Well have a full replay of opening day. Coming up next, q a with author ronald schafer. Then at 7 00 world is live with your phone calls and a look at todays headlines. 6 announcer this week on q a, former wall street journal reporter and columnist ronald shafer. Mr. Shafer discusses his book, the Carnival Campaign how the rollicking 1840 campaign of tippecanoe and tyler too changed president ial elections forever. Brian ronald shafer, why did you write a book called the Carnival Campaign . Ronald for two reasons. I live in williamsburg, virginia, right next door to where William Henry harrison and john tyler were born. They ran the first modern president ial campaign with rallies and president ial speeches. Brian what do you mean by modern . Ronald before this when you campaign for president , you did not give speeches or have rallies. You just sat at home and wrote letters to people who wrote you about the issues. In this election for the first time, they had huge rallies. Harrison became the first president to go out and give speeches. Brian having read your book, i have to ask how much of what is in this book parallels what we just went through . Ronald let me think. [laughter] ronald this was very much like the recent election. It was politics as entertainment, demagoguery, personal insults, and it involved the oldest man ever to run for president. At that time it was harrison, who was 67yearsold. Brian the myth i have read over the years is that he made the longest speech at the inaugural in history and it was raining and he died right after of a bad cold. Ronald the first part is true. He gave the longest inaugural speech in history, and as i say in the book, maybe the most boring. An hour and 45 minutes. But it was not raining. It was very cold, the wind was blowing. He did not wear a coat or hat. He wanted to look young. But he did not get sick. He went to two inaugural balls that night. Three, actually. He was fine. Two weeks later he went on a walk every morning from the white house. There was no secret service. He got caught in the rain and rushed back to the white house but does not change his clothes. He came down with a cold, it got worse and became pneumonia. He was dead a month after he was inaugurated. Brian was that a surprise . Ronald yes, total surprise. Everything you read up to that time says, he looks so young, so vigorous. In the book, i explain that he may have been helped along by his doctors, who treated him with all kinds of wild treatments of bloodletting and giving laxatives, something to make him vomit, some indian snake weed. Later, at least one study found that though they claimed they were treating him for pneumonia, they were treating him for the common cold. If he had better treatment, he might have survived. Brian what was this about rubbing mustard on his stomach . Ronald that is part of the treatment. On the stomach. There was also something called cupping, where they would heat up little metal things and cup your skin, put them on your skin and get blisters. It sounds terrible. None of this worked. It probably made him even worse because he was so tired from the campaign, 67yearsold, plus being harassed by job seekers all the time who in those days could go right in the white house. Brian when did you retire from the wall street journal and how long did you work there . Ronald 38 years, i retired 16 years ago. I wrote the washington wire on the front page of the journal. I was an editor and reporter. Brian what does it feel like no longer being one of the most powerful people in washington . The washington wire was on the front page and could really have an impact. Ronald it is tough to lose power. Actually personally, i had very little power. Once i retired, people no longer answer the phone. Ifore, i would call and say journal the wall street and they would call right back. Afterwards, i may never hear from them again. It is a big change once you move away from the seats of power. But that has been enjoyable and i have been able to do works like this book. Brian we always read [indiscernible] ronald i dont know why, maybe they could not find anybody to replace me. Actually, they had a very fine writer to replace me but i think the new management decided they wanted to use that space for other reasons. They took away all the features stories except the one that runs in the middle. Otherwise, that is the only feature story now on the front page of the journal. It,hey totally changed times change and thats what happened. Brian give us some background on William Henry harrison. Ronald he was born at Berkeley Plantation, which is very near williamsburg near richmond. His father, Benjamin Harrison v was a signer of the declaration of independence. He became known as the signer, his nickname. When henry was young, dinner guests were people like george washington, Thomas Jefferson, james madison. You can imagine the conversations that he heard. When he was 14, he was sent away to college. Most kids could not go to college then, but he was sent off to college and medical school and ended up in philadelphia. Brian what did he do then . Ronald his father died and suddenly he had no income. He inherited some land from Berkeley Plantation, but since he was the youngest of seven oldestn he was not the son so he did not get the plantation. Harrison had to find something to do. He really did not want to study medicine, he wanted to fight indians. He got a commission in the army, but instead of going as a private, his father had an old friend who is now president of the United States, george washington. Washington made him an officer. He left philadelphia and went to Fort Washington near cincinnati. He actually walked most of the 300 miles, and he was a big lover of roman history. The only thing he took with him were some volumes of the works of cicero. He finally arrived in cincinnati to fight for