Butterfield, director of the fred w Swift National library. It is my pleasure to welcome you back here. And 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 to begin the program, im you. We will hear a brief hesitation from susan swain, copresident and chief executive officer of cspan. 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 much said about it. As you might 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 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 and precedent. From action. We are thrilled to have an opportunity to learn about that experience and that action. Tonight, a group of wonderful historians we will tell you about tonight. We will be joined by douglas brickley, Richard Norton smith, and more. Brickleys president ial historian for cnn. Historian of john f. Kennedy in the great space race. On the panel doctor meant the author of history, shes the author of lincoln and emancipation. Richard norton smith, an acclaimed author of a wonderful book on George Washington called patriarch. George washington and the new american nation. Hes written many books including one from herbert over, and served as a director of five different president ial libraries. Tonight these individuals will discuss their new book, president s noted historians on the best and worst chief executives. Please join me in welcoming them tonight. [applause] good evening, everybody. Nice to see you. And thank you, kevin. I cant think of a more appropriate place to talk about president ial leadership that mount vernon. It was actually cspans 40th anniversary, but what a week we picked for this book to come out. And also to put some Current Events into context, we hope to do that tonight. In putting this book together, brian and i have worked on nine of these collective works of his interviews. And this one we decided to actually bring two resources into play. Brian has been doing a sunday Night Program for 30 years. And we have an archive that is full of his interviews. The odometer in the archives is about to hit 250,000 hours this month. Not all brian, but [applause] but among the people brian has interviewed are these three people that have become great friends of ours over the last quarter century. And some of the country leading contemporary president ial historians. In addition to having the vast archive of collective works, about 20 years ago exactly 20 years ago in 1999, we did this yearlong project. Two year long project. I have cspan colleagues knotting about what a big job nodding about what a big job this was. We went to a site and did a two hourlong program on their lives. It almost killed us but we made it through. We needed to put some kind of capper on it. Lets do a survey of historians and take all of this biographical material that is more anecdotal in nature and put a little data and Science Behind it. We gather together along with Robert Browning who is the head of our archives. Professor john swain is a teacher at the university of maryland. We got into a wonderful debate about what should the 10 qualities of leadership be . In order to do a survey of 100 president ial historians. The idea for the book was to merge the survey work that we have done three times now with the collective content of president ial biographers. So the book you will learn more about tonight is actually organized not chronologically but where the president s fell in line with that survey. You are jumping through history but youre going through a continuum from the very best to the very worst rated leaders in our country. And you learn about the characteristics and qualities that put them in that ranking. Let me tell you about the 10 qualities we finally agreed on. The first is public persuasion. The second, crisis leadership. That comes in all sorts of forms. Third, economic management. The fourth quality was moral authority. The fifth, International Relations which includes not only diplomacy but also war. The sixth is the assembly of the cabinet and advisers. The next, relations with congress. You can have that and not get a program done. The next reminds me of george w. Bush, vision and setting an agenda. The next, pursued equal justice for all. And the 10th was performance within the context of their times. We sent a survey out to 100 historians. This is three times now. We worked hard to get people from different demographics and people of different political points on the spectrum so that we could represent lots of different points of view. This survey was so successful that we now do it every time a president leaves office. President trump has not been rated and we will not formally rate him until he leaves office. But it doesnt gender a lot of conversation about the current occupant of the office. I will give you a quick overview on the best and the worst so you have some context of what you will be hearing from the historians. The top five. Fifth place from the top, William Hitchcock is the biography we chose but historians rated eisenhower in fifth place. There is a hidden hand theory very about his presidency. His lowest score was public persuasion. The next we chose a t. R. , we used a wonderful biography called wilderness warrior. Im sure we will learn more about Douglas Brinkley about why he chose t. R. s agenda. His lowest score was equal justice, pursuing equal justice for all. In third place, Franklin Delano roosevelt. We chose goodwins really terrific biography on the white house years when they had all those interesting people including Winston Churchill living on the second floor of the white house to help them get