truman would respond a week later, please accept my thanks for your message of the 12th. i need not assure you that your good wishes are deeply appreciated, very sincerely yours, harry s. truman. he would write, in his handwritten note at the bottom, i assure you i shall feel free to call upon you, thanks for the offer. truman would say to his staff later on at the end of april he was going to do something they wear not going to like. he was going to invite herbert hoover to the white house. so between handwritten letters and communication between their aides and letters and phone calls, the two presidents would arrange their very first meeting. in my presentation, i will quote a lot from these two because, to me, if you're going to look at a relationship between friends and that, words matter. the words matter. the words that they used with each other were often very carefully chosen and very very well mannered. that would give them a very strong basis for their friendship. on the morning of may 28th, 1945, this would end herbert hoover's 12 year isolation from the white house. a meeting in the oval office that would last 55 minutes but create a friendship that would l

john adams, harry truman, johnstown flood. the wright brothers. that's just a couple of the books that he's written. american in paris. so, are the greater journey is the name of that book. a few of the books. you know what you want to ask him. we're their facilitate that conversation. gentleman net in florida, you're on booktv with historian david mccullough. >> caller: hello, mr. mccullough. >> guest: good morning -- good afternoon, rather. >> caller: i love your work and in fact you are in sarasota a year ago and i wanted you at graph my john adams book, but i couldn't get a ticket. but here's my question. when you were writing about abigail adams -- of course we all know that john adams' wife was just about the most liberal lady in america -- but when she was in england, and she went to see othello, she was -- she said some things she felt brought some prejudice out in her that she didn't know was there. she tajh -- talked about how black othello was, the blackest man she had seen, and was repulsed by the fact that othem low was touching the s

[laughter] , but harry truman is a great american story. this wonderful gathering is that the american story if there ever was a story that is so american. he is harry true man from a place called independence and he never went to college, he had to go it on his own and he had all kinds of bad luck and defeat but he never gave up. my favorite people are the people who don't give up. george washington in 1776 had every reason in the world to say that's enough, we can win this war but he would not give up. the wright brothers never gave up. the building of the brooklyn bridge had many to say this is more than can be achieved, but they wouldn't give up. >> you gave a speech at ohio university about people who helped build the northwest territories and you now working on a book called the pioneers in 2019. what was so interesting in light of those people never give up? >> i was invited to speak at the ohio university other 200 university commencement i thought i better learn something about ohio university. i found out that the oldest building

then harry truman, it is eleanor roosevelt who summons harry truman to the white house. it is the former first lady, who has no constitutional role or power who informs the vice president that roosevelt is dead and harry truman is now president. within a few hours, in the white house, harry truman takes the oath of office. what is different about this is this takes place in the full glare of the media. you cannot understand the assassination and understand the impact it has had on an entire generation, i look around and i see people my age and older, you remember where you were when kennedy was shot in a large part because of the media. this was the first event in human history that the entire nation experienced -- an entire nation experienced in real time. the roosevelt assassination -- it played out on radio. people were watching this on television. kennedy used television to build a bond with the public and the public felt a sense of loss when they saw him assassinated. within a few minutes of the shooting, walter cronkite was on cbs announcing that there had been sho

years ago national turkey federation first presented the national thanksgiving turkey to president harry truman, who, i might add, did not grant a pardon. he was a tough cookie. a muchi am going to be nicer president. over the past 10 months, a lot you and i have had the pleasure aniaelcoming many -- mel and i have had the pleasure of ultimate many special people to the white house. taken in world leaders, politicians, and some strange bird. we have yet to receive any visitors like our guest of honor today, drumstick. hi, drumstick. drumstick is going to be very happy. , thatleased to report unlike billions of other turkeys at this time of year, drumstick has a very bright future ahead of them. on a turkeys raised farm in douglas county, minnesota with the help of five young women from the douglas county 4h chapter who are here with us today. great work. where are they. please stand. great job you have done. h, that is great. drumstick and his friend westbound will live out their days at gobbler's arrest. it is antom built, enclosure on the campus of virginia tech, a tremendous school. they wil

