who was josephus daniels and how did he get picked to be the secretary of navy? >> well, daniels was a newspaper editor. he owned "the raleigh news and observer," and the short answer to how he became secretary of the navy is politics. the longer answer is that he had been an important player at the national level for the democratic party. he had been a member of the democratic national committee for 20 years. more specifically he had played an important role in helping wilson get nominated and then also in helping wilson get elected. and so wilson came to see daniels not only as an important political figure but also as a valuable personal aide, and he wanted him in the cabinet, and in anticipation of there not being a war, you know, it was 1913, who would have anticipated that the country was going to go to war, he really just wanted daniels to be a political adviser, and that's how daniels ended up in the secretary of the navy's position. he had no military experience, no naval experience. as near as i can tell, the only time he was ever on a ship was when he

josephus arranges for him to become a newspaper man at a texas. was some personal scandal involved which i'm just going to leave it at that. because this is a public show. and those of you, i hope i have wet your appetite to buy the book. to read the scandalous parts of the biography. but basically, he did not stop running. he is tried but he wasn't well opinions. he wouldn't give up that control and then he kept getting dragged back in because of the managerial issues with his family. >> did you happen to find out why daniels did not take advantage of a money available from congress and in 1915 and 16 to establish a base here and four battleships and large aircraft that could not tie up along side of -- >> i don't know the answer to that specific question. but i have a hypothesis based on other research that i -- material that i found during the research. and that is, daniels used the budget that he was granted by congress to often to achieve political objectives. i know you're shocked, right? that that, shocked that gambling is going on inping o

so my talk today is about josephus daniels and his role during the first world war. while you were enjoying lunch i was being interviewed on c-span. the first question that i got was why would josephus daniels be secretary of the navy during the first world war? and the short answer to that is politics. daniels, the longer answer is daniels was a very important player in the democratic party at both the national and the state and regional level. he had been a member of the democratic national committee for 20 years by the time the 1912 presidential election rolled around. and he was a newspaper publisher and arguably one of the most important voices, democratic voices, in the south. that's what put him on wilson's radar screen initially. and then he played an important role in getting wilson nominated and then he played an important role in getting wilson elected. so wilson came to appreciate daniels for his political wisdom, his connections and power. and so he wanted daniels to be in the cabinet as a political adviser. and you say well okay, you've persuaded us why

he had initially been brought into the administration by josephus daniels. daniels had named fdr as his da assistant secretary. now, i don't know how many assistant and under-secretaries there are today of positions -- of cabinet positions, but from what i read in the newspaper ant see on c-span, there is a fairl large number. in those days, you had one. after the election, the initial wilson election in the fall of 1912, he thinks, oh, wouldn't it be a nice political, public tic, relations coup if we could bring into the only second democratic administrations since before the civil war, remember the others were grover cleveland , those oe you who are old enough, and i won't make eye contact with any of you, but you remember we usey to have to memorize the ne presidents. after the civil war, they all s had the same beard and looked r alike. on the one in that group who was different, the outlier, was grover cleveland. he had two nonconsecutive terms as president and he was the only democrat between buchanan, before lincoln, and wilson, which was one of the r

. >> the jewish historian josephus has a very memorable line. he says, "one temple for the one god." the jews saw themselves as a unique people with one god, one god alone, and this one god of this one special people had one temple. and that's a very powerful idea, reflecting-- accurately, i think-- the historical truth that the temple was a very powerful unifying source within the jewish community. this was the one, most sacred place on earth, the one place on earth where the earth rises up and the heavens somehow descend just enough that they just touch. this was the only one place on the entire earth where this was so. >> the temple in jerusalem was the symbolic heart of the country. jews everywhere, if they chose to, if they were pious, would put aside part of their income-- it's sort of like, oh, the way christmas clubs operate now-- you'd put aside money explicitly to be spent having a party in jerusalem. >> narrator: although the temple was the centerpiece of jewish life and worship, judaism was not a state religion. >> there's no such th

