maybe there's others who could do it better. >> sure. >> thank you for the opportunity, sir. a lot has been made in the recent past about the constitutionality of the individual mandate in the health care bill. and i'm wondering what role will the general welfare clause play in the obama administration's defense? i mean, does it make any sense to use it in the defense of the mandate? ..

>> is in some odd moral code of ethics. it is a code of ethics. it's because you have found, and i found, that very often when you have to think something through, and when you had good greeting and really good arguments on all sides, and maybe even as lead in the right to die case, a decrease, or in the affirmative action case, 100 greece. and we will read those brace when they're on the merits of the case. when you get finished reading that, your opinion is not always the same as when you start. so be care of getting answers you might get at a cocktail party because you don't want to be helpful that. there are good reasons for not expressing, on this case, a

something i don't know about. good question. >> azure counterpart on the house judiciary committee, when we would work until the middle of the night writing legislative history, and then soon thereafter having one of your colleagues who remain, just as clear, -- [laughter] >> he never looks at would likew important it is that cou notwithstanding, that stuff that we wrote -- >> different views on the. my view is i will look and read it. and really self pitying, i to have a vote. so different people have different views. some say no, we shouldn't read that. because we're just interested in what the text says out the representative has votedon.

the question of that vote on the text, don't go beyond that because there's too much risk of distortion and so forth. and others like myself say i want to read whatever i can read to get enlightenment about what those obscure words, and believe me, they are obscure. because if they were not obscurs doing in our court. so i want to see what you wrote. i suspect you, like me, when we wrote it would've tried to write something that was not going to be viewed as wrong by the congressman or work. >> is there a difference betweeo the floor when an individual member get up and opine? >> when there's a committee e port, i know perfectly well, i or she won't object but the staff person will. because kcan say anything.

and do. but sometimes i'm not thinking of, you know, things that are great political moment. sometimes they are of little political mobile. they might be some obscure provision of the bankruptcy code. and suddenly someone wakes up because a lawyer told them that my god, look at those words. nobody's going to know what they meant. what shall we do? here, give this floor statement. if you do your work well in the staff, you can go to the lawyers worst enemy and said what do you think of this statement? sometimes it turns out that everybody thinks, please, introduce it. it will help. so you introduce it. and that kind of stupid. i can remember one section 13, you're never without was, i care in a row what it stood for, relation with unions and very, very obscure. they had a couple of senators there doesn't

mean, and introduced, that's what it means. so else gets u up and says absolutely, we're sure it means that. and you can see everybody all of them saying that's what it means. well, i want it to serve that purpose and that's helpful. sometimes, no, it doesn't mean that at all. that's less elidential war powey of 1941, franklin roosevelt received a message from the british prime minister winston churchill that german battleship bismarck and broken out of the atlantic and was a menace to all shipping, and a mortal threat to england. having asked his novel our advisor robert sherwood if you would be impeached if he ordered the americans to try to sink the ship, he settled for authorizi authorizing, partly piloted by an american could help the search for the bismarck when the british lost the chase and they found a ship.

so this is six and half months before pearl harbor, and the united states has assisted in the sinking of germany's best capital ship. if justice breyer were sitting in a court ruling on that, was that a lawful exercise of the president's war power? >> there are many questions involving war p never come before us. [laughter] >> nobody would have stomach to bring that case. >> what jackson said in his dissent, is he said here's what we should do. 1944 we know there was no risk of invasion in california. there isn't today a will act, they wi do it.

and in 1944, we will say they wy were right. because if we say they were right, that president lies there you said, like a loaded gun ready to be misused in the next but actually i have to say, when you really think about it, i don't think that's right. i prefer murphy who said it was wrong then and it's wrngpridento violate the law to save th country, sometimes he won't because he just can't, and the country will be saved. and sometimes he will violate the law too often. so he'd better, if you can do it, that you make the law consistent with those necessities that will arise to save the country to and that's much easier said than done.

