Transcripts For CSPAN2 Book Discussion 20240622

More space for the book signing and help us get back to bookselling. Welcome to politics and prose. I run all of our events in the store. If you are not familiar with pmp i would take invite you to take a moment to sign up for our calendar of events and see everything else. We are operating inside three locations and will be doing events in all the spaces. More than ever command that hate for you to miss out on any of it. With that, on to why your here. Were happy to were happy to have eric with us. Then here four times four to talk about his new book 1920, the unit made the decade were. This is absolutely not your typical history book. He is not here to go sort of historian. He brings his journalist i to the topic just as he had with his previous book a former nbc news correspondent and was the former host of fox news watch and is one an emmy for media criticism. He strips away a lot of the glamour that surrounds our concept of the 1920s and is able to really show more about what everyday life is like the talking more and more about people who maybe we dont remember as much in history books that were important in the day. So im going to turn it over to him to tell you more. Were happy to have him back here. Please join me in welcoming her. I dont drink coffee. I dont like coffee and i i always felt the reason was the taste. And it may be instead my lack of coordination. So would like to ask you forbearance if i stumble somewhere. I am a flawless speaker but but i may just be done in by coffee stain. 1920 was a remarkable year in and of itself. Just because of the events of the year but because the events of that year were have just. They were harbingers of events that would happen later in the decade later in the century and even to events which happened in the centurys, two of the major events of the century. Thursday september 16, 1920 Trinity Church on wall street, the final bell from the tower sounds the noon hour. At that at that precise instant, the horse that had been standing in front of the j. P. Morgan bank which was across the street from the Trinity Church explodes. A horse explodes into so many pieces is that none can ever be found. Though i will not be questioned. The horse of been attached to a cart command inside the card was the equivalent of a hundred pounds of dynamite. In addition to 500 pounds of cast iron sash weights which in the explosion occurred had the effect of shrapnel. It was lunch hour. Lunch hour had just begun. Wall street was full of hungry and hurrying men and women in the Financial Institution were going to restaurants were in the park benches to sit need the lunches. Thirtyeight were killed more than 400 injured and a few of those injured would dies in a hospital within a week. It was the 1st terrorist attack ever in the United States, and it was the worst until Timothy Mcveighs detonated the lives of 168 people in Oklahoma City in 1995 this started talking about homeland security. They did not call it home and security making it more difficult to pass through the portals of ellis island. Who set off the bomb. Why . Were they ever caught . 1920 was the only year in which to administer the constitution of the United States took effect the 1st was the 18th amendment made illegal to sell, buy or manufacture precariously not to drink alcoholic beverages we know it is prohibition. It started on january 16 at 12 01 a. M. It ended,. It ended for all practical purposes, on january 16 at 1202. Many people made their own versions of the beverages they used to know and love so well for most commonly a beer which people called homebrew. For this reason prohibition became the greatest doityourself project in the history of this country and it brought the family closer together that it had ever been before its come up on the time. Mothers in the kitchen washing out the judges sisters in the pantry bottling the science. John is on the front porch watching for the cops. They still respect of the law generally but this one specifically was just too contrary to human nature to be obeyed on a widespread basis. Among those who disobeyed it were rotary Club President s pastors, doctors, veterans of the great war and on one bizarre occasion in our nations capitol a lawmaker himself. In the lobby of the Office Building of the house of representatives, a congressman named chiarella la guardia invited friends and fellow legislators newsreel cameramen and even perversely the Capitol Hill Police force to watch a demonstration. Here is how historian Jeffrey Brett describes a situation. La guardia blended twopart small tonic heretofore of interest on the two in the mix and easy to obtain at any drugstore, to one part near beer. A beer with minimal alcoholic content. This was legal under prohibition although some reports the times of the taste was Something Like a dish water left in the sink overnight. La guardia stood the ingredients and allow a few seconds to pass to heighten the suspense. I drank up and licked his lips. The cameras and then. A brewmaster was standing by to sample the mixture. He pressed a delicious. I think he was on la guardias payroll. They started passing around samples. He even said that the police should try it. He