Thank you. I wouldnt see us surprised to move some bestsellers on the needle today. It is important to keep the book festival a free event that serves the community. The library of congress and the book festivals real purpose is literacy which leads to learning an opportunity, which matches our goal of helping our community succeed. Learning to love books and learning to Love Learning are what the book festival is all about. In this session, ron chernow will discuss his biography of ulysses s. Grant. If we are lucky, certain other popular founding fathers. One thing i learned from this story of president grant was how people can evolve through persistence and hard work. Acknowledge and overcome their imperfections. An incredible story that reminded me a person of good will can learn from their mistakes and reach their potential. I hope you enjoy this session. It is my privilege to introduce the Deputy Director of national, International Outreach and our session moderator, colleen. [applause] thank you. Welcome to the 18th annual National Book festival. I am pleased to be joined on stage by ron chernow. Ron is an awardwinning journalist, historian, biographer. He has won the Pulitzer Prize for biography and the National Book award for nonfiction. In 2015, he won the National Humanities medal. His book on Alexander Hamilton with the inspiration for the awardwinning musical for which he worked as a historical consultant. We are honored to have you here today at the book festival. [applause] it is worth noting that our cochair of the festival, mr. David rubenstein, was due to conduct this interview but because of senator mccains funeral, he was unable to do so. I just happen to be a big admirer of ulysses s. Grant. I think we are going to have a fantastic time here today. Before we talk about grants, we need to ask a question about Alexander Hamilton. How could we not . So, when Linmanuel Miranda first approached you and said he wanted to create a hiphop musical based upon your book, what was your reaction . Did you ever think it would become a cultural phenomenon . Mr. Chernow very often, people say to me when you were writing that biography, did you have any idea it would be turned into a hiphop musical . I always think to myself, i think the question answers itself. [laughter] when i first met Linmanuel Miranda back in 2008, lin was still starring in his first musical, in the height. He asked me on the spot to be the historical advisor to the show. I say, you want me to tell you when something is wrong . He said with great fervor, yes, i want a historian to take this seriously. That was music to my ears. I was a little bit skeptical but i was quite intrigued. I thought nothing could be more delightful than to watch the evolution of a broadway musical. I am a lifelong theatergoer. He offered to be on the other side of the lights and it was irresistible. It turned out to be a rocket ride far greater than i could have anticipated. You have certainly written the definitive biography of grant. I have to start with a key question. It has a good story to add. Who is buried in grants tomb . Mr. Chernow when i first started working on the book in 2011, i found that approximately half the people that i was working on that shot back who is buried in grants tomb . I got very interested in the origin of this. I traced it back to groucho marx. You can trace everything back to groucho marx. He had a quiz show in the 1950s 1950s called you bet your life. He was dismayed that so many of the contestants could not answer a single question. He decided he would ask every contestant a question that they could answer. That question was, who is buried in grants tomb . To his astonishment, half of the guests got it wrong. Such is the staying power of the greatest comedian that the line has become a part of the popular culture. What started the beginning with grant . Where was he born . What was his family like . Mr. Chernow he was born in ohio. He grew up in a series of small towns in southwestern ohio, near cincinnati. Point pleasant was right on the ohio river. The significance of that was it separated the free state of ohio from the slave running state of kentucky. Ohio would freeze over and fugitive slaves would run to freedom. Very important in terms of thinking that grant grew up really straddling the world of both the north and south. He came from a fairly welltodo family. His father was mayor of one of those three towns. His father was really the bane of his life. His father was really pushy and domineering. Greg went to west point because he wanted to no, he did not. His father wanted him to. His father saw west point as a free form of rotational education. How did he do at west point . Mr. Chernow fairly well. His performance was lackluster. He was 21st in the class of 39. There was already considerable attrition before that. He became famous for two things at the academy. He was probably the best swordsman of his generation. He established a high jumping record on a horse. He managed to clear a record that was not equaled for many decades at the academy. He was also very good at drawing. This may seem insignificant, but cadets were taught drawing because they thought it was important for generals to be able to draw maps during battle. Grant was very good at drawing. During the civil war, he had the uncanny ability to visualize the battlefield. It all comes from this very visual sense he had that was first reflected in his capacity to draw. After west point, he has a number of assignments and ends up as a quartermaster in the mexican war. Light is his service as a quartermaster turn out to be important . Mr. Chernow very important because being a quartermaster in mexico gave grant a nuts and bolts knowledge of logistics. Looking ahead to the civil war, grant