President in history and future in order your copy today wherever books and ebooks are sold. Good afternoon everybody. Thanks for coming, thanks for omcoming out my name is travis im aam bookseller here and im in charge with the club organ to some quick housekeeping in them and jump right in them and take a quick second to reminded one sensor cell phones, were also going to be recording video and audio so just let you know also and it comes time for the q a portion we have a standing mic right here at the end of the aisle we ask you speak clearly into it and you keep your question to a question. And then following everything, we have all of the books on sale behind the Cash Register in front of the store if you want to get those and come back match will be happy to sign them. And we ask you keep your tears in place we have another talk after this and we greatly appreciate that. Also, as many as you know we host a lot of events this year or every year really. If you need any help keeping track of all of those we have calendars of the info desk and all you have to do is check our website. We update that all of the time its the best way to get information. Ti today we have the pleasure of hosting matthew algeo. He is an awardwinning t journalist his authored many books the president is a segment among them here he is here to discuss his new book all this marvelous potential. Robert kennedys tours of appalachian and told of kennedysnn tour starting in mid february before his assassination. Books like these have recast the century story of appalachian life and what was in place to generate the world where it had became. Myself live near cumberlandea for years has seen how the story, told in the books title t alone still resonatess with the people there. But even later in the pictures, people will find much to discover everyone please help me in welcoming matthew algeo. [applause] thank you, thanks travis, and going to address this just a little house everybodyin feeling . Everybody feeling okay . Got this with the handshakes . Its great to be at politics and prose bookstore again. This is like Madison Square garden, just know, its better. Travis, as you mentioned some of my earlier books i kind of like where this fits in to the previous books i have done. A person youll be growth the book and giving your money to ed like to tell you a little bit about him. I grew up in a town about 30 miles north of philadelphia its an indian word that means where nuts were cracked. I went to college at the university of pennsylvania in philadelphia and i majored in folklore. Got that going for me after i graduated i couldnt find any work and my parents were surprised. [laughter] s was hardworking and public radio thats kind of the place were folklore people wince at the time i met my wife in st. Louis and 97 were married in 98 and 98 she was hired by the state department and join foreign service. Since then, i have been able to write these books because my wife has a real job. [laughter] the string of non bestselling books has given me something to do at least we are overseas quick plug for my earlier books was my first book was last team standing, thank you, thank you big fan. Its 1943 merger of the steelers and the eagles they came this spiegels because theyre so short of players during world war ii they had this put the two teams together. The quarterback is blind in one a and one had ulcers, they decided to call last man standing. Its a good book. The next was Harry Trumans excellent adventure we trace that road trip hairy and best truman took in the summer 53 right after they left the white house. This is a four ex president s had pensions or secret service protection. So harry investors guarded their chrysler and drove from independence missouri to the eastnd coast to visit their daughter margaret who lived in new york at the time and drove back again. Its kind of a sweet book, harry and bess are just staying in motels and eating in diners. That really speaks to a bygone era. When truman last office he was the last president to return to something that resembled a normal life. Its a lot of fun to do that story. That i did the president is a sick man which is a secret operation on Grover Cleveland to read to enchant remove a tumor from his mouth. How are these not bestsellers i just cant believe it . [laughter] pedestrian ism the most popular spectator sport with a 6mile walking race, okay . Okay . Abe and fido which was widely acknowledged as the greatest biology written of lincolns dog. [laughter] i mean lincoln plus dog come on people what do i have to do . [laughter] so we will see about all of this marvelous potential and how well it fits into things. Bais is 2016 youre probably where donald trump is president and a lot p of people were surprised when he was elected and they went looked at the numbers they were specially looking at the overwhelming majorities he picked up in counties in appalachia and this writing about it and that was interesting i wondered how it happened i knew about the kennedy trip, just as a piece of political trivia that Robert Kennedy and succeeded, one of his famous poverty tours to Eastern Kentucky. At the time kennedy was not officially a candidate was but was considering running against Lyndon Johnson and a democratican primary. It was an Effective Campaign stop i had all of the tray beings of a Campaign Stop with the speeches and photos and gatherings pretty thousand interesting and Robert Kennedy and 68 is a liberal went credibly to campaign in all these years later we have donald trump going into these counties was 60 or 70 of the vote i