[ laughter ] but, you know, at the end of the day, you have to what is it . Theres the word hope. You hope. What was his name . Leonard cohen, the writer, leonard had something about a crack in the a crack in the sunlight or a crack in the whatever. And he said, theres something about that thats the reason we have cracks. So we can let the light through. And somewhere in people like lincoln and douglass they could let the light. Get your perfect offering, theres a crack in everything, thats how the light gets thats how the light gets in. What a perfect way to end this session. I just want to say thank you to richard, david, and craig for joining us today, for todays cabinet conversation and thanks to everyone for watching. Youre watching American History tv. Every weekend on cspan3, explore our nations past. Cspan3, created by americas capable Television Companies as a Public Service and brought to you today by your television provider. We cre featuring American History tv programs as whats available every weekend on cspan3. Tonight a look at programs from the Kansas City Public Library in kansas city, missouri. We begin with a talk about the life of hollywood artist millicent patrick, author and filmmaker Mallory Omeara discusses her book. Watch tonight beginning at 8 00 p. M. Eastern and enjoy American History tv this week and every weekend on cspan3. Cspan has unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court, and Public Policy events. You can watch all of cspans Public Affairs programming on television, online or listen on our free radio app and be part of the National Conversation through the Washington Journal Program or through our social media feeds. Cspan, created by americas cable Television Companies as a Public Service and brought to you today by your television provider. Next on the presidency andrew cohen looks at two days in jfks presidency that defined his response to the Nuclear Arms Race and civil rights. Mr. Cohen is author of two days in june, john f. Kennedy and the 48 hours that made history. The White House Historical association provided this video. Andrew, tell us about your book which focuses really on two days in the kennedy presidency, june 10th and 11th, 1963. Why did you decide to write a book focused on only two days of the kennedy presidency and why did you pick those two days to focus on . Thank you, colleen, and its a great honor to be here with you and the White House Historical association similarly meaningful to me because it was founded by Jackie Kennedy and in the white house 60 years ago. I had been looking for a way into the Kennedy Administration for some time. One of the most seminole days of my life was november 22nd, 1963, when i was an 8yearold i learned of the assassination of president kennedy. It isnt unusual for someone like me or anyone of my generation to remember where he or she was, but it developed for me a fascination. As i grew up, my friends were interested in captain cook. I was interested in jfk and the new frontier. Through my career as a journalist and a student before that, i had been looking as a washington correspondent as well for a way into the kennedy story. Of course, colleen, there were monumental biographies, there were heavy memoirs, academic studies, there was scarcely a part of jfks legacy that had not been dissected and inspected and examined. I wondered, though, if there was nothing knew to say. And then i came upon in a sense these two days in june. We were on the eve of the 57th anniversary of june the 10th and 11th, 1963. What could i say that was new . And i said to myself, two extraordinary speeches, one on the one at an American University, one on civil rights, the evening of june the 11th, 1963, those would be two of the most extraordinary speeches of what was a rhetorical presidency. Between them and they are the pillars of this study, but theyre also the parentheses. In between, i saw an opportunity to explain, illuminate the presidency hour by hour in a granular way that would try to give a reader who did not know much about jfk, like the students i teach, for example, who are of another generation, what it was like to be jfk, what it was like to be president of the United States and what it was like to make the decisions he did on the two pivotal issues, his presidency, his decade or generation, civil rights and nuclear arms. When i saw the opportunity of those two days and when people ask me what two days would you pick, they talk about the cuban missile crisis, the bay of pigs. Its these two days what i call the high noon of the kennedy presidency. When the book begins, kennedy is waking up from on air force one. Hes flying back to washington, d. C. From hawaii where hes just given a speech. And only a few hours later, he will be at American University giving a monumental speech on foreign affairs. Can you tell us about the substance of that speech and why kennedy wanted to give it at that moment in time . Well, to give us a little bit of context, colleen, this is the spring of 1963. John f. Kennedy has been in office 2 1 2 years. And i think its fair to say his record was mixed as president. His first year in 1962 he authorized the disastrous bay of pigs. He watches the berlin wall go up in august of 1961. By the end of that year when a reporter says i would like to write a history of your first year in august, kennedy says, why would you want to write a history about disasters. By 1962, things are changing. He faces down the executives of big steel who were trying to raise prices. And by 63 hes feeling confident about his presidency. But he knows that america is at a turning point, but at the height of the cold war around nuclear arms and civil rights. But lets deal with nuclear war. I had just mentioned the cuban missile crisis of 1963. 