Education and but edith wilson became the first female president of the United States in was acting as a chief of staff. Wilson left the white house of those assassinated he left the latest data ever and then suffered the most papal lead tragic final three years to become the only president to remain in washington d. C. After his white house years and there is up to be an almost magical is operational end to his life which is each afternoon he would take a drive with his wife and chauffeur to be a handful of people just to see him in people would come to the house sometimes ever be a hundred people or 200 per for veterans day there were 10,000. The next year there were 20,000. People would come from all over the world just to see the of Woodrow Wilson house. And then we were not put into this world to sit still and know but pledges in it to to act. And give every ounce of his being to make that come true. So we hope you take a moment to use it still in then perhaps spread the word. Thank you very much. Smith there is a microphone. Thank you for your presentation and. You said he wanted to use circumvent congress but i want to ask if the 14 points in the way he went around them and how they were feeling and how they stated to give wilson 14point the divinations would they get anything they want with the initial 13 points that wilson basically sacrificed in order to gain 14 . That is a very valid question. Point by point he did not sacrifice 13 but the essence most are incorporated in the treaty there were so few lastminute compromises wilson made no question. I think in retrospect perhaps but at the time everything seemed belize believable threat he thought it could be manageable. He asserted in recent years perhaps wilson was is duped by george duke did not know the extent of the lions den. I dont believe that. There is a lot instances he was perfectly aware of what they were doing. He went over there and they were sitting at the table now of those two dozen nations have a specific agenda to gain more territory and treasurer he was not there to build an empire with a supernatural call basically so as a result that may have been the most that some say the dumbest thing he did not go id with a bag that maybe we should control more of the world he did not conceive it that way but i with segment added 14 points the essence of the real fact is there. But it is a fair question that will be debated forever what do you see inca of the autobiography of thomas marshall, his Vice President . That is a fascinating question. Marshall was from indiana to a great favorite son and lanius of the question. If you read the autobiography wilsons name only appears a handful of times which is interesting for the Vice President at the same time he was seldom even in the white house during the wilson years. Their riches the river is i know all Alice Roosevelt longworth for the last 10 years of her life and i used to go up and have tea with her and she loved to have me over because i loved Woodrow Wilson and she lowes tim sushi were ridiculed me for two hours. I was in my early 20s she was in her early eighties and i was a mouse in the cats paws. But she claims so assertively that i know it is not true. [laughter] but she claims when they finally did weeks later breakin that thus president had suffered a stroke said Vice President thing to but he was probably ill equipped in the as this goes back to why i call it a conspiracy because who is to say this man hall would have become a harry truman or rise to something nobody knew a and this was a decision arbitrer lee made by mrs. Wilson and the doctors and as a result of large measure we now have a 25th amendment that details president ial disability. Pointing out in the beginning wilson was the first southerner to become president since the civil war a product of the south and in the deep south during the era when the klan is in the ascendancy, redeemer politics spreading across the south. Would you say a couple of words our race and racism affected his thinking and behavior . I am glad that you asked because it is not all pretty and this is the and prettiest, this the and the alien and sedition act that wilson, the great progressive was extremely regressive and it must not be forgotten Woodrow Wilson did introduce jim crow to this city coming desegregated the post office and the Treasury Department that sage and segregation in any state or community that deemed it important. Going back to the personal side of somebody who grew up in the deep Southern Society and this is what he understood. All that being said he was a racist his writings, his thinking some matter what period context it is a racist sought. That being said i dont think he was a racist if we could have gradations. I dont think she hated the africanamericans if he only had hatred for a few individuals but his real feelings of segregation that i feel the you can decide if you agree, i will give you all the evidence but he did believe the country wasnt ready to integrate and said it would take a generation or two before the country could deal with the problem that is the mid 1950s that was exactly on his calendar so did he slow the process because these segregated government offices . Probably. He simply did not want the revolution that did occur in the 50s to occur on his watch. One more political point where i must end it common that wilson realized to a vance is very progressive new freedom agenda he needed the complete backing of the Democratic Party that included the fast block of the onethird of the senate and congress that were southern democrats. He remained true to them and got the new freedom that was passed on the back of the africanamerican. Thank you very much. [applause] my name is kevin in the air in washington. We have been in business nine years starting 2004. We use the heidelberg wind mill that is found in most commercial print shops using a foreword by cutting cutting, scoring, but we use it for printing. Not that many people in modern times use them for printing because they are slower, a lot