preview of what is available every weekend on c-span three. the vietnam war's offensive started on january 30th, 1968. with veered cone forces attacking more than 100 cities, towns and outposts across a broad swath of south vietnam. we visited the museum in washington, d.c. to tour an exhibit on the battle of way, where some of the most intense fighting of the campaign took place. we speak with former photographer about his voters and experiences. watch tuesday, beginning at eight eastern. and enjoy american history tv this weekend every weekend on c-span 3. up next pulitzer prize with photographer david human candidly discusses more than 50 or long photography career with the story of john meacham. he spoke in an event hosted by the center for creative photography at the university

of arizona and bank of america. >> thank you, president robins and thank you all for coming here tonight. it's a thrill to see you here in centennial hall and as dr. robbins said, we have ambitious plans to think about the arts in new and transformative ways here on campus. i am thrilled to be leading arizona arts and our new gateway to arts experience, assets and educational programs at the university of arizona. the core of our mission in arizona is to ensure that all students, regardless of major have meaningful experience in the arts and the david human can early change in transform five ways it is a prime example to integrating the arts into

all aspects of the university experience and to making it a true arts destination. tonight, we're in for such a treat as we hear from two pulitzer prize winners john medium in kenneth you can early as doctor robbins said, david will collaborate and work closely with faculty in aerz arz arts and the college of soech and behavioral, archive as an invaluable research for student research and for research. i am deeply proud that the center for creative photography will be home to this archive. the leadership and staff of the center putting countless hours working with david and his team to make this acquisition possible and i'm really, really grateful for their efforts in hard work. i specially want to extend my gratitude to director broken redirect are the center for all her work you.

[applause] not only her work on this project but making the center in many ways the jewel in the crowd of what we mentioned arizona arts will be. >> this evening's remarkable event would not be possible without the sponsor bank of america and i would like ask you to help me to welcome adrian romero, tucson market president bank of america. thank you very much. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, andy. good evening. on behalf of bank of america, it is my honor to welcome and thank you for being with us tonight. i also want to thank the university of arizona doctor robin's and the center for creative photography for all their hard work and partnership in planning of tonight's events. at bank of america we ask the question, what would you like the power to do? a response we often hear is to build strong and thriving communities.

so it's exciting to hear about this partnership that the university of arizona has developed with the arts and with david hume kenearly because we believe in the power of the arts to help economies thrive, educate and enrich societies and create greater cultural understanding. art has the power to help individuals embrace and appreciate people's background, culture, heritage and experiences which helps to strengthen communities. tonight, david hume kenearly and john meacham will highlight some of the most important cultural and political issues of our time. together david and john will discuss photography and culture and the way it bears witness helps us understand complex issues, evokes emotion and leads to a greater knowledge of our world. i am proud to support and celebrate the great partnership that bank of america has with david. he's been a longtime partner

not only working with our senior executives and our board of directors and he's traveled around the united states and to other countries covering our extensive social responsibility program such as our global ambassador's program and our partnership with vital voices. through our ten-year partnership david has created a vast archive for bank of america and among other thing, photos underscore how we contribute to the local communities and the customers that we serve. so now david told me that working with us has been a good partnership in its own right and we also feel the same about him. so it's for that represent that we are proud to sponsor this wonderful event. it is exciting to be extending this partnership bank of america has with david to include the university of

arizona and the center for creative photography. these partnerships will ensure that david's historic work is shared with the university community and beyond to provide a unique perspective on history that helps create greater insight of iconic events. so without further ado, i want to thank you again for being here tonight, and i hope that through tonight's presentation you will see how photography can help see a different perspective to create insight, open up dialogue and invoke a greater understanding of some of the most important cultural and political issues of our time. thank you. [applause] ♪ ♪ >> for more than 50 years

david hume kennerly has documented history with his camera, his singular perspective and relentless determination have helped kennerally create unforgettable images of the powerful and the powerless alike. the david hume kennerly archive is unparalleled for it's depth and breadth it takes a sweeping look at history in the making, the people who made it and some of the important events of our time. >> it all started with a cat. our family cat. i took a picture of her when i was 10 years old. that early photo got me excited about what was goingcapturing what was going on around me. i was always dreaming of being somewhere other than where i was at the moment. ♪ ♪ >> howard feinman, former newsweek chief political correspondent says kennerly is as good as it gets in a craft

that he defined. ♪ ♪ >> i was in saigon when i gotta tell extreme upi headquarters can early has won a pulitzer prize for photography and in typical fashion, need soonest comment. >> vietnam was the biggest story of my generation. i felt an obligation to document the story that was killing so many of us. every frame i took in vietnam went straight to my heart. >> i'm proud to be a photographer, and i'm fortunate to be one who went into war and came out alive. when i got back to vietnam, watergate was the big story.

>> i took a picture of gerald are for that ended up on the cover of "time" after nixon picked him to replace vice president agnew who had resigned. that led directly to me becoming the chief white house photographer. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> soviet president mikhail gorbachev said ken early's work is more than just photography. it's history. >> people ask if there's any world event that i regret not shooting. of course, everything i missed, but it wasn't much. ♪ ♪ >> every photographer, no matter what they do, provide a

service and that is to give insight into who we are, and what makes us tick. you will find those secrets in the photographs. >> ancell adams said kennerly puts forth that a positive testimony that photography as a language, can speak truth. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> journalists, photographers are the people who keep us informed. we're the truth it truth tellers. my job is to show people what they don't want to see and it's how they find out what's real.

a great photo is one that makes you sit up and pay attention. there are certain pictures that you see that never go out of your mind. i'm going to keep shooting until the day i die. i will never stop being curious and i will never put down my camera. ♪ ♪ >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome jon meacham and david hume kennerly.

>> after that, we don't have to do anything else. welcome to the only funeral i have ever been to where the corpse is still breathing. david and i (laughs) are both the episcopalian we are two of the last six in america. this is our first bar mitzvah. this is going to (laughs) be a remarkable evening. there are a lot of folks who are known by one name. cher, bono, madonna. then there are some who have three names. (laughter) lisa marie presley. j edgar hoover. and david hume kennerly. it requires the three names to capture the greatness of the man who is sitting with us tonight.

