Something he needed help with. It had been started early in 2001. Its an idea that really came from laura bush. She asked Jim Billington around the time of the inauguration in 2001, whether or not there was a National Book festival comparable to the one she had started in texas. He said there isnt yet but there will be. So i came up with the idea of how to put together a National Book festival. The idea was to do to the mall and a series of tents that was set up for the first year. It turned out that any sponsorships that were going to be more difficult than they thought it would be. He asked me if i would get involved and i told him i would do to and i began to be a sponsor and the cochair of the event. Ten years or so. Its very important to me that i enjoyed a great deep deal. Its a great gift for the country. As you know we get about 200,000 people come to the day of the festival every year. This year is going to be liberty weekend the saturday of labor day weekend. See map first of