the second was richard nixon in 1952. there is, and i have some personal insight into this, richard nixon in his memoir, recounts how in 1951 he had given an address in the presence of governor thomas thomas dewey and dewey came up to him at the end of the speech and he said, make me a promise senator, don't get overweight, stay in shape and someday you will be president. i believe governor dewey was the one who is behind brownell and the idea was that nixon would be the political arm of the eisenhower years and he was. nixon had taken on enormous responsibility for keeping the republican party in that period and the reason i think there is a lot to this is that when richard nixon was elected in 68 and julie and i spent so many -- with him and 69 in and 70 and so forth one name that kept coming back and coming up and coming up over and over again and i think this would actually be an interesting article someday documenting the personal relationship based on complete confidence and fondness between richard nixon and thomas

kennedy, johnson, nixon.ink jean smith made a good point that eisenhower didn't believe in incremental steps in a war, he tried to counsel johnson. certainly when my father came into office, because he died only three months after my dad was in the presidency, my father missed having that voice. but again, it's great to be with all the booklovers. i am also among your ranks and now i turn it over to the author of the book, i am the helper and a system, but he is the one, it's really his story, so, david. [applause] >> it's an honor indeed to be here as this book festival, which is an extraordinary event, and being in the presence of jean smith has done something that rate -- that i really admire. that is, write a synthesis, and that is synthesizing a military career and a political career all in one, very formidable subject to each. my efforts in this field were enumerated at the beginning of the program, and i'm proceeding at a very much slower pace. actually in the book that julie is referring to, "going ho

richard nixon of course.s this week in 1952, 60 years ago, nixon still a young senator and a new vice presidential candidate, gave what's become known as the checker speech. it was unique, ground breaking and essential to preserving nixon's political career, which was on shaky ground two after being tapped dwight eisenhower's conservative running mate because eisenhower had a conservative problem at the time. the threat came in the form of a new york post article alleging that nixon was using a slush fund for personal expenses set up by wealthy supporters with the suggestion that those supporters might have got special favors in return. both republicans and democrats were urging ike to dump nixon immediately. in what turned out to be a stroke of political genius, nixon turned to a new medium called television and made his case directly to a national audience insisting the money was legit. the senator from california also transformed the way politicians used television and the way the public connected with its

>> just thinking about nixon, nixon was in a completely desperation situation.n hour before he went on the air, he was at the el capitan theater in los angeles. he gets a call from thomas dewy. he says, dick, i hate to tell you this, but i've been listening to the speech, and we think you should offer your formal resignation from the ticket. there's a long silence. and dewey goes, furthermore, we think you should resign your senate seat, and you can run in a special election and win this huge plurality and be a great hero. >> nixon said, tell them to watch the show, and tell them i know something about politics too. >> and he really did. >> what a shot he took at these guys. >> he really did. he had earlier said this is up to general eisenhower, but what he did on the speech was say, it's up to the republican national committee. >> turn it over to the reince priebus of those days, the general that beat the nazis. jeffrey frank, you'll be back on to talk about it when it comes to pub date. when we return, let me finish tonight with a question. what is mitt romney

i think he ought to at least belly up to richard nixon's. is keeping those returns a secret, at least to us. his accountants and lawyers know what he's paid, where he's made his money and where he's invested and why. this caucus knows the facts. why not us. this is not an old family secret, it's not about some failing on some family member's part, some tiff about some uncle and aunt. it's simply business information. business information. isn't this guy running on how he's done business? isn't that his resumÉ? didn't he make a fortune in business, enough money to get out there and drop everything and run for the highest office? shouldn't they know so they can figure out the guy's track record, his methods, his attitudes toward his citizenship. the more time that passes,

i think he ought to at least belly up to richard nixon's.g those returns a secret, at least to us. his accountants and lawyers know what he's paid, where he's made his money and where he's invested and why. this caucus knows the facts. why not us. this is not an old family secret, it's not about some failing on some family member's part, some tiff about some uncle and aunt. it's simply business information. business information. isn't this guy running on how he's done business? isn't that his resumÉ? didn't he make a fortune in business, enough money to get out there and drop everything and run for the highest office? shouldn't they know so they can figure out the guy's track record, his methods, his attitudes toward his citizenship. the more time that passes, the better he can evade the demands but i wonder. mitt romney is hiding those tax

