the numbers. thomas woods is the author of nine books including the church and the market and the political incorrect guide to american history. this event was part of freedomfest 2009 held in las vegas. for more information visit freedomfest.com. ..

ohio university history professor kevin mattson recalls jimmy carter's malaise speech delivered in 1979. according to the author of president carter's response to his own popularity and the country's recessionary woes was a catalyst for the rise of the conservative movement and contributed to president carter not being reelected. busboys and poets in washington d.c. hosted this event, is 15 minutes. >> base for coming out, i will be talking about this book, "what the heck are you up to, mr. president?: jimmy carter, america's "malaise", and the speech that should have changed the country" non. i don't usually do just a ratings because i find that those are relatively boring. to hear some laundry from the book so what i'm going to do is give a fairly informal talk

about the main themes of the book and then i will read parts of it out to try to emphasize those areas that i think may be of most interest to you. the term malaise is probably the term that most of us associate with jimmy carter's presidency determine supposedly to have invented it and that has defined his presidency and one of the best is to understand the the long-term impact of this term to define his presidency, of course, is pop culture and i agree to talk a little about what is known as episode 80 of the simpsons. which focuses, one of its themes is focused on the citizens of a springfield want to have a statue of a live as president but, of course, they don't have a lot of money so they can get lincoln, they can get washington, the only thing they can settle on is jimmy carter and then there is in the unveiling of the statue where the pull the ribbon on and there

is jimmy carter shontae looking clothes, looking really sad and then below him are emblazoned the words malaise for ever. not only does that happen but then the citizens of springfield a scream out, he was a worse monster in history! and a tear down a set of shoe inserts mash of the windows and door to write so is a prime example of jimmy carter's legacy and a legacy of malaise. now, the source of the term is this page that jimmy carter gives on july 15th, 1979 so we are fast approaching his 30th anniversary and the typical take of historians is that this was a colossal mistake. a colossal error on jimmy carter's part of an essentially assured him to be defeated in 1980. i'm going to read a quote from historian who gives a the typical say, this is written a little while ago. here is the typical take on the

speech. by sermonizing carter seemed to be advocating his role as leader in planning the people themselves for their own collections. that is that jimmy carter was taking the blame of of his own presidency and putting on to the shoulders of the citizens and this is a standard tape of a speech in there for the kind of dodging speech essentially admitting he was weak and ineffective president. if you read the speech itself which many people don't talk about it you'll find that there is a lot in it where you can say this sounds like a president to is castigated the american people and i will read to a few highlights of the speech. he's supposed to be talking about the energy crisis and then all of a sudden starts talking about things like this -- we were self indulgent and consumption and we are mired in fragmentation and self-interest, this is not a message of happiness or reassurance but is it the truth and is a warning. i realize now more than ever i need your help.

you can say two things about that -- it sounds like he is saying the american people are and try to march by selflessness and consumption and so forth, but the second part is that jimmy carter is also admitting to his own witnesses and frailties and is not blaming the american people wholeheartedly as is often understood. now the real interesting thing about the speech is this -- as much as it sounds like he's lashing out against the american people condemning them for consumerism and materialism he gets a bum in his polls immediately following the speech of 11% and four jimmy carter this was rare, this never happened, this was really shocking. only does he get a bump in his polls, he gets tons of mail sent to the white house almost all favorable, the white house switchboard lights up immediately after he is down with a speech in almost all the calls are positive people saying and will run a moped and cut down on my energy consumption

and do what is necessary. so there seems to be a counter intuitive thing going on. jimmy carter goes out and condensed the american people in at the people seem to love it. if you want to put it that boldly and that is in some ways the conundrum i wanted to explore in this book. what i think it is time we read his speech, especially with a contemporary context of our own energy crisis. the general problem of revisiting this speech in revisiting jimmy carter is the problem of revisiting the 1970's. as the decade gao's i'm sure most of you feel this way the 1970's are known to start. they are a bad time. this is a time of decline in decadence and a time of superficial disco and so forth, there is a reason this was a kind of coming decade and in it many conservative scholars have also argued that there is a narrative that goes along with it that in the 1970's america fell away from its greatness, 1980 along comes a man in a row

