one thing of the kennedy of the kennedy administration, the legendary kingdom of king author and the knights of the round table, indeed, kennedy's administration, a thousand brief days in office are remembered for the style and elegance that kennedy brought to modern presidency. the dinner on april 29th, 1962 for the best and the brightest, dubbed the egg-head roll from the white house lawn and allegation president kennedy vigorously disputed. this dinner brought together nobel, authors, statesmen and scientists for one glorious night. robert and more than 100 luminaries. that day a week after easter when the becon on the hill showed brightly in washington, you had a nuclear nonproliferation protestor, you had a scientist super star falling from grace on the roads of redemption. we do not serve brains, the main course is beef welling tennessee. it is my pleasure to welcome to the stage joseph esposito, author. [applause] >> thank you, thank you very much and thank you all for being here. it's a rather soggy day. first of all, i want to ask, how many people are aware of this dinner th

there were 175 guests at the dinner, largest of the kennedy administration. people were seeded into larger rooms at the white house at this date dining room, which was provided by president kennedy and then presided over by mrs. kennedy. the 49 nobel prize winners were honored. they were responsible for the most achievements of the 20th century. one was responsible for us to myosin. another for work on anemia. many worked on the manhunt project. two nobel peace prize winners forre, there. one worked on palestine. one worked in the suez crisis. glen seabirds who was president kennedy's chairman of the atomic energy commission is actually responsiblel for 10 chemical element. so the list really goes on and on. it literally was a who's who of americanan intellectuals at midcentury. some people may be aware of the most famous line from that evening, which was part of president kennedy's remarks. he said i think this is the most extraordinary collection of talented human knowledge that has ever beenn gathered together at the white house with the possible exception

we moved to the kennedy administration, here the exhibit, episode three, kennedy doubles down, what does that mean? >> kennedy is really interested on vietnam. he understood, perhaps better than any other american president, how difficult it would be to try to defeat the communists there. he had visited vietnam as a young man, and also as a senator and studied the area. but, he kind of paradoxically doubled down by dedicating a lot of your support to vietnam both financial and literary. he sent thousands of advisers to assist the south vietnamese army. >> one of the items in this exhibit is a set of meeting notes from a national security meeting on november 15, 1961. >> it was interesting at this national security council meeting, kennedy said he can make a rather strong case against intervening in an area, 10,000 miles away, against 16,000 guerrillas, with a native army of 200,000, where millions have spent for years with no success. he is arguing against his survivors -- advisors, who are already pushing him to bring in troops. here you see he has written guerrilla war, he has written

today 80 percent of the people in the united states were born after the kennedy administration. it's those folks that we are trying to connect with them. the first thing i did was read the report you put out from reagan and learned the great ideas. it's thinking about partnerships. we had over 200 ownership arrangements. there are 896 places in the world named after john kennedy. we reached out to hundreds of them from the kennedy center to the airport. it's not just telling the history but why it's relevant today. we use this expression of visionaries never go out of style. we think about will peace, the peace corps is just as relevant today. next year we have a country that will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of landing on the moon. today we think about big ideas, we think about a big idea with us in your company or organization we call it a moonshine. it's a way to think about it in the weight it brings us together. looking at those key points this is a commemoration of a centennial or next year celebration of the landing of the moon. thank you for your leadership. >> an

shriver institute for human health and development and that was created through the kennedy administration because she saw what so many people could not see ironically when patrick was born he died shortly after birth from brain disease that is a disease that nobody dies of today because at the institute of child health and human development, research into the long in the world have progressed in such a way it is a nonstarter now. we all that to tee2. we think of her but it is much larger than that her advocacy touched all of our lives without knowing that any of us to carried a child they were massive contradictions my idea she was a lovely lady -- lady. and was passionate and empathetic largely an absent mother and while writing paces -- pieces for the ladies home journal and that the women's liberation tenderness were devaluing motherhood she was writing that in the car so those who had active and busy lives the contradiction and could not see that in herself but she fought all of her life for troubled kids and was on the front line looking at the kennedy legacy we see 47 years in the u

i was in the kennedy administration, if you will. the most important part about that personally was because i was there and he decided to run for the senate, i was in the position to have a chance to work for him in the campaign and then i worked for him and much of what i did was about poverty and i worked for him until his death.>> let me go to alabama. let's at build the story up to a point where we can explore that moment leading up to 1968. working for the committee in the south and you took up a job that nobody wanted. in georgia. people were afraid to actually take a position. talk about that moment when you want to organize a place where people work terrified to. >> yes. it was a continuation from the sit in to the freedom rides. just one point i want to make and that was the reason why we continued the freedom rides. because doing the sit ins in nashville in 1960, we desegregated the lunch counters downtown. the lunch counters at the greyhound bus station and guess what, we desegregated the greyhound bus station in 1960. we

