are still around with her riding in them. >> host: she left a fashion in print as well as a jury imprints >> host: >> guest: a ton of the fashion in print has been widely adopted the one but widely remembered. >> guest: yes. >> host: janny scott, the book is "a singular woman." thank you for joining us. ..

>> moderator mostly of

national televised presidential debates. i moderated the 11 of those delightfully -- delightful events and i have the psychic scars to show. [laughter] my book is about my experiences as a moderator. but i also interviewed most of the presidential and vice-presidential candidates about their experiences with these debates and interview them over a period of 20 years. the title 10 chin a city comes from president george h. w. bush told me when he said those big time things it was a tension city. smart? that is where i got the title. my own description of what

it was like to be a moderator for the debates my analogy is walking carefully down the blade of a very sharp knife. one little push here or there you could be cut hurt very badly. i tell the story of the so-called killer question in which george w. bush was involved with the 1988 debate with michael dukakis when but moderator bernard shaw asked dukakis, a governor, if kitty dukakis were raped and murdered, would you favor the irrevocable death penalty for the killer?

and i as many of you may recall he began his answer very calmly with " no. i don't bernard and i think you know, i have been opposed to the death penalty all my life. he went on to explain his opposition to capital punishment and according to the pundits at the time he went on to lose the election because of that. and one interesting back story about the question itself involved the efforts of his fellow journalists, panelist come all three being women to persuade bernie shaw behind the scenes not to ask the question. the bottom line i discovered in doing my research, the distinguished journalist of this world are no different than real people. they also see and hear this scene -- the same things in different ways.

i also tell the whole story of the story of 11976 the audio went dead between jimmy carter and gerald ford the debate in philadelphia. ford and carter standing at each podium and they both just stood there silently 27 minutes while they tried to fix the audio. they did not look at each other. one moderator offer them a chair and said of -- not only did they sit down did not even acknowledge july suggested that. i interview them about that and they said it was true, it a true embarrassment. carter said "i think to some degree it let the american people size of the candidates and i don't think

any of us made points on that deal and it was true. it was one airplanes were made decisively in a debate that had nothing to do with what was said by the candidates with their words. but what they said with their body language. the first televised debate kennedy nixon comment it was nixon's appearance that loss of the day and one and four kennedy. those who listen to what on the radio thought nixon was the winner but on television did not think so. the 2000 debate between al gore and george bush that was the famous debate we're showing the collor every time bush answered a question he would grimness and aside and with the reaction shot. [laughter] it showed out core inouye

the voters did not like. and the polls after the debate before they were neck-and-neck but after that gore earth fell behind and stayed behind year i was the closest person to the two candidates but i have the rule a look at the person who was speaking not of the person who was listening i do not want to be a part of the reactions are as we were walking out 21 of my daughter said that was something what al gore did. i said what did you do? were you talking about? i had completely missed it and i was the closest one to its. you can say the same thing on the body language between the first mccain obama

debate in mississippi i also moderated that one. you may recall mccain would not look at obama. he would not address any questions to him directly despite the pleas of good delightfully charming moderator to do that. he would not do it. he came over in a negative way fidgety, nervous, angry while obama was more than willing to look at mccain and ask questions and came over calm and cool. but obama took the lead and he never lost it after that. the bottom line which i have concluded is voters who want to take the full measure of a candidate in ways that

sometimes an absolutely nothing to do with what a candidate thinks about a particular issue. whether he or she is likable or how they might act when the unexpected happens or another 9/11 or katrina. usually only two or three weeks ago and people have made up their mind so what they're really looking for is who is this person? that is what they're looking for more than the position of social security or whatever else. just some general comments about interviewing and moderating. and talk about the need to do homework and preparation. people think that is to

write terrific questions. no. you do your homework so you are relaxed enough to listen to the answers. my answer is, senator, i do think we should sell more grain to cuba? >> yes. but before that we should bomb havana and i say what kind of crane? because that was the question i had written down. [laughter] you have to guard against that. one other thing i would say this when you reach macquarie agreed tensions city my wife is all the way through the book and is here. where are you? , scrap. [applause] here she is. right in front of me.

