From 1953 to 1956, there was a white house projectionist who wrote down every movie that the president saw and with one exception, who the president saw it with. The one exception is under kennedy. He saw a movie, we dont know who he saw it with. Its a treasure trove of all of the president s were seeing at a particular time. The theater has been around for a long time and helpful to president s trying to get people along on a vote. So, for example, george w. Bush brought in ted kennedy to see 13 days which was a movie about john f. Kennedys experience of the cuban missile crisis that made john f. Kennedy look good. So bush brought in ted kennedy and ended up working together on the no child left behind law. They were able to get that past the majority. Who was on the record . He would not watch movies with Robert Mitchum in them because he had been arrested for marijuana possession. He would try to sneak movies with mitchum by eisenhower. When mitchum got up on the screen, eisenhower would walk out. When jimmy carter who watched 480 movies since being president , the most of any president he did it in one term, he told fishe he wanted to watch Family Friendly fair in the white house. And fishers reaction was think about it, this is late 70s, was youre not going to be able to see many movies that way. He was right. Where do you find the information . Where does mr. Fisher keep it . All of the nixon movies are online. Some of the others arent fully available. The list of all of the movies. Im sorry. The list of a all of the movies are easily accessible. The rest require a lot of digging. Theres a documentary on president ial movie watching. President nixon watched 153 movie s . B. B. Ribozo . He loved him, he was a cuban friend. He said hes the only kind of person he would relax around. Hes trying to impress everybody. Nixon and kissinger where he makes the point that nixon tries to be somebody else when hes with that person. So kissinger, he tried to be the great Foreign Policy strategist or ehrlichman, he tried to be a political strategist. Hes a different person with different folks. For him, he could just be himself and watch movies. On white house museum. Organize, they have several pictures on there. Most are white house pictures like we saw in the 1948 white house theater. The theater has changed a great deal. Its now, what, a very rich red . It was all white room. How often do you use the things like you played some role in the bushcheney debate preparation. How often is that room used for that kind of thing . The theaters are red plush seats. Very comfortable, you can lean back to them. You dont need protection anymore. Thats a little different. The ford administration, they use that room for debate prep. In that room, they had a disagreement of how to handle the soviet domination of eastern europe. The disaster in that debate is there is no domination of poland and eastern europe. Its more often used for entertainment for the president , the family, friends, and guests. Girls bring in friends to watch movies. How are you involve in the bushcheney debate preparation . I did the debate prep books which was a very difficult and arduous job. You had to have the two debate prep books that covered every subject. The person who did it before me, i asked him on the first day for advice. I said, there must be 4,000 possible question it. How do you do that. He said youre right, 4,000 possible questions but only 40 answers. Its your job to write the 40 answers. You had to write them in the fields of economics, Homeland Security and National Security policy. You had to make sure that the president s book and the Vice President s book were the same. Any time there was a new development or a new vote in congress you had to keep it up to date. You had to keep it punchy. I worked on the 2004 election. And over the years, have you studied the history of debates and what can you tell us about some of the more interest ing interesting anecdotes from the debate prep . The books are famous on tv. The most famous story about the debate is the 1960 election. John f. Kennedy going up against Richard Nixon. Nixon was confident about the use of tv because of the 1952 checker speech. This is the speech where nixon salvaged the political career by going on tv and talking to his dog, checkers, how he wasnt going to give it up. How he manageled to get out by financial impropriety. He was confident about the use of tv. Eisenhower was more skeptical. He was advised not to do the interview. He did not wear makeup, he was not tired, not shaved, he looked bad. Henry mcmillan said your guy looks like an excon where the other guy looks like a spritely undergraduate. Kennedy defeated him on tv though people on the radio thought nixon had done better. Before we leave, john kennedy, you say in your book, he watched 48 movies. What were his type of movies he watched. There was a thing that he liked james bond. Saw the movie, from russia with love. He wasnt a big movie watcher. He was impatient. He didnt like to sit still very long. He liked talking with people and engaging with people. Hes not one of the big president ial movie watchers. D. W. Griffith, you mentioned him earl inner in the book. And wood row wilson. Whats that toerry . D. W. Griffith was the director of the film, birth of a nation, that is a racist film with a terrible depiction of black people and