with each other competent actively. how we expect women to deal with female candidates, you know, in terms of sexism or questions you pose out for female candidates. but also in terms of cybermedia you. social media, twitter, facebook. branding your identity on the internet. female candidates have to be much more aggressive inwd# how their image is portrayed or they don't want to be palinized is what you hear candidates saying. they don't to be looked at by their gender rather than the substance of their effort. >> leslie sanchez, thank you so much. >> thanks. >> biography harlow unger recounts the life of james monroe. he served two terms. was a decorated soldier in the

revolutionary war and would mor public positions than anyone in american history. this is 50 minutes. >> thank you very much. i'm truly honored to be here. i want to thank my publisher for making this evening possible. my thanks to c-span television. and borders bookstore, a landmark here at 57th street and park avenue in new york city. i'm particularly honored by the presence of several renowned authors, the wonderful alice fleming who's latest book is the biography of martin luther king, jr., "a dream of hope" and paul silverstone is here tonight. and one of america's greatest

biographers thomas fleming who's book is "the intimate lives of the founding fathers." i wonder what that is about. i'm particularly honored by having you all here because i know that some of you sacrificed the uñ$15,000 plate fundraiserr president obama tonight. i can only offer you food for thought but "the price is right." i'm sure you've all seen the famous painting of george washington crossing the delaware. and you probably remember there's a soldier standing behind him with the american flag in his arms. well, that soldier,.k that officer, is james monroe. and there were two symbolic reasons that the artist, john tremble placed monroe with washington as one of only two important figures in the painting. one of the only two figures

standing in that boat. now, monroe didn't actually cross the delaware in the same boat as washington. but trumble put him there to show him as the great hero of the battle of trenton under washington's leadership. trumble also put monroe next to washington as to recognize him as the second greatest and second most beloved president after washington in the early years of our republic. indeed, monroe was the only president other than washington to be elected without opposition.⌞ as with washington, americans trusted and loved monroe so completely that political parties disappeared, vanished. everyone voted for monroe. and yet if you asked the average american today to identify him, he or she probably wouldn't know who monroe was. one person suggested he was a point guard on a new york

knickerbockers basketball team and another he was marilyn monroe's father. it's tragic. and next to washington, the greatest. he was the last president to have fought and lived through the american revolution and as president, he transformed a tiny nation that washington had created into an empire that stretched from sea to shining sea. it was he, not jefferson, who bought louisiana. it was he who ripped florida from spain. and it was he, james monroe, who stretched america's frontiers to the pacific ocean. now, back to the battle of trenton for a moment. as i said, monroe didn't cross the delaware in the same boat as washington. he crossed earlier with a small squad that landed on the jersey shore to the north of trenton and circled behind the town

while washington landed with his troops on the river side below the town. now, what makes trenton so important is that the british almost won the war by christmas of 1776. their troops had overrun long island. thousands of american troops had deserted and the british had chased the remnants over the delaware. red coats were in sight. congress had fled to baltimore and began debating terms of capitulation to the british. the war was over unless washington could come up with a miracle. and he chose a young college student, lieutenant james monroe, to help make that miracle happen. they all crossed the delaware during a blinding snowstorm on christmas night. only six months after we had declared independence.

in trenton, 3,000 mercenaries had spent the evening celebrating. and because of the snowstorm, they went to sleep without posting centuries. at dawn, monroe and his squad sneaked up to the canon implacements, the main place washington would have to come up with his troops to capture the town. a soldier happened to step outside to do you know what? and he spotted them. he shouted, the enemy! they poured out into the snowstorm in their night cloths firing at monroe and his men. monroe fell wounded. he and his men fought them off until washington and his troops could fight their way up king's street and force them to surrender. it was sheer luck that a surgeon

happened to wander by, tied off an artery. stopped the bleeding in monroe's arm and saved his life. thanks to monroe and washington him an official condemnation and promotion to captain. thanks to monroe, washington won the battle of trenton. the victory rewildlife -- revived the moralel. for the first time our citizen soldiers with little or no training defeated a professional army from europe. congress returned to philadelphia and abandoned thoughts of surrendering. and when monroe was fell enough, he rejoined washington's army, fought heroic at brandywine where lafayette was wounded and monroe helped save the frenchman's life. monroe went on to survive the bitter winter at valley forge. and then served heroic at the battle of monmouth.