of brick and saves in the country pointed out of its meyer and returns to greatness. the that is a fairly standard take that a lot of conservative scholars used to explain the time and the decade. one of my boat tries to complicate to both our understanding of carter in that the seven days by looking at the seven news not just as a time of decadence and discount which definitely was but also as a time of introspection, i think there was a lot of soul-searching going on in the '70s, it was a time when people felt comfortable being tough on america was, the films of apocalypse now francis, during this time, manhattan is a famous movie that jimmy carter in shows twice to the white house during this time, and there is a sense of humility that america has gone through a hard time for vietnam and watergate, it can perhaps return to something back and never return to the kind of innocence and i wanted have. there is a moral seriousness of the '70s i think to explore more

today so it is time to reevaluate the decade in time to reevaluate carter and the best way i thought to do this was to take a speech he was so well-known for and define his presidency and tried to explore and again and be a little more critical and reflective about it. the easiest way to think about the speech is as a critique of consumerism and abundance, getting in the way americans understanding the real problems of the energy crisis. there is an argument that we have become so reliant upon also feels and and to rely upon them and that we really need to confront the issue but until we understand our civic crisis we want to offend the energy crisis and there's also the thing we need to call upon citizens to embark upon a project of civic sacrifice, understand the limits placed upon the americans at this point in time in history, and to only doing that when we get off reliance of one oil.

now, here's the way and tell the story. when ever you commit to writing a book like this you are of purity that you may have an open yourself up to doing a lot of research that aren't very interesting, i have found this to be the exact opposite. this time that i focus on which is really april of 1979 to july of 1979 and carrying through to the election of november 1980, wants this is a crazy time. is a wild time. and there are three ways that you can understand as precious. summer of 1979 as a wild time. number what are gas lines, never to is the lead truckers' strike which was so important in defining the trailing time and number three is of the good old fashioned rights. you have all these three things happening to the course of time from april 2 july of 1979. let me start with the gas lies, they start a los angeles and

movies. it has something to do the rational system i will go into in detail about the let me give a sense of why to gas lines were like and what the spring and summer of 1970i like. especially at ease as they have come from los angeles. assuring that too your car has sufficient gas with something during the month of june in york, washington d.c. and the suburbs of jersey, search for an oven gas station, a 95% of the stations were closed, with a long line for up to six hours, they ran for miles in new jersey. get to the pomp and five have there is no gas laughed. and it's and i say why the truck was on whether resupplied punting for the right and those who saw the sign last car on a car that was last in line would go into a panic sometimes steal and put in there on carson hopes

of finally getting gas, they went out of their engines in long lines, one estimate was out that america's motorists in the spring and summer of '79 may have wasted 150 barrels of oil waiting in line. and then others ran out of gas before getting into line cussing are pushing to the palms and that included actually jimmy carter's press secretary jody powell to us into a gas line and i remember quite well when i interviewed him for this book. the gas lines are with a pregnant woman attacked in a los angeles -- line, but people murdered in gas lines, sometimes they will take their casting clocks and when someone cuts in front of them to try to get ahead it will russia and open their gas tank but their lock on, and drive away to the person can get gas into their own car. these places are crazy and the gas lines are crazy and chaotic. in addition you have a truckers' strike in as you can imagine independence truckers, not

unionized workers who are upset with the limited supply of diesel fuel and rising cost of diesel fuel. these two, the strike also turns violent. let me give a brief glimpse of the truckers' strike turned out to be. the truckers started to sink rivals out of their sleeping compartments as visit -- vigilante bounced a cold and on june 18 the man was shot and wounded in tennessee were refusing to join the strike of his later governors declared states of emergency because 29 trucks have been shot of and when shells smashed and tires brought in by bullets. on june 19 the minnesota damage a clear set of emergency in states of a violent strike that shut down gasoline and diesel fuel terminals and minnesota. these became a popular and ramadi simultaneously, the white house asked the fbi to please highways' that this could stop the shootings. trekkers on the tires shot at making them skidding three of highways during flips in the middle of intersections. one driver who pass striking

