Transcripts For CSPAN3 General Pershing And The Battle Of Meuse-Argonne 20160417

University. Received the he is Army Historical foundations distinguish writing award. He is also one of americas foremost experts on the First World War and he holds a doctorate from the Royal Military college of science. Discuss and later answer your questions about his new book, 47 days. Ler notes that mitch has become a preeminent world war i historian. Commenting on the book, waller has written with an absorbing narrative. 47 days brings to life that war is final and bloody offensive when general john blackjack pershing and more than one million americans and french soldiers broke the back of the mighty german army. Son. Se welcome mitch yockle good afternoon everybody. Im excited to see a nice crowd come out and here a talk on a subject that doesnt get a lot of attention in the United States. That is the United States effort in the First World War. We got into the war in april of 1917 as a partner to the allies. And slowly build our forces until it turned into the ofmactic battle meuseargonne, which is the subject of my book. The subject really focuses around general pershing, and it is really his story. That is how i tell the story of the battle. How it was formed, and how it played out, and ultimately its success. Asked when did you begin writing this book . Me in my colleagues asked the hall today that you write this a few years ago and then wait to release it during the centennial . I wish i thought along those lines, but not really. Part of the reason i was able to write a book like this is we are centennialt of the of world war i. Commemorate americas entrance in the following year. The reality is that the book started when i was a young man. Yes that is a photo of me around age five. It started because i used to go to a pediatrician in Silver Spring maryland. Not far from here. One of the more pleasant expenses, not that i health issues, but i would just get nervous. When we turned onto pershing drive, which is near where his office was, i would get this chill and this weird feeling in my stomach. He was the nicest guy on the planet, dont get me wrong. He has bribed me with artificial flavored lollipops to make sure was good. Ence i kept seeing this name pershing and it kept in the back of my mind. It didnt really become clear until i studied history in college, and then got a fortune to work. The National Archives for a number of years i was arson our subject area specialist for the world war i records. I got to see the documents where he would often write in the margins and things that he wrote directly. I got to know a fair amount about him, and then when the the to write a book about argonne, ieuse realized it was more and more really his story. So i was going to tell it through his point of view. , weuld like to start out will talk a little about pershing first, and then about his warriors who fought under him, and then about the battle itself. General pershing, born in 1860, in missouri. About an hour and a half from kansas city right on the eve of the civil war. He experiences first socalled warfare during that time when guerrillas came through the town and ransacked his fathers house. Im sorry his fathers business. He helped his parents get through that tragedy. You never really considered going into the military until he was a late teenager. He thought about a career as an attorney and a teacher. But like a lot of people that a freehen the idea of education through one of the Service Academies was in a bad idea. His sister saw an advertisement in the local newspaper for the examinations for the military academy. They were going to take place in his hometown. He took the entrance exam, plastic, and ended up going to west point. He did ok there academically, but he excelled as a leader. Whomber of future officers would serve under him during world war i were also classmates. They knew that pershing had this ability to lead men. He had that kind of charisma. After graduating west point, he served out on the west and the frontier. Inwas a Company Commander the 10th u. S. Calvary which was one of the all African American units formed after the civil war. He did that. He then went back and talk in nebraska. Taught in and he taughtck at west point. He was a horrible and shocked her. The cadets couldnt stand him. Make fun of him behind his back. That is where the nickname of blackjack came from. They made fun of him because yet commanded his African American troops. He ended up commanding them again during the spanishamerican war and the attack against the spanish in cuba. When back and had a number of roles, including serving in the philippines. He was an adviser during the russo japanese war. Is kind of he building his career, he meets a young woman in washington, who was the daughter of one of the higher ranking senators. Who also have military affairs. And he falls in love with her and they get married. And lo and behold he gets a promotion. He jumps from a lower rent to Brigadier General. Many question whether or not his association with a senator being his fatherinlaw. Little bit of a truth to that, but i think the bottom line was that pershing had built up a strong experience as a leader and as a commander. And he deserved the promotion. They went and had a