Transcripts For CSPAN3 Tom Brokaw On The Legacy Of The Greatest Generation 20151220

President nixons opening of china. This was hosted by friends of the National World war ii memorial. Ladies and gentlemen, my name is josiah bunting. I am with the friends of the National World war ii memorial. It is a wonderful privilege and pleasure to welcome all of you here this morning, at a time in our National History which we commemorate with great feeling. My mission this morning is to introduce our introducer [laughter] josiah if you will give me just George Marshall had a friendship through the douglas freeman. Freeman was recognized then, and probably still is, as our foremost historian of the civil war. He wrote a great biography of general washington and general lees lieutenants. Atkinson, who it is my pleasure to injured deuce, is the foremost historian of the Second World War, and his stature among those who write or read history is approximately as douglas that freeman, for those of you who civil war students. He is a member of the friends board. It is an honor to introduce him and welcome him to this stage, rick atkinson, who will introduce tom brokaw. Rick . [applause] thanks. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Legacy lecture is sponsored by the friends of the National World war ii memorial. , committed toofit building on the National Mall a place of remembrance which honored the american spirit during the war. Friends is committed to preserving the legacy, lessons, the National Memory of world war ii, and one way to do that is through an annual lecture named for ambassador hayden williams, which commemorates the enduring significance of the war in our country and in the world. And that brings us to this morning speaker. 17 years ago, in 1998, tim , andw wrote his first book it became one of the most popular books published in the 20th century. Has greatest generation become part of our national vocabulary. Paybook and the phrase homage to our grandfathers, grandmothers, perhaps more effectively than any gesture by an american since world war ii ended 70 years ago. He has given us a vocabulary to help us understand our Great National narrative, and for that, last year, president obama gave him something the medal of freedom, the highest civilian award our country can this dough. Famously from south dakota, tom has spent his entire journalism century,lmost half a with nbc news. In the los angeles bureau, as White House Correspondent, on the today show, as anchor and managing editor of nbc nightly press, int the various incarnations, as correspondent on more than 30 documentaries. We were together in normandy for the anniversary of dday, and it was amazing to see this workhorse added from before dawn sun went after the down, remembering folks back home the first duty is to remember. Journalists has recognized tom as a pillar of integrity, intelligence, and authenticity. He may be not only the most trusted man in television, but the only public figure that all americans trust. He has written six more books since the greatest generation. Award his every major craft and bistro. The australian journalist also a white the australian said the living owe to the dead a trust. That trust itt than the man who is about to speak to you. It is my pleasure to introduce to you tom brokaw. Too generous. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you all very much. Thank you. Thank you all very much. If there is an oxymoron in American Life it is humble you,rman, but i must tell these occasions truly make me humble. One of the many, many dividends of writing this book and getting to know that generation so well is i then had a shared interest with my friend, our preeminent wentary historian, and it the on our professional interest. We have become deeply, deeply personal friends. And rick has never stopped. What is left . The revolutionary war. He is up in canada, with walking through the various steps of the revolutionary war, and frankly, i cant wait to see that as well. I do want to take a moment to say one of the first people that i thought i would write about was our guest here today, and that is my dear friend bob dole. I always look for an opportunity to give him one more round of applause. [applause] tom there are so many dimensions to my story and the greatest generation, and they keep on coming. , andf my very favorites man who lives not too far from here by the name of lefty cray you will know who he is. He is the greatest fly fishermen in the history of the sport, now about to be 91 years of age. He came out of very poor circumstances in maryland, went to the battle of the bulge, all the way to the elbow where they met the russians. , in we were fishing one day learned not to ask for detail about that. I said, do you want to talk about the bulge . He said, i really dont. I just tell you, i wake up every icicle onth a large my fanny because the foxhole had covered up with water. But ive been waiting to tell you a story. There were cousins from georgia. They were seventh grade dropouts. They could see through the night and run like a rabbit and shoot anything without even looking at it. They were two at our best warriors. But they were pretty unsophisticated, until we overheard this conversation between the two of them. The night we were moving out, we knew we were in for a tough time. One of them said to the other 1 of thatet yourself any Life Insurance we are to get. The guy said, i did. I got me 5,000 worth of Life Insurance. How much did you get . The other good old boy says, i got me 10,000 worth of Life Insurance. The 5,000 guy said, why would you do that . Youre not going to be around to enjoy it. Guy said, dummy, think about it. Who are they going to put on the front lines, the guy they have to pay 5,000 to or the guy they have to pay 10,000 do . [laughter] is implemented of that generation as well. I was born in 1940. Right before the war began. I was born to parents who had survived the depression, just barely. My dad was effectively put