Good evening, everybody. My name is katie willard, and im part of the event staff here at politics and prose. Before we begin, id like to go over a few announcements. Announcements. Please type in your cellphones and other boys making devices. Not only is it courteous to the author, but we are also on cspan tonight, so you do not want to be the person whose phone goes off on cspan. Second, during the questionandanswer portion and in the interest of our video and audio recording if you could come up to the microphone over here and it is right here by the pillar that way we can all hear your questions and engage in a nice discussion afterwards. Lastly, once everything is done if you could please fold up your chairs and place them against something solid, our staff, as in me, would greatly appreciate that. Tonight im pleased to introduce jared cohen to politics and prose. The founder and ceo of jigsaw alphabet inc. As well as an adjunct senior fellow at the council of foreign relations. He is a New York Times bestselling coauthor with eric schmidt of the new digital age and hes written several books on his own including the children of jihad. One of the great lessons of american politics that i have learned is the tale of two brothers. One went off to see and one became Vice President. Neither were heard from ever again. However, in rare cases, the Vice President is not obligated to obscurity. Mainly when the previous president finds. In his newest bestselling book accidental president , he examines the legacy of these eight men, john tyler, fillmore, Andrew Johnson, Chester Arthur , Theodore Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, harry truman and lyndon johnson, who were sent to the presidency because of these unfortunate circumstances. Becoming president under the circumstances is often a thankless task. And many of these men have disappointed rather than reassured. Although several have exceeded expectations. Cohen dives into the implications of the system of succession and argues that the limited reading of the constitution, one of which Many Americans take for granted, may not be the only way to handle succession. Alter isakson, author of Leonardo Da Vinci writes jared cohen treats us to some of the most colorful and momentous episodes in our history. He reveals the historic importance of some lesserknown leaders and highlights the greatness of tr, truman and lyndon johnson. We learn why america is a resilient nation and our constitution is a living document. Lessons are very powerful for today. Please join me in welcoming jared cohen. [applause] thank you all very much for having me. I cant think of a better place to give a talk about this book then this incredible bookstore. And it is confusing to them. Its confusing to anybody i had book that had a page for each president trying to transform into a. one precocious child they didnt think that have to have a different conversations about death. Now they had to explain why mckinley was in this picture. So as an eight yearold dealing with topics like death and the fascination my parents didnt figure out what they had gotten themselves into. When oliver stone came out with his film in 1992 about the kennedy assassination i decided i. C. E. All on i decided i would solve it. I put pictures and xerox copies all over the wall with thumbtacks and yarn and wild conspiracy theories that i remember so that collecting and memorabilia and a strange sub collection and president ial locks of hair until you see it. Then it is fascinating but it has been a passion of mine. This has been an interest my entire life. I spent all day about innovation in the future and when my wife was pregnant with our oldest daughter who was five years old i needed a nesting project so i will resurrect this childhood interest about the times president died in office and the office was transformed so it really resonates on so many Different Levels because we are at a time people is looking at Leadership Qualities a fascination with history but it is anchored around those transitions every ten or 20 years most people are familiar with one or two president s at office most people are surprised there are eight. I wont give you all of them i have to leave you incentive to buy the book but the very first time it happened to share the biggest catastrophe who i think was the biggest and most unexpected success and talk you through those close calls after those eight there were 19 others that nearly died in office there were 86 of those a descendent of the presidency upon the death of their predecessor also mostly died through assassination attempts. I wanted to wet your appetite. But go to the framers of the constitution they view the vice presidency as the electoral mechanism. They had given a little bit of thought to president ial succession look at article two in the event of death or inability to discharge duties the same shall devolve of the Vice President. The case of a vacancy and to discharge those duties it is not clear if it becomes the president. 