This is all a big part of it. The problem with kennedy will be it is cut off so soon. We very rarely take a president as seriously as the others who has only served one term and heres a president who didnt even serve one term. You look at what footprints, what a mark he left on our sense of who we are. Host one of the interesting parts to me about the books on johnson by robert caro, it is interesting you really have to look at the kennedy presidency, because johnson, who might not have been inclined to be so ideologically attuned with his predecessor really took the predecessors agenda to heart and it became his guest yes indeed. Host in many respects johnson did things he couldnt have done. Host guest hard to find two men more difference. When you say you interviewed 11 president s. 7 or 6 or Something Like that. I have gotten to know the research they have done, what strikes me as different from one another, really different, jimmy carter, George Hw Bush and bill clinton, some of them in my view deserve, focus attention, the instinct is gerald ford deserves more attention than he received, he deserves a firstrate biography because when you think of all that happened in that brief time, when he coped with, tried to kill him twice, his wife suffering from alcoholism. On profiles in courage panel. The profiles in courage award because of pardoning nixon. Cost him reelection, almost certainly would. They did the right thing. Saved us all kinds of grief and contentious behavior and people in all roles. The big difference today is take a look at gerald ford, working on harry truman, the volume of material you have to deal with as a researcher, biographer is overwhelming and otherwise you are just skimming through all this material. What is in this collection here would keep one doing research for a full lifetime and never get through all of it. Not of importance we have this wonderful material, staggering mountain to try to climb. Every book of the kind that i write and others right, biography, history, is a joint effort and a group project, editors and copy editors, librarians and specialists, when you see those acknowledgments in the back of a biography or history, they are just there to tip your hat to friends or somebody, they contributed enormously, to make it one more point, the problem we are not teaching issues whether we should, requiring history as a course that is required in college or universitys anymore, 80 , require no history to graduate. That is wrong. I believe in required courses. It is important at that stage in life to understand some things are required. Surprise surprise. The gratification that comes from working with good people in this library, having the help of not just what they know, their ideas, their suggestion this which path you might take due to new discoveries are invaluable. We have right now some of the finest writers ever writing marvelous history and biography and reaching a large audience, that is encouraging, people like robert caro and many others. We have superb documentary films being made, broadcast from edwards. And 45, 50, dont really know much of the history that i ought to know, i will read that book. Host talking about how history gets revised, some interesting things going on today. I am a proud son of bristol. Yale has taken the name calhoun off of one of its colleges. Instant has gone through agony trying to figure out how to fix Woodrow Wilson whose name is closely associated with college and there are statues in the south built the civil war leaders that are coming down to the consternation of many who live in the south. What do you think of that kind of revisionist history. Are those things proper in your mind . Host you start renaming everything. That is no longer acceptable as being virtuous like owning slaves. There is no end, you have to take the monument down and so forth. I would much rather see to raise statues or rename new buildings, to those who didnt own slaves and who did so contrary to the mode of the moment. John adams, the only founding father president who never owned a slave. The next president in line who never owned a slave was his son, john quincy. No great names for either of them. Taking statues done in the south, most all of those statutes, and jim crow here, at the time of the civil war. And we who believe in any quality of citizenship. I would not have renames calhoun college. And take wilsons name off of building, and cities and towns and the rest. Im more interested in people be ignored than getting too worked up about too much attention to the wrong people. Host you talked about the importance of history, and yet we are in a situation in this country where things are changing so fast, it is incredible. There are futurists who say in 20 years have to jobs, may be more, people will occupy, havent been invented yet. I was on the board of my college for eight years. The graduating seniors would stand up, would be sitting up on the dais, when i went to the board the first graduation was in 2007, there were a handful of graduates in computer technology. When i left the board in 2015 the number was huge. The number of engineers that stand up is growing exponentially, bill gates the other day said if you are a student in college you should study one of three things, artificial intelligence, energy or the biosciences. He didnt talk about the humanities or social science. The pertinence of those things if and how fast things are changing, the pertinence of those things