and that's what they are not really good definite, clear, overarching answers to this kint by bit, little bit by little bit, and don't hold too much too fast. [applause] >> how do you feel the court adapts with new justices being appointed every so many years? and again, had to feel the greater -- deny states of america interprets the judges -- as judges are put in, as they retire how do you feel the american public interprets their different opinions? >> well, the justice byron white said on many occasions, the answer as far as i knew it to your question, is what he said was with each new appointment it becomes a new court. and how right he is. i mean, one purses -- person

changes the dynamics. you get to know the people very well. you get used to working together. you know how they will think and react to different situations. it's a good working relationship or if it's a healthy working relationship. people shout at each other, no words being raise, no people being rude to each other. that was to end it is true. and a new person will change that working dynamic. if he will not or shew not, she will not lead to people being rude. but she in this case, the last two, will, in fact, make a theyl come with different expense, different approaches and change the arguments about many things in different ways. so it remains to be seen. >> do you think the american public view you differently

every >> every time today? i don't -- the public by and large gets its news to the press and television and so forth. it's only in a very long run that they feel, maybe know, that people understand fully. a really good book at harry blackmun with it abortion decision at that time. she had to go through dozens of papers and so forth. and that local probably have an influence on how people see that court and those abortion decisions. but that's the top of the story. >> good evening, justice. i've lived past one years of my life in the state of new york. i remember every second of 9/11. a girl demonstrate lost her

pened up the paper in hard time the paper it's his mayor bloomberg is advocating the constitutional right to have a mosque near ground zero. myis, do you believe that the constitutional right, or do the people of new york have a reason to deny a mosque being put 13 stories high for cosmetic reasons, for reasons that it outshines any memorial we have to these people who died? >> well, you know, i knew you were talking of something that is very emotional and a very great content commercial interest a lot of people. and moreover, i can't say too much about it because who knows what will happen legally? but i would say this, that i have an en we as a country do sometimes get into these very emotional arguments, there's also a counter tendency before deciding in -- anything and making up your mind to go back and tried

to find out what the facts actually are. and that's illegal instinct. a lot of people share it. and they want to find out what the facts really are, then you try to figure out what rsometim. i think what i would suggest to people are interested, people have websitesof worship inside from what i read in the paper. if some paper for muslims, jews, christians and others. so i would to just go look the facts and find out what you think is the case and what isn't the case, and then make up your mind. that's an answer you would expect from me. i'm a judge. [laughter] >> i think we're time for the three people in line is probably, and that will probably be it. >> it seems to me that your pragmatic approach would require you to have some sort of knowledge or understanding of the general will of the people, or the value system, the current value of the people as a whole.

an aggregate of different experiences, so my question first of all is does it require some sort of understanding of public opinion? does it require some understanding of the value system that we as a country have right now? and secondly, how do you find that aggregate of experience? is it just your opinion polls like to talk to, or are there alternative methods to understand? >> no, my reaction i hear the question is to say no, yes, and it's more complex than. i'm not taking into account some pool about how people arese when i decide. that's out. it has no bearing. what i do think and pragmatism isn't necessarily the right word either. i've called these things sort of a approach. the approach is different from area to area. and so it's -- what?

what can i say here? there isn't a good way of doing what everybody is thinking, no. that doesn't have too much bearing on how i'm going to decide the case. now i've attempted to contradict what i just said by saying of course i do have some concern that people don't understand well, how the court works. and i think it might help a little bit, a little bit. it's religious or like trying to write something that will help explain how i s if my approach isn't the right approach. there are many different ways going about this. >> that's kind of what i was getting at. you spoke earlier about speech i think we need to get on to the next. >> good evening. i've enjoyed the colloquy so much work i am recalling an

incident which things really rare to me. i have recollection of it happening only once in my adult life, and i wonder if you could comment on this as to whether it was a way for the court to make democracy work, and that was where the court invited -- i don't remember if it was a party or an a -- there was an the parties, that were arguing before the court. and the court itself reached to mr. coleman, to come in and argue on behalf of another interest. i think was a civil rights case. and i don't remember when it was or if you are on the court at the time. >> early 1980s. >> it seems such an unusual thing for the court to do, and i wonder if you might comment on whether that really was appropriate and what it events,

