susan swain is president and co-ceo of c-span. she helped launch the washington journal, book tv, and has been in the numerous c-span tv's. she has also been recognized by her industry as a cable tv pioneer. please welcome stephen kennedy smith, douglas brinkley, and susan swain. [applause] susan: good afternoon and thank you for being here. i should also add that for almost 25 years he has been working with c-span on a number of presidential historical projects, most recently our third survey of presidential leadership. i'm looking forward to learning more about your scholarship on your uncle. would you raise your hand if you were born after 1960? for you, john f. kennedy is entirely a historical figure. great. that gives us a sense of perspective as we start. i want to start with you, doug brinkley, because for the past two weeks, all the folks in this room and those watching us on video have been bombarded with 100 day marker stories for our current president. was there a 100 day metric? douglas: there was. it is wonderful to b

susan swain did the lincoln douglas debates on c-span. that was about illinois politics even though it had national ramifications. it got televised, and people that listened to richard nixon on radio thought he won the debates. people that watched on tv said john f. kennedy won. once he came on, cbs and nbc recognized -- cnn is covering trump all the time. the networks start thinking, let's cover john f. kennedy. they started covering alan shepard, john glenn, must watch tv events during the kennedy years, and press conferences became a big deal. the combination of using the medium of television and photography helps set the tone for john f. kennedy. i would give him an a plus on relations with the press and how to use television to advance your policy concerns. susan: i have some issues that were very much a part of the administration that i would like you to talk generally about. one is vietnam. douglas: i have on my wall at home a note that jackie gave me after president kennedy was killed from his desk. all it says on it is vietnam, v

i have tried to get c-span for years, going back to brian lamb and susan swain when they were doing thehows to say, please, please, get a hook up through c-span with people in canada, britain, and so forth, to find out what they really think of their national health care system, but c-span, for some reason, i suppose it's because of the pressure of the insurance companies and the pharmaceutical industry, by unbelievable amounts of ads on the cable system, that is why c-span has never done it. but we need the truth out there, and i would hope c-span1 cooperate in getting it. thank you. host: we lost him, i was going to respond. jim from vienna, west virginia, democratic line. how are you? caller: i'm fine, sir. host: what would be your message to your senator? caller: well, i still believe that -- it is hard to believe these days, but the senate is the saucer where the coffee cools. i think they will settle this debate down, and hopefully work something out. that is what the senate is for. thank you. host: ok. let's go to pamela from fort washington, maryland. democratic line. caller: go