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TV, Documentary The American President 05 The American Way
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.
00:58Presenting History's Best on PBS.
01:29Presenting History's Best on PBS.
01:58Presenting History's Best on PBS.
02:00Thank you very much.
02:32Presenting History's Best on PBS.
02:32To help define the American way.
02:35And the first president to define it clearly was a man who had a passionate vision of what America should
02:41be about.
02:43He was the country's third president, Thomas Jefferson.
02:55The first object of my heart is my own country.
03:00This solitary republic of the world is the only monument of human rights and the sole repository of the sacred
03:09fire of freedom.
03:12From his mountaintop estate of Monticello, Thomas Jefferson loomed over his age as its most brilliant and influential figure.
03:24Omniverously curious, he was proficient in a dozen subjects, from agriculture and science and history and languages, to religion and
03:35political philosophy and architecture and music.
03:48And though he could be physically awkward and was a poor public speaker, he had an uncanny ability to inspire
03:56those around him.
03:58In small groups, he was irresistible.
04:00In small groups, he was irresistible.
04:00He had a kind of magnetism.
04:02Oh, there was a generosity of spirit.
04:05And what characterized him most was intellectual curiosity.
04:09Oh, the two combined into a warmth that drew people to him.
04:14He was less effective in large crowds.
04:17I don't think he liked large crowds.
04:19He was perhaps a shy man at heart.
04:23Jefferson became known as a gifted writer and as a political radical who supported independence from Britain.
04:30And at the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, he got the most important commission of his life,
04:37to draft a declaration of independence after John Adams said he was too busy.
04:46In his second-floor lodging in a brick house in Philadelphia, he spent just a few days writing the words
04:54that would make his name immortal.
04:57We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,
05:03that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights,
05:09that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
05:15That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men,
05:20deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.
05:28It was an explosive document in that it married a call for liberty to a postulate of equality,
05:39and those two often contending ideas were given equal billing.
05:46So was the idea of an American nationhood.
05:53What he saw about America, in contrast to Europe,
05:58was the absence of a feudal tradition,
06:02the absence of rooted classes,
06:06the absence of serfdom.
06:11Jefferson wrote that all men are created equal.
06:17He meant it.
06:19But he probably didn't mean that all blacks are equal to whites,
06:24or all women equal to men.
06:26Those are meanings we have imparted.
06:30Therefore, Jefferson's words are bigger than Jefferson
06:35and have lasted longer
06:38and have shaped our consciousness ever since,
06:41and we have reshaped them
06:44as we felt necessary in our own society.
06:52After the Revolutionary War,
06:54during which he served as Virginia's governor,
06:57Jefferson retired to Monticello
06:59to rededicate himself to his family
07:02and to his books.
07:06But in 1782,
07:08when his wife Martha died following childbirth,
07:12Jefferson's dream of domestic bliss was shattered.
07:19A single event wiped away all my plans
07:23and left me a blank
07:25which I had not the spirits to fill up.
07:33Two years later,
07:35he accepted a commission overseas
07:36to serve as an American minister to France.
07:40And his years in Paris
07:42actually helped focus
07:43his uniquely American vision.
07:48Returning to Monticello after five years,
07:51he became the nation's first Secretary of State
07:54and then the country's second Vice President.
07:58But he was critical of what he called
08:01the monarchical style
08:02of the first two presidents
08:04and of their drift away
08:06from the American people
08:07and their civil liberties.
08:11When Jefferson won his own bid
08:13for the presidency in 1800,
08:15he called his victory a revolution.
08:19The revolution of 1800
08:20was as real as 1776,
08:24not affected by the sword,
08:26but by the suffrage of the people.
08:29On March 4th, 1801,
08:32determined to be seen
08:33as the people's president,
08:35Jefferson refused to ride
08:36but walked to his inauguration.
08:40His goal from the very start
08:42was to Americanize the presidency
08:44by simplifying it.
08:48As chief executive,
08:50Jefferson did away
08:51with the ceremony of his predecessors,
08:53eliminating the state carriage
08:55and all formal court appearances.
08:58He gave up delivering
09:00the State of the Union address in person
09:02because it seemed to him
09:04too much like a monarch's address
09:06to Parliament.
09:08Abandoning protocol,
09:09when the British minister
09:10was officially presented
09:12at the White House,
09:13Jefferson appeared in rumpled clothes
09:15and old slippers.
09:17And the minister's wife
09:19was insulted
09:19when the president refused
09:21to take her on his arm.
09:24We have told him
09:25that the principle of society with us
09:28is equality of the individuals
09:30composing it.
09:32If his wife perseveres,
09:34she must eat her soup at home.
09:38Determined to give the country
09:39back its independence
09:41by cutting back
09:42what he considered
09:43a bloated federal government,
09:45Jefferson eliminated
09:46all internal taxes,
09:48abolishing the Internal Revenue Service.
09:52And he made his number one priority
09:54the retiring of national debt,
09:56which he partly accomplished
09:58within his first four years.
10:00He made radical cuts
10:02in the Army and the Navy
10:03and proposed closing down
10:05American embassies abroad.
10:07And to ensure
10:09a vast independent empire
10:11to preserve American liberty,
10:13he made the boldest land acquisition
10:15in U.S. history.
10:18while he believed
10:19the president should
10:20only do things specified
10:23in the Constitution.
10:25When an opportunity came
10:27to acquire the whole of Louisiana,
10:32to acquire it for $15 million
10:34from Napoleon,
10:37Jefferson, while he had a bad conscience
10:39about this
10:40and worried about it,
10:42because there was no constitutional authority
10:46for him to act.
10:47He saw the opportunity,
10:49he acted upon it,
10:50and that really is
10:52the most important contribution
10:54Jefferson made,
10:55or could have made,
10:56to the development of the country.
11:03Louisiana not only doubled our size,
11:06but stretched our horizons
11:09and offered an area
11:13for settlement
11:15and agrarian development
11:18of just the sort
11:20in which Jefferson profoundly believed.