that the national turkey federation first presented the national thanksgiving turkey to president harry truman, who i might add, did not grant a pardon, he refused. he was a tough cookie. today, i am going to be a much nicer president. over the past 10 months, melania and i have had the edge of welcoming many, many special visitors to the great white house. we have hosted dozens of incredible, world leaders, members of congress and along the way, a few very strange word. .- strange bird now we have yet to receive any visitors quite like our members -- magnificent test of honor today, "drums take." hi drumstick? i think you will be very happy. [laughter] i am pleased to report that unlike millions of many other turkeys at this time of the year, drumstick has a very bright future ahead of him. on theck was raised turkey farm in douglas county, minnesota with the help of five young women from the douglas county 4-h chapter who are here with us today. i would like to say, great work. where are they? please stand. great job you have done! [applause] four h! that is great, thank you. upon being pard

franklin roosevelt, harry s. truman, and ronald reagan. you will learn a lot from hearing about these three. they will provide a lot of insight into our current situation. after he speaks, we will take questions from the audience and questions on our twitter site. the twitter handle is -- @cispmdh. it rolls off the tongue. please join me in welcoming professor walter russell mead. [applause] prof. mead: thank you for that introduction and the opportunity to speak today. i want to congratulate you and csis for taking history seriously. personally, i think this may be one of the critical gaps in american foreign-policy. thinking as the failure of colleges and universities to put value on this knowledge, certainly in conversations i have had with policymakers over the years. it has been clear that their hunger for historical knowledge and background, when facing a serious decisions and complex national security situations is immense. let's hope that this center can be part of a movement of reviving one of the most important studies that there

franklin roosevelt, harry s. truman and ronald reagan. i think you'll learn a lot from hearing about these three because i think they provide us a lot of insights into our current situation. we are going to after he speaks take questions from the audience. we'll also take questions on our twitter site from the remote location. i don't think we have it posted up here, but the twitter handle is @csispmdh, program for military and diplomatic history. please join me in welcoming walter russell mead. >>> all right. well, thank you for that introduction and the opportunity to speak today. i just want to congratulate you and csis for taking military and diplomatic history seriously. personally i think this may be one of the critical gaps in american foreign policy thinking is the failure of colleges and universities to put a high enough value on this kind of knowledge, certainly in conversations i have had with policy makers over the years, it's been very clear that their hunger for historical knowledge and background when facing serious decisio

up on anyone's plate and this is tradition of kickoff of the holiday season and president since harry truman were pardoning turkeys is that right. >> harry s. trueman made the first pardon in 1989 by president bush. >> think were food. >> and these were males and wild turkeys will get you. these giza parentsly they don't mind. they've been gobbling a bit. you can bet these guys. our role carl and charleen has been to get electricy's use to people and lift them on ones and trying to fly away and we tried to get them to gobble on que we're hoping he didn't attack >> that's a big piece. >>. >> they will be presented to the white house one a wing man and they'll head out to virginia tech and live out their lives. beautiful. coloring is gorgeous. these are officials turkeys of 2017. back to you. >> why athey both guys, why is one at least a girl. >> that's a good question. >> we're going to find that out. why just the guys get spared. i have to find out. turkeys by the way wishbone and drumstick. >> christmas arrived at the white house. first lady melania trump accepted the white house tree. they

it was rumored in a conversation with harry truman. hoover was reported as saying he doesn't listen to me either. this truth he was attentive to his recommendations and the changes matched those implemented. hoover could be easily diseffected. he seemed to be looking for eviden evidence. with the end shifted to belgium. eisenhower wanted a special measure of favor. the first was a request that hoover represented the united states at the opening in 1958. hoover would visit and police officer a speech on the 4th of july. he must have known it would be his last trip. a formal state visit was a high honor. the idea had originated with hoover and eisenhower was pleased to abliejed the former president. eisenhower knew of his deep affection. he knew hoover and that his visit would be a wonderful opportunity to look back over 50 years. it was only fitting that his return and he should on the president's own plane. he was pleased and grateful for that invitation. he was also pleased and honored that the people honored -- he was also -- excuse

there is no presidential pension until harry truman. he is writing the memoirs to provide for julia. he finishes them three days before he dies. the doctor said he only stayed alive to finish the memoirs. it even in the last pages he is going to admit his mistakes, willing to admit what he did wrong. this is just remarkable. lincoln is the same. as a young man, lincoln's humor could hurt, his satire could bite. one day he heard a man was debating the predecessor of the republican party, very critical, and he rushes over from his law office in springfield and he sees this man speaking and he has what we might call a physical disability. lincoln gets up there and not only refutes the man rhetorically but mimics the man 's physical disability. the man breaks into tears, he is humiliated, and he rushes out of the room. this is the young lincoln. he learned from this. he sought the man out and offered his apology. i think the marks of leadership is can a person admit their own mistakes, can they learn from those mistakes and go forward? gran

