john d. rockefeller, and you tried to win our affections with thin dime, and you can have your thin dimes back because you have not persuaded us that you were such a good man after all. probably people put those dimes there thinking one or the other of those things. now, it would be nice, of course, if you could be there observing over a period of time the people who did this, and snuck up to them afterwards and say, just what was on your mind when you laid those dimes on those steps? of course, you can't do that, so you are left, as you always are with historical evidence, with the need of interpreting it, and in a way, that's what i was doing in this book. i had great fun doing it. i it great fun doing it because to my mind, it is an intriguing subject because at various times, it is loomed so large in the conscious. americans generally value the rich for their contribution to american life. there was a gallup poll done last spring which asked whether or not the united states benefited from having a small class of very rich people without adding more gloss on the question than the words i've

john d. rockefeller with oil and and and rockefeller was particularly famous for this has been books written about how he would he would conspire with the local railroad to refuse and they would refuse to carry kerosene or oil products of his competitors he'd run into his competitors out of business and they'd buy them up or drop the price run him out of business and buy them up and he was doing this he was based out of ohio when he was doing this and the state of ohio actually made it illegal and senator sherman from ohio made a made a federal law out of this a fact too without going into a whole long story about john d. rockefeller that was the sherman antitrust act originally proposed one hundred eighty one and finally passed one nine hundred ninety s. and it really got in force in the early one thousand nine hundred by teddy roosevelt and by republican both republicans and then by president after and the last time it was used was by jimmy carter ultimately to break up a t. and t. nixon started that process. but reagan when he came into office he said we're not going to enforce the sherma

john d. rockefeller iii, and i told the history in part through the tension between john d. rockefeller iii on one side and john patton, the congressman from texas on the other, one of the great challenges of one of the great opponents of the foundation world, the charitable world. or at least raised questions about it. and one of rockefeller's great hopes before he died, i think too early in the car accident, was there would be some type of charity commission that would become the source of these good ideas. there's one in england i think hoped to see come to true mission the united states. but the idea died with him. i think we should all be considering those types of institutional approaches to help put the spotlight and create incentives for effectiveness as well. >> host: when you mention the history, you cover a very interesting explosion, the explosive growth that occurred, especially, 195 -- 1954 there were changes in the tax codes and the ability to create nonprofits game like a spaghetti factory, and before it was much more difficult to do. and actually some of the

john d. rockefeller the third, and i told the history of the checkable sector in part through the tension between john d. rockefeller the third on one side and that congressman from texas on the other to a sort of one of the great challenges of the great opponents i think of the foundation world of the checkable world, or at least the very question about it. one of rockefeller's great hopes before he died, i think you're in a car exit would be some type of charity commission that would become the source of credi good. this one in england. i hope we hope to see that come to fruition in the states, the idea that terrible forms died with them. i think we should all be considering those types of institutional approaches to help with the spotlight and create incentives for effectiveness as well. >> host: when you mentioned the history, you cover a very interesting explosion, the explosive growth that occurred, especially you noted that 1954 there were changes in the tax code and the ability to great nonprofits became like a spaghetti factory, whereas before it was much more difficult to deal. and actu

john d. rockefeller controlling ninety percent of oil production and actually in league with the railroad barons choosing the markets. it would succeed in the ones that would fail and as a country we decided in the early twentieth century that government acts as a steward for the common good and when it comes to the commodity inputs for every part of american business and society there is a role for oversight for price controls for ensuring that every american is served every american is protected and we have world class service so you're talking about the sherman antitrust act in the eighteen eighties teddy roosevelt's trust busting taft even picked that up and carried it forward it is that this and but in one thousand i think was eighty two in the early in the reagan administration. actually stopped in force in the sherman act eight hundred he had been broken up and his his directive to the justice department led to this explosion of acquisitions it was the m.n.a. frenzy of the early eighty's and michael milken all these guys rose up and they became the you know the master of the universe and

john d. rockefeller and i told the history of the charitable sector in part through the tension between john rockefeller on one side and the congressman from texas on the other who was one of the great challengers opponents i think in the foundation and the charitable world or at least raise questions about it. too early the root of the nature of the organization that would have become the source of these good ideas. there's one in england i think that he hoped to see that came to fruition of the states that idea of the charitable forms died with them and it's worth considering those types of institutional approach is to help put the spotlight and create incentives for the effectiveness as well. >> when you mention the history, you cover a very interesting explosion, the explosive growth that occurred especially you noted the 1954 there were changes in the tax code and the ability to create nonprofits became like a spaghetti factory whereas before it was much more difficult to do. some of the research that i did on this. basically the judge in a particular state would have their own subjecti