[laughter] all the way through because she helps me but in two ways, there is a great security issue as you can imagine for the debates because the moderator makes up all the questions and he or she alone knows what the questions are. and decides which ones to ask. no advance word goes to any candidate or anybody else. if one person could find out ahead of time what the questions might be would be a terrific advantage. the security in my case, about six '07 days i do not talk about it with anybody. i never suggested any questions i think about because i don't want to put anybody in a position to lie although i know security is good want to make sure.

as a consequence, the only person i read the questions to before it starts is caked. i always take every suggestion she has and of course, she criticizes i take that and i change it. i do run it by her. and at the very first debate was an earlier dukakis george hw bush debate in my first debate in when stemmed salem -- winston-salem and i was winding getting and a car to go if i was nervous as hell. about the pressure and kate did not from me against the wall. but is not her style literally but said it laid down in a.

you think you have a problem? think of those two candidates if they say one thing that is slightly wrong it could cost them the presidency of the united states which is arguably the most powerful position in the world and you think you have a problem? tire remind myself of her words every time i do one of these debates. september i will be out on book tour and local police see you. recognize me as the man going door to door to say hi i am jim lehrer this is my book for our hope that you buy it. i learned of four as all authors have learned it helps to have a gig or enact i developed 11 books ago and act when i was peddling a

novel called "white widow" about a bus driver in the fifties who had a mad love affair with a passenger but only in his mind but with real-world consequences. i did not have a love affair but worked as a ticket agent in the 1950's and where the experience came that led to the book. so to prove my authenticity as a ticket agent, every place i went, bookstores, libraries, public television stations, a street corners, i would do this. may i have your attention please? this is the last call for the air-conditioned two blinder to houston now leaving.

all former passengers all aboard. do not forget your baggage believes. [applause] we forewarned boys and girls a view see me coming on book tour for attention city i will find a way to do a bus bus. i will make it relevant. [laughter] now be enough about me let's get on to the real business of this morning our first offer is roger ebert known and admired as america's premier movie critic. beginning in 1967 with the "chicago sun-times" and the first movie critic ever to win the pulitzer prize. his programs with gene sysco

and roper are the best. his memoir will be published september and it is an honor and privilege to present to you roger ebert. [applause] >> yesterday at the airport

it was dicey touch and go to get here they cancel the flight another was four hours delayed somebody said you know, that god was predicting the end of that -- attended the world. do think "this is it"? he said no. i have to go to the book expo breakfast tomorrow. [laughter] here we go. [applause] >> we were invited to appear on a tv show we were not shut -- so sure. could they appear how would it make us look? play's comedy things the audience dialing for dollars

would be thinking about things like that? she put us through a dry run and spun an imaginary drum and put out of three by five car from which she had written her own name and the winner is, congratulations. you one a dollar. [laughter] restarted another invitation to an invited to baltimore we were at in / young woman named oprah winfrey she you came into the green room to chat. i like tour. she explained we would appear after a segment from a vegetarian schiff and then wrap up this the chipmunks performing with a hula hoop. [laughter] the show did not go smoothly. the vegetarian chef knocked over the blunder and all of the zucchini sprayed over

the so far. during the commercial break she covered it with "the baltimore sun" and told us to sit quietly and do not cross all. [laughter] in the wings we could see the chipmunks waiting with their lives. she moved to chicago not long after joining the same abc station where i had just been hired to review movies on the news. morning shows had a co-host and they caught a lot of criticism for risking the channel seven slot on the unknown young african-american woman especially when she was going up against phil donahue at the height of his popularity. >> so was the chicago times slot the week before oprah's premier i was a substitute

host. i remember in particular interviewing someone about a new perfume. what is it made from my ass? then i realized she had no idea. she replied, flowers you know, and things like that. [laughter] although some strange stories have gone around, it is not true to say that oprah and i ever dated. we went to the movies wants. she asked if i went to the movies all the time and when i said i went five times a week she said why don't you take me some time? so i did. >> i am glad that was the last time he to occur to a movie. [laughter] after that we had our historic dinner. she told me she was being courted by king world and that abc station group to go into syndication but had heard doubts.

