Okay. Good afternoon. Im bradley graham, im the coowner of politics prose along with my wife, lissa muscatine, and on behalf of everybody here at the gaithersburg book festival, thank you, thank you so much for coming. This is, of course, the seventh annual festival here in 2008ers burg gaithersburg. This is the fifth Consecutive Year that politics prose has been here as the official bookseller, and we really want to commend the gaithersburg staff and all the festival sponsors and volunteers for working so hard, especially hard this year given the weather, to make today possible. And thank you all, really, for coming out. Youre all a very hearty, hearty bunch. A few quick administrative notes. Now would be a good time to turn off your cell phones or anything else that might go beep. Second, if youre tweeting today, please use hashtag gbf. And, third, we really want your feedback. So, please, at the end fill out a survey. Theyre available at the back of the tent or on the gbf web site. And if you complete a survey, you have a chance a chance to win a 100 visa gift card. Finally, Juan Williams will be signing books after this presentation. Hell be, theres a signing line on the other end here of the festival grounds. And copies of his book, we the people, are on sale in the politics prose tent which is just out here, over there. Now, a quick word about buying books. Even though this is a free event, theres no charge for the festival, it does help the book festival if you do buy a book. The more books you purchase at todays festival the more publishers will want to send their authors here to speak in the future, and the more authors themselves will want to speak. Plus, purchasing books from politics and prose or other local bookstores benefits the local economy and supports local jobs. Were very delighted to have juan with us today. Im sure hes familiar to many of you since hes been part of the journalistic establishment of this town for several decades now. Juan and i overlapped for a number of years at the Washington Post and previous incarnation. Before i became a bookseller, i was a journalist at the Washington Post. And juan worked there for 23 years as a National Correspondent and political columnist. He then spent over ten years with npr before leaving and concentrating on fox news where he now frequently appears on various shows sharing his seasoned perspective on many issues of the day. In his new book, we the people, juan has a compelling premise. He makes the point at the outset that because the United States has changed so much since its birth, it should have another, more modern set of leading historical figures to inspire and to serve as examples. Much in the way the original Founding Fathers have done for previous generations and still do to some extent. So juan offers his list of more than who two dozen 20th century visionaries and model achievers profiling each of them and describing how in their own significant ways theyve helped reshape america. And hes about to tell you who exactly made his cut. Juan will be in conversation with Craig Shirley who is also an author and has written, among other works, several books on Ronald Reagan. So please join me in welcoming Juan Williams and Craig Shirley. [applause] juan, thank you for being here today. By the way, i think we are going to take questions from the audience at some point. I always like to start at the beginning. So just tell us about yourself, where you were born, where you went to college, high school, sports you played, things like that. [laughter] well, thanks, craig. And thank you all for coming out on a rainy day. Its a pleasure to be here. You know, one of the great pleasures, i think, about being an author is learning things. The writing process, getting involved with new information and then being able to share that information. But, of course, you need somebody whether its craig or all of you to share with, to get into conversation with. And part of the joy of a book festival is learning what people think about what youve written and sort of taking you to a new height in terms of your own capacity to experience life and the written word. So thank you all for being here. So in answer to your question, craig, i am 62 years old. I just, i had a birthday april 10th. The book was published april 5th. It was kind of a Birthday Gift. To yourself. To me, exactly right. [laughter] but i hope, i hope each and every one of you because i think its an i mean, craig was telling me earlier, tell them the three principles of being an author. Theres no such thing as writers block, and theres no such thing you have to tell yourself everyones waiting on the book. [laughter] i think its a Birthday Gift to you all as well. [laughter] so i was born in panama in 1954, and then my mom brought three kids to brooklyn when i was just 4 years old. I went to Public School in brooklyn, new york, and i won a scholarship to a quaker prep school in poughkeepsie, new york. Then i won another scholarship at Haverford College just outside of philadelphia. I was the editor of my Junior High School paper, my high school paper. And after my freshman year at haverford, went to work at the philadelphia evening bulletin. And right now i dont think theres an evening paper in america, mr. Shirley. But theyre all gone. No, no. So i really began at an evening newspaper and went from there, you know, i got a Dow Jones Dow jones used to own the wall street journal. They had a Newspaper Fund internship for young people, and i want to work for the Providence Journal one summer, went