Presidential Historian Reviews Presidents in Film & TV, from 'Lincoln' to 'The Comey Rule'

Now let's understand something about

presidents

, first of all, they are all sociopaths. I mean, think about the ego it takes to be president of the United States. When we meet someone with that kind of ego at a party, you usually find yourself moving around the room. Hello. m jeffrey engel director of the center for

presidential

history at southern methodist university today we will review scenes featuring american

presidents

in

film

s and television this is frost nixon directed by ron howard in this scene which is the true climax of the

film

richard nixon admits something dramatic story about the Watergate break-in.

You are quoting me out of context and I must add that I have participated in all of these interviews without a single note in front of me. Well, first of all, this is a great personification. Nixon has the gestures He has the voice He has the head movements Except he is kind Richard Nixon was not kind This man's courteous and gentle Richard Nixon had a burning fury of anger in everything he did if he thought a journalist was. taking down the wrong way, even if it was in the movie, even if it was on camera, I would have shut it down a lot harder than that.

He had never heard or seen such an outrageous and vicious report in 27 years of public life. The film focuses on the aftermath of the 1972 Watergate break-in. Agents working for Richard Nixon broke into the Democratic National Committee headquarters basically looking for information about Nixon's potential opponents in the upcoming

presidential

campaign. It seems that every day new information comes to light that brings the scandal closer. and closer to nixon nixon has to resign the first and only president in the history of the United States to resign from office seriously you expect us to believe that you had no knowledge of that none I believe the money was for humanitarian purposes to help disadvantaged people with his defense Richard Nixon actually attended interviews with Frost a few years after leaving the White House in disgrace, however, he was not antagonistic, it was a business operation and the partnership between the two Nixons received 800,000, which is approximately equivalent to 10 million dollars in today's dollars and, more importantly, he was going to get 20 of the profits from any record sales they made for the interview in the future and Nixon's own people were encouraging Nixon to say more about the humanitarian purposes for the disadvantaged people with his defense, he is talking about the boys. that broke Watergate for him and the truth is that one of the things that blew the case wide open was that one of them admitted in open court that they were pressuring and bribing him not to talk, so in a sense the defense is not necessarily for the lawyers the defense that nixon is paying for is for his own skin maybe i should have done it maybe i should have called the feds to my office and said hey, there are the two men, hold them against the dock, take their fingerprints and then throw them away.

What we have to understand is that Nixon is in exile, he lives in California, he moved home in disgrace, he thought, if he told his side of the story, if people could hear him say it in an environment controlled, that would improve his reputation and yours. Do you know what worked? Are you really saying that in certain situations the president can decide if it is best for the nation and then do something illegal? I'm saying that when the president does it that means it's not illegal, so it's supposed to be that way. the climax of the film the moment when richard nixon expresses blame for Watergate the truth is that he didn't oh he admitted guilt he admitted that he felt guilty about how bad Watergate was for the American people if mistakes were made he was sorry he said out loud, maybe I gave the sword to people who used it incorrectly, but I didn't wield it myself.

The kind of apologies you make when you don't really want to admit your guilt. However, the most fascinating point that the movie tries to make here is Nixon believed, and frankly a lot of people believe this today, that the constitution doesn't really bind the president as much as one might necessarily think that, basically, if the president can do what Whether it's not written in the constitution it's more important, if no one is going to stop them, then they can really do a lot and that's a central theme of presidents throughout history, but certainly under Nixon and, frankly, in the More modern times, you know the connections between Richard Nixon and Donald Trump are personal, they're amazing. the truth of the matter is that what nixon cared about most was nixon and what donald trump cares about most is donald trump and I assure you richard nixon felt bad about watergate but he felt bad about the fact that he got caught , i think it makes no sense donald trump is ever going to admit he made a mistake mistakes happen to him problems happen to him just like nixon i'm saying when the president does it that means it's not illegal the key line from the movie when nixon He says if a president does it, it's not illegal, it's something he said, it just wasn't about Watergate, he was talking about foreign policy.

Now keep in mind that Richard Nixon is the guy who bombed Cambodia without telling Congress, without telling the American people, expanding an already unpopular war because he thought he had the authority to do it, so if the president says, as a commander in boss, let's bomb somewhere, who's going to say no, so he actually said the phrase, he thought that sentiment wasn't just referring to Watergate, this is Lincoln, led by Steven. spielberg in this scene

lincoln

is discussing the 13th amendment policy that would ban slavery you lied to me mr

lincoln

you evaded my request to deny that there is a confederate peace offer because because there is no one is surprised when a politician certainly lies It's not their own staff, they see it up close every day.

