>> guest: i spent time at the kennedy library at his file was thick with letters asking for better committee of sideman's. kennedy was the junior senator so he said the lot of letters asking for different committee assignments but johnson would put them away. said he appointed kennedy as third or force pitiers some type of harvard commissioned and then to say we're making period great progress. it was a competitive relationship but in the end he respected kennedy as the tough politician not heavy hitter on policy but compelling political figure. >> host: did president kennedy's senate career benefit him as president? >> he understood foreign policy issues very role with the good schooling yet developed an appreciation of how congress works. he spent 40 years there. and exactly the second u.s. senator to win the presidency before him it was of the warren harding 1920 and since then is barack obama 2008. that is not unnatural jumping off point but kennedy could use it to advance his ambition of. >> host: the book is jfk and the senate. [applause] thank you for that lovely introduction. and als

now on capturing camelot, i was absolutely delighted to hear from the kennedy library and i flew to boston and i signed books that they have on sale up there. and another thing, i have no compun have. compunction because awful of the profits go to the dc public libraries the obama's compare to the kennedys and celebrities love them and he is a gifted speaker. why do you see them being so different from the kennedys? >> i think it's a different time an different era and it's a different everything. on those things they are very similar. mrs. obama as a first lady is ferocious about the protection about her two children and as was jackie kennedy. she too is a fashion plate and cares very, very much about clothes and how she looks and the image she presents, as did jackie kennedy. president obama is as gifted as kennedy was intellectually. they even wept t went to the sae school and they both fine orders. and lots of teeth. and lots of prett iness. you have covered so many subjectses from oprah and 23457bsy reagan and more. what do you want to write about. >> i only choose people that have re

he goes on and on and on and this is actually a video clip in the kennedy library in boston. finally, kennedy looks at him and says, alan, are you ever going to get it through your head? i don't give a damn about science. i just want to beat the russians last night and that's what he wanted. that's what that whole program -- the whole program was about. it's revealed in the letter which is wonderful. it's really revealed in a letter. there's also a letter from him to lyndon johnson to which he appoints johnson to the day by day operations. he was really on top. he staked his reputation on it. how the hell he ever thought -- >> that deployment also means we have mission control in houston. >> that's right. spent if i may move to another topic, thank you. while you include correspondence with many of the usual stalwarts of the civil rights era, two were striking to me. one was jackie robinson, and the other was josephine baker. the one is a colorful entertaining dancer and singer, and the other of course was the icon who broke the color barrier in major league baseball. with a d

and there is the kennedy library.and the trips she took to india and pakistan in 1962 along with her sister. let's watch that and then talk about her international travel. >> i am profoundly impressed with what you do in pakistan. and what you make of it now -- i think as i stand in these gardens, which were built before my country was born, they have survived this together and they always will. >> the interesting thing -- we were talking about the images of her in black-and-white, and here she is in color. >> this was the presidency and the president, who was aware of the importance of color photography, he was talking about plans for the 1964 democratic convention and said, i want to have a motion picture about the administration in color. one lucky thing for us, is the agency -- we have a color film that was very rare for the time. >> how many international trips did she take? >> this was by herself with her sister, but not with the president. it would be viewed as unofficial and we could talk about the canadian tr

so i went to the archivist at the kennedy library and i said, making, barber said i could read the 17 pages. she shook her said and said please, don't get me in trouble with the kennedys. asked the board directly. needless to say, i didn't whet my appetite, and i -- >> a responsible for storing, of course. >> got to do your research. and so i went back to her and of course what i found was that he was having this affair with a 19 year-old kid, that he seduced her in jackie's bedroom. anyway, on the eu's of the publication of my book, the "new york daily news" called me up and they said, whose this woman? what's her name? i said i do know. barbara didn't tell me. i didn't want to know. after all, she's probably in her \60{l1}s{l0}\'60{l1}s{l0} now. leave her alone. why do we need to know her name? i trust that barber is done the trick. investigative journalist at the news, they found out that this woman, her name was meaning -- mimi. they found who she was. for three days running after that they read headlines about kennedy's monica. on the first day it ran a headline on page three. th