had people in the crowd pass classes back to the police who were confounded about whether they should arrest this man. He was breaking the law, a congressman. They know what to do. They fled. Chances chances are at least some of them ended up in their favorite speakeasies cowering their china frustrations for the embarrassment of the glory had caused the by addition to near beer industrial alcohols were legal under the 18th amendment. Indispensable. But as Beverage Additives industrial alcohols were poison. They were blended with real alcohol to increase quantities and thus increase profits. In some cases to sell bootlegs hooch to people who cannot afford better. Government sanctioned murder one of the many destructive products that was used at the time concocted by gangsters was called jamaica jan or jake. If you drank too much jake there was not much of a chance that you would die. He could not walk normally. You call the jake trotter. In studying the various recipes for jake american scientists learn some of the principles that would lead german scientists to develop nerve gases during world war ii. The 2nd amendment that was passed in 1920 was surprisingly controversial and long overdue. It finally gave women the right to vote despite bribes to the contrary that took place right out in the open right up to the last minute. In fact, there were occasions when in the middle of the aisles of various legislative houses state legislative houses you can see a lobbyist give a handful of bills to a legislator who would then not his head. He was signifying that his commitment to suffrage was nobody pay for. But momentum trumps money in this case, and case and the 19th amendment was added to the constitution in the summer of 1920, ironically just a few months before the 1st National Action in which women we will vote and women joined men and have no choice in voting out of office the 1st female president of the United States and so far as the only female president. Now, she wasnt really the president but she was the president de facto, lets say, as opposed to does your and most americans do not even know about it. As i look out here i see most americans dont know about it today. But the Political Community in washington knew about the woman in the white house. Some outward follow new mexico was enraged. We have pretty good governments he said. And the Diplomatic Community in washington knew. The french ambassador to the United States reported back to paris that he was dealing with mademoiselle president. The greatest misunderstanding about 1920 is that it was the 1st year of the most carefree and wealthy decade we have ever had in this country. Well, it was a carefree because Americans Still lived under the shadow of the great war which, of course, is what world war i was called them. The conflict that once so brutal and nonsensical that we could not help but fear it would break out again. It is the case of the exploding horse demonstrated this time it might even break out on our own soil. As the case of the exploding horse demonstrated maybe it already had. Some 1920 was in the carefree year, and it certainly wasnt a wealthy one unless you are one of the socalled robber barons and their allies. But keep in mind, this was their era the year of morgan, melon, rockefeller, the vanderbilt descendents among others the area of men who made millions of dollars from the bent backs and aching shoulders of men and women and children the area of vicious employers helpless employees. Some of the men had recently returned from fighting a war that enrich the robber barons all the more since it was they who had manufactured some of the arms and musician munitions and even airplanes for the allies. At the same time other men who were not nearly so fortunate that the part of the socalled great internal migration which consisted mostly of africanamericans departing from the cotton fields of the south for the factories of the north desperate for a better life but finding a life just as punishing. The hours just as long the pages does minimal plan the future just as depressing. It is not easy to calculate, but considering the minimal income tax that existed at the time it is probably true that the earliest gap between the richest of americans and the poorest of americans was greater in 1920 that it yesterday. Scott and zelda might have pranced through the founding new yorks plaza hotel drunken soaking wet and laughing hysterically but the men who worked in steel mills and coal mines for a few dollars a week the women who worked in sweatshops for a few coin today the young boys got up in the middle of the night to deliver blocks of ice that weighed almost as much as they did for the young girls who are in their pennies by spending 12 hours a day six days a week so in college on the blouses forced to stand up and eat their lunches so they could keep working. These people were the true are symbols of life in america in 1920. Carlo ponzi otherwise known as Charles Ponzi was an immigrant to the United States, and he was determined not to live the kind of life i just described. He didnt. There were times of you might have been better off if he did. A few people actually made money his financial machinations which were legal