[applause]. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the newseums night tv studio and another edition of inside media. I am the director of programs here at the museum. As the 2020 residential election rapidly starts to invade our daily newsfeed, and with joe bidens announcement fueling the fire this week, what better time to look back at the history of the presidency and to examine the character and dignity of the men who have held the office . We dive in deep to that topic today, as we discuss the new cspan book, the president s, noted historians rank americas best and worst chief executives. The title tells it all and just a moment, you will be hearing from susan swain, the coceo of , who will discuss how the book came together based on its historians survey of leadership. Following susans presentation, i have the distinct privilege of speaking with brian lamb, founding ceo and chairman of cspan, who over the course of many years conducted the , interviews with president
Field. Thank you for being here tonight. We are thrilled to have you. We will hear a brief hesitation from susan swain, copresident and chief executive officer of cspan, and coauthor of the president s. She will be joined by brian lam, the founder and executive chairman of cspan and moderating an esteemed group of historians discussing the american presidency. The american presidency is, as you know, a fascinating subject of inquiry in every possible way. [laughter] in the constitution, there is not as much said about it as you would imagine. Article one is quite long. Article two is quite shorter. As you can imagine, the executive power shall be vested in a president of the United States of america, full stop. That is the first sentence in and the key phrase in the second article of the constitution which describes the presidency. Much of what we know today as the american presidency has come from experience, from precedent, from action. We are thrilled to have an opportunity to learn
Good evening, everybody. My name is katie willard, and im part of the event staff here at politics and prose. Before we begin, id like to go over a few announcements. Announcements. Please type in your cellphones and other boys making devices. Not only is it courteous to the author, but we are also on cspan tonight, so you do not want to be the person whose phone goes off on cspan. Second, during the questionandanswer portion and in the interest of our video and audio recording if you could come up to the microphone over here and it is right here by the pillar that way we can all hear your questions and engage in a nice discussion afterwards. Lastly, once everything is done if you could please fold up your chairs and place them against something solid, our staff, as in me, would greatly appreciate that. Tonight im pleased to introduce jared cohen to politics and prose. The founder and ceo of jigsaw alphabet inc. As well as an adjunct senior fellow at the council of foreign relations. H
John seigenthaler, author of james k. Polk, howd they talk you into doing a biography on this president . John seigenthaler sr. Arthur schlesinger called me on the phone and said, youre a tennessean. Polk was a tennessean. Why dont you write a biography for this series that times books is doing on the president s . And i said, arthur, i dont have time. Im retired. He said, i want you to do one thing. He said, alan nevins ph has done a paperback 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 before you started on this . You know, i knew he was a tennessean. Im a tennessean. 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 home place in columbia is preserved, and id been there many times and have been there since. But i knew virtual
Kevin good evening. Welcome to mount vernon. My name is kevin butterfield, i am the director of the fred w. Swift National Library for the study of George Washington at mount vernon. It is my pleasure to welcome you here tonight. The Ford Motor Company each month sponsors a free book talk like this one. An opportunity for the community to come and learn from the greatest historians in the field. Thank you for being here tonight. We are thrilled to have you. We will hear a brief hesitation from susan swain, copresident and chief executive officer of cspan, and coauthor of the president s. She will be joined by brian lam, the founder and executive chairman of cspan and moderating an esteemed group of historians discussing the american presidency. The american presidency is, as you know, a fascinating subject of inquiry in every possible way. [laughter] in the constitution, there is not as much said about it as you would imagine. Article one is quite long. Article two is quite shorter. As