- Every president since george washington
Has had to define what we mean by the words,
We the people,
And a more perfect union.
In moments of harmony and conflict,
Of growth and severe distress,
In times of triumph and tragedy,
Each of our presidents has had to make a choice
To take us forward or backward,
To unite us or divide us,
To greet the future with open arms or a clenched fist.
The choices they made and how they acted on them
Is the story of the american presidency.
As president I swore an oath
To uphold the constitution, twice.
Part of the genius of that document
Is the delicate balance it strikes
Between freedom and order.
But at critical moments throughout our history,
We've seen the scales tip
Dangerously far in either direction
Driven by extremists from above and below,
Without and within.
There have always been extremist elements of our society.
People so certain of their positions
That they'll resort to repression or violence
To dismantle our institutions.
Or if they're in power,
Will bring the full weight of our institutions
Down on people legitimately exercising their rights.
This wolf of extremism is constantly lurking at the door
And it can be tempting for politicians
To feed it for their own gain.
Problem is if you open that door too wide,
You risk letting the wolf into the house.
The better choice is to recognize it for what it is
And try to keep it at bay.
That's something every president has had to contend with.
And it was very much on george washington's mind
In his first years as the president
Of our brand new republic.
- In 1791, washington's in his first term as president
When the nation faces its first insurrection.
And washington sees this as a direct threat
To this noble experiment in democracy.
- George washington's first priority
Is to establish a stable economy.
A stable government needs to be founded
On the basis of taxation.
- The u.S. Government was facing a debt
From the revolutionary war of $75 million dollars,
And it was searching for a way to raise revenue.
So washington calls for a whiskey tax.
This is the first time the federal government
Had ever issued a tax on a domestic product.
- To washington and hamilton whiskey is a luxury item
And they need the tax in order to move the nation forward.
But to farmers in the rural areas of the country,
Whiskey is a form of currency,
They can use it to barter.
So the burden of the tax falls heaviest on their shoulders.
- People in western regions,
And really relied on that money to feed their families.
Right away, farmers started to protest.
They started to threaten local tax collectors.
They burned down distilleries rather than
Have to pay the taxes.
- And the whiskey rebellion is born.
One of the tactics that the rebels use
Is to instill fear in those who are sent to collect the tax.
And no one knows that better than robert johnson.
On September 11, 1791, robert johnson,
Who was a federal tax collector,
Is sent to the western region to collect taxes.
- And as he's walking down a country road,
This gang of about 20 men
Who were wearing women's clothing pounce on him.
They rip his clothes off and beat him up.
And then they tar and feather him
Which is an incredibly painful process
Of this scorching hot tar applied to bare skin,
Including to the poor guy's head.
And then they feathering from the tips of his toes
To the top of his head.
And they force him to walk down the road
Another several miles in agony.
- When they sent another collector
To try and arrest the culprits,
They did the exact same thing to him.
- The violence and savagery is flying out of control.
There's a real fear here and a real danger
That it's not just a matter of putting out
A little flame in pennsylvania.
This is the possibility of a conflagration
That could consume the whole country.
- George washington issued a proclamation saying
This tax was passed by congress in a lawful way,
And you have to pay it, so stop protesting.
They didn't take too kindly to that proclamation.
- The whiskey rebels were not the american revolutionaries
Because the whiskey rebels were being taxed,
But they had representation.
That was the american covenant.
You get representation and then we work things out.
When you have an insurrection like the whiskey rebellion,
You actually have people not who are calling
For the covenant to be heated,
But trying to break the covenant.
- [lindsay] so washington gathered his cabinet
At the end of July and he asked them
What he should do with these rebels.
- Alexander hamilton,
Without rapping,
Said that the time for moderation was past.
- The only possible option to suppress the rebellion
Was federal force.
- [barbara] so washington raises an army,
And once again prepares to lead it.
- The whiskey rebellion was a terrifying threat
To the existence of the government,
But taking up arms against his own constituents
Was the road to tyranny.
If he overreacts, he loses the experiment.
He becomes what his critics said he might become,
Which is a tyrant and a dictator.
- So as he goes through this ritual
Of putting on his uniform,
Strapping on his sword,
He's aware of the symbolism,
The power of this moment.
