truman and dwight d. eisenhower. in the beginning, president truman would have the final word. as the rosenbergs appeal fell short and their plea for clemency seem to be the last hope. it did not happen that way. as the rosenberg request for clemency wound its way through the final hours of the truman administration, no action was taken. the issue inexplicably fell upon the newly inaugurated dwight d. eisenhower, relying on presidential archives at the truman library and the eisenhower library, it is possible to partially used together a sense of circumstances involving the rosenbergs' pleas for executive clemency. in all, it is a fascinating look in all, it is a fascinating look at how two presidents made life in light ofisions the times of the early cold war. as my researched progressed, i could not figure out why the administration was so silent on the rosenberg. 1950 was a difficult year for the administration. as we know, alger hiss was convicted of her jury and then joseph mccarthy made a speech in west virginia, which started the intense criticism of the truman administr

truman. the rosenbergs are not mentioned in his memoirs or any post-presidency interviews or writings. this is a stark contrast to his statements regarding hess and mccarthy. in a few moments i will draw some conclusions about this mystery. on january 21, 1953, dwight eisenhower was inaugurated as the 34th president of the united states. he inherited the clemency appeals of the rosenbergs. the matter fell to him who deliberated a few weeks and ultimately decided to deny clemency in february 1953. although the rosenbergs were tried and convicted in the truman administration, the heavy responsibility of deciding their fate fell to pres. eisenhower. eisenhower's vice president, richard nixon was privy to some of the decision-making regarding the rosenbergs. nixon, when interviewed in 1983 commented, first eisenhower was [ indiscernible - muffled audio ] it is doubtful that eisenhower would have granted clemency according to nixon. furthermore the rosenbergs received justice therefore eisenhower

truman declined to intervene. there is evidence within the truman administration that some with thehad trouble public message about the rosenbergs. the influential, psychological board drafted pro-clemency statements and reversed themselves. none of these documents were made public and there is no evidence on either memorandum of the final weeks of his presidency. in 1953, there was a press conference where truman was asked if he made a decision on the rosenberg case. president truman replied "the rosenberg case has not come up to me, therefore i cannot reach a decision on it until it comes up." this is the only official mention of the rosenberg case directly attributed to president truman. the rosenbergs are not mentioned in his memoirs or any post-presidency interviews or writing. this is a contrast to truman's statements regarding elder harris and joseph mccarthy -- alger hiss and joseph mccarthy. 1953, eisenhower was inaugurated as president. the case, he inherited of the rosenbergs. eisenhower deliberated a f

that is truman's view. in a 1950 however, my current bill became law again, over truman's veto. one of mccarthy's victims was diplomats, an american who was dismissed from foreign service in a 1954, following accusations but mccarthy that davies and others had lost jenna to the communist in a 1949. communism had taken -- had sucked over china in 1949. davies was a decorated world war ii hero and one of several china hands targeted during mcafee's attacks. mccarthy's victims was another foreign service officer named jon stewart service. service had been connected years earlier to the so-called on the ameriasian magazine case, which involved the employees of a magazine called amer=asia. witnesses pronounced him to be a loyal, government employee. accusations from mccarthy resulted in hearing on that loyalty board which concluded that it had "reasonable doubt" in concerning his loyalty and he was subsequently discharged from the foreign service in a 1951. he was reinstated after a u.s. supreme court decision. the truman supreme court, also known as the fred vinson supreme court, be

and harry truman did that. and the last president who i think we have who does that. >> following in the steps of gorge washington who returned to the plow as well. he could have served out his life and had political reward commerce rat with his military success. and i think truman -- you make a great point as a student of history, he really understood how washington, jefferson, jackson, lincoln, they were well aware of how they made their decisions. i believe we are ready to take some questions from the audience; is that right? i think we are going to ask that you come down and actually speak at the microphone. remind you too, we would love to have some questions, but if you could make them more questions instead of comments, you are welcome to make a brief comment, but -- >> while we wait on them, i would like to mention that 6888 postal attachment, the first female african american officer that was commissioned was lieutenant colonel charity early in fort elevenlevenworth they are getting ready to do a monum

