that's truman. mr. truman. >> truman. >> the buck stops here. >> not the bus, the buck. >> come on!ut it out. >> harry -- >> truman. >> harry truman. >> yes, that's what i just said i swear. >> who said the buck stops here? >> i don't know. >> huh? >> i don't know. >> the buck stops here. who said that? >> truman. >> the president. >> oh, my god. i feel stupid. >> well, this certainly comes as a shock to me. >> who did harry truman bomb do you remember that? >> no. >> japan. speak softly and carry a big -- >> that's really tempting but i don't want to be around here much longer. >> speak softly and carry a big -- >> frame. >> speak softly and carry a big -- >> stick. >> excellent. who said that? >> roosevelt. >> which one? >> teddy. >> very good. >> that's exactly who i mean. >> carry a big stick. oh [ bleep ]. >> put a quarter in the square jar. >> i don't remember. >> teddy roosevelt. >> what are you so mad about? >> there's nothing to fear but -- >> fear itself. >> who said that? >> i just did. >> the pope. >> fdr. >> very good. a house divided against itself cannot stand. >> uh

truman didn't want to believe it. the senate or the house didn't want to believe it. finally, the calls for some action grew so loud that truman had to appoint a special emissary to go over to the displaced person camps and of sql that these reports of such horrific living conditions could really be true. i've seen a lot of damage reports in washington covering is done to us about the most damning report i've ever read. what the dean of pennsylvania at the time wrote back to truman was quote as matters now stand we appear to be treating the jews just as the nazis treated them, except that we do not exterminate them. .. >> bill o'reilly, i think is his name. [laughter] old blood and guts was his nickname war hero, tough talking, kind of the caricature of the great american hero. also as it turns out, a brutal anti-semite. this is what i found in patton's journal when he described his reaction to that report that i just read to you that truman reffed from earl -- received from earl harrison, the dean of the penn law school. give me one second, i'm sorry. this is what pa

he sat down with truman and told truman about the atom bomb.e said this is something we've got to address, and you should know about it right now. truman had to start on a quick learning curve. statistics show that had the level of combat we experienced with japan, in okinawa, we had 60 or 70 ships sunk by the kamikaze, the casualties would've been close to a million allied forces' casualties. the japanese probably would have suffered twice that number of casualties as a consequence of our predominant airpower and naval power that we were going to bring to bear in that battle. it was going to be a terrific battle. weigh those facts as you think about it. >> you bring up the death of roosevelt. that is one of the key points of history where everybody remembers where they were if they were alive. do you recall that day? >> i know. it was still cold in great lakes . we had just finished recruit training in may. >> you recall? >> it is hazy. it is not nearly as clear as the day kennedy was killed. we knew about it. but i don't recall a lot. >> all

yet what president truman said on january 5, 1949 is even more true in 1975. we are better able to meet our people's needs. all americans do have a fair chance to pursuit happiness. not only are we still the foremost nation in the pursuit of peace but today's prospects of attaining it are infinitely brighter. there were 59 million americans employed at the start of 1949. now there are more than 85 million americans who have jobs. in comparable dollars the average income of the american family has doubled during the past 26 years. now i want to speak very bluntly. i've got bad news. and i don't expect much, if any, applause. the american people want action and it will take both the congress and the president to give them what they want. mrk applause ] progress and solutions can be achieved and they will be achieved. my message today is not intended to address all of the complex needs of america. i will send separate messages making specific recommendations for domestic legislation. such as the extension of general revenue sharing and the voting rights act. the

harry truman, clearly consequential.ou have the three undeniable, the close but no cigar presidents and three others. i choose to identify jack kennedy lyndon johnson and ronald reagan as exhibiting traces of greatness, real or perceived. but that is 11 presidents out of 44 the 43 different presidents because grover cleveland was president twice in nine consecutive terms. we've had 43 different presidents eli ben of whom in my judgment have been truly consequential. the point of the book and it's provocative, we don't want another great president because the founders created a political system, which was designed to disaggregate power. they fear the royal governors. they feed the team. they may feared the mob as well. they created a system of an energetic executive, but an accountable one highly constrained. the only thing that liberates presidents in the political system is the nation encumbering crisis. again, when i talk about nation encumbering crisis, not even the cuban missile crisis which lasted 12 days for 9/11,

truman stood. and i must say to you, that the state of the union is not good. millions of americans are out of work, recession and inflation are eroding the money of millions more, prices are too high and sales are too slow. this year's federal deficit will be about $30 billion. next year's probably $45 billion. the national debt will rise to over $500 billion. our plant capacity and productivity are not increasing fast enough. we depend on others for essential energy. some people question their government's ability to make hard decisions and stick with them. they expect washington politics as usual. yet, what president truman said on january 5, 1949 is even more true in 1975. we are better able to meet our people's needs. all americans do have a fair chance to pursuit, happiness. not only are we still the foremost nation in the pursuit of peace, but today's prospects of attaining it are infinitely brighter. there were 59 million americans employed at the start of 1949. now there are more than 85 million americans who have jobs. in comparable dollars the averag

we need a tax code that truman helps working americans trying to get a leg up in the new economy.

