i would nominate truman. host: let's start with doug brinkley. guest: truman is a great win. i would go with franklin roosevelt. when the great depression came america, he was able to come in with the civilian conservation corps to plant 3 billion trees and start repairing the land of america that had been abused by the big agriculture. i think we were lucky to have fdr when we did. , i am a big admirer of mr. monroe. when he was president, we called it the era of good feeling. after the war of 1812 we needed to heal as a country. monroe came in and was exceedingly popular for two terms. he studied the united states at a crucial time. underappreciated one. he was the perfect president for his moment after the war of 1812. host: richard norton smith? guest: i think it's tough to beat the first president, the president who defined the office and the republican experiment atop which it stood. office.on took by the standards of his time, he was an elderly man. by modern standards he would've been almost 80 years old. he complained that his hearing was going. he was very sensitive

caller: hey, i just wanted to say something about president truman. at a campaign rally, someone in the audience yelled "give them hell, harry." "i justurned and said tell the truth and they think it's hell." host: we go to mario. i'm sorry i missed the three presidential historians. did any of them actually study what led up to harry truman, who i consider one of the greatest presidents of all time, and his decision to drop the atomic bomb? have they elaborated on how we reach that decision? host: i'm not sure. but they allere certainly written about the presidency and the times and different presidents you can look into. what is your information on that? caller: from what i read was, when he saw the casualties in okinawa, he didn't want to -- he couldn't bear any more casualties. generalad served with patton and world war ii, he finished up the european war in marseille. and his whole second division was ready to go under the of where eisenhower was going to send them to japan. bitterly --e all they had just finished writing the germans and they wer

tesco truman is a great one. i would go with franklin roosevelt. when our great depression came withe was able to come in the civilian conservation corps and pay unemployed men a dollar startand plant trees and prefixing and repairing the land of america that had been so abused by big agriculture. we were very lucky to have fdr when we did. but to get another president into the mix, james monro. i am a big admirer of james monro. and i think recall call his presidency the year of good feeling. we needed to heal as a country. termse in and ran for two and was exceedingly popular. he studied the hand of the united states at a crucial time. and i think he is underappreciated. -- he the first effect was the perfect president for that moment after the war of 1812. it is tough to beat the first president. the president to defined the office and the republican experiment. washington took office and you have to remember, by the standards that were taught, he was an elderly man. he would have been almost 80 years old. that his hearing was going. was sensiti

to a reviewer, harry truman's daughter was a singer and got a bad review and here is what harry trumante to the reviewer, some day i hope to meets you. when that happens you'll need a new nose and beef steak for black eyes and perhaps as a supporter-- below. >> the supporter below i guess harry could deliver a swift kick. official washington thought truman went beyond the pale, but america loved him for the statement. david: bruce, is president trump mixing personal with professional. he has two tweet sites. he has one real donald trump, the private one, and potus trump site and sending messages over both of them. is that mixing too many things? >> i think so. i mean, it just comes across as looking like he's promoting-- using he and the family are using the white house for financial gain. for goodness sake, ivanka has been on television every day since through the campaign. i think that she can market her brand and defend herself. david: she does have a lot of brands, but we should mention, elinore roosevelt, the wife of fdr use today sell, while she was first lady, airlines, she woul

even truman -- was about with all of that. truman, his role in getting the project started in 1950 when the jefferson papers appeared, but also the strengthening of the national archives and the decision to move those documents found. truman hunt said, but we are talking about things that it's obvious there is interest in because several of our question i think we just answered some of them anyway. but there are a couple i would like to ask. how much do you think the survival of preservation of the founding documents contributes to a sense of american patriotism? i think we've answered that. it may be the reason for these to to be where they are and protect them as they are. i think also what is the power indirectly answered it, but i'll give you a chance to add if you want to. what is the power of seeing the bill of rights or other artifacts in person. if that experience different from cnet? >> i'm writing a book about forgeries now. >> three words in your titles. i like that. good. >> i was thinking about that a lot. i had a