harry truman did that. he is the last president i think we are ever going to have who does that. >> he was following much in the steps of george washington. he could have served out his life and had political reward with his military success, i think truman, you make a great point as a student of history, he really understood how washington, jefferson, lincoln, these were people he was well aware of how they made their decisions. i believe we are ready to take some questions from the audience. is that right? i think we will ask that you come down and actually speak at the microphone. we would look to have some questions but if you could make them more questions instead of comments we would appreciate that. you are welcome to make a brief, but. >> mentioned the 6888 also detach book. the first female of african-american officer that was commissioned was turnout colonel charity, over at fort leavenworth they got ready to do a monument to her. [applause] if you hear about that, please keep that in mind. where

truman user. -- either. the navy said they were doing well with him and did not figure he would be here too long. the 48 election they were like everybody else that is going to lose and he won. they said he's get a be here for four more years. -- added decorating firm from miami. it was completely rebuilt so it could support the president and his staff. that document is the restoration we all had of course the white house people. they have used that to meticulously like it was when president truman was here. what you'll see when you take a tour this afternoon is the same thing that president truman would have seen when he walked here. they've done a magnificent job. the one thing they did find that the president liked was there was a lot around the beach in the he loved to go to the beach and go swimming and they would play ball and do the usual things on the beach. they were not known for having a lot of natural beaches. the only one available was the enlisted beach on the naval station. they proceeded to b

harry truman was truman the human. he was one of us.certainly would have been so out of keeping with his character had they had guilded furniture or something. it would have just been inconceive to believe harry truman to ever have anything like that. >> in 1975, bill and hillary clinton were married inside their home in fayetteville, arkansas. up next, we visit the site in the ozark mountains to learn how this house helps kick start the political career of america's 42nd president. >> welcome to fayetteville, arkansas, we're at 4e clinton house museum, a little south of the edge of the university of arkansas campus. this house was built in 1931 by a local man named scottie taylor, would have been on the outskirts of town at that time in the middle of the ozarks in the depression. this would have seemed like a pretty fancy house for that era. the clintons actually bought this house in 1975. and did a little bit of remodeling but for the most part the house is entirely original to 193 1. the house became a national historic register prop

of the truman library institute. linda johnson robb is the first child of our 36th president, lyndon johnson. she lived in the white house during the last years of had her father's tenure in office from 1966 to 1969. and for over two decades, has served as a trustee of the lbj foundation. and susan ford bails is the fourth child and only daughter of our 38th president, gerald ford. she lived in the white house during the bulk of her father's presidency, and since 1981, has served as a trustee of the gerald ford presidential foundation. moderating our panel is david rubenstein, the co-founder and co-executive chairman of the carlyle group and our country's leading patriotic philanthropist. generously contributing to the preservation of our nation's history and culture. he is also the host of bloomberg 's "the david rubenstein show: peer-to-peer conversations." ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to this stage matthew mckinley, tweed roosevelt, linda johnson rob, susan ford bails and david rubenstein. [applause] >> th

president truman took me on a tour of his library. i have been blessed with getting to meet a lot of these people. so i hope they all come to the library of every president and learn. there are so many things. clifton continue about going to -- can tell you about going to many of the libraries and learning. and daddy went too. and said, all these years i've been saying all those bad things about hoover. [laughter] >> i never knew he did all of those wonderful things to feed europe. >> is there a truman library? >> there is. it is in independence, missouri, about a mile from grandpa's house. >> why did he wear those wild shirts when he went to key west, florida? what was that about? >> everybody wears wild shirts when they go to key west, florida. >> is there a cleveland library? a mckinley library? >> in canton, ohio. >> why is there no mckinley -- no cleveland library? now you have a mission. >> that's exactly right. there's a lot of memorabilia and certainly papers. >> we have run out of time, unfortunately. we could go on for hours

going back to the trumans. just what anita said, there's this great story about harry truman who goes bounding with his driver/bodyguard, mike westwood, down from independence to jefferson city for a meeting. skpr and truman is in the front seat and spies this woman whose pigs have gotten loose and they're running all around. and truman demands that westwood stop the car and he hops -- truman hops out and helps her to coral these pigs. a reporter gets wind of this when truman, you know, arrives at his destination in jefferson city. and they ask him if it's true. he said, yeah, of course it's true, but remember, i was a farmer before i was president. >> see. >> so down to earth. >> i think we have a question. >> yeah, trying to tie into your comments, and i appreciate that gerald r. ford story. one of the things we did a year ago was to come up with the idea to take president ford's story of standing up for diversity in his senior year at university of michigan, where his traveling roommate, because of the color