in the gop came out with their platform and the basis for their platform was they went after truman and the democrats. they were soft on communism.

in the last two years of truman's time, 6000 people left government. there were all kinds of questionnaires and security checks on people in government. and we lost experts in the state department because of this crusade. of course, 1952, there was a republican victory. eisenhower and the senate went republican. which meant mccarthy got chairman, the chairman of two important committees, the investigatory committee for government. and he took off. >> the average american can do very little insofar as digging communist agents out of our government is concerned. they must depend upon those of us who they send out here to man the watchtowers of the nation. >> that is where he started the bullying tactics, calling everybody under the sun to come in. that is where he got to destroy people's lives. people would resign from government rather than come before the committee. people feared joseph mccarthy because if you took him on in the senate, you could often end up without a job. he had power. he had all kinds of power. the farther he went, he took on george

truman also could not believe that the soviets were now a nuclear power. he very famously said "i couldn't understand how "those asiatics were able to match what we had done so quickly." after 90% of u.s. atomic physicists looked at the data brought back by this one flight, they concluded, without any real equivocation, yes, the soviet union had in fact detonated their first atomic bomb. so truman had no choice but to accept this and to announce to the american public in september that the arms race had begun. now congress did what it did best -- they rallied very quickly and started pointing fingers at everybody they could possible point fingers at. how could this possibly happen? how could we be so surprised that the soviet union had detonated a bomb long before we thought they were going to? how did they get it so quickly? the estimate the intelligence community had given them was 1953 as the most probable date for a soviet bomb. but the worst case scenario that the intelligence agencies had given the government was 1951. they were just too slow and too

but truman says we need to be strong abroad to be strong at home.ea, an impoverished little nation that we stood up in 1950, or west berlin, all these far-flung kind of frontiers of freedom matter to our prosperity at home and that was the essence of the truman doctrine in 1947 and all american policy from truman all the way through to george bush senior and even to some extend -- >> charlie: some are in a different world because you had two superpowers faced off against each other and that's not the realty of the world today. >> the reality of the world today is we face a situation in which there is pocks americana the default position we've had, and very beneficial for america, what other forms of global order can you construct? do you want the u.n. to take charge? well, i wish it would but the u.n. never does a good job. do you want to balance the power that resembles the eve of the first world war? we're is hundred days out of the july crisis of 1914. i don't think that's a good idea. who are we sharing balance with is this by the way, is the th

had been kept out of things. >> that's correct. >> i always thought harry truman you know a person who had zero training for any of the role that fell upon him did an amazing job. you think about he learned from the treaty of her sigh. he did not have a functioning treaty. he did all that stuff you know and roosevelt had such contempt for him. >> it would have been fascinating to be the proverbial fly on the wall on the day truman was inaugurated when the chief of staff said mr. president there something you need to know that's going on out in new mexico. >> and hitler yumeg points and none of us give us points -- give him points for being a great human being but i think the same thing about napoleon, why russia? why couldn't they just stick to europe and be happy with that and maybe that's not part of the personality like that. >> it apparently is not barbara. i think the one thing napoleon and hitler had in common was they were drinking their own kool-aid. >> and alexander the great if we really want to go back. >> the great captains of history typically were a victim of their own su

truman against dewey. i grew up in a traditionally republican family and i was very interested in politics. i was still in high school. i wanted to stay up to hear how it came out and i was too tired. the next morning, i went -- my father was in the bathroom and i said, dad, who won? he said "truman" like it was the end of the world. 25-30 years later, i went home i was sitting there with him after dinner. he launched into this whole tirade about how the country was going to hell. i had heard that all my life. [laughter] then he paused and he said, too bad old harry isn't still in the white house. [laughter] oh, i've got a story about our next character onstage. when the panama canal became a big event in washington, i was called by president carter to come down and advise him on what the policy ought to be. my book on panama had just been published. i was turned over to a very nice, young aide's assistant. he has subsequently become a good friend. we were setting at this tiny tiny little office, and it wa

