Transcripts For CSPAN2 Unflinching Courage 20131013

Been passed through our generations, thank goodness, to give us a kind of a spark that i think is special. Now, i will quote from a couple of people about texas. Someone said yet another person has made that very tough decision when learning that their company was moving to texas, that hard decision about whether to move or throw themselves in front of a runaway train. [laughter] and then there is molly ivins who was a dear friend of mine. You broke the mold after molly ivins, and she said i dearly love the state of texas, but i consider this a harmless perversion which i only discuss with consenting adults. [laughter] well, so i know were controversial. But i wanted to go back and look at that beginning. And in the early 1800s, it was part of mexico. And the women who came to texas were basically genteel southern women. They were educated, they had refinement, they had a quality of life that was pretty good. And they married husbands who were adventurers. Now, why would men from the east coast and the Southern States that were already in the United States, why would they come to america when i mean, come to texas when it was so primitive and pretty open, pretty lawless . Well, heres why. Because back then so many of the young men were born into families with a lot of kids, a lot of boys and girls and, you know, there were ten kids. And even if they had a good life, there wasnt going to be much to be passed down. So the lure of free land is what really brought the men and the adventurers. Because if you moved to texas back then when they were just Getting Started and they were trying to encourage people to come from america into this part of mexico, you got free land. And as long as you would farm it and use it, you were able to keep that free land. So these southern belles came with their hearty husbands, and what they found was stark reality. There was nothing there. There was harsh land, harsh weather, no houses whatsoever, and certainly no furniture. So i have a couple of quotes from letters that were written and things that were said back then. Now, my great, great grandmother was one of these southern belles. Her father was the governor of tennessee. And she married her young with husband who her young husband who just graduated from medical school, he was setting up his medical practice, and they moved to san august a steven, texas augustine, texas. Now, it was pretty primitive back then, but she wrote this letter that just touched my heart. Out in this new country she wrote, he was writing to her sister. Dear lou out in this new country i see no one but strangers, but they are the kindest people i have ever met. The society is as good as in any portion of tennessee. There seems to be as much refinement as you meet with at any place. There is no such thing as fine houses or furniture. They have very comfortable houses but cant get furniture. We are too far from navigation to get such things. By the time we make the money, they will navigate the sabine river, then we can all get the little notions we fancy we need. If i had been in tennessee, i would have thought the house we occupy would not do at all. We live in a small house with two rooms and a passage. Out doesnt even have a plank laid overhead. But with all these inconveniences, we are getting along finely. I mean, just a positive spirit that that shows in a new place where there was really nothing. Another book was written by mary austin holly. Now, were talking 1831 here. Her brother her cousin, stephen f. Austin, whos considered the father of texas, was trying to encourage people to come from the east and settle. So he encouraged his cousin to come from North Carolina and go back and write a book that would encourage people to think this was a great land of promise. And she did. She was actually taken with texas in the time that she spent here, and this is what she wrote it is not uncommon for ladies to mount their mustangs and hunt with their husbands, to ride long distances on horseback, to attend a ball with their silk dresses in their saddle bags. Hearty, vigorous constitutions, free spirits and spontaneous gaiety are thus induced and continue a rich legacy through their children who, it is to be hoped, will sufficiently value the blessing not to squander it away in their eager search for the luxuries and refinements of polite life. So you saw in 1831 that spark that said, you know, things are tough, its hard, but theyre presenting a gaiety in their society that is so exciting and so much fun. You read about two of my chapters are about margaret houston and sam houston because sam houston was the commander in chief of the war with mexico for independence, and he had already been governor of tennessee. But he left tennessee after something happened that has never been really discovered by the historians, and that was a disastrous marriage. He married a young, beautiful girl, eliza allen, and something terrible happened, and it was so bad that he resigned the governorship of tennessee and left. And he went and lived with indians where he had lived several times in his life and was actually a great help to him when he came to texas and understood when there was trouble with the indians because with, of course, when the settlers moved in, the indians way of life was being severely disrupted. But he understood the indians, and he loved the indians and considered himself an indian in ways. He had a special character, and in the lore of texas, he is most famous, and he became one of the first two senators of texas. But when sam houston came to texas, he had this gloried past, and he married margaret houston, and they had so much correspondence because he was gone so much of the time. He was gone to start writing the parameters of the new republic of texas after he won the battle of san jacinto. He was part of the leadership of texas, and then texas became a republic. And we were a republic for ten years. And he was one of the leaders and then became one of the first two senators. Is he and margaret so he and margaret were married, and there are two chapters on them because they wrote so much which was a godsend for historians because it told about life, and it told about the early struggles of texas. But margaret was very quiet and very shy really, and she didnt even accompany general houston when he became governor. And he was president of the republic at one point. She didnt even go to austin with him very much because she was very, very shy. But she had this same grit and determination. She was an alabama girl. And she met houston after he had won the battle of san jacinto when he was coming through alabama and came to the home of her brother. And after she had her second child, she had a tumor in her breast, and it became very, very pain. Painful. Well, he was in washington, and she didnt want to trouble him. And so she reached tout his best friend, Asheville Smith be, who was a yaleeducated physician who was also in the revolution and also a great friend. And she said i have this, i know theres something growing, it is very painful, and i feel that we need to do something about it. Well, he came to see her, and he agreed. He said we need to do something. Im not the best qualified, but im going to come back in a couple of weeks with a surgeon, and we will take this out. So she wrote sam houston, and she said, you know, im in pain, im going to have a little surgery. Its going to be quick, itll take two minutes and not to worry. Well, she had the operation to take out the breast tumor, and because she had been so strong with her husband samantha he not sam that he not drink, she refused to take the alcohol that dr. Smith was urging on her to dull the pain, and she refused to take it, and Asheville Smith wrote to sam houston and said he took it like a soldier. She bit on a cohen and endured this. She had more children, and she had a long and regular life. But, of course, with no anesthetic, she had that