like george washington, monroe grew up in a modest virginia farm but after the war he decided against full-time farming. he went back to finish his education at the college of william and mary. and studied law under thomas jefferson. monroe then chose public service as a full-time career. the first american leader ever to do so. by the time he died, he had held more offices than any public figure in history. state legislator, congressman, ambassador to france, to britain. minister to spain, a four-term governor of his home state of virginia. u.s. secretary of state, secretary of war. and finally a two-term president of the united states, the fifth president. as governor of virginia, he became the second most powerful figure in america. virginia then was america's

largest, wealthiest and most heavily populated state with 20% of the american population. it stretched all the way to the mississippi river. and all the way up north to the great lakes. it was enormous. and the prestige and importance of its governor was akin to the governors of california, illinois, new york, and texas put together today. and monroe was not only governor of america's most important state. he was a national hero in the revolutionary war. in other words, he was a giant in his day. and i don't understand why historians ignore him, which is why i wrote this book. to restore him. to his rightful place in american history. as the most important president in the early days of our nation. now, some historians elevate john adams to historical

prominence and they deity thomas jefferson and george washington. but they were disastrous presidents. they left the nation worse off than it had been when washington seated acceded them to the president. john adams -- declared a naval war of the french. he strips americans of their first amendment of free speech and freedom of the press. thomas jefferson imposed a trade embargo that bankrupted the nation. and james madison declared war unnecessarily on britain. which had just signed a peace treaty. those three presidents left the nation still threatened on the north by british troops, threatened on the south by spanish troops.

and threatened in the west as indian tribes slaughtered farmers. it took monroe to end those threats and leave that still-small, still poor, still-undeveloped nation to greatness. it took monroe to transform that little nation into an empire. now, along the way to greatness, monroe fell in love with and married the beautiful elizabeth courtwright an american heires and she could hold her own with the best educated men in america. theirs was the greatest love affair in white house history. i mean, you talk about passion. let me put it this way, the history book club put the monroe story on the front cover and the first two pages of its christmas catalog.

it buried bill clinton and monica lewinski on the inside. the monroes adored each other. they were inseparatable throughout their lives together. everywhere he went, she was by his side. elegant in dress, having manners. she was the most beautiful, most elegant first lady in american history. also the most courageous. monroe was still a senator when president washington sent him to france to negotiate with the revolutionary government and elizabeth and their little daughter went with them. once in paris they learned that lafayette's wife was imprisoned and they sentenced her to death to the guillotine. monroe couldn't do anything about it without risking his dimatic status and liz bet took things into their own hands. she got in their carriage and in

an adventure from the movies, she drove through the paris mobs by herself, to the prison gates. she had a driver, of course, but she was alone in that carriage. and when she got to the prison, she demanded to see lafayette. and eventually won her release. elizabeth monroe was only about 5 feet tall, a tiny little lady. but the courage of a joan of ark. they called her the beautiful american lady. she helped lafayette's wife and three children flee france. they saved the lives of lafayette's wife and family. it's truly a thrilling story that i hope you read. on his next mission to france, a decade later, this time for

president jefferson, monroe went with $9 million from congress to negotiate the purchase of the island of new orleans. that's all he was supposed to do. so that farmers west of the appalachians could float their grain down the mississippi river for valleys markets. instead of buying an island monroe borrowed 6 million more dollars from an english bank on his own signature and doubled the size of the nation. buying almost a million acres. the largest territory ever acquired by any nation in history from another. peacefully, without a war. a million acres. and at a bargain price of 2 cents an acre. even in those days the average price for wilderness land was $2 an acre. the louisiana purchase stretched

the nation's boundaries to the rocky mountains and gave us ownership of the great mississippi valley. it was monroe not jefferson who engineered the louisiana purchase. and as president, jefferson took credit for the deal, of course, but he, in fact, almost cancelled it as you'll see in my book. he had to be talked out of canceling the deal. he thought it was unconstitutional, and it was, for the u.s. government to buy foreign territory. now, while james monroe was in paris buying louisiana at a bargain, elizabeth monroe was doing some bargain-shopping of her own. snapping up french furniture and furnishingings. the french revolutionaries had looted thousands of beautiful homes and chateaus and used furniture shops in paris had

piles of furniture at a bargain and later as first lady, she filled the white house with those priceless european treasures. it transformed it into the glittering palace today. you can see those pieces if you tour the white house today. stunning silver tray with magnificent candelabra that is still used for formal state dinners and her portrait by the way hangs in the east room on the wall opposite the podium that the president uses at his press conferences. as he answers reporters questions, he can stare over their ugly faces and be inspired by her beauty on the opposite wall. if you ever see him drool, you'll know why. one other great thing the monroes did on their second trip on paris was to save the lafayette family from destitution.