going back to the trumans, i think just what anita said, there is this great story about harry truman who goes bounding with his driver/body guard mike westwood down from independence to jefferson city for a meeting. and truman is in the front seat and he spies this woman whose pigs have gotten loose and running around. and truman demands he stops the car. and he hops out and helps her to corral these pigs. a reporter gets wind of this when truman arrives at his destination in jefferson city and they asked him if it's true. he said, yes, of course it is true, but you have to remember i , ws a farmer before i was president. anita: so american. >> anyone have a question? >> yes. trying to tie into your comments, mark, and i appreciate telling the gerald ford story. one of the things we did a year ago was to come up with the idea to take president ford's story, standing up for diversity at his senior year at urtniversity of michigan, where his traveling roommate because of the color of his skin couldn't play on the football team. historic group put this pbs thing together, and students w

truman demands that westwood stop the car and truman hops out her to corral these pigs. of this r gets wind when truman, you know, arrives jefferson ination in city. they ask him if it's true, he said, yeah, of course it's true, a farmer er, i was before i was president. earth.o down to >> american. >> yeah. trying to tie into your mark, and i appreciate the gerald ford story. we did a year gs ago was to come up with the idea story, president ford's standing up for diversity in his senior year at university of michigan, where his traveling room mate, because of the color play on in, couldn't that football team. a historical group, put this pbs thing together and students would fall asleep, you he said, let's turn it into a play. 40-minute it into a play. half my board was ready to lynch i doing?am thewe did 10 productions of play in february. we've got -- we've got waiting lists of schools that want us to go in and do this play but it's a 40-minute play talking about locker t ford in the room with his traveling roommate, willis ward, talking that why he can't go on footb

the harry s, truman presidential library hosted this event.ded at fort leavenworth. he is a graduate at the university of arkansas who received a master from webster university.

and hunter efforts during the truman administration.

so what can i say it is the nations lost as a supporting the marshall plan and the truman doctrine andintervention in korea and the support for the french and to engineer the bay of pigs and adamant in your support for the cuban missile crisis and to support the vietnam policy of the united states. that politicians do with dow jones mccarthy although if we recall and also margaret chase smith. and to vote for the mccarran internal security act to force people in the communist party to register but eventually that was ruled unconstitutional and with that 1954 communist control act to force members to register and humphrey admitted that he failed the moral test. so he also struggled for the presidency when he ran in the primaries against kennedy and to lack the charisma and all the rest versus kennedy who has no legislative record to speak of losing out to kennedy. that taught him a lesson that many followed after losing to kennedy the only route to the presidency was through the vice presidency which was familiar among politicians. after kennedy's assassination i want to go for the vice

i am kurt graham, director of the truman presidential library and museum. it is always wonderful to see you out here. i think this is another in an amazing set of programs that we do here. we have a remarkable programming team and our partners at the

i visited the truman little white house. i don't know if anyone else has been there. there is a table in the truman white house where he played poker every night and before he went to bed they would put a cover on the poker table to disguise the fact that truman was played poker because it was bad. i am wondering in light of this and in light of this president, used a sort of respect the office of the president he once i disagreed with, several. now that several. now that we've seen this guy on twitter and the potential for having colluded with the foreign power, which grew in to me at my core, ruined me at my core, do you ever see the sanctity of office ever returning in the future? >> i'm going to actually shock you with something. the most effective thing tested during george bush's run for the white house, the most successful theme after compassionate conservatives, which people believed about it was restoring honor and dignity to the white house because bill clinton ran it like a frat house. i think it's going to take a long time for people to get back to a point

i am kurt graham, director of the truman presidential library and museum. it is always wonderful to see you out here. i think this is

truman's executive order to desegregate the us military. on july 26, and 1848.next, rawn james, author of how wars, protest, and harry truman desegregated america's military, , and retired colonel, norma jean bradford, discuss the forces that led to the decision, and its impact on african-americans. the harry s. truman presidential library and museum hosted this discussion. it is about an hour and 10 minutes.