11:26In seizing Louisiana,
11:28I have done an act
11:29beyond the Constitution,
11:30but it is incumbent
11:32upon those
11:33who accept great charges
11:34to risk themselves
11:35on great occasions.
11:38Jefferson's first term
11:40was one of the most successful
11:41in presidential history.
11:44But in his second term,
11:46his independent spirit backfired.
11:50Faced with British attacks
11:51upon American commercial ships at sea,
11:54he called for the Embargo Act of 1807,
11:57closing American ports
11:59to all foreign trade.
12:01A prelude to the War of 1812,
12:04it all but crippled
12:06the American economy,
12:07and nearly led
12:08to the secession
12:09of heavily affected New England.
12:12To enforce the embargo,
12:14Jefferson had to resort
12:15to federal policing,
12:17which was contrary
12:18to his basic philosophy
12:20of small government
12:21and civil liberties.
12:23Becoming increasingly unpopular
12:26and unhappy in the presidency,
12:28and with his vision
12:29of the American way in trouble,
12:31he finally decided
12:32he had had enough.
12:34I determined to withdraw
12:36at the end of my second term.
12:38General Washington set the example,
12:41I shall follow it.
12:43Never did a prisoner
12:44released from his chains
12:45feel such relief
12:47as I shall
12:48on shaking off
12:49the shackles of power.
12:52On March 4th, 1809,
12:55Jefferson left Washington for good
12:57and returned home
12:58to his Virginia mountaintop.
13:04Here he re-immersed himself
13:06in agriculture
13:07and his intellectual pursuits.
13:11I had rather be shut up
13:13with my books,
13:14my family,
13:14and a few old friends,
13:16dining on simple bacon
13:18and letting the world
13:19roll on as it liked
13:20than to occupy
13:21the most splendid posts
13:23which any human power
13:24can give.
13:27To the end,
13:28the great proponent
13:29of human equality
13:30remained a slave owner.
13:34Ironically,
13:35though he warned
13:36against the mixing
13:36of the races,
13:38it is now believed
13:39that he secretly
13:40fathered a child
13:41with one of his slaves,
13:43Sally Hemings.
13:47Thomas Jefferson
13:48was a man
13:49of profound contradictions.
13:52Monumentally learned,
13:54he could also be naive.
13:56Friendly,
13:57he remained aloof.
13:59A believer in the people,
14:01he was at heart
14:02an aristocrat.
14:06Nature intended me
14:08for the tranquil pursuits
14:09of science
14:10by rendering them
14:12my supreme delight.
14:14But the enormities
14:16of the times
14:16in which I have lived
14:18forced me
14:19to take a part
14:20in them.
14:27Over the next century,
14:29a few occupants
14:30of the White House
14:31actually went on
14:32to expand
14:33Jefferson's vision
14:34of liberty
14:35and equality
14:36while many others
14:37built their agendas
14:38around his belief
14:39in a smaller,
14:41simpler government.
14:42And by the 1920s,
14:44that philosophy
14:45of leaving people free
14:46to pursue
14:47their own business
14:48became permanently
14:50identified
14:50with a shrewd,
14:52thin-lipped Vermonter
14:53named Calvin Coolidge.
15:04The chief business
15:06of the American people
15:07is business.
15:08If we have any destiny,
15:09we have found it
15:10in that direction.
15:14Coolidge represented
15:16a lot of the virtues
15:17of traditional New England.
15:20He was pithy
15:22and terse
15:23and upright
15:25and honest
15:26and honorable
15:27and kept his word
15:28and expected other people
15:30to keep theirs
15:31and all those
15:33classic virtues.
15:36Where Jefferson
15:38was warm,
15:40Coolidge seemed cold.
15:42Where Jefferson
15:45was eloquent,
15:47Coolidge was silent.
15:49He believed
15:51that government
15:52is best
15:52which governs least.
15:55Oh, it was indeed
15:56a version
15:58of much older ideas,
16:02echoes of Jeffersonian ideas.
16:05But in Coolidge's terms,
16:08it was carried
16:10to something of an extreme.
16:16Calvin Coolidge
16:18grew up on the family farm
16:19in Vermont.
16:20Working so hard,
16:22he was left
16:22with little time
16:23for himself.
16:26He was often lonely,
16:28yet feared being alone.
16:30And meeting strangers
16:31was an agony
16:32that never left him.
16:35When I was a little fellow,
16:37I would go into a panic
16:38if I heard voices
16:39of strangers
16:39in the house.
16:41The hardest thing
16:42in the world
16:43was to have to go
16:44through the kitchen door
16:45and give them a greeting.
16:48His father ran
16:49a general store
16:50and instructed his son
16:52to show little emotion
16:53and to be cautious
16:55and frugal
16:56in all things.
16:58My father
16:59had the strong
17:00New England trait
17:01of great repugnance
17:02at seeing anything wasted.
17:04He regarded waste
17:06as a moral wrong.
17:08Cal learned
17:09to waste nothing
17:11as he sought
17:12reading for pleasure,
17:14anything musical,
17:15dancing,
17:16playing a sport,
17:17indulging in a hobby,
17:18having a sweetheart,
17:20all squandered
17:21precious time
17:21and energy.
17:24Even talking itself
17:25could be a form of waste.
17:28He who gives license
17:30to his tongue
17:30proclaims his lack
17:32of discipline
17:32and self-respect.
17:33The Coolidge's
17:36never slop over.
17:39After attending
17:40Amherst College,
17:42Coolidge entered the law
17:43and then turned
17:44to politics.
17:46Dealing his cautious,
17:47conservative hand
17:48in the state
17:49of Massachusetts,
17:50he worked slowly
17:51but steadily
17:52up the political ladder,
17:54eventually becoming
17:55mayor of Northampton
17:56and finally governor
17:58of Massachusetts.