out on the street when he was 10 years of age, raised by a swedish immigrant, talk to drive a team of horses, and then he turned out to be kind of a mechanical genius, so he could always get a job operating a e, asult or a big lath they called them in those days, and he could put things together. My mother was at the opposite end of the scale. She graduated from high school at 16. She was the prettiest girl in four counties. Came from this very nuclear irish family. Wanted to go to college and be a journalist. But because it was the depression and it cost 100 a year, there was no way. My father always had a great eye for the long haul and he knew my mother was going to be the perfect partner for one. O, they got married and to that kind of the depression. They saved their money. They thought about what they wanted when the depression was over. They went through the sacrifices of that time. They kept their eye on the world. The in 19 40 i was born and war came. My dad he was a little bit older at that point wanted to be a cb, but he wanted to arrange it for his family, so we moved to a base in southwestern south dakota that has been long gone. It was an ordinance decpot. They would ship up to the southwestern corner of the state. It was all rental snakes and sagebrush, andnd the homes were not really homes. They were 20 by 30, i think, at that point. So, we moved into one of them when i was three years old. My brothers were starting to come along. And the whole base was built around us. And everybody i knew was going to war or coming home from war. And the whole base was involved in it. My dad then went to enlist in ees, and the commander of the base called him back because they could not operate the base without him. He could fix everything that was broken. He could get everything done. We were in the fortunate position of having my father. Ome that is typical of that generation as well. Not everybody was on the front lines. Only a small fraction were, but everybody had a role. Farmers grew more food. I was very conscious of the fact we did not have candy in the house as a youngster and could not by choice, so my dad and his medies would make toys for and for my brothers as well and for everybody around us, and knowing to war, coming home from war. Every member the excitement of a High School Boy when he graduated, and he wanted to go right away and he did. Ive often wondered what happened to him. Helmet every day. I fought the germans in the ditches up and down the streets where i was. My grandfather was far too old to go to work, but was an avid subscriber to Time Magazine because they had really good maps. He would show me on the maps where we were and what we were up to. In the war came to a close and our family, and millions of others, who had gone through the depression and gone through the , at time of extraordinary circumstances and sacrifice in their lives, then had unveiled to them the greatest opportunity any society had ever had before. We were the victor, and not only we were the victor, but we have the g. I. Bill. People being trained to be teachers and engineers. And the pentup appetite for projects. We moved to the middle of south place, to the most barren you can possibly imagine, part of an indian reservation. There was not a stick of a building where we were moving to , and they were going to build the largest dam in the world for hydroelectric purposes. My dad was out there and he said, they are going to build a town here and it will house 3000 people. I thought, thats not possible. Within two years, they had done that. It was the cando spirit that came out of the war. He built this beautiful, state of the art town. Stateoftheart high school, the First Shopping Center in south dakota and a hospital, and a hotel, and good housing for everyone. Love going into a house that was a duplex and those of you who have been on an army base and know what it looked like. It was the greatest house my parents had ever been in. We had been living in lakeside cabins and tiny little cracker boxes everywhere. Everybody who came back from the war moved into that kind of housing. And they built this dam in record time, about eight years. It was an extraordinary development. I was the beneficiary of all of this, because all of the veterans who came back and we did not know who served in what branch. They were paying attention to the future. They were the american legion, the veterans of foreign wars. They sponsored boy scout troops, they built a ballpark for us. They were there for whatever the town needed. So i grew up in that culture of that generation and their cando spirit, without fully appreciating what it meant. Life turned out pretty well for me. Dam that to another big was going on. I had High School Coaches that turned out. One of them had been in the battle of the bulge. Whoorts writer in town wrote of the accomplishments on the field had done aerial reconnaissance on the beaches of normandy. We did not know that. I was telling rick, there is a series in the hometown newspaper about the National Guard that was activated early and a number of them died, or they were sent to japanese prisoner of war camps. Their names are familiar to me. I did not know that. I was too busy taking advantage of all of the new opportunities that the greatest generation were providing for me. First my family to go to college. That in my family to think maybe i can have a much better life than the working class life in south dakota, even though the. Alues were great i had a big appetite for other things. I wanted bright lights, big city. That was all going to be possible. And then of course, broadcast journalism was just coming of age. I caught the right wave. I had certain skills that matched with it. I made my way through the ranks of nbc. On the 40th anniversary of dday, i wanted to do a report on that, a documentary on the the beaches. From i was training for a marathon. I thought, i will run through the hills of normandy. I walked down to the beach the first day, omaha beach, and