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. i am the director of the smithsonian art museum and we call ourselves sam for short. we have assembled a group of 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. please join me in recognizing congressman jim banks, david cicilline, and steny hoyer. we have asked representative hoyer, the house minority whip, to introduce our moderator this evening. he is the head of the 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. they did not say "graciously." i will try. david cicilline is a great 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 and foe alike, that the torch 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. i am a part of the inspired generation who listened to those words and 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 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. for those of us who remember him, 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 my mother in 1973 and i was a member of the maryland state senate and she gave it to me. she knew what an impact kennedy made on my life. it was a reminder of the values that he stood for and the kurds with with -- the courage with 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. i am sure that we would all add, "the women." let us reveal, in our tributes, the vision that he espoused -- a positive vision, a hopeful vision, a vision of partnership and 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 of power, but a new world of law, where the strong are just, the weak are secure. the man i'm about to introduce you graciously is charged with you leading the institution who has the mission of preserving is has the mission of preserving the legacy. stephen serves as the executive you director of the foundation will and that supports the work will work that supports the work of the kennedy presidential library in boston and he arrived at the kennedy library foundation and brought with him and will bring a wealth of you experience successfully and you leading academic, and you private sector, and government institutions. like others inspired by the call and of kennedy, he has pursued public service in many different in forms. at the start of his career, he worked with joseph kennedy ii to and he and a part in a make citizens energy corporation to help low-income families. you and you why didn't he and you why didn't he let you get in the ads? and you and as a state official, he oversaw programs serving the you mentally ill. will and john kennedy had you something to say about and disabled children and he you will 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. you he wants to private sector firm to expand green energy and technology. a and for a decade, he served as an the director for the school of the blind. will you willou he did god's work. and will and will thanks to his leadership, the school is the burn leadership, the school is the largest teacher of students who are blind. what you he led citizens do with schools, a national an schools, a national nonprofit that helps middle schools provide low income students the provide low income students the opportunity to learn science, technology, engineering, and and and math. and you will you there is steam in this institution, because the in in this institution, because the arts are so important. are working in a president kennedy would have been deeply room or kennedy would have been deeply proud that his memorial what you library levirate is being led by a man who has his life spent in service of or life spent in service of building a better america for all. and what you will 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. in it is a challenging time, but you are there and are moving us in an forward. in a forward. will and in that lets us sleep at night. route to lets us sleep at night. thank you for your service. we really appreciate it. stephanie, thank you so much. you and you and i really appreciate everything a that 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. a and from an artistic in perspective, it is well worth and perspective, it is well worth it. will i will cut down my remarks. and they are distinguished and are you in academics and and in scholars. and scholars. will will they are about to come you out and you have to stick will out and you have to stick with me for a minute. and i will be quick and we will get to the guests in a minute. keep in mind that 80% of the people alive today were and will and in born after the and will and kennedy will and administration. you 80%. you will will you law you one of the things we will talk about is the law why this is important will and why is -- every year, there are surveys and he is and all always in the top three, four, or five. he was only there for 1036 days. and it was cutll will will short. will short. you will you the other thing is you the other thing is that pew does a survey on trust in government. and in in when john kennedy was 1962, there, he did televised press conferences and he had 64 and press conferences that were live. will i will not compare that to and you anybody else. i wouldn't do that, but he did you it every 16 days, on average. the first five press conferences were watched by 60 million all americans and they got to in americans and they got to see and somebody making decisions in what somebody making decisions and he did one right you are in and he did one right pigsd after the bay of will .after they have cakes. he didn't just do them when they and were good news. he believed in transparency in in government. so, when pew did their survey, inso, when pew did their survey, 75% of people had trust in government. a year ago, before the election, that 75% went to 19%. will a question for society is, what will "what do we do about i will this?" and you this?" will will before the speakers you and before the speakers you come out, we are showing a will you are video. you will video. they both have long and you will are you they both have long and in distinguished a distinguished backgrounds and you i'm going to summarize both are you better of them. ted directs the center at the library of congress and he taught at brown university. before and taught at brown