Whenever he talks on the subject, he always shapes that evidence. If been pointed out is wrong, he continues to show it in the same way. That is what i think there is such junk science in the kennedy case. Junk science is everywhere in the case. Thank you very much. [applause] youre watching American History tv, all weekend, every weekend, on cspan3. To join the conversation, like us on facebook and cspan history. History bookshelf features popular American History writers and airs on American History tv every weekend at this time. Were letters war letters is a collection of letters for military personnel from every major american conflict since the civil war. In this event from 2002 at the library of congress, Andrew Carroll is joined by guests including chuck hagel and former senator bob dole in a reading of passages from the book. This is about an hour. Good evening. The library of congress. Im john cole, the director of the librarys center for the book, and here tonight we are here tonight for a historical event, to reintroduce the Armed Services editions, and especially the idea of distributing free books to our servicemen and women and to our veterans. In other words, on the initiative of Andrew Carroll, who i will introduce any moment, we are launching a great big book giveaway. The original Armed Services were part of a cooperative venture between the American Publishing industry and the u. S. Government that took place between 1943 and 1947. In these years, the government distributed to american servicemen and women nearly 123 1322on copies of the popular titles that were published in the series. The books included bestselling fiction, classics, mysteries, history, poetry, westerns, and even reference books. You can see many of these books in a small exhibit as you leave the lecture hall tonight. The exhibit is located just outside the door. He will understand what i mean when i say that these flat, at a pocketable books special trait that i think endeared them to the Publishing Community and probably made it ok for the publishers to work with the government. There is a photograph of the hardbound for sale copy of the book on the front of each of these giveaway paper bounce. Paperbounds. Subtitled a novel of husbands and wives. s introduce hundreds of thousands of u. S. Servicemen and women to reading for the very first time. I have a letter tonight from the. Irst Lady Laura Bush the center for the book has had both barbara bush and laura bush as our honorary chair people during our reading promotion campaign. Im afraid this is just heart of what happens to me when i start bush family. T the we are grateful to all of them. Laura bush is also honorary chairperson of our promotion reading campaign, and host of the National Book festival, which she chairs in which the library of congress sponsors and which we are planning to have but have not officially announced for october of this year. Lets hope. [applause] this is from laura bush. Im pleased to send greetings as you gather at the center of the book to participate in the launching of this wonderful project. When mr. Andrew carroll contacted me about the legacy project and its aims, i became an immediate and enthusiastic supporter. My father served in the 104th Infantry Division in world war ii and im sure he was one of those young soldiers who eagerly awaited the next shipment of Armed Services editions to come his way. The legacyd that project is reinitiate in the publication and distribution of and i can just imagine the smiles this endeavor will bring to the faces of our troops, wherever they may be. I applaud mr. Carols initiative in erecting the project and compiling the war letters. Cure lake clearly, his request for letters from all over the country struck a responsive chord in thousands of people. Im sure you will enjoy hearing , and i encourage you to spread the word about this excellent effort. With best wishes, laura bush. [applause] the library of congress has its own complementary and still comparatively young veterans project. In october 2000, the u. S. Congress voted unanimously to create the veterans history project, which is located in the librarys american folklife center. Its mission is to collect the memories, accounts, and documents of war veterans from world war i, world war ii, and the korean, vietnam, and persian gulf wars, and to preserve these stories of excellence and service for future generations. Two of tonights speakers, senator hagel and former senator dole, are members of the projects fivestar advisory council. Brochures describing this project are available in the itty room. Anteroom. I would like to ask the director of the project. If you would like more information or have questions, please see ellen or one of her colleagues after reception. Thank you, ellen. [applause] as laura bush and the Washington Post this morning noted, Andrew Carroll is the mastermind behind this project and the book war letters, extraordinary correspondence from american wars, which has just been published in paperback, and which will also be sold after reception tonight. All the proceeds from the sales go to veterans and other charitable groups. Including many hats, one as the director of the american poetry and literacy project grade tonight he is wearing his hat as director of the legacy project, a National Effort to collect and preserve american war letters written to introduce tonights program, i am pleased to present Andrew Carroll. [applause] good evening. Thank you all for coming out, particularly those of you who had traveled long distances to be here. I am especially grateful to john cole and everyone here at the center for the book. They have been phenomenal to work with. I have barraged them over the past several months with an endless stream of anxious faxes, emails, phone calls. There are kidnappers less demanding than i have been and they have been a joy to work with. This is a historic occasion and all the more so because