joining me now, presidential historian michael beschloss. itten nine books including "presidential courage" and larry sabato, author of "the kennedy half century." michael, as we look back at the kennedy legacy in an article that politico has out, it says five decades later as debates about kennedy's use or misuse of presidential power and the gulf between his private recklessness rumble on, it is the hope that inspired that lingers. the article goes on to recall caroline kennedy endorsed barack obama back in 2008. do you think in our political climate, in this climate that we have lost track of that hope, of that optimism that surrounded president kennedy? >> i think we have. in fact there was a doonesbury cartoon that had something reading ask not what your country can do for you. a lot of kids were laughing and the third frame, someone was saying what's happened to us. >> so when we look at the time of where we've gone over the last five decades, we have a very interesting piece on msnbc.com that really breaks down what life was like befor

nbc news presidential historian michael beschloss joins me here and tony sabato, author of kennedy half century and reed epstein reporter for politico. when you look at these pictures and images coming in, michael, i'll start with you here, being a texan, as i explained to you my entire life, you go through this area and you realize that dallas struggled with how to remember what happened. these are images of boston right now but dallas greatly struggled on how to accept what happened on its door step. >> even the dallas cowboys which have been scheduled to play a game that weekend, which they actually did, not only were they worried about the fact that people would be angry at them or fr worried violence would be done by those angry at dallas. we were showing that image from the kennedy library. dallas wanted to get away from talking about the assassination, so has the kennedy library of jacqueline kennedy. this is a change in both cases. >> let's look at the time line where we are. larry, as i mentioned at the top of the hour, parkland hospital, the president was pronounced 2:12, not

joining us now is michael beschloss, nbc news presidential historian. mr. beschloss, thank you for being here. >> my pleasure, rachel. >> we have talked before about the difficulties presidents have in second terms, and traditionally they turn to things like foreign policy, where they have more leeway to act without congress sticking their nose in, because they can't get anything done in congress. how does this change the presidency of president obama? >> first of all, it makes him look like an activist. he's not passively dealing with a house and senate that is not passing his legislation, but it actually puts him at a tradition, because 1917, woodrow wilson was about to become a wartime president. he did not look with great favor on the idea of having to deal with senate filibusters while trying to conduct that war. he referred to the filibuster as a little group of willful men who render the united states government helpless and contemptible, a phrase that probably could be used nowadays. so what did wilson do? went to the leaders o. senate and said, thi

and joining us from washington, michael beschloss. he is a presidential historian and regular contributor to pbs newshour and nbc news. i am pleased to have all of them here this evening to reflect on president john f. kennedy. let me begin with jill abramson because she wrote a piece that captured my attention and set out to talk about 50 years of books being written about this man. give me a sense of what we know and what these books tell us and whether-- because i'm fascinated by the fact-- that you think a great biography remains to be written. >> i think a truly great book about john f. kennedy remains to be written. >> rose: even though there's been 40,000 written. >> i know. more than almost anyone except for lincoln. i think his story is the quintessential great american life story and the material is surely there and there have been many very, very good books including ones written by all fellow guests here on your show tonight. (laughter) so i don't want to carry -- overstate the point. >> rose: of which these books were men

policy > michael beschloss, book of the jackie kennedy tapes is widely available or you can get to her innd listening her own voice. >> wonderful. first lady nnedy's of the new frontier. thank you for being at the table. series. you for the it's been splendid. >> it's been a joy for us to learn along the way. have a good evening, thank you for being with us. of first >> president obama marked veterans day a wreath at the tomb of the unknown in arlington national cemetery. >> president obama laid a wreath of the unknowns. he spoke about ending the war in tribute to and paid 107-year-old world war ii veteran, richard over ton, who ceremony.t at the this event is just under an [bells] ♪ [national anthem] ♪ ♪ [taps] ♪ america the beautiful ♪ ♪ >> ladies and gentlemen,please welcome major general jeffrey buchanan, commanding general, united states army. [applause] mr. patrick hallinan, national cemeteries director. [applause] mr. harold fritz, national president for the congressional medal honor society for the united states of america. [applause] and the honorable eric k. shinseki, secreta

. >> thank you, michael beschloss for your expertise and wisdom and sandy, it is great seeing you again joining us from santa barbara, california. >> and this final note, caroline is speaking out today for first time on the 50th anniversary of her father's death. caroline kennedy, the new ambassador to japan, said in an interview in an newspaper, people tell her they were inspired by her father, it serves asry reminder we have a duty to work together for a better world. he also said even though my father didn't live to accomplish all of the things he wanted, his spirit lives on. hundreds of dollars of savings on the table by not choosing the right medicare d plan. no one could have left this much money here. whoo-hoo-hoo! yet many seniors who compare medicare d plans realize they can save hundreds of dollars. cvs/pharmacy wants to help you save on medicare expenses. talk to your cvs pharmacist, call, or go to cvs.com/compare to get your free, personalized plan comparison today. call, go online, or visit your local store today. which is why he's investing in his heart health by eating ke

