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[ Music ] ^M00:00:10
[ Background music ] >> Announcer: American philosopher George
Santayana once said "those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." That
ideology written more than one hundred years ago seems to be the mantra behind UT professor
Jeremi Suri in his optimistic perspective on history.
>> Jeremi Suri: History has always been a way of thinking about the present. Where did
we come from and where are we going? The only way we know is by looking back. I believe
that the history that we study tells us how we can make our world a better place and I
think we need to make our world a better place. The only laboratory we have is a laboratory
of human experience. >> Announcer: Working at the LBJ School of
Public Affairs provides Suri with unique inspiration. With his office sitting right next to the
Lyndon Baines Johnson library, Suri has a constant and pivotal reference point for his
teachings. >> Jeremi Suri: Lyndon Johnson was someone
who did more for civil rights than any other president did but he also got the United States
into a war that produced horrible effects on American society and for me there's an
important lesson in that: Success does not translate across all fields easily. I tell
my students everyday think about Lyndon Johnson and as successful as you are, make sure you're
always asking yourself: Are you asking the right questions? Are you doing the right things
and are you re-assessing where you might have made some misjudgments in the past.
>> Maybe do adoption paperwork on the side. >> Jeremi Suri: The reason I'm in this business
is I want to change the world and I think the only way you change the world is by changing
the way people think and I try to get students to understand how complex the world really
is. Understanding how people work together, understanding how context matters and understanding
how you adapt to problems, I don't want them to be historians necessarily or public policy
people, I want them to be effective leaders and that's really what we're trying to teach.