New york times book review. We recorded the program in september of 2018. Good afternoon. Welcome, everybody. Im david moskowitz, head of Government Relations and Public Policy at wells fargo and pleased to be here with you today. We are pleased to serve for the eighth year as a charter sponsor of the book festival and prouder to watch the book festival grow into the incredibly popular and impactful event it has become. I wouldnt be surprised [ applause ] thank you. Wouldnt be surprised to see us move the needle on some bestseller list today. Its even more important to keep the book festival a free event that serves the community. The library of congress and the book festivals purpose here is literacy which leads to learning and opportunity which matches our goal of helping our community succeed, learning to love books and learning are what the book festival is all about. In this session, ron chernow will discuss his biography of Ulysses Grant f were lucky, certain is other popular fou
President . Arthur called me on the phone and said youre in tennessee and james k. Polk is a tennesseen. And he said i want you to do one thing. He said allen evans has done a paper back that excerpts his diary, his president ial diary. Just take a weekend and read it and tell me no. And i read the excerpts from the diary and i could say no. I was fascinated about the man. Did you know much about him before this . I knew his grave was behind the capitol. There is no marker in nashville except a plaque on the side of a dirty motel wall. His old home place in columbia is preserved and ive been there many times and ive been there since. But i knew virtually nothing about him and almost nothing that was good. Result of what was done to him during his presidency over the mexicanamerican war left him a bad reputation. A reputation as a warmonger, and the attacks on him in congress in the latter days of his administration reminded me a great deal of the attacks on Linden Johnson at the end of
Series of books on the president s and i said, arthur, i dont have time. Im retired. And he said i want you to do one thing. Allen evans have done a paper back that excerpts his diary, his president ial diary. Just take the weekend and read it and tell me no. And i read the excerpts from the diary and i couldnt say no. I was fascinated by the man. Did you know much about him. I knew he was a tennesseean and im a tennesseean. I knew that his grave is behind the capitol. There is no marker in nashville except a plaque on the side of a dirty motel wall. His old homeplace in columbia is preserved and i had been there many times and have been there since. But i knew virtually nothing about him and almost nothing that was good. His reputation was the result of what was to him during his presidency over the mexicanamerican war. Left him a bad reputation. A reputation as a warmonger. And the attacks on him in congress in the latter days of his administration reminded me a great deal of the att
Biography for the series of books on the president. I said arthur, i dont have time. Im retired. And he said i want you to do one thing. Allen evans have done a paper back that excerpts his diary, his president ial diary. Just take the weekend and read it and tell me no. And i read the excerpts from the diary and i couldnt say no. I was fascinated by the man. Did you know much about him. I knew he was a tennesseean and im a tennesseean. I knew that his grave is behind the capitol. There is no marker in nashville except a plaque on the side of a dirty motel wall. His old homeplace in columbia is preserved and i had been there many times and have been there since. But i knew virtually nothing about him and almost nothing that was good. His reputation was the result of what was to him during his presidency over the mexicanamerican war. Left him a bad reputation. A reputation as a warmonger. And the attacks on him in congress in the latter days of his administration reminded me a great dea
Captioning performed by vitac seeds that bear ill fruit. Because on january 11th, against the advice of his staff, he sends a message to his core commanders and basically says you advised me to retreat. Please publicly say so. Put it in writing. We had a conference about it. You told me about it. Put it in writing and let us stand together against the news coming from the press. But he also says something else. He says if i find that i have lost the good faith and confidence of my generals, i will retire without a murmur. And please talk to your division and brigade commanders as well and get their opinions as well. If you are a ceo and you put yourself in front of your subordinates for a referendum on your fitness for leadership, even if you win, that vote of confidence you can never command the same respect, okay . This is a capital error on the part of brag. The replies are very quickly coming. Polk is on leave. Hes got a couple of lawyers and they take a look at this and say is bra