in washington and i have no experience in government and that's a reason to vote for me. that is where we are now and as people are looking ahead to 2020 in talking about mark zuckerberg or oprah winfrey we may have more

the governments plans and ambition shrunk from what they were in eisenhower's day from the big national attempt at evacuation to what the plans are today which is a small number of high-ranking appropriate officials whisked away to these bunkers. by the way, without their families. this is one of the things that becomes such attention over the course of a cold war. the gap between what they look like in paper and how we as humans would respond to the situations by the way, this is not overseeing. this is pointed out in the first evacuation drill in 1954 when the president, his cabinet, and all of their secretaries and the wives of the cabinet stayed back in washington to play rummy. about a newspaper article that described it as a very chilly game as the wives waited for their husbands to come back from the nuclear were that they were not going to attend. this because something that pops up regularly through the cold war. role warren when he becomes chief justice of the supreme court, he is a young officer who comes over and hands him that get out of jail free card with his evacuation i

i picked one up about dwight eisenhower.he's always been a hero and i thought he was underrated while president. and as time has gone people realize what a good job actually depend not only leaving the military but the country. this is technically about his last days when he gives the farewell address and turns power over to john kennedy. but he also goes back and does a short biography of about eisenhower. at least for the first part there are some stories i've not heard so far. it's always interesting and fascinating to me. the third book we ran across is done by benson. i picked it up because of the author. not only was benson the only one in the cabinet he was a secretary of agriculture under eisenhower also president of my church and another reason is my former chief of staff, is his grandson. so there is personal reason i want to go through this one. i enjoyed the philosophy he has. he talks about the nation and the future of politics in the united states. i'm looking forward to that one. final, this one i really found

under president eisenhower, he didn't have anything to do as vice president, so he went overseas and became an expert on national security issues. therefore, when john and the nsc and our liaison people got involved, the president knew what we were doing. i'm not saying he knew anything about welfare reform, crime and all that, but he had a deep, unvarnished interest in how we were doing. he would give a list of votes to make, to get on people. he wanted to know, how did mike do? he cared very strongly, and therefore at states of the union and other events, dinners you will show in a few minutes, national security was big on his plate. that's why john and henry were so important to nixon. >> i think it's very fair to say nixon's interest and expertise and fascination was foreign affairs. there's a slogan for vice presidents, they have more to do than tom suggests, but it's, you die, i fly. the vice president goes to funerals all over the world. in the nixon era, they would use those gatherings of heads of state to conduct discussions. he personally knew all the world's leaders, and w