and he said, truman, like it was the end of the world.nd 25 or 30 years later i went home, back to pittsburgh and was sitting with him after dinner and he launched into this whole tirade about how the country was going to hell and the world was going to hell. i've heard much of that all my life. and then he paused and he said too bad old harry isn't still in the white house. oh, i've got a little story, too, about our next character on stage here. when the panama issue became a big event in washington and was called by president carter to come down and advise them object what their policy should be -- my book on panama had just been published. i was just turned over to a very nice aid who has subsequently become a very good friend. we were sitting in this tiny little office and it was clear kwiek quite quickly that he didn't know anything about the panama canal. my heart went out to him because he had a real responsibility and i wanted to help any way i could. my wife and i were sitting on one side of the desk with barely enough loom for

a lot of what jfk and lbj did built on exactly what harry truman had forecast. >> here's my plan.lking about it for a couple of weeks. here's my speech. show me some game. republicans have to come to the game. they have both houses. >> it is a time for him to landmarker down. he's saying here's what i ran on. here are things that even you and some of your candidates for president are talking about. even mitt romney has given a pretense to talk about the problem with wages and poverty. here are some ideas. come back with some of your own. what he has run into has been that he puts the ideas on the table and republicans don't show him enough respect to come half way, to offer their own ideas. they're send up bills over to the senate or try to get bills to the white house that they know the president won't sign. that's not governing. they have a responsibility now, ed. they are the majority in the house and the senate and they need to show that they can govern. the president is going to show tonight that he can govern. they need to meet him half way. >> you have obstruction at a leve

caller: mine is truman and kennedy. truman because of the decision they had to make on the atomic bombs in world war ii __ he saved a lot of american lives. host: truman is one, kennedy is another. john f. kennedy? caller: yeah. he came out of a depression. under eisenhower, i was working in construction __ all commercial construction shut down. if you wanted to work, you had to go to north dakota. he turned that all around when he came in. he did a very good job of bringing the economy back. host: let's hear from harold from wisconsin. caller: one person stole my thunder by saying harry truman. being independent though, i have two __ that is eisenhower, but truman especially. i was at war in north korea, and he ended all that with atomic bomb. i really believe the eisenhower did a terrific job, especially interstate. host: why the highway system? caller: it's so convenient. we used to drive to florida __ now we drive to florida in two days. it made a big difference in my life. i was in the air force when truman was pre

to give the farewell address but was about truman's policies.hn boehner did was a cheap political trick but not a surprise to netanyahu. the ambassador of the united states to israel orchestrate this invitation and it's a major plus for mr. netanyahu on two weeks before his election to come home and be enhanced stature, on a global stage and he's invited for one purpose and that is which speaker boehner admitted in the caucus and leaked to the press he was there to make a serious indictment of the president's policy, to criticize the president. so he's bringing this foreign leader, meddling in an israeli election two weeks before, total irresponsibility. i don't think it compares with nancy pelosi or any member of congress at anytime visiting another country. bipartisan support for israel since 1948 when harry truman recognized the founding nation has been a hallmark of the united states policy. this is partisannizing it. this is making a republican case and i just think it is beyond irresponsible beyond a cheap it political trick. it's just taw

it's the most republican congress since the truman administration almost 60 years ago.ing nine seats from democrats strengthening their hold in the house of representatives with an additional 13 seats. moments from now, both chambers will come to order. after some technicalities and opening statements the senate will swear in its new and reelected members. the house will vote on a speaker. john boehner will almost certainly be reelected by the house republican caucus. but he does have opposition some tea party favorites, including those from texas and florida. they don't have a real shot at winning the speakership but they hope that boehner will be out of a job, that we won't get the majority at least on the first ballot. no such drama in the upper chamber. mitch mcconnell will become the senate majority leader calling the shots in the first republican-controlled senate since back in 2007. joining us for our special live coverage this hour our cnn chief washington correspondent, the anchor of "the lead," jake tapper. there is some drama about boehner, whether or not he