amazing resilience just like those good girls that came in. Thomas rusk, who was the other first senator of texas who was a are he was actually the secretary of war. He and sam houston were best friends, bonded, and they were both elected by the Texas Legislature to be the first senators from texas after the ten years of the republic and texas came into the union. Now, im going to digress for a moment and say texas did come into the United States first under a treaty because we were a nation, of course, and the treaty was signed. But they couldnt get the twothirds vote in the senate to ratify the treaty. So president tyler said, all right, im going to introduce a resolution, well pass a law to let texas into the United States. Well, John Quincy Adams who had come back to the house of representatives by then after being president filly bust withered filibustered the entry of texas into the United States for days on end every day. He filibustered until finally he was worn out, and at the end texas came into the United States by one vote in the house and one vote in the senate. So i like to tell my friends in texas when im going back and weve had all the wars that weve been fighting in the senate for texas that its not new that they dont love us in washington. They never have. But thomas rusk was the first senator along with sam houston. And because they were in the revolution, i thought he wrote something in the report to the president of the new republic about the battle that, again, told the tale of the greatness of texas women. The men he said the men of texas deserve much credit. But more was due the women. Armed men facing a foe could not but brave, but the women with their little children around them without means of defense or power to resist faced danger and death with unflinching courage. Thats the name of the book, unflinching courage. Because it was true that they faced the perils of settling texas with so many obstacles. They were, they feared that the mexican army was coming into the east, and they fled in what was called the runaway sprite. Many of their children died. My great, great grandmother was in the runaway scrape going toward louisiana. All four of her living children died and were dead by that time. So when she came back to nag go she is, her husband was signing the texas declaration of independence, so he wasnt even there, she was going and scrambling by herself. They reunited and be had nine more and had nine more children. So these hearty women did their party, and it was, it was a life that they embraced and loved. Moving on from the revolution, from the republic, the next biggest challenge was the settling of the west. And thats where there was nothing, literally nothing. Now, in the eastern part of texas they had trees so they could build the log cabins and have a place with a roof over their heads. But when they got out to west texas, there werent very many trees. You talk about harsh land, there are places where there is just nothing but grass. There might be hills. We do have mountains out in the far west, but to actually settle in a place these women were going out, and this is where the indian raids became much more prominent because the indians were being moved out of their land, and especially the cherokees about whom much has been written were very, very harsh. I mean the comanches, not the cherokees, actually, they were not harsh. But the comanches were. And the comanches would brutalize these families that were out there, basically, with no means of defense. They would kill women, old people, they would kill children. One woman who was captured and the great historian ted [inaudible] wrote that the ones who were killed were the lucky ones, because the ones who were captured were really terrorized. One woman wrote and lived to write about her time, and she talked about the fact that he was 18 when she was captured, she was pregnant. The indians let her have the baby and then they killed the baby in front of her and threw it in her lap. I mean, that was the kind of harshness that was when they started going out west. But here again were talking now 1850s, 60s and 70s, the women were so resilient and amazingly so in the face of such harsh conditions. One of the women who was a settler and started also even going on the trail drives with their husbands now, the trail drives, once you were out in west texas, you were raising cattle. But you had to get the cattle to market to make your money. So that you could keep building. Well, the trail drives would go on these famous old, historic trails like the chism trail or the good night loving trail. Many of these trails would go on horseback, covered wagon and the cattle would be moved on foot from texas, sometimes south texas all the way to kansas, missouri or colorado. It would make months. It would take months. And the women, some, would dare to go with their husbands. One of those women eliza bunton johnson. Now, this was Lyndon Johnsons grandmother. I didnt know about her although she was in the caro books, but i had not dwelled on that part of the caro, wonderful caro books about lyndon johnson. But lucy johnson was giving me and my children a tour of the Johnson Ranch which is a National Park and a National Historic preservation area. And so lucy was giving us a tour of the house that they had grown up in and was part of that ranch. And she talked about her great grandmother who had been out there in johnson county, in johnson city and that area and how she had survived an indian raid in their home by hiding under the house and putting a rug over the trap door that she had gone under and putting a diaper in her babys mouth so that the baby wouldnt cry. And she heard the indians come in. They were throwing her china at the walls, breaking her wedding presents that were china, and she stayed down there. And then she heard them leave and take the horses outside. And then she heard footsteps back in, and her husband was crying just out loud thinking that she had been taken or killed. And so she opened the door and came out. Well, lucy told me this story, and she said now, you know, i cant this was what was passed down, so dont take my word for it because i jumped on it. And i had already finished the book, but i said, oh, my gosh, i mean, she should be in the book. She is exactly the kind of woman that i want to be in the book. So i went back and did verify all the things that louis is si had said that lucy had said. A lot of it was in the caro books. And there was also a letter that wasnt in the caro books, but we found it in our research that was written by one of the young cowboys that had been put on the payroll to help with the trail drive, and he wrote to his father. And this was 1871 now, and he was on a trail drive to kansas, and he wrote to his father. I am the hero of our camp. Riding out with mrs. Johnson some 8 miles in advance of the train, i shot a deer. Well, if they were 8 miles out front, that means they were the scouts which was the most dangerous part of the trail drive. But she had done that, and she was, she was written about in a book about the women of that era, and it said eliza oneton was gently reared bunton was gently reared. She was another one of those genteel southern women who had come from the east, but she took to the frontier life like the heroine that she was. She often sawhorses dash into the pens near the house with arrows sticking in their flanks. So there was another of the great women that came forward. Two other women in this chapter were women that presided over very famous ranches. Now, one at one point the king ranch was the largest ranch in the world. It started in texas with a harddrinking ship captain, richard king, who met this lovely southern girl whose father was the preacher who had come into south texas to be a preacher, and her parents were horrified that she would consider this uncouth man. But she was in love. And they got married. And, of course, her influence on richard king was great