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TV, Documentary The American President 06 The World Stage
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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LearningTranscript
00:00To be continued...
00:35It has been said there are actually two presidencies,
00:39one involving domestic affairs,
00:41the other involving foreign affairs.
00:44While very few chief executives have been known for both,
00:48there have been many presidents
00:50whose main focus has been abroad,
00:53men who have sought ways to exert America's influence
00:56on the world stage.
00:59That was certainly the case for our fifth president,
01:03a visionary diplomat named James Monroe.
01:17My family was from the highland of Scotland.
01:21My ancestor emigrated about 1645
01:24and settled in Virginia, where I was born.
01:29The cause of liberty animated my youthful days
01:33and will command my best efforts in its support
01:36so long as I shall be permitted to live.
01:40James Monroe was our first, if you will, missionary president.
01:48Monroe saw the country in much more of a relation to the world
01:53and the development of the world
01:55than had some of the leading citizens of the older generation
02:00which simply wanted to try to keep the ex-colonies safe
02:03by keeping them as isolated as possible.
02:07He was the first to see and believe that the world was bound to move
02:15in what we now would call a democratic direction.
02:21In 1790, with the support of his lifelong mentor, Thomas Jefferson,
02:26James Monroe was elected to the U.S. Senate.
02:29And four years later, President George Washington ordered him to cross the Atlantic
02:35and serve as his minister to France.
02:40It fell to my lot to be employed a long time
02:43and at the most difficult periods in missions to foreign powers.
02:48My mission to the French Republic was when the French Revolution was at its height.
02:54But in Paris, Monroe allowed his unrestrained enthusiasm for the French
02:59to undermine his country's official policy of neutrality.
03:05And in 1796, an angry President Washington abruptly issued a recall.
03:14Monroe was mortified.
03:16In a private letter, he called Washington insane.
03:21I was charged with a failure to perform my duty
03:23and recalled from it, and censured.
03:28But if he supposed I would submit in silence, he was mistaken.
03:35Returning home to his Virginia estate,
03:39Monroe wrote a fiery 407-page defense of himself,
03:43blasting Washington for his incompetence in foreign affairs.
03:50His tough stance impressed his fellow Republicans,
03:53and in 1799, he was elected governor of Virginia.
03:59Just three years later, Thomas Jefferson,
04:02who was now the newly elected president,
04:04appointed him to negotiate the purchase of New Orleans from France.
04:11Monroe outdid himself,
04:13helping to orchestrate the Louisiana Purchase,
04:16which doubled the size of the United States.
04:20His vision of a vastly expanded America was taking hold.
04:27In 1811, Monroe became Secretary of State under James Madison.
04:33And during the War of 1812,
04:35as the only man in government who had fought in the Revolution,
04:39he was also named the country's Secretary of War.
04:43By war's end, he was catapulted into the presidency.
04:48It is particularly gratifying to me to enter on these duties
04:53at a time when the United States are blessed with peace.
04:58Monroe took the oath of office in front of the burned-out Capitol,
05:02destroyed by the British during the War of 1812.
05:07It was the first time an inauguration was held out of doors,
05:12establishing a new precedent for inaugural ceremonies to come.
05:18He moved his family into the executive mansion,
05:21which had also been burned by the British
05:23and was still under reconstruction.
05:27With a coat of white paint to help cover the fire's scorch marks,
05:31it was now for the first time referred to as the White House.
05:37Our country may be likened to a new house.
05:40We lack many things,
05:42but we possess the most precious of all, liberty.
05:48Even in his day, Monroe looked old-fashioned.
05:51His hair was worn long and tied back with a black ribbon,
05:55and he dressed in knee-britches.
05:57But in his presidential actions, he was anything but old-fashioned.
06:02Becoming an aggressive expansionist at every opportunity,
06:06he pushed the nation's frontier 1,500 miles westward
06:10to the Yellowstone River,
06:11and he allowed American troops to invade Spanish-owned Florida.
06:20This is not a time to think of repose.
06:23Great interests are at stake.
06:27It led to the signing of the Transcontinental Treaty,
06:30transferring Florida to the United States
06:33and consolidating the young nation's hold on the continent.
06:42The American continents are henceforth not to be considered
06:47as subjects for future colonization
06:49by any European power.
06:53Monroe then boldly closed off the entire Western Hemisphere
06:58to European intrusion
06:59in an effort to protect not only America,
07:02but new democracies in Latin America as well.
07:06His policy became known as the Monroe Doctrine.
07:12What it was was a declaration
07:14in his annual message to Congress
07:17declaring that the European powers
07:21should keep their hands off the Americas
07:24in the way of further expansion.
07:28It is what Mr. Monroe is remembered for.
07:32Everything else about him
07:33is long since passed out of common knowledge.
07:38In the end, the presidency took its toll on James Monroe.
07:42His wife said,
07:43My husband pays dear for his White House.
07:46It has cost him all his peace
07:48and the best of his manly attributes.
07:54In 1825, Monroe retired to a farm outside Washington
07:59he called Oak Hill.
08:03Increasingly obsessed with his own privacy,
08:05he destroyed all his personal papers.
08:09And six years later, he quietly died.
08:14The fourth president from Virginia,
08:17he possessed none of Thomas Jefferson's eloquence.
08:21Or James Madison's genius.
08:23Or George Washington's stature.
08:27But James Monroe had presided
08:29over a vast expansion of the American empire.
08:33He had spoken out as if the United States
08:36was a world power.
08:38And in doing so,
08:40it began to become one.
08:49In the 80 years after James Monroe,
08:53presidents continued to expand
08:54the boundaries of the nation.