and, of course, truman had been kept out of things to a great degree, didn't even know about the bomb. >> that's correct. >> so i've always thought that harry truman, you know a person who had absolutely no training for any of the role that fell upon him did an amazing job with. i mean, think about some of the -- and he learned from the treaty of versailles. they did not have a punishing treaty. he did lend-lease, all that stuff. and roosevelt had such contempt for him, he didn't take him into confidence about anything. >> it would have been fascinating to have been the proverbial fly on the wall on the day truman was inaugurated when i assume marshall, the chief of staff, said, mr. president, there's something you need to know about that's going on in new mexico. >> of course, hitler none of us give him points for being a great human being -- [laughter] but a question i have always wondered and i think the same thing about napoleon, why russia? why couldn't they just stick to europe, you know? and be happy with that? and maybe that's not part of a personality like that. >> apparently

in 1947 harry truman came to give his steub and he had just -- his state of the union and he had just lost the house sand senate since the beginning of the 1930s and he was facing an opposition republican congress and that republican congress began passing all sorts of things like a taft-hartley bill that was tough on organized labor. all sorts of things that ultimately allowed truman the next year to go to the democratic convention and say, i'm running against this good-for-nothing congress that went into overdrive the second you gave it to the keys to the car in both houses. so i think the leaders of the house and the senate the republicans are in a situation where they know mitch mcconnell and speaker boehner, if that happens this time that could help a democratic nominee for president, because whoever he or she might be might say you need a democratic president to make sure that a republican congress does not go out of control in 2017. >> the speech tonight comes at a really important time for the the nation with fears of terrorism. but also michael, at a time that you are speakin

reagan's enthusiasm for roosevelt transferred to harry truman. he believed in harry truman but as the korean war dragged on reagan grew concerned. the war began in june in 1950 with the north's invasion of the south but two years later there was no end in sight. the korean war had become a mindless meatgrinder alight like the war in vietnam a generation later. in the spring of that year of 1952 reagan wrote to his war hero dwight eisenhower urging eisenhower to seek the presidency or the general welcome that offered support. reagan campaigned on ike's been up to 1952. he continued in 1956 and he then worked for the eisenhower designated successor richard nixon in 1960 but always as a concerned democrat. it was only in 1962 decade after his original connection with eisenhower the reagan reregistered as a republican and that was as he put it because his party had left him, not the other way around. interestingly enough as a result of that relationship eisenhower became a reagan mentor not well-known. those men developed a solid relationship and at

. >> you have a drawing of harry truman in a nuclear mushroom cloud. >> i don't remember. my attitudes towards truman was -- for one thing he sent a letter that took away my -- what was it? my passport. it was the eve before growing off to see great paintings in europe, when i received this visit by two men. they were f.b.i. agents. and they said, don't bother getting packed. you're on a list. and so i wrote a note, asking to face the man who was challenging me, which you never get. it was just something you have to do pro forma. anyway, i got the passport back because rockwell fought their cases through to the supreme court. they won their point of view. and with that, about six weeks later, i was a i able to get my passport back. >> so how long did you not have a passport? >> oh, about three months. >> how did your relationship with the editors work? did they ever get a drawing from you and ask for changes or did you pretty much have free rein? >> i figured that, at one point, that perhaps after 40, 45 years, i had actually been questioned maybe three times, four times w

truman. speaking before a group of scientists in 1948. this gives you an indication about how far we have gone. this is before mccarthy. i'm still talking 1948 and the problem that scientists ran into. okay, so finally, and then i'll wrap up and open up for questions. how much does the spying matter? how much did it make a difference? would they still have gotten the bomb? great quote the only secret about the atomic bomb was whether or not it would work and that question had been answered by hiroshima and nagasaki. the man doing the quote is glenn seaborg. discoverer of plutonium, the manhattan project scientist, he is somebody who knows. there is a longer quote i'm not going to read all of, but this is from a man who was the chief scientist for what is called the american mission to discover what the german atomic bomb program was doing -- he understood scientific intelligence. so this is after the bomb, right after the soviet bomb came out. and said, the recent revelations of early leaks of atomic revelation to russia reflect a state o

in the gop came out with their platform and the basis for their platform was they went after truman and the democrats. they were soft on communism. they were socialists. they were bringing about the downfall of america. people reading this, they were very upset about what was going on. so, that was the background for mccarthy coming to wheeling. it was at the time of the lincoln day dinner. all across the country republicans were sending out speakers to speak at the great gatherings at the lincoln day dinner. mccarthy was assigned to wheeling. wheeling at that time was not a big city. we had 59,000 people. the dinner itself was held at the mcclure hotel colonnade room. it was to start at 6:30 p.m. it was in the paper for days before how they were organizing this. this was a big deal for wheeling. he was introduced by william callahan, who was a regional republican bigwig. they described the talk that he gave as intimate and humorous and kind of folksy. he had an irish wit about him. he could be very ingratiating when he wanted to be. he had a vague grin -- had a big grin. and he talked