of print shops use the of 44 along press that kiam send out tens of thousands of prints per hour for this is for meticulous hand work for Artistic Printing but it is the heart of our business. Think of this when you buy something made with so much attention, it has a more presence if you send a card that is not massproduced been handled by the individual i hope it has more meaning if it is made with love. Host welcome to after words came from the sunday times of london with me today is charles mohr the journalist and author from britains sunday times and charles is also the man responsible for sending me to washington and belfast in jerusalem. He has written the authorized biography of Margaret Thatcher the first two volumes going from her birth possibly her finest moments of victory in 1982 against the cold war. The book has already received rave reviews liz your dry wit and research and the telegraph describe the biography says likely to become definitive accounts so congratulations. I thoroughly endorsed those comments but it is hard to believe, and only last month of book 859 pages is substantial as it should be clearly it was not written overnight but tell me about the genesis. She was devised she should do something with her papers when she was in Office Oxford university refused jersey honorary degrees to she gave them to cambridge so she was also revised somebody should write to your life Lady Thatcher why dont you pick someone you get on with a and let them get going give them the access and the chance she kindly chose me. This was 1997 and obviously it is intimidating but a great honor and fascinating opportunities so i said less said yes. So it is a great bulk of research but the key point is it is the complete access that has not happened to anybody else so she turned to the key and lock for me. Even though it is authorized to call her ms. Thatcher. I do recall call her margaret until she is married. But authorized she did not like to talk about personal matters or dwell on her own life and somebody whos very tidy to get rid of saying so there must be some difficulties to tackle the subject even though it was authorized . From the historians point of view in documentary terms it was a nightmare because she wanted to throw everything away but you can do that because somebody wants to keep it she destroyed everything not to conceal secrets but she can touch tiny minded house like if she moved she would throw out the paper and it is the way she gave me access because i dont think she knew what was there talking to her sister she had no brothers and one sister she told neil lot about their childhood that had not previously been known and the vast collection of letters from margaret to burial going on through 1964. You get the complete picture from margarets own words education, teams were lover of closed and oxford what it was like to politics there started with the world of working and industry becoming a candidate era and of course, loved a and boyfriends. Maybe people were surprised. Mostly a was tuesday night it that i do not blame her but she said she had no boyfriends before but there were at least three serious ones that they were in the of letters and the amusing and revealing ways but what you can see through that is her making the choice of her life was sort of person will id and who will live very . Will live very . Host as tidy bit to what she says it is funny. She was living in essex this guy mentor at a function and he took her out for dinner if he was pestering her so she says to muriel and said yes and we dined he is 35 but has of naivete that only a scotsman and cant have he was sweet with a sense of humor he showed me his credentials to read his farm is worth 25,000 pounds 500 of this and that and so forth so being a scotsman he left a tip for the waiter i could have fallen through the floor then he took me home and his car i cannot pick a definite date so he will fall on me but although i had been introduced to him i can never catch his name but still dont know. [laughter] he speaks with a scottish accent and i am afraid he will be a nuisance. She was not very serious about him and he was very serious about her but he gives her a handbag so she has to stay with him because she would love a handbag. But she would pass them on to her sister and then various serial. Host then at this time Margaret Thatcher wanting not wanting to go that route she went to dinner there the men stayed at the table and the women left but margaret stayed she was struck out the men thought it was pouring in and she did not want that life where she is the housewife she does not say precisely those words but the way she is thinking and realizing this life was not for her but it was for real so she arranged it. She had one serious love who was a doctor but the age difference was so big she did not meet mary m. Then comes dennis not a frightfully attractive creature but he proposed she did not immediately except but then except to him and it worked very well as history knows. Host how much time did you spend with her personally . Guest luckily i was offered 1987 i did talk to her throat the 90s because her mental capacity declined to in the 21st century and to it was not possible to conduct formal interviews so it was intimidating and confusing and that would not be fair. Said we would have lunch and chat to get some information but i had to do more concentrated interviews in the 1990s. Host when is the last time you saw her . Guest i did not see her after her final illness she had an operation in december then she never went home. I did not see her then. When i last saw her she was perfectly cheerful and in reasonable health but it was sad because she could remember so little but it did come out of her sweetness of character how she liked domestic life giving her cats too much food is and that was apparent in her old age. Host there were some acts of kindness that was not public consumption like the irish hero individually by hand to each one. That has never happened before. Did she has set a precedent