university. he is also the director of the will study for the american and your work in an experience you and and he was a speech your and he was a speech and writer for bill clinton and a worked on the clinton library. will you you you and you are he a you will also has been the and you also has been the editor and author of nearly one dozen books. in you in 2012, he worked on the secret white house recordings. president kennedy recorded over and and or apresident kennedy recorded over 200 hours. will will and he went through you will and put together a marvelous piece. if you have not had a chance to will and inif you have not had a chance to listen to that, i and you are inu willoal and you are you and and andnd and all and hopend a you will and the most recent book got a pulitzer prize and you and book got a pulitzer will come if you will will will want to learn will want to learn will really will you will more and you have you and more and you have not read this, i encourage you to. you are you read this, i encourage you to. in favor his essays have appeared in many essays and journals he is the president of , the society of historians for american populations and he is writing a biography on john kennedy. hall will a you and i have read a lot, but i am really excited. i know that i will learn a lot. before they come up there is a , 30-second video we can watch and that will kick off the program. >> never before has man had such a which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] capacity control his environment, to end thursday and hunger, conquer disease, human misery. we have the power to make this the best generation of mankind in the history of the world. >> come on up. we are here as part of the centennial activities and there have been over 100 events all over the country and internationally. why is celebrating this one important? >> the answer is that you 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. if he was with us and if he was 100, he would make a comment about overstaying his welcome. and we recognize this, 100 years but we ago, he was born. and it is something that congressman hoyer referenced. on he inspired us and inspired americans of an age of one it in was possible to believe. this is powerful, especially as a recent citizen of the country, and reminds americans of an age when it was possible to believe that politics could speak to our of highest moral yearnings, to her be harnessed to our highest are aspirations. you that is important. that is why we celebrate him. you are your >> history is a civic brew. we have one history. in the version is give us a chance to remember this is one , that is disorienting. it is hard to imagine kennedy as 100. he always looks young and charismatic. there is a presence to john f. kennedy that is unusual. congressman hoyer read the lines from the opening sentences of the inaugural. the guest is sitting behind me said thank you. 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 of what, in my research -- historical sensibility is so powerful and comes out, even 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 manifest and it shines through. >> we remember him and he was 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. we 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, roosevelt, 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 we had serious problems and political hatred at the end of his presidency. there was a lot achieved. most of us historians feel that 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. even if he was president for only 1000 days, they were and 10 and he was an intense leader. -- they 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. i suspect 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. you there are not many outside of lincoln, roosevelt, kennedy. you it is a small number. it is not just because he was handsome and young. you there is great substance in those speeches. there is great wit. there is great perception of irony and brevity. i he talks about mortality in a the great american university 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 a will serious health problems you and he knew that a 100th and birthday was out of the question. he would not have made it to in this. he knew that life was short and precious and that feeling in his question. speeches. >> there is a certain authenticity that is often allusive. -- elsuive. you it means taking things seriously and expanding empathy. i think, for many americans, he in made his share of mistakes, one there were ups and downs, and but there was an authenticity there that i think explained that popularity. will explained that popularity. you >> you think about the a a mistakes and a mistakes and will anything i and anything i admire about him you will is that he was self reflective and willing to learn. between that and the cuban you will missile crisis, so much happened. we see pictures of the situation room and the hotline to russia.. in he started that. the navy 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. he really grew effectively and, without bail takes, he would not have survived the cuban missile a crisis. it was a terrible mistake and it will gave him the confidence and 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. he grew a lot on civil rights 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? >> his handling of the cold war, and broadly speaking, was an accomplishment. it seems that there are interesting things that happened in the year that followed the missile crisis. in khrushchev, he started an something that would later be called detente. in 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. you he had a sense that the prospect of nuclear war -- let in me put it this way, the and prospect of superpower war in a nuclear age was an impossibility. that last year is here he and important, in that regard. though he was late in coming to a the civil rights issue in a serious way, a remarkable speech on june 11, i give him credit 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 and administration, even if the fruits would not be seen until later. in >> i agree with those three and i would add that he projected a sense of confidence