back to the bulletin. Very much wanted to stay in philadelphia and be a journalist for the evening bulletin, but this was the era of woodward and bernstein, and they werent hiring young journalists. They wanted people in mid career who were experienced investigators and the like. Everybody my age wanted to be a journalist at that point. Im not sure they wanted to be woodward and bernstein, but they wanted to be more like redford and hoffman, the guys in the movie, right . [laughter] but i really wanted to be a journalist. I love journalism. Its a passion for me. And basically, anyway i couldnt get a job at the evening bulletin, but i got another internships. Two, in fact, as i remember. One was at the Philadelphia Inquirer which still exists, and the other was at the Washington Post. And i thought if its an internship and im going to be out of a job in three months, i think ill take the Washington Postbecause it was, you know, the hot newspaper at that time. So i stayed there, as bradley said. Not only did i meet bradley, but i met carla cohen who ran politics prose for a long time. And one of those people that i met during the reagan years was this gentleman, Craig Shirley. 23 years at the post. Sorry it didnt work out. [laughter] pleasure how many books have you written . Well, it depends if you count things like, you know, there are books that are, like, theres a book about black farmers, and i wrote the preface to it which is lengthy right. But the heart and soul, i think the reason that anyone in this audience would buy that book are these incredible pictures of black farmers through the south. Right. But other than that i think its eight books. Eight books. What are you working on mow . [laughter] i just finished this one, yeah. Im perpetually now working on new books. Are you the same way . No. I, i think i must need to sort of, you know, till the soil one more time and find my direction. It is, for me, such a, you know, you talked about your three principles. But i think the thing that strikes me is that people say that for a man the closest thing we can come to childbirth is writing a book. [laughter] and i think thats true for me. So it takes my body and brain a while to say, oh, my gosh, weve gotten through it. Because books consume me. I work, you know, in newspapers or magazines, tv, radio. They are very immediate platforms. But they are ephemeral to some extent. You mow the joke about, you know, you say to your dad or your mom, oh, i had an article in the newspaper today, did you see my story . Yeah, itll line the bird cage next dayment. [laughter] and then you say, mom or dad, i had a piece in the magazine, and they say, oh, itll be out of the Doctors Office in a month. But if you write a book, it has lasting value, you know . Its always amazing to me that you go in a library x theres a book that youve written. I always think, gosh, what kind of a library is this that would have a book like me . [laughter] but, yes. So when i do a book, it consumes me, just as you said. I wake up and think why am i not writing the book. Its me. How long did it take you to write we the people . Five years, but the idea has been in my mind for more than five years. Sure. Im not always sure i can tell you when i know exactly what youre talking about. But i know that that was germinating in my mind for a long time. And it goes back, actually, to something i was doing for, in the pr, and npr, and it goes back to the 08 campaign. Right around that time i was looking at changes going on in American Society for npr for a series called changing face of america and looking at huge points of difference that had been, you know, at the start of the century, if you will, 21st century, that were defining American Life. Everything, things like, you know, people going from no gambling, no legal gambling to now gambling being everywhere. Everywhere. Thats a huge change. And in my lifetime, things like people not smoking people smoking everywhere to not being a able to smoke everywhere. You used to smoke in movie theater. Ball game, people at an athletic event, people smoking up a storm. So i did that, but also what occurred to me in the midst of the 08 campaign was how radically things had changed. Obviously, with president obama elected and thinking look at this coalition and look at the idea of an africanamerican as president , this is pretty incredible, you know . Magazines with headlines not in my lifetime did anyone think that Something Like that could happen. So i knew it was a radical amount of change going on, and that idea then grew into this book. Whats your favorite part of the book . Well, this there are two things. One is, so the booksen been out for a month now, and one thing that surprises me is the number of people who come up to me and say bill bratton . Yeah, i was going to ask you about bill bratton. How do you get him in with Ronald Reagan and Eleanor Roosevelt. Exactly. People say how can a policeman be part of the newfounders of america in the 21st century . Well come to it. Okay. But the second thing is when people ask a version of the question you just asked, craig, which is whats your favorite thing, i say to people, well, to me the biggest change thats taken place in American Life has to do with american women. And i dont think people appreciate, i think i didnt appreciate it. Right. So if youll allow me, ill tell you a quick story. Sure. The quick story is this. When i was doing that npr series i mentioned to you earlier, i was very intrigued by the 2010 census that said, guess what . Right now were a nation