stand up or should kids be more worried as they graduate, about what is changing, how to adapt, how to prepare themselves for a job market that is so uncertain. Guest i may be stuck in my ways and so out of rhythm with the realities of modern hightech society, i confess to it. I dont use a computer. I dont know how to work a computer. I write on a manual typewriter. [applause] host what kind of a phone do you have . Do you talk into a pop tart . Guest are you ready . Where is it now . I am way ahead of all of you. There it is. [applause] guest they tell me all the things it can do. I only want it as a telephone. I think the decline of the emphasis on the humanities is a very serious mistake. I really do. Lets suppose you come out of the university with a degree in chemistry or hightech communications, that might get you a very good job, very important constructive career. When you come out of college knowing how to use the english language, you are going to be a rare bird of great value, no, truly. Almost half of the law schools in our country today now require their incoming freshman, college graduates, to take a course in basic writing, they dont know how to write a presentable letter or report or analysis or that sort of thing. They dont know how to express themselves in our language. This is not only a handicap but a risky trend in any reasonably Civilized Society. Incapable of using english language expressing your self in words and have no sense of the past of our country, our nation, to be really held back. The qualifications for leadership in all fields. It must be encouraged by students and universities and a lot of is working hard to bring back the humanities. With good reason. Think of the jobs that were open, people who use the english language, people who write, know how to think in the english language. Vocabularies are declining, very specific proof of all this. Less than what our generation has moved words are what we with. Thinking, by the way, is important. One of my favorite of all discoveries in the diaries of john adams, kept marvelous diaries. No one would dare keep a diary anymore. They can be subpoenaed and used against you in the court. And entry for january 15th or whatever, at home thinking. Can you imagine somebody in washington today were to write that in his or her diary as an honest record of what they did that day. Host i have one addendum to what you said that perhaps reflect the profession from which i come but no question the ability to write is something of a lost art for students. A good friend of mine, she was about to read five, with 5 oral how good with her cc . Two of them were legibly written and three were not very good. The addendum i would add is the ability to present your argument verbally, to be able to present, defend the argument orally. Warren buffett said recently that he could predict anybody who was a good speaker, logically present an argument into it to a crowd and urged people to learn to speak publicly. He will make 50 more in your lifetime than you will if you cant do that. Worked for me. I guess it did. Lord knows what i could have done if i was able to write. It is important, both of those things. What you are saying is important because of that dislocation of the job market. You dont know what youre going to be doing 20 years from now. A basic grounding in moral thought, humanities and social sciences because the critical thing is you be adaptive, that you can adapt your self to a changing environment in the workplace. Guest i would like to read something from one of John Kennedys speeches that i think could not be more valid or relevant to todays situation. Someone new to the job, but not new to what the proper objective of education, learning, Civilized Society should be. I look forward to in america which would reward achievement in the arts as we reward achievement in business or statecraft. I look forward to in america which commands respect throughout the world not only for its strength but for its civilization. This country cannot afford to be materially rich and spiritually poor. Art is the Great Unifying experience. It is a distraction in the life of a nation. It is the center of the nations purpose, test of the quality of a nations civilization. I am certain that after the dust of centuries has passed over our cities we too will be remembered not for victories or defeats in battle or politics but our contributions to the human spirit. [applause] host with that let me invite any of you who have questions, i ask you to keep them brief, dont make a speech. While youre making a way to the microphone just two questions for you. Most interesting person you ever met, most interesting person you ever researched. Guest one of the most interesting people i ever met was a man named tom stargell who just died in the last few months. Tom stargell should have been a name everybody knew. Changed history, on the medical profession. Tom stargell was the physician to successfully made the first double transplant, organ transplant. He changed that whole realm. Who kept at hit. Outline i quoted the beginning, George Washington, couldnt be more true, was interested in everything. Perseverance in spirit of don wonderfuls wonders in on got to keep at it. We dont lie and when parens wine, and i think that is something, and the examples in this country. The most interesting person you have researched . You may have to think. Guest right now a man named Melissa Cutler who i talked about in my