and people picked up on that host up james was inspired by you his inaugural address. david mcauliffe was inspired to write history. in people do different things. we can trace a lot of the great you governance in the 1960's and 1970's. there is a book that we are celebrating that came out about his significance and there was an essay about the immigration an 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. we have a wonderful and diverse multi-chromatic society, even with all the problems. he made it more exciting. >> you have to include the peace corps. what is being spoken to is the excitement about -- infectious, and it would turn out -- public service and what it can mean. i am worried that we have lost youi 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 are 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 perspective, this was less than half of the computing power of anyone in the audience and when they said we would go to the and moon, the reality is that you will they were not sure. how do you think they organize a country. you and there have been so many advantages. you will how did he have the instinct to do that at every room 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. it showed a big section of the country. thinks is now a bad thing to go to college. don't want to get into thinkanship at all, but i whether you are republican -- william f buckley was a champion of ideas on the right and kennedy was a champion of ideas where he lived. the space program was exciting and it was an exciting scientific idea. there is a photograph of the earth as a fragile blue marble 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. whether it is a company or a country that things of a egg idea, they call it "a moon shot." i think we need to do more of that and it seemed unreachable as a way to rally the country. >> i agree completely and i was not aware that his grandson articulated that. i agree with that observation. >> the research's wins off of other research. the moon shot is always a good idea. a 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 others were issued metal in developing a california version of the internet's in the 1960 -- 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? a how much of a risk was there? eisenhower called it the kiddie a corps. will do you think -- there wasa a debate about the size -- about 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. it was not all idealistic 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 away and 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 a into the soft power elements. and he was trying to win the hearts and minds of the world will and he loved the celebration of art and poetry. there was cold war elements to this. in a the peace corps was an extraordinary idea and nothing ordinary extraordinary idea and nothing like it had ever come and through u.s. foreign-policy. in it was mostly middle-aged men from the same background wearing and the same suit a lot like what i am wearing and he made things more exciting and he an things more exciting and he opened it up to young people and a opened it up to young people and interesting people came out and you of the peace corps. in i 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. in an i think there is actual danger to the men and women who in went to those countries and we didn't know that and we send will people out without any protection and we have seen that in with attacks on the embassies. there was a naivete. you >> kennedy told a will will story of rising in the dominican republic. in an joe said, how did you know that stop he said, gringo, red hair. in the gentleman want to say a the gentleman want to say that will a peace corps volunteer wrought water and, for 30 years, in they have had water. an and they never had a chance to thank him. a you think about the ripples of and hope. the other thing i have seen is the that there are about a quarter million people who have been in the peace corps and it has impacted their lives. it is enormous impact. a will the question is, how can we galvanize that in today's you we galvanize that in today's and in environment? in there are great programs out there. in recent times limit ourselves in the way >> 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. a 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 will country when we hear the voice of smaller countries. >> you heard the phrase, "soft power." and my colleague coined that and it has great power in explaining why the united states prevailed and in the cold war and the a and things we are talking you about are excellent examples and that is to say it is not military or economic power. you it is about american culture, institutions, ideals. are culture, institutions, ideals. you here, and in other and ways, kennedy personified this and i come back to my swedish relatives. you there is a belief that this was a very special leader who was american and they could look up and, on some level, emulate him. know the >> she and said -- you and every day she met people. many of them said the same thing. 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 the cuban missile crisis was a shining moment for john f. kennedy. i have gone through the transcripts. i am affirmed in that view. 