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TV, Documentary The American President 03 An Independent Cast of Mind
The American President is a series that aired on PBS in 2000 profiling 41 U.S. chief executives, using exclusive interviews with Presidents Clinton, Bush, Ford, and Carter. Well known figures lend their voice to presidents of the past who lived before sound recordings, including: Colin Powell, Bob Dole, Walter Cronkite, Ben Bradlee, John Glenn, James Carville, Andrew Young, and the Rev. Billy Graham. Narrated by Hugh Sidey.
The American President is a series that aired on PBS in 2000 profiling 41 U.S. chief executives, using exclusive interviews with Presidents Clinton, Bush, Ford, and Carter. Well known figures lend their voice to presidents of the past who lived before sound recordings, including: Colin Powell, Bob Dole, Walter Cronkite, Ben Bradlee, John Glenn, James Carville, Andrew Young, and the Rev. Billy Graham. Narrated by Hugh Sidey.
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00:04Presenting History's Best on PBS.
00:59Presenting History's Best on PBS.
01:28Presenting History's Best on PBS.
01:58Presenting History's Best on PBS.
01:59So many enemies in the world.
02:02An independent cast of mind.
02:08To turn despair to optimism, to carry the weight of many on the shoulders of one, takes strength.
02:15Our country was built on it. So was our company.
02:18New York Life is proud to bring you the American president.
02:28The presidency was intended to stand above politics and function dispassionately in the public interest.
02:36But over time, most presidents have been forced to enter the nitty-gritty political world in order to build the
02:44necessary consensus to govern.
02:46We're going to profile some notable exceptions.
02:50Four men who tried to restore an independent spirit to the office and put the national interest above the concerns
02:58of their own parties.
03:00The first was considered the deepest thinker of his generation, an idealist whose calling card was his extraordinary independence.
03:09He was our second president, John Adams.
03:21I must be independent as long as I live. The feeling is essential to my existence.
03:29He was a man of opposites, a brilliant and courageous visionary on one hand, vain and suspicious and irascible on
03:37the other.
03:39The roots of Adams' lonely integrity lay in his Puritan heritage in rural Massachusetts, where he grew up expecting to
03:48enter the ministry.
03:50I was born and bred in the ancient town of Braintree, now called Quincy.
03:56There I began to love my books.
04:00I had some faculty for public speaking and determined that I should make a better lawyer than divine.
04:08He rose to become Boston's foremost lawyer, often standing alone when necessary and taking on controversial causes.
04:18His successful defense of nine British soldiers arrested after the Boston Massacre was unpopular, but it reinforced his reputation for
04:29sticking to his own rigid principles.
04:34The object of all my wishes and of all my politics is the triumph of stubborn independence.
04:43America in the 1770s consisted of two and a half million British citizens, whose relationship to England was steadily worsening.
04:54Following the Boston Tea Party in 1773, the British shut down the port of Boston.
05:01John Adams wrote, the die is cast.
05:14In June of 1774, 38-year-old Adams was elected a congressional delegate for a meeting of the 13 colonies
05:23to take place in what would become known as Independence Hall in Philadelphia.
05:29If ever an infant country deserved to be cherished, it is America.
05:35Converted to the patriot cause by his fiery cousin, Samuel Adams, he became one of the earliest proponents of revolution.
05:43And so tireless a worker, his contemporaries called him the Atlas of Independence.
05:50But he also made enemies.
05:52Always convinced he was right, he refused to compromise and called people fools to their faces when they disagreed with
05:59him.
06:01I would quarrel with every individual before I would prostitute my pen.
06:06I am determined to preserve my independence even at the expense of my ambition.
06:12I cannot really describe John Adams' personality.
06:17One would have had to feel it, to believe it.
06:21Everyone speaks of him as having been intense, contentious, didn't suffer fools gladly,
06:29had a very strong sense of his own importance and his own place in the history of the republic.
06:34He was a man intensely conscious of his own worth, his own importance, his own society.
06:43He was a loner.
06:47War erupted and Adams was placed in charge of a committee to draft a declaration of independence.
06:54But when asked to do the actual writing, he declined, claiming that his time was too valuable.
07:02And so, it was the tall, charismatic Jefferson who became the author,
07:08leaving John Adams to regret the decision for the rest of his life.
07:13Jefferson ran away with all the glory of it.
07:18Adams continued to work for American independence in missions to France and then England,
07:24where he helped negotiate an end to the Revolutionary War.
07:28And in 1788, after nearly a decade abroad,
07:32he finally returned to a new house in Quincy, where he planned to retire.
07:39If it lay in my power, I would take a vow to retire to my little turnip yard and never
07:45again quit it.
07:48Retirement didn't lie within Adams' power.
07:52For just one year later, he was elected the country's first vice president
07:56and was forced to leave his beloved Quincy once again.
08:03Most of Adams' eight years serving under George Washington
08:07were spent in Philadelphia's Congress Hall.
08:10And during that time, he came to detest the vice presidency.
08:14My country has, in its wisdom, contrived for me the most insignificant office that ever man contrived,
08:23a mere mechanical tool to wind up the clock.
08:26But I am heir apparent, and a succession is to take place.
08:32Adams followed George Washington.
08:35That's the most important thing that Adams did was preside over an orderly transfer of power
08:42from the man that had first been president.
08:46And Adams, I believe, took it for granted
08:49that the authority Washington had wielded,
08:55the actual power over others, all he had held in that office,
09:01came from the office.
09:04Mostly, it came from George Washington's presence in the office.
09:10Adams looked to the office to give him equivalent power.
09:15But the office didn't have it in it, not all by itself.
09:25Though Adams retained George Washington's entire cabinet,
09:29he largely ignored them.
09:31And his superior attitude soon put him on a collision course
09:35with nearly everyone in government.
09:38Washington saddled me with three secretaries who would control me.
09:42But I shall take care of that.
