[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] hello. good afternoon im number here and also a great civil war enthusiast. it's my great pleasure to welcome you and our speakers. before we begin please note the emergency exits marked at the front and the rear of the room so please take these out in silence them i'm sure everybody has a really cool ring tone but we don't want to hear them right now. thank you so much. while you do that i've been asked to mention the members who seek knowledge and reflection and discourse and creative expression within these walls. to my fellow members here today, thank you and to our guests, welcome and please consider joining our community. just outside this room we will have tables we find details how to join as a member. now i'm pleased to introduce a history professor, the author of nine books including the cowinner from the last civil war regiment published 2016 it highlights the massachusetts 54h and 55th regiment and the calvary and it's really good. he's also appeared in three pbs series and a string of essays published in the new york times and the nation and the boston sunday globe. i have personally enjoyed several of his books. today we will hear about his latest book barely one week old. i finished it a couple days ago and it is the story of the family that particularly the children and great-grandchildren of president trump adams. and those expectation shape the adams family and through them american history but that was not a quality that they achieved often but they spoke for good or for bad. but the book does that for me please welcome douglas ackerson. [applause] >> thank you for that lovely introduction and for coming out on this rather cold day. i've been told to speak slowly so i will see what i can do about that. but with most books on the adams family and of the 80 -year-old congressman john quincy adams to honor resolution thinking american soldiers and the war of mexico was the most unjust and the husband of katie stanton that grabs hold and then tilts sideways he died two days later in the capital building the numbers add up to 11 those that have died in the capital. and those that did not arrive in washington to say goodbye to his father he got as far as philadelphia and then he realized his father was dead. before arriving in washington henry clay as the secretary of state say that lester would continue and that is a challenge. so not only the last surviving child that he was the son and the grandson and at that time they were the only dynasty. with john adams in martin van buren so imagine the pressure that turns out very well the grandson and the son of the presidents of charles francis at that some point. so that long life and storied career but this man is the core. and as he buries his father and then what he has to decide what that meant for him to go back on beacon hill and with public office they both served one term and with those ancestors harvard educated , three years in the state house and in the state assembly and senate and the member of congress and in the arbitration claims but of course by comparison and is largely forgotten. and that did elude him. but the bullet points but to the earlier political culture , you don't seek greatness but charles francis was never comfortable with. he married very well he married abigail brown books the daughter of a shipping magnate. and had two sisters and adams had an important career and because of that competition and charles francis never warmed up very much. but complained that he had to buy a smaller house and he wanted. and his diary is amazing. and he had a mistress but he continued to court her and he cut off that relationship. but not until she agreed to marry him. but this is what made charles francis the man that he was. so in 18 oh nine the new president james madison the first ever minister to russia and grandmother abigail that they would not go with mom and dad. and then to be named after the late president george washington so she resented that george washington was named after george washington. but charles francis could go to russia. and the boys don't turn out and you can see the story but he served one year in the state assembly he was handsome and charismatic and he drank too much and reading his diary especially in and get to his office late the next day he says today i will drink less or not at all on the day would come and go with the same pattern over and over. but if i just said i cannot write in my diary anymore here's i have to say about my life he was living in a boarding house but at the same time john quincy loses the election against jackson but something was wrong and i miss. so the family moves back to quincy. and then all the way down to washington that people are conspiring and that's where they found his coat and his hat piled up and folded next to the railing and found the body a few weeks later. all three brothers had gone after the adams family cousin and mary finally agreed to marry john adams but john quincy was not elaborate and he almost forgot church that day to get married so back in massachusetts and then to manage their investments he by mill and it failed and then he began to drink far too much so by the time john quincy got back he drank so much he had gone blind i cannot imagine why he was drinking with his eyesight at the age of 31 but the point of all of this but he said different things if he would have been taken is to russia. so then to carry the guilt to his dying days like that lack of parental control with him and abigail. so for the better part of eight years charles francis was an only child in russia and france. and then there was another child who was born in russia but she died