the library co-hosted this event and the truman institute provided the video. >> harry s. truman was a president of the heartland. but what does it mean to say he was a president of the heartland? here i'm referring to his -- his midwestern values, hard work, patriotism, honesty, duty and integrity. now those values are not exclusively midwestern of course, but they do reflect harry truman's personality and character. we only have time to talk about the highlights of his life and career and i look forward to talking with tim about his connections with another president of the heartland, dwight eisenhower. so if we could move on to the next slide, please. this is a photograph of harry truman as a young boy. he's in the first grade at nolan school in independence. this picture was probably taken in around 1890. harry truman was born on may 8th, 1884 in the town of lamar, missouri, which is two hours south of kansas city. and at age six his parents moved to independence. his mother was interested in him attending public schools in independence, missouri. so this picture would

>>> harry s. truman and dwight d. eisenhower grew up within 180 miles of each other in america's heartland. next on the presidency, a look at these two-term presidents and one-time allies whose political roads diverged during the contentious 1952 presidential campaign when ike declared his intention to be the republican standard bearer. their meeting at president kennedy's 1963 funeral provided a chance for reconciliation. the speakers are truman library supervisor archivist samuel rushay and deputy director timothy rives. the library co-hosted this event and the truman institute provided the video. >> harry s. truman was a president of the heartland. but what does it mean to say he was a president of the heartland? here i'm referring to his -- his midwestern values, hard work, patriotism, honesty, duty and integrity. now those values are not exclusively midwestern of course, but they do reflect harry truman's personality and character. we only have time to talk about the highlights of his life and career and i look f

who is on the far left front row and ross would move on to become harry truman's press secretary during truman's presidency. true's education was rigorous. in high school, although and he never did attend college. however he had dreamed his young man of becoming a military general and of going to west point. after graduation in 1901. he took odd jobs though, including railroad timekeeper in a bank clerk. this college dreams were shattered when his father's financial fortunes took a downward turn and he had to leave independence for for the town of grandview, missouri, which will say more about here in a moment. but again, harry truman was a lifelong learner and really self-educated man. he drew lessons of history throughout his life and career and drew upon them in just a regular conversation and they helped guide his his personal philosophy and his his leadership style and decision making next slide please. okay, this is a picture of the grandview farm grandview is the town just south of kansas city. it's in the greater kansas city metro area though. not far from independence. and is h

the domestic realm, harry truman did a lot for the issue of civil rights. he was appalled by the truman and abuse of african american veterans following world war ii. this was a remarkable thing with truman's own past, as both his grandparents had enslaved african americans in missouri. truman was known in some of his early letters to bess to use racist language. so that context is important when you think about what truman was able to accomplish in the early civil rights movement. he establish a civil rights commission, which is pictured here, pictured here. for him it was a moral issue. to treat all citizens equitably, especially during the cold war. so the american government could be an attractive model for the world. next slide, please? truman became the first president to speak for the naacp. this speech took place in washington d.c., 1947. you can read their what he said. during that speech. a very, very important. this would come at a time of great political risk to truman himself. by his own democratic party which in the south, anyway, was a very po

eddie loved harry truman and harry truman loved eddie. he had to decide what to do. he had been lobbied very hard by jewish leaders in the united states were pushing truman to support the partitions. the united states supports the petition -- partition. this is the end of the british mandate that expires in may of 48. now we are in march of 1948, two months before the mandate ends. he is sick of the issue. he says jesus christ could not please the shoes -- juice -- jews when i was -- when he was alive, how can i? he thinks the soviets will move right in, it will lead to war, it will lead to the annihilation of the jews and it won't serve american interests. marshall is against it. as is the state department. truman had an affinity for jewish people as a man of the bible. you have to love harry truman. he is the most powerful person advocating for a jewish state. he flies to washington, walks into the oval office and says i want to see harry, my friend. he is not invited and has -- has no appointment. they say you can go see harry but don't bring up the palestine issu

but harry truman is just a remarkable man. i first came to know him in my first job outside texas, canyon of heroes sit, and first day boss says look i'm going to break you in on the day side but then you're going on the night shift, because you're the last guy hired. you get the crappy schedule. and he said inevitably new york desk is going to ask you to inevitably going to ask you to get a comment on harry truman, this that or the other and he showed me the roladex and it he said there's mr. truman's home phone, you call them. it wasn't two weeks until that happened. i don't know know what it was, some question, and i with trembling fingers dialled the former president's home number at 9:00 at night and he answered his own phone. and i apologized like crazy. he said, no, son, i like reporters, it's editors, i hate. he said go ahead and ask your question. i asked it. he said the answer to that is on page 197 volume 2 of the memoirs, but i don't expect the editors can read, so i will give you to answer again. and i am apologiz