09:45When the people have chosen their presidents,
09:47they ought to expect they will act their own independent judgments.
09:53As president, all too often his independence was counterproductive.
09:58When Congress met to debate whether to establish a U.S. alliance with France or England,
10:04Adams stubbornly refused to commit himself to either side.
10:09Two parties existed in this country headed by men of the most determined ambition,
10:14the one inclined to France and the other to England.
10:18It was my destiny to run the gauntlet between these two factions.
10:24John Adams wished to put himself all equidistant
10:31between the Jeffersonian Democrats on the one hand
10:35and the Hamiltonian Federalists on the other.
10:39He wanted to be between them.
10:41What I think he really wanted to be was above them
10:45in the way that George Washington had been above them.
10:49But there was no way that Adams could be above them.
10:53He was not Washington.
10:55He did not cultivate support on either side.
11:00He ended with very little support for either.
11:06Adams' presidency was consumed by an international crisis.
11:11It was triggered by France, which was harassing American ships at sea.
11:17After failed diplomatic efforts,
11:20the president pushed through the creation of a new Department of the Navy
11:24and ordered the rapid buildup of American naval forces.
11:29An efficient preparation for war can alone ensure peace.
11:35But as war fever raged across America,
11:39Adams reversed his initial tough position.
11:41And when most of his cabinet revolted in protest,
11:45Adams worked alone on his own plan to send a peace mission to France
11:49to prevent war from breaking out.
11:53Then he retreated to his farm in Massachusetts,
11:56where he insisted he would govern in isolation.
12:00And there he remained for the next eight months of his presidency.
12:04The people elected me to administer the government, it is true.
12:09And I do administer it here at Quincy.
12:14He was really only comfortable in Quincy, Massachusetts,
12:18and maybe as far away as Boston.
12:21But for any reason, to isolate oneself politically,
12:24as far as that is to risk the capacity to govern at all.
12:33That's an isolates stand.
12:36It's a dangerous stand.
12:39To believe in independence
12:43and to act on independence
12:46is to risk isolation.
12:48And that was Adams' fate.
12:52Toward the end of his term in office,
12:54Adams became the first president
12:56to live in the new executive mansion
12:58in the capital city of Washington.
13:01And there, the man who chose not to be a minister
13:04offered a simple prayer for future presidents.
13:08I pray heaven to bestow the best blessings on this house
13:12and on all that shall hereafter inhabit it.
13:16May none but honest and wise men
13:18ever rule under this roof.
13:22Adams finally did establish peace with France,
13:25but not in time to help restore his popularity.
13:29During his final year in office,
13:31he was publicly criticized as a man of vanity and egotism
13:36and was accused of being unfit
13:38for the office of chief executive.
13:41It was utterly impossible
13:43that I could have lived through one more year
13:45of such labors and cares.
13:48It is a sad thing that simple integrity
13:51should have so many enemies in the world.
13:56In 1800, Adams lost his bid for re-election
13:59to Thomas Jefferson.
14:01And on March 4, 1801,
14:04he refused to take part
14:06in his successor's inauguration.
14:09Instead, he quietly slipped out of town
14:12early that morning.
14:14I left Washington on the 4th
14:16and arrived at Quincy on the 18th,
14:19having trotted the bogs 500 miles.
14:22I found about 100 loads of seaweed in my barnyard,
14:26and I thought I had made a good exchange,
14:29honors and virtues for manure.
14:32I must be Farmer John and nothing more
14:35for the rest of my life.
14:39Adams lived on for 25 more years,
14:42long enough to witness his son, John Quincy,
14:45become the country's sixth president.
14:48When a neighbor congratulated him
14:50on his son's election, he muttered,
14:52No man who ever held the office of Preston
14:55would congratulate a friend on obtaining it.
14:59Towards the end,
15:01when he was described publicly
15:02as a man with few friends,
15:04the old sage became furious,
15:06but then grew wistful.
15:09I fear the information is too true.
15:12It is impossible that any man
15:15should run such a gauntlet as I have
15:17and have many friends at the last.
15:20A man who discovers a disposition
15:22to be independent seldom succeeds.
15:31The presidents following John Adams
15:34were far better connected
15:35to their parties,
15:37to their constituencies,
15:38and to their supporters in Congress.
15:40But in 1849,
15:42there arose to the high office
15:44a 64-year-old fighting man
15:47who was so politically inexperienced
15:49he had never even voted.
15:51He was known as old rough-and-ready,
15:54Zachary Taylor.
16:04On the subject of the presidency,
16:06I do not care a fig about the office.
16:08I would be as contented in a cabin
16:11as in the White House.
16:14Zachary Taylor's crusty independence
16:17and complete lack of political skills
16:19would put him in conflict
16:21with almost everyone in government.
16:24And as had been true for Adams,
16:27Taylor's presidency offers a cautionary tale
16:30about bringing too much independence
16:32into the White House.
16:35Zachary Taylor and John Adams
16:38superficially have very little in common.
16:42Taylor was a southerner.
16:45He was a slave owner.
16:47He was Jefferson Davis' father-in-law.
16:51Well, in every sense of section,
16:55outlook and profession,
16:58he and Adams are quite different.
17:03But he approached the presidency
17:07in somewhat the same way Adams had done.
17:09It was his office now.
17:12Its authority, its powers,
17:14were his to exercise,
17:16regardless of party.
17:17It appeals to something Americans have always liked,
17:23a principled person standing up for his own rights.
17:30Yet, it's a luxury presidents can ill afford.
17:40Zachary Taylor had first made a name for himself
17:43as a decisive and fearless soldier,
17:45serving in the War of 1812,
17:48then in the Second Seminole War in Florida.
17:52He became known as the finest Indian fighter in the Army
17:56and the fairest,
17:58meticulously sticking to treaties
18:00and preventing whites from spreading into Indian lands.
