happens to these guys when they come back if you can tell us how they adjust to life after the scene they had to deal with. thanks. >> guest: they just finished their last appointment. one guy, brendan, got out of the army. he had a rough time when he came back. a lot of problems. as he was in the gulf but he is doing ok now. they did have a hard time even going back to their base in italy. ironically, many of them really missed the struggle. they missed being out in combat. they have adapted to extreme reality and that eventually was the situation they were most comfortable in and the

transition to their base initially was difficult. >> host: what is a half kick? >> guest: a bar in new york city the bill with some friends in 2000. we just had our tenth anniversary. we have author readings there. we have photojournalism exhibits. there is a lot of journalism, people publishing and books who go there. >> host: where is it located? >> guest: tenth ave. >> host: often are you there? very fair amount. >> you can read him in vanity fair the post presidential life of dwight eisenhower. the co-authors discuss with president eisenhower did during his retirement in gettysburg

pennsylvania and share his thoughts on politics and the state of the republican party. david eisenhower and julie nixon eisenhower prison their book of the nixon presidential library in yorba linda california. the program is just over an hour [applause] >> thank you very much. it's a pleasure to be here. i salute the veterans and the people in the armed services who are still in uniform introduced in many different ways. julie eisenhower is about the best introduction by can think of. the hidden great friends through thick and thin. i think their next venture should be skin-care products because i've known them since 1973 and they do not look one day older than they did then. something is going on here. today is veterans day. we remember the men and women that of our war every single one of them and every single battle.

today, not the actors who lives a few dozen miles west of here are the stars that keep america brent and the battles they fought and still fight or. of all battles america ever fought, we as a nation have never fought a bitter war mechem the invasion of nazi occupied europe. one of the great military ventures of all time, certainly one of the very most consequential because of its dramatic effect on victory in europe and because of its meaning in keeping the major countries of western europe free of communism after. the key figure in this campaign is the anglo-american fighting man. but of all of these, the key man was dwight david eisenhower. david has chronicled the period spectacularly already and it's a classic of history and biography. rightly what he called the crusading europe general eisenhower went on to become one of the great presidents of american history. peace, progress and prosperity

was the republican slogan in 1956 and was a great summary of the nation that eisenhower were led from 1953 to 1961. he kept us out of the war when it seemed inevitable. he kept a tight lid on government spending and government deficits were either new or tiny on his watch >> the budget surplus was richard nixon. >> most of all, the nation made a u-turn for one of the most explicitly racist nations on earth in 1954 towards integration and racial equality after 1954. this was a turbulent time in which the deep were invited they could have led to the national catastrophe. the fact that the nation may change fairly smoothly is that i believe to be miraculously sold and strong leadership by president eisenhower. other leaders talk the talk and walk the walk. >> i was just on cnn with larry king, a good friend of julianna

and david and someone was saying president obama a bitter campaign for president? and none of the commentators on the show set of course he is a better campaigner because all you have to do when you are a campaigner is talk and when you are a president you have to do something. [applause] but this is in on president obama. the other leaders talk the talk and all like walked the walk. he didn't just talk of getting things done he got them done without hype and dramatics and he left us in 1961 a nation in better shape in many ways than it would ever be again. but what did president general eisenhower want to be called after he left office? that is what david and julie's book that we are talking about today is about. it is a biography and a memoir was a beloved general who left office how he appeared as extremely phenomenally attempted grandson and what it was like as

a man elder statesman, husband, father, grandfather and human being. no man is a hero says the famous quote but while she's here to david and to the whole world, david and julie to the great biographical surface of letting us in on some ways to dwight eisenhower was more of a suburban dad and granddad more like ozzie nelson the in a five-star general routine, his taste in literature, he famously left westerns, everyone knows that but only those who know when and is his obsession with bridge, and even his own playing it perfectly to it's fascinating to see how he worked with such extraordinary gentleman restraints of policy but in a way party personalities. i would tell any more about the book. this is david and julie and's show. let's just say this is a serious book and the fact it has hilarious moments, genuinely laugh out loud moments how he deals with it.

it makes it all the more serious. this is a portrait of a man and a hero. this is an uplifting book to read because it describes the genuinely great man. but there was also to be a disturbing book because we don't seem to have many men or women of his character and self discipline on the scene right now. he is a man-made of greater stuff than we seem to have now. from greeter times than we have now. perhaps we can use this book as a yardstick to measure present and future national leaders. if we do, i'm afraid they are going to look pretty puny. our satloff, but with a gift to have had general eisenhower. now i introduce you to too great friends and biographers, david and julie eisenhower. [applause] >> thank you.