of more than 300 million people, but a quarter, a quarter of us are under the age of 18. Under 18. I had no idea we were such a young nation. Under 18. Remember, people like craig, me, i mean, we have kids, but 18 came to the tail end of the baby boom or right in the middle of the baby boom. Yeah. Right. But people under 18 dont vote. People under 18 dont have money to give to politicians. People under 18 typically are not involved in political organizing. So theyre not the kind of people that im calling on the phone like im calling craig when he was in the reagan administration. So thats just not the people im in touch with. When we were 18, we couldnt vote. Thats correct. Right. So i thought i would go and talk to people who were under 18, get a better sense of this very large, larger cohort than the baby boomers. Thats how big the under18 population is in the country. So i went out to a high school in minnesota, right in the middle of the country, and i was trying to figure out in talking to these young people whats on their minds politically, socially. And given the huge demographic shift taking place in the country, higher number of not only africanamericans, but hispanics now the second largest racial group in the country. And in minnesota youve got hmong, somalis, that whole somali issue with the Terror Threat and all the rest, all that going on there. I thought, oh, youre going to have cliques in the hallways and classrooms, everybodys going to be separate. Minneapolis being historically a homogeneous, white community. So i go there and, to my surprise, no, its not racially or ethnically separate. People are very much mixed, and the younger people play together, date, everything, eat together even in the cafeteria. You know how they talk about separate tables . Not really. You do have separation in terms of here are the governments and here are the athletes the gothst, the athletes, the smart kids hasnt it always been that way though . I think well, you know what . I thought racially because we still have high levels of racial segregation in american Public Schools right. Thought at this school youre going to see it, but no, at this school it wasnt true. Interesting. I started talking to the kids and got zero because they dont read newspapers, theyre just not plugged into the news in the way that i think those of us in this audience are plugged in. So i said to a woman who had attended the school she had gone to the school, her children attended the school, shes now a counselor at the school. I said whats the difference in this school between the 70s and today . She said, juan, it should be so obvious to you. You asked to meet with the very best students. Whatd you to notice . Im like, i dont know, what do you mean . She said, hold on. You asked to meet with the top people involved with student government. Didnt it jump out at you at that point . And im like, come on, what are you talking about . And she said, wait, you asked to meet with the students who are getting scholarships to go play sports, division i sports at the best schools president s of all the clubs, everything. Correct. Yeah. What did you notice, juan . And im like, oh, boy. [laughter] she said, well, it should have been obvious to you that when you met with the students who have the highest s. A. T. Scores, eight out of ten of them were young women. It should have been obvious when you met with the student editor and student government, seven out of ten young women, and how could you not notice when you met with the best athletes that after title ix9, five of the ten were young women . And i was like, wow, you know, its raining. Somehow you forget there are rain drops involved, and you dont see the pattern. Oh, my gosh, shes right. Close to it, yeah. Young women are so strong, so influential, so much the achievers in modern society. And i was, like, wait a minute, its not just young women. Its the case now that in the last few years america passed the Tipping Point where half the work force is made up of women. Right. Were now the case where its 87 women in the congress, 20 of the senate. We have three women on the Supreme Court. The attorney general is a woman. Women in the military women in combat women in media, women reporters. Absolutely. Megyn kelly is the star of stars right, right. Or you stop and think about all of them, all of the networks and cable. Even in college the majority of students in college today yes. Young women, the majority of people in professional and graduate schools, young women. So in we the people, i talk about how my wife has a graduate degree, masters degree. Her mother had a masters degree. My sister is a lawyer. My daughter is a lawyer. My sisterinlaw ran part of obamas campaign here in maryland, you know . My niece is a doctor. Next weekend my son gets married, hes marrying a doctor. The women in my life, the Founding Fathers would have no idea. Remember, no women signed the declaration of independence. No women at the constitutional convention. Women could not own property, women could not vote. So if the Founding Fathers came back to life, i mean, they would be like what are, what is going on . How did these women take control, right . Its a different world. But there are consequences. This just didnt happen organically. This happened because society recognized that women have been historically discriminated against, so it needed to be addressed. So there was, you know, efforts done to push women forward. Have we reached a point now where we need to say, wait a minute, we dont need these . Its all