new york. i thought, if i had said anything she would have thought i had been some sort of a nut. she never knew. , many times, itit is that way, in some cases. whatever you are doing, you don't get into it if you are lazy. >> you have given us insight into the work you have done and the iconic photographs you have brought to the public guy. .hank you for sharing >> we have a facebook question from peter. on there resources people who died in detroit? >> you could be featured in our next program. >> up next, the presidency with edward witmer and frederick loganville. kennedy presidential library director moderates the discussion. this is about 90 minutes. host: good evening. did you know that john f. kennedy was the most photographed leader of his day? this may not surprise you. he used photography strategically to share values and vision for america. ofwas also the golden age photography in america and that is why this is of interest to us and, hopefully, you. we focus on telling the stories of the american experience, from full cart, photography, painting , sculpture, craft, and media arts. our exhibition can be viewed on the second floor in the graphic arts gallery and it is a premier event among many organized by the kennedy presidential library. director of the smithsonian art museum and we call ourselves sam for short. a group ofembled historians and scholars to talk about the kennedy administration and the legacy. many of you remember the kennedy administration and the arc of history. we have members of congress and i want to recognize them and their staff for doing the people's business. recognizingme in congressman jim banks, david , and steny hoyer. we have asked representative ,oyer, the house minority whip to introduce our moderator this evening. thes the head of foundation. i want to note that this is being live-streamed and recorded by c-span. please turn off your digital devices so that we can enjoy the program. thank you for being here tonight with us. >> thank you for the work that you do. i was told to introduce you. "graciously." y i will try. greatcicilline is a leader in the united states and represents rhode island as a former mayor of providence. thank you for all that you do. let the word go forth, to friend the torchike, that has been passed to a new generation of an scum of foreign in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by piece, proud of our ancient heritage, and unwilling to witness or permit the undoing of human rights to which this nation has always been committed and to which we are committed to today, at home and around the world. part of the inspired generation who listened to those whose life was changed. we are here to celebrate the life and legacy of the man who showed political courage by writing about it and living it. the life of our 35th resident -- propriated he was a gift outright. he gave of himself at every turn. from his bravery in the south pacific to his steadfastness during the cuban missile crisis. himthose of us who remember , it was a time of promise, renewal, progress. for those of us who do not, and his legacy has shaped our national understanding of what public service means. in my office at the capital, there is a bust of john f. kennedy and it is a miniature of the bust that is in the kennedy center that was given to me by and i was a 1973 member of the maryland state senate and she gave it to me. she knew what an impact kennedy made on my life. valuesa reminder of the that he stood for and the kurds withwith -- the courage which she stood for them. john kennedy came to the campus of maryland and he spoke, as i'm sure he spoke to hundreds of thousands of young people in this audience, about what we could do to make a difference and what we ought to do to make a difference. in short, ask not what our country could do for us, but what we could do for our country. when president kennedy went to amherst college to eulogize robert frost, he observed that a nation reveals itself by the men it produces and by the men it honors. add,sure that we would all "the women." reveal, in our tributes, the vision that he espoused -- a positive vision, a hopeful vision, a vision of partnership oand mutual responsibility. america bolstered by the courage of its people. an america that is confident enough to say to our adversaries , "let both sides joined in a new endeavor, not a new balance lawower, but a new world of , where the strong are just, the secure. the man i'm about to introduce graciously is charged with leading the institution who has the mission of preserving the legacy. stephen serves as the executive director of the foundation that supports the work of the kennedy presidential library in boston and he arrived at the kennedy library foundation and brought with him a wealth of experience successfully leading academic, private sector, and government institutions. like others inspired by the call of kennedy, he has pursued public service in many different forms. at the start of his career, he worked with joseph kennedy the ii to make citizens energy corporation to help low-income families. why didn't he let you get in the ads? as a state official, he oversaw programs serving the mentally ill. john kennedy had something to say about disabled children and he said that the children may be the victims of fate, they shall not be the victims of our neglect. thank you for your work with the mentally ill. he wants to private sector firm to expand green energy technology. for a decade, he served as the director for the school of the blind. he did god's work. thenks to his leadership, he school is the largest teacher of students who are blind. he led citizens