guest: it's believed president truman may not have known about the project. overstatessible to how top-secret this project was. in an already secret code breaking operation, they were the innermost cell. even other people working at arlington hall or the nsa couldn't come into the physical space they were working on. host: howard calling from fort lauderdale, florida. good morning. caller: good morning. submarine,ine on a summ i used to fix the innate met -- enigma machines. it's very interesting that you wrote about this. modernere for encryption. it's very interesting. these women were stripping encryption out of soviet messages/ the germans used the enigma machine. the soviets did it all with pen thataper and one time pads had the encryption on them. they were used a few of these pads. that was all it took for the american codebreakers to be able to break into this incredibly difficult system. host: i was very fascinated with the part of your article that mentioned they had to be sure that other people in their complex didn't see what they were doing. a ru

the harry s truman little white house and harry s. truman foundation both in key west, florida, co-hosted the event. this is the second of two parts. it is abouon

liza: it's believed president truman may not have known about the venona project. there was concern about perhaps penetration of the white house. it's impossible to overstate how top-secret the venona project was, in an already secret code breaking operation. they were like the innermost cell. even other people working at arlington hall or later the nsa, couldn't come into the physical space they were working in. host: let's go to howard from fort lauderdale, florida. good morning. i was a radioman on a summary -- on a submarine, and i used to fix all the cryptology equipment, which was the enigma machines found on german submarines. those were the forerunners of modern encryption that i was trained to fix, as a submarine technician. it's very interesting. right.hat's these women were stripping and encryption out of soviet messages. and the soviets did not use a machine. the germans used the enigma machine you mentioned. the soviets did it all with pen and paper and something called one time pads that had the encryption on them. they reused a few of these pads, and

the mccarran walter act was vetoed by president truman. there was a big hurdle in terms of american foreign relations. all presidents, truman, eisenhower, kennedy, and then lbj, all wanted immigration reform. here we have a report issued by the truman administration, whom we shall welcome. here we have a publication by john f. kennedy, titled a nation of immigrants. many people believe it was ghost authored by oscar hamlin, pressing for the idea of the united states as a country that can welcome and include and integrate a multitude of immigrant populations. really pressing for immigration reform. however, there is staunch opposition. it is increasingly minority opposition, but because of the way the committee structure in congress works, it took a tremendous upswell for it to pass. 1965, we see lbj signing the new immigration act. he is right under the statue of liberty. he is surrounded, you can see a couple of the kennedy brothers. this is lady bird johnson. and this is in the wake of the assassination of president kennedy. immigration

that the people of a given era may not appreciate it, with harry truman building the post war order, george h.w. bush being the last person who governored with a sense of consensus. there are any number of examples where history has become a kind of corrective to the impressions of the president. but without an ability to speak both through and above the press, no president can be successful. >> what about -- in connection with that, what about relationships with reporters? in the last panel they were talking about sometimes it got too cozy, it was -- it maybe stepped over the line. much of the time what we focus on is the adversarial relationship, what presidents always -- or almost always perceive as this hostile treatment that they're getting while they're in office. >> you know, there's -- wonderful examples on both sides. i think that the bottom line on this i think history tells us is that everybody is human and that we get this right sometimes and wrong other times. franklin roosevelt basically he was the founder of the modern press conference, the daily briefing. but they cou

you know, think of harry truman. harry truman left the presidency in 1952, '53, with a job approval rating of 22%. one of the worst -- the lowest measure at that particular time. he is now considered one of the best five presidents or ten presidents depending on the list you see. so in retrospect, looking at harry truman's presidency, he could have run for re-election in 1952, but chose not to because he was so unpopular. so he wasn't term limited out because it didn't apply to him when they changed the term limit law, but he didn't run because he was so unpopular, but history looks back and sees how did he do, he comes out pretty well. >> did you want to make a point? >> well, you know, ford -- ford, i think, was very unpopular with the press because he pardoned nixon, and there was a lot of criticism of ford. and he was probably our most athletic president, as i've said. and i remember one time there was all these stories about him tripping and falling or something like that. >> right. >> and ford said, those repor