the french revolution had left him bankrupt. james monroe convinced the british bank to accept some land in the american wilderness as collateral and advance lafayette enough cash to recover financially. james monroe became america's fifth president, two years after the end of the war of 1812, in which the british invasion left the public buildings of our capitol gutted by fire. they called the war 1812 madison's war because james madison and his incompetent cabinet urged him to declare war on britain and invade canada instead of waiting for a peace treaty to arrive from england. in doing so, madison and his war secretary left the city of washington undefended. when he realized his mistakes, madison pleaded with monroe to become secretary of state.

and then to become secretary of war, to hold the two secretaryships simultaneously. monroe all but galloped the battle to prevent the british to march to washington but it was too late. they protected baltimore the next target city. the battle raged through the night but by the dawn's early night the flag was still there thanks to the brilliance of james monroe. but the capitol building and the presidential mansion as it was called had been gutted by fire. they slatterd on thick coats of white paint to cover the blackened exterior of the president's house and that's when the house got its name the white house for the first time. and it was elizabeth monroe, the

first first lady to live in it after the war who decorated it and furnishished it and turned it into america's most beautiful home. while liz by the was refurbishing the white house, her husband was refurbishing a nation devastated by war. reinforced existing defenses he expand our boundaries to the natural defenses of the oceans, lakes, rivers and mountains that surrounded the continent. he sent andrew jackson and a small army to seize florida from spain. then forced spain to redraw the western boundaries of the louisiana territory to extend into the rocky mountains and northward to the pacific ocean. for the first time since they declared independence, americans

were secure from attack by foreign troops. and they streamed westward over the appalachian mountains into the wilderness to claim their share of america. buying up wilderness lands from the government and carving out farms, harvesting furs, timber, orr in an era when land, not money, land was wealth. the land rush added six states to the union and produced the largest redistribution of wealth in the annuals of man. never before in history had a sovereign state transferred ownership of so much land and so much political power to so many people not of noble rank. and with land ownership, americans gained the right to vote, to stand for office, to govern themselves, their communities, their states and their nation. you couldn't vote -- and you couldn't stand for office if you didn't own land.

if you owned land, you owned the nation. to ensure success for the land rush, and perpetuate economic growth, monroe promoted construction of roads, turnpikes, bridges and canals that linked every region of the nation with outlets to the sea. it transformed the american wilderness into the most prosperous, productive nation on earth. the economic recovery converted u.s. government deficits into such large surpluses that monroe abolished all personal federal taxes in america. monroe's presidency made poor men rich. he encouraged the arts and fine music. and united a divided people as no president had done since washington. and never would again perhaps until the second world war. political parties dissolved,

disappeared. americans of all political persuasions rallied under a single "star-spangled banner" and re-elected him to the presidency without opposition. the only president other than washington to win the presidency without opposition. he created an era never seen before or since in american history. an era of good feelings. they called it then. that propelled the nation and its people to greatness. after he had built american military and naval power to levels that made our shores impregnable, monroe climaxed his presidency and startled the world with the most important political manifesto after the declaration of independence. the monroe doctrine. monroe warned the world that the united states would no longer permit foreign incursions in the americas.

and, in fact, he used diplomatic language to reiterate the warning of the coiled rattlesnake on the flag of his virginia regiment of the war, don't tread on me. it was unprecedented in world history. the monroe doctrine unilaterally extended america's fear of influence over one-third of the globe, the entire western hemisphere. in effect he told the world, we would not meddle in their affairs but don't tread on ours. they would trade with us and trading with the americas than trying to conquer us. although monroe infuriated some foreign heads of state he left americans wild with joy. giving him universal aclamedication.