. >> michael beschloss. show," politics nation with al sharpton starts right now. >> thanks, ed. and thanks to you for tuning in. tonight's lead, standing up to the bully. for the past five years, the gop has denied this president's legitimacy. they didn't know it the mandate of the past two presidential elections, dismissed the idea of compromise. but now the president and democrats are saying enough is enough. they made the bold decision to scale back senate rules that republicans have used to block the president's nominees. and would you believe it, the gop, the same obstructionist party that ended political civility in this country is now whining. >> i mean, now we've got a big bully, harry reid says he's going to break the rules and make new rules. basically he's become the dictator of the

we're also joined by nbc news presidential historian, michael beschloss.> good morning. >> after three years of investigation the house committee reached the following conclusions and they were in direct contrast to the warren commission report. first, jfk's report was probably a conspiracy. two gunmen were involved. and that the warren commission and fbi failed to adequately look into a possible conspiracy. chris, you say from the outset in fact there was a lot of pressure on this commission to downplay any conspiracy. >> chris, there was. and it was surprising because this commission followed senator frank church's committee in the senate. and one of their jobs was to look at how the fbi and the cia had interacted with the warren commission. they concluded that they obstructed the commission. that j. edgar hoover had asked the fbi to conclude their investigation quickly and they did not share with the warren commission everything. so when i stepped in as a very young legislative aide to congressman dodd back then, it was the expectation of the members of

michael beschloss, doug brinkley, edwin morris. what was your role? that? how did you get there? >> the president said he loves history. he said he would love to meet on somewhat of a regular basis, once a year it's happened, with historians who come with the knowledge of their president in their head and can give him advice. so it's not like we go in there and give little talks. it's more that be we sit around dinner, just us, get a couple of members of the white house staff. michelle went at one point, and the president. and he talks about whatever is happening at that time. someone might talk about how he might have communicate in the past, how people dealt with congress, lbj in the past. and tell story from our guys that might be an echo for him. but for us to be together is half of the pleasure of it all. to feel that camaraderie with the fellow historians, in the room, truman, jackston, eisenhower, reagan. like the presidents have come into the room in our heads. >> what are the rules? >> never been quoted. >> the rules -- >> no, not about the substance of the meeting. the

. >> michael beschloss, book of the jackie kennedy tapes is widely available or you can get the book and listening to her in her own voice. >> wonderful. >> jaclyn kennedy's first lady of the new frontier. thank you for being at the table. >> thank you for the series. it's been splendid. >> it's been a joy for us to learn along the way. have a good evening, thank you for being with us. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] ♪ >> monday on first ladies, lady bird johnson. she was the first wife of a president to become a millionaire in her own right after investing in and running radio tv stations in texas. she is best remembered for communications efforts along highways and urging people to visit national parks. learn more about lady bird johnson's life and legacy on our 9:00s live monday night at eastern on c-span, c-span3, and c-span radio. >> we are offering a special edition of the book, first ladies and the united states of america, presenting a biography of each first lady. it is available for the discoun

. >> michael beschloss, book of the jackie kennedy tapes is widely available or you can get the book and listening to her in her own voice. >> wonderful. >> jaclyn kennedy's first lady of the new frontier. thank you for being at the table. >> thank you for the series. it's been splendid. >> it's been a joy for us to learn along the way. have a good evening, thank you for being with us. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] morning in karnak, texas, she was given a name ladybird at an early age. known foron was giving frank advice to her husband about the nations highways. join us next week for a look at the life of ladybird johnson on first ladies. with our partner, the white house historic posted you -- association offering a book on the first ladies, we have a biography and portion of each first lady from michelle obama. -- with an intro by michelle obama. our website has more on first ladies. it is produced by the white house historic will association. historical association. >> c-span, we bring public affa

you can hear the change as michael beschloss does in his tapes. the tremendous change in the tone of bobby kennedy from being sort of, you know, you're wonderful, mr. president, to after that decision was made being much tougher, much greater tension. and, you know, in 1960, in terms of hillary clinton running today in new york when bobby kennedy went to run in new york in 1964, johnson carried the state by about 1.6 million votes. bobby kennedy carried by 400,000 votes. and when bobby kennedy got up to thank people for winning, he thanked every local politician in new york and then lastly mentioned the president and i remember lyndon johnson just pointing his finger and saying, you know, why did that guy -- why didn't he mention me first? he never would have won without me. >> leslie heart, we're sitting in the garden here. and yesterday you were making the point that that's important to note for the record that president johnson made his strategic decision to retain the kennedy cabinet when sworn into office. but you talked about how he used the