coming up next biography lee craig talks about secretary of the navy josephus daniels as a key member of president wilson's cabinet he built up the fleet for war. the talk is about an hour. >> thank you. our first speaker today is dr. lee a. craig, an alumni distinguished professor and head of the department of economics at north carolina state university in raleigh. dr. craig is a graduate of ball state university and completed his m.a. and ph.d. work at indiana. 1989 he won the allen nevins prize for the best ph.d. dissertation in economic history. since that time, has been ubiquitous in his efforts, publishing essays, supervising dissertations and present being academic papers. he is the author of 24 articles and essays, mostly economic histories, and population studies. his most recent book is josephus daniels, his life and times published by university of north carolina press. this biography examines the life of josephus daniels, 41st secretary of the navy who held office between 1913 and 1941. daniel's decisions helped prepare the u.s. navy for its eventually involvement in worl

josephus arranges for him to become a newspaper man at a newspaper in texas. there was some personal scandal involved which i'm just going to leave it at that because this is a public show. and i hope i have wetted your appetite to buy the book to read the scandalous parts of the biography. basically he did not stop running. he tried but he just wasn't well suited to do it in terms of opinion he couldn't give up that control. and then he kept getting dragged back in because of the managerial issues with his family. >> in your research did you happen to find out why daniels did not take advantage of the money that was available from congress in 1915 and '16 to establish a base here for his battleships and other large aircraft that could not tie up along side a dock? >> i don't know the answer to that specific question, butoóv+ have a hypothesis based on other research that i -- material that i found during the research. and that is daniels used the budget that he was granted by congress to achieve political objectives. i know you are shocked, right? shocked tha

times of published by university of north carolina press.aphy this biography examines the life of josephus daniels, 41st us secretary of the navy who held office between 1913 and 1941. ny daniel's decisions helped en prepare the u.s. navy for its eventually involvement in world

in washington with josephus daniels, secretary of the navy.line, they are riveted together at ford's new plant. ♪ the launching of an eagle boat, sleek and fast, built for anti-submarine warfare. ♪ at highland park, ford experiments with a small tank powered by two model t engines. can it cross the trenches? not every time. well back to the drawing board. ♪ the city of detroit turns out to say goodbye and good luck to those who go to fight in foreign fields. ♪ they don't give up on the small tank. maybe those skids in back will help. going great. too bad. big brother shows how it should be done. ♪ at highland park, the men turn out for a patriotic arrayed -- parade and draft. ♪ another new weapon in this war, but thiseffective yet, is the first model of the martin bomber. eddy rickenbacker, america's flying ace, comes home to encourage more plain production -- plane reduction -- production. here is how they manufacture the curtis flying boats. a liberty engine. ♪ the faces of america at war. these are men working in the , a redd at hog island

but josephus' version of the story turned masada into the powerful symbol of a noble failure. >> the failure of the first revolt really was a traumatic event for everyone living in the jewish homeland, jews and christians alike. as a result, they had to start rethinking some of their own assumptions. when jerusalem was destroyed, a whole new series of questions had to be asked. "what do we do without the temple?" "where is the source of our faith and our authority?" "what does god want us to do?" >> this era was an age of definition, not just for christianity, but also for judaism. it marks the emergence, for the first time, into the light of history of a new group and a new culture, and a new literature and a new way of thinking and writing. >> narrator: without the temple, the priesthood that had presided over its rituals lost its power. there emerged new leaders, the pharisees, rabbis who would lead the jewish people in a new direction. >> and the rabbis represent for us a new age of definition. it is the rabbis who now emerge as a new kind of judaism, and it is this judaism which

who was josephus daniels and how did he get picked to be the secretary of navy?

. >> lee craig is the author of "josephus daniels: his live and times." we appreciate you joining us on american history tv today. >> thank you very much. it's a pleasure and an honor. >>> here on c-span3 all this week we're featuring american history tv programming, and we'd like to get your thoughts on our shows. e-mail us at american history tv ae tv@c-span.org to leave your comments and suggestions. >>> and we'd like to tell you about some of our other american history tv programs. join us every saturday at 6:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. eastern. that's programs on the civil war every saturday at 6:00 and 10:00 p.m. eastern on american history tv on c-span3. >>> each week american artifacts takes viewers into archives, museums, and hitic sites around the country. next we visit the president woodrow wilson house in washington, d.c., which was home to the 28th president and his wife, edith, after they left the white house. a wilson house exhibit features a brown university collection of world war i paintings and other artworks. they helped shape public opinio

navy during world war i under the leadership of secretary of the navy josephus daniels.