standard of the late 1930's. >> what was the state of the democratic party, amity shlaes, and franklin roosevelt and his support in 1940, eight years after the new deal at a time when most residents would step down? >> roosevelt's victory -- 46 out of 48 states in the preceding election -- was so hard to get past. even as the party was beginning to get past it, this idea of having a third term -- the war was coming closer. war in 1940 had already been declared in europe. germans had invaded poland and britain. all of a sudden, roosevelt was good at war. they knew that. they knew that when he served as secretary of the navy. he might be a good war leader. all of a sudden, people were tongue tied and did not protest against roosevelt. still, it was quite amazing. >> professor madison, the headlines in the summer of 1940 with one "at the republican nominee, hitler moving to france and declaring victory. the big question, is great britain next? juxtapose the politics of 1940 and the limning clouds of war in 1940-1941. >> france surrendered to the not sees a couple of days before the philadelphia --

franklin roosevelt was a law student with him. roosevelt liked to say he and donovan were old pal and law school. donovan said that as a bunch of baloney. roosevelt had nothing to do with someone low on the social strata as donovan. he returned to buffalo and set up a lucrative law practice and married one of the wealthiest women in buffalo and world war i comes. he goes to war and commands a battalion in the 60 ninth irish regiment, famous new york regiment. he was awarded the congressional medal of honor during world war i for very heroic actions. his priest in the 60 ninth regiment said that donovan was one of the few men he ever met who enjoyed combat. and he really did. he would write to his wife that going out on, that was like going to treating at night. that is where heat earned the nickname wild bill. he was a very rigorous and brutal trainer of his men because he realized there were going into a meat grinder which they were. before they went into action in france he was running over hill and under bob wire and whatever an

but i want to set the stage by establishing a relationship that franklin roosevelt had with the american people so i am going to read from a letter that came in to the roosevelt white house in 1934 from someone in the midwest seeking advice on an excruciating personal dilemma. the letter began dear frank, our neighbor, pete smith loaned us $25 on our mule team. in our he says he will take the mule's unless he can see me when my husband is away. here is my question. what should i do to save the mule? it is hard to imagine a citizen sending a personal question to any president other than fdr including barack obama but i think this tells you something about the deep personal affinity millions of americans felt for fdr. product of a harvard education, a man who had grown up on a family estate in upstate new york. it tells you not only something about his personality and how he projected the sense that he cared about americans in all walks of life and all socioeconomic classes but about the time. the unique period in our history when america had been beaten down by an economic crisis so crush

standard of the late 1930's. >> what was the state of the democratic party, amity shlaes, and franklin rooseveltnd his support in 1940, eight years after the new deal at a time when most presidents would step down? >> roosevelt's victory -- 46 out of 48 states in the preceding election -- was so hard to get past. even as the party was beginning to get past it, this idea of having a third term -- the war was coming closer. war in 1940 had already been declared in europe. germans had invaded poland and britain. all of a sudden, roosevelt was -- just when you say there roosevelt could not run again, roosevelt was a navalpresident. he was good at war. they knew that. they knew that he served the secretary of the navy. he might be a good war leader. all of a sudden, people were tongue tied and did not protest against roosevelt. still, it was quite amazing. >> professor madison, the headlines in the summer of 1940 with willkie as the republican nominee, hitler moving to france and declaring victory. the big question, is great britain next? juxtapose the politics of 1940 and the looming clouds of war i

look at roosevelt's great speech at franklin field in '36.d we're going to get to this later in the show but i can't resist now. there is a big difference in the way you sell yourself for president. fdr knew he faced the hatred of the rich, the corporations. they screwed him everywhere they went the supreme court did for four years and he said the hell with you guys. i'm going populist. i'm going to get the socialist, communist, and democratic vote and beat flinn 10-1. bill clinton came back in '96 and said the era of big government is over. i'm going to the center. there are two different ways to run re-election. back to you, senator. should he go rousing left and say damn it you rich guys you're on the wrong side of history? or should he say i'm going down the middle with bill clinton? big question. it's still my question. >> to me, chris, this is not even left. the american people understand who caused this terrible recession. we have 25 million people now without jobs. wall street. you got crooks on wall street who are peddling worthless

