mrs. taft, mrs. oosevelt, there must be a lot of stuff, there was a big feud between taft and roosevelt. so i found my way to the original. in the second two volumes, there were no ellipses ease on the page but things had been left out. i found my way to the originals, but was there and larges what we know about what went on in the taft white house. archie butt was with taft from morning until he went to bed at night so he knew the stories. so that was wonderful. the other thing wanted to tell you about, when i started working on a book about the roosevelt, his life after the white house, i wanted to write -- he was only 50 when he left the white house, he was the youngest president, the youngest ex-president, jfk was the youngest elected president but teddy roosevelt became president when mckinley was assassinated and he was two weeks shy of his 40 third birthday. he is the youngest ex-president, only 50. what would happen to a man who had power once he didn't have it any more? the existing biography

probably robert taft, called mr.epublican and when they look back on the 20th century and i think say what democratic senator would you single out i don't think it would be lyndon johnson because he later became president, though johnson would be important, but i think it would be ted kennedy as someone who served, third longest serving senator in american history and a lion of the senate as he was described. >> bob shrum, i know the senator said that perhaps his most important vote was the vote against the war in iraq but if you look at domestic policy what stands out for you? what was the big achievement? >> saving the voting rights act. people forget when he was very young in 1965 he passed a wholesale reform of immigration law in this country which up until then diskrim tornado nated against people from southern europe, from greece, and italy, and basically denied immigration status at all to people from asia. it was one of the first battles he waged. the americans with disabilities act, the minimum wage, childre

mr. liberal at a time when liberalism just began to recede. his career is a little bit like that of robert taft was for a generation mr. republican. and republicans loved him, applauded him and never nominated him for president. in 1980 they refused to nominate ted kennedy. >>> in 1984 they nominated the last new deal democrat to be nominated, that was walter mondale and he lost 49 states. in '88 they began moving away with dukakis. in '92 they finally elected a different democrat. >> you know, ed mccormick was right in 1962. his candidacy was a joke except for the fact ahis brother was president of the united states and it was very important and for the first 15, maybe 20 years, i think what he did in the senate was not something that will be his legacy. it is the things he did outside of the senate that people remember. but it was liberating to lose that nomination fight to jimmy carter, get that monkey off his back and the next few years particularly when he married vicki, i think the whole body of ted kennedy's work has to be judged and in judging the whole body i think i agree. >> e.j., te

then robert taft from the post war period. mr. republican, mr. conservative.in picking the names, jack kennedy was smart. there was home cooking there. there's always some home cooking. he's unable to look forward. he would have picked his brother. if you talk to hatch and the others, the great joke was kennedy was compared to webster. he said what did webster do. "the new york times" are going to have full pages tomorrow. for anybody who wants to do the homework, read the newspaper, you're going to see the full legislative record there. it's online, of course. you will see the role he played in reducing the voting age to 18. title nine that gives women athletes the same opportunity as male athletes in college. these kind of things you will see in there. the dan quayle legislation and s-chip. you will see the record. it's amazing. the fact is, i think his personality was in tune to the senate. not everybody is a happy senator. some just don't fit in. some senators like pat don't have to fit in. teddy wasn't a presidential type. he's a comrade or colleague type