because she stopped the harsh drinking, the i cant say that she stopped it all, but she did stop enough of it to make him the productive person that he was. She refined him in ways. But she started her life as the i do yen of the greatest ranch in the world, she started her life in a mud hut because there were no trees out there with which to build a log cabin. So she was happy in her mud hut and talked about what a wonderful honeymoon they had and the times that they were able to ride out together. That mud hut, of which there is a picture in the king ranch archives, didnt even have room for her kitchen utensils, so is they were all hung outside on the hut. But that, again, shows that great resilience of these refined women who came in and really much through their own influence helped shape their men into the successes they were. I end the book with the transition to the 20th century with another woman that i revere who did so much to blaze the trail for women, and that is oveda. She was born in 1905, but she was the woman who actually started the wax. At the request of general George Marshall when the war was heating up in the late 30s, early 1941, George Marshall said to her because she had been volunteering in the runup to the war, he said i want you to give me the things that women can doha will take the do that will take the men in combat, and we can have the desk jobs done by the women and let them be a part of this effort. She loved that. She drew up the things that she said that the women could do which were 236 functions. And then she gave him a list of the people that she thought that she had worked with that would be qualified to form this great wac which is womens auxiliary corps and Womens Auxiliary Army corps then. And she gave him all of this. And George Marshall said, no. I want you. She said, oh, no, no, no. I live in the houston, i have a husband and children in houston, not me. And then marshall talked to her husband who had been the former governor, and he said her governor husband said of course youre going to serve your country when you are asked. And so she did. And she put the wacs together, and they were an incredible success. What she said was that with all of the things not she, but Douglas Macarthur once said the wacs are my best soldiers. More industrious and better disciplined than the men. And they became so successful that in the end they had hundreds of other responsibilities because they had done such a great job at the ones that had been started. So that was the transition. Now, i have about ten minutes left i was just told, and i would love to take your questions, because this is something that is dear to my heart. Im so pleased that i have been able to share with you some of the things about the great women that have really helped shape america that was recognized as early as the 1700s by alexis detokeville as the specialness that gave america the advantage that we have. Thank you. [applause] hello, oh . Do you have a question . I have a question. Okay, yes. That was wonderful, thank you. Do you feel if there were more women in congress now, we would have a little more productivity . [laughter] [applause] i have to say that my experience in working with my women colleagues has shown that we do find a way to go forward with wins on both sides and make progress for our country. I have to say that. I have been chairman and Ranking Member of the different committees with dianne feinstein, with barbara mikulski, and we have a way of getting down to business kind of like Douglas Macarthur said. We are organized, we kind of say, okay, heres where i am, you tell me where you are. And then its not that we compromise principles. We stand for our principles, but were able to move forward and do so many important things by allowing the basics of negotiation which are that both sides can win something and move an agenda forward. And then you have the people to decide if you are going in the right direction because thank heavens we have great elections that give the people the chance to say yes or no. [applause] Governor Health care ogg hogg had a couple daughters, and i was wondering what their contribution to texas was. Governor health care otg. Hotg. He had actually one, ima, who did give a great contribution to our state. He was the governor of texas, and ima has given so much to the history and culture of our state. The home that she had in houston is called biobend, and it is a house for the treasures of beautiful furniture and artwork that he preserved through the years and then donated to the people of texas, the people of houston and the people of texas, and its one of the finest furniture collections probably in the world. And its open for tours, it has beautiful grounds right in the center of houston, and its a park as well as a beautiful mansion with very ea fined very refined furniture. Ima hotg, there were rumors that he had two daughters. It was a joke that there was an ima and a ura [laughter] but it was actually one great daughter, ima hotg. Hello, thank you. And to the point about the women congressional members, i actually read nine women, nine and counting to my girl scout troop back a long time ago. Oh, yea. But my question is it sounds like in this book youre focused a great deal on women who have a connection to the leaders of the state. Do you have any reflections of some of the lesser known like maybe Susana Dickenson . Oh, yes, shes in the book. Absolutely. I have a number of the lesser known women whose stories had not been told before. The women who went on the trail drives, the first woman known to have had a baby on a trail drive. Susana dickenson who was the woman who was at the alamo who told the most accurate history of what actually happened during the fight at the alamo. She survived and did tell her stories. Jane long, whos called the mother of texas who had her travails. I do. But let me say ant nine and counting, actually the first book not counting my three, but the reason that i met my publisher was nine and counting was a book written by nine women of the smat at the time. Of the senate at the time. And it came from a meeting that we had with the women of Northern Ireland who at the time Northern Ireland was still having terrible murders and assassinations, they were fighting. And we had the women who came from both sides of the north, of the Northern Ireland factions, and they came, and they wanted to meet with the women senators. And we did. We met with them, and we each told our stories to try to encourage them that they could be a force for peace. Because we all overcame obstacles. And we talked to them about the obstacles that we had overcome, but we also talked about the divergence of our backgrounds. We had conservative republicans like me be, we had liberal democrats like the ore women of the senate the other women of the senate. We had such diversity in our way of being elected, but we all had obstacles, we all knew how to work together, we and when we came together in the senate, we made a difference. Because the men listened to us on Womens Health care, on the things that we knew we had credibility on. And every time the women of the senate, the violence against women act. Not one woman voted against the violence against women act. Republicans and democrats came together. There were some compromises to try to make sure that it was the right law, doing the right things. But when we came together, we passed legislation. And we talked about that to these irish women, these Northern Irish women. And that was the first book, nine and counting. And we even had a sequel to it after others came into the senate, Hillary Clinton was elected and, of course, there was so much interest in her. So we had a sequel to nine and counting. And we donated the one organization that we could agree was important for us to donate all of the proceeds was the girl scouts. And so they started a Leadership Group that was from the proceeds of that book. Yes. First of all, thank