nice family of four children. Three daughters and one son. Ofy were living in the city San Francisco. Pershing was called to the Mexican Border in 1950. Tension was heating up between not so much the mexican americans were living in mexico. Mexico was on a revolution at the time and the u. S. Government vacillated between who they were going to support. There were a number of troubles, and a number of americans who were murdered. It is a good idea to have American Forces on the border. Lateved down there in the summer of 1915. Wife, and hisis four children were to join him. Histelephone rang and orderly wasnt there to answer. Pershing was frustrated and answered the phone and asked to it was. It was a reporter on the other end from one of the new york newspapers, not knowing it was pershing on the phone, said im calling to verify the fire at the person home. Pershing home. It. Hing hadnt heard about pershing told him that it is me and i need you to tell me what happened. They were doing some renovation on the house and a fire broke out in the fireplace and engulfed the entire house. In addition to the person family, there is another Family Living in the home. Fire, bute the unfortunately his wife and three of the four children were killed in the fire. Only his son warns survive. You can imagine how devastating this mustve been to him. He traveled quickly back to San Francisco and had to of course identify the remains, get the situation in order and take care of his son warns. He came back and served in the military. Came back to the army a year later. Video rated columbus new mexico. President wilson authorizes the next edition are a force to go after poncho. Somebody had to lead it. Pershing was the obvious choice for a couple of reasons. He had the experience. And it was also thought that this guy is in a bad place right now, he is very troubled about the loss of his family, we need to put them in a position of authority where he can get his mind off of things. So he led the expedition into mexico. It went on for a little over a year. The expedition never captured poncho villa. He was severely wounded and one site, a number of his followers were killed. But ultimately, he got away for a number of reasons. Going into 1917, the u. S. Finally gets into the war in april for a variety of reasons. Lead what iss to going to be the Expeditionary Force overseas. There were a number of other commanders that actually out outright pershing, but nobody had the experience. President wilson agreed. And pershing was now going to lead the first large overseas contingent of the United States. And as i talk about in the book, he takes the americans into the modern age. And what he has got at his disposal are a small group of american soldiers. They were federalized by president wilson. Plus wilson authorized a draft. There ended up being three conscription throughout world war i. Including the drafted soldiers plus a volunteer, there were roughly about 2 million over 2 million who are either drafted a volunteer. Wheree regular troops they had experienced, but not the type of experience one but need to fight in modern warfare especially on the western front. If any of you have ever been to the battlefields in france and belgium, you know that the remnants are still there of the trenches and the machine guns. , and justly difficult to rain. Three years into the war, the british had been badly bloodied and battled. Bloodiedh have been and were done. And american troops were badly needed. The question though among the allies was, why dont you bring these american troops over here and we will join forces with the french and british. Knew thatdent wilson eventually this war was going to come to an end and that the americans are going to need to have based have a say at the piece table. Pershing the instruction to form his own army independently and fight independently. The americans had very little training, we had very few guns. We didnt have aircraft. So we relied heavily on the french and the british. Many of our troops trained with both the british and the Expeditionary Force and the french army. But when it came to about a year into the u. S. Involvement in the war, and more more troops were pushed tor, pershing form the First American army. So he met with this gentleman who was head of all of the allied armies. He wasnt really thrilled about pershing having his own independent force. They had a number of very almostlt meetings and came to blows. I go into discussion about this in the book. Pershing was adamant about forming his first army. On their own front. He selected an area that has been under german control since about september of 1914. When the war had just commenced. That is the area between the muse river and the argonne forest. He was not real happy about this, but he allowed pershing to form this. Meanwhile, he came up with an idea of attacking another area. Fight that oneto battle, plus fighting in the muse argonne which is part of a combined offense of effort to getting towards the end of september was externally difficult. But, pershing was adamant again this. Some officers called him obstinate. I feel like he had the americans best interest in this. There was up to him to make these decisions. The germans were somewhat aware of the americans in the area and