the most liberal president franklin delano roosevelt was a drug runner yes or franklin delano roosevelt never made much money in his life he had public service jobs that were very lowly paid but he had yahtzee and summer homes he had mansions in new york city the kids went to private schools he inherited a fortune from war and then. and know his father who is the american opium king of china if you scratch anyone with the name forbes in their name john forbes kerry secretary of state john forbes kerry you'll find opium money his great grandfather was an opium dealer how big was opium money opium money built the first industrial city in the united states lowell massachusetts it built the first five railroads in the united states opium money all over the east coast but it wasn't talked about it was called the china trade and if you go to various museums you can see teas and silks. exhibited and they keep quiet about all that big opium money. in the scramble to get opium money china was invaded and colonized by britain and the other imperial powers. far a nominee has grabbed hold sway and

is robert dallek is the author of "franklin delano roosevelt: a political life." ron chernow is author "grant" a new biography of the civil war union general in 18th president. nancy koehn is "forged in crisis" which looks at five historical figures who demonstrated leadership. and mark updegrove snoot last republicans" examines the president he's of george w. bush and george herbert walker bush and their relationship. welcome to all of you. eye so glad you're here. ron, let me start with you. you are all historians but also story tellers, too. so, but general grant, president grant on stage for us, give us your favorite story. >> my favorite story is virginia 1864, grant is standing on the edge of the woods when lethal shell comes whizzing by him, passes within three inches of his ears. grant doesn't blink, he doesn't flinch, his facial expression doesn't change he turns to hissage than says, hudson, go get that shell let's see what the enshe firing at us. the reason i love this store tree that shows grant's literally coolness under fire. and his metabolism was s

robert dallek the author of "franklin delano roosevelt: a political life."and mark updegrove is the author of "the last republicans." mark i'll start with you on this question of what is your -- you call your book snoot last republicans" no. the bush family, why that title? >> because it was clear that the bush -- bushes represent a lost -- establishment republican party. right now we see a party at war with itself. still have establishment members of that party but there are insurgents who have taken over. the partynt stand for anything spiffs i can, there's no binding platform or principles it's really what standard bear, very capricious, unpredictable donald trump decides it wants to be. so in some manner the bushes, represent the end to a type of republicanism. >> dickerson: ron, why grant and was it the grant when you went into the book the same one as when you were finally done? >> you know, i have contearian, whenever i feel that the stereotype of a particular historical figure is hardened into a caricature i'm attacked to it. grant i was interested i

. >> the first item we will see is a memo from franklin delano roosevelt.let us walk over. >> absolutely. prior and during the world war ii, france was rolling then on. -- was ruling vietnam. and they had colonized it and divided into three different sections. during world war ii, the japanese came in and pushed the french out eventually. fdr is talking to secretary of state about what he believes should happen to vietnam after world war ii. he opposes a french return to vietnam. it is quite clear in this memo because he says "the people of indochina deserve better than that." fdr passes away before the end of world war ii and when truman comes in, he says not feel as strongly about a french return to vietnam. this photograph was given to harry truman by general charles de gaulle during the visit to washington, d.c. and during this visit truman told to he would not oppose a return to france. >> this photograph is 1945 and does the u.s. have any interest in vietnam at this time? >> they are interested more in supporting france after world war ii as able work

>> imagine for a minute that he held the office that was held by franklin delano roosevelt, and that the prime minister held. think of the determination and the courage of those people. now think of an american president who is retweeting what are probably false, and certainly racist, tweets from a foreign extremist group drawing a rebuke. the way our leadership has been degraded with what we saw in the days of world war 55 is really fathom tabl. that was from john winthrop all the way up through ronald reagan. now we have a president that seems to be deeply out of his own head or deeply into his own twitter feed, and it's paying almost knoll attention to the responsibilities of america as an international. >> i spoke with congressman from colorado in the last hour. he dismisses these retweets. what does that say to the president? >> i think the president ought to be accountable for his personal tweets. i think if you begin to take things that the president of his own relationship, that's not a good place to be necessarily either. usually we're taught to walk softly, or carry a manne

. >> it started even earlier, actually, with franklin delano roosevelt.he white working class that put him in the oval office four times. the author thomas frank. >> this is who they were as a party. >> note frank's use of the word "were." all of that changed, he says, with a democrat that actually had a unique appeal to the white working class. >> in the name of the hard-working americans who make up our forgotten middle class, i proudly accept your nomination for president of the united states. >> bill clinton was only part of the transition of the working class people to a party that was very concerned about the innovation. >> the party had to stay awake during the presidency. they made it into that tent, and into the big democratic tent went the elites of america, its lawyers and doctors and stockbrokers. but let's remember, clinton essentially tied his republican opponents in the white working class demographic in both 1992 and 1996. so why did the white working class vote for bill and not for hillary? >> what they've become over the last couple of d

true a number of other presidents had quite a few accomplishments, notably harry truman and franklin delano rooseveltthere's that. another tweet from the president yesterday catching the eye of the public that has to do with the alabama senate race. let's look at it. the last thing we need in alabama and the u.s. senate is a schumer, pelosi puppet weak on crime, weak on the border, bad for our military and great vets, bad for the second amendment. and raises taxes to the sky. that points out that the president is very interested in that race. he has said he would tell us more about whether he will actively participate in campaigning for roy moore who was a republican nominee in a lot of trouble in alabama because of his contacts with women. so the question is whether the president is going to campaign for him. we are expecting to hear more this week from the president on whether he is going to do that, and we will go from there. back to you. >> joe johns at the white house. thank you. in justifying support of roy moore, the president seems to be denying not just accusations against moore but some of

