year, george that mcgovern thought the senator the presidential nomination. establishment favorite. campaign manager was gary hart. that is better known later on in his political career but at that time, managing george mcgovern's campaign they decided he needed a boost. inspent a few days out here iowa. he did well in the caucus, came got aa close second and bump going into new hampshire. in 1976, anater unknown georgia governor decides, hey, iowa might be a stage get on the national going into the primary season. iowa carter comes out to and is launched to the white house. from there, iowa can never be again. the iowa caucuses have grown from 1976. started in 1976, the have thens started to caucus on the same day as the democrats. caucusedarties have since then. the only year they did not have caucus race in 1992. that is when senator tom harkin from iowa decided to run for the otherand all candidates decided not to campaign in iowa. later that in 2008 when iowa's governor ran his fellownt democrats did not give him the courtesy of iowa. fact, indated with other candidates in iowa

that was not necessarily the goal, but it was the reality. george mcgovern, the senator democratic the presidential nomination -- he was not the establishment favorite. his campaign manager was a young man named gary hart. becomes a name that is much better known later on in his political career, that at georgeme managing mcgovern's campaign decided they needed a boost going into the new hampshire primary. he spent a few days in iowa, courting the boat. he did well in the caucuses, came in a close second, and got a bit of a bump going into new hampshire. in 1976, ans later, unknown georgia governor decides , iowa might be a way to get on the national stage, going into the primary season. so jimmy carter comes out to iowa, when's the caucuses, and is launched to the white house. from there, iowa could never be ignored again. the iowa caucuses have really grown from 1976. 1976, the in republicans decided to start having their caucuses on the same day as the democrats. sincearties have caucused then. the only year i would did not have a competitive caucus race

, had the crew that broke into watergate not been arrested there, their real mission that night was george mcgovern'suarters on capitol hill. you can track directly from the oval office and order, a request by the president -- a pretty and orderbetween and a request by the president -- and he said to haldeman, i think we should have a plant in george mcgovern's headquarters. >> he was not talking about a firm. >> no, he was not. we don't know what he was talking about, it was vague. instructionkes that and passes it to one of his aides and says, change your intelligence gathering function from senator muskie to senator mcgovern. -- they been arrested later >> they were actually going into congressional offices? the offices were on capitol hill. it was his campaign headquarters. they had made earlier attempts unsuccessfully. this was the big night of the mission. wow.ile -- >> i don't know if nixon would have ordered medtronic surveillance, but he would have been in the line of fire at that point. it is not true, based on everything i can find in the tapes, and the nuance of conversations, that he had

. >> there is a history to this that's the democratic party going way back here of of george mcgovernica first party. the idea of the democrats of jimmy carter as president. the idea of democrats as the weak party. any democratic party being weak on foreign policy. republicans had a lot of electoral success. is there something to tap into when they do this? >> first, i'm shocked that dick cheney would not take responsibility for the mess in iraq are. the criticism that he and mccain and lindsey graham and everybody would be akin to saying we were attacked on 9/11 because they were weak, if he canless. i don't remember them making the claim. historically ever since the george mcgovern campaign, even before that the republicans get a lot of political mileage out of calling the democrats weak on national security. they have tried it again and again with this president but with the bin laden raid, libya, and with winding down wars that were unpopular, they have gotten no traction. he beat john mccain, the war hawk in 2008. he beat mitt romney. he tried to make that issue, too. now they ar

wanted to know what happened and the only line you need to know that explains what happens when people say too long in office george mcgovern said if i knew how difficult it was to run a business on my have voted differently in the senate. there you are. you get out of touch, get free haircuts, free parking, free pension stuff after one or two terms. what is not to like about that. the founders never wanted that to happen. what we have in illinois is will we have a lot better state especially the federal government if you are going to elect the same party, the same people, the same party over and over again you can expect corruption. it is going to happen and it happens here, it happened in new jersey, still does, in new york and parts of california and other states when you have a 1-party control of your state or federal government are going to open yourself up to far more temptation and corruption. >> a book is not just 150 pages of blasting this issue with that issue. you have solutions and solutions for regular people. bring the hammer down on something and people are left after they read it. what can i do about it as a

