Number president s at already been assassinated. Why wouldnt the government have protections for him . It wasnt done why would the government have a pension . Theres pensions for Army Officers and everybody else but not for the president. In fact he had very little money. He had to borrow some money quite secretly which dean ebsen cosigned to pay for the move back home. This is not well known at doesnt mean he didnt have money but he needed some cash to cover all of his expenses moving out of the white house. And when he got home in order to provide himself some income he undertook the writing of his autobiography, his memoirs. No other president had ever done except for herbert hoover. But his time in office was much briefer than trumans. And trumans presidency covered far more tumultuous history. To undertake the two volume memoir was a very major, ambitious task. Then he built his library. Now there had been a previous president ial library, Franklin Roosevelts library but it was established after he died an officer truman was the first president to actually officiate over the establishment of his president ial library. Then again he was begetting something new. Think one of the things i tried to imply or to emphasize in the book, is that truman was a very creative public figure. He was a creative president , it was a creative presidency hed been a builder all of his life he built roads, courthouses when he became president he built the famous balcony on the backside of the white house was because a great flurry of criticism. And then he entirely rebuilt the white house for the white house we have today is really the house that harry built. Except for the outer shell which was maintained. The original outer shell for the entire interior is a reconstruction of the original house. He took part of every detail of that reconstruction, he loved it. He loved the building and creating. And of course in a larger way, his presidency is marked by such creative and innovative acts as the Marshall Plan and sherman doctrine, nato and so forth. Too again be a builder in this last chapter of his life, appealed to him tremendously. Building the library, having his office at the library, welcoming guests there, taking people around the library became his life, except for his travels when he went to europe. Did you ever meet him . Guest know i saw him once when i was just a youngster. I saw him once with my first job in new york. I was very starry eyed it got my job at my first magazine, sports illustrated. I was coming home from work one night and was at the old st. George hotel. A big car pulled up there was a small crowd waiting for it i said with the crowded big car pulled up in the governor stepped out and i was quite excited about that. And then out stepped president truman, former president truman, i was just astonished. And i remember thinking, my god he is in color. Because we only had blackandwhite television, blackandwhite newspapers. And i think the fact he had very high color he radiated good health. Made him seem very vital but a person. He certainly did not seemed like a little man to me. To me at that moment he was 6foot eight. I never spoke to him, i never met him. Ive often thought would it have been interesting if i could go back in time and it would be able to reach out and touch him on the shoulder in 1956, that fall nights compensate mr. President , i am going to write your biography someday. Host knowing what you know about it when you think hed think about this . Guest im sure there are some of it he would not like because this is after all, an honest attempt to see the complete man with his flaws and faults two. I would hope in some, he would think i understood him better than other people have. He was a much, much more complicated, complex keenly intelligent. He was thoughtful and considerate man than the stereotype harry truman portrait implies. He is not James Whitmore saying give them hell harry. He is not just a salty, downhome missouri will rogers. All of the people ive interviewed who knew him and worked with him and were in the white house with him, they all say please understand that this man was much more than met the eye. Host how many interviews did you do . Guest about 126 in that range across a broad spectrum. Some people who hardly knew him at all but saw them come and go as neighbors or people in independence. Also some of whom were so important that i interviewed them many times over during the ten years it took leader time the book. Host who did you spend the most time with . Guest i would guess in total either margaret truman, his daughter or george lc who was on the white house staffing clerk. Some of the secret Service People who were invaluable because they were with him all the time. So many of whom had never been interviewed before about him. Host are secret Service Allowed to talk after the fact . Guest apparently so. And they are wonderful because they saw him offstage, they saw him under all conditions. And often under enormous pressure and tension. You mention the attempted assassination. Two of the secret service meant who are still here in washington, walked me through the whole event from both inside and outside blair house work took place. Spent the better part of one saturday doing that. Im sure thats never been done before, so my account to that is based on material that can only be had