happening naturally now . Well one consequence that i think of is that i know a lot of we know a lot of women who are, you know, in their 30s and 40s and unmarried. Invariably they say there are no good men. [laughter] is it because were not manufacturing good men . Were only manufacturing good women . What was that . [inaudible] were still here. [laughter] thats one. That was a statement from big sexy. [laughter] you know, in all seriousness as a black guy right. I think this issue is very large in minority communities where you see minority women outperform the minority men right, right. Its even more distinct than whats going on in the white community. Right. And so your question about whats going on with the boys is very serious question to my mind. Right. I do think that, you know, its a change in the economy. Right. Thats part of it. It used to be if you had but there are structural differences in society too. Thats what im saying yeah. Not only the attitudes, but the culture. You asked to stop helping women along, ill just tell you this quick, funny story. I was once talking to the head of a university. And as i pointed out to you, women are the majority of undergraduate students right now in america. And i was saying to him, well, you know, why is that . He was saying, well, we have were making every effort with the young men. In essence, he was saying we have affirmative action to bring young men to campus. Interesting. And i was like, well, why bother . If you have Better Qualified young women, why dont you just take them . And he said, well, you have to understand. Girls like boys. [laughter] so they want boys on campus. [laughter] now, when i thought about this, i thought, wow, what an insulting statement. [laughter] you have the boys on campus to attract the girls, thats about it. [laughter] they have football programs because the girls want that kind of activity and action on the campus. But its all about the girls. Anyway, in this book, in we the people i tell the story of Betty Friedan. And this gaithersburg book festival is a good setting to say that Betty Friedans book, the feminine mystique, has told over three million copies. Profound cultural impact. Unbelievable. Saying that american women are being underestimated, underutilized in terms of intellectual compassionty that the happy suburban housewife is a myth and its not satisfying to american women and the like. It led to the feminist movement, but craig touched on this earlier. It has changed us as an American People in terms of family structure. Women saying, you know what . I may not need to get married earlier. Why is my life about getting married and having kids as opposed to developing my career, my educational background. These issues, this change in america as we live in it as opposed to the america of the Founding Fathers, i think thats why Betty Friedan is one of the founders of modern america as we know it today. You know, i just want to say, youve stimulated a lot of thinking. Im sure the founders wouldnt recognize America Today, but im not sure that they would disapprove. The country they envisioned was a country of individual, of rugged individualists, of maximum freedom consistent with law and order, and people were allowed to rise to the highest level of attainment without the heavy hand of nobility or government. Right. So this hypothetical, but do you think the founders would approve of America Today . Well, i tell ya, one of the ways people say, you know, whats your book about when you bump into them on the street, and i always say i have a little elevator speech. The elevator speech, craig, goes like this. Its an answer to your question, which is that if thomas jefferson, alexander hamilton, George Washington showed up at the gaithersburg book festival, theyd be rock stars. Wed say, hey, forget juan, lets go meet the Founding Fathers, right . [laughter] so theyre Walking Around and you say, hey, mr. Hamilton, theres a hit broadway show about you and George Washington. [laughter] you dont know, we have colleges named after you, we have a city named its unbelievable. And they would say to each and every one of you as they walk around gaithersburg, theyd say, you know, on that big highway we saw there were cameras on the lamp post. What are those cameras for . And youd say, oh, theyre for speeders and for criminals, you know, to prevent crime. And theyd say, wait a minute, you mean the government has you under constant surveillance . Yeah, yeah. Something about the fourth amendment. Right. I cant believe it, thats the way you live in America Today . So i dont think theyd be so happy about that. Okay. But what they would be happy about, how only the elites actually read books in 1776 and 1787, right . But here we are at the book festival, everybody reads books. So i would think that they would approve the democratization of reading. Oh well access to knowledge. Obviously, you know, mr. Jeffersons library, the library of congress. Library of congress. So, yes, they would appreciate. But, i mean, its like title of the book, you know, we the people, or, i mean, it almost makes me want to cry, the words all men are created equal. Its so inspiring, such a beacon beyond our shores but to the world in terms of ideal of governments and how we should treat each other and how we should organize ourselves as people. And yet, i mean, obviously they did not recognize blacks as fully human, and they gave women no rights. And when you talk about who got to read books, who got an education, it was the elites. Yeah. It was absolutely an economic