truckers was worn over is to be radio he was losing his right we'll hear you stop to get out and check and there was probably shock. when this is the violence that taking hold over the country during this time wahoo on a gas lines and in the truckers' strike. these two forces come to gather in june of 1979 and a good old-fashioned right and ironically enough and 11 town of pennsylvania the irony is we think of it as the tranquil serving community built in the 1950's to give the problems of urban violence away from this committee and this community just turns crazy. arab protests and engage in them and then this is what happens, this is when the culmination of the chaos is taking hold. the whole thing started with a man named bill weaver, a disc jockey in trenton, new jersey

station that broadcasts in bucks county residents where it is. a great at the gas prices we rushed inside the studio in the morning he took a sledgehammer and rusting nails and barricaded the door and started playing this song cheaper. or no more food over and over and over. for three hours straight. station owners pounded on the door well listeners called an inertial on fans ordered ap said that ali repoire shoved under the battered door. truckers called in their thanks. real goods paul harvey had pauperize the song earlier, by bobby butler. it had lines like this: where did the golden rule, stopped shipping food to the middies, until the ship as cheaper oil. it is a call for trade or senescence. one the song is a demise plane over and over field vader. but it's a bit of whether to give the people added to the streets of printed your rights and that is what happened on june 23rd.

by 631 trucker drove his rig into essential intersection of five points which is the central location, the police moved in order a trucker to leave and your views and they pulled him from his job by his legs, and, please, mention of the truck after the intercession and crowds of spectators cheered him as some started to tossed beer cans unsettling crowns search into the intersection and police moved to drive them out. the next is something worse happened here dwarves of stone and teenagers took over five points and a push mattresses into the intersection and let them on fire in tears from gas stations were thrown in and play shooting 30 feet in the air, kids dance and truckers and then as they crashed through a police barricade. mw kids set aflame and toss water mounts from a nearby farms and into the intersection on with rocks and smashed the the gas station post office. the push in part van into the intersection in georgia, they spilled oil from the gas stations and sprint, the air filled with smoke and bear bottles of firecrackers.

of one family can have a fishing trip during this time and the father gets out of his car to find out what's going on, the please tell him to get back in the proceeds to smash his widow, the 19 year-old son john dog and was walloped and the mother address to her about her son to find herself in a choke hold. there were 170 bareass and many more injuries that evening, levittown was a place of ordering in the words of one juror was a battle this is the chaos that this time appear in a fairly significant level of chaos. you didn't see any of that happening when we had our most recent state of gas price is going on and what's interesting is the chaos going on is also chaos going on in the white house. people are pulling on carter in different directions and trying to get him to move in one direction or the other in fortune for someone writing a history book they cast of characters is fantastic. it's an interesting cast of

characters there is the president's chief of staff, very colorful and controversial figure, there is jerry vashon, the famous public relations manager known for the term during this time. and jody powell, carter's mountain press secretary to assert eisenstaedt's a domestic policy adviser, walter mondale the vice president to also will proceed to have a nervous breakdown during this time, and also probably perhaps some well-known if you know that area jimmy carter's pollster pat can tell who is the mastermind behind pushing carter to make the speech as the desk. and now there are numerous fights within the white house over what carter should do to respond to the prices and the vice are acrimonious, they are brittle and one case there is a vine that breaks out then goes on for 10 hours in which mondale simply melts down and has to leave the room because he so completely freaked out within the administration. there are people screaming at

one another, expletives use, and it's a very complex will time. on top guys to give the story away about what one is in house of the big fight, but there are a number of these that are very crucial to defining how carter is trying to struggle with what is he should do with as he goes for and now bases the chaos the country is in to report of the story is a kind of story of wild excitement and to a certain extent if funds are to tell because there is so much fun the and also strange things going on. the more serious side is in this is one of the times in american history when ideas actually start to infiltrate the white house which i think is a rarity in many ways. this is 1979, the time of big ideas, the decade of me, the term the culture of narcissism, pioneered by the historian christopher lasch, and patrick adel is reading all these books.