08:57But under every president
08:59through Grover Cleveland,
09:01America remained deliberately
09:02isolated from Europe.
09:05That all changed at the very end
09:07of the 19th century
09:08under the leadership
09:10of William McKinley.
09:35William McKinley was a widely respected lawyer
09:38from Canton, Ohio.
09:41He was a widely respected lawyer
09:42from Canton, Ohio.
09:42a distinguished Civil War veteran.
09:44He threw himself into politics
09:47to fill a void in his life
09:49after his baby daughter
09:51succumbed to typhoid fever.
09:54His second child to die
09:56in just two years.
10:00Serving six terms in Congress,
10:02he became best known
10:03for the McKinley Tariff Act of 1890,
10:06which helped protect American industry
10:08from foreign competition.
10:11He was patient and courteous
10:14and always meticulously dressed.
10:17And it was said he was the only man
10:19in Congress with no enemies.
10:22He was also totally devoted
10:24to his wife, Ida,
10:26who suffered from periodic seizures
10:28and severe depression.
10:33Only those who have suffered
10:34in a similar way
10:36can appreciate the keenness
10:38of such affliction.
10:41Oh, if you could have seen
10:43what a beauty Ida was as a girl.
10:48By 1891,
10:49he was elected governor of Ohio,
10:51and it then wasn't long
10:54before his name was put forward
10:56as the Republican candidate
10:57for president.
11:02McKinley launched what became known
11:04as his Front Porch Campaign.
11:07And during the summer of 1896,
11:10three quarters of a million people
11:12made the pilgrimage to Canton, Ohio
11:15to hear him speak.
11:20I have never been in doubt
11:21since I was old enough
11:23to think intelligently
11:25that I would sometime
11:26be made president.
11:29His first act upon learning
11:31of his election
11:31was to seek out his mother
11:33and kneel for her blessing.
11:37The old lady,
11:38who had always wanted him
11:39to become a clergyman,
11:41prayed,
11:42O God, keep him humble.
11:49McKinley came to office
11:52as uninterested
11:54in foreign relations
11:56as any president we've had.
11:58He was enormously interested
12:01in domestic affairs,
12:03but he had to learn
12:05what he could
12:06about foreign relations
12:07once he was in the office.
12:10He was a man
12:12of short stature,
12:14five foot six,
12:15I believe,
12:16who'd gained
12:17a little more weight
12:18than was good for him,
12:20but he was
12:21immensely likable.
12:24I don't know
12:25any other president
12:27with whom he can be
12:29compared in this respect
12:30except Dwight Eisenhower.
12:34Despite his desire
12:36to keep his focus domestic,
12:37during his first year
12:39in the White House,
12:40McKinley was forced
12:41to confront a crisis
12:42in Cuba,
12:43which was fighting
12:44for its independence
12:45from the Spanish Empire.
12:49Determined not
12:50to become involved
12:51in a war,
12:52he ordered
12:53the American battleship,
12:54the Maine,
12:55to anchor off Havana
12:57and simply observe.
13:01But on February 15th,
13:041898,
13:05the Maine mysteriously exploded,
13:08killing more than 250 on board.
13:12When the news reached
13:14the United States,
13:15it was assumed
13:16the Spanish had attacked the ship
13:18and war fever broke out
13:20across the nation.
13:21But McKinley resisted.
13:25The United States
13:27should never enter
13:28upon a war
13:28until every effort
13:30for peace
13:31has been exhausted.
13:34Critics accused him
13:35of cowardice
13:36and indecision.
13:37And under the stress
13:39of the crisis,
13:40the president
13:40grew haggard.
13:43Sleepless,
13:44he paced
13:45the White House
13:45by night.
13:47I have been through
13:48one war.
13:49I have seen
13:50the dead piled up,
13:51and I do not want
13:52to see another.
13:55If war comes,
13:56the thought of human suffering
13:58is almost overwhelming.
14:00I was one of those
14:02who held back
14:02to the last moment.
14:04If McKinley
14:06had refused
14:06to ask for a declaration
14:07of war,
14:08most historians think
14:10Congress would have imposed
14:11a declaration of war
14:12upon him.
14:14McKinley dragged his feet
14:16against an aroused opinion
14:17as long as he could,
14:18and he only
14:19decided
14:20for war.
14:21when he felt
14:23the time had come,
14:24consensus was such
14:26that he had to move.
14:28Then move he did.
14:37McKinley threw himself
14:39into the job
14:39of commander-in-chief,
14:42transforming a corner office
14:43in the White House
14:44into the first
14:46modern war room.
14:49his target
14:50was Manila Bay
14:51in the Philippines,
14:53where Admiral George Dewey
14:55rapidly destroyed
14:56Spain's Pacific fleet.
15:04The effect of this
15:06remarkable victory
15:07upon the spirit
15:08of our people
15:09and upon the fortunes
15:10of the war
15:11was instant,
15:12a prestige of invincibility
15:14attached to our arms.
15:17It was followed
15:18by a massive attack
15:20against the Spanish Navy
15:21in Cuba.
15:24In less than three hours,
15:26all the Spanish ships
15:28were destroyed.
15:29The hand of God
15:31was in the ordeal.
15:33With McKinley
15:34seeing it
15:35as a unique opportunity
15:36to spread
15:37American ideals abroad,
15:39the U.S.
15:40became Cuba's protector
15:42and took possession
15:43of Puerto Rico
15:44and Guam.
15:45For the first time,
15:48America was becoming
15:49a world power
15:50with colonies.
15:52It is no longer
15:53a question
15:53of expansion with us.
15:56It is manifest destiny.
15:58Our flag
15:59is the flag
16:00of freedom,
16:01of hope,
16:02of civilization.
