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MERICAN THE RESIDENT
Press Information
"THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT":
FIVE NIGHTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY
FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE WHITE HOUSE
THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT, the first documentary series ever to tell
the stories of all 41 of America's chief executives, will present ten hours of presidential
history over five consecutive nights on PBS beginning Sunday, April 9, 2000, 9-11 PM
(ET). (Check local listings.) A co-production of Kunhardt Productions, Inc. and
Thirteen/WNET New York, THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT is presented on PBS
by Thirteen/WNET. The sole underwriter is New York Life Insurance Company.
The series is thematically organized. Each hour presents profiles of four
presidents who shared an important attribute. Two hours will air each evening, and
each evening has its own over-arching theme. Here is a breakdown of the air schedule.
Sunday, April 9: A MATTER OF DESTINY
Program One: "Family Ties"
The Republican front-runner in the current presidential campaign is George W.
Bush, the son of former President George Bush and the Democratic leader is Al Gore,
scion of an old political family. Even in a democracy, power inevitably passes from
generation to generation, and several families have returned to the White House as
though born to it. The stories of the four men profiled in this hour - John Quincy
Adams, Benjamin Harrison, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy -
reveal both the blessings and the curses of inherited power.
Program Two: "Happenstance"
Nearly one in five American presidents died in office. The vice presidents who
succeeded them were often chosen for the ticket less because they were equal to the
Made possible by
thirteen
KUNHARDT
NEW
YORK
WNET NEW YORK
PRODUCTIONS
LIFE
MERICAN THE RESIDENT
Press Information
FACT SHEET
THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT, the first documentary series ever to
profile all 41 of America's chief executives, is a co-production of
Kunhardt Productions, Inc., and Thirteen/WNET New York, and is
presented on PBS by Thirteen/WNET. The ten-hour series will air over
five consecutive nights, from Sunday, April 9, through Thursday, April 13,
9-11 PM (check local listings). The series sole underwriter is New York
Life Insurance Company. THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT features
interviews with President Clinton and former Presidents Ford, Carter and
Bush. A remarkable group of public figures has provided the voices for
the presidents who served before the advent of audio recording. It includes
Generals Colin Powell and H. Norman Schwarzkopf; Senators Bob
Dole, Howard Baker, Lloyd Bentsen, John Glenn and Paul Simon;
Governors Mario Cuomo and Bill Weld; journalists Walter Cronkite, Tom
Wicker and Ben Bradlee; political consultant James Carville; the
Reverend Billy Graham; and radio personality Don Imus.
Credits:
THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT
Based on the Book
"The American President"
By
Philip B. Kunhardt, Jr.
Philip B. Kunhardt III
Peter W. Kunhardt
With Commentary By
Richard E. Neustadt
Narrated By
Hugh Sidey
Music By
Michael Starobin
Made possible by
thirteen
KUNHARDT
NEW
YORK
WNET NEW YORK
PRODUCTIONS
LIFE
embodiment of Am. pres. ideals
PRESIDENT KENNEDY
+ inspiration for Clinton
Public Papers of the Presidents
USU. begin uf
Public Papers of the Presidents
this thatere
February 16, 2000
usual
rhetoric
on
This month when we celebrated the longest economic expansion in history, I did a little economy looking
into, and thinking about, what was the longest economic expansion until this one. You know
when it was? Nineteen sixty-one to 1968. Now, I remember what that was like. I remember in
the beginning how full of hope we were when President Kennedy was elected. I remember
when President Kennedy was assassinated, how heartbroken we were, but how we rallied as a
country behind President Johnson.
Thotoucal
All these people that look back at the sixties and say American cynicism started when President
Kennedy was assassinated are just wrong. That's not true. This country was heartbroken, but we
stood up together, and we joined hands. And Lyndon Johnson provided great leadership, and he
pulled us together. So in 1964, I'm graduating from high school into an America that was the
Usual
nearest like this America: we had low unemployment, low inflation, high growth. And
everybody thought as difficult as the civil rights problems were, they were going to be resolved
in a peaceable manner, with this wizard in the White House and the votes in Congress, to
lawfully give African-Americans what they were constitutionally entitled to. And all the while
we would win the cold war against communism, and we would create the greatest society
America had ever known. That's what I believed the night I graduated from high school.
ever expanding serse of the possible 3 an incompleteness to
Public Papers of the Presidents this nation 2) never meant
Public Papers of the Presidents to be complete
July 24, 1998
As some of you may know, a few days ago we had a reunion here at the White House for our
35th anniversary of our Boys Nation summer, and "Nightline" ran 2 nights on our reunion. I
asked your president if he'd seen either one of them; he said he saw the first one, the second one
he was here on duty. But I had an opportunity to meet with about half the men who were with me
35 years ago, and we were reminiscing. It was exactly 35 years ago on this day, July 24, 1963,
that President Kennedy spoke to us right here in the Rose Garden about our future. He made us
believe that together we could change the world. I still believe that, and I think it is no less true
for your generation. Indeed, I believe you will live in the time of greatest possibility in all human
history.
Today I want to talk with you a little bit about what we have to do as a country to make the most
of those possibilities, specifically about what we have to do to strengthen our education system.
When I was here, President Kennedy complimented us for supporting civil rights legislation
which the Nation's Governors had declined to do. I was very proud of that because two delegates
from Louisiana and I and one from Mississippi were four Southerners who broke from the pack
and ensured that the legislation would pass. But I have to say that, looking back over the years,
I thought I would tell you this, for those of you who don't know, since President Kennedy once
said at a dinner of Nobel laureates that it was the most distinguished array of brainpower ever
gathered in the White House since Thomas Jefferson dined there alone. [Laughter] James Hoban
defeated Thomas Jefferson submitted anonymously a design for the White House, and the people
making the decision, basically George Washington and a few of his friends, concluded that
Hoban was superior to Jefferson. [Laughter]
White House
->look at diff't
THOMAS JEFFERSON/WHITE HOUSE
pivital events in
Hes Jeffason
history
Public Papers of the Presidents
various rooms
Public Papers of the Presidents
July 28, 1999
It was in this room that Thomas Jefferson met with his secretary, Merriwether Lewis, to plan the
Lewis and Clark expedition right where you're all sitting. The place was covered with
bearskins and ancient maps, and they were -- President Jefferson was in love with the
geography and science, and he saw this whole thing as not only a geographical expedition, but he
thought that all kinds of scientific information would be gathered along the way. So a lot of very
important things have happened where you are sitting today that remind us that America is a
place with great opportunities and great responsibilities.
in
exploration space not but knowledge only of human to
Public Papers of the Presidents
Public Papers of the Presidents
March 9, 2000
The President. Thank you. Well, first of all, welcome to the White House. Welcome to this
wonderful East Room, where Thomas Jefferson and Meriwether Lewis planned the Lewis and
Clark expedition to explore parts of America no one had ever seen, to try to find an ocean that no
one thought could be reached by land. In a way, we are here on an even grander expedition, to
try to find a place in the human heart no one has ever seen, that many believe we cannot reach in
this life.
lang. about past the
Public Papers of the Presidents
Public Papers of the Presidents
Loter/ echoes/
July 16, 1998
Thomas Jefferson said, "The ground of liberty must be gained by inches, for it takes time to
persuade men to do even what is in their own interest."
connect w/ alerriweather lewis $ Clark
Public Papers of the Presidents
Public Papers of the Presidents
February 24, 1997
As the Secretary said, we have always expanded education. He began with Abraham Lincoln,
and we might have begun with Thomas Jefferson, who advocated even as he advocated buying
Louisiana -- for which I'm very grateful; otherwise I wouldn't be President [laughter] -- and
America becoming a continental nation, that we should educate all of our children. Thomas
Jefferson even advocated the education of every single child, boy or girl, of slave families in
America. And we know from the beginning that it was the education of our leaders that gave
them the vision to chart the course which has brought us to this day.
2,
digital divide/access
Public Papers of the Presidents
good larry
Public Papers of the Presidents
July 6, 1995
Thomas Jefferson said he had no fear of the most extreme views in America being expressed
with the greatest passion as long as reason had a chance as long as reason had a chance.
Citizens have to give reason a shance.
What do the political leaders have to do? I would argue four things: Number one, we need more
conversation and less combat; number two, when we differ we ought to offer an alternative;
number three, we ought to look relentlessly at the long-term and remind the American people
that the problems we have developed over a long period years; and number four, we shouldn't
just berate the worst in America, we ought to spend more time celebrating the best.
Those are four things that I think I should do, and I think every other leader in this country ought
to do Conversation, not combat is what I tried to do with the Speaker in New Hampshire, and I
want to do more of it with others. I'm willing if they are. I think it would be good for America.
concilitory
Public Papers of the Presidents
Public Papers of the Presidents
October 12, 1999
This is a fitting thing for us to do in the White House, because innovations in communication
and technology are a very important part of the history of this old place. In 1858 the first
transatlantic telegraph transmission was received here in a message that Queen Victoria sent to
talk about New Markets four briefly? ability to
President Buchanan. Later, the first telephone in Washington, DC, was located in a room
make WH more accessible to all Americans and and Reber
upstairs, and we now have a replica of that telephone in the same room upstairs. The first mobile
phone call to the Moon was made here by President Nixon 30 years ago. Even these Millennium
Evenings have made their own history. This is where we held the first-ever cybercast at the
White House.
no matter what economic
Public Papers of the Presidents
racial or religious category
Public Papers of the Presidents
July 7, 1995
they belong.
1
I want to say, too, that we thought that we ought to have this ceremony in the East Room. This
has always been the people's room. In the 19th century, it used to get SO crowded at receptions
words
that one of the windows over here was turned into a door SO people could get out if they couldn't
bear the crowds anymore. There are so many here today, perhaps we should have done it again.
But we thought the air-conditioning made it advisable for us to all stay put.