13 perless days when historians say we came as close to Nuclear Annihilation as we have before or sense. Kennedy was shaken by that. And kennedy in the winter of 1963 and into the spring is looking to change the channel. Both of them felt that america and the soviet union having come to this near Nuclear Apocalypse or armageddon had to find a way through. A back channel has been established, the pope is involved and theres an attempt by both parties to come to some conclusion or to begin some process that would lower the temperature and begin a certain process of disarmament. Kennedys big gambit is a speech. It will come to be called the peace speech. The speech is written over four to six weeks. It isnt a secret, but its done by a tightly a tight circle of trusted aides. Kennedy does not share what hes going to propose because its almost subversive. He doesnt share it with the joint chiefs of staff, he does not consult the cia and he leaves out the joint chiefs of staff and congressional the leadership, all people who he might have consulted giving what will become the major Foreign Policy speech of his administration. He is dealing with it that way because kennedy is going to say things about the russians that no american president has said since the cold war now 18 years of cold war. And he will, in that speech, hell arrive at America University at 10 30 a. M. As youve said, colleen, having flown across america, across the pacific, nine hours, having left hawaii the night before, touching down at Andrew Air Force base at about 8 50 a. M. , getting on marine one, chappering into the white house. Within 100 minutes of dropping on that tarmac, he will be dressed in a gown before an audience at American University in northwest washington where he will make a speech in which for the first time hell talk about the russians in very human terms. He will compliment the russians, humanize the russians, talk about their achievements in industry and their economy, in science and american space. Americans are very familiar with what just happened because sputnik has gone up in 1957 and theres a great sense that america has fallen behind the soviets. He will talk about the russians contribution in the second world war. 20 million of all that the russians have done as a society. He will put aside the rhetoric of the cold war of soviet treachery, of the big russian bear, of all of that that had become the standard, the staple of american politicians. Hell do that in very carefully worded address. Its 98 degrees at American University that day. People are wilting and theyve set up triage stations because people are fainting. And there hell not only talk about that, but hell make an offer. He will invite the soviet premier to enter with the United States in negotiations of a test ban treaty. It isnt comprehensive. But kennedy is proposing that as we as the cold war goes on and as we both stockpile weaponry which can kill us many times over, why dont we simply stop testing so no tests in the atmosphere, no tests under the ocean, no tests in space. And it is all a radical idea that kennedy knows is not going to go down well with many elements in congress and elsewhere who are hardline communists. Its important to know that jfk is no slouch when it comes to communism. His inaugural address which is seen as hawkish. Judge him by what was to be called the peace speech. The rhetoric, the tone, when kennedy says in the final analysis we all inhabit the same planet, we all we all breathe the same air. We all cherish our childrens future, were all mortal, he is almost universalist in his appeal, this kind of language had not been heard from the mouth of a president since Franklin Roosevelt was dealing with stalin in 1944 and 1945 and when he hears this several hours later, while the speech is broadcast live in the United States, it takes a lot longer to make its way to moscow, he cannot believe what hes hearing. There will be there will be a negotiation and six weeks later, just to show you as you know, sometimes things do happen from speeches. There will be the limited Nuclear Test Ban treaty, the most important Foreign Policy decision and Foreign Policy achievement of the Kennedy Administration. And almost a few hours later, after this really transformative Foreign Policy speech that kennedy gives at American University, your book details about how hes pivoted two hours later to another major pressing National Issue concerning governor George Wallace and desegregation at the university of alabama. How does kennedy begin to prepare himself to handle this crisis and why does he think that it might be a Pivotal Moment in civil rights history . Well in the velocity of these 48 hours, i call them these feverish 48 hours, he does pivot. He pivots on both issues. And he has to pivot within the days so he leaves American University, its about five or six miles from the white house. Jumps into the Lincoln Continental that the can he understand kennedys have designed and roars back to the white house. His thoughts turn from diplomacy and the cold war and nuclear arms to George Wallace, civil rights and the