elite. Wealthy gentlemen, yeah. I think everybody should come inside here. [laughter] its pouring. We have seats available, and there are chairs over there. Seats over here, yeah, over here. Please. You, at one point you were talking, and you made a gesture like this, because i want to ask you about your writing routine. You were thinking about things, and it reminds me about a story about james thurber, of course, wrote the walter mitty books. He was at a dinner party in the 1920s, 30s in new york city, and theres champagne corks popping, people laughing, food being served, music being played, and hes staring off into space not conversing with anybody. Hes doing this for hours on end. Finally, his wife turns to him and says, james, stop writing. [laughter] now, i have a certain routine. Michael crichton, you know, would have a cup of coffee and eat a ham sandwich and start at 1 00 and write for five hours. The next day hed start at 2 00, and the next day hed start at 3 00, and thats the way he wrote. Do you have a particular routine, the way a regimen, the way you write . Well, because my day job is so unpredictable which is as a journalist, you know, sometimes things happen. You know, this political year, for example, with conventions and donald trump and all the rest sure. Primaries, late night primary coverage. Absolutely. So theres no way for me to well, that makes it doubly hard then. Right. But lets say its a blank day. Right. Like, lets say its a saturday, and hopefully nothings breaking. Like the gaithersburg book festival. [laughter] right. On those days what i do is i wake up, and getting to be an old man, i dont sleep as much as i used to. I would wake up even on a rainy morning, and i would have a little oatmeal and coffee, and then i my brain, i think, is working pretty well. Right. Its interesting. I have two periods where i feel like my brain is really in gear, and i think it comes from being a Washington Post brad graham might have something to say about this. So my brain works really well from about 10 to 1, but then all of a sudden, i dont know what happens, but from about 4 30 to 7 30, i can really rock. And i think that comes from being trained to handle deadlines. Because thats when, you know, the First Edition of bulldog, youd have to get the story done by about 7 30, 8 00 at night. From the time i was a young person, thats when i really had to perform. I felt like there was no getting around that deadline. So that still is part of my makeup. Im usually into a glass of wine about then. [laughter] whos your favorite writer . Well, i have lots of different kinds of favorite writers. I was looking around the gaithersburg you cant mention anybody at fox. [laughter] no, i wont do that. I dont want to offend you. [laughter] only one. Only one. [laughter] but, you know, i mean, i really for example, i noticed that [inaudible] yeah. And i was thinking i really like Lawrence Block. I like Lawrence Block mysteries a great deal. And then, of course, you have, you know, i mean, theres no getting around, when people ask me what do you think of the great books of the 20th century, i think invisible man right. I just think thats an incredible piece of work. Right. So theres no shortage. Im a big ready. Im a big fan of books. Right. The front coffer here, youve got cover here, youve got in Mount Rushmore style billy graham, Ronald Reagan, l nor roosevelt and thurgood marshall. Why those four individuals . Obviously, this is about postwar america, the people who had the most impact. But there are other people, Lyndon Johnson or john kennedy or other people who had Henry Kissinger who had dramatic impact on postwar america. Why are these four on your cover . Well, i dont know about you, Craig Shirley, but i do not design covers. [laughter] but but i love the idea, which the idea is they came to me after reading the book and the book taking so actually, i do. You design your covers . I have a big hand in them. Not me. But in the book you mentioned Eleanor Roosevelt, Daniel Patrick moynihan, Martin Luther all the people you mentioned here are i think thats because the person who designed the cover read the book, thank goodness. [laughter] thatd be a first. Okay, all right. Well, i love the concept, that they read the book and they came up with this idea that there could be a new Mount Rushmore, right . And who would be the figures on the new Mount Rushmore. What they did, as craig as just told you, they put up Eleanor Roosevelt, thu good marshall, billy graham and Ronald Reagan. And i think their idea is you can see this is not about politics, this is about people who were so powerful in making a change in American Life that they have, in fact, created the modern america as we know it today. They are founders of america as we live in it today, and thats the idea. Besides bill bratton, who weve already discussed, the other person who kind of sticks out a little bit is Eleanor Roosevelt because she never held office unless you consider the u. N. Well, u. N. , but also her husband appointed her to civil defense, to run with laguardia. Okay. But why Eleanor Rooseveltsome. Well, because of human rights. I think one of the big changes in our, in the way that america operates in the 21st century especially as contrasted to the founders era is that the founders remember, in George Washingtons farewell speech, he advises against foreign entanglements and says, you know what . Were going to look out for ourselves and take advantage of gods gift of natural barriers, the ocean. Eleanor roosevelt comes along, and in the