1840, the famous catchphrase tippecanoe and tyler to a general pushed into the white house. They are so happy they finally god president he dies 30 days later but it was proven likely they were responsible for his death in the white house and also zachary taylors death but we will save that. So john tyler was thrown on the ticket although basically a democrat because they needed someone to talk about states rights skipped out because he is prepared to accept the reality of how irrelevant the vice presidency is. Messenger shows up delivering a telegram the president is dead john tyler understands what is about to ensue because he interprets the constitution he is now the president and the cabinet may disagree in congress will disagree so he writes back for a horse and carriage and boat and training gets into a fight with a cabinet spending the first three months of the presidency arguing with congress if he is the acting president or the president and ultimately he wins the bought one battle people addressing him as Vice President he returned unopened or as acting president he also returned unopened. But he said that president. Interesting you dont have a mechanism to replace the Vice President of the United States until the 25th amendment is ratified. John tyler it was set the precedent carrying through lbj who becomes president on the death of jfk based on the president of john tyler 1841. We have never had a situation the president has died in office and the 25th amendment has made him president that only is happening during nixon and ford somebody will say why i didnt include them separately and at some point i will answer that question. The reason the vacancy and vice presidency are important because john tyler is a disaster for the whig party hes basically a democrat does not subscribe to the wig agenda at all. Like most of the accidental president s coming after him he has a different set of policy views of his predecessor taking the company in a different direction and then to be completely ostracized who have no relationship with the predecessor and didnt have a good sense of what was happening now for him its only 30 days. So tyler as he subverts that wig agenda is excommunicated from the whig party and then to take john tyler out of the party the first accidental president is a president without a party. Like he like all accidental president s is determined not to be an accident and i have to win the election in my own right so the only path is he cant run is a win again the democrats dont want him anyway they are mad at him for running as a way to change the political discourse. If we look at the impulsiveness and erratic behavior, i remind you john tyler decided to covertly annex texas which brought us one step closer to the civil war. Going back to the vacancy and vice presidency on februar febrh 1944 sailing on the potomac on the uss princeton on board the stateoftheart nautical wonder and the fact he was on the verge of the texas annexation and they fire the stateoftheart done in tribute to the great George Washington and it explodes killing secretary of state, secretary of navy, multiple ambassadors and ministers and john tylers favorite slave whose mother was compensated 200, number of senators and members of congress it wouldve killed john tyler had he not been downstairs flirting with a woman half his age he was desperately in love with that more interested in the captain side. They came up to the deck her name was Julia Gardner and saw among the dead was her father new york state senator laying on the ground she fades into his arms she wakes up and doesnt realize the president is carrying her and you read about this in a letter that she later writes, john tyler rate rights if not on the gangplank they wouldve died a second time then they have eight Children Together on top of the seven he already had and then born during the administration of George Washington has two grandsons still alive one of 15 father the child in his seventies then that child fathered two children in his seventies who are now in their mid nineties that is the story of tylers offspring fun facts use it at a cocktail party. [laughter] had he died in an explosion or falling off the gangplank the nations first accidental president would have been dead. I believe very strongly the tyler precedent already controversial and hotly contested would have been very unlikely to hold. Andrew johnson, fillmore, Chester Arthur, roosevelt, coolidg arthur, roosevelt, coolidge, trn and johnson very well could have ascended to the role of acting president instead of president. So thats the story of the first accidental president and what happened. And to juxtapose of what i think is the biggest success story. Im almost tempted to say despite the fact weighing president ial succession and that the Founding Fathers gave us the guide were nothing close to a blueprint, we navigated through pretty well and got pretty luck lucky, it is a remarkable story except for the fact when Abraham Lincoln dies, we were supposed to get the vision of reconstruction instead John Wilkes Booth gives us Andrew Johnson born and raised a racist and i racist the last president to own slaves did not emancipate his own until seven months after the emancipation proclamation and as president resurrecting almost every old element of the confederacy paving the way for the jim crow laws which gave us segregation. If i look post civil war america, that can be described as the story of two president ial assassinations beginning with Abraham Lincoln ending with garfield. When i set out to ride a chapter about lincoln and Andrew Johnson you think what could i write the scholars have not at this moment in history . And then to vindicate the one stain on the record a heartbeat away from the presidency. He did not choose a running mate back then this was so important lincoln was so certain he would lose the election that he engaged in a massive intrigue outside of his circle to move Hannibal Hamlin off the ticket and replace him with johnson. If you look at who Andrew Johnson was 1864 verses later as president , it is a remarkable contrast and you feel some degree of empathy for lincoln making such a bad decision because johnson at the time was the poorest man ever to rise to the presidency owing everything he had to the union despite his racist sentiments and believes he cared more about the union than anything else when the first shots were fired on fort sumter all he cared about was breaking the confederacy to reunite the union the best way was to punish every trader in brutal fashion and force civil rights upon them. Johnson on the only southern senator to stay loyal to the union. Gives up the bombproof seat to take up a job as a military governor and in 1864 hes