. >> it started earlier, actually, with franklin delano roosevelt, it was actually the white workingmes. >> they don't know who they are as a party. >> all that changed with a democrat who actually had a unique appeal to the white working class. >> in the name of the hard working americans who make up our forgotten middle class, i proudly accept your nomination for president of the united states. >> bill clinton is the sort of emblematic figure of the transition of the democratic party, from the party that cares about working class middle class people, to a party that is very much concerned with, you know, the innovation, economy, wall street and all that. >> frank's right, the democratic party did change during bill clinton's presidency. bill clinton made the party a bigger tent. and into that big democratic tent, went the elites of america. its lawyers and doctors and stockbrokers. but let's remember, clinton essentially tied his republican opponents in the white working class demographic in both 1992 and 1996. so why did the white working class vote for bill and not for hillary? >

and franklin delano roosevelt declared -- asked congress to declare war that day. signed the documents to do so. he gave a speech that this day will live in infamy. and we saw that speech in the museum, and originally he wrote, this date will live in history, and he took his pen and cross it out and vote, infamy. a much stronger word, in a beacon of what is to come. it altered the course of modern history, and the future of our country and the beginning on the loss of thousands and thousands of lives. millions if you take into account everything in germany and russia as well. it is one that no doubt he is hearing about at this moment as he gets ready to see the grave sites of 1177 young men, 18, 19, 20, 21 his old off to breakfast come off to start the day, in hopes of defending their country for many years to come, and they lie at the bottom of this bay. it is a very moving moment, shannon. >> shannon: he had talked about the fact that he studied pearl harbor, read about it, but he had never been there. as humans, the first trip for him, how excited he was to see

he reported directly and only to president franklin delano roosevelt, thereby bypassing the state department. as an aside: no records were ever kept of the conversations and meetings between murphy and roosevelt as -- as roosevelt began to plot the invasion of north africa. it is important to understand despite public policy, to stay presidentope's war, roosevelt had already decided to bring them in against mussolini africa into the allied camp. the planned invasion, because it was planned, american and british, would be called operation torch. it turned out to be a very violent and a very bloody dress rehearsal for the invasion of sicily, italy and the storming beaches ofandy france in 1944. torch was lead by unknown american officer called ike, and he was of course general dwight d. eisenhower who would lead the allied forces against hitler's forces two years later. so tonight, i invite you to cast your minds back some 60 years or so, to a time before pearl harbor. the u.s. great depression is just winding down, and roosevelt is seeking an unprecedented fourth term, and robert murphy is es

franklin delano roosevelt, president during the initial years of world war ii signed executive order 8802 that banned discrimination in the work place and called for fair we have black and brown veterans returning to their old lives expecting equality. there are responses to this and racism and discrimination and lack of opportunity and the entrichementen entrenchment not just of jim crow segregation against african-americans in the deep south, but also jim crow and what we might call juan or jamie crow against mexican-americans in southern of no ordinary california and elsewhere around the country is help her commonplace. in 1946 at the end of the war, just to leap ahead for a moment, it shouldn't be surprising that as veterans are returning and a claiming rights and new ways after having fought for american are democracy overseas, that there's an uptick in lynchings you are against you african-americans at the end of the war. e's an uptick in lynchings against african-americans at the end of the war. if we're talking about civil rights during world war ii and who and what is consid

franklin delano roosevelt attacked the courts. i appreciate jefferson's appreciation of the media.lways thought his newspaper to attack his opponent was an example of the freedom of the press that is worthy of being brought up by people like you. [laughter] i appreciate you bringing up jefferson. [applause] i want to remind all of you that worry about dissent in america that one of the most popular musicals of modern times is based on the vice president of the united states shooting the secretary of treasury. [laughter] we have not had, since hamilton, a single incident of such passion. therefore, i feel comfortable that america will endure this. let me go one step further. the first was something andrew said that i think you should think about in terms of its viciousness and dishonesty. that is the clever mixing together of putin and trump. let's be clear. vladimir putin was trained by the kgb. he believes in torturing and killing people. his government routinely assassinates people. he kills people that writes the wrong things. he has imposed a vicious dictators have -- dictators

in 1941 president franklin delano roosevelt declade -- declared the week of thanksgiving to be national bible week. every u.s. president since has followed this tradition by declaring this time of year to be national bible week. the national bible association and the u.s. conference of bishops have designated the specific days of november 12 and 18 this year as national bible week. this is the week set aside to recognize the bible as a foundational building block of western civilization, the judeo-christian heritage, and the legacy that motivated and shaped the founding of the united states. in this hour, we will hear from members of congress from various faith traditions and denominations speak about what the bible means to them and what it means to the country. we are here in keeping with tradition to recognize national bible week. i'm just going to speak for a couple moments about my own personal experience and turn it over to some members who want to share some thoughts that i think listening. th when i was a freshman at the university of kansas four decades ago, someone asked me if