washington, and the making of the nation's highest office." what did you discover new about george washington in the biography? >> well, the constitution, when it was written, vested executive powers in a president of the united states, but it failed to disclose what powers were, and, indeed, it didn't tell the president how to use them. it told him, simply, that he was to execute the office of the president. well, what does that mean? it means nothing today. it meant nothing then. indeed, that's what the framers wanted. they had lived for years under absolute monarchy, under the tyranny, and they were not about to recreate a monarchy in the country. they created a figure head and the first president to take his oath of office was to be just that, except that his name was george washington, and george washington had been commander-in-chief of the revolutionary army, that defeated the world's most powerful army, most powerful army on earth, and won this nation's independence. the american people adored him, revered him, and elected him by unanimous vote. the only president to be elected unanimously. he took his oath of office and swore to preserve, protect, and defend the constitution of the united states, and he intended to do just that, even if it meant violating the letter of the constitution to ensure the spirit of the constitution, what was the spirit? well, it was to form a more perfect union to ensure domestic tranquility, and to provide for the common defense. to do that, he -- he had to seize powers that were not his under the constitution, and he seized powers in seven areas. in the new book "mr. president," i call them the seven pillars of power that continued to hold -- to hold up the et phac of the presidency today. >> well, what was one of the first actions george washington took to increase the power of the presidency? >> interestingly enough, he took us to war without consent of the congress. congress was not even in session, but the indians in the west and the indians considered foreign nations then, the indians in the west were attacking american settlers in the wilderness, and he just wouldn't tolerate that, and he told general wayne, mad anthony wayne, to raise an army, and go to war with the indians, and that's exactly what wayne did. people said that president nixon took us to war illegally in cambodia, that george w. bush took us to war illegally and iraq, and they did, but washington was first, and he set the precedent. he seized this power of the president to take us to war without the consent of congress, and when he felt it was in the national interest, and we had -- we've gone to war more than a dozen times in our history, and congress has declared war in only five of those conflicts. every other one of those conflicts, the president has taken us to war unilaterally in violation of the constitution, but to in what the president saw as the time to protect our national interest. >> who were the leaders of congress at the time, and were they opposed to this, and how did they oppose it? >> they were opposed, but they were out of session. congress only met two sessions six weeks each session a year, so most of the time congress was out of session. the leader of the house of the representatives was james madison who came our fourth president, but by the time they got back, we were at war. similarly, washington had no money. congress passed a budget, but had not appropriated any money, and no funds were due to come in until springtime. meanwhile, the president had to run the office, show sent hamilton, the secretary of treasury, to the local banks to borrow money, and he spent it without the authorization of congress. as a result of that, they created the bank of the united states which was the predecessor of the federal reserve, which now has a money from which the president can draw when congress is not there. congress still has to appropriate the funds and deposit them to see that they are deposited in the federal reserve. the president now has the right because of the precedent set by washington to spend money when he feels like it, and he does. >> so was there political discussion among the public about these actions, and what was the reaction? >> well, yes and no. remember at that time there was a dozen or two newspapers so there was no radio or tv. by the time news reached the public, it was often months old, and the public really was scattered across the nation, 95% of the people were farmers. they really minded their own business, tended their farms, and tried to feed their own families. they were less concerned. the element of the public that was most concerned were the people in the handful of cities, five or six cities along the coast, the bankers, of course, concerned, and these were the concerned people of america, but it was a tiny minority. >> so, all that said, did george washington poisen the relationship with congress for the next several years because of this action? >> no. it was not that he poisenned the atmosphere. i said in the book, "mr. president," he really seized the powers, and by the time congress got back into session, this was -- they tried to fight him, but the public was so behind washington, he was george washington, and no one in congress could afford to have him quit. he was the only man, you know, jefferson said north and south are ready to fight each other, but if they have you to hang on speaking to the president of washington, they'll stay together, and his presence really was the glue that held this nation together. it was a dramatic period of history. everybody thinks that the government is dysfunction name -- today because congress -- welcome to democracy, folks. as hamilton said, if you want a smoothly functioning government, get a dictator. this has been going on since the beginning of time of this country, and it's part of democracy. we have a