18:00Thrust into national
18:02prominence
18:02by the Boston
18:03police strike
18:04which he forcibly ended,
18:06Governor Coolidge's name
18:07was suddenly
18:08on the nation's lips.
18:11And by the 1920
18:13Republican convention,
18:15his name was put forward
18:17for president.
18:19Though he lost
18:20to Warren G. Harding,
18:22Coolidge was nominated
18:23for vice president
18:24and in the fall,
18:26he and Harding
18:26won a stunning victory.
18:29So long as I am
18:31in the position
18:31of vice president,
18:32it is my duty
18:33to uphold the policies
18:34and actions
18:35of the administration
18:37100%.
18:37When I cannot
18:39conscientiously agree
18:40with them,
18:40it is my duty
18:42to keep silent.
18:44And so he became
18:45known as Silent Cal.
18:52Two and a half years
18:53into his vice presidency,
18:55Calvin Coolidge
18:57was visiting his father
18:58in Plymouth Notch,
18:59Vermont.
19:01There,
19:01on the night
19:02of August 3rd,
19:031923,
19:04he was jarred awake
19:06from a deep sleep.
19:08I was awakened
19:09by my father
19:10coming up the stairs,
19:11calling my name.
19:12I noticed
19:13that his voice trembled.
19:14I knew that something
19:16of the gravest nature
19:17had occurred.
19:18He told me
19:19that President Harding
19:20had just passed away.
19:22Coolidge's first response
19:24was to kneel in prayer.
19:26In the sitting room,
19:28by the light
19:28of a kerosene lamp,
19:30with his mother's Bible
19:31on the table beside him,
19:33he was then sworn
19:34into office.
19:37The oath was administered
19:38by my father
19:39in his capacity
19:40as a notary public.
19:42I do not know
19:43of any case in history
19:44where a father
19:45administered to his son
19:46the oath
19:47which made him
19:48the chief magistrate
19:49of a nation.
19:51Without in any way
19:53being conscious
19:53of what I was doing,
19:54I became
19:55the President
19:56of the United States.
20:02For the sixth time
20:04in American history,
20:05a Vice President
20:06found himself
20:07unexpectedly presiding
20:09over the White House.
20:13The country quickly took
20:15to this New England original
20:17and his admirable,
20:18thoroughly American values
20:20helped heal a nation
20:21rocked by numerous scandals
20:23that surfaced
20:24at the end
20:25of Harding's administration.
20:28Holding more than
20:29500 press conferences
20:31over the course
20:31of his term,
20:33Coolidge went out
20:34of his way
20:34to make himself available
20:36and was photographed
20:37more often
20:38than any preceding president.
20:40He delivered
20:41radio broadcasts
20:43that were heard
20:43by millions of Americans
20:45and in an age
20:47of rapid growth
20:47in technology
20:48and invention,
20:50he was the first president
20:51to make a movie
20:52with sound.
20:53I have only
20:54the most general idea
20:55of what it is
20:57mechanically
20:58and scientifically
20:59that is being done.
21:01But I am assured
21:02that a photo film
21:03of this scene
21:04is to be produced,
21:07combining a record
21:08both for the eye
21:10and the ear,
21:11a record that may
21:12be described
21:12as a speaking,
21:14moving picture.
21:16There was something
21:17genuine
21:20about Coolidge,
21:21also, I think,
21:23a keen intelligence
21:24buried under that silence.
21:26and one always
21:28has to remember
21:29he was Grace's husband.
21:32He must have had qualities
21:35that he chose
21:36not to let show.
21:40For almost a quarter
21:41of a century
21:42she has borne
21:43with my infirmities
21:44and I have rejoiced
21:46in her graces.
21:48In striking contrast
21:50to the president,
21:51Grace Coolidge
21:52had a warmth
21:53and natural ease
21:54with everyone
21:55she came in contact with.
21:57She was so charming
21:58and popular
21:59a first lady
22:00that people
22:01were willing
22:01to forgive her husband
22:03for being tight-lipped,
22:04rude at times,
22:06and prone
22:06to private rages.
22:08Many observed
22:10he often wore
22:10a scowl on his face,
22:12as if,
22:13as one person put it,
22:14he'd been
22:15weaned on a pickle.
22:17Even his humor
22:18had a terseness to it.
22:20Once a dinner partner
22:22told him
22:22she had made a bet
22:23she could engage him
22:25in conversation
22:26for five minutes.
22:27His answer
22:28consisted of two words,
22:30you lose.
22:32The only people
22:34he felt truly comfortable
22:35around were his family
22:36and he delighted
22:38especially
22:38in his younger son,
22:40Calvin.
22:42He faced
22:43a real tragedy
22:45early in his presidency
22:46oh,
22:48his son
22:48died of blood poisoning
22:50from a silly accident
22:51at the White House
22:53and
22:54I expect
22:56that added
22:56to his
22:57taciturnity,
22:59his reluctance
23:00to speak,
23:01his closed-upness
23:03in later years.
23:07If I had not
23:08been president,
23:09he would not
23:10have raised
23:10a blister
23:11on his toe
23:11playing lawn tennis
23:13on the south grounds,
23:14which resulted
23:15in blood poisoning.
23:18When he went,
23:20the power
23:21and the glory
23:21of the presidency
23:22went with him.
23:26Though the shock
23:27of his son's death
23:28kept him from campaigning,
23:30Coolidge was elected
23:31to his own term
23:32as president
23:33in 1924.
23:39During the Coolidge years,
23:41the economy boomed,
23:42leading to the greatest
23:44wave of prosperity
23:45the country
23:46had ever known.
23:51But Coolidge revealed
23:53himself as a largely
23:54passive president,
23:56a sharp contrast
23:57to his active predecessors,
23:59Theodore Roosevelt
24:00and Woodrow Wilson.
24:02Though he successfully
24:03balanced the budget
24:04and reduced the deficit,
24:06his sole positive
24:08social program
24:09was a minor expansion
24:10of federal road building.