harry truman was truly one of a kind. >>> so his image as a regular guy was true? >> yes, it was true. >> i remember covering him in dodge city, and i remember him being there with harry and bess truman and the democratic chairman and myself when the phone rang, and mrs. truman answered, and i can hear her voice, how often -- harry, it is the white house calling for you. and mr. montgomery and i offered to get up and leave the room, and harry would say, no, sit down, and it was jack kennedy calling about the cuban missile crisis that he would be on tv within the hour to give the speech. we waited there with him and watched him critique kennedy's speech. >> can you tell us a little bit about -- >> you know, that is a pretty heady stuff for a kid who is 20 years old. >> that really is. >> was he positive about kennedy's speech or negative or both? >> no, absolutely positive and hammering the arm of the chair when kennedy said that he was invoking not the monroe doctrine but the rio de janeiro treaty, and harry saying, "george marshall and i wrote that treaty for exac

eddie loved harry truman and harry truman loved eddie. he had to decide what to do.is really frustrated because he had been lobbied very hard by jewish leaders in the united states who were pushing truman to support the partitions. it would create two states. estate for the palestinians and a stay for the jews. the partition plan past but now it's becoming crunch time between november of 1947 and the end of the british mandate that expires in may of 48. now we are in march of 1948, two months before the mandate ends. he is sick of the issue. he says jesus christ could not please the jews when he was alive how can i? , he thinks the soviets will move right in, it will lead to war, it will lead to the annihilation of the jews and it won't serve american interests. george marshall is against it. he thinks the soviets will move right in and it will lead to war, it will lead to the annihilation of the jews and it won't serve american interests. and because oil may be cut off from the american consumers so marshall is against it. as is the state department. truman had been

harry truman sent the fbi to investigate him. dwight eisenhower effectively ignored him. john f. kennedy said all the powers of the presidency was unable to control the columnist. lbj did his best to co-opt him. and nixon put him at the top of his enemies list. to register an international perspective on all this, winston churchill once dubbed drew pearson the most colossal liar in the united states. so i discovered a pattern. pearson certainly made his share of mistakes. usually through haste of his understanding and sometimes the people who leaked to him were less than honest about their intentions. i never found an instance where he knowingly lied. instead it was his accusers who lied regularly to cover their own tracks. raised as a quaker, he regarded truth seeking as both a moral obligation and a self-defense mechanism. he was sued for liable. at least 120 times. more than any other journalist. and he won every case except for one. and that one he would have tried to appeal except his lawyers said it would be cheaper to settle it out of court. the way he won all those cases

imagine harry truman, john kennedy, hubert humpfry or scoop jackson making such a shocking comparison of our fine young men lost their lives on grenada and to even remotely compare their sacrifice to the murderous actions in afghanistan is unconscionable. [ applause ] [ cheers and applause ] there are some obvious and important differences. first, we were invited in by six east caribbean states. does anyone seriously believe the people of eastern europe or afghanistan invited the russians? second, there are hundreds of thousands of soviets occupying captive nations across the world. today our combat troops have come home. our students are safe and freedom is what we left behind in grenada. [ cheers and applause ] >> follow us on social media at cspan hist refor more this date in history posts. >> bill mauldin served in the fifth infantry division in world 45th infantry division in world war ii and gained fame for his cartoons chronicling troops at the front. next talking about the editorial cartoonist's life and work, during which he received a second pulitzer. this was part of an ann

this beating of sergeant woodard makes national headlines and president harry truman hears about the speeding. many people may know or may not know that president truman had a soft spartan soft spot and his heart for veterans. when he sees this photo of sergeant isaac woodard, he's just taken aback. i mean, it's just a horrible sight. this beading and the photo eventually leads president truman to desegregate. the arm the military and also desegregate the federal workforce. it's beyond troubling to hear this kind of story it's terrifying and impossible to really imagine the feeling that must have been to know for these soldiers. you've put your life on the line. you're coming back and the idea that you feel proud of that service makes people want to kill you for it to have that patriotism trampled on must have been so profoundly disillusioning, you know negating the promise that the service might have represented as an opportunity. we have a viewer comment and audience comment from a man named peter. he writes in that even jackie robinson an officer 761st tank battalion was pulled of