at one years old she was buried in russia where it occurs her grave but then charles francis grew very close to his mother. . . . . him to be in adams meant to be prepared for greatness. charles francis is tutored by his father in russia five hours a day. french, german, mathematics, and of course he meets lazar alexander and lazar spoke french.so ãbyour child is a prodigy, john quincy as two hours to every days tutorial now adding mathematics, geometry, charles francis is five. he wants to go to the zoo. he wants to hold his dad's hand and walk along the river and his dad is turning preparing them to be the next senator, governor. one of the really interesting things john quincy's diary, it's a boy five or six years old he learned to push back against his father's control so as he is learning french charles would willfully mispronounce the words started to annoy his father. he would say i know he's doing this on purpose. but to assert his authority. he is there with his mother in paris and he comes back out of exile he gives a great speech and then john quincy of course becomes minister in england so he spends two years in london so he's out of the country raised in europe for the better part of a decade and comes back to the u.s. in 1817 at the age of 14 begins his career at harvard. this is where he begins, charles francis, to be ambivalent about the being adams is thrust upon him. he has his house in beacon hill his law practice, hobbies he loved to collect ancient greek coins and roman coins. his wife has a lot of investment so he's managing investments. he's not sure he wants to be the next president adams. an earlier adams has not been happy with their success. finally in 1839 he was approached by the state they want him to run for the seats in the assembly. he thinks about it and he turns them down.he doesn't want a life in politics. of course his father at this point that was back in washington it john quincy is furious. you don't turn down greatness. finally 1840 he does agree to serve and these are one year terms. three terms in the house and two years in the senate and in many ways, i promise to be the most admirable period of charles francis's life. here at the beacon house which by the way kids, charles junior and henry, really hated. they love the old house in quincy. they found the house to be dark, cold, gray, charles said one really nice room. here's what he does in the state assembly that shows us how progressive he is but also how he always tries to find a middle ground and balance being a progressive activist with being legalistic. in 1842 as a case before the supreme court called pennsylvania bruce's prick. about the question of the legality constitutional legality of the 1793 fugitive slave act. the court upholds the act and the madness of the act was completely constitutional under under article 4 section 2. evangelicals were across the state bombard boston with petitions, denouncing this decision and charles francis is on the committee for vision. it's his job to define some kind of response to what the court is doing and what people in massachusetts want. he finds a really interesting law and says like it or not, this law is constitutional if you run away from virginia they can come take you back. not only are you not responsible for carrying out this law, you are banned from doing so. your small town sheriff in western massachusetts. they might not use your jail to house a runaway ãif parents want to come and set marshall state officials are banned from doing so. that sounds great but it is a middle ground. the garrison iranian position is moral people disobey a moral love and adams says, i'm an attorney. we have to obey the law it's written but state officials not only are not inclined to do so, they are banned from doing so. here's the first evidence you see that adams is trying to find an ballistic legalistic middle ground. the second happens pretty much the same year back in 1780s a series of state court cases had collapsed, slavery massachusetts it was not very viable. the state was only four percent black. slavery is dying in massachusetts, in 1786 the state passes a law banning interracial marriage between whites, african americans, and native americans. young adams regarded this quote a last-ditch effort of slavery in my state he decides he's going to kill it by passing another law to overturn it. this is like same-sex marriage 20 years ago. politicians just don't want to go near it. this is coalition put together, one year passes the house, fails the senate, one year passes the senate fails the house in 1843 february 143 to 126 he writes in the diary, today i killed the last remnant of slavery massachusetts then he writes, but nothing could be more disagreeable he to me then consideration of the subject. in other words, the idea of interracial marriage he finds repugnant. this is kind of the clue to what happens to adams during construction. this kind of legalistic approach, of course all rules should be equal in the side of the law. but the idea they're actually doing it, he finds problematical. adams always has this kind of constitutional legalistic approach to reform in which people and humanity don't seem to matter very much. and of course it has happened he just doesn't know black dockworkers in boston he doesn't know irish immigrant women picking up with black dockworkers. he's all for fixing the law but the human fate of what's happening here is something he's not really comfortable with. you see this also of course in 1848, for the first time ever free soil party and he's tapped because his father had just died, charles francis had gone to the convention in buffalo and was wearing black warning close in a black armband. he's