postworld war ii moment not only is she advocating for the u. S. To get involved with this United Nations and the whole idea of a global community, but shes also advocating something called the universal declaration of human rights. That the kind of rights that we celebrate, individual protections and individual entitlements if you will that go beyond government, she says, are not just american ideas, theyre ideas that we should promote, advocate, celebrate to the world. And so you get i cite the example in the book of when the boko haram bad guys kidnapped all those young women and took them off and how that starts a internet sensation among young people, but americans in general saying the United States and the world should go get this guy and go get those young women back. And, again, thats an exercise in the kind of values that we have in our culture today and the idea that we think we have every right to say to the world this is the way you treat people, this is the value of human life. This is Eleanor Roosevelt living through this moment. So Eleanor Roosevelt in terms of universal declaration of human rights, in terms of the United Nations, in terms of global consensus about what is right and what is wrong is i dont think theres any figure thats comparable. I will note that when Hillary Clinton began her campaign, she began it at a park that honors Eleanor Roosevelt. So i think for clinton, Eleanor Roosevelt is her top role mold. Im going to do something which i know as a fellow author i hate which is to ask you why you didnt include certain people, certain facts or certain things. Sure. To my mind now, i know jimmy carters in here, but hes not prominent. And to my mind, jimmy carters actually underappreciated because hes the first president who actually injected human rights into the national, International Foreign policy debate. Before carter it was kind of an academic exercise. Borders, military movements, things like that. But he was the first one to really kind of put, you know, who started to actually put a human face that there were p real humans involved. Bill buckleys not mentioned who had profound effect on the American Conservative Movement and phyllis schlafly. So im just wondering why did you consider those three or building out those more . No. There are lots of people, i mean, that you could say the most frequent mention on front that i get why didnt you include are people like steve jobs, right . Yeah, sure. People like zuckerberg with facebook. Right. The technological people. Right. But, again, i think technology is a huge change in the way we live. You can imagine the Founding Fathers being stunned at things like facebook or twitter coming from politicians in the middle of the night. Theyd be like, wow, we dont know anything about this. But i dont think that they would have said, oh, we dont expect that 240, a 250 years later that there wont be tech lodging call development. And tech technological development. Well, they were all groomed in the age of enlightenment, so there were developments printing. Exactly. In terms of writing. They at least had an understanding there was new technology. Right. So is thats why so in terms of the book reviews, which have been speck tack already, the one thing they all said is i thought he should have done a chapter on technology. Right. But i really made a conscious decision, thats not im interested in economic change, yes. And youll hear about Milton Friedman in terms of that. You mention Milton Friedman a lot. Which i agree with, by the way, i think he had i mean, when you think about 2016, you got to think about the income inequality argument as one of the dominant themes of our political discourse at the moment. Right. And i think the root of that is Milton Friedman. Right. And then well, he also gives the Republican Party a new message which it hadnt had in many years. Absolutely. To me which reagan makes popular. It was the antikeynesian message absolutely. So you go from keynes right to Milton Friedman. And i think right now and the arguments about how americas economy rewards or doesnt reward the middle class is tied into this Milton Friedman argument. You called the tea party far right. Why . Theyre far right. [laughter] do you want to elaborate . Well, i mean, if you stop and think about this is another element in the book. Theres a, you know, its funny, nobody mentions this guy, and he has a whole chapter in the book. His name is bob ball. I was going to talk about bob ball writing Social Security. Social security. But bob ball comes in right at the start of Social Security not as the father of Social Security, but the first administrator. The person whos really administering it, making it work, fibroing ways to keep it viable finding ways to keep it viable. And then he does become the father of medicare, medicaid, a whole Great Society effort head start on life. Right. And to keep Social Security going. And right in baltimore the Social Security building is called the bob ball building. But, again, a lot of people dont know who bob ball is. If you think in terms of obamacare at this moment, if you think in terms of the social safety net that we have in the United States, i would argue that the father of that is bob ball. So when we think about economic issues, its not just the Milton Friedmans of the world, but its also the bob balls of the world that i think have changed the way that we relate as a society. And bob ball, to me, is one of the Founding Fathers. You write here america was founded quote reagan here america was founded by people who believed god was the rock of their safety. And then you had on, if so, god and christian principles are not in evidence as guiding forces in the declaration of independence, constitution or bill of rights. I went to a documentary about George Washington, and a lot of it was about how both the founders and the framers took a lot of divine inspiration. So, i mean, are you saying not in evidence in that in terms of their writing or in terms of their belief or behavior . No, no. Its in evidence in terms of the statement that we were just talking about, all men being created equal. 