they were impoverished after the treaty of versailles. they turned to hitler. that's how we justify the holocaust. why don't we ever hear that? >> i think obama would say that. >> he's insane if he says that. >> well, there you are. >> i think you are exactly wrong. because historians did go and analyze what happened after the treaty of versailles. let me finish. and what did we do after world war ii? we had the marshall plan. we did analyze. >> do we sit around and justify while we are at war the killing, the murders of people while at war on economic grounds? germ warfare? no. they are evil. >> no one is justifying. >> nazis were evil. isis are fi justifying. >> you are trying to debate what irrational people do. sometimes evil is what evil is. >> that would be fine if it was a couple of buddies at a bar having this discussion. when you have the highest office in the world, president of the united states. even to have this discussion during this. right now the only question should be how do we annihilate them. after it's over with we want to quibble about the

world war ii and appeasement and world world war i in versailles. we are in a very difficult situation here because in eastern ukraine, we really don't have any good choices right now. and what's interesting, what the core respondent from the "wall street journal" mentioned is that there is just this difficult issue as to what to do with eastern ukraine and how to give -- and what to do about autonomy of that region: how much autonomy do they get? do they get veto power over certain policies within ukraine? how does the central government maintain control over these provinces? these are very difficult issues. it goes to a history of a country that has -- includes a vurt of different ethnic groups but remained a unified country in the 23 years since the collapse of the soviet union. there are difficult issues at play here it seems it's going to have to be decided in a short period of time when the russians hold the upper hand at least on the ground in eastern host: our guest william pommerances is a teacher of this topic, russia issues at georgetown

world war ii and appeasement, and we just heard world war i and versailles. we are in a very difficult situation here because in eastern ukraine, we really don't have any good choices right now. and what's interesting, what the correspondent from the "wall street journal" mentioned is that there is just this difficult issue as to what to do with eastern ukraine and how to give -- and what to do about autonomy of that region: how much autonomy do they get? do they get veto power over certain policies within ukraine? how does the central government maintain control over these provinces? these are very difficult issues. it goes to a history of a country that has -- that includes a variety of different ethnic groups but remained a unified country in the 23 years since the collapse of the soviet union. there are difficult issues at play here, and it seems it's going to have to be decided in a short period of time when the russians hold the upper hand at least on the ground in eastern ukraine. >> host: our guest william pomeranz is a teacher of this topic, russia i

>> they are more familiar with the bushes than the gardeners at versailles. gwen: who else are you going to select from? >> exactly right. if you chose people not associated with the bush family, they wouldn't fill this table. so and finally, though, he did mention, jeb bush said there were mistakes made in iraq. he said, one, the security situation after saddam fell was bad, it created a vacuum and he said it was bad that weapons of mass destruction weren't found. people thought it was creating distance with his brother but it's what his brother has said in his own book. >> so what the political benefit of such a speech? >> the political benefit was he looked confident. he knew his brief. he knew that tunisia was doing better than other arab spring states. he knew the president of egypt. he sounded confident and at this stage and barack obama proved this -- a freshman senator with no executive experience -- if you sound confident and look like you know what you're talking about, voters will say, hey, he can be president. gwen: he knew more than his brother k

they took a voyage 22 days across an angry sea landing in versailles. until they came to a place in switzerland where their train of, went into germany, and another train coming from germany met on tracks and they literally switched. and at this point and then this passage i am about to read and then they went on with their processed by the germans and, of course, they were immediately considered american spies, right? and badly treated. so i just wanted to read about they went on walking is and then on trains. this is an incident that happened almost just a few days before they arrived at their destination. so there in germany. the train chug out of the station at an even pace. about eight kilometers east the train slowed to a total. as it snaked its way through the talk to the other side of the conductor blew the whistle once. and a second blast filled the air and suddenly the train lurched forward and picked up speed. the passengers straighten in their seats. outside the windows snowy mountains and forests whizzed by. something was wrong and everyone

they landed in versailles in france, and then they went to switzerland to a small village.was in switzerland that the trains from crystal city -- not really, from the united states but had is crystal city people in it -- landed at a train station in this village in switzerland. the train coming out of germany was at the same train station, and they switch. >> the war was still going on. >> the war was still going on. i began to wonder, who was on the train to freedom when ingrid and her brother and sister were on the train in the war? by that time, there weren't that many americans still left in germany. there were some prisoners of war that were freed. by this astonishing thing, i learned through the national holocaust museum that germany did not have enough americans to give. they gave about 100 jews who were not americans obviously. they were from amsterdam, and they were from germany. there were 100 jews that made it out. one of those jews was named irene hassan berg, who is exactly the same age as ingrid. i tell the story in the book of irene making it out when ingrid

