Commander in chief on january 20th, 2017. Michael beschloss, author and historian, as we prepare for the 58th president ial inauguration. We were looking back at some old films and pictures, one thing thats remarkable is the consistency of the ceremonies every four years. Thats sort of the idea. The ceremony well see this week may not look exactly like George Washington taking his oath on that balcony in 1789 in new york city but the amazing thing that in a country that changed as much as ours has this is one of the very few ceremonies that is relatively consistent and one of the few times in which the nation really tries to come together under a president who is trying to unify it. What does it represent, in your mind, this peaceful transfer of power, the last time we saw it was eight years ago as george w. Bush left the white house and barack obama became our 44th president. Its one of the things that thank god we do well and probably take too much for granted. If you look at the number of countries that this does happen with such little fanfare and such little agitation, it really is unique. I think americans dont understand that. The role of the military, the parade and all the traditions that go along with that, whats its origins . This is the way the people used to celebrate. Oftentimes with parades that were oftentimes pretty military compared to an inaugural parade nowadays. One of the things is if you just looked at inaugural parades through history, you knew nothing else about the president who was being inaugurated or the time he was coming to power. Will tell you an awful lot. How does it represent the president taking office . Because as we well know the inaugural ceremonies are organized by the u. S. House and senate. The parade organized by the transition committee, the president elect, and of course you have the balls in the evening. Everyone combining on this and one of the impressive things about our system, even this year, where people, you know, tend to think that this has been nothing but tumult and conflict, youll have members of congress, the incoming president may disagree with him totally, nonetheless being the ones who put on this inaugural ceremony. Lets talk about five inaugural addresses. I want to go back to 1933. Franklin d. Roosevelt. Set the stage for his remarks and why we are still talking about that speech today. Just about every president says i want an inaugural address like roosevelts in 1933 and pretty hard because roosevelt was coming in at a moment the banks were in big trouble, were closing. The country was in great depression. They were looking to this president , you know, to fix the problem quickly. And Eleanor Roosevelt said of that day, it was almost terrifying because you had the sense that whatever franklin told the members of congress to do and the people, they would do. Not an experience that most president s have. So roosevelt had to essentially tell people who had lost hope over the previous four years because of the depression, huge unemployment, that there was reason not only to hope but not to have fear. So he says the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. If you deconstruct that, there were a lot of things to be afraid of in 1933, but so selfconfident was he, so great was the rhetoric, that it gave people a lot of hope. What makes a good speech . What do you look for . I think above all it is that you have the sense that youre actually listening to the president , that it is his voice that hes talking about. The deepest most important things he wants to do as president. And not always does a new president follow that rule because oftentimes theyll say, gee, i have to measure up to fdr or to lincolns second inaugural or some of the greats so they hire speechwriters who write speeches that dont sound like them. For instance, Richard Nixon in 1969. I dont know this but he had to have told his speechwriters, i want this to be as great as john kennedy, his great rival, his inaugural address in 1961. And the result is that that speech was almost an imitation of the speech that kennedy had given. Didnt sound like nixon, sounded like someone who was trying to intimidate. What about Abraham Lincolns second inaugural address . A speech we talk about a century and a half later. We do. It was a sublime a statement of what was deep and important to lincoln as you could get saying with malice toward none, with charity for all. He was talking about the way he wanted to end the civil war which was coming very quickly and also the idea of reconstruction that he had for the south. And when Franklin Roosevelt was sworn in, it was march of 1933. Right. That changed after that. Why . That changed because roosevelt rightfully said and the koccongress said why do we e this long period from a president ial election to november you have all those months in which you got a lame duck president not to be able to do very much and the country sort of in limbo. So the result was that they moved the inauguration up and you can do this in a way that you couldnt in the 18th century because you had modern communications and transportation. So you didnt need all those months to get to a new administration. The downside is that these inaugurations that were in march usually it was springtime and in washington it was rather pleasant. Now oftentimes the 20th of january, meteorologically, is sort of a horror show and its not been great for those who attend oftentimes. The