henry clay and sometime opponent of monroe, he said you have made me prouder of my country than i ever was before. now, some of you i know are wondering about the slavery issue. and monroe like washington and other virginia planters owned slaves. but considered slavery immoral. but saw no way to end the practice without a bloodbath. a lot of buts. but -- i'll use one myself. the first thing to remember is that slavery was not an american institution. it was british, french, and spanish. americans inherited it after it was 200 years old. virginians had actually voted to ban slavery in the early 1700s. but the british government of good queen ann overruled the act largely because the royal treasury depended on revenues

from british slave traders. in the decades that followed under the three king georges, virginians petitioned time after time to end slavery importation. the georges refused. ironically, the increase in the number of slaves was more of a burden than a benefit to most virginia planters. slaves were usually unskilled. and unable to speak english. and they had fewer incentives to work than peace workers in the north. and as they aged and fathered children, they added enormous numbers of nonproductive infants and elderly to the population that the planters had to support.

in only 50 years, from 1720 to 1770, just before the american revolution, in those 50 years, virginia's slave population grew almost eight fold from 25,000 when the problem was still controllable to nearly 200,000 or more than 90% of the white population. virginians owned 40% of all the slaves in america. and with slave traders streaming up the james river, virginians feared that blacks would soon outnumber whites and stage an uprising that would end in a bloodbath. so most virginia planters wanted to end importation of slaves and get rid of the ones they had. but where would they go? 200,000 people in the north -- there were plenty of cities with crafts men shops and factories

with apprentice shops. the end of one road to one plantation led to the only beginning to the road of the next. so where exactly were the slaves to go. how would they feed and clothe themselves. where would they live. the only jobs in the south were for field workers. it was the widespread fear of slave rebellions that sparked the idea of resettling blacks in africa. and in 1817, the year after monroe's presidency a group of southern plantation owners joined with northern abolitionists to form an alliance called the american colonization society to purchase and emancipate slaves and transport them to africa. at a president monroe's urging congress appropriated $100,000, a lot of money then, to fund an

agency to return africans captured from slave traders to return them to their native lands. in 1821 the colonization society bought a large tract of land at the mouth of the st. paul river in present day liberia. as a temporary haven for returning slaves. and expecting them to set off in their native villages in the interior. but after three, four generations in america they didn't know where their native villages were so few actually moved into the interior. and the settlement eventually grew into a city that they named monrovia to honor the american president. unfortunately, the work of the colonization society started about 40 years too late. the economy of the south had converted from tobacco to cotton. tobacco plantations had depended on skilled hands to grow, harvest and treat the tender crops, which usually forced

planters to foster worker contentment by providing adequate care for worker families including nonproductive children and the elderly and crippled. cotton changed all that. changed the economy and it changed slave existence dramatically. cotton fields required no skills. no skills to plant or harvest. they absorbed women, children, the elderly as long as they can stand, walk or crawl. cotton opened also agriculture to a new class of grower. almost every white man could join. all he needed a patch of land a whip and enough money to buy a slave. white laborers and crafts men who had traditionally opposed slavery as free labor that deprived them of jobs suddenly became its champions. buying their own small pieces of land and a slave to work it, free of anticipate costs other

than subsistence nourishment and living quarters. cruelty replaced paternalism across the south. the crack of the whip could be heard across the fields. violent revolt against the crackers became as inevitable as violent cracker opposition to abolition. the slavery issue had become insoluble. the efforts of well meaning men like washington and monroe had come 120 years too late. beloved as he was james monroe died almost penniless he considered service to his country as his sacred obligation so like washington he refused all pay for serving in the revolutionary wars all without pay. later as america's ambassador to france he bought a fine house in paris to serve as both the u.s. embassy and living quarters for the family.

assuming congress would reimburse him. he was wrong. throughout his career in public service, he covered the costs of his office, always assuming he'd be reimbursed and he never was. when lafayette came to visit the united states in 1824 and heard of the outgoing president monroe's financial plight, he responded immediately. my dear monroe please let your best and your most grateful friend lend you some resources to put your affairs in order. remember, that when i was in similar circumstances, i accepted your help. that should give me the right to reciprocity nest pas? monroe was deeply removed and far too proud. my dear friend, he told lafayette, i can never take anything from you nor your family. i've known and seen too much of yours and their sufferings to