when he began to offer his financial product. And the initial ponzi scheme was misunderstood and several other ways. Before long so much money was being made the laws passed the made his dealings a criminal activity. When he selling selling is now worthless paper he became a crook the ponzi scheme became a reality. Late in the 20th century scheme was reborn and in 2,008 he went to jail for the rest of his life. I suspect that ponzis name might have been in the newspaper more. Most of us think that this game is a kind of chain letter but in its original form is not that of all. Its much more complicated and involved postal rates in Different Countries in different parts of the world. I world. I dont really understand completely, and i wrote about in the book. So if you buy the book and come to that section may you may be assured that what i wrote is true. Its just that youll be confused too. Barry made us version lasted almost a decade. Carlo ponzi did not even last year. Early early in 1920 you as a smalltime hoodlum trying to impress his mother. His italian mother back home. He wrote her letters. He was doing better becoming more successful. Figuratively the streets were paved with gold. By by the fourth of july he was a multimillionaire. Before the year was over it was a jailbird. Things move quickly for this most famous of scams. I have the supplies for you. You wont believe it now, but just wait. If you read 1920 the year that made the decade were caught by the time you finish you will not despise Charles Ponzi. You will sympathize with them. You feel for him. Charles ponzis story is one of the saddest tales of a crook, the man ever put paper. In 1921 g harding republican senator from ohio defeated james cox, democratic some worthwhile in some years later harding was voted the 29th best president in the history of the United States. You see whats coming dont you. At the time america had had 29 president s. None, however, had presided over an administration as corrupt as hardings. One member of the administration was perhaps was, perhaps, this is a fellow whose office was next to that of the attorney general he was perhaps, the leading bootlegger in washington and committed suicide when he feared that he might be exposed. A cabinet officer a friend of a friend of parties and a despicable man was put in charge of Veterans Affairs and he stole supplies from veterans hospitals. This is, you know, a year or two after the war of the veterans hospitals were full and needed this applies as much as ever. He stole them for his own profits and then with hardings approval, escaped to europe. He was never prosecuted. His top assistant fear prosecution. He committed suicide. The attorney general was indicted for fraud. Because of the shape of the block formation under which most of the oil resided. Teapot dome was probably the most ignominious transgression against justice in American Government until 1972 when the 1st and greatest of the scandals was revealed. Meanwhile, harding was setting records for adultery that would not be eclipsed until john kennedy camelot. One day a tour of the white house is being conducted and the visitors for something that sounded like two people paying off the walls of a tiny janitors closet next to the pres. s office. Martha president s office. Martha sliding down the walls, buckets were tumbling over. A male voice a male voice joined a female voice and a chorus of lustful panting. Usually Janitorial Services do not inspire that degree of enthusiasm. The tour guide asked his group to walk a little faster. They were happy to oblige. Now, most important event of 1920 in my opinion was also the most important event of the 20th century 20th century in my opinion command it took place in a small shack our roof of a factory just outside pittsburgh, pennsylvania. In that shack the american mass media of which there is no force more influential began. What Radio Station kv ka did on the 1st tuesday night in november of 1920 was broadcast the news event live never been done before. It was the harding cox election returns. And neither the country nor the world would ever be the same again s. Although few people could have imagined that radio wouldnt some baby to television command no one could have imagineds keeping up with the kardashians. Small towns are always thought of as the home of virtue and then in 1926 lewis wrote our town and American Literature was never the same again. The stage was usually the home of entertainment that was fluffy and moralistic and that at 1920 Eugene Oneill won the 1st of his four Pulitzer Prizes with beyond the horizon and the theater was never the same again. Poetry was the home of romance and bucolic scenery. In 1920 ts eliot and Carl Sandburg camelot and verse was never the same again. With the exception of some of the irving berlins works, Popular Science were insipid. Maybe smith released a record crazy blues. It became, against all odds the number one song in the country, and the jazz age had officially begun. And with the harlem renaissance having already begun music and literature, poetry and prose like changed all the more revealing that a great many of the countries priorities it changed. And they would never change again. The again. The