you for your wonderful series of books documented the history of women. Documenting the history of women. And i know that youre a strong supporter of getting a National Womens History Museum here in washington near the mall. Yes. And my question is, what do you think the chances of our, of ever getting approval through congress to buy the land . And there is no funding required. Its just approval to buy the land. I think we will. The Womens Museum should be a part of the history of this country. Thats manager i have to say Cokie Roberts has been another woman who has written about those great women of the past. And its not that were, you know, denigrate what the men did. Oh, my gosh, they were so brave, and they were hearty, and they were visionary to write our constitution and our declaration of independence. Its just that there was an impact of our women, and to make sure that thats in the annals of our history and to show the young people about overcoming obstacles and what the women did to make sure that there was an equal voice. Because, you know, if you hook at the world if you look at the world, the countries that have the lowest economies are the countries that do not include the women in the economy. Its an issue for chirp for children and for families that women have the ability to be a part of society, to be the professionals that can teach our children, that can treat our people in medicine, that have so much to offer. And because of the input of women, the product is better. And its proven if you look at the global economies of the countries that do have women in equal parts in our society versus those who dont. So, yes, i think we will get it. Meryl streep has been one of the leading lights of that movement to have a Womens Museum, and my colleagues barbara mikulski, susan collins, all of the women senators are supportive of this. And it is something that will happen just like the right to vote. But it will be done with a positive effort. Were not mad, were not down, were not morose, but we are going to keep going with a positive attitude which has been the mark of women on america. [applause] oh, okay. Can i have a quick is that the end . Oh. Can i do one more . No. That was my last time. So thank you all so much. It was great to be with you. [applause] thank you. This event was part of the 2013 National Book festival in washington d. C. For more information visit loc. Gov book fest. Booktvs Online Book Club selection for october representative john lewis walking with the wind a memoir of of the movement. As a young child, i tasted the bitter fruits of segregation and Racial Discrimination, and i didnt like it. Ask can my mother, my father, my grandparents, my great grandparents, why segregation, why Racial Discrimination . And they would say, thats the way it is. Dont get in trouble. Dont get in the way. But in 1955 when i was in the tenth grade, 15 years old, i heard of rosa parks. I heard the voice of Martin Luther king jr. On the old radio. And the words of dr. King inspired me to find a way to get in the way. In 956 with my brothers and sisters and some of my first cousins, we went down to the Public Library in the little town of troy, alabama, trying to get library cards, trying to check some books out. And we were told by the librarian that the library was for whites only and not for coloreds. But on july 5, 1998, i went back to the library in troy, alabama, for a book signing of my book, walking with the wind, and hundreds of blacks and white citizens showed up, and they gave me a library card. [applause] walking with the wind is a book of faith, hope and courage. Its not just my story, it is the story of hundreds and thousands and countless men and women, blacks and whites who put their body on the line during a very difficult period in the history of our country to end segregation and to end Racial Discrimination. No need to register to join the club, just start reading the book and post your thoughts at any time on our chat room, booktv. Org book club. Every day true the month well post book clubrepresented items to related items including links to the author, book reviews and videos from our archives. Heres a look at some of the upcoming book fairs and festivals happening around the country. Alexander cockburns family and colleagues came together of the powerhouse arena in brooklyn to discuss the late journalist lifetime posthumously published book, a colossal wreck. Participants, including his daughter, brother and niece read from the book and shared personal stories. This program is next on bookt booktv. Thank you. Thank you, justin. Youve got a very angloamerican crafter so if you know the whole phrase, you say tomato, we say tomato. You say potato, we save a title. Is a cockburn, we actually stay cockburn. This is a course that was left out of the song. We are here to celebrate an extraordinary book, an extraordinary man. And in keeping with the spirit of alexander, i hope that the crowd over at the memorial last year will forgive me if i begin the way that i began then, which is recalling what you here every morning if alexander stayed with you in your home. You would be barely awake, at the crack of dawn thinking of all the things that lay before you, trials and tribulations for the day. You would hear not from the dead in the guestroom, because alexander didnt like sleeping in guest bedroom that. He much preferred laying out on the couch in the living room. You would hear rising from the living room a voice, an unmistakable voice saying, sal, are you ready to greet the day with unbridled of terrorism . And i think we should all just meet him in that course right now. Are we ready to greet the day with unbridled optimism . [cheers and applause] fair enough. I want to thank powerhouse arena for putting out such a gorgeous book. All those who helped the polling because of this book. Well hear more about the process and just a minute. And also thanks to cspan interviewed alexander in a wonderful feature that ensure they will make available for people who want to see it, and before forget, im sure we will be remembered throughout this evening extraordinary newsletters that alexander cofounded, not edited by jeffrey st. Clair, counterpunch. You can find it at counterpunch. Org, and ensure cspan will be kind enough to run that in the lower third at least a few times in the next hour, right . This is a gathering of friends of alexander. Any foes . Dammit. He would have enjoyed that. On the platform here you have a niece of alexander, a brother of alexander, and the daughter of alexander. We lost him a year ago, barely. It seems like way too long ago and no time at all. We, all of us, have different personal stories as those professional stories to share. I think you here a little bit of both. The book we are talking about is a colossal wreck a road trip through political scandal, corruption, and American Culture you will hear all of it about alexanders fondness of road trips, is enduring quest, to get through political scandal and corruption but to reveal it. And his real love affair with American Culture, which comes through strongly in the pages of this book to a little background just so you know, the book is coming out now. As you heard he died a year ago. He was working on this book pretty much till the day that he died. And it was pieced together partly thanks to the process that he and jeffrey had developed in counterpunch wherever you at the end of the year they would publish a column of the pieces of the preceding 12 months. This that enable alexander to keep a track on his favorite part of his own. And the book was then put together with extraordinary help from daisy, from jeffrey, from andrew, in between feeding his animals, responding to the crisis of the day, talking to percy his cockatiel on his shoulder, talking to anybody else in the community where he lived might need his help or assistance, or advice on repairing their vintage vehicle. Alexander pulled together a colossal