schools, a national nonprofit that helps middle schools provide low income students the opportunity to learn science, technology, engineering, and math. steam in this institution, because the arts are so important. or king to promote safer communities and safer schools. president kennedy would have been deeply proud that his memorial levirate is being led by a man who has his life spent in service of building a better america for all. please join me in welcoming him to the podium. host: let's hear it again for congressman steny hoyer for his leadership. we are better because of the work that you and your colleagues do on the hill. it is a challenging time, but you are there and are moving us forward. that lets us sleep at night. thank you for your service. we really appreciate it. much.nie, thank you so i really appreciate everything .hat you and the team have done if you have not had a chance to see the photograph upstairs, take a look. i have seen them before and they are a remarkable collection of some fascinating views of john kennedy and his family. from an artistic perspective, it is well worth it. i will cut down my remarks. distinguished academics and scholars. and are about to come out you have to stick with me for a minute. i will be quick and we will get to the guests in a minute. that 80% of the people alive today were born after the kennedy administration. 80%. one of the things we will talk about is why this is important and why is -- every year, there are surveys and he is always in five.p three, four, or 6 days.only there for 103 it was cut short. doesther thing is that pew a survey on trust in government. when john kennedy was there, he did televised press conferences conferences4 press that were live. i will not compare that to anybody else. i wouldn't do that, but he did it every 16 days, on average. the first five press conferences were watched by 60 million americans and they got to see somebody making decisions and he did one right after they have cakes. he didn't just do them when they were good news. he believed in transparency in government. did their survey, 75% of people had trust in government. before the election, that 75% went to 19%. "whattion for society is, do we do about this?" before the speakers come out, we are showing a video. they both have long and distinguished backgrounds and i'm going to summarize both of them. ted directs the center at the library of congress and he taught at brown university. he is also the director of the study for the american speechnce and he was a writer for bill clinton and worked on the clinton library. he also has been the editor and author of nearly one dozen books. on the secretrked white house recordings. overdent kennedy recorded 200 hours. he went through and put together a marvelous piece. if you have not had a chance to listen to that, i encourage that. if you know harvard, this is nothing less than remarkable. got ast recent book pulitzer prize and come if you want to learn more and you have not read this, i encourage you to. the president of the society of historians for american populations and he is writing a biography on john kennedy. i am really excited. i know that i will learn a lot. there is a 30-second video we can watch and that will kick off the program. had suchbefore has man capacity control his environment, to end thursday and disease, human misery. thisve the power to make the best generation of mankind in the history of the world. >> come on up. we are here as part of the and there activities have been over 100 events all over the country and internationally. why is celebrating this important? is thatnswer commemorations are important -- this is my view -- for the civic health of the nation. we do this because it helps bind us together and i think that it is an extraordinary story. president kennedy had a marvelous sense of humor. wase was with us and if he 100, he would make a comment about overstaying his welcome. , 100 years agois , he was born. it is something that congressman hoyer referenced. he inspired us and inspired americans of an age of one it was possible to believe. ass is powerful, especially a recent citizen of the country, and reminds americans of an age when it was possible to believe that politics could speak to our , to be moral yearnings harnessed to our highest aspirations. that is important. that is why we celebrate him. >> history is a civic brew. we have one history. this is one that is disorienting. asis hard to imagine kennedy 100. he always looks young and charismatic. to john f.presence kennedy that is unusual. congressman hoyer read the lines from the opening sentences of the inaugural. there is an immediacy to the words of kennedy that lives with us. ,> he was a student of history studying in school, preparing for the profiles of courage, and , if we don't learn from history, we will repeat. >> i think the historical sense --what, in my research historical sensibility is so , evenul and comes out when he is basically young guy. there was not cell phones, ipads, or anything else. he had one thing he could do, read. that historical sensibility was it shines through. and he wasber him quite shy. he is talking about himself and he said it was hard. he said that he would rather read a book and then talk a -- talk to a person. he was smaller than his older brother. his older brother was supposed to go into politics. there was a reserve that came from his reading that made him attractive, like he was holding something back and not giving you everything every second of the day. that is sometimes how it feels to us. ,e cannot even escape it especially days like yesterday and this week. there was something