fdr wins every state but maine and vermont. there used to be an old saying because maine voted first. it was an exception to the election laws to let maine go first because of its tradition. and the old saying was -- anybody know the old saying about maine? as goes maine, so goes the nation, that maine was a harbinger. farley changed that to something else after this election. anybody know what that was changed to? as goes maine, so goes vermont. >> right, as goes maine, so goes vermont, which is exactly what happened in 1936. so an enormous ratification of roosevelt the candidate and roosevelt's policies. so let's stop and take stock. you had all these first new deal programs, followed by the second new deal. you had enormous democratic majorities piling up. you had roosevelt changing the nomination process. what were some of the fundamental ways in which franklin roosevelt, during his first term, changed american politics, changed american policy, and changed the presidency? start anywhere. >> [ inaudible ]. >> very good poin

i think you bring up a great point with fdr. there's a famous photo op where the queen and king of england comes to visit at hyde park. he serves him hot dogs. there's a great story about fdr. a grieving man fell to his knees. the guy next to him says, did you know the president? and the guy says, no, i didn't know the president. but he knew me. and that's what you really need.

and you know, fdr tried but he was stuck. then ultimately the jewish problem would become merged with what problem? world war ii. and the lead-up to world war ii and this huge controversy that we're not going to try to resolve right now. you know, did roosevelt do enough, did he not do enough to help the jews and you know, the simple answer is, did he do everything possible? no. did he do more than any other world leader, including winston churchill? yes. far more than any of them. could he ultimately have stopped the holocaust? no. united states didn't have troops on the ground in europe, except for italy, until when? come on. you all know. june you have 1941. it took months to consolidate. but we'll talk a little more about this when we get to the world war ii period. so by 1937, 1938, attention is beginning to shift. you know, the first term is all about the great depression, domestic policy, changing the fundamental politics and policies of america. by the time you're getting towards the middle of the second term, foreign

as fdr would later put it, bold persistent experimentation. disappointed with wilson's war to make the world safe for democracy, a vague -- that did not live up to its promise abroad and was badly betrayed at home. born attacked intellectuals like john dewey and herbert crowley, the godfather of new nationalism. he attacked them as being immersed in what he called pragmatic dispensation. that made them, he said, immensely ready for the executive order, but pitifully unprepared for the intellectual interpretation or idealistic focus. now, had he been around in 2009, born might have flagged a similar criticism against president obama's dogged but rhetorically empty leadership in the fight over national health reform. a battle he rightfully pointed out began with the progressive party campaign. he tended in his fight for health care reform, the president tended to spew exalted moral principles. for example, the claim of t.r. that health care was a human right, not a privilege, or dubious promises of greater efficiency and cost cutting. the highes

fdr warned about the emotional component. >> we knew 50 years ago that fdr's welfare destroyed people's lives and 1996, we got around to change it. ronald reagan said immortality is a government program. once it is there almost impossible to get rid of it. >> the era of big government is over. >> not yet, folks. >> tsa going away? >> a private plan to take over airport security. that is bottom of the hour in carbin' in. and labor bosses funding liberal agendas . now union workers are fighting back. my uniwas using my dues to push a political agenda that i opposed . [ tom ] we invented the turbine business right here in schenectady. without the stuff that we make here, you wouldn't be able to walk in your house and flip on your lights. [ brad ] at ge we build turbines that pothe world. they go into power plants which take some form of e ener, harness it, and turn it into more efficient electricity. [ ron ] when i was a kid i wanted to work with my hands, that was my thing. i really enjoy building turbines. it's nice to know that what you're building is gonna do something for the world. w

indeed, all doctrines in partisan dispute, democratic experimentation, as fdr later would put it, the bold persistent experimentation, disappointed with wilson's war to make the world safe of democracy. he argued it did not live up to its promise abroad and was badly betrayed at home and attacked by intellectuals like crowley who was the godfather of internationalism. he attacked of pragmatic dissertation that made him totally unprepared for the idealistic focus on end. had he been around in 1929, he might have lacked the similar criticism against president obama's dogget in a fight of health reform, a battle he rightfully pointed out began with the progressive party campaign. he tended to eschew exalted moral principals, the claim that t.r. said health care was a human right, not a privilege, with dubious promises of greater efficiency and cost cutting. the highest rhetorical and programmatic aspiration of the health care fight was the public option. you couldn't come up with a worst term. it testifies, i think, to contemporary, progressive, rhetorical challenge. can you imagine caes

