now, joe kennedy had maybe back in '56 figured out that kennedy's catholicism could give him an edge in new york and pennsylvania, states that had large numbers of catholics and where catholics after world war ii had begun to move away from the democratic party, especially catholics who had moved out of philadelphia and new york city into the suburbs. and eisenhower got a fairly substantial vote among those suburban catholics in '52 and an even bigger margin in '56. nixon, with his anti-communism, which played especially strongly among catholics and his appeal to conservative catholic democrats was a natural for continuing that in '60. but this could be neutralized by the democrats if they nominated a catholic candidate and cultivated cath riolic votes on that basis. so it was always, i think, problematic whether nixon could really carry new york or pennsylvania. in addition, michigan was increasingly under the control of the uaw during the 1950s. and so by 1960, the odds of nixon actually being able to carry michigan were probably somewhat less than 50/50. this meant that nixon real

kennedy. the author of this new book has chosen to tell us her story. in a moment you'll learn why she waited 50 years to share intimate details about this martyred former president who still enjoys such a unique role in our modern history and so tonight we bring you meredith vieira's exclusive interview with mimi alford. jfk's intern. it adds another surprising and disturbing layer to john f. kennedy's presidential portrait. >> i don't think what i did at 19 i don't -- you know, the 19-year-old was all right. she was okay. >> then why are you crying? >> i know. i remember how enthusiastic i was and how much i was fun to be with. i wasn't after anything. i wasn't after a job. i wasn't after -- i was just a young girl. >> reporter: almost 50 years later it still is difficult for 68-year-old mimi alford to talk about. >> most mornings when i woke up, i thought i don't want to get up and write this book. i want to hide under the covers. >> reporter: in her new book "once upon a secret" she reveal

kennedy townsend, steven smith himself, and two former kennedy administration officials, who both happento be my predecessors as director of this library, charles daly and dan finn. also joining us this evening is jim gardner, who among other duties, oversees the presidential library system for the national archives. a nation reveals itself by the men and women its produces, jfk once stated, and in jacqueline kennedy, this nation produced a most remarkable woman. among the many compliments one can bestow on this new book is that it is truly revelatory of her extraordinary life, keen wit, and historical accomplishments. as maureen dowd noted in a recent column, who else could read "war and peace" during the wisconsin primary? persuade the french to lend the mona lisa to the u.s., the only time it has ever left france. and encourage white house chefs to serve french cuisine at state dinners rather than irish stew. in its editorial, "the boston globe" praised caroline for publishing this history and demonstrating her trust in the public. she is, for many of us, our own gallant knight, still

kennedy.e've heard of tapes that's not been heard before talking about what was tranmitted from the plane bringing the president's body from texas to washington. these came from ted clipton his former military aide extraordinary stuff that gives you a sense of history and doug brinkley understands this part of her hisry and talks about what these tapes mean. doug brinkley from rice coming up now. dismievment president john f. kennedy was kill on november 22, 1963 while traveling motorcade. he was the youngest elected president and the youngest to die. nearly 50 years since his debt the details continue to be analyze and sometimes even questioned. now for the first time the complete audio record of the air force one flight from dallas to washington has been releases. the tape provides new insight into the grief and confused experience the hours ter the assassination. doug brinkley joins me from washington. he's a presidential historian and a professor of history at rice university and i'm pleas

kennedy presidential library in museum.and on behalf of tom mcknot, executive director of the kennedy library foundation, members of our foundation board, many of whom are here with us tonight, and all of my library and foundation colleagues, i thank you for coming, and all of you watching on c-span, and acknowledge the generous underwriters of the kennedy library forums, the boston foundation, and our media partners, "the boston globe" and wbur. the opening text panel of our new exhibit, "in her voice:nedy house years" which pairs this new oral history with never-before-seen documents and artifacts from our collection reads, jacqueline kennedy had a rare combination of gifts. intelligence, courage, discipline, artistic creativity, and a style all her own. she had an adventurous spirit and was an accomplished horse woman who lived life at full gallup. the oral history provides us with many of mrs. kennedy's personal recollections and insights and i hope you'll allow me to comment on just one. when asked by arthur schlessing