a pro confederate view of things. Wilson watched it in the white house not because he was such a fan of the film or wanted to promote the film. It was the first film watch in the white house. But his wife had died. And he didnt think it was appropriate for him to be seen going out to a movie. So he had a College Connection to griffith. He agreed to see the movie in the white house which became framed as the white house screening. And then the famous line about wilson saying it was like history written by lightning. Its one of the most famous. But the truth is he probably never said it. Most of it is down on the ranch. Well let you see if you recognize anybody in these movies. Theres l. B. J. And hubert humphrey. You can see the dog. How often do president s use dog s . Very often. President ial pets are a big deal. People love the pets on the website. They weigh in about the pets. Bush had an annual movie with barney his dog. Were going to see the dog again. Johnson had that image where he held the dog up by the ears and people thought it was cruelty to animals. He dealt with the treatment where hed get in your face. This is 1955 when it was shot. Home movies again. What do you think of this kind of thing if the public had seen this before he ran . The shirtless picture reminds me of the shirtless picture of Vladimir Putin a few years ago. I dont think people want to see shirtless pictures of the president or candidates. You had that experience where johnson at one point lifted up his shirt and showed the appendicitis scar and there was a big tunnel about that. You had the president go to the beach like you see obama on the beach or clinton on the beach. For the most part, i think president s should keep their clothes on. What do you think of the idea of keeping the home movies. Richard nixon became public. Home movies of john f. Kennedy and others. Did you look at that for your book . A little bit. The point about home movies is similar to pop culture. Pop culture is important for president s to humanize themselves. To show youre a regular guy. You can have an appeal with him. Theyre important and they have a lot of power, you watch i love lucy just like they do. Home movies and pop culture help the american president s relate to the common man. Who did not im sorry, who did not like movies and who did not watch movie s . Harry truman, no interest in movies. I write in the book that he had a Vacation Home in florida. He would go to the home in florida and show movies to the guests but he feelsnt much interested in them. He liked reading. A huge fan of reading. Hes the last president not to be a college graduate. But an autodidact, read history all the time. He said the only thing new in this world is the history you havent read yet. He brought up history he was reading in his meetings, National Security meetings and other places and to the extent that theres been a truman resurgence in the last couple of years, a lot of the biographers like mccullen focussed on trumans reading and showing how up to date he feels. When did you start your history interest . My dad was a history teacher in the new York City Public School. My brother is a president ial historian. So i was always reading history as a kid. Loved history from a young age. I got a phd. Not doing it to teach but i want to get involved in politics. Thats what we did. We had the history of politics and history. We combined them. Where did you get the phd. . I got it from the university of texas at austin. I took classes at the lbj school. And the expert of the presidency who passed on, she was the expert. I took a lot of question classes with her. I learned a ton from her. She is the wife of the National Security advisor under Lyndon Johnson. When you started, did you have a political view. If so, what was it . I grew up in new york city in the 1970s. In a liberal jewish neighborhood and a liberal jewish house hold. I saw in the 1970s that things werent really working. And i saw there was graffiti and blackouts and all kinds of troubles in the streets of new york. I thought perhaps there had to be a better way. So i was admiring with ronald reagan, how he helped to turn things around in the country and admired giuliani and how he turns things around in the city. So my reading helped me more on the conservative side. Ronald reagan came from the movies but what was his habit when he was in the white house for the two terms. Paul fisher before the white house projection is that the golden oldies are the ones for me. He referred to rambo ones after a hostage crisis. He said ive seen rambo and now i know what to do the next time theres a hostage crisis. It was joking but it was a movie reference. They would sit at home, put the pajamas on early in the evening if they didnt have the social obligation. He would read, more books than people think, but also liked to watch tv. She liked murderer she wrote. He said now the new policy is that he can only be woken up for a National Emergency and murder she wrote and he liked watching the sunday shows . Meet the press, face the nation, and watched them carefully. How do you find this stuff . The internet is a great tool. Googled books to help me find indexes and the books i needed. President ial archives are online. The library of congress has a wonderful collection. I have a collection at home of biographies of every president at least