by reaching that time through living people. And their devotion to harry truman is a very compelling thing to listen to. It is true of all the people who worked for him at all levels. I did not find a Single Person who knew him well, worked with him, who wanted to tell me what his terrible backstage temper was or what it grateful or difficult bossy was to work with. The closer people were to him, fate just liked him, they were devoted to him. In a way i kept hoping id find some people who really didnt like him and who had some skeletons to pull out of the closet. That never happened. I started ten years ago 1982. Host what was the reason . Guest i was looking for subject, i started on a book about picasso. I had to go around the barn with picasso to end up with harry truman. I quit that book and stopped after a few months because i found i disliked him so. He was a repellent human being. He didnt really have a story of a time that interested me. He was instantly successful, he never really went very far, or had any adventures so to speak he was an immensely important painter, he was the of modern art, i found his treatment of his family, his attitude toward women, he was not someone i wanted to spend five years with as a roommate so to speak. My editor suggested i think about doing Franklin Roosevelt because at that time there is not a good one volume biography of Franklin Roosevelt. Just on impulse, the visceral way i said no, fire going to a h century president would not be Franklin Roosevelt to be harry truman. He said why not harry truman . Found theres not a a good biography of harry truman theres not a complete life and times. That part of time in his life is never been written before it comprised 20 years of his life, very important time of his life. Beyond that there is an immense collection of letters and diaries which he poured himself out on paper all of his life. He left a written personal very revealing record unlike that of any president i know of. And im sure we will never have another president who leaves anything like that. We dont write letters very much anymore we dont keep diaries much any more. He did both his whole life. Long before he ever realize he was going to be a figure in history. And one month, to give an example, in one month in 1947 when he was president and his wife was back in independence looking after her mother, harry truman, the president of United States rotor 37 times. These were not just simple how are you and the weathers turning cooler these were real letters. Host dig and find out how he wrote them where they all in longhand . Guest they were all strong handwriting very straightforward clear letters just like he was. Fortunately its a very legible so theres never a problem reading his handwriting as there was very seldom a problem understanding what he is talking about. Host and the last chapter you said at some point in his wife he his wife, best truman, called their daughter margaret every night in new york . Guest yes they were very, very close. The same people who were with them as secret Service Agents and domestic staff said they were by far the closest family they have ever known in the white house. Though they dont want to be quoted by person, they all say that truman was their favorite president. He was the first president s ever walk out to the kitchen, the first president and their memory to walk up to the kitchen to thank the chef or the cook for the dinner that night. They remembered Calvin Coolidge coming out once or twice but they thought that was perhaps to see if anyone was tilting food. Truman knew everybody by name on the staff, knew all about their families. This wasnt a politicians device. Just the way he was. The whole give them hell, harry. Yes, harry truman, onthejob, in the office, at the white house, with his people at the lowest level or highest level, never gave anyone hell. He never raised his voice. If anything hes remembered for being how considerate he was. And then for small favors and courtesies he would do. David mcculloughs appeared more than 75 times including 50 appearances on book tv. Up next he discusses his biography with john adams at 2001 book was a recipient of the pulitzer prize. Guest john adams was born in 1735, he lived until 1826, to the age of nearly 91. He lives longer than any president in our history. He has been commonly thought of as a rich boston blueblood. He was none of those, he was not rich, he is not bostonian and he was on a blue blood. He was a farmers son but because a scholarship to harvard, discovered books and is he said read forever. John adams was the most deeply and broadly read american of his bookish time. And lets please today remember that it was john adams, the second president of the United States, who slide a trend signed legislation to create the library of congress. To be here to talk about john adams, to remember john adams is altogether particularly appropriate at this occasion. He was a man of genuine brilliance. He was also a great man of great heart, great humor, devoted to his country, truthful, devoted to his wife, to his family, hardworking, godfearing. And altogether one of the bravest patriots in our history. He was abrasive, sometimes temperamental, sometime tactless, sometimes overly concerned with his own position or place in the estimate of his friends or of posterity. And he was also a man