you know, bobby kennedy lived to loathe lyndon johnson, as did ted kennedy and the kennedy family.lways a feeling that johnson's presidency wasn't real, that there was just a co-option of kennedy policies. and the proof is in the pudding. that bobby kennedy geared up to run in 1968 over vietnam and wanted to, you know in many ways, help cripple johnson's presidency. >> yeah, i mean, kennedy said like -- he laughed at him as like a river boat gambler. he called him landslide because he only won that election. the '48 election of the senate by 48 votes. used to kid him about having a dishonest election. he felt uncomfortable being in his presence. he didn't like being in the same room at lyndon johnson. let's go to something really important. that's the vietnam war. here's a new tape that came out november 20th, 1963. just two days before the assassination. kennedy had his eye on the situation in vietnam that fall. here is just, as i said, just two days before he got killed, talking about what he was going to follow up with south vietnam. let's listen. >> they were going to have a br

actually, the humphrey people and the kennedy people had met, and they agreed because bobby kennedy was a party man -- agreed that if humphrey won the nomination, bobby kennedy would support him and vice versa. humphrey often believed bobby kennedy wouldn't have been killed and that he had gotten the nomination, humphrey got the nomination, he would have won because of the support of bobby kennedy. >> so let's talk about your fabulous documentary, hubert h. mumpary, the art of the possible. i want to share with the students one of many moments from your work. this is at the convention in chicago summer of 1968. >> this moment is one of personal pride and gratificat n gratification, yet one cannot help but reflect the deep sadness that we feel over the troubles and the violence which have erupted regrettably and tragically in the streets of this great city. for the personal injuries which have occurred. [ applause ] surely we have now learned the lesson that violence breeds counter-violence, and it cannot condoned whatever the source. >> i believe that the republican candidate -- i belie

you know, bobby kennedy lived to loathe lyndon johnson as did ted kennedy and the kennedy family.at johnson's presidency wasn't real, that it was really just a co-option of kennedy policies and the proof in the pudding that bobby kennedy geared up to run in 1968 over vietnam and wanted to in many ways help cripple johnson's presidency. >> i mean, kennedy had these weird -- he laughed at them as kind of a river boat gambler and called them landslide because h gambler, called him "landslide" he won by 87 votes. used to kid him about a dishonest election. felt uncomfortable being in his presence. he didn't like being in the same room as lyndon johnson. let's go to something important to history, the viet nam war. a new tape came out november 20, just released, november 20, 1963 two days before the assassination. kennedy had his eye on viet nam. two days before he got killed, talking about what he was going to follow up with the ambassador henry cabot lodge. >> they were going to have a briefing book for me by saturday. i think i ought to be back here until maybe seven, then i have to

john kennedy. his mother was even more dominant on their prayer life and kept after them for all of the reasons that good mothers do. i mean, to make responsible children. and -- but they -- they kept very, very close track of what each was doing. and so, i would not disagree with anybody who thinks that they were enor musly influential, the only thing that i'm conscious of is ambassador kennedy could not influence certain people in the democratic party. i mean, people that we were supporting, he frequently did not. so, that -- >> who were you thinking of? >> well, i'm thinking about one fight that we had and he just was not responsive. i mean, well, bobby was the responsible one and what happened was, that bobby had indicted the brother of a congressman from new york and the congressman who was responsive to us and had wanted desperately for the indictment to be withdrawn, bobby refused. they then were talked to the ambassador who said no, he is going to do what he is going do anyway. so, it cause

for instance, randall kennedy black professor at harvard law school. what did my raise have to do with that? sometimes it does. fine. explained that i don't think it should be randall kennedy, a black%, professor at harvard law school. if it is relevant, say why it is relevant. if you are not prepared to say why it is relevant then they should not mention the fact that i am black. >> host: one of your colleagues just died u.s. the professor 21 derek bell. the first black member of the harvard law school. >> host: is that fair to say the first black professor at? >> guest: it is if you are writing a story and you talk about his place in the legal academia or harvard law school, then the fact he was the first member of harvard law school faculty is relevant. but on the other hand, if we simply talk about a subject of affirmative action and/or the war on drugs or anything else and talk about the view of derek bell, then it is just derek bell and he has a few like anybody else. i don't think a racial identity should in the unexplained way be part of the st