24:15All his other social policies
24:17were negative ones.
24:19A refusal to work
24:21on behalf of black Americans
24:22and their civil rights.
24:25A strong support
24:26of prohibition
24:28and a strict
24:29and discriminatory
24:31immigration policy.
24:34Those who do not want
24:35to be partakers
24:36of the American spirit
24:37ought not to settle
24:38in America.
24:40America must be kept American.
24:46Virtually off Coolidge's
24:48radar screen
24:49were the millions
24:50in poverty,
24:51the elderly,
24:53impoverished blacks,
24:54and farm workers,
24:57Americans who needed
24:58government help
24:59but didn't find it
25:00under Coolidge.
25:01He was a president,
25:03it was asserted,
25:04for the haves
25:05and not the have-nots.
25:09Like Jefferson,
25:10he was a strict constructionist.
25:12He did not think
25:13it was the federal government's business
25:16to take care
25:18of the downtrodden.
25:20That was for the states
25:21to manage.
25:24That was how he understood it.
25:27That included not only the poor
25:29but most of the farmers
25:31of the country.
25:32A real farm depression
25:33developed in his time.
25:34He did nothing about it.
25:37He was the perfect president
25:39in an era
25:41when people were intent
25:43on pursuing their own futures
25:46and uninterested
25:49in large governmental enterprises
25:51at Coolidge
25:52presided to perfection
25:54in that situation.
25:59Coolidge's simplistic
26:01self-help philosophy
26:02and lack of belief
26:04in strong government
26:05were inadequate
26:06to the rigors
26:07of the 20th century.
26:09Though signs
26:10of mounting danger
26:11in the stock market
26:12were evident
26:13by the late 1920s,
26:15Coolidge did nothing
26:17to avert
26:17a looming financial crisis.
26:19Instead,
26:20at the last moment,
26:22he announced his decision
26:23not to seek
26:24a second full term.
26:26We draw our presidents
26:27from the people.
26:29It is a wholesome thing
26:30for them
26:31to return to the people.
26:34During the four years
26:35before his death,
26:37Coolidge would watch
26:38as the U.S. economy
26:39came apart
26:40during the presidency
26:41of his successor,
26:42Herbert Hoover.
26:44And as the Coolidge's
26:45prosperity went out
26:47the window,
26:47the preacher
26:48of the American way
26:50had little left to say.
26:53I am no longer fit
26:55for these times.
26:56We are in a new era
26:58to which I do not belong.
27:05If Calvin Coolidge
27:07lacked the passion
27:08and the vision
27:08of Thomas Jefferson,
27:10the same could not be said
27:12about his successor,
27:13one of the most energetic
27:15and competent men
27:16ever to reach
27:17the high office
27:18with his own profound ideas
27:20about America.
27:22He was Herbert Hoover.
27:33I am an American individualist.
27:36My whole life
27:36has taught me
27:37what America means.
27:39I was an engineer
27:41and my profession
27:41took me into many
27:42foreign lands.
27:44And outstanding everywhere
27:45to these great masses
27:46of people,
27:47there is one hallowed word.
27:50that word is America.
27:58Herbert Hoover was called
28:00the great engineer.
28:03He really was
28:04a great engineer.
28:09He believed problems
28:10existed to be solved.
28:12He had himself
28:14done some remarkable things.
28:19Hoover was,
28:20in his way,
28:23a visionary,
28:24perhaps more visionary
28:26than Thomas Jefferson.
28:32Herbert Clark Hoover
28:34was the son
28:35of a small-town
28:36Iowa blacksmith
28:37and a kindly Quaker mother
28:39whose simple, humane faith
28:41would become
28:42an important influence
28:43in his life.
28:46At age nine,
28:47he was orphan
28:48and shipped off
28:49to Oregon
28:50to be the ward
28:51of an uncle
28:52who taught him
28:53never to allow himself
28:54to be pushed around.
28:56One of his expressions was,
28:58turn your other cheek once,
29:01but if he smites it,
29:02then punch him.
29:04A member of Stanford's
29:06first graduating class,
29:08he received a degree
29:09in geology.
29:10The shy,
29:12tactless young man
29:13then headed for
29:14Nevada City,
29:15where he worked
29:1670 hours a week
29:17pushing ore carts
29:18in a gold mine.
29:20Eventually,
29:21he was hired
29:22by a British mining firm
29:24and sent to Australia.
29:26By his expert ability
29:28to recognize
29:29promising minds,
29:31Hoover rose rapidly
29:32in its ranks.
29:34Over the next decade
29:35and a half,
29:36he circled the globe
29:37five times
29:38and became
29:39a multi-millionaire.
29:41If a man has not
29:42made a million dollars
29:43by the time he is 40,
29:45he is not worth much.
29:47In 1914,
29:49Hoover turned
29:50his enormous energy
29:51and talents
29:52to public service.
29:54World War I
29:55had just begun
29:56and millions
29:57of Belgian citizens
29:58caught by the German invasion
30:00were on the verge
30:01of starvation.
30:04taking charge
30:06of a relief effort
30:07spearheaded
30:07by the United States,
30:09Hoover set out
30:10to feed
30:11and clothe
30:11the Belgians
30:12and to prevent
30:13their slaughter.
30:16Never before
30:18had a humanitarian
30:19project this large
30:20and bold
30:21been attempted.
30:23We are turning
30:25barren neutrality
30:26into something positive.
30:29Hoover's American
30:30Commission
30:31for Relief
30:32in Belgium
30:33made its own rules,
30:35crossed borders
30:36at will,
30:37and gathered food
30:38in any way
30:39it could.
30:44His 1914
30:46German passport
30:47stated,
30:48this man
30:49is not to be stopped
30:50anywhere
30:51under any circumstances.
30:55after the war,
30:56Hoover became known
30:57around the world
30:58as the food czar,
31:00saving millions
31:01of men,
31:02women,
31:02and children
31:03from starvation.