soon fade right to the family of each breed person it is true it was very good and rivals but in terms of its general attitude for those who were the oil and a good the the model of Good Behavior sometimes could be described as bullying. She like to test people but a very tough on a cabinet colleague year of the difficulty that generation some did not want to argue with a woman they do not always realize was for them to come back her bullying was a deliberate provocation and they said no. Sari. You are wrong. As long as they knew their staff she would respect that subject those to receive they did not know how to deal with her estimate because he was the exchequer and was very important and was a Great Success and they were real allies in when she made him for is secretary it became really bad he was the most able but he had a way of talking he was someone indecisive and avoiding confrontation and this would enrage her if she would pick on him in public and stuart being the only woman she did not have that sensitivity we try to protect one another in the groups situation. One of her strengths but she would not do that are reported to get something done but the president will be humiliated than want revenge. Talk about that relationship of Ronald Reagan that is in the second volume but people talk about the special relationship. What was it between those two leaders . It comes out clearly first is the personal rapport which is partly from the individual characters they like to the difference between the two of them she was very hyperactive always trying to get things done and full of energy he was more laidback than charming and amusing but the real importance lose they first met in 1975 she just became a leader and he was open date hoping for the nomination be he did not get it. The world is against them that powers that be in they shared a vision for both their countries than civilization going to wrong way. They had a very strong belief it changed with too much government problems but also have made to do with communism is they both believed communism was not going away and detente could have been based on trust that is why she is called our lady because the soviets called her that but her aunt reagin share thats when she went to congratulate him after the inauguration that was the point she said we will Work Together and despite many deep disagreements was basis of trust and mutual support. The falklands war reaches a crescendo of the book of her career, it was by no means unqualified to talk to the americans or even with ambivalence it certainly was not an easy thing for ms. Thatcher to get through they invaded the Falkland Islands she could not recover that is the end of her career a and it is lusting to britain so she sent the task force but she needed American Corporation logistical and cooperation because of the great distance and beating back up intelligence. The Reagan Administration was probritish you were getting weapons and intelligence through the back door early on but it was a serious problem. They did not want america destabilized by communism there is a big faction that felt that strongly brett mr. Reagan tried to strike the balance if he could. He would have liked a deal rather than actual combat but she was determined not to have a deal but she did make big concessions along the way making the calculation she had to do to satisfy World Opinion in hoping the argentines would not accept and that was correct but it came late United States tilted to britain. It was always a struggle and they think without extremely close relationship there would be much, much harder because she could talk cancer which because of the more active grasp of detail he was more and add a disadvantage if it was a direct conversation because every fact was in her head sometimes they would discourage these because they thought it was worse for him but it all worked out beautifully the british one flat out in the great surge of good feeling with the two countries but. Not like Jeane Kirkpatrick that she went to dinner at the embassy the night of the invasion. Is she thought she had to vote in the british way. Then after she already voted that she should abstain and she made another speech she would rather abstained so writeup to the end she did not want to the thatcher view of. It was tough when it was probritish. The Navy Secretary had the british point of view and that shares the strength of that relationship because it is that military and intelligence at its closest and to in terms of the Atlantic Alliance it is much more important than relations. With 250 troops killed it was small and a significant parts of the british establishments listed stature prevails. Guest thats right. She had no experience with for at also she did not know what to do. She know what she wanted to she had to be given validation that it could be done. She had no idea and she said how long . He said three weeks and she said shirley yu mien three days. She did not note the logistics. But that gave the feeling that it is at least possible. I do believe that of another leader who had been in a war would not have done it because they saw the difficulties so it takes a certain person to do everything you can diplomatically to keep it on track. When british one she told the house of commons and went out with the jury with a deputy and he said only you could have done it then she started to cry because of the relief of stol then her husband said have a drink. But there was a tremendous test of character and she passed and that changed everything because some of the people you were talking about who doubted were keen to get rid of her with her economic policies but then they returned the corner and if they could have gotten rid of her they would have sova secured her to allow her to have another fight us six years of success before the troubles at the end. Host i was astonished by the of them those of the falcons and the candid remarks that ms. Thatcher would put in the margins to where she would not write to memorandums on her own but receive