commencement speech i gave at ohio university. He was a preacher in massachusetts, had a church there and also a doctor and lawyer and practiced all three of these professions having achieved degrees in all three. He was the man who convinced the Continental Congress in the summer of 1787 before we had a constitution to create what was known as the northwest ordinance, that end the revolutionary war. An area the size of all 13 colonies, and all wilderness. No roads or bridges, and native americans and rattlesnakes, you name it. The success of this act passed by congress that there would be total religious freedom in this area which would be made into states. Illinois, michigan, wisconsin. With Government Support for education, gradeschool all the way through college, the beginning of the first state universities and, and, there would be no slavery. Imagine. Even before we have a constitution or national government, eliminated slavery from what was half geographically half of our country, a phenomenal accomplishment in this one man that pulled it off and he was a classic polymath like benjamin franklin, brilliant botanist, he was an astronomer. You asked who was the most interesting man. He qualifies high. Host four of this five states went for donald trump, he had taken a pass. We belong to the most liberal state in the country. Four years from now, doesnt seem to be a leader in the Democratic Party. We have a guy named seth moulton who looks pretty good but is not married, single and exmarine and what is your feeling with the next leader of the Democratic Party would be . Guest i will tell you joe biden. [applause] guest joe biden is a man of character, also has experience, personal and professional, knocked down and gone back up in a way that is admirable in the extreme. He doesnt want it right now. Somebody will come forward. Very strong character and admirable attitude could come forth in the republican party. If the present occupant doesnt last much longer. Host i am glad you cited gerald ford. The first time i had a chance to be a reporter for abc when gerald ford was president. The decency of the guy to did what he did with nixon. His first sentence when he went to the chamber of the house. The day he assumed the presidency, and Long National nightmare is over. The right man. Guest absolutely. Host amazing the genius of the american system how it tends to bring those people to the top. Guest he was a grownup. And a gentleman. Host i dont know what that chuckle from the audience meant, but i think i do. You wrote your books based on newspapers, documents, letters, those sorts of sources. Since so few people write letters today newspapers seem to be in decline. Guest they will have a lot of trouble. They will have no letters or diaries to go by. What we write by computer might not last. A good chance that wont last. It wasnt exactly, heartfelt personal expression of the kind of letters and diaries have officially been. Too bad. If any of you, by any chance are interested in immortality, start keeping a diary. Write about anything you want every day, keep on doing it until you reach the point the curtain may be about to come down, then give it to the massachusetts historical society, it will be quoted together. It will be the only diary in existence. Host you mention an interview that you are reading the diary of elizabeth drinker, pennsylvania, 18thcentury. Guest i am not. Host you are not. Somebody else. Guest some other guy. Speeches you have given, the ability of president kennedy and his capacity as a person who gave speeches, a brief presidency, yet it seems he gave many many memorable speeches, more so, in the Television Age where see that, comment on that ability. Host he had done nothing but give the speeches to give, that would be of value and importance in our history, he was extraordinary. Is in the usual case. Except for Abraham Lincoln and franklin roosevelt, no one has used words with such power and effectiveness and pertinence at the moment as kennedy did. When i gave the memorial address at the site in dallas where president kennedy was killed, devoted everything i said to excerpts from what kennedys own words were. Not always been, the nature of this man, his talents as a leader but the gift he had to use the language. He was, in his way, a master literary figure. A great reader and he understood the use of the language, power of words. Host a pertinent question. It is not a lost art totally. I make the case, i carry no water for any current politician but Barack Obamas speech in the 2004 democratic convention, then i thought of kennedys speech on religion that was so important in defusing that issue and obamas speech on race in philadelphia was one of the great speeches. Guest barack obama is a very powerful speaker and thinker of considerable importance and i think he has been an inspiration to many young people in a way a president ought to be. Guest without that 2004 speech i doubt he would have been president. [applause] thank you very much, pleasure to meet both of you. My name is carol cohen. I want to say thank you for the information on john and abigail and john quincy. I was a park ranger for summer at the historical site and everything you say and more. And mother of an actor. And and i service future teachers. And you say it is the families. What is not going on in the house. And only elementary school. And i brought this up at the national conference, i wonder what yours is. The best time is in grade