the potential for an offensive. I had began a withdrawal. They had completely withdrawn and the americans attacked about 500,000 troops and completely overwhelm the germans. The area. Ated french citizens read been basically isolated by the germans from his four years, living and sellers, having to give away their homes, give away their farmlands, all of their supplies, they were finally brought back. You can see from this image, by the way most of these images which isthe archives, a wonderful collection in the process of being digitized. Speaking of birthdays, pershing had his birthday on september 13. He had turned 58 and was a great president for him. But it was not time to gloat over the battle. They had to start preparing for the attack on the muse argonne front. Pershing moved its headquarters from one part of france to a little village. I will show you that in a moment. I want to show you an image. He traveled around by his own personal train. He was not the only one. Almost all of the commanders had their own train. You notice some of the africanamericans here. Recruited bytually the army. It was a full train. It had an office in there, it had a sleeper car, it had a kitchen, and he had maps of the front and so forth. Tohe moved his headquarters the marist department here. You can still see it today. It is well marked. The french had use this a couple years ago. You can go in the building, the steps are worn out. You can imagine the number of french officers going all the way to the top where the offices. So they are starting to plan this battle and they have to figure out how early going to get all these american troops towards the front row mostly french troops are and get them in line. The person who orchestrates this is one of the Unsung Heroes of the war. We hear a lot about him of course during the Second World War, and then later on during the rebuilding of europe. And that is george b marshall. He entered the service and served in the First Division as an operations officer. He did a wonderful job and one of the First American bottles. He was brought in by pershing to be on the staff. And eventually brought over to the first army. It was really up to marshall to do the planning. Somehow he was able to manage to troopse than 500,000 brought in at night, traveling a long road and bring them to the front to prepare for the attack, which had now been set for the earlymorning hours of september 20 6, 1918. Many of the trees were brought forward by french indochinese drivers. They were recruited by the french, brought the americans in. And keep in mind, many of the americans had been out of their hometowns, much less traveled to france. They admitted that these drivers , some of them thought that there are chinese, but they often write about their experience of how rough it was arriving to the front. Sure enough, they get there in a few days. The germans have no idea that the americans are going to attack. They know the americans are in the area. They are flying planes over and they can see more and more american troops. Our foreman for some kind of operation. The germans dont know exactly when it is taking place and where. Around 3 30 in the morning, the artillery kicks out. More than 1000 guns. French gun start firing towards a german positions. Americanrs later, the troops jumped off. Most of them are not in trenches. We think about changes in the First World War. There were actually at an the open. Either in force the areas were hunkered down in former shell holds. The battle commences and it moves forward and it moves toward rapid. The american troops make great games on the first day. Is of the key landmarks falcon mountain. The high ground. The germans have operation post there. They have had post there since 1914. They can see were the troops are coming. It is a key post to take out early in the battle. Pershing wants it done the first day, the friends tell him he is crazy. It may take until christmas. But the attack happens in that area. And the americans make some gains, but their german back. It is not until the second day that one of the regiments from baltimore, maryland, part of the 79th division drove the germans from that post. Meanwhile, as the battle plays out, it starts to bow down. Part of the problem with the battle and any world war i battle for that matter is communication. They used wireless, but they were also wires laid by the single core troops that would move them forward. They were easy targets for the germans. And in order to get messages forward, we needed clear communication. I mentioned marshall being an unsung hero of the battle. Certainly the telephone operators also known as hello girls were a key to any success with an american operation. They were recruited by the Bell Companies as they were commenced. Of the attributions as they had to speak french and they had to be able to handle the pressure behind the lines. In syria which is close to the front. They served quite well, and at the end of the world pershing has commended them as true soldiers of the army. Often moanblem we about is the traffic issues here that washington area. Certainly it was an issue over there. There were only three words it into the front, most of which have been humbled by the germans through their artillery. Plus was the battle