basically dominated because of his father just passed away as a way of honoring john quincy. the ãbparty, part of me ãb is not an abolition party it's an antislavery party. designed to keep slavery out of the land acquired in the american southwest, in new mexico, california. they are playing to win.this is not a third-party looking to make point. they are looking to capture the white house. and of course adams is a big name but they nominate democratic former president martin van buren and van buren had been critical of the annexation of texas but of course he was a lifelong opponent of john quincy. and finding evidence in the press of john quincy and charles francis. saying very tough things about martin van buren, it was a tough thing for adams to live up to. here he is again trying to find a middle ground. and beyond the right side of history so what was happening is that a long-standing us senator for the state those days the state assemblies all you have to say is i'm in i'm interested you have to come to him knock on his door he says in his diary, i'd love to have a seat. in virtually unanimous choice by state assembly and without any kind of lobbying on my part, including saying, i'd like to be a u.s. senator. of course that's the way john adams was chosen vice president. back after the constitution they said good news, you been chosen as vice president. by the 1850s politicians are tired of that kind of hamlet routine. he was friends with charles sumner. he owned a newspaper he was antislavery paper and because he had the money, he owned it and was the editor but he often wrote editorials for it and charles francis might be four years older than somewhere. and somebody says to him, adam, this is your perfect job being in the u.s. senate. in an harshly says to sumner. american politics for it but that's something you might want to do. sumner says if you're not going to, i'm in. sumner throws his hat in the ring and he is chosen 1851 and holds the seats until his death in 1874 i think about how things would've been different. adams all he had to do was say yes. i think that would be something i would like to do. quite possibly adams and not william would've been front runner for the republican nomination in 1860. he goes on though to help build the republican party in 1850s and stood for election in a safe district, the third district and 58. and like most new englanders was horrified when this tall lanky guy they never heard of lincoln got the nomination and adams was just distraught. adams was light, he never got lincoln. never learned to appreciate lincoln. at one point when he's in london lincoln had a series of thanksgiving statements. he sends one over and adam reads it and says, this is pretty good. it's nicely done, obviously lincoln didn't write it because he can't write that we go to go to harvard. adams never get lincoln's greatness. he tries to find a middle ground. he selected just in time for lincoln to be elected in the south to begin to secede. congress puts together a committee, the committee of 33, 33 guys in the committee. to find a compromise package to keep the south in the union. of course this was all about the slavery and american southwest. adams and stewart are willing to allow the possibility to slavery in the mexico territory would include arizona. and adams says, it's constituents are really unhappy about this, adams says, first of all, the law is on my side and on the side of the decision, congress does not have the power to ban slavery in territories. and adams also says, for 10 years, thanks to the compromise of 1850, slavery has been allowed in new mexico after 10 years is only 12 slaves there and mostly domestic slaves who are there with u.s. army officers. in every sunday sumner would come to dinner and adams says, sumner, there's only 12 slaves in territory and sumner says that's 12 to ãtoo many. lincoln's point of view as we ran on the principle of keeping slavery out of the territories so 12, 20, we are turning our back on the voters if we say yes to this. both lincoln and sumner say if we give them new mexico today and they come back in four years they will want cuba. give them? they will come back six years and want more of mexico they want nicaragua. the time has come to simply say no to the whitesow. so the fact that adam says basically yes to slavery and new mexico what is now arizona gets them in a fair amount of hot water with his own constituents. but then he is rescued by of course ãbbecame secretary of state under lincoln. it's stewards idea not lincoln. sent adams to the court where he is the third adams to be ministered in england after john and john quincy. that's his house what was his house today a car rental place but that corner was in fact were his resident house was for seven years in london. he wound up serving seven so not only one of the longest 10 years of bradford american minister in 19 century it's also to point ãb2.5 times more than in london. he was a superb minister to britain and the thing i really noticed is that former politicians charles francis adams really understood irish politics. understood what party was on the side of the u.s. and what part is tilting toward the confederacy. it was a handful of anti-log radicals. and adams really used the working class on the side of the u.s. so traveled but had not lived there. he sent these really incendiary messages. he said read these word for word that secretary russell the british foreign secretary says i'm gonna change a word here and maybe smooth it out a little bit but he knew when to be tough. and after gettysburg it looked like several more confederate ships were going to escape from british harbor. adams sent a very short powerful