wreck as well as a wonderful collection of articles about words that should be never banished to get in on all the information at counterpunch. Org. I would just say that this book is pretty much as he wanted it. Daisy can attest. Im incredibly glad its out. It reminds us that alexander, while he hated cliches, he did very much live up to the one about a company the afflicted and a flicking the comfortable. You will hear a lot about that. I just want to share a bit of his comfort for the afflicted. He had an incredibly reliable ability to stand up for the underdog. And defend those who are powerless in our media culture and in our society. And some of the imbalance of power for perfectly. Workers, for example, on paper 28, 1996. He wrote, the love of our newspapers for free trade surely have something to do with the fact that although theres been attrition and the journalist profession, at least the loss of jobs here are not at least the loss of jobs you are not reappearing south of the board at a fraction of the cost. The day that columbine is subcontracted to High School Students in guatemala i suspect is a turnaround on the trade issue among the opinion forming classes. He stood up for young people. May 22 of the same year, the hysteria about teen violence is more than matched by the alarms about progress and writing boom with children having children, and children giving one another aids. Bill and hillary seldom stop sermonizing on this. Adults listened to the boastful lives of teenage boys and then rushed to judgment. In 1970, 20 of boys and 4 of girls in Junior High School claimed on Self Reporting surveys to have sex. In 1992 the figure had risen to 27 of boys and 20 of girls. And if rising legions how come the pregnancy rate among 1014yearolds hasnt similarly skyrocketed . In 1976, 3. 2 babies, abortions and miscarriages. In 1990, 3. 3. Among the sexual revolution 98 of girls arrived at age 15 without ever having been pregnant. Junior High School Students must be americas most skilled condom employers. Seventh graders should be listed to hold seminars for u. S. Grownups whose sport and social worlds highest rate of unplanned pregnancy. And finally standing up for animals in a charming piece about the Democratic Convention and that conventions and general like, republican and democratic, like to set up and tourist attraction downs. He talked about Republican Convention in san diego and some of the story of the convention merged with the story of seaworld, which is part of the landscape there. Seaworld owned by the anheuserbusch corporation and posts about 4 million visitors a year was a favorite venue for convention events. Nursed by the atmospheric with dolphins and or, recruiter with behavioral techniques to exhibit the fundamental harmony of creation under corporate offices. Seaworld is nonunion with minimum wage levels for the attendance, at least the zoo is teamster organize. Though there should be more union were, why leave it all to the Human Society . In the polar bear exhibit, a big nipple with enhanced underwater availability, three of the bears have salmonella poisoning and were confined to what the guide rightly termed their bedrooms. Is made compulsory overtime for 18 month old sure no was putting in 13 hour days. I thought he looked great and afraid and angry but the guide insisted the cub was doing a really good job in exhibiting polar bearishness to the audience. Dont snarl, organize. Every now and again orangutans organize. The last was in 1919 when they carefully built up reserves with rocks and caused 570 worth of damage to the one and a half inch glass. Alexander will be recalled here by Andrew Cockburn who is not only alexanders youngest brother but washington editor of harpers magazine and the author of the most recently book from donald rumsfeld. Daisy cockburn will fall up and will take just a few questions, but if you want to get close to any of us and answer any really personal family questions, you have to have a purchased a book in hand. [applause] a master salesman. I think alexander would be happy right now, not just at this happy crowd come here to review his career, and maybe even buy his book, but also glorious past two weeks when the war party has been utterly confounded. The punditry who meet en masse ranks as leaders in sea have been thrown back by the collective shout from the people. I can sort of, i couldnt put it as well as he could but i can certainly here is tones of exultation as this very revolutionary event for the last couple of weeks, about humiliation of the idiot john kerry and perhaps there wouldve been a very commentary on maybe prose style of the newborn pundit vladimir putin. Are really serving as an example to us all. I hope those who dont know him will come doing a lot better when you read the book. You will realize what a tremendous influence on alexander our father was, himself a radical journalist. In a way im going to read a little bit about what alexander said about our father which in way to talk about his writing style very much refers to alexander, too. He wrote fast with beautifully easy stuff. Is prose to be light, ironic, also savage. He was never overbearing, cultivated but never patronizing. He respected and enjoyed people as all social levels and ages. He loves dogs. Under the force of his example who could resist the lure of journalism . None of his sons do to the initial group of our mother, patricia, a new version of the freelance journalism doesnt always bring regular slabs home the bacon. His body somewhere were out when he was 77 of his mind stayed sharp until his last breath. A day before he died at the hospital he dictated a column to the irish times. He never lost faith in humanity. Never failed to see the humor in life. Is think about alexander, those words apply just as well to him, including the terminal, but the kitchen of a column, his very last column to alexanders daughter, daisy, within days at the end of his life. Alexander i should say although he wrote basically about politics and about everything, he had a very welldeveloped sense of theater, which he applied thats what his political writing was so entertaining. He consider politics as a form of theater, among other things. So in reflecting the multiple disappointments of the obama presidency, as it may strike some of us, i thought i would just read something from november 24, 2009. His thoughts about obama. Are one aspect of obama. No one told it would be boring but it is. The obama presidency. Having an adulterer a moron at 1600 pennsylvania avenue and for eight years, plus dick cheney down the corridor spoiled us. Was side of bills head did hitler hit with a lamp . These days tranquility reigns or seems to in the obamas private quarters. Senior white house staffers remained loyal and tightlipped. Small wonder jay lenos nightly show is siding. Theres nothing to make jokes about at least until sarah palin went on her book tour. Politics is getting told by the day as the idealists watch the expectations trickling through. Whats left . Enforcing private coverage and savaging the Medicare Advantage plan with low income senior. Obama has dipped below 50 in public approval, which is nothing particularly unusual for a new president this stage of the game. Whats going to stop them sliding down more . As you know obama came back but nothing much improved really. Life didnt get any more entertaining. Michelle never threw a lamp so far as we know at obama. Obama what cant do constructs his sentences nicely. Alexander wouldve been disappointed at that but he wouldve been, i can imagine the axle tender reed call i wouldve gotten in recent weeks from him, which thankfully since i live three hours late on the west coast, i live on east. On the east. He wouldve had no qualms about waking up in the morning. But given the recent turn of events in syria, he would have been pleased to a britain that were 17th last year. Few spectacles have been more surreal than that of senior u. S. Officials, talking