unidentified speaker (begin video clip) female today, it is our pleasure to entertain for the first time, our first lady, at this her belated birthday party. female (music playing) singers to mamie many happy returns. to mamie with music, 160 million join in our chorus (inaudible). to mamie with music, to mamie, (with love). a birthday tribute to mamie eisenhower, televised nationally by cbs in march of 1956, just a few weeks after her husband, president dwight eisenhower, announced his bid for reelection. tonight, 1950s america and the life and times of first lady mamie eisenhower. good evening and welcome to c-span series, first ladies: influence and image. tonight is mamie eisenhower s turn. and here to tell us about her life are two people who have spent a lot of time with first ladies, and in particular in marilyn holt s case, mamie eisenhower. she s a historian and author of a biography called, mamie eisenhower, the general s first lady. we also we
would welcome the opportunity to remind people that there is a past. 68, we re 50 years beyond 1968. yeah. why are you interested in 68? well, you know, we re about to embark upon all sorts of commemorations, some mostly for commercial reasons. we ll see lots of familiar television clips, lots of celebrations of television by television. and that s not what i m interested in. the fact is, first of all, to people who lived through it and were ascensioned enough to appreciate the revolutionary history that they were living, there s a natural human tendency 50 years later to reflect on those events, to rethink conclusions that you might have made at the time, to measure their significance or what you thought was their significance against intervening events, to see what, if anything, about then is directly relevant to or foreshadowing now. i mean, then and now is a large part of it. how have you changed your attitude about 1968 in the last 50 years? i m not sure i
commercial reasons. we ll see lots of familiar television clips, lots of celebrations of television by television. and that s not what i m interested in. the fact is, first of all, to people who lived through it and were ascensioned enough to appreciate the revolutionary history that they were living, there s a natural human tendency 50 years later to reflect on those events, to rethink conclusions that you might have made at the time, to measure their significance or what you thought was their significance against intervening events, to see what, if anything, about then is directly relevant to or foreshadowing now. i mean, then and now is a large part of it. how have you changed your attitude about 1968 in the last 50 years? i m not sure i have a lot. i think i know a lot more now. for example, the rockefeller book, i know a lot more now about that campaign and the campaign generally. i think i think the wallace candidacy in 1968, third party southern, you know, unab
a past. 68. we are 50 years beyond 1968. yeah. why are you interested in 68? well, you know, we re about to embark upon all sorts of commemorations, mostly for commercial reasons. you know. we ll see lots of familiar television clips, lots of celebrations of television by television. and that s not what i m interested in. the fact is, first of all, the people who lived through it and were sentient enough to appreciate the revolutionary history that they were living, there s a natural human tendency, 50 years later, to reflect on those events. to rethink conclusions that you might have made at the time, to measure their significance of what you thought was their significance against, you know, intervening events, to see what, if anything, about them is directly relevant to, or foreshadowing now. i mean, then and now it s in large part of it. how have you changed your attitude about 1968 in the last 50 years? i m not sure i have a lot. i think i know a lot more no
my father ever met. in total, lear wrote produced produced. we don t know what the episode is all about. oh, it s about abortion. lear has left his mark on american politics. founding people for the american way and he s fought against religious fundamentalism. what can i say about jerry fallwell. i was the number one enmy in the generation. in his 90-plus years he has lived a multitude of lives. one of those lives as a bomber in world war ii. americans love america. but there was a time after world war ii when we were in love with america. i had a chance to speak with norman lear, of all of this, and his thoughts of being a father of six, he tells about his recent book, all this i get to experience. you have tackled issues of racism, home owes phobia, did you set out being a trail playser? i didn t think of it as being a trail blazer. it was american life. we were the family of people, my family, other people that joined when we went into television were al