cerebral about him. he said what you needed to hear and not more. that was attractive. >> he is one of the most popular presidents. you think about washington, he is right up there. why is that? he had little time there. johnson got more past. why do you think this is? >> a great question. we cannot escape the tragic end of the presidency. it haunts all of us and i have thought about what i wanted to say and i think we should avoid the trap of thinking everything was utopian and perfect in the 1960's and politics disintegrated. we had serious problems and the end ofatred at his presidency. there was a lot achieved. feel that historians the cuban missile crisis was the greatest crisis and it is an existential crisis that, if he had not led ably, there is a strong chance the world would have ended. it is a special achievement that overshadows most presidential achievements. it was high noon of american empire and culture. everyone was doing interesting things. there was a new liberalism and a new conservatism. he represented the hopes and aspirations of a generation that was coming on the world stage and has not left. for if he was president only 1000 days, they were and 10 and he was an intense leader. were intense days and he was an intense leader. >> they inspired us. and, i don't just mean americans. i am from sweden. i have talked with parents and other relatives about -- before i started this book project -- john f. kennedy. the answer to your question is that it is not just americans. -- not just americans who took something from what he said. it was not just the assassination. i have spoken to people about this. some of this is what he did as president. that, if we had a global poll, he would still figure very highly. it seems to me that barack obama brought some of that, not just in the united states and abroad. there are interesting similarities. next there are very few presidential speeches that we reread. there are not many outside of lincoln, roosevelt, kennedy. it is a small number. it is not just because he was handsome and young. there is great substance in those speeches. there is great wit. there is great perception of irony and brevity. thealks about mortality in great american university speech in 19's is to three. that may be his best speech ever. one fact that historians have learned more about is that he had a difficult lifelong struggle with health and had serious health problems and he knew that a 100th birthday was out of the question. he would not have made it to this. he knew that life was short and precious and that feeling in his speeches. certain is a authenticity that is often allusive. -- elsuive. means taking things seriously and expanding empathy. americans, heany made his share of mistakes, there were ups and downs, but there was an authenticity there thati think explained popularity. >> you think about the mistakes and anything i admire about him is that he was self reflective and willing to learn. between that and the cuban missile crisis, so much happened. we see pictures of the situation room and the hotline to russia. he started that. sales -- navy seals, the green berets. it was, "how can i do better and how can the system be better?" that is a refreshing element that i have great respect for. >> we want the president to change in office. we do not want them to govern the way they campaigned. it is an impossible job. effectively and, without bail takes, he would not have survived the cuban missile crisis. it was a terrible mistake and it and him the confidence irritation to rethink his system of governance and the mistakes are crucial to growth. he grew beautifully in his thinking about the cold war and it allowed him to go further. rights a lot on civil and as a person was open to different ideas of a country that was extremely diverse and he was always listening. >> what do you think are the top accomplishments of the 1000 days? handling of the cold war, broadly speaking, was an accomplishment. it seems that there are interesting things that happened in the year that followed the missile crisis. , he started something that would later be called détente. it grows out of a conviction from long before he became president. american power, american military power, geopolitical power, it was greater than any nation and it was limited. he had a sense that the prospect of nuclear war -- let me put it this way, the prospect of superpower war in a nuclear age was an impossibility. that last year is here he important, in that regard. in comingwas late to the civil rights issue in a speech way, a remarkable credit 11, i give him for making civil rights a moral issue and that would be important later on. i think that the space program and his commitment to the space program would be another example of success in his administration , even if the fruits would not be seen until later. >> i agree with those three and awould add that he projected sense of confidence and of that hoste picked up on was inspired by his inaugural address. david mcauliffe was inspired to write history. people do different things. we can trace a lot of the great governance in the 1960's and 1970's. there is a book that we are aboutating that came out his significance and there was an essay about the immigration act that can be directly linked to him and his strong interest in immigration that was lifelong. we will never be the same country or go back to time -- go back in time to a country that was more uniform in color and more boring. diversea wonderful and multi-chromatic society, even with all the problems. he made it more exciting. >> you have to include the peace corps. to is theing spoken excitement