your concept of making the court more understandable. >> mr. coleman is here and linda remembers the incident and i will plead biased because this column is a friend of mine so i will say sure, i think was a good idea. [laughter] >> just five seconds of context on that. that was an instance where the reagan administration was new and had refused to extend a position taken by the internal revenue service under many previous administrations. so the question was, who's going to argue the case. so bill coleman very distinguished supreme court advocate was invited by the court to take the position that the new administration had abandoned, and it was nothing at all inappropriate about it. it was the courts way of making sure that the argument got hurt.

>> and that happens sometimes. i , circumstances whole thing was ready. but usually we will spot it in advance when the two sides don't want to argue something, even before the case is being argued fully we will appoint a lawyer to argue this part. >> you have the honor, sir, of sir, of having the last question. >> my name is coleman, too. [laughter] >> i suspect i could probably get in trouble if i were to offer a donation to is stopping in traffic, and yet i could probably not get in trouble for offering a few billion dollars to a congressman to affect a change that would be personally beneficial tome i sér the tea baggers, tea party

people, coming in here with very little understanding of the dynamics of money in this government, certainly in the city. and it is wondering, you are talking about things you could undo. if you could undo something where people would say yeah, we have the best government money could buy -- >> question, question. >> is there a legal way to undo bribery and first amendment rights? >> you're thinking of the cases that came up with citizens united, and i joined john stevens dissent in that. and every think i have been cautious suggest i should go no further than that in trying to answer your question. [laughter] [applause] >> we had a good time come and we are grateful for you joining us. [applause]teph breyer is an

associate justice of the u.s. supreme court was appointed to the court in 1994 by president bill clinton. very encouraged that people are now starting t >> thomas kuhn what you think about hip-hopfu now? like oursev >> it has sunk to new lows. tho >> iinspiration for this book have started thinking about the idea of -- >> sunk to new lows he said. thg >> i do. i started writing this book -- i wrote the op-ed in 2007, and neither the dominant artist at the time, not the sole artist, but the artists that were really driving the media coverage of

the genre and that were really d gangsta rap stars of the early '90s, jay-z or biggie.pare that such a decline in artistic quality, alone even in domestic. >> so you're cool with big? suc >> i'm not cool with buggy but i think a lot more complexity tha. what you see now. i am kind of interested in i thk watching a guy like drake. but i don't think that oneguy dke artist, guys an entire culture spanky say it's on to new lows. explain to me why you feel that way. these are street poets, okay. why do you feel that they sunk to new lows if they arepoets, expressing o their reality? >> well, it's debatable that they are expressing theirexes reality. pr black them are simply people. them are

[applause] >> but if that's the reality, should they be silenced? >> it's not many other realities. some of them do have prettyalit prettyy, realities. realities. some of them do have pretty gritty realities. >> but there's been a movie about biggie and we can clearly see that he rapped in the streets. >> biggie was a guy who observed more other realities than he rapped about his own. i lived in the fort green area of brooklyn for a few years and the part of clinton hill that biggie comes from is quite nice compared to the parts of the rural south where a lot of -- it's much nicer than what james baldwin grew up in and ralph ellison grew up and far more -- >> the guy was a drug dealer. >> i grew up in the suburbs around guys who chose to deal drugs because it was very cool. >> right, right. >> his mother was a school

teacher and he didn't to have deal drugs to feed himself. >> right, but that was his choice -- >> it was, exactly. >> so let me ask you this. what is good hip hop to you? >> well, i want -- i want to be very clear about this. my book is not about music. it's not -- it's not a critique of the artistic merit of hip hop which i don't dispute. >> well, let me repeat your title. losing my cool: how a father's love and 15,000 books beat hip hop culture. >> it's about a system of values that the music doesn't create but it provides a soundtrack and an echo chamber -- it magnifies often and it glorifies and problem with hip hop on a musical level and find it inferior of black music. that's not my feelingit's way o. it's even a way of reaching for a cup of water. it's a way of greeting someone in the street. it's a way of dismissing certain ideas that's not real.