in 1947 harry truman's state of the union message was covered by television. in 1965 lyndon johnson said let's move the tv show back into the evening so that more people can get to see the state of the union message. and so now it's an evening performance and it's a live tv, the major networks are all covering it. and so it gets a considerable audience that way. and since the late '90s, it's been streaming on the internet around the world. in recent years the two parties have sort of become cheerleading squads for their presidents. but there are moments when clearly, something that the president says inspires something more than just a partisan reaction. there's a bipartisan reaction, and you can tell what the mood of the congress is to some degree, what the responses are. >> and all the world knows that no successful system builds a wall to keep its people in and freedom out. [applause] >> and, of course, immediately after the speech, members of congress will rush out into statutory hall where there are dozens of cameras set up for television stations around

truman.g world war ii i was a colonel, chief of staff of the 84th infantry division and chief of staff to alexander r.boling commander general of the 84th division. the intelligence which we received was of the very best. the individuals clear down to the squad level were indoctrinated, instructed exactly what their jobs were to be. there is no question that that waiver had very much confidence that we would be able to carry out this mission. i know also that the regiments, the battalions, companies and platoons and squads had that same feeling accomplished. >> the 84th division would be supported by the british on the left and the american's 2nd armored and 102nd infantry on the right. facing them were several brigadier divisions and a number of crack panzer units. the precisely five minutes to 7:00 on november 18th an artillery barrage signaled the attack had commenced. >> it was about three miles away from where we were. and it so happened that our regiment was leading the attack and happe

in the gop came out with their platform and the basis for their platform was they went after truman and the democrats. they were soft on communism. they were socialists. they were bringing about the downfall of america. people reading this, they were very upset about what was going on. so, that was the background for mccarthy coming to wheeling. it was at the time of the lincoln day dinner. all across the country republicans were sending out speakers to speak at the great gatherings at the lincoln day dinner. mccarthy was assigned to wheeling. wheeling at that time was not a big city. we had 59,000 people. the dinner itself was held at the mcclure hotel colonnade room. it was to start at 6:30 p.m. it was in the paper for days before how they were organizing this. this was a big deal for wheeling. he was introduced by william callahan who was a regional republican bigwig. they described the talk that he gave as intimate and humorous and kind of folksy. he had an irish wit about him. he could be very ingratiating when he wanted to be. he had a vague grin -- had a big grin. and he talked a

truman. speaking before a group of scientists in 1948. this gives you an indication about how far we have gone. this is before mccarthy. i'm still talking 1948 and the problem that scientists ran into. okay, so finally, and then i'll wrap up and open up for questions. how much does the spying matter? how much did it make a difference? would they still have gotten the bomb? great quote the only secret about the atomic bomb was whether or not it would work and that question had been answered by hiroshima and nagasaki. the man doing the quote is glenn seaborg. discoverer of plutonium, the manhattan project scientist, he is somebody who knows. there is a longer quote i'm not going to read all of, but this is from a man who was the chief scientist for what is called the american mission to discover what the german atomic bomb program was doing -- he understood scientific intelligence. so this is after the bomb, right after the soviet bomb came out. and said, the recent revelations of early leaks of atomic revelation to russia reflect a state o

the national security apparatus held it away from president harry truman. >> that's right and harry truman was a great critic of secrecy in the american government. and the concern was whether there was a tendency to stove pipe intelligence with the use of secrecy. so that the actual government decision makers that need to know the secrets never know about them. that's a perfect example. >> that has all sorts of consequences. it makes the people with these secrets less accountable. >> exactly right. we have the german sociologist that wrote at the beginning of the last century, that it's predict liable that it will be used to cover up maecks and you have to -- mistakes, and you have to watch out that incompetent people rise to the top of those agencies. >> more importantly, by having so much secrecy, it's not allowing democracy to function. voters are not informed about things they need to be informed about to make important decisions. that's the core of the issue. if you define how you define democracy, there's many forums used. one constant si directly or indirectly there's a decision ab

truman also could not believe that the soviets were now a nuclear power. very famously said, "i couldn't understand how those asiatics were able to match what we had done so quickly." after 90% of u.s. atomic physicists looked at the data brought back by this one flight, they concluded, without any real equivocation, yes, the soviet union had in fact detonated their first atomic bomb. so truman had no choice but to accept this and to announce to the american public in september that the arms race had begun. now congress did what it did best -- they rallied very gáo quickly and started pointing fingers at everybody they could possible point fingers at. how could this possibly happen? how could we be so surprised that the soviet union had detonated a bomb long before we thought they were going to? how did they get it so quickly? the estimate the intelligence community had given them was 1953 as the most probable date for a soviet bomb. but the worst case scenario that the intelligence agencies had given the government was 1951. they were just too slow and to