through the war years. His lowest score was economic management. And pursuing equal justice for all. In second place was George Washington, scoring 1s and 2s. His single lowest score, and the folks in mount vernon have been working hard to help us understand is equal justice for all. And the top winner in our survey and every survey ever done is Abraham Lincoln. The top score was 1000 and Abraham Lincoln got a score of 907. He had a terrific rating on every single one except for relations with congress where he scored a 9. Who are the bottom five . Who is on the other end of the spectrum . John tyler is number 39. Our biographer does argue that he has redeeming qualities. I invite you to read that chapter. [laughter] the man who ended up not having a party but managed to establish the president ial succession because it was not written into the constitution. Number 40, Warren Harding. He scored 360 out of 1000. We know some much about the scandals that plagued his presidency. The biographer we selected was john dean. That john dean of watergate fame that knows a thing or two about president ial scandals. He uncovered papers of Warren Harding that were previously unknown to biographers and argues that he deserves a little bit better than the place the historians have given him. It is up for you to decide. Next is franklin pierce. New hampshires only president. 41st place. He also had a bit of a drinking problem. You might remember that he came in to office with a tremendous tragedy. They had three sons, you have lost two of them. And the third died in front of his wife and himself as their train capsized on their way to washington. He carried his sons dead body up from the accident and his wife had a hard time recovering from that. They spent much of the first couple of years on the second floor writing letters to her dead son. It is a very tragic story. He had a hard time focusing and assembling his cabinet, understandably. It put him behind the curve. Next up, Andrew Johnson. 42nd place. David stewart is the biographer we chose for him. The tennessee governor loyal to the union but impeached by the republicans using the tenure of office act. Guess who is dead last. James buchanan. This one hurts a little bit because im a pennsylvanian. I love the biographer we chose, robert strauss. I love the title. Its called worst. President. Ever. He is a full 30 points below Andrew Johnson. All of these people all of them are below William Henry harrison who was only an office for one month. They were the net negative presidencies. Lets look at how modern presidencies fared. Ronald reagan was the only one that made it into the top 10. Lou cannon, the terrific biographer is the chapter that he did. He had a lot to say about reagans command of storytelling while he was in office. George h. W. Bush in 20th place. It will be interesting to see now that he has passed and records are available. There is a bit of a halo effect when president s leave office. He is also book ended by the two adams president s. Bill clinton came in at 15. David marinusseminal biography, he writes about bill clintons duality. He could be both good and bad at the same time and it impacted everything that happened throughout his public career. How about george w . Just out of the bottom 10, his highest score was pursuing equal justice for all. That is his first entry, so it will be interesting to see how he will do as time progresses. But he has some difficult problems to overcome. Hurricane katrina, the economic crisis, and ongoing wars. Youll see what historians say after time goes by. How did our most recent president do . Historians rated him at number 12. A good showing for the first entry. He got 24th in International Relations and 39th in relations with congress. I thought it was interesting to look at these scores. To see what the biographers had to say about how the historians rated them. This is my last set of slides, who is up and down . Andrew jackson. Down. Over the course of the surveys come he went from 13 down to 18. Woodrow wilson down. Six to 11. You folks will have to explain this to me because i have a soft spot in my heart for rutherford b. Hayes. He dropped six points over the survey from 26 to 32. And Grover Cleveland, our only two turn nonconsecutive president went from number 17 to 23. Who are the ones that went up . Dwight eisenhower made it from number nine spot into the top five. Bill clinton. I told you he was in the number 15 position. But he was in 21st in 1999 right after the impeachment process. He moved to 15 by the second time we did it and he stays there in the 2017 survey. And finally, u. S. Grant. And edna will have to help me understand this one. Grant is the president to change the most, going up 11 points over the course of the three surveys. I would love to hear your perspective about why historians are looking more favorably on him. Now you have three fabulous historians that have been so much a part of cspans programming over the years that will add some context to that. Thanks for your attention. [applause] this book is what it is because of susans fabulous editing capabilities. Thank you, susan. [applause] Richard Norton smith comes to us from grand rapids, mr. Brickley from austin texas, and edna from howard university. I would like to start by asking doug because lincolns number one, he discovered got back from the Lincoln Library in springfield. And richard opened it for us all. It was 2006 . What did you find . Everyone should go visit springfield, illinois, if you can. They built an incredible new library for ibram like