university of alabama. Down in alabama George Wallace, the bantamweight has announced that he will refuse to integrate the university of alabama. He will refuse personally to admit two black students, james hood and vivian malone, who the court has ordered are to be admitted to the university of alabama and George Wallace to make a show of it will stand as he says, as the schoolhouse door and prevent physically those two from entering. Now the court has ordered this. The kennedys know it and so does wallace. But wallace is determined to make a spectacle of this and the kennedys realize they have to allow him to do that. They will not bring the two students to the front door. They will admit them through a side door. But there will be a confrontation which will also be carried live, not necessarily on american television, but certainly on radio. And the kennedys have been preparing for this for some time. As the roots of the peace speech are the cuban missile crisis, the roots of the civil rights speech and whats happened today are seven months earlier at the university of mississippi when ross barnett, the governor of mississippi is refusing to integrate the university of mississippi. These are the last of the great big public universities in the south. All others have been integrated at this point. In 1962 the kennedys have to send in the National Guard to preserve the rights of James Meredith to enter that university. It does not go well. Theres a 15hour riot. Two people are killed including a french journalist. Hundreds are issued. Ross barnett has not done what he said he will do. The kennedys feel betrayed and theyre not going to let that happen again. Before the showdown at the door of the university of alabama, the kennedys led by Bobby Kennedy, the attorney general of the United States, jack kennedy, his closest adviser, Robert Kennedy has been working at the Justice Department to ensure nothing goes wrong. Theyre gaming scenarios, how would they remove George Wallace if he refuses. What will happen if he does refuse . Should they hold him in contempt of court. Theres a court order ordering the integration of the university. How will they handle that . How will they preserve the dignity of the two black students who after all just want an education. And so the kennedys have been preparing for this. Theyve studied maps provided by the United States foresty service. They have even positioned a boat on the Black Warrior river at the edge of campus in case a lynch mob chases those two away. There was a threat of tens of thousands of klansmen outside the gate of the university. This is happening that day. Kennedy is preparing for this. The confrontation wont take place until thursday. But on monday hes gaming this. And one advantage i had in writing the story is and i didnt know it until well into it, there was a documentary film team filming kennedy in the white house, led by robert drew, and i had access to that to the raw footage which is held in hollywood. There i could see, i could watch the negotiations, the consultations that were going on in the white house both on monday after the peace speech, which is june the 10th and in the morning of june the 11th. You see how seriously the kennedys were taking this and how they were preparing for the confrontation with George Wallace. In your book as you explained earlier, its about two days but you really use those two days as a lens into some of kennedys most intimate and personal and most political relationships that he maintained. And one person that you feature in the book, quite extensively, is ted sorenson. Can you tell us about ted and why you included him in the book . Ted sorenson who deserves a biography of his own, is kennedys speech writer. Ted sorenson leaves nebraska and arrives in washington and jack kennedy leaves the house and goes to the senate in 1953. Sorenson doesnt know kennedy. Hes interviewing with henry jackson, the senator from washington, and hes interviewing with jack kennedy. The speech writer is interviewing the senator. Ted sorenson was considered so good out of nebraska. He led his law class. He was young at the time in his early 20s that he is advised to go with jackson but chooses jack kennedy. And there begins an association of 11 years which i would argue is the most Extraordinary Partnership between a president and an associate in the history of the modern presidency. There isnt anything that ted sorenson wont do for jfk. He reveres him. Hes a master craftsman and a wordsmith. He works for jfk who himself is a writer and values writers, had written with ted sorensons help, profiles in encourage but had begun his career as a journalist, appreciated eloquence and made eloquence and rhetoric a centerpiece and style of the Kennedy Administration. With ted sorenson, with kennedys sense of occasion and ted sorensons facility with a pen, they were magic the two of them. And so at this time ted sorenson is not just writing the peace speech, hes writing a number of speeches including the speech that jfk will give in berlin two weeks later and hell be writing under different circumstances the civil rights speech that jfk will deliver on june the 11th. They are an extraordinary combination. It doesnt mean theyre friends. They dont socialize together and ted sorenson is devoted to jfk. It comes at some cost. It will destroy his marriage and ravage his health and shake his selfconfidence and he will never recover from the death of j