one. You start from there and just branch out. When did you last work in politics and what are you doing now . I was the deputy secretary in 2009. The bush administration. I left there to go to the Hudson Institute and ive been at Hudson Institute studying politics, pop culture, the presidency, and health care since 2009. Read a lot of articles. Doing some tv stuff, and i also wrote this book. Let me show you video of Richard Nixon when he was here for the book interview back in the 1990s to make sure i got the right day. It was 92 the day we passed on fairly soon after that. But here he is talking about books in his life. You would have to tay p take the bible from that. The bible apart from religion is great literature. The new testament, particularly, and even parts of the old testament. I felt that the book of eccleastes is some of the most eloquent writing that ive seen. It lifts you. I would pick that as a book. Among others, hard though tell. Among current authors, the books by paul johnson appeal to me a great deal. A marvelous writer, a geopolitical thinker. Many remember his later books but my favorite is the one on the british, the offshore islanders. Just a marvelous book. Not only great prose, but great poetry as well. What what did you find out about the reading on the part of president s. I had a lot in there. Very important to many of our founders and president s. James madison studied hebrew to understand the bible better, the political context of whats going on with the israel lite ooit readers. Lincoln had few books. He read them all over and over again. One of the books was the bible. You can see it in the famous speeches. Four score and seven years ago, a biblical language. He used the bible to appeal to americans and a language they understood to people much more bible literate in those days. The great story is gerald ford going on air force one at one point and asking for a bible. He was told that there was no bible on air force one. So he said there should be. There was subsequently after his request. But since then theres always a bible on air force one because of the joe ford request. Joe ford told bob novak at one point he had read the twilight of the presidency by george reedy. What was the significance of that . Reedy talked about the weakness of the presidency at that time and how some of the previous overextensions. Ford took from that book not that president ial power should be expanded which others had tried to do, including nixon and johnson. He thought there may be should be a more modest approach to the presidency. Novak was struck by ford who was not quite president but clear at vbs when nixon cloaked to resigning, he was struck by a more modest approach in his willingness to shrink the power of the presidency rather than expand it. Richard nixon mentioned paul johnson who wrote a book called the history of the united states. Theres a book called the peoples history of the united states. Very different. Who could read one but not the other, what would you get . Paul johnson. I want to start with whats the difference first of all. Why would a student, if they were given only one side of that book, what would they get . From paul johnson. Johnson is a footnoter. Johnsons way of doing research. He writes with a typewriter. He has two typewriters going faults. One is the typewriter of the text, the other is a footnote typewriter. Wasnt so easy to link the two. Not so sure i could have done all of my footnoting without the computer. Hes a very careful user of sources to make sure hes got everything right. I think with the ideology he got the bert of his scholarship. We have video of jimmy carter who was here in 1995. Hes talking about the book of poetry. Beginning five years ago, i studied textbooks about poetry and the different kinds of poetry, the different kinds of whether they rimed or not, open verse, and so forth. Also famous poets, the words they said. The favorite poet at that time was dylan thomas but i dont have any ability or inclination to try to emulate his poetry. What do you think . Jimmy carter has written a lot of books. What did you find out about him in books . Jimmy carter wrote 23 books more than any other expresident or president in their lifetime. Dana roosevelt wrote a lot of books i talked about. Most were before he became president. Jimmy carters book library has developed since hes become president. He mentioned the bible a lot. The growing up in georgia. But hes been very successful with his book sales and its part of his shaping himself as the next president. Its part of the resurgence in the postpresident ial year hes become a contemplating ar author. Its very ought to biographical. Its homespun stuff. I heard that he has a lot of church going ladies in the south seem to like it and buy a lot of his books. Hes got a builtin audience that works pretty well for him. What do you think of the story thats run for years that Teddy Roosevelt read a book a day or more. Is that possible . Two or three. I know its possible. I was in graduate school, i had to prepare for the oral. He was the president. I would have to suspect not sure, but when printing was more expensive, books were a little shorter. But still, two or three books a day. He was a fast reader. He only had one good eye but he could span through books quickly. He used to reach out to authors if he liked the books and