Lincoln was a master politician, I mean, we think of him as the most ethical, moral, God-fearing president we ever had and he was, but he also knew how to do some dirty things. politicking when he needed to Another thing that surprised people was the notion that, oh my God, politicians were being bought and sold left, right and center, you know what politicians were bought and sold left and right. and downtown, it still happens today, just a little calmer, well, you can. I don't have it at all, but we need money for bribes. Speed ​​things up. Many people who voted for the 13th amendment found themselves with really good jobs, such as running a postal commission or a port, after leaving office.

President Lincoln knew how to distribute money. goods I can no longer listen to this I cannot achieve anything of meaning or human value until we cure ourselves of slavery and end this pestilent war. I've seen Richard Nixon. I've seen Ronald Reagan. I do not do it. I know what Lincoln really looked like when he moved and I don't know his voice, but we are told by all the people who know him in his diaries and letters that he had a very high, squeaky voice, he was not a baritone and Daniel Day . -lewis truly embodies lincoln in every way possible so here we are in the spring of 1865 and the nation has lost an ungodly number of casualties 800,000 in fact

historian

s are still reviewing the number of casualties and deaths in the civil war so the american people are tired they are frustrated because the war continues i know i need this this amendment is to cure lincoln wants the war to end as quickly as possible but not so quickly that he can't do everything he wants politically he wants get the The 13th Amendment passed a 13th amendment that would ban slavery forever in the United States.

Frankly, Lincoln was never someone who thought blacks and whites were equal; in fact, he had the idea that perhaps blacks could be transported back to Africa after the war because the two races could never live together in the same country, they were simply too unequal, which he objected to because blacks were human. , that any human being should be enslaved and he was somehow concerned that if someone could be enslaved, then anyone could be enslaved. to slavery and the way to keep everyone out of slavery was to abolish it forever. We have stepped onto the world stage now with the fate of human dignity in our hands.

What's also fascinating about the scene is that it shows Lincoln screaming. lincoln angry now lincoln was an emotional guy in fact we now know that lincoln suffered from what we would call depression, there were periods early in his life where his friends were basically on suicide watch and he is dealing with pressures like no other human being has faced. with maybe how to keep the country together at a time when it wants to tear itself apart not only for political but also moral reasons, so in fact, without my permission you will not enlist in anything, nowhere did Lincoln do a remarkable job in keeping the calm cajoling of making people feel that he wanted them on his side and that he wanted everyone to pull in the same direction abolishing slavery through a constitutional provision determines the destiny of all times to come, we have to remember that presidents do not They are kings.

We are not tyrants, at least not all presidents have restrictions yet, and yet everyone has more power than anyone else. Sometimes, you know, the congressman from Mukwonago Iowa is capable of obstructing things. You have to work with people in the American government to get things done. Do you have to work with Congress in particular? Slavery worried me for as long as I can remember, in a way it never worried my father, although he hated it the way he did and Lincoln, who had been in Congress, knew he could threaten but he couldn't. actually forcing people to vote the way he wanted this is Pearl Harbor directed by Michael Bay in this scene set in December 1941 President Franklin Roosevelt meets with his cabinet to discuss retaliation against the Japanese for their attack on Pearl Harbor no There is nothing basically right about the The story in this movie is true.

The men are still trapped alive inside Arizona. We're doing everything we can to get to them, but they're 40 feet underwater. We would have to take them within a few hundred miles of Japan and therefore risk our aircraft carriers and if we lose them we will have no shield against invasion. The Japanese were not going to invade the west coast. No one in their right mind thought the Japanese were going to invade the west coast. Everyone feared the Japanese, except the United States. The military didn't care about the invasion, the Japanese didn't have enough ships for that, so here we have a scene where the president of the United States is told things that he already knows what he wants and what the solutions are.

He is a submariner and he came up with this idea. Sir, I like the deputy commanders, they don't have time because Roosevelt used to be called the juggler, why didn't he care that his right hand and his left hand didn't know what was going on? He told people to do it. do contradictory things if you didn't know what was going to work because you wanted to know which one worked the quickest eliminate the one that doesn't work continue with the one that works Pearl Harbor of course it's December of '41. Franklin Roosevelt had just won another big electoral victory in November 1940, becoming the only president in United States history to serve more than two terms.