of these seven extraordinary readings we have tonight. And so we are grateful beyond words to them, as well. In the interest of time, its not possible to list all the people who made this evening and this project possible, but i do want to say a special thanks to the veterans of foreign wars, this folks in mrs. Bushs office. The folks at the pentagon have been incredible. I am eternally grateful to them. The folks at jeep, which i will explain in a moment and the volunteers who are here, some of them drove up from North Carolina to help out tonight. A brief word about the legacy project and why we are here. Today marks the beginning of National Military appreciation month. And i am happy to see that al ex wax has been instrumental in bringing attention to this is here with us tonight. And we figured what better way to honor those who have served and those who are serving in this country than through their own words, the letters theyve written home. The sole mission of the legacy project is to encourage americans to seek out and preserve these letters before theyre lost forever. Since 98, we have received over 60,000 never before seen letters from every war in our nations history. People have found these in their attics, their basements, their closets and they offer unprecedented insight into what the true nature of warfare is and the sacrifices and demands from those who fight. I cant emphasize enough that we are still looking for letters. If you have a veteran, if you know a veteran, if you know someone who is in the service, were looking for their emails, their correspondence. We only need photocopies, not originals. If you want more information on how to reach us, its in the war letters book and on our website, warletters. Com. The other reason were here tonight is to celebrate the release of the first Armed Services edition in 55 years. As john mentioned, the u. S. Government working with the military and the Publishing Industry gave out 120 million of these little books in that cargo pocket size, all different titles. I know john showedd one of his. I could not resist bringing one of mine. I love the more offbeat titles. This is a book, one of the first pop Psychology Health selfhelp books. It is called make the most of your life. You can imagine a young g. I. In the trenches think about [laughter] across this chapter. There are a few sentences that struck me. Its a chapter for those who feel that their looks are an impediment to success. And the author writes, if only i werent so ugly in appearance, these people might say, i would have a chance to succeed. To this he replyies, with can very few exceptions, the people that have changed the world are physically misshapen and unattractive. Why, just sit in the galleries of our congress and look them over. [laughter] clearly, success is not a beauty contest. [laughter] this, of course, is in no reflection of the congressmen and senators we have here tonight who are all very handsome men. Are they still here . Ok. Good. Theyre still here. For years, i wanted to bring these books back and thanks to john and many of the people, we were able to do this. And so i am proud to present to you the first Armed Services edition since world war ii, formatted in the first cargo pocket size of the original. Although the war letters is not the first to be published since world war ii. I desperately hope its not the last. I would like to bring back a new generation of titles, black hawk down, dday, flags to our fathers, whatever it may be and to bring back this great tradition of giving free words to the troops. Every one of you tonight will receive a free copy of this as you leave. We would be grateful if you would help us spread the word about this project in the military, in the media, in the Publishing Industry with the veterans groups. I have one small favor to ask you. Technically, these books are only supposed to go to the military. This is a special occasion and we wanted you all to have a copy. But if word gets out that were just giving these away everywhere, it will be absolute pandaemonium and we wont be up with demand. So i would be extremely grateful if we could keep tonights give away just between us and everyone watching on cspan. By all means, spread the word about the project. Just dont let on you got a book. It will be our secret. In all seriousness, thank you very much for coming. Enjoy the reading, enjoy the book and here we go. Our first reader served in the u. S. Army. Active duty from 19561959. In 1961 he was in washington, d. C. Eventually he went to work with abc news where he has been for the past 35 years. If i were to list all of the awards hes won, including four emmys, we would be here all evening. Suffice it to say, he is the coanchor of this week with Sam Donaldson and cokeky roberts he. Hes also quite simply one of the most respected journalists working today and it is a great honor to introduce Sam Donaldson. [applause] thank you. Thank you, andrew. What does that little book say about reporters, by the way . I think some people believe if we do have a final armageddon, there will be three forms of life left on earth, cockroaches, coyotes and reporters. I would like to argue against it. I was very lucky. I did serve in the army for 2 1 2 years, but we didnt have a war on at that time. The closest i got to it was in nevada, the 3,000 yards away from ground zero when they blew up an atomic device equal to the nagasaki bomb. Some people say that explains it, but i think thats a cunnard that we had better leave at that point. Letters are a dying art. We have email, not just the telephone. And it is a wonderful thing that youre doing with these and i have the privilege of reading three letters from world war ii. Lets begin. Though i know i can never become a killer, a young navy pilot wrote to his mother in 1942, i will never feel right until ive actually fought. Being physically able and young enough, i believe i belong out in the front and