develop relationships with them. Theres the example of the jungle that talked about the horrible conditions in the meat packing plants that led to the creation under voeltz. What were some of the books that were important in the early years with the Founding Group in this country . The Founding Fathers read a lot of classics. They liked reading the greek and roman works. They read history and philosophy. But it was really to talk about in the book, the class was the ultimate and they like to read cicero and kato. George washington showed the play plato at valley forge when things were cold and things were going well in the war front. Adam loves cicero. We reread one of the books annually. Jefferson was a wide ranging reader that read all kinds of philosophy. James madison, when he was preparing to come up with the Constitutional Convention and write the constitution, he asked jefferson of recommendations for books he should read. Jefferson, at a time when books were expensive sent him two books that madison wrote the memo on it. When did the president stop reading the classics, or is there such a thing as a time when they stopped reading the classics . Just so many more books available today. If you were reading wealth of nation in 1776, it was not a class thing. It was a new book and it was cutting edge. Some books become classics over time. But i think now theres a presumption that the classics you read, you read as a kid. When youre adults, you want to keep up and read some of the latest biographies. George w. Bush was a new reader but he read 14 different lincoln biographies when he was president. Theres so many new books out, its hard to keep up. Did you talk to him when you worked for the administration about books . Sure, i sat in. Privileged to sit in when he had meetings. Donald kennedy from stanford is one of those meetings. Not the biggest fan but impressed with the knowledge of books and how many books he read. Was there a president that didnt read at all that you found . As president , he didnt read that much. He read mysteries. George h. W. Bush. Theres a great story i tell in the book when hes in kennebunkport and hes asked by reporters what hes doing on vacation in kennebunkport, and he said, im going to do some tennis, some golf, some motor boating, some running, some some horseshoes. And ill do a little reading. Reading wasnt his top priority either. Over the years when you looked back at the books that had an impact on a president , what did you find . And the impact on us is people. Thats my inspiration of writing this book. I was curious if it had an impact. One of the most famous stories is this Michael Harrington wrote about poverty in west virginia. Kennedy is supposed to have read that book and it led to the war on poverty. Not quite that simple. It didnt happen quite that way. He read a book review by Dwight Mcdonald in the new yorker and that inspires kennedy to tell Walter Heller who is the chairman of the council of economic advisors to go look to policies that can be used to alleviate poverty. Kennedy died in 1963. He said thats not my program. He pursued it as president. Were there years back a few books that you found had an impact on the discussion of this country . I mentioned request it the jungle with Teddy Roosevelt and common sense by thomas paine was well read by the founders. This is before he feels president. That book was very important or pamphlet really. It was very important in helping to buck up morale against the british in the tough time in the revolutionary period. It was a huge best seller. Adjusted for population. The sales of that book were equivalent to the sales of peyton place. What impact did the democracy in america have on the 1800s . Any in this country . It shaped historians and sociologists view of america. I didnt have the impact. But im sure you have cspan listeners who followed the stuff. Im curious to hear if somebody didnt know something. What about the the federalist papers. I know they had an impact when they passed the constitution, but beyond that, how much impact do you see the federalist papers having . People refer back to them. Again, i remember i dont remember an instance where the president said ive been reading the federalist papers. This is part of what im talking about with the once the classics become classics, you dont refer to reading them as frequently. It helped to shape the debate over the constitution. One of our future president s at the time was heavily involve in that. You say you ear a president ial historian. We know because we had your correspondent at your book party here in town. And we have a picture of something and someone who was there at this party. Well show it on the screen. A former president , people may not recognize him right away, but its Thomas Jefferson. This Thomas Jefferson is one of the mascots for the Washington Nationals baseball team. Question how expensive is it for this guy to come to your party. Teddy roosevelt is the guy who loses the races. Hes in the title that jefferson read and obama tweeted. You talk about cultures. The wa nationals had every race at every game. Teddy roosevelt, abraham lincoln, george washington, Thomas Jefferson. And they added William Howard taft to it. What impact do you think that has on peoples interest if any in history . I like the way that nationals have made history part of their