school. Heroes of accomplishment. And wonderful books that can be used at the grade school level. I was swept away as a Grade School Student by a book called ben and me. A mouse that lived in Ben Franklins have, absolutely marvelous book. Been grew up as one of a large family in the famous old church in philadelphia. Amos the mouse, and never going to that church and wonder if that familys descendents behind those walls. One of our granddaughters was in a class in hingham grade school and the children were told you could pick a first lady or a president that you are going to be and put on a pageant for all your mothers and fathers and you are going to introduce yourself as president so and so. Talk about yourself. My granddaughter harry truman. Another good friend was franklin roosevelt. The night of the gathering for the parents, these Little People came out there and gave a wonderful account of who they were and what they did and what should they should be known about. All of us were amazed and i know for certain that not one of those children will ever forget which president they were. It will be with them for the rest of their lives. That is the kind of thing that can work wonders. The Lab Technique to teaching history, this is true all the way through high school and college, get them involved in a project where they have to do the work. And get their hands duty and do the research, we should not hand them everything and say here is what you need to know, why this is important, follow this, follow that, this will be on the test. Get them hooked by getting involved in the detective case aspect of it and that works like nothing else. You mention the importance of universities, the worldclass universities we have is a great asset to the country and there are two elements of universities today that i find very dismaying. One is the emphasis on political culture, pc. Even administrators of seeming to fall into the trap of protecting their students from controversial opinions, providing bubble rooms for example. I wonder if you could comment on that and the second situation is i found it dismaying the other day to watch cspan in which there were two africanamerican professors and two feminist professors both in wellknown universities talking about the irrelevance of the constitution, since they were not blacks and women, part of the decisionmaking at the time. I wonder if you could comment on that as well. Guest very easy question. It is appalling, disturbing, unsettling and i personally, this may be too simplified a response and may indicate i dont understand, the actual workings, when that happens, the lack of leadership on the part of whoever is running the university, not just the president , the faculty, it is awful. It is awful. It is unrealistic, doesnt have anything to do with understanding reality. We are not that kind of a country. We are able to express our opinions without fear of being attacked, degraded or made to feel like a fool. Student uprising that places like middlebury or 100 Students Walk out of notre dame graduation speech by the Vice President or speeches are canceled at california berkeley, do not agree with opinions of those who speak, i presume you will oppose that. Though too are people who will be provocative in the way of this. If i were president of the university or member of the faculty where Something Like this happened i would speak out strongly in favor of a different attitude and hope the majority of students and members of the faculty and alumni would be persuaded that the stands i was taking was the right one. I am surprised how few University President s take any position politically, are they afraid, damage their ability to raise money . I dont know. But the old days, it wasnt how it was. They spoke out and voiced their opinion. Host the second part of this question involving the constitution. The fact that perhaps there are people in this country because it did not represent them or did not feel that they were fully represented in earlier days, not important. Guest we have had 17 amendments to the constitution that have done a lot to level the playing field. Host this over here. Guest one we need to do is teach the constitution. [applause] guest i dont know if you saw the test incoming americans applying for citizenship have to pass on the history of the country. I venture to say two thirds of the country couldnt pass that test. But they have to pass it and they do. Some of the most ardent readers, enthusiasts for American History i have met over the years are immigrants who cant understand how few people among us, many people among us know almost nothing about the history of the country. It doesnt have to stay that way. When researching your books, you visit historic in your mind of historic houses. The importance, the history of the individual, you read what they read, and look at their houses and where they grew up and how important we should consider that as people who might be interested in a particular historic figure . It is essential. Let us remember we have very distinctive traits that are common among animals. What is the we are imprinted in childhood by the terrain, what kind of horizon is out there. In some section or other, we dont realize what we think we say comes from that environment. If you want to understand somebody, people have common popular traits, characteristics, ways of harry truman. A lot of these people, the language they use, stress very strongly not only do you have to read