about -- infectious, it would turn out -- public service and what it can mean. i am worried that we have lost our confidence in ourselves in a way and it seems to me that they success of this administration was public service and making people excited about it. >> clearly. one way was the space program. you can talk more about that. our country and so little about this and, to put it in less thane, this was half of the computing power of whene in the audience and they said we would go to the moon, the reality is that they were not sure. they organize a country. there have been so many .dvantages how did he have the instinct to do that at every level. >> he was a highly accomplished and he had written the first book of -- at a very young age. he was interested in achievers and he was not afraid of ideas. this is a thing i personally honor about kennedy. there is a confidence with which he walked across the stage. section of the country. william f buckley was a champion of ideas on the right and ideasy was a champion of spacehe lived. the wasram was exciting and it an exciting scientific idea. there is a photograph of the marbles a fragile blue in a dark universe and it reminded people that we have to take care of this place. >> in fact, we recently interviewed caroline kennedy and her grandchildren. we asked them about the grandfather and he said, if my grandfather was alive today, he would have taken this idea concept and directed it at the environment. aether it is a company or country that things of a egg idea, they call it "a moon shot." think we need to do more of unreachableseemed as a way to rally the country. and i was completely grandson that his articulated that. i agree with that observation. >> the research's wins off of other research. the moon shot is always a good idea. i think early technology that ultimately led to the internet came out of that. nonexclusively. other parts of the military and government, but the earth catalog later in the 1960's included that massive photograph of earth and stewart brand and iners were issued metal developing a california version 1960 --nternet's in the in the 1960's. we don't say that john kennedy brought us the internet and he didn't, but the moon shot was out there. >> what about the peace corps? how much of a risk was there? it theower called the the kiddie corps. do you think -- there was a -- aboutout the size the political capital? >> it didn't require a great deal of political capital on his part. there was a cold war component. this was perceived by him and others as a means of waging a cold war. idealisticall motives. there was uncertainty about whether it would succeed and the response you would get run americans. would young people signed up? what would they find russian mark all that was unknown. my sense of research is that he had a faith and advisers around him had a faith that this was an idea they should pursue right it was one of those things decided on in the first 100 days. the results speak for themselves. >> he makes a good point when he says that the cold war played into the soft power elements. he was trying to win the hearts he minds of the world and loved the celebration of art and poetry. there was cold war elements to this. the peace corps was an extraordinary idea and nothing like it had ever come through u.s. foreign-policy. mostly middle-aged men from the same background wearing the same suit a lot like what i am wearing and he made things more exciting and he opened it up to young people and interesting people came out of the peace corps. was with the head of netflix, a peace corps alumnus. elaine chao was in the peace corps earlier in her life. people went into that and they grew. there is an element of danger. danger there is actual to the men and women who went to those countries and we didn't out that and we send people without any protection and we have seen that with attacks on the embassies. naïveté. a kennedy told a story of rising in the dominican republic. joe said, how did you know that stop he said, gringo, red hair. that atleman want to say peace corps volunteer wrought years, theyor 30 have had water. they never had a chance to thank him. you think about the ripples of hope. the other thing i have seen is that there are about a quarter million people who have been in the peace corps and it has impacted their lives. enormous impact. the question is, how can we galvanize that in today's environment? there are great programs out there. >> we conduct for policy by thinking about our enemies and there are a lot of people who thought it was the blue part of the world against the red part of the world and i think that the peace corps helped him and he was on his way to see the world in great complexity and he thought a lot about latin america. he thought a lot about africa. not too many of the presidents have done that. he had state visits from the brand-new presidents of african-american countries -- of african countries coming out of colonialism. he thought about asia and the way it did or did not fit in to the cold war and he was a voice for people who did not have a strong voice on the world stage and i think we are a better country when we hear the voice of smaller countries. phrase, "softhe power." my colleague coined that and it has great power in explaining why the united states prevailed in the cold war and the things we are talking about are excellent examples and that is military or not economic power. it is about american culture, institutions, ideals. here, and in other ways, kennedy and i come back to my swedish relatives. belief that this was a very special leader who was they could look up and, on some level, emulate