story. Anything that you can get young people to study a presidency, thats a good thing. Thats why we use pop cull dhur in the book. Its the attitude to the minds of the young people. How long did it take you to do this book . The issues for years. The actualing was a full year and about eight months in terms of editing and footnotes and adjustment ms. Anybody interest in the presidency and pop culture. So a little vim diagram, its an overlap. Its a pretty broad audience. Another example of a modern president talking about books and the famous book and the favorite author, bill clinton. The finest model in my adulted life is 100 years of solitude. I read it when i was in law school. I keep going back to it. It was a rhapsodic mystical work. I enjoyed that very, very much. A lot of the fiction i read now is more for release. I read a lot of mysteries and anybody in particular . Well, yeah, i just read a mystery about bosnia and croatia by a british writer. I read an interesting book by thomas gifford, an interesting writer. And a fun read called jack jill by a mystery writer patterson. You have a full list of bill clintons favorite books. Where did you find that . Its on the internet. Clinton printed it out, he published it at one point. If you look at his memoir, its filled with references of books he read in his life. He went to russia remember the famous trip to russia. He said the Border Guards went through his bags thinking they would find pornography but they found a russian novelist in there. He was a huge reader. Constantly reading and talking about it. The book on harry truman. He talks about the last 20 years, went home, and sat there and read all the time. I remember i went to see that home and they asked me if id like to see a list of all of the books and they gave me a list of the 2,000 books that are still in that house. Where did harry truman get in there. He was the last guy to be president. He did not have a college degree. He loved reading it as a child. The mother encouraged the habit. Hes engrossed as a reader. They could be having an argument and the world could come to an end and harry truman wont look up until they get to the bottom of the page. He spends 5 on a set of mark twain books on a time when they had a lot of must be and read the twain books and loved them a great deal. But i wonder if that point about him not going to college made him feel he had to read in order to keep up with all of the brainy harvard yale types that were in washington. Did you come across a president that started reading on his own rather than having a family that read . Yeah, lincoln, clearly. His father criticized him for his reading, thought it was a waste of time. Lincoln came through for himself and it shaped him and helped him come up from his poor hardscrabble upbringings. One story of a president who really came from obscurity to become president by virtue of his reading. You know that he read a lot of shakespeare, or he started reading shakespeare. Would you find that among president s today . Not as much. I found it in the 19th century. I talked about john tyler. People were attuned to that sort of thing and they understood the references. I think you might have a president to go to shakespeares place. I dont know anybody who will reach shakespeare. You know near the end, karl rove wanted to prove that he was a reader. And i think i saw one article in the wall street journal where he read how many books during the did they have a contest . They did. They would read 80 to 90 books a year. They were serious about it. Theyre competitive guys. They would track the number of pages i read. I read a book that was 500 pages and he read a book thats 200 pages. Keep up with the number of books and the number of pages. This is an important point because there was a sense of bush as a nonreader in 2000. Its not borne out factually. I quoted a journalist who said bush is a graduate or harvard and yale and he does not read books. You cant just go around saying things that was not true. I think the journalist should have clarified it. It became obvious to everyone that he didnt read a lot of books, there were some people who kind of sniffed at it and he said he had a narrow reading list or yufzs reading to advance certain preconceptions of his. Bush is much more likely to read a book by a liberal author than either clinton or obama to be reading books by conservative authors. He talks about reading books on this network. I spend a lot of time reading. If the question is do you find ways to kind of escape from your job, can you possibly leave the presidency living in the white house . The answer is the only way i found to do that is through vigorous exercise or reading. Books allow you to escape, books put your mind to another location. Ive been reading a lot. Its quiet. Not a lot of action here. And its nice comfortable chairs with good lighting. Whats your sense of where president s read and when they read . They read in the evening and in the residence. Bush was interviewed postpresidency about his reading and Peter Robinson of the Hoover Administration said what books are on your night stand . He said not night stand, i have an ipad, please. President s are more prone to reading on a kindle or an ipad. Do you do a lot of boxes in your books with interesting facts . You have a whole page thats boxed in about the jewish people that give