He basically expected to retire at the end of his second term. He was an old man. He was a tired man. He was a sick man, obviously still living with the ravages of his polio, but Roosevelt had a sense that the world was going to war and, more importantly, he had a sense that he was needed to lead the country and the world. , so roosevelt was a man who sought that third term and the American people gave him a third term. He was tremendously popular and also tremendously hated. Don't tell me it can't be done. Roosevelt was paralyzed, but in some ways he had learned to walk or at least walk.

Apparently he had those big steel braces that he wears and they strengthened his upper body. He was incredibly strong on top and in fact he could give the appearance of walking by moving his hips and shoulders back and forth while he clung to someone. everyone knew he was paralyzed, that's what polio does to people, what he had to prove was that he had the physical capabilities to do the job, so the idea that Roosevelt could impress people by getting on a table wouldn't be impressed because they would have seen him do that every day this is vice directed by adam mckay in this scene dick cheney meets with george w bush to discuss becoming bush's running mate distance myself from my years at yale and harvard make me more of a man of the people for smart choices immediately in this film they get to one of the central questions of george w bush's life and political life in particular where is he from his entire family from connecticut his father had been president he went to yale this is an American blue blood blue blood, but Dubby actuallyHe grew up in West Texas and decides to buy a ranch outside of Waco and clear brush as his favorite pastime when he's running for president and then when he's president, as far as I can tell, he doesn't do it.

He's not going back to the ranch much now that he doesn't have to worry about the voters, so let's do this or whatever's going on. We have found some very interesting candidates. If we could schedule a three-hour meeting. window to "i mean you" i want you to be my vice president i love the way this movie portrays ideas without actually saying them look at the contrast between these two dick cheney is restrained a man who knows what he wants to say even before they are formed the words in his mouth he's not so exuberant look how he's eating those chicken wings he loves life he grabs everything and throws himself at it in a sense this gives us a good idea of ​​their personalities he was the extroverted man dick cheney, the man who looks Inside, I've been secretary of defense, I've been chief of staff, the vice presidency is mostly a symbolic job, historically vice presidents haven't been particularly important, in fact I would say Walter Mondale is really the first to have a policy. influence in the administration and that dick cheney essentially took the vice presidency in a way that no one had done before washington was filled with rumors that in fact bush was just a puppet, so to speak, i don't think that's true, In fact, I think that by the end of the second term administration, especially after a lot of Cheney's advice had gone completely wrong since the first term, we no longer had much interest in what Cheney had to say, but the The relationship's central tension existed during the eight years of his presidency. which was the president in charge or the vice president pulled the strings, however, the vice presidency is also defined by the president if we came to a different understanding this is great, but not subtle cheney is a fly fisherman cheney spends a lot of time drawing a line and twisting things up and that's what he's doing with the president here, the movie suggests that Cheney, who had been head of Bush's committee to find a vice president, actually wanted the job himself all along, I think it's probably correct. one of the things we see in vice is george w bush before he took office and before he had all the weight and responsibility of being president bush, of course, he was born into a political family, his father had been president and somehow He has been trying to emulate his father all his life, but in a different way, while George H.W Bush was gentle and reserved, George W Bush was something of a wild man, he admitted that he had many problems with alcohol in his early years. and finally found faith and found the strength to give up alcohol. and he became a business person, actually owned the Texas Rangers and he liked being a very public owner of the Rangers.

He liked pats on the back. He liked tight hands. Leave the details to the other guys. George W. Bush made decisions as he says with his instincts. I actually think this is one of the most accurate ones made in 2018 and talking about the early 2000s, so it's not hard for them to get the right clothes, conversation, or haircuts right, and I think They also caught Dick Cheney, who is a man. he who is sincere is secretive he is in control but you know what else he is he is sure dick cheney is sure of the things he is sure of and he is willing to do anything to get them this is a Saturday Night Live sketch in this scene I see two Different Ronald Reagan, one who is clueless in public but behind closed doors, the one who is really in charge.

Well, I hope I have answered his questions as best I could, given how little I know, goodbye and God bless you, thank you, Mr. President, thank you. You're fine, come back here, okay, let's get to the point. I'm only going to go over this once, so it's essential that you pay attention. This is Ronald Reagan's second term. Ronald Reagan, who had been one of the oldest men ever elected president. and ronald reagan, who frankly was never very up on the details, was a real delegator, a big picture guy, so to speak, this sketch is a joke, the idea that this man who is sometimes barely awake and who can't follow the details is actually the mastermind of the global conspiracies, the truth is that Reagan was not the mastermind of the global conspiracies.