thought i would write a book about it and everybody else wrote the same thing. To this one ended up being a little more different, i focus on the trip itself. I didnt go into the analysis of why things change more of how things have changed i will leading up to the reader to decide whether the changes are for better or worse. R they are worse. I went down to kentucky, i went down to kentucky and a group up in the deaf ear outside of philadelphia to the story of appalachia was woodstock the chicago convention, San Francisco you dont really think of kentucky when he think about the 60s at least i didnt where i came from. But the sick he sees happened in kentucky there is a lot of crazy things going on in appalachia and crazy kentucky, it really surprised me iat thought maybe that was the way to approach the story about the what the 60s were like in Eastern Kentucky. Just by way of background before the rfk trip, and 1960 brother jack ran in West Virginia f was important primary for him to win. Bobby was his campaign manager. It was the first time jack and bobby were exposed to american poverty upca close. As a funny story from the 1960 campaign a West Virginia the oldac coalminer came up to jack kennedy and said is it true you never work today in your life . Check kennedy said will yes there is some truth tok that. The coalminer said will dont worry you havent missed a damn thing. [laughter] he is enamored with the people in West Virginia in july of 63 they wrote from a book coming to the cumberland spiritt it was in expose about the people coming there for the Coal Companies and major corporations in the u. S. That depended on coal. And then in october 63, homer was a reporter for the New York Times wrote an expose about poverty in Eastern Kentucky. I think jack kennedy had seen both of these and they made quite an impression on him. He had planned to go to Eastern Kentucky to see with the conditions were like for himself. That trip was scheduled for december of 1963. So of course, that never took place. However after his assassination, lbje. Stepped up to the anti poverty campaigns in january 1964 stated the Union Address he declared war on poverty. In august of 64, just seven months later the Economic Opportunity act was passed tray andic the office of Economic Opportunity the agency that oversaw all the war on poverty tsa programs. Some of them are headstart, medicare is really something that came out with the school lunch program, things like this. So rfk, he went to Eastern Kentucky in january 68 he had a few reasons to go, one was it was still in the back of his mind his brother had wanted to visit Eastern Kentucky december 63 it never made it pretty wanted to gauge the success on war and poverty as well. The bill to re appropriate the office of Economic Opportunity was coming up, and he wanted to see what progress had been made on warren poverty. He Robert Kennedy also wanted to show that poverty was not just an o africanamerican or native american or mexicanamerican problem it was an american problem it affected every community and group in the country including white people. The white people in Eastern Kentuckyky particularly and i think he thought it was important to show that to the country. The trip itself was two days, he held hearings in a oneroom schoolhouse. And then add a gymnasium and a town called neon high schoolsi gymnasium. And then as i was writing the book i really thought it was more interesting i mean Robert Kennedy a lot of books have been written about Robert Kennedy, obviously, the retired wrote an excellent biography and he gave me a good blurb, which really is the most important thing. I did not want to write a book really about Robert Kennedy and a biography is much as explaining what he did on this trip, the people he met and the issues he faced. Try to put them into some kind of context of what was happening in the 60s. And whats happening today. Also, to show what changes have happens since the 60s and what changes happened. Just a few of the issues that he discuss, or he confronted in Eastern Kentucky, one was stripmining. At the time there is a system called the broad form deed, not sure why they called it the broad form deed maybe it was big these were deeds people it signed over the mineral rights to their properties, often 50 to 100 years earlier. These deeds gave companies the right to strip mine, strip the land that the coald was on in the companies werent required to repairhe the land, they werent required to do anything to fixan the damage that was created by stripmining. So people would see Coal Companies kevin dig up the land and leave. I was very, environmentally disastrous. It stripped hillsides of all the covering, so the hollows would flood every spring. Not to mention very exploitation of since it really destroyed the land people had an ad no benefit from the coal that was taken out. T. I think Something Like 1 trillion of coal was extracted from easternik kentucky. Not much of that money made it back. Another issue that was pressing at the time was the concept of maximum feasible participation for the Economic Opportunity act provided that the people most affected by these programs, i. E. , the poor people would be given maximum feasible participation in deciding how the money would be spent. What the money would be spent on, where the money would be spent. So just as an example theres a grassroots citizens committeemm that was organized, they got 40000dollar grant from the federal government to build newdo roads. This was a committee that had been c formed by the minors they were unemployed and the two counties