>> there was robert taft, but the big ones were john calhoun, daniel webster, henry clay, the pre-civil war era. securities committee quickly decide on the top three, webster, clay, calhoun. they had a longer debate on the next two, and even back at that point kennedy preferred a german named george noris, but there were some hints that the nebraska senators might filibuster that choice of kennedy had to back off and go with -- there were some 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? >> first of all, is very active on labor issues. he was the chairman of the subcommittee, a labor subcommittee and that was the one domestic issue he really dug into. it was a huge issue back at the time. he mastered the big it was the one domestic issue he mastered. and even his contemporaries said he understood the nuances of labor law better than anyone. interestingly he got caught in a very complex political battle, and the final bill didn't really resemble what he wanted. i was a labor law b

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

roberts. and mind is the bully pulpit by doris kearns goodwin focusing on the relationship between william howard taft and president roosevelt or go to booktv.org to see her talk about it at the miami book fair. and finally political commentator glenn beck and his miracles and massacres, to an untold stories of the making of america. these are some of the current best-selling books according to publishers weekly. >> coming up next "after words" with the american society for muslim advancement with our guest ranya tabari idliby in her latest book burqas, baseball, and apple pie. the co-author of the face club talks about u.s. culture while she talks about fellow muslims who she says distorts islam. the program is about one hour. >> when you're on the air. most people when they look at you not think your palestinian because we have this image that we conduct in our mind. so can you tell me about your sword and where you come from? >> often been told they don't know that i'm muslim and so i am told that it is a double whammy that way and originally my father left in 1948 and he came to the states as a 16

robert. ninth on the list the bully pulpit by doris kerns goodwin focusing on the relationship between president theodore roosevelt and william howard taft. go to booktv.org to see the talk at the miami book fair. finally political commentator glenn beck's miracles and massacres, true and untold stories about the making of america. these are the current best-selling nonfiction books according to publishers weekly. >> at the time the central intelligence agency had really taken a beating. they had been through a grueling hearings before congress about who should be blamed for 9/11 and whether the cia failed to watch list, certain individuals and otherwise failed to share information from the fbi that might have foretold or allowed to the fbi to investigate the plots on 9/11. the cia it is fair to say, really buffeted, the 9/11 commission came along and had another set of hearings which were very tough. the chairman of the 9/11 commission noted there staff statements about what happened, what the cia did on 9/11 was an indictment of the agency's performance. as second factor that occurred that contributed to this momentous change of the ev