. >> there was robert taft as the to 20th-century once but the biggest was john calhoun and to the free civil war era so his committee quickly decided on the top three end they had a longer debate and then yvette back at that point george norris was a progressive but then there was a thought it could be a filibuster so kennedy had to back off so even then there was a hint of of filibuster. >> host: what would you say was one of kennedy's substantive pieces of legislation? >> he was very active on labor issues. it was thus a huge issue at the time it was the issue that he mastered now understanding the nuances of the of labor law with that complex political battle but to give some marvelous speeches with the french involvement algeria and how that u.s. should try to re-emerge in the cold war. the most compelling person that i expected and of course, had great contemporaries. head with a scoop jackson did was an interesting time. >> host: what was the relationship with lead did john said? >> guest: i spent time at the kennedy library at his file was thick with letters asking for better co

taft, the grandson of robert taft, going after this, had some choice words to say about the gop in anctober op-ed. he said, five generations of taft has served the country as stalwart republicans. quote, this recent display of bomb-throwing obstructionism by republicans in congress, another embarrassing sector. i'm not the only one, saying he took all that money from north korea, the communists up there. what do you make of the taft name? why does the taft name mean so much in the republican party? >>ion what's so interesting about that op-ed piece is that taft was obviously, by 1912, somewhat more conservative than roosevelt, and yet he still believed that government had a responsibility to ease the problems in the industrial age. he still believed that you had to break up the big trusts, that you needed food and drug legislation, that you needed to undo the railroad abuses. so the republican party at that time, under the leadership of both teddy and even taft, was beyond where it is today, which is a really interesting thing to contemplate. a hundred years ago, many of the problems

robert taft with the candidate of the traditional republican. basted eisenhower, and let you run in the republican party will take over and will be handed the isolations the victors that you want in europe with a great cause during the war will be undone. that's what god grant into politics. >> my question is for john. your book deals with a long period of time and kind of behind the scenes of history and politics. i was wondering what percentage of across in your research and work that most surprised you or intrigue you? and also, what event that perhaps is not very well-known? >> the girlfriends. [laughter] but maybe that's not surprising. it's often been said about john hay backing everybody in the gilded age -- that he knew everybody in the gilded age of the presidents, the major robber barons, every significant author, mark twain, william dean howells, who wrote the first significant review of portrait of a lady for his great friend, henry james. and i guess the point is he wasn't collecting friends so much as they were collecting him. and

. >> there was robert taft and the 220th century ones. and he is the great triumvirate of the civil war. his committee decided en masse and kennedy would prefer a man by the name of george wants to be the leading progressive. there were some that could save you want when the filibuster that. so he had to filibuster that and there were some subtle heads and transients about. >> what would you say is one of his most substantive pieces of legislation in the senate? >> he was very active in labor issues and chairman of the labor subcommittee that he really does entail and he was a huge issue and he mastered it at the time. and he understood this better than anyone. and so it was part of foreign policy. and this includes algeria, and the whole battle with the soviet union and how the u.s. should try to emerge in the cold war. so he was interesting. and he was a more compelling person than i expected and had some great contemporaries and he worked with people like richard russell and it was a really interesting time with some great senators. >>

for the conservative they chose robert taft to have passed away, a stalwart republican senator from ohio. when it came to the progress of there were decisions. kennedy very much wanted to select george norris, a very kind of aggressive, popular senator from nebraska. but the current senator from nebraska had had some run-in's and said, you're not going to select him. in fact he wrote a letter was looks an awful lot like a threat of a filibuster if kennedy actually went forward and suggest to him. and also styles bridges was on the committee. so they ended up doing -- choosing robert from wisconsin. so this was a project that -- and it was interesting for me to just read the paper work, try to piece together the deliberations of the committee and just see the kind of inquisitive, thoughtful aspect of kennedy. he was writing letters, some of his friends who are historians trying to get there sense of things. it was something that he just really, really loved. i think his work on a solidified his reputation as kind of this sentence, you know, and house historian. i think it was also very po