more forward leaning than even lincoln even more aggressive than lincoln, and so feared by the south because he seems like such a radical republican like war democrat on a border state its the south is so much more terrified of johnson as president than lincoln and when Jefferson Davis is accused of plotting to kill Abraham Lincoln he reminds people that would be insane because anybody would know that would be a far worse situation for the south. Andrew johnson has the worst debut of any president in history he completely hammered while being sworn in to give his inaugural address he spoke for 30 seconds maybe one minute then put his hand on the bible to be sworn in. It turned into a 17 minute drunken tirade he criticizes every member of the cabinet pauses when he cannot remember the name of the secretary of navy. Abraham lincoln had his head buried in his hands and proceeds to slobber all over the bible and too drunk to swear in the new center so asked the intern to do it. [laughter] im not sure legally you can do that. Abraham lincoln walk sidebyside with him arguably one of the best speeches of his career and points out Frederick Douglass the most famous ex slave in the country and douglas of the autobiography describes a man glazed over stumbling with hatred and describing a drunk person but doesnt realize johnson is drunk but he comes to the conclusion he is no friend of my race that we should think the heavens hes not president but then six weeks later lincoln is kill johnson becomes president and his views are not transformed when he becomes president but when the civil war is over and all of a sudden the best thing from his perspective is to get the southern elected officials we integrated back into congress let the states deal with civil rights of he goes back to those tactics what is interesting about johnson is the plot that kills not just lincoln but johnson and seward and others, the first time the cabinet sees johnson after the drunken tirade and he is told by one of the cabinet members hes making Mary Todd Lincoln uncomfortable and by all accounts he should be treated as president at that moment and the reason i say that is not until the controversial election of 76 to have an end to reconstructio reconstruction. Thats really when you start to get jim crow in active segregation laws. Then fast forward to the convention of 1880 and a dual for the nonconsecutive third term. All the delegates just get tired and then somebody shouts out garfields name and as the campaign chief running third or fourth in the delegate count and there is momentum that builds and gets the nomination and says i protest. How can you give the nomination to a man who does not see get . He ends up with it anyway. Man who embodies all of the spoils of Chester Arthur but garfield was a man who is completely detached from Party Politics was born in a log cabin with runaway slaves and his issues were universal education and coverage and the creation of a modern Civil Servant we were supposed to get that vision three months into the presidency and writes in the letter of declaration that he killed garfield so arthur could be president and expected to be rewarded. Obviously that did not happen. Arthur and sapp having a respectable presidency because the mentally ill woman on the Upper East Side is now trolling him and that there is still hope for him to describe him and manners that is reminiscent of the worst characters gets in the president ial carriage and shows up on the Upper East Side that you control the president and the president might show up at the house. So it has a profound impact and it is a reason who has the system ends up finding the pendleton act that is the modern day civil service. And then those documents and that was embarrassed to tell people they didnt work so they would create a facade of important stuff going on. And didnt push for the civil rights agenda. And the one that is the biggest success is harry truman, in 1944 all the Democratic Party bosses new he was a dying man. And with Henry Wallace the incumbent Vice President because he was too liberal or a soviet sympathizer or both and then to take a provincial politician from missouri, who hadnt thought much about the world, a machine character on the ticket without thinking he could govern but to make sure he was not on the ticket. Fdr did not care and prevent him from winning the election. Deep down he knew he would die but it was a question of the timeline. He thought he could power through the war if and before his term to be the first secretary general of the united nations. Eightytwo days as Vice President meets with fdr twice doesnt get a single intelligence briefing he is not briefed on the atomic bomb and basically out april 12, 1945 taking the last breath truman inherits one of the most overwhelming portfolios of any president in history with less preparation. The battle of okinawa is at its height the fiercest military the battle of all time and briefed on the Manhattan Project and what we can do with this destructive weapon that may or may not work. Stalin is reneging on his promises from your one malt malta. He doesnt know where the countries are on the map he spent the first few days in the map room. Then to deal with the reality he may have to move the million men and a massive bureaucratic battle that threatens the war effort and in the first four months the most important decisions in the history of our republic to shape the postwar order and with truman stepping up to the job and George Marshall being successful so there is not enough time nor do they have the luxury to act on the grief and the shock that truman is president. Truman also has to listen. Fillmore takes the oath of office and immediately fires the entire cabinet and then the cabinet heads for some time. So thats not the first time. When they told truman to focus on europe so now we will move to questions