18:05When he captured runaway slaves known as black Indians
18:09who were fighting alongside the Seminoles,
18:12Taylor angered his fellow southerners
18:14by refusing to return them to their white owners.
18:17But all his life he confused people,
18:20and it was lampooned that no one could get inside
18:23the head of this man of contradictions
18:25who remained an ardent supporter of slavery.
18:30So far as slavery is concerned,
18:32we of the South must defend our rights to the last
18:36with the sword if necessary.
18:45By 1846, near a disputed border between Texas and Mexico,
18:51American photographers captured war images
18:53for the very first time.
19:00The Mexican War was also the first time
19:03that the telegraph was used to report
19:05day-to-day battle progress to newspapers.
19:09And the American public was entranced
19:11by Zachary Taylor's decisive victories there.
19:15So much so that Taylor began being mentioned
19:18as a possible presidential candidate
19:20even before the war ended.
19:25My repugnance for being a candidate
19:27has been frankly made known.
19:29My thoughts are occupied
19:31in bringing this war to a speedy close.
19:35At the White House,
19:37his sudden popularity was perceived
19:39as a political threat.
19:41President James Polk wrote,
19:43Taylor is no doubt brave and will fight,
19:45but he is a man made giddy
19:47with the idea of the presidency.
19:50He's wholly unfit for the chief command.
19:53And in 1846,
19:55Polk transferred most of Taylor's troops
19:58to another general.
20:01I have been stripped of nearly the whole
20:03of the regular force
20:04and more than one half of the volunteers.
20:07It seems to me
20:08the great object is to keep me
20:10as much in the dark as possible.
20:13Something is going on.
20:16But nothing could stop Taylor from fighting.
20:20Outnumbered four to one at Buena Vista,
20:23old Ruffin Reddy refused to surrender.
20:26And through pure grit and determination,
20:29he pulled off one of the most astonishing
20:31military victories in America's history.
20:36I saved the administration,
20:38the national honor,
20:39and our glorious flag
20:41from being trailed in the dust.
20:45Newspaper accounts
20:46of the stocky general
20:47who did things his own way
20:49fired the imagination
20:51of the people back home.
20:52How he wore civilian clothes
20:54and an old straw hat in action,
20:56took bullets through his sleeve,
20:58and fought on the front line
21:00alongside his men.
21:02In Congress,
21:03a group of Whigs
21:04that included a young Abraham Lincoln
21:07formed a tailor-for-president club.
21:25And in an age
21:27when generals were more revered
21:29than politicians,
21:30Taylor was actively pursued
21:32by three national parties.
21:36I was nominated by Whigs,
21:39Democrats,
21:40and Natives
21:40in separate meetings.
21:42I resisted them all.
21:44Part of Taylor's appeal
21:46lay in the fact
21:47that no one knew
21:48what political party
21:50he belonged to
21:50or where he stood
21:52on any major issue.
21:55Persuaded that he had to be connected
21:57to a specific party,
21:59Taylor finally announced
22:00that he was a Whig,
22:01but then cautioned,
22:03not an ultra-Whig.
22:05Nearly 40 years of my life
22:07have been passed
22:08in the military,
22:09in the camp,
22:10the field,
22:11or in Indian country.
22:12I have had but little time
22:14to investigate
22:15political matters.
22:19In November 1848,
22:22Zachary Taylor's
22:23independent spirit
22:24and ambiguous politics
22:26helped get him elected
22:28the country's 12th president.
22:31My trials and troubles
22:33have commenced.
22:34In the discharge of my duties,
22:36my guide will be
22:37the Constitution.
22:38I hope my administration
22:40will prove beneficial.
22:42In the White House,
22:44Taylor looked as disheveled
22:45as he had in the field.
22:47He was a confirmed
22:48tobacco chewer,
22:49and visitors said
22:50he had perfect spitty name,
22:52never missing a sand-filled box
22:55across his office.
22:56I will commit many blunders,
22:58there can be no doubt,
22:59but I flatter myself
23:01they will be attributed
23:02to the head
23:03and not to the heart.
23:05From the start,
23:06Taylor seemed to go
23:07out of his way
23:08to alienate fellow Whigs
23:10in Congress.
23:12He virtually ignored
23:13his own cabinet members.
23:16And determined to communicate
23:17with all political parties,
23:19he bypassed
23:21the established Twig Press
23:22and set up
23:23his own administration newspaper.
23:29Taylor's presidency
23:30took place in an era
23:31when the Senate
23:32often overshadowed
23:33the executive branch
23:35of government.
23:36Just 12 years before
23:38the Civil War,
23:39the major issue of the day
23:41centered on the institution
23:42of slavery.
23:44By the Mexican War,
23:46the United States
23:47had gained vast
23:48new Western territories,
23:50including what would become
23:51the states of California
23:53and New Mexico.
23:54The issue now
23:56was whether they would become
23:57slave states or free.
24:01Everyone assumed
24:02that the slave-owning president
24:03would see to it
24:05that the institution
24:06of slavery got extended.
24:08I was represented
24:09as a Southern slaveholder
24:11in favor of the extension
24:12of slavery
24:13and as a man
24:14who trafficked
24:15in human flesh.
24:17But in his annual message
24:19sent to Congress,
24:21Taylor revealed
24:22that above all else,
24:23he was a confirmed Unionist
24:25and was in favor
24:26of the admission
24:27of the new states
24:28even if they first
24:30banned slavery.
24:32Southerners were stunned
24:34and called the president
24:35a turncoat.
24:37Speaking on behalf
24:38of his fellow
24:39Southern congressmen,
24:40an exasperated
24:42Alexander Stevens
24:43confronted Taylor
24:44in the White House
24:45and threatened secession
24:47if he didn't change
24:48his policy.
24:49The old general
24:50grew furious.