that was -- i was in the kennedy administration, if you will. and the most important part about that personally was that because he decided to run for senate, i had the chance, fortunately, to go to work for him in the campaign. and then i worked for him. much of what i did was about civil rights and poverty and i worked for him until his death. mark: so, let me go to alabama again, bernard. build the story up to a place where we can talk about today and really kind of explore about that moment as we lead up to 1968. you -- after the freedom rides, you can talk about that if you like, but end up working for the committee in the south -- working for the nonviolent coordinating committee in the south and you took up a job that nobody wanted. in georgia, in selma. i mean, the south, where people were afraid to actually take a certain position. talk about that moment, because when you went to organize in a place where -- where people were actually terrified to go. dr. lafayette: yes, it was a continuation, actually, from the sit-ins to the freedom r

during the kennedy administration, people wanted to get rid of all of these old buildings, they wanted to knock them down and put up very ugly looking federal office buildings, courthouses, and jackie kennedy said no, those buildings would be gone forever, and she convinced her husband. that project and she brought in -- convinced her husband to stop that project and she brought in new architects. >> can you mention why it was named lafayette square? >> why is it lafayette square? that is because in 1824, marquis de lafayette, the great hero of the revolutionary war, came back to america to tour the entire country, every state in existence at the time, 24 of them, and they had parties and parades. everywhere he went, they named things after him. >> fayetteville. >> fayetteville, north carolina is one. indiana -- >> his estate in france was called lagrange. if you see anything called lagrange, that is also named after lafayette. there's also a lagrange in kentucky. this guy got a lot of name recognition. he came to washington first to onroe.ith president munr when he came back, he met w

when my father was commissioned before the kennedy administration, one half of 1% of the force is female, now it is 17%. what that means is 10% of our va patients are now women. the world has changed and we need to change to meet those needs. >> reporter: in his new office hunger poached portrait of omar bradley, the first secretary veterans affairs after world war ii and chose bradley's desk as his own. >> bradley was tasked by changing va to accommodate soldiers into the va ranks, really a visionary. >> reporter: the president promised veterans if they need to see a private doctor the government to pay for to make sure vets are seen in a timely fashion. wilkie pushed back on repeated suggestions that he and the president are intend on privatizing the va. >> we don't turn veterans down. a private facility might. >> reporter: the first test will be to deal with the low morale of the 370,000 people who work for the va and address the brain drain exacerbated by years of turmoil. the va is short 33,000 doctors and nurses. shannon: thank you. tonight, time for a midnight hero, a pair of delt

when my father was commissioned right before the kennedy administration less than one-half of 1% of the force was female. today it's 17%. what that means for va is that 10% of our va patients are now women. the world has changed and we need to change to meet those needs. >> in his new office, he hung a portrait of omar bradley, the first secretary of veterans affairs after world war ii and chose bradley desk as his own. >> it was really a visionary. >> the president has promised veterans that if they need to see a private doctor, the government will pay for it to make sure secret -- vets are seen. >> we don't turn veterans down. a private facility might. we don't. >> wilke's first test will be to deal with the low moral of the 37,000 people who work for the va and to address the brain drain exacerbated by the turmoil. the va is currently short doctors and nurses. >> a pair of delta passengers being hailed as heroes, as restraining a violent passenger who was talenting to, quote, take the plane down. former corrections officer and another man who identified himself as being with the coas

today, you know, 80% of the people in the united states were born after the kennedy administration. 80%. so it's those folks trying to connect with them. so when i started, first thing i did was read the report that you put out from reagan, learned all the great ideas. and really thinking about partnerships. we had over 200 partnership arrangements with museums and organizations. there are 896 places in the world named after john kennedy. and we reached out to literally hundreds of them. from the kennedy ser center to new york airport and things like that. not really just telling the history but why is it relevant today. and we use this expression of visionaries never go out of style. but when you think about world peace, the idea of peace core is just as relevant today. talking about commemorations, next year we as a country will be celebrating 50th anniversary landing on the moon. and today we think about big ideas, we think about a big idea, whether it's in your company or your organization, you call it a moon shot. well, it literally was the first moon shoot. i think that's a way to