shortly but i found myself overwhelmingly frustrated because i dont understand what those president ial succession and with any degree of seriousness. It takes three president s to be assassinated that we decide its a good idea to protect the president we usually let the white house be overrun with Office Seekers and people who may or may not be mentally ill. Anybody had access to the president. Even by the time we protect the president , is not professionally they use that as a patronage opportunity for their buddies from home. If i was a target i went my buddies from hold protecting me. They like me but were not take a bullet for me. The very first close call was madison who was on his deathbed as president and Dolly Madison catches wind they are beginning proceedings and what to do in the senate with Vice President gary and she writes a note exaggerating her husbands recovery. He actually does but he was instrumental to write the constitution and nobody bothers to ask him what did you mean when you said the same shall devolve on the Vice President . Then jackson shot at pointblank by a man who believes he is the king of england. The gun is literally touching him at 125,000 chance of malfunctioning then realizes it doesnt work and then beats the assailant with his cane. They were still alive and nobody asked what do they mean to devolve to the Vice President so by the time harrison drops dead 1841 the last Founding Member has been dead for years and there is nobody to ask. I have to go after close call after close call maybe three of my favorite stories i will tell you, and what the constitution said in 1865 and said if there is a double vacancy then the president pro tempore it acts as an acting president and the secretary of state has the Constitutional Authority to make that happen lincoln shot johnson what have been murdered had he decided not to get drunk at a bar nearby. Another conspiracy went to kill William Seward who is secretary of state. He was in his meeting and stops him repeatedly so he almost die dies. So what happens there is no secretary of state . Shockingly the president on the constitution is clear because then it is the assistant secretary that is the son of William Seward who was nearly bludgeoned to death by the handle of the gun and the knife on the assassins way into his bedroom to stab him. So had the conspiracy come to fruition and with that assistant secretary of state with the Constitutional Authority to make the acting president. And those two interesting close calls. And then in the first of the new deal or as president elect and in that private yacht the first as president elect in miami and sitting on the dock of a buick to delivers a speech and the italian immigrant fires five shots and 15 seconds they would have had fdr but a 100pound woman was standing right next to the assailant saw him pull out the 32 caliber moved her purse from one arm to another and messed his gun with enough force so the billets killed four people including the mayor of chicago but it spared fdrs life to save the new deal. More remarkably the president elect dies in office the 20th amendment was ratified nineties before. It says if there is a vacancy in the president elect the Vice President elect takes the oath of office on inauguration day. So now the last close call so now we remember the kennedy assassination but how many know he was nearly killed by a suicide bomber before he took oath of office . Shockingly none of you. A disgruntled postal worker stuffed is buick with enough dynamite to blow up an entire city block outside of kennedys home of West Palm Beach and was ready bad then he caught a glimpse of johnjohn standing right next to kennedy and decided he would do it later. He follows kennedy to church the next day fills up the same amount of dynamite and standing 4 feet from jfk with his hand in his pocket on the trigger had he done that he will blown of himself, kennedy but he caught a glimpse of the two children and decided he would wait another day. The book is filled with these crazy stories and those that almost died and then youre left with the feeling of deep melancholy. But to feel optimistic that the history is pretty crazy and and those are anchored around history and look at how nasty is Congress Today in 1851 senator pulled a gun on another and tried to shoot him. Today they call each other lyres it doesnt get much worse than that. But that doesnt compare to what we saw in the 18 fifties so i saw you saw the example of the constitutional crisis looking at president ial succession one of those vulnerabilities we have had in the republic is not like everybody else looking with concern but it is helpful to get a good dose of history. I just love the last five and half years spending my day focused on the future and innovation and all of my evenings digging into the past is so exciting you get really obsessed i got stuck on the garfield to arthur chapter so her middle name is garfield. [laughter] with that i will take your questions. [applause]. Why did the Supreme Court get more involved at any point prior to the point when that makes things clear . And with that constitutional interpretation, why is that . Thats a great question. In the case of tyler they tried to seek out the insides of the chief justice but he hated henry clay and tyler. He didnt want to get involved because he would make one of his enemies happy one way or another so he abdicated for responsibility. It is in the book. [laughter] if the constitution was clear the duties and powers of the president of all to the Vice President , can you spin out what is at stake of the acting president if he has all the same powers . I understand there is a different image but do people perceive that is different. I can answer this why it is so important no others had to grapple with that. Wasnt an issue from when tailored on tyler died in office so what