second of the five speeches, john f. Kennedy, 1961. That was something that kennedy had the close help of a speechwriter, theodore sorensen, but a lot of it he did himself. And what it was, it was a statement of kennedys feelings at that point which were essentially i was elected by a very narrow margin, 100,000 popular votes, ive got to unify this country, im a minority president. So he thought, whats the way i can unify the country . Its not to talk about domestic things because people have big differences over civil rights and labor, taxes, minimum wage. But on foreign policy, a vast majority agreed so he said lets do a speech that is almost 100 on foreign policy, and the result is that hes giving a statement of what americas purpose was in the world and even more specifically, in the cold war in 1961 did the trick. Republicans said that was a great speech. It gave kennedy instant stature that he did not have before. And, of course, the weather that day cold and snowy. Very cold and enormous snow, but as it turned out, that sort of added to the legendary sense of the day because people had to sort of dig their way out to get to the capital and there were some great metaphors there. Lets talk about three more recent inaugurations. For the first time in history the inauguration moved to the west front of the capitol in 1981. Ronald reagan sworn in as 40th president. You had a sitting president who was up until that day trying to release those hostages in iran. Thats right and they moved it to the west because you can get more people on the west side of the capitol, more open vista. And reagan said, i think he was expressing the views of a lot of people, better to have it on the west side of the capitol where the new president is looking westward toward the American People all the way to the west coast, rather than the east side which is the opposite of that and reagan made use of that in that speech. In 2001 george w. Bush, one of the most divisive elections in American History, won because of the bush v. Gore decision. So what was his mantra, what was his Mission Getting ready for that speech . He a little bit was like sort of kennedy in 1961 plus. You know, kennedy had this narrow margin. George bush had a margin of 537 votes in florida. And the Supreme Court. He knew that he had to unify a country much of which was very skeptical about him. And the speech was very effective. Barack obama is not only president but also an author and his own speechwriter. What do you think he was thinking when he took the office eight years ago . I think, and i think theres some evidence of this, too, he wanted to give a good speech but at the same time, you know, obama was almost the opposite of many president s who were trying to impress people with their oratory. Obama was elected with a huge help of his famous 2004 Democratic Convention speech which brought him to national attention. Other speeches during the campaign which had added to his standing. And so i think to some extent, obama was shrinking back and saying, i dont want a speech with huge rhetoric that looks as if im trying to be kennedy or trying to be fdr. I dont want people to say that im nothing but an orator. The result is is that its a fine speech but if you had to remember phrases and slogans from it, pretty hard. Let me go to the larger issue. You touched on this with Richard Nixon. How do you deliver a speech that is in your own voice but also looking back at what past president s have done in what we remember today . Well, one thing is that it really helps if you have a president who has a sense of history and, you know, youd expect me to say this, steve, but im not saying this just to keep historians employed. You know, i think the best president s are people who have, you know, not know every name or date, but have some understanding of what has worked in hit astory for president s an what has not. If you were becoming president and you dont know, you know, about lincoln and the civil war in some detail or the experience that john kennedy had or George Washington, youre missing sort of in way certain elements of a users manual for the presidency because any new president while writing a speech or beginning to serve as president in the white house is dealing with all sorts of mystifying problems with fragmentary information, hes often tired, theres time pressure and one of the things that can give you some insight is to know in what cases in history, what made president s succeed and what made them fail. Youll never have an exact parallel but at least it does give you some context. I think in terms of inaugural addresses, great addresses, ones youve mentioned, i would agree with you on the ones youre thinking of, those are all of people who actually knew a lot about history. Jouf had a chance to sit down with current and former president s, without revealing any confidential advice or questions that theyve asked you, what do you think goes through their mind when theyre talking with historians about how they view their place in American History . Well, they will all say we know that the way history works is we cant really influence historians and the process has to unfold. Some of them are not quite as sanguine about how their historical reputation will form as that might suggest. But i think, again, the great president s are people who are not too concerned about history, but not too unconcerned. And by too concerned, i mean, you know, doing things