reporting upon them to the president and i should getting the president to read these books including the culture of narcissism, cultural contradictions and rather difficult texts are read. we also know is jimmy carter was a speed reader and he probably didn't understand some of the things he was reading or didn't read them close and there to understand the complexities here it is nonetheless these guys are debating questions of civilization of decadence, a decline, the issue of divorce, the culture of disco for americaness value system will come on that talking about vietnam, talking about watergate and aims of national humanity and how do bass back after a crisis here and there is significant discussion going on and some are actually surprisingly date. what part is that the chaos and, within the white house and people applying for trying to influence the president and also

the story of ideas. that is going on to inform the speech. the final story is to look the people who eventually will lose which are obviously jimmy carter as comes to be in 1980, is also the part of the story i wanted to sell was the victors and the ventures are obviously ronald reagan and the rise of the new right which of corresponding with the time i'm dealing with 1979 and was perfectly. and one of the figures that i pay a lot of attention to when the book is jerry falwell, because he was really on a rise in terms of his popularity during this time. and also his friend, jesse holmes, who is working with him closely. falwell is known mostly for his television show the old-time gospel hour and this is the height of televangelist and but he also decides to embark during the same time in 1979 on a series of events as he calls i

love america rallies. for the first time he had been holding days all throughout the country but during this time he brings the i love america rallied to washington d.c. right to the steps of the capital and let me give a description of and i love america rally. as a this for two reasons to give a sense of what they like about also to emphasize that jerry falwell's view of religion is christianity are in some ways incomplete and absolute loggerheads after jimmy carter, they have very different views of christianity quote and a lot of this has to do with i think in some ways not necessarily theological the very difficult arguments about the meanings of christianity. here is the i love america rally that falwell holes on the steps of the capital. similar events had occurred and numerous state capitals but never one of the nation's capital. the choreography was reborn in the, flags were placed in rows

of the aisle of america singers most college kids gathered around decked out in red, white and blue costumes. the men wore identical ties, the women went billy dresses, they started passing the pace of our fathers and we will strive to win on the nation's and to the end of the truth that comes from god we shall then be truly free. they called nassau with america the beautiful and then jerry falwell would step out in front of a i love america sayers and friends of the huge set of american flags and would give his when i call his son jeremiah. in 1776 falwell explained 56 men and assign a document of the declaration of independence and a pledge beverages and lives in sigrid are two documents that four times specifically refers to dependence of this nation and on god, people would scream at andes mountains, usually this is choreographed, of course,. all well then it was derided the realities of efficient nation

fallen from the ban on prayer in public schools and that his close friend jesse helms wanted television shows like troy's angels which seem to be an obsession of jerry falwell which some call the thyssen ag's form appear he built up materialism is having a lot like carter somewhat. at home in a godless communism abroad and then he closed with a passage from chronicles, if my people which are paul by name shall humble themselves embracing my they entered from their wicked ways that will i hear from heaven and forgive their sins and heal their land. and there it was one, the assurance of salvation so long as the laws were reformed, new legislation one, and this and always corrected. this is a big difference between jerry falwell and jimmy carter. jimmy carter never believed that if you necessarily changed a lot that he would necessarily have the results of a redeemed country. in fact, jimmy carter found a

very awkward about making the argument that america was somehow the chosen people of god in. jerry falwell was willing to do that and clearly completed american nation with christianity. he was always very hesitant as much as he was a moralizers, very hesitant to line got purpose in the wild with america's purpose. now out of the aisle of america rally is dennis time and again we get the formation of the moral majority and we have of the rise of one is known as the new right during this time in many of the members of the new right were very sure jimmy carter was quite tolerable and a bunch of issues which in some ways didn't prove to be as right as if they wanted it but had a point. none of this would matter. jerry falwell's opposition, none of this would matter unless there was a candidate ready to articulate the concerns and win office. and, of course, we have that as well and that as ronald reagan.

