[applause] good evening and welcome to the New York Historical society but im the New York Historical president and ceo and thrilled to see all of you this evening in our beautiful Robert H Smith auditorium. Tonights Program Gives me liberty, history of americas exceptional idea is a part of our Bernard Schwartz established Speaker Series and as always i k like to thank mr. Schwartz or his great generosity which is enabled us to bring so many fine speakers to this stage and i also want to thank all of our Chairman Council members who are in attendance as evening and to thankk you for your great suppot which enables us to do our work. Tonights program will last about one hour and it will include a question answer session but you should have received a note card and pencil as you entered the auditorium and this afternoon or this evening and it is not my colleagues going up and down the aisle with note cards and pencils in the note card will be collected later on in the program with your
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
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
Naval battle in history and was a decisive victory for the United States and their allies. Up next, six panelists participate in the 75th befallingy discussion the panel, a retired admiral discusses the legacy of the battle. All, i would like to put in a little plug for a marvelous new book written by our first speaker or edited, tom cutler has edited this retrospective published by the Naval Institute. Recently it was put out and in fact filled with interesting new and old assessments of the battle, including some japanese testimony. Also a number of the panelists have written for this as well. I wanted to at least give that a plug. Second, what i wanted to do was this,ould not resist namely for a couple of reasons. Thanks to wikipedia i discovered the fact that it has become the basic Foundation Source to go , which then says you cannot cite it. I did have one person who used it for his entire paper, which is another story. But i discovered some different points. If you search this b
Tonights program is a history of americas exceptional idea is part of our Eileen George speaker series. Its great generosity has allowed us to bring so many great speakers to the states i want to thank our chairman councilmembers who were in attendance this evening and thank you for your great support which enables us to do our work. Tonights program will last about one hour and it will include a questionandanswer sessionti. You should have received a note card and pencil as you enter the auditorium this afternoon this evening and if not my colleagues are going up and down the aisle with no cards. Following the program there will be a book signing and are storing s copies of the book wil be available for purchase. Tonight we are thrilled to welcome Richard Brookhiser back to the New York Historical society produces senior fellow at the National Review institute a Senior Editor at the National Review and an author of numerous books including Jon Marshalls the man who made the Supreme Co