16:04But when McKinley
16:06tried also
16:07to take control
16:08of the Philippines,
16:09America was accused
16:10of becoming
16:11the new oppressor.
16:13Angry Filipinos
16:14called for
16:15death to the tyrants,
16:17war to the false Americans
16:18who have deceived us.
16:20And on February 4th,
16:231899,
16:24fighting broke out.
16:28Nothing is left
16:30for us to do
16:30but to put down
16:31the rebellion.
16:33This territory
16:35is ours,
16:36and we mean
16:37to carry
16:37our civilization there.
16:40It became
16:41America's first
16:43overseas guerrilla war,
16:44and atrocities abounded.
16:48captured Filipinos
16:50were forced
16:51to dig
16:51their own graves.
16:52Then they were
16:53lined up
16:54and shot.
16:58Whole villages
16:59were set on fire,
17:00and entire towns
17:02were leveled.
17:03One American general
17:05wrote,
17:05it may be necessary
17:07to kill
17:08half the Filipinos
17:09in order
17:10that the remaining
17:11half be advanced
17:12to a higher plane
17:13of life.
17:16It was brutal,
17:18nasty.
17:20We were not
17:21again engaged
17:22in major hostilities
17:25of such a character
17:26until Vietnam.
17:28But,
17:29of course,
17:30nothing makes it
17:31easier to forget
17:32outrageous
17:33than success.
17:35And I dare say
17:37that if
17:38the Vietnam War
17:40had ended
17:41in the way
17:42that the
17:43Philippine War
17:44ended,
17:45Americans would now
17:46have accustomed
17:47themselves to
17:48and forgotten
17:49the brutalities,
17:51which is exactly
17:52what happened
17:53with the Philippines.
17:57I have had
17:58enough of it.
17:59I have had
18:00all the honor
18:01there is
18:01in this place,
18:02and I've had
18:03responsibilities enough
18:04to kill any man.
18:07with military
18:09success abroad
18:10and a return
18:11of prosperity
18:12at home,
18:13McKinley
18:14was easily
18:14re-elected,
18:15running with
18:16Theodore Roosevelt,
18:17the hero
18:18of the war
18:19in Cuba.
18:23I am no longer
18:24called the president
18:25of a party.
18:26I am now
18:27the president
18:28of the whole people.
18:33In the summer
18:34of 1901,
18:36William McKinley
18:37left on a victorious
18:38six-week tour
18:39across the American
18:41continent.
18:43Mingling freely
18:44with the crowds,
18:45he was the last
18:46chief executive
18:47to do so
18:48without secret
18:49service protection.
18:52If it is in the mind
18:53and heart of anybody
18:54to kill me,
18:55he will do so,
18:58for plenty of opportunity
18:59will be offered him.
19:07on September
19:086, 1901,
19:10McKinley
19:11attended an exposition
19:13in Buffalo,
19:13New York.
19:19There,
19:20without warning,
19:21an assassin
19:22took aim
19:23and fired.
19:27The gunman
19:28was a Czech-born
19:29anarchist
19:30who had fired
19:31his gun
19:31twice,
19:32hitting the president
19:33in the chest
19:34and stomach.
19:38At first,
19:39it looked as if
19:40the president
19:40would survive.
19:43The nation's hope
19:44rose with each
19:45passing day.
19:47But a gangrenous
19:48infection set in,
19:50and within a week,
19:51McKinley's condition
19:52was determined
19:53to be fatal.
19:55His last words
19:57were spoken
19:57eight days
19:58after the shooting.
20:01Goodbye,
20:03goodbye to all.
20:05It is God's will,
20:07his will,
20:08not ours,
20:09be done.
20:17He was the third
20:19American president
20:20to be assassinated.
20:21Nearly 40 years
20:23after Abraham Lincoln's
20:24death
20:24and two decades
20:26after James Garfield
20:27was shot
20:28and killed.
20:30His coffin
20:31would rest
20:32in the East Room
20:33of the White House
20:34during a period
20:35of intense
20:36national mourning.
20:40It rained hard
20:42on the day
20:43of McKinley's funeral.
20:46As America's
20:47first modern president,
20:49he had presided
20:50over an era
20:51of international
20:52expansion.
20:53and the new
20:54president,
20:55Theodore Roosevelt,
20:56spoke for the nation
20:58when he called him
20:59the most widely
21:00loved man
21:01in all the United States.
21:06All a man can hope
21:07for during his lifetime
21:09is to set an example
21:11and when he's dead
21:12to be an inspiration
21:14for history.
21:20McKinley's successor
21:21reveled in America's
21:23new power.
21:25Theodore Roosevelt
21:26once said
21:27his only regret
21:28was that he didn't
21:29have a war
21:30to fight.
21:31Ironically,
21:33by the time
21:33America entered
21:34World War I
21:35just eight years later,
21:37the country's
21:38commander-in-chief
21:38was an academic,
21:41one of the most
21:41peace-loving
21:42and idealistic men
21:44ever to fill
21:45the high office.
21:47But as it turned out,
21:49Woodrow Wilson
21:50would change forever
21:51America's position
21:52on the world stage.
22:07The Wilson who came
22:09into the presidency
22:10in 1913
22:12managed to excite
22:14and interest
22:15the country.
22:17The best way
22:18I can explain it
22:19perhaps is to say
22:21that Harry Truman,
22:23as different a sort
22:24of human being
22:26as one can imagine
22:27from Woodrow Wilson,
22:29the farmer,
22:31not the academic,
22:34Harry Truman
22:35worshipped Woodrow Wilson.
22:38That meant some kind
22:40of extraordinary
22:41ability to project.
