william king, who was franklin pierce's vice president did have a lot of experience but he was very sick when he was chosen to be vice president. in fact, so sick he resigned from the senate because he couldn't continue to perform his role in the senate and he died soon after his election. being vice president wasn't a good career move for somebody in most of the 19th century. only three 19th century vice presidents were elected to a second term and none after 1836. although five presidents in the period from 1828 to 1900 were elected to a second term, none with the same vice president. the four vice presidents who succeeded to the presidency in the 19th century, none of them were elected to their own term as president and the vice presidency wasn't a good presidential springboard. when daniel webster was offered a position on the 1848 ticket with zachary taylor he refused saying "i don't propose to be buried until i'm dead." [ laughter ] it wasn't the wisest move of the great webster's career. he always wanted to be president. some months later zachary taylor died and millard fillmore i

so happy president's day, it's great to get together and celebrate the career of franklin pierce, william henry harrison, john tyler, can't forget john tyler. [ laughter ] and i'm joking slightly to make a point. i understand the imperatives of the three day weekend and bureaucracy and you can't take two days off as we used to do back when i was a lad, february 12 and february 22 for the alpha and omega presidents washington and then lincoln. there's a kind of a participatory medal to the presidents, they get lumped together, lincoln in with pierce. and some of this is a justifiable suspicion of the great man period of history which began in the 19th century with thomas carlisle and worked its way through to popular biographies that glorified lincoln or washington or teddy roosevelt, the great, if you will and we now are more sensitive to democratic politics, we're more sensitive to diversity and the panoply of social history and i'm not a devoe tae of the great man theory. i don't like it. i don't believe a single individual -- with rare exception as we'll get to -- that they determine t

great to get together and celebrate the career of franklin pierce, william henry harrison, john tyler, can't forget john tyler. and i'm joking and slightly to make a point. i understand the imperatives of the three day weekend and bureaucracy and you can't take two days off as we used to do back when i was a lad, february 12th and february 22nd for the alpha and omega presidents washington and lincoln. but there is a kind of participatory medal now to the presidents, they all get lumped together. lincoln and with pierce. and some of this is a justifiable suspicion of the great period of history, 19th century, with thomas carlisle and worked its way through to popular biographies that glorified lincoln or glorified washington or teddy roosevelt, the greats if you will. and we now are more sensitive to democratic politics, more sensitive to diversity and the panoply. and i'm not a devotee of the great -- i don't like it. i don't believe the single individuals with rare exception including as we'll get to with lincoln that they determine the outcome of world historic events that hagel's

thanks to franklin pierce, the bush family's great-grandfather.ere's the point, there is no other group that has been victimized like black folks. we have fought in every war of liberation, expecting in return to be liberated and it has always failed. military in, our world war i, white folks said they did not want black folks to fight with them but the french said will take them and they honored them at the end of the war. second world war, there were tons -- there was tons of racism. race riots in vietnam, not against the vietnamese, but white folks against black folks. i can't get rid of my color. the concentration camps in europe, the continental u.s. was our concentration camp. police, not least, the look where we are getting them from. from the fringes of white society. donald trump would never have a child who says he wants to be a policeman or join the military. mitt romney had five sons and not one was in a uniform of any kind. what i'm saying is, what else can we do? host: if you're just tuning in or listening on c-span radio, we are ask

pierce following fillmore. but after buchanan this nation needed lincoln, after taft we needed wilson, and after hoover we needed franklinoosevelt. but we're not merely running against mr. nixon. our task is not merely one of itemizing republican failures. nor is that wholly necessary. for the families forced from the farm do not need to tell us of their plight. the unemployed miners and textile workers know that the decision is before them in november. the old people without medical care, the families without a decent home, the parents of children without a decent school: they all know that it's time for a change. we are not here to curse the darkness; we are here to light a candle. as winston churchill said on taking office some twenty years ago: if we open a quarrel between the present and the past, we shall be in danger of losing the future. today our concern must be with that future. for the world is changing. the old era is ending. the old ways will not do. abroad, the balance of power is shifting. new and more terrible weapons are coming into use. one-third of the world may be free, but one-third is the victim of