during this time we heard are dealing with, ron reagan will start to take the lead in the republican party primary, he will start to pull ahead of a number of contenders. most famously essentially chasing to his side john connally and philip crane. it's also during this time he starts to cry to his own kind of right-wing populism as we've come to know today, he gives a famous speech and one in which he says it isn't the republican party of the country clubs but of main street, the small guy, kind of almost fdr forgotten man. and he also pioneers his attack by government are doing if we simply deregulates we open -- and there will be an abundance of oil in the united states an abundance of cheap oil. there's a lot of different issues going on for ronald reagan to define himself, their strategic arms limits talks,

there's questions of the the panama canal treaty, but is very clear one of the things ronald reagan does is he decides to define his candidacy with the term malaise. it's very clearly november 1979, so too does ted kennedy but in the end kennedy doesn't matter, ronald reagan does. here is his candidacy announcement in november of 1979 and this is where you're starting to hear jimmy carter's speech being used against him. taking the term malaise which was never used in trying to use it as a way to attack and ron reagan -- jimmy carter. for the first time in our memory many americans are asking does history still have a place for america for her people and for her great ideals? this is reagan as his candidacy -- there are some who concern no. that her energy is spent seven days of pre this at an end, that

they raise national malaise is upon us. as that one of those people who said no to dreaming in jaime becomes a team that runs throughout from reagan's speeches from 79. those people who said no reagan pointed that told our children not to dream as we once dreamed. but i find no national malaise he's insisted. i find nothing wrong with the american people. you got there something roth himself, the kind of humility that he had first sissons and himself. reagan had none of us, he had no sense of malaise and no sense of the eighth air off the american people. and, of course, it's in the optimism combined with regins right-wing populism that will leave him to win the 1980 election and take down the sitting president which is a fairly often act as people will

love. so the speech in many ways that becomes not just a speech about the energy crisis that place america at the time, it becomes a story of a turning point in our history. it's a turning point away from carter's evangelical humility toward the jerry falwells redemptive and trample nationalism in many ways. it's a turn away from carter's critique of consumerism and materialism and they turned to ronald reagan's celebration of the free market including free-market conservatism. quote one and i think it is precisely this idea that the speech number it is a turning point for history can help us to go back and asking many ways the question of what is the right turning point, where the country should have gone and i've been asked in numerous interviews about due to his speech is read today would be received positively and my sense of it is that actually can be received

positively. one as i taught a survey courses they react quite favorably, they find it to be interesting as one student than this guy seems to be talking honestly about america's problems and is in trying to cover things up and that's the part i want to tell in the book, there's also before i close and open to the questions, there's also a lot of other interesting characters and events that i can deal with. bob dylan is in there for anybody who likes bob dylan, he has a free gift evangelical time. it happens during this time and and back at a bob dylan is the pop culture is given to the jerry falwell during 1979. when there is woody allen who runs in and out of the narrative. john wayne dies and ron reagan and jimmy carter tried to say that he was there ever hear of. if there is what is known as the disco demolition rally in

chicago where tons of stones kids run onto the baseball field in the middle of a double header is are tearing up the turf and lighting the place on fire and line of disco records, this is fantastic stuff. bill clinton makes an appearance at to make carter's famous domestic summit and gives advice to the president's. the uav band have body turns disco during this time when investor law and i don't talk about the specifics on this, there is the killer rabbit is in it which is one of the best incidents in american history in nashua correlates with the time i'm dealing with here. so my intention is to tell a story i think has an entertainment aspect to eds what i also hope has a kind of serious element to it as well if that is i think again in a speech is part of a turning points. it is time to examine the turning point and ask serious questions. i'm going to read the closing part of the book and then be

happy to open up to questions if are any. this is high end and i don't think this gives away a bank that's in the book. we are still a nation dependent on foreign sources of oil and lacking national energy policy as searches for alternatives here and we may be getting there right now. the person just and that america has a generate a sense of national purpose and, good to read the prices dozens out of that distance to testify. we are still a nation of pressure with private self interest, who silviculture seems torn apart in nation's symbols alone as one placenta's recently described it and we are still a culture that prizes consumerism and materialism and pop culture seems distracting at best when one worse still one of us against making of america's greatest the simplistic terms as can be protected throughout the world without loebsack. so in the end of the book ends with a question about 1979 we are rizzo servant at the turn

taken was the right one and remember jimmy carter's speech today allows us to ask the question with a moral and poured it deserves. and that is the end. so i'm happy to have asked and -- answer any questions people have. [applause] if you have a question and, if you should get a microphone be used on people to have questions barrett is there anyone who wants to ask a question about the book? or about anything i said or is an opera so clear why? >> i am just wondering. [inaudible] one-way want [inaudible] [inaudible] awad.

