fox connor mentioned eisenhower to general marshall, and general marshall introduced eisenhower to fdr as well. >> marshall was the chief of staff and, of course, the point when roosevelt had to choose a leader for the d-day invasion, it ended up being eisenhower, so they had a complicated relationship. >> but i don't think that, the dr felt he could do without marshall in washington at that time. and marshall was an incredible administrator and sowning board for fdr -- sounding board. >> one of the first really important meetings between the two of them took place in casablanca after the north africa invasion. and it was a difficult time for eisenhower. he wasn't sure whether he was going to get fired or whether he was going to get promoted. >> it was quite a show after the invasion of africa, don't you think? have i wonder what it was like for eisenhower as he was going into that room with churchill and roosevelt and all those military leaders and having to justify everything that happened until then. >> one of the things i've been amazed about eisenhower is his ability to remain cal

and it was a difficult time for if eisenhower. he wasn't sure whether he was going to get fire or whether he was going to get promoted. >> yeah. itit was quite a hoe for the americans -- show for the americans after the invasion of africa, don't you think? >> i wonder what it was like for eisenhower going into that room with all those military leaders on both sides and having to justify everything that happened up until then. >> one of the things i've been amazed about eisenhower was his ability to remain calm. don't get me wrong, he could lose his temper, but when he really needed to be calm and smooth with his delivery, he was reallyer masterful. so i'm sure that he was internally very nervous about that, but i bet he displayed himself in an amazing way. >> i think one of his most success characteristics was his ability to get along with different people and probably the reason he was given the title. he had very, very difficult people to work for like bernard. montgomery in the british military and, of course, winston churchill

i want to end with one of my favorite photographs of roosevelt and eisenhower. and there aren't that many photographs of the two of them together. it's very interesting. but at the teran conference the big three conference with churchill and stalin said who is the supreme commander. they hemmed and haws and said we haven't selected one. he said it's non-sense until you select a supreme commander. fdr says i got to make a decision and he flies to north africa and meets with eisenhower and the photograph of two in the jeep and the investigation on their faces is so classic. and then this was one of these historic moments. i mean, you know, the fate of the war hung in the balance as to who is the commander. you look at the picture and see the two men realizing they gave everything for their country. this is a moment that really captures it. >> i know that photograph well and i love their faces. >> well, dawn, thank you very much for joining us here at home with the roosevelts. i can't wait to get out and see your permanent new exhibit. >> please do. always waiting

harry truman and dwight eisenhower. and both of them had been in the renaissance and rehabilitation of the reputation after they left office but even then, the rankings and of that impressive if you've the seventh greatest president of all time, then you're not even in the top 20 percent. going on the list, we can see that nixon's average rating is 32 and 425 and others reagan 18 and bush and clinton is 17 and bush, 36, and as we took the average ranking of all of these presents, it is 19. and franklin roosevelt and the average ranking was 19 of the greatest and why is that set the result of their individual fault, ball to some extent sure, over the course, is very critical of jimmy carter and not out of any personal opposition to anything he tried to accomplish. the criticism of his understanding of executive authority and is use of the powers of leadership. carter's ranking as we saw we flipped back here, concord, 25 and 1919 and 27, 25 and 26. and we can identify those specific reasons that carter fell short of great

so eisenhower went up five spots. we have looked back and why the historians choose to look at it again. i think in this day and age when we are in such a partisan divide and everything that we talk about with race looking back at all that he did to hold the country together are really at a pivotal bull -- pivotal time. >> do you think to this day he's known as one of the most if not the most brilliant of american generals. his reputation just overshadowed his presidency? >> yes in part because he wrote his memoirs about his time in really eloquent terms. at the end of his life he leaves the presidency without going chronologically in a different spot that when he leaves the presidency he is trusting a lot of people in his time in office and they burned him a couple of times and that's where some of the corruption comes from. after he leaves the presidency he trust someone else who's part of his family to invest and make some money but then invest more and loses everything. he is poor after the presidency and has to s

but i did not know about president eisenhower. i knew about general eisenhower. so it was a discovery for me. i talk about that process having his team and a researcher who goes into the national archives that are literally treasure troves of historic nuggets and that book focussing on the three days in between eisenhower and kennedy's inauguration kind of opened my eyes to moments in history that are either overlooked or not focused on enough. so then the second book is about reagan and the final summits with gorbachev and the speech he gives at moscow state university. which in the big span of history is an amazing speech if you think about it and just wasn't focused on a lot of the time. and then a few days at the brink is fdr, churchill and stalin planning d-day at the tehran conference which gets over-shadowed. so it's kind of like another spotlight that i wanted to give to something that i didn't think was focused on. so once that three day series was done, and the beginning, middle and end to the cold war, i wanted to find something that was also overlooke