Reagan was this kind, friendly, calm man with a great idea and great optimism who he liked to meet with girl scouts and he liked to talk to reporters, but he didn't like to tell them. Too much, the Reagan who appears here behind the scenes is never a Reagan who existed and certainly not during the second term, so we are supposed to laugh if we are Americans in the 1980s at the very idea that our president was actually on impeaching ronald reagan letting other people present decisions that he approved hello jimmy uh oh hello dutch how are you oh sorry mr president you know it takes a lot for me to get used to that well I'm sure we had a great time in hollywood oh you can say that's dutch again so jimmy stewart shows up well that's no surprise ronald reagan had been a hollywood guy in fact ronald reagan back in the days when he was a democrat had actually been the head of the actors union and he liked to bring his friends from Hollywood to the white house because those were the closest things that the friends had that we had a lot of acquaintances he had a lot of people that he liked to be with him and that he liked in a certain sense but what really what he liked was you know being alone or at least with nancy, the average afternoon for the two of them in the white house was retiring at the end of the day, usually around five o'clock, watching old movies, that was when Reagan was happiest, sir President, it's going so fast.

There are still many things about the Iran-Nicaragua operation that I simply do not understand and you do not need to understand. I'm the president, I just need to understand the Iran-contra controversy that is at the center of this travesty. It was a big problem. Ronald Reagan. frankly he should have been impeached, he did more than most presidents who have been impeached to be impeached, the American public wasn't really interested in that just a few years after Watergate and frankly in the middle of the second term of a president, a president that Americans people liked was very popular, so there is a real sense in which Ronald Reagan was able to get his subordinates to manipulate the international system without consequences.

He is one of the first presidents we refer to as Teflon. Nothing sticks to this guy. This is the

comey

rule

. directed by billy ray in this scene the newly elected president donald trump demands loyalty from fbi director james

comey

the press has been very unfair to you i know that no one is treated as unfairly as me it is shameful the scene in the context matters here president trump is one-on-one meeting with FBI Director James Comey, President Trump is a business guy, he's never been in government before, he thinks that's how things work, he thinks he can talk to anyone without consequences, the truth is There used to be

rule

s in Washington. or at least understandings, one of them was that an FBI director, to make sure that he was not politically influenced by the president, to make sure that he was independent to do his job, as confirmed by Congress, would never meet with the president of the united states one by one if there's no one else in the room there's no one else who can attest to what you've said, that's why comey took notes because he knew that every time he met with the president it was something he didn't I was supposed to be doing um, I don't think it's good for you personally and it makes you look like you did something wrong, who needs that, I don't care that I can make a change, I get along with everyone, this is a good and a bad personification i love breathing the fact that donald trump, you know, inhales dramatically through his nose before saying something why is that a bad personification?

Do you notice that this actor is using complete sentences? Donald Trump has never finished a sentence like that. From what I can tell, his followers love that about him, he goes from one idea to another. They say just try once to write a transcript of a Donald Trump speech or a Donald Trump press conference or anything that might hurt him. your hand, there are some consistent traits among presidents, one of them, frankly, is typically hard work. Donald Trump is different and that is why his followers love him. He speaks shamelessly. She doesn't necessarily care about the impact of his words.

It's a porcelain bowling store and that's it. just the way he likes it, but I have to trust people. I have all these idiotic advisors around me who think they made me choose. You know, I actually listened to the TV people. One thing we know about Donald Trump is that he watches a lot of television. As? We know this because he tells us that he tweets about shows all the time, that's what he thinks is important about his presidency, how he is perceived, not the policies, but how he looks on TV, what matters to him, it's not It is surprising that, as a former television star, no other president in American history has come to power without having been a general or held elected office before Donald Trump did not.

Donald Trump is unusual in every way he approaches things, which, frankly, is why most people who end up working for him and who have experience in government end up quitting because they don't understand what it's like to work. for a man who doesn't understand the basic ways the government works well can you trust me, sir, to tell you that I need loyalty I hope loyalty james comey was the same FBI director for Obama as he was for Donald Trump, a person who thought that his loyalty was to the department and the law and the American people, not the president.

This is why Donald Trump broke the law by trying to influence the FBI director if you are under investigation by the FBI who Trump was for his dealings with Russia and the Trump campaign and you try to influence, intimidate or buying the loyalty of your prosecutor, that's going to prison under normal circumstances, one of the first things Donald Trump did in The Charge was, frankly, try to buy the influence and judgment of a person who has no loyalties to the House White but to the constitution. The show tells us that Trump is trying to run the government as if it were his own personal business, which is simply not the case.