we arrangedge we had for two veterans who arrived with the first wave to be with us. One of them lost his legs later in the war. I looked at them. Oh, my god, these are the people that have raised me. These of the people i have known all my life. First of all, they were small. If you look back on the induction ceremonies of world war ii, so many of the inductees look malnourished. The ribs are sticking out. Bob about this in a couple of other people from kansas, and they also the same thing. How did they train . What do you remember about basic training . My god, the meals we had. I could not believe it. I had a new era boots. I had never had a new of roots before. I did not have handmedown trousers. There was this feeling, i always thought, they did that the depression prepared them for the sacrifices they were about to encounter. As i looked at these two have from the two men first division, i look to their wives. They were wearing plastic just like my mother would. And they were clutching their purses. I thought, thats it we are. These are everybody in america in her own way. I was back to a smaller cafe to have lunch. There, an old man came over to me. I knew who he was immediately. He said, sam given, congressman from florida. I said, i know who you are, congressman. What are you doing . He pulled out a small grass clipper, clicked it a couple times. He said, i was here 40 years ago. I said, do you want to tell me what happened . And he started to tell me how he ,ot separated from his outfit for guys andother his lieutenant. He said, i spoke spanish, but that did not get me very far in the north of france. [laughter] the he said, without invasion failed. He jumped in with two cans of schlitz. They took a break and had their schlitz. When they came back, the cans were gone, they knew the german said probably come there, and then they got ambushed. The other lieutenant got killed. As he was telling me this story, tears were streaming down his face and his wife came over and said, i have never heard any of this. I had no idea. They had been married a long time. Well, i came back from that initial experience, and i thought, my god. Im supposed to be a journalist. What have i missed here. What have i missed here . I spent the next 20 years piecing together those kinds of stories. And i could quiet any audience and they would get together afterward and say, i remember my dad. He had his uniform way at the back of his closet. They went through the war on training wheels, first north wasca all the way, and he in the original mash unit. He moved with the troops constantly, operating all day, every day, dramatic surgery on people his age. Never a p e from him. Peep from him. Putting together the stories, thinking there is something we have missed in this country about this generation and what they mean to us. So i used, for the first time, the phrase the greatest generation. Came over to me and said, what are you going to do with that . He said, if you dont write a book, i will. So you better get on it right now. I went to random house. I was working on another project. They said, stop that. Do this. This is how publishing works. And even my family. People challenge me, i said look, that is my story and im sticking to it, i dont care what you think. There was a little resistance at random house and even meredith said to me, god, is that going too far, and i now say it is the one piece of bad advice she gave thatd 53 years of marriage was going too far. I had no idea it would take hold did, that would become part of the language, wouldhe New York Times not put it in quotes anymore. They just use it routinely and so does everyone else. Im flattered by that enormously. I will give you these three people and i will share with you what i think are the larger level the larger lessons. These three people represent the whole of america. One of them died recently. His name was john whitehead. He was the former head of goldman sachs. A quakerhad gone to college, testified on behalf of of some of his classmates who were pos even though he was not. They gave him a 30day course on how to be a quartermaster on a ship to rid they sent him off to the north of the British Isles where he was the lowest ranking officer they had. But they had this new little boat everybody was getting and he had been a sailor and he was really good at it, going around the harbor and trading. And then doing that kind of thing. Then one day he was called up by his ships captain, who he had never met. He said, youre pretty good with that. He said, i have been around the sea a lot. He said, we have an operation coming up. The guy who was going to be in charge of that has gone home. So you will be in charge. He did not tell him what the operation would be. Of course, it was dday. Five days later, john is getting briefed. He is told exactly where he is supposed to land on omaha beach. He is going to lead a convoy of and land there those are your orders. So, as they start to offload the they pulled the higgins ship so theyhe could lower them were safely, lower than with everybody in. He is watching with binoculars. Isstarts in, and there terrible chaos there on the first wave. And he looks at their landing spot through the binoculars, and its a terrible place. He sees the bad current. There is a rocky beach. He says, if we land there, we will be sitting fishes. But i was under strict orders. Only 20 years old. I was about to disobey my superiors. Said,thin 20 seconds, he hard starboard, we are going 300 yards down the beach. And we landed and we had a very successful landing. We got everybody off onto the beach, and that i backed off, went back up the ship, and the irony was, three hours after landing, i am being served a wonderful warm meal with women in the officers quarters by stewards who are all africanamerican. They knew much more about the navy than i did. I asked permission to take another boat in, and by the end of the day, i got that, and i stood there on that beach i would not want to be anywhere else