harry truman had ordered it.w it happened. and so now i had this story that the two major events of the early civil rights movement came from thisve e remembered, in spite of e to act in a courageous way speedy will turn to the aughts but one ask you one more question about finding unusual historical facts. how did you find out about the conversation between thurgood marshall and judge waring? >> well, i wasn't there. we will start with that. there was a gentleman by the name of alexander rivera was a reporter for the pittsburgh courier. his dad was the the presidee north carolina naacp. he was, he was you to someone who, he always had a camera around his neck. he prided himself on being a a photographer, a photojournalist, but he covered the civil rights cases. he was a fraternity brother of marshall a very close friend. they actually sort off traveled together whe they would cover trials. when marshall was summoned to warings office, rivera was within and he walked to the door and, stay out. when he came out ma

truman library. a friend of his from missouri wrote him and said, harry get off this civil rights thing. you're going to lose the election. you're going to lose the south. truman wrote him back and he said to his ernest roberts, ernie, you don't know what i know. and he tells him the story of the blinding of isaac woodard. and he says, i lose this election over, this issue. it will have been for a good cause. and truman's second term, he fully desegregated the military over the very strong resistance of the army brass. and when he left office in early 1952, he 95% of american troops were in desegregated units creating the first multiracial institution in american life. so here's the sort of the irony. here's this story. a blinded veteran that no one remembered who influence maybe the two seminal events of the early civil rights movement, the desegregation of the armed forces, and brown versus board. you tell me how you came this story. how did you do the research where you mentioned in the truman library? yeah. well, first of all, as you remember this when you become a district judge kind

harry truman's approval ratings in june and july were lower than joe biden's are today, and he basicallys saying they're not doing anything, they're not doing what you want, and labeled it. and i think that sets up joe biden well. >> so let's look at another part of this, which is that in our nbc news colleagues have been reporting about this, that trump's guilty verdict has been a major test for republican senate candidates in the battleground states, montana, tim sheehy launched a new spot saying his likely opponent, jon tester, supported joe biden's witch-hunt every step of the way. in ohio, republican bernie moreno launched a digital ad that criticized sherrod brown. you're seeing a trend here. how do you see this impacting those races? >> you know, this is very eerily similar to what happened in 2022, where the thing that republicans seemed to have to do to win the primaries was to say that the election was illegitimate and stolen. that seemed to be -- and state after state in key states where they wanted to pick up seats like arizona and michigan and nevada and other states, they n

you know, harry truman was vice president. he only met with fdr alone twice when he was vice president. only twice. cheney was asked once in 2000, two how many times he had met alone with bush. and he reaches into a suit pocket, pulls out a schedule. he says, let me see. three, four, five, six, seven, seven times. he says, today, right. that tells you a lot. but it was true that he successfully pushed for various policies that he favored. he was pushing on an open door. george w bush wanted to go the places that cheney was taking him to go. he didn't resist that. bush has never, in all the research i've ever done, nobody has ever told me that bush told them that cheney made him do something he didn't want to do by second term. in fact, bush began even moving away from cheney. he began having new thoughts about how he wanted to approach foreign policy and domestic policy. they began disagreeing a whole lot more people don't really recognize that, but in fact, they were heading down different paths. bush was doing something on a

/"and on that fighting campaign, whose support i president harry truman.l a lot safer with all of them on my side. and i'm proud of the contrast with our republican■l competitos for their rank that both inlengo put his head up in thet 12 nths fully aware of the fact that the, by nominating someone of my faith g on what many regard as a new and hazardous risk, no. at least scedemocratic party hae american people and in their trt an ability to render a judgment. my oath of office, to reject anr obga my directly or indirectly interfere with my conduct of t presidency in the supporting public separation of church and state, and pressure from sources of any kind. should be clear by now to everyone. that no american i hope that nonsidering the really cril issues facing thisis franchise w away his either for me or religious affiliation. it is not relevant. i am telling you what, you are entitled to know as come■p before you seeking your support for the mostow office in the free world. i am saying to every public poly will be my own as an american, as a democrat,