warning to john russell and he said, your lordship, you realize this means war, period. adams knew when to be tough, when to back off, how to use public opinion so he really was a superb minister to england and kept england out of the war as did lee's failure. and he was terrified after lincoln was assassinated because he was badly cut up. adams was terrified would be called upon to come back to the u.s. and replace the word in the state department but here's the irony, not because he disagreed with president johnson and the conciliator of the white south, he regarded johnson as a southern lowlife and beneath working force. they agree on policy. he just doesn't like johnson as a person who didn't go to harvard, adams is terrified of course sewer does recover him and continues on. on and on during the seven years in europe his various children come to be fourth-generation. on the left is the oldest child and down to her brothers, his sister lou. sister lou according to him he was the smartest child of that generation. and not the obvious she's the oldest. where lewis, adams, she would be next in line to be the assemblymen and go to harvard. but to louisa harvard is not in her future. in fact no colleges in her future. she finally married, married unhappily. and we don't really know what exactly happened but according to charles francis's diary she comes back from honeymoon and says to dad, and moving in, and meka stay married to this guy and she does but she spends her time kind of drifting around europe and i can never decide whether i should be annoyed with louisa or sad for louisa or a bit of both because she's brilliant and today she would be would be in fact, governor of massachusetts because she's a woman that's going to be denied to her but during the war she has a brother serving in the army, a dad serving in london and a lot of elite women, rob shaw's mother, raising money for the soldiers, putting together care packages for manchester, for soldiers, rolling bandages, socks, she wanders aimlessly around europe she has a miscarriage and after that you can't have children or doesn't want to have children and her role in victorian america is mother or wife she's always unwell and charles francis says in his diary i fear that her illness is not physical but it's just something about her that makes her unhappy. so that meant the next oldest child was destined for greatness was john quincy adams the second. in all john quincy wanted to do was be a gentleman farmer. he loved old house, quincy buys land he plants trees he also marries very well to serious money. he wants to be left alone and plant trees but he's in adams and now he's the oldest boy so that's not possible. so he's instructed by his father he must run for something and he runs for the state assembly and runs several times for governor but he turns really early on against reconstruction. his for black freedom but not black voting rights, not for american voting rights. and runs as democrat consistently. always loses and hopes in a republican stronghold in massachusetts. his wife was sad he lost two children including john quincy the third. it was never the same. and finally he died, physically just broken and unwell. so then charles francis senior put all apart from charles francis senior he gets more pages of my book than any other adams. this is the problem i had in writing the book was finding the balance because here is a family that is admirable in so many ways. brilliance on the right side of history, antislavery, public servants, public career but just likable and nasty and petty and quarrelsome and bad father and at one point charles francis junior writes to henry and says, nothing tells like being contemptuous. he just enjoys being difficult. he's the one who denounces his father as being cold and distant the way his father had denounced john quincy as being cold and distant. in his memoirs published charles francis junior says dad was even colder than ground grandfather. he married well he married minnie ogden and he married into money.but the virtue in his mind for many is that she was just so sweet. he goes to henry and says she will bounce me out because she's nice and i'm not. we all have those moments when we say the wrong thing to her spouse and regret it but charles francis is aware of the fact that he's a disagreeable person and he's okay with that. he sees no reason to address it and glories in nothing tells like being contemptuous. here's his claim to fame when his father goes to england he takes henry with him as his unpaid secretary and leaves charles francis back here in boston and charles francis job is to mind the family's investments. he does for a while and he is a law practice which he really dislikes and then he puts all of is harvard pals on the train and they got to the front and he goes home by himself and thinks this is just not right and then reads of the debacle at bull run. he decides he simply has to enlist and he knows his parents are against it. telling his parents he doesn't enlist in massachusetts and he writes his father and says, it simply is dishonorable for us not to serve. he says our family above all families should be in the fight. we are the first family american politics we are the first family american slavery. you are in england, henry's in england, john quincy just wants to grow trees. it's my job to go and fight. the letter arrives in london and charles francis senior response by not responding. he never writes back. he says that night in his diary, i don't know why he has done this. says we are politicians of statements, diplomats, we are not soldiers that's kind of beneath us. he said, all my hopes are in charles francis and he's going to die and