that means is people accepted tyler even just a ten year period. Having read what tyler was thinking at the time so the conclusion i came to was twofol twofold, the first is it doesnt position you very well to be the incumbent in the likely person to win the next election and then become obsessed with winning the election in their own right so the idea to be a president or acting president put you in a different position on position for the election of 1844 but it talks about special elections and tyler was worried if he accepted the reality to be acting president and the assumption is the election would be called the following november. Everybody should always take the tour around the Lafayette Square with the events of april 1865. Is is still true nobody has ever served two terms as Vice President and be elected president . George h. W. Bush served two terms as Vice President and was elected. So thats the one and also Martin Van Buren served as Vice President before. But that is not a path to the presidency throughout history. You refer to lafayette as a foster but the president pro tem but there is a after ascending a month to the presidency is on his deathbed and the president pro tem is out west to make nice with those native americans and says mr. President you need to rush back to washington the president is dying so they telegram again and said if you will not come back to washington we need you to stay here at the telegraph office. That happened but that was Theodore Roosevelt and his own right. Did you agree with that . I argue of all the accidental president s Theodore Roosevelt is the only one that would be president anyway. At least in the history that i write about is because it is available or with a constituency or as punishment with roosevelt it was punishment he was a complete pain in the whatever so they think they are in the political equivalent of the 1900 election now the Vice President dies in office so there is a vacancy so what is interesting about hobart one of the only Vice President s in history that enjoys that relationship with the president because he did a lot of his financial planning. [laughter] and it turns out having your Financial Planner as your Vice President is convenient. But in the case of Teddy Roosevelt that first reference i can find about heartbeat away from the presidency comes from arcana the most trusted confidant and when Teddy Roosevelt ends up the only one is Teddy Roosevelt as a delegate arcana says the only responsibility in the next four years is to live and of course he is shot and killed in september 19 oh one so never i talk about accidental presidency people say that the Teddy Roosevelt story to penetrate the skin and then declare im an expert taxidermist and then gives a speech and goes to the hospital but was not president when that happened that is what he came back with the run of the bull moose to torpedo William Howard taft as the republican president but he does nearly die an Office Almost one year to the day after he ascends to the presidency, he is campaigning for them in terms and the trolley slams into the carriage it kills his driver and bodyguard, and it wouldve killed Teddy Roosevelt as well but for a few inches of luck. He flies 30 feet, lands facedown glasses are broken , he has to get emergency surgery but not before threatening the driver all of the trolley and ends up in a wheelchair for six weeks so roosevelt is the first one to be wheelchairbound while president , not fdr. This week biden just declared he is running for president what are the chances . I am not a pollster there is no upside to make predictions also if you make them far enough in advance you have the luxury of everybody forgetting you are wrong and then you can remind people you are a genius if you are right but one year is not enough time to do that. But when the longest period of time without a president dying in office the previous was washington to harrison so we have the oldest president in the history of the republic and two of the serious contenders on the democratic side are in their seventies but yet we are still treating the Vice President like a political gimmick. So the danger of how we think of the vice presidency is the seriousness of which we choose Vice President is obfuscated whether you like them or not is capable so we dont pay a lot of attention so we look no further back than sarah palin and then we literally learned it is a terrible idea to let kennedy to they choose to run with it says im against the ropes any ten points in the poll in this chapter of the campaign which should have nothing to do whether or somebody can read in a crisis or not. I do not believe he would have truman as vp and not tell him about the Manhattan Project. Roosevelt didnt think of the Vice President. He was either in warm springs georgia or traveling. I did the interviews that i could but was people were dead but his stories are very useful from his grandfather about tyler but i asked h. W. Bush and kissinger, cheney , they all have the same comment about the vice presidency. I ask in the context of fdr and this why word you lost the person who is most likely to benefit from your death . He didnt want to set eyes on truman if you know you are dying you dont want to look at the guy whos about to take over for you. You said you would tell us about nixon and ford, please do. If i am a revisionist to be funny i would say i got tired and didnt want to do an extra chapter. When i was captivated my entire life was the idea how is somebody who is not the voters choice how do they lead something that is not theirs so the idea of death in office comes in the sense of the private old to deprive the voters of what they chose and whoever ascends to the presidency has to deal with the reality of the country in morning they have the obligation to continue and to pay homage to the policies where if you look at nixon