coming to his credit but to his disadvantage, who as he said, never considered popularity his mistress. He never accorded popularity. He was a man of principle. His courage was the courage of his convictions. And i think one of the most vivid and important examples of his principal behavior and conduct and life was he is the only founding father who never owned a slave as a matter of principle. Now we know it is important to judge those who did not own slaves in the context of their own time. That is correct and fair and historically the sensible sound thing to do. Lets not forget that john and a begin adams were also of their time and they oppose slavery. Abigail perhaps even more so ardently than her husband. At one point she said i wonder if all the suffering we are going through is gods of punishment for the sin of slavery. This San Andreas Fault of slavery that runs through our country story, begins a well before the revolution. Just as the revolution has too many people seem to not understand began well for the declaration of independence. The declaration of independence as John Dickinson who oppose the signing of the declaration of independence was in many ways as dickinson said launching into a storm in a skiff made of paper. What made it more than just a paper and trim piece of paper it was the fact that we succeeded. In the revolution, in the war. We fought for, fought for and succeeded in gaining our independence. And john adams would not of set free and independent he wouldve said independent and free. You have to have the independence then comes the freedom bird of course new englanders by nature, by cultural tradition if you will were fiercely independent people. Independence was a way of life. So it was religion. I think this is of the utmost importance in understanding that time, that age, that moment in history in those protagonists. We believe in strongly, the separation of church and state, and for a large degree they all did too. But the separation of church and state in their time, and their minds in eyes in spirit did not mean the separation of church and statesmen. If we really want to understand those people we have to understand the part that religion played in their life and their whole outlook on what might happen next. They also had very Long Distance communication that took a lot of time and a lot of travail, and is almost beyond our reckoning to get a letter back and forth between philadelphia and boston or quincy were the adams lives, took at least two weeks. Communication across the ocean with the adams with abigail and john were separated for and cumulatively, ten years. That separation was created by the Atlantic Ocean to communicate across the Atlantic Ocean to upwards of three to six months. What does that mean . Such a thing is very inconvenient at vents both in personal life and in diplomatic for official life that one had to be more responsible than we understand today for ones own decisions. Abigail adams at home running the family, running the farm, trying to balance accounts, trading keep good people working with her to make the farm work because that was their only means of subsistence. Trying to educate the children, making decisions on whether to get smallpox shots for example, had to make those decisions yourself or she could not pick up the phone and asked her husband what should i do. And that was a part of life, the assumption of responsibility to ones self. When adams was serving in france and in the netherlands and england as a diplomat again and again he had to make momentous decisions on his own decisions that would affect the course of events at the time, and the fortunes perhaps of the United States, of his country. Of course his own career. He made it because that was necessary. Think it be communicated any faster than something to be transported through think of that in transportations tutor for things of that time is the same thing. No faster than a sailboat or somebody on a horse. They were not like we are. Because they lived in a different time. A very different time. In a very, very interesting time. I tried to read not only in writing the book i tried to read not only what they wrote, and oh my did they writes. [laughter] neither john or Abigail Adams was capable of writing a double sentence for a short letter. [laughter] there will come just between the two of them they wrote over thousand letters to each other. Over thousand have survived all in the Massachusetts Society on rag paper in those are as good as the day they were written. You can hold them in your own hands, and youre holding that letter about the same distance from your eyes as they did with two hands as they did, and believe me, something very, very important visceral happens when you are working with the real thing. It is not the same as seeing it on microfilm or reproduced in a book. The humanity, the mortality, the vulnerability of those people comes through. And the bravery. Think of that woman, alone in her kitchen at 11 00 oclock at night having been up in spite of in the morning doing all she did, sitting down and writing those letters. And nearly always, inserting into her letter some wonderful quote from one of her favorite poets or from shakespeare. And nearly always getting a little bit wrong. [laughter] which shows she did not look it up. She was not taking a book down offtheshelf and copping