i wanted to establish the relationship franklin roosevelt had with the american people. from a letter that came into the white house in january of 1934 seeking advice on an excruciating personal dilemma. it began dear friend. our neighbor pete smith loaned us $25 and the mule team. area will pay the meal unless he can see me. here's my question. what should i do to save the mule? hard to imagine sending a personal question to any president the other than fdr including barack obama. but this tells you something about the personal affinity millions of americans felt for fdr whose harvard education, the man who ran up servants in upstate new york. tells you not only about his personality and how he projected a sense he cared about america and all walks of life and socioeconomic classes but the time. a unique period in history when america had been beaten down by an economic crisis so amazing that the wealthiest businessman and most experienced political leaders we had had thrown up their hands and declared they had no assets. roosevelt arrived in the white house having decl

because he was one of only one of two cabinet members in the roosevelt administration his serve franklin roosevelt for all 12 years that roosevelt was in office, the other one being frances perkins. he was a very important aide and adviser to roosevelt. roosevelt did not always taken very seriously. he was the curio, a curmudgeon, would try to get his weight by threatening to resign, but he was also known, the reason that roosevelt put him in charge of the public works ministration which ended up with jurisdiction over a river dam was that he was convinced that it would be so careful with the public's money that he would always disperse it very slowly, which could result. and he did. never a scandal at the public works and ministration commanded give us some truly enduring public works. this gentleman right here. >> i don't know if you have done any reading on patrick moynihan discussion and studies of security. if he was alive today some of the things that he can say about the condition of social security. if i remember correctly, he looked at it more as a mathematical equation, in other words, t

including franklin roosevelt?think of one, i think for instance, robert kennedy says in his preface to the memorial edition of profiles in courage, 1964, that at least half of his days on earth were spent in physical pain. if that's the truth i think more than franklin roosevelt, absolutely. >> you must've been think about arthur's question as you're researching this book and he was a friend of all of ours. were the questions he didn't ask that he wished that he had? >> i did can put everything is always 2020 in hindsight, 47 years later. as caroline mentioned for instance, and in those days most historians would not have thought to ask her a lot about her own experience. a first lady in those days, with sort of a side event so there's less on her. and also the purpose was basically to talk about president kennedy. i caroline and i have discussed this, too. there's thing since we know what happened later on, we sure wish he would've asked what president kennedy might have done in vietnam, of the issues are not so

he persuaded franklin roosevelt to make the race.lthough smith lost by a narrow vote, roosevelt was elected to his first term as governor. already roosevelt was the leading favorite for the nomination. the leading opponent, none other than his old friend al smith. >> franklin d. roosevelt, having received more than 2/3 of all the delegates, i proclaim him the nominee of this convention for president of the united states. [applause] >> you have nominated me and i know it and i am here to thank you for the honor. [applause] i pledge myself to a new deal for the american people. >> and back live in the new york constituent assembly chamber. beverly gage, how did we get from 1928 f.d.r. calling al smith the happy warrior and nominating him to the 1932 election? >> well, they had been allies before, both coming up through the same new york democratic party. a couple of things happened between 1928 and 1932, some of which are very personal and some of which are on a grand scale. the most important thing that happened is of course that we e

the death of franklin roosevelt had ended one presidency. the approaching government, the expectation that government would be more involved in insuring prosperity, the government would be used to fight economic downturns as the new deal had in the 30's and 40's. whether or not he believed in the success of those efforts, the assumption was that when fdr died, the new deal died with him. the set of expectations -- the relationship between the average american and his government which had been transformed by the new deal, that was not the case. on election day in 1948, a americans enjoyed record prosperity, record employment. the reasons the republicans in spite of that thought they could win was very simple -- here truman. we forget today that here a true man in his first term was a very unpopular president. there was talk about the little man from missouri. truman had a very difficult assignment. every president after a war has a process of readjusting economically, culturally, the agriculture sector. inflation, strikes -- all of that came

