but khrushchev thing is amazing to me. for example, in all of those letters, i had to do an enormous editing job on the kennedy khrushchev letters. not just cuban missile crisis but berlin and all the way down the line. many of them are 35 pages long. many of them are 40 pages long. so in order to get the gist in there and not for the reader -- not bore the reader, of all the letters between kennedy and khrushchev, and boy, i read them all, the greatest line, the most telling line, the most memorable line is the one in which one of them says to the other, this is during the cuban missile crisis, if we don't solve this, and if we don't solve it now, the lady will envy the dead -- the living will envy the dead. that's 1980. it's khrushchev. so there are so many surprises. but that's a very good point. and no, i don't know where khrushchev was writing the letters from. it amazes you to think that -- when you have the cuban missile crisis you better pay attention to it or we may all die. and the rest of the three and half year

well we wouldn't be alive if kennedy had not done what he did at the cuban missile crisis with khrushchev we were really at the edge of war this is they wanted the joint chiefs of staff wanted to go they wanted to invade cuba we didn't even know the situation in cuba how many bombs they had how many soviet troops were ready to fight there they were led by the commander of stalingrad was there it was a serious war we were facing in cuba it would have escalated into a major international conflict we had bombers ready to go off okinawa dropping nuclear weapons on china we had a whole war plan that eisenhower had devised was massive war calling for something like six hundred million casualties we were thinking ahead you have no idea what we faced and that's what kennedy's courage came at that moment when he said no to the hardliners as khrushchev said no to his hardliners and both men disappear within a year well i can't move on without talking about robert mcnamara joint chiefs of staff under kennedy who actually presented him with the operation northwoods document and it was rejected thankf

khrushchev then wrote kennedy, i don't live in a cave. i'm no caveman. well, they had a plan to drop a nuclear bomb on cuba. one megaton nuclear bomb. would have turned the island into a pile of rubble. let alone what it would've done to the south coast of florida. but they had come out of world war ii and their attitude is, if you're fighting a ruthless enemy, you bomb them back to the stone age. you have an advantage, you use it. kennedy just didn't want to describe it is, and he thought they were off the wall. he just resisted their advice. >> the cuban missile crisis is riveting, ma and to tell the story of the generals who are keen to absolutely have a nuclear escalation and many of the advisors, including bundy, pushing him in the same direction. and the whole thing seems to have been saved by slow to negation, the fact they were able to get two letters from khrushchev in response to the second one, the peaceful one and not the first one. of the world have been saved in the age of the internet? >> yeah, it's such a different world. it's so change.

he would endure a brutal imprisonment that began in the time of kennedy and khrushchev, and reached thefinal days of the cold war. emerging from prison, without force of arms, he would -- like lincoln -- hold his country together when it threatened to break apart. like america's founding fathers, he would erect a constitutional order to preserve freedom for future generations -- a commitment to democracy and rule of law ratified not only by his election, but by his willingness to step down from power. given the sweep of his life, and given the sweep of his life, and the adoration that he so rightly earned, it is tempting then to remember nelson mandela as an icon, smiling and serene, detached from the tawdry affairs of lesser men. but madiba himself strongly resisted such a lifeless portrait. instead, he insisted on sharing with us his doubts and fears, his miscalculations along with his victories. [applause] "i'm not a saint," he said, "unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying." it was precisely because he could admit to imperfection -- because he could be so full of

then khrushchev thought he could put missiles in cuba. after kennedy successfully negotiated the cuban missile crisis. things turned for him. i'm intrigued by the fact you say in the fall of 1963, his marriage was better than ever. he and jackie seemed to be more in love; right? >> i think so. the secrets have all come out now. none of the american people knew in the '60s. kennedy, the women, we know all of their names from audrey hepburn to the 19-year-old intern. jackie knew about it. she knew before she married him. she accepted it. there are rumors they came close to divorce once early in the marriage but stayed together. i think one thing that brought them together in the summer of and fall of 19 23eu6 was the death of their newborn son patrick who lived less than two days. jackie and the president were devastated. something about that loss she had already given birth to a still bosch -- born daughter before the boy died. something about the loss did something to them. it brought them closer. she agreed to campaign for the election o