Many of you know that it was in this room that Abigail Adams used to dry the family laundry
aneedoles
when the room was nothing more than a brick shell. You may not know that the great explorer
(Curt should we
Meriwether Lewis set up camp here, surrounded by canvas tarps, books, and hunting rifles in the
day when he was Thomas Jefferson's secretary. John Quincy Adams frequently would come here
come up
to watch the Sun rise after he finished his early morning swim in the Potomac. That also is
of more
something we're considering taking up if the heat wave doesn't break.
querky
The portraits that we add here today celebrate another chapter to our rich history and particularly
details?
to the rich history of the East Room where they will remain for a few days before they are
properly hung. I managed to get a glimpse of these portraits, and I must admit that I think the
artist did a wonderful job, and we're all in his debt. But I also want to say, President Bush, if I
look half as good as you do when I leave office, I'll be a happy man. [Laughter]
I want to again compliment Herbert Abrams, the artist. He also painted the portrait of President
Carter. So once again, President Bush has set another outstanding example of bipartisanship.
These portraits, as has already been said, will be seen by millions of Americans who visit here,
reminding them of what these two great Americans stood for and for what they have done to
strengthen our country. The portraits in the White House are more than likenesses. They tell the
story of the promise of one American life and, in so doing, the promise of all American life.
They offer a lesson, an example, a challenge for every American to live up to the responsibilities
of citizenship.
Public Papers of the Presidents
Public Papers of the Presidents
maybe Pramawork Per Clinla
July 28, 1999
EAST ROOM
anecalotes about Kemnedy
and Jefferson?
Key
great language
here in
This country has been around a long time because we have remained faithful to our ideals, but
forever young and open to change. I don't want to conduct a tour of the White House today, but
the old house was finished in 1800. So, on our millennial year, we will celebrate the 200th
birthday of the White House. The painting of George Washington to my left, to your right, was
painted by Gilbert Stuart in 1797 and purchased for the then enormous sum of $ 500, for the
White House. It is priceless today.
But it's worth remembering how important it is to keep democracy alive, that in 1814, when we
were in the last throes of the War of 1812 and the British were coming up the Potomac, the
President of the United States, James Madison who was the last President to be the active
Commander in Chief for the Armed Forces, and so was up in Maryland, where he mistakenly
thought the British would be at the head of an army, sent word back to his wife, Dolley, who
was preparing this vast banquet the White House was full of food; this room was full of food
that the British were on the way and she should get out, but no matter what, she had to take the
picture of George Washington.
So Dolley Madison cut that picture out of its frame, rolled it up, and got out of the White House.
The British arrived to find the empty frame, ate the food, and burned the house. [Laughter] But
we rebuilt the house, and the picture still lives. And every time I see that picture, I think about it.
It was in this room that Thomas Jefferson met with his secretary, Merriwether Lewis, to plan the
Lewis and Clark expedition right where you're all sitting. The place was covered with
bearskins and ancient maps, and they were President Jefferson was in love with the geography
and science, and he saw this whole thing as not only a geographical expedition, but he thought
that all kinds of scientific information would be gathered along the way. So a lot of very
important things have happened where you are sitting today that remind us that America is a
place with great opportunities and great responsibilities.
THE PRESIDENCY
Public Papers of the Presidents
Public Papers of the Presidents
April 2, 1998
Well, let me say, I've done my best to do what every President who has commented on this, from
George Washington forward, has said the President should do, which is that for the period of
your service, insofar as possible, you should cease to be an individual citizen and spend all your
time and energy on the country. And that's what I've tried to do. And I've done my best at it, and
the results have been satisfactory, I think, for the American people. And that's what I intend to
continue to do. Others should evaluate that question, but I need to keep working on the people's
business, and that's what I intend to do.
Public Papers of the Presidents
Public Papers of the Presidents
February 16, 2000
I feel like the luckiest person alive; that at this moment in history, I was fortunate enough to be
given a chance to serve as President and to focus the attention of the Nation on the future, on
some old-fashioned ideas: everybody counts, everybody ought to have a chance, everybody's got
a role to play, we all do better when we help each other.
The work I have done to build one America for a new century was a joy every day. Even on the
darkest days, the fact that I had this job to do for you and for our children and our children's
children made this a joy.
Public Papers of the Presidents
Public Papers of the Presidents
January 26, 2000
I think that history will be very much -- that people who do serious histories of this
administration will be amazed at the amount of energy and effort that went into the wide variety
of areas that we worked in. And I think that it will show that in virtually every area we had
progress, from helping to reduce poverty to improving the plight of our children, to creating an
environment with the reform of telecommunications, the reform of banking, and getting rid of
the deficit and major investments in science and technology, to this exploding new economy.
think that it will show that we helped America to make this major transition into a new
economy and an era of globalization.
Public Papers of the Presidents
Public Papers of the Presidents
August 4, 1998
I'm very grateful to have had the chance to serve as President at a time of remarkable change
and to try to make sure that this period of change works for all Americans and that, when we get
to the 21st century, the American dream is alive and well for everybody who is responsible
enough to work for it, that our country is strong and visionary enough to continue to lead the
world toward prosperity and peace and freedom, and that we can do that because we have
enough sense to come together, across all the lines that divide us, into one America. That is what
I have worked for.
defeated Thomas Jefferson submitted anonymously a design for the White House, and the people
making the decision, basically George Washington and a few of his friends, concluded that
Hoban was superior to Jefferson. [Laughter]
THOMAS JEFFERSON/WHITE HOUSE
Public Papers of the Presidents
Public Papers of the Presidents
July 28, 1999
It was in this room that Thomas Jefferson met with his secretary, Merriwether Lewis, to plan the
Lewis and Clark expedition -- right where you're all sitting. The place was covered with
bearskins and ancient maps, and they were -- President Jefferson was in love with the
geography and science, and he saw this whole thing as not only a geographical expedition, but he
thought that all kinds of scientific information would be gathered along the way. So a lot of very
important things have happened where you are sitting today that remind us that America is a
place with great opportunities and great responsibilities.
Public Papers of the Presidents
Public Papers of the Presidents
March 9, 2000
The President. Thank you. Well, first of all, welcome to the White House. Welcome to this
wonderful East Room, where Thomas Jefferson and Meriwether Lewis planned the Lewis and
Clark expedition to explore parts of America no one had ever seen, to try to find an ocean that no
one thought could be reached by land. In a way, we are here on an even grander expedition, to
try to find a place in the human heart no one has ever seen, that many believe we cannot reach in
this life.
Public Papers of the Presidents
Public Papers of the Presidents
October 12, 1999
This is a fitting thing for us to do in the White House, because innovations in communication
and technology are a very important part of the history of this old place. In 1858 the first
transatlantic telegraph transmission was received here in a message that Queen Victoria sent to
President Buchanan. Later, the first telephone in Washington, DC, was located in a room
upstairs, and we now have a replica of that telephone in the same room upstairs. The first mobile
phone call to the Moon was made here by President Nixon 30 years ago. Even these Millennium
Evenings have made their own history. This is where we held the first-ever cybercast at the
White House.
Public Papers of the Presidents
Public Papers of the Presidents
July 7, 1995
I want to say, too, that we thought that we ought to have this ceremony in the East Room. This
has always been the people's room.
Many of you know that it was in this room that Abigail Adams used to dry the family laundry
when the room was nothing more than a brick shell. You may not know that the great explorer
Meriwether Lewis set up camp here, surrounded by canvas tarps, books, and hunting rifles in the
day when he was Thomas Jefferson's secretary. John Quincy Adams frequently would come here
to watch the Sun rise after he finished his early morning swim in the Potomac.
These portraits, as has already been said, will be seen by millions of Americans who visit here,
reminding them of what these two great Americans stood for and for what they have done to
strengthen our country. The portraits in the White House are more than likenesses. They tell the
story of the promise of one American life and, in so doing, the promise of all American life.
They offer a lesson, an example, a challenge for every American to live up to the responsibilities
of citizenship.
Public Papers of the Presidents
Public Papers of the Presidents
July 28, 1999
This country has been around a long time because we have remained faithful to our ideals, but
forever young and open to change. I don't want to conduct a tour of the White House today, but
the old house was finished in 1800. So, on our millennial year, we will celebrate the 200th
birthday of the White House. The painting of George Washington to my left, to your right, was
painted by Gilbert Stuart in 1797 and purchased for the then enormous sum of $ 500, for the
White House. It is priceless today.
But it's worth remembering how important it is to keep democracy alive, that in 1814, when we
were in the last throes of the War of 1812 and the British were coming up the Potomac, the
President of the United States, James Madison who was the last President to be the active
Commander in Chief for the Armed Forces, and so was up in Maryland, where he mistakenly
thought the British would be at the head of an army, sent word back to his wife, Dolley, who
was preparing this vast banquet the White House was full of food; this room was full of food
that the British were on the way and she should get out, but no matter what, she had to take the
picture of George Washington.
So Dolley Madison cut that picture out of its frame, rolled it up, and got out of the White House.
The British arrived to find the empty frame, ate the food, and burned the house. [Laughter] But
we rebuilt the house, and the picture still lives. And every time I see that picture, I think about it.
It was in this room that Thomas Jefferson met with his secretary, Merriwether Lewis, to plan the
Lewis and Clark expedition -- right where you're all sitting. The place was covered with
bearskins and ancient maps, and they were -- President Jefferson was in love with the geography
and science, and he saw this whole thing as not only a geographical expedition, but he thought
that all kinds of scientific information would be gathered along the way. So a lot of very
important things have happened where you are sitting today that remind us that America is a
place with great opportunities and great responsibilities.
THE PRESIDENCY
Public Papers of the Presidents
Public Papers of the Presidents
April 2, 1998
Well, let me say, I've done my best to do what every President who has commented on this, from
George Washington forward, has said the President should do, which is that for the period of
your service, insofar as possible, you should cease to be an individual citizen and spend all your
time and energy on the country. And that's what I've tried to do. And I've done my best at it, and
the results have been satisfactory, I think, for the American people. And that's what I intend to
continue to do. Others should evaluate that question, but I need to keep working on the people's
business, and that's what I intend to do.