with the idea that this might impress some historian a ye50 years fro now. At the same time, you want a president who is concerned about history because oftentimes a decision has to be made thats going to be unpopular at the moment, but great for the country a half century later. I want to go back to the lincoln speech. If you had the chance to ask a question to Abraham Lincoln about that speech, how he prepared that speech, as a historian, as an author, have you thought about a question youd ask him . Yeah, i think what i would ask is how were you able to write that speech with all of its literary and even biblical references, historical references, on the basis of probably less than a year and a half of formal education in your whole life . The answer, he would be too immodest to say this, but it goes to the most basic part of american idea which is you dont need to have a fancy education to be a great leader. You dont have to, you know, come from some, you know, some family that was rich or some other predictable part of the country. Abraham lincoln who had lost his mother when he was 6, had a not great relationship with his father, came from a poor family, did not have a formal education yet, this brilliant, curious young mind made sure largely on his own that he read the bible, that he read shakespeare, that he read military history all of which proved to be very important to him as president and especially when he was given a speech like that. There are a couple of traditions that will unfold on Inauguration Day. I want to share some of the stories that you have heard over the years. Begin with the coffee. Because the president elect departs blair house and goes across the street to meet the outgoing president and the first family and what has happened over the years and what to expect this year . This is a day, at its best, civility and harmony especially when you is a new president ial family that may not necessarily get along with the old president ial family. And sometimes that breaks down. 1953, harry truman was the outgoing president. Dwight eisenhower was coming in. They had been close until the campaign of 52 that to some extent pitted them against each other and there was a feud there and eisenhower was very resentful at trumans criticism of him during that campaign. So truman is inside of the blue room, think it was, with mrs. Truman waiting for the eisenhowers to come in for coffee and no one is coming in and he said find out whats going on and the eisenhowers had driven up the north portico but they werent getting out of the car and werent getting out of the car because at that moment, eisenhower was so angry at truman. What about the ride up pennsylvania avenue . That oftentimes can be awkward, too, in a situation like that. Roosevelt and hoover in 1933 had run against each other. They were not dear friends, to. Put it mildly. And hoover was silent. He was depressed. Depressed. He did not like roosevelt. And roosevelt said later he kept on trying to start a conversation with hoover and finally they saw a building being built along the route, and roosevelt said Something Like, isnt that nice steel . And hoover was still pretty silent so roosevelt gave up. One of the Better Stories from my point of view is in 1981, reagan and carter had run against each other but they were a little bit more amicable between them and carter was understandably during this ride, as you were mentioning, he was trying to get reports on whether the american hostages had yet been released in tehran and otherwise he was a little bit distracted so reagan in his usual manner tried to warm up the atmosphere by telling old stories of hollywood and hollywood moguls like jack warner of Warner Brothers and so went up to the side of the capitol, carter gets out and talked to one of his aides and the aide said, how did the ride with reagan go . Carter said, ride was fine, but who is this jack warner he keeps on talking about . Didnt work. Theres also a relatively new tradition of the outgoing president leaving a letter for the incoming president. Last year we saw the letter that George Herbert walker bush left bill clinton. What are your thoughts about that . Thats pretty much a Ronald Reagan development who left a note for his successor, george h. W. Bush. I believe it was on a piece of paper that said, you know, dont let the turkeys get you down or Something Like that. You know, classic reagan. Loved to write letters. He was close to bush. And the credit goes to george h. W. Bush for turning this into a tradition by writing this absolutely lovely letter to bill clinton essentially saying you and i ran against each other, he told him this in person, too, was a tough campaign but you dont have to worry about me, im not going to go out there criticizing you. He says in that letter, remember, i will be rooting for you. Has the transition process improved over the last couple president ial transitions, from your standpoint . Absolutely. Because there was no apparatus or process and the result was you could oftentimes have a new president even at the time of the cold war coming in and looking for National Security documents that he needed to deal with the soviet union and the drawers had been cleaned out. And so the result is there are now procedures, theres now a budget, you know, a newly elected a president elect gets money for staff. Its a much bigger operation, much smoother. Even better, you know, in the last couple of