they had done it all over diplomatic, and at the kennedy administration, everyone wanted to see eisenhower. when you talk about 1 million a year or 2 million going through that house, there was great sensitivity in sound and would try to take a nap. the steel in the house would vibrate. i think the best is being done that could be done. generation clay and all of those , he liked that. he quickly rescinded and the public was infuriated. >> in the context of when it was built, the great country estates, the country leaders and an island they were-- and ireland they were trying to create similar states as well as in great britain. even at that time it was walled off separate from the public. washington at mount vernon was plagued by a constant stream of visitors all through his life weather coming back from the revolutionary war or confederation period or presidents, there was an expect tatian that was private but is also public. it's a strange balancing act is open and accessible and you are supposed to be able to encounter the leading citizens as long as you are a respectable individual. y

during the kennedy administration, people wanted to get rid of all of these old buildings, they wanted to knock them down and put up very ugly looking federal office buildings, courthouses. and it was jackie kennedy who said no, once you got rid of those buildings, they would be gone forever. she convinced her husband to stop that project. she brought a new architects and they kept the faÇades of the old buildings and put the new buildings behind them, so that is why it still looks like that. andrea: can we talk for a second about why it was named lafayette square? i do like that story. gil: so it is not president's park and not jackson's park, so why is it lafayette square? that is because in 1824, the marquis de lafayette, the great hero of the revolutionary war, the back to america to tour entire country -- he toured the entire country, every state that was in existence at the time, and they had parties and parades and it was the greatest thing, went on for two years. everywhere he went, they named things after him. andrea: fayetteville? gil: fayetteville, north carolina, is one. a

in the kennedy administration, and eisenhower before it, ever wanted to see him. this was a program tour but when you talk about 1 million or 2 million a year going through the house. and president johnson, a great sensitivity to sound, he would try to take a nap upstairs and the steel in the house would vibrate. it would give him headaches, and i think the best is being done. it could be done. president eisenhower talked about moving into a high-rise on a lift. all of the civil war heroes and world war ii heroes like him, or wherever, he liked that idea. he quickly rescinded the proposal. >> it is interesting if you put the white house in the context of the period it was built in an -- in the 1790s. in the era of these great country estates and great leaders. in fact in ireland they were emulating and trying to create similar states as well as in great britain. these were not even necessarily walled off or separate from the public. washington at mount vernon was plagued by a constant stream of visitors all through his life whether they were coming back from the r

that was -- i was in the kennedy administration, if you will. the most important part about that personally was that because i was there and then he decided to run for the senate, i was in a position unfortunately to have a chance to go to work for him in the campaign and then i worked for him and of course much of what i did was about civil rights and about poverty and i worked for him until his death. >> let me go to alabama again. bernard, i'm going to build this story up to the place that we can talk about today and really kind of explore about that moment as we lead up to 1968. you after the freedom rides you can talk about that if you like as well, ended up working for the committee going to work for them in the south. you took up a job that nobody wanted. in georgia. in selma. i mean, in the south. where people were afraid to take a certain position. talk a little bit about that moment. when you went to organize in the place where people were actually terrified to go. >> yes. and it was a continuation actually from the sit-ins to the free

and then in the kennedy administration, and really a little in the eisenhower before, everyone wanted to see eisenhower, and it was a program tour. but when you talk about, what, a million a year or 2 million a year going through that house. and president johnson had a great sensitivity to sound, and he would try to take a nap upstairs, and the steel in the house would vibrate and it would just give him headaches. so i think the best is being done that could be done. president eisenhower talked about moving into a high-rise. general clay and all those civil war heroes, i mean, world war ii heroes like him all lived in the waldorf or whatever. he liked that. but he quickly rescinded the suggestion. the public was infuriated about it. >> can i get you to jump in on this? >> yes. it's interesting if you put the white house in the context of the period in which it was built, in the 1790s, in the era of these great country estates, these great country leaders and, in fact, in ireland they were emulating and trying to create similar estates as well as in great britain, these were not necess

chief justice warren was the chief justice for a portion of president kennedy's administration as well as lyndon johnson's. so maybe those should be your next books. but in any event -- >> well, particularly when he was first on the court, warren was very respectful of his colleagues, and partly that was political and partly because he realized he was new, new at the job. for example, he did a very smart thing as a great politician, he asked the senior justice who was then hugo black to preside at the early conferences, judicial conferences. he said, you know, i really don't know enough, i need a little time. and, of course, that was honoring and respecting black, and that was a smart thing to do. he was very close to felix frankfurter during brown v. board of education. frankfurter was a proponent of judicial restraint, as most of you know. and warren was very, very respectful of frankfurter. and frankfurter had been -- he'd taught constitutional law students at harvard for decades, and he loved to teach. and he, nobody he would rather teach than the chief justice of the united states