nixon and tricia, special guests included julie eisenhower, mamie eisenhower, mrs. cox and ed's sister, marianne. among her many gifts, tricia received her china, the blue tree pattern by lyness, her silver, eloquence from greenfield massachusetts, and her crystal, a cut glass pattern. prior to mrs. agnes party and informal shar was held on may 26. tricia wasn't the first white house bride-to-be to have a shower given in her honor by a member of the washington women's press corps. helen thomas was hostess of the party at which mrs. nixon, julie, and ed's mother were honored yet. other guests included members of mrs. nixon staff and women reporters. one of tricia is gifts from a lady of the press. to be an expression of sympathy for tricia and ed's desire for anonymity. to the movement of all, tricia donned her disguise. on friday evening june 4 at washington's beautiful anderson house, mrs. william rogers, wife of the secretary of state, hosted a reception for the diplomatic corps in honor of tricia and it. dean of the diplomatic corps led the way through the receiv

and we could use a grant or an eisenhower. or a reagan, frankly. optimistic leaders. >> [applause] >> so now we are coming to current events. what is your opinion of your competition at the other cable networks? >> [laughs] >> wow, wow. and this is being recorded, or? >> [laughs] >> no, no -- >> i thought this was off the record. i have respect for others at the other networks. but i will say that i do think some people, who are regular news people, thought that they were somehow affected by donald trump and his administration, to the point where they let their emotions factored in more to the point then they should have. to the point where they lost some people in the trust factor. and it hurt all of us has journalist to do that. when i took over for britt hume, in january, he said, two things, one is the show is not about you. the second, let the news drive the show. -- so i be as news-y as possible. and when someone puts it on a know what it is to feel like it is going on in the united states -- and the motion is out of it. i've talked about tha

>> arthur burns had no nixon from eisenhower white house. he thought moynihan was an academic and he chewed on the pipes them all the time. >> even in this picture. >> arthur was a very decent good human being and he went on to a real estate career and as an ambassador. he was conservative and nixon as a political matter realized two professors from harvard in the top national security adviser and daniel patrick moynihan of urban affairs he thought i have to take care of my concerns so they reached out to arthur and he said i know you want to be chairman of the fed but in the meantime i want you to oversee broad policies so he came in and put it late counter pointed the moynihan appointment. they were intellectual sparring partners because they would fight each other with great decorum and quite articulately that went on for the next almost 12 months. >> i think if we move forward past that we have a photograph. this is the urban affairs counsel and this tells a lot about that moynahan sense of humor so can you describe what's going on there

he coined the term and eisenhower was republican and you want to be in eisenhower publication be whatever or who the right winners for those days maybe taft i guess. but it sounded good to me, what little i knew about it. why not be an eisenhower republican and he was my hero. >> giver have a quote that you wish you could've take back pretty. >> yes lots of them if you're the leader subject about with some guy in office were lady just to show the good little support, back, god for boats or something yet have some of those. and i voted against the attorney general from georgia. and i apologized to him for it because the secretary of transportation a black guy, bill: a great lawyer and a great guy, and a severe republican leader and you can't vote for this guy. i think i was one of 19. he endorsed me 96 in atlanta. so, regretted that because he won the race fair enough. just a good old southern gentleman. >> i think later on people had second thoughts when he was nominated to supreme court because they think they realize that the politics had taken over. >> i voted for him but he was a bad

this is eisenhower on steroids. when people are short term memory, it's what have you done for me lately, the polls show a pretty sizable chunk of the population thinking that biden hasn't done much and saying he hasn't done much forgetting that literally he walked into covid and did shots and checks and got the $2,000 and everybody was able to get their -- everybody willing to take it was able to get their covid shots and people forget that super quickly. i just came back from jackson, mississippi. they have a huge water crisis. that's something you can see people will be like when will you fix that? there is money in there to help triable nations. it includes funding for native communities to address broad band and resilience and water settlements, et cetera. do those end up being pushed to the front because they are urgent? >> yeah, i think a lot of these things can move quickly because it often local communities on the front lines that have efforts ready to go. i remember when i was mayor trying to make sure we

in 1954, president eisenhower declared november 11 veterans day, and a national holiday. the birmingham veterans day tradition continues with an annual parade. to all the veterans everywhere, thank you for your service. that's it's for this edition of "matter of fact." i'm soledad o'brien. we'll see you next week. announcer: if you missed our top stories about why more women are leaving the workforce, how a small town in iowa is coping with a school bus driver shortage, the ghost farms that indicate the coastal areas are in crisis, and the possibility of a planet in a galaxy far, far away, just go to matteroffact.tv. and listen to "matter of fact with soledad o'brien" on your favorite podcast provider. watch us during the week on fyi, pluto, and youtube. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >>> today on "sayson paw seuf . >>> we'll talk to her about her life in front of the camera, and her real life elite martial arts background. then abc bay area talks to one of the key pa