31:06Our free feeding
31:07of millions
31:08of undernourished children,
31:09that was American.
31:11European governments
31:13had nothing
31:13to do with it.
31:16He became
31:17a philosopher
31:18of the American way,
31:20offering his own vision
31:21of American volunteerism
31:23and generosity.
31:26In all my years
31:27of professional traveling,
31:28every homecoming
31:29was an inspiration,
31:31a proof of the glory
31:33of America.
31:35I was each time
31:37refreshed
31:37by its greater
31:38kindliness
31:39and its greater spread
31:40of opportunity
31:40to the common man.
31:44It was more than that.
31:45It was a land
31:46of self-respect
31:47that comes alone
31:48from freedom
31:49of the spirit.
31:56By 1921,
31:57Hoover was named
31:58President Harding
31:59Secretary of Commerce,
32:01a post to which
32:02he was reappointed
32:03by Calvin Coolidge.
32:05He was soon
32:07being described
32:08as undersecretary
32:10of everything else.
32:12Working on problems
32:13of aviation
32:14and farming
32:14and child hygiene
32:16and the regulation
32:17of the airwaves,
32:18he seemed to be
32:19almost everywhere
32:20at once.
32:23When massive flooding
32:24occurred along
32:25the Mississippi River,
32:26it was Hoover
32:27who personally
32:28oversaw the relief effort.
32:32Letters addressed
32:34simply to the miracle man,
32:36Washington, D.C.,
32:37invariably got delivered.
32:42And when Coolidge
32:43chose not to run again
32:45in 1928,
32:46it was almost inevitable
32:48who would be
32:49the next president.
32:51I am convinced
32:52that this country
32:53needs a few officials
32:54who will not be
32:55seeking public honors
32:56for having done
32:58their simple duty.
33:01As president,
33:02Hoover called
33:03for volunteerism
33:04backed up
33:05by government programs
33:06and support.
33:07He worked on behalf
33:09of child welfare,
33:11conservation,
33:12civil liberties,
33:13and public education.
33:15And he was a strong
33:16advocate of the rights
33:17of Native Americans.
33:20I have no dread
33:21of the ordinary work
33:22of the presidency.
33:23What I do fear
33:24is the exaggerated idea
33:26that people have
33:27conceived of me.
33:28They have a conviction
33:30that I am a sort
33:31of superman,
33:32that no problem
33:33is beyond my capacity.
33:35If some unprecedented
33:37calamity should come
33:38upon the nation,
33:39I would be sacrificed
33:41to the unreasoning
33:42disappointment
33:42of a people
33:44who expected too much.
33:47Just seven months
33:48into his presidency,
33:50that national calamity
33:52occurred with the crash
33:53of the stock market.
33:57And for the first time
33:58in his life,
34:00Hoover was faced
34:01with a force
34:02over which he had
34:02no control.
34:07when one watches
34:09the response
34:11in Hoover's time
34:13to the Great Depression
34:15as it actually developed,
34:17one realizes
34:18that people were at sea,
34:20intellectually at sea.
34:22Something was happening
34:23that had not happened before.
34:27He was totally unprepared
34:30for what happened.
34:36Hoover's concept
34:37of a public-private partnership
34:39was inadequate
34:40to the emergency.
34:43Local governments
34:44could not cope
34:45with the immensity
34:46of the crisis,
34:47and private volunteerism,
34:49contrary to his expectations,
34:52failed to materialize.
34:56On top of this,
34:58the president himself
34:59was changing.
35:01Unaccustomed to failure
35:02or to negative publicity,
35:04Hoover became strangely
35:06passive and distant
35:07during the Great Depression.
35:11And when the millionaire
35:12president made the public
35:13statement that nobody
35:15in the country
35:16is actually starving,
35:18the American people
35:19turned against him.
35:24In time,
35:26his very name
35:27began to spell hate
35:28and hunger
35:29to millions.
35:32Poverty-stricken
35:32shanty towns
35:33became known
35:34as Hoovervilles.
35:38Newspapers
35:38that homeless men
35:40slept under
35:40were called
35:41Hoover Blankets.
35:43And broken-down vehicles
35:44pulled by mules
35:46and increasingly
35:47common sight
35:48were dubbed
35:49Hoover Wagons.
35:51Seeing the president
35:53as uncaring
35:54and out of touch
35:54with reality,
35:56the country began
35:57to look for a more
35:58compassionate
35:59political leader.
36:01As the Depression
36:03deepened,
36:04more and more members
36:06of the American public
36:07changed their notion
36:08of what they wanted
36:09in the presidency.
36:11This happens
36:12all the time
36:13in America.
36:14The great engineer
36:15looked very authoritative
36:18in 1929.
36:21By 1931,
36:24he looked like
36:25the quintessential
36:26stuffed shirt.
36:28By 1932,
36:30he looked
36:31positively
36:32unfriendly,
36:34uncaring.
36:36High,
36:37starched collars.
36:39Oh,
36:40a jowly face
36:42above the collar.
36:43compare that
36:45with Franklin Roosevelt's
36:46public
36:47presentation
36:49in the 1932 election.
36:52He projected
36:53warmth,
36:56enthusiasm,
36:58concern,
36:58and caring.
37:00And the contrast
37:02was extraordinary.
37:08In the final year
37:10of his presidency,
37:11Hoover initiated
37:12a series
37:13of important
37:14federal measures
37:15to provide food
37:16for hungry Americans
37:17and to shore up
37:19the banking system.
37:21But to his critics,
37:23it all seemed
37:24too little,
37:24too late.
37:27Just 14 weeks
37:29before the national election,
37:31thousands of unemployed
37:32veterans descended
37:33upon Washington
37:34with their wives
37:35and children,
37:37seeking an early payment
37:38of a war bonus.
37:42When the Senate
37:43failed to pass
37:44such a bill,
37:45the group,
37:46calling itself
37:47the Bonus Army,
37:48staged what it called
37:50a death march
37:51around the Capitol building.