for the conservative they chose robert taft to have passed away, a stalwart republican senator from ohio. when it came to the progress of there were decisions. kennedy very much wanted to select george norris, a very kind of aggressive, popular senator from nebraska. but the current senator from nebraska had had some run-in's and said, you're not going to select him. in fact he wrote a letter was looks an awful lot like a threat of a filibuster if kennedy actually went forward and suggest to him. and also styles bridges was on the committee. so they ended up doing -- choosing robert from wisconsin. so this was a project that -- and it was interesting for me to just read the paper work, try to piece together the deliberations of the committee and just see the kind of inquisitive, thoughtful aspect of kennedy. he was writing letters, some of his friends who are historians trying to get there sense of things. it was something that he just really, really loved. i think his work on a solidified his reputation as kind of this sentence, you know, and house historian. i think it was also very po

>> well, there was robert taft and robert -- [inaudible] were the two 20th century ones. but the big ones were john calhoun, daniel webster, henry clay, the great triumvirate of the pre-civil or war era. so kennedy's committee quickly decided on the top three, webster, clay, calhoun. they had a longer debate on the next two, and even back at that point kennedy would prefer a gentleman by the fame of george norris -- by the name of george norris, but there were some hint that is the nebraska senators might filibuster, so he had to back off. even back then there were some subtle hints of filibusters in the senate. >> what would you say was one of president ken pity's most substantive pieces of legislation in the senate. >> well, he was very activity on labor issues, and that was the one domestic issue that he really, really dug into. it was a huge issue back at the time. it was the one maybe domestic issue he mastered, and even his contemporaries said he understood the nuances of labor law better than anyone. it just seems he got caught in a complex kind of political battle

>> el, there was robert taft and robert concern. [inaudible] were the two 20th century ones.but the big ones were john calhoun, daniel webster, henry clay. the great triumvirate of the pre-civil war era. so kennedy's committee quickly decided on the top three, webster, clay, calhoun. they had a longer debate on the next two, and even back at that point kennedy would prefer a gentleman by the name of george -- [inaudible] to be the leading progressive, but there was some hint that the nebraska senators might filibuster, so kennedy had to back off. so even back then there were some subtle hints of filibusters and delays in the senate. >> what would you say was one of president kennedy's most substantive pieces of legislation in the senate? >> well, i would say two things. first of all, he was very active on labor issues. he was the chairman of a labor subcommittee, and that was the one domestic issue that he really, really dug into. it was a huge issue back at the time. he mastered it. it was the one maybe domestic issue he mastered, and even his contemporaries said that he und

older taft family was when they came to the white house. robert was in jail -- yale. he finished first in his class at yale. helen, was at school in washington. at the taft school that taft's brother ran. they were not as charming and as the roosevelt children. >> we promised you more about the cherry blossoms. let us learn more about how she brought them here. >> when helen taft became first lady in 1909, one of the first thing she did was address having cherry trees around the tidal basin of potomac park. the tidal basin was a mass at that time -- mass at that time -- mess at that time. there was nothing to draw people for people to gather in enjoying a certain -- enjoy nature. one of the first thing she did was askme first lady for the trees to be planted. the japanese heard about her interests and they decided to give 2000 trees to the united states in her honor. it was honoring the american support in japan. of0 trees arrived in january 1910. everyone was shocked that the trees were older and very tall and bug infested. it was decided they would have to be burned.

>> there was robert taft and robert for the to 20th century ones, but the big ones were john calhoun, daniel webster, henry clay in the pre-civil war era. so kennedy's committee quickly decided on the top three webster, clay calhoun. they had a longer debate on the next two and even back at that point, kennedy would prefer george forest to be the leader but there were senators that might filibuster that choice, so kennedy had to back off and go with robert. so even back then there were some hints of filibuster in the senate. >> why would you say was one of president kennedy's most substantive pieces of legislation in the senate? >> well i would say two things. first of all he was active in the leader issues. he was the chairman of the labor subcommittee, and about was the one domestic issue that he really dug into. it was a huge issue back at the time. he mastered it. was maybe the one domestic issue he mastered. and it's contemporary that he understood the nuances of the labor law more than anyone. interestingly, he got caught in a political battle and the final bill didn't really re