W directed by Oliver Stone in this scene President George W Bush meets with his advisors to discuss the possible invasion of Iraq or Iran and, if so, how to market it to the American people. Weapons of mass destruction make these countries more dangerous. We have to start educating. to the public about the size of this war and its implications, you have an approval rating of over 80 percent right now, sir, it is simply astonishing, this is after 9/11 and, more importantly, after that US forces appear to have stabilized things in Afghanistan and the Bush administration. start looking well for the next objective.

This is one of the open questions that

historian

s will ask for generations. When exactly did George W. Bush decide to invade Iraq? Now the escape occurs in March 2003, September 11 is obviously September 2001. Some. At that point we know that Bush made a decision, what is critical is that this question of what to do with Iraq really arises. We know from first-hand accounts on the night of 9/11, the critical moment of Bush's decision whether or not to invade Iraq was at least on the table during the worst moment of his presidency, given his strong commitment to democracy. Do you think Iran should be grouped together with Iraq and North Korea, after all, Iran has a democratically elected president who is Condoleezza Rice, an incredibly fascinating woman, I mean?

Imagine what it was like throughout your career to be not only often the only woman in the room, but often the only black person in the room, and therefore certainly the only black woman in the room, and yet also knowing that she was the one. who was bringing the most information to the table they are going to attack us again we all know that unless we go out and hit him hard and hit containment first, what is the cold war, sir? Well, some people might simply say that Reagan won the Cold War. It is generally considered dogma within Republican circles that Ronald Reagan won the Cold War because he outspent the Soviets but, more importantly, because he exposed their moral failings, the Soviet Union. fell and communism collapsed and democracy seemed to spread everywhere in the early 1990s one of the things that George Bush's administration never really considered, I would say, is what are they going to do with democracy when they get it, if People are given the right to choose their own leaders, what happens when those leaders do things we don't like?only in the second year of the bush administration when, as karl rove points out in this film, president bush's approval rating is through the roof, as powerful perhaps as almost any president of the 20th century, so he felt he had both free.

He reigned to do what he wanted in the world, but here's the most important part. I think he and those around him thought the world was confirming how right they were, they had never been in charge of anything that had gone wrong, well yes, 911 was. bad, but it was a surprise they would tell you and consequently when they thought about where to go next it never occurred to them that it could go wrong. Afghanistan continues and becomes the longest war in US history. This period of the movie is when things seem to be going well and when george w bush thinks he has this presidency thing down pat no i'm not saying war i'm saying lay down the law but the speech as written is adopting a preventive stance against countries none of which have declared war.

We here think we should be a little understanding with the Bush administration we had just gone through an unprecedented terrorist attack we had just suffered anthrax attacks the expectation was not that there was going to be an additional terrorist attack but rather multiple terrorist attacks could come at any time, anywhere, anywhere, the idea that American policymakers were looking for solutions to security should not surprise us, the problem was that they ended up looking for solutions in places where the problem was not in the first place, Iraq was a country that Frankly, it contained vices and of course we have George W.

Bush as the central character and I think it actually shows a constant sense of George W. Bush. If you operate sincerely, say things that feel good, we can start a democracy in one of these places iran iraq believe me reagan was right it will spread to all these countries because people want freedom george w bush was a man who He came to office with a relatively limited government, he had an extremely young background, he didn't have much experience in business and he found success early and that early success, he thought, confirmed how good he was, what about the axis of evil, the axis of evil, evil, yes, I like the sound of that, that's good, Mr.

President, does the axis mention World War II? Germany, Japan, Iraq and North Korea cannot be linked. The axis of evil they are discussing here comes from a speech Bush gave in 2002 connecting Iran, Iraq and North Korea and, of course, refers specifically to the Axis powers of World War II. as colin powell tells us in this scene from the movie, the problem is that in world war ii the axis powers were actually allies, so essentially george bush's speechwriters made up a phrase that sounds cool but has With almost no geopolitical use, what they were really trying to say was that each of these countries was a threat for independent reasons, but by linking them together as an axis, Bush's speechwriters made it seem like they were actually all on the same page.

On the other hand, nothing could be further from the truth, one of the things the movie does right is showing its enthusiasm for war is one of the things the movie gets wrong. The scenes in which we see the president and his advisors celebrating the victory are as fictional as one can imagine. It's not even possible for the president to meet with all of his advisors in that close quarters during a war, and certainly not one where they would jump around and watch military affairs in real time and high-five each other. This is the special relationship directed by Richard Long Crane in this scene, British Prime Minister Tony Blair tries to convince American President Bill Clinton. that ground forces are needed in kosovo i just don't see how he can take us seriously look i hate Milosevic as much as anyone sending troops to a sovereign state that hasn't attacked us now that's a pretty tough cell there's a lot of geopolitics in this scene later of the cold war, the United States was the most dominant power, perhaps the world had once seen that its main military alliance in Europe was the NATO North Atlantic treaty organizations, so now the real question is how to defend itself Europe and what NATO's role essentially what we have here is a European leader pleading with the United States to solve a problem in Europe, which means that Bill Clinton, the American president, is not very interested in getting involved.