i'm not talking about whether an artist like andre 3000 has and i think that the music -- i wouldn't even need to critique the culture if the music was trash because one of the reasons the culture is so powerful and seductive and the music -- the culture is aesthetically pleaseing in a lot of ways. >> but that's the history of african-american music in a sense -- >> well, not really. i mean, if you a love supreme by john coulter there's gucci mane and the burr print, too. [applause] >> so -- am a john coltrane fan. >> me too. >> i am. so i want to go back my question which i want you to answer directly. what would be good hip hop?

>> i couldre of the panel listi hip hop. >> what would be good hip hop since you're saying it's -- >> good hip hop music is like reasonable doubt by jay-z. it's ready to die by biggie schmaltz. now, is the content and the message that's involved in some of that great music poison, yeah, it is. if you try to live your life the way jay-z instructs >> to watch this program in its entirety go to booktv.org. simply type the title or the author's name at the top left of the screen and click search. >> hugh pope, where did you get the title, "dining with al-qaeda"? qaeda or which barely some people thought might be good, but it recounts an episode in the book one chapter why am and we ought and very soon after the, i was sitting

down with a missionary from the al qaeda camps where most of, most of them have been. the dinner was ticklish. it started off with insight i'm going to kill you. to show you that not necessary, i speak airbag if that helps. about after half an hour i convinced him i was a person who wanted to hear his story in those days you could thought, what he told me about i learned a lot about the way he the kids that were on plane. obvious very difficult to believe that those people have normalized back home, but they did. that's what my book is mainly about, trying to humanize the middle east. not to justify terrorism but to explain what the context is. >> how was it you who up within?

>> as usual these things are quite random. i had a friend who gave me a contact and at a certain point your driving out and suddenly someone i my colleague, did something that was a little bit more like an ambush but so not much different than that. poor danny had his head cut off. i feel very lucky that i got a way to tell the story. >> and what did you learn? >> i think i learned that the way, the reason that he wanted to kill me at the start of the interview was that he believed that i wanted to killte key thie got to remember that in most conflicts, it always feels much more when you receive the fraud that when you get a. i think that's the main lesson. when america is conducting military missions all over the middle east and prodding with

drones and suchlike should be aware that is felt quite get it by the people there. it's not just what is being felt in america. >> hugh pope, are you still contact with anyone associate with al qaeda and? >> no. i actually, the reason i gave up journalism, i was 25 years in journalism, and after the iraq war which of the only correspondent my newspaper going to baghdad, and trying to explain to americans was pointless, logically unsou unsound, and would blow up in their face literally, and not being taken seriously at all, and finding that actually it makes a difference and i was so happy i was a journalist for a long time. but ultimately i couldn't go on with the old system in the middle these. i had a british passport, we've done a lot of damage.

i worked with "the wall street journal" which oppose this war. and i'm going out to all people in the leasing talk to me, tell your story and we will make a that was the old deal, and i felt if we did make a difference in the past and i stop believing we made a difference. i resigned and were lucky enough to years later i joined international crisis group, conflict resolution ngo. and i'm feeling a lot more happy with my work now. >> hugh pope is the author of "dining with al-qaeda: three decades exploring the many worlds of the middle east." on twitter.ir. follow us for a regular update on a programming and news on nonfiction books and authors. twitter.com/booktv. >> next train to recounts the life of homer lea, an american

geopolitics, who traveled to china to participate in the boxer rebellion and became an adviser to sun yat-sen during the 19apn discusses his book as part of the annual association of the u.s. army meeting at the washington conventi >> good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen and thank you for being here. i would like to my book you angela a lot more about do right now if you don't know about them already if you enjoy reading biographies, a people who helped shape world events, i guarantee you'll enjoy reading about the exploits of homer lea and american soldier of fortune. he earned an international reputation as a man of ministry. is a soldier of fortune, writer, and a geopolitical strategist. since his death in 1912 he has pretty much been an orphan of