with the president and the u. S. Ambassador to u. N. , assad and his government on his need to a comment rebel forces to a raving cosponsors are intent on were alawite minority or driving them into the sea. At one moment last friday, these were the sermons were buttressed by a message from alzawahiri. Similarly praising the lines of syria are rising up against the assad regime. Al qaeda in the white house insync. So i dont think he would recognize the world he left a year ago. But he would be sent. I know you be sad to be witnessing this all. And particularly america, something i said in my introduction to the book, some fool in england, some blairites once said, protect alexander s. Antiamerican because he wasnt termed probably about the excesses of the clinton era. The political excesses, not the sexual excesses. And i thought what an eight. Alexander loved this country. He knew it better than 99 of americans. He traveled endlessly back and forth. He traveled so much and were out so many cards, there was one card from his Insurance Agent signed by people saying they really enjoyed giving within. He was going to be a sad loss. Thats one of the many things that mourn my brother as i do every day. Thank you. [applause] hello. Alex cobb earn this by more than half the reason i got into the prestigious and typing field of radical punditry. So have a great deal of attitude to him for all these many decades of are suing this strange career. I was fresh out of college in 19 since ive been out of small job on wall street that i said went bust. One of my fellow drones working there said you should check out this guy Alexander Cockburn, in the village voice, and i said okay, i will. And i did and i was immediately hooked. It was the first place i learned reading his column there that the New York Times didnt always tell us the truth. I had an understanding, a vague understanding of politics but alex, reading his column has helped me fill in the details. And then i went off to university of virginia after the Brokerage Firm what is. There was quite a marvelous paper in the late 70s, early 80s but alex was the star of the. I loved the style of the press club columns, rude and loose sort of journalistic, artistic style almost. Theres some of that fuel in trenton. Just an observation about this and that. , books, food, lies on the tv. Meandering from one we observation to another. And then i followed him first we went to the nation, and i thinkk the style of the column changed somewhat. Whenever one writes for the nation it trends tends to straight up once posture. I know he fought heroically against those tennessee. All of us who write for the nation, but it sometimes an uphill battle. But the late 80s, the midtolate \80{l1}s{l0}\80{l1}s{l0} were grandes at the nation. Not only alex doing great work there but also his sometime friend and collaborator and he was doing some great stuff there, signed and unsigned. Very much missed by some of us nation readers today. Anyway, it was reading alex and the voice of the nation that inspired me to think about writing about economics and finance, local economy. I thought at that time the left riding on that would be either dull or out of date or not in tune with the headlines. And i thought navy i could do Something Like this. One the reading the newsletter, rock n roll confidential, edited by dave marsh i thought maybe i could get one of these myself. I started doing my own newsletter. Actually sort of took off. By fellow standards of the radical journalism trade. I launched myself onto a little career as a pundit on the abysmal size. I cant say i knew alex will personally. We would talk from time to time on the phone. Actually his last two page column in a magazine just before they cut it back to one page, of course they would cut back to once a month, about twothirds of the last column came from a phone conversation we were having. I would seeking someone. It was a master class in writing. I would Say Something and he would type it. In his own language. It was amazing to hear my, what i would say translated, transformed into something really radiant and i was really, i felt like i was sitting at the feet of a master while watching him work. It was a marvelous experience. We did have our differences, and there were a few years where we didnt speak much. There was a moment where i think the word sexist pig passed my lips. My memory of that is although the murky, and then i got a little annoyed about some of the stuff about Climate Change and then we have some disagreements about the militias. Although i went part of the way with him on that but not all the way. But i decided to announce feuding, and so years ago we made up and started talking again. I did in the review i did an interview with him about a year before he died before my great issue. We did it by skype, and that the image on the screen was him with his cockatiel sitting on the shoulder. I assume percy was named after the author of a colossal wreck. It was a marvelous interview. It was right after jack had been fired by slick. We talked about press criticism and since alex was the creator of the modern school of press criticism in this country, we would talk something about that. It had gotten old and tired. Everybody is now a critic. It hadnt gotten, had gotten a little old and it was nice to see he moved on from that. As i said we certainly have political differences, but forgot what a marvelous wide and thinker he was to the very last minute. And i want to reach as low something he wrote in novembe november 2011 in the nation. I remember when the schema it arrived in the mailbox and im so excited about these two paragraphs that iv i read him t five times and in read them aloud to my wife, a fellow nation writer. And here goes but it was right after the mr. Of the occupied moment. After digesting together reports on our national battlefield, austin confidence, atlanta, nashville, portland, my eyes flicker across the world degrees. My heart beats a lot faster. Now theyre we can surely see a prerevolutionary situation. It must be the dreaded leninists, even after all these years of therapy. Somewhat democratic i clamber to the top shelf. Haul down the ladders april thesis of 1917 and did been, and did been. And the war. Immediately merge all the effects to one giant national bank. The blood flows back into my cheeks. My eyes sparkle. Then hang my daughters steps outside the library i shall blending back into place, get back down the ladder and put a copy of a different book. The leninists in him which is something that still appeals to me, then the last interview i did with him for my readership in the summer of 2011 with percy perched on his shoulder, alex identified a problem. People dont really spend the youth in marxist parties and more reading the classics. Because of that, a rigor and understanding you just cant find on instagram is lost. But we do have this patience and volume to save and also to quote a line from lynn and alex like to quote, we can be as radical as reality itself. That kind of thinking might not get you on msnbc, but he wants the approval of a bourgeois state anyway . [applause] i had with both. To lend it. Hello, my name is connor kilpatrick, im better at jackson magazine. We print corner of the socialist left and i helped edit along with my comrade peter for a in the audience and the oscars looking around her summer i believe. Im honored to have been invited to speak your. But seeing here out the winners either a relative of alex or a personal friend, id like to talk of what is riding it to someone who never met or corresponded with him, someone who was a dreaded millennial such as myself arrived on the socialist left during the bush obama years thanks in large part to the brilliant gimmicks of alex cockburn. Im guessing a but here knows his great bit about his hate being pure, is that correct . If you dont know the story, the test is brown and commitment to good fight by asking them if his hate