and on that fighting campaign, whose support iw welcome president harry truman. i feel a lot safer with all of them on my side. and i'm proud of the contrast with our republicaneir rank that both in tha t no has dared to put his head up in the last 12 months. i am fully aware of the fact that the democratic party, by nominating someone of my faith as taking on what many regard as a new anddous risk, no. at least since 1928, the democratic party has once again placed its confidence in the american people and in their to render a free and fair judgment and in my ability to render a free and fair judgment. to uphold on and my oath of office, to reject any kind of religious pressure or obligation that my directly or indirectly interfere with my conduct of the presidency in the nationalmy record of 14 insupporting public education su c separation of church and state, and resisting pressure from sources of any kind. should be clear by now to i hope that no america critical issues facing this coury waste this franchise and throw away his vot either for me or religious a

>> it's a very hard decision for president to make both harry truman and lyndon johnson thought about not running again for months before they announced it in maybe in both cases, they had a hard time, if you will, pulling the trigger in the end but they made this decision, and the decision was a lonely one. they made it themselves in the case of lyndon johnson, his family when his family discovered that he was considering this, didn't want them to do it in the case of harry truman, he talked to keep send a signal to his daughter, his beloved daughter, that he was thinking of this. and there's no evidence there was any pushback. so it's a very lonely decision. and both truman and johnson's case they were mired in an unpopular war for true minute was the korean war for johnson, it was vietnam both were tired and both were ready to leave the oval office. nevertheless, it was a tough decision to make now, we're in a different situation. the situation we're in now is that the incumbent president may or may not have been thinking about retirement, but he made very clear that he was running

and on that fighting campaign, whose support i know welcome president harry truman. i feel a lot safer with all of them on my side. and i'm proud of the contrast with our republican competitors for their rank that both in that not one challenger has dared to put his head up in the last 12 months. i am fully aware of the fact that the democratic party, by nominating someone of my faith as taking on what many regard as a new and hazardous risk, no. at least since 1928, the democratic party has once again placed its confidence in the american people and in their to render a free and fair judgment and in my ability to render a free and fair judgment. to uphold the constitution and my oath of office, to reject any kind of religious pressure or obligation that my directly or indirectly interfere with my conduct of the presidency in the national interest. my record of 14 years in supporting public education, supporting complete separation of church and state, and resisting pressure from sources of any kind. should be clear by now to everyone. i hope that no american i hope

and you know who else know about victory, dwight eisenhower and harry truman, the new something abouter close to i've years of fighting the in europe in general and eternal life on june 6, 1944, d-day of the set apart from the tightest turn, the freemen of the world are merging together to victory and i have full confidence in your courage, devotion, to duty skill and that will accept nothing less than victory also year after d-day president harry truman announced ve day of may 8th 1945 in which he said in part, this victory, we join in offering our thanks to the providence in which because guided and sustained us of the dark days of adversity rejoice and sobered is subdued by the supreme consciousness of the terrible price that we have paid through the world of hitler, and his evil band and if i can give away simple watch for the coming months, the board is working, work, and more working we must work coveted finish the work in our victory is only half over but much remains to be done in the victory one in the west and is now being born in the east for the triumph of spirit in arms h

. >> harry truman would not have done harry truman would not have done hiroshima and nagasaki despite trump's baseless accusations of a two-tier justice system that seems to be working well in his favor right now, judge aileen cannon is entertaining his claim that a special counsel investigation is unlawful, and the supreme court has taken his time weighing trump's immunity claim for nearly two months, potentially delaying the january 6 case until after the election. >> let's discuss now with a yale law political science professor aqeel reed amar, he clerk for supreme court justice stephen breyer, and is the author of the words that made us america's constitutional conversation also with me, debra pearlstein, professor of constitutional law at princeton. she clerked for a supreme court justice john paulson stevens. debra, let me start with you first. thanks to both you for being on with us. the court took less than three weeks to decide us versus nixon which clarified the extent of executive privilege during the watergate scandal. obviously, this is a different case, but why is it tak