that's basically it. it worked for them for a generation and a half. >> smart move. >> it goes to the late 60s and early 70s against george mcgovern and successive democrats as weak on defense. they played it over and over again even though reagan was different. don't forget, the polls show most of the american people think the iraq war was a mistake. that we pasted money -- >> do the republican money men think that? >> i think increasingly they may. don't forget hillary clinton who is more conservative in many ways and more of a hawk than rand paul has also now said finally she thinks she made a mistake when she voted for the iraq war. that shows rand paul is headed in the right direction. >> senator john mccain and liz cheney took shots at rand paul today while both made a point of saying they weren't taking sides between perry and paul. the hawkish people had strong words for rand paul. let's listen to them take sides effectively. >> senator paul is part of a wing of the party that's been there since prior to world war i in the republican party. that's a withdrawal to fortress america. >> i think i have some big concerns about the extent to which senat

that's george washington in 1796 in latter to james monroe, mr. mcgovern -- in a letter to james monroe, mr. mcgovern. and i think that i, along with other members of congress, gave away my constitutional right to declare war when we gave to president bush the authority to use military force. that in itself is something, again, as i will be repetitive for a moment, i'll always, always regret. another quote very quickly. james madison, this is mr. mcgovern's point, the power to declare war, including the power of judging the causes of war is fully and exclusively vested in the legislature. we are the legislature. it is our responsibility to meet our constitutional duties. mr. mcgovern, i have signed over 11,000 letters to families in this country since we went into iraq because i have asked god to forgive me for listening to the misinformation and the distortions by the previous administration to go into iraq. that is my pain and i will live with that pain. i am on the floor with you today and ms. lee, who's already spoken, to say thank you for taking the l

that i think destroys this institution. and i started here as an intern in the 1970s for george mcgovern. no relation. people said they were big supporters of my dad and my dad owns a liquor store and to keep supporting him. but i remember, you know, mcgovern and dole working on nutrition programs together. the former chairman of this committee, when tip o'neil was here, great calm rmaraderie and don't think they'd ever let it get to this point. chairman yields back his time. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i'd be happy -- not all of the old congress framnkly, we don't very often see this -- while i have a predisposition, i haven't made a final judgment in this case and i find myself going back and forth, quite frankly and you've made your point since serially so i appreciate what all of you have brought to the table in that regard. and i have to say, as a sort of upfront assumption as a conservative, i hate going to court. i consider it the equivalent of going to war. it's unpredictable and it's expensive. so i don't like doing it and have never taken anybody to court in my life and have never taken anyb

george mcgovern or nelson rockefeller. he thought he was charles de gaulle, a statesman that the world would look up to for a long time to comeand also to use it as a grist against his opponents, if somebody said you did this in your policy, he'd say i have a transcript of it, but of course the courts wouldn't let him keep the tapes, and it's really been his undoing. >> posterity cost him. douglas brinkley great to have you with us. of course be sure to watch "the sixties" tonight, 1968, tonight at 9:00 p.m. eastern and pacific only on cnn, watch it live, set your dvr. >>> coming up for us next, a man loses perhaps one of the most valuable possessions on earth, a red sox world series ring. that's bad. but who found it? well, in some ways that makes it even worse. the man has his ring back. that is "the good stuff." we'll explain coming up. you're driving along, having a perfectly nice day, when out of nowhere a pick-up truck slams into your brand new car. one second it wasn't there and the next second... boom! you've had your first accident. now you have to make your first claim. so you talk to your insurance company and... b