nixon, we would get terrible terms under nixon, and they realized that too late to launch -- trying toelp humphrey, and instead the u.s. allies in saigon were much here calculating and worked to help nixon win, and he won be a very razor-thin victory. >> thank you very much for your good work. i have a question about the intelligence reports, because before the united states goes into a war with any country, they have to go to the d based on intelligence report. so my question is, is there any politics like on the intelligence, from the intelligence, or they get -- just didn't get it right? >> we just found out recently in the national security archives has this on the web site -- i see recent, it's been two years -- that if you look at the golf of tonkin documented not not happen. and lyndon johnson knew that. and you can see so many similarities with what happened with we war in iraq. so in short what i can say is that the gulf of tonkin documents reveal that -- they were doctored. >> with the benefit of hindsight and archive research, there any policies or strategies the united stat

president roosevelt, nixon, carter. we have heard from the previous the to speak about her accomplishments. what i would like to talk about is their transformations and how transformational they were part of looking back into the past is to figure out where we are going in the future. roosevelt and carter leg kind of defamation of discussions in if a select land confirmation and the epic of, but-preservation. carter -- confirmation and the epic of preservation. carter trying to transform the way we use energy. -- tried to -- there were bedrocks environmental laws we are still in alliance with today. he knew enough to get out of the way and move forward. looking at the current president of candidates, president obama has said that years to show whether or not he is an environmental president. the rare around a, as there -- as governor of massachusetts, works in ho wong. we have climate change, we have the impact of global warming, we have fires, drought, floods. the planet is changing. if we had a roosevelt or carter, i

including nixon as president.s that you hope that we learn important lessons from history. two specific things. first, what needs to be done regarding the citizens united petition. if you might discuss as a matter of public policy, should it be acceptable for him in a run for presidency and refuse to make public tax returns? >> guest: it has happened in american history, and i think the voters will have to make that judgment. it certainly is not required by the law. in general, every candidate should give as much information as possible about his past life. as far as the other -- citizens united, unregistered independents, i suggest that they stay out of current politics. because it's not what i do and because i think my political views on current events are not any better than anyone else's. i basically have a platform. forgive me for excusing myself from talking about that, at least for the next 30 years or so. >> host: mr. beschloss, i did want to point out in one of your books, you have president eisenhower la

nixon, used to the new medium of television as a way to address allegations.ress allegations that he was using a slush fund for personal gain and saved his newly minted role for dwight eisenhower for vice presidential case. >> 60 years ago richard nixon gave one of the most famous speeches in american political history. and in so doing invented new rules for financial disclosure for political candidates that are being debated anew in this year's presidential campaign. seeking the place on the gop ticket, as dwight eisenhower's running mate, richard nixon gave his famous checkers speech 60 years ago this weekend and laid his finances bare. >> everything i've earned, everything i've spent, everything i owe -- >> it's a speech with eerie relevance to the 2012 campaign. in which another candidate, mitt romney, faces demands to disclose his finances. >> as if you decide to do more and more, you just give, if you will, the opposition a chance to distort and twist and be dishonest. >> ironically, nixon's financial disclosure in 1952 set a new standard for future cand

nixon may feel that it is here and now after the new deal and the fair deal but before he deals, someone is going to cut the cards. [applause] that someone may be the millions of americans who voted for president eisenhower and electing his successor. but just as historians tell us that richard the first was not fit to fill the shoes of the old henry ii and that record was not fit to wear the mantle of his uncle, they might add that nixon did not measure up to the footsteps of the right eisenhower.

including nixon as president.at you hope that we learn important lessons from history. two specific things. first, what needs to be done regarding the citizens united petition. if you might discuss as a matter of public policy, should it be acceptable for him in a run for presidency and refuse to make public tax returns? >> guest: it has happened in american history, and i think the voters will have to make that judgment. it certainly is not required by the law. in general, every candidate should give as much information as possible about his past life. as far as the other -- citizens united, unregistered independents, i suggest that they stay out of current politics. because it's not what i do and because i think my political views on current events are not any better than anyone else's. i basically have a platform. forgive me for excusing myself from talking about that, at least for the next 30 years or so. >> host: mr. beschloss, i did want to point out in one of your books, you have president eisenhower lament

nixon had the whole place so buttoned up. the most understanding moment at the convention was the announcement that his vice presidential candidate would be spiro agnew. i remember the bureau chief in baltimore, washington, looking like he had been electric shocked, that this guy was going to be the vice president. one heartbeat away from the presidency. they went out of there and put together the new republican coalition. which is that they took the south away from the democrats. and they -- richard nixon was very clever about capitalizing on what he called the silent majority, which really did exist, these were working-class democrats, who wore hard hats and carried lunch buckets, who fed up with what they were seeing on the democratic side. when i went home from chicago to my home in south dakota on my way back to california, my dad was a life-long working-class democrat. a blue dog democrat. he wore a hard hat. carried a lunchbox. he grew up under fdr, that was his god. >> i thought he would be on the side of the anti-war

