Ew, morehe services gr public letters started coming in, more staff had to be hired, more space had to be acquired, and eventually the three Senate Buildings were constructed. Right now we are in the dirksen , building. We are in the large multipurpose hearing room that has had various layers of history. The first Senate Office building opened in 1909, known as the Richard Russell building. This was because the government was growing. There were more and more services coming out. All of the senators were in one building and all the staff were in one building. There was a Small Community of staff and senators that existed in the building until 1958. But steadily, the demands on the government increased. People started writing in, Social Security became an issue, so many other federal issues directly affected citizens, so they were to their senators. Senators hired more staff and they had to find more places to put them. At one point, the russell building was absolutely crammed with people. They had people working in the attic, the basement, bathrooms were converted into offices. Hallways were set up as offices with desks. People were squeezed in everywhere. It became clear by the end of the 1930s after the new deal had increased the size of the federal government that they , were going to need another office building. They needed space for committees to meet. Committees were partly in the Capitol Building partly at the , russell building. They were in large rooms but without a dais. Withwere at a large table the senators, witnesses, and staff around the table. There was very limited space for the public to attend the hearings and they werent set up for televising. There are a lot of reasons why the dirksen building was built. It actually took a long time to be built. The initial plans were started in 1941. Then world war ii came. Not build the building when they needed to do it. They waited until the 1950s. In the 1950s there were a lot of arguments that it was going to be very costly and they would have to buy up the property of the houses that were on the street here in washington right across from the Capital Building. There were a number of members who thought it was extravagant and they shouldnt bother with it. They delayed this. Constantly during the 1950s, the building was delayed. In it became so obvious they 1956, needed more space, they were about to add two more states. There was no more space in the russell building for more senators. Finally, they gave the goahead and this building was constructed. It was opened in 1958. It is not near as elaborate as the Richard Russell building across the street. It is a much more functional building. It is sort of a neoclassical building. It has far fewer columns and fancy decorations. It is a pretty straightforward building. It is not as comfortable a building as the russell building. It is not a building that appeals to the senators the same way the russell building did, but it served its purpose is. Its chief purpose was a place for the committees to hold hearings that could be televised. This was 1958, television was in prime. There was a lot of interest to televise the proceedings of congress. They couldnt go on the floor, there was no cspan on the floor of the chambers at this stage. But the hearings of the senate were being televised. They needed a better situation better equipment. , the Capital Building had direct current at this time rather than alternating current. The Capitol Building had been wired for electricity by thomas edison. Edison believed in direct current. Sometimes if you are ahead of the curve in terms of technology, you become obsolete faster than everyone else. Until the u. S. Capitol had direct current, which meant you could not plug anything into the walls. It did not serve the purposes of televising. As a result, the radio tv gallery, where the radio and television recorders operated, petitioned the senate to have a role in the construction of the new building. There were television correspondents, representatives of the Television Networks serving on the board that helped to design this building. As a result, you have Large Committee rooms with paneled walls. Part of the panel can be lifted up. There is a section at the back where television lights and cameras can be set in and not interfere with the hearings were people trying to attend. The whole design a committees were set up differently. The table they used to sit around was replaced with a dais like this one. The witness would sit at a table facing them. It made for much more interesting televising. This is the way we think of congressional hearings today, because this is what we are used to seeing. This building opened in 1958. 