- And so in this moment,
You see all the tensions in america
Playing themselves out in the heart and mind
Of the man who had led the revolution.
- As washington arrives at braddock's field on August 3rd,
A force of 13,000 militia had appeared on the field
To support washington's efforts.
- He is the only president that has ever marched with troops
Towards the field of battle.
And as washington marches into camp,
Four states worth of militia soldiers fall silent.
- This is one of the most dramatic moments
In the history of the united states.
Washington has walked to the brink,
But he's not willing to step over that brink
Into oppression and bloodshed.
- The militia forces move toward the rebels
And the rebel scattered,
Not a single bullet is fired.
And the whiskey rebellion ends with a whimper.
And washington goes back to philadelphia
With the covenant intact.
- Washington found the exact balance
Between asserting his power as president,
Asserting the power of the federal government,
But not seeming tyrannical or monarchical.
And so washington returns to philadelphia in triumph
In that this first insurrection
Against the new constitution,
The new president,
And the new government of the united states is quelled.
- Throughout american history presidents have had to deal
And live with this tension between exerting authority,
Somewhat or entirely unilaterally,
Or being a kind of conductor of the symphony.
- The whiskey rebellion shows that we are
A very violent people.
We have been a very violent people from the very beginning
And sometimes we're okay with that violence
And we glorify it,
And yet we're not always comfortable with that violence.
- The point of america is to resort to the ballot box,
Not to the musket or the ar-15.
All the tensions that continue to unfold unto this hour
Can be seen in the whiskey rebellion
And in its resolution.
(booming sound)
- [bill] extremism comes in various forms
And doesn't always mean rebellion against
The government.
Sometimes extremism can descend from above,
From within the government,
From the president of the united states.
This is the case with our nation's second president,
John adams,
Who signed into law repressive measures
In the name of national security
That sharply curtailed political speech.
(dramatic music)
(explosion) (sirens wail)
His actions would echo through history
Right down to the present day.
- When john adams becomes president
After eight years of george washington,
France is in the midst of the french revolution
And the revolutionary fervor that's overtaken France
Is having influence in the united states.
- French immigrants are coming and there's a fear
That the immigrants supported the revolution
And we're going to foment dissension
And disorder in the united states.
- And as thousands of people are executed
By the french revolutionaries,
Americans begin to talk of bringing the guillotine
To american shores.
(slicing sound)
- And so there's this real concern on the part of adams.
This could be a mortal danger to the american republic.
- The country feels that it is fragile.
And one of the responses to this is to
Try to shore up patriotism.
The sedition act makes it a crime
To criticize the government.
Printers, many of whom were emigres,
Were prosecuted and put in jail.
It's so plainly against the first amendment
And what we think the country's supposed to be about.
- John adams criminalizes dissent,
Criminalizes free speech,
And does something that in their heart of hearts,
Almost every president wishes they could do,
Which is lock up their critics.
- So the fear of extremism from below creates a reaction
And creates a form of extremism from above.
It becomes a kind of a witch hunt.
Luther baldwin is the pilot of a garbage scow.
He's blowing off some steam in a bar.
When john adams comes through town,
The citizens of newark decide we're going to celebrate
And give him a 16 guns salute,
And baldwin just blurts out,
"well, I don't care if it gets fired through his arse."
The tavern owner, is a little bit of a prig,
So he goes and reports him.
Luther baldwin is fined and tossed in jail
Just for making a joke about president adams' rear end.
- John adams was honestly struggling
With this question about power.
He overreacted and set up this pattern
Of presidents having to decide
About the limits of freedom
In order to defend a culture of freedom.
And it's something that every president,
Every generation has to negotiate anew.
- When you pause and think about what john adams
Did to protect america during the french revolution,
There's really a direct line to what woodrow wilson does
During world war I.
(exploding sounds)
(dramatic music)
- Woodrow wilson made a very difficult decision
To support american entry into the war with germany
In April in 1917.
And he's very clear in his war address
That anyone who decides to oppose the federal government,
Who in any way interferes with the war effort
Would be dealt with, in his words,
"with a stern hand of repression".
- Wilson believes that he's on a god ordained mission
To spread democracy around the world.