history. during his lifetime he was a prominent, well-known, had an international reputation, and he did influence the events of the time and shape some world events fter his death. i'd like to you do a quick overview of how his career is divided up. part of it had to do with working with the chinese in asia, part had to do with being a writer. so first and foremost the chinese peace. homer lea was five-foot 3 very bright and his love reading military history. and 1899 he was a student at stanford university, and with his disability he figured he would have a career in law. he had an adventurous spirit, and he saw opportunities china and advanced and bring it forward and modernize it. there was a huge conservative backlash in china and the empress had a palace coup and place the emperor under arrest. that's fine, chinese politics. he left with a price on his head

established the chinese society called protect the emperor association. and have branches all over the world whether overseas chinese to solicit money and ge-sle build your operation in china to free the emperor and restore the power. and 89 and went branch of this organization was established in san francisco, homer lea heard about it was interested, and approach the chinese. he told him he was a brilliant military strategist. foremost more partly he told them he was a relative of robert e. lee. and they thought that was wonderful. is this american strategists, with great credentials. he was not a relative of robert e. lee, and they hired him to help organize and train this ramshackle army to putting together in china. in the summer of 1900, homer lea went to china, he got a lieutenant generals commission and his army which was not a

formal army by today's standards. and wandered around china, he didn't accomplish much. and this coincided with the boxer rebellion so there was a lot of discord and activity in china. the military venture was crushed by thepeial government. homer lea left china, came back to united states but continued working with the chinese. next episode going back to china and leading a resurrected force in america, covertorce over training plan, across american cities, across the nation, over 2000 chinese joint military schools. in reality it was a very thin veil for training a covert army. the schools were supposed to teach conventional english, math, social studies, this, that, and the other. but in reality they just had true instructors that were former soldiers from the u.s. army.

they bought unimy. they outfitted themselves in uniforms. it looked very similar to u.s. army uniform and recently swapped out the eagles on the cap for dragon con an eagle on the buttons for dragons. other than that they look like u.s. army soldiers. the emperor of china died inleag scheme came detention of the public. there were some investigations. his next effort involved a conspiracy with doctor yung wing. the person in the middle. one of the most distinguished chinese in america at the time. the first graduate of the. >> university from china, sponsored numerous chinese coming to america for education, a former chinese minister to the united states. he believed in reform. homer lea and company put together what was called the red dragon conspiracy, conspiracy with yung wing and several other chinese and some american businessman to launch a

revolution to carve out twoto m. absolutely incredible. they approached american businessman for funding and finance. too risky a proposal. it just so happened that homer lea turned his talents to being an author. in 19 to nine he wrote a very successful book discussing american dissent and principe have a japanese might invade some american possessions in asia -- excuse me, in the pacific, and possibly attack california. i'll talk about that book alone later. the book he met inreews, and ine red dragon conspiracy was foundry homer lea the author with great international reputation linked up with the offices of yung wing with a revolutionary on the right, you want to overthrow the entire

dice and take control of all a number of revolutionary potential under his belt was failed. homer lea became the principal foreign advisor. in the summer -- excuse me, in the fall of 1911, actually the anniversary this month, in october, in october 11, -- skewed become october 10, 1910, the revolution started that actually would overthrow the dynasty in a few months. beyond the wildest dreams they're going to get the republic. sun yat-sen, instead of going to china directly, sun yat-sen was an american at time, intolerant, he coaches gone to california, taken a ship to china, didn't do that homer lea was in germany at the time getting medical treatment for his eyes.