would be in charge of four or five different armies stretched across a 1300 mile front. Grants mastery of the logistics and railroad and telegraph enabled him to supervise these mass armies. Really importantly, as quartermaster, grant was not obligated to actually fight. He could have stayed behind the lines but he made a point of volunteering to fight in every single combat that his troops were involved in. That is real courage, that is real patriotism. After the mexican war, he marries julia dent. What was she like and what was her family like . Mr. Chernow grant comes from an abolitionist family and ohio. Then he marries into a slave owning family. The colonel becomes the bane of his life, very hard on grant. Julia was very outgoing and vivacious. Julie always had a vision of grants future that sometimes did not have himself. During the 1850s, he is trying and failing to establish himself as a farmer in st. Louis. He fails at a real estate venture. Julia has a dream one night. She dreams that her husband becomes president of the united states. When she tells her friends and family about this dream, everyone laughs. Nothing could seem preposterous. This meant a struggling to support a wife and four children. Julia knew. You spend a fair amount in the book talking about his struggle with alcohol. What did you conclude . Did he have a problem with drinking . What evidence did you use to draw those conclusions . Mr. Chernow historically, the debate always has been, was he a drunkard or not . That is a loaded, moralistic term. It implies a person who was dissipated and irresponsible and indulging this vice i tried to approach it through a more enlightened attitude. He was an alcoholic. I say that because he could never have just one drink. I say that because even one glass of alcohol changed his personality. This was something he struggled against his entire life. He was a member of a Temperance Lodge when he was in his 20s. The reason why there was so much difficulty previous writers had with his drinking, he was a binge drinker. He could go for two or three month without touching a glass of alcohol. He would then have two or three day benders that people exposed to him would not actually see him during that. It is a problem he struggles with. By the time he becomes president , it is largely conquered. It is certainly a problem that bedeviled him throughout the civil war. That causes him to leave the military. It precipitates an exit from the military. Mr. Chernow in 1854, he was assigned to very bleak lonely garrisons. He cannot afford to bring his wife and children. He was lonely, he was depressed. He starts drinking. In 1854, he shows up one day drunk and is drummed out of the service. It was very significant because the Peacetime Army was very small. There was an active rumor mill. All of the stories, grants history of drinking will follow him into the civil war. It will very much color how people see him. I think were it not for that history in all of the stories about brents drinking, Abraham Lincoln may have well brought grant sooner in the ward to act as general in chief. Now grant is a civilian. You have a poignant description of him. He ends up on the streets of st. Louis selling firewood to support his family. How does that happen . Mr. Chernow he tried making it as a farmer. He was very industrious. But he did not make a go of it. He ends up taking firewood 10 miles into st. Louis and he actually walks beside the wagon. People who saw him in those days selling firewood on the street corners of st. Louis said he was bearded, disheveled, unkemptlooking. One of his Old Army Buddies ran into him on the street and was really shocked by his unkempt appearance. He said, what are you doing . His response was very poignant. He said i am solving the problem of poverty. He was so poor at that point, that when christmassy had to pawn his watch to buy a Christmas Present for his family, circa 1857. Civil war breaks out 1861. And then something happens, fort sumter. You write in your book grant eventually joins the voluntary infantry illinois and then took a position in the union army. You wrote that a change overcomes grant. Mr. Chernow when the civil war breaks out, there was a desperate shortage of officers. A third of the Army Officers were from the south so many of them defected to the confederacy. There was a crying need for trained people. Grant still had all of that west point stored in his mind. He fought with great distinction in the mexican war. He had been assigned to four different frontier garrisons before the civil war. So, his efficiency and his military knowledge immediately comes to the fore. Grants rise gives new meaning to the term meteoric. Two months after the outbreak of the civil war, he is a colonel. Four months after, hes a brigadier general. 12 months after the outbreak of the civil war, he is a major general. By the end of the civil war, this man who was working as a clerk and his fathers store back in 1860, the man who seemed like a certifiable failure in life is general chief of the union army with one million soldiers under his command. Far and away the Largest Military establish in the country until that time. He had some early victories that catches the eye of lincoln, right . Mr. Chernow absolutely. There is a disproportionate focus on virginia. It seems like the confederacy is winning battle after battle. If you look at what is happening in the western theater, grant was winning one victory after another. In early 1862, he has twin battles although in the northwest corner of tennessee. Fort henry and donaldson. They were significant fort henry was on the tennessee river, for donaldson on another. Those two rivers penetrated deep into the confederacy, particularly grants victory at fort dalton was one of three times