was also created, in order to obtain approval from the fbi the creation of the cia, president harry trumandirector fbi john edgar guevre that the cia would be a division of the fbi. it was a lie, he deceived. he did this simply to silence hoover, and then when the cia was finally created, it was presented to hoover and congress as an organization that was created specifically to fight the soviet union and communism. in fact, the us was the last major country to establish an intelligence service. they previously had a wartime organization called the office of strategic services, but it specialized in combat. with nazism, the goal of the cia was to fight communism, after which the course of first destroying the soviet union, and then russia, never changed. in 1951, with the participation of the central intelligence agency , the so-called american committee was created. liberation of the peoples of russia, which after some time established, as you remember, radio free europe, one of the main mouthpieces of such evil anti-soviet propaganda. listen, listen, today a new liberation radio station

and there's a picture of him being decorated by president harry truman. yes. what uniform is this? this is his dress uniform. he stayed in the marine corp reservist and he was a warrant officer. and that's the rank of a war ficer o hi aulets. but that, of course, is his medal of hon that president truman awarded to him. he was a very good friend of the museum's and andved a life of trying to represent the medal around the country. so, peter crane, if i were a world war two vet and i walked in here and saw this what i know what it is, you would definitely know that that is a life jacket. what you probably wouldn't is that this is a life jacket from the s.s. athenathe very first passenger liner torpedoed by the germans world war two. the athena was torpedoed two of war on the 1st of september 1939. and this is fully two years before the united states is in the war. and michael mcshane is was he was. he was on the athena. and that helped save his life. andr with, he had a number ofis lifejacket. and that's what we're seeing. andght here. as we continue. looking at? so this is a exhibi

the people running for president, when that book came out wanted to be thought of as the next harry trumanhe guy who could make the tough who had tenacity and and so it was an influential book for the for the time. but david was just such a class act and didn't it didn't waste a word on the page. he was he was not a verbose writer. he he was he was an artist himself. watercolor illustrations. and i often thoughtartistry exte painter. and you could you could see the characters in his books. i loved working. i got tois book on the wright brothers. and and that was a kind of a classic david mccullough book, because he could. it allowed him to write about the optimism of the american and, you know, the can do nature of americans as told through these these brothers. and that was a story, the truman picasso story that i wanted to get out there. mr. good. mr. karp, how much time do you have to work directly with authors and edit them since you've been ceo and president for the last four years? well, i still get to do it. i don't get to do it as much as i would like, but i do get to work with dor

had never run for political office and the head of the dnc was from missouri and was very close harry truman. and so the political pros were pushing for truman and ultimately the convention fdr said he was going to leave the choice up to the convention, but he released a letter publicly saying that he would be very happy to run with either harry truman or william douglas. and those were the only two people he mentioned. and there were people at democratic convention in chicago. and behalf working hard to get him the nomination douglas himself didn't attend the convention, but they had been in close touch with. douglas, and they were working very hard to get him the nomination. and douglas was viewed as elite contender right until the final day of the convention. so here you have a sitting justice who comes very, very close to being fdr, his running mate. and of course, he would have been president the following when fdr died. but are only two examples. there are a lot of other examples we could go through each of the justices and talk about the different kind of formal and informal and polic

was moved out of the vice presidential slot in 1944 at the democratic convention. >> harry truman was moved on. and all that followed the berlin airlift. marshall aid structures of peace and free craig, that decision was really made by somebody. you can say six and eight people were able to lock themselves in a room and keep all kinds of consideration that's not what will happen. this will turn into because the people want to over a pass by so biden also want to pass by kamala harris. they want to have a completely open debate, but put aside the first black woman vice president, and that is going to be a nightmare it's right about the process they didn't have to agree to this debate in the first place. i argued back in april, but the debate was a mistake, not because of any lack of confidence in joe biden, but because of the nature of goal of putting the president on the stage where joint media appearance with a convicted criminal. it's not something that makes sense. and there are a lot of ways democrats could fight that could have thought this contest. you're a lot is still a lot of