24:52I informed him
24:53that if they were taken
24:54in rebellion
24:55against the Union,
24:56I would hang them
24:57with less reluctance
24:58than I had hung
24:59deserters and spies
25:00in Mexico.
25:02With the country
25:03hurtling towards civil war,
25:05a national debate
25:07raged in Congress,
25:08attempting to find
25:09a compromise
25:10between North and South.
25:15But in the White House,
25:17Zachary Taylor
25:18dug in his heels,
25:19refusing to compromise
25:21with anyone.
25:23Threatening the Senate
25:24that he would personally
25:25take charge of the army
25:26if necessary,
25:27he was determined
25:28to do what he thought right,
25:30no matter what
25:31the consequence.
25:34Fellow Whig,
25:35Daniel Webster,
25:36bemoaned,
25:37the administration
25:38is doomed.
25:42I think there's
25:43something quite splendid
25:45about this general
25:47who looked at the issue
25:49purely in its own terms,
25:51came to conclusions
25:53opposed to his parties,
25:55and said,
25:56I'm president,
25:57and within my authority,
25:59nobody's going to push me around,
26:01I'm going to stay where I am.
26:02It's splendid,
26:05but it's not politics.
26:07It's great theater,
26:10but it's not governing.
26:13General Taylor
26:15was indulging himself,
26:17in my view.
26:19Having served just 16 months
26:22in office,
26:23an exhausted
26:24President Taylor
26:25sat under a roasting sun
26:27for hours
26:28during a 4th of July celebration.
26:31Then,
26:32he downed large quantities
26:34of tainted milk
26:34and raw fruit
26:35and vegetables.
26:38Stricken by acute
26:40gastroenteritis,
26:41the invincible hero
26:43was confined to his bed,
26:44eating ice,
26:45taking quinine,
26:47being bled.
26:49In two days,
26:51I shall be a dead man.
26:53His condition,
26:55made worse
26:55by the efforts
26:56of his doctors,
26:57would lead to his death
26:59in less than a week.
27:01On July 9, 1850,
27:04Vice President Millard Fillmore
27:06prepared to assume office
27:08and inherit
27:09the unresolved crisis
27:10Taylor was leaving behind.
27:13And for one brief moment,
27:15the entire nation,
27:16both Northerners
27:17and Southerners
27:18united in sorrow.
27:20It was a fitting tribute
27:22to the man
27:23who had stubbornly clung
27:24to his independence
27:25throughout a mounting
27:26political storm.
27:28His last words
27:30were to his family
27:31grouped around his bed.
27:34The storm in passing
27:36has swept away the trunk.
27:38I expect
27:39to summon soon.
27:41I regret nothing.
27:47Presidents
27:48after Zachary Taylor
27:49return to a more
27:50politically engaged
27:51style of leadership,
27:53epitomized
27:54by Abraham Lincoln.
27:55Not until 1876,
27:58the year of the nation's
27:59centennial,
28:00did there arise
28:01another president
28:02so determined
28:03as Adams and Taylor
28:05to go it alone.
28:06He was a Cincinnati
28:08politician
28:09named Rutherford B. Hayes.
28:21The presidential mania
28:23makes mad
28:24every man
28:25who is at all
28:26prominent in Washington.
28:29It never seemed to me
28:30worth the cost
28:31of self-respect,
28:32of independence.
28:35All his life,
28:37Hayes was hard-working,
28:38methodical,
28:39and impeccably honest.
28:41So pristine,
28:42James Garfield once said,
28:44no nickname
28:45can be pinned to him.
28:48He saw himself
28:49as nothing more
28:50than a nonpartisan
28:51public servant.
28:55Rutherford B. Hayes
28:56was a man
28:57of great respectability,
28:59considerable approachability,
29:01not flashy,
29:03Rutherford B. Hayes
29:04is one of the least
29:06memorable individuals
29:09to occupy the White House.
29:12What's memorable about him
29:13are some of his
29:14policy stances,
29:16not his personality.
29:18He was very much
29:19an idealist, I think,
29:21and in his desire
29:22to cleanse the taints
29:25that had infected
29:27his own party
29:28in terms of corruption,
29:29that had been characteristic
29:31of parts of the
29:32Grant administration.
29:34He had a strong sense
29:36of the independence
29:37of his office.
29:39John Adams
29:40was a hero of his.
29:45Like Adams,
29:46Rutherford B. Hayes
29:47traced his lineage back
29:49almost to the Mayflower.
29:51His lifelong commitment
29:53was not to be intimidated
29:54by anything or anyone.
29:58I discovered that my chiefest obstacles
30:00were in myself,
30:02that if I could master myself,
30:05all other difficulties
30:06would vanish.
30:09At Harvard Law School,
30:11Hayes rose to the top
30:13of his class,
30:14and once back in Ohio,
30:16he became known
30:17as a lawyer
30:17of unquestioned integrity.
30:23In 1852,
30:25he married Lucy Webb
30:26and settled down
30:28to have eight children
30:29and to lead what Hayes hoped
30:31would be a quiet
30:32and disciplined life.
30:34But on April 12, 1861,
30:37Fort Sumter was attacked
30:39by South Carolina troops,
30:41and Hayes' orderly lifestyle
30:43came to an abrupt end.
30:47My feelings were
30:48that this was a just
30:49and necessary war
30:51and that I would prefer
30:52to go into it,
30:53even if I knew
30:53I was to be killed,
30:55than to live through
30:56and after it
30:57without taking any part in it.
31:01Hayes rose rapidly
31:02through the ranks
31:03to Brigadier General,
31:05and during the course
31:06of the war,
31:07he was wounded five times.
31:10My first wound,
31:11a shell fragment,
31:12hit the right knee,
31:13and I feel it yet.
31:15But I never enjoyed
31:16any mode of life
31:18as much as I did
31:19the marches and campaigns
31:20of western Virginia.
31:22His leadership qualities
31:24got him noticed.