I want to do it because it's the right thing to do. We both want to do the right thing and mobilizing NATO to be ready to strike is the right thing to do. In case you haven't noticed, there are a ton of people here looking to get me a piece. There's a lot going on. In Bill Clinton's life right now he is about to be indicted for having a sex scandal with a White House intern and Clinton knows that he has no room for political maneuver to make mistakes or unite the American people in a war that they do not have.

I don't want to fight when he has no political capital at home. The movie is called The Special Relationship and that's no coincidence. British and American policymakers have talked about their special relationship for decades. They both read the same books and think in the same terms. and more importantly, they seem to constantly have the same enemies. I mean, the truth is that alliances are made not because people like each other, but because they don't like someone. Historically, the current United States and the Prime Minister of Great Britain are as close as possible. two allies could ever want to be in some way bill clinton and tony blair were the same person they were the first of their generation to take power in each of their countries they considered themselves kindred spirits like cousins ​​they saw the world in the same way and Clinton , who got there a few years earlier, saw himself as a mentor to Blair Dennis Quaid plays Bill Clinton and, frankly, does a pretty good job.

First they show him on the golf course, that's something that Clinton really liked and Clinton liked to talk about. Clinton would speak. In fact, the whole time, Clinton rarely slept, that was actually one of the things that caused problems in his relationship with his staff in the second quarter. This upcoming film is The Wind and the Lion, directed by John Malias. In this scene, Teddy Roosevelt speaks. about a bear he has hunted and compares it to the United States. Yes, this is the bear that attacked the horse camp at dawn. He knew the men would be asleep or, at worst, gone.

You intend to have this bear as a rug in the white house. mr. president carpet no, no, i intend to stuff it and display it at the smithsonian institute. The American grizzly bear is a symbol of the American character, so this film is set in 1904 with Theodore Roosevelt doing one of the things he liked to do, hunting and riding horses. He only went out west after the tragic loss of his wife during childbirth and the loss of his mother, the same day he went out west for a few months to clear his head and discovered that he loved not only the strenuous life but also the outdoors. . life, but i noticed it while walking around the camp people still know he's the president this seems pretty cool roosevelt is the closest thing we have to a genuine renaissance man in the white house he was incredibly athletic he was incredibly intelligent the man wrote 50 books during throughout his life he could converse with anyone on a high plane the high part is what I don't like roosevelt had a squeaky voice are Americans fit to govern themselves to govern themselves to control them if everyone could hear what did he really sound like?

Well, it wouldn't have sounded as manly as I wanted them to think it was. We're used to wild animals taking flight at the sight of armed men. The American brown bear fears nothing more than the idea that Roosevelt might sit down with reporters and talk philosophically in some way. write stories for them that are perfectly in line with their entire way of life american grizzly embodies the spirit of america should be our symbol not that ridiculous eagle is nothing more than an identified vulture roosevelt suggests in this scene that we should change our national symbol from the eagle american the grizzly bear the bear said he was strong he was powerful but he was also alone he has a separate place in the world while an eagle is just a scavenger this is the kind of thing that theodore roosevelt would have done it most likely I would have sent it to the natural history museum in New York, you know, the one with the big statue of Roosevelt in front, the one that is dedicated in many ways to Theodore Roosevelt because his family gave the money.

That's why he was a naturalist, he believed in studying the real world that was in front of him, but he also had the money to finance his own studies. He was a type of big picture, but another trait goes further and that Mr. President, loneliness. the bear lives his life alone, untamed and conquered but always alone and that's why I don't really like this scene because it suggests that Americans are alone and isolated, that wasn't Roosevelt, he thought Americans were integrated, they should do more in abroad, but the The idea that the United States would have no allies did not agree with Roosevelt because he thought that the United States was supposed to be a leader of nations that we would lead and the people would follow.

Roosevelt was one of the key leaders in a movement we now call progressives. People who thought the government could be used to attract capital from faltering corporations to actual monopolies believed in progressivism, by which he meant the progress we need to improve. The country knew it was at the top of the food chain and it wanted to stay at the top, but it also knew it could attract people from across the American electorate because it could tell them: I'm going to make your life better, no matter where you live, the world will never will love us, they respect us.