him. she said -- what are some of the challenges? we mentioned the bay of pigs. is there anything else you wonder about? that is the challenge for me. it is a extraordinary level of leadership and we are all here today. this is because of the sagacity and the wisdom showed. i would like to suggest that kennedy bears responsibility for the cuban missile crisis. even after that they of cakes -- authorizedpigs, he an effort to destabilize the cuban government and had the aim of overthrowing the government. we now know that that influence the decision to put the missiles in cuba. i think the record is mixed. i spent an which great deal of time, is mixed. on civil rights, the administration was very conscious -- cautious. and i wouldn't particularly give it high marks. there were challenges. war wasmember the cold very intense and i don't think that kennedy or anybody else knew how that would turn out. all want to hear about unfolds a tragedy that our presidential administrations. reckoning that all historians have to come to terms with. i said that we all feel that we live in a fractured country and fortics is really tough either party. the oil think they are united on is hating the other side. some of that goes back to that. i think the assassination was another reason that people's faith was shattered. there coming to terms with disappointment and, had he lived, it is a tall order to say he would have solved all the problems and they came at lyndon johnson and richard nixon. politics was not up to the challenge. been more united as a country in 1969 when he left office and we have never quite gotten back to the idealism that we had during his presidency. we all have to reckon with this. rightss go back to full and he was concerned about governors and he changed. talk about what triggered the change. by the end, he made civil rights a moral issue and was committed to it. and heohnson came in said it was a testament to john kennedy to pass a civil rights bill. what do you think made that evolution? is thespecific answer children who are getting pushed in the spring of 1963 and there is a moral outrage over wereact that children being tortured by an unfeeling southern society and a bad police commissioner. growth. he was growing so fast. family of people outside of power. a family with a love children and it. he saw his vision improve and he saw that these are people he wanted to be on his side. in the spring of 1963, he wrote the letter from birmingham jail theological statement. out and is a new book think that everything he says is right. robert f kennedy's role in pushing his brother to do this matters and you are right to credit him. it speaks to something i've trying to ponder. he to put himself in the shoes of somebody else. this is important to the resolution of the cuban missile crisis and, as was suggested, it also matters here. it.ink that is part of >> that is a wonderful point. we don't often asked for and the a. charisma, angth, perfect soundbite. viable and welly want that with our leaders. i agree that he had it. what you chose and what it taught you about john kennedy. >> it was in the credible experience. i had read his speeches and had been a speechwriter. that was a playbook. whenever i was sitting there and failing to come up with some original, that would happen. it is an imperfect air-conditioning. martin luther king and robert kennedy. to hear him talking, it is a different world you go into. they had just then released and it was an incredible experience. they are playing out in real time at the cuban missile crisis. they shift around a lot and it seems like it is about to invade cuba and we don't. sometimes, it is on purpose or accidentally. one time, he caught a military operation and it was a very innocent one. he was such a good politician that everybody went crazy because people thought it would look like that public relations that the kennedys were asking the military to build and expecting going. he screamed at a military sender and threatened to him to alaska. after the call, he hangs up and there is a chump. you know it is playacting. there is an autobiographical with james tape kennan as he is deciding to run. party withner kennan, bradley, and jack kennedy. it is the most raw first draft of history you could ever here. it was "why do you want this?" because i want a seat at the action. eisenhower controls everything. i want to control everything. himhear it coming out of how much he wants america to change and it is incredible. clinkinear the glasses g. i have a favorite tape that is weekoctober 22 and one into the missile crisis. event weed this at an did together not too long ago at the kennedy library and this is a conversation between kennedy and eisenhower. what you get in this tape is a sense of humor, even in this hisnse pressure, a sense of deference to seniority. he is deferential to eisenhower. he finishes by saying, "hold on." there is a calm. there is a columnist in the tapes that i think you want in a crisis. you can talk about vietnam. but that calmness, that grace comes through on the tapes. >> absolutely. want to encourage the audience to ask questions. about them and we will talk about them later. let's talk about vietnam, both based on his role and in the impossible question of, if he had lived, what would have happened? >> i've grappled with this a lot. there is a paradox here. it is the most controversial part of his legacy because of the timing of his death, which aftervember 1963, shortly the south vietnamese leaders have been overthrown in a coup kennedy sanctioned. if it's not long before the key decisions lyndon johnson what have to make and i submit