of dunning street in london the british prime minister harold wilson was faced with what he called himself an apocalyptic crisis northern ireland was spinning out of control and civil war could not be. amongst the options he considered were a dried withdraw and self government if the people of the north were on governable he could not go. in an atmosphere of near panic wilson called a council of war at his official country retreat checkers. the peaceful buckinghamshire countryside. also present was the secretary of state for defense. and the secretary of state for northern ireland and greece on the security side the team was headed by so david house the general officer commanding northern aren't. well wilson attempted to control the worsening situation the hawks within british military intelligence hoped for a different outcome. where all out war could be waged on the ira. in the meantime gang were slaughtering anyone but republican targets. so we asked ourselves why why these people and we drew up 2 lists one was of people who were unlucky enough to be caught up in indiscriminate car bomb

harold: wilson was closed off in his upper bedroom.ome reporters knew he was seriously ill, very few wrote about the depths of it. some wrote that he had gone insane. they saw bars on an upper floor window and said that he had been restrained. it turns out they had been put on a nursery when tr's boys were small and wild. word leaked out, doctors giving what they thought were true reports, but they didn't. they all said he was recovering. his wife cloaked his activities in total secrecy. he had already during the war cut down press conferences to a minimum. it is remarkable that he was able to conceal his health difficulties. but skipping ahead to our second conversation, so did john kennedy. susan: as we close out this first period, 130 years of american history and presidents and the press, what is the most important thing to know about this period of time and how presidents dealt with the press? harold: i think you hit on it earlier when you noted that the press started out revering presidents, one president, it moved into strict pa

harold wilson former prime minister britain said a week in politics is a long time. you have seen that it here lately. three weeks ago republicans were dead and now the democrats are dead for the blowup of obamacare. a week in politics as long time. should people get carried away but one election doesn't decide the future of conservatism or progressivism. the american people are center-right he said and if you give them a chance they will come back to their senses. what we decided was to ask hard questions that conservatives could answer and i've just listed two of them here that we think are important. one is this liberty still resonate? as you go back to the history of conservatism and if you had to pick one theme that is the essence of conservatism i don't know how you could avoid liberty. for edmund burke individual liberty was the essence of the modern conservatives. when herbert hoover started speaking gives the new deal has look in his speeches were called the challenge to liberty. that is how he saw the new deal is a challenge to individual freedom. conservat