commence, they started aiming their artillery onto these words. If youve been to northern france in the autumn, you know it rains quite a bit there. It is damp, so the roads were puddled up. So they had to go out and try to cover the holes. Is, there isens major congestion, which means supplies are not getting to the front. Food, and water, medical supplies, but also armaments. It becomes a huge problem. Towly the battle begins really bogged down to the point of the americans not making any gains. And theres significant amount of pressures put on pershing. The guyhe is not the lo to lead the americans. Maybe he doesnt understand the logistics. Pressuring him to step down. They are threatening president wilson that pershing needs to go. But wilson stands behind him. As about a verizon and the , she is relieving commanders, he was the ultimate micromanager. I mentioned some of the documents here. Signatures inhis the marginalia. He would go to the front if you felt like one of his officers was not performing, he fired them. He would either send them to one of the rare areas, or some of them worshiped him. But the pressure is getting to them significantly. On one of the trips to the front, he hurt his boss vermont behind him in the car. And he was calling out his deceased wifes name and he basically was him as having a nervous breakdown. But he pulled himself together, he regrouped. He was still commanding the entire American Army which was known as the american Expeditionary Forces. He decided at this point he was going to step down as the commander of the first army and in his place he appointed one of his brilliant corps commanders. This allowed pershing a little bit more lenient in the sense of how he was running things. Again going back to the micromanager theme, that train i showed you, he had a parked near. Thehing was a mainstay in headquarters there an absolutely badgering him all the time. When pershing wasnt around the muse argonne front, he was often in paris. But he had another reason for going to paris. Who was a young woman 23 years old when they met in 1917. She was a romanian artist. They met at a party. She was commissioned to do a portrait of pershing. They hit it off and had developed a romantic relationship. Which lasted until pershings death in the late 1940s. Authors have called her his mistress, which in my mind is not really true. She was not married, he was widowed. He certainly had the right to state and have a companion. , prettyi think embarrassed by the significant age difference of more than 30 some years. He didnt talk about it very much, but it is a wellkept secret the worst kept secret in the army. Progresses, she has got a number of things yesterday with. Striving is a huge issue. Troops he did not want to fight anymore. But the bottom line is fighting in that area, especially in the dense argonne forest, troops often got lost that from their units. The military police come in and gather them up and bring them back to their units. But also getting supplies forward. Animals were used. As you can see the roads themselves are hard, muddy, often from the rain. So they found a for ways to bring supplies to the front. Slowly things progress, but also they had to deal with something that nobody expected, and that was the influence academic. It was by october, it in its second phase. More devastating. Hundreds of thousands of troops on all sides were impacted. Especially the first army. It was first believed to be pneumonia. Then later it was determined that it was the flu. We had to deal with the sick and also injured soldiers. Many will of them were brought to the field hospitals. Treated if their wounds were more serious, they were brought back and take it to general hospitals. Nursesaring for them or who volunteered either with the Army Nurse Corps or the red cross. They were often at the front, working long hours. Today, 24 7. Y they certainly were working that. It was dangerous situations. Were from a wealthy new york family, the cromwell sisters. They joined up and served in one of the hospitals towards the front. It was a horrific experience for them. They had seen many, many mangled men. They had witnessed death. When the war was over and they finally return home to france, they were on one of the ships heading back in the early 1919. They must have made a pact, because the ship was leaving france and heading into the the firstthey went on deck of the ship and jumped over and committed suicide. One of the mainstays of the army which was part of the American Expeditionary versus, not an independent arm like it is today , was the air service. That was led by the gentleman on the far left. Colonel billy mitchell. A very competent officer who really built the air service. The problem was, because the weather was so poor throughout courtttle, that the air did not have as much impact as it had wanted. There are more than 1000 planes i got airborne when the weather is a little bit better. The 47 days, they were only about 800. Many of them had to leave later in the day because of the heavy clouds. One of the heroes of the war is the officers standing by their wreckage, and that is frankly. He was known as the balloon buster. Germans would launch these balloons and his job was to get close to them, even though they were heavily protected by