They may even fear us, they will never love us, so Roosevelt leaves office in 1909 and discovers that he doesn't like not being in office, so he came back and ran against his own party in 1912. They didn't want the Republicans to run for him. They will accept. instead he forms another party, the progressive party, during that campaign in Wisconsin he was shot now, luckily the bullet went through his jacket but then landed on his glasses case and then on the 75 pages of the speech he was about to to give and he's going to arrive at the fairgrounds to give his speech and he gets up and says essentially they tried to kill me that's how afraid they are of the change that I'm going to bring to the country he opens his shirt look I have blood from the murderer's bullet if I had walked out of the scenario at that time I think it would have been considered the best speech in electoral history.

Instead, he spoke for another 90 minutes, delivering his speech downplaying the drama of the idea that he had been shot. It's 13 days. Directed by Roger Donaldson in this scene JFK is meeting with his top military advisors about how to deal with the suspected nuclear missiles in Cuba. Well, general, how long until the army is ready? We have just begun mobilization under a pre-established exercise, sir. We're looking at another week and a half, but you can order attacks now. The plants call for an eight-day aerial campaign. This is October 1962. American spy planes have discovered the construction of Soviet nuclear facilities in Cuba, 90 miles away from the United States.

Shores, the conceit in real life is that there are no missiles there, that they just start building these construction sites for them in the movie, it's a little more subdued throughout this scene, they'll argue that the missiles were there, no They thought the missiles were there, but here's the kicker. Here's the really fun part. The Canadian administration. Real life was wrong. There were no nuclear missiles in Cuba, but there were nuclear weapons. The longest range irbms can reach anywhere in the country except seattle, so every person we see. There's a real person in this movie except Kevin Costner, he's a character they created to record the conversations in the room he's in there as a dramatic device with a terrible Boston accent, so I was ready to throw that son away. from across the room I knew.

Who is coming? Give me the order right now. My planes will be ready to carry out air strikes in three days. All you have to do is say, "Come on, my boys will catch those red bastards." That was Curtis Lemay. He's the guy who ordered all the American bombings. of Japan, he is the man who came up with the idea that we could strategically bomb and starve the Japanese into submission. Remember that more Japanese died in individual attacks on Tokyo and other cities organized by Lemay and then were killed during the atomic bomb attacks, so this is a man.

Who had, let's say, any scruples in the use of force? This movie gets a key dynamic right.reality of the Cuban missile crisis, which is that many of his generals, Curtis Lemay in particular, did not like or respect John Kennedy, and you can understand why John Kennedy had been a lieutenant in the Pacific theater, curtis lemay , had been in charge of the entire air corps and they didn't like the idea of ​​this young hijacker being the man in charge and they didn't miss many opportunities to remind him that you're in a pretty bad situation, Mr. President, what did he say? in a pretty bad situation.

Well, he might have realized that he's in it with me. That exchange happened. It is truly a dramatic scene that shows how enthusiastic Lemay and others were to use military force. and how reticent kennedy was this is really the big secret of kennedy's brilliant diplomacy during this period he bought time to consider other options curtis lemay wanted to bomb yesterday john kennedy discovered that he used the 13 days of the crisis to find the only peaceful way out of What seemed like a sure path to nuclear war, there are two things that people should appreciate about John Kennedy, the person: the first is how sick he was and how much pain he was in.

He was a true war hero. He had broken his back as a PT commander during World War II and also suffered from a variety of adrenal and gland diseases. He was basically in constant pain, which meant that amphetamines and painkillers of all kinds were constantly speeding him up. He was a traveling pharmacy. The other thing about Kennedy. he liked his relaxation time and he liked that his relaxation time was not alone and not necessarily with the comfort of his wife john kennedy let's say he had a good time but he had had some stumbles essentially everywhere kennedy went, he spoke tough but it seemed like he wasn't willing to back it up, he was personally popular back then, but people still wondered, even after two years of his administration, if he was really up to the job.

This is lbj directed by rob reiner in this scene. lbj is having a political discussion with some of his closest advisors in close quarters, why am I busy alienating all the kids in my group when if I'm going to make a run in '68, well, I'm going to need people to like me. ? the door you're probably wondering what you're seeing if lbj really had meetings while he was sitting on the bathroom. What's really wrong with this movie, as far as I can tell, is that lbj just told you to close the door. lbj wasn't someone who was interested in privacy, why everything he did had to do with power, the reason he had meetings on the throne was because you had to be there uncomfortable and listening to him, so lbj is a guy rude, vile, profane thing that he wants other people to, you know, see him doing. his business, that's true, he was also a very large man, he liked to use his physical body to do what they called the Johnson treatment, essentially he would get closer and closer to you as he talked, leaning over you, so, frankly, I finally agree with him because you were too scared to do anything else. lbj was yes, a good kid from texas and he was also the smartest guy in the room.