than that day, making that decision. Being part of that change the rest of my life. He became extraordinary successful. And because we were working with the mujahedin in those days and the russians were afghanistan they said would you like to go on a raid with us tonight . We are going to raid a russian outpost. Would have done that if i had not landed on dday. [laughter] tom when he first became a he was there with his wife, and it was the time of the guerriero lucian. They said, john, you have to go back and get everything you can. John did a uturn. He went to morocco. He said, i need a plane and no questions. We need to fly a load of contraband into europe to get the hunt aryans what they need. And they did and got away with ungarians get the h what they need. And they did and they got away with it. So, that is one story. There are so many other stories i could have picked. One of them was a man second ranger battalion. He went back, to got the 88 the was trained on utah beach, and he said, we were so overtrained, when i came back from that, my buddies were down on the ground, caked in blood and dirt, and i believed they were dead. I kicked them. I said, get up. We have a war to win here. That came, that became for him the Guiding Light of the rest of the fight. So, he was another guy i could not get to talk about the tough days. On the 60th anniversary of dday, i got but to come back, world war ii medal of honor recipient rick knows very well. He landed in italy as well. And then of all people, andy rooney was also there. Stars andked for stripes. He showed up not long after dday. Andy rooney is one of those who would always take, would always say to me i dontng andy rooney] know, brokaw, idle think we were the greatest generation. I said, i will tell you what, andy. I will put an asterisk next to your name in the book and i will say he was not part of the greatest generation. So, on the 20th anniversary he thought, im a success. Ive got enough money. Were going to go to paris, going to go to normandy, im going to show charlotte what i did. She bought a new outfit. He bought a new black suits. They got on the plane, they got on the train, they rode up to normandy, and the first taxi they saw, they said, do you know the way . He said, of course. Were you there . He said, yes. He said, it will be my pleasure to take you there. , and he saidk charlotte, you can be the first ranger wife to go off this. We will rappel off, i will show you how to do that right now. She is in high heels. H, they rappel off they get to the bottom of the cliff. And a squall comes up and the channel, as it often does, and they cant get back up, because the rope is all clay and slippery, and they are clawing their way up the cliff, caked in all of this clay. The taxi driver thinks he has just killed two euros of normandy beach. Nd he says, oh, my god they get in the car. The go back to the hotel. In their the stuff comes out, takes one look at them, they said, everything is on us. We will get these clothes cleaned. You will stay in the suite for the next five days. And that is how bud lived the rest of his life. It taught him everything he needed to know about being a father, a lawyer, a husband, and being a friend. I was honored at one point with highest award,e and Walter Cronkite and he were the only two to get it. General petraeus, p dawkins was there. There were a number who came that day. We headed out in the middle of the mess hall without telling anybody. So, i said, when i stood up, i know you are all looking at all of these guys with all of the stars on their shoulders, but theres somebody i really want the cadets to meet. He is sitting out amongst you. Rangerin the second battalion on dday. He was the first guy or among the first to take out the 88. Ladies and gentlemen, give it up amell. Bba mel bud l so crazy, mynt wife turned to me and said, the ceiling is going to come down here in a moment. [laughter] tom and finally a little woman by the name of martha putney. She was raised in pennsylvania. Africanamerican, very poor. She had a big ambition. Family was aghast, she went to work for republican congressional candidate because the deal was, if he won, he would help her get out of there. Went toid win, and she college, and she could see the war was coming, and she said, i knew that would be a big change in america, and i wanted to be part of it. So she became a wac, and she went to des moines where she worked and nurses training and other things, a deeplysegregated based in des moines, iowa. Could use thes Swimming Pool anytime they wanted to. Acs couldnamerican w use it one morning, once a week. She led a movement to change that. She had to ride the train. , thee way back from texas conductor came to her and said, what are you doing here . It to the back of the train. There is a place back there for you people. She said, i wont move. Im an officer in the United States army. He said, if you wont move, we will throw you off the train. And she would not move. And two white sergeants came up and saluted her and turned to the conductor and said, this is an officer in the United States army. You cant treat her that way. So, she stayed and then she came , gotto washington, d. C. Her doctorate in history, and professor ofnured history at Howard University and was revered by anyone who was ever a student of hers. When she died, they have the ceremony at arlington. Colin powell i got powell to come out and talk about what africanamericans had to go through in those days, which is too often whitewashed when we talk about the greatest generation. Conclusions i the have come to that i will spend a fair amount of time talking about. I believe based on their experience the depression and the war and then the postwar pe riod that they were the authors of the big ideas. Think about it. Think about how we prepare to get ready for world war ii. 1939, we were the 16th military power in the world. I have to be careful. Rick knows these numbers better than i do. , ase is a lot of resistance you