[applause] >> it is so wonderful to be back in yorba linda and to be here with so many special friends, with my uncle and my aunt, cindy quinn, my beloved honor a sister, and also to have carl anthony with us. he is the foremost historian on first ladies, and when dave teaches his class at the university of pennsylvania, carl anthony is the first one poster in projects on first ladies consult. but most of all, i mean, aren't we lucky and many things in life but to have somebody like been -- ben stein as a friend. [applause] the best through thick and thin and we loved his parents, mildred and herb stein.

when we signed a early copy to ben when we knew he was going to be a will to come to yorba linda to do the introduction we inscribed in memory of heard and meldrim because they were in the nixon administration, part of the whole group of extraordinary men and women who served the country so well in those years and i think they represent so many great qualities about this country. as dan mack said and sandy said so eloquently it is veterans day and so david and i would like to dictate our talks to amend and women serving today to make us so proud to be americans every day. [applause] >> of course you know that eisenhower and nixon were wartime presidents. when i collected and 52 america was at war in korea. when my father was elected in 1958, we were deeply at war with

vietnam. we fought more than half a million, 550,000 young men were fighting in vietnam when life author took office. believe me, not one day went by during my father's presidency until the war ended in january january 1973 that my family didn't think of the troops and didn't think the 591 pows who were suffering in north vietnam and who my father refused to abandon. i think that you can understand why one of the most moving things that has happened to me since my father left the presidency was to meet a former p.o.w. from san diego with few years ago and he told me that whatever they have their reunion that he and his comrades, quote, we always said a place at the table for your dad. [applause]

now the book that we present today, going home to glory, is a five-star general dwight d. eisenhower and this is an individual who knew better than anyone the pain and agony of sending men into battle, and i think one of the most moving stories in the book is how in 1963, ike went back to normandy to meet walter cronkite and to recapture the day 20 years later. and he was getting ready to go out there to the american cemetery overlooking omaha beach. you know the scene, row after row of markers and crosses, and he told a cbs producer fred friendly you know, tomorrow i've got to go out there and speak to these families who lost sons and husbands and fathers at normandy. alladi who came out of the war with enough glory to carry me on to other things.

and he was agitated, he was humbled. and somehow though in the morning when he did go back to those beaches this is what he said and written to capture it well. he said i devoutly hope that we will never again have to see scenes such as these. these young men gave us a chance and they bought time for us so that we could do better than we've done before so i feel about the date 20 years ago now i say once more we must find some way to work to gain and the eternal peace for this world. [applause] those are the words of dwight eisenhower. he was an incredible figure and that is why i'm so glad i had an opportunity to work with the fifth on this book. we've had a partnership and marriage for 41 years, but i have to say that the highlight so far has been the opportunity to do this book to get their.

so i feel a little bit sentimental being here at the nixon library because 100 that richard nixon still in the navy uniform in 1946 to run against an incumbent. does it sound familiar? kind of almost 80 party sense that the end of the war they were fed up, they wanted change, they wanted new people. richard nixon was in that class, and the reason i say i feel sentimental being here and the book is that let's face it david and i are together because that magical pinch of politics sprinkled over our lives and we were 8-years-old when we met. it was the 1957 inaugural show of dwight eisenhower and richard nixon and there are even photographs of a stake in the day to prove that we were there. there is a picture of david staring at me because i had a great big black guy.

[laughter] i had been in a sledding accident the week before. there had been snow in washington and i lost control of my sled and went into a tree so i had a beautiful shiner. so when the photographers gathered that that inaugural parade to take a photograph of the president and his grandchildren with his vice president and tricia and me, president eisenhower leaned down to me and whispered now, julie, you look this way and they won't see your black eye so i looked this way at an extremely acute 8-year-old and they took the pictures, and when david and i were engaged in years later president eisenhower gave me a framed copy of the total and here is what he inscribed on it, to julie nixon, leaving them unknowingly seemed to have gained an ad -- admierer but it wasn't until quote we finally got together because she wore

her grandson down, you've got to look to the up. so david can afford to call on me at smith college and took me out for a dish of ice cream, discovered he spent all of his money on the cab ride over. i had to pay for his chocolate and my strawberry. [laughter] so the weak leader he got up the courage to come back and had one of those experiences that almost the real of the romance. david recalls even he felt a little bit sheepish when he presented himself to the young woman on duty in my dorm and said hello, david eisenhower and i would like to see julie nixon, and the girl gave him a long look and said yeah, and i am harry truman. [laughter] ..

what i decided to do today was to just share with you just a tiny bit of ike's with him because he just wasn't shy about sharing his little maxims on life with his grandson or with me or any of the young people he came into contact with, so i had fun gathering for of ike's lessons on life i called them and if you listen to them i think you will agree that there are great lessons on life but they are also good for relationships and partnerships. after all, ike and mimi were married for 52 years.

first lesson from ike. stand firm and stand for some thing. have principles. he called them the building blocks of character, hard work, worthy ambition, commonsense, integrity integrity and moral courage. here is the example of dwight eisenhower standing firm in "going home to glory." two weeks before david and i got married ike from his hospital bed at walter reed offered david $100 if he would cut his mop of curly hair for our wedding. now i have to tell you $100 is a lot of money in 1968. dave did get a light trim but it was an short enough for ike and he did not pay. stand firm. [laughter] the second principle of life from ike, gren and fight. eisenhower box at west point and he was also an all-american

football player. he was a great athlete, and in his political life he often use metaphors about boxing to talk to their supporters and he also talked to david through boxing. he likes to tell the story of an encounter at west point with a very fine boxer who was a 40 pounds heavier and ike describes how he got knocked down and kept getting knocked down and staggered back up and finally in ike's words he looked kind of rueful. his opponent took off his love, threw them in the corner and said well, i am done boxing with you and so ike asked why in the boxer said, if you can't smile when you get up from a knockdown, you are never going to and employment. eisenhower made that lesson part of his life, and telling public supporters if you see someone irritating you, just grin. once in a while in life he continued, when they throw a haymaker at you, so what?

