My name is Katie Willard and im part of the event staff here at politics and prose. Before we begin, i would like to go over a few quick announcements. First, please silence your cellphones and other noise making devices. Not only is it courteous to the author, but we are also on cspan tonight. So you do not want to be the person whose phone goes off on cspan. Secondly, during our question and answer portion, in the interest of our video and audio recording, if you could come up to the microphone right here by the white pillar. That wave, we can hear your questions and engage in a nice discussion afterwards. And lastly, once everything is done, if you could please pull up your chairs and place them against something solid. Our staff, as in me, would greatly appreciate that. Tonight, i am pleased to introduce jared cohen to politics and prose. Cohen is the founder and ceo of jigsaw alphabet ink as well as an adjunct senior fellow at the council of foreign relations. He has written sever
Blueprint, we navigated pretty well, it is a remarkable story. I can almost say that except when Abraham Lincoln died, we were supposed to get Abraham Lincolns vision of reconstruction but instead the bullet of john wilkes move gives us johnson was a man born racist, died a racist, the last president to own slaves, a man who didnt anticipate his own slaves until 7 months after the emancipation proclamation, a man who has president ended up resurrecting every moment of the confederacy paving way for the jim crow laws which gave us segregation. If i look at the story of civil rights and postcivil war america it can be described as a story of two president ial assassinations beginning with Abraham Lincoln and ending with james garfield. When i set out to write the chapter about Andrew Johnson you think what can i write that great scholars havent written about this sort of seminal moment in history and i decided to vindicate the one stanley cans record which is putting Andrew Johnson a hea
Be the person whose phone goes off on cspan. During the question and answer portion in the interest of the video and audio recording if you could come up to the microphone over here its right here that way we can all hear your questions and engage in a nice discussion afterwards. Last once everything is done if you could fold up your chairs and place them against something solid im pleased to introduce the founder and ceo at alphabet inc. New york times bestselling coauthor with eric schmidt of the new digital age and has written several books on his own including the children of jihad. One of the great lessons of american politics that ive learned is the tale of two brothers. The Vice President isnt relegated to obscurity, namely when the president com, the pres president dies. In his newest bestselling book accidental president , he examines the legacies of these eight men john tyler, Millard Fillmore, Andrew Johnson, Chester Arthur, Theodore Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, perry truman
Champion of liberty award from the Goldwater Institute among many, many others. . 1986, the wall street journal called him perhaps the most powerful journalist in america and the Chicago Tribune has dubbed him americas leading poet of baseball. For me, three things stand out above and beyond his innumerable intellectual contributions and accolades. First is his television fame. I refer here not to fox news or his incredible run on the abc sunday talk show this week, although i must say i learned a lot about how to think like a lawyer from watching him on that show on sundays in the 1980s and 90s even though he, like Abraham Lincoln, never attended law school. But more important than that. Mr. Will is such a household name that like Mickey Mantle and joe dimaggio he was the subject of a fixation by the crikramer character in an episode of my favorite tv show seinfeld. [ laughter ] second is mr. Wills loyalty and dedication as evidenced by the fact that he is a die hard cubs fan. I have
Grant felt if he ran for president it would have been because of conklin and he could have been the de facto president. Grants presidency, he was not a particularly strong president. And particularly when you look at reconstruction during this period, a lot of problems. When you look at corruption during his period, when people look back on corrupt presidencies, they jump out with grant and harding as the ones that lead the list there. An ill grant weakened by bad health and would not have been a strong figure elected. He wanted to block blaine. He just wanted to make sure blaine didnt get. Could you explain more about how he could be serving microphone, please. How he could be serving in the civil war and being elected to congress but he cant be there . Did that happen a lot . How did that work . The answer is yes, it did. Not a lot, but anyone can be elected to congress if you are a hey, just look down the block. Anyone can be elected to congress as long as they are 25 years of age a