Public Papers of the Presidents
Public Papers of the Presidents
February 16, 2000
I feel like the luckiest person alive; that at this moment in history, I was fortunate enough to be
given a chance to serve as President and to focus the attention of the Nation on the future, on
some old-fashioned ideas: everybody counts, everybody ought to have a chance, everybody's got
a role to play, we all do better when we help each other.
The work I have done to build one America for a new century was a joy every day.
Public Papers of the Presidents
Public Papers of the Presidents
January 26, 2000
people who do serious histories of this administration will be amazed at the amount of energy
and effort that went into the wide variety of areas that we worked in. And I think that it will
show that in virtually every area we had progress, from helping to reduce poverty to improving
the plight of our children, to creating an environment with the reform of telecommunications, the
reform of banking, and getting rid of the deficit and major investments in science and
technology, to this exploding new economy.
I think that it will show that we helped America to make this major transition into a new
economy and an era of globalization.
Public Papers of the Presidents
Public Papers of the Presidents
August 4, 1998
.
I'm very grateful to have had the chance to serve as President at a time of remarkable change
and to try to make sure that this period of change works for all Americans and that, when we get
to the 21st century, the American dream is alive and well for everybody who is responsible
enough to work for it, that our country is strong and visionary enough to continue to lead the
world toward prosperity and peace and freedom, and that we can do that because we have
enough sense to come together, across all the lines that divide us, into one America. That is what
I have worked for.
america peril tos
PHOTOCOPY
F. SERVATION
9Online: Today in History
wysiwyg://577/http://www.9online.com/oday/today.hm
IN
HISTORY
Today is Friday, April seventh, the 98th day of 2000.
There are 268 days left in the year.
Today's Highlight in History:
Thought for
On April seventh, 1927, an audience in New York saw an image of
Today:
Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover in the first successful
long-distance demonstration of television.
"It isn't enough to
On this date:
talk about peace. One
In 1862, Union forces led by General Ulysses S.
must believe in it.
Grant defeated the Confederates at the Battle of
And it isn't enough to
Shiloh in Tennessee.
believe in it. One
must work at it."
In 1939, Italy invaded Albania. (Less than a week
later, Italy annexed Albania.)
-- Eleanor Roosevelt,
American first lady
(1884-1962).
In 1945, during World War Two, American planes
intercepted a Japanese fleet that was headed for
Okinawa on a suicide mission.
In 1947, auto pioneer Henry Ford died in Dearborn, Michigan, at age
83.
In 1948, the World Health Organization was founded.
In 1949, the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical "South Pacific"
opened on Broadway.
In 1953, the UN General Assembly elected Dag Hammarskjold of
Sweden to be secretary-general.
In 1957, the last of New York's electric trolleys completed its final
run from Queens to Manhattan.
In 1969, the Supreme Court unanimously struck down laws
prohibiting private possession of obscene material.
In 1994, civil war erupted in Rwanda, a day after a mysterious plane
crash claimed the lives of the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi; in
the months that followed, hundreds of thousands of minority Tutsi
and Hutu intellectuals were slaughtered.
Ten years ago: Former national security adviser John M. Poindexter
was convicted of five counts at his Iran-Contra trial (however, a
federal appeals court later reversed the convictions). A display of
Robert Mapplethorpe photographs opened at Cincinnati's
Contemporary Arts Center, the same day the center and its director
were indicted on obscenity charges (both were acquitted). An arson
fire aboard a ferry en route from Norway to Denmark killed 158
people.
Five years ago: President Clinton threatened to veto a lengthy list of
I of 2
4/7/2000 5:32 PM
9Online: Today in History
wysiwyg://577/http//www.9online.com/today/today.htm
bills passed by the Republican-controlled House if they were not
modified in the Senate. In a prime-time television address, House
Speaker Newt Gingrich declared the GOP "Contract with America"
was only a beginning.
One year ago: Yugoslav authorities sealed off Kosovo's main border
crossings, preventing ethnic Albanians from leaving as the wave of
refugees approached the half-million mark.
Today's Birthdays: Actor R.G. Armstrong is 83. Sitar player Ravi
Shankar is 80. Actor James Garner is 72. Country singer Cal Smith
is 68. Actor Wayne Rogers is 67. Actor lan Richardson is 66. Media
commentator Hodding Carter the Third is 65. Country singer Bobby
Bare is 65. Rhythm-and-blues singer Charlie Thomas (The Drifters)
is 63. Jazz musician Freddie Hubbard is 62. The mayor of Oakland,
California, Jerry Brown, is 62. Movie director Francis Ford Coppola
is 61. Television personality David Frost is 61. Rock musician Bill
Kreutzmann is 54. Singer Patricia Bennett (The Chiffons) is 53.
Singer John Oates is 51. Singer Janis lan is 49. Country musician
John Dittrich is 49. Rock musician Bruce Gary is 48. Actor Jackie
Chan is 46. Football Hall-of-Famer Tony Dorsett is 46. Actor Russell
Crowe is 36. Rhythm-and-blues singer Mark Kibble (Take 6) is 36.
Pop singer Victoria "Posh Spice" Aadams Beckham (The Spice
Girls) is 25.
alta
vista:
TODAY IN HISTORY ARCHIVES: JAN - JUN I JULY - DEC
(Copyright 2000 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Home I Search I News I Weather Sports
TowerCam Doppler 9000XL I Investigators I Health Watch
Trivia Contests I Movies Mailroom
2 of 2
4/7/2000 5:32 PM
PREFACE
Wit
ith its clutter of signs and ordinary lampposts, it looks
the executive of the United States consist of a single indi-
like streets all across the country, but just down Pennsylva-
vidual. James Madison, taking notes, recorded the impact of
nia Avenue in Washington, D.C., is the most important
the proposal, which thrust the roomful of buzzing delegates
address in the world. In a monumental house conceived and
into a sudden and total silence. All knew it was a moment
built by George Washington, who almost lived to see it fin-
of fateful significance. Wilson believed that a single presi-
ished, every president since has carried his own burden
dent could give energy and dispatch to the office, allowing
through its halls, has stood in awe of the gigantic East
for decisiveness during critical moments in history. But for
Room, has thrilled to its great pillars and stately façades, has
others the idea seemed fraught with danger, though no one
spent sleepless nights tossing in its beds. The grand house,
wanted to insult the man sitting in their midst who would
like the presidency itself, has both remained very much a
almost certainly be named to the job should such an office
constant and changed tremendously over the two centuries
be created-General George Washington. After "a consider-
since John Adams made the mansion his own on November
able pause," in Madison's words, Edmund Randolph of Vir-
1, 1800, with the very first night's sleep of a chief executive.
ginia spoke out on behalf of those opposed, calling a solitary
Thirteen years earlier, at the Constitutional Conven-
executive "the foetus of monarchy," and urging that the
tion in Philadelphia, the idea for the presidency was born.
office be shared by an executive committee. And so Wilson's
On June 1, 1787, James Wilson of Pennsylvania moved that
proposal was debated on that first Friday in June, and after
N.W. 14. ST.
LOOK OUT
STREET.CARS
TURNING
ON THIS
Round
RED LIGHT
W
CO
vii
days of heated argument and changing opinions, the fateful
new paintings, and the collection keeps growing. Each pres-
motion carried. Ever since, the presidency, as one commen-
ident since has been surrounded by these portraits. They
tator has put it, has been "at the mercy of the accident of
look down upon his comings and goings as a vivid remain-
personality."
der of the relatively few others who have shared his unique
It is the extraordinary procession of these "accidents of
station. Their power is symbolic as well as historical. Ronald
personality" that inspired this family team to undertake an
Reagan, at the opening of his administration in 1980,
exhilarating study of the presidency, which includes not
ordered the portrait of his hero Calvin Coolidge moved
only this book but also a ten-hour PBS documentary series.
onto a prominent wall in the Cabinet Room. George Bush
In some ways, the presidency is the most exclusive of
said he did his best thinking during the Gulf War while sit-
clubs-by the turn of the twentieth century, just forty-one
ting in the presence of the portrait of Abraham Lincoln.
members, all men, all white, and all Christian. Closer
And Richard Nixon, during the depths of the Watergate cri-
inspection, however, reveals a less static society, one moving
sis, used to wander through the White House halls at night
inexorably toward greater inclusion. Andrew Jackson was
talking to the portraits as if to living presences. This book,
the first to break open the genteel, highly educated ranks
too, is a presidential portrait gallery, made up not only of oil
represented by the first six presidents. A self-made man hail-
paintings and of hundreds of rare photographs, but also of
ing from the frontier in western Tennessee, Jackson opened
words-both ours and of each of the presidents-that open
up whole new possibilities in what kind of American could
up vistas onto those living presences.
reach the White House. He was followed by a host of figures
A significant portion of our research time went into
from equally unlikely backgrounds-a longtime tailor
searching out the original words of the presidents, not only
(Andrew Johnson), a fitful tanner (Ulysses S. Grant), a
those existing in widely available published sources, but also
one-time canal boy (James Garfield), and a former rail-split-
those only to be found in manuscript form. And not only
ter (Abraham Lincoln). And though lawyers and career
the distinguished public utterances, but the little-known,
politicians have predominated in the high office, twentieth-
the intensely private, and the humanly revealing, as well as
century Americans elected a professor (Wilson), a newspa-
those words that shed light on our own thematic
perman (Harding), an engineer (Hoover), and a movie star
approaches. Chosen out of thousands upon thousands of
(Reagan). John F. Kennedy was the first Roman Catholic to
examples, these words are sprinkled liberally throughout
reach the White House. Inevitably, the country will elect a
our text, as well as being gathered inside special boxes in
woman as president.
each chapter labeled "In His Own Words."