out sing thisll make me look good. [laughter] she knew it, it was part of her. But there is an equally important and equally rewarding experience in reading, not just what they wrote, but what they read. I did a small piece for the Washington Post this summer about that. Going back in reading all of those writers so many of us will required to read in english courses in high school or college, samuel johnson, pope, swift, Samuel Richardson, the novels of Samuel Richardson. And to be reminded of how terrific they were. What wonderful writers. We talk about progress in heaven knows we live with the benefit of progress all the time. Certainly will me go to the dentist. [laughter] when i think of poor john adams at the end of his life not a tooth in his head. Every one of them had to have been polled. Long before novocain. We have a certain vanity, and a certain arrogance about progress. When you read what they wrote in the 18th century, i dont think anybody does it any better today. Or even as well. I will tell you Something Else that ought to make us all sit up and shape up. Should higher in their time than it is today. What a disgrace that is. What good wake, a lot of work still has to be done about that the books they read, affected their lives as they do our lives and our time. They affected the notion of truth, heroism, right, wrong, how to write a letter. John adams for example advise Young John Quincy dont try to write literature when you write a letter. Dont strain for frills and fancy effect. Write the way you talk. Its a letter, remember that, right the way your talk. So when he read his letters into very large degree the letters of john quincy you are hearing them talk. One of the things i have done in my books, and particularly in this book, one of the ways i approached biography is simply my way its not the only way, thats a let them talk as much as possible. Most of life is talk if you think about it. How they talk, the words they use, the figures of speech, expression, cadences is a reflection of personality. Of style, of the person abigail was hugely influenced by the writings of Samuel Richardson specially the great novel clarissa that was a popular novel of the 18th century. True to very interesting letter to a nisei and you ought to read clarissa and you ought to write your letters the way they are in that novel. The whole novel, as many of you may know is just letters. Its people writing letters back and forth to one another. They are written to the moments, its what happening right now. That is the way abigails letters are written. All the letter she wrote to her husband were written in large part because they were separated for so many years. The suffering they experienced because of their separation is to our advantage but even when they werent separated from each other, she would write to somebody else, her sister. Some of the best letter she ever wrote. The point is she needed to write. She knew to work or thoughts out on paper feelings out on paper. This is a very, very important point about writing for all of us. You all had the experience pretty sit down and start to write something and you find you have an insight or thought that you never would have had if you would not required or forced yourself, or wanted to writes. Something about writing focuses the brain in a different way. Its been a quick opener archives at author programs with historian David Mccullough 2001 he appeared on her monthly call in program in depth to talk about his books and writing progress here he gives us a tour of his home and where he writes. See what weve got some video of your home in your writing shed. Where is it . Guest first of all its not a shed it is the headquarters. [laughter] that is our home that is on a music street its a village in the center of the island of marthas vineyard. Part of the houses 18th century part of it as a 19th century and part of its 20th century thats a back back porch looking out over the acre we own where we have gardens and a nice reach back to the bordering yard to a neighboring farm thats been in the same family since the island was first settled. In fact its my walk to work. Thats why work right there. That measures 12 by 8 feet, it has windows on all four sides. I absolutely love it. It has about 800 books in their and my faithful typewriter upon which i have worked now since about 1965. Diver in every book ive ever written on that old world typewriter. Theres nothing wrong with it its an example of a beautifully made american machine. Its probably got seven or 50000 miles on it and it runs perfectly. Guest have you written everything about john adams in this room . Host absolutely well part of it i did when we lived in charlottesville for your own eyes during research at the burgeoning university but essentially, all of it was written here in that room. Host what time of deity right . Guest i write all day every day part im not writing all day im reading or correcting what i wrote the day before. Im going over notes. There is no phone, theres our telephone there. Theres no music theres a nice view but i have my back to the view so i wont be tempted by it. Its far enough from the house there you can see general washington and some of his soldiers marching along. I hope they show the end of it. Theres a guy at the end identify with. Hes the guy a little slow catching up. Hope the areas