president harry truman authorized the use of atomic bombs against japan in august were dropped on the japanese cities of hiroshima and nagasaki nagasaki. and. the most important legacy franklin roosevelt left the world was the united nations organization. from the earliest days of world war, fdr worked to create a postwar organization dedicated to global cooperation and peace through collective security. on january 1st, 1942, he welcomed representatives of 25 allied nations to the white house to sign a declaration pledging each to defend life liberty in dependance and religious freedom and preserve human rights and justice. fdr, this wartime coalition, the united nations and later led efforts to expand it into a postwar international organization. and returning from this trip, the defense of the refreshed, inspired with a firm belief that we have made a good start on the road to a world of peace and am confident that the congress and the american people will accept the results of this conference as the beginning of a permanent structure of peace upon which we can begin to build an und

president harry truman wavered this time and refused, because by that time the ussr already had its own bomb. by the spring of 1951 truman simply fired general macarthur. the bloody war eventually ended in a draw in 1953. soviet combat aviation played a decisive role in allowing the complete liberation of north korea. if it were not for the ussr, then such a country as the dprk would not exist now. our help was decisive then, and the memory of it became part of the north korean genotype. hence the speed of convergence now, there is nothing to be surprised about, there are no secrets. and it is clear that pyongyang is sensitive to security issues and has an unyielding desire to possess nuclear weapons in addition to its missile arsenal. as for vietnam, here, too, the genetics of folk memory are in our favor: northern pro-soviet vietnam was attacked in the united states in 1964. first, artillery shelling from ships, then in 1965 carpet bombing from the air, and then a ground operation. the united states fought ingloriously for more than 10 years until the defeat of the flight in... for am

they're not going to move harry truman would not have done harry truman would not have done hiroshima nagasaki. you have to allow a president to do his job. they'll make decisions i suspect this is going to be a topic of debate next week to i would think so. >> yeah. >> what do you make of just trump his argument here. i mean, he's basically say his team in court is saying that last sees impeached and then convicted by the senate than that's when he can be prosecuted, not before that what will be interesting to me, i think is whether biden sort of presses this at the debate because i think the biden campaign husband trying to especially after he was found guilty in the case of new york, which is entirely separate, but trying to really hammer home the contrast between biden and trump especially, you know, saying trump is a criminal. >> and so i think with something that's undecided like this, but something that's key to biden's appeal, which just let's defense of democracy, wanting voters to be reminded of january 2, trump's role in it. i'll be really curious to see if biden presses th

and there's a picture of him being decorated by president harry truman. yes. this? he stayed in theter the war. he was a reservist and he was a warrant officer. and that's the on his epaulets. but that, of cthat president tro him. he was a very good friend of the museum's and and really lived a life of trying to honorably represent the medal around the country. so, peter crane, if i were a world war two vet and i walked i know what it is, yououdefinitela life jacket. what you probably wouldn't know is that this is a life jacket from the s.s. athena,g:the veryr torpedoe t in world war two. the athena was tpedo two days after the declaration of war on the 1st of september 39 this is fully two years before the united states is in e war. and michael mcshane is was he was. he was on the+#■& athena. and that helped save his life. and when it was over with, he had a number of other survivors sign his lifejacket. and that's what we're seeing. an that's what you're seeing right here. as we continue. what are we looking at? so thiss a hibit or a case about the aleutians campa