for the powerful was purely pure alex put the same question his entrance at the nation once again turn, a young ed miliband and be the next premise of the uk replied with shock no, he didnt significant as alex put, thats all you really need to know. My god, it really is. Yes, alexs hatred with most certainly pure xml for me that doesnt get at what made his writing so wonderful. Because as a joint laid that alex nurtured, and inspiring hate for all the talk of a sharp tongue and even sharper pen, with our adult talk about a man who once confessed to weeping on a plate as he watched 1993s homeward bound, the incredible journey of film about two talking dogs and they sassy katrin make their way back home. I believe he was sitting next to a woman in ad sales was all of it freaked out by that. So once a lot of my discovery of alexs work came at the moment, it wasnt just his writing. It was also his reviews and watching video clips of alex on cspan recording from the 1980s, or an antiwar rally in california. So one time i came across a video of a mid 1980s cspan that parents. The collars were hostile, choosing them of being a foreign comments sort. But alex kept up his spirit smiling all the way through without being come with any kind of snobbishness or anything. One particularly angry young man called in and shouted, dont smile at me. And alex replied that all he wanted, and then he let him have it. The tight grin, those cheekbones and right at the camera. And it really was an impression on me. As great as alex was, the man, he could just easily deliver a virus from which is a lost art on the left, im sad to say. Not only the dozens of appearances over the years on the show such as cspan or obscure bits like a video of alex beaten at an antiwar rally in california just outside the Humboldt County Court is but its on youtube. Have a look. Alexs 10 next to an actual guillotine just to his record he starts off with a few facts about the guillotine cometh invented by a liberal. He then goes on to deliver a passion defense of the french revolution, and the guillotine itself. And i quote, if every corporate chieftain in the United States as he told employers to break the law, that he asked his lawyer to get him off the hook as he cheated people with this product, if he knew that there was one possibility that the blade would go up and the blade would come down, we would have a better society. I remember one of my favorite this document behind the wheel and the first clip, right at the peak of the bush administrations but, alex says sure everything is gone to hell and, of course, theres no hope, that alex said, bread and coffee. Bread and coveted in the United States are infinitely better than what was when he first came to. The staples of life, he wasnt joking, this was the kind of thing no one cares about what he was right. There was a change would leave them. Onethird of lends peaceful and bread, thats nothing to scoff at. Then he went on, you have to take the long view. Supposing were in the roman empire and 300 a. D. We are radicals. Weve seen theres a future for secular leftism. Actually if you take the long view people would say, these people were insane in the third century because there centers on a radical advance ahead of them but were they wrong to say i think we can nationalize land and release all the slaves and the election in a society in northern tuscany . That struck me as the cockburn version, there is hope but not for us. Which personally has always struck me as wonderfully inspiring. So alexs hate ever cure is just the twin outcome and the charges of like a total hippie, his love because love for americas laws. Whats remarkable about all of this, east dave as a radical office live, watching the liberal left transfer into something beyond any. I couldnt have managed it i wouldve been running for an mba program for an organ coming. As is telling some friends, i can imagine what it must feel like to come to use as a committed left radical in the early 1970s and have to the whole story better of carter, clinton and obama play out in decades. He carried fire. When he passed it off, i couldnt on as a careless if you take a few detours from the correct and proper social staff because that was half the joy of reading his work. As a third approach is the socialist of my generation im sure you can guess where i differed with alex. The thing was i stopped caring whenever you to read. I thought he was cozying up to the wrong crowd. Not only because we needed to do a lot of this, but because it was tempered with optimism. I spent the first 25 years of my life feeling trapped in texas but i was born to concerned parents and raised in patty sobers for a group around fundamentalist, lots of republicans, lots of football and lots of churches. Plenty of guns and, of course, lots of beer and dove hunting expeditions with my fathers drunken buddies. At the age of 11 in a defiantly colorful printed sure, i accepted an award for a texas young riflemans association for a 12point buck i shall. I hated it all. Like most left thinking its going up in such places i got the hell out of ss is a good. The truth was despite my socialism it made me a snob. Alex, however, despite a healthy love for folks for drennan never became a snob. He never turned his nose up like i did at the red states. Whenever i read and talk to you about an encounter something along the exconfederate hinterland i find myself saying alex, did you get a . These people are racist fascist bastards but if you were from ireland, when liberals and leftists dismiss the tea party calling it an inauthentic astroturf operation, he was quick to call them on their smugness, quoting a website called the world socialist website. And alex replied, using the socialist left across america and form groups or any single group consisting of more than a handful of people . He was right. Alex was right, and to show no mercy two defenders he was right to impede them from bracingly called fake politics and its right to call up the lead for having the battle altogether. When a new radical left finally did begin to slowly emerge, he was also correct, particularly about wall street which he approached with just the right house and enthusiasm of criticism. While others his age were sounding the trumpet for the return of a big Bold Movement of red, alex was more cautious and he was right to be. I was going to read that bit about taking lenin off the shelf, which doug read so beautifully, and i thought that really went to the core of him and kind of made when i first read that, the disagreements i had had with him vanish immediately. Alex knew tha that a export orge and quickly mightve left doesnt just bring out decades of depoliticization to a new path on the back when doing a good. He decried the collapse of the marxist left which were his words, used to provide a Training Ground for young people who could learn the rudiments of the local economy, an organization disciplined. Find mates and played well in reproducing the left, red diaper up on red diaper. Damaris radicals noorzai marxist class. In this sense that alex played what i think was his most vital role for the left and he might have perhaps hated this term being an ardent antimilitarist, but he was like our drill sergeant. He hurled abuse at us from every possible direction. Maybe if hillary slap or maybe if i buy organic slap. If only the democrats slap to the kennedys with lester slap. Why was he doing it . Because he was mean . No. Because he wanted us to survive. He wanted us to win. And honestly we needed it. Thank you. [applause] high, as one. Thank you so much for coming here to celebrate along with a fantastic book which really is a treat, filled with such extraordinary and unusual stories and communal, my fathers voice is really, really alive on every page of this book. And i found almost impossible to choose an extract. I would flip through, this one. No, this one. So i really hope you find yourself with a copy and enjoy it. Im