if you fail in the syndication your off the air. it is merciless. if i go with abc they own the stations in major markets so i am more projected. we were at a hamburger hamlet on rush street. to a 10 napkin and and wrote to here is what i'm making at the tribune right now writing down $500,000. figure on making twice that. we are on half an hour your honor one hour. you're on five days a week and we are on one. times five. you're on prime time we are on weekends that is worth at least twice as much. 500,000 times two times times two times five times two she studied the napkin and said okay roger, i will go with king world. [laughter]

in the fullness of time johnny carson and by 10 us on his show. we had done a lot of tv but we were both terrified. we sat for more moral support. the door opened and it was johnny carson standing there live in the same room. we jumped to our feet and he balkan bus to his and then he disappeared. roger, we don't belong here. we've belong at home in chicago watching this on tv. the door opened and it was one of his right years. he may ask you for your favorite movies so far this year than he left. we looked at each other in terror. name a movie that you like. "gone with the wind" if. [laughter] he telephoned the producer in chicago you please list some movies that we like?

[laughter] win he retired a jay leno the late night, the war began between him and david letterman there is speculation david letterman would jump networks. we were aghast on the very evening it was scheduled to be announced but we did not discuss it. we never discussed anything with him. on apart from two locations leno who circulated among dressing rooms but letterman never did. not because he didn't like us but have held the record for the most appearances on the show. sang they waited and not believe anticipating the energy before the red light went on. but leno like to be everybody's friend in did

like the movie. and then would debate the latest reviews and find fault. talk-show guests are interviewed by of ryder and suggesting questions and answers. you guys are the ideal guest to steve ridgway told me, your segments always wrong long because they will not shut up about the movies. we were on the carson show. sorry. >> we were on the carson show once following chevy chase to have just promoted his christmas release the three amigos. we talked a little then johnnie said roger, what is your least favorite christmas picture?

we were looking directly at each other then i noticed the invisible expression flash. i knew what the answer had to be and i believe in that sector and johnny did too. ipods. the three amigos i said. there was a strange audience reaction. audiences expect people to be nice and chevy chase save the moment by saying looking forward to your next picture. carson did a double take and said i wish i had not said that. i said me to. >> one of the reasons for our success of the show is just like the victims of a curse and a fairy tale we were compelled to tell the truth. we were critics sank could not tell diplomatic ties.

there may be a temptation but the other guy would call you on it. if i try to talk around his questions gene would have jumped like a wolf. you would just say the other day how much you hated that movie. we could not pass up an opening certainly he would have said the three amigos and asked him the question. the other time we talked privately with letterman brokaw precedent. dave would like to talk with you in his office after the show the producer told us. gene got all wound up. roger, this could only mean one thing. he wants us to do a talk show for for worldwide pants. [laughter] that was the night i experienced the biggest genuine spontaneous laugh i have ever witnessed on a

talk show. he was telling the story about when he and john wayne went into a greasy spoon at 2:00 a.m. the waitress saw him and caught herself. what is the name of the movie? there is a moment of silence i was sitting in a chair our eyes met to dave and i and the audience even gene broke into uncontrolled laughter. it is a good omen. there will probably want us to move to new york. after the show up producer took us upstairs in the surprisingly modest office. i think we have a problem in india maybe able to help me. gene smiled confidently.

you're both that the chicago -- show we did at the chicago theater. remember that night? something happened that night. the she has never come back on the show again and will not talk to me. has she said anything to you about it? she never said one word to us. people assume since we were from chicago we all want out together but the truth is if you have access to all oprah you respected and do not assume or ask favors. if you are my grandchild i could call a producer to give you of a ticket on her birthday but that is about it. that doesn't surprise me. but what about michael jordan? he also will not come on my show. i have no idea.

did oprah's say something to him? [laughter] we've looked at each other. gene was close to michael but we did not have a clue. right. that is what i expected. thank you for your time. great show tonight. >> when people ask letterman why he had to interview cheers, the usual answer was sysco and ebert after jean's death david has me as i guess one more time to promote my first great book and then never again. he did not get mad at me or anything like that. it was simply that we were the double act. as our early producer told us long ago, individually, you are nothing. together, you are stars. these days it is not often you see letterman meeting

the second share. i thought of it as jeans chair. he thought of it as my chair. we kept track of who's turn it was to sit next to dave parker right now it is my turn. [applause] >> kate and i have a talk show story to tell. she is a novelist and we have novel's out at the same time it appeared as has been and wife and then on the "today show" but then as the