in fact, frank nixon may have voted for fdr back in '32 and '36. hanna nixon herself according to melvin small voted for woodrow wilson in 1912. maybe it's recreational reading. he read in addition to "the l.a. times" as a young man, "good housekeeping" and "the saturday evening post" both of which may have praised 1920s america, hoover's america, to some degree. some of the members of his committee of 100 who helped push his 1946 and 1948 campaigns, frank jorgenson, he said i didn't trust fdr. i distrusted him. a lot of the stuff he had been soft on communism. i think he was befuddled a lot of time and fooled by stalin. john francis nyland he was a big fund-raiser in the san francisco bay area for richard nixon in many of the elections between 1952 and 1968. he told his own employer william randolph hearst that governor fdr who he had met in late 1932 or early 1933 did not understand the fundamentals of the national economy or the u.s. stock market, quote, when the two of us got to economics, he seemed to think that all industry consisted of stock

frank jorgenson, he said i entrust fdr and distrusted him. i think he was befuddled a lot of the time and fooled by stalin. he was in the san francisco bay yarea and he told his own employer that governor fdr who he met in national economy and the stock market. "when the two of us got to economics, he seemed to think that all industry consisted of stock market operations." earlc. adams, a local guy, helped fund the 1950 run. "the new deal, the fair deal, the new frontier, all that is hog wash. it's a lot of rhetoric. builds up the pie in the sky for people and people get up hopes and ambitions and mean their goals never get met." these are some of the people that nixon surrounded himself with in the phase of his career. roitarians, lawyers, realtors and here in the 12th district. south pasadena, el monty and whittier. he registered as a republican. up to that time, melvin small claims nixon was a nonideological cent rift. in 1936 or in retrospect, one of his roommates from 1936 and on in the middle of his law school career, individuals should

and people felt that about fdr.est president if you look at his family background in today's dollars, you know, the kennedies were billionaires, people felt like, well, he kind of gets me. and he went after the field giants, and they felt he had credibility in doing that. even though, you know, their lives in hyannisport couldn't be more different than others. >> romney who could possibly be the wealthiest president we've had in the united states, he could actually break the mold of past presidents of wealth. you can't say mitt romney saying what franklin delano roosevelt saying -- >> no, i think there, it's about this strange kind of intangible thing of how the person communicates, right? i don't know that people care that romney has that much money. they care about whether he seems to understand them or not. >> yeah. >> norton smith has a great story in there about gerald ford, the first week that he became president, he found that and said when does my paycheck come? because i've got two kids in college and my ba

frank jorgenson, he said i entrust fdr and distrusted him. a rot of us fell he had been soft on communism. i think he was befuddled a lot of the time and fooled by stalin. john francis, he was a big fund-raiser in the san francisco bay area for nixon and many elections between 1952 and 1968. he told his own employer william randolph hearse, that governor fdr, who he met in '33 did not understand fundamentals of the national economy or the u.s. stock market. "when the two of us got to economics, he seemed to think that all industry consisted of stock market operations." earl c. adams, a local guy, helped fund the 1950 run. "the new deal, the fair deal, the new frontier, all that is hog wash. it's a lot of rhetoric. builds up the pie in the sky for people and people get up hopes and ambitions and i mean their goals never get met." these are some of the people that nixon surrounded himself with in the phase of his career. steve. ambrose calls, at least in terms of the committee of 100, rotarians, lawyers, realtors, insurance men, auto dealers, h