a surviving john f. kennedy would have had to make. he would've had to make those roughly the same time johnson did. ,here is a paradox has kennedy even when he goes to indochina in 51 as a congressman, he is about to challenge a senator from massachusetts and he wants to brush up on his credentials. so he and bobby and his sister have an extended tour of asia and they spent time in indochina. and even there, we know this from his diary and speeches he game in boston, he -- gave in grasped thatready the french were likely to lose but any western power that tried to take on this vietnamese revolution is likely to lose, as well. and i don't think that skepticism ever goes away. so when he takes off for dallas on that last trip, i think he was still skeptical about any kind of military solution in watch, and yet, on his in those thousand days, you have a marked increase in the forican lawful med, only domestic political reasons, he felt vulnerable to charge a softness on communism, and part a natural politicians and could inclination, maybe human nature to put off to the decisions. let's escalate more to see if we can turn things around. paradox in terms of the what if's, i'm suggesting an nsaid have written for ken burns and i recommend a series coming out in september. it about onsay in this question of what he would have done. i conclude that though we can never know, the best answer is that the surviving john f. an organized war in a way lyndon johnson did. i think for a fig leaf local settlement, he june the line at ground troops and i do not think that would have changed. >> fascinating. i have more questions, let's see , there areudience microphones on either side. i encourage you to make sure it's a question, meaning and with a question mark rather than a statement. i may jump in and ask more questions. we'll start over here. just speak of a little. -- speak up a little. >> he was a his presidency is adaptive,atic or he did escalate the u.s. involvement in vietnam and it was lyndon johnson that was the transformational president with the civil rights act and the grouping society? >> i think that's a fair question. there is a larger legislative achievement under lyndon johnson. he is president for a longer time, he is the master arm twister, he is good at that. the great political advantage of, he can talk about the martyrdom of john f. kennedy and that was an effective legal tool for lyndon johnson. in a mores working difficult political world and he's got southern senators to our democrats but not very liberal and pretty mixed house and senate and it was going to be tough to get huge legislation through although he opposed civil rights and a lot of what johnson got through was based on what kennedy had said he wanted to get through. the premise of your question is true. the basic achievement in congress is larger under johnson, but the treatment in inspiration -- achievement in inspiration, is larger under kennedy. you have to consider them are cars and away. kennedy-johnson team that ran in 1960. rights about the civil act of 1964 and the voting rights act of 1965 as the hallmark lbj achievements, but the immigration act of 1965 is huge and it changed our country forever in really positive ways and i try to argue that that was not just link to jfk's memory. he had been working on rangration from the time he for congress in 1946. >> in foreign policy, it seems to me the transformational figure between the two of them is john f. kennedy. president, if you go back and look at the speeches of the campaign and early in his presidency, like seattle 1961, there are seeds, more than seats, arguments about a changed superpower relationship. that i think were cut short by the assassination. was that heoblem was not transformational on foreign policy. he was a cold warrior and i think he believed on some level in the dominant theory. he believed, if we don't fight them in south vietnam, we will fight them in the streets of san francisco even though we also note private -- president johnson had his own doubts. they are both complex in this regards but on the foreign policy site, since you used the word transmission of, i would say it applies more to -- transformational, i would say it applies more to jfk. >> lyndon johnson, head and shoulders, legislation. a long list of impressive things. to go a little further, richard nixon got a lot of great legislation overturned. people don't remember that as much. it is accommodation of inspiration and the spirit. and i the other areas is, critically want to cover this because of where we are, kennedy was known for his commitment to the arts. what he did in the white house and his belief that it was part of society. speeches,k at his from symbolic things like having robert frost at the inauguration, to what they did in the white house. do there other presidents you think have the same level of commitment to the arts in recent times? >> i will let ted ponder that one and help him by fleshing out your question or suggesting -- you are on to something important, that john f. kennedy unfettered access to the arts is a hallmark of a free --iety, or acidly imperative absolutely imperative to a free society. i don't know if he had deep interest in art or music -- jackie said the only song he chief."s "hail to the [laughter] are there other presidents -- >> lbj, we don't think of him as guy giving a -- speech with frost sitting there. but that was linked to the memory of kennedy but it was achieved in my city five and that was a very important institution and it was in the budget to be removed and has so far survived. i'm glad it has. the obama administration was impressive in its