(applause) david: thank you. i am honored to be here. i was david's editor like a being that radar operator of pearl harbor. he was an (laughs) uncontrollable force. a dear friend and an even longer-term admirer. this will surprise some of you i was an odd child. i remember his time magazine covers from long ago. i thought his coverage of antietam was particularly strong. (laughter) he bumped matthew brady out of the way to get that lincoln shot. there is nobody better at doing what david does and the remarkable thing is in many ways, he invented the genre of which he is the master which is

that of being in the room. david: thank you. jon: now we will sing a hymn for (laughs) our funeral. >> you might wonder why my archive is here. tell us why we're here. >> university of arizona center for creative photography is the perfect place for i think, and by the way, i want to thank rebecca can early my wife without whom this would not have happened. my three sons are here, one of whom was playing the violin on stage. he in truman last song also did the music for the video that you saw. composed, played brian cannoli

is here and the other two boys. they all missed out on a great university, i'm sorry they didn't go here. that's how it goes. but the reason i take pictures or so people can see them. that's the whole point of the drill for me. it's important for students and historians to have access to these photographs. i'm going to slide this forward here. in the creative record, if we didn't have photographs, and history from the start of photography of the early 1800s, we know so much more because of them. i think i should talk about my first big record creating thing. this is may i could've been a student here. 1819 years old covering robert kennedy's trip to portland, oregon. this is my first major simon, i

worked for the oregon journal. i was given the assignment to cover kennedy coming in in 1966 and he was in labor hall and i got there and it was jam-packed and i couldn't get in the room. that was going to be a real problem is you being an editor don't like people coming back and saying i didn't get the story. it's a nonstarter. so i kind of panicked, but i saw this photographer standing on the edge of the crowd and he was traveling with kennedy and i went over to him and he must have sensed my desperation. i said, how do you get into these rooms, how do you get to this crowd? . he said hang on to me kid. he slides through the crowd any got up to this place. and this is where i am. so i'm there with robert kennedy. not only he said this is where you gonna get your best shot kids. you see the crowd, you see the

candidate. and this was the angle that i had. or a closer upshot from the same spot at these days to this day these photo stand up for me. but what happened after this effect in my life in a profound way. i follow the motorcade out to the portland airport there was an old d.c. three with the propellers on the tarmac. was robert kennedy's plane but the photographer of the life magazine bill amperage he went, in the door closing the plane took off. i've never had a feeling like that. i wanted to be on a plane, i want to see where history goes, how do you follow history? that was a huge thing for me. >> so you are in the room in a periods 1966 to 68 which is now

remarkably more than half a century ago. that began to shape everything after. 1968 is in many ways the beginning of the era in which we live. >> it is. two years, later i did get on a plane in this photograph here was taken by local photographer is right here in tucson. kennedy came in from new mexico to here to give a speech and he was here in centennial hall. there were two locations for that then he went to win iraq, arizona where he visited a navajo reservation. i was with him and this is me taking a photograph of him getting off of the plane with ethel kennedy. right after that we figured it was march 29th. >> it was, friday march 29th, 1968 which i can argue was the

beginning of the most significant week of the modern era. rfk is here with ken early. that wasn't at that time note is the most significant part. it is now. but lyndon johnson gets out of the race two days later. martin luther king delivered his final sunday sermon at washington national cathedral two days later. four days after that he was shot to death of side room three or six at the motel in memphis. bobby puts out his brothers brothers overcoat announces kings deaf to that crowd in indianapolis. and so, in almost every conceivable way, you have the end of an old democratic order, the murder of dr. king, and the hope that was bobby kennedy. >> then two months later, i was working for upi in los angeles

and i was at the ambassador hotel with robert kennedy. just a few minutes before that, i was upstairs and i talk to robert kennedy and i took some pictures of him sandra van o'connor was interviewing him briefly passed away. the letters was up there too. then i went downstairs to cover the rally. you can talk about what happened there. he lost oregon, one in california. >> he only got in the race a few weeks >> before he came here. member jean mccarthy's won against a credit for bringing bobbing in the race because johnson was weak. mccarthy surprises lbj in new hampshire. bobby gets in his last words what you heard were its onshore sits on the chicago and let's win their. he didn't know if he could get the delegates against humphrey.

>> so this is essentially the last picture of robert kennedy alive. he gave this little quick the sign and went into the kitchen where bill at bridge was there when he was shot by certain. made an credible photograph. one of my colleagues was with him also. i heard something to happen so iran outside and i saw ethel in the back of the ambulance. i took this photo through the ambulance door. it was shocking to me to see what happened. it was clear but i didn't see the senator after that. this picture really made me feel bad. i was 21 years old when i did it and the idea of intruding on somebody's grief like that, that's not something i like to do or i don't think anybody likes to do, but i did it. many years, later i asked mrs.

kennedy, i told ethel about i felt, she said don't worry, you were doing your job. she understood. those people have lived in the public life forever. 50 years after this day, the family invited me to be at the graveside with them to celebrate the life of robert kennedy on the day of his death. this is the picture i took a vessel. you can see, being a photographer about getting through the veneer of people souls. she had lived through so much. i caught this one moment and the sadness is evident. >> our theme really the hallmark of your career has been being at arlington, being in the room. what does that mean? >> it means to me that i am the

other person at a place or history always says, you know i'll give you an example of it, for instance when george bush meets gerald are ford the president and they talk about him possibly becoming the vice president of the united states. bush was the rnc chairman in a very rough time i would say. >> one second prize. >> yeah really. i was in there and history says the two men met privately and that was it but i was the third person. to me, this is like being a photographer means never repeating stories really. having the trust of the subject not talking about what you hear. president for once said my gravestone should ride here

lies the worst source in washington. (laughter) in the room means also in the theater of war. but they trusted me. my whole life has been about traveling around the world trying to get into the big moments. >> i think one of the remarkable things about what you've done is, you are in that room with george herbert walker bush and gerald are for. we just used to call on george bush back then. he was at a tech party at that time. (laughter) >> he would tell you. that >> he would tell you. that. that's the pinnacle of power of a man who become cia director.

that was the powerful. that was his highest point. you went to the places where the decisions made in those rooms had real life implications. >> that's right. by the way, john and i work together at news week in this was my first cover which really killed my relationship with bob dole. (laughter) as you remember well. when i'm first met john, i was in a meeting with the editor of news week who was in 1995 one and need to work for the magazine and cover the 96 campaign. mitchell walks in a manner parker said i would like you to meet john meet each of our nation editor. i thought he was an intern taking coffee orders. he was 25, maybe 26 years old and look way younger.

you've probably been carded most of your life right? >> i've a bit of hair diana. so i try to use a. >> that's ok leads people haven't referred to as roger will. (laughter) this photo is one of the first, simon working with howard freeman week ordered earlier. we ended up with a fantastic relationship. he's the guy who's picking the pictures that i was taking. >> with the dole picture in the clinton picture, when you're the guy back in washington receiving these images, it's really a kind of three prong test right. you have to have the image, the words, and the ethos all have to line up. i would say this behind his back, no one ever produced what we needed better than david

did. the dole cover was up particularly glow moment in his early campaign. he would call a complaint and you always knew exactly what was because he always referred to himself as bob dole. bob dole is mad. (laughter) sorry, surrey senator. then bill clinton, this is a little rock right? >> little rock election night. by the way, i was with dull and dull was shaken by the cover because it's a doubts about coal dull. he was dropping in and former president bush and governor bush, excuse me, and they were sitting together and he pointed to me and said david can early you know him, it just about

cost me five points in the polls. he was really mad. and i sure go ahead. >> you need the marriage, what percentage of your photographs have been published? would you say >> i would say maybe 0.1% of my pictures. that's one of the incredible things about having the archive here. people can go back in the archive and look at and go through pictures that have hopefully we'll all be scanned online at some point. the context of all these other people in the room, thousands and thousands of pictures that you've never seen and you have a chance to go back and say, well there's dick cheney when he was chief of staff at the white house. or before he became darth vader.