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. but even after the bay of pigs he authorized 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. vietnam, on which i spent a great deal of time, is mixed. the decision to put the missiles on civil rights, the administration was very cautious for a good long while. it is a split and i wouldn't particularly give it high marks. there were challenges. let's remember the cold war was very intense and i don't think that kennedy or anybody else knew how that would turn out. >> we all want to hear about vietnam, a tragedy that unfolds across four presidential administrations. some of it belongs to the legacy of john f. kennedy. there is a reckoning that all historians have to come to terms with. i said that we all feel that we live in a fractured country and politics is really tough for either party. the only thing that unites them 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. how could something that horrible have happened? we are coming to terms with the 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. we would have 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. the combination of him and the assassinations of reverend king and his brother bobby and many other things changed the thinking. he was concerned about southern governors and those kinds of things and then he change. talk about what triggered the change. by the end, he made civil rights a moral issue and was committed to it. then, johnson came in and he said it was a testament to john kennedy to pass a civil rights bill. what do you think made that evolution? >> the specific answer is the children who are getting pushed around in the spring of 1963 and there is a moral outrage over the fact that children were being tortured by an unfeeling southern society and a bad police commissioner. it was growth. he was growing so fast. he came from a 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. his brother was very important , andlping him get there martin luther king was important, the quality of leadership in the spring of 1963, he wrote the letter from birmingham jail and it is a theological statement. it was intensely moving to anyone with a conscience. >> there is a new book out and i 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. i think that is part of it. >> that is a wonderful point. we don't often ask for empathy we have strength, charisma, a . we have strength, charisma, a perfect soundbite. empathy is really valuable and we want that with our leaders. i agree that he had it. >> talk about what you chose and what it taught you about john kennedy. >> it was an incredible 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. we would start reading jfk speeches for inspiration 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. there were a lot of moments of humor and levity. sometimes on purpose, sometimes accidentally. remember, he called a military operation and it was a very innocent one. they had built a $500,000 hospital suite. index expectation that his wife held use it to give birth was such a good politician that he went crazy, he 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 officer and threatened to send him to alaska. he let loose with his anger. at the end of the call, he hangs up and you hear a little chuckle. there is an autobiographical moment of a tape with james kennan as he is deciding to run. he is going to go for it. it is a dinner party with kennan, bradley, and jack kennedy. it is the most raw first draft of history you could ever here. -- ever imagine listening to . it was "why do you want this?" i want this because i want a seat at the action. eisenhower controls everything. i want to control everything. you hear it coming out of him how much he wants america to change and it is incredible. >> you hear the glasses clinking. i have a favorite tape that is from october 22, a week into the missile crisis. i've played this at an event we 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 time of intense pressure, a sense of his deference to seniority. he is very deferential to general eisenhower. he finishes by saying, "hold on." there is a calm. this is something the tapes -- almness in c these tapes that i think you want in a leader and it comes through in the missile crisis. it suggests a grace under pressure. i think about the tapes in mistakes,- they make 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 is november 1963, shortly after the south vietnamese leaders have been overthrown in a coup kennedy sanctioned. 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. there 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 gave in boston, he already 51 grasped that not only were the french 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 vietnam and yet, on his watch, in those thousand days, you have a marked increase in the american lawful med, only for that's american involvement -- , fore american involvement domestic political reasons, he felt vulnerable to charge a softness on communism, and part a natural politician's inclination, maybe human nature to put off to the decisions. let's escalate more to see if we can turn things around. there is this paradox in terms of the what if's, i'm suggesting in an essay i've written for ken burns and i recommend a series coming out in september. i have an essay in it about on 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. kennedy is not an organized war in a way lyndon johnson did. i think for a fig leaf local settlement, he june the line at -- drew the line at ground troops and i do not think that would have changed. >> fascinating. i have more questions, let's see if in the audience, there are 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. speak up a little. >> his presidency is more pragmatic or adaptive, 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 -- >> 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. he also has 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. kennedy was working in a more difficult political world and he's got southern senators to who are 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 -- achievement in inspiration, is larger under kennedy. you have to consider them are partners in a way. it was the kennedy-johnson team that ran in 1960. we talk about the civil rights 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. -- linked to jfk's memory. he had been working on immigration from the time he ran for congress in 1946. >> in foreign policy, it seems to me the transformational figure between the two of them is john f. kennedy. even before he becomes 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 arguments about a fundamentally changed superpower relationship. that i think were cut short by the assassination. johnson's problem was that he was not transformational on foreign policy. he was a cold warrior and i think he believed on some level in the dominant theory. -- domino theory. he believed, if we don't fight them in south vietnam, we will be fighting them in the streets of san francisco even though we also know that president johnson had his own doubts. they are both complex in this regard, but on the foreign policy site, since you used the word transmission of, i would -- transformational, i would say it applies more to jfk. >> a fascinating question of measure of effectiveness. 