31:25When he was approached
31:27during the war
31:27to campaign
31:28for public office,
31:30Hayes exclaimed,
31:31an officer
31:32who at this crisis
31:34would abandon his post
31:35to electioneer
31:36for a seat in Congress
31:37ought to be scalped.
31:39Despite his objections,
31:41he was elected
31:42while still fighting
31:43in Virginia,
31:44and after the war
31:45served in Congress.
31:48He went on
31:49to be elected
31:50three times
31:51as governor of Ohio.
31:55From the ocean
31:57to the ocean
31:59By 1876,
32:01state Republicans
32:02were pushing
32:03their favorite son
32:04towards the presidency,
32:06even though
32:07Hayes was,
32:08for the most part,
32:09unknown outside Ohio.
32:13One East Coast observer
32:14called him
32:15a third-rate
32:16non-entity.
32:18I seem to be
32:19the second choice
32:20of many of the supporters
32:21of other candidates.
32:24But at the Republican
32:25National Convention
32:27in Cincinnati,
32:28when other more
32:29prominent candidates
32:30failed to secure
32:31majorities,
32:32the delegates
32:33turned to Hayes.
32:34I discouraged,
32:36rather than encouraged,
32:37the Hayes movement.
32:39But I shall show
32:41a grit that will
32:42astonish those
32:42who predict weakness.
32:44Cheers for the red,
32:45white, and blue.
32:47In November,
32:49Hayes' Democratic
32:50opponent,
32:51Samuel Tilden,
32:52narrowly won
32:53the popular vote.
32:56But the electoral count
32:58in three southern states
32:59was then called
33:00into question.
33:03The dispute
33:05was laid
33:05before an electoral commission.
33:08As party leaders
33:09argued and bargained,
33:11Hayes refused
33:11to make
33:12any political concessions.
33:15But after nearly
33:17four months
33:17of stalemate,
33:19southern Democrats
33:20were secretly assured
33:21that if Hayes
33:22was named president,
33:23he would end
33:24Reconstruction
33:25and pull federal troops
33:27out of the South.
33:29With that assurance,
33:31it was announced
33:31that Hayes,
33:32not Tilden,
33:33was the country's
33:3419th president.
33:36His political enemies
33:37labeled him
33:38Rutherfraud B. Hayes.
33:41I never had
33:43any misgiving
33:43about my success
33:44in 1876.
33:46There had been crimes
33:48against the ballot box,
33:50and we were entitled
33:51to a majority
33:52of the popular vote.
33:55He took office
33:57under a terrible cloud,
33:58but vindicated himself
34:00personally
34:02by his rectitude
34:04at a time
34:05when rectitude
34:06was symbolically
34:08and practically
34:08important.
34:10He promptly
34:11kept his pledge,
34:12pull the troops out.
34:14There simply wasn't
34:16majority support
34:17through the northern states
34:19and the northern
34:20political organizations
34:21any longer
34:22for ensuring
34:24all the civil rights
34:26of the blacks,
34:27which is what this
34:28was basically all about.
34:31Hayes' ending
34:32of Reconstruction
34:33came at a cost.
34:35Pledges he had received
34:36from southern Democrats
34:37to protect the rights
34:39of black citizens
34:40proved worthless,
34:42and the civil rights
34:43revolution
34:44that Hayes had inherited
34:45would be stalled
34:47until the 20th century.
34:49The army was withdrawn
34:51from the South
34:52because I believed it
34:53a wise thing to do.
34:55I had to adhere
34:57to my own views.
35:02From the start
35:03of his presidency,
35:04Hayes firmly established
35:06his independence
35:06and acted as he saw fit.
35:10Fellow Republicans
35:11were outraged
35:12at his choice
35:12of a cabinet,
35:13which included
35:14a Democrat,
35:15David M. Key,
35:16who had once been
35:17a Confederate officer.
35:19It was the first time
35:21in our history
35:21that a gentleman
35:22who had opposed
35:23the election
35:23of a president
35:24was, by that president,
35:26invited into his cabinet.
35:28I was ready
35:29to risk my own standing
35:31and reputation
35:31with my party.
35:34Hayes' independent views
35:35eventually pitted him
35:37against nearly every politician
35:38in Washington.
35:40He stood up to railroad companies,
35:42became an early environmentalist,
35:45and attacked the long-standing system
35:48of political patronage.
35:51In the 1870s,
35:53the New York Custom House
35:54was the center
35:55of national party politics.
35:58Responsible for collecting
35:59most of the revenue
36:00for the federal government,
36:02it had become rife
36:03with corruption.
36:05Hayes fired
36:06its top three officials,
36:08including the collector himself,
36:10future president
36:11Chester A. Arthur.
36:13And despite strong resistance
36:15by the Senate,
36:16he stood firm,
36:17ordering that no federal employee
36:20engage in any political activity.
36:23The great success
36:24of my administration
36:25was in getting control
36:27of the New York Custom House
36:28and changing it
36:30from a political machine
36:31for the benefit
36:32of party leaders
36:33into a business office
36:35for the benefit
36:36of the public.
36:42At the White House,
36:44Hayes was a diligent
36:45chief executive.
36:47A religious man
36:48who never missed
36:49his morning prayers,
36:50he met with callers
36:52every afternoon
36:53and often late
36:54into the night.
36:56Hayes had the first telephone
36:58installed in the White House
36:59and placed his first call
37:01to Alexander Graham Bell.
37:06And he became
37:07the first president
37:08to travel to the West Coast
37:10while in office.
37:15His greatest asset,
37:17he liked to say,
37:18was his wife, Lucy,
37:19who was the most esteemed
37:21president's wife
37:22since Dolly Madison.
37:24Nicknamed Lemonade Lucy
37:25for her barring of alcohol
37:27from White House functions,
37:29she was the first
37:30to be widely referred to
37:32as the First Lady.
