bill: jennifer mittelstadt. what did you mean by your book title? jennifer: i am trained as a scholar of politics. we use the term welfare state to encompass all kinds of government programs that basically provide social and economic security to people. more broadly we might think about social welfare as both public and private ways that societies are organized in order to provide social and economic security. so, the rise of the military welfare state considers what it means to have those programs, social, economic support programs in a military context. in the united states, the military has always played some kind of social welfare role, even when that has never been its main function. but from the revolutionary period of to the present it has had programs which do provide economic and social security for people in the military. bill: in the early days, what did it look like? how did that start? jennifer: basic things like food, shelter and clothing. which in the early modern period could lure lots of people into military service when they might n

bill: jennifer mittelstadt, thank you for being with us. here on american history tv. thanks. >> you're watching american history tv, all weekend, every weekend, on c-span3. like us on facebook at c-span history. >> next, next and white house alum -- alumni talk about nixon's post-presidency. they discussed their roles in the nixon/frost interviews, the writing of his memoir, and his return to public life. we also hear about nixon's relationship with ronald reagan during the 1980 presidential campaign and has lasting impact on american politics. this is just over an hour and was hosted by the richard nixon presidential library and museum in california. >> many of you will have it your place setting an envelope. you will find a record or two we were able to find about you. when you served the president. the staff that we have, the great staff inside the foundation had more fun. imagine as they would uncover something and you would end up with the conversation around these documents. i can only share with you that it was a great discovery process. i think we are reproduc

gentleman is that -- jennifer mittelstadt. we did you mean by your book title? nnifer: i am trained by a scholar of