the sooner there, the better. Less than a year later, the young pilot was in combat and his enthusiasm for battle had tempered. Oh, mom, he wrote home, i hope my brothers and my own children never have to fight a war. Friends disappearing, lives being extinguished, its just not right. You probably guessed that that young navy pilot was 22yearold lieutenant George Herbert walker bush. On september 2nd, 1944, bush almost became a casualty himself in the war when his plane was attacked and caught on fire off the island of tujima. Bush jumped from the plane, striking his forehead on the tail and parachuted into the ocean. Injured, but conscious, he was picked up hours later. While on the sub, bush frequently typed letters home to his parents and the following was written two weeks after he had been rescued. Dear mom and dad, several days have slipped by since i last sap sat down before this machine. Days not without excitement. Gradually, im becoming more use to this life. At first, i missed my daily bath. But now i am used to my weekly one. Today was the big day. With my back comes a clean set of clothes. Bath comes a scenic lead of clean set of clothes. But unfortunately, i only came equipped with pants, drawers and flying jacket. I have been on the mid watch for the last few days. That puts me on watch from 12 00 to 2 00 at night and from 12 00 to 3 00 during the day. If were submerged, i dont stand watch for obvious reasons. I am certainly eager to get back to the squadron now. I can picture the letters on my desk and i long to tear into them. I havent heard from bar for almost a month. Did i tell you about my goatee . It started off beautifully, but gradually developed into a joke. So today, off it came. If worse comes to worse, however, im convinced that i can grow a fairly presentable goatee, given plenty of time. Did you ever see that oaks girl with the funny nickname . I cant remember it for the life of me. She was my downfall. Well, ive rambled on long enough. Much, much love to all the family and yourself, papi. Now, what i want to know, we know who bar is. Who is that oaks girl and what happened . The second letter, also from world war ii, across the globe in italy and not long after george bush sent that letter home that i just read, another young world war ii pilot and future politician was writing letters to friends and family about his experiences. He was also interested in what was going on back in the United States. And in november, 1944, he wrote to a friend about the upcoming election between franklin d. Roosevelt and the republican nominee, thomas dewey. His opinions about the two candidates could not have been stronger. Listen to this. Dear bob, i suppose youve been following the political battles of dewey and fdr with your usual interest. Id lost track of them, but the stars and stripes have revived my interest. Im going to be more than disgusted if dewey doesnt win. I really think we need a man like dewey in there now. For one thing, he has a fairly definite attitude toward everything really vital and thats something no new deal has certainly established. I believe dewey will give businesses the confidence in the government they havent had for quite some time now. I like his plan for a simpler and definite tax policy. Have you read his recent eightpoint platform . It seems very good to me. It especially like the vigor and efficiency that hes shown in the past and even the way hes conducting himself in this campaign. I think hell do a lot toward clearing up the dozen and one messes the government is in now. Well, i hope this letter finds you ok, bob, in good spirits. Your friend, George Mcgovern. [laughter] if they found this letter in 1972, he might have lost the election. Of course, George Mcgovern would be awarded both the air medal and the distinguished flying cross for his bravery under fire, something he almost never spoke about during his political campaign. There is a book out, wild blue, the great book. Read it. Hes a true hero. And the third letter from the pacific, in his early 40s at only 58, the war correspondent ernie pile lived, eight, but you thinked, drank and marched with american gis in order to depict as accurately as possible the hardships that they endured. In 1943, he had won the Pulitzer Prize and his columns were appearing in hundreds of newspapers back in the United States. His private letters, especially to his old friend and editor Page Cavanaugh were whimmical and sometimes bawdy accounts of life on the front lines. In north africa, pile sent off the following in 1943, yours of the 23rd new members at hand, ive been at the front for seven solid weeks. Although you may not believe it, i like it up there because life becomes so wonderfully simple. You sleep, merely by picking out a level spot to throw your bed roll. You never wash at all or take off your clothes. Crapping is a slight problem because you have to take down about nine layers of clothing and expose yourself to the cruel tunisian chill. I took my first bath in five weeks and immediately came down with a bad cold. I practically have become a teetotaler. The reason is obvious. There isnt much to be had. Ive gone for weeks without a single drink and actually, i feel 1,000 times better, though i hate to admit it. Thanks for sending me the tom trainer columns. I think hes a much better writer than i am. Too bad he doesnt make nearly as much money, teehee. [laughter] i heard just a few weeks ago from washington pete branson had been knocked off. I was sorry, surprised. Somehow i thought it would never happen to him. And weve just had word that it has happened to Ben Robertson of the herald tribune. An old and good friend of mine. The war has been tough. Get me off the tone, would you . Loving embraces to your wife. So weve learned how you take a crap in the cold tunisian chill. And he signed it, a bull abooboo. Well, there were approximately 100 war corespondents killed in combat in the 20th century. Almos