standard of the late 1930's. >> what was the state of the democratic party, amity shlaes, and franklin rooseveltnd his support in 1940, eight years after the new deal at a time when most residents would step down? -- most presidents would step down? >> roosevelt's victory -- 46 out of 48 states in the preceding election -- was so hard to get past. even as the party was beginning to get past it, this idea of having a third term -- the war was coming closer. war in 1940 had already been declared in europe. germans had invaded poland and britain. all of a sudden, roosevelt was -- just when you say there roosevelt could not run again, roosevelt was unable president. he was good at war. they knew that. they knew that when he served as secretary of the navy. he might be a good war leader. all of a sudden, people were tongue tied and did not protest against roosevelt. still, it was quite amazing. >> professor madison, the headlines in the summer of 1940 with one "at the republican nominee, hitler moving to france and declaring victory. the big question, is great britain next? juxtapose the politics of

ran for a third time but if i'm not mistaken none of the attempts was successful except for franklin roosevelt who was elected president four times running he stood at the helm throughout the or deals of economic depression and the second world war and was elected four times because his policies were effective. but the exact number of terms and years in power do not really matter it helmut kohl spent sixteen years in power in west germany he wasn't president but his post was actually the most important executive job in the country the same goes for one of the former canadian prime ministers another look at post-war france where a president could have been elected for seven years without a limit on the number of terms it was just recently that france introduced amendments into its constitution and cut it down to no more than two five year terms very similar to what we have in russia now what does that mean when a country is facing difficult and hard times when it's recovering from a crisis and getting back on its feet it's these pillars of stability including in politics that play a vital role

he persuaded franklin roosevelt to make the race. although smith lost by a narrow vote, roosevelt was elected to his first term as governor. already roosevelt was the leading favorite for the nomination. the leading opponent, none other than his old p friend al smith >> frank len d. roosevelt, having received more than 2/3 of allle delegates, i proclaim him the nominee of this convention for president of the united states. >> you have nominated me and i know it and i am here to thank you for the honor. i pledge myself to a new deal for the american people. >> and back live in the new york constituent assembly chamber. beverly gauge, how did we get from 1928 al smith calling -- f.d.r. calling al smith the happy warrior and nominating him to the 1932 election? >> well, they had been allies before, both coming up through the same new york democratic party. a couple of things happened between 1928 and 1932, some of think -- which are very personal and some of which are on a grand scale. the most important thing that happened is of course

someone dwarfed by the ghost of franklin roosevelt. truman had a very difficult assignment. every president after a war has the process of readjusting economically, culturally, thing a agricultural sector. all of that came due on his watch and the consensus in then 46 and 1947 was that he was not handling it well. it was so bad that republicans took congress in 1946 which of course only fed their expectation that the presidency with fall into their lap that years later. >> how were republicans viewing the truman administration at this point heading in 1948? >> that is a great question. the problem is there was no such thing as the republican. that was part of dewey's problem. the republican party then much more than now was split almost evenly between the eastern establishment, the old teddy roosevelt wing, charles evans profiled earlier in this series was very much in that tradition. dewey represented that in the 1930's and 1940's and into the 50's and then dwight eisenhower. opposed to that were the conservative midwesterners, many isolationists who rallied around bob atta

every inch from the 16-inch guns to its bathtub built for franklin roosevelt are soaked in history. >at was franklin roosevelt's shuttle over to africa where he met with winston churchill. >> reporter: that history also includes a dark chapter. in 1989 an explosion killed 46 people onboard. >> we don't have any tours or spaces open to anybody in the public. we do allow -- we plan to allow families, the loved ones that they've lost to be able to tour if they would like to. >> reporter: david canfield doesn't need a history lesson on the iowa. he served on it for two years. now he's a volunteer helping to bring the famous ship back to life. >> i'm just so glad that the ship will be preserved to teach another generation what these ships are all about. >> reporter: before that can take bliss bob miller has to guide ships through the bay. >> we'll have about 12 inches of clearance. >> reporter: once past the shallows he maneuvers through the venetia bridge with only two feet of clearance. >> once on the other side a crowd watching from the venetia bridge gives the ship a warm embrace. >> y