He can't imagine why anyone would stand in his way.
- So wilson goes back to the kinds of
Sedition and alien acts we had in the late 18th century,
But he goes beyond john adams.
He is willing to violate rights in the name of democracy,
And he is creating the kind of propaganda organs
That the federal government didn't happen before.
- Woodrow wilson established by executive order
The committee on
Public information.
And it was his mouthpiece.
It was really enforcing the idea
That everyone had to be 100% unequivocally loyal
To the united states during this moment of crisis.
- Woodrow wilson really did a crackdown
On people's democratic rights under the auspices
That a great war is going on
And that means our freedoms have to be curtailed.
Wilson has zero tolerance for anybody
That he thinks isn't preaching the gospel
Of a certain kind of nativist americanism.
- Wilson, not only targets german americans,
But he goes after pacifists, communists, socialists,
Really anyone who would challenge his agenda
During world war I.
- It becomes a new form of extremism
To suppress dissent,
To suppress difference in order to further the war effort.
But all it does is it generates new waves of hysteria.
German culture with all its beautiful music
And its art and its literature is now been demonized.
- It's a stark example of a president's
Creating a climate of hate against
A particular culture within the united states.
- But where do you stop?
Wilson raises that question.
And it's one that all future presidents
Would have to grapple with throughout our history.
- America's democracy only thrives when freedom
And order are in balance.
And if we lose that fundamental balance,
We risk losing our democracy.
President wilson hoped to protect america during war time,
But like president john adams before him,
Took extreme action to the point of repression.
On the other hand,
Sometimes all the president has to do
To allow extremism to flourish is nothing at all.
That's exactly what our
25th president william mckinley did in 1898,
When a white mob massacred black citizens
Of wilmington, north carolina,
And effected the only successful coup in american history.
- President william mckinley was the last president
Who had been a veteran of the american civil war.
He was viewed as a progressive in many ways
And certainly tied to the party of lincoln.
- Mckinley comes in as president at a very difficult time.
Not only is the country dealing with a deep depression,
We are still coming out of reconstruction
And southern blacks were dealing with racial violence
And systematic subjugation.
- Wilmington was an oasis in the desert
Of white supremacy in post reconstruction north carolina.
- It is a city that demonstrates this idea
That african-americans through thrift and hard work
Could make a major contribution
If they were only left to do that without being encumbered
By chicanery, violence and intimidation.
- In wilmington, the fusion between white populace
And african-americans created opportunities
For african-americans to hold on to
A semblance of political power.
So by the election of 1898,
It was clear that the fusionist party
Was going to continue its hold
Of civic affairs in wilmington.
- Well, this triggers the white supremacist democrats.
- And they were going to take every means at their disposal,
Including violence if necessary
As a way to overthrow a duly elected government.
- One of them says, "we mean to take this election,
"even if it means choking cape fear river
"with the carcasses of black people".
- Mckinley was aware of what was happening
In north carolina but he had other concerns.
So the stage was set for election day.
- Democrats win every seat that they had a candidate up for.
- But even though democrats increased their vote share,
They had not achieved their objective
Of completely removing the fusionists from power.
So now they had to take other measures.
November the 10th, 1898,
(gun popping sounds)
Some 2000 white men rampage throughout wilmington,
Specifically targeting the african-american community.
African-americans were forced to flee from the city
Into the surrounding countryside.
Men, women, and children,
No one was spared from the violence that took place
In wilmington that day.
- White extremist ripped
Down anybody that was black
Serving in government,
And it replaced them with white people.
- Wilmington went from a legally elected government
To a coup d'etat.
- This is the first and only coup d'etat in american history
Where a legitimate election is undermined by insurrection.
- The horrific nature of what was taking place
Began to reverberate outside wilmington.
Mckinley was made aware by african-americans,
Who were pleading with him
To exert his presidential leadership
To protect the rights of american citizens
Who were under attack.
- "mr. Mckinley, dear sir,
"the poor citizens of the colored people
"of north carolina are suffering.
"and if you have ever helped the colored people
"for god's sake, help them now.
"that old confederate flag is floating
"in wilmington, north carolina."
- Mckinley makes the decision that he is not
Going to send federal troops into wilmington,
Which would have been a replay of reconstruction itself.