create such an outrage. if i ever visit france, i shall make your house my home for a good long time. like jefferson monroe sold his beautiful virginia plantation to pay his debts. and he then moved into the house of his daughter and son-in-law here in new york city where he awaited death penniless but free of debt. as he lay dying, he found enough strength to write to his old friend in virginia, the former president, james madison, for whom monroe had served as both secretary of state and secretary of war. but they had known each other since they were young men in their 20s. my condition renders restoration of my health very uncertain. it is very distressing to me to sell my property for besides parting with all i have, i deeply regret that there is no prospect of our ever meeting again. we have for so long been

connected in public and private life in the most friendly way that a final separation is among the most distressing incidents which could occur to me. monroe's letter so upset the aging madison that he replied by returned courier, the pain i find us never meeting again afflicts me deeply associated as it is a recollection of the long, close and uninterrupted friendship which united us. the pain makes me open that you may be brought back to us. this is a happiness my feelings can you have. -- covet. i will not despair that you cannot keep up your conviction in virginia. monroe died a few weeks later on july 4th, 1831, at the age of 73. the third american president to die on a july 4th. and the last of the revolutionary war presidents.

in his eulogy to monroe john quincy adams and adams had served monroe for eight years as his secretary of state and had grown very close to him. in his eulogy to monroe quincy adams told americans to compare the map of north america in 1783 with the map of that empire as it is now. the change more than that of any other man living or dead was the work of james monroe. behold him strengthening his country for defense, sustaining her rights, dignity and honor abroad soothing her dissensions and conciliating her absurdities at home and strengthening the edifice of his country's union until he was entitled to say like augusta caesar of his imperial city that he had found her built of brick and left her clad in gleaming marble.

such my fellow citizens was james monroe, the last of our founding fathers. thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. [applause] >> thank you. i'll be happy to take any questions. yes, sir. >> i think you've answered -- i think you've answered your own question let me feed it back to you to see if you agree as to why he didn't gain notoriety. which it comes from several things, scandal, military victories, or controversy. well, he seems to have avoided all three of those things by very good, skillful diplomatic -- getting people to cooperate, all sorts of wonderful ways of getting things done without getting himself that kind of notoriety. >> that may be one answer. i think another is that he's

very, very difficult to write about. he just did his job and didn't seek a tremendous amount of publicity as did some of others that people have written about. yes, sir. >> yeah. in your book you describe the end of the party system under monroe. and the consequences i think are fairly calamitous and it's kind of make an instructive lesson in our times. could you speak a little bit more about the causes of the -- was it the british invasion of washington or was it the antifederalists telling over the federalist positions? >> the two are unrelated. the first question really is about the end of parties, which was the result of monroe bringing everyone together and unig

unight -- uniting of building the country. there was, unfortunately, consequences of that. with the disappearance of political parties, the members of his cabinet, unfortunately -- he was too honest a man and after two years of his second term he said he wasn't going to run for a third term. he had a perfect right to do so at the time but he said he wouldn't. the members of his cabinets all started eyeing his seat. and they became -- their political ambitions came to the fore. and with no political party system left, he had no way of disciplining them other than to toss them out of the cabinet or toss them out of his office. there was no party structure left to discipline any of these potential candidates. and that was one of the unfortunate fallouts, of course, with the election -- all of them but one, one of them died before the election but all of them --

four of them ran and no one got a majority -- the necessary majority in the electoral college so it went into congress and congress gave the election -- they voted for john quincy adams over andrew jackson even though jackson had had a plurality of votes. but he didn't have -- he didn't have the necessary majority. so adams was elected and jackson had to hold off for four more years. now, the other question was the -- was the war of 1812. and that had nothing to do with political parties. that had to do with madison's incompetence as a president. he had been secretary of state for eight years under jefferson. so ed no real experience running the nation. he hadn't had to make the major decisions jefferson had made. and he was simply incompetent. so he took on -- he left jefferson -- most of jefferson's

cabinet in place. and took on some political hacks. especially the secretary of state, the new secretary of state. he replaced himself with one of a republican leaders of congress. and that secretary of state did a disastrous job. the british had signed a peace treaty with the americans in london. and it takes a month -- it took a month or more for ships to cross the atlantic before the ship could bring the copies of the treaty here, madison was talked into invading canada to show off how strong we were. and, of course, it was a disaster. >> you alluded at the beginning of the fact that most americans don't recognize him as one of the great presidents.

in fact, they don't recognize him at all. what do you think is the reason for that? >> well, i think the other gentleman asked that question. i think the reason simply is that historians like to cover exciting battles, a lot of blood, a lot of action. and tend to ignore the solid work of hard-working political leaders. i think that's probably still true. people get elected a lot on clamour rather than competence and clearly was a man who was elected for his competence. yes, sir. >> he lived for several years after he left the presidency. do we have any idea how he felt about his successors?