you don't win a campaign in one battle. you when a campaign by sticking everlastingly to it. grann and fight. eisenhower lesson number three on life. forgive. forgiveness is one of the most powerful forces in life. in "going home to glory" david describes the summer that he turned 13 and he was hired to work on his grandfather's farm. he had the great job of painting the fences, weeding the vegetables. he also had a two day a week job at gettysburg college and he was much more just in that job. you know he was a teenager and he admits he had several lapses of concentration when he was working on the farm. it cause particularly one lunch hour when he and a friend kept playing honeymoon bridge in the small been president eisenhower's small dent at the farm. they had mistakenly were under the impression that ike had gone

back downtown so 12:45 became 1:00 and 1:00 became 1:15 and 115 became 1:30 and all of a sudden the office door crashes open. the general appears. his lips were moving but david was so paralyzed with fear that he could only process three words, you are fired. [laughter] ike and david had a golf game scheduled for that afternoon. at 4:15 the general's black imperial chrysler grinds up to the door. ike is in the car, they go to gettysburg country club and play their first hole in total silence. they play the whole second game in total silence. on the third hole near the putting green, the general retired dave. illustrating alexander poke maxim's to ere is human, to

forgive divine. the last lesson on life from ike, face life with courage. i don't think dwight eisenhower was afraid of much in life and that is why perhaps you is so formidable and sometimes unapproachable. but that doesn't mean that ike, like the rest of us, didn't wonder and reflect upon that great unknown of life, namely death. and it is the way that eisenhower met his death that personifies to me the lesson, the last lesson i want to share with you, which is courage. it was election year, 1968 and dwight eisenhower leigh at walter reed army hospital. he had suffered seven heart attacks. the last one following the speech he made from his hospital room when he exhorted to the republican convention to nominate richard nixon. between campaign stops, david and i try to visit his grandfather as often as we could

and i will never forget the evening that we came into his hospital room. we were a little bit late arriving at the hospital because our plane had and delayed and the nurses told us that the general was quite anxious for us to get there. and when we went through those double doors into the presidential suite, we saw that the nurses had propped general eisenhower up on the bed with some pillows. he was so thin and so frail and the stark white of the sheets made his mesmerizing blue eyes seem even bluer. and the moment he spotted us -- he had stuck a nixon sticker and in agnew sticker. [laughter] he had spirit and courage to the very end. in the eisenhower family graveyard in elizabeth hill, pennsylvania, not far from the

gettysburg farm where a ike and mamie spend their retirement years there is a still visible inscription on an 1874 tombstone of ike's 37-year-old aunt, lydia eisenhower. it reads, i am "going home to glory," a golden crown to where, oh meet me, and meet me over there. dwight d. eisenhower did go home to glory in every sense of the word, and it was a privilege for me to help david tell his story and it is a privilege to be back in yorba linda with so many wonderful friends. thank you. [applause] [applause] >> julie, thank you. they say we have been arguing

over which stories to tell. she told a lot of them. [laughter] ed nixon, ron walker, sandy quinn, ben and carl, thanks for having us here today. i will give you some background on this book. "going home to glory" is the title of the book proposal that we circulated to new york publishers in the summer of 1976 julie and i had moved to new york from washington that summer and ben stein, our host today, encouraged us to start considering some publishing interests that he had been countered about us, and so we circulated his proposal and we did so at ben's suggestion. we were seeing a lot of ben in those days, both in new york and in washington when he was a young editorial writer. one of the youngest in the history, one of the best. he authored an article that made a big impression on us and i

don't know if ben remembers this, but we do. it was an article entitled bunkhouse logic and while i do not remember the particulars of this article, the gist of it went sort of as follows. if you can't achieve or win anything in life unless you are at the table. now, there are other ways of raising the morals of this article. it means, don't step back from challenges and opportunities, or if you do don't bother others talking about it. don't talk about it, and do it of course when it is possible for you to do this. i doubt there are very many people out there with ben stein matt's ability to live a life of longhouse logic. the versatility of this band and his genius for writing fiction and nonfiction about society and economics and about grand strategy we can't all go out and

pursue ideas in quite the way ben has. but i think the bunkhouse logic was very important in our approach here. he was a goad -- at goal to set for yourself the task of doing that which sooner or later simply has to be done. ben gave us encouragement. we have got a lot of encouragement along the way. one of the ways this book opens, as i said myself as a young person i am literally becoming a teenager in the opening pages of this book that i digress to the age of 10, which is when a couple of things happen. happened. first time it ended to the family business which is our farm at gettysburg and second i received a family bible. third i get an accordion folder for the short stories that i plan to write that here. i always wanted to be a novelist. now thanks to the record of, presidential records keeping and we are here to at the nixon

library and foundation, with a fabulous collection, probably the greatest collection on the presidency and so forth. there are similar records in abilene, kansas. thanks thanks too bad i am one of the few published others in america that can actually produce a copy of the first novel i ever wrote. [laughter] did this is when i'm tenure so. i'm in the white house. i had a cousin by the name of janet thompson. she made a huge impression on me so i wrote the novel in the summer of 1958 entitled, janet stinks. according to the end wittman records, and wittman was dwight eisenhower's secretary, she sat in the office in the oval office where the secretary said today she notes on july 15 david age 10 came in bearing the manuscript of the short story and i walked up to the president secretary and i said please type this up. [laughter] so she went to work and type