then what? henry rex's brother and says, i'm on your side, just don't get killed but i will talk to mom and dad to use that never once in four years does charles francis senior right to the sun and say, i'm proud of you of your service in the calvary. so henry of course, young henry on the left goes with his father as a paid unpaid secretary. mary's there to serve as her mother's companion and she is young, she is 16, 17, 18 when she is in england and bored and lonely and it never occurs to charles francis senior to hire a companion her age or higher a tutor her age but her mother's ideas she will be the lifelong companion of the unmarried charles and later after the war spends just the age of 32 she married a cousin doctor henry quincy. and her father is thrilled to get married in the big house in quincy and the charles francis is back at this point and gives her away. her mother is so distraught because this is going to be my companion and of course mary moves five or six miles down the road. her job is to be his companion. here is young peter goes by brooks adams he can't sit still, he literally shrinks, screams, jumps around and charles says in his diary is never to go to harbor did not go well. in 1864 charles francis junior has the option of joining the first ever state black calvary unit and there is a debate over which is the first black infantry unit 54, for south carolina, he wants to make it very clear they will have the first ever u.s. black calvary unit. they offer adams of being lieutenant colonel second in demand. he's grieved not because he likes the minute his regiment he agrees because he's in adams. this is an anti-slavery effort and someone to do it. this is what i found really problematical. his father charles francis senior always acknowledged a race or awareness of race in his diary. or today i talked at this convention with ãbbut never used the n word. john quincy the second and charles francis junior use the n word like they have tourette's. he just can't use the word negro or colored and there's also most of the black guys and 54th infantry elect lewis douglas they are born free and it and calvary mostly contraband who are their masters horsemen. they got not a virginia got to do dc and is a racist view here, there's a clash issue here and frankly, adams just really dislikes the guys under his command and one of his corporals is charles douglas. the baby boy of the great black abolitionist and as far as i can tell, adams never knows that. he has no interest in talking to the men under his command including his junior officers. the one time he uses to turn black he leaves his man it is falling capital of richmond. it's literally on fire. charles writes to his father and says, what an amazing day in america that i as an adams should have led my men into the confederate capital at the end of a black regiment the one time he uses the term black. charles francis senior returns home in 1868, he carefully waited until the republican convention was over because coming back before it his hope is that he will be tapped by the secretary of state and grantor does do this tour of new england with this hilarious moment they stared each other across the table for about an hour. grant it is a dc outsider. so to choose an adams would mean he needs considerable help in his cabinet. adams would've been a great choice but he would have to say something to the president-elect but, here i am, do you need me. and he won't do that. he joined his sons and denouncing sumner and announcing reconstruction reforms to the point finally he supported children and the democrats in 18 76. by this time there is a rising tide of white vigilantism against black activists in the south black republicans in the south the former slave turned south carolina congressman 53,000 have been systematically eliminated by white democrats assassinated targeted for elimination. 33,000. it was interesting that he did it say about 50,000 uses 53,000 peacekeeping numbers. according to adams's diary, never wants to see say back republicans in the south are being shot getting on trains and disappeared in the middle the night what he does say simply is people like sumner are stretching the constitution way too far. here legality and adams was taking out humanity. fourth-generation declines after the war wandering around italy and driving a carriage way too fast outside of florence and rolls the carriage and crushes her leg and the doctors want to take it off and she refuses. henry gets there in time. saying goodbye to his sister she is buried in the english cemetery in florence. and it's uncapped and overgrown. in this one time he actually lost her gray. he fell over. so in fact the grave is about 10 feet away but this is her stone my wife has really skinny hands so you can see it says louisa adams. she dies young because of that. henry of course famously mary's marion hooper known to her mother as ãbthere's a lot about this in the book and other books and the one fourth-generation adams to give a fair amount of press. and marion is a great photographer but not a great beauty. i know that because henry writes to a friend and says i think you will like her. he said she talks a little bit too much and he says we can fix it. so note to photograph here it's impossible to find a photograph of hope are looking at the camera she does not have a portrait painted. he does not go out of his way to tell his wife that she is lovely which one should. then he thinks elizabeth sherman cameron the niece of general sherman. she's the life of the party. the belle of the ball. she walks into a room here she is on the right the voices stop, she's gorgeous. she's married to a much older senator and very unhappily