below, he had 18 victories leading up to the second day of the muse argonne. Then on september 27, he was shot down and killed. , was ther left corner american ace of the war, having 26 victories. Another gentleman you see here is a man they marry and cooper. Of young, like a lot men, joined early. He was actually at the Naval Academy in annapolis and did not do too well there. He was booted out, joined the national guard, one at some adventure, join the air service, even though it was incredibly dangerous. And took off on the first day of the muse argonne. Down. Ane was shot he was held in captivity throughout the war. After the work, he gets out, he actually is responsible for finding the remains of frankly. He goes on after world war i and joints the polish air force. But more famously, many years later, he became the director of king kong, and he was also a wellknown cinematographer. Heroes that you may already know about that at least deserve a prominent role in the book was george s patton. Driver on out as a pershings crew. He came over as one of his aides. He ends up in the 10 core. A new arm of the service. On the first day of the battle, he is attacking in support of the unit to the far right, with a guy on a horse named terry estrin. Heres a battle commander and the and the artillery unit of the 35th division. Patton of course was fighting an area near chesney. Patton was shot through the fly and badly wounded. And he was out of the battle for the remainder of the war. Courses douglas macarthur, who ended up becoming a Brigadier General in the 42nd rainbow division. Quite a character. Longtime service, west point graduate. He was also the highest decorated officer in the First World War, eventually winning seven silver stars and a Similar Service crosses. Throughle commences legates leadership, the americans are able to overwhelm the germans. Break through their lines, break through the wire and get around these machinegun nets which are devastating the american troops. And because the germans recognized that the battle is not going well, by the third by about three quarters of the way into the battle, there are more than a million americans fighting along with about 300,000 french. There are another million or so americans who are ready to come over to the u. S. That shipping is available. It is pretty much the end of the road for the germans. Behind the scenes negotiating takes place, and an armistice is at 11 for on november 11 a. M. On 1918. Because the allies fear that the might give up on this armistice, the fighting took place all the way up until 11 a. M. So we had american casualties that were killed right up to the last minute. After the war, Hunter Liggett was brought before congress and drilled about why the work continued on, but the obvious reason was, they were holding an armistice which is not a surrender, it just means youre stopping the war for right now. Armistice does take place at that appointed time, and the battle lines down. And the war winds down. The reason again that the war winds down is because of this 47 day battle. And it is because the americans came in and because pershing was adamant that the americans fight as an independent voice. And the battle ends, histories are starting to be written, there is some question about what the american role was. Certainly american but should was significant. Andrew harris heroes all the sun that came out through the news media. Charles will see who led the socalled lost battalion, a group of soldiers from the 77th division that were new there lost. R they fought for over six days to rescue them. Part of the rescue to voice and another part of the argonne, a guy named alvin york who was a corporal, later promoted to charge and help fight the germans. He captured more than 100 german singlehandedly. His story became synonymous with the muse argonne and the First World War. When the fighting had ended, as i mentioned, the there is more million americans, but there are combatants were significant. They took more than 16,000 german pows and penetrated more than 34 miles. Over this 47 days, they also recaptured Something Like 150 french villages. Unfortunately, many of them are now in habitable but were later rebuilt through the help of american money that had come over after the war. It was a heavy cost for the americans and for general pershing. More than 120,000 warriors were killed and wounded, roughly about 26,000 of those had died either from combat or from the influence za. For the germans, the exact number of their belligerence is roughly around 450,000 with about 28,000 killed, another hundred thousand wounded. Many of the americans who were killed there, more than 14,000, are laid to rest in the muse argonne cemetery, which is actually the largest cemetery of the American Battle Monuments Commission oversees. Often think about normandy, which has a greater claim, but the muse argonnes largest cemetery. Certainly not a reason to brag, but it shows just the sacrifice of these men made and there are women buried there is well. To some of the battle, this was general pershings battle. This was his to fight, essentially his to lose. But he led the american troops ably, and without the american warriors, this battle but not have taken place. It is easy to say that perhaps he were