nixon, would you like to comment on that statement >> i have no comment and in nixon's case, he percent. he had the audacity to per spire. as a consequence, the venue where you are where a debate goes on, it's like a meat locker. that's the reason. they negotiate how cold it's going to be because nobody wants to per spire because look what happened to nixon. it's amazing. >> schieffer: even a great communicator like franklin roosevelt knew the risk of debating. he was a heavy favorite to win re-election in 1940, so when republican wendell wilke demanded a debate, f.d.r. ignored him. he knew just appearing on the same stage with the president enhanced the stature of any challenger. >> i think that we both just just stand here >> reporter: it's hard to know where we'd be today if nixon in 1960 had followed roosevelt's lead. but once burned, nixon never debated again. nor did lyndon johnson who had preceded him to the white house. so there were no debates in 1964, '68 or '72. >> announcer: this is the cbs news special report. >> schieffer: only after his poll numbers dropped did gerald for

nixon. our past is not merely one of itemizing republican failure. the families forced from the farm do not need us to tell them of their plights. the miners and textile workers know the decision is before them in november. the old people without medical care, the families without a decent home, the parents of children without a decent school. they all know that it is time for change. [applause] we are not here to curse the darkness. we are here to light a candle. as winston churchill said, on taking office some 20 years ago, if we open between the present and past, we shall be in danger of losing the future. our concern must be with the future. the world is changing. the old era is ending. the old way will not do. a broad the ballots -- although the balance of power is shifting, new and more terrible weapons are coming into use. one-third of the world may be free but one-third is the victim of a cruel repression and the other third is rocked by poverty and hunger and disease. communist influence has penetrated into asia, it stands in the middle east

richard nixon, the late richard nixon always used to say it's always about ohio. >> that's a great intern nation. unkanne. >> it sounds a loot like walter cronkite, too. it's like pennsylvania was in the early days, but once we were more of a continental country, ohio is like the center of the pinwheel that the rest of the country resolves around. it touches the east and midwest and south. it has people from all over the country. it's always been the place where new products are tested. it's no accident procter & gamble are based in ohio. a lot of republican presidents came from ohio, so it's sort of the home of republican party, which is why no republican has ever won without winning ohio.

both of them appointed by richard nixon.ey fundraiser who says he worked on barry goldwater's campaign may very well have known john mitchell, may very well have known both of the republican attorneys general who were convicted of crimes, but he still could say, without any correction from the confederacy of dunces in that room, that eric holder is, in his words, the most corrupt attorney general that we've ever had in american history. the most corrupt. so in that room of rich republicans, the unique characteristic of eric holder as attorney general is that he is the most corrupt of the 82 attorneys general that we have had in this country. eric holder's bio is not unlike some of our most distinguished attorneys general, he attended new york public schools. he went to columbia college and columbia law school and went straight to work in the department of justice. in 1988 president ronald reagan nominated eric holder to become a federal judge in the district of columbia. that's right. president reagan. eric holder later left

nixon would you like to comment on that statement?have no comment. >> cenk: the people who listened on the radio thought nixon had one, but the people watching it on tv thought kennedy won. it appeared that the debate swung the election in favor of kennedy. ever since then, people have put a tremendous amount of weight on the debates. because of that everybody plays the expectations game. what is funny here is all of the republicans are saying oh my god, obama is going to win. >> mitt romney has the advantage because he has been through 20 of these debates. >> mitt romney is a business guy, and hasn't had a debate against a democrat in overten years. >> mitt romney is just in practice. >> having been through this much more recently than president obama, i think he starts with an advantage. >> i think barack obama will be formidable. >> but i have never been in a presidential debate like this, and it will be a new experience. >> the president is going to lose the first debate next week. he will lose it. >> cenk: i love all of that. i h

the real director of the nixon library was richard nixon. he designed and oversaw it and every detail was of interest to him. but probably the thing he was least interested in was a room which is even here anymore, the domestic policy room which has been redone. the league kind of such a together at the last minute. one of those exhibits was about the endangered species act. president nixon as you may or may not know, greatest of a terminal president in the history of the united states son and heir the clean water act, clean air act and the endangered species act. i have been an environmental lawyer. the endangered species act and the clean water act. and even then after couple of years of practice in the area of endangered species i knew it was as cruel plot. terrible. doesn't work. costs an enormous amount of money, destroys life, opportunities, seizes property. i said to him back in new jersey one day, what were you thinking when you signed this document and he said, it seemed like a good idea at the time. that was the full extent of pres