franklin roosevelt, president lyndon johnson.r how many times the word happy came up in his conversations? >> i was. and nothing if not frank loved these interviews and one thing that she says more than one is that when her husband was elected in 1960, she had a novel reaction. like most incoming first lady's car she was terrified and she was surprised, per the because she had just given birth and partly because she thought it would recker family life, that there was just such a fishbowl of so many pressures and she was amazed as she says that it actually had the opposite effect. during their marriage, this 1953 john kennedy had run for vice president to run for reelection of the senate, run for president and so, she says almost every week and very much a part, a first-time now de rigueur in that house seat to make oval office. they were together in physical proximity a lot more. so i think there was an exhilaration finding a convert to it she accepted. we heard about her interesting fellow campaign in wisconsin. >> she just love

and then with a population and i must say wants more that that was also the case of franklin roosevelt. and the new deal was an effort to bring more privileged to the underprivileged but the young generation and i ame afraid in many countries that will not be achieved bya political parties so thenurn turn to other groups to take. advantage that this new aspect of the possibility of getting in touch with people all over the world i don't know anything about that. [laughter] but if that turns them away from politics democraticallyu run administration and government, then why should one tell them they cannot change a democracy what is going on the democratic aspect. and it is relatively easy for me now because you're the party has come up with the extraordinary titleo nobody understands it. never mind. but they are very useful and to say yes, we are of the left. they are in impertinent to work with a socialist partyp w and to not only to go into the ngo. bad is the way my book should be interpreted. "time for outrage" it must be inside politics and change politics from the inside. and the

for several years they reached berlin suggesting franklin delano roosevelt was less committed to american neutrality in the face of conflicts raging across the globe and he publicly professed to be. having long suspected to be, quote, in sane and despicable president of the united states promoting, quote, the work of hatred and warmongering throughout the world hitler recently was presented before irrefutable proof his mistress was justified. he was not alone in questioning the sincerity of the president's unwillingness to entangle the united states abroad. before the german declaration of war he galvanized central asian sentiment worldwide. two of the administration members of the american press jointly published in the respected chicago and washington d.c. newspapers what appeared to be confirmation of their own fears that president roosevelt was lying the united states to war with germany. this monumental scooped consisted of excerpts of the top-secret rainbow 5 plan, army and navy testament the united states would be ready to launch its own assault on germany. july of 1943. perhaps mo

same thing with so many of the policies of franklin roosevelt. said the government is spending too much. then of course, became a big spender. but at its core, people knew that franklin roosevelt, unlike herbert hoover, believed in a positive role for the government in social justice and economic prosperity and that in the end is what matters. >> american university's allen likt man, nice to see you sir. >>> other headlines in the news. another dramatic rescue in turkey. a 13-year-old boy was pulled out alive from the collapsed building following sunday's massive earthquake. it killed 570 people. relatives say he was trying to dig himself out of the rubble with a rock. >>> a potential glitch in the trial of michael jackson's doctor, conrad murray could push this case well into week six. prosecutors say they need more time to review new evidence. >> the problem from the start, the judge told the jurors they would be done by october 28th. that's today. nbc learned that the judge expressed concern that he'll start losing jurors before the case even

scene of the crime when they began to break up and economic order that had been started by franklin roosevelt44. at the end of 73 they changed it. a little later on, they changed something called regulation q. this is what put you out of your house and why your mortgage is not worth what to pay for it. they changed the rules in the congress. and then the savings and loans went out of business because they left housing and started building casinos and resorts and everything else. when they went out of business, the commercial banks get into housing. they did not know anything about housing. they started packaging mortgages in something called derivatives and they sold them all around the world and they were not worth a damn. then when they went out of business, they call for the government to bail them out. and that was not good enough but there was a regulation call g lass-steagal. republicans change that. now the thing is all messed up. the problem in banking and finance is we have too much integration. [laughter] nobody really knows what they are doing and they are doing it in secret and th

and for several years they've reached berlin suggesting that franklin delano roosevelt was perhaps less committed to american neutrality in the face of the conflicts raging across the globe than he professed to be. having long suspected the, quote, insane and despicable president of the united states of promoting, quote, though hatred and mongering throughout the world hitler had recently been presented with what he took to be reviewed and approved his mistrust had been justified. it wasn't allin questioning the sincerity of the president's long expressed unwillingness to untangle the united states abroad. a week before the german declaration of the war to galvanize isolationist sentiment nationwide to of the most administration members of the press had jointly published in the respected chicago and washington, d.c. newspapers would appear to be confirmation of their own fear that president roosevelt was as they put it lobbying the united states into war with germany. the monumental scope of only consisted of excerpts of the top-secret rainbow five plan, the joint estimate that the unit