the general, heading the fight against the indians in ohio. Brian how did he become known, as far as people in the United States . Ronald after he went to cincinnati, he got married, married anna, daughter of a wealthy landowner who sold him a tiny log cabin on the west bend of the ohio, about 14 miles west of cincinnati. He started looking for a better job. Again with some help from an old friend of his father president john adams he got appointed secretary and then governor of the indiana territory, which was a big job. At the time, the indiana territory covered not just indiana but illinois, michigan. Lots of territory. Then another old family friend, Thomas Jefferson, became president , and he had the louisiana purchase, which you may have heard of. He added that to the indiana territory and wrote harrison, urging him to buy more land from the indians to build up u. S. Ownership in the indiana territory. Brian it was strange reading your book because i grew up on a street called shawnee avenue in a town that had a Tecumseh Middle School in an area that had harrison high school. [laughter] brian we were five minutes away from battleground, indiana. How does that all relate to William Henry harrison . Ronald this is how he became famous. He had a run in with tecumseh because tecumseh was trying to get the indians not to sell their land to harrison. He came to harrisons home during the discussion, and he drew his tomahawk, harrison drew his sword, and they parted ways. So, tecumseh and his brother set up a town near lafayette called prophetsville. They were causing trouble, so harrison decided to close down the town. He got a troop of men from the federal government and indiana militia and camped outside the town before entering the next day. During the night, the indians attacked and there were lots of casualties on both sides, but a lot of them on harrison side. Nevertheless, harrison prevailed, closed down the town the next day. Word spread across the country, he became known as the hero of tippecanoe, which led to his nickname old tippecanoe. Brian that is the county in which lafayette is in. This is kind of jumping around, but one of the things that was hard to believe was when you talk about the campaign for president , there were 30,000 people that came to lafayette, went to battleground for a rally on behalf of William Henry harrison. I dont know where they fit them all, but that is a huge crowd even compared to the recent campaign. Ronald it is amazing the reaction he got from his campaign. There was such a huge crowd, they actually built a tent, which was supposed to hold 30,000 people. But it was a nice day, so they did not need it. People came from miles around to see this event and take part in the campaign for William Henry harrison. There were a lot of speeches, fireworks, and a lot of hard cider that was handed out free, which probably was one of the big draws. Brian on the cover of your book, how the rollicking 1840 campaign of tippecanoe and tyler, too changed president ial elections forever. What is does it mean, tippecanoe and tyler too . Ronald it refers to old tippecanoe, William Henry harrison, and tyler was his running mate. Tyler actually was his cousin, grew up down the road from Berkeley Plantation at another plantation. His father was friends with harrisons father. Tylers fathers roommate at william and mary was Thomas Jefferson, so they had a lot of interconnections. Although harrison was 17 years older, so he did not grow up with tyler, but the families knew each other. I can tell you if you want and im sure you do how that nickname came about. The first big rally in the campaign was in columbus, ohio. They had 30,000 people in columbus, a town of about 3000 people. They had a huge parade. One of the things in the parade was this big rolling ball, about 10 feet high, that came from cleveland that had slogans all over it. Well, there was a jeweler from nearby in the audience and he was so taken by this that he went home to his Tippecanoe Glee Club and wrote a song about this ball called the great commotion. The chorus line was for tippecanoe and tyler too, and the name caught on, or in modern terms, went viral. Brian when you talk about 30,000 people we just went through a campaign where president elect donald trump says it was the biggest rally in history, 15,000 to 25,000 people, and you are talking about a country where only 2. 5 Million People voted. You had a rally in the book that was 100,000 people. Ronald trump may have been a little exaggerating, he does that from time to time. As i say, harrison became the first president ial candidate ever to campaign, so nobody had ever heard of anything like this or seen anything like this. He started drawing more and more people. By the time he got to dayton, which was connected to another holiday, people came from all over the area, and it was 60,000 to 100,000 people just to see him. They probably could not hear him because they did not have microphones, but he gave a twohour speech in dayton, ohio, 100,000 people, and another one in cincinnati that drew an estimated 100,000 people. Population of the u. S. Was 40 about 20 of what it is now, so it is kind of amazing. I think obama drew 100,000 at a rally in manassas, but very rarely matched. Brian 1840, who was president . Ronald Martin Van Buren. He was known as little vanny or the little magician, and he was a professional politician from new york. He was the protege of Andrew Jackson, his Vice President. Jackson anointed van buren as his successor. Unfortunately, he won in 1936 and next came the great panic of 1937, a depression, and the economy fell apart, jobs lost, wages went down. It was a terrible time to be running for reelection. Brian what kind of guy was president van buren . Ronald he was kind of stodgy, very straightforward. He was single. His wife had died when he was in his 30s