nixon, would you like to comment on that statement >> i have no comment and in nixon's case, he percent. he had the audacity to per spire. as a consequence, the venue where you are where a debate goes on, it's like a meat locker. that's the reason. they negotiate how cold it's going to be because nobody wants to per spire because look what happened to nixon. it's amazing. >> schieffer: even a great communicator like franklin roosevelt knew the risk of debating. he was a heavy favorite to win re-election in 1940, so when republican wendell wilke demanded a debate, f.d.r. ignored him. he knew just appearing on the same stage with the president enhanced the stature of any challenger. >> i think that we both just just stand here >> reporter: it's hard to know where we'd be today if nixon in 1960 had followed roosevelt's lead. but once burned, nixon never debated again. nor did lyndon johnson who had preceded him to the white house. so there were no debates in 1964, '68 or '72. >> announcer: this is the cbs news special report. >> schieffer: only after his poll numbers dropped did gerald for

but richard nixon was on the president for five and a half years. you will recall he had to leave early remember. [laughter] but he got for appointments in the supreme court because chief justice warren left, john hollen and hugo black left and they were replaced by richard nixon with chief justice warren burger, harry blackmun, lewis powell and william rehnquist and as you think about that list, it illustrates the scene that i think is a very in part and part of the oath but it is the theme of american politics over the past generation and that is the evolution of the republican party. it is the most important story in american politics. it's the most important story in the supreme court because moderate republicans dominated the supreme court for two generations, and moderate republicans are gone. they are gone at the supreme court, they are gone in the united states congress. arlen specter is fighting for his life now and i had the privilege of covering the senator specter who is a great character. often during his tenure in the senate he left th

this time the nixon people were intent on freezing the room so cold that nixon couldn't sweat at all. well, after a standoff in that basement in our headquarters and some threats to call the police, they agreed to bring the temperature up. well, think this stuff doesn't matter? it all matters. just like everything we do, wear, look like, act like, seem like in our first debates -- actually our first dates when we were growing up, remember? today we look at the serious stuff that will matter, where they stand and they disagree. i'm joined by bob shrum and the great david corn, famous for having unearthed that very important 47% speech by romney he never wanted us to hear. first, we have a new national poll to tell you about. let's check the "hardball" scoreboard. according to a new battleground poll, president obama has a three-point lead among likely voters. 50% number, a key number, obama, 50%, romney, 47%. let's go to the issue of the debate. mitt romney seems to have changed his tune on health care. here he was on "60 minutes." >> does the government have a responsibility to provid

i cannot place the blame directly on nixon. the caller purported to be a mother of run support your. it is conceivable that the call was a big sony and dirty trick -- nixonian dirty trick. host: we have a call from denver colorado. she says she worked on the mcgovern campaign. what kind of work did you on the campaign. caller: i had a regular job. i worked nights calling people on the phone banks and things like that. guest: you were in colorado? host: know, but i graduated from high school in kansas city. my husband -- when he came back from the vietnam war, we came back there because our families live there. we moved out here after the election. host: what was the initial reaction from the people working in the mcgovern campaign about his choice of senator tom eagleton to be his running mate in their reaction 18 days later when eagleton pulls himself of the ticket. caller: it was such crew the times -- crazy times, especially in politics. collation. thomas eagleton. i remember when mcgovern 00 mcgovern had huge -- mcgovern ha

. >> right now we are in the nixon library. richard nixon is probably one of the most hated people in american history if you are liberal but his accomplishments include are almost entirely liberal. for example he embraced the great society, he made nuclear arms -- with the soviets and so on and senator hughes got himself a liberal in 1970 said under richard nixon's -- [inaudible] why doesn't richard nixon rank high in the liberal pantheon? >> i will simply say this. i've been blessed and honored to tour around the country and tomorrow i will be flying to new york and be a guest with sean hannity to talk about the book in the book signing and then long island and i was in texas and ohio. i will tell you something this visit tonight and especially blessed by this room of wonderful patriots who came out to hear her speak tonight, the nixon library parents is going to go down in 2012 is the single best appearance of my entire book tour and i'm proud to be here. very proud to be here. [applause] and a real honor to be in this beaut