this politician was harry truman.have a garden hose, lend it to your neighbor before your house catches fire. when the fire is extinguished, the neighbor will return the hose to you, and if it turns out to be damaged, he will pay for it when he saves up some money. this is an understandable belief. but nevertheless, this idea that a neighbor’s house is on fire, and that just sitting with arms folded while it burns is a completely unacceptable thing, rooseville had it like you too. quite rightly noted, a completely sincere conviction, i must say, that roosevelt’s position of course played a big role at the tigeran conference, when at some point stalin simply presented his negotiating partners with a choice: either the negotiations end, or we make a definite decision about opening a second front. many military historians, as you also quite rightly noted, believe that in 1942, yes, the americans were unlikely to join the british, they simply did not have enough amphibious means, yes, the strength of aviation was not enou

billy s kn noted, and he had a personal relationship with and influence upon every president since harry trumangs of people, course, came through to pay their last respects. and all the members of congress and, everybody and dignitaries from all■c around. and tributes poured in and. they included all of the presid. here's a quick sample of some of the things they said. donald trump said, quote, billy's accept jesus christ. around his 17th birthday, not changed his life. it changed our country and the world.he was one of the towering figures of the last 100 years, an american hero whose life and leadership truly earned him the title god's obama tweeted this y prayed for so many and who, with wisdom and grace, generations. george w bush said, those of us who are blessed to know billy benefited from his deep r;conviction and personal examp. his wisdom and humility, his grace andity of heart. we knew that his life was a gift that he is now in the company of whom he loved so much and served so well. bill clinton, he said billy graham was one of the most impoant religiously in american history. his p

macarthur requested 34 nuclear weapons from the us president. bombs mapped their targets, president harry trumanme the ussr already had its own bomb. by the spring of 1951 truman simply fired general macarthur. the bloody war eventually ended in a draw in 1953. soviet combat aviation played a decisive role. allowing the complete liberation of north korea up to the thirty-eighth parallel. in total, our pilots destroyed 1,200 enemy aircraft. 22 of our aces were awarded the title of hero of the soviet union. the us lost 30,000 people killed and 100,000 wounded. china - up to 400,000. the korean people suffered the heaviest losses. on both sides up to 4 million. majority. and yet, if it were not for the ussr, then such a country as the dprk would not exist now. our help was decisive then, and the memory of it became part of the north korean genotype. hence the speed of convergence now, there is nothing to be surprised about, there are no secrets. and it is clear that pyongyang is sensitive to security issues and has an unyielding desire to have nuclear power. as for vietnam, here too the genetics of

the best thing that happened to harry truman was the biography that endeared him to many. i'm very satisfied with my choice. as i mentioned, closely tied to the c-span poll. >> the historian survey done in 2021 is done every time there is a change of administration. done in 2021, 2017, 2009 and 2020. the presidents you mentioned in your book largely stay in the same position. why are those presidents widely regarded? >> in large part because throughout their presidencies they abided by leadership traits that caused them to be so successful for the most part. in all respects, people like washington and lincoln, integrity, credibility, all these persons are extremely effective communicators. there is a historical record of each of them. it is accessible for how they went about their lives to make them so worthy of emulation and study. these things do not change over time. >> we are talking with thomas boston about his book. how the best did it, leadership lessons from our top president. we will be taking your calls. you can start calling in now. democrats your line is 202-74

and she says well i'm harry truman. [laughter] >> so this almost did not happen. but i persisted.me political because i became swept up in the great adventure of 1968. this was a very stressful election. an election in which we get indications for the first time that we are going to move away from this postwar period. an election dominated by the vietnam war. it is characterized by a riddle of winning slogan -- it was nixon's pledge to end the war in vietnam and win the peace. america always wins wars to win the peace, we are going to end the war and win the peace. this was all a sign of change. one of the dominant impressions i took away from that campaign was the single-mindedness of it. therefore, the importance of mission to leadership, the presidency, a mission oriented job. what impressed me was the futility of attempting to exercise leadership for its own sake. some years later, i encountered a quote by my grandfather, we succeed only as white -- as we identify in life or in war, or in anything else. a single overriding objective. and base all considerations upon it. that i