resigning in disgrace. It really feels different so to me i talk about in the context of the discussion of the 25th amendment. The first time its put into practice when Richard Nixon plus ford from michigan would replace agnew as Vice President. And arent we glad he did because it was certainly needed. The interesting things you would think the 25th amendment would have been put into practice when reagan was shot in 1981 but it wasnt the james baker and others did not want to set the president to make a determination that the president was unfit for office at the cabinet level. That would not be reflected back with Woodrow Wilson and his stroke but i wonder if its at the back of his mind and is the First Time Ever due to the inability to discharge their duties like time per in on put into practice is for a colonoscopy. [laughter] seriously. One more story about forward. Deputy chief of staff for gerald ford so cheney told be ford had to assassination attempts in 35 days. So the next wake they will week they fired at pointblank and the gun malfunctioned them 35 days later giving a speech outside of a hotel he comes down the elevator its one that opens vertically instead of horizontally and cheney talks about how that hit ford on the top of the head cracked open his goal and went back upstairs to get stitches came back down and then shots were fired. Luckily a secret Service Agent caught his finger between the assassination and the trigger that prevented her from killing but it was described as a really bad day for the president. [laughter] this is apropos of the question of what you just said about forward, what is the process for the selection or appointment of the Vice President of the accidental president . We also know and it up with Nelson Rockefeller as Vice President which is the accidental Vice President so once the elected Vice President ascends to the presidency what is the process for a new Vice President to be elected . The same it is no different the 25th amendment says the president of the United States can pick somebody they can nominate and then go through the approval process is the same process whether it is the accidental president ease lot on as long as post the 25th amendment so that Selection Process is the same as if there was a president who became president based on the ballot box. Other questions . Or i could tell more stories. They really are endlessly incredible. My favorite from the book , most of the president s are those accidental president s never really spent much time thinking about it expected to be relevant roosevelt spent his entire life being president so when he finds out mckinley died he can hardly contain his enthusiasm for the idea to be president but he is conflicted he says that the terrible thing to come into the presidency this way but it would be far worse to be morbid about it. [laughter] im thinking truman is in this category but where did the Vice President actually is politically aligned and a continuation of the policies . Because you made the point for their differences, any of the others they try to fulfill the aspirations . The perfect example is Calvin Coolidge and this is interesting because harding and coolidge have the most comparisons with the present day moment. Look at Warren Harding the most scandalous administration in history the teapot dome scandal, and oil scandal, Veterans Bureau and then the attorney general Justice Department conflicting everything from bootleggin bootlegging, stock manipulation, suicides and murders and a nasty Justice Department and corrupt attorney general. Calvin coolidge is still the only accidental president to ascend with less than a year to go. The election of 1924. Knowing what the Harding Administration was all about and the republicans would lose in 1924 the powers handed over to the democrats. He has a very self reflective moment to recognize he is borin boring. There are many stories of his significance my favorite is hes at the hotel and the hotel is on fire he is told you need to evacuate he said im the Vice President and then they say you can stay. [laughter] then they turn around Vice President of what and he says the United States and they said no you have to evacuate we thought you meant of the hotel. So coolidge developed a strategy he takes the truth to be boring and insignificant to cultivate an image of silent cal so boring he cannot possibly have been relevant enough to be conflicted in any scandal and it works. He has more engaged with the public than any before him because the advent of broadcast radio and goes into peoples living rooms in a way nobody has before. Im not sure he even needed to do that because the economy was booming that americans were economically drunk on the idea that Consumer Products and good Economic Times they didnt care so much of the president was Warren Harding or coolidge or hoover and tell the economy completely crumbled. So to the extent you have a Vice President continue business as usual coolidge is probably the closest example. I am curious with your research which Vice President s exercise the undue influence on policy such that the president might as well have been absent . Teddy roosevelt was the most annoying of all Vice President s nobody could control him mckinley couldnt control him as secretary of state nobody occurred as Vice President there is a great story of assistant secretary of the navy to go on a six hour break like a spot treatment and is so worried what Teddy Roosevelt might do in six hours he instructs him not to take the country to war. [laughter] for his getting back treatment Teddy Roosevelt basically mobilizes the country for war in six hours. [laughter] but what is interesting is beginning with Teddy Roosevelt every one of the accidental president s are elected on their own right. Then you have way more reelections as president from post 1900 than you did before. I contribute