just going to read the first entry, which is actually an extract from a letter he wrote to me in 1995. And his letters, his everyday speech, writing, all came from the same place. Im lucky enough to have a collection of just incredible lessons from him, and postcards that he wrote when i was a child. This one data, i said that already, sorry. He wrote in 1995, last year a mexican muralist with nothing to do with them i got into to an 18foot like eightfoot ceiling mural on the roof of my garage. Wrote many ceiling but i said they should more unless addressed the theme of the meaning of the universe. Saw the horses on the walls of heaven and and then the mexican, yet it doesnt crucified and lower down a great big school and lower down adam and eve looking really bummed out. And some nice birds and the now with its wings expanded it after a year of looking at this, i bumped into the painter and said that i was angloirish and that mexican. I wanted everything a bit more bushytailed. The peasants not crucified but waiting a machete. Adam and eve looking excited as though theyre off on a lovely picnic. He digested all this with relatively good grace and his american wife. Just had the hands reaching out. Do know what i mean, make . What about instead of the schools, the spirit of the eternal feminine . Daniel wanted a mime type woman crouching in soil and something and i said no. I should try this one. Then he needed to face, he made the size of glad hell appear the lily will have to be curbed and the eternal reminiscent as a bit female so well have to see. I hope you survive the final cut, as they say in hollywood. So i did survive the final cut, and there is my face looking very strange amid corncobs and machetes and stuff like that. So that maybe gives a sense of what he was up to, apart from writing, which is creating an extraordinary kind of paradise filled with art that the commission from local artists. Sorry, he was up to a lot of stuff. And then im just going to read a short extract for a moment, the afterwords. Spent when i was a teenager my father used to suggest or whether the downtown his own father had recommended the point being made it was reminder not to collapse, to find meaning, to counter counts to the budget to get to do things and then improvise and blow your trumpet. And thats what he did. I think thats what i am hearing, whatever this thing is a sense of his voice blows like a trumpet. Its just so exciting to have this book out. I have nothing to say except please buy it, please enjoy, and thank you so much for coming. [applause] i think we have time for a quick q a for maybe two questions are so. So let me know if you have a question. I can and the mic over to you. If you guys have any concluding remarks. If you agree with everything he would road, he would be very disappointed. I did not agree with everything he wrote, particularly about Climate Change. And i think he was more sympathetic to the militias than he should have been, but he was wonderfully acerbic, especially coming up, i think theres a tendency about people saying things like, do you think Hillary Clinton would be better than obama . That wouldve got a large dose of hydrochloride from alex, i suspect. This is entirely too. He would, by the way, you probably wouldve seen a line or two in his column this week pointing out that the Antarctic Ice has reached its since records began to i just noted that before. He might be smiling a smug smile. But yes, he, the mushy, i mean he believes, i mean he was sort of i wont say he never met a man he didnt like, but there was a feature of American Life that he didnt embrace and explore and take delight in the at his in one of the more moving speeches came from a gentleman who lives just outside spartanburg south on whom Alexander Bachus cars from. Daisy has a very long line of vehicles down the side of the road. All of which alexander purchased from dave this day job was to be an evangelical preacher who have gone around the world and preached the gospel in something i wouldnt do, but he and dave and alexander had a very close bond, many long conversations every week about chrysler and about what is going on in the evangelical community. I think very few sort of leftists explored the features of American Life as alexander did. [inaudible] i mean, alexander had, he always, always looked at the impact of politics. Always looke love to see would n the receiving end of this hatchet of government regulation, or of conflict. That was what brought passion to his work and also a difference of opinion between those independent world and those in the journalistic unquote who lived in the world and had very little plan about how the policy would play out in a different way. One of the things that we havent shared enough is a picture of alexander actually lived. Sends us off enough to see them occasionally, and the last year i went to spend time with him in northern california. This community that daisy now know so well was a community that was in many ways outside of u. S. Society. A lot of barter, a lot of community building, a lot of sharing and exchange. People can affect how to get along with each other. 45 minutes from any local town. Two hours if you want to redefine you all right. Through twisting, twisting, turning red with. Im constantly struck by a moment that happened soon after he died. A Christmas Party actually that was all gave, you, daisy, elizabeth, to which many of the master craftsman that live in the valley came to remember alexander. And as they went around his house, speaking about the things that they bill in the vice alexander had given, a glimpse, a life youve given them, care for attention, care for the pride. But i just urge you to pick up the book to read about, because its a part of his life that he think is very special and entirely informed so much else that we think about. It wasnt on shows everybody. But i dont know what to say, if you want to add anything to that. But i remember almost being embarrassed listening, talk about her love for the work theyve done with alexander and theyre warning for the man who was there, and then he gave them the best challenges we ever had. And i think connor give us the best challenges we ever had. Yeah, i would just i mean i think he did give them challenges like we creating a 14th century irish font in the middle of the garden. Not something youd normally be asked to do. In this case this is great, we can do anything. So they really were very interesting projects that they collaborated on. But also ive been struck by people saying how they just cant recognize the Alexander Cockburn that they look upon the internet as the kind of, you know, generous friend that they knew in person. So theres a lot of people have been you know, have mentioned oh, what a great guy he was and what a nice man he was, and you know, and not just words of condolence but really a sense of somebody who listened very deeply to people and was a very thoughtful friend. So there is, you know, many of the sides to him that you wont find if you look up youll find contrarian and those sorts of words on the internet, and they bear no relation at all to who he was and how people experience tim, you know, cynical not for never contrarian. What does that mean . So i mean, obviously those words are just kind of last minute words that people pull out when they dont know what to say about someone, and they dont know very much about somebody. So, yeah, this booklet contains a lot of ill stop rambling. Thank you. Come meet us at the table. Well answer any more questions you have and share other bits of information. I believe the book table is in the back somewhere. Yes. Register at the front or you can purchase copies of the book. Lets hear one more time for the contributors this evening. [applause] and if you have any questions or if you would like any of them to sign a copy, they will be over at the timetable against the wall. Thank you so much for coming out this evening. [applause]