nikita khrushchev and his visit in 1959 to the united states.here and had a little fall on the cold war here. >> moving on down, seems to be a little breakfast room here, is that what this is? >> this would be sort of an area where the couple would play cards and the ladies would play here and the gentlemen would play at the other end of the room or in ike's den. i like this area because it's really mamie in this part of the room. the president liked to paint here on the porch. and they spent so much time apart in their married life, especially in their retirement years, if he was painting, she would be playing cards, reading a book, doing crosswords puzzles. she liked to be in the same room with him. >> alice, in this little space here with the wicker chairs, i counted 12 ash trays and four lighters. >> yes, this is the 1950's and 1960's. both the president and first lady smoked. ike gave up cold turkey after the war, which is amazing because he smoked four packs of cigarettes a day. mamie smoked longer. >> behind us, it's covered up now, but w

he would endure a brutal imprisonment that began in the time of kennedy and khrushchev and the cold barm prison, he would like abraham lincoln, hold his country together when it threatened to break apart. like america's founding fathers, he would erect a constitutional order to preserve freedom for future generations, a commitment to democracy, and rule of law, ratified not only by his election but by his willingness to step down from power after only one term. given the sweep of his life, the scope of his accomplishments, the adoration that he so rightly earned, it is tempting, i think, to remember nelson mandela as an icon, smiling, detached from the poverty and affairs of men but madiba himself strongly resisted such a life portrait. instead, madiba insisted on sharing with us his doubts and his fears, his miscalculations. >> i am not a saint, he said, unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying. it was precisely because he could admit the imperfection. because he was so full of good humor, even mischief, despite the heavy burdens that he carried, that we loved him so

this is not even the equivalent of nikita khrushchev.s nothing that is change in my view. >> i don't think we know that yet. this is a test. see where we are in six months. lou: we just had a discussion. andd the name of israel was not in this administration. we assume that this is the only place where it was amended. thank you very much. thank you. thank you. and stay with us. a house oversight committee to my new impedenta they're targeting investigation, and it is another government agency. we will sort that out. here next. stay with us. ♪ students across the country don't offer much hope for another generation of american exceptional as an. the shocking numbers in tonight's "chalk talk."@ next. ♪ lou: would never president obama is, he is not our education president. here are the dismal results of the organization for economic cooperation and development global test. the mouthful. fifteen euros in countries and large economies. in mathematics there is no surprise. singapore, hong kong, taiwan, south korea. yes. here we are. we are 26

bissell and took responsibility for it, even though khrushchev gave him ample opportunity to place the blame on someone else. eisenhower took personal responsibility did approve it. >> our next question is from the audience. >> i had a question about eisenhower's ability to recognize talent. i've read that he was quite good at identifying maybe what other people would consider hidden talents, and i wonder if you can comment about that, if you also found that in your study of him and whether or not there's a particular trait he looks for in people to identify people that might otherwise have been overlooked. >> when you come up through a military career as president eisenhower did, one of the things you learn very early on is how to identify talent, eisenhower was a superb identifier of talent, and i -- simply to give you one example. herbert brownell and lucious clay, who were very close to president eisenhower. after eisenhower was elected president in november of 1952, he immediately took off to play golf in augusta, and let clay and brownell turn -- turned the selection of his cabin

sarin gas, so i would say diplomacy, even as it is available and i think about how kennedy and khrushchevhink it is very good, wish i had started sooner. i hope it doesn't end like some of the other negotiations have with iran, in 2003, there was an agreement that they would back off on enenrichment, and when our side didn't fulfill their promises they went to the legal enrich that they were entitled to, i don't want it to be an excuse to come down hard on iran, i'm always upholding congress to do the right thing and curtail the presidential potential powers i'm afraid congress will come in and just block this by saying no, what we need are more sanctions to see how many more iranian people we can kill, like we did in iraq. look at how the sanctions killed millions and millions of people in that consequence of that war. and so i -- i hope the president is going to be successful to this. i'm cheering him on. >> all right, former congressman ron paul, thank you so much, happy holidays if i don't talk to you before then. >>> and the exclusive group coming together to honor nelson mandela, co