would there have been less hostility to germany no versailles treatment, and what would have been the course of the world as far as fascism rising? i'd love your opinion. >> that is the ultimate what if question. let me say this about that. theodore roosevelt was beloved in europe almost as much as benjamin frafrnlg lynn had been before. his famous speech at the sorbonne was the one nixon used when he resigned in watergate. damn the critics, it's better to be in the arena and sweat and dust and all of that. and he spoke foreign languages very fluently. so he's very fluent in german and knew all about german community as far as the german people. but he had a huge disdain for the kaiser and for the -- what he saw as germany run amok. but how things would have panned out differently if he got in sooner, if t.r. was president and all that, i just don't know. i'd better stop. i really enjoyed it tonight guys. and i'll be around if you want to talk some more. mass [ applause ] thank you. >> wonderful. wonderful. >>> you're watching "american history tv." 48 hours of programming on american

you had the treaty of versailles , the formation of the berlin wall -- >> 1961. >> a cease-fire is not breakdown or agreement to not fighting. >> it can be a nasty thing. >> what will it look like? >> 31 miles. all of that has changed since september. >> moving from russia and ukraine -- you get to do what we talk about onset. deal internationally in eastern europe and across asia with business people. less sanctions for russia is a good thing, right? >> it will be a good thing. we have felt the effects across the board with the sanctions. the russians who had spent a great deal in europe and the u.s. and abroad were staying at home. they were not spending. it started to trickle into other countries with the recent evaluation of the currency in context on -- the evaluation of the currency in kazakhstan. >> our twitter question of the day -- will the cease-fire worked this this time? ♪ >> good morning, everyone. to our morning must read right now. >> this morning the former member of the executive board of the ecb, a german -- he had to be replaced by another german. it is not germany's

. >> they did that in versailles as long as you were properly dressed. >> when you think dolley madison grew up as a quaker, so when she married james madison, she broke from this quaker background, so a woman who had been very demurely dressed suddenly had this ability to really just blazen out in amazing clothes and she's fond of reds and yellows and turbans, maybe a nod to that quaker cap. she's able to fulfill this dazzling vision -- you have to wonder if this is what she longed to look like as a little girl. >> yeah. >> and there are some of dolley madison's dazzling red i have to say. when you say one had to be appropriately dressed going to visit the white house, what did that mean at that time? >> well, a lot of controversy was whether you could wear boots to the white house. boots or shoes. if you're probably shod and you're properly jacketed and can present a respectable appearance you just need an introduction to go to dolley madison's white house. if you know somebody get a card of introduction, you could be admitted to mrs. madison's crushes and they are so popular they lit

look at what happened in germany after world war i, the allies imposed real austerity through the versaillestreaty. the result was the democratic governments that followed were unable to deal with the horrendous economic conditions in germany. hitler came to power. i trust that nobody wants to see a nazi party come to power in greece. >> sure. senator, the irony of all of this is you're asking fed chair yellen to take some sort of action. former fed chair alan greenspan telling the bbc, these are his words, i believe of greece they'll leave. i don't think it helps them or the eurozone. just a matter of time before everyone realizes parting is the best strategy. even the former fed chairman doesn't seem to be too concerned of any ripple effect of greece leaving the eurozone an economy that is about the same size as the dallas-ft. worth metroplex. >> what happens in greece could be a prelude to what happens in italy and what happens in spain. there is massive opposition to austerity programs being imposed all over europe. in terms of mr. greenspan, mr. greenspan was also the guy who told us th

henry kissinger wrote a book, diplomacy, many years ago, how world order happens, the treaty of versaillesstill apply that intellectual framework to this area. >> host: what about the clintons? >> guest: hillary clinton will be running for president and bill clinton has that. when he comes to the aspen institute we have as we say people of both parties, even the republicans in our audience in aspen when bill clinton is there during his tour of the world and answering questions and remembering everybody's name and having read policy papers on how urban revival happens in older cities, or how micro payments helped women in india do something. he understands and knows more than anybody else and absolutely hypnotizing when he is giving a dissertation and so he has that definitely. >> host: california, thanks for holding on, you are on with walter isaacson. >> caller: i m 15 years old and before i ask my question i would like to say i am in favor of the da vinci book as well. it seems a lot of people my age don't get into biographies that much and i would like to ask you because the steve jobs

this body this congress, rejected the president's negotiation of treaty of versailles. in 1919 and 1920. this body rejected the president's negotiation of comprehensive test ban treaty in 1999. this body did that, reflecting the will of our constituents, of this nation. this body very importantly investigated the iran contra affair. this body invested the intelligence activities related to 9/11. this body investigated the events of 2011 in libya. we have the authority of the purse as well, as spending originating in this body. we've used that authority to limit the transfer of detainees at guantanamo. over the objection of the president. we have used the constitutional authority of this body in matters of foreign aid and at times withholding foreign aid. following the capture of saddam hussein and questions about pakistan's -- osama bin laden and questions about pakistan's role, this body put restrictions on their foreign aid and this body provides billions to israel as a matter of not only protecting the security of israel, but furthering our national security in the m