were good to see him. I look at him he is my example. There is, thats the one. [laughter] hes always a little behind. I work out there because when the children were young i did not want them to have to be Walking Around look at that line a call to me to it really look at what is in front of me, whats in front of me as i work prayed thats the earliest photograph of the capital, i love that photograph. I love all old photographs, we can talk about this later we can talk about it later. This is a great line from adams letter to abigail about the promise and wisemen which is carved at as it is they are into the mantelpiece at the state dining room at the white house. This is a map of boston, which figures very importantly in the book im working on now. And of course the a contemporary map in the john adams book. and i give them the children from my hotel room. How long does it take . These are watercolors with the reservation in montana thats a little sketch of it a little pen and ink. And it is something i have always loved to do and her oldest daughter melissa that is the Public Library across the street where i serve as a trustee over the years. Used to say do you go to the library for brandy and scotch . And the church where they were married. That has some creases in it. Thats a picture of my mother probably taken before i was born. Mother on the left and my aunt on the right. But i appreciate that picture. Because the one who gave me a copy when i graduated from 81 ale. And i didnt know it at the time but that changed my life. Because i began to sense what i wanted to do as a writer. And i had a lunch with several friends in the restaurant below the side of washington but they are both engineers and started talking and set out to create this unprecedented structure. The first book was about the johnstown flood which is a study and human shortsightedness. And if there is a theme to the johnstown book and because people are in positions of responsibility they behave responsibly. And the 2000 lives it wasnt an act of god and what happens in publishing to be typecast. And after the book came out i have two publishers approach me of the chicago fire and San Francisco earthquake. [laughter] and at the age of 35 i was being typecast as bad news mccullough. [laughter] and i did not like that. In fact what i really wanted because you are not always shorts on shortsighted. And then we have capacity and that people can achieve those noble and creative works. And these men talk about the Brooklyn Bridge and that is a symbol of affirmation. And somebody was waiting back the office to talk i was so excited about the idea and motivated immediately was the 4d Street Library in new york and i was propelled by this book that was acquiring the structure and design in my head. There were over 100 cards on the subject of the Brooklyn Bridge but not one was the book that i had in mind to write. Nothing about physics or mathematics and one of the lessons i learned in the process is if you are motivated you can learn anything. And if you work it out yourself and unravel it yourself, if you struggle to understand on your own, you will know that in a way that you will never lose it. And how we teach people today. So much of that is just handed to the student. We all know how we have studied for the exam for days and days and do fairly well. And then two months or two years. And to go 30 years later to take the board on the Brooklyn Bridge. Because i had to do it on my own. Thats why we have to bring that to the humanities. So then we drove up from her home in white plains a beautiful saturday afternoon. There was almost no one there mustve been a very dark victorian jerk. And then they said we are so shorthanded today. All the way to the attic and then the light switch then if you turn left there is a door to a closet. So they were like 40watt bold. [laughter] it was like out of stephen king and that we get to the top of the stairs and turned to the left and took the key and open the door and there was not a closet really a small room with shelves all around, floor to ceiling, jammed scrapbooks, old boxes of letters, photograph letters, photographs, all kinds of notes, tied up with old shoestrings. You could tell. And shoestrings that 40 years later had never been untied. And that the designer of the bridge and the door knocker from Brooklyn Heights everything look like something from somebodys closet. But it was the volume of it and then rosalie said oh my god. [laughter] and there goes three years of my lifes. And it did take three years to go through the material and write the book. Those are the three best years of my writing life. And i have written a number of books and sometimes read books i have said everything that i want to say. And you really dont want to turn back. But that has never been true for the subject. It is infinitely interesting structure and burden of american art. And it is a lesson of so many kinds so when a brief way i hope i can talk about that. First of all, it is a great expression of the ideal of the city of the community committed to the ideal of the city. And then in the 19th century theres nothing like it in the world no more one those towers on the Brooklyn Bridge when they were completed dont seem like very much today but the tallest structures on the continent. The first time the peer the city would not go out to grow