roaring 20s are the most famous decade in the history of the United States they are the only decade that has its own name its own adjective, but without these and other events of 1920 to jumpstart the deck is injured it might have been quite a while before history heard so much as a spotter. And that is the end of what youll here from me tonight about 1920 the year that made the decade were. [applause] thank you. Time for questions. I was going to say that is not true, that is not the last to hear from me but for now it will be up to you to decide what you hear. Very interesting. I thought that there were terrorist attacks for at least one by the month by the anarchists 41920. I think there is an anarchist to floor bomb into new york with ladies coming back shopping. Something like what you pay for your account like to support my family for a year yes. Yes. Why their anarchists attacks in this country before 1920. In 1919 there was a wave of package bombs sent. One person died and it command it was a person who was delivering a package. The worst injury beside that was a made handling the package lost her hands. These package hands. These package bombs were sent to mayors, judges members of the establishment yes they were on a small scale a lot of individual instances. There had never however been anything that killed and injured as many people as the attack that i told you about. I [inaudible conversations] i did not hear you mention mrs. Woodrow wilson as the unelected president your virtue. Obviously it was she. Well, im sorry you brought that up. I was being cutes. I was well well, this is not an analogy that im crazy about, but this was basically a a serious talk. The format was like jokes without punchlines which was the voice of commerce in my ear saying make them buy the book. [laughter] so they will find out. You have come up to the microphone and ruined that. [laughter] fortunately you just ruined one of the questions that i didnt. The 2nd one its oh, zero, good. [laughter] s. With regard to ponzi this may be oversimplistic but i studied his game many years ago. And i reduced it to what is the appeal was i understood, the sales appeal he was engaging he was engaging and what we would Call International postal rate arbitrage. Right. Thats a good time for it. It is. Thank you. You said you didnt even understand it. I dont. [laughter] that is a good term, but i dont think that it explains exactly what he was doing. It is just collecting far more money than he did pay out. The appeal was postal rates are different from like a hundred Different Countries around the world command i am able to buy these postal certificates from various countries and then trade them off at another country or a postal rate is different. I make a profit and you get the benefits. That was his pitch. My understanding is and i am not i am not sure. And in my reading i have not seen this. He more than likely did not go into that kind of detail for fear of confusing people. And maybe he never even engaged in it but i thought that was a sales pitch. Well, his primary sales pitch was that i will give you 50 percent return. It is. Whatever you want your moneys will give you 50 return. Okay. Thank you. You didnt do too much damage. I apologize for blowing your teaser. Thats all right, sir. I would like to make a correction, i believe, and then a question. Okay. You said that the Sinclair Lewis wrote our town. I think your referring to main street. Cant hear you this works for heaven sake. And fort and wilder of course, wrote our town. This chairwoman cant a foolish mistake my saying that Sinclair Lewis wrote our town. Of course, he wrote mainstreet. Okay. Now for the question. Absolutely its. Did you watch boardwalk empire by any chance. No. Well, my question was how realistic do you think it was, you dont know. I have no idea im sorry. All right. I have a question. I think i read somewhere not too long ago that it may have been 1920, although maybe 1920, although maybe it was not exactly that year but in the midst of all the turmoil i think you had one of the largest if not the largest demonstration actually down s on the mall today are at that time. Is that correct, or was that a slightly different year . There were so many convening things. Veterans and anger about the war prohibition all these things. Does that come out too much. To the best of my knowledge nothing the best of my knowledge nothing like that happened in 1920. The bonus army. That would have been later. That was quite a bit a bit later. I was wondering. It did not come up too much. Yes. It was. Protests didnt occur muchs and interestingly enough i did not go in there wasnt time to go and everything. I didnt go into labor unrest and strikes. There were, in 1920, 3,000 strikes 20 years before that there would have been none. It was a massive change and an indication of how terrible the working conditions were that the strike became a staple of the american workplace. Yes,. Yes, sir. Probably a nice question but ill ask it anyway. Will work people were giving money because of what fear . I have no idea. I have no idea. There is no is no logical reason for this. I can tell you that a great number of the people who opposed suffrage were women and explanations