37:55Congressmen trapped inside
37:57and fearing
37:57for their lives
37:58had to escape
37:59through subterranean tunnels.
38:04When a riot erupted
38:05and the protesters
38:06turned toward
38:07the White House,
38:08President Hoover
38:09authorized the U.S. Army
38:11to intervene.
38:16With their temporary hut
38:18set on fire,
38:19the protesters
38:20were run out
38:21of the city,
38:22refugees,
38:23they complained,
38:24from a heartless government.
38:29When Franklin Roosevelt
38:30heard of the rout,
38:31he said,
38:32this will elect me.
38:36Many Democratic speakers
38:38implied that I had
38:39murdered veterans
38:39on the streets
38:40of Washington.
38:42Democracy is not
38:43a polite employer.
38:45The only way
38:46out of elective office
38:47is to get sick
38:48or die
38:49or get kicked out.
38:53A bitter Herbert Hoover
38:55never got over
38:56his crushing defeat
38:57that year.
38:59After leaving office,
39:01he did what he had done
39:02at regular intervals
39:04all his life.
39:05He went fishing.
39:07In different times,
39:09he might have been
39:10one of our most
39:10successful presidents,
39:12but even three decades
39:14later,
39:14in the 1960s,
39:16the old man
39:17still could not escape
39:18from the indictment
39:20of a failed presidency.
39:23Even so,
39:24as he showed
39:25in his last televised interview,
39:27Hoover's faith in America
39:29like fishing
39:30never dimmed.
39:32There have been presidents
39:34like Grover Cleveland
39:36and myself
39:37who've been fishermen
39:38from boyhood.
39:40We got the habit.
39:42Perhaps without immodesty,
39:45I can claim
39:46to have had
39:47some experience
39:48in what the word
39:50America means.
39:53within the soul
39:55of America
39:56is freedom
39:57of mind
39:58and spirit.
40:01Perhaps
40:02it's not perfect,
40:03but it is
40:04more full
40:05of its realization
40:07here
40:07than in any
40:09other place
40:10in the world.
40:21following Herbert Hoover,
40:24Franklin Roosevelt
40:25redefined
40:26the American way
40:27to include
40:28big government
40:29working on behalf
40:30of the nation's problems.
40:32And the next
40:33seven presidents
40:34operated
40:35within this
40:36new framework.
40:37But then
40:38came a president
40:39who promised
40:39to restore America
40:41to its earlier
40:42simplicity.
40:43He was a self-styled
40:45optimist
40:45named Ronald Reagan.
40:52I never meant
40:53to go into politics.
40:54It wasn't my intention
40:55when I was young.
40:57But I was raised
40:58to believe
40:58you had to pay
40:59your way
41:00for the blessings
41:00bestowed on you.
41:02Ronald Reagan
41:04was a man
41:06of very considerable
41:08intelligence
41:09with a few
41:11strong convictions.
41:14But also
41:16a man
41:16who had been
41:17thoroughly trained
41:18in the skills
41:20of a motion picture actor
41:24who was used
41:26to performing
41:27a role,
41:30saw that
41:31as his task
41:32in the presidency
41:32and performed
41:34and performed it
41:34with great skill.
41:39When Ronald Reagan
41:40was in high school,
41:42the presidents
41:43were Calvin Coolidge
41:44and Herbert Hoover.
41:46I'm sure that
41:47in the 20s
41:48he remembered
41:49the sentiments
41:50Coolidge had voiced
41:51about individualism
41:53as good things.
41:55I'm sure he voiced
41:57them himself
41:57as a kid.
41:59I graduated
42:00from college
42:01in 1932.
42:02I was hitchhiking
42:04around.
42:04I'd set my mind
42:05on a career
42:06in the entertainment
42:07world,
42:07so I thought
42:08if I could ever
42:09get in and be
42:09a sports announcer
42:10radio was pretty
42:12new in those days.
42:13In the midst
42:14of the Depression,
42:15Ronald Reagan
42:16landed a job
42:17at a radio station
42:18in Davenport, Iowa.
42:21By 1937,
42:22his screen test
42:23at Warner Brothers
42:24had so excited
42:25studio executives,
42:26it led to a
42:28seven-year contract
42:29and more than
42:3050 feature films.
42:32He was cast
42:34as the
42:34all-American boy,
42:36an image that stuck
42:37for the rest of his life.
42:40When his film career
42:41stalled after
42:42World War II,
42:44Reagan became
42:44president of
42:45the Screen Actors Guild
42:46and got his first
42:47taste for politics.
42:49Here in Hollywood,
42:50about 30,000 of us
42:52have been fighting.
42:53And when the actress
42:54Jane Wyman
42:54divorced him,
42:55he married another
42:56actress, Nancy Davis,
42:58who became his
42:59greatest ally and friend.
43:01It was then that
43:03Reagan was offered
43:04the job as host
43:05of the weekly program
43:06General Electric Theater.
43:08Here is Ronald Reagan.
43:09Good evening.
43:10It helped make him
43:11one of the most
43:12recognizable faces
43:13in America.
43:14Later, you will see
43:15an interesting...
43:16Reagan became
43:16the company's spokesman,
43:18traveling to GE factories
43:20around the country,
43:21speaking to employees
43:22and gaining a valuable
43:24political apprenticeship.
43:27Although he was a Democrat,
43:29Reagan's beliefs
43:30were becoming
43:31increasingly conservative.
43:33Wherever he spoke,
43:35he delivered the same message.
43:36He called it the speech,
43:38a rousing call
43:39to scale back government.
43:41And I began to talk
43:42more and more
43:43of how government
43:44had expanded
43:45and was infringing
43:46on liberties
43:47and interfering
43:48with private enterprise
43:49and so forth.
43:51Until it finally
43:52grew to the point
43:53that one day
43:54I came home
43:54from speaking to her
43:56and said to Nancy,
43:57I'm on the wrong side.