truman stated -- >> there is no justifiable reason for discrimination because of ancestry or religion or race or color. >> 9981 was another step beyond frank when roosevelt ordered 19 88022 ban discriminatory practices by government agencies. truman's executive order 9981 further cemented equal treatment in the military and allowed troops of various groups to make equal contributions to the united states. celebrates national black history month in federer a. this year, our friends at "the military times" said this month would be used to celebrate black military history. some of thee contributions of african-americans throughout u.s. military history. here is one of those stories. >> the first rhode island regiment was a section of the continental army in the revolutionary war, but it was not a typical band of soldiers. known as the black regiment by the first rhode island regiment recruited african-americans serving in separate companies. general james barnett and commanded the force and suggested that george washington used the troops to growth then ranks -- the ranks. they fought du

down here harry truman of course just a very blunt plain spoken straightforward person. it's one of things i'm worried about with me being in congress because it seems like this so much intrigue here there's so much maneuvering and i'm kind of just like what are you on some of the out everything but we hope it will work out. this is al smith who is the governor of new york state is the first catholic to ever run for president of the united states of america. he lost pretty badly though in that race and then i got martin luther king over here i love showing this one too. to kids because you know every thinks of martin luther king. making is i have a dream speech on the steps with you know hundreds of thousand million people adoring him but in reality it wasn't always that way he was down in church basements talking to people quietly worried about you know people beating them up and slowly organizing piece by piece by piece before you could come in it. in a speech like that that we all watched now he was he was on t.v. commercials but it wasn't always like that and then of

neither did truman. >> truman, uh-huh. >> he understands himself psychologically much more than any modern politician i've ever seen. he understands what love means. he understands what a realistic -- and he's a contrarian. >> yes, he is. >> who thinks that the fact that he lost the election of 1800 to jefferson is the single most important contribution he ever made to american history because he was right to keep us out of a war with france. and he lost the election for that reason. >> because of it. >> and that his definition of leadership is a definition that's unenforceable in our modern political culture. >> rather do what's right and lose than suffer the consequence. >> the people, the public. what's the people? the people is the, you know, the swoonish thing that changes its mind and can be unpredictable. the public is the long term interest of the people. >> right. >> which at any given time most of the people don't understand. your job as a leader is to understand that. washington passed the jay treaty. very unpopular. the right thing to do. lines us up with britain economically f

can you remember harry truman? trish: he was worse than trump here.eally lashed out with the kind of pizazz that i think only been reserved in modern times or recent days for donald trump. >> people love of the candor, honesty, earth thinkness, the raw emotion that they think exist in themselves. whether they see it in donald trump or harry truman, yeah, there is a real person. someone who has didn't carefully packaged and filtered, white-washed over and painted over so he looks like he is something that he is isn't. that is what people like about donald trump. trish: someone was saying to me, this is just wrong. he shouldn't using the twitter account, i think he had potus retweet it. shouldn't use white house twitter account. wait a second. he is trying to protect his daughter. you know, i get it. you hold the office, have to act a certain way, but when you feel like you're trying to protect a family member -- >> come after me. blow it off. come after my daughter, knuckle sandwich time. it will put subway out of business, talking sand witches coming

you had youngstown sheet and tubing company versus truman and truman's executive order was deemed invalid1952, presidents don't willy-nilly ginn out executive orders without proper vetting. the trump administration blind siding people out of gate, pushing this forward, it created protests all across america and now it's just been deemed invalid. now it's going to be challenged. trump already has only been president days and has us in a constitutional crisis because he didn't learn the lesson truman learned in '52. he didn't study his history properly. >> don, there's no constitutional crisis here. there's a good constitutional debate. we're seeing the constitution in action if anything. you see the judicial branch, the first amendment, the right to free speech, the right to assemble. this is what the constitution does. the constitution is being tested. you also have the two courts -- >> also supposed to be nine supreme court justices and we have eight. >> we're supposed to have cabinet members and secretary of state and designate nations of concern. >> just want to say -- we're waiting on

