. >> host: it used to be you mention william o. douglas in the canal. he used to do walks along the canal and used to jog around the canal. did you ever run around d.c. and the park or was it too hard for the secret service to keep one jogging route? >> guest: we were able to keep it secret. sometimes i would draw in other areas. for instance, we laid out the seven mile jogging area inside the white house grounds making several laps through the rose garden and the south lawn and that sort of thing. and on weekends we would all get candidate. but the canal was the best place to jog. it became a national park as you may know, sponsored by william o. douglas. it expands 108 miles from downtown washington all the way to west virginia, and this canal is adjacent to and sometimes in the potomac region was very important trade route back in those early days. but they had about a 12-foot long and, very smooth path to that the horses used to walk on to throw the largest on the canal and that is where my job. so it was a wonderful and isolated place. >> host: of

and last but not least, william o. douglas was a self-made man from poverty in washington state who became a law professor and was noticed by joe kennedy, senior who was the first chairman of securities and exchange commission. he brought douglas to be a commissioner and a year-and-a-half later was the chairman of the commission. he brought douglas to meet roosevelt and became a regular player in roosevelt's poker game and was a huge part of roosevelt's in our circle and he said that man please interesting game of poker and was put on the supreme court when he was 40-years-old. and on the court the first ten years he just wanted to be president of the united states and he did everything he could to become president. after that he developed a philosophy and that was of individual liberty of the highest value of the constitution. interestingly he developed a philosophy at a time his own life was kind of a mess. but it had a constitutional value even though his own life was messy he was able to articulate a version. >> host: one

>> well, it's possible you could say william o. douglas was pretty close to franklin roosevelt and several claims over the years but this goes beyond it. this isn't just a justice of the court working with leaders of congress or the president on very complexed issues. this is the justice of the u.s. supreme court sitting down with a member of the republican caucus who was rejected by her own colleagues for a leadership position because she's too crazy. >> and a supreme court justice showing up on the list with a

>> well, it's possible you could say william o. douglasranklin roosevelt and several claims over the years but this goes beyond it. this isn't just a justice of the court working with leaders of congress or the president on very complexed issues. this is the justice of the u.s. supreme court sitting down with a member of the republican caucus who was rejected by her own colleagues for a leadership position because she's too crazy. >> and a supreme court justice showing up on the list with a 9/11 truther. what does that say? >> well it says a lot but i'm actually more concerned about this professor who claims that separation of church and state is a myth. it's not a myth. thomas jefferson said that that was an essential part of the first amendment. >> john nichols of "the nation." always a pleasure. tonight i asked do you believe that president obama's tax compromise with republicans will

it became a national park, as you may know, sponsored by william o. douglas. it expands 108 miles from downtown washington all the way to west virginia, and this can now -- canal used to be adjacent to and sometimes in the potomac region as was a very important trade route in those early days. we had about a 12-foot wide path that the horses used to walk on to pull the barges down the canal and that is where i jogged, so it was a wonderful and isolated place. >> host: from all aspects of your presidency that i think history is going to treat well, but people don't seem to know about it right now is jimmy carter's conservationist and, you know, working with the department of energy and also putting solar panels on the white house. with the solar panel -- and then i want to talk about last -- with the solar panel part were you upset that regan took them down? >> guest: i was. >> host: why did he do that? >> guest: the was a total difference of philosophy between me and reagan. i thought the american people should pay attention to work excessive dependence on for

. >> guest: yeah, let me start with me be the most shocking example which is william o. douglas, who i mentioned a moment ago. his personal life was on stable from childhood really. his father died when he was very, very young. and he was very, very poor and constantly working multiple jobs. he worked his way through school, just to eat he would sweep the floor in the house. and when he got onto the supreme court he was still poor and he was still personally a little0w bit unstable. and one of the things he liked to do is run around with the kennedys, joe kennedy and do the things that joe kennedy liked to do. and you can imagine what those things often work, and is sort of led him to the point where his personal equilibrium was really disturbed. at the time the supreme court justice had ever been divorced, and douglas began the first justice to get divorced, then the second, then suffered, and he did remarry a fourth time go by all accounts he was at very faithful even to his fourth wife. and during all of this, he gradually -- first of all he never became president. one divor