(laughter) >> he had most of his own body parts then. i envy and i use that word advisedly, with the center for creative photography has here. this is the raw material of what people like me do. it's more valuable in many ways than oral history or some of the documents because you can actually, people like me spent time trying to recreate what a scene looks like. imagine a world which you now have here where you can just go see what it looked like. and the raw material of that, imagine if we had david tried to shoot the constitutional convention a but if he could get credential. >> they wouldn't let me in. >> but imagine that.

imagine having the photographs of that. seeing the expressions, casual moments and that's what this is so much about. the arc of the clinton presidency is absolutely clear. >> little rock after he won the second election. they were watching fireworks. this is a glorious moment, he gone through all these difficulties and this was the lead picture of news week. the next photograph it goes directly to his biggest problem his legacy. this is after the monica lewinsky business. he said i don't think there's any fancy way to say that i've sent. the writing by the way news week, i love having print on my photos. some artist say it destroys them i don't think so. all of a sudden the contacts and this is a powerful moment.

bill clinton had made a statement in the east room with a roomful of ministers. we went from this to impeachment. that's a subject that's that was pretty hot at the moment. they came out, this was right after clinton was impeached came out with the vice president and the first lady. what's interesting about this picture is the beauty of archives as look who standing behind hillary. (laughter) it's either zeldin or bernie sanders i'm not sure. >> why is larry david at the white house? (laughter) >> exactly. so this is where history springs forward and now bernie in 2016 ran against hillary that's one of the reasons she lost probably. he was a congressman and he was

standing out there. then when clinton was tried in the senate, acquitted a shocking outcome. makes today's look like why did they do that? this is the rose garden he came out and made a statement after the acquittal. and as a photographer, i'm not just looking for bill clinton but i saw the shadow on the wall. these pictures don't happen by accident. (laughter) well every now and then they do. generally not. >> let's talk about what photographs do. one of the most important things they do is they reveal meaning right? there's this arguably quintessential moment of post

work politics unfolded right here probably about 11:15 am or so on friday august 9th, 1974. >> it was and i think we can show you a video a, this is how i sought and most of those watching on tv and the hopefully most of you were born yet. watch how fast this happens. he gets up, this is a man who just announced his resign the presidency. i'm anna preston watching this whole thing and my sequence of pictures which you see here. if you look at the lower left one that was earlier in the role, but when i saw nixon getting up there i took the camera like that in order to keep the flag and. it's funny, i remember that moment, because that's a big decision as a photographer but

more importantly, this is the first frame as he steps up. and if i were richard nixon, looking at the white house, the white house is right there. the helicopter lands there, and at this moment maybe i'm just projecting here, it seems to me like this was the moment of realization. i'm seeing this place for the last time, sadness grief. is the only presidencies resigned his presidency. and the photograph i was thought was a better one was this but after looking at studying at these voters over the years, this is the classic and you saw how fast the wave happened and the grim resolve of richard nixon-y. to date, this is one of the's most stunning events i've ever covered. but moving forward.

here looks like a campaign picture, but the context of this was a staff was came out and applauding and he did this like campaign rally but it wasn't a campaign rally. it was one of the most darkest moments in presidential history. >> and this is why what you all have you are now so important. because you saw the video. that's the image people remember. >> it's weird. it gets published all the time. and that wasn't the story, that was not the story. maybe everybody just missed the first part of it. i could always hope that you have the only photos of nixon looking grim. there were >> there weather photos that exist of him looking grim. >> oh yes there were. and here is vice president for waving goodbye sitting in the

helicopter and then the next moment, the fours walk away and this man is going to be president of the united states in about 45 minutes. and i asked him later, what were you thinking about when he walked away. all i could think that i wanted to get in and start to work. this is such a moment for me and all of us. >> and he went in and went to the east room and gave one of the great inaugural addresses in american history a talking about how we were government of laws not of men and are long national nightmare was over. >> he provided me the title to my book, extraordinary circumstances. he said i soon the presidency under extraordinary circumstances never before experienced by americans. that night, the 90 became

president, he invited me over to his house. i figured he was probably going to ask me to be his white house photographer but he never talk to anybody for fear of looking like he was trying to push nixon out and when i become president i'm gonna get u.s. secretary of state not you. henry you already are and you will say. but the brief history of white house photo operations, white house chief photographers. walley actions with nixon's photographer before him it was. your tio komodo with lbj who had unparalleled access. he took you into the oval office. okay is a personal hero, i base my white house for a career on his. he would really get you in the room while things were going on. all the actions came along and nixon gave basically no access at all.

someone who is about ready to become the third chief white house photographer civilian white house photographer, i sat on the couch with president ford in his little living room in alexandria. they did move into the white house for another ten days. he was smoking his pipe like in that picture and he asked me to be as white house photographer. i looked him right in the eye and i settled around to conditions. one, i report directly to you and to, i have access to have everything going on in the white house. i'm 27 years. old (laughter) i'm a kid from oregon. i was brought up with modest circumstances. he quit smoking his pipe and i think it was a shocking moment. then he started laughing and he said you know on air force one on the weekend? (laughter) and so i got the

job. then the next day, i am running in there and looking at the end shelves. all of nixon's stuff has been taken out. you have a man who is comfortable in his own skin behind the desk. also, i am right there in the office with him. >> let's go back to that for a second, because it also says a great deal about your capacity to make other people feel comfortable when you are around. secondly it says a hell of a lot about gerald ford's sense of confidence in himself. come follow me around. i have nothing to hide. >> it was incredible. the one thing about him and you can see it there, lbj i believe it kelly told me this. lbj did it out of out of a sense of vanity and wanting to be documented. i was like a different motivation were president ford

wanted to have me around. i became friends with the whole family we really became friends. he never one-time said don't run a picture. i don't think he cared about the pictures. i took pictures of him in his pajamas i took pictures of him in his swimming pool and he never said don't use that or i want to see that before he put it. i'll be days to do that all the time. >> when you made him laugh also. >> well yes kind of always. he got mad at me one time. >> the shooting story. >> no i was right after he pardoned nixon i asked him two days later when this avalanche of negative polis he came out. i said we were in an elevator and i said i can't believe i said this, i said you think by pardoning nixon on a sunday morning that nobody would