commitment to the arts. we tried in the clinton time. 1960's, theree was hardly anything, a few paintings in embassies and that was it. there were great writers of history, including woodrow wilson and theodore roosevelt and john to go way back. we began with this anniversary. i got an email saying we are anniversaryhe 250th of his birth. it probably will not lead to celebrations -- >> i'm going to one later tonight. [laughter] >> but he helped conceive of the smithsonian institution and george washington wanted there to be a national university. in different ways, other presidents have sketched it out. >> jackie is hugely important on this issue. >> absolutely. she deserves enormous credit. yes, sir? >> thank you. you present the sequential aspect of kennedy and lbj. i'm curious, how much influence did a bj have on kennedy while kennedy was alive -- lbj have on kennedy while kennedy was alive? >> i think very little. i think those were the three worst years of lyndon johnson's life. [laughter] said as much in his series of biographies on johnson. their relationship was really complicated even by washington read road to i camelot, a good book, and it begins that in 1956, the urgingch, joseph kennedy lyndon johnson to start running for president and he promises, i will finance your campaign even four years before the race on the condition you accept my son as your vice presidential nominee. the twists and turns are incredible and that relationship. boat -- the same too,-- others have done it at the convention in 1960 and the disagreements between jack and a rubber about -- robert about how do we do it, what do we want them to say, it was extranet. robert kennedy -- extraordinary. robert kennedy said in later years that the success in the south was dependent on having lbj on the ticket. if you hadested someone else, you could pick up states you would not otherwise get. >> yes, sir? >> we began with john f. kennedy's words and arguably one of the reasons he is in our hearts was because he did because phenomenal words which are very memorable and one of the contrasts certainly with barack obama, it's hard to remember lots of phrases from barack obama. i ask you, how much of the great legacy of kennedy and the positive glow is really ted sorensen and the other speech riters who were behind those words? >> is no question and they were very influential. in 1957, he is already running for president. it's not an, but the politicos already know. two people it is flying into a small place, speaking before an audience of 12 and it is john f. kennedy and ted sorensen. sorensen is there. is,only thing i would add and this is something i will biography, ismy that john f. kennedy has a bigger hand in these speeches than i anticipated when i started my research. which is to say, you can see his distinctive scribbles on these speeches. it is also the case, and the library brings this out, that he quite often departed from his texts for very -- for fairly long stretches. he speaks in full paragraphs, but those are kennedy's own words. i think it's more of a partnership than i anticipated. schlosser has a role in some of as well. >> it was an honor because he was a hero and we thought we might emerge as the next ted sorensen. i even have the right first name. and it didn't happen. there was something special about this friendship. i think it's important for a speechwriter to give the principle of credit. and you their language write it with their thoughts in mind. it is not like you are the author, you are writing for a very specific person and a very specific cause and ted sorensen had some trouble sometimes with that, but he wrote important books about john f. kennedy. i always evaluate the ways he did not fit in. odd liberal unitarian from nebraska in a group of tough irish-americans from boston, kenny o'donnell, larry o'brien, and jfk loved those guys and you don't hear those names often. they were important to him and ted sorensen crated a nice balance in that mix between an hurt theand he really martin luther king theological language of civil rights. there was something and ted sorensen very important. harris pollsh sewed up, that he needed a different element. that's what made it so successful. >> he didn't socialize so much. it was a very close working relationship of a type we did not see very often. they are very different people. >> think ted sorensen went home at night -- >> ted sorensen deserves enormous credit, but i encourage you and a few that come to library,ome to the there are speeches with his marks on them. including the last major speech he gave in massachusetts at amherst college. dedicated the robert frost library there. we have john kennedy's speech there and it's a speech ted sorensen wrote and you will see the marks on there. there were a few that were extemporaneous, some were notable. you might have heard the berlin speech. ted sorensen had written the speech, john kennedy arrived in berlin and was so moved by the crowd and so moved by the wall that he actually throughout the speech. the only thing he had written down for the speech was the phrase. ted sorensen deserves the credit, but john f. kennedy was brilliant in figuring out the question. >> he did the famous german phrase and the translator on stage translated the german into german. forhanked the translator translating him. [laughter] >> humor was one of the many elements he was good at. >> i want to thank you for this lecture. it has than wonderful. my son was in the peace corps and in the dominican republic. i know as a latina how much president kennedy was loved in the latino community and i uertadolores fl at the screening of her movie and she