- William mckinley preferred to let the flames
Of extremism burn unchecked instead of doing anything
That would aid black america.
He still saw that the south was about race
And that he didn't want to intervene in it.
And so he just let the black residents of north carolina
Dangle in death and despair.
- The people who perpetrated this violence
Literally got away with murder.
No one was ever held accountable.
- President mckinley's inaction in wilmington
Sends a very clear message to white supremacists
That it's okay to engage in this type of behavior
In order to re-establish your political authority.
But at the core,
It really called into question who is entitled
To the protection of the government.
- It served as an incredibly devastating message
That african-americans not only had no place in wilmington,
But they also did not have a place in this country.
- Democracy requires vigilance.
It also requires people to recognize
That it is a fragile thing.
And that's the lesson of wilmington in 1898.
If we don't protect democracy for those on the margins,
If we don't think about it as something
That needs to be preserved at all costs,
Then ultimately we contribute to its undermining
And its ultimate demise.
- Because of his own political fears
President william mckinley did nothing
To combat racial extremism.
(guns popping sound)
But another president,
Herbert hoover,
Will actually try to harness extremism
For his own political ends.
He uses familiar techniques
To stir up anti-mexican sentiment
Leading to one of the largest mass expulsions
Of american citizens in our history.
- The great depression
Is the worst
Economic disaster
And social disaster
That the american nation has experienced.
Vast unemployment and vast underemployment.
And it's in that context that we have herbert hoover
As the president of the united states.
Hoover has this reputation of being brilliant,
Of being the great humanitarian for his efforts
During world war I to feed the hungry in europe.
And now he's presiding over this financial free fall.
- As people are losing their jobs,
Some of them are losing their homes.
You have the establishment of hoovervilles,
The shantytowns that are named
After president herbert hoover,
Certainly that had to hurt herbert hoover.
- So hoover's under a lot of pressure.
- And labor unions,
Which are at the peak of their power in the united states,
Are trying to find any scapegoat that can be removed
From competition for scarce jobs.
- At the same time,
There is increasing discussion about how mexican immigrants
Were suddenly taking away jobs from real americans.
- And it's really the secretary of labor william doke
Who's really pushing this idea
And puts it in front of hoover.
- Doke presents a plan to president hoover
That he believes will help alleviate some of the pressures,
Economic, political,
That president hoover is under in the midst
Of the great depression.
The plan is to allow states and localities
To deport mexicans so that they would not be in competition
With other americans for scarce jobs
And would also be taken off the relief rolls.
- Hoover sees this as an opportunity to dodge
The pressure that's on him.
- American jobs for real americans becomes
One of the phrases that herbert hoover uses.
- And as president of the united states, he runs with it.
- And this initiated what became the repatriation program,
Encouraging voluntary repatriation
To their countries of origin.
And in some cases what might not be their country of origin,
But is the place of their ancestry.
- The programs that were in place really blurred the lines
Between voluntary and involuntary.
The white house sends a force of federal immigration agents
To work with police officers in southern california.
- State and local police would essentially
Demand that people leave or facilitate their leaving
By putting them on buses or trains,
And use the violence that backs
The police authority to force compliance.
Businesses are decimated.
Families are torn apart.
Their estimates between 400,000 to 2 million people
Were removed or sent to mexico during this period.
- At least 20% of the entire mexican american population
Left the united states, mostly by force,
Whether it was deportation or this repatriation.
And 2/3 of them were young mexican-american children
Born in the united states.
- My mother ramona espinoza is a member of
A generation of mexican americans
That were born in the united states
And shipped to mexico by train
And not allowed to come back until many years later.
My mother's younger sister, estella,
Had gotten whooping cough.
And so they used the county hospital services.
The county of los angeles targeted people
For being a burden on the county funds.
My mother and her three siblings were american born children
Sent away from her country.
So they were not repatriated.
My mother says that
(speaking spanish) fue depatriada
So in that case the term is depatriated.
It was an atrocity what they did.
- President hoover believed that reducing immigration
Would resolve the economic crisis of the great depression
Or at least ameliorate it.
He was clearly deeply misguided
Because that had virtually no affect
On the creation of jobs.