huge country with a large number of different interests, interests of wyoming are not the same interests of rhode island. the interests of north and south are different. the interests of the banks are different from the interests of the homeowners. everybody has different interests, and government is only dysfunctional when you disagree with it. this has been going on since the beginning of our democracy, and as i say in the book "mr. president," george washington held this together and set the precedence that still, that created what some critics call the imperial presidency together today, but nonetheless it is the presidential structure and remains firm. >> did other presidents build on what george washington did? >> oh, absolutely, absolutely. you know, the obama administration has just been criticized for investigating the press, press leaks. well, john adams asked congress for a law called the alien sedition act putting 12 newspaper publishers in jail and one member of the representative were criticizing the president, just criticizing the government, they were put in jail. none of the things that are happening in our democracy today is new. these things have been going on since the beginning of time, and it's the price paid for living in a free society. everybody else is not going to agree with us. >> final question in this preview of the book, what was the relationship between thomas jefferson and george washington like? >> very cold because jefferson was considered a radical, and he believed that the people should be free, that all the people should have the vote, they should be free to vote as nay wanted to he thought the population was capable of governing itself. washington believed in only land owners voting and believed in law and order, and jefferson said that the tree of liberty is watered with the blood of tie rants and rebels believing in upheaval and thought that a little blood was a small price to pay, but he, unlike washington, he was the hypocrite. here's the guy that writes the words all men are created equal with 2 00 slaves at home. what jefferson believed was not of great interest to us historically because he was such a hypocrite in so many, many ways. washington is really the principles of washington are the basic principles of the country today. >> that is a preview of the newest book coming out in october of 2013, "mr. president: george washington and the making of the nation's highest office." you're watching booktv on c-span2. >> hi, i'm robert, the washington editor of "national review," and i have a lot of books to read this summer, but as a political journalist, i look ahead to the 2016 presidential race, looking at candidates who run, especially on the republican side, and one of the people i'm looking at is kris chris -- chris christie, the inside story of the rise to power by bob angle and michael simon, a fun read so far, and takes you back into christie's political assent in nirnlings. before he was the u.s. attorney, he was a freeholder. he was involved in a lot of county politics, and so it takes us behind the story, behind the politician on the magazine covers with president obama in new jersey, and it asks, who is chris christie, told by people who know new jersey politics, a fun read, i recommend it because christie, i think, is a likely contender, and you got to know where he came from and what politics mean ahead of the election. second book on the list by a colleague, kevin d. williamson, wrote a book called "the end is near, and it's going to be awesome: how going broke leaves america richer, happier, and more secure." one reason the book is fun because the fiscal cliffs earlier was a big story covered at "national review," but later this year, there's the debt limit be the story that consumes congress, and williamson looks at the debt from a political perspective, historical perspective, talks about the consequences of the debt, how it's taking up a lot of congress' time, how it could potentially ruin the country, make the country go broke, and he does it with wit and fun. "the end is near," a great book by williamson. third is "this town," and as a journalist in washington, there's gossip and talk about what's happening behind the cannels, how stories are written, who leaks to who, power struggles within politics and the media. mark really has the ear of the beltway crowd has a book in july "this town" all about that, about the inside scene in washington in dupont circle, in the georgetown salons, that book gives a story and the color of what washington and the political media establishment's about. the first -- for fun, a book i look forward to reading is calledded "mice and willie," the parallel lives of baseball's golden age, one of the favorite sports writers, and i was just down in spring training in arizona watching the cleveland indians play baseball, and i ran into willie mays, getting up there in age, but the book is great looking at the two men who came of age at the same time, became stars at the same time, and formed a lifelong friendship, something i never knew, and that's a great book, a big book for baseball fans this summer so that's the list, and looking forward to reading them all. >> let us know what you are reading this summer. tweet us @booktv, post it on facebook, or e-mail us at booktv@c-span.org. >> first amendment attorney, floyd abrams, who remitted the "new york times" in the pentagon papers cases recounts the career and represents his thoughts on current first amendment debate. this is about an hour and 15 minutes. >> this evening, we're delighted to have one of the greatest present living lawyers, and one the greatest lawyers the nation had by the name of floyd abrams, who just released a wonderful book, that the critics are raving about called "friend of the court: on the front

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