to begin our discussion, we will show you president franklin roosevelt in 1937, his take on what was commonly called the court packing plant. after that, you will see chief justice john roberts. first, a newsreel from that time introducing us to each of the members of the supreme court in 1937. >> associate justice sutherland. it became a senator from utah. the only supreme court catholic. a democrat who supported president harding. from wyoming -- 78. 56 years on the bench. james reynolds of tennessee, 75. confirmed bachelor. has voted against every new deal measure. benjamin nathan -- benjamin nathan cardozo, a 67 -- 67, appointed by president hoover. arlen of new york, a former dean of the university law school. justice brandeis of kentucky. wilson dared not appoint him attorney general, but did reported him to the court. -- the did appoint him to the core. and justice roberts. at 61, the youngest justice. long a conservative. and charles evans hughes, 75. chief justice since 1930. sometimes conservative, sometimes liberal. >> president roosevelt goes on the air in an appeal for p

. >> ting answer may be yes but it was franklin roosevelt during the depression. >> one. >> that's exactly the question. the president has the wind blowing against him. no matter whether you think he did the right thing for the economy or not, it isn't very good and people aren't feeling very good about it. and that's not good for an incumbent. an incumbent president or an incumbent member of congress. a lot will depend on whether the republicans can position themselves as having a credible alternative. i think a lot of people will be ready to vote for change just because they don't like the current economy. but whether mitt romney or rick perry or herman cain, whoever the nominee is, can capitalize on that, it's a long way off. >> let's talk about occupy wall street. this movement is now on for a month. do you think this translates into any policy changes soon? >> that's a good question. i've been thinking a lot about that. it's certainly gotten a lot of attention. in political, if you've got a lot of public attention, you can sometimes have an impact on policy. i think it's provided a le

liberal democrat woodrow wilson who fought and won world war gone it was the liberal democrat franklin roosevelt who fought and won world war two he was also the liberal who created unemployment insurance so people who were laid off didn't end up on the streets and roosevelt was the liberal who created social security so people who worked their entire lives could have a decent retirement free from poverty it was also a liberal who put in place glass steagall after the crash of twenty nine that reigned in the banks and prevented another market panic for more than sixty years and it was liberals who brought democracy to the workplace in the form of labor unions and safety regulations liberals created a safer working environment that kept americans mainly in their arms and dangerous machinery are dying in factory fires because the fire exits were locked like of the triangle shirtwaist factory in new york. liberals put in place child labor laws to end the exploitation of ten year olds liberals work for women to get equal pay for equal work and are still working to finish the liberals fought for wome

have fought to bring to this nation over the last century from teddy roosevelt square deal to franklin roosevelt's new deal to lyndon johnson's great society seventy eight percent of americans oppose cutting medicare a program created by democrats seventy three percent of americans oppose cutting medicaid another program created by democrats sixty two percent of americans oppose any kind of cuts to social security another program created by democrats sixty seven percent of americans oppose cutting off unemployment insurance another program created by democrats let republicans run on their desire to cut these programs what a moron you try to run on handing over social security to wall street bankers they handing medicare over to for profit health insurance executives because they can't win at least not as long as democrats don't give in. and offer cuts up themselves like the six democrats in the gang of twelve just did it's really something democrats want to act like there's no difference between them and republicans that's the point of even having two parties as legend has harry truman saying peop

but want to set the stage by establishing the relationship that franklin roosevelt had with the american people. so on going to read from a letter that came into the roosevelt white house in january january 1934 from a farm wife in the midwest seeking advice on an excruciating personal dilemma. the letter began, dear frank. [laughter] our neighbor loaned us $25 on our team. now he says he will take the meals lsc can come to see me when my husband is away. here's my question. what should i do to save the meals? now, it's hard to imagine a citizen putting the sense of a personal question to any president including barack obama , but i think this tells you something about the deep personal affinity that millions of americans fell for fdr. tell the privilege, product of a harvard education, amanda groped servants on the family estate in upstate new york. tells you not only something about his personality and how he projected the sense that he cared about americans in all walks of life and all socio-economic glasses, but about the time. a unique time in our history when america had been b