he captured an entirely federal army. It also granted a new nickname for grant because the general inside the fort was buckner who wanted to send a message. He wanted commissioners appointed to negotiate a truce and grant said no terms except unconditional immediate surrender. That line, it became unconditional surrender. It was the first largescale victory of the war for the north. In late 1862, he issued general order number 11 which expels from the south because he believes there engaged an illegal cotton ring. Was grant antisemitic or did he regret it . Mr. Chernow he regretted it almost as soon as he issued it. He said it was atrocious and inexcusable. People know that piece of the story. What they dont know is grant spent the rest of his life atoning for that action. As president , he appointed more jews in Public Office than any other of the 19th century president s combined. He became the first president to speak out on human rights abuses. It was because of persecution of the jews, one time in russia and one time in poland. During the last year of his second term, he was invited to a dedication of a synagogue. Very tiny synagogue. Grant went with his son and a u. S. Senator. It was a three hour ceremony. Probably had 40 or 50 people. One hour into the dedication of this synagogue, the elders of the synagogue went over to grant and said, mr. President , we are very touched you would come to this humble function. You can leave now. Grant insisted on staying the full three hours. Reached into his pocket, gave a donation to the synagogue. It was one of the pleasurable Things Writing about him. He was not a prejudiced man. He was not a man full of hatred. You can read statements on native americans. You dont see that in grants papers at all. This was something that was very out of character for him. He apologized and atone for it the rest of his life. And number of other successes. More manpower and resources. And then he has the victory at vicksburg. What is vicksburg so impressive . It was really a daring capture. Mr. Chernow new orleans, baton rouge, and memphis had fallen to union forces. It meant that the one great bastion on the Mississippi River left to the confederacy was vicksburg. Vicksburg was located at the time, there was a bend in the mississippi that forced folks to slow down. It was seven miles and very elaborate fortification. It seemed like this impregnable fortress. Grant had a daring strategy to take vicksburg. Under cover of night, he had ironclads and transports come down the river despite heavy shelling from the confederates. He also marched some troops down the western bank of the mississippi. They then crossed over south of vicksburg to the only high dry land in that area. And then grant has this lightning campaign. He wins five major victories in a three week period. Surrounds vicksburg, lays siege to it and vicksburg surrenders. It was the same time as the victory of gettysburg. For a second time, grant has captured an entire Confederate Army of more than 30,000 soldiers. At that point, the union not only controlled the mississippi, but it bisected the confederacy. At that point the union not only control the mississippi but it bisected the confederacy. A lot of the supplies between the horses and livestock came from west of the mississippi. That was grant. When did president lincoln bring them east to lead the union army . It reinstated the title of lieutenant general. The only person who had held that was george washington. Grant happened to arrive the same day lincoln was having a reception at the white house. Lincoln warmly embraced him. There was pandemonium in the room. Grant was a hero. They urged grant to stand up on the sofa so people could see him because he was relatively short. He was perspiring profusely. Grant was always a little bit socially awkward. He later said the hardest campaign he ever fought was standing on that sofa in the white house. Grant was impressive on a tactic, operational, and strategic level. How rare was that to find those qualities any general . Mr. Chernow there was an interesting comment comparing grant and lee. Grants strategy embraced content, at least strategy embraced estate. Lee had to inflict so much pain. Grant had to capture and destroy the army. The various union armies had been operating independently of each other. Grant coordinated the movements and he turned them into a single fighting force. He saw the way to wear down the confederacy was by having union forces simultaneously attack the Confederate Army so they could not switch reinforcements. He finally pins robert e lee down in richmond. Another wonderful comment from sherman. Sherman said about grant, robert e lee would attack. Ulysses s grant would attack the bedroom and the kitchen. Im not sure what he meant about the bedroom. I didnt want to go there. [laughter] in terms of attacking the kitchen, it goes back to richmond and petersburg. He began to systematically cut off every railway line and canal. He finally started them out. Forcing them to flee the west where grant and sheridan overtook lees army and force them to surrender. That was the third Confederate Army that grant captured. Robert lee never captured a single union army. How does grant conduct himself at appomattox . Mr. Chernow that is a touching part of the story. He refuses to allow his soldiers to gloat or celebrate. He is very generous to the confederacys soldiers, who are starving. He issues rations to feed them and allows the confederate officers. To keep their horses. The most beautiful part in his memoirs is about the meeting at appomattox. He wrote that he didnt want to rejoice over the downfall of those who had fought with such valor. And suffered such hardship for a cause. Even though that cause was the worst of any army could fight