100 years ago, president Woodrow Wilson signed the bill creating the National Park service and thursday we look back on the past century of these caretakers of americas natural and historic treasures. Beginning at 10 00 eastern and throughout the day we take you to National ParkService Sites across the country as recorded by cspan. At 7 00 p. M. Eastern, were live from the National Park services most visited historic home, arlington house, the robert e. Lee memorial at Arlington National cemetery. Join us with your phone calls as we talk with robert stanton, former National Park service director, and brandon buys, the former arlington house site manager who will oversee the upcoming yearlong restoration of the matching, slave quarters and grounds. Thursday, the 100th anniversary of the National Park service live from arlington house at 7 00 p. M. Eastern on American History tv on cspan 3. Up next on the presidency, historians jon meacham, Annette Gordon reid and ron chernow talk about the process of writing a president ial biography. Theyve written about George Washington, Andrew Jackson, ulysses s. Grant, Franklin Roosevelt and george h. W. Bush. This was part of a centennial symposium hosted by the george w. Bush president ial center. Its just over an hour. Thank you. Okay, thats enough. Laura and i want to welcome you, ken and his wife julie whos the new president of the boosh center and all of us who work here are thrilled youre here. I must confess ive got mixed emotions. One im thrilled to be a part of this, two im very disappointed that youre not here to give me the pulitzer for the book i wrote. [ laughter ] by the way, every Good Organization needs a Pulitzer Prize recipient on their staff. And here at the bush center we have one in Bill Mckenzie and were fortunate that bill is a part of our team. [ applause ] thank you very much, kevin, for convincing us to join you in hosting this. Its very exciting for the bush center that youre here and all the members of the Pulitzer Prize board as well as representatives from 41s library and i forgot lbjs number. [ laughter ] looking forward to the performances that will take place here in a little bit and as a history buff im thrilled that Annette Gordon reid, ron chernow and jon meacham are here to be interviewed. [ applause ] at any rate, in order to get my book reconsidered [ laughter ] i thought i would share an anecdote with you. So i was tasked to it didnt require much tasks iing, by the way, to talk about Vladimir Putin about the necessities to have a free press in order for this society to be a wholesome and vibrant society. He adjust suspended the independent press. And informs slovakia. I couldnt identify it during the debates. [ laughter ] so i said vladimir, really important that if you want to join those of us who realize the benefits of a free society that you have a vibrant press and he looked at me and said youre a hypocrite, you fired the famous news man z. That kind of took me a i back and i said what the hell are you talking about, man . He said you know what im talking about, you fired the news man. I said are you talking about dan rather . He said yeah. I said well, you dont understand, vladimir. In our society the press is independent from the politicians, as it should be. The job of the press in a froe society is to hold people whove got power to account and youre going to need that if youre going to have a vibrant society and i said whatever you do at the press conference were about to have, make sure you dont say that, that i fired the famous news man, because the people in our country are going to think youre ignorant, that you dont know what youre talking about. So sure enough we have the press conference. First question, moscow times, mr. President putin, did president bush talk to you about a free press in russia . And, if so, did you bring up the fact that he fired the famous news man . [ laughter ] at any rate, i want to thank the press for what you do and my relationship with the press was cordial because i understand the similymbiotic relationship. You need me and i needed you and it was a you know, i dont miss much about washington but i will tell you that the intellectual stimulation from dealing with a vibrant and free press was a very important part of the job. At any rate, thank you for coming and i hope you enjoy the evening. [ applause ] now, in a moment im going ask all the Pulitzer Prize winners with us tonight to stand and be recognized for their great work. But first id like to recognize one winner in particular whose work has special relevance to the theme of this twoday marquee, the people, the presidency, and the press. Think back to 1963 and a remarkably composed photographer that crystalized a historic moment. Actually, there were two remarkable photos. The one by Dallas Times Herald photographer bob jackson was snapped a fraction of a second later than the one by the Dallas Morning News photographer and as a result it captured the grimace on Lee Harvey Oswalds face as the bullet from jack rubys gun penetrated oswalds gut. To quote the denver post in a story about the prize winning photograph, jacksons photo has maintained the command that photojournalism always has and still does the capability of telling a full story by freezing time. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Pulitzer Prize winning photographer bob jackson who flew in from his home in colorado to be with us here tonight. [ applause ] and now id like to ask all the Pulitzer Prize winners who with with us here tonight to stand and be recognized for their great work. [ applause ] steve benson, please remain standing for a moment. [ laughter ] steve is a prizewinning editorial cartoonist for the Arizona Republic in phoenix and a witty and prolific spot cartoonist who will be covering these events over the next couple of days and some of you as well. Littleknown fact about steve, hes a graduate of Richardson High School right here in north texas. [ applause ] so please taken a opportunity to introduce yourself to steve during the intermissions tonight and tomorrow and at lunch tomorrow and take a look at the cache of sketches he will be developing through the the program. [ laughter [ laughter ] now its my pleasure to invite the president and ceo of the george w. Bush president ial center to the podium to introduce our first panel discussion. Mr. Ken hirsch. [ applause ] thank you very much, kevin. The performance of from the dallas theater center, i want to thank joel farrell who is the associate artistic director of the center, all the performers for that treat. I also have to thank the beautiful woman julie hersh who had nothing to do with the performance but we have to recognize her for her attendance this evening. [ applause ] i was born at night but not last night. So the bush center is a special place. This is my first week on the job so its a little bit humbling to present tonight a very, very humbling panel. But before i do i want to thank even more than the Pulitzer Prize or as much as the Pulitzer Prize winners who are with us tonight the absolute wonderful Public Servants who have helped and served this country in so many different capacities. I want to welcome and thank for being here haley barbour, the former governor of mississippi, general michael hayden, the former director of the nsa and cia under president bush, secretary leon panetta, former director of the cia and secretary of defense and ambassador mark lang dale who is also on the board of the bush president ial center. Thank you for being here tonight and thank you for your service. [ applause ] through this event, the Pulitzer Prizes mark historical significant work and recognize great contributions that helped tell the past and shape the future. Here at the puch sebush center k about that everyday. The mission is the motivate, develop leaders, foster policy and take action and we do that around key areas like economic growth, education reform, human freedom and democracy, womens empowerment, military service and wellness and transition and understand that what our job here is to use the power of this platform to convene, to amplify and make an impact on very, very important issues of the day. And it served that purpose and my role is to help build connections between that mission and the broader communities. The communities of dallas, of smu, of texas, of the United States and the world. It is a humbling task but in the first week its an absolutely fantastic one so thank you all for helping me start this journey. Of course when we study the p t past, the president s have a lot to do with it and were honored to have some of the most esteemed voices join in telling and describing the history of what the presidency and the press are all about. And as president bush said, the strong press is not and a free press is not something that we talk about only in emerging economies. Its something thats very, very vital to the very foundation of our democracy. So to have this great panel is a real, real pleasure and id invite them out on the stage now as i introduce them. Ron chernow is one of the most distinguished commentators of history, politics, business, and finance in america today. His book washington, a life won the Pulitzer Prize in biography in 2011. In 2009, mr. Chernows work with Linmanuel Miranda on the Pulitzer Prize winning Broadway Musical hamilton which was inspired by his biography of alexander hamilton. Annette gordon reid is the Charles Warren professor of american legal history at Harvard Law School and a professor of history in the faculty of arts and sciences at harvard university. She won the Pulitzer Prize in history in 2009 for the hemmings of monticello, an american family. Her fourth coming back the most blessed of patriarch, Thomas Jefferson we all look forward to. Jon meacham is a president ial historian, contributing editor at time and executive Vice President and executive editor at random house. His book american lion, Andrew Jackson and the white house won the Pulitzer Prize in biography in twine. Most significant to this audience may be his justpublished book destiny in power, the american oodsy of George Herbert walker bush. And our moderator is the director of the lbj president ial library in austin and author of four books on the presidency, hes an analyst for abc news on matters relating to politics and the presidency and hes written for countless publications. Thanks to each of you in attendance for making this a special evening and a special event today and tomorrow and please welcome our panelists to discuss president ial biographies, the challenge then and now. Thank you. [ applause ] thank you,. Its a pleasure to moderate this panel. Lets start with president ial icons Like Washington and jefferson and lincoln, its pretty welltrodden territory for biographers. For washington alone there are 900 biography, fullpledged biographies so ill ask each of you, when youre tackling a mammoth subject like a George Washington or a Thomas Jefferson or an andrew jack so, where do you start . Jon, lets start with you. Oh, sure, thanks, pick on me. Well, i was misinformed, like casablanca, i didnt know there was other books. [ laughter ] so i called annette, she didnt tell me. So that was kind of upsetting. Lau i have