each of our veterans is a link in a proud chain that has stood for the defense of our country, from gettysburg to iwo jima. each understood the price of freedom and shouldered that burden on our behalf. our veterans represent the best of america. you are the spine of america. all of us owe you. on veterans day, and every day we honor that great that and recommit ourselves to giving our sacred obligation as a nation, we honor what you have done. we have many obligations. i would have gotten in trouble when i was a young senator for saying we only have one truly sacred obligation -- to properly prepare and equip those we send into harm's way and care for the and their families while they are deployed and when they return home. this is a lifetime sacred commitment. it never expires. for me, for joe, for the entire family, it is personal. when both -- beau was deployed to iraq, after spending six months in kosovo trying to set up a criminal justice system, eight got a call from him one day. he said, dead, what are you doing friday? he said, i would like you to pin my bars on. someone has got to fi

each of our veterans is a link in a proud chain that has stood for the defense of our country, from gettysburg to iwo jima. each understood the price of freedom and shouldered that burden on our behalf. our veterans represent the best of america. you are the spine of america. all of us owe you. on veterans day, and every day we honor that great that and recommit ourselves to giving our sacred obligation as a nation, we honor what you have done. we have many obligations. i would have gotten in trouble when i was a young senator for saying we only have one truly sacred obligation -- to properly prepare and equip those we send into harm's way and care for the and their families while they are deployed and when they return home. this is a lifetime sacred commitment. it never expires. for me, for joe, for the entire family, it is personal. when both -- beau was deployed to iraq, after spending six months in kosovo trying to set up a criminal justice system, eight got a call from him one day. he said, dead, what are you doing friday? he said, i would like you to pin my bars on. someone has got to fi

receive the medal of honor for his actions in defending the flank of the union army in the battle of gettysburg and repelling numerous confederate charges up little round top, thus helping win the decisive battle of the civil war. i have not researched whether there were too many or not enough such medals given. i know and some research in my book which includes the medal of honor recipients for iraq and afghanistan that at one point it was thought that they were being too stingy, and the secretary of defense and jim mattis asked the services to go back and look at some of the engagements and whether individuals who had won a distinguished service cross, the second most -- highest honor for gallantry, whether those might actually deserve a medal of honor. some were upgraded to a medal of honor. honor. i think that was a good thing. these engagements, if you read these narratives, you will find they are as intense as any combat any generation of american troops have been in, and these were richly deserved recognitions of that. host: jim kittfield, how do these awards compared to other combats? g

carter took to the cemetery at gettysburg. he had a shabbat dinner at camp david with the israeli delegation. he autographed photographs for the grandchildren. john baker learned that lesson taking the foreign minister minister of the show via union -- soviet union to his ranch for german unification. george mitchell learned the agreement, setting good friday as the deadline. carter set the 15th day as the deadline forcing everybody to decide do we want to walk away from this or make peace? next, carter realized the most inflexible person on the israeli team was none other than the prime minister himself. he went around him at camp david . critically, the legal advisor. a photograph of each of the grandchildren the 13th day and he said no more compromises, i'm going home. he autographed the photographs, handed them his photographs and put his bags down and made one last try. carter also recognized by contract saddam was the most flexible on his delegation. his own foreign minister resigned in the middle of camp david. he had t

it's the anniversary of the gettysburg address. could you be -- can you imagine being invited to be the speaker -- to be a speaker near the president of the united states and you're not the main speaker? the person before him went for two hours. i'll give $100 to a person that can quote what that person said. abraham lincoln just spoke a few words. you know, if you go to the library of congress, every five years, they'll put out this exhibit of what was in abraham lincoln's pockets that day. when he was assassinated. he had two pair of glasses. some had a little rubber band put together. he had some confedderate -- confederate money because he had just been down to richmond. he had a scribble. he wrote a couple. you know, abraham lincoln, they didn't think he could become president. he didn't run again because he was going to lose. he didn't win on the first ballot to be the nominee. he gets elected november, 1860. he's not sworn in until march, but he's sworn in right outside there. on the east side. his own rivals he puts into hi

receive the medal of honor for his actions in defending the flank of the union army in the battle of gettysburg and repelling numerous confederate charges up little round top, thus helping win the decisive battle of the civil war. i have not researched whether there were too many or not enough such medals given. i know and some research in my book which includes the medal of honor recipients for iraq and afghanistan that at one point it was thought that they were being too stingy, and the secretary of defense and jim mattis asked the services to go back and look at some of the engagements and whether individuals who had won a distinguished service cross, the second most -- highest honor for gallantry, whether those might actually deserve a medal of honor. some were upgraded to a medal of honor. honor. i think that was a good thing. these engagements, if you read these narratives, you will find they are as intense as any combat any generation of american troops have been in, and these were richly deserved recognitions of that. host: jim kittfield, how do these awards compared to other combats? g

gettysburg, maryland, we hear from david on the independent line. caller: love c-span. i want to build on that first judgment national gentlemen. we do need to come together. democrat, republican it is getting to be the same at the federal level. both of my friends are left. i am usually left politically. went to a liberal law school. i want to encourage people on the left to read the constitution and put the vain glory aside. everything does not need to be federal. the constitution says it only goes federal when needed. otherwise, you've got to roll up your sleeves and get involved at the state level. we need more romney care, less obamacare. passionate c-span coverage is all we need. celebrity politics, we have got to let that go and meet at the local level. host: matt, new york, republican line. caller: i missed the previous segment because i was dealing with lake effect snow, which we have been dealing with the last couple of days. looks like you have got nice weather. host: we do. what is on your mind? caller: first of all, i would like to remind everybody that whe

following gettysburg, president lincoln proclaimed thanksgiving to be a national who day. as our nation experiences great challenges, i can't think of a better holiday to observe this coming week. my colleagues and i in the utah delegation are working every day to carve a more prosperous path forward. there is hope on the horizon. earlier this month democrats and republicans in this house came together to pass the fiscal state of the nation resolution which i co-sponsored. if agreed to, this resolution will mandate the u.s. comptroller general conduct an annual joint session before the members of the house and senate budget committees to provide for the fiscal 112th of our nation. this is a huge and important time to have done something like that after what we have seen over the last year. this would provide our leaders with the information they need to correct our course and back away from our patterns of destructive spending. back home i convened a debt and deficit task force which proaden opportunity to create solutions to our debt crisis. my colleagues from utah hope t

you know, it's the anniversary just this week of the gettysburg address. can you imagine being president of the united states, not the key note speaker. the key note speaker speaks for two hours. i think i've already broken that record. i'm sorry if you're missing puerto rico's fundraiser. there weren't a lot of words. this is what lincoln said. believe in the exceptionalism of america. why? because we're conceived in liberty and we're dedicated proposition that we're all equal. he goes on to say, but if we fail, government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from earth. we were not the world power at that moment. but he knew that america was more than a country, that when we worked for and by and of the people, we will always lead. there is no other nation in the world that's dedicated that everybody's equal. so when you spend this new green deal money and you send it to china to buy the solar panels and the batteries, look at the slaves they make work there. look at the slaves they make work there. i'm proud abraham lincoln was