president jewish books. Explain that one. I thought it was a little bizarre that netanyahu gave president obama the book of esther. They gave the passed over nader book before he passed away. Hes a journalist. He gave two copies to the book of the National Security advisor. Nothing wrong with it. To the shoppers out there, im myself. I wonder if it had been a jewish president and if he was given christian books would people in the Jewish Community think it was odd. I highlighted that. People are krit sooizing me on that. They dont think its an apt comparison or anything is wrong with it. Im not saying anything is wrong with it. It raised an eyebrow. You grew up in new york city. What were your parents like . They are alive. What did they do . My parents are both retired now. My dad is a new York City Public School himselfry teacher. And my mom was a guidance counselor in the new York City Public School districts and reading was big in the family. My dad would sit in the chair or bed and read. And my mom liked to read a lot of mystery novels. My brothers were older. I was on my own a lot. Can you remember the books you read . Not when you were 5, but when you got serious about history that had an impact on you. I would go to my early 20s. A couple had real impact on me. One was the closing of the American Mind by alan blum. You talk about the impact of culture. Thats formed the way i thought about culture. Common ground, it talks about bussing in boston but i read blurb to say this is about bussing in boston is to say that moby dick is about whaling in new medford. Its about the policies and the underwritten controversial of those policies. How fast do you read . I can read fast. The jewish new year, i keep track of how many times i read by the jewish new year. Within the first three days of the year, i read three books. I was on a 360day, 360abook year pace. Im not going to keep that up. But thats what i started with . How often do you not finish a book. Rare. When i start a book, i like to finish it. Theres some books like the books on johnson that i dont read in one sitting. Theyre too long. Im almost up to book three of the four books. What do you think of them . Theyre fascinating. Car row has a different style. Hes unique, but it gets to the heart and soul of Lyndon Johnson that i think he would be uncomfortable with. Defining jon from the inside out. Its harrowing to read almost. What other current historians do you like . The books on adams and truman have been wonderful. They read like novels from my perspective. That really struck me as thats a pop culture defused. He read books when he got older and without which he never would become president. There was that impact on tv and that really struck me as thats a pop culture defused. He read books when he got older and without which he never would become president. There was that impact on tv and pop culture. We know about two meetings you had. Anything else about the number of times he met with people with books he may have read. Theres a fair bit about his reading. He used to have that thought of marthas vineyard. He would pick a book. It would leak out. Everyone would dissect what he read. One book was Jonathan Franzens book, freedom and he got it before the book was available. That raised the interest and became a big best seller not just because of bamas interest but the interest helped to spur it on. The last two summers he started doing that and hasnt made the book selections quite as public. You have another one of your boxes in obamas chapter. Obama is dark and edgy. Not family fair. The first lady has no interest in his gritty favorites. At a fundraiser with modern family in 2011, the president said michelle and the girls loved themselves sot modern family. They love that show. What did you learn about his current habits besides what you just wrote here . He loves tv. He wrote a lot of espn. He said there were certain political actors in washington buying advertising in hopes that they can get obama with all of the espn watching. He likes the shows. Theyre gritty and edgy. Theres the new wave of a third golden age of tv. You have very impressive shows on the air like the wire and board walk empire and obama gravitates to those shows. Many are the paid cable. He likes the shows of the 1 rather than the 99 . How about theater glass. We have this one in front with the 3d glasses. He watches movies, talks about them. Sometimes jokes about them. Hes aware of whats going on in the movies but doesnt seem as obsessed with movies. You go to his opponents and you relate to his components in the campaigns to the culture thing, how did he trump them. Well, mitt romney whom i was a supporter i would refer to pop culture. But the pop culture he referred to, he talked about seinfeld. He talked about Ferris Buellers day off. Theyre two or three decades old. Theyre not cutting references obama up more to date, much more aware, more able to reach up to you if i talk about how he slow jammed the news with jimmy fallon which mitt romney and Many Americans have not heard of this concept of slow jamming the news. But obama was good and talented at using pop culture references to appeal to the voter he wanted to vote for. What do you think hes done to change the way people might do it in the future. He understands the segmentation of the audience, the way the tv tech kpifs now understand. When