them and she read rights all over them what she thought like feeble but bishop than typical for an office this is the fun to steady you can see her personality how she gets the point of it is like marking her homework. Host she was less in public like disagreements with president reagan would be privately and not publicly but of somebody that was capable to let people know how she felt. What was the reaction to her death . I struggled to read coverage of her life. Its is a huge. There was a real outpouring. What does that say about her or politicians of that stature . I quite agree about the reaction and i felt very much how much international interest. I expected some in british interest been inundated from all over the world and to that tells me two things. One, she did so much so anybody who is seriously interested but the other is mythological to do with the first woman and her particular type of leadership as a woman it is almost like an opera or a soave and i find people respond to that all over the world i call her the patron saint of texas drivers it is not so much one particular belief although they were important to but the personality and style of leadership that is a figure of history these are big figures you cannot get them out of your head. Host over the last decade it is spin doctors and that was not her. But thatcher supporters sometimes make a mistake she did not care what people thought. This is something that really emerged from the book a very pragmatic politician but she was also a politician of conviction and how to link these two things in one human being. If you dont have conviction and you dont know where to go or you know, where to collapse in to it is that mixture that was so powerful one of her advisers described her but you yourself wrote she did that have been intellectual or a regional minds that is at odds with what some supporters thought. She had a powerful mind and a sharp mind but she was quite disorganized. She did not do one thing for another in the orderly fashion. They needed others to make sense but politicians have to reflect on events and those that have a strategy bin model on of business idea they get stock on dash stock. And she would talk to much when she was tired and did not make sense sometimes. You always felt a fundamental hints of what it was about sheikh was energizing she always did get the argument completely straight but everybody felt her presence and they do essentially what she was trying to do. But she practiced on the occasion. Your bright. But the real thing was to make the impossible possible. It was stretching the idea of what politics was capable of doing. If you take the parameters. It is a prime example. But one is privatization because she wanted to denationalize but did not believe that you could and they wondered to which uses industry in gradually realized with the pragmatism and conviction if you could sort it out then something that looks impossible 1979 was out by 1984 and was universal and other countries. That is an example. Shed like to be trade herself as the unyielding. Looking at the European Community at the Prime Ministership kevin she engaged so the soviet union she was involved with them thin there was a flexibility and a development. And this was something she herself would deny . She had a forced image of herself i think that it was the best policy to and she could produce said the editors prefer actually, but also to think politically to do something that may be left wing also so somebody else could be playing and im Mitchell Antar you scored wobbly year and there is no time to pussyfoot she said to george w. Bush in the wind but i am struck by her written word and tell me about no use of language. I believe it chiefly became also the man who had to leave school and was a methodist lay preacher in to she knew decaying james version of the bible back to try and use that and she loved the simple words better in that Old Fashioned english and she never used the word jordan. You knew she really hated it is she said thats jargon and never lost the capacity to communicate directly to a wide audience. The matter the expert on the details she would go to the wild to the wide audience and oftentimes you will find echoes for example. For one of his sermons he says god wants no fainthearts and she said i want none for this battle. You can just hear the echo. This is a Strong Language and complex of people understand what you were talking about. That this was something kong reagan is that to get you to where you need to. You start the book with a quotation i belong to the middleclass in the strongest part i noticed your footnotes. You would be a high schooler zero placing people in that context and i am struck by those of the big Public Schools and private schools in britain. How important was class to Margaret Thatcher . Very important because she came from the outside and had to overcome of the double barrier the wrong class issue in the wrong sex. But it is a mistake to think she was tossed kyle to traditional social order in britain. She was a believer in opportunity by not imposing equality it had a sense of british history and very much respected the monarchy coming and aristocracy and constitutional order. You would like as long as she is not patronized. So if she did not like the of Prime Minister but even more because he treated us like a gentleman and she was not trying to overthrow everything but we galvanize the greatness. Host the point you make of her being very conservative on constitutional matters so although she was about small government but not about pushing back. I think she was definitely been more in terms of this is written in the social provision. Host she did do some for the welfare state but not enough. Guest the bad it is not what she did tackle but what she didnt in the National Health service was one of them she did approach to the end because she did not begin was very good but she had a lot to get through in the first was economic reform. Host schools and hospitals there was a lot of unfinished