We have had amazing achievements thats country. Tend to come out were just this great enlighted people and america is wonderful, the end. Its that when we have had great struggles over the worst aspects of american history, america was the largest slaveowning nation on earth, and what happened is we had this huge war, which revolved around the issue of slavery, that led to the abolitionist slavery and within a few years, a nonracial definition of citizenship, in which africanamericans were voting, Holding Public office, sitting in congress, within a few years after chief justice ruled in dred scott that they are not fully human, basically. They have no rights. The white man is retired to respect. And a few years later you have black senators and congressmen. Its amazing. Yet its not just a straightforward line of progress. So, these issues this comfort discomfort about the way things change, the definition of whoa is an american, the role of the federal government, and the federal gove
So hard to believe way back then john rehm said to me, someday youll be host of that program. So he dreamed for me. He saw ahead for me in ways i could not see for myself. Now, contrast that with what we talked about earlier, the tension, the difficulties in marriage. I mean, its so complicated. Marriage is the hardest job in the world next to parenthood. [laughter] thats very true. I have a couple of smaller questions, but since you just spoke about john rehm again, one of the things i wanted to mention is that you talk at the end of the book about missing him more. And so often in our society we think, you know, grief has a time, grief ends. But this isnt actually the mourning that youre talking about, its missing him more. And i think you touched on that a bit, but id love to have you expand on it. John rehm went to Friends Seminary with Malcolm Brown of the new york times. Malcolm won a pulitzer for his coverage of vietnam along with a number of other reporters, and malcolm married