37:35Lucy's large, warm heart
37:37and lively sympathy
37:38for all around her
37:39that made her wonderfully popular.
37:44Hayes found himself
37:45increasingly appreciated
37:46by the American public.
37:48His independent spirit,
37:50his hard-working habits
37:51and his basic decency
37:53were refreshing in Washington.
37:55I never had an overweening fondness
37:58for political life.
38:00My periods of public employment
38:02were merely parentheses
38:03in my private life.
38:09Hayes had promised
38:11upon entering office
38:12that he would seek
38:13one term only,
38:14thus freeing him,
38:16he said,
38:16to be thoroughly independent
38:18in all his actions.
38:20When friends tried
38:22to convince him
38:22to run for a second term,
38:24he adamantly refused
38:26even to consider it.
38:28Hayes managed
38:29to accomplish
38:30much of what he wanted.
38:32He made the Republican Party
38:34a great deal more respectable
38:35than it had been
38:37in the period after Grant.
38:42Within the limits
38:44of his own authority,
38:46Hayes tried to act
38:47as independently
38:48as Adams had done
38:50and as Taylor
38:53had contemplated doing.
38:56In some respects,
38:57Hayes was more effective
38:58than either.
39:00But I have to say
39:01that the formula,
39:04loner, idealist,
39:06whatever its defects
39:08as a formula
39:09for being president,
39:11it seems to be
39:13a great formula
39:14for being former president.
39:20In retirement,
39:22Hayes became more active
39:23in social causes
39:24than any previous
39:26former president.
39:28He worked principally
39:30in the area of education,
39:32in particular,
39:33on behalf of poor black children
39:35in the South.
39:36And he was conspicuous
39:38in the prison reform movement.
39:41Above all,
39:42he was glad no longer
39:44to be president.
39:47It was my equanimity
39:49of temper
39:49which enabled me
39:50to bear the anxieties
39:51and vexations
39:52which have broken down
39:53so many of my predecessors.
39:59Now that I'm back
40:00where I belong,
40:01I mean to stay there.
40:04While I am not wealthy,
40:06I am happily independent.
40:16Of all the presidents
40:17who came after Hayes,
40:19the man who most resembled
40:21his personal style
40:22was a Southern governor
40:24who hated politics as usual.
40:26In the aftermath of Watergate,
40:28he promised to bring
40:30a sense of decency
40:31back to the presidency.
40:32He was Jimmy Carter.
40:39Mr. President,
40:40you're being categorized here
40:43as a man of independent
40:44cast of mind.
40:45Is that a fair assessment of you?
40:48Well, it's true.
40:49I was the first president
40:51in more than 125 years
40:53elected from the deep South.
40:55I was a governor
40:57who had not been involved
40:58in any way in Washington.
41:02When we arrived
41:03at the White House
41:04in what should have been
41:06a glorious reception,
41:07I remember the cartoons
41:09about me
41:10insinuating that I was
41:12had an IQ of about 50.
41:14They had a picture
41:15of my mother barefooted
41:17of outhouses
41:19with wounds cut in the door,
41:22a straw coming out of our ears.
41:24But I felt sometimes
41:26that I was an outsider.
41:29And I didn't want to be,
41:30but I think it was almost
41:31inherent in my background
41:32as a lonely Georgian farmer
41:36who was reaching out
41:37for personal support.
41:40I think the country
41:42very much wanted
41:43to see an outsider.
41:48And Mr. Carter
41:49clearly perceived
41:50that that was the stance
41:52that could get him
41:53the presidency.
41:55He was a man
41:56of great self-confidence.
42:01His entire political experience
42:03had been in the state of Georgia.
42:06Mr. Carter
42:07profited and suffered
42:10from being
42:12the smartest boy in the class.
42:16He was certainly
42:17the smartest youngster
42:20who had come out
42:21of Plains, Georgia.
42:24And clearly,
42:26in terms of sheer intelligence,
42:32dominated that little community.
42:39James Earl Carter, Jr.
42:41was born into a peanut farming family
42:43in 1924.
42:46From his father,
42:47he acquired a lifelong belief
42:49in discipline and hard work.
42:52From his mother,
42:53he inherited a compassion for the poor
42:56and a commitment to civil rights.
42:59We had a good life.
43:02We lived along with everyone else
43:04with no money and no electricity,
43:06no running water,
43:07hard work,
43:08and things of that kind.
43:10Our family was run
43:11with a strictest possible discipline.
43:14I mean,
43:15there was no concept
43:16in my family
43:17of disobeying
43:19the direct order
43:20of my father.
43:23If you had asked me
43:25when I was five years old
43:26or eight years old,
43:27what do you want to be
43:29when you grow up,
43:31it was always,
43:32I want to go to Annapolis
43:33and be a naval officer.
43:36And until I was
43:38past 30 years old,
43:40my only ambition
43:41was to be
43:42a successful naval officer.
43:45With a degree
43:46in nuclear engineering,
43:48Carter served in the Navy
43:49for seven years.
43:51With his wife, Rosalind,
43:52he started a family
43:54and they thrived
43:55on their independent life
43:56in the North,
43:57relieved to have left behind
43:59the small-town life
44:00of Plains, Georgia.
44:02But in 1953,
44:04Carter was forced
44:06to abruptly change careers
44:07and return to run
44:09the family peanut business.
44:11Was it hard to leave
44:13the service
44:13when your father died
44:14and go back home?
44:16It was one of the worst
44:17things that I have ever done.
44:19I prayed about it,
44:21I labored over it,
44:23and I was afraid
44:25to tell Rosalind
44:25that I was even
44:27considering it.
44:28When I finally told her
44:30that it almost
44:30broke up our marriage,
44:31we have never had
44:32a more serious confrontation.
44:34When I finally resigned
44:35from the Navy,
44:36we had three little boys.
