and first of all, let's be fair to mamie eisenhower. >> who's that an insult to, me or her? >> insult to you. [ laughter ] >> that was rhetorical. >> actually, mamie was as much an icon in the '50s as jackie was in the '60s. >> you're not old enough to know that. no, no. >> but you must at some level resent the presumptions, if nothing else, the intrusiveness. >> well, not really. i mean, look at all the things they said about george.

mamie eisenhower, back here, very '50s. an amazing silhouette, but that really speaks to the formality of the, the new look and the '50s. when you look at something like the flapper dresses, actually nancy reagan's wonderful suit. an adolfo suit, and you look at that and know it's the 1980s. >> right. seems very '80s. >> right. they want to be appropriate for the occasion, appropriate for their age, appropriate for the circumstance, and i think appropriate as a symbol of the united states. because we still do look at first ladies as representing women in the united states. even when she's not functioning in duty hours, she represents the united states. >> this is the -- >> excuse me. we will have two photo opportunities. the first is for the still photographers, and then that will be followed by the television cameras. so we ask our guests to please be patient. >>> all day today, american history tv is featuring america's first ladies. who do you think was our most influential first lady? vote and join the conversation on f

mamie eisenhower, the amazing ma gent at that time dress, herbs '50s, an amazing silhouette. that really speaks to the formality of the new look and the '50s. when you look at something like the flapper dresses or actually nancy reagan's wonderful suit, it's an adolpho suit, you look at that and you know it's the 19 0s. >> seems very '80s. >> they want to be appropriate for the occasion, appropriate for their age. appropriate for the circumstance. and i think appropriate as a symbol of the united states because weigh still do look at the first lady as representing women in the united states. even when she's not functioning in duty hours, she represents the united states. >> this is the photograph part. >> excuse me pop we will have two photo opportunities. the first is for the still photographers. and then that will be followed by the television camera. so we ask our guests to please be patient. >> all day monday, amic

wondering, thinking about some early formative things that happened to both eisenhower and nixon, eisenhower and mamie, i think, both lost a child very early, scarlet fever. they never really got over that sting. that's why he never pushed all the way to berlin to save parents the same heartache he experienced. and nixon, you read in one of the displays here about how he listened to his mother, hanna, console his brother at 7 just hours before he finally passed. and you would think that those formative things might have the effect of, you know, i'm not saying nationalize health care so these things don't happen, but it was them's the breaks? or how did they take these things in and keep them from imbuing their world view as something where wow, this is the place where society should step in to save us all. instead, it's boot straps world and that's just the way it is. i'm not sure which person would reflect on that, but thank you for answering my question. >> anybody? >> you know, both you and professor kimball are absolutely right in the sense that looking at these people from a psychological value i