notice? he has really piston. oh my goodness. anyway, moving along. (laughter) >> your training, was not entirely in washington. you are you are at the front. >> i was at the front indeed. when photos when they say they go to the heart of the story, i left for vietnam in 1971. i was a rare case by the way. i joined the army, the national guard, i did all my basic training at all of that that i had to get out of the army to go to the war. because they didn't do need we can meetings in saigon so luckily, i worked for a general

who worked at a. but i went to vietnam i felt it was really important for me to go. i couldn't be sitting here with you today making some excuse about why didn't do it. four of my high school classmates from west lynn high school in oregon were killed in vietnam. and i was the class photographer. i did the annual i did the newspaper. these were guys i knew. i wanted to go to see for myself what took them away and i wanted to show the impact upon people that came from the decisions made by folks sitting halfway around the world. but mainly i went there to cover the story. since the first time i picked up a camera it's been a mission for me to do that. these were all photos, briefly i want to pulitzer prize for photographs that i took vietnam

cambodia, india, refugees from east pakistan and the aly fraser fight was also one of them. there were 11 photos in the portfolio. >> the suggest to the eu or in danger, you are under fire. >> part of the job was going into danger. he couldn't avoid it. my first book, shooter i dedicated to the photographers in vietnam. i believe there were 17 of them photographers evening killed morris forever and it's part of the job. i mean part of the job is not getting killed, if you can avoid it. i don't to overstate this. >> and you come to something like this and it doesn't look like your classic war picture. >> it's not a war picture but it was taking in wore several hundred yards from an active

fire fight. that was a vietnam owes vietnamese soldiers were nearby here in cambodia. this photo believe it or not as my favorite photo of the pulitzer collection because it is a photo of optimism and resilience like life goes on. it goes to the core of who i am. despite all of the horrible things that i've seen and my colleagues have seen, i still believe in the better angels as you would put it. >> lincoln used it once. a (clapping) now president ford sent you back to vietnam. >> as vietnam was falling in april, 1975, actually march, the northeast needs had

invaded. he was dispatching the army chief of staff was a vietnam vet to see if there was anything that could be done to stem the tide of the north feet in these coming over. i went with him and i did my own mission. this was one taken in cambodia. a saw people dying in non pin. they were surrounded by the kim air rouge. then i went back over to vietnam and i was up in a train when it was evacuating. by the way, these photographs could be taken today. this is going on right now some. where the turks are going after the kurds. there's never an end to. it i photograph the chaos. i saw a ship loaded with troops coming into cameron bay. some of them shouted our helicopter.

the ap did a story and that said the president's photographer has been shot at and that's how my parents heard about it. they didn't know i was in vietnam but it was a secret trip allegedly. so my dad picked up the phone and call the white house and has to be put through to the president of the united states in the opera he said well who's this? i said i'm david can early's dad. i had a great relationship with phone operator, every christmas i would send him a case of wine. no one ever did that. it just put my dad read through the president. he said don't worry about it, he's out as it is already on his way back. (laughter) when i came back and the general wind gave his report to the president, i showed something to the present that they never seen and it was a personal report about what was going on over there the

refugees. i had told him about the vietnamese friends of mine and they had asked me to take their kids out with me, they knew i was going back to the states, the place was falling apart and it was a really difficult situation. i was emotionally wrapped up with vietnam, i've been there for over two years nonstop. but, the president looked at my photos, stark black and white pictures and said, i want these up in the west wing of the white house. and you have been over there. >> that is a remarkable thing, if you have not been to the west wing, one of the ways that they decorate the halls and around that row of offices is very contained space. we have this image of presidents walking the halls of the white house and they see lincoln and they say, how can i be lincoln. what they see are pictures of themselves. they see pictures of the easter

egg roll or pictures of the latest parade or a stop somewhere. it is a kind of enforced solace-ism. and for president ford to use that real estate to put the attention outward and not inward is yet another testament to his character. >> it was, and somebody not knowing the president was involved with that decision took the photos down that nights, the president got very angry about that. he issued a proclamation to put the photos back up. >> interesting. so this was a historic moment. you were again in the room, that's the roosevelt room in the west wing when the national security council made that final decision to pull out? >> it's an ironic moment, you look at the portrait of teddy roosevelt that had been charged

the hill guy. nobody is talking. the president just made the decision to commence withdrawing americans. but what had also happened was a lot of his top advisers wanted just to get the americans out and not the vietnamese. >> talk about your mission in which we quinn, a leader ambassador -- >> nfc guy. >> you had talked about the fate of refugees. >> i was, i could not believe that there were people who didn't want feet in these refugees to come out. so i was very involved with trying to convince the president, which by the way didn't take very much convincing, that we needed to evacuate vietnamese and bring them in. this was not a hard call for him. this was the most humane human being i have ever run into. he's like our current president. (laughs)

(applause) the pictures got to, the plight of the refugees. under his watch over 130,000 vietnamese came in. think about that. they became great citizens of the country. their kids, their grandkids are some of the most productive people we have. and it was because of president ford, but it was one of those moments where photography, the power of photography, became evident. >> that is a hugely important lesson historically and particularly in an academic setting. in an era where many people declared war on facts and war on self evident truths, to use an old american, whenever evidence can be presented that will compel us to open our arms more widely than we clincher fists, that is important. >> yes.

(applause) >> i have a very soft spot for president ford. he's already bad rediscovered in many ways. in the way of truman and george h. w. bush have been. but in many ways he was in eisenhower like figure at a critical moment in the life of our country. he managing affiliate had an egotistical, insecure, i know this is hard to believe. >> narcissistic. >> the movement from gerald ford to the incumbent disproves darwin. (laughs) (applause) we will move on. >> let's move on to something equally cheerful. >> we are going to talk about mass suicide.

jones town 1978. >> 1978. >> the students will not remember this, but the 1970s were chaotic time. they start with charles manchin and the murders and the age of aquarius went into violence. a lot of millennial movements, the late great planet earth. and there were apocalyptical profits and one of them was jim jones who took people to ghana, put cyanide in a bucket that david took a picture of, and massacred parents and convince the parents to have their children during this. this led to the most significant cult massacre. and a congressman went over,

leo ryan. he was one of the few assassinations in the history of congress. he was assassinated when he tried to break this up. >> and his assistant the congress person from his district, she was with him and was wounded down there. >> what is this like? you get off a plane and that is what you see. >> it didn't happen like that. just getting there, it was a remote place in the middle of the jungle indiana. we heard leo ryan had been killed and there are other people possibly involved but we didn't know, it wasn't today where you could find out instant what is going on. i was doing a story with time magazine, we are doing story on cocaine trafficking from columbia, which ended up being a cover story. we chartered jets, we managed

to get out to the area. the story was that there were troops, advancing on jones town by but were being held off by these people. as we got closer and closer from our little plane that i was in, i saw all these people down around the pavilion. i said, look, there are hundreds of people down there. but as we got closer, it became the shock of my life which was they were all dead. and this was really, and i have been in a lot of combat, everything from vietnam to name a war. nothing prepares you for that. nothing. the only living thing in jones town was a parrot, and to your point, little kids around.