he cabled homer lea, you've got the international connections, go to london, contact washington, it is funny. we need funding for this to revolution. gave the americans and the british to back this. homer lea met sun yat-sen in london, and from there they were unsuccessful in getting western financial backing. but what homer lea went on the ship to china with a sun yat-sen he had every expectation of becoming the chief of staff of the new chinese army. that's what he was promised picture somebody with no formal military experience. it in military uniform that made them look like a general. it written a book, talked about geopolitics and strategy and defending american possessions. and now he was on the verge of capping his career with something of napoleonic stature. he got to china and the american state department told them in no uncertain terms as an american national he could not be ahead of the c hinesearmy. so while he was somewhat embittered about this, his failing health came back, he had

to go, anything i should say and integrity suffered a severe stroke. well, he went back to california with every expectation of regaining his health and rejoining sun yat-sen. sun yat-sen by this time had given of the present day to avoid a civilese eneral take ove presidency. but homer lea died in november of 1912. so that phase of his career was pretty short-lived. he'd reached the pentacle of his desires and goals to be a real general of a real army. he came very, very close, and along the way he embarked on a number of different ventures with chinese reformers and revolutionaries. the next -- excuse me. as you can see here, these are some photos of homer lea in various military garb. the one left is when he came back to china right after the boxer rebellion. another use -- useful both in

his early '20s. the middle photo, he would've been read 25 or 26, taken at the same time on the photo on the right. as an american lieutenant generals uniform, simply removing the eagles and replacing them with dragons. this photo was in the press all over the country. if you didn't know any better you would think he was an american military officer. a similar photo was in most of his books. you had no reason to believe he wasn't a legitimate officer, albeit a very young looking one. there's a photo of some troops training in los angeles, broad daylight, some the chinese troops there, and the fellow in the white shirtit after they demobilize the spanish-american war. their height to be his drill instructors. so in this case a handful got a commission in california.

well, this was supposed a covert operation. and actually people in american government knew about it. homer lea had met president roosevelt. president was the gave a tacit link to this training scheme, but varies elements of the government and state and local government to investigate this. and much to the chagrin of home and the and cuddly, when this headline came out, that was a lasting they won was this kind of exposure. that help close down this covert military training operation, front-page headlines like this. the other part of his career, as i just indicated, had to do with homer lea as a writer. now, i don't know but you all. first book, and i'm very proud to have done it. i put a lot of work into it.av d degrees that show i know what i'm doing. not the case with homer lea. after he came back from china is college dropout in addition to working with the chinese got decided he wanted to be an author. so this, "the vermilion pencil"

was published in 1908. it's his first book. he got it published. it's about china. and at the time it was considered the first novel written about china. this was one of the very first western that would come in anins or measures. they were not writing spicy novels. his major works, "the vermilion pencil," there were plans to make that into "the vermilion pencil," there were plans to make that into a stage play. that kind of fell through. but after homer lea's death, it was made into a silent film in 1922. that kind of grainy photo you see on the right, this is one of his key films. there's an american actress with him by his side. his first book became popular

and they made into a movie. well, this is his crowning achievement. this 1909 book catapulted homer lea into finger at his wildest dreams as an author. this is what is most known for. this is the book goes way beyond his life, his legacy. this is the one i will talk in more detail. when he was living in california trying to get some of his chinese schemes going, he was involved with several influential california businessmen. they in turn new some pretty influential former army officers. lieutenant general, the former chief of staff of army retired in los angeles, and so did major general joseph story, depicted on the right as a colonel, that's him, he was a former chief of artillery. they both wrote glowing introductions to "the valour of ignorance." with those introductions, if you were a u.s. army uniform you want to read this book.

if you station out in the philippines, you want to read this book because it theoretical plans and maps of how to invade the philippines. from 1909 until pearl harbor, just about every officer in u.s. army worth his salt knew about this and read this book. general macarthur credited homer lea and his book with helping him formulate policy for defending the philippines. this book was significant. homer lea dedicated to the secretary of war. he met him once was using the book and holding up in the halls of washington think we got some really defensive insecurity in america and when a debate particular attention to the west coast. and so the to put on wargames at how to defend against potential japanese invasion. people from the on or go start a console with homer lea on putting working together.