As anyone who has toured the White House knows-
The story of the presidency is, at least in part, a story
and 1.2 million Americans do so each year-the mansion's
of human personality under pressure. The administration of
walls prominently display important portraits of past presi-
George Washington is not fully intelligible without refer-
dents. It was not always so. Though the famous full-length
ence to his consuming desire for integrity and to be above
painting of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart has been
politics. John Adams is best illumined by an inspection of
a feature of the executive mansion since 1800, there was lit-
his own unique makeup-his learnedness, his irascibility,
tle appetite for any others until the middle of the nineteenth
and most of all his stubborn independence. Again and again
century. It was Andrew Johnson's daughter, Martha, who
a president's personality ends up helping shape his executive
discovered, while rummaging in the White House attic, a
performance. Jefferson's expansiveness, Madison's caution,
set of six presidential portraits commissioned in the 1850s
Jackson's ferociousness, Buchanan's timidity, FDR's self-
but then forgotten. Hanging them in the great transverse
confidence all deeply affected the evolution of the high
hall of the state floor of the White House, she opened what
office. And so questions of character are not only relevant,
was in essence the first presidential portrait gallery in the
they are essential. Was a president decisive or indecisive?
White House. It was immensely popular and soon was
Rash or thoughtful? Tough-skinned or too sensitive to crit-
noved into the East Room. Under President Hayes, the
icism? Kindly or coldhearted? Did he have a vision for the
gallery was brought up to date by the acquisition of eleven
country he wanted to pursue, or did he become lost in the
iii
A turn-of-the-century view of the White House's north entrance
minutiae of the everyday tasks of the office? Was he profi-
early on put us in touch with Stephen Skowronek, a politi-
cient in working with others and in enlisting political allies,
cal scientist at Yale University who specializes in the history
or was he a loner who withdrew and tried to do everything
of the presidency. His groundbreaking book The Politics
himself? Was he expansive or petty? Was he honest or dis-
Presidents Make compares presidents from different eras
honest? Did he have a basic trust in the American people or
who shared common dilemmas and who inhabited what he
a basic distrust? These questions and others help bring focus
has called similar "political time." Especially qualified to
to the ways in which presidents have affected the history of
analyze our thematic approach, Skowronek helped us
the nation.
arrange our groupings, following our mandate that each
Our most essential early decision as this project took
chapter include an early president, two from the middle
shape was to treat the presidents thematically, rather than
years, and a modern one who was still alive and could be
chronologically. Our senior historical consultant, David
interviewed today, or at least had lived in the era of moving
Herbert Donald, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for biography,
pictures and recorded sound. With some slight tinkering
IX
over the next four years, these categories became the intel-
in "Family Ties" all seemed born for the high office, while
lectual framework for this book. Skowronek has served as
those in "Happenstance" reached the presidency only
our chief academic consultant, and his Foreword, which
because of accident and national tragedy. Those grouped in
explains the importance of looking at the presidents trans-
"The American Way" each possessed a burning vision for
historically, appears on pages xii and xiii.
their country, while those juxtaposed in "The World Stage"
Another important alliance that was formed as the
made their contributions principally in foreign affairs. And
project unfolded was with the Harvard scholar Richard E.
finally, those presidents brought together in Chapter 9-all
Neustadt, who has been called by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.,
of whom deliberately stretched the power of the office-are
"our most brilliant commentator on the presidency."
in contrast to the presidents grouped in Chapter 10, who
Neustadt's specialty is analyzing what makes effective presi-
were constrained, for better or worse, by the balanced pow-
dential leadership; his book Presidential Power has been
ers of our overall government.
dubbed "an operational Bible for presidents." Our decision
As we crisscross the boundaries between presidential
to make Dick the sole on-camera commentator for the PBS
successes and failures, between greatness and mediocrity,
television series that accompanies this book ended up deeply
these categories define our focus and shape our text. By tak-
shaping not only the series but the book as well. He has con-
ing stock of all the presidents, both those familiar and unfa-
tributed his own introduction that begins on page xiv.
miliar, and by juxtaposing modern presidents with earlier
For narrator of the television series, we brought on
incumbents, we hope to have given coherence to the sprawl-
Hugh Sidey, who has been Time magazine's special corre-
ing presidential experience. Indeed, the president we treat
spondent on the presidency for four decades. Sidey con-
first within each of these ten chapters represents an arche-
ducted exclusive interviews for this project with Presidents
type that reemerges later in presidents eerily reminiscent of
Carter, Ford, Bush, and Clinton, and these interviews serve
the original. Theodore Roosevelt appears almost like a new
as the basis for the chapters on these four presidents. Practi-
Andrew Jackson; William Howard Taft seems in some ways
cally a member of the White House himself, as well as a stu-
like a resurgence of James Madison; Jimmy Carter closely
dent of it, Sidey brings a unique perspective to the workings
resembles John Adams and also Rutherford B. Hayes; LBJ
of the Oval Office and the eight presidents he has intimately
echoes Van Buren and also Abraham Lincoln.
known (see page xi).
It is our hope that our efforts will be of assistance to
The New York Life Insurance Company, whose board
the American voter. Since our goal has been to see the pres-
of trustees has included two presidents-Calvin Coolidge
idency afresh and to think about its incumbents in new
and Herbert Hoover-has been the sole sponsor of the tele-
ways, so, too, the process of selection, we believe, can be
vision project. Without their enormous support, this ven-
invigorated by many of these same insights. The search for
ture would not have been undertaken. For five years, as the
personal excellence has many pitfalls and blind alleys; for a
project has been developed and a nationwide school
voter to be able to spot some of them and hold them up to
involvement has materialized around the enterprise, we
the light of history is citizenship of a high order.
have worked together as true partners. New York Life is a
Over the past thirty years, historians have rightly
company ideally suited to present this subject to the nation.
turned away from the old bias of studying history primarily
The ten chapters in this book are presented as five pairs
through the stories of its "great white men." And yet the
of opposites. Those presidents grouped in Chapter 1, "The
American presidents continue to fascinate. The president is
Heroic Posture," were all national heroes before they ever
the only elected officer representing the entire nation, and
were candidates. In contrast are the five men in Chapter 2
thus has a special obligation to the American people. As has
we have labeled "Compromise Choices"-politicians cho-
been made clear in the closing years of the twentieth cen-
sen in many cases for who they were not, rather than for
tury, the American people still care about the presidency.
who they were. The "Professional Politicians" grouped in
They believe in it, and rightly insist that it belongs to them.
Chapter 3 are contrasted with those political loners of
'Independent Cast of Mind" in Chapter 4. Those profiled
Hugh Sidey records the narration
for the companion PBS docu-
With Kennedy
mentary series "The American
President." Below, he reflects on
more than four decades covering
the White House for Time
magazine, including the presi-
dencies of Truman, Eisenhower
and the eight chief executives
pictured with him to the right.
With Johnson
A Personal Journey by Hugh Sidey
John Kennedy sat forward to listen closely to his space experts. They told him
it would cost $40 billion (a huge sum then) and take ten years, and they
could not guarantee that the United States would beat the Soviet Union to
the moon. Kennedy grimaced, ran his fingers through his hair, then leaned
With Nixon
back in his chair in the Cabinet Room. He wanted Americans on the moon-
and first. "I want some answers," he told the small group of aides. "Ask the
janitor over there if you have to. But I want to know how and when we can
get to the moon."
I thought to myself, as I watched and listened to this restless young man
of privilege and daring on that April evening in 1961, that with a few words
he had launched the nation on a great adventure. And it must have been the
With Ford
same with the visionary Thomas Jefferson, who doubled the size of the United
States with the Louisiana Purchase; and the prairie lawyer Abraham Lincoln,
who marshaled the most powerful army the world had known to abolish slav-
ery; and Theodore Roosevelt, who sent his engineers to build the Panama
Canal With vision and a free people behind them, these presidents-and the
others profoundly transformed civilization. In our time there is no more
With Carter
effective and powerful political office on the face of the earth.
Every one of the forty-one men who have been president has left his
mark some more positive than others No president wants to fail, yndon
Johnson once protested when he was criticized about the Vietnam War. You
do the best you know how. In the midst of that tragic conflict he had won
battles for better education and health care. And Richard Nixon, who would
be driven from office by the Watergate scandal, had journeyed triumphantly
With Reagan
through China, offering American friendship for the first time after twenty-
five years of Chinese isolation.
