so that was the convention where hubert humpry won and there was eugene mccarthy and robert kennedy and they felt they had been short changes in the ability to get support at the convention. >> did the republicans follow suit? >> no, they didn't really do much with rules until around 2000. they were likely to leave it up to the states and the states selected with the primaries. when >> when were the first primaries held in the political system? >> in the early 1900s. 1912 turned out to be a disaster because that was the year teddy roosevelt decided he wanted to be president again. the republican president howard taft was getting the traditional support. >> did they stop that behavior? stha >> it put a halt on it and the presidential primaries were not as important. they were not always connected to the delegate selection. they got somewhat important. >> when did the smoke filled back rooms fade away? they faded away in the 1800s not so much because of presidential primaries but other out siside influences. you started getting polling in the 1930s and since the aim of the convention is t

so that was the convention that hubert humphrey won but there was the opposition of eugene mccarthy and robert kennedy delegates. they felt they had been shortchanged in their ability to get their support at the convention. there was flooding on the lower -- fighting on the floor so they were going to develop a commission to look for the rules for the delegate selection. >> guest: republicans didn't do much with the rules. they were going to leave it up to the states and they needed. or they could have caucuses or a state convention. but generally, the process kind of came to life. >> host: when were the first primaries ever held in the system? >> guest: in the early 19 hundreds, so the presidential primary was 1912 that conducted the disaster. they were getting the support from the traditional players in the party and roosevelt won most of the primaries but it wasn't enough to get him the nomination so he stopped out and created the party that resulted in the republicans losing the presidential race. it's kind oit kind of put a holr a while. the presidential primaries were not until af

through and looking at a few short list, they finally come to the senior senator from minnesota, eugene mccarthy. gene mccarthy was an unlikely person to run for president. was fond of quoting poetry on the floor of the senate. he didn't have a lot of friends in the senate. referred toolleague him as "the most intelligent man and the senate, and that wasn't a complement." [laughter] he was seen as kind of a cold fish, standoffish. to intellectual for his them good. -- for his him good. -- for his own good. he was not a liberal softy. inwas someone who believed vigorous intervention to stop the spread of communism. he was someone who was on the side of, initially, the house un-american activities committee. he was not an uber liberal guy, but it was increasingly clear to as thed particularly escalation increased in 1966 and 1977 -- 1967, that the war in vietnam was untenable and needed to end. so he joins the race in november 1967 as the antiwar candidate. support,a huge deal of and by early 1968, he is running very strong and the ramp-up to the new hampshire primary, which then was in early marc

now the vietnam war which i opposed pretty early on -- >> you but were for eugene mccarthy who was anandidate in '68, your father was for hue humphrey. did you have debates on that? >> we did. we many a debate on television about that. i'm just the new guy with nothing to lose. my father's the governor, he needs to have lyndon johnson help him. so we occupy different pokss that affect the way we see things. so it was watergate, it was vietnam, it was people were beginning to say the politics of mccarthy talked about the politics that wasn't just meat and potatoes, there was a certain psychic or maybe spiritual or -- people were looking for meaning. >> so i always joke that i have been around so long in journalism and politics that i was around when jerry brown was governor of california because i came around just about the time that you took office and i remember people thought of you as kind of off beat because you were talking about things like limited resources, the environment, you know, you were talking about cal maybe having its own space program which now have you private sit z

is -- who is probably to the right of donald trump, and one who is the left of, to the left of eugene mccarthy maybe, i am being -- you get the point. and i love them both, and one loves him to watch see him, yes, cheer him on, sees him it is a final solution to a country that this person loves and sees going in the wrong direction, and the other looks at him and sees just the opposite, that in that he is taking the country in the wrong direction and they both a watch to see for those different reasons but find hip compelling for, both find him compelling so i think that is those who love to love him love to watch him and those who love to hate him, love to yell at him while she on tv. >> rose: do you think he has a problem with truth? yes. i think he has a problem in the following way. i think if he were to be judged by the same standard, for example, that he cruzs with the press,. >> rose: right. >> which is to say if a piece is written that he doesn't think has accurate evidence he says it ings he said that have beenes evidence free, then he would be hung by his own claims, and he said thin

a note that had gone to a scratchy senator from minnesota named eugene joseph mccarthy about whether he would run for president or not. it is a very eerie moment. it brings history alive. our talk today is about that, about revisiting these living periods in history. perhaps we will come away less certain about things. for that i introduce steve young, who was the director of a co-round table. he was the former dean of the hamlin law school in minnesota. he was a dean at harvard law. he has been active in politics of the state and nation for quite a while. he is one of minnesota's -- the nation's foremost experts on asian issues. his father was ambassador to thailand in the kennedy administration, he spent a good deal of his youth in thailand. goes back there every other week. i would say welcome to steve. [applause] >> thank you very much. thank you, bob, and thanks to the humphrey institute, not only for this seminar, but for all that it does. i would like to tell you briefly a little bit about myself. to set the context for what i will reveal. men -- and then i want to tell you a

a note that had gone to a scratchy senator from minnesota named eugene joseph mccarthy, about whether or not he was going to run for president. i think it brings history alive. our talk today is about revisiting these living periods in history. and perhaps we will come away less certain than we were about some things. so, with that, i will introduce my colleague steve young. he was a dean at harvard law, he's been active in politics for quite a while. one of minnesota's, and i would say the nation's, foremost experts on asian issues. he spent a good deal of his youth in thailand, seems to go back there about every other week. so, with that, i will say welcome to steve. thank you. [ applause ] >> thank you very much, paul. and thank you, bob, and thanks to the humphrey institute, not only for the seminar, but for all that it does. i would like to tell you, briefly, a little bit about myself to set the context for what i'm going to reveal. and then i want to tell you a story about lyndon johnson, and how he personally set a different strategy for the war in vietnam in december, 1966, im