22:45A fascinating person,
22:47a difficult person
22:49to pull all together.
22:50He had so many parts.
22:53As a young man,
22:55Woodrow Wilson
22:56was an intense
22:56and hard-working scholar.
22:59His first book,
23:00which was written
23:01while he was still
23:02a graduate student,
23:03was acclaimed
23:04the best critical writing
23:05on the Constitution
23:06since the Federalist Papers.
23:15There began to dawn upon me
23:17the vision of America,
23:19an unbounded continent
23:21which was a proper setting
23:22for the jewel
23:23of human liberty.
23:28He went on to a series
23:29of teaching positions.
23:31A gifted and inspiring lecturer,
23:34he became known
23:35at Princeton University
23:36during the 1890s
23:38as a political scientist
23:39of the highest order.
23:42I have a passion
23:44for interpreting
23:45great thoughts
23:46to the world.
23:47It is my heart's
23:48dearest desire
23:49that I may become
23:50one of the guides
23:51of public policy.
23:54He and his wife,
23:56Ellen,
23:56had three daughters,
23:57and these became
23:58the happiest years
23:59of Wilson's life.
24:02By 1902,
24:04he was elected
24:04Princeton's president.
24:07I often marvel
24:09at the circumstances
24:10of my life.
24:11There has been
24:12so much sweetness
24:13and good fortune in it.
24:17But under the stresses
24:19of his public role
24:20and with his health suffering,
24:22Wilson's private life
24:24began to unravel.
24:27In 1907,
24:28during a doctor-ordered rest
24:30in Bermuda,
24:31he fell in love
24:32with an American divorcee.
24:35Wilson later called
24:36their affair
24:37an error
24:38and a madness
24:39in which he had abandoned
24:40his own high standards.
24:44It was a folly,
24:46loathed and repented of.
24:48My wife knew
24:49and understood
24:50and has forgiven.
24:54At the same time,
24:56Wilson found himself
24:57caught up
24:58in a rancorous controversy
24:59at Princeton
25:00in which the board
25:01of trustees
25:02failed to support
25:03his decision
25:04regarding the location
25:06of a new graduate school.
25:08My inclination
25:10is to resign
25:11and leave them
25:12to their own devices.
25:16By 1910,
25:18he was running
25:18for governor
25:19of New Jersey.
25:21As a politician,
25:23Woodrow Wilson
25:24was bookish
25:25and austere
25:26with a touch
25:26of arrogance.
25:29But in a day
25:30of rampant
25:31political corruption,
25:32he possessed
25:33an astonishing freshness
25:34with his eloquence,
25:37his commitment
25:37to high principle,
25:38and an almost
25:40contagious belief
25:41in himself.
25:43My nomination
25:44for the governorship
25:45of New Jersey
25:46is the mere
25:47preliminary of a plan
25:49to nominate me
25:50in 1912
25:51for the presidency.
25:54Wilson,
25:54that's all.
25:56Wilson,
25:57that's all.
25:58After serving
25:59less than two years
26:00as governor,
26:01Wilson was nominated
26:02for president
26:03by the Democrats
26:04on the 46th ballot.
26:07By always taking
26:09the political high ground
26:10in a three-way race
26:12against William Taft
26:13and Theodore Roosevelt,
26:15on election day,
26:17Woodrow Wilson
26:17was victorious.
26:20It is a fine system
26:22where some remote,
26:24severe schoolmaster
26:25may become president
26:26of the United States.
26:29Like McKinley,
26:31Wilson had campaigned
26:32exclusively
26:33on domestic issues.
26:35And in his inaugural address,
26:37he did not even mention
26:39the subject of the world stage.
26:42It would be an irony of fate
26:44if my administration
26:45had to deal chiefly
26:47with foreign affairs.
26:53In the White House,
26:54he launched into
26:55a grueling work schedule,
26:57hand-typing
26:58all his own letters
26:59and speeches.
27:01His principal aim
27:03would be an overhaul
27:04of the national banking system,
27:06including the creation
27:07of the Federal Reserve Board.
27:10And he assembled
27:10one of the most effective
27:12cabinets in the history
27:13of the presidency.
27:16His new freedom programs
27:18for social welfare
27:19would anticipate
27:20by 20 years
27:21FDR's New Deal.
27:24And throughout it all,
27:26his strongest supporter
27:27was his wife, Ellen.
27:30You have been so loyal,
27:32so forgiving,
27:33so self-sacrificing.
27:35How bright you make my way
27:37through every test and trial.
27:40But in the spring of 1914,
27:43Ellen collapsed.
27:45Diagnosed with a fatal
27:47kidney ailment,
27:48on August 14th,
27:49she died of Bright's disease.
27:55Wilson wrote,
27:56God has stricken me
27:57almost beyond
27:58what I can bear.
28:00I never dreamed
28:02such loneliness
28:03and desolation possible.
28:06How empty
28:08everything seems
28:09without her.
28:10I want to run away
28:12to escape.
28:15The world itself
28:17seems to have gone mad.
28:21Although Wilson
28:23went into a crippling depression,
28:25he was forced
28:26to stay active.
28:27For just a week
28:28before his wife's death,
28:30World War I
28:31erupted in Europe.
28:33The president,
28:34who had planned
28:35to focus on
28:36domestic affairs only,
28:38was forced to enter
28:39upon the world stage.
28:42He was very conscious
28:44that if the country
28:46went to war,
28:47that would put an end
28:48to domestic reform.
28:52Wilson resisted
28:53armed intervention
28:55for two years.
28:58It brought him
28:59a lot of criticism.