The presidency, like democracy, is not an easy journey. "I'm going to
give the to Nixon, JFK grumped when things were goingibadly. He
knew better. He.gloried in the great chess game, as he called it. I hat is why
solmany people now fight for the right to be president ve ridden along on
this historic caravan for more than forty years now. There is no more fascinat-
With Bush
ing and thrilling-and often entertaining-drama that we can witness.
tis my great hope that this book and the public television series it
companies will allow every reader and viewer to hear the voices and the
bugle calls and the church bells, and then feel the excitement of these men
calling their nation to the most magnificent efforts in war and peace that
humankind has ever known
With Clinton
FOREWORD
by Stephen Skowronek
Yale University
T
he American President invites readers to rethink presi-
government. The natural inclination to identify the travails
dential history and reconsider the men who have held
of the sitting president with problems in the governmental
America's top leadership position. The book draws us into
system itself is tempered by this perspective on the past, as
the history with an extraordinary collection of photographic
is the yearning for a leader who will "make the system
and pictorial images, the most comprehensive visual
work." And yet, important as it is to understand the frus-
accounting of the principal characters and their environs
tration of presidents as part and parcel of the way our sys-
ever assembled in a single volume. But I would like to draw
tem works, this insight will take us only so far. Indeed, for
particular attention to the narrative supported by this art-
anyone interested in general attributes of the presidential
work. These stunning images are arrayed in the service of an
office, a chronological analysis of the struggles of individual
innovative approach to the subject matter. The arrangement
characters in particular contexts will prove quite limited.
and presentation of the material allow us to see familiar fig-
Even those paragons who reached the commanding heights
ures afresh and to gain new insight into this most enigmatic
of authority and accomplishment appear fixed in place by
of institutions.
this perspective, limited in what they can teach others by the
Familiar as it is, the American presidency has never
idiosyncrasies of personality and circumstance.
been easy to understand. The institution has a protean char-
In recent years, an alternative perspective has taken
acter that defies fixed descriptions and settled explanations.
hold that directs our attention more specifically to the insti-
At one moment, it disappoints; at the next, it astonishes. Its
tutional development of the presidential office. Studies writ-
history is riddled with eminence and embarrassment, profi-
ten from this point of view remind us that though each of
ciency and paralysis. As each incumbent brings something
our presidents has held the same constitutional position, the
different to the job, each administration reveals some fea-
governing norms and practical operations of that office have
ture of the position scarcely intimated in the experience of
changed over time in rather dramatic ways. Instead of dis-
his immediate predecessors.
cussing presidential history administration by administra-
Writing about an office so mutable and unpredictable
tion, works on the development of the office typically
is one of the great challenges of political analysis, and no sin-
consider several administrations together in broadly defined
gle response has proved entirely satisfactory. But if the pres-
eras: the early national period of the founding generation of
idency does not admit of a definitive history, it does
presidents, the "party period" of the nineteenth-century
encourage experimentation with different perspectives that
presidency, and the period of the "modern presidency," ush-
might capture one or another of its many aspects. Consider
ered in by the New Deal and World War II. Within each of
the two most prominently displayed in the literature.
these periods we see a group of presidents who shared simi-
The first approach, "the men and their times," has
lar political resources, technological capacities, and institu-
long been the perspective of choice among biographers and
tional supports, and the coherence of the office can be
historians. Studies of this sort show us the unique ways in
discerned in reference to common assumptions and expec-
which personality and circumstance interact within the
tations about the exercise of power. From this perspective,
presidential office to determine the fate of particular admin-
the key distinctions to be drawn among presidents are not
istrations. Chronological histories of the presidents written
between the "greats" and the lesser lights but between those
from this point of view indicate as well how rare it is for the
of one period and the next, as each group is seen to inhabit
critical elements to combine in just the right way. The great
a very different institution.
success stories-George Washington, Abraham Lincoln,
This more schematic rendering of presidential history
Franklin Roosevelt-are few and far between, and they
facilitates generalizations about the office, but note that
stand out starkly against the long progression of lesser lights.
these are generalizations of a particular kind. While similar-
For those attuned to the frustrations and shortfalls of
ities among presidents within each period are fairly easy to
recent incumbents, these chronological histories are espe-
spot, similarities among presidents in different periods tend
cially instructive. They suggest that our contemporary expe-
to get filtered out. Indeed, when the "modern presidency" is
rience is very much the normal state of affairs in American
understood as an institution different in kind from all prior
xii
forms, and the modern presidents are seen as a coherent
ciations. George Washington is placed alongside Ulysses S.
group standing apart from the rest, most of presidential his-
Grant in a chapter examining the vicissitudes of "the heroic
tory simply loses its relevance. Nearly three-quarters of
posture." Abraham Lincoln is considered in conjunction
American presidents predate the modern period, but with
with Lyndon Johnson in an exploration of "professional
the possible exception of the experiences of a handful of his-
politicians" whose long dedication to their peculiar vocation
toric "greats," the early record would seem to be relegated by
landed them in America's highest office. Franklin Roosevelt
this perspective to mere historical interest. The outstanding
makes his appearance next to Benjamin Harrison to illus-
question is, What can incumbents like Benjamin Harrison
trate the influence of "family ties" on presidential history.
or Zachary Taylor possibly tell us about the presidential
To make this organizing principle work, special care
office as it appears in our own day?
had to be taken in crafting the exposition. If, in elaborating
The American President answers this question by estab-
these themes, the book had run roughshod over the forty-
lishing a third vantage point from which to view the history
one different personalities who have held the office, or if it
of the office. Though the book draws freely on insights
had failed to take into account institutional developments
made available through more conventional frames of refer-
that have transformed that office over time, the end product
ence, it experiments with a very different temporal arrange-
would be more likely to confuse than enlighten. Several fea-
ment of the material. It does not proceed chronologically
tures of the presentation stand out as especially effective in
though the succession of incumbents, nor does it take up
meeting this challenge. The first is that each of the transhis-
the usual periods of institutional development each in its
torical themes is rendered through a set of individual presi-
turn. Instead, the presentation reaches across the standard
dential vignettes. This means that the office never loses its
demarcations of the subject, joining together early and
human face and that critical institutional developments
modern presidents around general themes that transcend
within it are always kept in view. More striking still is the
the particulars of time and place. Each chapter ranges
extent to which the presentation allows the presidents to
through the whole of presidential history, calling attention
speak for themselves, expressing the major themes in their
to a particular scattering of incumbents that captures some-
own words. Breathing life into the framework of the book,
thing emblematic of the American experience with this
this technique serves to make the history accessible even to
office. In this way, the reader gains a sense of those aspects
those who might not have a detailed prior knowledge of it.
and attitudes of incumbency that constitute the presidency's
Finally, there is the pictorial and photographic support
most enduring qualities.
that instantly contextualizes each story and provides a visual
The thought that breaking up presidential history in
accounting of the passage of time. This skillful integration
this disjointed, out-of-phase fashion might better convey an
of structure, narrative, and imagery provides a powerful syn-
overarching sense of the whole is but the first of many
thesis and makes an important contribution to our under-
intriguing notions contained in The American President. In
standing of the American presidency. But of course The
its ten thematic sweeps through time, the book is continu-
American President is by no means an exhaustive account of
ally juxtaposing presidencies in unexpected ways and shak-
the subject. Perhaps the most attractive feature of this book
ing up familiar images as it does so. Jimmy Carter's fiercely
is that in opening up presidential history to an alternative
$independent cast of mind" has always appeared a bit pecu-
way of thinking, it prompts readers to experiment with its
liar among the modern presidents, and yet his apparent dis-
method for themselves. Reshuffling the pieces on our own,
dain for professional politicians and his inclination to go it
we may discover other, as yet hidden connections among the
alone politically have deep historical resonance. When
old stories. I can think of no better way to keep this venera-
Carter's example is joined to those of John Adams, Zachary
ble history vital.
Taylor, and Rutherford Hayes, the independent stance
appears as one of the presidency's most persistent poses.
Similarly, the fabled grouping of "greats" is fruitfully broken
uphere in the service of illuminating less well attended asso-
xiii
INTRODUCTION
by Richard E. Neustadt
Harvard University
As
Edward Corwin wrote some sixty years ago, the
"executive power"-which is never defined-is vested in the
S
presidency of the United States has been an office "of uncer-
president, whose duty also is to "take care that the laws be
tain content." So it was in 1787, when the Constitution was
faithfully executed." But it is Congress that creates executive
drafted, and so it remains today.
departments, decides their jurisdictions, spells out their pro-
This uncertainty is due in part to the spare yet general
grammatic duties, adds the funds to perform those duties,
language of the drafting of the Constitution, which has been
and by hallowed practice investigates the performance. So it
subject to reinterpretation in successive generations. For the
becomes clear that Congress has "executive" powers too.
first forty years, to take just one example, the presidential
Or consider this: The president is commander-in-chief
veto over legislation was thought to apply only to bills
of the armed forces, and since Thomas Jefferson's time has
affecting presidential powers. Another source of uncertainty
sometimes sent them into battle overseas on his own
as to the office of our chief executive is the uncomfortable
motion. But only Congress has the constitutional right to
fact that most of the presidential powers are shared-Con-
declare war, and Congress, every two years, sets the size and
stitutionally and practically-with other institutions inde-
composition of those forces. Also, the president sends and
pendent of a president's command. In that respect, the
receives ambassadors, a duty construed from the start to put
presidency is weaker than it first appears or than its numer-
him in charge of foreign relations. But those he sends must
ous, importunate constituencies expect. And a third source
be confirmed by action of the Senate. Should they negotiate
of uncertainty is the office's relatively stronger role in foreign
a treaty and he sign it, the Senate has to consent before it
affairs than domestic affairs-a strength, however, that
takes effect. Should he wish to send money abroad, Con-
depends on events abroad, which a president, again, for the
gress must first appropriate it; should he send troops, Con-
most part cannot control.
gress must agree to pay, as it also must with weapons and
Because the content of the presidency is uncertain, the
munitions. Regarding troops, he has to state his reasons;
person of the president takes on added importance. The
according to the law (though never yet in practice), Con-
manner in which the individual brings his (someday her)
gress can remove them after sixty days, rejecting his ratio-
mind and energies to bear on the events that frame his time
nale. Only if he drops atomic bombs does Congress have no
is crucial to the way the office is conceived and executed in
comeback-save impeachment. But every president since
that time. The incumbent's own experience, enthusiasms,
Truman has learned, in awe, from his experience that
ideas, interests, prejudices, working style, and temperament
nuclear weapons are for show, not use.
will markedly affect what happens in the office and what
Or consider this: While Congress is the legislature in
comes out of it.
our system, the president, in Dwight Eisenhower's phrase, is
The times, of course, can limit or strengthen a presi-
also "part of the legislative process," not only wielding his
dent and often do, but he, in turn, makes use of them-or
veto (which the House of Representatives and Senate both,
doesn't.
by a two-thirds vote, can override), but also having the duty
That is why what follows in this book and in the tele-
to recommend "such measures as he judge necessary and
vision series it accompanies is oriented to the human histo-
expedient."
ries of the forty-one individuals who so far have occupied
These are what we conventionally call "checks and bal-
the office. Were the institution cut-and-dried, required to
ances" in our government. There are others as well, includ-
perform in the same fashion all the time, those histories
ing the sovereign rights of states within their constitutional
would be both less important than they are and less reveal-
limits, which the courts can amend, from time to time, by
ing of the presidency in our political system. But the insti-
interpretation, but not abolish altogether. In a comparable
tution is what Corwin said it was.
category are the rights of citizens, and by extension those of
The uncertainty that dogs the office, heightening the
the private sector in our economy, not least the press. And
effect of individuals in it, derives most basically from the
very specifically, in another example of checks and balances,
deliberate competition between president and Congress
senators and members of the House are forbidden to hold
envisaged in the terms of the Constitution. For example, the
executive appointments simultaneously; there cannot be
xiv
A young Richard Neustadt
Senators and members of Congress have limited influ-
working as an adviser to Harry
ence, at best, in primaries for presidential nominations, or
Truman.
in the national conventions that confirm the results, now
shades of their former selves. Presidents are usually at least
as limited in influence upon the state or district bodies that
nominate representatives and senators, even those nomi-
nally of their own party. For in fact the local and state par-
ties are not the same as the quadrennial national party at
presidential elections. Money for campaigns can be a bind-
congressional cabinets at the president's end of Pennsylvania
ing tie (and has been, on occasion, almost from the start).