this is the only story that ever gave me nightmares. which is hard to imagine. >> so that's how you come out of an experience like that? >> in this case, i came out of it, i couldn't still recall the night where we went on to columbia and it was there, but i still remember the nightmare. unfortunately that was in the past. i am really lucky, and i really appreciate people with ptsd. it could be anything, just getting missed by a car, but i never take that lightly. i'm lucky that i didn't happen to me, i've had a lot of colleagues who that happened to. >> the other role, one of the many other roles of photography, is to shape, tell us not only

about tragedy but to record triumph and inspire us. >> it has been called the decisive moment. in the archives here, i really didn't get into it but angela adams is a friend of mine. i did the cover of a fill the picture of which today is the only four top four who has been on the cover of time magazine. i just got to know him, we became friends. i was a teacher at one of his workshops in yosemite. there are all these other great photographers. when i say the decisive moment, smith was one of those people. richard avedon, edward western,

they are all in different lanes. great with the collection. i would say jean smith is a photojournalist. to be in the company of those people,. it's overwhelming for me. but in the decisive moment category, i'm going to show you the film of march 8th, 1971, madison square garden so you can see. oh my gosh, he's down. imagine china get a picture of that. that's the 15th round of the fight of the century. the photograph i took is here. that was also, this is one of my pulitzer prize photos. joe freezer, i've got to get a copy of this, joe had it blown up huge in his living room. somebody took a picture of him standing around alley like he's

going to catch him. this is mohammed aly in mid air. you saw how fast the picture, march 9th, 1971 which happened to my 24th birthday in the day that i left for vietnam and wake up and see this was to me like, i almost didn't want to go to vietnam. i wanted to hang it up after that. >> we are glad that you didn't, but i could see where you would want to. >> here we go. we >> freezing time. let's talk about the world's longest election night. you and i did this together more or less. >> we did. >> we talked all through the night. you knew far more than most folks. >> but i would never tell you anything. it must have been very frustrating for you. >> it was. >> when we see the pictures, john? >> walk us through bush versus gore. >> this was the moment where al

gore had called and conceded the election, florida came around, and watching that count that night, it went against -- it looked like bush was going to lose, then it came even, and then i don't know what the time was but almost every ten minutes it was somebody else. but it all world down to florida. bush, this photo is looking over his speech to give the top. but then they're getting ready to go -- >> this is austin, texas. it's the governor's mansion. that is don evans on the right who's a childhood friend of bush who was his campaign manager. he just been on the phone with bill bailey who was the campaign chairman and they were running a little bit late. >> gore was going to the war

memorial auditorium. we and now -- ,, it's apparent that florida is starting to tighten up again. flashing forward, about ten minutes after he took that picture, our core calls bush and here since his concession. and i didn't know, but bush took the call at the governor's mansion, i wasn't there, but i was in the kitchen. it is not that big. have you ever been there? i was in the kitchen getting a drink of water and push comes down the back stairway and i am the first person he sees after talks to gore. and he says to me, he took it back. (laughs) he took it back.

he said it twice. and i said, who took what back? and he said, gorgeous called me any took back his confession. i didn't want to say so i said, that sucks. articulate photograph are. and he said, yeah, yeah. goes into this little room where everybody is there and of course i follow him. i'm gonna walk you through a picture great way to look at photographs of never done this before thanks to connie gras and her great team they put together the stuff. you could see is ten after two. now we get a spin it around socially the whole photo and this is the moment, it's like ground zero. this is a single most dramatic moment i have witnessed in my years of doing politics.

they're all in errants a little tiny tv that they're watching. we'll take a tour through the faces here, the bushes, mrs. bush looking a little bit uptight i would say. (laughter). i can actually prove that because if you look at her hands, that is not someone whose relaxed. george w. bush is still in a state of shock. he still thinking he took it back i'm sure. (laughter) i mean i would be. there's the cheney's and by the way that's who i went over with that night. there were two other photographers in their, time a news week. when everything was going well.

when it started going south, a kick them out but there's nobody there to kick me out cause i knew all the players. so behind dick cheney is a horrible picture of them but is on the right is his daughter mary. they later got married. cheney was kind of the chief of staff for cheney on the campaign. we go over to dick cheney. that's about as flat as i've ever seen him. he's george h. w. bush's on the phone i made the mistake of saying who's he talking to, somebody said i think he was putting 50,000 on gore. (laughter) barbara bush heard me say it, this is another pardon in the elevator moment. that was not funny.

(laughter) now that was really and funny. and then don evans. this is a man seeing the life pass before his eyes. >> this is best understood, jabs about to become the -- >> jeb bush have been celebrating the victory been celebrating a victory and had two or three cocktails. he's very sober this. point this was his state he's the governor of florida. this state is gonna lose the election for his brother. so that gives you a tour of history in a still photograph. course i learned everything i know from canned burns probably. let's move ahead. >> so you can't always do that in one image. so here is secretary clinton at

the beginning of the journey. what's going on here? >> secretary clinton, who is at this point a 26-year-old lawyer on the impeachment committee. this is the nixon impeachment that's becoming a real thing. i've covered to, i kind of figure will be there for number three. (laughter) (clapping) i'm an impartial observer. i'm not asking for any but it's for this to happen but if it does happen all be there. we're gonna see the evolution of hillary rotem clinton. this is hillary rotten before she married bill clinton and then we go forward to 1993, two days before she becomes first lady, a little bit different hair style. she lost the glasses.

and into 2001, this is senator hillary clinton. this is january 20th 2001. this is just after bush was sworn in as president. i love the picture and the bushes get along fine. as you know, mrs. barbara bush referred to bill clinton at the black sheep to the bush family. as iran? >> she didn't like it when her son's sometimes said that bill clinton to become a brother from another mother. he was not a big poetry person and she didn't like that. >> i've tracked your whole career. this is a photograph i did for political magazine as she's running for president. again bernie sanders and company.