>> well, i spent some time at the kennedy library and his style is thick with letters to lyndon johnson from asking for better committee assignments. because johnson was a senate democratic leader and kennedy was in one junior senator and he was sending johnson different committee assignments and johnson seemed to put them away and at one point ted sorensen and a wonderful note. and they are making great progress, he has named you the chairman of the boston harbor dredging commission. and this is a tough formidable politician, didn't think he was a heavy hitter on policy, but they thought he was a compelling and political figure was important. >> to president kennedy's senate career benefit him at all as president? >> i think that it did. i think he understood the issues. the foreign policy issues very well. and i think he developed an appreciation for how congress works. he was very clear that he wanted to move on and in fact only second in the u.s. senate are in before that the only one who had done it was one harding in 1920. and since then, the only one who did it was barack obama i

in fact, i spent time at the kennedy library in boston and there was a very, very thick file of letters that kennedy wrote to lyndon johnson asking for a different committees. kennedy was on the labor committee and iran affairs committee and desperately wanted off the government affairs committee and wanted to be on foreign relations and as a backup on the finance committee. am i sages briefly, i will talk more about his time in the foreign relations committee, but kennedy finally was able to get on the committee in 1957 after four years, but at that point his presidential ambitions for his full frenzy, and he did not participate quite as actively as some wanted. there's a story, i am not sure if it is 100 percent true, the story has it that jfk was asked if he would be subcommittee chairman of foreign relations committee and he said, joy actually have to hold a hearing? and apparently the answer was, maybe one or two. so he said he would do so. think that is about the number of hearings that he actually help. one other piece of kennedy's sort of relationship that was striking, he was a

in fact, i spent time at the kennedy library in boston and there was a very, very thick file of letters that kennedy wrote to lyndon johnson asking for a different committees. kennedy was on the labor committee and iran affairs committee and desperately wanted off the government affairs committee and wanted to be on foreign relations and as a backup on the finance committee. am i sages briefly, i will talk more about his time in the foreign relations committee, but kennedy finally was able to get on the committee in 1957 after four years, but at that point his presidential ambitions for his full frenzy, and he did not participate quite as actively as some wanted. there's a story, i am not sure if it is 100 percent true, the story has it that jfk was asked if he would be subcommittee chairman of foreign relations committee and he said, joy actually have to hold a hearing? and apparently the answer was, maybe one or two. so he said he would do so. think that is about the number of hearings that he actually help. one other piece of kennedy's sort of relationship that was striking, he was a

kennedy library chose to give him the courage award specifically for the nixon pardon, he was initially reluctant to go all the way across the country. he didn't see the emotional significance of this and it was mrs. ford who convinced him this is the greatest honor that has been bestowed on you since leaving office. he said after that for 20 years everybody asked him about the burden and after that award people stopped asking. >> robert in chicago. you're on the air. caller: thank you very much for your time. i understand two presidents, kennedy and hoover never received an income as president. did mrs. ford receive any kind of income after president ford passed away? >> first of all, you are right about hoover and j.f.k.. and in fact they rejected federal salaries as president. in hoover's case he never accepted payment for any of his various positions whether secretary of commerce or the hoover commissions or whatever. the question about whether mrs. ford -- >> did she get a widow's pension? do you get compensation if your husband dies and he served as president? >> i don't believe y

>> the kennedy library wants people to remember john kennedy and other members of the family who as youcountry and to show that it just didn't emerge out of nowhere. it was a long history. my great grant father was the mayor of boston and despite thinking of the generation, jack kennedy, robert kennedy, ted kennedy, it came from a deeper sense of politics and a family. also to understand how faith played an important role. this was a very catholic family who really understood the importance of someone serving those left behind and left out. that was important and you get that. you get the sense of competition and camaraderie. if you have a smaller family, it's more difficult to be in politics if you have nine brothers and sister, it's much easier. >> mark pointed out the pictures we have seen thousands of pictures of your family over the years, but there were multiple pictures in here that i have never seen. >> never seen and they are so personal. >> these are family pictures. >> two great citizens of massachusetts right here in this picture. hank greenberg and president kennedy and con

in fact, i spent some time at the kennedy library, and his file is thick with letters to lyndon johnsonasking for better committee assignments, because johnson was the senate democratic leader. kennedy was the more junior senator, so he was sending johnson a lot of letters asking for different committee assignments. johnson seemed to put them away, and at one point ted sorenson sent a wonderful note, johnson appointed kennedy to some third or fourth of tier, you know, boston harbor dredging commission or something, so sorenson said in the letter, we're making great progress. you know, senator johnson has named you the chairman of the boston harbor dredging commission. so it was a wary, competitive relationship. but in the end i think johnson came to respect kennedy as a tough, formidable politician. didn't think he was a real heavy hitter on policy, but he thought he was a real compelling political figure. >> john shaw, did president kennedy's senate career benefit him as president? >> i think it did. i think he understood the issues, the foreign policy issues very well. he really had a