that the manuscript of janet and it turns out july 15, 1958 with a great day to have a copy, a printed copy of your first novel on him. we walked over to the xerox machine and ran off a number of copies because marines were landing in lebanon that morning so you get a picture of the west wing of the white house, the cabinet meeting recessing on the national security council meeting recessing. we put it on sale for 15 cents and sold the first printing in 25 minutes. [laughter] and i got the thing that is precious and there is no substitute for it, and that was encouragement. i had two heroes as a boy. in fact there is a major book out on one of the now and that is mickey mantle and richard nixon. i was certain richard nixon would succeed my grandfather in 1960. i was looking forward to that. i was interested in every aspect of it. this is the first time, july 15, 1958 they make them. he walks up to me in a gray suit and he says what is this?

i said this is my first book. he said how much does it cost? i said 15 cents. he didn't have 15 cents so an aide reach for it. two days later i get a letter from the vice president blessed dear david the family gathered in the living room to read it. we all agree you are one of our favorite authors. [laughter] [applause] dallasites are manned mission there were other reasons to do this book. beginning with the subject matter. i think the subject matter, which is a president and retirement, has been shortchanged. if you think about the topic of a post-presidency ought to be one that a lot of writers take up. one of the best books that julie and i have read in recent years is candace balart's river of doubt. which was done about the restless theodore roosevelt, who worked off the shock of his defeat in 1912 by hazard being an exploration of our uncharted

regions of the amazon river basin, almost dying in the process. this is a recurring story and american national politics and i think it is a significant one. this is the separation of the national leader from actual power. this is something that occurs in accordance with law beginning was dwight eisenhower who is the first president to be term limited under the operation of the 22nd amendment. if you think about it, this is an interesting topic. powerful, charismatic individuals laid down the mantle of the presidency who in most places in the world would rule perpetually. they are obliged under our system and to set a democratic example here at home to fashion a sort of new constitutional order and i think there is a lot of drama in that. i also think it is possible that as a president surrenders power

to know this individual for a better because the layers of official staff are being peeled away and what is left is the character of the individual who has made this impact on history. in "going home to glory" kortright eisenhower is not undertaking theodore roosevelt's journey of doubt in quite the same way, but he probably had plenty to doubt as he left washington in 1961. the defeat of the republicans in 1960 came as a very unpleasant surprise. dwight eisenhower had few illusions of what the defeat in 1960 manned for his political legacy and for the republican party. it was not quite as crushing or as direct as t.r.'s defeat in 1912 but in many ways, you could argue that it was more insidious because the setback to the eisenhower presidency then was not acknowledged and they could get away with not really acknowledging it and you this

was a very real thing and it drove him forward as a former president. he did not navigate either because he was older man than teddy roosevelt was in 1913 and 1914 and he was worldly. as glory -- is "going home to glory" opens, by the spring of 1961 he is a general. he reemerges in partisan politics in 1962 and they narrate that, but truly throughout this book he becomes granddad and he becomes a farmer and he becomes my boss and he becomes my neighbor. spiritually what he is doing is he is moving back in time and spiritually becomes a cadet and he returns to his ordinance in abilene. as he does that my sisters and i are growing up. he grows old in this book and we grow up. we worked for him. julie told that story also.

[laughter] about my adventure in 1963. if you ever get to the eisenhower farms, just keep this in mind. if you get to the eisenhower farms admire the fences. i painted the fence is five times. [applause] so i painted fences and yes i did overstay that welcome. i played golf with them a lot and we tell all stories are i tell a lot of golf stories in this. he was a hilarious coffer. he had a huge temper and so forth. he did not i don't think fully appreciate the effect of his temper on others. however, his most, i would say outspoken rounds were often some of his best or his most, and so forth. he is somebody who took golf and everything very seriously. we describe him in this book is

a painter, a hunter, as a farmer, a former baseball player. in fact, one of the stories i enjoyed retreating is one that we encountered out here in california, and that was julie's dad and i went to the big a a number of times. flo we got to know out there was red patterson who was a former director of public relations for california. he told me about accompanying general eisenhower to the grounds and confronting him with evidence that organized people had. dwight eisenhower had played professional baseball in 1909 and 1910 in a league based in kansas under the alias of wilson patterson general we illuminate according to our records there were two wilson sanofi. which one where you? he said the one that would get hit. [laughter] so he is a ballplayer, he was a call for, and gradually as he

became more confined and as his health failed, he becomes not only all these things, grandfather or whatever, he becomes a friend and it is in this era that i believe dwight eisenhower's character really comes through. there other reasons to look at the 1960s as well. early to the middle 1960s is the hour before daylight for the republican party. when eisenhower leaves office in 1961 there is a feeling, and my grandfather colleges this in the papers, a feeling among politicians and pundits in washington that the eisenhower presidency again a complete anomaly. he would live in "going home to glory" to see richard nixon elected in november of 1968 and he would have died knowing that he was not an anomaly, that he was a first, not the only, republican president in a line of republican presidencies that