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. -- legislation through. people don't remember that as much. it is a combination of inspiration and the spirit. one of the other areas is, and i 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. if you look at his speeches, from symbolic things like having robert frost at the inauguration, to what they did in the white house. are there other presidents do that 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 very important, that john f. kennedy believed unfettered access to the arts is a hallmark of a free society, or acidly is absolutely imperative to a free society. i don't know if he had deep interests in art or music -- jackie said the only song he liked was "hail to the chief." [laughter] he could appreciate, he understood the importance of .his pa >> lbj, we don't think of him as the 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 965, 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. we certainly had a lot of parts of events. arts events. previous to the 1960's, there 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 celebrating the 250th anniversary of his birth. it probably will not lead to a lot of celebrations in washington. >> i'm going to one later tonight. [laughter] >> but he helped conceive of the smithsonian institution and he wanted a national observatory. 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. the arts overall and for the restoration of the white house. yes, sir? >> thank you. you present the sequential aspect of kennedy and lbj. i'm just curious, how much influence did a bj have on -- 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] >> robert caro said as much in his series of biographies on johnson. their relationship was really complicated even by washington standards and i read road to camelot, a good book, and it begins with in 1956, the patriarch, joseph kennedy urging 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 in that relationship. >> the same book -- others have done it too, at the convention in 1960 and the disagreements between jack and robert about how do we do it, what do we want them to say, it was extranet. -- extraordinary. robert kennedy said in later years that the success in the wasction of johnson critical. success in the south was dependent on having lbj on the ticket. others suggested if you had someone else, you could pick up some other states that they didn't get. in terms of the relationship in office, very fraught, as you say . >> 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 -- did speak these 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 writers who were behind those words? -- he is crucial. there's no question about it. in 1957, he is already running for president. the politicos already know. you have 140 speeches all over 57. country in 192 very often, it is two people flying into a small place, speaking before an audience of 12 and it is john f. kennedy and ted sorensen. sorensen is there. the only thing i would add is, and this is something i will talk about in my biography, is 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 fairly long stretches. he still 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 the speeches, but kennedy himself was more involved. >> 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. it hasn't happened for anyone since then d. there was something special about this friendship. i think it's important for a speechwriter to give the principle of credit. you know their language and you 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 once or twice had a little trouble sometimes with that, but he wrote important books about john f. kennedy. thatays valued personally his beliefs did not always fit in. he was this odd liberal 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 idealist and he really hurt the -- heard the martin luther king theological language of civil rights. there was something and ted ted sorensen that is very important. 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. >> i think ted sorensen went home at night -- >> ted sorensen deserves enormous credit, but i encourage you to go to the library, there are speeches with his marks on them. including the last major speech he gave in massachusetts at amherst college. he dedicated the robert frost library there. he talks about the importance of arts. 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 ew out thetually throu 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. -- the connection. >> he does the famous german phrase and the translator on stage translated the german into german. he thanked the translator for doing that. [laughter] >> humor was one of the many elements he was good at. first, i want to thank you for this lecture. you've been wonderful. my son was in the peace corps in the dominican republic. i know as a latina how much president kennedy was loved in the latino community and i recently saw dolores fuerta at the screening of her movie and she talks about what an impact president kennedy and robert kennedy had with the latinos, because there were pictures and homes and during the 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 mexican migrant workers in 1968. he really got to know them. in a profound way that went beyond politics. there was a theological dimension to it, going to mess ass together. robert kennedy identified a lot with the liberal part of the catholic social justice movement. the alliance for progress was clearly a major initiative announced at the beginning of the kennedy administration. i think it's a great topic for more research. ino, the biggest headache is latin america, too. >> 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 his health, 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. his brother said, my brother has been in pain almost every day of his life and i think that will shape anybody and it certainly shaped him. it gave him a certain fatalism, a sense that he was not going to live all that