during john kennedy's administration when reporters were aware of his personal behavior and didn't tell americans about it. i think that ended with -- i think the watergate scandal actually ended that period of coziness and made reporters feel their obligation was something different. >> i would actually even go back a bit. i think it was because of misleading the american team about the nature of the war in vietnam. >> i totally agree. the vietnam war followed by the watergate scandal led to a collapse of that feeling of cozy trust, of trust in institutions. it made reporters feel that their obligation was not to find out -- not to be friends with the president, but to be a watchdog on things that the president was doing, whether it was -- whether it was war or something else. >> ron? >> well, i think there has been a very big change in the relationship since i was -- since i covered the white house and then -- and then i was ford's press secretary. the big change it seems to me is that in those days you had morning newspapers. >> yeah. >> which had a deadline of 6:30 in the evening, y

it's something we won't forget in the administration. kennedy: i don't want a war with turkey. so will the turks cave in to president trump. doug, let's discuss this a little bit. i don't know why every administration foists turkey point united states as if they are some great ally. they lied to us for years. esheerdogan has gone the worse d worse and he has done bad things to lots of people including the kurds. >> we view them as democratic despite what's going on. all of these are arguments for the past. what we see days an authoritarian government and one operating negatively from our own security interests. >> you are right. and this president erdogan has gotten worse and worse and worse. i understand we have a base. but they misused their military capability. and we shouldn't be operating under the auspices isis has been smothered because they are proliferating and a good deal of that responsibility rests on turkey's shoulders. >> they helped support isis from the early stages of the war. they were more concerned about our allies, the kurds more than isis. we are the super

kennedy: is mike pence right to blame the obama administration for the rise in russian interference? let me ask rnc spokes fern kayleigh mcenany. welcome to jehmu greene. how much of this problem is president obama's fault. we are talking about about not only cyber-security and the lack of cyber security, but also russian interference not being fully acknowledged. >> when i was growing up i was taught one thing about leadership. regardless of what the situation is. if you are the person responsible at the head of an organization, you take responsibility. so it's really interesting that we are seeing the passing of the buck. it's odd how low this administration will sink to pass responsibility on to the obama administration. kennedy: president obama did that with president bush for years and years. >> and rub can -- and republicad it. and mike pence hated it. kennedy: at some point going forward, you can give a rational explanation for how this started. where we go from here will be my next question. how much of this is obama's fault? >> all of it. jehmu's standard is if you are the l

not since the kennedy administration. have i got it right? >> no, you're absolutely right this administration has been very proactive. of course as you know on making america great again and part of that is having american preeminence in space. of course last week, or a couple weeks ago you and i talked about the space force which we heard the president discuss a lot and today the vice president is laying out an agenda for commercialization of low earth orbit and of course deep space exploration. that is why i'm here at the johnson space center with the vice president today. stuart: jim, can you give us more information on this deep space exploration? i don't want you to give away what the vice president is going to say. people like me are kind of intrigued about the idea of going where no man has gone before. we're kind of intrigued about that. are we going to mars? >> absolutely we are. we are starting by building the space launch system, the sls, which is the largest rocket ever been built in humankind. we're talking a

candidate kennedy ran against nixon said the eisenhower administration which had a 92% marginal tax rate was harming the economy and kennedy cut taxes and we had a boom. and kennedy was an economic hero. ronald reagan came in and did the same thing, he cut taxes, the top bracket went to 28% which is a record. he got down to three brackets and then there was a boom that transcended reagan's presidency in the presidents following all the way through clinton. we now have a tax cut and for the third time in my life the economy is a booming. now the difference here is that reagan's first tax cut paid a lot for itself because the increased volume of the economy caused more transactions to be taxed at a lower rate. i'm very concerned about deficits. but right now i think getting the economy revved up is number one and we're going to have to take a hard look at deficits pretty quickly. maria: trillion dollar deficit from here on out is something we're going to have to contend with. a lot of people feel its not due to the tax cuts but it's due to too much spending, t.j. >> it's too much spending.