we mention last night different mccullough's book on truman. truman knew when to fire mcarthur during the careeran war when macour their was doing overreach. didn't know the limits of american intervention. john f. kennedy knew how to tell the generals, no. when curtis lamay -- not going to go and bomb berlin when the wall was going up weapon don't want a third world war in europe. so my hope is that the trump administration has cautionary figures because we all want to get isis but donald trump, as you see from iter is empet tours and lives in the eternal now. want to do this and the world is complicated, and to just have somebody doing hair-trigger things without seeing the consequences is to me the frightening thing about the transition we're going through right now. >> let me just jump in here. [applause] >> this clock is moving at an incredibly rapid rate. jack, i think people are impressed by the generals that are surrounding the new president. it appears from what i read in the media. what is your sense of them? and how are they going to

even truman truman's ascension n has been easier than johnson's situation was extreme. and then it goes on in that case but i think the whole use of shakespeare, it would take a shakespeare, not a james reston, and then the kind of falling through with the whole king and the brothers king metaphor, and you do in a sense make it like a shakespearean drama, which i think -- not like well then he did this and that and so forth and so on you. step back from the anywhere -- from the narrative and the story or tell as way to understand the story. >> guest: yes, well, that's -- you picked out -- you said it -- i said for myself -- those of you who read the book know that lyndon johnson and bobby kennedy hated each other. when jack kennedy offered him the vice-presidency the next day bobby kennedy came down the stairs in the hotel in los angeles three times, to try to get lyndon johnson to drop off the ticket. it was the worst johnson used to say that was the worth day of my life and i'll hate him forever, and bobby kennedy hated lyndon johnson, and i i'm researching this and s

in every federal, state and municipal election since president harry truman.or 40 years president truman and the contract with america that the republicans won the house and the senate. i voted democratic. thelast five years democrats ran a dictatorship. they wouldn't let the republicans vote. for amendments or anything like that. it was strictly the way the democrats wanted. i see what's happening on c-span when the congress was in session. the house of representatives on every single bill votes one way. all democrats vote either willst or for a specific and the republicans do the same thing. -- bill is voted along party lines. and that's not america. i sincerely believe it's time for a third party in our great country. represent wewill the people. not the special interests, themselves and the party. i think we should call the third rival party we the people. host: thank you for the call. you are a regular listener and viewer. how old are you now? i was 93 years young. the end of last month. there and i'm active. i write to the newspapers. i call my elected r

and harry truman was under tremendous pressure and then the only question is which law would use. and then to settle on the smith act. truman could not find a less sympathetic view for the erroneous belief to be unfairly targeted in the of the communist party. and what the defendant's was a leader of the communist party usa. and would go into hiding with the soviet union twice and then of the rasher in government -- russian government retaken back to america so not extremely sympathetic group and perhaps panic that is why with others remember so well. and then to have no actual evidence to overthrow the american government. said the entire case rested on the violent overthrow the government. and even in that case was pretty flimsy. with the bizarre and legal strategy with propaganda and violated in the smith act. did that was not a close call. even if they had not then applying at the time they would get around to a. that is the most convenient time for them to go into action considering everything going on. so these 11 men constituted a clear and present danger to america. there

truman would not have found a less sympathetic group of defendants at the time. you hear about people erroneously believed to have communists sympathy and these 11 were proud leaders of the communist party and fit the stereotype that the average american had of an economist to a t. one of the leaders of the party was charged multiple times, went into hiding. he had lived in the soviet unit twice and traveled the world. he and his wife had to leave their son in the country because the russian government said he only speaks russian and he will seem too suspicious if you take him back to america. not an ex extremely seympatheti group of people. there was no evidence of this group of people plotting to overthrow the government by violent force. but their case rested on the communist party advocated overthrowing the government and by their membership they were conspi c conspiring to overthrow the government. and the focus on agitation in the courtroom the men were convicted of the change. they decided that even if these 11 had not been plotting at the time to, you kno