and amway is just taken with her. he just mad about her. clover is a great photographer in the atlantic magazine that's gonna run a piece on george banks who's kind of hendry's wife the great american story. they want to acquire her photograph great photograph, black-and-white. smoke billowing out behind him. henry says to clover, it's fine to have a hobby. adams is don't sell things. when can sell your photograph to the atlantic. when he writes his autobiography and education of henry adams he never once mentions he has a wife for wife committed suicide. francis junior becomes a robber baron, becomes the president of the pacific railroad. and going into railroads making money in the gilded age it's hardly unusual. adams doesn't always serve the public. he served his pocketbook. he is hardly atypical for that generation but he's atypical for an adams. he spends his last year as former calvary officers led by troops. speaking all across the south, here is lee centennial. the opening line is robert lee was a great man. he we are ambulating adams advocates the confederate statue of lee in washington dc. he's not alone in being turning on construction. these guys are not usually numbered in fact, henry rex charles and says we're close friends that harvard, most of his books are still in print. when most historians are writing impressionist sort of work. adams would go to the archives in madrid paris and london they are still in print. he loses a lot of money. so who does he blame it on? jews. the last letters are filled with anti-semitic comments as charles and john quincy's are about black voters and irish voters so i will end with this and then take questions. later in life brooks is trying to figure out what the families legacy is. whose fault is it? henry rex to his brother and says, not one figure of our generation will ever be remembered. brooks writes back and says you know the prophet is his grandpa's. he was such a difficult guy but also a legacy. which is so hard to live up to. he writes of this growth and pessimism. we are appendages only. that's how he ends his career thinking he's only an appendage. he's not really a great adams. for me this is a depressing story of a great family in decline and we have time for questions. yes, sir? >>. [inaudible question] one became leader of raytheon. >> charles francis the third was actually the son of john quincy, not charles francis. he becomes hoover secretary of the navy. he is the last adams to have any sort of public career. really half of the fourth-generation the next generations or even happier to be a novelist and be not part of the larger political spectrum. we have one example such as charles francis the third who does serve well. >> are there any messages of adam's descendents still alive today? still have any profile with ã >> of course there are still adams is today. not that i've met any of them. and i'm not sure how they will take this book. but if you go to the mass historical, adams's names are still on the wall as benefactors and supporters. alcoholism runs in the family, they have two uncles who died in then it's one of john quincy the second son who dies at the age of 30. there's something in the families gene that doesn't go well with alcohol. but i've not made any attempt to seek out current members listen, i did it mean to be fair that charles francis junior and that no one forces one into a career of public service. this was america's first family that really dedicated itself to the republican to serve we the people. to walk away from the impulse says a lot about the decline of the family. >> ãbi think in that they comment a fair amount about charles francis not being very good socially in england. how do you think he overcame that? do you not agree with that? >> that is a great book. the world on fire. i wouldn't go as far as coming out of the adams are gregarious life of the party to the people. but he tries very hard, he has a permanent secretary who comes with the litigation who he inherited. he always has people over between every night for some public function and dinner and must've been amazing for henry dickens zachary comes for dinner. but a lot of important brief politicians. he is never one of these shoulder squeezing modern politicians who loved politics but he's very smart at who was on his side and who is not. he's very clear that the land and party are snooty aristocratic and against the u.s. he is not one of these kind of people who finds schmoozing something that comes naturally. he's a very smart politician and knows how to play british politics. he could tell from his diary virtually every night who is there in the litigation. >> can you talk a little bit about charles francis is almost nomination in 1872. was that something that he did or did he really try to get it? >> the questions about charles francis senior in the so-called liberal republicans and 72. the quick story there which is in the book is that 1972 a lot of ãpeople like the adams family in general really turned on grant, grant ran a very loose ship when it came to his cabinet and administration. the reformers want him gone. the plan is to have a preconvention convention and she was somebody like adams. therefore for the party split the vote and had to the democrats, force grant can step aside. adams particularly like to have the nomination and henry and charles francis junior at the convention lobbying for their father. all you have to do is say, yes i'm in. in those days they have endless convictions it used to be fun. on the first ballot he actually comes in ahead of greeley. but this is late 19th century. someone who's running for governor wants to know the person at the top of the tickets. it's really in and