>>> THE FACT IS I’M HERE.
>>> THE FACT IS I’M HERE. WHAT’S THE NAME OF THAT
WHAT’S THE NAME OF THAT
BUILDING?
BUT I’LL SAY IT DIFFERENTLY.
THE FACT IS WE’RE HERE, AND
THEY’RE NOT.
>> THE PRESIDENT LAST NIGHT
DESTROYING ALL PREVIOUS KNOWN
NORMS AND LIKELY THE LAW TO
ACCEPT HIS PARTY’S NOMINATION
FROM THE TRUMP-BRANDED SOUTH
LAWN OF THE PEOPLE’S HOUSE.
IT’S A LOT TO TALK ABOUT, AND
LUCKILY OUR FRIEND, THE
HISTORIAN, AUTHOR, PRESIDENTIAL
HISTORIAN MICHAEL BESCHLOSS IS
WITH US TO DO SO.
HIS LATEST VOLUME IS "PRESIDENTS
OF WAR."
MICHAEL, BECAUSE WE GLEAN SO
MUCH FROM YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA, I’M
GOING TO START BY AIRING
SOMETHING YOU POSTED, A 1968
NIXON CAMPAIGN AD.
WE’LL TALK ABOUT IT ON THE OTHER
SIDE.
>> OKAY.
>> IT IS TIME FOR AN HONEST LOOK
AT THE PROBLEM OF ORDER IN THE
UNITED STATES.
DISSENT IS A NECESSARY
INGREDIENT OF CHANGE, BUT IN A
SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT THAT
PROVIDES FOR PEACEFUL CHANGE,
THERE IS NO CAUSE THAT JUSTIFIES
RESORT TO VIOLENCE.
>> AND, MICHAEL, OF COURSE
YOU’RE A STEP AHEAD OF US HERE,
WHICH IS WHY YOU POSTED IT.
YOU JUST MODERNIZE THOSE
PICTURES, PUT IN MINNEAPOLIS,
PUT IN PORTLAND, SOME SEATTLE,
SOME KENOSHA, MAYBE HAVE JON
VOIGHT OR TRUMP HIMSELF VOICE
IT.
YOU’VE GOT A TRUMP AD.
WHAT DOES THAT TELL US?
>> WELL, THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT WE
ARE ABOUT TO SEE, I WOULD
PRESUME, BECAUSE DONALD TRUMP IS
USING THE GEORGE WALLACE AND
RICHARD NIXON PLAYBOOK OF 1968.
AND ONE OF THE THINGS THAT NIXON
SAYS IN THAT AD IS THE MOST
BASIC CIVIL RIGHT IS FREEDOM
FROM VIOLENCE.
YOU CAN EXPECT TO HEAR A LOT OF
THAT OLD NIXON/GEORGE WALLACE
LANGUAGE, I THINK, FROM DONALD
TRUMP THIS FALL.
AND ALSO YOU SAW THERE WAS A
SIGN ADVOCATING SOCIALISM.
HOW CURRENT COULD THAT GET?
>> EXACTLY.
YOU’VE ALSO POSTED SCENES FROM
THE PEOPLE’S HOUSE GOING BACK
THROUGH OUR AMERICAN HISTORY AS
FAR BACK AS PHOTOGRAPHY WILL
ALLOW US, STARTING WITH THIS
ONE.
MILITARY EVENT DURING THE CIVIL
WAR WITH PRESIDENT LINCOLN,
WHOSE TOP HAT CAN BE SEEN THERE.
THE CHEEP ONSHEEP ON THE LAWN DU
1918 PANDEMIC, OR THE 1917
PANDEMIC AS THE PRESIDENT CALLS
IT.
FDR BEING SWORN IN IN THE MIDDLE
OF THE WAR IN ’45.
OF COURSE HE ONLY LIVED, WHAT,
THREE MORE MONTHS, AND THEN A
PHOTO OF HIS FUNERAL PROCESSION
THAT FOLLOWS.
JACKIE AND YOUNG JOHN SLEDDING
IN 1962.
THEIR FATHER, JOHN F. KENNEDY,’S
LAST PUBLIC APPEARANCE BEFORE
DALLAS IN 1963.
AND OF COURSE RICHARD NIXON’S
TAKEOFF, MARINE ONE, 1974 WITH
MEMBERS OF HIS FAMILY AND THE
NEW PRESIDENT, GERALD R. FORD,
LOOKING ON.
AND NOW WE HAVE LAST NIGHT THE
GATHERING ON THE SOUTH LAWN, ALL
BUT A BRANDED STRUCTURE.
YOU SAW THE LIT UP SIGNS,
TRUMP/PENCE.
MICHAEL, HOW DO YOU PROCESS IT?
>> IT MADE ME SICK BECAUSE
PRESIDENTS SINCE THE FOUNDING OF
THE WHITE HOUSE, WHICH WAS, AS
YOU KNOW, BRIAN, 220 YEARS AGO
THIS YEAR, HAVE RESPECTED THE
FACT THAT THOSE 18 ACRES OF
GROUND ARE SACRED SPACE.
YOU DON’T USE THEM FOR POLITICS.
YOU USE THEM FOR NATIONAL EVENTS
WITH A PRESIDENT AS LARGELY
CHIEF OF STATE.
USUALLY YOU DEFINE THE NATION.
WHEN BEFORE HAVE YOU SEEN A
SITUATION THAT YOU SAW LAST
NIGHT WITH CAMPAIGN SIGNS AND
DONORS AND CLAPPING AND OTHER
THINGS THAT MADE THIS PLACE INTO
MORE OF A FAIRGROUND OR A
CONVENTION HALL THAN THE SOUTH
GROUNDS OF THE WHITE HOUSE?
WHAT I TRIED TO DO WITH THOSE
PHOTOGRAPHS IS TO SHOW THE
HISTORY THAT’S ON THAT LAWN.
THAT’S THE HISTORY THAT WE AND