, after he criticized truman's daughter's singing. trade, president trump said he was defending his daughter when he criticized nordstrom for dropping her clothing line. here's jericka duncan. >> reporter: in the midst of a busy day, the president of the united states found time to tweet this: last week, nordstrom announced it would no longer buy ivanka trump merchandise, based on the brand's performance. days before that announcement, nordstrom executives sent out this company-wide email, offering support to anyone affected by president trump's executive order on immigration. white house press secretary sean spicer. >> there's clearly an attempt for him to stand up for her because she is being maligned because they have a problem with his policies appropriate president trump's ongoing involve independent trump family business is a problem, says richard painter, chief ethics lawyer for president george w. bush. >> we cannot have him out there shilling for the family businesses on twitter or anywhere else. >> these papers . >> reporter

colombia with honours, he then received his law degree from harvard, also with honours, where he was a trumanard, he received his doctorate at oxford, where he attended as a martial —— marshal scholar, one of the top anywhere in the world. after law school he worked on the supreme court for justices byron white and anthony kennedy. it is an extraordinary resume. it is as good as it gets. judge gorsuch was born and raised in colorado and was taught the value of independence, hard work and public service. while in law school he demonstrated a commitment to helping the less fortunate. he worked in both harvard prison legal assistance projects, and harvard defenders programme, brilliance being ensured i studied every aspect of his life. he could have had anyjob at any law firm for any amount of money. but what he wanted to do with his career was to be a judge, to right decisions and to make an impact by upholding our laws and our constitution. the qualifications of judge gorsuch are beyond dispute. he is the man of our country and a man who our country really needs and needs badly to ensure the r

the truman administration did not see this as an national security issue. they sought as an oil issue and segmentation between the british, who owned most of the oil then, and iranian clients. the eisenhower administration sought as part of the larger war on communism and sought as a useful check against forces that could be backed by the ussr. more abouttle bit the reaction from the wall street journal. it says tehran quickly responded with its own plan to impose reciprocal measures, including legal restrictions on u.s. nationals and companies and it amplifies the risk for the trump administration of the crisis in the persian gulf, current and former u.s. officials and goes on to say u.s. officials to climbed to comment on whether secretary of state rex tillerson or other trump administration officials returned to ease ira'' togovernment in an effort refuse -- defuse the tension. michael flynn says that iran would put on notice. is there concern about the rhetoric coming out of the trump administration on this in terms of escalating the tensions? guest: i

well, the harry truman regime did that, and that opened the door then. the shah started asking more and more for american assistance, and then, of course, we got involved in the coup in 1953 because the british asked us, and that then gave us a certain amount of responsibility. >> effectively used because his troops were-- did not have the educational skills. that then meant sending literally thousands and thousands of american technicians to iran, as well as thousands of american military forces to iran. so, all of this was at the expense of the iranian people. here the shah was buying this vastly expensive military equipment and the shah was paying for all of these technicians and paying for american military forces to be over there. the people greatly resented that, plus many of the technicians were not interested in learning about islam, learning about iranian culture. and they wanted little american cities set up outside the air bases. they didn't want to interact with the iranian culture and they never hesitated to insult the local culture, the wom

he was a truman scholar. after harvard, he received his doctorate at oxford, where he attended as a marshall scholar. one of the top academic honors anywhere in the world. after law school, he clerked at the supreme court for both justices byron white and anthony kennedy. it is an extraordinary resume. as good as it gets. judge gorsuch was born and raised in colorado and was taught the value of independence, hard work and public service. while in law school, he demonstrated a commitment to helping the less fortunate. he worked in harvard prison legal assistance projects and harvard defenders program. assured, ibeing studied every aspect of his life. he could have had any job at any law firm for any amount of money, but what he wanted to do with his career was to be a judge, to write decisions and to make an impact by upholding our laws and our constitution. the qualifications of judge gorsuch are beyond dispute. he's a man of our country and a man who our country really needs and needs badly to ensure the rul

the famous photo of harry truman with the dewey defeats truman newspaper headline, the words replacedand" defeats "moonlight." >> awkward. this one takes us back to the hanging chads in florida during the 2000 presidential election recount. the simple words, and the oscar goes to. >> and finally, one word, vindicated. i agree. along with the smiling face of miss universe host steve harvey. plenty of people saying he's now off the hook for announcing the wrong winner of that pageant more than a year ago. i would say so. it was a big moment. >> well, you have to feel -- it seems like warren beatty was stalling. he seems to hand the card over to faye dunaway almost as if maybe he is asking what do we do, we have the wrong card. she looks down and sees "la la land" and thinks he's just trying to be funny. >> going into it "la la land" was the one everybody thought would win. maybe he was just crossing his fingers and hoping that was the case. >> that's the right answer. >> yeah. >> the other thing everyone is talking about is what everyone was wearing, of course. >> best actress winner em