and homer lea's book was just considered for people in ameria for those of you who are family with geopolitical writing at the concerned about defense. time, the naval writer in the 1890s influence the first really defending america's interest military. that's about the navy. homer lea wrote his geopolitical book only about land warfare. so this is the next big connected not geopolitical book in american history. this is a game changer, very influential. the japanese went to school on this. the germans ready. the europeans read it. very influential. as i said the japanese read this. i don't have a lot of citationsd pieces in my book, but i can say the feeling is that everybody in the japanese high command that fought in world war ii new who homer lea was and read his book. and the japanese did start taking seriously the american

theoretical adversary in 1909. that's the same year this book came out. it just so happens as a mentioned earlier general macarthur and his staff of the book, but by chance that journalists c married to the public time "life" magazine was out visiting the philippines before pearl harbor, a year before, and she was being entertained by a story by head of general macarthur's intelligence. he was telling her at the officers club they just arrested some filipino boy because he was sending secret war plans to some french somewhere. and his explain to her everyone at work plan. after that update checked out homer lea's book at the library. that's how close some of our planning was. so clare boothe luce became enamored like homer lea. she came back to america, and after pearl harbor she single-handedly resurrected this meant into a military profit.

she wrote some articles in "saturday evening post." annexed the note he is although the papers. this is a guy who saw it coming. this is the guy who said the japanese are going to do this. and oh, by the way, his plans estimate indicated, the invasion of the philippines is are some of to what the japanese actually did. so he earned high marks. clare booth luce from that time on was enamored by him. and she actually wrote the basis of the screenplay and, several efforts to make movies about homer lea. well, tragedy was so popular in england the former head of the field army shown on the left by every copy that harper and brothers published. he bought them all. also want to get his hands on at once i should say in london. he bought them off and handed them out to everybody he knew in would you please write something for the british similar to what you're britain and america america.

that's the book, "the day of the saxon." homer lea wrote this. he consulted the field marshal lord roberts. they wrote back and forth to each other. and this book really didn't take the interest of the japanese. it took the interest of the germans. who were going to be adversary with a bridge. this book was translated into german. the kaiser levitt. the kaiser loved "the day of the saxon." homer lea had an international reputation as a writer. alt-a comes homer lea dies in 1912. sun yat-sen has got a battle on off for control in china until he dies in the 1920s. homer lea's books go out of print. homer lea meanwhile, his ashes, he was cremated. his family keeps his ashes. in his will he left that he wanted to be buried in china. his wife never made any effort that i know of with sun yat-sen to have his ashes taken to china he for sun yat-sen died. and then the wife, she died in

1934. she was cremated. her son kept the ashes and he and he never had enough money or wherewithal to go to china to move the ashes to china. in 1949, china mainland became congress so the idea, that's a wash. i was going to happen. so uncertain of homer lea's institution at stanford university in late 1968, one of the conditions of donating the papers by the famine is can you please arrange to homer lea's ashes taken to china? the mainland was out of the question it but for those of you who know or don't know this, chiang kai-shek new homer lea. in taiwan to possiblys taking the ashes, bring it over, this is great. so there was a big cinema, big military someone to take homer lea's ashes. they are at the uninsured in taiwan and the plan at the time at least according to chang

kai-shek, he would take the ashes over to the mainland. as it stands of course shane kai-shek is long since gone, and homer lea's family would very much like to see homer lea's ashes taken back to the mainland. so with that said, that's my quick overview of homer lea and the book at if you're interested in someone like that who shape world events, although he has been largely forgotten since then, i would recommend it. now, one of want to also add is this. minute is the second book ever published about homer lea. the fact that the first was written in the 1980s and the author has since died, that book is a good starting point, and use the papers that were donated to the hoover institution. prior to the 1960s, there was never enough material to even think about writing a scholarly

biography of homer lea. so i've been working on is often known for for a number of years, and where my book transcendtranscends and bypass the one in the '80s is i had the advantage of having used sources from the internet. so each week that goes by can't each month that goes by, like a low picking fruit, new material may come to the forefront. i've also had the advantage of running into some of homer lea's family members who have shared some information with me. now, i'd like to give you a quick anecdote about the trials and tribulations of writing about this. when homer lea was alive he was called an international man of mystery for a reason. there was so much ministry, representation and exaggeration about who he was and what he did when he was alive, it was near impossible to separate the fact from fiction. that was a huge historical task. here's just a quick and it don't.