14 of the committees were established here and there was a plan to have the chairperson of each committee occupy the office next to the Committee Room. It looked great on paper, except the chairs of the committees were some of the most senior members of the senate, they operated out of the russell building across the street. Many of them did not want to move across the street. Some of them who did move didnt care for the space as much. Very soon the practice of having Committee Chairs occupy the space immediately next to the committee disappeared. Some chairs do like to be next to the committee that they spend most of their time with. But most of the other chairmen find it fine to work out of some other space. The dirksen building provided a lot of other services for the senate. As part of the Enormous Growth of this institution the base , level has two large cafeterias. The was also an underground parking garage. There was a large area for a telephone switchboard because of the communications demands growing on the senate. And because senators were also sending home to their networks, their local tv networks, film of their interviews and statements. There was a Recording Studio built into this building in a windowless room with a capitol dome behind it that looked very distinguished as if it was a senator speaking from his or her office. But it was another service the building was able to provide. I suppose the only time we never had a public debt was when Andrew Jackson was the president of the United States. But other than that i have no , recollection that we have been without a debt, but never of such colossal proportions as the debt we have today. When the very first computer was installed it was , installed in this building. It was designed to prepare letters to constituents. Many road into senators to ask for something and give their opinions. Senators always wanted to respond to anybody who wrote to them. The first computer was acquired in the 1960s and installed in this building to be able to send mass mailings back to their constituents. This is probably the most functional in many ways. Even though it has the smallest senators occupying the building. It is the central section because of all the committee activity. Those are things you are layer with from watching televised hearings. I have reviewed in detail my , outdoor product recreation, a legacy for america. It continues to represent my philosophy and commitment to recreation, to preservation, and to multiple use of the resources of america. Don ritchie initially, televising was not gaveltogavel. Before the days of cspan, the Major Networks would come to film. And they were only going to show perhaps a minute or two, or at most for an evening newscast. Three, so they didnt want to spend a lot of time and effort and money on film. They would only film the highlights of the hearing. Whenand it that meant certain senators spoke, the lights would come on. When they stopped, the lights would go off. I attended a hearing in the russell building in which senator kennedy walked into the door, senator ted kennedy, and as soon as he came in and sat down the television lights came on. When he asked his questions, the lights were on. And as soon as he left, even though another senator was speaking, the lights went off. That was the reality of the situation. Today, we are used to gaveltogavel coverage that you can watch it almost any time. A lot more highlights become available of those hearings. The biggest hearings often take place in the Senate Caucus room, which is in the russell building. It is a large space. But many of the hearings we consider to have led up to those big blockbuster hearings took place here in the dirksen building. Far more hearings took place in the Foreign RelationsCommittee Room in the dirksen building then did the big spectacular hearings they held when they moved into the caucus room. You see that played over and over. Quite often the staff of these would often be here in the dirksen building even though the big hearings would be held in the russell building. One of the most important hearings the senate conducted in the 20th century was the investigation into watergate, the president ial campaign of 1972. Those hearings took place in the russell building. The staff worked here in a series of rooms down a backorder here in the dirksen building. It was in there that one of the pivotal moments of the watergate hearings took place. And that is when republican and democratic Staff Members were interrogating some of the white house staff, and one of the people they were interrogating was a man name Alexander Butterfield, who the committee had determined visited the white house chief of staff on a regular basis. Every day, he was in to see the white house chief of staff. The question was, what was he doing while he was there . There was some question about anyone had ever recorded any of these meetings. It was the republican staff member of the committee who ifed Alexander Butterfield there had been any recordings. And the question was asked broadly enough that to be honest about answering it, butterfield had to admit that the white house had a very elaborate system of tape recorders, that any time president spoke in the oval office or over the phone, tape recordings were being made. This was a bombshell. It changed the nature of the watergate investigation. Much of the effort then became to try to open up those tapes to make them available for the committee. The president tried not to make those available. President nixon. Eventually, the Supreme Court ordered he had to turn over the tapes to the special prosecutor. It was the revelations on the tapes that led the representatives to begin impeachment hearings and let the president to resign. All of that started in a nondescript windowless room when staff were doing what they were supposed to be doing, preliminary interviews of witnesses before they go before the public. Of all the types of hearings building, and there are hundreds being held all the time, in the mornings when i would come to work, i would see long lines people sitting on the floor or leaning against the wall, trying to get space in the hearing rooms. Probably the hearings that get the most attention are the nomination hearings particularly , Supreme Court nomination