would dominate the white house for the next 40 to 50 years. the early 1960s is an intense phase of the cold war. the cuban missile crisis is indeed perhaps the most dangerous moment of the cold war and i show here how presidents and dwight eisenhower sort of rallied to president kennedy's request for bipartisan support and that period. we find ourselves segueing into changing times, a tremendous move in civil rights as well as the rise of conservatism which segues into the vietnam war and as we segue into the vietnam war suddenly this question of dwight eisenhower's republican party activities and his ambitions for the republican party, the future of richard nixon begins to emerge. this is the point in which julie and i meet and our stories begin to emerge and this entire story

comes together. a story told in part in yorba linda, a story told in part in abilene and the story that exists exist in our minds. i want to second julie's observation about how special it is to be here in yorba linda. it is the birthplace and library foundation. i think of friends that we have spent time with. today with that, dedication of this institution 20 years ago and i remembered it was almost and hilarious event because everybody who had been veterans of the new hampshire campaign and so forth, we got together for one more event, one more rally to remind ourselves what a wonderful thing we were all part of. the supporters of the nixon library and birthplace foundation have been parts of nixon campaigns or they are related to people who have a think all of this us had anything to do with it would not trade those years for anything. so we have a lot in common

including important parts of this story. we have these things in common. i think of the fate that drew julie and me together and smith and amherst in the fall of 1966. she is right and it was not going to call on her. i overheard somebody in the front seat saying did you hear that ike's grandson is -- wait until we get them together. i did get up the nerve -- my grandmother insisted i call on her. julie is right, forgot my money and spend my money on the cab so she's -- pay the first time. i kept getting up the nerve to go back and i realize we had so much in common and it was really through julie that entirely an entirely new world opens up to me. that was the world of ideas and experiences in a national campaign. i think also when i'm here today

at this place in an amazing association that i journal i am looking back to the first time i visited the nixon library and birthplace foundation and this was in the late '80s. i was with maureen's dad. just the two of us drove out here shortly after the nixon foundation had acquired this idea of creating the institution that is here now. and we walked through the nixon birthplace and i was stunned. i had experienced that knocked me out and that was i realized i was walking through and almost perfect replica of the dwight d. eisenhower boyhood home. it was the same building. the same furnishings, the same brothers, the same personalities, mother and father. i had always thought of richard nixon and dwight eisenhower as distinct individuals but it was than i came to appreciate what

similar american stories they represented, with similar imaginings which were captured in poetry by richard nixon who described the sound of trains at night leading to the wider world beyond. i also want to say how special it is to be in this east room today. you know what? it is actual better than the east room as far as i'm concerned. this is a creation made possible by catherine volcker who is been part of so many great events that we have followed and been part of including a special one we are having today on veterans day and i want to thank you on behalf of our family, the eisenhower's word dedicating this to the memory of dwight eisenhower. november 11 when i was growing up is called armistice day. does actually a different celebration but i think the ideas the same and that is we set aside a day to acknowledge her history and to try to understand their history better, to admire the qualities for our

veterans and to acknowledge the debt that we all over them for defending freedom both at home and abroad in our long and glorious history. veteran themes run throughout "going home to glory." my grandfather was somebody who was very conscious of the importance of appreciating the sacrifices of american gis particularly the ones who flawed overseas in the 20th century and american wars refight overseas in the 20th century. in "going home to glory," clearing gettysburg pennsylvania. granddad's choice in retirement was to associate himself with the story of that great battle and so i grew up surrounded by the history of armed conflict in america and the great story of the american civil war. it comes up in correspondence. we reproduce a lot of correspondence between me and my grandfather, mostly what was to me. julie quoted from one actually to quote elsewhere in the same letter. i was talking to hugh hewitt who

was a wonderful guy and has been long involved in the nixon library. i was talking to hewitt or the other day and he mentioned veterans day in the first came the came to mind was the admonition from dwight eisenhower to me on september 26, 1962. he begins and he says the date above does not mean anything to you because you were a young man but this is the date of the opening, exactly 44 years from now. you are too young to appreciate the significance of this day but it is important for you to do so and you will do so in time. i believe that i did so in time. a final note we would say about this book that we all have in common i would say is that this is a family story. politics, and my grandfather was involved in politics in the 1960s so to a degree it is about politics but it is really a family story.

julie and i have an interview about it not long ago in our home and a reporter from "the philadelphia inquirer" showed up and he was burying the copy of the book that he and his brothers and sisters had written about their grandfather. and it was in that moment i think i recognized and knew that i think it is human nature, people need to make a record of the people who are special in their lives, perhaps a patriarch, perhaps a great woman and so forth. and the story of the generations is something that gives people an awful lot to say. we had all of us on our minds and we wanted to say it back in 1976 until we finally found a way. there is no effort and "going home to glory" to alter the image of a historical figure who is a commander in the european front in 1944 in 1945 or his image as presidency or to burnish in anyway at least least in this volume i think the

record of progress in the 50s and it was remarkable and civil rights, space in the creation of a national highway program and so forth. it is instead to expand the understanding of him, to make a record that the days that we feel he should be remembered for as well, the days in gettysburg where it was possible to know him and to receive his advice and tips for healthy living, to receive his guidance and support, to receive as many gifts in the form of time and attention and above all to observe the example he set of serenity and religious faith of his frank acceptance of his limitations and infirmities, by his optimism, his love for others and his ability to shoulder responsibility and his profound faith in america's future. and so we made a record of it and a record of it and publication of it is a chance for a reunion. ben has published 30 odd books.