>> president truman was the first use television, 1947. he read the speech. this was before teleprompters were in and did. he read the -- teleprompters were invented. he read the speech from paper in front of him. there are clips of that. most of the time he was looking down so you saw the top of his head. he wore thick glasses so they reflected badly. he was not ready for prime time. no one was. he delivered a fine speech but basically reading it and not being aware of the camera and probably no one prompted him on how to be aware of the camera. that really takes us up to the presidential debates, the fact that when they first came on television they had a lot to learn about how to appear on television. >> you mention that ready for prime time. we think about the state of the union as being the primetime address, but in truman's date was the middle of the day when congress was meeting. >> until 1965 when lyndon johnson put it in the evening these addresses were always at high noon and after they were televised, they were still a noontime event. television co

you marina for providing this information for one it heights my degree of confidence knowing that truman is a company that acquired metro staff and they were an excellent vendor in the olden form this is an o from any prospective i think we'll find a good product from them and it achieves the kind of long term results we're looking for so this to me pass been more than illuminating and for any project of this scope and scale that is kind of what we want to put on the record we did a due diligence not just about the money and the approval and the direction from the board of supervisors to we're doing it and did indeed spend time and get expertise in making the selection so thank you for doing this. >> thank you very much commissioner. >> and i should do a shout out to relinquishing in the finance department worked overtime quite literally often the community college rates and accommodate an unusual employer question. >> just for the record you can't can you remind me is there a fee. >> yes. tests not enough (laughter). >> we charge them both the school district and the xhuj per member per

harry truman's do nothing congress passed four times as many bills as this congress. when leadership leads they can stay on autopilot for some time. that's what this country has done for ten years. we haven't had grown ups in washington, d.c., for quite some time. at some point, deal with immigration and tax reform and an energy plan. they can't do that. they are playing their political base to get re-elected. >> washington may not be able to agree, but the president has been aggressive in using his executive authority to make things happen. i mean, it's not really gridlock, is it? >> it's scary, if you ask me. the notion he can take out his veto pen agree, disagree make his own rules, why have congress in the first place? is he going to veto something? is gyrations flow through the economy. we need it to be peace and quiet. jonas brought up the debt. if you let people alone, go back to work they make money and eventually, you will get more taxes, more tax revenue. the problem is they don't know how to allocate it properly. until they get out, get rethought, i don't k

the first televised state of the union was 1947, harry truman. >> each group of our population has its responsibility. >> reporter: president obama has been working on his speech for weeks, even while on vacation. this is a picture of him with his speechwriter, 34-year-old cody keenan, who obama calls hemingway because he often sports a beard. at 3:55 today, a tweet from the comedy site, the onion. headline, biden arrives early to set up state of the union fog machine. minutes later at 4:00, senator marco rubio meets the press. you may remember rubio took some ribbing in 2013 when he delivered the republican response to the state of the union and he stopped for a drink of water. >> reporter: today, he was asked what advice he would give to senator joni ernst, seen here preparing for the republican response. >> senator, do you have any tips for joni ernst tonight? >> drink lots of water. >> reporter: at 4:35 on the north lawn of the white house, abc's john karl spoke to valerie jarrett. >> he does have a bounce in his step. it is reflected in the fact that the economy is strong, the sta

since harry truman was president.atch out, if your meter runs out, in 2008, the fine quadrupled. to $1. for out-of-towners it can be an eye opener. >> a penny? that is a great bargain. >> reporter: for residents it is part of the charm of small-town life. there's not much you can get with a penny now. >> no. but you keep them in your car so you can use it right here. >> reporter: and then there is the sycamore version of validated parking. >> some of the merchants keep little fish bowls of pennies on the counter to reimburse. >> reporter: sim more takes in more than $75,000 a year in parking fees and fines but that is all they want, just enough to cover costs. sycamore officials don't know of any other place with penny meters. giovanni is one half of the city parking enforcement department and all of the maintenance department. his biggest challenge -- keeping the more than 300 mechanical meters ticking. they date from the 1950s and parts aren't available so he takes them from spares. >> if there are to spares left, w