for. He pays homage to the bravery of the confederate soldiers. The cause for which they were fighting with the perpetuation of slavery. It was one of the worst causes people fight for. That humanity and fairness and balance he brought to that subject was one that should stay with us. He did not accept president lincolns invitation to attend fords theater. Would history have unfolded different if he had been there . Mr. Chernow it is quite a story. Late march, 1860 four, abraham and mary lincoln went down to city point virginia where grant has his headquarters. Mary lincoln, who is showing increasing signs of mental instability, she throws a jealous fit. She imagines that the young wife of a general is flirting with her husband. She cannot figure out what is going on. She burst into tears. Julia grant was there. Julia grant intervenes to try and protect her. We all know what happens when you try to intervene in a fight. Mary lincoln turns on julia grant. She turns on her so angrily that lincoln thought it was important the public see the victorious president and general. Julia grant laid down the law to her husband. She said she refused to go to the theater if mary lincoln would be there. They made excuses. They went off to burlington, new jersey. One of the great whatifs of history. If Ulysses S Grant would have been in the theater, would you have had a security detail . Would have sensed the assassin entering the box . It is possible booth would have killed grant as well as lincoln. We will never know. How did grant manage to win the republican nomination in 1868 . Had he showed an aptitude for politics . Mr. Chernow not really. It was kind of a great guessing game. No one knew exactly where he stood. He was in the right place at the right time. Since appomattox he had a symbolic standard in American Life as the victor of the war and reconciliation between north and south. Happened in 1868, there was a failed attempt to impeach andrew johnson. He was not convicted. He needed to straddle both wings of the republican party. He had this immense prestige from the war. He did not campaign openly for it. Grant had a funny way of not campaigning for things. Sort of putting him in a position where things just happened. And his first term of office, the 15th amendment is enacted. There is a backlash in the south, violence escalates. There is a strengthening of the ku klux klan. You spent a lot of time in the book. What did grant do to combat the klan . Was he successful . Mr. Chernow the klan starts in polasky, tennessee. They start out of a group of confederate veterans. They start wearing old uniforms and drilling. It becomes a militaristic secret organization. Then they put on robes and hoods and terrorize people. This is prompted by the 15th amendment. Nothing terrified the white south more than the black men. The terror was very much directed against blacks voting or registering to vote. There was no southern sheriff who would arrest a member. There was no southern jury that would convict a member. There was no southern white who would testify against the clan. There were hundreds, maybe thousands of murders of blacks that went on prosecuted. Grant had a very crusading attorney general. Ackerman brought 3000 indictments and got more than 1000 convictions against the klan and crush them. It was his greatest achievement as president. The klan we know is from a resurgence in the 1920s. The one that is still alive with us. They borrowed a lot of techniques and ideology from the original klan. Why were there so many corruptionrelated scandals and his two terms in office . Was he complicit . Did he turn a blind eye . Was he oblivious . From his childhood it makes the point. When he was a boy, his father wanted to buy a horse so he told ulysses to go to this farm and he gave him instructions. He said offer 20 to the farmer. If he doesnt take it, offer 22. 50. And he still doesnt take it, offer 25. So grant goes to the farmer and says, my father says i should offer 20 and if you dont take it i can offer 22. 50 and if you dont take that i will offer 25. I wish i could say there is some learning curve in terms of grant and money. [laughter] scrupulous people began to spot grant a mile away. During his second term in office, the socalled whiskey ring scandal, brewers were evading this tax by paying off revenue agents. One of the people involved was grants chief of staff, babcock. When babcock is being investigated, grant writes a letter to babcocks wife saying, i have full faith in your husbands integrity. Ive had the most intimate and confidential relations with her husband for 14 years. He says i cant believe that hes not a trustworthy person that i imagine. Guess what . He was. He was kind of like chief of staff. He had the desk right outside grants office. He would review incoming and outgoing mail. Grant fired him or reassigned him. He became inspector of lighthouses on the florida coast. [laughter] after he leaves office, grant goes on a trip around the world with his wife for 2 and a half years. How was he received on this trip . Ron it is a postpresidency unlike any other. During that time, he meets with virtually every head of state in the world. Queen victoria. Who sees him at windsor castle. He sees the prince of bismarck, receives him in berlin. The pope at the vatican. Czar alexander ii in st. Petersburg. Then he goes to the far east and the crowds are immense. Like 250,000 people at a time would turn out. The emperor of japan would never actually touch people. When he saw grant, he stepped over and shook hands with grant which was unheard of. Grant actually pioneers a certain postpresident ial role that would be followed by other president s. He arbitrated a dispute over offshore islands between japan and china. So he comes back with really this