he was truman's first choice he dared not run.openly because he could not win primaries, so he had to take chances like stevenson on being a compromise candidate with a deadlocked convention. johnson despised him as a meaningless politician, said a reporter at a savage story about his deficiencies. at the democratic national convention in los angeles, robert kennedy, john kennedy's campaign manager, knew that they were still short of a majority. they are going into the convention and they still don't have it nailed down. finally, pennsylvania and illinois, to states controlled by old-fashioned political bosses, broke for kennedy and the candidate went over the top. it took those states to do that, barely. even with those states, it was close. bobby kept tight control, demanding hourly reports from each coordinator on every delegate status. laborers were hunted down and bribed or threatened. delegates were flattered, given free rides around los angeles, offered liquor or women, free tickets to disneyland after the convention adjour

the harry s truman presidential library and muses them listed this event just under an hour. >> let'sor teaching an advance operation .ourse he is a graduate at the university of arkansas who received a master from webster university. he has been published in s

his second, harry truman's excellent adventure, which traced harry and bess truman's cross-country trip in 1953, got a lot of great press, and in 2009 "the washington post" called it one of the best books of the year. additionally before that, he wrote a book about the war years and football and the steigels, which is a combination of the pittsburgh steelers and the philadelphia eagles. this is during world war ii, another interesting book. he's got a very eclectic background. not just an author, not just a journalist, but let me tell you some of the things he has done. he has been a hot dog vendor at a traveling circus. he's been a halloween costume he's been a gas station salesman. he's been a gas station attendant, a convenience store clerk, and all this is going to put him in good stead because in two months he's moving to mongolia with his wife, so that is a foreign service officer taking a position there, so that should be pretty interesting. and very importantly, he is a friend to this museum and a member of it. it's my pleasure to introduce matthew algeo. [applause] matthew: boy

so what are the differences from truman through obama? there are important differences. i still think what they have in common far, far outweighed the differences. or to use a sports metaphor, i would say each one of those presidents over that span of nearly 70 years essentially was operating within about the 40-yard line. around midfield. sometimes more on one side of the field, sometimes on the other. but they were close to midfield in terms of support for alliances, support for global trading. order, a believer for the most part, unilateralism. again, differences in degree and specifics, but if i were writing the history of american foreign policy over the last 70 years, i would be struck by the continuity much more than the divergences. for the current administration, this is the first administration that's not. whether you're talking about raising questions about nato and the article v. seeming to condition america's response. one of the first major foreign policy decisions was the action of getting out of the transatlantic partnership, which was both an economic an

up next, defendants of president ford, truman, mckinley, johnson and roosevelt share their family stories of the john f. kennedy center for the performing arts here in washington, d.c. the conference was attended by represent is of presidential sites from around the country and descendents of presidents from james monroe to gerald ford. >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome fred ryan, chairman, white house historical association board of directors and deborah rudder, president of the john f. kennedy center for the performing arts.

[laughter] >> i would describe it another way too, that for instance, truman and his official recordsight be with the truman library, and i'd really like to get into those things too, with the presidential libraries, and some of the letters that he wrote to his family, so the person so where you might -- the things that the person, the diaries, all of the things like that, the personal part and the personal life of an official might be at the library of congress. and so the papers of 23 presidents from george washington to coolidge are at the library of congress. we were both in starksville, mississippi. >> yes, starksville, mississippi. >> abraham lincoln collection as well. that library is in starksville. >> in mississippi, can you believe it? >> and we were there. >> we were. it turns out more than 200 presidential sites in the country, people who have some kind of responsibility for some aspect of a president's life, and they are all meeting in washington in august. >> and what's interesting about the presidential libraries, the library of congress has custody of the actual papers

did self-destructive act not defeat truman and nearly diminished the influence of the dixiecrats in the national democratic party. in 1960, southern democrats came up with a different strategy. state democrats would put them on the ballot but not necessarily vote for the democratic candidate nominated in los angeles. they might bargain with either democrats or republicans for some sort of deal on civil put theor perhaps election into the house of representatives. southern democrats opposed this strategy in congress because if the election went to the house, they would be forced to vote for the national nominee in order to keep their parties and yorty and continue with committee -- seniority and continuous committee chairs. senator thurmond quietly supported nixon in south carolina while he was still a democrat. senator harry byrd did the same thing. democratice senator's son nixon is the better alternative to kennedy. when the governor of louisiana saw his plan for non-kennedy democratic electors sorted in louisiana, he made certain an independent collector qualify for the ballot. kenne