29:02Teddy Roosevelt
29:03denounced him
29:04as a traitor
29:04and a coward.
29:06But he was aware
29:08of what the consequences
29:09would be to the country
29:10if it engaged
29:12in the European struggle.
29:14And he was horrified
29:16by what was happening
29:17to Europe.
29:19Hundreds of thousands
29:20of soldiers
29:21being killed off
29:24in battles
29:25that had no real result.
29:28Wilson wanted to spare
29:30his country that.
29:31He wanted to keep
29:31his country out of that.
29:34Who is to say
29:35that was wrong?
29:38Even after the Germans
29:40torpedoed the Lusitania
29:42and then the Sussex,
29:43resulting in American
29:44casualties,
29:46Wilson insisted
29:47on working for peace.
29:50And he agreed
29:51to continue
29:52to stay out of the war
29:53after Germany vowed
29:55to end its unrestrained
29:56submarine warfare.
29:59Of course I understand
30:01that the country
30:02wants action,
30:03but I will not be rushed
30:05into war
30:05no matter if
30:06every damned
30:07congressman and senator
30:09stands up
30:10on his hind legs
30:11and proclaims me
30:12a coward.
30:14In the spring
30:15of 1915,
30:17he met Edith Galt,
30:18a Washington widow,
30:19and they were married
30:21later that same year.
30:24She seemed
30:25to come into my life
30:26here like a special gift
30:27from heaven.
30:29I have won
30:30a sweet companion.
30:32She will soon
30:33make me forget
30:33the intolerable loneliness
30:35and isolation
30:36of the weary months
30:38since this terrible war
30:39began.
30:43In 1916,
30:44Wilson won re-election,
30:46hailed as
30:47the man who had
30:48kept the country
30:48out of war.
30:50Then,
30:51just two months
30:52into his second term,
30:53he was abruptly forced
30:55to reverse his position.
30:58The Germans,
30:59who had begun
31:00committing atrocities
31:01against Belgians,
31:03resumed
31:03unrestricted
31:04submarine warfare.
31:08On April 2nd,
31:101917,
31:11Wilson appeared
31:12before Congress
31:13and delivered
31:13a war message.
31:15He told his audience,
31:17the world must be made
31:18safe for democracy.
31:21It is a fearful thing
31:23to lead this great
31:24peaceful people
31:25into war,
31:26into the most
31:27terrible and disastrous
31:29of all wars.
31:31But the right
31:32is more precious
31:33than peace.
31:36Wilson presented
31:37the war,
31:38when we had to get
31:39into it,
31:40as a moral crusade.
31:45He understood
31:46perfectly well
31:47that he would
31:49have to be
31:50the inspirational
31:51leader of the country
31:52and he would have
31:53to whip up
31:54patriotic sentiment.
31:55And so he did.
31:58Goodbye,
31:59little girl,
32:00goodbye.
32:02Goodbye,
32:04little girl,
32:05goodbye.
32:06In my uniform
32:08of love,
32:09I'll come
32:09marching back to you.
32:11Goodbye,
32:12little girl,
32:15goodbye.
32:17Two million
32:18American soldiers
32:19were sent to Europe.
32:21When a military
32:23draft took place,
32:24it was a
32:24blindfolded president
32:26who drew the number
32:27of the first draftee.
32:30And when the
32:31White House gardeners
32:32joined the war effort,
32:33a flock of sheep
32:34kept the grass trimmed
32:36and Wilson donated
32:37their wool
32:38to the Red Cross.
32:43to the Red Cross.
32:44When the victory
32:44finally came,
32:46it assured America's
32:47permanent position
32:48on the world stage.
32:53But Wilson
32:54had a higher goal
32:55in mind.
32:56He wanted to shape
32:58a new world order
32:59in which world wars
33:00would never again happen.
33:04On January 8, 1918,
33:08he outlined 14 points
33:10for a lasting peace.
33:11And he proposed
33:12establishing
33:13what he called
33:14a League of Nations
33:15in which law-abiding
33:17nations would pledge
33:18to protect one another
33:20in the future.
33:22I am proposing
33:24that nations
33:25should adopt
33:26the doctrine
33:26of President Monroe
33:28as the doctrine
33:29of the world.
33:31Our task
33:32is to set up
33:33a new
33:33international psychology.
33:41On December 3, 1918,
33:44with his prestige
33:45at an all-time high,
33:47Wilson left for Europe
33:49to take part
33:49in the Allied peace talks.
33:53Pulling out of New York harbor,
33:55he was the first
33:56American president
33:57ever to travel to Europe
33:58while still in office.
34:01And in France,
34:03hundreds of thousands
34:04poured out to see him.
34:07To war-torn Europeans,
34:09Wilson had become
34:10the symbol of idealism
34:12and the recognized
34:13moral leader
34:14of the free world.
34:17Before the war,
34:19Europe did not believe in us.
34:22But when they saw
34:23that America
34:24not only held the ideals,
34:26but acted the ideals,
34:28they were converted
34:29to America.
34:30and became partisans
34:32of those ideals.
34:34When the Paris peace talks
34:36degenerated into a fight
34:38over conquered territories,
34:39it was Wilson alone
34:41who stood up
34:41for the highest principles.
34:44He is the only
34:45great, serious statesman here,
34:47wrote one observer.
34:49He is a titan
34:50struggling with forces
34:51too great
34:52even for him.
34:54When the final treaty
34:56was signed at Versailles,
34:58it was far less idealistic
35:00than what Wilson
35:01had argued for.
35:02But it included his idea
35:04for a League of Nations.
35:07As the president
35:08headed home,
35:09he knew it was now
35:10up to him
35:11to get the U.S. Senate
35:13to consent to it.
