Programs. In 1982 he appeared on book notes to talk about his biography of president truman it won the Pulitzer Prize for biography and to help change the view of the truman presidency. Here he is from 1992. Cspan you start off by saying as far back as he could remember truman held onto the mythical roman heroes. What is that all about . The mythical hero who left in time of war with the great general and was victorious and renounced all of his power and returned to the farm. Thats a theme the country was founded on. If you are at the capital with the great painting of George Washington turning over his powers as commanderinchief of the Continental Army to congress the symbols earth all throughout that painting because they believe this is what democracy entailed that any citizen should be called upon at any time to serve b ultheir country in any capacity and the power belong to the people and would bepo returned to those who held it. He like to say i never forget who i was, where i ca
On his undergraduate course on the topic of ordinary lives in the American Revolution. And his book, stolen five free boys kidnapped into slavery and their journey home, which tells the true story of five boys kidnapped in the north and sold into slavery in the deep south and that during attempt to escape and bring their captors to justice, is being published by Simon Schuster in october. Thank you once again for joining us this evening, and without any further ado, please join me in welcoming dr. Rick bell. [applause] dr. Bell thanks to heather, thanks to cspan for covering this. Those of you who might have been to the Smithsonian Associates before and heard me give other programs wont be surprised to hear my strange accent, which is not exactly a maryland natives accent. I was raised in england yet find myself teaching about the American Revolution as part of my job, which let me tell you is a blessing and a curse, an undergraduate classroom to teach with an accent like this. Im very
I wont president ial history because the presidency is especially built around who everybody pressured into it. Its important that everyone understand him and the presidency. But i think the biographies are alienating in the ways that the visual presentations and the way that they are written. So i really wanted the reader to feel as if they had never read a president ial biography. That they had everything they needed the beginning of the book to feel as though they were the experts. So that was part of it. I really did think think a lott my reader and the other part was thought washington has been called by president ial editors to edit the paper called him an vanilla wants to my face. [laughter] they are too much fun. Thats why the fighters survived. But the thing is he is, you can break him out and it can be interesting but you have to have fun with him. I think that its a whole different thing. But a lot of it is the way that i organize the material in my head when i was trying to
Biography is alienating those the way the visual presentation there, the way they are written so i wanted the reader to feel like they had never read the president ial biography that they had everything they needed at the beginning of the book at the beginning of each section to equip them to feel as though they were the experts so that was part of it, i did think a lot about my reader and the other part, washington has been called by an adams family series editor, president ial editor. They edit the papers. Called him that to my face. [laughter] adams which you cant compare, there too much fun. The thing is, you can break him out of this mode, he can be fun and interesting but you have to have fun with them, its a whole different thing but a lot of the things you see are the way i organized it in my head when i was trying to make sure that things across and i decided to be vulnerable and share with everyone. I do think there are certain things that help you understand, i can tell you
Serve on the committee that chose truman for the award of biography 1993 and the ceremonies i first got to meet him briefly and come to admire his work and i know all of you do as well the lecture and historian the narrator of distinguished most historical series a recipient of the National Book foundation distinguished contribution and twice received the National Book award the most recent book is john adams. Other books include the johnstown flood warnings on horseback and truman so on behalf of laura bush and the library of congress and all readers everywhere please welcome david mccullough. [applause] thank you. What a warm welcome and thank you for your introduction. Im thrilled to be here and to take part and honored to take part with this historic and marvelous event. What a thrilling day this is to see thousands of people here on capitol hill the american acropolis right at the heart of the greatest libraries of the world. And to see it all with thousands of people out there to