Avenue.
But by and large, local party affairs remain local, and state
Most of these checks and balances derive directly,
affairs state, in the conduct of nominations. In modern
though not avowedly, from British experience, our founding
times, primary elections for the presidential nomination do
fathers having all been former British subjects. For example,
lessen the influence of statewide party organizations, once
the check that forbids members of Congress from simulta-
supreme at national conventions, but that influence was
neously holding executive appointments keeps American
usually less congressional than gubernatorial, so Congress
presidents from doing what King George III was famous for,
scarcely loses by the change.
his so-called "corruption" of Parliament-building majori-
In short, the constitutional separation of president
ties with rewards in the form of appointments to adminis-
from Congress is reinforced by the separateness of their
trative posts.
respective nominating processes and their electoral con-
Moreover, president and Congress are competitive
stituencies. That is why the separation flourishes, and has
because both represent the American people, and so both
flourished, for the most part, since George Washington took
can claim to represent the source of sovereignty in popular
his oath of office in 1789. And since the separation rests
government. But they do so in different ways, for different
securely on those different political bases, checks and bal-
terms, as they are nominated and elected by different con-
ances assure perpetual competition, because the president
stituencies. Only the president (and, of course, his running
and Congress, each speaking "for" the country, share so
mate) is nominated in primary elections or state conven-
widely in each other's functions.
tions all across the country and then chosen by popular vote
That competition can be muted by concern for dan-
in general elections held state by state on the same day. Just
gers from abroad, as was the case when President Washing-
a third of the senators are chosen at the same time, and then
ton began, and in the two world wars, and from time to
for terms of six years rather than the presidential four. Rep-
time during the Cold War. Or it can be muted by concern
resentatives are chosen from geographic districts within
for truly national crises, as in the secession crisis of 1861 or
states-usually smaller than states-not only when a presi-
the collapse of the U.S. banking system in 1933. And it
dent runs but also every second year. They are nominated in
always can be tempered by comity among those engaged in
party primaries or conventions, as is he, but within their
governing-but of that our party politics offers no guarantee.
state or district, not throughout the country, and then
Given these circumstances, individuals are bound to
elected by the voters in the same jurisdiction, a far smaller
matter in and to the presidency. Underlining this book,
body than the president's fifty-state electorate.
therefore, is the thought that a review of the first forty-one
As aggregates, both the Senate and the House repre-
may help us as we choose the next president.
sent the whole country. But so does the president, one per-
Each individual president exists and works in a specific
son. The House can always claim to be most up-to-date in
social, economic, technological, and environmental frame-
its representation, but every four years the president makes
work, dominated by certain prevailing ideas and trends. All
the superior claim of a nationwide vote. Individually no
these condition politics and thus what given presidents find
House member (or senator, for that matter) can match that.
they can do, or feel they must attempt. Each also exists in a
xv
specific frame of time, defined by modes of communication.
responsive to administrative needs than to those of politics
For James Monroe, six weeks was not too long to wait for
and technology. It reflects fast-rising public expectations of
diplomatic correspondence from across the Atlantic. By
the presidency, which now is supposed to win wars, resist
Lincoln's time the interval had shrunk, with the advent of
terror, keep public order, end recessions, guard against
steamships, to twelve days. After 1867, the laying of the
depressions, keep prices down and jobs up, save the envi-
transatlantic cable made communication almost instanta-
ronment, preserve social security, fight crime and drugs,
neous-but instant pictures did not come for more than
maintain personal honor, serve as an example to the young,
another century.
and with it all show "fiscal responsibility." Such expectations
From 1789 until the eve of World War II, there virtu-
are now fed by electronic media, as well as the print press,
ally was no "institutional environment" for the presidency.
which have been engaged in massive bursts of instant com-
The president had a private secretary or two (Lincoln in the
munication from all quarters simultaneously. What is com-
Civil War had just two!), paid out of his own pocket until
municated has to have a basis in events, but with the world
the twentieth century, and otherwise depended for all
at the disposal of the media, thanks to satellites, events from
things he wanted done on the federal departments, with
somewhere, about something, are a dime a dozen.
their heads in his cabinet, or the military chiefs and their
This naturally complicates the substance of policy and
services, or friendly souls in Congress and out, not least in
its communication to Congress, to agencies, and to the pub-
his hometown.
lic. Recent presidents have wished to have their own aides-
The entire executive establishment consisted only of
not a department head's, not someone else's-to work and
some 600 civilians when George Washington took charge.
advise on all aspects of all policies. Furthermore, the bur-
By the 1840s the number had risen to some 40,000, and by
geoning press corps, always pressing, consists not just of
1900 to some 100,000. Only in Franklin Roosevelt's time
"working stiffs," as in pre-television times, but also of
did it rise to a million, just before World War II. After the
reporters, whom television has transformed into celebrities.
war it never fell below 2 million until Bill Clinton's time,
They, like all such, want their service fast and hot. In Presi-
when it was reduced by perhaps an eighth.
dent Truman's time, his press secretary had two professional-
The White House was slow to change. As late as the
level assistants. The number nowadays is over forty.
war, FDR had only eleven civilian assistants, along with a
The institutional presidency is not an unmixed bless-
budget-office staff of career civil servants. JFK's assistants
ing for a president. Staffs are too large to be intimate, which
amounted to twenty-two, a doubling in sixteen years,
means they are too remote to serve reliably as interpreters of
mostly because of Truman and Eisenhower innovations.
what "the boss" really wants. They are subject to becoming
Then, very shortly, President Nixon increased the number
"more royalist than the king." They also may attract to
by a factor of five, to well over 100. The Clinton staff is
themselves more business than is useful for him. Worse still,
larger still. Most of the load that was delegated to depart-
they may confuse their own interests with his. And since
ments, or the military, or congressional leaders, or friends
transition funds are now available to bridge the gap between
(and relatives) by presidents from Washington through Her-
election and inaugural, all too many staff assistants may be
bert Hoover and the early Franklin Roosevelt is now done,
young campaigners on their first federal assignment, as
supervised, critiqued, or redone by presidential staff, many
ignorant of Washington as the president-elect might be
at the White House, and more at associated agencies "across
himself, and unprepared to help him master what he needs
the street" in two executive office buildings. Today, 2,000 or
to know.
so people work for the presidency in the Executive Office of
Despite staffs and the problems that go with them,
the President; 500 or so work for the president in the White
recent presidents appear to experience the office in much
House (clerical help included); 100 or so serve as top
the way their predecessors did. For the heart of the job is
staffers; and ten to twenty aides have daily personal access to
unchanged. It is the making and communicating of deci-
the president.
sions, most of which do not originate with the president
This enormous growth of staff has actually been less
himself: their long histories are best known to others; their
xvi
Richard E. Neustadt at work
in implementing what it does get done, engender critical
on The American President.
and sometimes despairing pleas for reform of one kind or
another from deeply concerned thinkers-and have done so
ever since the eighteenth century.
A discussion of checks and balances seems a fitting way
for this book to close. For complicated reasons bound up in
history-not quite what Madison expected but more or less
consistent with his basic views-the system he created man-
ages to shake off every decade's effort to erase its fundamen-
deadlines are set by fixed dates or events substantially
tals for the sake of theory. Nevertheless, it does continue to
beyond his control; and they reach him late, at the end of
change incrementally at the margins, responding to the
the process, with advisers split on what to do. All presidents,
pulls and tugs of social, economic, and technological devel-
even recent ones, have faced such choices with the help of a
opment. The responses can lag, some are perverse, and all
few trusted persons, perhaps three or four, rarely more, who
have unintended consequences. Injustice often follows. To
constitute an ultimate inner circle. They may be aides, or
rational minds the process is a mess. No one can fail to fume
cabinet members, or close friends, or family members, like
at some of its results. Yet in this country, so far, we have had
Milton Eisenhower and Hillary Rodham Clinton. What is
only one civil war. Of all our presidential thinkers, Madison,
crucial is that they are each of the president's own selec-
I dare say, would have been almost satisfied by that. Most of
tion-someone he turns to repeatedly and who trusts him
the time, I am prepared to join him.
in turn. Those few may be the only people that a modern
But that is a perspective from inside the States. When
president thinks of as his real "staff," the many others nom-
I go overseas, as periodically I do, I cannot help but notice
inally in that category notwithstanding. In this regard, his
how our separated system reinforces tendencies toward con-
subjective situation has a lot in common with that of every
tinental self-absorption, disappointing what our friends
predecessor back to General Washington.
abroad expect from the world's oldest democracy and only
This book proceeds on that premise. It proceeds on
superpower. They forget that even our most generous phase
the further premise that while history does not literally
of genuine concern for our allies-and for endeavors with
repeat itself, the situations of some presidents objectively
them-got kick-started by the threat of Joseph Stalin. Ger-
resemble those of many others in certain characteristic ways.