when the invasion took place, harry truman presented the issue to the united nations. fortunately for the united states at the time, the soviet union was boycotting the u.n. they were boycotting it because the peoples republic of china was not admitted to the u.n. and so what happened was the soviets boycotted and the u.s. there we were able to stabilize things with american troops, republic of korea troops and foreign powers troops. when the invasion took place, harry truman presented the issue to the united nations. fortunately for the united states at the time, the soviet union was boycotting the u.n. they were boycotting it because the peoples republic of china was not admitted to the u.n. and so what happened was the soviets boycotted and the u.s. was able to get it passed through the u.n., first a statement of condemnation for the act of aggression by north korea, and then military forces from u.n. nations to help protect and defend south korea. all told, 21 nations sent either troops or personnel with expertise to aid the war effort. so it's actually a united na

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 -- as a bullworth against communism. the feeling was we need to support france and france felt like it needed to return to indochina as they called it and rule. >> this was early in the truman administration. let us go to eisenhower administration. this exhibit is broken into 12 different chapters and we are seeing some of the highlights, obviously. how long did it take you to assemble all of this, archived documents and collect everything? >> it took over 2 years and i had a lot of help. i invited several, almost two dozen, prominent historians to suggest documents they thought were revealing about u.s. involvement in southeast asia. >> we moved to a document about a letter from president eisenhower. >> this is an important point in the

. >> reporter: ever since harry truman was president after hiroshima and nagasaki, if president wants to launch strike no one can stop him. >> president has the sole authority to give that order, responding to nuclear attack or not. once that order is verified there is no way revoke it. s agrowing concern because of president trump's >> they will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen. >> reporter: and fears both sides will miscalculate north korean missiles able to reach the mainland in 30 to 40 minutes. >> i worry about frankly access to the nuclear codes. >> reporter: at issue, should the president consult congress before launching a preemptive strike and could change the law send signals to adversaries? >> these decisions have been to made in moments, not by courts congress lawyers but commander in chief. >> reporter: consensus, no change no matter who is president. nbc news washington. >>> arriving home in u.s. three ucla basketball stars arrested in china for week including lie anglo ball brother of lonzo ball. commissioner of pac-12 says the matters has been re

if you look back president harry truman made remarks. about minority groups that were very unfortunate in private these are told in memoirs john kennedy. use very bad language in private according to former associates if we had twitter at that point. heaven knows what thoseresidents would be called a lot worse than decisive for divisive. john thank you very much in date always a pleasure joined easy that and use backs thanks for having me laura. now add friend independence groups have been protesting today in catalonia over the jailing of ousted catalan officials several thousand people rallied to in central barcelona vertical to strike was largely ignored with spain's two biggest unions. not taking part eight members of the dismissed catalan cabinet have been jailed announced it catalan president carles puigdemont remains in brussels he. could face thirty years in jail if he is extradited to spain other aspect to sarah morris in madrid. bbc does try can in october just stuff today. and move october referendum when people came out to pro

and i don't want to get into that any more than i want to get into bill clinton or whether harry trumanually pardoned a turkey. i think what we have to do is we have to look and say we have system accusations in realtime, both in hollywood and in washington, and looking into them causes people to realize this is unacceptable. so the question of whether you look into these high profile cases is not only the merit, but it's also the signal it sends to the rest of america. and i think that's worthwhile, and i think that's where our emphasis should be. certainly, the house and senate ethics committee need to investigate any current claim. neil: people are going to look sort of jadedly at all of this, congressman, say, well, republican or democrat, whether it's in congress or in corporate america or in the media -- certainly this place no stranger to these type of allegations -- and now the latest developments on charlie rose who's been fired from cbs. what do you make of all this? >> well, i think there's a standard that many people don't realize is in place. i think a lot of people are liv

you have harry truman running for election in his own right for the first time. he has lost the support of the right because of the dixiecrat's. he seems to be in danger of losing the entire south. because of henry wallace's breakaway, you have the left breaking away from him, he doesn't seem to have a chance. on top of all of this, what did he do? he becomes the first president of the united states to speak to the naacp. he does it on the steps of the lincoln memorial. there is a little sound here. it is my deep conviction that we have reached a turning point in the long history of our to guarantee freedom and equality to all of our citizens. recent events in the united states and abroad have made us realize that it is more important today than ever before to ensure that all americans enjoyed his rights -- enjoyed these rights. when i say all americans, i mean all americans. >> as we know, harry truman does get elected. how does this play out in georgia? they are going to resist. they have been part of the walkout of the democratic convention. let's go back to i