>> well, deep inside favored john quincy adams. he had worked with adams for eight years. and in those days, the secretary of state was the most important figure in government after the president because we were surrounded by foreign powers. and the secretary of state had a very, very important role in dealing with the rest of the world. and john quincy adams had been working in or with -- the diplomatic service since he was 17 years old. and was with him when his father was in france. so clearly adams was the most competent in foreign affairs and monroe was quite pleased that adams won. he really favored adams. but stayed out of the election. he did not feel that it was the role, as did washington, that a sitting president has any right

to get involved in an election for a campaign for his successor. yes, sir. [inaudible] >> monroe sort of made a tour of the united states. i suppose, to sort of help -- but that put him out of washington and out of touch with what's going on for months at a time. and very difficult for communications back and forth. is that just a sign of the times? or is it the fact that maybe those decisions were being made by other people in washington? >> that's a wonderful question. because in those days, people in washington were not the ones who were doing things. they were there for a very short time. they did not feel their role was to keep passing laws after laws after laws. they went there -- they did their business and they got home

to their farms. most were planters and farmers. there were doctors and lawyers and bankers. they had full-time jobs. this was a part-time job. so not much was going on in washington. what was going on was in the rest of the country. and monroe, like washington -- remember, there was no television, no email, no communications. the only means of communications were these newspapers, weekly newspapers, that would come out weeks, often months late with the news. like washington, monroe did not want the presidency to become an monarch with a monarch sitting in his castle in a cocoon away from the from all the people. he went out to meet all the people. and that's why he was so loved. because he became a people's president. he went out there into the farm land and shook their hands and walked with them over their fields.

and became one of them as washington had done. these other presidents had sat in philadelphia and then later in washington as they do today. as do the congress men and women today. they sit in washington. they're isolated from people. they are not in touch with the people. monroe wanted to be in touch with the people. and as a result, he found out what they wanted. and provided it for them. yes, sir? [inaudible] >> monroe is obviously a man of great accomplishments. he considered to be his finest accomplishment? >> no, he never talked about his accomplishments or about himself. he was a very -- everyone who knew him all say he was a very modest man.

a gentle man. yes, sir, in the back. >> the louisiana purchase, other than for money, were there multiple reasons france was willing to part with the territory and additionally to that, the population of the territory, to what extent was it colonial frenchmen? and distinct from others? >> very few colonial frenchmen -- although there were some, but this was the big difference between the english and the french and the spanish. most of the english settlers came to settle. most of the spanish -- most of the spanish immigrants to the americas and the french came to find treasure of one form or another. in the case of the spanish, they wanted orr, precious orrs and

they found in south america and mexico. but they weren't -- they had no tendency to settle. the british were content to settle here. perhaps because they came from a crowded island. i don't know the reason. but they were truly settlers. the reason the french were willing to give it up for such a small price and get rid of it was napoleon had had it up to here with the colonies. his army led by his brother-in-law were slaughtered by an uprising of haitians. and jefferson threatening and madison was secretary of state so he actually made the threat that there were rumors that the spanish were going to retroseed the louisiana territory to the french. they'd actually had done it but we didn't know about it.ö those rumors set off other rumors that napoleon was going

to send tens of thousands of troops over here to put up a barrier along the appalachians to keep americans from moving west. and then settle louisiana. madison said he could -- announced that he would have 200,000 citizen soldiers on the mississippi before napoleon could get his troops over here. so combined with the french -- with the haitian uprising and now he was getting his -- he was -- he was getting defeated in spain, the english had intervened in spain and were pushing the french out of spain and he realized he had too much -- he extended his forces too far and too wide. and he said, literally, that hell with the colonies. hell with coffee. hell with all the products and

sugar of haiti. and he decided to let that territory go. [inaudible] >> it went both ways. there were hints. the problem was that talleyrand who's this wily foreign minister was getting involved in the negotiations. and napoleon didn't trust him. and the americans didn't trust him. so this thing went around in circles and it was finally the goes between napoleon's own representative and monroe that settled the deal. [inaudible] >> yes, sir. >> yeah, you mentioned on his way to france to purchase the area of new orleans, he also signed -- he took out a $6 million loan. what did he use for collateral to make that purchase? >> just his signature.