invested. because adams will not say at one point he writes a letter to the convention and says, essentially, if you all stand up and say, i want adams, i'm your guy, that's what it's a mistake. unanimity and despite the fact that his kids are there pushing hard for him, he won't do that so he does lose the nomination to greeley which is just absurd greeley gets crushed by grant. also the quiet back story is by 72 adams is telling the diary mentally he's not the guy he used to be. he's probably aware he's not the guy maybe was four years before. had he run independent he would've lost. black americans were all on the bandwagon because he's the one guy who slapped down on one occasion. douglas was all for grant's renomination. then he would have been replacing grant of 76. >> in looking at families of other very successful world famous people politicians business people and other fields, do you think it's really unusual that the adams family did not continue in great success? >> i think it's very typical. probably a great book to be written maybe it already exists and i just don't know about it. your dad is type a, he says gregarious as franklin roosevelt. how you follow that act is got to be tough. for an adams there's grandfather and father. i think it's probably not surprising that the president's children decide it's easier to walk away and pursue more private avenue toward success. i can imagine what kind of pressure was on them. every time there was an opening, for dogcatcher, literally massachusetts. that's gotta be really difficult to deal with. get the fourth-generation off the hook. charles francis junior can go make money and then henry can write his books. even henry is hoping according to his writings that by being in washington and being a journalist and historian someone will come to him and say, henry, you should be a senator. it's always good to come to them. the cat lobby for it. it's an ambivalence in their lives. i get what kind of pressure that would put and strain it would put on anybody. >> dear whole lives were so completely different than the founders of hambly were. their education, their experience. >> but it's like charles francis senior. he is uniquely trained to be the third president adams. there for seven years, it's hard to find anybody who would've been a better president in 1868. certainly grant was not. most americans don't leave their county in the 19th century let alone go to russia. he was uniquely trained for greatness but would never do that last like yes i want to be the nominee. >> you haven't talked about his wife. >> whose wife? >> charles francis senior the interesting dynamic, this is louisa. abby. too many abbeys in the room. henry thinks his father actually is quite brilliant and a great father unlike charles do new things his father is kind of cold and terrible person. henry doesn't like his mother abby and charles francis junior is very attached to abby and finds his father to be kind of cold and repellent. henry thinks by comparison to his grandmother that the globetrotting louisa that abby is just kind of uninteresting and unimportant. but she's a great host in london. much more vivacious than her husband. it's not a great love affair, it's not a bad one to deeply in love with each other. this is the 19th century. it just kind of the way it is. i like her. i didn't like everybody in this book. she is a better mother than charles senior is a father. let's put it that way. [applause] i'm following you. [laughter] >> here are some of the current best-selling nonfiction books, according to powell's books in portland oregon, topping the list is the death and life of the great lakes, milwaukee journal sentinel reporter dan a good look at the dangers facing america's largest lakes. that's followed by pod save america host and former obama administration official dan pfeiffer's advice for democrats in on trump america. then michelle alexander examines the history of mass incorporation in the new jim crow. wrapping up our look at some of the best-selling nonfiction books according to powell's books, is jenny odell's argument that we need to resist prioritizing productivity and technology in her book "how to do nothing". some of these authors have appeared on book tv and you can watch them online at booktv.org. booktv has covered several programs about impeachment, including that of president bill clinton. former independent counsel ken starr who is now part of president trumps impeachment defense team discussed his 2018 book contempt about the investigation into president clinton. here is a portion. >> how do we in a free society that believes in rule of law unaccountability keep the president and those around him or her honest? and if there are serious allegations of wrongdoing are we simply going to say, which is the case in some countries, excuse me, our chief executive, whoever he or she might be, is above the law. not in the united states. this part i think of the glory it's unpleasant as all get out. especially not for fund for those wrapped up in it. this is a horrible episode to go through through on a personal level we ask lots of costs but in terms of who we are as a free people and the constitutional democracy isn't it reassuring to know that truly no one is above the law. >> to access all of the c-span and book tv archives on impeachment visit our website c-span.org/impeachment. >> mark kenyon born outside of detroit michigan and raised in grand rapids introduced to the outdoors at a young age by his family grew up hunting, fishing, hiking and camping. after college he worked for google. he started the blog and podcast "wired to hunt" his writing has appeared in outdoor life, field and stream, a member of the