mr. truman. now, mr. truman, you are 100% correct about bess. she was an anti-semite of the first order. it is true, no jew was permitted in her home. i do not much influenced she had on mr. truman, let me tell you this. when we brag about the fact that mr. truman was the first, it's true, the first to recognize the state of israel, we've got to also remember that countries as you indicated earlier do not have -- their self interest and that's the way should be. there's no question about it. when mr. truman raised his hand and made sure that we were the first, his point was, correctly, he didn't want soviet union to be an influence. wanted the united states to have influenced in the mideast. and one of the reasons was oil. in fact that's a big reason. it's been a big reason for almost, what, 30, 40 years. thank you. but i did enjoy your book very much. [applause] >> one other thing about truman was when he recognized israel, the first person he told was his jewish adviser. >> hi. very interesting. glad i came today. very informative, but you did

mr. truman. mr. truman 100% correct she was an anti-semite and it's true. other people have verified. i don't know how much influence she had but let me tell you this. truman was the first to recognize the state of israel. we have to also remember that countries had love interests. they had self-interest. he didn't want the soviet union to be in there. he wanted the united states to have influence in the mideast. one of the reasons was oil. in fact that's a big reason and it has been a big reason for almost 34 years. i did enjoy your book very much. [applause] >> one other thing about chairman was when he recognizes israel the first president he told was his jewish at eyes or. you did mention some people that i'm interested in them that was kennedy and bush won in two. what can you tell us about them and how they treated the jews? >> he interviewed several of the israelis in the white house. the american secret service information rather said that the jews had an atomic bomb and they were worried about that. he went very easy on people and other presidents. there are some stuff in the

. >> there's a story about harry truman rooming with mr. eisenhower's brother. >> that's right, yes. for a brief time, they were both in the rooming house there in kansas city. they were starting out in the bank there. and that was arthur eisenhower, and he wound up as a vice president of that bank. but i believe harry beat him. >> how about the eisenhowers? >> they were church mouse poor. they lived, again, on a frontier town of abilene, kansas. it was a hard life, a very hard life. six boys and a sent who died in infancy. ike said it was the most cheerful person he ever knew. and when you look at pictures of her, that smile that we all associate with dwight eisenhower came straight from the face of ida eisenhower. her husban dour man who had been a failure, had never quite gotten over failing at business, and was very distant from his children and was a very harsh, harsh disciplinarian. but all of this -- ida was very resilient, and she made do when they had no money. she had to send the boys to school with patched clothes, and young dwig

mr. chairman, as you said the decisions are challenging. active and of course the truman. some people suggested that we off ramp the the truman to make a political statement i would do that to sailors. pamilies gone to live with their sold car, stop education courses. and this issue on the offramping. you have our commitment when we offramp either because of sequestration or the other reason we are beginning to offramp some units is the slope in afghanistan. we will always have the dimension of this first and foremost. we will go back on . >> after they said we're not going to any groups less than 120 days before. these folks in effect were caught in the middle six weeks out. if you can take a look at that, we would be extraordinarily pressuretive of it -- appreciative of it. general dempsey, in afghanistan as we drawndown i'm sure you have plans and metric in place as going through this year as well. i want to see how we're doing on that. if we are on target, on schedule and if the traps suggestion is moving the way that has been planned. >> it is. and we have got -- what

mr. bush? >> no, i don't think we have. but it is true that presidential reputations go up and down in history. when he left office, harry trumanopular. and then later there were, you know, reassessments of him. that's been true of most of our presidents. but the problem for george w. bush is he just has less to work with when it comes to presidential rehabilitation. the smartest thing that he's done is to stay quiet. >> yes. >> over the last four years. so he seems like a less partisan figure. and that lets him be more popular because he hasn't been in there like tick cheney taking shots at president obama. but the fact remains that presidents are only remembered for a couple of big things that happened when they're in office. and i think we now do know, and it's not a rush to judgment, to say that those two big things were a trillion dollar war in iraq that was unnecessary. a war of choice, as they said. and it was the wrong choice. almost everybody agrees with that now. and the worst economic recession since the great depression. and that happened on his watch. >> indeed. >> so it's very interesting watching people try to bl

mrs. bush and she said she radically reassessed her role for the country since september 11th. she started this a administration nine long months ago as the quietest first lady sinces about trumanl of that has changed. no one could plan for that carnage or sadness that follows it butra bush who talked a lot about obesity and military families and and stepped into a different role as a result of a tragedy. >> it is a multifaceted role to be first lady. there is no job description. but you have the opportunity and ability to use your plate form, your voice and use it wisely. use it in ways that country need. you're right on 9/11, laura bush says she found hire voice. and how she comforted the nation and went about really working on other issues that supported the war on terror, including what was happening to afghan women in justifying our liberation of the can country. and the same for mrs. obama. this is a tragedy in our country. gun violence around the can country, young people, what are at the root causes that young people do this and use guns. and here she is and in her community. 32 children of the same high school hit by gun violence and eight died. that a bad number. >> t

mr. chambliss: this year marks the 65th anniversary of the air force reserve created by harry s. truman on april 14, 1948. since the founding of the united states, citizens have answered the call to arms, accomplished their mission with professionalism and honor and returned to their civilian lives to await the next call to serve. truman envisioned a new reserve component to continue this tradition of service, being ready when called upon, that was founded by the army air service reservists of the first world war who flew wood and canvas biplanes. the forereturn of our modern air force reserve was authorized by the national defense act 1916. today air force reservists known as citizen airmen perform leading roles in military operations, humanitarian crises and disaster relief around the globe. the air force reserve consists of officers enlisted and civilian servants who are tasked by law to fill the needs of the armed forces wherever necessary. more than 860,000 people make up the ready stand-by, retired and active duty retired reserve. this ilus000 selected reservists who are ready now