he would endure a brutal imprisonment that began in the time of kennedy and khrushchev. and reached the final days of the cold war, emerging from prison without the force of arms, he was, like abraham lincoln, hold his country together when it threatened to break apart. and like america's founding fathers, he would bring constitutional order to preserve freedom for future generations, a commitment to democracy. and rule of law. not only by his election but by his willingness to step down from power after only one term. given the sweep of his life, the scope of his accomplishments, the adoration that he so rightly earned, it's tempting to remember nelson mandela as an icon. smiling. but ma -- madiba resisted the portrait. instead, madiba insisted on sharing with us his doubts and his fears. his miscalculations long with his victories. i am not a saint, he said, unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying. it was precisely because he would admit imperfects, full of humor and mischief, despite the heavy burden he carried, that we loved him most. he was not a

imprisonment that began -- and you're a brutal imprisonment that began at the time of kennedy and khrushchevached the final days of the prison., emerging from he was like abraham lincoln, hold the country together when it is trying to break apart. >> while obama referenced the kennedy ministration and is memorial, he made no mention of the multiple reports the cia, under kennedy, tipped off the apartheid south african regime in 1962 about mandela's whereabouts. in 1990, the cox news service quoted a former u.s. official saying that within hours of mandela's arrest, senior cia operative named paul e amid the agency's involvement. eckel was reported as having told the official -- >> several news outlets have reported the actual source of the tip that led to the arrest of mandela was a cia official named donald rickard. we attempted to reach him at his home in colorado. in two occasions the man who picked up the phone hung up. last year he denied the reports in an interview with the wall street journal but refused to talk about his time in south africa. meanwhile, the activist group roots actio

annika she said even after the detente, he knew khrushchev was a gangster. so kennedy at the beginning of the book i have been in 1946 getting his speech about how the rights of the individual, how these rights come from god and they're going to be challenged by the atheistic soviet union. and they really think that was his view all the way through the end of his career and through his presidency. we are coming up on november. it's going to be the 50th anniversary of president kennedy's assassination. in doing the research for this book, i went to visit kennedy's childhood home in brookline, massachusetts. it's kind of a testament to the fiscal spending restraint of president kennedy, because the birthplace home in brookline is only open about april or may through october or november. so the government doesn't have to pay to heat the whole house, and it can also hire the chore guys, the park ranger tour guides as seasonal employees so it doesn't have to pay them full time benefits. and it doesn't have to go through the civil service hiring system. i think th

determined, courageous, and strong, and, for the first time, for the first time, we saw nikita khrushchev take up his marbles and go home. >> john pastore, rhode island democrat. been out of there since i think 1976. didn't die until 2003. >> that is right. >> as a matter of fact, i think i just saw his wife just died in may or something. but anyway, would it have made any difference -- let me ask you how about the or toir today -- the oratory today compared to what we've seen with huey long and russell long and john pastore? how did you compare to it? >> much more docile, less row backups for sure. john f. kennedy. -- it reminds me of edward kennedy. particularly later in the later years they had it on c-span. this is or toir. -- this is oratory. spectacular. old school. >> over the years, when were the big increases in the senate? in other words, when it started back at the beginning. how many senators were there? and how did it increase up to 100? initially 22 because not all of the states gratified the -- ratified the constitution when it convened on april 6 in the senate in 1789. gra