that i have read about women in particular opposing suffrage had to do with their roles. I mean, they sounded like the worst of chauvinistic men that it is not our place to be in the voting booth. We have our places our husbands and other men have their places and this is not a good idea. But it is not a a good idea to confuse the roles. That was the general idea behind it. Again this it. Again, this is coming from women and certainly ferment. Its sure. Go ahead. Actually, followup question. The 18th and 19th amendment you had on the one hand you are saying a lot of women who opposed suffrage but also among the women who were the most diehard activists. Sure. For suffrage. You had an awful lot of them, a lot of the prominent leaders who seems to be making its deals. They were very active in the Temperance Movement and very much supportive of the 18th amendment as well. You talk about that in the book . The sort of political bargaining that seems to be going on . I have written at length in another book about the 18th amendment, and it is my feeling that that was a very, very minor factor and so the answer is no. I dont. I dont think that had much to do with the basic problems of the 19th amendments yes, sir. Yes, sir. Could you talk a bit about the harlem renaissance and maybe the state of Race Relations in 1920 and its connection with the harlem renaissance which was very popular among certain white people. The harlem renaissance was a glorious thing command it is wonderful to read about. The effect that it had on whites generally was nonexistents. The harlem renaissance was funded for the most part by jewish merchants from manhattan who would drive up in their limousines at night and enjoy the pleasure of an exotic culture. It was not by any means the tourist attraction. It did not draw peoples from you know, other places. The people that Duke Ellington was playing for us were almost exclusively new yorkers. By the way at the cotton clubs although blacks sang and played they were not allowed in the door to be customers. And Duke Ellington was asked about that. As you might imagine, he had a very unsatisfactory answer, you know, as powerful man as he was sick it is said something about it. Then again, the cotton club was owned by unmanned named tony the killer mans who was in jail at the time for various murders. Perhaps one went along with his racial dicta. The harlem renaissance was not particularly widespread and its effect affect on Race Relations in terms of how it changed music, in terms of how it chains literature, yes, it had an effect. In terms of how the average white looked at the average black it did not have much of an effect unfortunately. Unfortunately. But it is just a wonderful time. I dont know if you people share my adoration almost for hl mencken who, to me is the most interesting journalists to read that this country has ever produced, but believe it or not he was a leading figure of the harlem renaissance because he was somewhat anti somatic. Jews were among his best friends. He was prejudiced against africanamericans, but he worked very hard with africanamerican writers and what they say about him james him, James Weldon Johnson i dont know if your familiar, county , they idolize mencken. He wasnt anyone else took it upon himself to make sure that literally the harlem renaissance succeeded much more than you asked. Thank you. Is that it for questions . All right. Thank you so much. [applause] thank you very much. Thank you all for coming. If you had not had a chance to get a copy of the book they are behind the register. You can bring it back and get assigned. [inaudible conversations] youre watching book tv on cspan2 with top nonfiction books and authors every weekend. Book Tv Television for serious readers. Book tv recently visited capitol hill to ask members of congress what they are reading this summer. Well, i have an interesting, perhaps bad habit of picking up a lot of books and reading a little of thems a little at a time. One of them i i picked up his call the story of philosophy. Written volumes on the history of civilization, and i bought this at a Library Book Fair in nebraska at easter time and just could not i asked them actually the library and sewer them if it would be all right if i carry several i carry several boxes so many said help yourself. That was in their. Another 1 i have been reading is the prospect for conservatives. An author who wrote the end russell kirk died in 1994. Again, a political thinker philosopher, very heavy book along with the story of philosophy. Something interesting happens to me the other day. Day. A cloistered convent of nuns in my district plan represent. I went to visit with them for the 1st time command one of the nuns asked me if i had read the book called the joy of the gospel by pope francis. And so i said i had not but i would be sure to put it on the list. That is list. That is also on the list. And book tv wants to know what your reading this summer. Tweet us your answer or post on our facebook page, facebook. Com book tv. President ial candidates often release books to introduce themselves to voters and to promote their views on issues. Here is a look at some books written by declared candidates for president. s