but professor watson has served on the board of the harry truman foundation and center for public serviceand then the deterrent truman presidential library and museum and the holocaust museum us military academy at west point. so now let's hear from mr. watson thank you for joining us today. >> but what you can see in my slide in for almost two years they just hunker down. it would be washington's longest headquarters but a new type of challenge emerged in it was the challenge of board. the army had not been paid they were hungry. and just as we were ready to seize victory on —- victory in the revolutionary war. march 1783 an unsigned letter circulated. but washington was alarmed to say the least. and that the new insurrection was coming from inside his own headquarters. but then the large building of the temple with that conspiracy in washington decided to respond and instead of washington being there early and it was punctual he comes one minute late and in from the back door and walks in from horatio gates and washington demands that they surrender the stage and then there is a two-par

yes, the speech last night said, echoing harry truman, l that go down?sident, saying the buck stops here, except it should have been the buck should stop here if i had done anything wrong, but i haven't. he blamed the afghan military, afghan politicians and for donald trump for all that has gone wrong in the past. what has been striking is the extent to which the american leadership are trying to put themselves on the front foot saying, look at all we are doing. we have got hourly flights coming out of afghanistan, 4000 troops patrolling the afghan air base, we will get 9000 people out of afghanistan in the course of the coming days. that is what america is trying to do. butjoe biden went to the american people promising empathy, promising competence. 0n empathy, promising competence. 0n empathy you would have to say it is a pretty hard—hearted message that he delivered yesterday to the afghans who had helped america over these past 20 years. as for confidence, even the most die—hard supporter ofjoe biden would struggle to say that this has been anything

i don't think i knew a there was an assassination attempt on harry truman now that goes down in historyo now the mission of the service to protect the vice president the idea that that was not part of this charge from the very beginning is extraordinary can you imagine kamala harris in this country at this moment without a protective detail? >> no i can't. it took the assassination of kennedy as he was campaigning looking to become president for lyndon b. johnson to announce overnight which is a chilling moment literally in the middle of the night calls of the director of the secret service and says i want details on everyow single candidate right now. so candidates got protection. >> family members. the protection of thect service has been expanded but i did not know until i read the book that arthur brehmer who shot wallace wanted to kill next and first and was thwarted that's a good story for the secret service. he wrote in his journal and he was trying to get nixon but it was too tricky to get and was struggling but they just made it too hard to get a close enough shot. that for the

there's also to long and wonderful book in the same way americans took a second look at harry truman o left office with an approval rating of about 25% in 1952. and today he is regarded as a substantive president. people like the notion of harry s truman. i think the same process is taking place with the carter presidency. particularly because his records are largely open now. and more papers are being declassified per his diary as i mentioned is a fabulous window onto the workings of the oval office. and he is a thoughtful, intelligent man to this day even in his 90s. i think people are, they easily recognize he's done something really extraordinary with this long post presidency. there should be a realization that it is the same man and a seamless story from the presidency to the x presidency. this is one reason why my subtitles for the outlier is the un- finished presidency of jimmy carter. too simply pursue many of the same issues he was working on when he is working in the oval office it was a very admirable and interesting colorful record. >> we have two more questions which is

i only know that i knew there was an assassination attempt on harry truman. leslie goes out a history now's the one and only right? and you just mentioned the mission of the service as an expanded to do things like protect the vice president. the idea that was not part of the charge for the very beginning is extraordinary. can you imagine kamala harris in this country at this moment without a protected detail? >> know i cannot. i cannot. it took the assassination of robert kennedy, he was campaigning and looking like he was headed to become president for lyndon b johnson to announce overnight. that was a really chilling moment. literally in the middle of the night called the director the secret service and said i want details on every single candidate right now. so candidates got protection >> family members as you said pray the protection of the services been expanded to so many people. karol i did not know to read this book that arthur bremmer who shot george wallace actually wanted to kill richard nixon first. and was thwarted. >> that is actually good sto

[applause] >> harry truman, john kennedy, and -- >> when you go out to the president or the challengere really trying to verify what impact they have on people, not on the print or press. not the way they look on television. his attitude, his face it's quite different from the behavior that you are used to when your questioning and a press conference. something else is the visible, that is not ordinarily associated with the man, because you see, what's the man is like in different circumstances perhaps under stress, and then you see what's the reaction of real people is to these leaders and the possible leaders of the country. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> are you leslie? running for president of room 104? how many students in room 104? 32? a democrat or republican? >> i don't know. >> you've got to make up your mind, don't you? why are you here? >> anybody can write a story about american society without touching reality, without talking to people, without getting a personal feel for it. i think it runs a risk of writing something which is not true. runs a risk of being out of touch. you have to be