he could talk people into anything. he was this mild gentle fellow. one can only guess what the accents were like in those days. were they part british, were they the soft virginia accented that still there when i was a boy and it's disappeared when i was a boy. you just trusted the man. and he just talked them to lending him $6 million. [inaudible] >> he certainly tried to be. yes, sir. >> monroe started out being against the constitution because it gave too much power to the federal government. and he winds up buying louisiana and florida, going beyond the powers granted by the constitution.

did he ever address these subjects or explain himself? >> nor did any of his predecessors. they all violated the constitution and they continue -- they continue to violate the constitution. every branch of government has violated the constitution since day one. washington had no authority to send troops to crush the whisky rebellion. he had no authority to demand that congress give him control over the executive departments. john marshall, when he became chief justice, had no constitutional authority for declaring half the state laws unconstitutional. there's nothing in the constitution that gives the supreme court the right to declare laws unconstitutional. it does give congress the right to pass laws that negative state law. but it doesn't give the supreme court that right.

and every supreme court, every president, and every congress, every senate and every house of representatives has usurped the powers not granted by the constitution. sadly, most of them do indeed think as our former vice president said that the constitution is a quaint document. but it's impractical in times of emergency and it's impractical in terms of day-to-day politics. well, i thank you all very much for coming. [applause] >> and thank you. i'll be happy to sign books for you. >> harlow unger is the author of several biographies.

he served as a foreign news editor at the new york hellard tribune overseas service and as a foreign correspondent for the times and the sunday times of london. to get more at harlowunger.com. >> here's a look at some upcoming book fairs and festivals over the next few months.

>> every year the national press club hosts an author night. we're here with steve levine author of "putin's labyrinth." you talk about culture of death in russia right now. you want to talk about that? >> sure. the best line -- the best way to understand, i think, what's going on in russia and what's been going on for the last several years is to look through the lens of murder. and what i argue is that -- is that under putin, under vladimir putin, that there is a culture, a structure in which murder and death occurs with impunity.

and it goes on with the indifference of the russian people. and i call that the culture of death. >> and why does that occur? why don't the russian people know? >> they do know. but it's been going on for centuries. they've learned -- i track it back to ivan the terrible. and people are so accustomed to hardship in their lives, to death, to famine, to all kinds of -- all kinds of terrible hardships that we never encounter. so if there is something that happens to someone very close to them, to your relative, to your mother, to your aunt, to your daughter, you care. if it's a murder, of someone next door, of the village next door, maybe you could care. but you don't care. and you go on with your life. >> you profile six lives and deaths of six different russians in the book. do you want to talk about one?

>> sure. what about paul. he's a good one because he's an aberration. paul was the editor-in-chief of forbes. the forbes russia edition. grew up in new york. his background is russian aristocrat. totally romantic about russia. he went -- he went back there thinking that he was going to live the life that his uncles, that his grandfather described as he was growing up. and he -- and he -- what he found was the chaos of russia under yeltsin. so that when putin became president, he cheered. he was a huge fan of putin and he described him that way in his articles in forbes. then when he was murdered, this was very dramatic.

a fan of putin's be murdered? and putin himself in the other murders that i describe -- putin totally indifferent about these deaths. and he even in the -- in his interview about the death of anna, another subject whose murder i describe -- he was dericive about her but with paul, he actually went to new york when he was in new york after his death -- he visited with the widow. and he expressed his sympathy. and what did this tell me and what it tells one is that the culture of death is bigger than putin. it's even bigger than putin. >> jim lehrer, what are you reading? >> well, i'm just now finishing dan brown's "the lost symbol,"

chifb reading, end quo quote, reading it in the court. it's actually holding in my hand is a book about running that the japanese novelist wrote. and the title is "what i think about when i'm running." i'm not a runner. but it's about what is going through his mind and all of that. it's nonfiction. and i always try to have a nonfiction and a fiction thing going at the same time. and that's where i am. >> now, i fully expected to hear some public policy title from you. >> i read that public policy stuff but that's for my job. and i do that -- i do that on company time so to speak. no, all of that is very important to me, obviously, you by i read for a living. and on my own time, i read for joy. >> jim lehrer of the newshour.

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