man submarines precipitated our engagement in World War
In the final chapter of this book the authors turn to
I, Japanese bombers did the same for World War II, and
cardinal features of our constitutional design, its checks and
Stalin played a crucial part in setting off the retrospective
balances. These separated institutions that share powers
Golden Era of the Marshall Plan. Left to our own devices we
engage as they must in endless competition; they tend
incline toward isolation.
toward stalemate in the short run, and are slow to respond
The complicated workings of our separated system,
to slender majorities, though they are capable of registering
with president and Congress independent yet intertwined,
national consensus with rapidity. But consensus is not easily
are a contributory cause of this isolation. Actions are so
reached, save for events so grim and clear-cut that time may
fraught with emotion, and yet so far from final-almost
not allow for proper remedies. And competition can easily
every issue can be and usually is reopened for discussion-
get out of hand, leading toward legislative stasis and admin-
that the energy and interests of our leaders are consumed,
istrative chaos. For a country as extensive and diverse as
with little left for the outside world save when it forcibly
ours, there must be something good about this separated
intrudes. From an eighteenth-century perspective, Madi-
system, since it has endured now for 211 years and plainly
son, I think, would not have minded. From a twenty-first-
has a future. But its potential for failure in the eyes of most
century perspective-oh, how our allies do mind! Sympathy
proponents of all policies much of the time, and its extraor-
tempers my share in his satisfaction.
dinary messiness, not to say expense, both in delaying and
xvii
1/11/00 - Taft
COM to you
THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT
EPISODE TEN: The Balance of Power
Bill Clinton
Narrator:
After Taft, the balance of power shifted
43.76
again under the force of Franklin
Roosevelt, leading to an era when the
executive branch dominated like it never
had before. It wasn't until after Watergate
that Congress seized back its powers and
restored an earlier sense of balance. But by
the 1990s that balance had been upset
once again, this time by an intense new
level of partisanship. No president in
modern times was more impacted by
political divisiveness than was the 42nd
president, Bill Clinton.
1/11/00 - Clinton
WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON
Second Chances
Neustadt:
Our system of government, those
146:11:02:30
separated institutions sharing and
71.74
competing for powers are if anything, too
separated today.
145; 10:26:10
By the time of Bill Clinton, the glue that had
71.58
held Congress together in a tight,
hierarchical relationship had been
dissolved.
127; 13:37:20
Only once has polarization got so great,
69.89
only once have our national parties
127; 13:35:25
fractured. When they did we had a Civil
69.88
War. We're not at such a point, but you
have dangerous potentials in the country.
Truly dangerous.
Clinton:
The presidency can still be a place of great
157; 18:32:10
influence and power, it's still the central
74.70
office in the country particularly in times of
adversity or crisis, but it can be in good
times as well but it requires a greater level
of energy. There's not an automatic
deference to the presidency. But I still think
it's the greatest job in the world and I still
think its very, very important to the
American people.
1/11/00 - Clinton
Narrator:
William Jefferson Clinton was born in 1946
43.77
as William Blythe III in the small town of
43.78
Hope, Arkansas. By grade school he was
so outgoing, he was already recognized as
a young man with a future in politics.
Clinton:
I think what shaped my early interest in
156; 17:56:30
politics were a couple of things. First of all I
74.08
was always, always interested in civil rights
and it was the defining political issue of my
childhood. And I think the other thing that
really had a lot to do with it was the fact
that we got a televison when I was nine
years old. And I got to watch in 1956 the
Republican and Democratic Conventions
on television-I watched the whole thing
and I was utterly fascinated by it.
Narrator:
Bill Clinton was the son of a salesman who
43.79A
died before he was born, and a nurse,
Virginia Dell, who was his greatest
influence.
Clinton:
She taught me these things: never give up;
156; 17:59:57
never forget where you came from; and
74.18
never lose your compassion for people who
are less fortunate that you are.
Narrator:
From early on, he always attracted
1/11/00 - Clinton
43.79B
attention. He was musical, immensely
popular, easygoing and ambitious.
43.79
In 1963, at age 17, he went to experience
Washington D.C. firsthand. There, he got to
shake hands with his political hero, John F.
Kennedy. The encounter changed Bill
Clinton's life forever.
Clinton:
Thankfully we were lined up in alphabetical
156; 17:57:36
order by state so I was from Arkansas. And
74.14
I also was bigger than most of the people
around me, so I sort of elbowed my way up
to make sure that if he didn't shake hands
with everyone I'd get to shake hands with
him.
156; 17:58:51
When I went home I had the feeling that if I
74.16
worked hard and prepared myself, that I
could have an impact. And that was a gift
that I got out of that week.
Narrator:
The following year Clinton entered
43.80
Georgetown University, where he became
43.81
known for his self-confidence, his
intelligence, and as a man in a hurry. After
spending two years at Oxford on a Rhodes
Scholarship, he attended Yale Law School.
There he met Hillary Rodham, an active
1/11/00 - Clinton
idealist whose no-nonsense ways were the
perfect complement to his freewheeling
charm.
43.82
Accepting a position on the faculty of the
University of Arkansas Law School in 1972,
Clinton used it as a springboard into
Arkansas politics.
Clinton:
I ran for Congress in 1974 and was
156; 18:00:33
defeated and then in '76 I was attorney
74.22
general and I loved that job but a vacancy
occurred in the governor's race and so I ran
and I won and it was exhilarating and I
loved it.
Sidey:
Now you were a governor at age thirty-two,
156; 18:00:19
74.19
that's awfully young.
Clinton:
Very young! Maybe too young
156; 18:00:26
74.20
Narrator:
As Governor, Bill Clinton bristled with ideas
43.83
and energy. But he also made a series of
political miscalculations, causing him to
lose his bid for reelection.
Clinton:
The people of my state had the opinion that
156; 18:01:31
I was a smart person who cared about
74.24
them but I was too bull-headed, and I didn't
1/11/00 - Clinton
listen to them enough.
156; 18:02:34
They told me what I had done wrong, they
74.25
then gave me a second chance to serve.
And I think the service was I know it was
good for me and my family, I believe it was
good for my state.
Narrator:
Just ten years later, at age 46, Bill Clinton
43.86
was running for president.
Sidey:
When you ran in 1992, you said, "You may
156; 18:06:42
only be fit to be president when you are not
74.32
obsessed with it."
Clinton:
I really did feel that by 1992 because of
156; 18:06:51
various things that happened in my
74.33
personal and work life I was able to run with
great passion but with less obsession than
would have been the case, for example, if I
had been the candidate in 1988.
Narrator:
Early in his campaign his candidacy was
43.86B
threatened by rumors regarding infidelity in
his personal life. With the strong support of
his wife Hillary, Bill Clinton became the first
presidential candidate ever to publicly admit
to marital problems. But it was behind them
1/11/00 - Clinton
now, he said, and entirely a private matter.
The candidate insisted that he be judged
not on his private life but by his
performance and his political record.
43.86A
His words made sense to a public that
seemed to be growing more tolerant, and
from a position low in the polls Bill Clinton
soared to second place in the New
Hampshire primary, earning the nickname
"The Comeback Kid."
Neustadt:
He's a man who loves people, loves to talk,
127; 13:15:50
loves to circulate, is thus a natural
69.67
politician. And the naturalness of his
political qualities extends to a very sharp
instinct for campaigning, for feeling the
moods of his audience and responding to
them, and it has served him well.
Narrator:
By sticking to the issues, and promising the
43.87
kind of change that only a young man of a
new generation could bring about, Clinton
won a resounding victory in a three-way
presidential race in November.
Clinton:
I felt a profound gratitude to the American
156; 18:08:21
people. But there was a little bit of me that
1/11/00 - Clinton
74.35
felt like the dog that was chasing the pickup
you know and finally caught it. So now what
do I do, you know? But I was also humbled
by it. I think you know any person who is
not a little humbled by being given this
responsibility, doesn't understand what he
or she has got a hold of.
Clinton:
And I think that when a person gets this
156; 18:06:08
office, you feel always never quite
74.31
adequate to do the work. No one is smart
enough or wise enough, or strong enough.
Narrator:
Determined to make his mark as a
43.88
Democratic reformer, Clinton appointed
minorities to his administration and initiated
a national dialogue on race. He appointed
women to some of the highest positions in
national government. And he set in motion
an ambitious agenda to reshape numerous
social programs, including a bold initiative
to create universal healthcare coverage.
Republicans criticized it as an over-
ambitious, liberal experiment, and health
care became the rallying cry for a strong
political opposition. It led to sweeping
congressional victories in 1994, with the
Republicans gaining control of both houses
of Congress for the first time in forty years.
1/11/00 - Clinton
Clinton:
There's always been periods of more
156; 18:16:03
intense partisanship followed by periods of
74.49
lesser intensity. And it was something I'm
not used to, didn't cultivate, don't believe in
and would like to see diminished.
Narrator:
Partisanship in the government reached
43.89
epidemic proportions by the end of Bill
Clinton's first term. Twice in 1995 the
government was forced to shut down, with
Clinton and the Republican-controlled
Congress at loggerheads over the budget.
The spirit of compromise-key to the
workings of the Madisonian system of
government-was degenerating into a
system of mutual antagonisms.
43.90
Shortly after Bill Clinton was soundly re-
elected to a second term the Madisonian
system was put to a further test. When the
Supreme Court ruled in the civil case of
Jones versus Clinton that a sitting president
could be sued for actions taken prior to his
term, Clinton was forced to testify in a
sexual harassment lawsuit against him. It
was in this politically charged atmosphere
that an independent counsel, with virtually
unlimited investigative powers, intensified
1/11/00 - Clinton
his scrutiny. The presidency was now under
siege on all fronts.