up. The concept is the highrise and skyscraper urban america. The first use of structural steel in a major way. And in the bridge in st. Louis that still stands of this first major use of structural steel. And the chief steel is that and the major changes and that whole character nature and complexity of the country. And to work with engineering and performing a service if you then to the Brooklyn Bridge and how you walk over the bridge instead of putting pedestrian sidewalks or walks on the outside of the perimeter of the bridge inside the great net of vertical stays and cables and above the vehicular traffic so that when you walk across the Brooklyn Bridge you feel contained in you are not on the edge of the bridge. And because you can enjoy the view that no other and that pedestrian walkway and then the engineers who designed it and that how you know those in the car you cant see anything. [laughter] and the engineer spoke with that prospectus that on a sunday afternoon or a weekend day to go with your family her boyfriend her children and she walkabout of the city. Of higher than you have ever been in your life. Because they were never more than five stories. 119 feet its not a riverbed a title straight with his saltwater there were sharks in the river in those days and see goals and it is so high up and only the very biggest ships of the day can do that. And with the advent of steam you can see the steamboats and feel the fresh air and enjoy yourself and have the thrill of know that you were in new york city you are in brooklyn and in the greatest metropolis and to be the greatest country on earth. The revolutionary war era 18h century in the way we are in the way we hope to be its more than most people realize. Into a very large degree it has portrayed so often or the protagonists. And with that costume pageant. And those in the paintings and that lend this theatrical quality to them. We dont see them in photographs. We have no recordings of their voices. We cant see film footage. And in fact in the case. With no on the spot drawings. So its almost impossible that we would reach people in the civil war or the First World War or others. Except for what they wrote. And what they wrote in diaries and letters and sometimes orderly books or records. And autobiographies written afterthefact. The newspaper coverage was nothing like you would expect. No correspondence none coming back to be published in the papers around the country. And by a large we have to conclude we dont know what they look like. But we do know what they look like in part. And notices would be published and they help to find these people. Of a realization of how different from all of us they looked. Even the officers really had full uniforms. Just because to look like the leader in the general. But the men in the ranks and not for the replacements and then the clothing became tattered and eventually in rags. And the era of which they live so much harder than they understand. Like someone in the 18th century even a piece time very uncomfortable. Or the destruction i could come from work more than we are in our time. No donna started honest or cosmetic surgeons to say the least so someone with the childhood injury like the annual Greenwood Walk the rest of his life with the limp coming from an accident that would be readily connected. But when washington returned command of the army that is something no conquering general had ever done. But he also had the use of only one i because of the childhood injury. Henry knox people were missing teeth and had a cast or holding their head on their shoulder because something happened to them. Life was dangerous and people were resilient. And strong to the degree that we seldom forget. We are softies by contrast. Its hard for us to imagine with this epidemic of dysentery or smallpox or typhoid or typhus sweep through art town or community. The grief and the sorrow and future generations who have little idea what we have suffered on their behalf and she was right. And apportioned to the population. 25000 americans were killed. With a brutal statistics of the war casualties and suffering worldwide. That doesnt sound like a great deal with 25000 was 1 percent of the population of 2,500,000. And with that population so that was a horrible war in their time and those that had to do without their husbands even those deserter nerve on notices. Those that were immediately identifiable in a way that we are not used to and one was 5 feet nine a half inches tall and carried his head. And the old country man. That means he was from the old country. From ireland or wales and spoke good english but had a film in his left eye. And wearing a white coat and jacket and a ruffled shirt when last seen. And with the essex connecticut one simeon smith and 5 feet 4 inches high a small fellow blue coat and a black vest. Black long and i eyes in the hermaphrodite fashion. And likewise tobias smith, as saddler by trade had a heavy look in his face to say i swear. I swear. And a green coat wearing two coats. And everything of a sober look. Along and shouldered fellow and to lost his teeth. And those that are largely anonymous. That did the hard marching and fighting again and again. Month after month. And who made the words of the declaration of independence more than just a declaration. And the great passage of independence and all men are created