>> so as we've seen, images help us understand events unfolding. we can track chronological, an hour of crisis, we can see a life of crisis, but one of the reasons you went into this and you saw with the cat and he went forward is just the complexity and the panoply of every kind of human condition. ups and downs and everything else. >> i've been really fortunate to do this. you know what it boils down to for me? it's all about being curious. one of these people thinking? i look at this photograph of john kerry and john mccain

taken in 1997 prior to both of them running, they both became candidates of the party. they were political opposites, vietnam war veterans, friends. and one of the things that mccain told me was that he wished that he and carry could end up running against each. other the difference of opinion, they said we would like to travel around the country on an airplane and get off and debate each other. can you imagine in this country, when was the last time that happened? . lincoln >> -- lincoln douglas and trump trump thought of his frederik double. us (laughter) he's doing great work. (laughter) we've never had a presidential do that. you know talked about? if jfk was alive, he in barrie

goldwater talked about doing that. >> they were both senators. >> they were both senators respected each other, so that was a possibility. one of the many tragedies to happen in dallas. >> now here, i think when you look at justice o'connor and ginsburg and you look at the dead white guys around them, (laughter) you realize that yes progress is possible. >> progress is possible. (clapping) senator ted i just visited with her recently. she just a great person.

she was a mother who raised three boys and a conservative republican. sheen with bader ginsburg were the best friends. this is kind of the female equivalent of the carrie mccain picture. president forward he loved to interact with the press, one of the presidents who actually believed in the constitution (laughter), first second, third fourth all amendments. you know he would interact with the press and he would always call and serum a clinton who was reporter from a little newspaper chain down in texas. she would always ask him something like totally off the wall question and his press secretary said, mister president you don't have to call on sarah.

why do you keep calling on sarah? i just can't wait to hear what she's gonna ask me. (laughter) but in this photograph you see historical elements, the clues. phone cameras and then a video. so this is really a transitional moment in media. this is where everything changed to more media coverage, way before digital photography. >> the 76. >> 1976 right. >> now, or watching the press corps at work here. we're not just looking back because the power photography, powerful street power of journalism pushes forward. first amendment and the ethos in which you have made your

living, you've made your mark is under assault law here in a way it is not been really since 1798 when john adams tried to outlaw the press. >> i bet trump doesn't even know that. (laughter) he should read up on john adams. >> i think he probably think john adams is a lake or. >> a beer. >> or a big area. (laughter) >> now is his brother sam. (laughter) >> they're both doing great work. but talk about this. we have been called the enemy of the people. information which some people don't agree with is dismissed as fake news. you've been doing this along time you've been on both sides.

you've been inside, recording history indeed on the outside recording journalistically. >> i would see president ford not ricochet off the walls. but there is not one president who hasn't been unhappy about what was being written about him. the question is understanding why that happens and the right of the people to do that. it's really not that complicated. i covered trump a lot in the campaign i would be here with the media out there in the press span or whatever. it strikes me in my gut. i hate what he says. because i have been covering wars, all my colleagues, we go out there and die doing what we do. that's a first amendment right. if it wasn't for the riders, the photographers, you would have no idea what's going on

out there. (clapping) people get it wrong. news week never got it wrong occasionally but the new york times every day put a correction, it's important when you make a mistake, you own up to it. but i think when i hear some of someone attacking us as a group that it's so deeply disturbing to me, i can't begin to tell you. >> philip graham publisher of the washington post, editor for the modern news week helped popularize the phrase the journalism was the first rough draft of history. david and i started working together, something in the

magazine had not been quite right. a united states senator a call on monday morning to register his displeasure. she then registered her displeasure with our friend and colleague evan thomas and i was in his office and i can hear mrs. graham's wonderful voice through the phone and evan said, well ma'am will fix it but it's just the rough first rough draft of history and i heard that amazing voice say but does it have to be so gosh darned rough. (laughter) so it is rough and there she is. speaking of formidable women. >> a formidable person. this is one of the greatest human beings i've ever known. she was someone who gave

bravery a new name. she had breast cancer and of a sack to me and our staff advised are against talking about it, and she went out and she said women need to know about this and what's going on. her husband stood by her there. when she realized she had a problem with drinking, she went to drug rehab center long beach. she came out and established a betty ford center, save countless lives, friends of mine have gone through their. but on this day, the last day that the forwards were at the white house, she was walking around the west wing saying goodbye to people and all that. we walked by the empty cabinet room which was the gallery of dead white guys. mrs. ford looked in there and said, i've always wanted to dance on that table. the secret service agents, i

could see they didn't believe this, but she had that certain us shivas look that i get really got to know one or i. >> and she was a dancer? right >> she was a martha graham dancer. she was incredibly agile and she took off her shoes and she climbed up on the cabinet room table. you never saw this picture before, and i'm guessing you will never see it again. but what she was doing was planting this feminist flag right in the middle of the cabinet room. to that point very few women sat around that table as cabinet officers. president ford had carla that work for him. but it was fun. and it was sort of the best of betty ford.

and we can skip along to one of your favorite guys, why don't you set up what happens in this? talk about it. why are they sitting up there, what is going on. >> a few concept to snow requirements of the president is that time to time provide information to congress about the state of the union. it is not as what we think of a spectacle, washington and adams both went to congress and gave a speech. jefferson was not a good public speaker so he moved it to a written document. he went with his strengths. no president until woodrow wilson began this process again. and of course now it becomes the annual that we have. constitutional fiat, the vice president of the united states and george bush at that time, it is the only thing you do until you wait for the president to die.

and the speaker of the house thomas o'neil, democrat of massachusetts, ronald reagan is president here. and they are waiting for president reagan to come down the aisle. >> john by the way use these photographs in your book on president bush. and i have no idea what the joke was. but it was him telling it. this is a great, heartwarming moment for me. because the two guys are talking it up, they are waiting for the president of the united states to enter the room, this was of the house of representatives, and they are just having fun in front of everyone. but everything changes when the sergeant of arms comes in and says, ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states. (laughs) >> i love this so

much. >> as david said, i wrote a biography of bush. >> is that available on amazon? >> probably. i showed those pictures to the president and said you have any idea what you are talking about. he said, no, but tip was funny. >> so here we are in geneva. >> 1985. >> i got this majorly scoop for time magazine that didn't go over well at newsweek. this picture i called the bromance photo. it is insight into the characters of ronald reagan and gorbachev, the first time that it was the fireside summit. it just broke up. and this is really the reaction,

there were two other photographers in the room, the soviet and me. and reagan was just a charming mcal gorbachev. you told me that you had interviewed him. what did he tell you? >> the two critical moments at the end of the cold war in terms of the american soviet union directly was this in geneva in 1985 and the way president bush handle the fall of the berlin wall in 1989. but this was incredibly important for both men. for one thing, reagan had come into office as this ferocious cold warrior. he said himself during the 1980 campaign that people think i am a combination of the mad bomber and havanese are screwed.