presidents, abraham lincoln, george washington, franklin roosevelt, theodore roosevelt and harry truman. see the full list on our website at cspan.org. also coming up sunday historians richard norton smith, edna medford and douglas brinkley will talk about c-span's o25017 presidential historian survey. this is the third survey that c-span has done on the subject, starting in 2000, we did it again in 2009 and then this year. you can watch that discussion live on "washington journal" and that's sunday morning starting at 8:00 eastern. watch c-span as president donald trump delivers his first address to a joint session of congress. >> this congress is going to be the busiest congress we've had in decades. >> reporter: live tuesday february 28th at 9:00 p.m. eastern on c-span and cspan.org and listen live on the free c-span radio app. >>> this weekend on american history tv on c-span3, saturday evening at 6:00 eastern two days after president lincoln's assassination and a week after robert e. lee's surrender in april of 1865, generals william sher man and joseph johnston met to discuss the

harry truman. a very blunt, plain spoken, straightforward person. that's one of the things i worry about with me being in congress. it seems like there is so much intrigue and maneuvering and i'm like bla, let it out. we hope it will work out. al smith, governor of new york state, first catholic ever to run for president of the united states. he lost badly in that race, though. then i have got martin luther king over here. i love to show this one to kids because everybody thinks of martin luther king making his i have a dream speech on the steps with hundreds of thousands of people adoring him. it wasn't always that way. he was in church basements talking to people quietly worried about people beating them up, slowly organizing piece by piece before you could culminate in the speech that we all watch now and see on tv commercials. but it wasn't always like that. of course, bobby kennedy, who was so much hope for idealism at the time he was running for president. mario cuomo, the governor of new york state, a great hero when i was a young man. these

colleague from delaware, senator coons, is a truman scholar. former secretary of state madeleine albright serves as president of the truman foundation. senator mccaskill of missouri is a board member. and all are highly respected democrats. it should be telling that the organization now headed by secretary albright and senator mccaskill helped mr. gorsuch fund his graduate studies. jeffrey rosen of the nonpartisan national constitution center had this to say about the judge. "he sometimes reaches results that favor liberals when he thinks the history or the text of the constitution or the law require it, especially in areas like criminal law or the rights of religious minorities. norm mison special counsel for ethics and government reform in the white house for president barack obama attended law school with mr. gorsuch. he called him simply a great guy. there is much more that can and will be said about the nominee in the days to come. much of it will contribute to a vigorous confirmation process. sadly, i suspect that much of it will not. man

rounding out the historians top ten choices, here he truman, thomas jefferson, john, john f.kennedy and ronald reagan. lyndon johnson jumps up one spot to return to the top ten. james buchanan is ranked dead last in all three surveys. bad news for andrew jackson as well. our seventh president found his rating drop in this year from number 13 to number 18. the survey had good news for out going president, barack obama. on his first time on the list historians placed him at number 12 overall. george w. bush moved three spots up to 33 overall with big gains in public persuasion and relations with congress. how did they rate your favorite. you can find this in more on our website at c-span.org. >> you're watching book tv on c-span2.ng bookt top nonfiction books and authors. television for serious rears

harry truman, thomas jefferson, john f. kennedy and ronald reagan. lyndon johnson, jumps up one spot this year to return to the top ten. but pity pennsylvania's james buchanan. he is ranked dead last in all three c-span surveys. and there's bad news for andrew jackson as well. our seventh president found his overall rating dropping this year from number 13 to number 18. but the survey had good news for barack obama. on his first time on the list historians placed him at number 12 overall. and george w. bush moved three spots up on the scale to 33 overall, which big gains in public persuasion and relations with congress. >>> how did our historians rate your favorite president? who are the leader and the losers in each of the ten categories in find all of