>> as a good question and i didn't mention that have of firings because i was kind to try to focus on the speech but that gives an important component of the story kind of way. it's an important part obviously so jimmy carter gives the speech on july 15th and follows up with local speeches on the same thing and outlines a little when he wants to do on energy policy. he is also been told this is going on by hamilton jordan that he used to basically fire his entire cabinet. if jimmy carter decides to follow his advice and it's the biggest mistake probably he ever made. he remembers in that way and in his memoirs he said i handled

the cabinet firings in a horrible way, i didn't do myself any good and he is essentially admitting to the tax he made a mistake. the way average rate in the book is jimmy carter opens up his window of opportunity for today is and that is on the poll numbers go up and when the mail is coming in and everything is looking good. and he is almost as one set of observers pointed that kind of like roland barack of the hill and it comes down and probably goes further down. so he really by that point in time i think once he fires the cabinet and doesn't sloppily that is the moment at which i think in many ways he could not bounceback from. of course, we have a hostage crisis which are privately for those who know trend of prices jimmy carter lashley gain in popularity because they thought it was unfair to criticize the president with a crisis at hand here and, of course, as it takes forever for anything to happen and nothing ever happens under

his presidency that also kill some toward the end but i would say that when he had made a speech when he fired the cabinets and there is very clearly on the part of ronald reagan's tillers a sense that this is their moment, ronald reagan's pollster says i know of the moments when we can win this and came on july 15th because wicked frame this thing as an anti malaise candidacy. we could go out there and we could basically, jimmy carter, made him look weak, that's where the killer rabbits that comes in at that moment. and we can win this election so i really think this is the moment in which although there is still some time to go before we get to the defeats and that includes the hostage crisis this is the moment i think it becomes difficult for jimmy carter to bounce back from but he had a moment's that if he hadn't fired the cabinet's who knows? by serving don't think it would

have been as bad for him as a became was he fired at the cabinet's. >> [inaudible] >> the speech writers who were the ones who were most enthusiastic because it out like in some ways the hard work they had taken part in was being taken seriously and it felt kind of relieved in this almost all of his -- and there was a conflict going on within this administration and that was to jimmy carter gave a speech or simply try to solve the energy crisis reset the policies. those people who opposed to making this speech in the end said it was the right thing to do and i said it was a good speech, it was on the money, he did the right thing.

so it seems to be like most people identify now as a great step that he took off in a lot of them i think as a number of people who read the speech in passing say it seems about time that maybe could go back to win and not look at the speech with a sort of negative lens the way i think most historians do it and kind of sit on its own terms and also see some of its more positive aspects. i think they were induced someone seemed to be willing to spend time to write an entire book about the thing. >> [inaudible]

>> [inaudible] >> [inaudible] >> [inaudible] actually you are starting to sound like you actually read the comments that i made on undergraduate papers about how you have to stay in the past tense when you do history and should of with the present

tense. >> [inaudible] >> i am not surprised by that there it is my honor of slippage. i think that's the interesting point about all of this is that, of course, it is difficult to feel as if this is completely the pass and that i mean that seriously in the sense that as i wrote this book and was looking at obviously we don't have proper strikes and violence on a gas lines but we do seem to still have a lot of the same problems in terms of an energy crisis, popular culture that seems to be rapid, and so i think probably my slippage is sort of my contention with whether or not i feel entirely comfortable say this is about the past or whether this is also some about the present. >> [inaudible] >> i should have said he gave the speech.

>> [inaudible] >> in some ways to a certain extent that is the attempt to make history feel like it is alive in you define yourself kind of slipping into the present tense, largely i think because you do feel like you are describing some day that you can imagine at the moment and at the time. and so i guess i'm going to have to watch myself to this point. [laughter] 1i think it is that feeling that you are not quite talking about something that is in the past. william faulkner has quote that's the past isn't dead, it's not even passed yet. i think that is the view and i often have which is we always live with a lot of recurring themes that you can see play

themselves out throughout history. that's a good question. >> [inaudible] >> [inaudible] >> [inaudible] >> as a great question, actually it is a good question in large part because jimmy carter consistently said that harry truman was one of his favorite