he knew he needed to overcome that. but he couldn't meet the soviet leaders because the cape dying on the. he said, they keep dying on the. then they get this 50 year old breath of fresh air. reagan, margaret thatcher told reagan, i think this is a man we can do business with. and that led to this summit a year after reagan we had his reelection in 1984. >> then i was in there with them. i could've stayed for the whole meeting, because there was no one other than interpreters. they were just going on their way. >> that might have made the cold war last longer. >> but i came back in when they broke up the meeting. the weight reagan handled the meeting was we really interesting, he was really prepared for it.

it was pretty incredible. >> remember, the reason reagan could make that stuff work is his central job before becoming president was not so much governor or being an actor but being the head of the screen actors guild. for eight years he negotiated with all the studio heads. people used to say, what is like dealing with gorbachev? and he would say, you've never met jack warner. >> and he was a democrat at the time. >> i did not know president mrs. obama. but i was one of the photographers for the inauguration, putting out that book. and the photograph of them in the elevator, the big freight elevator and they're on their way to one of the big ten inaugural ball's, to me that really went to the heart of who these people are. i mean, if i make a picture like this, i love the idea of the pictures, but the main thing is that i think i've revealed something about people that i did not know.

because i'd had not covered the campaign, i didn't know them. obama's photographer was there. it but look at this, it is like a high school prom moment. you really learn something about who they are. >> fantastic. fantastic. >> you learn something about who he is. >> as i recall, this is the first time he shot him. >> it was the first time i photographed him. >> we have to be careful these days. i mean -- >> mister president, watch him with the students. has he changed? >> does it look like it? (laughs) i say no, but i was covering the campaign for politico and cnn and i covered it down the pipe.

i spent some time with hillary and her campaign. and i was going to be covering, watching trump lose the election, i thought. mean a bunch of other people. and in 91, i was in the new york hilton ballroom and all these people called me and said, how did you know? you never hang out with losers. i said, i did not know, trust me. with me anything that happened after this was, we convinced through our people, a guy who work through time warner, one through cnn, doing a book called unprecedented of the elections. all of my pictures got in there and it came out after the elections and had hillary and donald trump on the cover. one of the guys who knew jerry kushner, called him and said we would like to have a special

inaugural edition of the book with just trump on the cover. and obviously, that is like catnip for trump. >> -- it was not a tough sale. >> they agreed to it. i got my sit-down session with him in his office at trump tower and he sat down, he smiling and my first photograph of him was this my thought, you know, this doesn't look natural to me. i covered his whole campaign and i really saw him smile. >> i think he looks like joaquin phoenix in the joker. >> i kind of got worried about this, here's a guy who can take direction, but he won't listen to anyone but photographers. so i said, how will give me your fired look from the apprentice? so he did this. and that was good, but i thought, they will never put that on the cover although it has leagues. we and we ended up with this

photograph. if you watch cnn regularly, this is the picture you will see all the time, it's the one they use. but during the session, by the way this photo session lasted in the time about two minutes and 15 seconds, 17 pictures. he wanted to see the photo and he looked at the back of the camera and he said, wow, i look better there but i do in real life. and that was almost like a funny thing. i didn't know he could joke. i said, so you are not going to fire jared. for once i didn't get in trouble. he said no, jarrett is okay. he tweets that cnn has a selection book out and i wish

it wasn't. worst picture ever of me on the cover. okay, moving along. >> let's get back to normal here, here they are. >> this is a picture in the oval office, george w. bush the president and the president elect obama coming to beat the former presidents club. from the front, there was a controversy where jimmy carter was kind of standing away from the others. the important thing about this picture for me is getting it and having it would be a good snap, but they were not going to let me into take for it because i was working for their barack obama inaugural book. not a big item for them over the bush white house. and there is going to be a rose garden event rallies presidents

pose for pictures, everyone could come in, including me. it was bad weather, they decided to do it inside. so i wasn't going to get in. i told the ultimate card, i called my friend cheney, whom i worked with before, i had his private number in the white house and he said, hey dave. i said, look, do you still have influence over there? and he said, not much. what do you need? and i said, i need to get in and shoot this picture, i would not bud you about it normally, this is really important. i was there the first time five presidents were at the reagan library, when bush senior was the president and he said, let me see what i can do. two minutes later it's the press secretary calling me. oh, yes, we love you, we want you to be here. so that is how i got him.

, and i think our last moment here certainly we would be certainly the favorite picture i have taken in my career. >> and just a background on one of my biggest clients is the bank of america and they were one of the big sponsors of the african american museum and so they asked me to go and shoot this for them which was great event. it was one of the most emotional things i've ever seen. and when michelin bomb came walking in there is just this brief hug. and normally, if you're someone who has our eyes close is like a picture is screwed up. in this case it just made the photo.

>> this just captures the best of who we are at a moment in many ways we were commemorating how we had moved as much as we could from the worst of who we can be and in a museum that has so much to do is slavery a reporter and i think one of the things that david's, work or unfolding cannot work shows us is that we are just trying to get to a more perfect union, not a perfect mind, and if you are looking for an image of what it is like for the struggle between our better angels at our worst instincts, our better angels can win 51% of the time, that is a pretty good percentage, you get an image like that. >> i also became a hero with my three boys because the picture went viral with your fall. >> and you thought that was a medical term. >> i did, yes. i thought that was something that they had no cure for, but as it turns out a lot of people

have seen this picture. there are some really funny memes with this, i don't mind it at all. >> a quick final thought for me, david is obviously my friend but i am someone who like all of you live in a light of his achievement. i do. shut up for a minute. highly uncharacteristic, but let's see if you can do it. david is an architect of the culture and is part of the culture that matters the most to all of us, it is the history of the republic and the republic in the original latin means the public thing. and the stories he is told, of the moments he has captured are the moments that have shaped the way we live now. and, i really can't imagine a more fortunate place than the university of arizona that have this man in his work here. >> thank you.

(applause) we are now going to bring out someone who actually knows something about all of this the director of the center for photography will join us. >> it's okay to have a little hug? >> the even added a chair. we get a little music. is that an original? >> it is. >> are you going to sell cds of this after. >> we could set up a little table. >> pay for that education. >> thank you, both. that was incredible, wasn't it?