[ applause ] >> harry truman, john kennedy and lyndon johnson. >> when you go out to the president or of opposing party, you are trying to verify what impact the man has upon real people, not on the press, not the way he looks on television. his attitude, his face is quite different from the behavior that you're used to when you're questioning in a press conference. something else is visible that is not ordinarily associated with the man. because you see what the man is like in different circumstances. perhaps under stress. and then you see what the reaction of real people is to the leaders. and to the possible leaders of the country. ♪♪ ♪♪ >> are you leslie? you're running for president of room 104. how many students in room 104 >> 32. >> 32, are you democrat or republican? you have to make up your mind. >> anybody who can write a story about american society without touching reality, without talking to people, without getting a personal feel for it, i think runs risk of writing something which is not true. runs a risk of being out of touch. you have to be involved. i came to the uni

and then on the board of the harry truman foundation. and the george mcgovern library. and then as a visiting scholar with many organization including the truman presidential library the ford museum, the holocaust museum in us military academy at west point so now let's hear from robert watson. thank you for joining us today. >> i'm here to talk about my latest book george washington's final battle. so virtually ever any schoolchild knows that washington was a relic and stoic and great courageous demand are on the battlefield and through every action and inaction everything he said it didn't say carved out the precedents for the presidency. and then as a visionary and dreamer and a political player. and those that have been to the capital city americans love their capital city it is spacious grand boulevard with memorials and monuments. to the tree-lined. but very few americans know the story of how the capital city came to be and almost didn't. that's why we're here today to talk about it. the story begins as a backdrop in newburgh new york along the edge of the hudson

i think that speaks volumes will who harry truman was. i want to begin by thanking some folks tonight. i want to thank the truman library institute, of course, who sponsor so much of what we do. they are our non-profit partner. we are indebted to them for all the great things we do. for bringing this statue of alice dunnigan to the library and for helping us have this program here tonight. we are gathered here tonight to celebrate the life of a pioneering reporter who was the first african-american female journalist with white house press corps credentials. that's very significant. it happened during the truman administration. to tell her story, i would like to introduce tonight's panelists. we will have three different speakers, who will share particular perspective on miss dunnigan. and then they will take questions from you. nancy dawson, who will provide with us the historical context of ms. dunnigan's landmark achievement. professor and director of an african-american studies program. her career includes full time faculty positions a

professor watson served on the board of the harry truman foundation, the memorial foundation and themacomber library and center for public service. also served as the visiting scholar with many organizations including the truman presidential library, the fort presidential museum, illinois holocaust museum and u.s. military academy at west point. now let's hear from robert watson, thank you for joining us today. >> hello, everyone, i am here to talk about my latest book george washington's final battle. the epic struggle to build a capitol city and a nation. virtually any american schoolchild knows george washington was heroic and stoic. he was a great courageous commander on the battlefield and of course one of our greatest presidents getting through every action and in action, everything he said and didn't say pretty much carved out the presidents for the presidency but what we don't always know is the george washington had another side to him. he could be a visionary and a dreamer and he could also be a political prior and political chest. by the same token almost all americans hav

first of all, they should've learned the lesson to dwight eisenhower and harry s truman, who said that korea was a mistake. an endless war. we go through vietnam, kennedy said, in a press conference in 1962. i do not intend to get bogged down in vietnam. he knew we shouldn't do it. and then we go to afghanistan, 2001. america should've read "the new york times," back of the first section. osama bin laden wrote a dossier, whatever, saying that he hit the buildings and his main

peaceful and peaceful by the reduced role of the nations and in 1910, on the other side of the state, harry truman was 25 and he was working on his family farm behind a horse-drawn plow. he very likely is the last american president ever had not going to the college in the last two have worked behind a horse-drawn plow. truman had put in his pocket that year in 1910, a copy of tennessee's poem oxley whole. it includes these lines about a world without wars. the world subdued by international law, world tranquil. so the word no longer the battle plagues, and the parliament man, federation of the world. there the common sense of most, and they round and and they kindly at the universal 19 and nice words, not church chilean, churchill knew better read and truman carried this poem when he went to france and captain in the first world war. they carried the poem in his pocket on april 12, 1945 when he was suddenly summoned from the u.s. capitol building to the white house to be told that he had become president truman became president the nations was born in san francisco and by then however, dreams of