. >> reporter: ever since harry truman was president after hiroshima and nagasaki, if president wants to launch an attack, no one can stop him. not his defense secretary or congress, or military officers who would fire the missiles. >> president has the sole authority to give that order, whether we are responding to nuclear attack or not. once that order is given and verified, there is no way to revoke it. >> reporter: it's a growing concern because of president trump's threats against kim jong-un. >> they will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen. >> reporter: and fears sides could miscalculate, with north korean missiles able to reach the u.s. mainland in 30 to 40 minutes. >> i worry about, frankly, access to the nuclear codes. >> reporter: at issue, should the president have to consult congress before launching a preemptive strike and could a change to the law send signals to adversaries? >> these decisions have to be made in moments, and it's not going to be made by courts, congress, lawyers but commander in chief. >> reporter: consensus, no change no matter who

it was used by president harry truman and even by president john f. kennedy for a short period, but it is moeds often associated with president dwight d. eisenhower. as originally built, the car was a convertible. it did not have this plexiglas top. that was credited to eisenhower. he thought that might be handy for the presidential vehicle. it is not armored. in fact, no part of the car is armored. the war is over now. there's no thought of security. or at least, it's not thought to be a vital concern. but it does provide protection from weather. so in the event of rain or snow, the president can have some protection in there. otherwise, you see, it is sectioned. it can be taken apart and all of those panels can be neatly stacked into the trunk, so you have it if you need it, but it doesn't have to be used. and that would allow the president to stand up in the car. there are a couple of handrails up along the back of the front seat that would allow eisenhower or truman or kennedy to stand and wave to crowds as they went by. which also explains that o

as we know, harry truman does get elected. how does this play out in georgia? they are going to resist. they have been part of the walkout of the democratic convention. let's go back to isaiah nixon. what my students do, here is their textbook, 234 pages of documents that we have gotten through the fbi freedom of information act request. it is a lot of federal memos, a lot of back-and-forth, you develop a narrative and what you find out -- a lot more from here than you did from the news clips at the time -- it wasn't that widely covered -- what happens to isaiah nixon in 1948 when he is voting in the governor's race. the naacp in montgomery county was only two years old. it was growing there, one record said there was 84 black members of the naacp in a county of 3000 people total. that was after one year, that was pretty helpful for them. i have decided that they will be supporting herman -- hermann talmadge is running against them. also, melvin thompson. they decided to gather at the polling place, as they are gathered, a group of black men on that morning, th

the premise this is really all that remains of the white house that george washington will read harry truman noticed it was in such disrepair and major reconstruction had to happen. what was his role in preserving the stonewall? >> president truman loved history. he loves symbols in history very much. that may be coming from his masonic background, i don't know. when the architects told him they were going to demolish this and rebuild it he said no. he worried about that. -- yalehe went to jail and they were rebuilding there. rebuilding that new building and site and he decided that is what would happen to he brought the architect here pretty they gutted the house. it was out in the trash at the landfill. the house was reconstructed with a steel frame within those original walls. were not concerned until earlier bid the house was moved about like it did. there were no would endorse and it did not have that saggy ceiling that franklin roosevelt love. truman rebuilt it. the main thing that happened was the president could stay in the house. he was very emphatic about that. dugact as they were

it was in harry truman's gift. it was in america's gift. to churchill's dismay, the united states never got remotely close to using its atomic monopoly in the kind of threatening, diplomatic manner that churchill evidently desired. the final phase of churchill's nuclear career begins in early 1950. i say begins. it was the beginning of a transformation. it would see trip -- churchill move from would be atomic warrior to nuclear peacemaker. extraordinary transition. it begins in 1950. let me give you a tiny bit of background. in august 1949, the american atomic monopoly ended when the a soviet union -- when the soviet union tested its first nuclear bomb. here it is. in the west as well, there was alarm and anxiety and fear occasioned by this soviet atomic breakthrough. in january 1950, the united states responded. president truman announced that the united states would forge ahead with developing the hydrogen bomb, the super, it was nicknamed. a thermonuclear weapon. a monstrous device, potentially 1000 times as powerful as the puny things u