long, i need to treasure each day and live each day more than once as though it's going to be the last. the only thing i would say is that it may be possible to effect on him asfec 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 triple-deckers, up and down, 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 ailments, and maybe somehow they are even connected, but he is intensely driven to overcome them, but there is a lot more to your question. >> that was news. it began to come out around 2000. it's always surprising to learn 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. and he was always moving, looking good, not wearing a hat. there is a famous photo of him in swimming trunks. no president had ever done that. he was photographed on a beach in california. he gets behind the physical pr.ess test my decision to become from a historian came from the fact that i could only do one pull up. [laughter] i was fully ostracized. >> so, 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 he might not have any other chance. he might get too sick. i think that's a fact that he 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 -- duck 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 him. the beginning of his presidency may have come from his health matters and the end of it. >> we have time for one final question. >> he basically wrote all the checks for kennedy since 1960. i was wondering if you could talk about that campaign and what it was like running as an irish catholic in 9060? they talk about the campaign in west virginia and how it was and how thatt 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 it was a function of his catholicism. it is fascinating. 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, financing. i do think sometimes -- my sense is that he was the favorite on the democratic party side. sometimes we make a mistake in saying, how did this guy sale that convention and win this thing? if you look back at the news coverage, the odds were with him more than with the others. lbj dithered and took too long, simington was not going to be the one. there's no question that west virginia is incredibly dramatic. ness was ash remarkable part of the story. 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 with a reddish face, 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 preppiest politician. in some ways, very european. he spent significant time in europe and asia in his life. he was living in london as london was going to war, in the mid-to-late 1930's. he challenges all of our assumptions. yes, 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 -- his language in that 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 deep. >> what ted just mentioned is important. that desire he had to look to the wider world, something we see even as a young man and might be a theme in my biography, is really important , this international sensibility he developed and maintains as president. what he cares most about foreign policy. it's interesting to speculate whether the catholic issue helped or hurt him. the fact he was catholic in 1960 cost him more votes than a it gained him? historians disagree. washe end, it is may be a -- maybe a wash. >> we all know so much about him and i wish we had so much more time. let's thank smithsonian and stephanie for hosting this. we really appreciate it. [applause] and join me to thank ted and fred for all they've done and there are so many other books. i also encourage you to look at a great book written in 1958 called a nation of immigrants. by then a young senator named john kennedy. the 60th anniversary will be next year and his words of about immigration then are just as relevant, maybe even more so today. thank you all for being here. thank you. [applause] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> this weekend on american history tv on c-span3, tonight at 8:00 eastern on lectures in andrew eisenberg on the environmental movement in the 1970's. >> what i want to argue here is environment list was a product that was sold to american consumers just like big macs or cars. >> john penney and heather talk about their experiences during 9/11. >> we take off and we had northeast into a serene and peaceful and silent sky. there's no one airborne. out to the northwest and we never find anything. we were not heroes that day. the passengers on flight 93 were the heroes. artifacts,n american tour the harriet tubman underground railroad visitor center. >> it opened up a new world for her. it allowed her to have these amazing visions and direct connection to got -- she saw these amazing things and had these very limite vivid dreams . >> eric draper -- >> that image that shows the communications director, that was the first time we started seeing the replay of the second tower getting hit. >> american history tv, all weekend, every weekend, only on c-span3. toit's that time of year announce our 2018 studentcam video documentary competition. help us spread the word to middle and high school students and their teachers. this year's theme is " the constitution and you." create a video illustrating why it's important. our competition is open to all middle and high school students. students can work alone or in a group of up to three to produce a 5-7 minute documentary. $100,000 will be awarded in cash prizes. the grand prize of $5,000 will go to the student or team with the best overall entry. the deadline is january 18, 2018. spread the word to student leaders. for more information, go to studentcam.org. that was early on. trump had just announced and they were worried that he was going to be bad for them in terms of -- really, you are worried now? considering how far back they pad and anti-woman platform with reproductive rights and equal pay. -- unday night on q&a >> this is vice president pence. he was interviewed and he said something like he never goes to any washington dinners without his wife and i thought, ok, this was a gift. you don't have any problem voting about a woman's personal reproductive choices, the most personal and intimate thing and woman can deal with, but you won't go to dinner with a woman fully closed at the same table -- clothed at the same table. >> 40 years ago,