kennedy: so jeff sessions is a lightning rod in this administration, and it's really interesting because those two were so close. jeff sessions took him around congress and introduced him to very kept call senators and congressmen and women, and now they couldn't be more opposite. >> i don't think they are actually that opposite. there's the one issue, which i'll get to, that the president's mad about. other than that, i think the president backs him on his position on drugs. i think he likes what he's trying to do on criminal justice reform. i think he likes what he's doing on health care, going after the pharmaceutical companies. i actually think jeff sessions is probably doing exactly what president trump wants on all of those other issues except for one. if the president has the courage of his convictions, instead of trying to dehumanize and malign his attorney general and basically trying to destroy the institution of the department of justice, fire him. kennedy: do you feel bad for him? >> no, i don't. everybody serves at the pleasure of the president. if jeff sessions is getting p

. >> kennedy: the trump administration at midnight tonight re-imposing the first stage of an economic sanctions against iran after president trump pulled out of the nuclear ligament stop back calling at the worst agreement ever negotiated. ambassador john bolton see me already seeing u.s. pressure impacting iran's economy and regime. watch. >> we've already seen some of the implications, the pressure on the iranian economy is significant, the value of its currency is going through the floor, we have seen public reporting of massive flights of capital out of iran, the elites are getting nervous, we continue to see demonstrations and riots in cities and towns all around. >> kennedy: the president this weekend saying the ball is in iran's court waiting "i read in this economy is going very bad and fast. i will meet or not me. it doesn't matter, it's up to them. meantime the european union and u.s. allies great britain france and germany announcing what they call a blocking statute to take effect tuesday. that would protect european firms continue to do business with iran. so what do we d

after the gulf of tonk an, the decision made by johnson administration, many kennedy advisers that we would dramatically escalate military presence, that was my only point. i don't think that they had reached the point in the -- in the decision-making process that they could to pull back, many military men that you and i know, once we got it in we were so deeply we couldn't although i never accepted the thesis, yes, sir. >> teddy roosevelt -- why is there all this emphasis almost solely on the national parks to complete elimination of consideration and discussion of the care and mishandling of the national forest by the clinton-core administrations? >> i think there's been both. i mean, if you go to the grand canyon today i guaranty you will see you're in the middle of grand central station. i think both have been neglected particularly the issue of forest fires, we should have cleared the underbrush and the smaller growth out of a lot of those national forests that we have and i'm happy to tell you that i think that policy is changing now and i know that i have to -- our friends here

during john kennedy's administration when reporters were aware of his personal behavior and didn't tell americans about it. i think that ended with -- i think the watergate scandal actually ended that period of coziness and made reporters feel their obligation was something different. >> i would actually even go back a bit. i think it was because of misleading the american team about the nature of the war in vietnam. >> i totally agree. the vietnam war followed by the watergate scandal led to a collapse of that feeling of cozy trust, of trust in institutions. it made reporters feel that their obligation was not to find out -- not to be friends with the president, but to be a watchdog on things that the president was doing, whether it was -- whether it was war or something else. >> ron? >> well, i think there has been a very big change in the relationship since i was -- since i covered the white house and then -- and then i was ford's press secretary. the big change it seems to me is that in those days you had morning newspapers. >> yeah. >> which had a deadline of 6:30 in the evening, y

kennedyed for justice on the supreme court. then we will hear from jennifer mascot, and assistant professor at the scalia law school. she is also a public member of the administrative conference of the united states. jennifer clerked for judge kavanaugh. i think she was the first law clerk he hired. also for justice clarence thomas on the supreme court. she is a graduate of the university of maryland and george washington university law school. last but not least, we will hear , he runs a jaffer national security program. he served as the chief counsel and counsel to the house intelligence community. he was one of neil gorsuch's clerks. -- ofa graduate of the ucla, the chicago law school and the naval war college. with that, i will turn it over to justin. about agoing to talk few of judge kavanaugh's opinions about individual rights. there's not enough time to go through all of them, he has been on the bench 12 years, written over 300 opinions. hopefully you have watched enough cable news or read enough coverage to know that 13

-- holdovers who stayed to the johnson a administration. mcnamara and others who served under kennedy, very few of them stayed until the end and that included mcnamara, who left. dean rask with someone who was a very capable figure, a southerner, like johnson. and he had a very close relationship with johnson and rusk who became the national security advisor in 1968. meant that rusk on the one hand it certainly committed to the vietnam war, wanted to help johnson in that effort. but also was increasingly conscious that things weren't working out very well there. that didn't diminish his support for the war, but it did mean that he himself again to look for other issues and he accomplished quite a bit and policies with western europe because elizabeth mentioned charles de gaulle and the president of france pose a direct challenge to the president of united states and that required a great deal of finesse and diplomacy to try to mend those breaches and to try and keep nato from falling apart. dean rusk was one of the major figures in trying t