And it does nothing to resolve the economic crisis.
The role of the president is
To be the guardian of the constitution
And the protector of the people,
We the people.
Hoover failed on both counts.
- And the most serious of this crime of failure
Is that it sets the seeds of this anti-mexicanism
Through the rest of the 20th century
And into the 21st century.
- And it's that rhetoric and ideology
That leads to political extremism.
- [bill] in the 1950s
During the cold war
President dwight eisenhower comes face to face
With a domestic extremist,
Senator joseph mccarthy.
Senator mccarthy's assault on our politics
And our institutions carried out
In the name of anti-communism
Contained familiar echoes of john adams and woodrow wilson.
What will it take for eisenhower to decide
That mccarthy's tactics are a step too far?
- After world war ii americans had a tremendous fear
Of communism in this country.
- In 1949, we learned that the soviet union
Likely due to infiltration within
Our own scientific community
Had detonated an atomic bomb of their own.
This triggers a huge amount of fear
That there is a threat from within.
- Many americans felt that communism backed by moscow
Was a real danger to their values,
To their livelihoods.
And dwight eisenhower comes into office at a time when
The ideological challenge of communism is at its peak.
- One of the issues that has propelled
Dwight eisenhower into office
Are a series of accusations that joe mccarthy,
A senator has been making about government being
Riddled with communist spies.
- Joe mccarthy was a little known senator from wisconsin
Who was looking for an issue to get national attention.
So he makes up the story that he had in his hand
The list of communists who were working
In the american government.
The press picked up on it and the next thing you know,
Joseph mccarthy is a household name.
- I shall continue to call them as I see them.
- But eisenhower loathes mccarthy.
He thought that his tactics were terrible.
He thought his tactics were un-american,
Unconstitutional, wrong.
Joseph mccarthy tried again and again and again,
To exploit people's fears and anxieties,
To exploit perhaps their hopes as well,
And to transform them into his own conspiracy.
- But eisenhower was very reluctant
To repudiate mccarthy publicly.
He said, famously,
"I will not get into the gutter with that guy".
- Eisenhower does not want to get into
A battle with mccarthy that would split his party
And limit the power of his presidency.
Indeed many of eisenhower's own friends
Bemoaned his lack of public engagement with mccarthy.
And he said, quite simply,
"I cannot allow the presidency to be engaged
"in a direct conflict with a senator.
"it's not my role."
His strategy was not making this
Mccarthy versus eisenhower story.
- But then mccarthy makes several allegations
About the army being soft on communism.
- Imagine eisenhower's feelings as mccarthy
Starts investigating the army.
This is dwight eisenhower, a five-star general,
Former chief of staff of the army,
This was personal.
- So finally eisenhower is faced with a great dilemma.
He has been silent for the last four years,
But now mccarthy has taken it too far.
So how does he confront mccarthy
And put an end to a man who has gone too far?
- There's a reason why dwight eisenhower
Is called the hidden hand president
Because he liked to work behind the scenes.
That's especially true when he deals with joseph mccarthy.
So what eisenhower does is he finds out
That mccarthy's aid, roy cohen,
Is badgering the army to do favors for someone
Who he wants back in washington.
- There's one thing that the army does well is keep records.
And every time he called
Somebody inside the army wrote this down
And transcribed the call exactly,
Full of foul language,
Full of bullying,
Full of berating.
This material they know is going to be dynamite.
- Eisenhower knew that and that's exactly what he wanted.
- So in January 1954,
The eisenhower white house comes into possession
Of this dossier material.
And they leaked the dossier to the press.
The purpose of doing so was to create a scandal
That mccarthy had to address.
- The report leads directly to an investigation.
- Now the tables are turned
And suddenly joe mccarthy himself
Is being investigated for abuse of power,
Looking for a sweet deal for his staff member.
- [recorded voice] do you solemnly swear
The testimony you're about to give
Is the truth, the whole truth,
And nothing but the truth, so help you god?
- The army mccarthy hearings
Are among the first televised congressional hearings
In american history.
- [mccarthy] all we've been investigating
Has been some communists in the army.
- They were absolutely gripping to many people
Because it was their first chance to see mccarthy.