35:18To build up public support
35:20for the League of Nations,
35:21he launched
35:22a cross-country tour.
35:24We cannot turn back.
35:26We can only go forward
35:29with lifted eyes
35:30to follow the vision.
35:32America shall show the way.
35:35But on September 25th
35:38in Pueblo, Colorado,
35:40an exhausted President Wilson
35:42stumbled on the speaker's platform
35:44and that night complained
35:46of a piercing headache.
35:48It was decided
35:49to cancel
35:50the rest of the tour
35:51and the stricken president
35:53was rushed home
35:54to Washington.
35:57One week later,
35:59he suffered
35:59a severe stroke,
36:01partially paralyzing
36:02his left side
36:03and rendering him
36:05unable to move.
36:08Even after he was able
36:09to resume
36:10some of his duties,
36:12Woodrow Wilson
36:13was never the same again.
36:15The stroke had permanently
36:17damaged his sense
36:18of judgment.
36:21As the Senate debated
36:22the League of Nations,
36:24Wilson irrationally refused
36:25to compromise
36:26on any point.
36:29And when the Senate
36:30rejected the treaty,
36:31Wilson's great dream
36:33for a new world order
36:34was shattered.
36:37I have given my vitality
36:39and almost my life
36:41for the League of Nations.
36:44If I were not a Christian,
36:46I think I should go mad.
36:48You can't be
36:50an educator
36:52to the country.
36:53You can't mobilize
36:56its ideals
36:58if you are
37:00barely able to speak,
37:02lying in bed,
37:03suffering a stroke,
37:04and pretending
37:05that your physical condition
37:07is better
37:08than it actually is.
37:10And as a result,
37:12we rejected membership
37:13in the League of Nations.
37:16He failed.
37:18One measure of his failure
37:20is Franklin Roosevelt's success
37:23with essentially
37:24the same undertaking,
37:25the United Nations,
37:27a generation later.
37:31but Wilson must have
37:32the credit
37:33for having tried
37:34to do it first
37:35in an unprecedented situation
37:38and if he got
37:38some things wrong,
37:40the general thrust
37:42was exactly right
37:44and history proved that.
37:49For the next seven months,
37:51the president was
37:52a near recluse
37:53in the White House.
37:54His disability
37:55was the longest
37:57the presidency
37:57had ever faced
37:58as his cabinet
38:00carried on
38:00the business of government.
38:03After leaving office
38:05in 1921,
38:06he lived just
38:07three more years.
38:10Taking daily drives
38:12through Washington,
38:13this complex man
38:15who all his life
38:16had been ahead
38:16of his times
38:17told his daughter
38:19that perhaps
38:19it was for the best
38:21that he had lost
38:22his fight
38:22with the Senate.
38:27Now when the American
38:29people join the league,
38:30it will be because
38:31they are convinced
38:32it is the right thing
38:34to do
38:35and then will be
38:36the right time
38:37for them to do it.
38:40America is now
38:41the hope of the world.
38:52Wilson's administration
38:53was followed
38:54by two decades
38:55of isolation
38:56until Franklin Roosevelt
38:58led the country
38:59back onto the world stage
39:01during World War II,
39:03turning America
39:04into the world's
39:06leading power.
39:08Harry Truman
39:09then steered the country
39:10into the nuclear age.
39:12And the Cold War
39:13that followed
39:14would require
39:15the constant attention
39:16of the next
39:17eight presidents.
39:19The man who
39:20finally presided
39:21over the end
39:22of the Cold War
39:23was our 41st president,
39:26George Bush.
39:33Mr. Bush
39:34did not create
39:36a new world order,
39:39but by his diplomatic
39:41and military actions,
39:43he certainly created
39:45precedence
39:46for the way
39:47in which
39:48the United States
39:49could constructively
39:51conduct itself
39:52after the Cold War.
39:56There is a thread
39:58of continuity
39:59from Monroe's vision
40:02to Bush's behavior
40:05worth pondering.
40:08people say,
40:09well, George Bush
40:09was a man of privilege.
40:11By that they mean
40:13money.
40:14And I was a man
40:15of privilege,
40:16but I was privileged
40:18in the question
40:19of values,
40:20a mother and father
40:23who were determined
40:26to help their kids
40:27be good people.
40:29Your mother was still
40:30instructing you
40:31when you were
40:31in the White House.
40:32Yes, she was.
40:33She was.
40:34One time,
40:35Hugh, she said,
40:36George, I noticed
40:37that, I remember
40:39how President Reagan
40:40used to wait
40:41for Nancy
40:43as he got off
40:44the helicopter
40:45there on the
40:45White House lawn.
40:47I said,
40:47Mother, you sending
40:48me a message?
40:49Well, I think it would
40:50be nice if you
40:50didn't walk ahead
40:52like Jack Kennedy
40:53used to do.
40:54She cited Kennedy.
40:58George Herbert Walker
41:00Bush was raised
41:01in suburban Connecticut,
41:03the son of a
41:04successful businessman
41:05who went on
41:07to become a senator.
41:13What's the best advice
41:14your father gave you
41:15about politics,
41:17looking back over?
41:18Tell the truth.
41:20Be honest.
41:22Work hard.
41:24Try to see
41:25the other guy's
41:26point of view
41:27while sticking
41:28to your own principles.
41:29I mean,
41:29these were
41:31truisms,
41:31you might say,
41:32that we had
41:34inculcated into us
41:36growing up,
41:37my three brothers
41:38and my sister.
41:41Bush's values
41:42were affirmed
41:43at Andover Academy,
41:46but it was
41:47his experience
41:47as a Navy pilot
41:49shot down
41:50in the Pacific
41:50that left
41:51the deepest
41:52imprint on him.
