Both Douglas Brinkley (Historian focused on American events and leaders of the 20^th and 21^st centuries) and Michael Beschloss (NBC News presidential historian; commentator, “PBS NewsHour”) became fascinated with the homes and libraries of presidents while they grew up. Throughout the discussion during the Anita and Truman Arnold Lecture, both of these fascinating researchers express the value of “hindsight” and the analysis of 20^th and 21^st century, along with numerous entertaining anecdotes. Read more for some insight!

When researching and ultimately presenting the information surrounding an administration, it’s also important to recognize what happened outside of the administration itself. For instance, it was Charles Thomson who designed the presidential seal; he picked the eagle when Benjamin Franklin wanted the turkey. Thomson, as the secretary of the continental congress, was the person who kept all the notes and minutes. When Washington was elected president, it was Thomson who went to Mount Vernon to tell him. Then, people ask about the minutes. Well…he burned them. Thomson was worried that if people new how bad it was between Jefferson, Adams and their respective supporters, then the rest of the country would never unite as a country.

In looking at a president’s legacy, both Beschloss and Brinkley believe (hope) that presidents don’t think about their decisions egotistically, but in terms of ‘what will I stand for.’ George Washington would never have said, ‘Oh, gee I’ll make this decision to remain popular.’ Martha Washington said his premature death was due to the fact that Americans were so angry with him, but he wouldn’t have had it any other way. Among the reasons why George H. W. Bush lost was because he focused on the cold war and though he did the right thing, it led him to being defeated in the 1992 Presidential Election. Looking at the president’s ability to be re-elected is not necessarily the best way to measure the effectiveness of their term.

If you’ve seen the new movie, Lincoln, you know that Lincoln faced some adversity when trying to pass the Emancipation Proclamation. Brinkley points out that Lincoln was our national epic figure. Presidents worship Lincoln because no mater how bad they have it, Lincoln always had it worse.

When it comes to polls, Presidents care about polls. Reagan said you don’t let the box office go below 50%. If it didn’t sell, he would stop, regroup and resell it. Truman left at a 27% approval rating but he did a lot of big stuff (i.e.: CIA, NATO, integrated forces, ended the Korean war). During Eisenhower’s second term, he was under huge criticism for not increasing national defense funding, he was motivated to spend as little as possible and we ended up with balanced budgets.

John F. Kennedy was a champion of civil rights, he did it late in his term but it was the major problem facing the U.S. It was controversial and brought his polls down, which is why he came to Dallas in 1966. JFK needed to campaign in the south. He won 66% of Georgia and they were not begging for civil rights. And 500 years from now people, will think that going to the moon was the most important event during his administration.

LBJ, like with Nixon, Vietnam is something that will always be thought of as a tragedy. I don’t think anyone will say the way LBJ acted upon that was entirely wise. It has been about to be 50 years since the Johnson administration and Ken Burns is coming out with a 12 part series about the Vietnam War and it might push him back. Johnson’s a complicated man to understand and an important president.

Richard Nixon is accursed in history because of the tapes, not only Watergate. These other tapes with some of Nixon’s awesome ideas, but every so often there’s a little anti-semetic comment and the media would blow it up. If he had gotten out of the Vietnam War earlier, we probably would have had the same negative outcome. The end of the cold war was Reagan’s way, not Nixon’s way.

Gerald Ford had an upward momentum because he pardoned Nixon. It saved the country from the show trial of Nixon after the nightmare of Watergate. Ford got us out of Vietnam, he brought a decency and respect back to the lies of Johnson, McNamara and Nixon.

Interestingly enough: The person Nixon wanted as VP was John Connelly, but the party never confirmed him because he had recently switched to the Republican Party. If Connelly had become VP, on the day he would’ve been sworn in, was the day he was indicted for milk lobbists. Can you imagine the resignation of the president and the VP is sworn in and indicted?

Jimmy Carter ran on the statement: never will I tell a lie. Some might remember that Carter’s mother said he son told lies. Reporters asked her to elaborate in order t bust him. ‘Oh my Jimmy’s not a liar,’ she said, ‘but he tells white lies all the time.’ ‘Well what is a white lie?’ they asked. ‘Well remember how I said how nice it was to see you?’ Carter was not considered a great president, but like Ford, he redeemed the presidency.

Margaret Thatcher said Ronald Reagan won the Cold War without firing a single shot. As the Governor of California and president, he made conservatism mainstream. He had the smarts to listen to George Schultz. If anyone but Reagan had been president, the cold war would have gone on and not been as successful.

Our most memorable presidents have sound bytes that sum up their presidencies: Lincoln’s ‘Four score and seven years ago;’ JFK’s ‘Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for you country;’ Reagan’s ‘Mr. Gorbechov, tear down this wall’…what’s Bill Clinton’s sound byte?

Bill Clinton’s administration was hurt by the Lewinsky scandal, but the surplus and keeping the U.S. out of harms way helps him. But Hillary has a bright political future ahead of her still, so his story isn’t over. The legacy is Bill Clinton is still being written.

George W. Bush’s administration was marked by the tragedy of 9/11.  In the new presidential center and library, the thing that stood out to Beschloss and Brinkley was the steel from 9/11 and to remember how he led us through those dark days. The pistol of Sadam Hussein. And then, there’s the speech he gave while standing on the ruble. The lasting effect will be on how the war is viewed historically. We are not far enough away from his presidency to active hindsight. The first thing historians will ask is if he did the right thing with the war on terror. Beschloss says we’ll probably find that keeping the nation safe was much more difficult than it seemed on the outside. He will always be associated with the way on terror, but he will also be associated with our upped security. He also signed the largest piece of coral, a huge environmental piece that didn’t get a lot of press, but many years from now, it may look even bigger. There are things like that, without a lot of press that may be the main things people remember in the future.

Barack Obama is a historic figure, right off the bat. There’s an argument to be made about the bailout and the appointment of two women justices, but it is too soon to judge. If Obama had lost the recent election, it would’ve been hard to gauge. The economy was in bad shape, so we need to see what happens.

For information on Michael Beschloss and Douglas Binkley: http://www.smu.edu/TateSeries/AboutUs/News/2013HistorianMediaAdvisory