. >> i only know another nikita and his name is khrushchev. where did that name come from?in 1971 orhe died thereabouts. i was born in 1972. my mother liked the name, and here i am. >> back to "the post," when did jeffrey thompson story start for you? when did they say we are going to do a piece? as you know, nobody gets four pages in the newspaper. >> i joined the investigative team in december and i wrote a memo of things i wanted to pursue. at the time, they decided i should pursue a story i was working on -- i wanted to reveal -- i will not reveal it in case i actually finish it. i was focused on this agency for a few months. the other story i wanted to pursue was jeffrey thomas -- thompson. i wanted to pursue the jeffrey thompson story first. i wrote the memo and they said, we think you should pursue this agency first. so i did. but then the jeffrey thompson situation started heating up. we knew some things would be happening. the time to do this jeffrey thompson profile is now. so i approached my editor about it and he was great and he said, yes, that is what you shou

missile crisis, that he was looking for ways to make common cause with the soviets and with premier khrushchev. he was reaching out. we got the nuclear test ban treaty. that was the accomplishment that he was proudest of for his administration. there were other things that he was planning on doing. i think he was moving away from some of that rhetoric at the time of his death. of course, some conspiracy theorists say that is exactly why he was killed. the general defense industry. it is a great theory. i am waiting to see the facts. i want to take them into a courtroom and have them hold up under cross-examination. i have yet to see them. >> host: that begs the question, is he, like other democrats, haunted by the who lost china argument? >> guest: yes. >> host: his presidency, who lost to dallas. and so he being an anti-communist and a cold warrior, him being a strong, national defense, he ran on the missile gap in 1960. there was no missile gap. eisenhower was not very happy. committed the first ground troops in southeast asia. you know, the what ifs, kennedy would not have gone into vietnam

he would endorse brutal imprisonment that began in the time of kennedy and khrushchev and reached thee abraham lincoln, told his country to get together when it wanted to break apart. and like the founding fathers he would have a constitutional order to preserve freedom for future generations, a commitment to democracy and rule of law ratified not only by his election but his willingness to step down from power. [cheers and applause] >> given the sweep ofo cf1 o [cheers and applause] >> given the sweep of his life, the scope of his accomplishments, the adulation and around the earth, thanks to remember nelson mandela smiling and serene, detached from the tawdry affairs of other men. strongly permit such a life. [cheers and applause] >> instead, sharing with us his thoughts and fears, no miscalculation along with his victory. i am not a saint, he said. unless you think of the st. as a sinner who keeps on trying to. because he could admit imperfection. he was full of good humor, even mischief despite the heavy burden that he carried. he was not a statue made of marble but a man of flesh

his initial meetings with khrushchev were very, very tough i think he actually walked out of one meeting saying, you know, that's the hardest meeting never been at. he just dismantle me. so there is a sense of personal softness which, again, is somewhat ironic given this is that he was a war hero, incredibly disciplined, a tough person politically. but his early meetings with the soviets were not, you know, were not successful. they thought that he was weekend, but could, perhaps, pushed around. >> how would you say that president kennedy, say foreign policies, especially issues such as syria, such as, you know, is around palin palestine. >> one of the questions. i think about a lot. perhaps, and decisive. maybe in the sense of syria, having sort of lay down your markers and then not really adhered to it. so there might have been a sense that once you made a commitment you have to really continue to honor. it is so hard to really kind of extrapolate that. think it would be unfair to kennedy and to obama if i really were to say much more than that. >> between the way. >> world views. >> i

. >> and with khrushchev. >> that's right. a question for you. it seems to me that our top three leaders, the congress and the white house all have a disdain for the political process. these guys -- harry reid and obama all of them have that element but they don't seem to enjoy the political game. that process that you so much love, i loved as a student, as a student senator when i went to boston college. it i loved the process but these guys don't seem to love the process. they're such disdain. >> let me answer. the answer is, it has lost the people in the business to get things done. it has lost its joy. i think the stopgap is just going from week to week kicking down -- the can down the road never having a sense of achievement. most people want to achieve something in life. i don't know what you achieve in politics. just think about this. in my lifetime and a lot of our lifetimes the united states congress got together and it's something unbelievable. it passed the civil rights bill out of nowhere. it just did it and i don't know what it's don