independent sector came from people like john rockefeller the third and i told the history of the charitable sector in part to the through the tension between john d. rockefeller the third on one side and the congressman from texas on the other who was one of the great challengers of the opponents of the charitable role and one of rockefeller's great hopes before he died two early in the car accident that there would be a charity commission that would become the source of these great ideas. there is one in england and we hope to see it come to fruition in the states that the idea of the charitable -- died with him. we should consider those institutional approaches to help put the spotlight on more effectiveness as well. >> host: when you mention the history you cover a very interesting explosion, the explosive growth that occurred especially you noted that in 1954 there were changes to the tax code and the ability to create nonprofits became like a spaghetti factory whereas before it was much more difficult to do. and actually some of the research that i did on this, prior to that change basically a judge and a state would have their own subjectiv

john d. rockefeller andrew carnegie in check thanks to the sherman act small businesses were able to thrive without the fear of having all their competitors bought out by big corporations and those having themselves be squashed like a bug or pushed out of the marketplace. it worked from the george washington administration. until the reagan administration and then it all changed as soon as reagan became president the era of deregulation in america began within a few years of taking office reagan's assault on small business was in full gear as he essentially stopped in force of the sherman act m n a artists an l.b.o. guys and all manner of mergers acquisitions and leveraged buyout hustlers rose to prominence dominating the headlines throughout the one nine hundred eighty s. as a result all across the country local businesses were being put out of business is large corporations took over and dominated industry after industry giant megastores like wal-mart and target replaced local convenience stores and hardware stores the local malt shop in the burger joint replaced by a n.w. and mcdonalds larger co

john d. rockefeller controlling ninety percent of oil production and actually in league with the railroad barons choosing the markets that would succeed in the ones that would fail and as a country we decided in the early twentieth century that government acts as a steward for the common good and when it comes to these commodity inputs for every part of american business and society there is a role for oversight for a price controls for ensuring that every american is served every american is protected and we have world class service so you're talking about the sherman antitrust act in the eighty's teddy roosevelt's trust busting taft even picked that up and carried it forward is that this and but in one thousand i think was eighty two in the early in the reagan administration. actually stopped in force in the sherman act of eighty and he had been broken up and his his directive to the justice department led to this explosion of acquisitions it was the m.n.a. frenzies of the early eighty's and michael milken all these guys rose up they became the you know the master of the universe and in a mast

john d. rockefeller. michigan's carl levin. iowa's thomas harkin. how real is the possibility democrats become a senate minority in 2014? >> a very real possibility. you have a lot of democrats retire, not very strong in these red states. mary landrieu in louisiana, mark pryor in arkansas. probably see advantage. a report in "the post" republicans are worried about specifically avoiding todd akin-style candidates who make dumb comments about rape or abortion in which they lose races republicans could win. they're talking about message. specifically getting candidates to talk about abortion, gay marriage, sensitive issues in very intelligent ways and not stupid ways. remember bobby jindal, we can't be the stupid party anymore. that's what they're talking about. >> dan, perry alluded to something that caught my attention from the nrsc report. the idea the nrsc will remain neutral unless an unelectable fringe candidate emerges. what might that mean for republican primaries in 2013 and 2014? >> a change in the policy ar 2010. the reason rnc were on the

john d. rockefeller erected by the whales, and once a year they do a pilgrimage to the statue and do the whale thing. >> host: doug in mercer island, washington, please go ahead with your question or comment. >> caller: good morning, gentlemen. i very much appreciate what c-span does. i'm hoping to give a little ammo to the professor for his myth about jfk's assassination being due to a conspiracy to continue the vietnam war. i had a radio show many years ago called relooking history, and i had donald kagan of yale and walt rostow who was national security adviser both to kennedy and johnson for a while and asked him that very question. and he said, bunk. he said jack kennedy, before he died, had no intention of withdrawing from vietnam. thank you. >> guest: no, you're absolutely right. and, um, i'm sure many of of our viewers have seen jfk, the oliver stone movie, and the premise of that is that johnson has kennedy killed in order to sell more bell helicopters, because bell helicopters were used in vietnam, and they were made in texas. now, there's a small problem with that. nobody even thoug