know, in this country about getting involved in that war. But then we did. And when we did get involved, for the wartopped effort. In detroit they were not turning out cars. They were turning out trucks and tanks. In bowling, engineers were so desperately to develop the b29. At night sometimes they left notes for the machinists, and these country boys would read notes for parts that they needed to build b29. All of the food was going to the troops and there were rations here at home. Everybody turned to the idea we were going to win this if we are all involved from the ground up and the top down. And its a big ideas to make that happen. Obviously, the development of the atomic bomb was critical in ending the war with japan, but at the same time, congress did pass the g. I. Bill. This was the most transformational piece of Domestic Legislation in this country up to that point. And so, young men and women who came back from service, many of whom were not Just High School dropouts, some of them were junior high dropouts, had a chance to go do something with their life. One of my favorite favorite characters in the greatest was a man named Gordon Larsen. He lived in our town. He was a whiz with fixing your furnace. He could just do it. He always had a pocket full of 20 rolls. Havinglooked forward to her around. He had a great sense of humor. My mother worked in the post office. One morning after halloween, gordon came in, complaining mildly about the behavior of the High School Kids the neck before. Said, oh, come on, gordon, what were you doing when youre 17 . He looked at her and he said, i was landing on what can now on quite a canal on guadacanal, and he walked out. Everther was my favorite because she shared these stories to me. I never forgot that story. When i came to write the greatest generation, i ask, where do you think Gordon Larsen is . She found him. Me, and number to call he called me back. I said, gordon, i am writing a story about world war ii. I remember you saying to my mother that you are 17 at guadacanal. Long pause. He said, ive never talked about this. I said, i think its important i think history and its important for history and your family to talk about it. We got into a conversation. There was another long pause. I said, gordon, are you ok . He said, i just realized im paying for this phone call. [laughter] tom that, too, was typical of that generation. He had a brother who died when he was hit by a japanese sniper. They cannot rescue him. Rifleman. N a dar he had a canteen shot off his hip, the only time he was wounded all the way through the pacific through okinawa. Came back a changed young man. He was a wild kid. He went in when he was 16, lying about his age. He went through one of the g. I. Programs and he had a good life. He was a technician on Heating Plumbing and air conditioning units and he was a marine through and through, upause we lived a lot of us, and down the indian reservations, and the Larsen Family was always known for taking in young indian boys having a hard time and making sure they had a good life. , thehat experience depression, the war, the good life resonated with gordon and everyone else like him. After the war, what happens . George marshall has a good idea. We are going to rebuild europe. Theyre not going to be our enemies. We are going to stop that. They are going to be our allies. That was a big idea. The first veteran of the war to become president of the United States was john f. Kennedy, and one of the first things he said was were going to go to the moon before the end of this decade, the 1960s. That unleashed science and technology. It jumpstarted what we needed for the future of america. That was a big idea. A lot of africanamericans came home from the war and rightly said, you will not be treated as second or third class citizens , and their instrument a small man, great student by the name of dr. Martin luther king. First in the streets of alabama and then throughout the south, he had a big idea that we could change americas mind about racism by having two underlying principles. Nonviolence and trust in the rule of law. I was in the south in the 1960s. I cant tell you what it was like. We know what happened in selma or month summary or birmingham. But these battles were going on across the south in small and large towns. You would go down and they would come to those towns and demonstrate for their rights. I remember vividly the tiny town of about 25 miles due east of alanna atlantic, when they were under Court Instruction to integrate their schools. So the School Decision was to transfer the white kids on a school bus and leave the black kids behind. The morning it was to happen, i was there with a camera crew. One of the photographers from the ap. One of the black kids started to go on the school bus to go to the next county, and out of the woods came the Pitch Perfect description of redneck guys with toughened and they started pulling these young ,lack kids out of the bus throwing them against a tree, kicking them across the lawns. We are trying to stay as invisible as possible. They will find us and turn on us. The black kids would go down in try to getition and up and get on the bus again. That played on the evening news and 100 times more. And so the rest of the country was seeing it on Network Television and that was the beginning of the awakening of we have to do something about race in america. That was a big idea. Ruleolent and trust in the of law. We have not worked our way out of racism, quite obviously. There was a thing again this week, but think how much worse it would have been if we had not started then with the Voting Rights bill and the civil rights bill and the trust in the rule of law . That was a big idea. Richard nixon, a veteran of world war ii, in the pacific, had a great global view. He had some other ideas that were not so good for the country, quite obviously, but when he took office, one of the first things he thought about doing was opening relations with china. You must remember