equal life liberty and the pursuit of happiness. None of that would have been possible the march 1776 and beyond hundreds deserted and thousands deserted as time went on. And they only enlisted for a year. And when the time came to go home, there was nothing to stop them. And across new jersey and those were without shoes and winter was coming on and the british was coming on fast. It was forced beyond anything we could imagine with soldiers who were well trained with good equipment and at one point but the men came up in the 2000 men marched away and went home with no shame. Washingtons army was down to 3000 men. That is all. So in effect quite literally what we have and who we are and all we hold sacred to 3000 men who would not quit. And that was in part led by a man who would not quit. George washington was not a great intellectual like jefferson or adams or hamilton. He wasnt brilliant speaker like fellow virginian patrick henry. What George Washington was , was a leader. A man of phenomenal courage. A man who could spot great talent in other people and give them a chance and then he picked them without first meeting them, Nathanael Greene and henry knox. Despite the fact they were new englanders and he disliked new englanders ardently. He thought they were the best he had and they were the best he had. And those were the only general officers who stay the entire length of the war and did not leave and would not quit. When reading my book about harry truman. And with the comments being made by the republican candidate and to me were not only appalling but unimaginably out of place. What could i do to provide a counterpoint of you to this . And then thinking about the speeches that i gave on National Locations such as the h anniversary and the anniversary of the white house , kennedys Memorial Service which i was asked to be the speaker. And commencement speeches that i had given at particular occasions of other organizations and universities. And that i was voicing what really matters to me and why history is so fascinating and how essential i think it is to be alive. Why should we limit our lives to this little bit of time when we can have access to the whole realm going back hundreds of thousands of years . And with the help of my daughter who arranged all of these. But when i finish that i thought hes picking the speeches because its apropos to the current times and while i heard you say before historians basically dont have a role of current politics with the speeches. None of these. And to go back and read them a second time what is the and each time i was looking in the speech what was the one point to be taken a point who might be elected president. Who knows . I wont do each 112 out of 15 so in the book from 1989 and to say i to see the Republican Party to ride the political victory and smear is the interesting word here. Why would you do that . [laughter] surely you are prayerfully one privy. That would be wonderful. And in that rare case. And those that dont know who Margaret Chase smith was. And those patriots of that time and good nature of human relations that he said this is his quote in hand or disposition to listen with attention and then you added words to the wise. In our own day. One of the favorite characters from the past the 18th century that is interested almost everything. And an accomplished position in one of the first people to encourage the fair and humane treatment as if they were animals. He is extremely courageous in his ability to go into places with the yellow fever epidemic. And one of the signers of the declaration of independence. And was almost 30 years old. We forget how young those in washington when he took command was 44 years old with those elderly statutes and that is encouraging. That is part of the story. I dont think we can ever know enough about the american revolution. By the way the new museum is a must for all of us and in particular of place to take your children and grandchildren. And it is brilliantly organized as spectacular. By robert. And right in the center of where the historic neighborhood is. You live in the boston area to take that reality and part of that environment. And when i was so young. But with that quote but what i like is the word senility. Which is a lost art with the Public Discourse of america and the sense of comity. That there is never enough that we have many instances. And when politics trumps policy. With the sense of the National Goals is gone and party goals matter. Leadership of the best kind to have the backbone to do what is right irrespective of what it means to a political future and a chance of being reelected. And then the people and all of us and no more of this. And there is a person right there doing the right thing. And that was even decisive. And this reason about Margaret Chase. It will happen. Out of necessity to survive. And basically 30405060 percent. We are not doing it. That doesnt mean that we wont. And inappropriate behavior times. Very often when we do come through these difficult times and the clouded sky times. When we do come through we are better off. And that was a simpler time back then. No it wasnt. And to be so foreboding. So the influenza epidemic which my parents and your parents went through in 1918. 