sort of great reputation, very much enhanced. Hes become a statesman on the world stage. Its amazing. Colleen after trying to get the nomination again in 1880, not winning it. He decides to move to new york city and try his hand in the investment world. How does that turn out . Ron again with money, disastrously. [laughter] he formed a partnership with a young man named ferdinand ward, who was 21 years old. They created a partnership called grant and ward. It was only time grant allowed his name to be used in a business. Grants name attracted a lot of money. For those who dont know this story, ferdinand was the Bernie Madoff of his day. It was a ponzi scheme. He was using money from new investors to pay outrageous rates of interest to old investors. Grant imagined he was a multimillionaire and he wakes up one day to find out that instead of being a multimillionaire. He is worth 80 and julia is worth 130. Not only had his fortune been wiped out, all of his children had invested. He had a lot of cousins, friends. The entire grant family was engulfed in this catastrophe. Colleen in 1884, grant falls ill. What was wrong with him and what was the prescribed treatment . Ron the illness coincides with the exposure with ferdinand ward. Grant one day, they had a house in long branch, new jersey. Julia serves him a plate of peaches and he bites into one of the peaches and says, ouch. That peach stung me for some reason. It was the first time he realized there was a problem with his throat. He finally consulted his doctor in new york found a cancerous mass on his throat and tongue. It was incurable. So grant realized this was a terminal illness and he was petrified that when he died, julia would be left destitute. Because they lost all their money. He decided to do something he swore he wouldnt do. He wrote his memoirs. During the last year of his life in excruciating pain, and with his mind often fogged by the opiates, he wrote a memoir that is considered one of the greatest memoirs of the english language. Colleen he wrote 10,000 words a day when he had throat cancer. Ron his publisher was mark twain. In one letter, he writes grant wrote 10,000 words today. It kills me these days to write 5000 words. He couldnt believe grants productivity. This memoir really poured out of him and many people imagine that twain wrote the memoirs. The style is flawless, no man can improve upon them. Colleen why is grant buried in new york city and what was his funeral like . Ron they were living on east 66th street in manhattan. His funeral, i was just thinking about it today, because of the john mccain memorial gathering at national cathedral. When grant was buried in new york, he and julia felt very grateful to new york and the city provided this beautiful spot in the new riverside park. Grants funeral spoke to the public very much in the way that john mccains Memorial Service has been speaking to the public. That is, at grants funeral, 1. 5 Million People flooded new york city. The parade went on for five hours. But grant and his family made a statement. It was a north and south reconciliation. Among the honorary pallbearers there were great Union Generals sherman and there were also major confederate generals. Johnson and buckner. It was part of his reconciliation theme. The Stonewall Jackson brigade from virginia came up and marched. Black regiments marched in the parade because grant had been instrumental during the civil war in terms of recruiting and training and equipping black soldiers. This was really grants final statement from beyond the grave. I think grant in many ways reminds people of what people have been saying about john mccain, in terms of his patriotism, his bravery. His dedication to public service. The fact that he distinguished himself in civilian service and military service. Reminds us of what oldfashioned patriotism should look like. Colleen last question before we take questions from the audience. As we reconsider grant as you have in this magnificent book, what should we learn from grant and his leadership . Ron i think one reason people have responded to the book. All the other people ive written about, they were sort of built for success. That great drive, energy and focus. Grant didnt. I think people are responding to the book because the highs are as high as any story but the lows are a lot lower. This is a story of light and shadow. A story about a man who suffered repeated failures and setbacks. I was coming into the room, someone said, i loved your grant book. Its the greatest story about a comeback. There were repeated comebacks in his life. Success was the greasy pole and he kept slipping back down and work his way back up. Colleen if there are any questions for ron, wed be happy to take a few. Hello, very good book. Loved it. Just want to ask you a quick comment on grants relationship with George Armstrong custer and how you described that relationship and the book. Ron it was a very troubled relationship. Grant was very critical of custer and blamed him for the massacre at little bighorn. He said he was not following orders and put himself and his men in harms way. Custer had also been an outspoken critic of grant as president. That certainly helped to fuel the animosity. Im going to read two questions by becky. If grant had gone by his first name, would anything be different . [laughter] secondly, what is happening with the adaptation . I know someone bought the rights. Ron grants name, he was born Hiram Ulysses grant. Which gave him the unfortunate initials as hug. He was mercilessly teased and became just plain ulysses. Then, when a local congressman nominated him for west point, he bungled the name and send it as ulysses s. Grant. His own wife didnt know what the s stood for. He wrote back this funny letter and says the s stands