the sympathy toward china, especially in his own party, was deep and broad. China was a blank space on the a crazedy mao, communist. Nixon understood if we had russia as an enemy, one way to triangulate that was to develop in a relationship with china. And he caught the wave, because it was the final days of maos life, and Henry Kissinger was and extort nearly skilled diplomat and putting all of that together. And nixon said in one of the reports in his office did not get him indicted, some people will think that i did that because we have shared values. The next big idea is that while Reagan Ronald reagan says we may have to bring down the soviet union by military means if necessary. Of time, and the changes we go through in russia, the persuasion of james baker and into reagan and george withtz, he could see gorbachev there was a way to do this in an inane, hostile fashion. War in the history of mankind, two Nuclear Powers pointing at each other, was ended without a shot being fired. That was a big idea. I was reported during all of that time. I was born in 1940. In the draft of the 60s. There were antiwar riots. I have mixed feelings. I would put on bellbottoms, trousers, my friends would go to the renaissance fair. A monday morning, i be in a coat and tie and covering ronald reagan. Move back and forward. The 60s did something that has not done enough attention. It introduced an era of tolerance in america, especially gender tolerance. Women began to emerge in the 60s. I believe as a result of what began then and whats going on century,he end of this we will look back and say, thats a big idea, and the 21st century will be the century of women. Place inl be taking every activity of can imagine. They are already. The ceo of general motors, she is the best car guy ive ever seen. She knows more about it than the old white guys running it before. The head of ibm is a woman. Half the Ivy League Campuses are run by women. Half the Law School Classes are enrolled with women. Theres a woman running for president , as she did the last time around. Theres enormous change going on. As Warren Buffett says, if we done this well with half the brainpower, think what we will do with twice the brainpower. [laughter] tom whats the next big idea . The next idea comes out of silicon valley. The most Transformative Technology in the history of mankind affects everything that we do, how we communicate, how do commerce, how we do research, how we fight war. Every thing is affected by this new technology. I have become a casual student. I walked down the street in new york and counted how many people were talking to each other and how many were on their iphones. 12 were on the iphones. Was talking to each other. It has taken hold in a way no one couldve anticipated. People thought putting a computer on every desk would be the beginning of something external. This is just the beginning. Heres what we know about silicon valley. Everything they do is what they. Ll, disruptive show you a new way to do something and cut about something you had not thought about. The apple watch is one thing. This is a big idea. Be disruptive. If you apply it to the rest of the political and social environment, what are the opportunities . Iteel very strongly that immoral it is immoral freedom aquatic public to have less than of its public in uniform. These men and women who come or in bodytered bags. Was at the Ranger Foundation i was meeting guys from afghanistan, who had gone on a iraq on five or six tours. I was at cowboys stadium to give an award to an rotc cadet who lost a leg in afghanistan from an ied. He was with his wife and his new baby. I thought about his wife. I thought, i hope its going to be ok. No one else in the immediate vicinity had served their country. Im working very hard with Arizona State to develop a new program of Public Service. The millennials feel disconnected from the country. They are uncertain about governance. They dont know about the corporations. Idea to introduce that generation to their country and make them part of it. This idea came to me while i was in iraq and afghanistan. I would go in with the special forces or the rangers. Same thing would happen every time. Warriors who wanted to build a medical facility or a school or repair the power system had to go in and shake down all the pickup trucks to make sure they did not have weapons. They wouldmets be in helmets, kevlar vests. They did not look like the welcome wagon. Talked to a villager, they said the same thing, we dont need more people with guns telling us how to live our lives. At some point, we need to put the other face of america on this war. This is a cultural war. We need to show them there are other ways we can help. We need to kickstart a new kind of Public Service. We have started one at Arizona State. The one at Arizona State is going to be attached to the rotc. They can learn about discipline and risk assessment. We are bringing in the private sector to help them develop job skills. They will have majors in engineering and political science. At the end of four years, we will find ways to spread them around the world, if we can get get we we like to would like to get. Theres another face out there. Another opportunity for young people to serve for their it. Try and feel attached to we have a very dynamic president at Arizona State. That, i think, is the next big idea. That grew out of the importance of this experience. When i wrote, the greatest generation, i talked to bob dole. Moment this remarkable in their lives. Ou know where bob came from he came from a small town in kansas, difficult circumstances. If you go to the university of kansas, the Dole Institute is a wonderful institution. They are studying the great issues of our day. You also see, on the wall, bob great athlete. Physique. S beautiful of course, as we know, he was wounded, a wounded couldve killed most people. That could have killed most people. One of the greatest americans as a japaneseamerican from hawaii. This man went down to