and not conceding a single state to richard nixon. [cheers and applause] i should like to say to my friend, frank king, that ohio may have passed a few times in this convention, but tom eagleton and i are not going to pass ohio. [cheers and applause] and i can say to governor gilligan, ohio is sometimes -- he is the unwitting unifier and the fundamental issue of this national campaign. [cheers and applause] and all of us are going to help him redeem a pledge he made 10 years ago that next year you won't have richard nixon to kick around anymore. [cheers and applause] we have

i don't know if he sent nixon because he didn't care what nixon did or he didn't like nixon, althoughwe've heard earlier today that he sort of accepted nixon and didn't think much about his vice presidential candidate. but think about what i just said about the world war ii memorial, the iwo jima memorial and a presentation in remembrance of the honor of the victory, and they're determined effort to eradicate, the tragic loss of the war. you get the hono article you to patriotism, you don't get the sort of ruins that is left behind. that goes through all of these. that's what we saw in the novel we just talked about. here's two of the memorials i'll tell you about. these you never hear about. there's many more. when i was writing the book, it dawned on me fairly early that there was sort of a story bring in new mexico. i want to find out more about it. and i got the idea in the first instance when i went, when i heard the story, read the story of a man named manuel. he lives with a veteran, for the japanese in the philippines, in april 1946 after the war is over he gets up on the morn

a lot of agencies, agencies that were set up by richard nixon. the republican president that regarded himself as a friend of industry and loved to hobnob with the captains of industry and poll said they have to go fight and industry -- get organized. they have to play hard ball aggressively and that is what happened. the chamber of commerce circulated the polls memorandum as it is known to business leaders all over the country. the business roundtable, the most powerful force for major corporations in america was formed. the national association of manufacturers moved its headquarters to washington. the national federation of independent businesses clip from 3000 members in 1971 yo 600,000 by 1980. business developed all this muscle. business had 18,000 registered lobbyists and pr people. 50,000 people working for their trade associations in washington. they rolled back the agenda and beats labor and beat rafa nader andnd -- -ralph jimmy carter. i saw those individual episodes take place. i saw ralph nader's push for a consumer protective agency

let me talk about the situation with richard nixon in 1969. when the break-in occurred in 1972 he was accused of not telling the truth about what he learned when his campaign broke in and put a bug on the phone of the democratic national chairman. that is the issue which he was impeached. what has happened the truth has not been told to the american people about what happened in libya and murder of an american ambassador. cbs had the lead last night. take a look at the front page of "new york times" talked about f.b.i. agents into benghazi. you have a horrendous scandal and cover-up unfolding right now. >> it's inexplicable to me as i said yesterday in watergate it was a scandal but nobody died. we have a dead ambassador and three other brave americans who lost their lives. i think the american people deserve an answer. yet we're talking about why mitt romney's campaign is struggling whether it is or isn't. it seems like, is there in your mind an unprecedented level of attempt to influence the selection for barack obama? >> i have never seen t

the 60s was, nixon's the one.tease him at times. so in rallies, republican rallies, the democrats dressed up a series of maybe 20, 30, nones looking pregnant, and each carried a sign saying, nixon eat one. the idea of nixon impregnating nones is so hysterical that you can't be mad at it. it was something about the dirty

i was for nixon. on the wire basket of my bike, rode it up and down the street, hoping to generate support for nixon. this worked really well until the little catholic girl across the street, who was on fire for kennedy literally pulled me off my bicycle, put me down on the pavement, sat astride me and wailed the heck out of me, gave me a bloody nose. i've never liked losing a political fight since. >> his opponents often hate him. >> fear of karl rove politics will finally be over next year. >> angry stuff. beckle and rollins have fought each other for years, yet they came to the interview together. >> you guys spent a career trying to kill each other's careers, but you're friends. >> great friends. >> friends for 25 years. >> why? >> you appreciate what your counterpart has to go through every >> would you please wait? >> all of the shouting. >> it's good to remember with all of it's work has worked better than

governor nixon noted jobs increased 18,000 from july to august. yet the number of people in the civilian labor force, those working are unemployed but actively looking for work fell by that period. so let's start out with that question. to believe the economy is improving or lacking behind? were three specific things which you do to create more jobs in missouri? governor nixon, your first. >> clearly we see the solid process. once the first job got into effect and today's numbers showing not only this last month and 17,900 jobs. his shows were beginning to make progress. it's built on a solid, solid rock of fiscal discipline, holding the line on taxes, focusing attention on industries where we can make a difference. that's why we call it back into special sessions. we had an opportunity with the auto industry in florida has made a $1.1 billion investment on the kansas city site to bring back to missouri, only in europe now and gm has made $380 million investment. i think as we move forward, making sure we keep the cost of higher education love tha