and he was opposed to the, the old men, so to speak, the dulles type people in the eisenhower regime type people that he really was not an in conflict with their policies and adding on the bang. if this is true and i don altima to price, i mean the way you s electoral politics works is that florida has to exert a veto on who wins the white as may be. is that why joe biden might have thought we can't release the documents? because there was certain cuban elements alive today that perhaps in miami because he doesn't want to offend florida, given that you also executive produce a new thing called a war on cuba. showing how bible his out trump trump, when as a guy located or embargo of cuba. i was in gold as a producer with read, lindsay read. lindsey's done a great job down there. he's, he's living there is a cooperative human filmmakers. me has made these films about the human people, what's happening to them in this boycott in the, in the sanctions against, you know, they know that mean no sanctions or even tougher. the cubans abroad cannot send money to their relatives in children. t

>> arthur burns had known nixon from the eisenhower-arthur days. he unlike moynihan chewed on a pipe stem all the time. >> i think you can see even in this picture. >> and arthur was a very decent, good human being. he went onto a further great career, chairman of of the federal reserve, born in washington. he was indeed a conservative, and nixon was a political matter and realized and his top national security advisor and from the harvard institute. and he thought, i've got to take care of my concerns from the more conservative side of my party. so he reached out to arthur, and he said i know you want to be chairman of the fed, but in the meantime i want you to come in the white house and oversee broad domestic policy. so he came in and politically it was the counter point to the moynihan appointment. and it was clear nixon set them up as sparring partners, intellectual sparring partners because they would fight each other with great decorum and quite ortickletly, but that went on for the next, almost 12 months, 11 months. >> so i think if we move

had observed nixon because he had gone to where he observed eisenhower cabinet meeting? >> yes. my dad was from a coal mining family of ten kids in west virginia. they moved from coal camp to coal camp. and first in his family ever to go to college. but he wound up long story short, he wound up in the executive office of the president in charge of defense globalization. and in the course of that he had a couple of occasions to present to the cabinet. and he had impressions of richard nixon. which weren't hostile or negative but they weren't glowingly positive. he just wasn't sure about him yet. and this was on the lip of nixon's nomination in 1960 to run for president. >> there is so much in the book and we have so little time so i'm going to just go for it. one of the figures that as you move to describe in the actions or within the republican party. one of the most prominent figures is tom dewey, had been governor of new york and i guess attorney general of the state. he was big crime buster. >> thomas dewey is long neglected but a fascinating fellow. and he was from michigan.

do we was very instrumental placing him on the eisenhower ticket. >> i think richard wrote in 1983 review so for people interested in politics -- >> a very important figure. >> again leapfrogging forward, what, how, why, when and who? >> young people like me, lawyers, political scientists, biologists in the cambridge area, mit and harvard law school, it was a group of people helped the more conservative party, republican party but it was more like israeli and the british conservatives where we have to do things in order for this to stay whole and coherent. for people to have confidence things are working for them. so specifically it was not a britished organization, the conservative party, it was a bridge between academic circles, policy world, so they set out with thisce retention to do something like that within the lirepublican party and that's wt we try to do. >> it was on a ten-point scale, the group of liberals inclined, republican students. >> grad students and whatever. >> found it in? >> it was starting to percolate in 1562 and finally really clicked when kennedy was assassinated

we were eisenhower republicans. always my view. >> you look at your public career by the mid-70s and mid-90s, it is almost like you were chasing this kboos that -- >> and abortion popped up in '74. you know, let's face it. nixon never worried about that issue. i don't think ford ever did even. i'm not sure. such a hot butt in in 76 and then it became a big, big issue and that sort of started defining different groups and parties and different whatever. i thought we were always a party the balanced budget. old time republicans and vetoed 51 bills one year. and suddenly all you got to do is cut taxes and keep on spending and you will have a surplus. something i never -- i'm not an economist. i never understood it. most people in our party at that time like --. you know, we thought you were supposed to balance your budget like people did at home. you didn't have the money you didn't spend it. >> and almost -- it is almost a moral at least an ethical -- live within your means. at the very least --. >> gone. -- the rich.