i was growing up, you watched happy days and the numbers of people were staggeringly high. Today, even the shows that people are talking about arent really watched by that many people. In fact, the vast majority of americans have never seen even the most popular shows. So obama understood the need to appeal to audience by segmentation. And appealing to them in their areas of interest. I think other president s will have to be more savvy about doing that. I think that theres kind of this sense that republicans have been old white guys, not really up to date on the culture. And theres been a lot of talk, including in the famous Republican National committee offense about the 2012 election, that they have to be a little more up to date on pop culture. Some of the republicans wanting to run in 2016, are they the younger 40 ismaels that expressed interests in tv, movies, rap music. So far, what have you found the people are most interested in. People are amazed at this stuff is going on for a long time. They asked me like you did, how long it took me to write it and how you found the information. How do you find this. I gave a shout out to politico. Which covers what the president s reading and watching. Some of the stuff on obama, he never could have written without that source. The pervasiveness 234 the american Popular Culture says michael hogan, whos he . Author, historian. The pervasiveness of blue jeans and basketball, of jazz music and rock n roll. Hollywood movies and television representing one of the most cultural developments of the 21st century. Explain. That quote jumped out at me. Its something i believe. Its good to have the validation. Hogan is saying that American Public hasnt captured the world. You hear people of peter berger going to his sociologist and to africa. He was bald. People would say hey kojak. So american cultural ideas and symbols have reached around the world. There were a few common touchdowns around the world. Whether its blue jeans or american knew vies, thats how many areas can communicate in some degriese that they havent been able to in the past. We talked about movies. Over the years you have a sentence or you wrote yeah, washington would hardly recognize the role that american diplomacy plays in american live today. By the way, people get elected president. And i taukt about two things. In the founders had a vision of enlightened leaders ruling over an educated pop yue louls. I dont think they recognized how raucous democracy would be. \m m arsenio hall comes back with fromgram. There is a clip 1992 when bill clinton was running for president. What impact this moment have . [applause] well, that was the loudest clip and it was really a groundbreaking moment when clinton goes on the arsenio hall show and not only plays the saxophone but wears sunglasses and trying to be helpful. Playing elvis, heart break hotel. Some of the critics say not well. You can figure out where the phone was. He sits down and talks to arsenio for a good 20 minutes to a half hour about some very personal topics. If you think back, in 1968, nixon, Richard Nixon, went on laughing. He said the phrase the signature fratz of that show which was talk it to me. He didnt say it that well. Thats the extent of the experience. That humanized nixon. Here, 20 plus years later, you have a president ial candidate putting himself out there showing hes hip, cool, combining both music and television in the way that hes going to be appealing to the American People. Elvis had been controversial when elvis started on the ed sullivan show. They had to censor the gyrations of his hips when hi appeared and now a more universal way to appeal to the American People by using an elvis song in 1992. It was a Ground Breaking moment and obama has followed in clintons footsteps. Can you think of a moment in president ial Campaign History that didnt work for a candidate . Dukakis and the tank . There have been a lot of examples of that. George h. W. Bush with the scanner incident in houston. Where he appeared not to know what a scanner was. Thats a little overplayed. Nevertheless, the cultural mean got out there. And i think that the president s had to be careful. You put yourself out there in a cultural environment. It doesnt always work. So obama so many shows. Over two dozen shows where he appeared for the entertainment shows. Not hard news shows. You can make a gap or two. One time David Letterman asked for the deficit or the debt. He profelszed to know the sites of the debt but didnt want to say it in that venue. For the most part, he did well with it. It doesnt always work. You have to know what youre talking about. Ronald reagan in 1984 talked about Bruce Springsteen and born in the usa. That became an anthem for his campaign. Two problems one is reagan didnt really know that much springsteen. In fact a press aid was asked what other songs he liked. The press aid said he had no idea. And second, springsteen objected to the use of the song. Reagan was successful and won that campaign, but that was a bit of a misstep. In the back, in your appendix, rules for president s engaging in pop culture. You start off with the number one on the list is borstons law. Our National Politics is a conflict of images or between images. President s must therefore understood public culture even if they dont endorse it. Who was he and how did you invent it . I loved