9. Yes. And i think theres a whole sense of divine rights that there are rights that come from god, not to be begin to you by government. Right. Thats quite evident. I think the difference was it was such a human endeavor. One of the reasons that the Founding Fathers if they came back to the gaithersburg book festival would be rock stars is that who has ever written something that 240 years later still holds . Endures . Honored by, you know, we talk about the Political Polarization in American Society today. Leftwinger, rightwinger, right . Bernie sanders, donald trump, ted cruz, whoever. They all cite the constitution. All love the constitution. All work for change within those constitutional principles. You know, the constitution has survived civil war right. Survived world wars sedition act. Great depression, everything. Unbelievable. Yeah. The constitution. And so if you think actually, much of the constitution was suspended during the civil war and during world war ii, you know . There were strict habeas corpus and the like. Sure. But its within the larger framework, thats my point. Roosevelt also issued strict regulations on Radio Broadcasts and newspaper reports. Well, and tried to truman tried to take over the steel industry. Right, right. But i think all of this within the idea of checks and balances, separations of power has worked. Yes. 240 years later. Thats pretty unbelievable, right . Yeah. And i think that, again, the reality is that they would be stunned that their own creation has lasted this long. There are letters, letters among the Founding Fathers saying if this lasts five years, well be lucky. Isnt that astonishing . We have about ten minutes left, do you want to take some questions . Absolutely. [inaudible] of all the things that have [inaudible] horrified. Wow, a little stephen king at the book festival. [laughter] horrified. Well, as i said, i think theyd be stunned at women repeat the question. Oh. The question was of all the things that have happened since the Founding Fathers era, what would be the one thing that would most horrify. Is that that was the operative word most horrify the Founding Fathers today. So we talked a little bit about surveillance and the constant and, by the way, thats why bill brattons in the book, the police commissioner, because he really has made not only video surveillance, sound surveillance, predictive policing, all the things we live with, you know, amazing. Anyway, so i think that, i think that beyond that, you know, i think gays, gay rights, gay marriage. Would knock em out. They would have no point of reference for this. Its not i mean, George Washington drummed a guy out of the continue innocental army because of Continental Army because of gay behavior. They spoke of it, wrote of it as an abomination. So if they are in gaithersburg, you know, this evening, saturday night, and see two men holding hands, i think theyd say, craig [laughter] what the hell [laughter] and juan [laughter] right. So, you know, i mean, i think the power of horror is theres some element of total surprise, you know . Day becomes night, you know, the dead come back to life as zombies and all that. So i think for them this would be like zombie land. Theyd be like, you guys embraced the idea of homosexuality in a way to them that they would be absolutely horrified. We have a microphone here. If you want to ask a question, just raise your hand, and well bring the microphone to you. Your time at fox news change how you wrote this book and who you chose for the book . It educates the question was has my time at fox news changed me and the writing of this book. So i dont think theres any question that im surrounded by conservatives on a daily basis. [laughter] marinated. Marinated. [laughter] and, you know, craig was in the reagan administration, so i knew him from back then. So i was being marinated among conservatives even back then. Thats true. But it does change you to constantly have to go back and forth with really smart conservatives about the arguments from their conservative point of view. And part of my role at fox, some people say, hey, youre a punching bag over at fox because the odds are always against me. But i say, no, i think my role is more like foil. Im allowed to punch back, but the key is to prop up the kind of debate that makes people have to deal with the other sides perspective so that anybody watching doesnt ever end up at the water fountain the next day and say, oh, my gosh, i didnt know that they thought that or somebody had that perspective or that point that would change. So, to me, thats the role. But what it does for me is it makes me bring my a game every time. I have to be prepared. If youre going up against bill oreilly, you want to avoid being the pinhead bigtime. [laughter] so you want to make sure you know what youre talking about and have some confidence in it before you engage that conversation. So how does it affect the writing of the book, it makes it opens my eyes to