43.91
Failing to uncover incriminating evidence in
what became known as Whitewater,
Special Prosecutor Kenneth Starr shifted
his focus from Clinton's business dealings
to his personal life. And in 1998 he exposed
an affair between the president and a White
House intern named Monica Lewinsky,
claiming that Clinton had perjured himself
when he denied it under oath in the Paula
Jones civil case. On December 19, the
Republican-controlled House of
Representatives voted to impeach. The
official charges were perjury and
obstruction of justice, but throughout the
trial the underlying dynamic was political.
Sidey:
1998 was a difficult year for you, Mr.
157; 18:20:52
President, both professionally and
74.52
personally. During the impeachment
process the issue of character was raised-
a hard one to define by anybody's
measure. But from your own experience
how important is that issue of character for
a president?
Clinton:
I think it's very important. But I think a lot of
1/11/00 - Clinton
157; 18:21:11
the people who talk about it do so in ways
74.53
that give it a very limited definition, normally
for purposes that are quite self-serving.
That is, most of the people I've known have
demonstrated great character didn't go
around talking about it.
157; 18:21:35
Now I made a personal mistake which
74.54
became a matter of public debate. I've tried
to acknowledge my wrongdoing and say
that I was sorry about it. But I also have
tried to demonstrate presidential character
by standing up for the interests of the
country and doing what I told the American
people I would do when I ran for office.
157; 18:23:23
But I think that it is important for us to
74.56
remember that there is also a difference
between character and reputation and that
under the guise of elevating character,
there are a large number of people in our
country today that believe the way they can
get what they want in life is from destroying
someone else's reputation. None us is ever
a complete judge of another's character,
only God can fully judge that.
Narrator:
Throughout the Senate trial there loomed a
43.92
major constitutional issue-of exactly what
1/11/00 - Clinton
constituted an "impeachable offense," and
whether the president's misleading
testimony in the Jones case and before the
Starr Grand Jury, rose to the level of "high
crimes and misdemeanors." If an elected
president could be removed, scholars
warned, on the basis of his personal
relationships and an effort to cover them
up, the Madisonian system itself could be in
danger of collapse.
Neustadt:
While some people hated Clinton to an
127; 13:18:52
extraordinary degree-a hatred which says
69.70
more about the country and its times, than
127; 13:19:48
it does about him-many others have had a
69.71
fondness for him that owes nothing to
ignorance about defects in his private life.
He's had the good fortune to have a
personality which encourages
discrimination between himself as president
and himself as a private individual and his
personality has conquered all kinds of
doubts about him.
Narrator:
Over time, Bill Clinton reoriented the
43.92A
Democratic party toward mainstream
issues, including balancing the budget and
reforming welfare. And he presided over
one of the strongest economies in the 20th
1/11/00 - Clinton
century. Despite impassioned calls for his
resignation, throughout the trial Clinton's
approval ratings remained extremely high.
And in the end, the Senate listened to the
people. As a body it could not muster the
required two-thirds vote, or even a simple
majority, to convict Bill Clinton of any
charges.
Sidey:
The American people spoke out loud and
157; 18:23:54
clear throughout 1998-you know that
74.57
better than anybody.
Clinton:
They were very good to me.
157; 18:24:??
Sidey:
What did you learn about the power of the
157: 18:24:??
people and the role the public plays in
exercising political power from here?
Clinton:
I learned all over again the same lesson I
157; 18:24:15
learned as a child-that there are certain
74.58
rules of human conduct that apply to all of
us and when we make a mistake you have
to live with the consequences of your
actions whether they are public or not, we
always pay, nobody gets out for free. And
second thing I learned is that the Framers
were smart-they designed the Constitution
1/11/00 - Clinton
to prevent partisan passions from
overriding common sense. But the third
thing was that the American people almost
always get it right.
156; 18:04:41
They gave me a second chance. And I
74.28
think if we think about life as getting second
chances as long as you learn from your
mistakes, I think it's a helpful way to look at
life, and so I do believe in a God of second
chances.
Sidey:
How's the presidency changed you?
Clinton:
You know I've had to ask for forgiveness in
157; 18:38:29
a way that most people never do in public
74.79
although nearly everybody does in private
157; 18:40:28
at some point during a lifetime. I've learned
74.80
a lot about giving up the little things in life
so you can focus on the big things. And if I
had only felt I was doing it for myself, I'm
not sure I would have had the strength. But
knowing that I was doing it for the American
people helped me, and I'm very grateful for
that because I think its something that I can
carry with me for the rest of my life.
Narrator:
The only Democrat to be reelected
43.93B
president since FDR, Bill Clinton both
1/11/00 - Clinton
reflected and benefitted from an
increasingly tolerant America. And while
most Americans deplored his personal acts
in the Lewinsky case, they refused to judge
his public role by his private behavior.
Neustadt:
From Nixon's time on, though we weren't
145; 10:39:37
very conscious of it to begin with, it is now
71.67
plain that every President immediately upon
election, attracts the serious intent of
political opponents and the professional
interest of the media in tearing him down
and pushing him toward resignation.
145; 10:40:11
It used to be that one of the most
71.68
fundamental powers underlying a
president's position was a fixed term. We
now see that the Nixon precedent has
unfixed the term and has created both for
media and for politicians incentives to try to
shorten the term. I find that sad in a way
that goes far beyond Bill Clinton, it affects
all successive presidents as far as we can
see.
Narrator:
The presidency, now well into its third
43.95
century, is in many ways not the same
institution it once was. Our early presidents
worked virtually alone, with a single
1/11/00 - Clinton
secretary, or two, paid out of their own
pocket. Today the White House staff
numbers more than 500; all together, the
executive branch consists of nearly two
million civilians. From humble beginnings
an almost baffling complexity has arisen.
And yet through it all there remains a single
person at the center who must shoulder the
office. However he (some day she) has
arrived at the White House-whether
through heroism or compromise, through
family ties or through happenstance,
through political savvy or passionate vision
or lonely integrity, each inherits and builds
upon the work of his predecessors.
Bringing to bear talents, and also human
flaws, and sometimes a rare capacity to
rise to greatness, these individuals together
embody The American President.
PROGRAM
Remarks
The President
Philip B. Kunhardt, Jr.
Executive Producer
The American President
Sy Sternberg
Chairman, President and CEO
New York Life Insurance Company
Profile Introduction
Andrew Young
Screening
"Thomas Jefferson"
Profile Introduction
Senator Edward M. Kennedy
Screening
"John F. Kennedy"
Closing Remarks
The President
Reception to follow in the State Dining Room
3
THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT
Commentator
Richard E. Neustadt
u3 32
Narrator
It of to farrille
Hugh Sidey
Music
Michael Starobin
Co-Writers, Co-Producers, Co-Directors
Philip B. Kunhardt, Jr.
this
Philip B. Kunhardt, III
year And
Peter W. Kunhardt
Executive Producers
Peter B. Kunhardt, Jr.
sne reflers dol
William R. Grant
Co-Director
Jamie Edgar
land
5.6 lates
Chief Academic Consultant
letsk
Skowronek
siel
Senior Historical Consultant
David Herbert Donald
Underwriter
New York Life Insurance Company
4
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Public Papers of the Presidents, October 29, 1993
Public Papers of the Presidents
October 29, 1993
CITE: 29 Weekly Comp. Pres. Doc. 2204
LENGTH: 2728 words
HEADLINE: Remarks at the Dedication of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library Museum
in Boston, Massachusetts
ENTIRE PIECE VERY GOOD LANGUAGE ON KENNEDY
BODY:
Thank you very much, Senator Kennedy, for those moving words and for your friendship
and your leadership. Jackie and Caroline and John and all the members of the Kennedy family
here assembled Congressman Kennedy, I thank you for those fine remarks distinguished
Senators and Members of Congress and Governors here present and all of the rest of you who
share a part of this historic day.
I want you to know that I felt very much at home today when I got out of the car and the
Harvard band was playing the Yale song. And it reminded me of the time when President
Kennedy got a degree from Yale, and he said he had the best of all worlds, a Harvard
education and a Yale degree. [Laughter] I had the Harvard band and the Yale song. Harvard
has higher standards. They haven't offered me a degree yet. But for some of us, music is
more important than degrees. [Laughter]
The great champion of Irish mythology was the young warrior Cu Chulainn. According to
legend, he was a hero without peer among mortals. One day a priest told him, "You will be
splendid and renowned but short-lived." Cu Chulainn replied, "It is a wonderful thing if I am
but one day and one night in the world, provided that my fame and deeds live after me."
Like Cu Chulainn's legend, John Kennedy's fleeting time among us remains a singular story in
the history of our great Nation. He was our President for only a thousand days, but as has
been said so eloquently by members of his family, he changed the way we think about our
country, our world, and our own obligations to the future. He dared Americans to join him on
an adventure he called the New Frontier. Listen now to what he said then: "The new frontier
of which I speak is not a set of promises. It is a set of challenges. It sums up not what I
intend to offer the American people, but what I intend to ask of them." He inspired millions of
us to take a very personal responsibility for moving our country forward and for advancing
the cause of freedom throughout the world. He convinced us that our efforts would be both
exciting and rewarding. He reminded us that our democracy at its best is a bold and daring
adventure.
BC
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Three decades have passed since President Kennedy's 3 years in office. But his legacy
endures in the new frontiers we still explore. Think of his appeal for religious tolerance to the or something
Houston Baptist ministers, and remember that just this week we passed in the Senate
to that extent
Senator Kennedy's religious freedom restoration act And I thank you very much for that.
Think of the appeal he made for basic civil rights, and remember that it was just this year
that we passed the motor voter act, which was the most important piece of civil rights
legislation passed in a long time, and that we now have, I am proud to say, the most racially
diverse administration in the history of the United States.
Gut
/retrieve?_m=58229fe447c955a081ccbdc26e191b0f&docnum=16&_fntstr=FULL&_stardo4/5/2006