44:38as we drove from Schenectady
44:39to New York,
44:39where I was working
44:40on a nuclear submarine,
44:42back to Plains,
44:42she hardly said a word
44:43to me on the way home.
44:47And for six months
44:48after we got back
44:49to Plains,
44:51she didn't cooperate
44:53in many ways.
44:55She was devastated.
44:58The first entire year
44:59I was home,
45:00our income
45:01was less than $300.
45:05But we stuck it out,
45:07and I never have
45:08really had doubt
45:10that I had made
45:11the right decision
45:12in going back home.
45:15Entering first local,
45:17then state politics,
45:18Carter built a reputation
45:20for strict honesty
45:21and idealism.
45:24But he also became known
45:25as a man
45:26who distanced himself
45:27from his colleagues.
45:29His 1966 bid
45:31for the governorship
45:31of Georgia
45:32failed in part
45:34because of his
45:34political isolation.
45:37In 1970,
45:39he ran for the governorship
45:40again,
45:41and this time he won.
45:43Then just two years later,
45:45he set his ambitions
45:47even higher.
45:48I began to plan
45:50secretly
45:51to run for president.
45:53Only about five
45:54or six of us
45:54knew it.
45:55And then by the time
45:56I announced in 1974,
45:58nobody cared,
45:59and nobody thought
46:00I had a chance.
46:01But I was confident.
46:03Jimmy Carter's running
46:04for what?
46:08I'm running for president.
46:12I want to wish you
46:13a nice day
46:14and ask you to help me.
46:15I'm running for president.
46:16President?
46:17I'm running for the United States.
46:17My name's Jimmy Carter.
46:18I'm from Georgia.
46:19I'm going to be
46:20your next president.
46:21You hope?
46:22I hope.
46:23Yes, sir,
46:23that's what I'm here for.
46:24I hope to get you
46:25to help me.
46:26This is Jimmy Carter here,
46:28our next president.
46:30Jimmy Carter's
46:31president.
46:31Jesus Christ,
46:32I'm a white.
46:35I'm an old head.
46:36I'm a white.
46:37We'll move for me
46:37on the 2nd of March.
46:38I'll try to do you
46:39a good job,
46:40and when I'm in the White House,
46:41I'm trying to...
46:42One of the
46:44characteristics
46:44that I have had
46:45is tenacity.
46:46Once I set my mind
46:47to something,
46:47it's hard to change
46:48my way
46:49or deter me.
46:55When did you realize
46:56you'd won?
46:58Well, it wasn't until
47:00the final returns
47:02came in
47:02from the state
47:04of Mississippi
47:04that I went over the top.
47:11How'd you feel?
47:13Exhilarated.
47:15Tired.
47:18Ambitious.
47:19I guess you might say
47:20it's the greatest thing
47:21that ever happened to me
47:22in a public way.
47:25I was immersed
47:26in a sense of history
47:28and responsibility
47:30and I would say
47:31humility
47:32that was surprising.
47:35He was one
47:36of the most idealistic
47:38and determined men
47:39ever to reach
47:40the presidency,
47:41filled with positive ideas
47:43about what he wanted
47:44to accomplish.
47:45Personally disciplined,
47:47hardworking,
47:48and totally honest,
47:49he was a breath
47:50of fresh air
47:51in Washington,
47:52but he underestimated
47:54the political task
47:55that lay before him.
47:57Mr. Carter
47:59came into office
48:00determined
48:01to tackle
48:03as many problems
48:04as he could
48:05as fast as he could.
48:07And in a lot of respect
48:10fell on his face
48:11as a consequence.
48:13Too many things,
48:15too hastily
48:17decided,
48:18decided in too much
48:20isolation,
48:20put before
48:21Congress and the country
48:25in rapid profusion.
48:29If you want
48:30to do things
48:31in the presidency,
48:32if you want
48:33to advance
48:34disarmament,
48:36if you want
48:37to altogether
48:39alter
48:39our energy policy,
48:41if you want
48:42to bring
48:43a national
48:45health care system
48:46into being
48:46and so forth,
48:47and he wanted
48:48all those things,
48:49many others,
48:50many others.
48:51If you want
48:52to make those things,
48:52you have to
48:54develop coalitions,
48:55not only in Congress,
48:57but the interests
48:58outside of Congress
48:59and of public opinion
49:01to bear on Congress.
49:04That is your
49:06essential business.
49:07There's no escaping it.
49:09But Jimmy Carter
49:10was not interested
49:11in the traditional
49:12political process.
49:14His passionate,
49:15do-it-yourself approach
49:16to new legislation
49:17often failed
49:18to gain congressional support.
49:21eventually he did
49:22manage to push
49:23through a series
49:24of major energy bills.
49:26But over time,
49:27his political independence
49:29confused just about
49:30everyone.
49:32There were a lot
49:33of articles written
49:35permeated by consternation
49:37about how do you
49:38put this President
49:39Carter in a box?
49:41How do you define him?
49:42Is he liberal?
49:43Is he conservative?
49:44Is he a warrior?
49:47Is he a peacemaker?
49:48Is he too idealistic?
49:50Is he too pragmatic?
49:52But I never did try
49:53to create that confusion.
49:56My comprehension
49:57of myself was,
49:57you know,
49:58was fairly complete,
49:59I guess.
50:00I never lost
50:02an hour of sleep
50:04while I was president,
50:06worrying about
50:06what had happened
50:08or what might happen
50:09and so forth.
50:09I did the best I could.
50:11And with my
50:13self-confidence
50:14and my religious faith,
50:15I accommodated
50:17disappointments
50:18and really
50:20enjoyed being president.
50:25I think the best time
50:27was probably
50:27dealing with
50:29the Middle East
50:30issue.
50:33I made a very
50:34difficult decision
50:34over the almost
50:35unanimous
50:36opposition
50:37of my cabinet
50:38and my staff
50:39to take the initiative
50:41and to go to Egypt
50:42and to go to Israel
50:43to try to get
50:44Reagan and Sadat
50:45to agree
50:45on a peace treaty.