for absolutely nothing. Its not going to be a hiphop musical. [laughter] but it will be a feature film and it will be directed by Steven Spielberg which is very exciting. [applause] produced by Leonardo Dicaprio which is also exciting. Looks like i will again be the historical consultant. [applause] colleen great. [applause] you have written about washington and hamilton and now grant. Are there any lessons youve learned through studying these that you think is worth sharing . Ron its a very good question. One strange thing when people have asked me about a common denominator to these lives. One thing with every person ive written about, they had to cope at an early age with a difficult and even impossible parent. I know that sound like a strange response to your question. There was the washington with a very selfcentered mother. Hamilton with the absentee father. Grant with the overbearing father. Theres something about a parent and coping, that shapes character and forces people to be selfreliant at an early age. A frustration i have found these books, all of the people ive written about because they had such difficult parents, they never talked about it. Sometimes i imagine if i could conjure them to life and ask questions, i think id want to zero in on the family dynamics. A ponzi scheme. Ferdinand ward. Ron im sorry, im not sure i understood the question. Colleen did he help catch him . Ron no. What happened was, grant was inexcusably complacent that ferdinand award put securities in the safe that only ferdinand had access to. Grant should have never allow that. He would sign letters without reading the letters point grant felt because they were sophisticated wall street people, who were investing with ward, that he was absolutely certain that ward must be sound. Because some of the people were getting like 15 20 per month. If that doesnt raise warning flags right there. I wish i could tell you that grant had been part of exposing ward but he was not. What happened is the bank that was lending ward money went bust and then the whole scheme blew up. Colleen time for one more question. Someone whose legacy has been unjustly tarnished, what has been like to write this overdue book about grant. Ron its been nice because i felt he was suffering from this image that he was this cruel, brutal butcher and thats why he was a successful general. In fact, there were six Union Generals who fought against robert e lee before grant with the same advantage of manpower and material. They could not defeat lee. Grant could. I felt grants presidency had been portrayed as a failed presidency and i think in many ways it was successful in terms of protecting African American communities in the south. To the extent the book had a revisionist vent, i thought there would be more resistance but people accepted the portrait of grant more readily than i thought would happen. So im happy for that although i was surprised. Colleen please join me in thanking ron chernow. [applause] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2020] this is American History tv on cspan3. American history tv is on cspan3 every weekend, featuring tv tours, archival films, and programs on the presidency, the civil war, and more. Here is a clip from a recent program. At the conclusion of the first part of the conference, with most of the work already done, the big three surrounded with their staffs and civilian officials, post for the cameras. A memorable picture. The three leaders with their highest state ministers behind them. Proceeded ase their aides went on with the work of coming to an agreement on the many problems involved. After eight days, the conference ended. The big three released their joint statement. A substantial agreement was reached. Regular conferences of the United Nations was held. The first was san francisco, april 25, washingtonurney from had been rewarded and mr. Roosevelt had one for his country renewed faith and permanent peace. Washingtonrived in in february. 38 days there and back. They would leave their imprint on history. History which franklin donor roosevelt lived and made and which he bequeathed in his last message to the conference and the American People. Roosevelt i come from the conference with a firm belief that we have made a good start on the road to a world of peace. Has a major ally been more closely united, not also,n that aim but continue to be united with each other and the poor peaceloving nations and the ideal of lasting peace will become a reality. Only so long as humanity really insists upon it and is willing to work and sacrifice for it. Ago, the work of peace. For which they fought and suffered. We have failed them. We cannot fail them again. And expect the world to survive again. The American People will accept the results of this conference as the beginning of a structure of peace. Upon which we can begin to build in which ourorld children and grandchildren, yours and mine, the children and grandchildren of the whole world must live and can live. You can watch this and other American History tv programs on our website, where all of our videos archived. That is cspan. Org history. American history tv, Stephanie Jones rogers details her earch into southern white next, on American History tv, Stephanie Jonesrogers details her research into southern white women slaveholders who, she calculates, comprised 40 of slave owners in some regions. The previous estimate had been 10 . She is the author of they were her property white women as slave owners in the american south. This video is courtesy of the National Archives. Many of their programs can be found on the National Archives youtube channel. Assumptions about history gives us a fresh questioning assumptions gives us a fresh understanding, egging into primary sources and listening to