jean edward smith. [applause] >> this is a booktv on

we also welcome jean edward smith.h president whose new book is critically acclaimed "eisenhower in war and peace." mr. smith is also written biographies for franklin eleanor roosevelt and ulysses s. grant. mr. smith is a senior scholar at columbia university and after many years of spending time at the university of toronto and marshall university. finally, our moderator for this program will be jonathan yardley, pulitzer prize-winning critic for the "washington post." mr. yardley has been a fellow at harvard university and was awarded and anwar doctor of letter by george washington university in 1987. his most recent book, his second rating, a compilation of some of the most memorable reviews have noted and neglected books from the past. please join me in welcoming david and julie eisenhower, jean edward smith and jonathan yardley. [applause] >> thank you very much. can you hear me? >> no. >> no? okay. we don't have much time some going to ask our panel is to get right to. i'm going to ask first mr. smith and in the

i think that this is a very important dimension of an ongoing story that is chronicled by jean edward smithisenhower in war and peace." what america is doing is, america's rewriting the ruleboof mr. smith's book deals with the military-industrial complex that eisenhower issued as the leading officer. that is a speech which above all addresses what i think is the great paradox of the 20th century and that is how we can combine such growth in such progress, i highway system being part of this, with the horrors of the 20th century, the first world war and the great depression and world war ii and the cold war and the threat of nuclear annihilation. reads great horrors and great progress coexisted throughout the 20th century and the idea was come in eisenhower's mind, but that this was a paradox and american democracy which was growing so quickly on such an overwhelming scale, had to understand or are reorients itself in these new circumstances, and so he ran. he was a republican particularly when i knew him in the 1960's, very much a republican and in fact i was raised in sort of a nonpolitica

>> i want jean edward smith's help from this. from a grandchild's perspective, and she would notice from a larger perspective. world war ii was a subject that he left alone. as my father put it once, he would accept criticism on anything regarding his presidency, but he could not really bring himself to revisit the controversies of world war ii. i think because so much was at stake. if you think of all the lives that depend on the decisions that were made then, and this is reflected in the character of the eisenhower library, even the roosevelt library where it covers world war ii and so forth. this is a very somber topic. my grandfather simply would not come he didn't want to teach it and didn't want to go back and relive it in any superficial way. by the same token we were encouraged to learn. so this is a veteran experience. you covered so many clay, grant, what is your reaction? >> well, i think david is the authority on this. 25 years ago david wrote the definitive book on eisenhower's -- eisenhower's -- and. >> it's been an

has been an honor to be here with jean edward smith who has written a terrific look. we are fighting over it and we have been fighting over. this is a rate account of the entire life which is to meet the greatest challenge i can imagine. .. [applause] >> good evening. i am the archivist of the united states. it is a pleasure to welcome news this evening. and it to our friends at c-span and other media outlets. we have special guests today. senator mike lee who is a good friend of the national archives. from utah. [applause] who clerked for eight future supreme court justice judge alito. on monday, the constitution turns 225. tonight's program is one of several in celebration of the founding document signed september 17, at 1887 in philadelphia. tonight we will come to distinguish guests to discuss the past, present, and future of the constitution. sponsoring other federal list aside the and then national accountability center. think affordability to collaborate. while the declaration was heralded as the icon of independence it did not get as much attention the pros is

jean edwards smith and david eisenhower and julie nixon eisenhower talking about dwight david eisenhower. after that booktv will join the eisenhowers on the history and biography tent and you will have a chance to talk to them as well. that is the lineup today in the history and biography tent. if that didn't catch your fancy we have another option. booktv.org will be one casting all day long. at the national book festival. very quickly this is the lineup for booktv.org. tom friedman and michael mandelbaum and linda greenehouse on the supreme court. and lisa, best friend and occasional enemies is there book. jeffrey toobin's book on the supreme court and the obama white house. douglas brinkley talking about walter cronkite and finally brothers and me, a memoir of loving and giving. you have two options. you can stick with us on booktv on c-span2 or you can join us online at booktv.org web casting live all day long from the national book festival and if you are in the area come down. the c-span bus is down here. we are passing out big book bags. the caller is pink. add your palette of boo

kennan and jean edward smith will be joining us for a call in program.s view of eisenhower? >> guest: george f. kennan have a lot of respect for eisenhower. no respect for john dulles. for eisenhower a great deal of respect. because george sensed as many people did that he was different from his superficial appearance and manner. eisenhower was a master of being underestimated and giving the impression that he was a light weight when in fact he was running the whole show and the critical point came as early as 1953 after dallas had fired george f. kennan. eisenhower hired him to study top-secret study group to rethink the idea of containment which dollars had been criticized and so they do this secretly over the summer at the national war college and there are three competing task forces which come up with opposite conclusions. george f. kennan recommended continuation of his own policy and in kennan's memoirs he describes how eisenhower took over this meeting when reports were presented, wove them all together in a sense is no one else had thought of an

. >> jean edward smith senior scholar at columbia university presents a biography of president dwightwer entitled "eisenhower in war and peace." he spoke of the 2012 roosevelt festival of the presidential library and museum in hyde park new york. [applause] >> thank you very much. it's always a pleasure to return to the roosevelt presidential library and i think this is my 26th visit here and while i'm going to talk primarily about eisenhower today, let me say a few words about fdr and ike them very briefly when eisenhower was sent to london in june of 1942, a very pro forma session and the white house leader on his way to tehran at the end of 43 the president stopped off in north africa and speak with eisenhower fdr was taking his measure and he liked what he saw.ob they were very much alike. the bonded on the trip to see the battlefield of the carthage immediately after the conference, roosevelt picked eisenhower to demand the invasion. the job was marshall if he wanted it, but with characteristic self as a plan, marshall declined to express an opinion when roosevelt asked, and at

. >> edward kennedy came to court and talked an emotional conversation about with his sister jean about the death of her husband and william smith's out. >> we went to a bar. i wish i had gone for a long walk on the beach instead. but we did go to a bar. >> in the halls of congress, he is somewhat damaged. >> kennedy also brushed off a suggestion from fellow senator orrin hatch, that he quit drinking. >> with so much controversy about his own private life. and facing a tough re-election fight, the senator appeared at the john f. kennedy school of harvard today and admitted some personal faults. >> i'm painfully aware that the criticism directed at me in recent months, involves far more than honest disagreement with my positions or the usual criticisms from the far right. it also involves the disappointment of friends. and many others, who rely on me to fight the good fight. to them, i say, i recognize my own shortcomings. the faults and conduct of my private life. i realize that i alone am responsible for them. and i am the one who must confront them. >> well, i'm gratified by the verdict of the jury in palm beach. i had always be