business. But was the most straight and surprising but also talking to so many people. In and with the headed pragmatism if you believe the Margaret Thatcher version it was a wonderful stands on everything that was not true. She did have real principle but it is not the only thing. She is intensely political and very keen on her own survival and personally ambitious as well as genuine the patriotic the deadlock is somehow these two things came together because sometimes if you have egotism of the Prime Minister it is bad hers was used but it served creature purposes. Host also it comes through you have concentrated on her personality from those that are feminine and i found it surprising she was so interested in clothes. Looked at how carefully and well she dressed but there was always a domestic side to her the famous weapon, the huge bank sometimes a shield for more aggressive, would love to have a good hand baker and it was what we needed to try out immediately so perhaps sometimes she would do it did not know that schaede new and there it was in the bag. She knew the symbolism to be the woman leader very well. She loved the economy and also equalities so things were really stand reworked. Her addresses are all labeled with different names so she did not mail on the wrong location she also had dresses on loan you are not allowed to accept present presence but the companies would lead them to her. Her mother was a seamstress in to do have they ever made and used this on such points host tell me about her sense of humor aha the other day you said she did not tell jokes but she had some quiet types she could use to the humor very effectively in and this was in the book where she said i never read high figure. Guest thats right but i think she made a simple mistake she jumped up with a statistic in this she realized what she tripped up into it and then turned into a joke. Your right to. Jokes were a male thing but she had wit. She could come in a hard or something that sum everything up and it is different than the way men of talking and when she went to the foot she got up and had to wait and she would say i had just listened to seven speeches a and frankly the hen lays the eggs. But it is the women that do things and that is the way she would turn verbally not a joke but it is funny. Host other timed gorbachev shows up to look at the painting. Right. They were arguing in the kremlin capitalism versus socialism and he took her into a different room and pointed to a painting which is a rural scene with the sun coming through the clouds. He said Prime Minister this is like our conversation lots of storms but the sun comes through. She turned to locate him and said yes mr. General secretary but the of light was coming from the west. So that is the way she could not have chosen that. But beyond the scope of this volume coming she once said so reid was the double entente drug not meant to the way. Not but she absolutely was terrified of swept dunes . Somebody said what is your bottom line she thinks it is about her bottom so she gets into a terrible panic. But again it comes back to the point she is a woman so thats arad that the jokes they tell with one another are reared and that is not her world. But she was not a complete proof at all but she did not like intruded into personal behaviors and had very strong standards and never tried. To look at when her colleagues got into trouble shave realize theyve made the situation impossible but she was not one to by giving your, she would take human beings as they came. We just had a rather difficult of socalled but it was she was right behind him and heard everything. Yes. She hated having too little juju. She would come down into the room where the junior people were working to see how things were going. On this occasion he was trying to negotiate with the treasury and he felt he failed as her private secretary and put down the phone and is more. Suddenly he realized she was behind him and shoot was smiling. Her eyes were shining and she loved to see him fighting for her. She just said temper temper. She like to see the engine room at work. So the sense of being in a small tightly knit, a very lively place and was unusual in that she had real principles and a sense of the vague picture of the big picture. There were times she said the new too much. It was not so much the other issue would not allow colleagues enough ram to get on with things sometimes and with government you do need to do that and it is not surprising some of them gone and irritated. So why did she have to debate all of those measures . If i was her. Is a fault and a virtue at the same time. At least i am concerned to get a right. Usually she could delegate because all Political Parties are coalition she would have cabinet ministers in political places that she did not trust the then it was awkward. Host tell me about her management style and how accurate was that analysis . Gate came when things were really bad as there was a plot against her in an end to the head of her policy unit center a stinging memo all things like all management style yours is dreadful and you never think people and you are impossible. Except for. I think that had a good effect. She would never say i am so sorry. I got it wrong but she would change your behavior period she was rude she would find a way. Spirit basically she stressed to the person to criticize and to in modern politics so with a rare exception she except did canada. Reading the review of Merrill Streep when margaret comes to life, i thought in a sense tried to be little heard in would gloss over and played down the politics. What is your view . Guest someone who knew of the thatcher it is distressing because it was not the kind fading to depict a living person suffering from dementia. But as i met. It made people realize because they were so strong and she was also full lew will. Of sova revenues see that it is touching but the actual depiction was so good i thought that some whose zeroth it was uncanny. Some of the details were not accurate at all