might have on on far with more significant bloodshed. Thank you for your time. And thank you. I will be happy to take any questions. Boots thatershing much of an improvement . Could you say that he invented the military police . Or did he reinvent them . Assigned the americans to that section of the terrain was so rugged in case the enemy broke through, they could not advance as far or as fast . About your sure first question about the boots. As far as the military police, to the best of my knowledge, this is the first time that a military police were used by the American Army. Of course, a lot of what we learned was through the british and the french. They had their own Law Enforcement with them in the military, and they played a significant role. Your question kind of brings up one other point. When you we look at the photograph of american troops in , it kind ofseas looks archaic. The truth of the matter is, this was the modern age of warfare. It had not been for the americans learning how to fight on the muse argonne, we would not have in the army that became in world war ii and the superpower later on and become a Predominant Military today. About as your question the sector, that is a good question. This is something that pershing had negotiated with the french. He wanted an area where the americans can have some prominence and make an impact. Eye on the muse argonne front even before he came over to france. Student of military history. He knew that that area was significant, largely because there was also nice big supply route. There were red lines feeding into the western front. He really encourage the french to give the americans that front. Not because he knew was the top is, but he felt like it was going to make the most impact. You mentioned that there was incensed negotiation between pershing and the french general regarding the use of troops. Of theknow, black troops 92nd and 93rd were transferred to the 157 french unit. I would like to know the decision behind that. As you know, pershing served with a black unit the 10th ofvary, and the treatment black troops, particularly combat troops in world war i, was surrendered. Curious to know why wasnt the ninth and 10th calvary transferred to europe. Why they were basically in theted and remained western part of the country. Those were of the units, but they never got to serve in europe. Excellent question. There were more than 200,000 African Americans who served with the american and traditionary forces overseas. Unfortunately, as you point out, who had experience fighting either with regular troops in the u. S. , the ninth and 10th calvary were put into basically support roles. Many of them unloaded ships at the docks, or they were laborers. There were the two divisions, the 92nd division which you mentioned, which was an entire division, and then the 90 third, which was a provisional division. You would have thought that pershing having commanded whatanamerican troops o have welcomed them. But he didnt. The answer is not entirely clear other than the fact that the military was segregated at the time. He followed the protocol the military. How the africanamerican troops ended up with the french, the 92nd were attached to the french and actually thought to the left of the americans on the muse argonne. The 93rd fought in a different sector. But when the negotiations with the french were hammering pershing to get american troops, he said ok i am not going to give you some of my white combat units, but i will give you the africanamerican troops. And the french were glad to take them. They had their own african corps troops, so they were used to dealing with african soldiers. And the mf or can american africanamerican troops fought externally well. The troops themselves thought extremely well. , the3rd division provisional division had the three 69th, the Harlem Health ll fighters. They were in any more than than on the other unit in the war. He did keep the army segregated and i think that was a mistake. Related to question the training of the officer corps and of the different units and of course the different branches of the army. Or evenshing arrived before he arrived in france, that he realized there was a need for performing much of the army in terms of schooling and preparing these forces to be in places like france or an expert edition are force whereas the army had never been that large before. They were facing those unique challenges. In his mind was he working on that already when he arrived in france . Because he really didnt know how long the word go. Yes he absolutely was. In fact, he established schools almost like universities to train officers in various things such as intelligence and the just supplies, and so forth. Sent to the were schools. In fact, some of these schools were going on on these of the attack on september 26, and there were a number of officers that were not even available to be the units. He was well aware that many of the young officers who did not have the experience that he had were going to need specialized training. That is really where our allies stepped up to help us. The british and the french were the primary instructors of our officers. Unfortunately were not very good, as i mentioned before, he called out the ones that he thought were poor officers. Either