44:01Switching parties,
44:03he was first recognized
44:04as a serious
44:05Republican force
44:06when he gave
44:07a televised speech
44:08in 1964
44:10for Republican
44:11Barry Goldwater.
44:13And determine
44:13our own destiny.
44:15Thank you very much.
44:16His public speaking
44:17had such magnetism
44:18that by 1965
44:20it led him to run
44:22for governor
44:23of California.
44:24He called himself
44:25a citizen politician.
44:28I come back down
44:29to the position
44:30of whether there
44:30shouldn't be people
44:31who are not
44:32professional politicians
44:33who take a turn
44:35in government,
44:35who bring the thinking
44:37of the person
44:38who lives under the laws
44:39to government.
44:41Reagan was like Jefferson
44:44in human terms
44:45in almost nothing.
44:46Reagan has often
44:48been called
44:49the great communicator.
44:52I think it's
44:54in many ways
44:56a phony attribution.
45:00He was a great communicator
45:02in a technical sense.
45:03He could do
45:04a 30-minute speech
45:07in 28 minutes
45:08and never get
45:09the timing wrong.
45:10But the substance
45:13of what he had to say
45:16does not measure up
45:18to what Jefferson
45:20had written.
45:23Jefferson was intellectually
45:24enormously curious.
45:27Reagan seems to have been
45:29enormously incurious
45:31except about
45:32the few things
45:33where his convictions
45:35came into play.
45:37Reagan served
45:39eight years
45:39as California's governor
45:42spanning some
45:43of the most
45:44difficult years
45:45of a turbulent era.
45:47Be careful.
45:48The National Guard
45:49is on alert.
45:50Do not get Reagan
45:51the excuse.
45:51As the 1980s approached,
45:53the country was
45:54in a state
45:55of profound gloom.
45:57As president,
45:59Jimmy Carter
45:59was struggling
46:00unsuccessfully
46:01to free
46:0252 American hostages
46:04held in Iran.
46:06And with the economy
46:07stalled
46:08and in the midst
46:09of double-digit
46:10inflation,
46:11many Americans
46:12were pessimistic
46:13about their future.
46:17The stage was set,
46:19Ronald Reagan believed,
46:20to teach Americans
46:21how to dream again.
46:24I'm here
46:25to announce
46:25my intention
46:26to seek
46:26the Republican nomination
46:27for president
46:28of the United States.
46:32To Reagan,
46:33much as it had
46:34been to Calvin Coolidge,
46:35big government
46:36was the enemy
46:37of the American way.
46:40And so,
46:41an anti-tax message
46:43and a promise
46:44to roll back welfare
46:45became the heart
46:46of his 1980
46:48presidential campaign.
46:50Great.
46:51Hello there.
46:52How are you?
46:56What's really
46:57going to save America
46:58and make it great again
47:00is not just
47:02one man
47:02in the White House
47:03or even
47:04some changes
47:05of men
47:06in the Congress.
47:07I think that's going
47:08to be important.
47:09But it's having people
47:10in Congress
47:11and a man
47:12in the White House
47:12who believes
47:14in your greatness,
47:15in the greatness
47:16of the American people,
47:18and that you,
47:20along with us,
47:22can make America
47:24great again.
47:25And that's what
47:26we're going to do.
47:27Thank you very much.
47:35When he won
47:36the November election
47:37by an electoral landslide,
47:39he adapted a line
47:40from Thomas Jefferson
47:42proclaiming it
47:43the revolution
47:44of 1980.
47:47Reagan brought
47:48to the presidency
47:49his well-known
47:50sense of humor
47:51and a charm
47:53people called
47:54the Reagan magic.
47:56Following the release
47:57of the American hostages
47:59on his inauguration day,
48:01he set to work
48:02making clear
48:03his presidential priorities,
48:04a strong military
48:06and a determination
48:07to turn the economy around,
48:09in part by reducing
48:11numerous domestic programs.
48:15But just three months
48:17into his presidency,
48:18in a scene so dramatic
48:20it resembled his movies,
48:22Reagan was fired upon
48:23and critically wounded
48:25by a crazed gunman.
48:31Anxious to reassure
48:32his wife,
48:33he told her,
48:34honey,
48:35I forgot to duck.
48:37And on the operating table,
48:39he turned to his doctors
48:40and said,
48:41please tell me
48:42you are all Republicans.
48:45Reagan's entire
48:46relationship
48:47relationship
48:47to the public
48:50was altered
48:51not by the
48:53assassination attempt
48:54but by his response
48:55to it.
48:56Grace under fire
48:58was what Reagan
48:59showed spectacularly
49:01on national television.
49:05And this had
49:07a profound effect.
49:09He was a martyr
49:10who recovered
49:12without martyrdom.
49:15But the lengthy
49:17recuperation period
49:18that followed
49:19isolated Reagan
49:20from the work
49:21of the presidency.
49:23How are you feeling, sir?
49:24What?
49:25How are you feeling?
49:26I feel just fine.
49:27Don't I look at him?
49:30Staff members
49:31began to notice
49:32a lack of concentration.
49:33His working hours
49:35were limited
49:35from 9 to 5
49:36and occasionally
49:38Reagan even fell asleep
49:39during cabinet meetings.
49:40He saved his energy
49:43for what he called
49:44the big picture
49:45and for important
49:46state appearances.
49:48Backing a complex
49:49new defense system,
49:51he took a tough stand
49:52against the Soviet Union,
49:54calling them
49:55the focus of evil
49:56in the modern world.
49:58And as his fiscal policies
50:00began to affect
50:01a dramatic economic recovery,
50:03he watched
50:04his popularity soar.
50:06When he ran
50:07for a re-election
50:08in 1984,
50:09his campaign message
50:11was,
50:12it's morning again
50:13in America.
50:16And he won the election
50:18by another landslide.
50:23At 73,
50:25he was now
50:25the oldest president
50:27in American history.
50:30His hearing was poor
50:31and his memory
50:33was not what it had been.