hearings. A Supreme Court appointment is a lifetime appointment. The addition of any one member on the court will affect the court. It is going to affect things for decades to come. There is a huge amount of public attention on Supreme Court nominations. Of the current nine members of the Supreme Court, only one had his hearings in this building. That was Anthony Scalia in the 1980s, and that was in one of large hearing rooms in this building, the dirksen building. You care to say anything before we begin questions . You have an Opening Statement . No, i dont come except to express my honor being nominated by the president and the fact im happy to be here and look forward to answering the committees questions. Don ritchie this building opened in 1958. It was meant to be built as inexpensively as possible at the time. As soon as it was built, it was inadequate for the purposes in a lot of ways. One thing they discovered right away was there werent enough elevators in the building. That may seem like a relatively small issue except when the bells go off and senators have to vote, they have 15 minutes to get from here to the Capital Building across the street. There is a subway that links them underground so they can be shuttled back and forth. But if they are in their office on the fifth floor, they have got to get the elevator down to the basement to take it over. As a result, there were problems early on when the senators could not get over to the capital fast enough to cast a vote. No senator wants to miss a vote. They actually had to add extra elevator banks to the building, and it is still relatively slow and difficult to move around in. Down in the basement are plain windowless offices. It is like operating out of a tunnel. That is where brand, newly elected senators spend the first four or five months in office. That is known as the swing space. The senators they are replacing were probably much more senior and as a result have much nicer offices. The freshman senators arent entitled to move into those really nice offices. Middle level senators who have been here for a few years are waiting their turn to move into those offices. When an office is indeed out, clean, painted it takes a little , while. Another senator moves in. That office has to be cleaned and painted. Usually those who take an oath of office in january do not get to move upstairs to the regular suite until april, may, sometimes june of that year. After winning an election to the United States senate and feeling like you are on top of the world, you show up and are immediately escorted down to the basement to one of these offices. When Hillary Clinton was elected senator from new york, she was still living in the white house. Her husband had a couple of months left in his term that would end later in january of she would leave the white house 2001. In the morning to go downstairs to a Basement Office with no windows. Everybody starts out the same. There are numerous Committee Rooms in this building. The room we are in right now was the room designed for the most special events when the dirksen building was constructed. This was originally an auditorium. A 500seat auditorium sloped with a stage. This is where people would come to make announcements, where conferences would be held, where large meetings with take place. It was not a hearing room at first. Then in the 1970s, Senator Frank Church began to investigate problems with the c. I. A. And it the and the f. B. I. This was going to be the first congressional investigation into the United States intelligence operations. The material was so secret they had to be an absolutely secure place. This auditorium was converted for that purpose. Floor was built across it. It was turned into offices for the Church Committee investigating the c. I. A. And f. B. I. They had armed guards standing at each of the doors to make sure no one came in. Reporters thought it was the Church Committee was trying to break through secrecy but were surrounded by guards to keep the secret staying in here. If they were going to investigate, they had to promise they could maintain secrets. This room became a hub for the investigation. And then when the Church Committee led to the creation of the Permanent Committee on intelligence, this room became the Intelligence Committee in the late 1970s and 1980s. Until the Hart Building was opened in 1983 and the Intelligence Committee moved over there. At that time, it was turned back into a hearing room. It is now an allpurpose multimedia room. It has been designed for the latest technology for special hearings, all sorts of events that take place in this space. It is carried on with the nature of the building being an allpurpose room. This room has had lots of hard political events in here, but a lot of social entertaining. Most are pleasant and forgettable occasions. One stands out in particular and that was the 100th birthday of senator Strom Thurmond of south carolina. Senator thurmond is the only senator to live to the age of 100 while serving in the senate. Of course, the senate wanted to pay special tribute to him. There was a large birthday festivity in here, which was a very nice occasion. The Senate Majority leader came to pay homage to senator thurmond. He was as hes, said subsequently, overly effusive. He praised senator thurmonds career in the senate and then he recalled in 1948, senator thurmond had run for president against harry truman. I want to say this about my state. When Strom Thurmond ran for president , we voted for him. We are proud of him. [applause] and if the rest of the country followed our lead, we wouldnt have had all these problems over these years. Don ritchie which seems a relatively mild statement except senator lott have forgotten them that had forgotten except senator lott had forgotten senator thurmond ran as a segregationist candidate in 1948 against president truman, who helped integrate the armed services, was unpopular in the south for that reason. As a result, there was a huge amount of pressure within the party for him to step down as the leader of his party. Eventually, he did resign as majority leader of the senate as a result of this one statement. Made in this one room. It is a reminder that just about politician says is probably going to be recorded and just about everything they say is going to be analyzed and just everything they say is going to be held against them at some time or another, even at an occasion such as a 100th birthday party. Happy birthday. [applause] i should also mention white is called the dirksen building. When the first Senate Office building opened, it was known as the Senate Office building. It was known even more popularly by its acronym the sop. , when this building opened up, sobt building became the old and this became the new sob. The senators can to believe that was inappropriate and they should have a more former title. In Richard Russell died. 1971,he was known as the senators senator. He had Great Respect from all of his colleagues, regardless of ideology, regardless of party. So that building was named for Richard Russell, who was a democrat. This building was named for a senator, everett dirksen, who had been the republican leader from 1959 to 1969, and who was quite a popular figure in the United States at the time. Voice, a terrific corridor in the oldschool style. He actually won a grammy award for a record he did just reading patriotic sheet music and patriotic speeches with music playing in the background. It was quite a popular piece at the time. Down through the years, there have been men. Died, gallant men who have that others might be free. Dirksen was a popular person who actually also represented a great spirit of bipartisanship. He was a minority leader with a small minority. Usually operated with 35 or 36 senators on his side of the aisle. Out of 100, it is a small minority. His votes were critical back in the day when it took 22 3 to ct off a filibuster. If the senate was going to stop a filibuster on civil rights, they needed Everett Dirksens support. On any number of major occasions, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the treaty, once dirksen came on board, once he agreed to whatever the compromise was then the results would come aboard for them to prevail. He was an extremely important leader in his time. It seemed fitting to name this building after him. Dirksen liked to say he was a man of principle. One of his greatest principles was to maintain flexibility at all times. That made him a very agile senator and a man who understood you have to compromise in order to build consensus. In the senate, compromise is essential for passing any kind of legislation. Getting some kind of bipartisanship is important because really does a Majority Party have sufficient votes to be able to pass something by itself. Always majority leaders have to persuade members of the minority to come on board. Always there is some kind of coalition being built. I think that is one of the reasons the u. S. Senate wanted to commemorate senator dirksen by naming the second building after him. You can watch this or other american artifacts programs any time by visiting our website, cspan. Org history. During the kennedy administration, the White House Naval Photographic Center produced a variety of short films recording the activities of the president. Days, a color few film of president kennedys fateful trip to texas in november of 1963. The Vice President and Texas Governor applied president kennedy as he returns to his hotel for a breakfast with the Fort Worth Chamber of commerce. The Breakfast Party awaits the arrival of mrs. Kennedy. [applause] three years ago i introduced myself in paris saying i was the man who accompanied mrs. Kennedy to paris. Im getting something of the same sensation as i travel around texas. [laughter] [applause] nobody wonders what lyndon and i wear. [laughter] [applause] on a more serious note, the president s last words, reflections of his hopes for the future. Is a very dangerous and uncertain world. We would like to live as we once lived, but history will not permit it. The balance of power is still on the side of freedom. We are still the keystone in the art of freedom, and i think we will continue to do as we have done in our past. Our duty. I am confident as i look to the future that our chances for security, our chances for peace, are better than they have been in the past. The reason is because we are stronger. With that strength is a determination to not only maintain the peace, but also the vital interests of the United States. Friday morning, 11 00. The president ial jet leaves fort worth for the short flight to dallas where the president has a scheduled luncheon address. In november of 1945, war crimes trials began in germany for major nazi figures. 24 subsequent trial involved defendants accused of killing more than one million people. For the 70th anniversary of the isals, American History tv airing an oral history interview with benjamin ferencz