all these problems which were very much inspired by the rich in great britain and by franklin roosevelt's new deal. those who came up in this program are the french resistance. 60 years later in 2004, a number of french who were former resistance responsible people in the resistance that together and said we are not happy with the way in which france -- not happy about the way in which france keeps the message of civility. let us bring that up and make a call. let us publish again this program of the resistance and tell our french friends if the french government is not going in that direction we must oppose the french government. that is what has happened and we had a moment -- so indeed, that was your question. it is a small moment of french history but is it significant as something that can lead you further into making the opposition in politics, not just -- but resist. and that i think is perhaps also what could be the message now. we mustn't police think of what is wrong but the way in which it could be effectively resisted against. there you are. >> you say in your book for reasons

ignored ridiculed and fought the calls to abolish slavery and they lost the economic royalists as franklin roosevelt called them ignored ridiculed them thought of progressives who wanted to create a new deal an american middle class and then they lost to in the one nine hundred sixty s. after years of ridicule and fights it was civil rights in the in the rights of the poor the issues in which s.d.s. was founded one hundred sixty four along with the right to young people to vote which was passed as an amendment of the constitution in just seven short months we want this is how our nation came to be and it's playing out again in front of our very eyes today wall street and its corporate media borns will lose to stay tuned. that's the big picture for more information on our stories we covered tonight visit our web site the thom hartmann dot com free speech dot org and archie dot com also check out our two you tube channels there are links a tomahawk tartan dot com entire show is available as a free video podcast i tunes and don't forget democracy begins with you tag your it see them are. wealthy britis

as the country got wealthier everyone got wealthy by world war two as president roosevelt franklin roosevelt's new deal was taken ill and a third of the workforce was unionized and we protected our domestic manufacturing industries and corporate monopolies were illegal everyone got wealthier in america and then something happened but wasn't reagan. and as this chart shows since nineteen eighty as the nation got wealthier only the top one percent got wealthier with the rest of us the ninety nine percent. screwed today we're looking at the ninety nine percent of the top one percent one thing is clear we're growing farther and farther apart from each other and that's why people are on the streets today and this is how it came to be that way lots of there's a lot of conversation about the top one percent you know who is the top one percent where they make their money how did how did all this happen you know we just pointed out the the average household income. and we'll come back to that in just a second but as union membership has collapsed here this is let me just point out this is from sixty se

forward just that just as it had done in previous revolutions be it the civil rights movement franklin roosevelt's new deal or the progressive era of teddy roosevelt the man who wrote the declaration of independence sparking the first american revolution promise jefferson wrote repeatedly about the need for generational revolutions he said no society can make a perpetual constitution or even a perpetual law the earth belongs to the living generation they manage it and consequently may govern as they please its every constitution that in every law it actually expires at the end of thirty four years he said naturally is talking about as an a lot of nature so after those thirty four years roughly the span of time that it takes for one group in power to get old and step down a new generation comes to power and governs as a sees fit and a revolution of hers which jefferson also wrote about what happens if these sorts of revolutions these periodic transformations are stopped or blocked he said if this avenue be shot to call of sufferance it will make itself heard through that of force and we shall go on

fox so-called news who have one primary agenda regardless of party but agenda to keep what franklin roosevelt called the economic royalists my generation called the establishment and your generation calls the one percenters in power. and on your side you have young people who came from all across america on their own dime to live on the streets sleep in sleeping bags get beaten by the police and stand up for the other ninety nine percent of us you don't need a corporate blow horn you don't need anyone because you're on the right side of history and cause and they're on the wrong side you're on the side that gandhi was on the side that martin luther king was on the side that will eventually write tomorrow's history books this isn't the first time there's been conflict in the streets of america it happened in the one nine hundred sixty s. too i was there i was beaten by cops i was gassed out on the streets with thousands of other kids we knew something was wrong with this country and that something needed to change and we fought the suits and we ended the vietnam war and we brought about the at