(applause) we are going to do the queue and a portion now and my husband is probably up here cringing because i'm not great with technology, but you're going to text your questions and they're going to pop up on my ipad and we will go from there. there is the number. here's one for david. why did you choose the university of arizona? >> this is the best place for photography on the planet. >> i agree. >> your center, your center for creative photography as i mentioned earlier, this it has an all-star lineup of great photographers and of course

ansel adams being the foundation for. it's and i remember john trying to get my archive in 1979 and i said, hey, man i've only been at a high school for ten years. but thank you, you must have seen something you like. 38 years he later here i am. >> this is a question for john, in the last print issue of news week, you wrote, the fate of journalism is uncertain, that was december 2012. as the furious rage against truth and responsible language, how do you feel today? >> i think the fate of journalism is uncertain. i think that journalism as an enterprise is facing unique pressures, both culturally and

politically as we talked about. but also economically. i would draw a distinction and try to make this point we, i think the media is one thing and the press is another. we are all part of the media, you have a phone, you have the power if something goes viral to reach more people than walter crank right had ever thought about. so there is a media worlds a media ecosystem that is driven by three characteristics, predictability, speed, and hyperbole that's the way to build an audience. you don't get many followers for feed that is called, on the one hand, on the other hand. right? that does not work. if everybody who says that they love the news hour actually watch the news our, the ratings would be higher.

they would not have enough tote bags to hand out. >> well said. >> i think that it is on all of us. if you are not subscribing to a journalistic institution that you believe helps shed light as opposed to generate heat, if you are not voting with your wallet, and if you can't quite help it but maybe just checking in with msnbc or fox, depending on where you are ideological, you are complicit in this. and so, my large view about this is that politicians are far more often mirrors are who we are rather the moulders. that is an uncomfortable reality we have to confront. >> the economics of it, i was asked, i was giving a class for

wounded reuters at camp pendleton, and one of the mask, me i showed slides ranging through some of what you have seen and i was asked, would i be able to work for magazine these days and do those type of assignments? >> no way. >> no way. i mean, time a casino, i would jump on the concord to go to london and catch a plane to cairo and maybe two or three times a month. we because we have an interview with saddam or something like that happened. the amount, the value will of what people would spend on assignments for me to cover these assignments are millions of millions of dollars worth of pictures that you'd never be able to do now. >> right, right. this >> is that it? >> no, there is more. a lot more. >> and i should say, we have a slew of questions and probably

will be able to get through them all this evening. but what we are going to do is take them. we will give them to you and we will push them out on social media for our website later, so all your questions will be addressed. >> is this going to be like a homework assignment? >> hey, yes. i have you now. >> you will have to work harder to dodge them. >> which presidents personality was the most different in private versus public. >> that is a good question. i think abraham lincoln. don't you think? probably? >> i think richard nixon might be one who seemed to be certainly the kind of things he would say in private. >> i see what you mean. >> with president ford,

certainly what you saw was who he was. and reagan pretty much. i don't think any of those people are like jekyll and hyde, necessarily. and definitely not donald trump. because he is just out. >> he is just hide. >> i don't really know him that well. >> did i get that right? is that the right one? >> we can cut this all out. >> it is all good. what is the one piece of advice you would give to an aspiring photographer? >> i'm proud of you for doing it and the best way to learn how to take pictures is to take pictures. i pretty much taught myself. and even though big magazines are not what they used to be or do not exist, there are so many outlets now. you can -- one reason i like facebook and

instagram is because i have the editor and the curator. and you can do whatever you want. and i am -- i would never discourage anybody from getting into it. we need people to be writers, photographers, it is really important. all i can say is that my advice to them is to do it. you have to figure out how to do it yourself or your own way, but do it. >> sure, sure. >> that sounds like a nike ad. but it is not. >> just do it. this question is actually for me, why is the center collecting photojournalism? >> i thought it would be good now. >> i'm on it. photojournalism allows us to look at images that have chronicled history. so the center can take the work

of a photographer, a photojournalist like you, and put it into conversation with other photographers. you take the work of ansel adams to david, and all of those use photographs to communicate. they communicate the beauty and the joy in what we want to see. and i think that they also show the hard times and challenges that we must see. if you think about photojournalism as just one dialect in the multitude of languages of photography, the center is a place that speaks to all of them. how did i do? >> good metaphor. >> i like that. >> i am a student here at the university. >> is this just in, by the way? >> love it. >> i am a student here at the

university, what is the best way to get young people like me to understand the historical context of the period we are in today? and i think this is for both of you. >> it is important to subscribe now, the whole model of how people are going to keep newspapers going is not going to be getting them at their front door. i still get them, you get them. but you've got to read the big ones, you've gotta read a daily diet of new york times and washington post and l.a. times, politico. there is no excuse for not knowing what is going on. and the thing about it, it is a never ending quest for the truth. we are not shading things. you get news from reputable sources, despite this onslaught

of fake news and the feeling new york times and all of that bs. these people are professional people. and it is like professional for the wire services, if you take a branch out or put one in with photoshop, you get fired. you have to believe and who is delivering you the news. and i have real faith in the big players. everybody we. why would you read a block from some insane person? everybody has a voice but you don't have to listen to them all. >> absolutely, absolutely right. >> what i like to say is that just because we have the means of expressing an opinion quickly, it does not mean we have to be expressing aware the

opinion. i include myself in that. on the context question, i would advise and i do advise undergraduates, pick an era that seems resident and find one really good narrative piece of nonfiction and read it. and i wouldn't be doing what i am doing if i hadn't read books that i didn't think would be exactly relevant to the work of that particular moment. amanda david shots, my vision of world war ii in many ways in the whole panoply of that was shaped by his novels that i read early on. and you can do worse if you're trying to figure out american populism and the vicissitudes of all the politics that we are no so hyperventilating about.

william manchester, read his the glory in the dream. and if you see it, you'll think i don't have four years. but then there is a power, i believe this is a firm opposition, there is a power and a utility to knowing that what we are experiencing, may not have exactly happened. but we have come through difficult times before. joe mccarthy fell from power, richard nixon fell from power and to know that there have been moments or various institutions and very people have finally said that's enough. is i think the way to. go >> wallet also yes i agree,

there are people like gerald for their there to pick it up here because because both of them important because of mine both of us are optimistic people i think they're definitely out there. >> absolutely so we will read books and we will look at photographs. >> you should try the andrew jackson biography by tom meacham, for which he won't appeal it surprise. >> absolutely we have learned so much tonight. david, john thank you. thank you for letting us (clapping) >> thanks that was good. thank you. nice job. thank you. >> thank you. thank you everybody goodnight.

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podcasts. . the american history tv american artifacts visits museums archives in historical places. and -- include more than 500,000 photographs, 25,000 of these images are online. up next, we look at the selection of these covering the history of photography and learn how to navigate and explore the museums online collections. due to the coronavirus this program was recorded the zoom. >> the american history tv series american artifacts visits historic places. the collections of the smithsonian national museum of the american indian include more than 500,000 photographs, 25,000 of these images are online. up next, we look at the selection of these covering the history of photography. and learn how to navigate and explore the museum's online collections. due to the coronavirus, this program was recorded via zoom.