that politician was harry truman.tches fire, when the fire is extinguished, the neighbor will return the hose to you, and if it turns out to be damaged, he will pay for it when he saves up some money. it's clear, conviction, but nevertheless, this idea that a neighbor’s house is burning and that just... sitting with your hands folded while it burns is a completely unacceptable thing, roosevelt had this, as you also quite rightly noted, a completely sincere conviction, i must say that roosevelt’s position certainly played a big role at the tehran conference, when at some point stalin simply presented his negotiating partners with a choice: either the negotiations end, or we make a definite decision on opening a second front, many military historians, as you also quite rightly noted, believe that in 1942, and the americans hardly together with the english... could hardly have managed to carry out a successful landing in the same normandy, for example, on the other hand, forty the third year, when we need to remember, ou

he sailed on harry truman's yacht.he dated jackie kennedy before john f kennedy married married her. and he was a close, close aide to kennedy. and he had actually given kennedy a paper before the bay of pigs. he said, you need a situation house. and we think that's the first term. but kennedy, of course, didn't do it until after t, angry with the joint chiefs of staff in the cia because he didn't feel he was getting the information he needed after it was created, that he didn't use it all that much. he thought it was a pig pen, which at the time it was, and it was very, very much a smoke filled room as well. johnson as you said, was there all the time. he actually moved his chairte chair down from the oval office because he wanted to be there. there all the time, but he was constantly on the phone with situation room all through the night and we include both the transcripts in the book and the tapes in the audio book of tse phone calls that he's making trying to get any scrap information about what's happenin know, jo

noted, and he had a personal relationship with and a unique influence upon every president since harry truman. and it is his body laid here in the rotunda in february. 2018 at leiden state. throngs of people, course, came through to pay their last respects. and all the members of congress and, everybody and dignitaries from all around. and tributes poured in and. they included all of the living former presidents. here's a quick sample of some of the things they said. donald trump said, quote, billy's accept jesus christ. around his 17th birthday, not changed his life. it changed our country and the world. he was one of the towering figures of the last 100 years, an american hero whose life and leadership truly earned him the title god's ambassador. barack obama tweeted this billy graham was a humble servant who prayed for so many and who, with wisdom and grace, gave hope and guidance to generations. george w bush said, those of us who are blessed to know billy benefited from his deep conviction and personal example. his wisdom and humility, his grace and purity of heart. we knew that his life

so let's take harry truman's presidency as an. truman's presidency, one of the most corrupt in the 20th century. banner continued that the real story of that presidency consisted of policy issues such as the berlin airlift and the marshall plan and quote if you try to write history of the truman administration on the grounds of the misconduct of, the white house, then you're not really writing the history of the truman administration. at one point, a strong ideological skew among historian as against ronald reagan almost did him in. amid the disclosure of the iran-contra affair in 1988 american heritage ran an article by irwin friedman that put reagan in the same category as grant harding and nixon, complete with a cartoon one showing the four presidents falling into a hellish fiery pit around the same time, in his private correspondence, see woodward, despite doing his part during the 1950s to perpetuate the corruption narrative. describe the traditional narrative about the gilded age, including grant's presidency, as a howling a

it reminds me of that sign on harry truman's desk: "the stank start here." former president also whined about colombian-born judge juan merchan. >> the judge hates donald trump. just take a look. take a look at him. take a look at where he comes from. >> stephen: "they don't make good judges in colombia. colombia should stick to what they're known for -- fleece jackets and affordable raincoats. i deserve a judge from one of the good countries like patagonia or northface." earlier this week, trump's social media account put out a bit of disturbing content, it was a campaign video with a headline about a "unified reich." now, before you get too worked up, there's a simple explanation. donald trump wants to rule over a unified reich. now, trump eventually took down the video, but the biden campaign pounced on it. >> what's next for america? >> is this on his official account? wow. a unified reich? that's hitler's language. that's not america's. he cares about holding on to power. i care about you. >> stephen: "whoa! [applause] wow, huh. golly moses, they're put