the idea that, you know what . I want to be sure that i am considering. You heard craig just a moment ago say why didnt you include some of the phyllis schlafly, for example. But again, to my mind, having considered it, she does not match up with someone like a Betty Friedan in terms of prompting the wave of shift that weve seen in america in womens lives. Have you gotten bill oreilly to promote your book too . Thats hard. [laughter] bill wrote a blurb for the book and not only that, he has told people that its a Great Fathers day gift. [laughter] and im trying to get him to say go to politics prose and buy the book. [laughter] there we go. Any other questions . Whats, what is your next book . You keep asking me this. [laughter] you are on me, i tell ya. I dont know. I dont have, you know, i have ideas, but to me theyre still at the point of, you know, its like i need to put a little fertilizer on em. Let it sit for a minute. You know, i always think there are people who do books, and they can be vanity books. Theyre about themselves, especially in the tv business. Yes. Theyll do a lot of that theyre very predictive, arent they . I think. Or they put out books feature pictures of themselves on the dust jacket. Yeah. Well, so i dont do those books. I do so the first book i ever did, we were talking earlier, was eyes on the prize americas civil rights years, it was in conjunction with the tv series. But i think, you know, one of the great pleasures of my life as a writer is that on the 25th anniversary of that book, the publisher sent me a gilded copy because books been in print for 25 years. Wonderful. Thats great. The book i wrote about thurgood marshall, still in print. To people still use these books. So people still use these books. And, you know, i wrote a book about issues within the black community and struggles based on bill cosby and bill cosbys speech prior to all the scandals that now surround bill cosby. And that book continues to sell. So for me, im really interested in doing books that have lasting value and that people, you know, when you read a book, i think its such a gift to an author. I know bradley thinks its when you buy the book. [laughter] but for me, its when you take the time and you say, you know what . Its worth time. I find this book intriguing, relaxing, you know . Especially i can easily see where you would say that with a fiction book, that its engaging, it takes me away from my daily activity. But for me as a nonfiction author, i am so grateful when you take a moment to read a book and then stick with it. And i want to know that i have given you Something Worthy of your time. When i wrote one of my reagan books, i got a letter from a woman in the midwest, and she said dear mr. Shirley, i go to bed with you every night. [laughter] and then she proceeded to explain how her treat was to take a bath, have dinner, get in bed and then read one chapter of my book every night. Which i framed that letter. [laughter] so my version of that is people say, you know, youre in my home every night on fox news. [laughter] youre in my bedroom. I always say, well, its unbelievable, this new technology that allows us to see into your house now. [laughter] oops. Put on some clothes. [laughter] looking forward to reading your book. Thank you. And lot of talk about the Founding Fathers, and i guess, what they would see here. I kind of view that as, like, a parent and a child relationship and as the child grows up, its way beyond what the parents could have imagined as theyve created a foundation. It in rea time, tweeting and communicating opposite polarizing views of what they heard. My question for you is more personal on merrick garland, we have an extremely polarized political system today and should we have a vote on garland proceeding or do you think, part of government working as our Founding Fathers envisioned, instead of the separation, and the design was the President Shall nominate and the senate should advise on this nomination. The hashtag the Obama White House had, the democrat you mentioned gayrights. What person on Mount Rushmore would you have for changing gayrights . I think one of the more intriguing chapters is harry hey. Also when there is senator goldwater, Barry Goldwater who late in life became an advocate of gayrights on the right. Harry hey is the person who began in the early 50s to organize around the idea that gay people should not be harassed and intimidated by police and politicians should not use the issue as a wedge issue and condemn them for their behavior. Initially it is anonymous political organizing but it breaks through when people put their names and money to it particularly in the hollywood acting community on on the west coast and that leads to stonewall and we saw they are going to name the Stonewall Bar in new york, National Historic monument, this tells you how tremendous the rate of change has been in society around this issue now that we have the Supreme Court affirming the right to gay marriage. Unbelievable. Harry hey is a chapter and with Barry Goldwater in this book. Lets have a round of applause here. [applause] thank you all, thank you. [applause] remember Juan Williams will be in the signing area, his book we the people the modernday figures who have reshaped and affirmed the Founding Fathers vision of america is available in the boo the party the people this is live coverage on book tv on cspan2. Good morning and welcome. I would like to give a special thank you to all of the festival sponsors. The th
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