transitions, there have been these National Security exercises where the aides to a new president , sometimes the new president incoming president , himself, will go to the west wing and their predecessors will tell them what to do if theres a National Security crisis. Especially, god forbid, if that happens an hour after you were inaugurated. Have you done research on the bibles used over the years or the significance of the bible that the president will use for his ceremony . Thats something that, you know, again, i was saying about how the parades will tell you a lot about a new president. I think the bibles will, too. And donald trump, for instance, its been reported is going to be using a family bible. Oftentimes you will have a president who chooses a historical bible. I seem to remember, i hope im getting this right, that barack obama used a lincoln bible which showed his reverence for Abraham Lincoln. And mike pence will be using reagans bible. Indeed. So dismissing any suspense over who his political hero is. As you look at the role of former president s, we will now have to have a younger, former expreside expresident , so whats next for him . Well, hopefully, hes got a long life of decades in which he can continue to serve the country and thats sort of an emblem of what i think were going to see in the future because you know, oftentimes, people live longer these days and you have president s former president s, who have a much longer career as an e expresident. Jimmy carter became an expresident in 1981. Here we are what, 36 years later and fortunately, he is still going strong and so, that is why youve seen this development of almost an office of an expresident where they have centers and they decide what theyre going to do with their lives. That wasnt try of eisenhower, who was 70 when he left and truman had not been ill particularly, but asouped he would be in retirement. Why your interest in the presidency . This is a story. When i was 8 years old, i grew up in illinois. My family took me to the lincoln sites in springfield and i was shown the chair that lincoln sat in when he read to his children and i asked the guide, i was 8 years old you know, when lincolns sons didnt bewell, what did he do, did spank them. I remember the guide said no, lincoln didnt believe in discipline. Can you believe he let those brats run wild in this house . I heard that hnd he was my man. I began reading about him and other president s and got fascinated. You will be watching this ceremony from the Vantage Point of nbc, but what should the American People expect on friday . They should expect the new president to give a speech that heals and unifies. Thats what we should expect of every new president on Inauguration Day because if you think about it, most, many or most of the things that a president does are political. A president is asking for certain programs. Endorsing certain candidate, those things inevitably divide. Thats true of a state of the union. New president s coming in saying to congress, these are all the things that i want you to do. Some things youll agree with, some you will not. But the idea of Inauguration Day is not a new president sets aside you know whark he believes in and issues of perhaps not everyone will agree with, but gives a sense that he recognizes that he is as johnson used to say, president of all the people. He doesnt get many chances and this is probably the most important one. Michael beschloss, as always, thank you for your time. Great to see you, steve. The president ial inauguration of donald trump is friday, cspan will have live coverage of all the days events and ceremonies. Watch live on cspan and cspan. Org and listen live on the free cspan radio app. This weekend, cspans cities tour along with our Comcast Cable partners will explore the history of harrisburg, pennsylvania on book tv on cspan 2, paul cahon talks about the life of one of pennsylvanias most prominent political figures of the 19th century. People talk about the age of andrew jackson, but in many ways, they should talk about the age of simon cameron, so this is a man whose political skills were undeniable and a man who built a political machine that lasted far beyond any of those constructed by his contemporaries. Then on American History tv on cspan 3, visit the site of the 1839 Whig Convention with the story in Howard Parker as he explains the back room deals and trickery that led to William Henry harrison becoming the candidate. What makes this convention so special, it was the first time that there was more than one candidate being put forward for the nomination of the presidency of the united states. And jason wilson takes us on a tour of the house, senate and Supreme Court chambers of the states capitol. The time when this capitol was built. Theres only about a 15 to 20year period where a capitol like the this would have been built in the commonwealth of pennsylvania. Thats 1890 to 1910. We still call it pennsylvanias palace of art because we were at height of industry, capitalism. The cspan cities tour. Saturday at noon eastern on cspan 2s book tv and sunday afternoon at 2 00 on American History tv on cspan 3. Work wg our cable affiliates and visiting cities across the country. The Supreme Court heard oral arlgt in a case that could decide what level of support Public Schools are required to give students with disabilities. The parents of an autistic child say their sons Public School education did not go