and yet, fdr never once tried to relate to my family in rural georgia. he was fdr.e was a very rich man from a very wealthy new york family. and my family didn't give a damn, they loved him. >> partly because he had an array of policies that were designed to help them, and they identified with those policies because although he didn't pretend to be the common man, he tried to implement actual policies that would help the plight of the poor. if mitt romney and his campaign want to demonstrate that he cares about average americans and poor americans, one thing they could do is they could aggressively campaign on policies that would help those people and explain how his platform, things he cares about, things he wants to do as president would help those people and not worry about whether he relates to them. talk about what you're actually going to do to fix the problem. >> and if you believe like i believe that a lot of liberal policies going from 1965 forward have actually made the situation worse for inner cities, for the very poor, for the truly disadvantaged, expla

he was going to be the new fdr and progressive era.the anyone of reagan. meaning there's a skepticism about the federal government doing great things. he got healthcare through, bailed out gm. he got two women appointed to the supreme court. but he can never become a great legislative president like an fdr or lyndon johnson. with the debt ceiling crisis last summer made him realize that he was going to have to be as doris said a president using executive orders to get things done. he couldn't be painted had a reelection cycle as a lame duck president. >> what is the defining issue of the campaign? a referendum on him or a referendum on congress he would like to see it? >> referendum on congress. it's pathetic anemic what the public thinks of congress right now. in that 99 to 1. i think warren buffett earned his place in the history books as being the trump card that the president is playing over and over again that rich people shouldn't pay less taxes than a work person. >> doris, how do we define greatness in a president if there has

rather than fdr, president obama was underscoring that there is a tradition of national action in our history. and it is the tradition that on the whole has served us better. what did t.r. talk about in the osawatomie speech? is it irrelevant to today? well, he had a whole lot to say about the influence of corporate money on political campaigns. and if you go back and read what he said about that and look at the current situation we are in, it was indeed highly relevant. he also talked a lot about, and as sid makes clear in his book, made it a central element of his campaign, he talked about overreaching activist conservative courts. and i believe as, for example, the citizens united decision might suggest, that that, too, is a central issue in american life today. he talked about concentrated economic power. there are sections of this speech that would go down very well if done through the human microphone of the occupy wall street movement. and he spoke of the fears of the middle class that they were being squeezed out of both economic and political life. yes, i believe osawatomie i

fdr had this magnificent coalition that he had taken out of the republican party and put it together that governed the country and the democratic party by 1964. it was about twice as large as the republican paerlt. what nixon did straight politically was take the socially conservative catholic ethnic southern bloc and move it into the republican coalition so that in the next five elections -- the next four after 1968 republicans won three landslides of 49 states, 49 states, and 44 states and george h.w. bush won 40 states. so i think richard nixon is the most important political figure he and fdr in terms of putting together ruling coalitions, governing coalitions in america. we see that gradually disintegrate for reason i described in other books we're not talking about today. >> we should point out this month marks the 40th anniversary of the trip to china, which was historic. >> i was with him on the trip to china. as i told folks, by the end of it, he would have been happy to leave me there. >> let's turn to brad and tim from the washington center for a question or comment. brad,

fdr was a master of that.ing things in by reading. it appears obama has two modes of strength. one is strictly reading. and the other is sort of executive-type meetings. i didn't write about in this article, believe it or not there some are things i left out. but a friend of mine who is a successful business executive has dealt with him and said he has good managerial temperament. he can run a meeting well. official meetings and reading things on paper. but the kind of broad osmosis from -- >> no bull sessions like bill clinton. no sitting around late at night, invite something -- you are laughing because he just doesn't do it. he'd never invite a couple of senators over and say let's talk about this late at night. >> bill clinton late at night would do all kinds of things. they involve human contact. obama seems to be more of a loner. >> rahm emmanuel said he'd be calling people at 3:00 in the morning. i know he has -- i'm hearing things from around him that he likes to duel with people. he'll be dueling with