and he never remarried. He pretty much was a straightforward president. His problem was that he was surrounded by a lot of people he appointed to office who were corrupt. The election by the Harrison Campaign was against the corrupt officeholders in washington, d. C. , which also may sound familiar. Brian what did he mean by being corrupt then . Ronald they take money to do things. [chuckling] ronald that pretty much sums it up. Both he and jackson went by the philosophy, to the victor go the spoils. Part of that was giving friends jobs in high places. Brian who was his Vice President and what impact did he have . Ronald ironically, his Vice President was richard johnson, known as old dick. He had actually fought in a battle with William Henry harrison as his commander, the battle of the thames in ontario, canada during the war of 1812. Harrison was a general, appointed by another family friend, james madison. They were facing the british, who were running away, and their indian allies, including a fellow named tecumseh. So they had them trapped in the woods in ontario what would become ontario. They decided on this unusual attack, that the kentucky militia led by johnson would attack on horseback, and they did. They easily subdued the british, then johnson went after the indians. He got shot several times, his horse was shot, then he shot and killed an indian, probably tecumseh. So anyway, the indians stopped and the battle was won, and harrison was a hero of the thames. But the van buren campaign painted johnson as the hero of the thames. He actually became the first Vice President ial candidate to give speeches. He went around talking to audiences. He was very popular. All he had to do was show the scars from his wounds, and everybody was on his side. Brian president van buren was a democrat. What did that mean back then . Ronald the democrats were out of the Thomas Jefferson philosophy. They believed in no federal government at all, or the smallest federal government. When the Great Depression hit, the panic of 1837, they did nothing. They believed the government should not do anything, you are on your own. This of course alienated voters. The whigs believe there should be some government help, mainly involving building roads connecting the states, but they promised to offer some help. They in effect offered to make America Great again, except their slogan was harrison and reform, not quite as catchy but it worked. Brian what is a whig . Ronald a party that was created to counter the democrats. Whig was a name that the revolutionaries used when they fought against the british, so they adopted it. Henry clay founded the party. The party was really scattershot. People from all over. The only thing they believed in was they hated Andrew Jackson, who they called king andrew. They were whigs who opposed the king, but this king was king andrew. Brian what did they think of president van buren . Ronald they thought he was getting nothing done, that he was not listening to the people. They also spread rumors that he was having big fancy parties and he was spending money to make the white house a palace of splendor and improving the grounds. Most of it was not true, but they said he ate with Golden Spoons at the white house and put french cologne on his whiskers. They called him sweet vanny whiskers, so they made him up as the champion of the 1 , basically, the rich people and the officeholders. Brian how many books have you written . Ronald four or five i think. Brian any history books . Ronald my last book was on the start of the brooklyn dodgers in the 1890s. Brian what triggered you on this one . Ronald partly living in the area of williamsburg. I have visited Berkeley Plantation. And then i had always been told when i was features editor at the wall street journal that the 1840 campaign was the first modern campaign. Why . I dont know, but that is what everyone says, so i looked into it and sure enough, it was. Brian one of the things mentioned throughout the book is the log cabin. Ronald this became the symbol of the campaign. Harrison was nominated in harrisburg, pennsylvania, and the plan was to portray him as the general washington of the west. He would be this leader on the white horse leading the people. The week after the convention ended, some reporter in an opposition newspaper wrote this article that harrison, 67 years old, was really just an old granny and he would be content with hard cider and a pension to stay in his log cabin instead of running for president. This threw the plans in a fury. Two people in harrisburg, a newspaper editor and a banker, met at the bankers mansion. Harrison knew nothing about this. They said, what are we going to do about this . The banker said, why dont we just go with it . The log cabin is a symbol of the common man. The hard cider is what the common man drinks. The editor gets out a piece of paper and draws a log cabin, raccoons on the top, and a barrel of hard cider. He says, why dont we do Something Like this . They go to the convention in pennsylvania, show it, people go crazy. Within a month, you have parades with log cabins on wheels. Parade, Something Like 50 feet wide carrying 40 people, pulled by 20 horses. This became a symbol of every parade, there would be log cabins on wheels. He was portrayed as the champion of the common man living in a log cabin. In fact, he lived in a mansion in ohio. He had a big house on the river. The little cabin they had bought from his wifes father they had 10 kids, so they expanded. It was very modern and he had thousands of acres, so he was actually very wealthy but he was portrayed as the champion of the poor, which again, some parallels. Brian you talk about when he was the governor of indiana \wa the governor of indiana territory for some 14 years, that he lived in a place and had a mansion called grassland. Did you talk about all the mo