presidents and not his favorites and i think that there are, there is a kind of similarity in stylebook bob in terms of any kind of sort of common sense to call a sort of approach. there is also a similarity in this way which is when they give him hell speeches that he is suing and the train rides, those were purely in the setting of an election. harry truman when he actually governed was pretty in some ways barely centrist, but a compromise and, not really as tough as the person he presented on the campaign trail was so i think in some ways you are getting into a persona that doesn't capture the entirety of harry truman necessarily, but is an important part. >> [inaudible] >> in his second term absolutely when he starts and i'm going to

investigate the possibilities of corruption with the war, absolutely. i think that's one of the things about jimmy carter was that his persona and mike kerry truman's was tied into being in outsider. he was not -- for one thing to say about jimmy carter even amongst those who dislike him what they will say is he was and perhaps. and harry truman with the machine, he may not have been put the machine was scrapped. as a grass was going to jail for tax evasion. >> [inaudible] >> there is no doubt that harry truman was not a correction or a wealthy man. nonetheless he was connected i

think to a machine that i think jimmy carter would have found to be absolutely upper who reprehensible and he wanted nothing to do with the machine politics. i think for both of them as a residence is also explaining in part why they had a hard time getting stuff done as presidents. especially on the domestic front. >> [inaudible] >> he had an awful lot he wants to accomplish there was no way he was going to get through pretty recalcitrants congress. the real fun a part of this is that jimmy carter has a democratic congress. harry truman had a heavily republican and fairly conservative congress to deal with. but it's a part of the jimmy carter's persona that he betrays himself as an outsider which actually i think makes it hard for him to govern, two actually get things done a. i think jimmy carter in this book argues is not necessarily

up front, jimmy carter and a great kind of moral vision that had a great deal of clarity to eds. what he did not have it was in the capacity to govern, the capacity to push things and those concrete solutions and that was also getting back to the first question probably one of his biggest troubles that he can never really over,. >> [inaudible] >> [inaudible]

>> [inaudible] >> [inaudible] >> absolutely, i think that jimmy carter i would put it this way, jimmy carter lightning in here and skills of politics to put bluntly, he was not lbj. he was good at campaigning absolutely and some people would criticize him to read this time of the speech which was that it struck them that he went to go back to campaigning rather than governing the country which is i think attention they seated out

his presidency but he was no lbj in the sense he couldn't put a lot of weight on people and couldn't get them to move behind things. but i have seen with ads we a greenwood, one of the things you can say jimmy carter was a critic irving but the quick call-up is who in that situation would have been better? it was a really difficult situation. with the watergate hitting so big and more and more details coming out as you proceeded through it jimmy carter's presidency when you have a congress that basically looks at watergate and says, my god, we cannot allow or executive power to grow any more than it is that it presently is, when you have a setting like that you have watergate, you have been on, you have the decline in public participation use either of the seven days he is reacting to, it is fair to say jimmy carter might not have had a lot of skills in certain areas, but are

we so sure we want to say that anybody else could have done a better job at that moment? it was a really difficult job. >> [inaudible] >> that's right into the fact that he wins in large part because of watergate also should be remembered is that it was way closer of an election that should have been which actually calls into question a little bit about how great of a campaigner he was because really he went in with a fairly high gap with a close and when they really shouldn't have, there should have been a setup election. >> [inaudible]

>> [inaudible] >> that is a classic tension between campaigning especially when as an outsider in someone who is not a part of the washington establishment and then when you get in to challenge how to transfer that kind of skill into actually governing. it's a tough tension in marks his presidency and pose a problem for him. >> [inaudible] >> a lot of people ask what you think of the present president in the context of this and one of the things clear during the inaugural address he echoed a lot of the things you hear in the speech, a crisis of confidence, on that.

but he also has a little bit of the reagan optimism who tossed in which i think helps them and i think he also seems at least so far but it's too soon to know obviously on this front but he also seems to have a little bit more of the political skill that jimmy carter just never mastered. that is a good question. on any other questions? that is absolutely right. any other questions? or points or observations, anything like backtracks if not, thanks for coming out and i appreciate you being here. the hope to see you next time. when [applause] one. >> kevin mattson is a contemporary history professor and at ohio university. he is the author of several books including upton -- "upton sinclair and the other american century" and "rebels all!".