that seemed like aem really fantastic thing they could get this money, but who you think didnt like the fact the federal government sent money directly to grassroots citizens committees . Theenen state in the county politicians. They were used toy having the money goes to them first and they would decide whoo got to spend it. So when the money started going bypassing state and local politicians and going directly to poor people, this was kind of the final straw for a lot of people who were opposed to t the war on poverty in the Economic Opportunity act. In a way think the Economic Opportunity act by maximum feasible participation was one of those things is a fantastic ideal bit in a way plants at a little seed of its own demise right there in the act. That it triggered such a backlash among the entrenched interests but not just in kentucky but anywhere this money went. Of course, 1968, the president ial campaign was heating up at the time Lyndon Johnson had not withdrawn yet from the campaign, that would come in march. Bobby would not officially announced his candidacy until march so we are in february when the trip takesid place, we are about six weeks before Robert Kennedy officially announces his candidacy. But like is it earlier, it really the trappings of a campaign trip. Its funny i have pictures in the book, kennedys aides did not expect quite the crowd of press to accompany the senator on this trip. He would see these long caravans of cars following him for it he would stop somewhere and going house to talkngo somebody he be done and onto the next house before the caravan even finished pulling up to thefo house. It was kinda funny how much attention it got. Although i was surprised to learn that the networks did not archive nightly newscasts until august 1968. When the Democratic Convention came. Thered be occasional newscasts you would find someone thought it was important to save for one reason or another, that the network newscasts from kennedys trip i was not able to find, i think they just didnt archive the newscasts at that time. There are a host of issues, real briefly food stamps was one of the fascinating issues to me that i learned about in this book. Mainly because people had to pay for food stamps. Which i had not really appreciated. When the Food Stamp Program began you paid for certain denomination of stamps and then in addition to that youre given free stamps. He would pay say 10 and get 15 worth of food stamps. The feat was determined by a number of factors, the size of your family, income, that kind of thing. It could be a fairly big price. Kennedy one of the people he talked to on the trip of one of the hearings was an unemployed minor names wang go, i love these nays. Its good for 94 in foods densely had to pay 72 just to get 22 in food stamps. Another minor was a guy name kristin click berg johnson. A father of his monthly income was 60 Kristin Johnson at the hearing said to kennedy have you ever seen 15 kids in three beds . And Robert Kennedy said im headed in that direction. [laughter] he w had ten kids of the time i think. After the trip, one of the things it did come out of this was that eventually the purchase requirement was noted although it did take effect until the food stamp act of 1977 that did not take effect until january 1979 when the purchase requirement was finally ended in participation the Food Stamp Program one of 1. 5 million in one month. So it made a big difference in a lot of people lives just by lifting that purchase requirement. It was also interesting to find that food stamps are a Welfare Program for people for the hungry. So Welfare Program with walmart is 4 of walmart sales comem from food stamps. Always interesting to see walmart, how they come down on legislation that makes it harder for people to get food stamps because it cuts into their revenue. Course afterer rfks assassination in june of 68, Richard Nixon was elected president. He had to appoint someone to oversee the office of Economic Opportunity, basically oversee the war on poverty. Of course republicans for the mostot part hated the warm poverty and hated the programs. It took nixon in a tough spot whos heou going to find to do this thankless job nobody wants. W he found a congressman from illinois, a guy name donald rumsfeld. [laughter] he took over the office of Economic Opportunity. One of his first hires was a young ambitious congressional is intern from wyoming, a guy named dick cheney. So 1981, the office of Economic Opportunity, oto was finally abolished altogether. You can give rumsfeld and cheney credit for ending att least one war, that was the war on poverty. Too soon . [laughter] finally a couple statistic was one is that poverty is reduced from 1959 it was 22 of poverty thats pretty95 crazy. Its like dont make me do the math, what 14, one and five. In 1973 was 11 it was cut in half and the space of 14 years. When you look atpa a graph of a chart of where poverty was headed, from 1959 to 1973, its just straight down. Since 1973 when the effect of putting the brakes on world poverty took effect, it is held steady up until about 11 to 15 . In some ways i think the war on poverty was a success in other ways it was not. Have be happy to take any questions if anybodys got them to step up to the microphone and let it rip. Somebody has to have a question. Thank you for being here and for your talk i look forward to reading the book. I wondered if you could speak more about the decline in poverty. I work in Montgomery County with the Patient Population of uninsured adults. It should be blue tuna 50 of the enteral Poverty Level and its