lazy or did not have the ability or strength to lead the troops. And he dismissed them. Records, whatthe other records and use both at the National Archives and other repositories . Has calledistorian the National Archives, it is the mothers milk for military history. Certainly the records here are far greater than any other f and the muse argonne. I also spent some time in carlisle at the military institute there. Of other Staff Officers and their questioners. Those of the two key areas. I also went down to lexington and look at George Marshalls paper. Story, youting the cant write this story without looking at pershings papers. So i spun a final time with our friends at the library of Congress Looking at pershings papers and billy mitchells, and so forth. Those were the key areas. And a few other repositories as able to sneak in. Three questions. The person himself, but this famous line, lafayette we are here . Or is that some speechwriter. . Secondly, what happened to his female companion after his death . Was he given she given any kind of recognition . Third, pershings gravesite at Arlington Cemetery is quite moving. I assume he himself just wanted a simple soldiers headstone. Made the decision to give it a whole lot of space by itself. Know how that came about . The first question, it was one of his aides who said lafayette we are here. Pershing did not think that. It was a tribute. And it was his way of showing the french that they were here to absolutely support you. Here likee are lafayette was during the American Revolution to support the colin is. I think i lost her the second question. In. He remained with her in a longterm relationship. She came back to the u. S. And most of the demonstrative. He became chairman of the American Battle Monuments Commission. They had a lengthy correspondence, which is another place i did some research. The letters were collected by one of pershings previous biographers, and there at the louisic archives in st. You can see the communication between the two of them. They were deeply in love, but pershing had his business here and she had her business over in france. He did bring her over to the u. S. In the 1920s. She set up a gallery in new york for a short. Period. And then went back to france. However when world war ii broke out, he brought her back to the u. S. Along with her mother. At this point, pershing was pretty sick. He was getting on an agent had a number of illnesses. Hiswould come visit him in three. And towards the end of his life, he did get married, they brought a priest into the suite and he officiated their marriage. When he passed away, he left her a significant amount of money through his remaining son, or remaining child, born, who was an investment banker. Ive seen the insurance making sure she was well taken care of. Borat had a couple of sons one of whom was killed in the vietnam war. When richard was killed during they faced each other on that hill. It is a fairly significant area. But also, not far from there is the last american who served world war i. That area has a must become a tribute to world war i. You almost took my question away. It had to do with the end of persons life. His is in relation to otherss to eisenhower when he realize that they were going to have to refight essentially the same war, and he had not been a participant i dont believe, at the treaty of her side. Did he ever make any comments to eisenhower anybody else as the Second World War began to open up in terms of how he saw the effort and world war i . Absolutely. In fact, all of the general officers from omar bradley to patent, to eisenhower all visited pershing at his sweet in walter reed and said that patent got down on his knees and kissed pershings ring. They kind of wanted his words of wisdom before they left to go overseas. In the case of early in the war , andnorth africa eventually the liberation of europe. Pershing, even though he was of old age, he was well aware of what was going on. I think he tried to get some advice to fdr, who slightly listen. He was a soldier of a different age, and had even younger perhaps, it is hard to say whether he would have had a role in the Second World War. But certainly the key officers wase recognize that if it not for pershing, they would not be in the situation they were in. Earlier in his career, when he was dealing with africanamericans and then submissions to deal with native americans and also filipinos, oh he isntified as good at dealing with diverse populations that may be the officers were not . Absolutely. That is an excellent point. Thatked a little bit about for a little bit. Happy about having americans in the philippines. They rebelled against the spanish rule for hundreds of years. Next thing you know the americans are there. And they were very defined, but pershing was able to use unfortunately a little bit of combat along with a lot of perseverance and diplomatic talking to get to pacify them. Of hist became one strength. By the way, there is been recent comments in the news by certain president ial candidate who claim that pershing had helped pacify the moors by dipping the american bullets in pay blood because the moors are muslim. There is no truth to that, whatsoever. Yes sir. Did he use the knowledge of the American Civil War, mainly the experience