daniel borstons law. You ask about books forward tipping. I read him later in graduate school. A great historian. Covered the gamut both technologically and politically. He talks about the book and the impact of television and talks about how you can be here, meaning youre watching at home while youre there being projected to the american audience and how tv brings people to your living room in the way that no technology had done so. Its not radio that brought the voice in. Sot your image. So borston understood that the images was very important to the understanding of how americans would proceed them. Mark knoller of cbs radio. Whats that . Mark knoller tallies everything about the presidency. Hes got a great data base. They archive how many games he took. When there was a nalgsal press conference event, reporters say whats the number on this particular thing that the president is doing. What i found is that the president s take vacations. I dont begrudge their vacationings. But if a democratic president takes vacation, they get krit sized by republicans and the other way around. Theres hypocrisy in the type of criticism. They should be allowed to have vacations as long as theyre doing the job thats fine. The law of hbo and show snm. I mentioned this a little earlier with the shows of the 1 . These shows get a lot of buzz, shows like the wire and homeland and a lot of the cultural elites talk about them. If you refer to yourself watching them, its not always successful. While they get a lot of buzz or ink, theyre not watched by that Many Americans. A speech back in the early 1960s about the vast waste land meaning television. You have in your second correlation says being direct, not hand fisted, if you dont like the message from the dark knight. Whats minnows law . He talked about the vast wasteland. When Gilligans Island came around, the name of the ship on Gilligan Island was a u. S. S. Minnow which was a shot at minnow. He criticized tv as being a dump of low brow shows and very unimpressive fair. You can really never go wrong by appearing to be more highbrow than tv. Im trying to get at that. You cant be seen to be embracing some of the lowest brow elements of tv and be an effective government leader at the same time. Genuine praise will not be graciously received. One under that group. The left coast is not american law. Well, the point there is thats more if youre a republican. If republican praises lets say modern family is mitt romney and mrs. Romney did. They can get criticized for a lack of support for gay marriage. Whereas obama said they love us some modern family. Theyre not only praised but theyre also vetted as a fundraiser. So i think republicans have a bit of a disadvantage dealing with the culture. I think what were trying to get at with that law is they need to be cognizant. If youre going praise some show, youre not going to get slapped back from the purveyors of that show. Who wrote the title of your book. Jessica, ike, and obama tweet . I mentioned i had a bunch of friends who strad jitzed with me about what the title was. The original conception was cicero to snooky. How our culture shaped our president. The publisher said theres two problems with that. One is that the vin diagram of people who know who snook i can is and cicero is doesnt intersect. The second is it was in 2011 when i was talking about writing the book that people might not know who snooky is. I think that star has faded. So we had to come up with an alternative title and we wanted to convey this motion, two notions one is were covering the gamut of president s all the way back. Washington, jefferson was a big reader. One thing i had though convey. The second thing is the way that culture has changed things. They were raeting and watching and now tweeting. Reading is a passive act. You are reading the book thats in front of you and you dont change the text. Tv is something youre watching but you can also impact it by appearing on tv and tweeting youre the president. Youre providing content. Obama has 20 million twitter followers, he puts a b. O. At the end so you know its a barack obama written tweet. The title of the book is what jefferson read, ike watched, and obama tweeted. 200 years of popular in the white house. Tevi troy. Thank you for coming. Thanks for having me. Box this is rose another Eleanor Roosevelts typewriter. Firstirst one was her column. It set the tone for the columns to follow. She talks about the comings and goings in the white house. From 1940. E talks about how a larger crowd came in from hyde park. The president went out to greet them. They would await election results. The president would come out and greet them. Rooseveltady eleanor in a moment on washington journal to your calls, tweets and comments. Followed by a look at the new Health Insurance exchanges and kaisercare law with Health News Correspondent jenny gold. Later, a discussion on budget cuts under sequestration. Washington journal is next. Host good morning. Its monday, october 21, 2013. Youre looking at a shot of the white house where president obama will give a speech later this morning where he is expected to address the ongoing website created to help the public and role in the new health care plans. As we take you through the latest this morning on the washington journal we ask what youd like to hear the president say at his rose garden address today