41:54What did that
41:55brush with death
41:55out there
41:56do to you
41:56when you
41:58shot down?
42:00Made me count
42:00my blessings.
42:01Why me?
42:02Why was my life
42:03spared?
42:04Floating around
42:05in a life raft
42:06knowing that
42:07the fleet
42:07was going to
42:08go south
42:09in about four hours.
42:10It was a traumatic
42:11experience for a young
42:13guy,
42:13for anybody.
42:17Returning home
42:18after the war,
42:19Bush married
42:20Barbara Pierce.
42:22And upon his
42:23graduation from Yale,
42:24they left for Texas
42:26where he would make
42:27his own fortune
42:28in the oil business.
42:31Then you had
42:32one of the tragedies
42:33of your life there,
42:34the loss of your little
42:35daughter.
42:35Oh, we lost our daughter
42:36and that
42:37that was a tough
42:39experience
42:39because we didn't
42:41we again know
42:42why?
42:43Oh, dear God,
42:45why does this child
42:46have to die?
42:48The epitome of innocence
42:49to us,
42:50beauty,
42:50everything else.
42:52And there's no explanation
42:54but all these things
42:56contribute to your life,
43:00maybe your character,
43:01to what you stand for.
43:02And that was a very,
43:07very maturing,
43:09maturing happening.
43:11It hurt badly.
43:14To help fill a void
43:16left by losing his daughter
43:18to leukemia,
43:19Bush grew increasingly
43:20interested in Republican
43:22politics.
43:24I ran in 1964
43:25and maybe dad's experience,
43:28though I was way out
43:30in West Texas
43:30while he was senator,
43:32had something to do,
43:33I'm sure it had something
43:34to do with my desire
43:35to be in elective politics.
43:44Losing his run
43:45for the Senate,
43:47Bush went on
43:47to win a seat
43:48in the U.S. Congress.
43:50And over the next
43:51two decades,
43:52international affairs
43:54would become
43:54the main focus
43:55of his life.
43:57He served as ambassador
43:59to the United Nations,
44:01U.S. envoy to China,
44:02and then as the director
44:04of the CIA.
44:06The U.N.
44:07was fabulously important
44:08in terms of contacts,
44:10knowing people
44:11around the world.
44:12CIA equally as important
44:14in terms of issues.
44:16What about being
44:17vice president now?
44:18That was a long haul,
44:19eight years.
44:20Well,
44:22had I not been
44:22vice president,
44:23I might well
44:24not have been president.
44:25Because Reagan,
44:27at the last moment,
44:29put me on the ticket.
44:31He was so good to me
44:34in every single way.
44:36And so the pluses
44:37of the vice presidency
44:39far outweigh
44:40any confines
44:42of the vice presidency.
44:46When George Bush
44:48ran for the presidency
44:49in 1988,
44:51he promised to turn
44:52the country
44:52into a kinder
44:53and gentler nation.
44:55But Bush also made
44:57a promise
44:58that would come back
44:59to haunt him.
45:00Read my lips.
45:03No new taxes.
45:07It may be the line
45:09he's most remembered for.
45:11But as president,
45:13Bush put almost all
45:14his attention
45:15on the world stage.
45:19Soon after he was
45:20in the White House,
45:21global events
45:22began to unfold
45:23dramatically.
45:26Could you have an inkling
45:27when you moved
45:28into the White House
45:29that the Cold War
45:30might end?
45:32I hoped it would end,
45:34but I wasn't sure
45:35it would end that fast.
45:36I wasn't sure
45:36the wall would come down.
45:37I wasn't sure
45:38Germany would be unified.
45:41I wasn't sure
45:42that the Soviet Union
45:43would have dramatically
45:44imploded as it did.
45:48Foreign affairs
45:50activate
45:51the strongest elements
45:54in the president's powers
45:55under the Constitution.
45:57And the elements
45:58with which he's got,
45:59relatively speaking,
46:00the most liberty
46:02to influence
46:03public opinion.
46:08Bush's great contribution
46:10was to make it
46:12as easy as possible
46:14for the Soviets
46:16to permit
46:17the peaceful unification
46:19of Germany.
46:21He had developed
46:23a relationship
46:24with Mr. Gorbachev.
46:27without that access
46:29to the then-Soviet leader,
46:32that diplomacy
46:34could hardly have succeeded
46:35as well as it did.
46:38I believed in Gorbachev.
46:40I believed in his word.
46:42Some were very skeptical
46:44of that.
46:46But I think history
46:47will be very kind
46:49to Mikhail Gorbachev.
46:54The collapse
46:55of communism
46:55left America
46:56for the first time
46:57in decades
46:58without a clear mission
47:00in world affairs.
47:03Then came the killing
47:05of American soldiers
47:06in Panama.
47:08Without seeking
47:10congressional approval,
47:11Bush boldly sent in troops
47:13to capture
47:14the country's dictator,
47:16Manuel Noriega,
47:18claiming his actions
47:19were in keeping
47:20with the spirit
47:21of the Monroe Doctrine.
47:24Just seven months later
47:26came Iraq's invasion
47:27of Kuwait
47:28and the U.S. involvement
47:30in the Persian Gulf War.
47:36Critics claimed
47:37the real motive
47:38for fighting was oil.
47:40George Bush insisted
47:41it was a matter
47:42of principle.
47:44It was a test
47:45of Woodrow Wilson's
47:46vision of countries
47:47banding together
47:48to resist aggression.
47:51The evil
47:52against the good
47:53was so clear.
47:55It made it very easy
47:57for me.