a lot of that to foreignpolicy plays a more pronounced role the president exerts an enormous amount of influence. And the Vice President exerted the most amount of influence and they have played pronounced foreignpolicy rules. Tell another story. [laughter] will have to pull from the reservoir. I will share the personal writing process it is tricky because i had a day job but i really wanted to do this in a way to get my hands on archival research. Every time i went to write a new chapter i went to the same emotional period of volatility to do be determined i couldnt do it, nothing new to write and challenge was daunting so i decided to approach each chapter like a play so reading these assessments of their personality and read their letters and get in their head and it was a disturbing experience. But when you counter disagreement, if you can get yourself to imagine what it would be like to be that particular person to maybe for an opinion and then for the duration of writing it. Andrew johnson was one of the hardest president s to be impeached. They tried several times. Why was so congress so reluctant to impeach him . Thats a great question and ultimately he does get impeach but whats interesting about Andrew Johnson people talk about what a catastrophe he was they point to the fact he was impeached. Theres many reasons to critique Andrew Johnson but the irony is that he was impeached for violation of the tenure of office act later deemed unconstitutional i think he trivialized it when we focus on impeachment said we should focus on when he talks about North Carolina statehood he gives amnesty to every single trainer allowing the Vice President to be reelected in congress. Those of the reasons to criticize the impeachment has been used historically as a political tool. The only time you have serious impeachment proceedings if they were allowed to play out was the impeachment of the president was nixon without a political flavor and against john tyler and they are totally politically motivated and they are by radical republicans when johnson ascended to the presidency thought it was one of them with all the rhetoric on civil rights when the war ended they found out he was nothing like them. So they basically try to get him on a technicality. The difficulty to impeach him in some respects reflected a lack of comfort in the house of representatives at the time of the idea that impeachment takes on a political flavor. Of course he is a narrowly escapes conviction by a single vote. With lbj, he is one you write and think to yourself what on earth can i write that robert caro has not written . [laughter] this is what is amazing about history there is plenty to capture and write about there is still a lot of unsolved mr. Ring one mysteries with reconstruction of history , with lbj i focused i really believed he was either going to have to resign as Vice President or be kicked off the week after. And then aid of his in the senate was part of the investigation and tom brokaw with that old cbs in time life had the goods with the full dossier and ready to go public and when kennedy was assassinated and then to put it back in the box and this is important because they were through a dramatic transition to have a situation a scandal breaks and at the height of the cold war the new president of the United States has to resign. There is no 25th amendment so no provision so for replacing c would have gone to the speaker of the house as acting president and had to schedule a special election. So this is an interesting ethical debate. I should know the name but i dont so the country had been through this dramatic transition and also word is fascinating how kennedy hated lbj but it was clear to the kennedys taking the final trip to texas that he didnt have this way and texas they thought he did even if he wasnt willing to resign you can speculate they would find a way to rotate him off the ticket now the conventional wisdom is that you dont get Civil Rights Act of 64 if not elected but then you also dont get vietnam i dont subscribe to that of you i do not think he wouldve gotten the Civil Rights Act of 1964 i think kennedy prepared to Pay Lip Service but they were not prepared to take that electoral risk. Its hard to speculate after if they had even won reelection and thats a big if. But with vietnam the guardians of kennedys reputation have reconstructed a narrative that correctly saddles lbj with far too much responsibility he doubles the and then with that tacit support and often times people will point to the advisers coming home which was later proven to be part of normal troop rotation. I dont think kennedy was predisposed to go down the same as lbj but everybody was scared and they may have found themselves going down the same slippery slope. People i interviewed are incredibly divided maybe yes maybe you know that my personal view is there would have been some form of escalation under kennedy as well. Could you comment on cheney Vice President see . If you look at dick cheneys background, one of the most extraordinary records of any man who ever ascended to the vice presidency. His before and after Vice President is a very different narrative. No doubt he was one of the most influential Vice President s in history, particularly in the first term but then you see those limits by evaluating the second term as vp. Thank you. [applause] we have copies of the book available at the register. Please fold up your chairs. Thank you. [inaudible conversations] ideologies of father and son president s john adams and john quincy adams. Thank you. Welcome, everyone. Good afternoon. I am president of the Massachusetts Historical Society and im so happy you could be with us today as we welcome the two celebrated historians as they present their books the problem with democracy president adams confronts the personality. As many of you here in the room no its hto