talks about what an impact kennedy and robert ,ennedy had with the latinos because there were pictures and homes and entering the farmworkers caught of it so -- farmworkers boycott. i'm wondering if there was any research you came across about the impact of latinos had with president kennedy. >> i haven't done any on that topic although i'm glad you mentioned dolores fuere. i think the real friendship was with his brother, who worked a lot with margaret workers in 19 1968- migrant workers in and a you got to know them in a very found way that went beyond politics. there was a theological dimension to it, going to mess together. robert kennedy -- mass together . robert kennedy identified a lot the catholic justice movement. i think it's a great topic for more research. they were also the biggest headache in latin america, so it's a rich thing to get into. >> i agree completely. thank you. >> thank you for the question. yes, sir? >> president kennedy was not perfect in many shapes or forms, but i would like to ask about including other flaws and imperfections he had. do you think that helped or hindered him as a leader? maybe you can say a few words about how other leaders of our time can use those kinds of experiences to help them lead our country. >> very good question. i do think the health issue is an important one. hasbrother said, my brother been in pain almost every day of his life and i think that will shape anybody and it certainly shaped him. fatalism,m a certain a sense that he was not going to live that long, i need to treasure each day and live each day more than once as though it's going to be the last. is only thing i would say that it may be possible to exaggerate its affect on him as a politician and as a political candidate. it strikes me that in 1946 when he runs for congress and is not feeling well, he has come back from the war, some of his ailments have not been properly diagnosed that he has that. he still gets up at the crack of dawn, goes up those down,-decker's, up and day after day. when he runs for the senate, he is all over the state of massachusetts. he starts earlier and works harder. somehow, even with these and maybe somehow they are even connected, but he is intensely driven to overcome them, but there is a lot more to your question. news.t was it began to come out around 2000. learnlways surprising to a major new fact about someone you think you know historically and it was especially surprising because he just seemed so vigorous, to use a word he loved, vigorous. moving,as always looking good, not wearing a hat. there is a famous photo of him in swimming trunks. he was photographed on a beach in california. my decision to become from a historian came from the fact that i could only do one pull up. [laughter] i was fully ostracized. >> said kennedy influenced you too? >> it was a direct impact on my life. a couple specific things. we don't know, but there is a very plausible argument that he ran in 1960, everybody knew he was too young, he irritated everyone in his own party as well as the other side and he felt he had to do it because you might not have any other chance. he might get to say. sick.k -- too that hethat's a fact was just going for it has a young man. there is a realization in the end, most of us have seen these films. there is a terrible moment where he is unable to dock and that is because he is wearing a very rigid back brace because his back pain was so intense. you just know that as soon as you see the film, the knowledge he is wearing a back brace, he can't even duck because the brace is so strong on hand. im. we have time for one final question. -- hename is basically wrote all the checks for kennedy since 1960. can you talk about that campaign and what it was like running as an irish catholic in 9060? campaign inout the west virginia and how it was houston and how that would and and hows protestant that would end the catholic -- >> today, we take this for granted, but it was a different proposition in 1960. that was connected to his youth and a function of his catholicism. it is fascinating. -- and -- butng they are quite good at this, not least of which west virginia and the important gamble the campaign took, also feeling confident they could best humphrey, who had his own issues. it was a dramatic moment in the campaign that speaks to the importance of organization, .inancing -- my senseometimes is that he was the favorite on the democratic party side. we make a mistake in saying, how did this guy sale into the convention and win this thing? if you look back at the news coverage, it was his campaigns -- the odds were with him more than with the others. long,thered and took too summing 10 was not going to be mington was notin going to be the one. no question it was dramatic. >> in many ways, he was the least irish-american politician -- there was an irish-american politician and everyone knew what they were like -- it was a guy sort of older with a british face,aiting -- reddish waving his arms all over. he was from a big city but he was very different. al smith was that kind of a politician. in some ways, irish-american was the prettiest politician we -- preppiest politician. he spent significant time in europe and asia in his life. london asing in war,n was going to mid-to-late 30's. he challenges all of our assumptions. being irish was incredibly important and the opposition to that was real and hard to overcome, but he did that with the power of his light which with his great speech in houston. each of these victories strengthened him and opened up who he was to more growth. it was one of the many things inside him that was deep then and still seems the. >