50:51And when they did sign,
50:53both of them
50:54signed the agreement,
50:55I guess that was
50:56probably my best moment.
50:59He put enormous effort
51:02and intensity,
51:03sense of purpose,
51:05decisiveness,
51:07concern,
51:07even subtlety
51:10into bringing
51:11all the Egyptians
51:13and the Israelis
51:14together.
51:17It was a brilliant
51:18piece of personal work.
51:21Let me put it this way.
51:23It showed him
51:24as the best
51:25secretary of state
51:26we've ever had
51:27as president.
51:30But that attention
51:32to detail,
51:34all that careful
51:34pursuit of it,
51:35left all kinds
51:37of other things
51:37unattended to
51:38at the time,
51:39including the
51:40deteriorating regime
51:41in Iran,
51:42and for that,
51:44he was to pay
51:46a terrible price.
51:50There was a time
51:51of great stress
51:53for me,
51:53and that's while
51:54the hostities
51:54were being held,
51:56when I was
51:57obsessed with
51:59preserving their lives
52:01and bringing them
52:02back home safely.
52:07I would meet
52:08personally with
52:09the families
52:09of the hostages
52:10and try to reassure
52:12them of my interest.
52:13So that was a very
52:15bad time.
52:16That was your worst
52:17moment.
52:17Oh, yes,
52:17it was.
52:22Jimmy Carter's
52:23presidency was undone
52:25by the hostage
52:25crisis in Iran,
52:27by an oil crisis,
52:28and by soaring
52:29inflation.
52:32But perhaps more
52:33than anything else,
52:35it was undone
52:36by his own
52:36independent-mindedness
52:38and his unwillingness
52:40to engage
52:40in party politics.
52:43Well, I have to admit
52:44not very proudly
52:46that I didn't ever
52:47put party loyalty
52:48at a very high level
52:49in my list of priorities.
52:52As a matter of fact,
52:53I had more political
52:55trouble with the
52:58liberal Democrats
52:59than I did
53:00with the Republicans.
53:03Even when I got
53:04the nomination,
53:05re-nomination in 1980,
53:06it was after a bitter
53:07battle with Ted Kennedy
53:10and his supporters,
53:12and he almost refused
53:14even to shake hands
53:14with me on the platform
53:16of the Democratic Party.
53:17And we never did heal
53:18those wounds
53:19within the party.
53:25Because I think
53:26in many ways,
53:27I'm not trying to brag,
53:28but maybe this
53:28has come across,
53:29I didn't really
53:30put re-election
53:31as a high priority.
53:34I've talked to
53:35a number of
53:36former presidents.
53:37All of us agree
53:40that there should be
53:41one six-year term.
53:42Really?
53:43Yes.
53:43I think if you check
53:44a little consensus there.
53:46There's a consensus there.
53:53Did the presidency
53:54change you?
53:59I don't think so.
54:01I don't think
54:01it changed me much.
54:04And it's hard for me
54:05to answer that,
54:06but the people
54:07who know me best,
54:08my wife
54:09and my closest associates,
54:11don't think it did.
54:13You leave the White House.
54:15You lose.
54:16You once said,
54:18show me a good loser
54:19and I'll show you a loser.
54:21A tough time.
54:23It was a very difficult time,
54:24and it would have been
54:25more difficult for me
54:26if it hadn't been
54:27even more difficult
54:28for Rosalind.
54:35And the fact
54:36that I went back
54:37to Plains
54:37where my family
54:39and Rosalind's family
54:40have been for 150 years
54:41and where our farm was
54:43and our church was
54:44and our friends
54:44was a haven
54:46within which
54:47I was able to heal
54:48my disappointment
54:49very quickly.
54:53In retirement,
54:54Carter, like Rutherford B. Hayes,
54:57became an active humanitarian,
54:59working on charitable ventures
55:01and helping to resolve
55:02and helping to resolve
55:03international conflicts.
55:04His basic decency
55:06had survived his years
55:08as president,
55:09and he became widely admired
55:11across America
55:12and around the world.
55:14I went to the White House
55:16with my own ideas
55:17about what ought to be done,
55:18and I never did fit in really
55:21with the Washington environment much.
55:24But I think that I did have
55:26an independent set of mind.
55:29Our public attitudes
55:31to the presidency
55:32are a grab bag
55:33of mutually contradictory notions.
55:36The American public,
55:38from time to time,
55:41wishes to see
55:42the trustee
55:44who looks neither to right
55:46nor to left,
55:47but only up to the heavens
55:49and down to the work
55:51before him.
55:53the man of independence.
55:58It is not, however,
56:00in my judgment,
56:02a good formula
56:04for doing what presidents
56:07have to do.
56:11So I sympathize
56:12with these idealists.
56:15I hope we don't have
56:16too many of them,
56:18and I think the country
56:19would be better off
56:21if we took that element
56:23out of our grab bag
56:26of beliefs
56:27and gently laid it to rest.
56:31To be truly effective
56:33in the presidency,
56:35one cannot, in the end,
56:37ignore the importance
56:38of politics.
56:39And the proof lies
56:41in the simple fact
56:42that not one of our most
56:44independent-minded presidents
56:46has been elected
56:47to a second term.
56:49And yet the promise
56:50of independent leadership
56:52of those who will put
56:53the national interest
56:54above partisan politics
56:56survives.
56:58And the model
56:59of an independent executive
57:01can set an example
57:03for every president
57:04to chart his own
57:05moral course.
57:06plan gur qualcun Erfahr,
57:06one-yourself child pension
57:08to vote,
57:08Barg bênher,
57:08OST,has
57:08seniors savour, a
57:08multi- galaxy, the
57:09only way of
57:09props. Let's
57:09see. People of
57:09them either. Just pass now
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