harry truman left office with low ratings. but he rose steadily in public estimation following biographies. jfk's revelations about mistresses somewhat tarnished his legacy. >> i think this is an inflection point for bill clinton's legacy and more and more what we are seeing and historians are going to see is he's someone who diminished that office and his legacy will be very different from the one we thought when he left office. reporter: bill clinton did not respond for our requests for comment. david: james rosen, thank you. in alabama the state's republican party reaffirming its support for senate candidate roy moore. his wife kayla speaking out defending her husband. peter doocy is in birmingham and has our report. >> judge roy moore remained out of sight. but his wife kayla defended him on the steps of the state capitol. kayla moore says her husband is a gentleman. >> even after all the attacks against me, against my family, against the foundation, and now against my husband, he will not step down. reporter: dozen of wom

and there was a great old one from harry truman. ve'em hell, harry, made a, some intemperate comes about the marine corps, and he had to apologize to them. and he basically said, i stand by my sentiments, but i apologize for the way i expressed it. >> so that's not enough? >> not enough. >> right. and so, and the reason is, they just want to make it go away? >> yeah. especially when you hear something really awful, it's hard to own up to that. it's hard to say what you did wrong. so people try and use shortcuts. they try and make excuses. they try and shift the blame. and they use language that's just plain insincere. things like i apologize if anyone is offended. it's like a verbal jujitsu where the flip the apology back on the person who was harmed. >> we've seen apologies from powerful people in the entertainment world, including kevin spacey, and i want to mention him, because what you just said kind of holds true for him. i don't remember the encounter, but if i did behave this way, i owe this person the sincerest apology. what

harry truman came and realized that it was in such disrepair that major, major reconstruction had to happen. what was his role in preserving the stone walls? >> everything. president truman, he loved history. and he loved symbols in history very much. it may be coming from his masonic background, i don't know. but he had a deep perception of symbols. and when the architects told him they were going to demolish it and rebuild it, he said, no. he worried about it and worried about it. and finally, he went to yale and they had rebuild a building there and leaving the outside was their old 18th century. rebuilding that and the uh in building inside, and he decided, that's what would happened, and he brought george over, the architect of that to hear. and they gutted the house and sent everything to -- not everything, but most of it to trash out of ft. meyer landfill. and the house was reconstructed in steel -- steel frame, within those original walls. there's that much space between them. the steal and the wall. the walls were not conserved until later. but the house was rebuilt and looke

then when you come forward in time, i think that it is so interesting to me that harry truman had to make so many key decisions. i would say i would sit with those two. >> what about you? >> i'm going with lincoln too because he's skinny. he won't eat a lot and means more for me. >> wow. >> all right. on the fence. i would say jfk. >> wow. why? >> because i think he's fascinating. i would want to talk to him about -- it was an interesting time in history and the time before he was assassinated and the cuban missile crisis. >> then marilyn monroe at the table. >> nobody wants to go to that one. >> i would choose grant. he would have a flask with him if we ran out of booze. >> did he do a memoir? >> the best autobiography of a president and it was written by mark twain. >> we learn everything here at "the five", and then we forget it. jennifer b, what is the specialty dish that you take to someone else's house for thanksgiving. let's start with juan. >> my wife takes sauerkraut. for me -- i'm not a big fan but turns out it is a tradition in her family, right? >> you hate your wife's sa

get things done, his popularity is not as important to him, it will be in time, he will be like harry truman, you look at him, he will go down as one of great presidents. lou: i'll go farther, i don't think it will take long for this people in highly pol polarized divided country, i think you see a til tilt next year, particulay midterm elections, a reflect and barometer. this a country that wants to be healed and i think he is the guy to do it as soon as national left wing media, ends this nonsense, this character assassination campaign that they are on, there is a point at some not even left wing propaganda can continue at this venal level to attack this president. when his achievements and accomplishingments are what they look like they will be in a year. >> anyone sitting down with him in this tour, leader of japan, leader of south korea. leaders other you an keys in thr country treat him with respect he deserves. lou: a big test in virginia, authorize fought on governor race, and galespi is 5 behind right now. >> it is closing it depends on who turns out. he is now has momentum, i go wi