late mother lived in texas, she called her mother and said i will be on the "today show." then after the show she did not hear anything from her mother kate called her mother. what do you think? she said you did not have your hair, right. [laughter] my next author this morning is anne enright and award-winning writer of fiction from ireland. the first-ever novels was the way my father were published in 1995. per fourth come a "the gathering" one demand booker prize and also had a distinguished career as a producer of quality television programs and is

here today on behalf of the forgotten what. [applause] anne enright. >> i got really worried about my body language listening to him earlier that i may do it wrong. then after rogers presentation i stopped worrying about stupid stuff. it is lovely to be an american where a the readers have been so kind and then there's always a secret it takes awhile to uncover them but my father looked at me on christmas day 2008 in his mid '80s i spins a year on

the road and i am fond of my father. i talk about my mother all the time. that your hair was not calm right. but i do not talk about my father much and he doesn't talk much at all. he is a quiet man. the silences are the most interesting he kept looking at me and i know we he wanted to communicate with me is how proud he was. he is allowed to do that because he is my father. i realize i have not seen much of his daughter were

the young daughter. occasionally he has a daughter with the amazing scene where the daughter is being paid by another man. and also it is turning now the family man is not be met in literature. and how a man loves is not something you would necessarily find that they never redid all of the little girl's but two music from the ages of six through 10. the unspoken thing comedy and written saying this very

been nine but taboo subject was part of the secret argument of the forgotten waltz. i was born in dublin in manhattan if you want to make your mark you make money back at home we write a book. it is painful. you know, somebody all their life then they write a book. [laughter] but when people say we're did you become a writer or why? i don't know if i decided at all but it is this something that we did. it was an arranged marriage.

now that i am very happy i love my career but and it is from what i was destined to do. coming from a very middle-class background and there is no money in the house. nobody had many in the '70s. and then they add a lesson tour i must express myself i was ready to run with double and not about the kind

negative a child that i was. my mother used to say and you are here before? being i had been there many lives of the past. i remember thinking something similar of my son who was in the school drum up production a sleeping beauty. because nobody wanted to be drawn by he was the prince and the king and the huntsman and came off the stage afterwards and said do you know, this stage is a rare i feel the most alive. [laughter] i said you were here before. but that mystery that i see in children that my parents may have seen in me is part

of the book that that child turned into a writer. i got a job by accident in television. to was a car crash i got out of 1993 but the next 14 years i stayed at the desk i have written for weren't novels but ireland is a bit ambivalent i have very little risk -- was the but the rest of the world and i have the amazing irish tradition to plunder and i was doing all right to but then read with barnes &

noble and go to princeton i wish tour listed for the big prize. and i thought this was a live. and then i wanted dam thing. then it changed very suddenly. i hadn't changed much. but they were looking at some idea of success. over the course of the year whenever that was about it

was about them. it was about how they felt the success or failure. 14 years at the desk if anything it is the emotional roller coaster with the new to but then turned bond the highs and lows that nobody hears. if i had learned anything by then, i have learned success and failure for the enemies of talent. then suddenly, i was a success. the funny thing about that is the work is finished when i finish the book. then i had a new job which was not right team that being the thing.

that i was the story. it is not something i thought i was fit for. iowa is wondering what i could take from this experience in the very turbulent years away from my desk. it is a serious business to think it through what i could carry away. what is good for the work as opposed to what would kill it. and with everybody having an opinion one way or the other , the solace i took was from a new person was from "the reader." from houston and boston and let them in sydney,

sydney, ireland, was i realize this i knew how to proceed and what i would do but i would write a book. it sounds easy. the forgotten what is written for them. it is full lourdes jean moynahan who is no better than she should be. she has a big passion a big folly and a glorious mistake and the man has a daughter. the same themes and the gathering of biological love and the indescribable thing and the sexual love that often is describing things, those two same tensions is in the

gathering. and what is an older man because this series of mistakes turning into the greater life and it is a love story. i forgot the beginning of that sentence. wanted to write about adultery because i thought i would have more fun and they and writing about marriage. i have acquired enough life on my own. also a good subject. arlington been through an amazing bloom looking at literature after the second world war in america and