47:57It didn't make it easy
47:58for a lot of the American
47:59people at the outset.
48:00It didn't make it easier
48:01for these congressmen
48:02that fought me
48:03almost unanimously
48:04on the other side
48:05of the aisle
48:06when I asked
48:07for the authority
48:08to do what the U.N.
48:10said we should do.
48:11But it was an easy
48:14call for me
48:14on principle,
48:15not on execution.
48:19George Bush
48:20used the telephone
48:21for personal diplomacy
48:22like no president
48:23before him.
48:25Calling world leaders
48:26himself, he brought
48:28together a coalition
48:29of countries
48:30to oppose Iraq,
48:32then carefully held
48:33that coalition
48:34together throughout
48:35the war.
48:40We use the U.N.
48:42for the best way
48:43that since the founding
48:44of the U.N.
48:45we could do that
48:46because of our relationship
48:47with Gorbachev
48:49and our convincing
48:50Gorbachev that he
48:51should join us
48:52and not stand
48:53with his traditional
48:54ally, Iraq.
48:56I think Desert Storm
48:57lifted the morale
48:59of our country
49:00and healed
49:01in a wonderful way
49:02some of the wounds
49:03of Vietnam.
49:04I'm sure of it.
49:06And as president,
49:07I can report
49:08to the nation,
49:09aggression is defeated,
49:11the war is over.
49:20Mr. Bush,
49:22in terms of
49:24his diplomacy,
49:26his conduct
49:27of Gulf War,
49:29his carefulness
49:30about objectives,
49:32his success
49:33with coalition building,
49:35should,
49:36by most accounts,
49:39have had a second term.
49:41He didn't.
49:42He didn't
49:44because too many
49:45of his countrymen
49:46were angry
49:49or upset
49:50about the domestic
49:52conditions
49:52of their lives.
49:54And while no president
49:56is able,
49:58in reality,
50:00to determine
50:01economic outcomes,
50:03all presidents
50:04are held to account
50:05for domestic
50:08economic outcomes
50:10in the modern setting.
50:12and Mr. Bush
50:13did not succeed
50:14in that endeavor.
50:17That endeavor
50:18is one you cannot
50:18put aside
50:19for foreign policy.
50:23In his 1992 campaign
50:25for re-election,
50:27Bush was cast
50:28by critics
50:28as a relic
50:29of the Cold War
50:30who had neglected
50:31the home front
50:32and broken his pledge
50:33not to increase taxes.
50:37in November,
50:38he received
50:39the lowest percentage
50:40of votes
50:40of any sitting president
50:42since William Taft
50:4380 years earlier.
50:45If you had a little time
50:47to look back,
50:47what was your main stumble?
50:50Well, domestically,
50:53imagery or no new taxes?
50:55Well, I think the tax,
50:56you know,
50:57read my lips,
50:58no new taxes.
51:00and my biggest failure
51:02was not being able
51:02to get any of our programs
51:04through the Congress.
51:06So I'm seen now,
51:08I won't be when history
51:09is finally written,
51:10as a guy that was only
51:11interested in foreign affairs.
51:17Maybe you didn't read
51:18the election returns.
51:19It didn't work out
51:20quite the way we wanted.
51:25How did you take that defeat?
51:27I didn't,
51:27I hurt for a point of while.
51:30He didn't show much.
51:31Didn't,
51:31I tried not to.
51:32Don't you remember?
51:33My father would be a good sport.
51:35You lose,
51:36keep your head up.
51:37That's a tough one.
51:39Yeah.
51:39A tough one.
51:4091% of the polls
51:41and then to slide,
51:42slide in.
51:43And the ridicule
51:44that went with it,
51:46it hurt.
51:48It hurt a lot.
51:51But the minute we got
51:53back to Houston, Texas
51:55and were welcomed
51:56by our neighbors,
51:57went into that little house
51:58with two dogs
51:59and Barbara and me
52:00and nobody else,
52:02and began to say,
52:03hey,
52:04life's pretty good
52:05and today,
52:05it's wonderful.
52:08I think we did a good job,
52:10if I could say,
52:10so I don't want to have
52:11mother looking down
52:12and saying I'm bragging here,
52:14but I think we upheld
52:15the honor of the presidency
52:16because I did feel
52:18the majesty of the office.
52:22You wanted the kids
52:23to have stars in their eyes
52:25when they went through
52:26the White House
52:27or looked at the West Wing
52:29or looked at the Oval Office.
52:31And I feel that way
52:32when I walked
52:33a couple of mornings ago,
52:35six o'clock,
52:36I just took a morning walk
52:37to see where our dogs
52:38had run on the South Lawn
52:40of the White House.
52:42And it came back to me,
52:44that same sense of respect
52:47for that majestic office.
52:51What do you want historians
52:53to say about your presidency?
52:55Did his best.
52:57Did it with honor.
53:03For most of the 19th century,
53:05foreign affairs
53:07played a secondary role
53:08in the job of the presidency.
53:11It has come to dominate
53:13fully half of a president's time.
53:20And as long as chief executives
53:22do not shortchange
53:23their domestic responsibilities,
53:26it is here,
53:28in this vast,
53:29often dangerous,
53:30dimension of leadership,
53:32that presidents have
53:33their strongest powers
53:34under the Constitution
53:35and their best chance
53:38for making a mark
53:39in history.
53:51To learn more about
53:52the American president,
53:53visit our website
53:55at pbs.org.
54:11at pbs.org.
54:45They led by following their conscience.
54:48They championed the greater good.
54:51Humanity was their example.
54:53At New York Life, it's our very essence.
54:57That's why we're proud to bring you the American president.
55:01This is History's Best on PBS.
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