of general grant . He worship general grant. Grandmas his hero. He had studied civil war battles , especially the wilderness, which is somewhat like the muse argonne. In same sort of terrain virginia. He was definitely well aware of the civil war battles. He was even criticize for that because of the fact that he was throwing american men against a strong german offenses. Which the American Civil War showed like in gettysburg and , it never exactly work. But pershings idea was to fight the socalled open warfare. Out of the trenches, and that was the only way that americans would persevere. Inthe bonus army marched 1932. Of course macarthur led the. Roops with his aid there is a famous story of the guy who say patent and world war anyoneuestion is did consulting pershing ever say anything about the bonus army when it was going on . I have never seen anything. I did some research on that for a previous book on douglas macarthur. I certainly know that eisenhower was adamantly against it. But as far as pershing, i never got any comments. If he did make them, they were behind the scenes. But i have never seen anything publicly. He cannot have been happy about it, im sure. These were the same doughboys, american troops that have fought together on the battlefield, and he was the American Army with macarthur foolishly and basically attacking them. And he used tear gas. And it was an embarrassment. It literally cost president hoover reelection. I have never seen any comments from pershing about it. Ok. Im told they are out of time. There are books for sale. I will be happy to sign them for you up in a bookshop. Thank you again for coming out. I really appreciate it. This weekend the cspan city store posted by our Comcast Cable partners takes you to tuscaloosa, alabama. To explore the history and literary culture of the Southern City which is home to the university of alabama. Tv, wheren history the system unveiled the archaeological site and learn how the native American Culture lived from about the 11 15 centuries. Heyday montville was the largest city north of mexico and contains the remains of about 30 flat top mounds. B and standing at mt. This is the largest mound in alabama. It contains about 112,000 two bourjos of dirt. This would have been by the structure for that highest ranking mover of the highestranking clan but it in. Originally signed to spot the mounds were completely built by one basket load of dirt at a time. Recent research is a case of the base of the mound and possibly the size of them were initially built with blocks which were then filled in with clay. This would give a lot more stability to the structure as they were building it. Afterw that periodically the mound was built, it would be cap over with different colors of clay said that if you sliced into the mound, it would resemble a layer cake. Cspan city store today at 2 p. M. Eastern on American History tv on cspan3. The cspan cities tour, working with our cable affiliates and visiting cities across the country. Monday on the communicators, george ford, chief economist for the Phoenix Center for advanced legal and economic Public Policy cooper,and mark Research Director for the Consumer Federation of america debate the fccs proposal allowing consumers to buy their own boxes instead of renting them from cable providers. By aare joined Telecommunications Reporter for bloomberg. We think we need competition in the box market. Places that has worked, someplace it has not. This is one place where it really hasnt. We think the consumers would have low prices and more choices if there were bigger is competition. The first question is, is there a market . Of answer really in terms what is delivered over the cable network, no, because that box is actually a component of the network. That is the most efficient way to design and deliver Cable Television service. So it is the cheapest way to do it and most efficient way to do it. The companies would prefer a market if it was more efficient to do it that way. Watch the communicators monday night at eight eastern on cspan2. He had a couple of meals and a shovel. I think again it is one of the other ironies, the that he was so rabidly antigovernment and oh your entire fortune to the government. Q a, author and investigative journalist talks about her book the profiteers, look at one of the Largest Construction Companies in the world. If the american taxpayers are would seem that the taxpayer should have some thess to information about contracts, the amount of money, the worker safety, the political relationship. Tonight at eight eastern, on cspans q a. Hopkins Johns University history professor talks about five aristocrats who fled the french revolution and the early 1790s and settled in philadelphia. We will hear about french influence on the then American Capital and the relationships these men formed with political figures of the early republic. Cspans American History tv interviewed mr. Furstenberg at the 2016 meeting of american historians in Providence Rhode island. This is about 15 minutes. Your book focuses on five french aristocrats, who were they . These were upperlevel aristocrats. They descended from the highest level of the french nobility. All of them are liberals who had participated in the early stages of the french revolution. Until it