ben you know there is an easier way to have her reunion but there could not be a more meaningful way to have a reunion. today is very meaningful. we have are turned to a site that has inspired us at every step along the way and we are glad to have this opportunity to present "going home to glory." thank you. [applause] >> now we have got time for a couple of questions. if you have a question go ahead and raise your hand and i will come by with a microphone. >> we would love to answer questions. >> if you have a question just go ahead and raise your hand and they will come by with the mic. do you have any questions? >> i happen to be with president

nixon -- i was with president nixon on the day president eisenhower died and we zoomed up to walter reed hospital. i didn't go in with him but he went up to this week, came out of the suite in tears, sobbing and sobbing. i had never seen him cry again until many years until mrs. nixon died. it was a very significant french are. >> that was jack renan, who was is my dad's military's marina aid in the white house, served his country with great distinction and after the resignation jack came out and was chief of staff for my dad. i remember my father crying too. >> i was going to say something. the eisenhower nixon relationship is actually of interest to historians in a big way. and factually and i have been talking with a man who was actually going to base a book on that. and the scenes that you are talking about jack, are ones

that i remember as my answer to everybody. not only comic you know there was a clash between the two that one might expect. one of the relationships we cover in "going home to glory" as a clash between dwight eisenhower and douglas macarthur. and the reason they clashed is because eisenhower and macarthur, though serving together at an earlier point in their career could not have recognized that macarthur had the stuff of a commander of an entire war front in world war ii and so did eisenhower. it is not surprising that these people had differences of opinion. in dwight eisenhower you have a two-term president. richard nixon, two-term president elected on his own power. it is amazing that these people did not clash more than they did and, what stands out in my mind is the warmth between the two

and appointing, and. i'm not just talking mystically about workplace over here which in every respect is a replica of but i'm also talking about a shared american experience, the way they crossed america. the groups from europe that were forbearers, they just intersect one point after another. we are not quite cousins we don't thing. [laughter] >> my cousin marine is doing a genealogy. >> we got along real well, kind of immediately. >> david. >> ben, go ahead. >> you you are both historians. you have both observed the world at large, the big picture. is there any hope in afghanistan? is there any hope of a satisfactory resolution of that situation? >> resolution of what? >> of the situation in afghanistan. [laughter]

>> hot potato. you know, to be honest, -- [inaudible] [applause] >> i think there is something, you know in principle. i think that people do not want to be converted and they resist the use of force in principle. i think our intervention in afghanistan and iraq are very troubled. by the same token, you look back over 100 years. you look at events in iraq today what has not happened since the end of our combat involvement in

iraq was announced several months ago and so forth, and one wonders, dwight eisenhower really believe that the united states had tremendous amount to share in an obligation to share it with the world and he saw the example of americans making such a difference as to julie's dad. i think they will both be known by the way as people who made a great deal of difference in america's relations with the world. risibly foreign-policy presidency is another thing that eisenhower and nixon have in common. i don't think that -- i think afghanistan in 1959 and 1960 as dwight dwight eisenhower said existed in the sufferance of nikita khrushchev. this would have been a problematic theater to invest troops but the soviet union has gone. the united states has made a great difference in the way it

has intervened around the world, and it could well be that we may make a difference here. i think it is going well. i think it -- the afghans are not going to give us the satisfaction of saying that we have converted to your point of view in every particular and they will never give us that satisfaction. karzai made that very clear but i think the intervention will over time proved to make the world safer. [applause] do you want to add to that? >> david and julie, and in my four years with jack at the white house i did a lot of funerals. at the very first funeral i was asked to do was president dwight d. eisenhower, for your father and it was a spectacular international cathedral. it was one of those moments i will never forget for.

>> ron, thank you. [applause] that is exactly where this book ends. that was my 21st birthday, march 31, 1968. 1969. i was 21 on that day. and so this is the trajectory of this book. suddenly dwight eisenhower's coming home to gettysburg as a former president and he will become a general comedy, grandfather and so forth and my sisters and i are growing up. and literally the became of age that day. but the story that comes through here is of what it was like to grow up around a figure like this. i have been asking the question all of my life so here is the unified answer. what was it like? above all, to appreciate the care during of this individual who made such a difference, what

kind of person was bad and it really came through in the years where it was possible to know him in the end. and. ron, exactly u.n. jeb brennan and all of us got together at walter reed on march 20 through march 31, 1969. >> i loved the book and the question i have is, when you went off to high school your grandfather wrote you a letter because sergeant money had indicated that he wanted his grandfather to give you possibly a portrait of you to bring to college. what was your decision? >> a painting of my granddad to hang in my room at college. he was always giving me little dde pens that he got and ike ties. and he was giving me these things to give to girls to impress the girls and so forth. [laughter] this comes through all over and

looking back over the correspondence you know my first reaction was the kind of cringed a little bit because i remember not passing these things along and being a little embarrassed by this suggestion but then i thought, you know, we are grandparents. he just wanted us this to be proud of him and we want our grandchildren to be proud of us. [applause] so i thought that was, so i think he had the satisfaction of knowing that i carried his name very proudly and now all these years later's in and away the people assembled family histories i think we express our appreciation to him and here we are -- julie has done this for her family as well and pat nixon acknowledging the people to phone we owe a great dad and who we admire going forward in our lives. thank you very much.

[applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, please. >> for more information on david and julie eisenhower and their work, visit david and juliey eisenhower.com.hy a >> you fred meltzer, why a wll, nonfiction?as -- >> well the truth was, it is for myit son and eight years ago on the night my son was born i set i'm going to write a book thatht lasts his whole life. ole i was coming back from the hospital for your child. he can be the president, nice person, generous person, all realism, i'm going to write a book that lasts my whole life. i came home and started writing rules for him to live by. there you go. pictures of it. what i wanted was, i'm going to write rules down. love god. two, be nice to the fat kid in class.

things i thought were important for him to know. the truth was i knew nothing about being a father. so a friend of mine told me the amazing story about the wright brothers. every time they'd go out, they'd bring enough materials for multiple crashes. they knew they'd fail. they would crash and rebuild. i said i love that story. i want my son and daughter to know that story. if they have a dream and they work hard, that's the book i'm going to write. not a book of rules, but a book of hero. heros for my son is rosa parks, mr. rogers, to jim henson. >> where's barbara john? >> that was a teenager. it has someone like martin luther king jr., but also

regular people. barbara johns was a high school student and civil rights activist. barbara johns at a time when in 1951, basically saw a school bus ride by her and her school bus was broken down. there was another one that was full of the white kids going to the good school. they had no books, no materials, horrible school. she organized a walk out. we are going to protest it. forget about it. she's one of the unknown people. her test case as they walked out was one the cases used in brown v. board of education. where did it come from? a teenager. a teenager is one of the people responsible for it. so the book is filled with, a guy named frank shankwits. he found out about a boy with leukemia that also wanted to be a police officer. he had a motorcycle made.

he find out the boy with leukemia goes into a coma. he goes to the hospital room. as the boy is unconscious, he says, i want to put motorcycle wings on him. he pins the motorcycle wings, at which point, true story, the boy wakes up and smiles. the boy eventually goes back into a coma, eventually dies. on the way home, frank looks at his buddy, you know, we made that kid really happy for just one day. we should do that for other kids. that's how the make a wish foundation was born. i want my son to know that stories. that's what heros for my son. celebrating the people that can take one dream and change the entire world. >> we've only got a few minutes with brad meltzer. we'd like to hear your heros. numbers are on the screen.

go ahead and start calling in now. who's on the cover here? >> you know, it's funny. everyone think it's my son. i have two sons. my publisher wanted me to pick between my kids. i'm not stupid. it's my good friends rusty and elizabeth's son. the last hero, is my favorite hero. my mother. she died two years ago from breast cancer. before she died, my publisher was shutting down. i didn't know if anyone would take care of my contracts. i called my mom and i said, mom, i'm so nervous about this. she said i'd love you if you were a garbage man. she's not taking a crack. my uncle was a garbage man.

i say that soaking in her strength. for anyone out there, the last two pages are blank. your heros are here, and your heros stories are here. you take this book, and give it this holiday season and put their picture. write one sentence about your father, grandfather, military member, what they mean to you, that would be the most beautiful page. i wanted my book to be something that you can give to anyone at any age. >> you've included two contemporary u.s. presidents in the book. who are they? >> the book has no politics. nobody is in it for political reasons. i did george w. bush and barack obama. bush is in there because of the amazing story when he was flying. he was one the youngest pilots in world war ii. his plane was going down. two men on the plane with him. as the plane crashes, and it's crashing into the ocean, he

maneuvers the plane so they can get out before he can. uses the moment of selflessness. he lets them out first. peaks out, he's crashing, some -- vomiting, crying, terrified. he told me he still thinks of the guy. he became the president of the united states and never told anyone that story, never ran for it, never self-promoting. i want my son to that have humility. barack obama, not because of any political reason. no one knows where he's going to be in the end. what he represents, whatever your politics are, is one of the greatest ideals in all of america. that's that anyone can be president. i want my son to know that anyone can be president. i want my daughter to know that anyone can be president. they were both put in there. >> how did you get to know george h.w. bush? >> i write thrillers.

i talk to imaginary people. i got a fan letter written by george h.w. bush. i don't care what your politics are, you are the former president, you write me a letter, i'll send you a free book. >> brad meltzer is our guest. first call. maryland, go ahead, please. >> caller: yes, brad, i wanted to thank you for creating such a wonderful book. i think it's extremely important that people really understand that, you know, the heros are not just the people that are famous. but i like that you did put in people who are not famous. and kids would have an opportunity, not only your son, but anyone who's giving this gift to their family to let them know that ordinary people not only can do extraordinary things, but also be truly extraordinary. by pursuing their goals, dreams, going after it, trying to make a difference. i want to thank you for this. that's something that i share with my family. >> thank you.