what they wrote but you have to read what they read. What were the books, the guiding literary spirits, what shaped them. I remember reading a wonderful line in john adamss letters to abigail in which they said we may not succeed in this struggle. We may not prove successful in this struggle but we can deserve it. Nobody thinks like that anymore. We can deserve it even if we dont win. I was reading the letter George Washington wrote, there was the same observation. Host a plagiarist . Guest in washington. In the 18th century they didnt use quotation marks. It is often they are quoting something you dont know it, they know it. This was a line by joseph addison, if they hadnt actually ever seen this they have already it. The most popular literary accomplishments of the 18th century and this happens again and again. They are shaped by what they read as we have been shaped by what they read. It is characteristic of the time in which they were living. I always felt i had to go and smell the night air and walk the walk and into the lives of these people who are just as real and just as alive as we are but are no longer around. Gerald ford was my congressman a long time ago. It is nice to hear kind words you have to say, lots of people do not appreciate the things he did for this country. Thank you for those comments, i look forward to this book about gerald ford that should be read. The ford library. And amazingly profound evening. When issue i had for many years, kids are not taught civics anymore. I taught civics in the eighth grade. I have been a political junkie all my life. When i talk to people about things like the constitution and study commonlaw in a history and government major. I am appalled at the total lack of knowledge and disinterest in the constitution. And in grade school, the chances they will carry their interest and concern and responsibility as adults is pretty slim. I would like to hear your thoughts and what can we do to bring it back . Guest make it required. Truly, absolutely. It should be required. One of the things about the military academies, they all require that kind of course. In many ways their graduates have an advantage, students in regular universities, not necessarily going to have. When i was in college, we had to take a science course too. The word was out, pretty commonly understood that the easiest science course was geography, geology. Geology. So i immediately signed up for geology. Host called rocks for jocks at princeton. Guest the professors name was professor flynt, richard flynt. He was known as rocky flynt. Rocky flynt was of us very tall severe man, very impressive. I will never forget, many others who went through the same course will never forget, the first day he walked out on the stage, here is what he said. Imagine the Empire State Building. Now imagine a bible lying flat on top of the Empire State Building. Imagine a dime lying flat on the bible. The Empire State Building represents the history of the earth. The bible represents the history of life on earth. The dime represents the history of human life on earth. Talk about putting things in perspective. I quickly found that i loved geology and signed up for another term. It wasnt required. Because it is history. It is relevant to so much that we dont even bother to try to understand. That is what happens very often when young people are assigned to take some course or other. I always advise students take the teacher, not the course. Find out who are the great professors, who are the exciting lecturers, who are the inspiring professors. That will make the biggest difference irrespective of what they are teaching. Host i will add one thing because it is an important question. I covered a lot of local government in my time as a beginning reporter and i covered City Councils and School Boards. The interest in what School Boards are doing varies a lot depending how controversial it might be, but School Board Members are very susceptible to lobbying by the public. If you go to your local school board people and say you want to require civics and enough people do it, civics will be required. This is a question from twitter. The question is if someone like jfk were to take office today how do you think he would approach the foreignpolicy challenges we are facing right now. Guest knowledgeably. [laughter] guest he was a natural born diplomat, not to say he was smooth talking or something. That diplomacy is essential in life. Relation between nations. Host i went back after i heard the inaugural speech last november i went back and reread jfks inaugural speech. I wont cite the wellknown quotes because they are much remembered but one of these quotes people dont remember, to those people in the hudson villages of half the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves, for whatever period is required, not because we seek their votes but because of his right. Contract that to last november. Every decision on trade or taxes on immigration, Foreign Affairs will be made to benefit American Workers and american families. A real contrast. One of the youngsters in the crowd. [applause] you have given me a lot of homework, sir. My question is, i have learned the amazing fact you have 19 grandchildren. [applause] what is one message you constantly tell them as they are growing up . What is that message, that theme such a wellknown historian and writer, what is that key that you think is so important nowadays . Guest i have considerable irish blood in