- The whole nation is watching these hearings,
Including dwight eisenhower.
And the question is,
Will mccarthy expose himself for what he is,
An extremist and a fraud,
Or will he make americans think that he really is
A protector of american democracy.
In many ways eisenhower's political career
Rests on the answer to that question.
- And call the roll of the traitors and plunderers.
- [bill] extremism runs deep in the fabric
Of who we are as a nation.
- Would you answer the question
As worded by the chief counsel, general.
- [bill] senator joseph mccarthy,
Achieves renown by playing to our fears.
- This committees activities may well determine
Whether this nation will live or die.
- But his attempt to use live hearings
To further alarm the public
Will actually reveal him for what he is,
Not the savior of america,
But the extremist in our midst.
- I am very happy to have this circus ended
So that we can get back to the work
Of digging out communism, corruption,
Treason in government.
- For the first time the american people
Can see joe mccarthy.
- That is mccarthyism
And oh, that's an awful thing.
- And they find out very quickly that he is a bully,
That he is crude and rude and loud and rowdy,
And he brow beats the witnesses.
And people are watching him in their living rooms
And becoming disgusted by his personal conduct.
So the climactic moment of the hearings
Comes when mccarthy says that joe welch,
Who is the lawyer for the army,
Has on his staff, a disloyal american.
And joseph welsh decides at that moment
That it is time to stop mccarthy.
And so he says to mccarthy
- Let us not assassinate this lad further, senator.
You've done enough.
Have you no sense of decency, sir?
At long last have you left no sense of decency?
- It was a moment when all the air
Finally went out of the balloon of joe mccarthy
Because of course what was totally lacking
In the mccarthy's life and his personality
Was a sense of decency.
He had lost his power,
His ability to cast a spell over the american public.
- After the hearings,
Mccarthy loses his stature within the united states senate.
And in December of 1954 the senate votes
To censure joseph mccarthy.
And within a few years, he drinks himself to death.
- A lot of the story of mccarthy is
That while he was ultimately censured
It took a very long time for eisenhower
To take those steps to reign him in
And shows that even someone in the presidency
Can feel politically beholden to more extremist wings.
And that it requires, you know,
Real courage to stand up against someone in your own party.
- Democracy does require a dedication
And a commitment to respecting the truth.
And that's something that mccarthy
Failed completely to respect.
And which if we get away from that,
We really stand the chance
Of losing our democracy altogether.
- Extremism has always been a part
Of the american political and cultural fabric
Since our founding.
This is who we are,
But it's also something that we need to fight
And to be vigilant about.
- Extremism is the effort
To undermine democratic institutions.
It's an effort to shatter the covenant.
The idea that we are becoming a more perfect union
And extremists twist and distort that dream,
That vision, that hope
And turn it into something that goes against the very
Notion of what it means to be an american.
And the presidency can either be the biggest obstacle
In that course,
Or it can serve as the greatest defender and advocate.
- So, extremism can be stamped out,
But first it has to be recognized for what it is.
This is the challenge that president eisenhower had to face
As would many of our nations presidents to follow,
Including me.
When I was president,
I had to confront the rising movement
Of far-right extremists,
Who took mistrust of government
To a new level of outright hatred.
On April 19, 1995 in oklahoma city,
Anti-government extremists carried out
The deadliest act of domestic terror in american history,
Bombing a federal office building
And killing 168 innocent people,
Mostly government employees,
But including 19 children in the building's daycare center.
The oklahoma city bombing sped the passage
Of new laws to fight domestic terrorism.
It also led millions of americans
To reassess how they talk and thought
About people who disagreed with them
And people who work for their government.
The extremist didn't go away,
But they were put on the defensive,
And for the rest of my presidency,
They never regain the position they once held.
There's always been an extremist element in our society.
More recently in charlottesville,
And in the assault on the capitol.
We've seen again the cost of that extremism in human lives
And the cost to the stability of our democracy.
Americans do have vast freedoms
That can include harsh criticism,
Protests, even civil disobedience,
But not calling for violence or committing it.
That's the bright line that has protected our democracy
Since president washington raised an army
In response to the whiskey rebellion.
Whether that line continues to hold is up to all of us.
(thoughtful music)