>> host: who's your hero? >> caller: my hero is my mother. she was an african-american woman from the south, had a nice education, and vice president of institutional trading is what my brother, and i have my masters. >> guest: and that's exactly right. you know, the thing is that we all know and say our heros are george washington, martin luther king jr. or eleanor roosevelt and these amazing people. the real heros are the heros that we live with every day. that's vital. i should tell you do you want to talk about the hero who i spent my time with, my son, my oldest son jonas. this is the moment that i gave him the book. i've waited eight years. it's called "heros for my son" i'm telling my son. he doesn't care about eleanor

roosevelt or rosa parks. he's looking through the athletes. he finds roberto clemente. you know what being a famous athlete, nothing. it doesn't make you a better person, nicer, you know what selling a lot of books and being on the best seller list, nothing. doesn't make me smarter. it means people read the books. roberto clemente is in there not because he was a baseball player, because there was a earthquake in nicaragua. he sends three planes for help. they were stolen. he was so determined to make sure the plane gets there, the fourth one, he gets on the plane. it crashes in the ocean. killing everyone on board. he's not a hero because he died.

he's a hero because he got on board. i'm waiting for my son to say i'm the greatest hero. he said, dad, i'm sad. my book has backfired in my face. he comes racing into the room on his own, he grabs the book and says, dad, who are we reading tonight? i said what about roberto? he said i like him. i said why? because he gave his life for people. we complain about there's no good heros, we focus on athletes and celebrities. we have a say in who our kids emulate. >> host: florida, you have 15 seconds. >> caller: thank you very much. my hero is a man named miriam frye. he was a man from a white

protestant family. he saved some people from the nazis in europe. he saved so many using them to get passports and visas to get out of france and into spain and eventually to the united states and save them. and save their bodies intellectual work for the western world. that is a hero of mine. > host: thank you. thank you, caller. >> guest: great hero. in fact, we put in the book, my favorite person is meet geese. i had anne frank. she's the woman that save and hid anne frank's family from the nazis. they come rushing in and raid her house. at that moment, she could say i didn't know they were up there.

she never apologized. what she instead does, she tries to bribe the nazis. don't take these people away. they tear up her place, the one thing they discard is the one red book, anne frank's diary. she's the woman that history doesn't know about. she's the one that saved the diary, she preserved it. when otto frank said my daughter is dead, she never read the book. handed it to her father, this is her daughter's legacy to you. that's the reason that we have anne frank's diary. because miep gies saved it. >> host: quick, how much political research goes into the thrillers? >> guest: listen, i wish we didn't live in a world where we don't get our news from comedians, and we get jokes. i realized over the year, people

like to get the real facts out of my books. i take that seriously. i take that trust seriously. it takes me at least six months before i can start writing a thriller. if i'm going to show you the secret tunnels, i'm going to research. i can write whatever i want. but i'm going to get it right. >> host: how much have you sold? >> guest: this one? 10 copies to my family. the publisher says we have copies in print. the only one that matters, is my family. my mom, god bless her, i went to borders headquarters. they said guess where your books sell more than anyone else? i don't know. new york city. 8 million new yorkers. i said washington, d.c., i write thrillers about washington. no, the number one place was florida borders one mile from the furniture store where my mother used to work.

my mother single-handedly beat 8 million new yorkers. >> host: brad meltzer has been >> hello everybody. i am the host for the gracious hospitality, specially earnest. i am honored to be here alongside you. my name is reset khalili. of course that is not my real name. and i hope i am not scaring anyone by my appearance here. i was a student here in the

70s, then after the iranian revolution i went back, hoping i could help my country. my best friend was in the revolutionary guard, and i joined the revolutionary guard. they thought my expertise would help the establishment of dentzer shark sure. but shortly after, i witnessed horrific events. eyewitness torture, rape, and evin prison just because it was a clerical establishment. i witnessed the execution. eyewitness to disrespect to human dignity and i could no longer take it. i decided to travel back to the

u.s. and i thought to myself, if i can take my family and go back to the u.s., the u.s. was a second home to me. i had studied here and i had friends here. but i thought i cannot remain silent in the face of all the horrific things that this regime was doing to its people. and i thought by contacting the u.s. authority, i could ring change to the government and if the americans knew what was going on there, that they would help me help the iranian people. so i contacted the fbi and they put me in touch with the cia. after several meetings, and one of my meetings cia officer asked me if i was willing to go back to iran and become a spy.

become their eyes and ears as he put it. i agreed ago i was sent to europe, and i was training over there to receive coded messages over the radio, and write invisible letters. transferring information from the revolutionary guards. i had expected to get -- and perhaps the james bond car but none of that happened. unfortunately. i was sent in with pencils and papers. after years of working in the revolutionary guard, i had to battle a lot of mixed emotions because i had to repeatedly lied mac to my family, my wife. and i could not reveal to them

what my true nature was and what my purposes were because that would be endangering the whole family. i think the bigger shock to me was when i realized that the west is not getting the message, that the west is not realizing the dangers of this regime, that the west was willing to sidestep its principles and for what? for greed, for oil, for more contracts with the islamic regime. not only the iranians were being hurt and this -- on the streets of tehran but it was the americans also. >> the beirut bombings, which over 241 servicemen, u.s. servicemen, were killed in many other incidents.

so my hope was that the west would finally realize that this regime is a messianic regime and it poses grave danger not only to the iranians and the region but to our very own national security. and the reason i wrote the book was out of frustration that even to this day we are trying to negotiate such a regime as opposed to helping the iranians that their aspirations of freedom and democracy. so i guess the point i want to get across tonight to you is that, if you look back at history, you will see that whenever we have risen, whenever we have defended human dignity, whenever we have resented the evilish acts