i was fortunate enough to get some letters to homer lea's sister report article in the 1940s for "life" magazine that was never published. talking about some aspects of his life. and his sister wrote about how when he was involved, how he was going to fight a duel. right before his first book in a. i just showed you on the charge here, his first book came out in 1908. so i looked the newspapers from los angeles, goodbye nothing about a duel. and i figured okay, he must have done this in the early 1908 cock is going to fight this duel. so i wrote that section into my manuscript. i have information. no one had ever seen before. i was going to corner the market, new authoritative homer lea. then a fewter the library of congress, which is digitizing newspapers as we speak, digitize the los angeles herald. lo and behold i see a front-page story that homer lea having a

duel. that is 06, 1908. at nothing to do with his sister's recollection. her memory was completely skewed. it was off. so it gives you pause for reflection that you want you to authoritative sources and documents. and in this case i determined that the newspaper published the day after the event was much more authoritative and accurate than the sister's memory 40 years later. but it's an example of the challenges of sorting through the myths of homer lea. if you were to go on the web, read any article to date, anything published about homer lea, a certain% of it is going to be inaccurate and wrong. case closed. case closed. that's the challenge. this book here, at least as far as i can tell, is the most accurate and authoritative biography of homer lea. questions or comments if you and that has any at this point.

>> what possesses homer lea to take a pacific wide theater -- was at an academic exercise on his board or did he envision himself as the great savior in response to it? >> good question. a really student events.anese were. the japanese fought the russians, anderson is out war was over homer lea understood where the path of japanese expansionism was leading. for those of you who don't have an encyclopedic memories of japanese history, in 1894-95,

there was a war with a japanese font the chinese and that wasn't the sort of japanese expansionism. 10 years later, japanese fought the russians. and homer lea simply connected the dots and saw this is going across the pacific. homer lea also was a social he believed in survival of the fittest that he believes in preserving the anglo-saxon race. his view, global view, was we got to keep american and british ties together. and he saw china as a counterbalance weight to japanese and russian expansionism in asia. so he saw the british and the americans formulate this bond with china as the counterweight to any ditzy things geopolitically because he was a student of the sino japanese war and the russell japanese war and global events. any other questions, comments?

[inaudible] >> that's a very easy story to tell. when i was a graduate student ie university, i was in library looking for hard copy papers of harper's weekly. and i came across a full-page obituary of the children he look like a kid. with his glowing headlines of these contributions but it was hard to fathom or belief mean, . and since i didn't know much about him or had heard much about them at the pointers are looking for something some authoritative or for good i could reliably biography. and until my book came out a few months ago i could are finding. i took upon myself to do this. i did a dissertation at kansas state university in the mid '80s with this. in his work as an army historian in army center, is working a an. and so there we are. but here we

are 10 years later with additional research. >> what made his, "the valour of ignorance" to is a pretty good thinking? >> there's nothing else like it to compare to. unless you want to read a book in progressive modern american military officer, you are thirsting for professional education. you are thirsting to read things that can help challenge you in your craft. this is it. i mean, it wasn't written by an american military officer. that's the catch. homer lea did his homework or he got on you and he went all over the mounds in southern california, look at the photography. you look at the topography of how you would launch an invasion. he looked at the land. the u.s. army today, we all know, look at the land. they love homer lea. >> i want to thank you all very much if that concludes, this concludes my remarks.

if you have any questions or comments, get in touch with me at a later date. [applause] >> this event was part of the u.s. army meeting. for more information visit ausa.o. ..