The story of lbj and civil rights is one of America's most fascinating and important sagas. history, frankly, here's a guy from Texas who grew up in Jim Crow.South voted as a legislator for many anti-black Jim Crow policies when he becomes president he does the unexpected ends up being a civil rights advocate why he changed lbj told us that when a person becomes president they suddenly feel responsible for every citizen not only those who vote for them but for everyone especially those who do not have an advocate this is john adams directed by tom hopper in this scene reunited around george washington's table alexander hamilton explains his economic plan to thomas jefferson, I must admit Mr.

Hamilton, I am a little unsure as to the purpose of the development of the treasury, no doubt its function will be revealed to me in due time. I think by now everyone knows that Hamilton and Jefferson despised each other, they had different worldviews, a way of thinking. It is the speech that Hamilton is about to give, he explains to us the importance of financial power and government structures and Jefferson responds by talking about freedom and liberty in essence. Jefferson is a man who thinks that the world is moved by ideas. Hamilton is a man. who thinks the world is driven by money and power the future prosperity of this nation depends primarily on trade trade depends, among other things, on the willingness of other nations to lend us money, which is why Thomas Jefferson was concerned about the central authority and so does everyone else, but the truth is in the In the late 1780s, after the Revolutionary War, but before the constitution was signed, people longed for essential authority because chaos reigned.

It was a terrible great depression, perhaps as bad as the great depression. Basically, there was anarchy and there was no central authority that could put things in order. ordering the constitution in many ways is a remarkably conservative document it is about keeping things under control the declaration of independence is the radical document we must break with the world jefferson who wrote the first I think in some ways he never fully appreciated the second the scene This is really demonstrated by Adam's discomfort within Washington's administration why because he was vice president and Washington makes it clear that he does not really consider Adams a member of the cabinet Washington does not want Adams' opinion why because he is another elected official he is not a washington's elected advisor george washington wants to make sure we remain a democracy a small with a small d a republic with a small r john adams had suggested that perhaps we should call the american president his excellency the president and go on and on and on washington said no mr president will do it mr president mr president and nothing more john adams is a great representation of the early colonial period in the early national period for the united states the clothes are correct the appearance is correct frankly the fact that people look Kinda dirty There's a wonderful scene here with George Washington talking about his wooden teeth, well you know he didn't just have wooden teeth of course he had real teeth that were taken from his slaves and implanted in his own mouth.

They didn't go into that detail in John Adams, but it certainly gives a good idea of ​​what it was like to be in these hot, stuffy, air-conditioned rooms, fully buttoned up and wearing these clothes made of wool and cotton, working on some of the most difficult problems. of the day. There's also a real sense that John Adams wasn't necessarily someone you wanted to hang out with, he wasn't the funniest guy in the room, so the men around this table are iconic, we call them the founding fathers, george washington, who by Of course he was the virtuous man, the man who had indeed led the American forces in the revolution but was not respected as president-elect just because he was the smartest guy in the room he was the one he trusted the most he was the one you knew that if he said something he would say it. he meant it thomas jefferson now may have been the smartest guy in the room at least that's what he thought and he was activated by the ideas that he was a romantic at heart jefferson is actually full of contradictions a man who writes about freedom but actually had slave children those children he had with one of his slaves weighed on his white children and he was able to recognize the complexity of that but he never found a solution and then of course there is alexander hamilton, the orphan boy from the caribbean who ends up becoming a secretary of the treasury and I would say perhaps the most influential of all washington's first cabinet the man whose mark we still see today these men defined our country then and still do even in our times throughout the day we have seen presidents from george washington to donald trump and I think we have also seen an evolution of the presidency, the president becomes obviously more powerful, he becomes more important in everyone's immediate life, he becomes more important in the function of government and we see again and again in these films to presidents who are willing to have difficult conversations with their advisers that they are not necessarily willing to have with the American people and increasingly, especially as we approach the era of Trump presidents who are willing to have conversations that are not willing to admit that they happened, ultimately you will see that the presidency in the movie is a presidency that frankly reflects the power of America and also the dangers, these movies show us that the person in charge affects your life, go to vote, you are the boss.