everett dirksen was extremely important at his time. seemed fitting to name the building after him. senator dirksen liked to say he was a man of principle. one of his greatest principles was to maintain flexibility at all times. that made him a very agile senator and a man who understood that you have to compromise to build consensus. in the united state senate, compromise is essential for passing any kind of legislation. rarely does the majority party have sufficient votes to pass something entirely by itself. always, majority leaders have to persuade members of the minority to come on board. that is one of the reasons why the u.s. senate wanted to commemorate senator dirksen by naming the second building after him. >> you can watch this or other american artifacts programs at any time by visiting our website, c-span.org/history. -- this weekend, the c-span's a city tour posted by time warner cable partners takes us to california to explore the city is -- the city's history and literary culture. atthis came from my editor the weekly at

abraham lincoln and everett dirksen. how can dirksen resist? the key thing is what transpired was assigned project understand that they are there and they are used to be a greater sense i think in the congress come in the senate and they were passing join legislation, that they're doing something that they can be proud together children and grandchildren. i was in that congress. i understand sometimes republicans will be proud for defeating something they believe is wrong, but when you can do something and it has improved the lives of children as chip did come how incredible that feels when you look out and you know it's made a difference. i'm sure that's not what's happening now but it requires seeing the people across the aisle as fellow colleagues rather than as partisan enemies, just as vicki said. everything about our media today encourages them to become enemies. the cable networks that only have one site on. the fact the debates, they like it most when using somebody. the special interests are required when you need to raise money to run

they were arm traitors and the lyndon johnsons of the world and the everett dirksens.son called hip into the oval office. dirksen had been floundering over whether he was going to support and lyndon johnson put his arms around it and said you know why you are going to vote for this? because it's right. and dirksen voted for it. charles: we also knew about the legendary relationship between ronald reagan and tip o'neill. they found ways when it came to it to have a drink of scotch together and discuss it like gentlemen. they say it's cyclical. we go on these cycles and maybe this is where we had to go as a nation. how hopeful are you that we'll find the right path again that ronald reagan and nancy reagan took us down? >> i don't know how to answer. hopeful. i try to remain hopeful. i asked williams whether he was optimistic or pessimistic. he said of course i'm pessimistic. i'm smart. i don't know what to base our hopes on except we have a great constitution. we have a government that survived. charles: i want to thank you very much. we appreciate you coming on the sho

we learn about its place in history and its namesake, everett dirksen.

one of the great four leaders and that is everett dirksen, republican.hose things happened because people were willing to compromise. we don't do that anymore so it is of course a political dynamic. but i think what has made it easy for people to do it, just as it's easy and a mob to say fire or give him, it takes the calmer voices. it takes the more complicated narrative a long time to get up to the simple one in which you say the n-word or you say you lie or using i'm not going to compromise because that's against my principles, our genius is compromise. compromise. >> there was one other difference. lyndon johnson wasn't just having tea parties at the white house inviting them to participate. lyndon johnson was like knocking heads. and it's a hard thing to talk about. i've noticed many of my friends in the press are very reluctant to criticize barack obama because barack obama has taken so much criticism from, undue criticism, right? but i think there is room for a critique of how the president has or has not used the hallmarks and tools and perks of