Klans been, to do this run for the u. S. Senate, so i went down to louisiana and i was at a rally with him. Oddly enough, he had to get to another town across the state and his driver had not shown up, so i said mr. Duke, im free. Lets me drive you and he sort of looked at me like, you know, he was unsure, but he had to get to this place where he had to go and so there we were, me and david duke writing across the state of louisiana and it made for a great story. Goodness gracious, the somalia story i sort of kiss you could get these stories online, boston globe archives. The somalia story i was a correspondence amalia. I was covering the civil war with a photographer and not that i wanted, of course, to be taken hostage. I did everything i could to make sure i was going into a place where no one was looking for me. Heck, i wanted to get in there, write the story and get out and so one of the aid workers in kenya had said fly to bard era. Thats a village that was already attacked about two months ago, so the rebels will not circle back so soon and attack it again, so you are safe. Go in there, do your story and we have a transport plane. Bring a sweet and corn there and in todays you can hop on the ride and come back to kenya. Well, just that luck would have it on the first night i was there, rebels came out of nowhere and attacked the village. It was a scary situation , but we got out. We got out with a lot of Strategic Moves made and there was a ransom paid for us by foreign government. The us was not involved, but they let it be known that they cared about us to get us out of there, out of the situation. So, they found two South African pilots to bring a small plane into the desert to get us out and thats how we made it. Small plane is not a small plane with the pakistani general, the general is not going to be out there in the middle of nowhere without his troops and so when we went up into the air we were rescued and we were all dehydrated, exhausted, frightened, but when we went up in the air for about 10 minutes, maybe 15 minutes the plane started to land and i was worried like do not land. Lets get out of here, but we landed and when we got off the plane, the generals troops, about 300, had surrounded the plane and told us you are safe now i know it sounds like something out of a movie, but it really happened. Host everyone listening to this was to assess question, what did you and david duke talk about . Guest we talked about politics and much like i tried to do with the senators in showdown in the Thurgood Marshall book i tried to get an understanding of his liking, you know. I would say, david, its just me and you, man, in this car. How did you get to be who you are, this person who says these things and they sound outlandish, david. And they sound dangerous and they are dangerous. You know, he would say like, well, a lot of it came from how i was brought up and things happen to you in your childhood and those things become instilled in you and his thinking was that name every stereotype about blacks, blacks and welfare, driving big cadillacs, all of that. You know, he believed that. That was a part of his upbringing. Those were things that people said to him and he believed it and he started making these speeches. He was very calm in talking to me. It was, you know, surreal. It was a little surreal, it was. Host did he come across as you talk about in showdown as a cardboard figure . Guest no. Talking to me oneonone, very thoughtful. I mean, but thoughtful in the context of being an unabashed racist, i mean, you know very thoughtful, but like very calm and very in his mind articulate in what he was trying to express. He seemed to think that this is a interesting moment for him in his life to be in this car with this journalist from boston, you know, asking him these questions. These were almost things that i felt he would have loved to have said with former friends that he lost, you know. He would have loved to have said these things in a calm her voice and a quieter setting. I knew if we would have pulled over to a town and there was a crowd, allwhite crowd, of course, waiting on him that he wouldve started thundering again all of his racist dogma. He would have started thundering at the top of his lungs and he wouldve got back in the car and would have continued to the conversation that we were having. I have no doubt about it. Host alexis and young harris, georgia, youre the last call today and we have about a minute left. Caller i think you. I thank you mr. Hagood. Im reading your book showdown right now and im enjoying it. As someone who grew up in a segregated south and remembers Thurgood Marshalls nomination hearing and Strom Thurmond especially, i just want to ask now we have an africanamerican president who is appointing a white jewish jurist and is getting the same flack, but in a different way from the senate. What do you think about that . Guest thank you for your question. I think thats is awful that the u. S. Senate has decided not to schedule hearings for judge garland. I think they are shrieking the constitutional duty. I was in chicago last week. Host and that will bring our three hours to a close. Wil haygood can be contacted at Miami University in oxford, ohio. Thanks for your time on booktv. Guest thank you very much. Been an honor to be here