this is that truman capote's famous black and white ball. harry: someone shouted at frank sinatra. --he did not like it. frankie batman. charlie: how many times did you photographs and not tro? sinatra?u photograph harry: a few times. on the stage with me. san jose, someplace. tell me how you made the film. over the course of about three years, and we basically look at the photography and the filing cabinets, and his wife is basically the curator and caretaker of everything, and she really helped to guide us along. thousands of images that we had to comb trhrough. a great photograph can ever happen again, and those moments, those moments you believe cannot happen again, like this, that will never take place again, it is a limp and gone forever. and gonea glimpse forever, a quote he often has, and everyone from joe namath do donald trump to coral bernstein to dan rather. trump to coral bernstein.- karl it took about three years to work on this, and what was remarkable was the and willing to talk about someone other than himself, and he has had a great goingonship with harry back 20

rounding out the top ten choices, harry truman, thomas jefferson, jfk and ronald reagan. lyndon johnson jumps up one spot this year to return to the top ten. james buchanan is ranksed dead last in all three c-span surveys. there's bad news for andrew jackson as well. he found his overall rating dropping this year, from number 13 to number 18. the survey had good news for outgoing president, barack obama. he was placed at number 12 overall. george w. bush moved three spots up to 33 overall. with big gains in public persuasion and relations with congress. how did our historians rate your favorite president you can find all this and more on our website at c-span.org. >>> roger shimamura and his family were detained in idaho. later in life, he became an artist whose work focuses on issues such as ethnicity, race, and the japanese american experience throughout the 20th century. an excerpt of modern history. the japanese american legacy project, this is an hour. >> thanks again for joining us, and partiti

president truman said, progress occurs when courageous skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change for the better. no problem faces us that hard work, honesty and courage cannot solve if we work together. ladies and gentlemen, i just want to leave you with one personal thought. in my battle with cancer last year, it taught me lessons. i learn that our time is short. so we better make the post of it. i believe that every single day, each and every one of us is given the opportunity to do something great. over the past two years, together, we have done many great things. and now we have the encredible opportunity to accomplish even more. thank you, god bless you. and may god bless the great state of maryland. [ cheers and applause ] >>> friday a discussion on the future of free speech on the trump administration. we'll be live on c-span 3. >>> friday former cia director david pa treous helping the u.s. military. our live koucovering starts on c-span 3. >> aim a white male who is prejudice. it was something i learned. i don't like to be forced to like people. i like to be led to like

president truman said, progress occurs when courageous skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change for the better. no problem faces us that hard work, honesty and courage cannot solve if we work together. ladies and gentlemen, i just want to leave you with one personal thought. in my battle with cancer last year, it taught me lessons. i learn that our time is short. so we better make the post of it. i believe that every single day, each and every one of us is given the opportunity to do something great. over the past two years, together, we have done many great things. and now we have the encredible opportunity to accomplish even more. thank you, god bless you. and may god bless the great state of maryland. [ cheers and applause ] announcer: tomorrow, the hair when task force on synthetic opioids, with a focus on treatment issues behind synthetic opioids. that is live at 4:00 p.m. eastern on c-span three. governor ericthe holcomb delivers his first state of the state add.

the polls and pundits, no room for doubt, thomas dewey would defeat harry truman, except he didn't.e forgotten it worked for the fact that mr truman on his way to washington came a train to st louis and someone handed him a copy of that front page. the chicago tribune didn't like him and he'd like them. sadly, you don't even have to go that far back, because there was an incident in 2016, just on the eve of the last election, that have a look at this picture. this is hillary clinton's hand signing a copy of newsweek cover with the title, you can see a quy: cover with the title, you can see a guy, madam president. they had run two covers, there she is on the 7th of november in pittsburgh and she signs the copy. that was as close as she came to having herself be declared president. they had to recall 125,000 copies and pulp them. i here you can buy them on ebay. recall 125,000 copies and pulp them. i here you can buy them on ebayi found one of, this one goes back to june 200015. i've been digging around in the archives all day. this was the day donald trump declared he was the day don