. >> any interesting parallels with harry truman, also a machine politician who confounded expectations? >> as you know, truman also in addition to being a machine politician in missouri, certainly came to office unexpectedly and was by all accounts unprepared. fdr didn't even share a lot of information, he didn't know about themanhattan project , that was a surprise to him but in thatrespect , they both came from humble and maybe checkered political pass and landed in office not by accident but certainly as a great surprise to everybody and to themselves. also, there were low expectations for truman as there were low expectations for arthur so yes, there are parallels. anyone else? okay, thank you very much for coming. i really appreciateit . [applause] [inaudible conversation] >> c-span: where history unfolds daily. in 1979, c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television companies. and is brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. next, on book tvs "after words", muslim american federal agents tamer elnoury discusses his experience fighting domesti

the standard field artillery command af,, commanded by harry truman but this is the 75 millimeter field gun. i put it there to underline the point which i am making. $10 million worth of -- 7 million in the u.s.. there is a kind of division of labor, having said all of that the american economic contribution is vital even though the american contribution is in terms of food, oil and steel rather than finish weapons. one example in june and july of 1917, the world navy was so short of oil that it was considering the option of having the oil. wilson agrees to ship more oil across the atlantic. in january 1918 the allied prime minister wants them to send more food to prevent economic collapse and famine. again the americans respond by doing that. a pattern is the american economic commission -- commitments is much larger and much more expensive and potentially much more distracted to the american economy as inflation would get a grip. , the keylitary side thing to bring out is that the assumptions that the americans and allies will have is it will be a spring offensive in the spring of 191

neither was winston churchill, neither was dwight eisenhower or harry truman. i personally think we have an individual in the white house right now that can break eggs in washington and help us break through the gridlock, which is what the american people want. the situation with the president is, he looks to people who agree with him and to people who he disagrees with. you asked about an issue. the border adjustment tax is one that i came out early, back in january, and was in the white house with one of the first leadership meetings. i am not in leadership, obviously, but i was invited because they were going to talk about tax. i know the president and i had talked about that, so he had me in the conversation. i don't presume from the president. he is the busiest man in the world. when he calls, i answer the call. i try to get the advice i can. he knows, and he does not want yes people around him. it is the most amazing thing, when you sit in the white house in the oval office in a meeting, he listens about 80% of the time. when the meeting is over, he concl

including calvin coolidge and harry truman. >> up nerks on the presidency, herbert hoover scholar george nash talks about the refining relationship between the president and his oval office predecessor, calvin coolidge. that was part of a conference hosted by the herbert hoover presidential library and museum. >> now or second speaker, dr. george h. nash is the foremost authority on the life and times of herbert hoover. receiving the ph.d. in history from

is nobody's choir boy but neither was winston churchill or for that matter dwight eisenhower, harry truman. i personally think we've got an individual in the white house right now that can break eggs in washington and help us break through this gridlock which is what the american people want. the situation with the president is, he looks to people who agree with him and also to people who ehe disagrees with. ou ask about an issue, the adjustment tax is one i came out early when i heard it was being discussed in the house, i was in the white house for one of the fiffers leadership meetings over there, i'm not in leadership but i was invited because they were going to talk about tax and i know the peth president and i talked about that so he had me in the conversation. i don't presume on the president. when he calls i answer the call and try to give the advice i can. he doesn't want yes people around him. when you sit in the white house in the oval office in a meet , he listens about 80% of the time. but when the meeting is over , he concludes with a summary of what everybody has agreed to d

we had a policy that was developed under harry truman's watch. it was stimulated by the korean war. north korea invaded south korea, aided by the soviets. who has aided and protected them ever sense. that policy was called containment. we did not contain. the soviet empire and its influence expanded into the third world. the chinese revolution of october 1, 1949, took over large areas there. they were very active in vietnam. they were active in other places. the third world became a combatitive ground. they often did active measures, penetration of the soviet agents and military didn't deter them. we developed this area of mutual destruction. robert strange mcnamara was the fourth senior boss i had in civil service. they believed a threatening atomic weapons would deter somebody. what it really did, in my opinion, to me, that was morally questionable. but if they president have the choice between massive retaliation with a new weapon or -- a nuclear weapon or doing nothing, to force backed the aggressor moving forward, what did he did? nothing. it wasn't effective. and the humans mo

. >> harry truman left office with dismal approval ratings, but ending with the 1992 biography, heroes in public estimation. >> [cheers and applause] >> disclosures by jfk's mistresses tarnished his legacy. >> i think is an inflection point for bill clinton's legacy. i think more and more what we are seeing in historians will see he diminished this office. his legacy will be very different from the one that we had thought when he left office. >> bill clinton did not respond to our request for comment. he has long denied that rape allegation. george bush faces new scrutiny. several women accused him of groping them including one during his presidency. >> bret: we are hearing more from hillary clinton as to why she did not get the office that her husband once held. >> he said that russian interference was one of the major contributors to the outcome of the 2016 campaign. >> i think there are a lot of questions about it legitimacy. we don't have a method for contesting that. in our system. >> bret: she cited reggistitration issues in her loss of wisconsin. the state no republican had carr