when he went into the white house there was a sense, 42, 43 years old, his initial meetings with khrushchev were very tough, he actually walked out of one meeting saying that is the hardest meeting i have ever been at, he dismantled. there was a sense of personal softness which is ironic given he was a war hero, this incredibly disciplined, tough person politically, but his early meetings with the soviets were not successful and they thought he was weak and could push him around. >> how would you say president kennedy credited foreign policies of the government particularly tough issues such as syria, israel? >> one of those questions i think about a lot. i just don't know. the issues are so different. i do think that maybe he might think that the obama administration is perhaps indecisive. in the sense of syria, having weighed down your markers and not really adhere to it but a sense that once you made a commitment you continue to honor it but it is hard to really kind of extrapolate that. it would be unfair, kennedy and obama if i were to say much more than that. >> the difference between

he would endure a brutal imprisonment that began in the time of kennedy and khrushchev and reached thedays of the cold war. prison without the force of arms he would, like abraham lincoln, hold his country together when it threatened to break apart. and like america's founding fathers, he would erect a constitutional order to preserve freedom for future generations. a commitment to democracy and rule of law, ratified not only by his election but his willingness to step down from power after only one term. [cheers] ep of his life, the scope of his accomplishment, the adoration he so rightly earned, it is tempting, i think, to remember nelson mandela as an icon, smiling and serene, detached from the tawdry affairs. himself strongly resisted such a lifeless portrait. and applause] a insisted onb sharing with us his doubts and his fears, his miscalculations along with his victories. i am not a saint, he said, unless you think of a saint as a center who keeps on trying. who keeps on trying. it was precisely because he could admit his imperfections, because he could be so full of good humor,

19 61, or when they went to vienna, this was 10 times -- the leader of the soviet union, nikita khrushchev this was the time when the united states was trying to make the point that they were a rising power and the third world countries should align with us. >> next is dennis in brooklyn. you are on the air. >> thank you, susan, and thank you for the program. we have mentioned that mrs. kennedy had a big influence on the arts, style and culture. i am curious with how she finished that ulysses quote earlier during the campaign -- she was incredibly well read, was this her education or her upbringing, that fueled her intelligence? >> it was both. she talked about, an autobiographical essay that she had done in 1951 -- she talked about her upbringing and said that she was a tomboy who like to go horseback riding, but she also like to be by herself and sit in a room, reading little lord fauntleroy, and she loved to read, with the european cast and she was an avid reader, much like her husband, but she tended to read literature and he would read history. and she had a superb background in educa

he would endure a brutal imprisonment that began in the time of kennedy and khrushchev and reached the abraham lincoln, hold his country together when it threatened to break apart, and like america's foundation, he would erect a constitutional order to preserve freedom for future generations a. a commitment to democracy and rule of law. ratified not only by his election but by his willing tons step down from power after only one term. given the sweep of his life, the scope of his accomplishments, the adoration that he so rightly earned crew's tempting, i think -- earned, it's tempting, i think, to remember him smiling and serene, detached from the tawdry affairs of lesser men. but madiba himself strongly resi resisted such a lifeless portrait. [ cheers ] instead madiba insisted on sharing with us his thoughts and fears, miscalculations along with his victories. "i am not a saint," he said, "unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying." it was because he could admit information. because he could be full of good humor, even mischief, despite the heavy burden that he carri

kennedy, nikita khrushchev and other notables would have entered the home with mrs. roosevelt.e desk there is where she worked on her my day column. some of her books, magazine articles, and tremendous correspondence with the american public. and, of course, that's the desk with the misspelled name tag. the name tag was presented to mrs. roosevelt by a young man in hide park. he drafted the item in the shop class having no idea he misspelled her name. it found a home on her desk and stayed for the duration. aside from her writing, this is the reception area. so when dinners went on here at the site, this would be where the cocktail hour was enjoyed. the dining room is an important room here in the activiies here. this is derived from an early magazine article in the 1950s in mccall's magazine which was titled howell nowhere lives in val kill. it's set up as a buffet. that's what mrs. roosevelt would prefer when she had numerous guests here at the site. this is the living room here at val kill cottage. as we look through the room, we notice an alcove area, very significant in th