the harbor at pearl harbor who treated americans with his boy scout training. Waveurse, there was this of hostility toward japaneseamericans. They began to hear about it in hawaii. , thecided to join the army outfit. Said father, thisy his country has been good for you and our family. Now, you may have to die for it. If you do, it will be a great honor for our family. That was the most decorated outfit in the european theater. Saved anglehandedly National Guard outfit and lost his arm in the process. He was a roommate. The other roommate was from a privileged michigan family. He couldve gotten a cushy job, but he did not. The three men would sit there, having given so much to their country, and they would think and talk about what they want to do next. They all decided Public Service would be there calling. I believe the great legacy of world war ii, obviously, is that we won the war. The war continues to give us the lessons we need to learn every day. So, especially in this election we need to be reminded that we are at our best when we find ways to work together, instead of spending all our time dividing each other. In world war ii, when bob was day, n assault on the dday, they did not ask if they were members of the tea party, republicans, democrats. They had one mission, to serve freedom, come home, preserve the liberties we take for granted. ,nd so, the greatest generation and based on the response i get across the country, they are a generation that made sony sacrifices during the depression and the war. But, they continue to give us reason to be proud of our in this great country. Thank you very much. [applause] tom thank you. Thank you. Thank you. [applause] tom thank you very much. Are we going to have some questions . [applause] thank you all very much. I have some time for some questions. If you have questions, maybe i can even have an answer or two. There are people with microphones in the aisle. Heres one. Copies of the book have been sold . [laughter] about bob i did think right off the bat. When i first met bob, i was reporter. He was head of the rnc, the Republican National committee. When he was head of the Republican National committee, you had no tougher efforts very tougher adversaryyou had no tougher adversary. He would come over and charm the pants off of us and have a funny thing. We would say, wait a minute, we will be challenging this guy. When i wanted to write the story about the greatest generation, that was probably the first person to come to mind. Having grown up in that part of the country, i really knew the dna of the town in which i was raised. , he came to badly wounded. We wanted to make sure he would have the needs he was so much in need of. When he was the republican leader in the senate, he would pull together these colleagues. Those of us who are reporters gathered in his office, in his chambers, and had a spirited but entirely Productive Exchange good there was no standing up exchange. There was no standing up and pointing fingers. We explained what motivations we had. That worked well. A war getsd, underway between the media and the candidates. That doesnt serve anybody, honestly. Say peopleeople who running for Public Office arent perfect on their site, as well. We found a way to have communication, to understand what the interests were. One thing i did as White House Correspondent during watergate, once in a while i would slip out of there and go to the hill. I would see bob griffin from michigan, who was a leader on the republican side. I would try to see Mike Mansfield as well. I wanted to get their takes on things. They would always say, i was talking to bobby the other day, or somebody across the aisle. They were talking to each other. They were not isolated. The presidency was at stake. This was a critical time. They were representing their party. At the same time, they looked downstream. If things dont work out, how do we preserve the union . Theres far too little of that. That grows out of the ethos of the greatest generation. They learn how to work together, get things done. Any other questions . [applause] thank you so much. I dont so much have a question but a comment. I was born in 1947. I didnt know anything about the Second World War except that my mother repeatedly said all these uncles i had came home with shrapnel. I had no idea what shrapnel was. I knew it was in their heads, their legs. Im sorry. Lets Flash Forward to the discussion about world war ii and the memorial. All the squabbling. Every sunday morning, i drive to Washington National cathedral to play pressure. What do i drive past . The building of the memorial. I was the usher of the cathedral that day when the veterans came, and i was the one without a dry eye. I could not get out of my mouth, often enough, thank you for your service. Tom i want to tell you story. Bob called me and told me he was having trouble raising money for it. I called some wall street guys who only a favor. I done seminars and dinners. Had done seminars and dinners. I called tom hanks. I said i would put together a lunch, and bob would come. We would try to shake the money out of these guys. [laughter] tom so bob and tom came up. They were on the today show together. There was a room upstairs. Guys came in looking at their watches. They were good guys. There were private investors. They had a lot of dough. I had a full crowd off to the side. I could not figure out who they were. They were small, without fancy suits like wall street guys. Ofmedalall mineral of honor recipients from the northeast. They were all pleased to be there. They did not talk about their heroics, they were just pleased to have a lunch. They sat down. Bob talked. Tom talked. ,ne guy leaned over to bob having made a commitment of 125,000, a big number or something. Bob said, i think we will do ok today. [laughter] tom we put the guilt on, honestly. The memorial, i am just thrilled by these honor flights. Everywhere i go, someone says they are a sponsor of the honor flights. Iowaook 20 veterans from the