500,000 americans died of that disease that they did not know where it came from. And with those that are proportionate. And it died less than a year. And then to have that debate. But it has to be a joint effort. The big change even after i finish the wright brothers. Getting down to marietta. A collection of wonderful archival material. And my assistant the greatest researcher in america today. I saw this breathtaking collection. I knew we opened king tuts tomb. Let me describe why it was thrilling. Is not that there is so much of it. Literally thousands and thousands of letters and diaries and memoirs unpublished, journals, data of all kinds and drawings and magnificent oil paintings. The quality of the writing. And that to express what they were brokenhearted about. And how we were suffering and that epidemic disease and the natural fiascoes and the earthquakes. All of that happening. We are all a bunch of softies. Truly. [laughter] and why this is so beneficial and important. But i think two of the most important lessons to be passed on to our children and grand children the sympathy. Imagine what life would be like and what they went through the what they did to understand why other people feel as they do. Put yourself in their place in the but the. And what other people do for our benefit or did long ago. We should never take that for granted. And one of the things that we do take for granted is the Public School system. Another thing is all men are created equal. Not just on paper but in fact. So our National Life began here. The first Public School system anywhere in the country, here in ohio. Why . Because of one man primarily. The charter, the northwest ordinance 1887, 1787 states very clearly there will be public education. There will be complete freedom of religion. The attitude that is respectful and decent to the native americans and there will be no slavery. Now remember there were slaves in every original 13 colony. So all men are created equal but yes we have 150 slaves living over here in the slave quarters. No. It will not be that way in ohio. And that was due primarily if not entirely to those who wrote the basic tenets of the northwest ordinance. And somebody that knew a lot about everything and was interested in everything a doctor of law and doctor of medicine a doctor of divinity and was a practice for all three. He was probably almost certainly the leading american botanist of his day. And astronomer, interested in languages and he believed in the portents and the essential necessity to learning and had a love of learning like americans anyone i have come to know or read about. He never lived here. He came to see how everything was going but had too much going on back home in massachusetts just north of boston. His church and his parsonage are still they are. The place where the first covered wagon left to come to ohio was still there. And his son with his wife and four children they are young and hopeful and they know how to do hard work but not even the most difficult daily task of being a farmer of the rocky ground of new england was not comparable to what they faced here. They came out coming down the ohio river to have their children died of disease and had to be buried on the banks of the river with no settlers. Then they arrived here mrs. Cutler had stepped off the boat at one point and turned her ankle badly and he was suffering from disease himself. They knew no one and so they had to begin with hard work. We have no idea how hard those people work. Night and day every day. All the children worked. Men and women and children. Men and women and children. Now efrom cutler did not have the education of his parents because he was raised from his grandparents this is very important to keep in mind. I was asked in an interview the other day in ohio of all the scenes in my book which i couldve been there to watch first person . I knew right away. There was a big movement that came after the election of thomas jefferson. The jeffersonian to be will call it they didnt really have a party name yet but the jeffersonians decided there was a rule to have no slavery and introduce slavery in ohio. So two people in the legislature were leading the charge to stop that to keep it from turning into a slave state. One was general rufus putnam who was the leader of the group along with ephram. And the other is ephram himself. And he is absolutely devoted to stopping this change and he gets quite ill and the capital is there and he could hardly get out of bed and it was some question if he would survive the day the vote would take place rufus putnam came into the room he was old enough to have been his father and he said cutler you must get well or you will lose your favorite measure. According to one account, putnam and another man carried them to the convention on a stretcher but there is no reliable evidence of this. Color himself wrote only i went to the convention and move to strike out the obnoxious matter that made my objections as forcibly as i was able. It was an act of fortitude and the result and tell it was forgotten here. Because he got up from his own suffering and then there would be no slavery. And then all the Northwest Territory which includes indiana, illinois, michigan and wisconsin. Imagine if slaves had been admitted. Imagine what would have happened. There would have been no underground railroad or Harriet Beecher stowe. Or Uncle Toms Cabin the most influential and powerfully influential novel ever written