black and white video of him as an arkansas teenager shaking hands with president kennedy, and who returned to the jfk library when he was pushing nafta, his controversial free trade legislation, which eventually passed and had the effect of being a big tax cut on imports. and continuing through president reagan who, here in virginia, did his training for the 1980 presidential debate at a kennedy hunt, virginia hud country retreat which he had rented for the 1980 campaign, and used it as his base. and can be invoked -- kennedy invoked the jfk tax cut and jfk foreign policy toughness, repeatedly. as he said during the 1984 campaign, whenever i talk about president kennedy, my opponents tear their hair out. and going through president bush, who also invoked kennedy for his tax cut and for his foreign policy. you know, you can argue about whether they are accurate representations or not, but i think that's part of both the greatness and the tragedy of kennedy, that even though the tragedy is that because he's not dead, we can only speculate on where he would have been on these questions. but the greatness is tha

kennedy sending half a million american troops overseas. that's my feeling too and you know i've interviewed some people ministration i've done some research at the j.f.k. library and the indications were that he just wasn't comfortable with the idea he had developed this very deep distrust for the military apparatus in the in the cuban crises that i mentioned and i just i don't see him taking that hawkish advice distrust of the cia do oh yes i notice you get a quote here from joe kennedy he says delivers a message of service and citizenship that is essential to the as it was when president kennedy first this what we could do for our country are you close with the going to be family now in fact i was a futile friend introduced as i was fortunate to spend some time in time spent kennedy's a wonderful person and he was very generous in giving me that blurb and we had we sat down and discussed some of these ideas and what president kennedy stands for and his legacy today and i think it's clearly one of of service and getting people to feel involved feeling inspired and i think that's in part why this let legacy resonates so deeply fifty years later it's not only f

kennedy sending half a million american troops overseas. that's my feeling too and you know i've interviewed some people ministration i've done some research at the j.f.k. library and the indications were that he just wasn't comfortable with the idea he had developed this very deep distrust for the military apparatus in the in the cuban crises that i mentioned and i just i don't see him taking that hawkish advice distrust of the cia do notice you get a quote here from joe kennedy he says delivers a message of service and citizenship that is essential to the as it was when president kennedy first this what we could do for our country are you close with the good of the family now in fact i was a futile friend introduced as i was fortunate to spend some time in time spent kennedy is a wonderful person and he was very generous in giving me that blurb and we had we sat down and discussed some of these ideas and what president kennedy stands for and his legacy today and i think it's clearly one of of service and getting people to feel involved feeling inspired and i think that's in part why this legacy resonates so deeply fifty years later it's not only for the peopl

library. i think during the white house years, the contact was rather formal. the johnsons certainly invited mrs. kennedy back but she never came back while they were there. they gave gifts to the children. i know the first christmas, for they gave john jr. a fire new engine. they reached out to her. after the white house, in the 1980's, after she was widowed, lady bird johnson and jacqueline kennedy i guess we wouldn't say renewed a friendship, really established a friendship when they were both on martha's vineyard for periods in the summer. >> when you look at the evidence, certainly she supported her husband publicly, but in her private findials, did you ever doubts she expressed about the vietnam war? >> i never saw anything. said if you're going to start a war, it has to be because of some big event like pearl harbor and to me that meant she thought they didn't in vietnam. >> it was so hard with all of so protests and it was personal and that, i think, would put you in a position supportu just want to him no matter what. d.c.chael in washington, >> hi. i wanted to let you know that this program is

library. it was courageous and thank you. the question ties in previous episodes from previous programs. i have heard a lot about an intentional de-kennedyzation of the white house. you balanced that with the fact the only returned to the white house was on a private visit. what was the real story there and with other first ladies and presidents as well? >> thank you. i appreciate that. it is an interesting question. we do not know. julie says in her book it was not her mother's decision for the man to be removed. the decision was made by an advisory board. they'd -- the mantle was not historic. they replaced it with a mantel designed at the time of thomas jefferson, so that as they tried to follow what jacqueline kennedy had started to make the white house more historical, this was the right thing to do. the particular decision was not made by pat nixon. what is also clear from julie's book, each i think is the closest we will ever get to pat nixon's memoir, is that pat nixon carried some resentment about the 1960 election. she felt it had been stolen. she did not hide her disappointment in 1960. if you look at photographs of her in 196

>> they spend the time of the kennedy library in his file asking for better committee assignments as a democratic leader kennedy was the junior senator so johnson had a lot of letters for different committee assignments. johnson continues to put them away in a wonderful note kennedy and johnson appointed kennedy some third or fourth tier as the commissioner. senator johnson was named in the boston harbor commission income so it was a competitive relationship but in the end i think johnson came to respect that he was a top formidable politician and a heavy hitter on policy, but he thought he was a real compelling political figure. >> john shaw, as president kennedy's senate career benefit him as president? >> i think it did. he understood the policy issues very well. he had a good schooling in that. i think that he gave an appreciation for how congress worked. he spent four years in the congress. but he was very clear that he wanted to move on to the presidency, and in fact became only the second of sitting u.s. senator to win the presidency. before, the only one who had done it was wa