thank you. >> we did invite doug and molly kennedy as well as the kennedy's attorneys.o come on. they released a statement saying, quote, the nurse had no right to attempt to grab our child out of his father's arms. i, douglas, was shocked and appalled when she did so. did your clients try to remove the baby physically from mr. kennedy? what did they say happened? >> you need the whole scenario set forth. these nurses had worked the day shift for a 12-hour shift. about 7:20 p.m. on january 7th of this year, while they were in the process of leaving their shift, all of a sudden mr. kennedy appeared and he had a child, a newborn in his arms. they told him that you couldn't have a newborn in that position in the hospital. had to be in the nursery be a a bassinet or with the mother. he ignored them, went to the elevator. it's all shown on tape. the tape speaks for itself. they went for the elevator to prevent him from leaving the unit. it's on tape. it shows one pushing the button and the other one blocking the door. mr. kennedy then turned around, went for a staircase and

kennedy. you must have known those two individuals. do her impressions match with your memories of them and her interactions with them in public? >> yes. [ laughter ] >> well -- >> no, mr. kennedy was very much a dominant figure in almost everything that went on in the political life of john kennedy. his mother was even more dominant on their prayer life, and kept after them for all the reasons good mothers do, to make them responsible children. but they kept very, very close track of what each was doing. so i would not disagree with anybody who thinks they were enormously influential. the only thing i am conscious of, however, is that ambassador kennedy couldn't influence certain people in the democratic party. i mean, people that we were supporting, he frequently did not. >> who are you thinking of? >> well, i'm just really thinking about one fight that we had, and he just was not responsible. i mean -- well, bobby was the responsible one, and what happened was that bobby had indicted the br

kennedy. >> yes, thank you. >> mrs. kennedy? >> yes. >> i wish to god there were something that i could do. i want to tell you we're grieving with you. >> thank you very much. thank you very much. good-bye. thank you very much, good-bye. good-bye. good-bye. >> with more on these recordings, we're joined on the phone from philadelphia by nathan rabb, vice president of the rabb collection, thanks very much for being with us. let me ask you about these recordings. in particular from november 22nd, 1963. how did they come about? >> the recordings capture the federal government's response, immediate response, to the kennedy assassination. who was, there what were they doing, what was the federal government doing in response to what really was a national crisis. clifton had these recorded at some point prior to when he left the white house, which was 1965. why that was don, no one knows. maybe he was writing a book, maybe he wanted records kept for his own interests. he is after all on the tape quite extensively. they remain in his fa

kennedy. why is he trashing kennedy? >> when rick santorum was talking about manufacturing jobs, when he had his plan to help blue-collar people, the other thing talking about education, this idea that people in the blue-collar don't have aspirations to go to college is insane. >> there's a great role out there for people of high skills. we need to fix cars, build cars, we need engineers. here it is on saturday. rick santorum ridiculed president obama's education policy by calling the president a snob. let's watch. >> president obama want once said he wants everybody in america to go to college. what a snob. there are good, decent men and women who go out and work hard every day and put their skills to test that aren't taught by some liberal college professor that tried to indock ra nat them. i understand why he wants you to go to college. he wants to remake you in his image. >> there's a conspiracy theory. >> that's a conspiracy theory. who is the snob? he's sending his kids to college. it's

let's take kennedy and johnson. nothing richard nixon did, in my judgment, compares to what was done to dr. martin luther king when kennedy ordered his wire taps because of communist connection. but they got all this material on his personal behavior and personal life, which was very lurid and all the rest of it, and they sent it to the fbi who produced it and sent it to the white house, and the white house was trying to distribute it to the press -- they all knew that! all of them were democrats and they all tried to cover up for their own administration. writing a bio? sdb that compare to the formal assassination. >> two seconds since. this is the famous "i am not a crook" briefing. let's watch. >> i want to say this to the television aud from public service. i have earned every scent, and that with all the rumors of public life, i welcome this kind of examination because people have to know whether or not their president is a crook. well, i'm not a crook. i've earned everything i've got. >> a defining moment in t

but what's interesting about the kennedy thing is kennedy in 1960 had to make a speech that said i'm going to be taking my marching orders from the pope. here we are in 2012, and it's almost the opposite. rick santorum is throwing up because the president is not saying the reverse. yes, i will take my marching orders from the pope. >> exactly. that's what he's saying. >> it's so through the looking glass. i loved that thing you did last week where you showed the statement that pope benedict made and made the statement that rick santorum doesn't even follow his own pope. >> let me ask you about romney. i have this a theory that backs up your case that it's a 50/50 country. i believe that nobody believes romney and that's going to help him in the general election. nobody believes that he's a right winger and believes in the tea party crap. he wouldn't be caught dead at a tea party meeting. not everybody believes he's pragmatic about abortion rights. they think he's a pragmatist. nobody is afraid of the guy. i think that may be a great help to him if he goes up against obama. you agree?