my background. I dont just give them one. Im incapable of just one. One of my favorite quotes, i have it framed on the mantelpiece and they all see it and know it is from Jonathan Swift who said may you live all the days of your life, live every day. Live all the days of your life, that is what matters. Getting the most out of life while you are alive. That feeds energy, expending energy. Theodore roosevelt said black hair rarely sits behind a rider his pace is fast enough. You dont sit around and mope or feel sorry for your self. Selfpity is an ugly human inclination but get up and do things. Accomplish something. Make the world a little better. Every day if you can in some small way or other, help other people who need help, be kind. Have empathy, put your self in the other persons place. Try not ever to be boring. It is not fair to be boring. It is unkind. To your family. Host to the final question. Good evening, i am a history teacher in cambridge, massachusetts. I have two brief questions for you. Number one, what are you currently reading right now for enjoyment . Guest when i am working on a book i dont read anything but all that i need to read in order to be competent enough to write that book so right now i am eating all about the northwest territory. I always wanted to write a book about people you never heard of. And my capacity, what is the word . Celebrities. Historic celebrities. Greatly influenced as a student in college by thornton wilder. His novels and play and particularly the play our town and i thought what if he could write a book about real people in a real town and have sufficient material to get inside their lives, their nature and drying on letters, diaries and so forth. I found that in a collection in marietta, ohio which was the first settlement in the northwest territory. To other new england states. They were veterans of the revolutionary war who were inadequately compensated for what was called script, senate money and it was worthless by and large and compensate for that terrible oversight, unfairness with land. Who had been through eight years of torment and difficulty and hard slogging. And start this whole new community in the middle of the wilderness. I can get into their lives in a way that you couldnt do for a group of people today. Every imaginable thing that could go wrong went wrong but they would not give up. They would not give up. This is important. We tend very often to misjudge people because they are members of this group or that group. Those who tended to misjudge the puritans. This idea they are warm black and stuffy and boring, not having any fun whatsoever in life, not true. They were colorful close, they liked to have parties, they liked to sing and dance and had many admirable objectives in life and one of them was education. It was essential, part of their faith and to see how they took that ideal of education, freedom of religion out to this hitherto unoccupied wilderness and create these towns, exactly what they were trying to achieve back here, exciting and i want to know more about it. I have never undertaken a subject i knew much about. If i knew about it i wouldnt want to write the book because that is the adventure, learning all about it. Learning what it was like to be a pioneer in that day and age. Host i will ask david to do one more thing before i send you on your way but i appreciate you spending an hour and a half being as attentive as you have been. Someone who used to do two hours of live television, i can tell you that is an exercise in bladder control. So is being here for an hour and a half and being as attentive as you have always been. As i read the book i wanted to find something that would be a coda for the evening. A good way to wrap it up. I think all of us profoundly remember the period after 9 11. It was a very special time in this country and it was a time that there was wonderful unity, unity that i wish was still around in our society. We are in a position where we can stock to each other at times and that is dismaying and on a speech he gave just after 9 11 david said this, it is just a paragraph but i put it in yellow on the lefthand page. It said everything has changed but everything has not changed. This is plain truth. We are still the strongest, most productive, wealthiest, most creative, most ingenious, most generous nation in the world with the greatest freedoms of any nation in the world, of any nation of all time. [applause] every summer booktv visits capitol hill to ask members of congress what are you reading . Here is a look at some of their answers. I just finished up devil in the grove by gilbert king. It is all about the life of Thurgood Marshall before he was anyones judge but with litigated cases in the south at tremendous risk to himself but basically fighting for justice. There is a book i want to read, bringing out the best in people. I think every once in a while, to get a new perspective on how you lead a team. I say you lead people and manage assets. Which harry reid recommended, just wrapping up a terrific novel called all the light we cannot see, moving into the narrow road to deep north which is another novel and the 6 extinction. We want to hear from you, send us your Summer Reading list by text or video and post to our facebook page, facebook. Com booktv on twitter booktv or email us at booktv cspan. Org. You are watching booktv on cspan2 with top nonfiction books and authors every weekend. Booktv, television for serious readers