other day, and they can walk through the memorial. It is the generation that keeps on giving. Im going to sit down. A couple of years ago, i was diagnosed with cancer. Its been a tough couple of years. Im out of it, but i still need to put my physique back together. About tell you one story having gone through it. The name of michael was, a lucky life interrupted. Of my book was, a lucky life interrupted. In my Bone Marrow Cancer spine and hips. I did not want to tell anybody. I was having a hard time walking. I didnt want to be on the internet as cancer victim tom brokaw. We had a terrible winter in new york. It was icy, sleeting. I would use a cane, a walker to get around. I was determined to get out of the apartment and walk half a block to a coffee shop to get a bagel and a cup of coffee. To do that, i had to go by this. Stop. This bus there was a poster for tom brady. The woman waiting for a bus was swooning looking at , looking at tom brady. Every day, i would look up at him and dropped the fbomb at him. That made me feel great. [laughter] tom im going to sit down. [applause] tom thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. [applause] tom thank you. This man is the embodiment of the greatest generation. Thank you, tom. God bless you, too. Tom thank you. [applause] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2015] you are watching American History tv. 48 hours of programming on American History, every weekend on cspan3. Follow us on twitter at cspanhistory to keep up with our schedule. All weekend, American History tv features worcester, massachusetts, where the First National Womens Rights Convention was held in october of 1850. Sites,ntly visited many revisiting the history of the city. On American History tv all weekend. Wpi was founded 150 years ago on the idea of bringing theory and practice together. That is the motto, theory and practice. It is not just about the laboratory, but the broader world. Robert goddard is the theory of modern father of modern rocketry. He invented the liquid fueled rocket and proved that such rocket travel was possible. Truly, a visionary and an innovator. We share so much today about visionaries and innovators in the tech field and such. He was a visionary and an innovator 150 years ago. He did a lot of experiments in his life. He came from the laboratory and went into the field to test his rockets. He did that here in central massachusetts. There is rumored to be a roof somewhere on the campus patched because of one of his experiments going on as planned. Indid a lot of experiments new mexico. He had a grant from the smithsonian to go test his desert. Gy in the he did a lot of tests and had a lot of early successes. He really did not live to see the true implementation of his technology for roddy us. Use. Ed before broad he died before he saw the Technology Enabled by what he did. Viewed as someone whose work was not appreciated in his lifetime. As scientists and engineers, thats something we fear, not to be recognized for what we do while we are living. For me, the greatest example is that when he was first published, the number of times New York Times said, this is crazy, it will never work. They printed a retraction during the apollo program. Whoops, i guess he was right. Hes a great example of somebody whos stuck to their guns and believe in what he was doing, even when he wasnt seeing a lot of public acceptance. He was a great role model for going something going after something you believe in. He was from our class of 1908. These are most distinguished alumni. Everyone knows who he is. He was such an important figure in space exploration. Everybody involved in science and engineering knows Robert Goddard. I worked at Robert Goddard space center. Theost a little bit of knowledge of this pioneer. That is true in other fields. Pioneers technological across the board whose names we do not know. Back atat to look history and learn about these pioneers and understand what drove them. In his case, it was a passion to get beyond the earth. He was fascinated by what was out there. Thats what fascinates me as a space scientist. Look, we really get to back and connector time. It is fascinating. Robert goddard was an innovator. Today, we are trying to encourage and educate the next generation of innovators. Today, yes, we have a Great Program in aeronautics, but we also have fabulous programs in robotics engineering. We have programs in health, biotechnology, pushing the edge is indeed a science. Edge in data science. Bleare proud to be a to follow in his footsteps. We are the only university to host a nasa centennial challenge. Is aentennial challenge game where teams all over the world compete to advanced technology. Technology. \ they can they can win 1 million. Nasa has asked them to develop rovers to go to mars. We are the only university to host 20 these events. Host one of these events. We have a huge public event called touch tomorrow. That is the sample return robot challenge. People get to come to the university and experience the latest and greatest in wpi technology. Come out in june for touch tomorrow and see the future. Our city store staff recently traveled to which chester, massachusetts worcester, massachusetts. You are watching American History tv, all weekend, every weekend on cspan3. Cspan takes you on the road to the white house, and into the classroom. This year, our studentcam documentary contest follow cspans road to the white house coverage and get all the details about our student can contest at cspan. Org. Each week american artifacts take you to museums and Historic Places to learn what artifacts reveal about American History. Next week visit Colonial Williamsburg and virginia, and store excited employees a variety of tradespeople including carpenters, gunsmith and tinsmiths. We talked two tim schwartz about the role of the blacksmith in the colonial era. We will also learn about James Anderson who owned a Blacksmith Shop and public armory in williamsburg during the 1770s. Mr. Schwartz