douglas kennedy, son of the late robert kennedy, said that he was trying to take his 3-day-old son out for some fresh air. when nurses tried to stop him. one nurse said she called two codes. code pink, child abduction in progress and code purple, a combative party. but nurses hold the door and determined he heads to the stair. one arm holds his son and the other, trying to open the door. that's when nurses claim a verbal argument turned physical. on the tape, you see kennedy lift his leg and a nurse falls backwards on the floor. in court documents obtained by abc news, the nurse claims that kennedy attacked her. as my hand touched the shoulders of the baby, douglas kennedy raised his right foot and with tremendous force kicked me in the left side of my pelvic area. but kennedy's lawyer says that's not what happened. >> douglas begins to move back and one of the nurses actually goes to grab the baby, how dare she does that? at that point, douglas leaning back like this, raises his knee only to protect his baby for no other reason. sxwlr kennedy is now pleading not guilty to two charges.

douglas kennedy is the son of the late robert f. kennedy. susan candiotti has more on this.while to piece together, so what do you know? >> reporter: absolutely, richelle. it's strange and in many ways sad, too. what you have is a father, in this case a son of robert f. kennedy facing criminal misdemeanor charges after trying to take his newborn baby from a maternity ward outside for some fresh air. this is a family photo just given to us by a kennedy spokesperson. according to court documents, the baby was almost 3 days old when this happened last month. douglas kennedy was visiting his wife recovering from a c-section. he was holding his baby boy swaddled in a blanket and cap. nurses told him he needed permission to leave the maternity ward. his lawyer says trouble started when another nurse told kennedy he could not go outside. in sworn depositions to police, the nurses said they talked kennedy out of an elevator, but then he headed into a stairwell with the baby. a nurse tried to stop him from leaving. here is the nurses' attorney. >> this particular father grabbed her w

president kennedy when he was senator kennedy said he would be guided by his conscience and that he wouldn't be of go earned by external authority, but he would be guided by his conscience. to do otherwise would be shameful. so i think he was making this very clear distinction between the separation of the institution of the church and the institution of the state but not between religiously informed conscience and moral values. i happen to agree that i think santorum is doing this and talking about this in a way that is more... he can do it in a much more positive way than in a negative way. he can do it by talking, you know, don't talk about satan. talk about evil. don't talk about denominations. talk about traditional morality versus modern post modernism. do you believe in traditional values then you're going to believe in absolutes. if you're a post modernist you'll be a situationeth tonight. you're going to believe in american exceptional. if not you're going to believe in internationalism. let people identify themselves around these issues. >> rose: my question is that he's using what

kennedy, you write about affirmative action. and barack obama's positioning toward affirmative action. you say that it's a dangerous land mine for him. >> guest: sure, it is. frankly, all racial controversy are a land mine for barack obama, and that's why he tried to set -- stay very far away from russia controversy.u affirmative action is noro different. he tried to say as little as hei possibly could about affirmative action. there are some people who are very critical of him for avoiding a racial controversy. i not. you know, he is an electoral politician. he has to be keenly attentive to public opinion, and he wants to stay away from issues that will be alecto losers for him. racial controversy is going to be of -- it's going to be an wil electoral loser, city tries to stay away from it. >> host: you talk about the african-american republicans. alan west, ten stocks, for example, key members of congress. you're right that race stillalln matters. affirmative action -- african-americans must overcome their blackness in the eye

and robert kennedy -- i became a good professional friend of robert kennedy's. he was always doing very nice things for me. >> i understand at one time ethel kennedy invited you to go out to the house and go swimming, and you turned it down. you didn't want to partisan, personal, political. >> i don't remember that. i never did go swimming at ethel's house, but i don't remember that. but it is true that i was not partisan. i was -- i was devoted to working for burt and robert kennedy, and i was devoted to doing the best job i could. >> just to fill in the gaps and then i want to show some more video. when did you begin your practice of law in new york, and what kind of practice is it, and are you still active? >> my practice began -- my practice in law after i came back from working for congressman rodino. and i've been practicing in new york since that time. i'm almost finished. i have one case to argue to the court of appeals end of this month. but i'm not taking any more cases. >> let me ask you a direct question. why did you continue to work until you're now