that i think destroys this institution. and i started here as an intern in the 1970s for george mcgovern. no relation. people said they were big supporters of my dad and my dad owns a liquor store and to keep supporting him. but i remember, you know, mcgovern and dole working on nutrition programs together. the former chairman of this committee, when tip o'neil was here, great calm rmaraderie and don't think they'd ever let it get to this point. chairman yields back his time. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i'd be happy -- not all of the old congress framnkly, we don't very often see this -- while i have a predisposition, i haven't made a final judgment in this case and i find myself going back and forth, quite frankly and you've made your point since serially so i appreciate what all of you have brought to the table in that regard. and i have to say, as a sort of upfront assumption as a conservative, i hate going to court. i consider it the equivalent of going to war. it's unpredictable and it's expensive. so i don't like doing it and have never taken anybody to court in my life and have never taken anyb

that way. but it used to be a very different shade of red, a moderate pragmatic shade of red. bob dole brokered bipartisan deals and teamed up with george mcgovernto save the food stamp program. dole had this to state last year. >> what do you think of your party, of the republicans today? >> i think they out to put a sign on the committee doors that says closed for repairs until new year's day next year. and spend that time going over ideas and positive agendas. >> and also landmark health insurance legislation with ted kennedy. but all of that was in the pb era, the era that began in 2010 when sam brownbeck was governor of kansas. he first one back in 1996 when he got his senate seat by defeating a moderate pro-choice republican. and sense then, the fight between he and the once moderate wing has only escalated. 2012, they controlled the state senate in a series of bidder primary fights. he's led a conservative revolution as governor. he signed into law an abortion bill that defines life as beginning at conception. he's had tax cuts that attributed to a huge drop in state revenues. at the same time that he was slashing income taxes, brownback

that i think destroys this institution. and i started here as an intern in the 1970s for george mcgovern. no relation. people said they were big supporters of my dad and my dad owns a liquor store and to keep supporting him. but i remember, you know, mcgovern and dole working on nutrition programs together. the former chairman of this committee, when tip o'neil was here, great calm rmaraderie and don't think they'd ever let it get to this point. chairman yields back his time. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i'd be happy -- not all of the old congress framnkly, we don't very often see this -- while i have a predisposition, i haven't made a final judgment in this case and i find myself going back and forth, quite frankly and you've made your point since serially so i appreciate what all of you have brought to the table in that regard. and i have to say, as a sort of upfront assumption as a conservative, i hate going to court. i consider it the equivalent of going to war. it's unpredictable and it's expensive. so i don't like doing it and have never taken anybody to court in my life and have never taken anyb

george mcgovern. on one of the tapes, he's so victorious, he says, why isn't somebody writing a book about 1972. all thaturse, we know, by '73, watergate just starts ripping him down. and you get a whole new batch of tapes that a man name stanley cutler had put into a book called "abuse of power," a great scholar from wisconsin, and now john deans also adding to that record. >> did you like putting this together? >> it was unbelievable, because my friend, luke nicktor, we had transcripts so high, he's been working on it for a decade. and we went through and edited it down to try to be fair. ones that are historically significant, some lighter moments, and some moments of dark nixon. >> before we go to break, we're going to bump out with him talking about women who swear, which we ran earlier. it is something to listen to. the book is the nixon tapes. and you can read an excerpt on our site, mojo.msnbc.com. douglas brinkley, thank you so much. thank you, cassidy! your daughter's adorable! always bring her. al hunt, thank you as well. i know you've got to run. tomorrow on "morning joe," we'll continue our

that was not necessarily the goal, but it was the reality. george mcgovern, the senator democratic the presidential nomination -- he was not the establishment favorite. his campaign manager was a young man named gary hart. becomes a name that is much better known later on in his political career, that at georgeme managing mcgovern's campaign decided they needed a boost going into the new hampshire primary. he spent a few days in iowa, courting the boat. he did well in the caucuses, came in a close second, and got a bit of a bump going into new hampshire. in 1976, ans later, unknown georgia governor decides , iowa might be a way to get on the national stage, going into the primary season. so jimmy carter comes out to iowa, when's the caucuses, and is launched to the white house. from there, iowa could never be ignored again. the iowa caucuses have really grown from 1976. 1976, the in republicans decided to start having their caucuses on the same day as the democrats. sincearties have caucused then. the only year i would did not have a competitive caucus race