50:35Critics charged
50:36that he was slowing down.
50:39A lot of comment,
50:40Mr. President,
50:41that you seem older
50:43and look older.
50:45How do you feel?
50:46I don't know
50:47about any slowing down.
50:48I know.
50:49I feel just fine.
50:50And I haven't,
50:51I haven't slowed down any.
50:55Determined not
50:56to be drawn
50:56into the same nightmare
50:58that had undercut
50:59Jimmy Carter's presidency,
51:01in 1985,
51:02Reagan approved
51:03a secret deal,
51:04the sale of U.S. missiles
51:07to Iran
51:07in exchange
51:08for help
51:09obtaining the release
51:10of American hostages
51:12in Lebanon.
51:13They are threatening
51:14to kill the pastors.
51:15We must need fuel.
51:16We must get fuel.
51:17We're ready to blow up
51:18the aircraft.
51:18When news of it leaked out,
51:20the president
51:21flatly denied it.
51:23We did not repeat,
51:25did not trade weapons
51:27or anything else
51:28for hostages.
51:30But as his own diary proved,
51:33Reagan had authorized
51:35the sale.
51:36To make matters worse,
51:38the money raised
51:39by selling arms
51:40was then illegally funneled
51:42to the anti-communist
51:43countries in Nicaragua,
51:45a cause Reagan believed in,
51:47but for which he had been
51:49unable to get
51:50congressional support.
51:52Exegnation!
51:53What do you want
51:53for Reagan?
51:54When the Iran-Contra
51:56deception came to life,
51:58for the first time
51:59in his life,
52:00the American public
52:01did not believe
52:02Reagan's word.
52:05His popularity plummeted
52:07during months
52:08of public investigation.
52:10It was Nancy
52:12who finally persuaded
52:13her husband
52:14to go on television
52:16and admit the truth.
52:18A few months ago,
52:19I told the American people
52:20I did not trade arms
52:22for hostages.
52:24There are reasons
52:25why it happened,
52:26but no excuses.
52:27It was a mistake.
52:30He acknowledged
52:31what had been done
52:33privately
52:34was incongruous
52:36with what the government
52:38had been saying publicly.
52:40This was, of course,
52:42reminiscent of
52:42Mr. Nixon's deception
52:44in the Watergate
52:45affair.
52:47Well, he took responsibility
52:50and his recovery
52:53was one of the most
52:55adroit aspects
52:56of his presidency.
52:59It has to be said
53:01that Nixon having been
53:03once burnt,
53:05Reagan was twice shy
53:07and worked his way
53:09out of that one.
53:11In time,
53:13Ronald Reagan
53:13regained much
53:14of his popularity.
53:16And in the second half
53:18of his presidency,
53:19he surprised
53:20the entire world
53:21when he announced
53:22his desire
53:23to sit down
53:24and talk peace
53:25with Soviet premier
53:26Mikhail Gorbachev.
53:30Mr. Gorbachev,
53:32you up to him?
53:33Yes.
53:34Looking forward to it.
53:35He's a young fellow
53:36and quite vigorous.
53:39Yeah, but I'll try
53:41not to take advantage
53:41of him.
53:42I...
53:47Reagan and Gorbachev
53:48held five summits
53:50and ended up signing
53:51an historic agreement,
53:53the first actual reduction
53:55in both sides'
53:56nuclear arsenals.
54:00I'm pleased to report
54:02that upon the completion
54:03of our business
54:04that this summit
54:05has been
54:06a clear success.
54:11It marked the beginning
54:12of the end
54:13of the Cold War
54:15and it stands
54:16as Reagan's
54:17most enduring achievement.
54:21But by the time
54:23Reagan left
54:23the White House,
54:24America was facing
54:26a new set of troubles.
54:27The national debt
54:28had tripled
54:29and the gap
54:30between the rich
54:31and the poor
54:31had markedly widened.
54:34Critics charged
54:35he had lost sight
54:36of Jimmy Carter's
54:37finest legacy,
54:38a foreign policy
54:40committed to human rights.
54:42But no one could deny
54:44that Ronald Reagan
54:45had restored morale
54:46to a country
54:47that needed it.
54:49Reagan is often
54:51lampooned
54:52because he saw
54:54the presidency
54:55as a role to play.
54:57because stuffed in his mind
55:00for illusion
55:02and for analogy
55:04was a bunch
55:05of old movies.
55:06But they were wonderful
55:08old movies.
55:10They were very American movies.
55:12They expressed
55:13those old values
55:16of individualism,
55:19self-reliance,
55:21honesty,
55:22honesty,
55:23gripped
55:25to which
55:26Reagan appealed,
55:28which he revived.
55:30And one has to say
55:31of this man,
55:32however intellectually
55:34incurious
55:35he may have been,
55:36he accomplished
55:37a great deal
55:38in our politics.
55:41He managed
55:42at least
55:42for a time
55:45to give people
55:46a sense
55:47that all was well
55:48with the country.
55:50This
55:51was a very
55:52considerable president
55:54and his ideas
55:55wherever he got them
55:57have had a very
55:59considerable effect
56:01on American politics.
56:04The American people
56:06periodically turn
56:08to presidents
56:08who promise
56:09a smaller,
56:10simpler government
56:11as a way
56:12to allow
56:12their freedoms
56:13to flourish.
56:14And every president
56:16who has made
56:16such a promise
56:17regularly invokes
56:19the spirit
56:20of Jefferson.
56:21But Jefferson's
56:23vision for America
56:24was always bigger
56:26than he was
56:27and is always bigger
56:28than any one
56:29political tradition.
56:31And so when
56:33presidents like
56:34Lincoln or Roosevelt
56:35build up government
56:36in order to help
56:37solve America's
56:38problems
56:39and expand
56:40human equality,
56:42they too
56:43can claim
56:43Jefferson
56:44as their
56:44guiding spirit.
56:46And they too
56:48help define
56:49the American way.
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