in. Lincoln is always number one. Largely because no matter how bad other president s think they had it, lincoln had it worse. He wasnt on seven states on the ball to vote for him. He comes to washington d. C. To have a body double. The executive mansion wasnt called the white house until Theodore Roosevelt dubbed that, the executive mansion had very lax security. People bringing animals in the from on, lincoln sitting there so vulnerable. I flew in there and landed in Dallas Airport which is very very close to the battle of bull rod, where the confederates first one that in there is Abraham Lincoln sitting in the white house with half the country putting up confederate flags, and trying to find a way to keep america cobble together. He did it in a miraculous way. Im always amazed how we are able to hold an election in 1864, and hes able to get reelected. When you think about it, to gettysburg address, lincolns first inaugurals are almost foundational tax, meaning theyre likely declaration of independence, the constitutional bill of rights. We arent a full nation without addressing lincolns accomplishment, and the emancipation proclamation of the original sin of the United States and slavery. Here lincoln gets to be the person who leads the abolitionist crusade from the white house, and put america on a new and better course. And finally its assassination of john works booth, school kids go to the theater, when you realize that lincolns body moved back to springfield, he is buried there in a cemetery in springfield, the train ride with his casket went across the country, at the exact same moment that the Union Soldiers and veteran soldiers were laying down their arms and coming home, as a homecoming. Lincoln is in a category onto his own. If you want to if you are a book lover go to the lincoln book shop in chicago that says nothing but books about Abraham Lincoln. All scholars want to write a book about lincoln, i never have. If i could have i would talk about linking going down the mississippi river, two trips and slavery markets in new orleans. If we pick up of where susan asked about u. S. Grant and you get thrown your comments about mr. Lincoln if you like. Could you explain why granted is done so well in the survey. I think every generation decides how they are going to rate president s and interpret president s. At this time in our history, saying that really matter to us our integrity. I know this is a scandal filled administration supposedly. He has surround him self with people who have not always been behaving properly. But he always did. I dont think theres any real criticism of him personally. It is also about the fact that during the reconstruction period, he is trying to make sure the violence that is developing especially in the south is quelled. And so he is willing to enforce those acts against the clan. And we really recognize how important that was. That is one of the major things. We have each historian if they would write a special piece about this and we also have one of the chapters from the president s. Richard norton smith writes the opening chapter and calls it a magnificent lion. Would you like to explain that . Along with arthur schlesinger, there was a preeminent Political Science named clayton rossiter. He wrote an essay on the presidency in which he described the president as kind of a magnificent liar. Who was more or less free to roam around the reservation at will as long as he did not agree joyously offend congress it was an essay perfectly attuned to the times, written in the shadow of both roosevelts, truman, and president s that were very assertive. Some would say imaginative in interpreting the range of executive power. And also governed in times of crisis. Any reader will take away just how evolutionary the office of the presidency is. One of the real challenges that confronts anyone any one ranking president s, we all agreed that context is a determining factor james monroe presided over the first Great Depression in American History and he was reelected with all but one electoral vote. 100 years later, Herbert Hoover was in and personally indelibly and personally associated with the Great Depression. What changed . The nature of government. It changed with lincoln and tr. Tr in particular, the bully pulpit, the idea that the Administrative Office had become one of advocacy. Advocacy. Protecting consumers against tainted meat. And Woodrow Wilson had a concentration of power during the war by the time hoover became president , people expected vastly more from the federal government. How do you weigh apples and oranges, but monroes proportion and hoovers performance . That is one of the eternal what if, anyone who plays this game has to grapple with. Luckily james mineral everyone in the audience would know the monroe doctrine, which is where you have hoover ville, sometimes people only remember a couple things about a president. So monroe got the beneficiary of that, we could be part of the virginia dynasty and having that great connection to washington and the other founders. I think first of all, you already know theres some cards on the side if those of you want to ask questions we will go to that before too long. This will be a 90 minute evening. I would like to go back to these three historians and ask you why the three of you, have devoted your life to history, and to the study of president s . I will start with at now. Mine is a long story. Ill try to make it short. So is history. Absolutely. I grew up in Charleston County virginia. The birthplace of john tyler. It was a county that was 82