professor watson has served on the board of the harry truman foundation, that calvin coolidge memorial foundation and the george mcgovern library and center for public service your professor watson has also served as a visiting scholar with many organizations including the truman presidential library, gerald ford presidential museum, illinois holocaust museum, and the us military academy at west point. now let's hear from robert watson. thank you for joining us today. everything he said and didn't say pretty much carved out the president for the presidency. but what we don't always know is that george washington had another side to him, which is missed in history. he could be a visionary and a dreamer but he also could be a political player is not a political chess match. by the same token almost all americans have been to our capital city. americans love their capital city. it's spacious grand boulevards with memorials and monuments, the majestic government buildings, the tree-lined mall but very few americans know the story of how the capital came to be an almost didn't come to be. t

professor watson has served on the board of the harry truman foundation, the calvin coolidge memorial foundation, and george mcgovern library answer for public service. professor robert watson has also served as a scholar for many organizations in including truman rent library in illinois holocaust museum in the u.s. military academy was my and others. now let's hear from robert watson. and thank you for joining us today. >> hello everyone. i'm here to talk about my latest book "george washington's final battle". the epic struggle of the capitol city and that nation so virtually any american schoolchild knows that george washington was heroic and stoic. he was a great and courageous commander of the battlefield and of course one of the greatest presidents through his every action and inaction, everything that he said, but it is a pretty much carved out the presidents for this presidency. but what we don't always know is that george washington had an upside to him, this is, he could be a visionary and a dreamer, and he also could be a critical player. at the same token, almost all amer

[booing] could you imagine harry truman, john kennedy hubert humphrey or scoop jackson making such a shocking comparison? 19 of our fine young men lost their lives and to even remotely compare their sacrifice to the murderous actions taking place in afghanistan is unconscionable. [applause] there are some obvious and important differences. first we weren't guided in by a caribbean states. does anyone seriously believe the people of eastern europe or afghanistan invited the russians? second there are hundreds of thousands of soviet occupying captive nations across the world. today our combat troops to come home. her students are safe and freedom is what we left behind as a nation. [applause] >> hi everyone to thank you so much for joining us tonight. this is an event hosted by the writers program of the english department cohosted by the depaul english department.

the library co-hosted this event and the truman institute provided the video. >> harry s. truman was a president of the heartland. but what does it mean to say he was a president of the heartland? here i'm referring to his -- his midwestern

. >> harry truman and white eisenhower grew up within 180 miles of each other in america's heartland. next, on the presidency, a look at these two-term presidents and one-time allies who is political roads diverge during the contentious 1952 presidential campaign when ike declared his intention to be the republican standard bearer. they're meeting at president kennedy's 1963 funeral provided a chance for reconciliation. the speakers are truman library supervisory archivist samuel w. rushay jr.samuel w. rushay and eisenhower library deputy director timothy rives. libraries cohosted this event and the truman library institute provided the video. >> harry ostermann was president of the heartland. but what does it mean to say he was the president of the heartland? here, i am referring to

before previous presentations of presidents harry truman and lyndon johnson richard nixon and ronald reagan. he's truly a pleasure to introduce one of washington's most distinguished professors. they are stephen fransworth. >> they are has been anyone like johnny carson and there never will be. from 1962 to 1992 more than 5000 episodes over 30 years johnny carson led politics and culture and has curated list are almost dies interesting. offered a nonstop parade of the key personalities of the 60s in and the 70s and 80s and the 90s. they were the leading likes of film television music books and politics and more than a few amazing animals and their trainers introduced the nation to many comedians on their way up and reminded them of people who were already at the top. to say he'd dominate the television is actually an understatement. by every measure he was not only first but he was so are ahead that it did not matter who was second. careers would rise and fall on the basis of whether performer to get a booking on the tonight show and if the set went well and the comic had a chance to

elected vice president so he presided over the senate and he particularly liked taking baths and harry truman was the one who commented how terrible the vice president's job was and there wasn't anything to do but wait for the vice president to die. henry wilson did a lot of time relaxing in the tub and he often would forget that he was supposed to be or there would be a senate vote called and he would have to run back upstairs and he was often seen pulling his clothes back on as he ran up the stairs. now, he -- he actually died of -- of pneumonia and i was able to locate this picture. luckily he had his cloths on. here is a picture of henry wilson sitting in the tub there. he was ill while taking baths and baths were not considered to be healthy at the time and people said that he had died of pneumonia because he took too many baths. even today a lot of times you can hear henry wilson running back up -- his ghost running up senate chamber and coughing of pneumonia that he died. this is a picture from the american political science association. unfortunately i forgot to write down her name. n