two tests. Someone do i feel that there is a place in the scholarly and popular conversation for an argument about that person. And, in fact, this is wonderful that were here with ron because one of the reasons i wrote about jefferson was that ron had kind of surrounded jefferson both from hamilton and washingtons perspective, our friend David Mccullough had done john adams and i think jefr son was sort of had been more of a foil and supporting character in the broad historiography of the last decade or so so i thought there was a place to talk about jefferson on his own terms. Then i always try, as we all do, to make as much use of archives and new archives as you can so you can justify a new look. What about you, annette . Where do you start . Every generation of historians asks different questions about the subject and jefferson, i think, is the most interesting man in the world. I mean, there are so many aspects of his life and weve learned so much more about him. Slavery at monticello, his political life and so forth. So there was a life to be rediscovered from a lot of the information that had always been present but had never been looked at so there are always new things about jefferson because there were so many aspects to his life. Its not just the politics, it could be music, art, all kinds of things and because of the declaration of independence its a continuing story in the american saga, every generation, every group of people who tries to make their base in the american nation uses the declaration. People around the world do it so its a font of information, font of questions so theres just it was no question for me about whether or not theres something to say about him because we ask different questions depending upon the answers that we want to have today. What about you . You mentioned 900 fullscale biographies of George Washington. Do you read them . Where did you start . Well, i have to say, mark, a lot of my socalled friends kept asking me why i wanted to perpetrate number 901 on the world and was that necessary . I think you do a biography either because you have new information or you feel you can do a fresh portrait of the important and i have this epiphany when i was working on hamilton that came during the revolutionary war wenham ill on the, who is washingtons aidedecamp had a feud with washington and hamilton realized that he had just justify this decision to quit washingtons staff. He had to justify this decision to his fatherinlaw who was a close friend of washington so he sat down and wrote a letter to his fatherinlaw that said the great man and i have come to an open rupture. She sha he shall for once at least repent of his ill humor. And i remember that line, he shall for once at least repent of his ill humor kept reverberating in my mind. I had this image of the saintly George Washington and suddenly hamilton is giving me the sense of this volatile powder keg of boss and hamilton tended to pen perceptive portraits of people. Hed been working with washington everyday for several years at that time and so i thought to myself washington seemingly the most familiar person in our history, could bit he was the most unfamiliar in some way . And that was my opening wedge and it kind of pried hope for me a whole world into his inner emotion which is were intense and volatile because he was only seen as this kind of man of marble, a stolid phlegmatic person and he wasnt at all. Ron. We talked you said something that stuck with me. You said great figures in history can carry the weight of their flaws. How do you ensure when youre writing about those figures that youre presenting a balanced portrait . I find as i go on with the biograp biography, particularly if i feel this is going to be an admiring biography i go out of my way to put every unpleasant fact about the character in the book. My greatest fear is either a reader of viewer saying of course chernow came up with an admiring portrait of hamilton, he didnt mention a, b, c, and d. I want to make sure a, b, c, and d are in there and if its a great figure he or she will carry the weight of their defects and one thing that happened with the hamilton show. There were a lot of producers that say the protagonist has to be sympathetic. Hamilton really tests the sympathy of the audience, hes involved in a sex scandal, he encourages his son to go off on a duel in which his son dies so all sorts of flaws but what i discovered watching the audiences reaction is that they ended per doxally having more admiration for him because we had humanized him. And i have the same experience. When i finished the washington biography i sent a copy to jim reese who was then the president of mount vernon and i said jim, before you read this i want to tell you that 150 page into this you may feel this is a negative portrait of George Washington when he was young. He was often rather crass and pushy and money conscious and status conscious. And i tried to have all of that in there. And jim wrote back a very thoughtful letter to me and he said ron, im so glad you were completely unsparing in this portrait of washington. He said the main problem with have with a million plus people who come to mount vernon every year, he seems like a plaster saint and hence unreal and boring. The most important thing to humanize him and when you humanize someone then their accomplishments seem that much greater because the reader can identify that this khark sister a person that has the same sorts of problems they did. And if you care about the person. I became interested in jefferson when i was in the third grade in texas. Im a texan, i should say. [ applause ]