, harry truman left the presidency in 1952, 53. with an approval rating of 22%, one of the worst, the lowest measures back at the time. here is now considered one of the burst ellipse is one of the best presidents you see, so in retrospect looking at his presidency, he could have run from -- run for reelection but chose not to because he was so unpopular. and so, he wasn't limited out, because it didn't apply to him, but he didn't run because he was so unpopular. history looked back, how did he do? he comes out pretty well. >> well, ford i think was very unpopular with the press because he pardoned nixon and there was a lot of criticism of him and he was probably our most athletic president and as i said, i remember one time there was all these stories about him tripping and falling or something like that. and ford said -- those reporters, they get their exercise sitting on a barstool.>> he liked the barstool, that was his go to. >> let me ask you this, as your experience as reporters, what was your most adversarial moment? did you

truman. i've noticed you when i'm swabbing the deck. that's the sailor story.oing to be love in the classroom. >> this season there are several new story lines for "will and grace." including david schwimmer. there are more guest stars. >> jon cryer comes on as a replacement of jack's one-man show. >> alec baldwin is my favorite person to work with. he is so good at his job. >> you told me that your dream guest is barbra streisand and that she will play your aunt. >> barbara you know i love you. you know i love you deep, deep. and i think it would be amazing for you to come and play my aunt. >> love this cast so much. "will and grace" premiers october 4th. meanwhile nbc's other hit show "law and order, svu" is celebrating its 20th season. we were with olivia benson herself, marishka hargitay as she reflected on this huge tv milestone. >> i never thought i would be here 20 years but i am. >> looking at her, it never looks like she's aged. how loved is marishka? she appeared in taylor swift's video. she recently she got an nypd escort. >> peter and i were so late

president's kennedy in in 1963, presidents truman had not talked to each other.e hatchet and had a drink together. >> my first memory of television was humphrey. the country needs shared experiences. we are so fractured and for thousands of reasons. but having a shared moment like this, an american moment. >> yeah. look, but it is shared grief. i miss him. i'd like him to -- >> i have to do a show tomorrow without john mccain. i'm sorry. >> your most frequent guest. >> yes. >> but it is a great american story. the mccain story, the whole family, it's a great american story. >> world war i, world war ii. >> vietnam. >> but if that family's story and the grief you feel at his loss today doesn't make you feel good about being an american, it's time to get up. >> i was going to say, admiral mullen, i'm feeling this sense of pride just watching these moments right now. i imagine you must be welling up yourself. >> yeah, it's a very, very hard moment, very poignant moment, and very special moment. of those who are there, and we haven't talked a lot about them, who also

he was appointed by president truman to the supreme court.udicial independence there to rule in that case. you think about justice jackson who had been working for president roosevelt and he dissents and says letting racism like this is like letting a loaded weapon lie around. dissents against president roosevelt's decision. [ yelling ] justice jackson's -- >> ask him to suspend. >> justice jackson's concurrence in youngstown which is of course what has become the law of that three part test, cat gloegory o two and three, but he had taken positions contrary to that one when heed had worked in the executive branch, yet when he is a judge, he sees it differently as an independent judge. how about chief justice berger? united states versus nixon. writes the opinion, unanimous. moments of judicial independence. so it is resisting public pressure, political pressure, it is treating everyone equally no matter where you are, what station. when i became a judge on the d.c. circuit, i had a case homdon versus the united states. who is homdon -- [ yell

it restored, and president truman on a post-presidential visit was surprised to find his old piano back in the white house. >>> hello. i'm gale berry west. and i am on the board of the white house historical association. on behalf of the association, the board is pleased that you have chosen to attend this presidential site summit. i know you will agree that we have an attendance, a unique gathering here of presidential leaders, site directors, educational specialists and subject matter experts. thank you for supporting our organization with your attendance. and we look forward to continuing with you beyond the days of this outstanding summit. we want you to keep in touch. our next featured session this morning is inclusive presidential history. this session will explore recent efforts made by sites and libraries to incorporate the stories of lesser known individuals, social groups and events into the lives and times of the presidents that we are serving. i have witnessed the progress that many sites have made in regard to telling the story today of african-americans who previously were