you know, we've heard fdr's speeches but only a few of roosevelt's survived. he wasn't a, you know, didn't sound very good, but he sold what he was doing. he was a very, you know, not a great orator, but he knew how to, he knew how to sort of paint pictures with speeches. and also he wrote all the time. but as far as him being, you know, he was just a charismatic personality. one of his friends famously said about him if you wanted to stay mad at roosevelt, you had to stay away from him. because if you got around him, he would charm you into forgetting whatever it was that had made you mad in the first place. so he certainly charmed me. i've always found him an interesting figure, and at this university we all teach american history. so i taught about him in my classes and always really enjoyed the roosevelt bit, you know, when we were talking about progressivism. in fact, it lasts probably longer than it should just because -- [laughter] he's such an interesting character. >> hi, i'm sarah, director of the stark museum of art in orange, texas, and we're here

he sounds like an emergence of fdr. we heard fdr's speeches the only if you've roosevelt's survived. he sold what he is doing. he is noa

>> number three is fdr. we lived four times fdr was elected president.hat the federal government can make a difference in your life. not just the new deal programs or just winning of world war ii but the shadow of roosevelt affects true man when he does the national security act or the belief that the government can buy a super highway program under eisenhower. >> and what makes a good president, in your opinion? >> i would like to think honesty, talking straight to the american people w that said, it was like a camille general on plaid. so it doesn't -- it's not a full-proof thing but you don't go wrong in history if what you say proves out to be true and also the times that you're president. obviously if you're a commander in chief at a time of war, fdr during world war ii or wilson in world war i for that matter, you win your war, you do well in history. fits a war of choice, like vietnam or the recent war in iraq, it's harder with your legacy. americans like winners. so if you're going to do a war of choice, you've got to win it quickly. >> douglas,

ever since back in the spring of 1941, of course, fdr as you know had instituted lend-lease with great britain to helpture chi. - churchill. upon that action adolf hitler ordered a shoot on sight order to the wolf packs that were patrolling the north atlantic. but the american people knew about it. and it was not a spur to them to get involved in the european war even though this was war was, in fact, going on, naval war was going on in the north atlantic. and, of course, roosevelt in kind ordered naval ships to defend themselves against the u-boats. >> there wasn't any impact? >> no. not on public opinion. >> political. >> right. the lucetania wasn't the spur to get us into world war i either. >> well, and in some respects we forget over a period of time japan was already at war in craze from '37. >> yeah. >> they had been four years. >> right. they went into china, invaded china in -- >> and then we're at two years and three months with germany and europe. >> right. >> so it's not totally isolation in that, it's just we don't want to get involved. >> we're aware of it, we just don't

and back then it was, by god, by god, how we miss fdr among the democrats. and harry truman was no fdr. so there's a longing for the lost leader there. and also he's prone to certain gaffes. his appointments are not always the strongest. there's talk of the missouri gang as there was an ohio gang with warren harding, of people just sort of hangers-on, small timers who are put into positions way above their abilities. you see the old new dealers being shoved out of the cabinet. not just henry wallace who is fired by harry truman for being a pro-stalinist really, giving speeches against the truman foreign policy. but you also have where with harry truman the country turns against the party and the leader which brings us into war. you don't believe me, ask either bush. ask lyndon johnson, woodrow wilson after world war i what happens to the democratic party. what happens to winston churchill, a pretty good war leader in 1945. he's out the door. so this is a normal thing. the readjustment means a lot of things get thrown out including parties in power. republica

fdr was a stamp collector. barack obama likes motown, r&b and the blues. don't be surprised if a presidential trivia question 20 years from now asks, who was known as the singing president? our former white house correspondent savannah guthrie gets called back into service. because the president has broken into song again. >> reporter: oh say can you sing? a group of blues legends doing the asking last night at the white house, the president had to oblige. ♪ come on baby don't you wanna go ♪ >> reporter: the commander in chief in song and in tune. it's getting to be a regular gig. there was that performance last month at the apollo theater. >> are you fired up? >> reporter: and back in 2008 on the campaign trail, the president was fired up and ready to sing. ♪ oklahoma ♪ change change change >> reporter: sometimes politics and song make beautiful music together. bill clinton had his saxophone. truman had his piano. president nixon, too. ♪ >> reporter: we had dancers in the white house from george washington to george w. bush. and president william howard t