his writing has been in several publications including the nation and the american prospect. for more information into read the authors blog this is kevin mattson blog spot.com. potomac books publishes redcoats revenge an alternate history of the war of 1812, elisabeth, senior editor at bantam books, tell us about this one. >> this is an alternate history of the war of 1812, would have happened if britain had won and basically the author is a retired colonel from a american army and people who posits that british would have sent over rawlinson one of the greatest generals ever to fight in north america and they would have occupied the white house, they

would have come through and america would have been a british condi so it is documented, is a thrilling story of what might have been in we have been very successful with all and histories and counter fragile histories which are, it seems like should be part of the realm of science fiction but, in fact, what it is is a way to look at historical documents and think about how history might have been difference here is so it opens a great question and is a great book for historians and people who love to read history. >> what other alternate histories have to publish? >> we are about to do one on the cuban missile crisis next. also one of the revolutionary war called britannia is this so we are excited, it has been a great progress. >> another new book potomac is publishing, is a victory. >> it is one of my rares, the women's land army in the pre duarte this is something that was a huge steel back in 1914 through 1917, the land are

restarted in britain. because it never food riots in the all the men were fighting of world war i in europe and there was a great food shortage and the united states women who were organized into terms of women's suffrage, temperance union is, of the way to which women organize and became channels into where movements supporting patriotism and america and good and so women said and we can go pharma on the farms, work on the farms into everything man can do and then will be free to fight. a lot of men did not like this, a lot of farmers to the white, a lot of government officials alike but the women persevered and organize themselves so there in 26 states land armies and they picked cotton in georgia, formed in new england, and mexico and california which had the vote for women and it's amazing story when. she's a journalist and she writes her the times and in different newspapers and she has

dance rhythm research all over the country. it's an amazing book, it's a really rediscovered bit of american history that people saw remember. >> one more book we want to look at, casting every votes, the most contentious elections in america's history. >> this is part of our political history less and robert dudley and eric shriver to jeff george mason and they are very into politics. and this book is in every close election in american history from thomas jefferson and john adams of the way to bush and gore. in some ways it is almost like redcoats revenge in terms of what might have been if the election had gone differently, is a great way to look at a lecture on history and is fun and accessible and the authors are great can i tell us very quickly about potomac books. >> potomac books is in virginia by the airport and we are in trade publisher, with a military history, we do political history, current events and a lot of great stuff appearance in

non. >> elisabeth, senior editor with the town of books. >> join the conversation "what the heck are you up to, mr. president?: jimmy carter, america's "malaise", and the speech that should have changed the country", news editor at the washington post accounts of the political careers of the john robert and ted kennedy, he profiles each kennedy brother and reports on a new generation of kennedys in politics. politics and prose bookstore in washington d.c. hosts in this event, it is 50 minutes. >> this evening everyone. i am karla, one of the owners of politics and prose and is great to welcome everybody here tonight and it's a chilly welcome vincent bzdek back there for his new book, "the kennedy

legacy". he is a news editor at features writer the washington post and the author of a recent book on nancy pelosi called a woman of the house hear it tonight, of course, we celebrate his new book. although we have copies of the woman of the house. [laughter] some might say not another book on the kennedys, but a year ago he founded that if there were no books about ted kennedy written in the last 10 years, and then put kennedy in the center of the remarkable family story where he deserves to be. as a turn as the boston globe journalist recently published a book about senator kennedy's career in the senate, the last line. vincent bzdek book is a wonderful companion book to that assessment because it focuses on senator kennedy is development as an individual and a family later. once a lifetime ago ted kennedy

was just a youngster with a famous name into charismatic brothers and now he is one of the great centers of all times, beloved by his fellow senators on both sides of the aisle. and he is mentor his family, his children, his nieces and nephews and many generations of young men and women who have worked in his office. want this family has dominated the lifetime of many of us here tonight. body and teddy particularly have stood for a vision of liberal alignment in america. i guarantee that you cannot read this book without crying. [applause] >> thank you, karla. thank you very much, karla. i live about less than a mile from here so it's really an honor to launch this book right in the neighborhood bookstore. my children, they frequently