so why not be an eisenhower republican? he was my hero at the time. >> did you have a vote you wish you could take back? >> lots of them. if you're the leader sometimes you have to vote for some guy or lady just to show a good little support back home, i got four votes or something. i've done some of those. and i voted against the attorney general from georgia, griffon bell. griffon bell. i apologized to him for it because the secretary of transportation, bill coleman, great lawyer, great guy said, bob, you're a republican, you're the republican leader, you're going to win, you can't vote for this guy. and he came on his record and i know i was one of 19. in fact, he endorsed me in '96 in atlanta. i kind of regretted that 3wi8 because he wasn't a racist, turned out, just a good old southern gentleman. >> in some ways like what i think later on people came to have second thoughts about voting against aimsworth when nixon nominated him in the supreme court. i think they realized politics taken over. >> that's another vote i s

father who was an engineer, archivist, not a politician and with nixon, he had gone to observe the eisenhower. >> my dad was from the coal mining family in west virginia, stthe move from coal camp to col camp and then went to college but he wanted a long story short, he wanted in the executive office of the president in charge of defense and mobilization. and in the course of that, he had a couple of chances to present to the cabinet. and he made impressions of richard nixon was not hostile or negative but they were not going a positive and he just was not sure of him and this was on the list of nominations in the 60s to run for president. >> there's so much in the book there's so little time, so i'm just going to go for it, one of the figures that as you sort of describe the actions, or the wings within the republican party, one of the prominent figures is thomas e, the governor of new york and this is the attorney general of the state he was no crime buster read and dewey, long neglected by the fascinating fellow and he was from michigan and he was an aspiring opera singer, bass baritone an

and at times eisenhower who had gotten a pilots license would actually take the controls. at times he actually flew the plane. he was an extremely competent guy. eisenhower did do some traveling. made some speeches around the country. even did some television. one thing he didn't do though, in the 1950s was live press conferences. there was pressure from the press for him to do live press conferences. and he was resistant to that. because he thought that he might inadvertently reveal national security information. now you may wonder why was he so paranoid and sensitive about national security information? well he's been the commander of american forces in world war ii. when you have gone toe to toe with hitler you kind of get sensitive about those things. but he did end up having recorded press conferences. and they worked pretty well. and he was good at'em. we don't think of eisenhower as a great orator or somebody particularly expert in domestic policy but the guy read his briefing book. he knew his stuff and he did pretty well in the press conferences. big innovation in

so eisenhower did do some traveling, made some speeches around the country. even did some television. one thing he didn't do though in the 1950s was live press conferences. there was pressure from the press for him to do live press conferences and he was resistant to that because he thought that he might inadvertently reveal national security information. you may ask why was he so sensitive about national security information? he has been the commander of forces in world war ii, and had gone toe to toe with hitler you kind of get sensitive about those things. but he did end up having recorded press conferences and they worked pretty well. and he was good at them. we don't think of eisenhower as a great orator or somebody who was particularly expert in domestic policy but the guy read his briefing book. he knew his stuff and he did pretty well in the press conferences. big innovation in television came with jfk. jfk did have live press conferences and there was good for jfk. number one, he got the reporters. he understood them culturally. he had briefly in fac

so eisenhower did do some traveling. made some speeches around the country, even in some television. one thing he didn't do, though, in the 1950,'s was live press conferences. there is pressure from the press for him to do live press conferences and he was resistant to that. because, he thought, he might inadvertently reveal national security information. now, you may wonder why he was so paranoid insensitive about national security information. well, he had been commander of american forces in world war ii. and when you go toe to toe with hitler, you get kind of sensitive about those things. but he did end up having recorded press conferences. and they worked pretty well. he was good at them. we don't think of eisenhower as a great orator or somebody who is particularly expert in this domestic policy, but the guy read his briefing book, he knew his stuff. he did pretty well in the press conference. the big innovation in television came with jfk. jfk did hive live conferences, a format particularly good for jfk. number o

, i'm senator kennedy's has the leg when eisenhower passed over the national security apparatus to john kennedy. how scared we had to be that communism was on the march, and we had to stop it. wherever it was. kennedy loved the idea that american ingenuity, not just big, scary bombs, but different more surgical kinds of technologies could be used to defeat these insurgencies and agent, orange or ur besides. in general was part of that strategic view. the here at the chemical company in midland michigan revolutionary chemical killers are being produced to help us of these costly press . one of the newest and most versatile weapons and dollars arsenal of chemical warfare is to for dial. we'd killer to 4. d is a growth regulator. type of we'd kill it. the action is illogical, appearing to upset the plants, growth processes and causing gradually, but certain death. the saigon government in 1961 was a vociferous proponents of the use of, or besides, in vietnam, in the, the government was fighting a communist insurgency in the south. that was supplied by and they felt that the insurgency was