if you read history, fdr was not even fdr at the start. york governor that was going to be too soft to be president. >> and bill clinton after the '94 mid terms was in terrible shape, ronald reagan a year and a half in looked in bad shape. we have a real temptation in our business to have instant history every day going up and down. >> and jimmy carter looked very strong going into his re-election. >> your were a speech writer. >> can i ask about jimmy carter? jimmy jimmy carter often is a punchline, unfairly, but carter obviously a good man, he came into the white house. he was going to clean washington up. but had -- if you read tip owe neil's auto biograph fay terrible relationship with democrats as well and he never seemed to learn the lessons over four years that would have made him more effective. >> yeah. >> compare jimmy carter and barack obama, because there seem to be a lot of similarities the first two years. is barack obama learning from the mistakes of his first two years? >> i think so probably the most important thing about

ike from the right, fdr from the left each of them admiring lincoln. there's a quote, a famous quote about the role of government. talk interest something contemporary. well, both eisenhower and fdr regarded it as their favorite lincoln quote. in fact, barack obama quoted from the same passage in his state of the union address. >> i'm a democrat. but i believe what republican abraham lincoln believed: that government should do for people only what they cannot do better by themselves and no more. >> you can take away from lincoln almost anything that you want. presidents in war time, embattled presidents, unpopular presidents, they all look to lincoln. he's their patron saint because no president was more embattled or more unpopular than lincoln was during his presidency. we think he was born on mount rushmore. not so. theodore roosevelt hung his picture in the president's office and said whenever i have a major decision to make, i always ask myself would lincoln would do. woodrow wilson who was a son of the south who remembered seeing jefferson davis i

the president's office was last redone by fdr. this is all part of a massive multiyear modernization of the people's house. >>> peyton manning is denying a report that he will never play football again. the son of archie manning, the brother of your new york giants starting super bowl quarterback eli manning, peyton manning, one of the greats in nfl history has been recovering, as you may know, from a neck injury. today, he told espn he's waiting to be cleared to get back in the game. we just don't know if he'll continue to play with the colts. he's been named mvp of the nfl four time, something no other player has done. >>> up next, a doctor bringing hope to those who need it and making a difference in the process. >> our final report tonight is about a guy helping a lot of folks get back on their feet again. they're chronic pain patients, in constant pain. like many american, they've fallen on tough times of late and they can't afford to pay for the care they need. that's where one doctor and his doctor friends come in. they're

. >> what about fdr? >> oh, well, fdr, sure, yeah, but i didn't -- i didn't know him. i'd never met him. i'd seen him at one of his press conferences, but i didn't know him. >> and here is a cartoon of yours with general eisenhower. what's the point of this? >> well, the point is he's in a helicopter. it's called the hell or copter era, and the point is that he's above thfray on civil rights and mccarthyism and all those things, and he was of course a ery popular president, and one reason was because he was under the korean war. the way -- i always felt that he didn't meet the great issues of the time domestically, mccarthyism, and integration, desegregation. >> here is another cartoon from that era. you use a full page for this. >> that was when eisenhower finally called out the troops at little rock. this was i think abt three years into his administration. >> that was 1957. >> 1957, and brown versus board of education was in 1954, wasn't it. and anyhow, after eisenhower is making his way through the whitewater there, wondering if he can make it out with a gun, but t

the columnists who were so shall we say liberal part of the time with their comparison of obama and fdr? >> that was a mistake. obama came into office, it looked like he had the winds of history behind him. he had the popular adulation trade you remember the crowds when he was inaugurated. we have never seen anything like that. it looked like franklin roosevelt in 1933. it looked like the man who had the answers. unfortunately, rather than understanding where we were economically, barack obama came to washington in the classic d.c. democratic coalition that the real problem in this country was partisanship and he was going to overcome that in some grand, statesmanlike way and bring the parties together in a grand bargain. what i think one of the many things he missed and i say this as someone who was sympathetic to him and i think he can still recover and be one of our great presidents. he does not understand that argument is normal. people disagreeing with one another is normal. as long as we can keep it within bounds. it is not something you are ever going to overcome. >> which way is