adultery is a great subject for a society in transition as money makes things possible with different kinds of choices that are made. i also want to make it morally ploy raised. one of them says she is a day has been stealer and a marriage breaker. the other said i was with her 1,000%. i went to a morally oppose story -- ploy used story that they can extend the range of their experience

the book has come mountain the u.k., ireland and then everybody has an opinion which is one of the benefits of success i suppose. but what i have liked most american readers will like it the women who came up to me last weekend from where the book is that and said i read it in one go. another said i stayed up all night to read it. i know it is a book about fashion love, romance, foolishness of love and a grand juror of that foolishness. it is not a fluffy book.

and now i have written one for "the reader." that is all i have to say. thank you very much. [applause] >> to the master of nonfiction, erik larson his books covers stories from the galveston hurricane and killings to the invention of the radio but now in his book in the garden of the steep talks about the american ambassador to germany during the beginning of the rise of adolf hitler. he worked for newspapers and magazines and "the wall street journal" and "time" magazine before he began putting the end result between hard covers. i give you erik larson.

[applause] >> i think i met all of you last week. i am not sure. this makes me very nostalgic for my very first ever book events. i am sure you recall the naked concern -- consumer. [laughter] that is a book no one bought. one guide bought it and did not like it because he was the target. but i did get a call one day to do by assigning in lancaster pennsylvania. so i thought my career is on the way. sunday afternoon where you

sit at a table with 40 books and expect people to come up in droves and i sat there happily somebody made a plate of chocolate chip cookies as an inducement. i sat there for the first hour and a half and nobody came to talk to me or even made by contact. far from it even looking at the books around three not coming year me. there was something odd. there was but at the hour and a half later i looked up and a woman was coming towards me with the biggest smile now i think now was when it starts to happen. she says how much are the cookies?

[laughter] so i want to talk about my book from crown publishing. it is almost universally referred to by its acronym. it has been out about two weeks when it came out none of us made the connection but that was the anniversary of the end of this book burning in berlin. i don't know what that means but i am glad to say thanks to all of view that the book is not in the sixth printing. one of the things i pride myself is to find stories to tell that have been largely forgotten. the it that is exactly my kind of book i really don't.

the idea is a tough time i don't have a backlog of ideas the dimas began working on. i start with a blank slate. it is said terrible time it is referred to the dark country of no idea is. [laughter] i was there looking for my next 85 years ago. to shake things loose i said i would follow my own a vice. on the rare occasions that i do teach two rate -- read everything all over the map. i went to a bookstore and started to browse the history section what kinds of books and move may '04

board me and i come across a book that was on my wish list to read. 1200 pages, no photographs, it was the rise and fall of the third reich. i had never read it. i brought it home and decided to start reading. i love to the book. it to read like a thriller. terrific book. maybe i am slow but i was about one-third of the way through before i realized the author was there in berlin and had met all of these people that we know today too be monsters. hit there, and a low whole bunch only he met them at the time wind nobody knew the ending. we knew the ending but he did not. then i tried to imagine what that would have been like to

have met these people out of point* when you don't know how things will turn out. suppose you were sitting in a cafe and saw hitler driving by. would you have felt a chill lowered its ruled lowered just background noise? the be interesting to do booked through the point* of view of characters in berlin's through the early era but obviously i needed real-life characters. ideally americans because the right four that audience. i hit my favorite library in washington at the university of washington. also i am a tremendous fan of libraries. i like to think of myself as the indiana jones of libraries repelling down. the duodecimal system.

[laughter] [applause] i am not sucking up. it is the truth. i love them so much if you give me a choice between a night with kate blanchett and locked alone in the library of congress i would take the night with kate in a heartbeat. [laughter] but i do love libraries. [laughter] i started reading histories histories, the grand history works by the great masters of this era. but i like to reading the personal memoirs and diaries. then coming across the library soon after words i came across a memoir of his daughter martha. try to imagine you are

william come as 63 years old and a mild-mannered professor at university of chicago and tired of the demands of academia. in the engulfing needs of a graduate students. about the old south you have the rise and fall of the old south. precisely at noon, the telephone rings. the guy at the other end, much to your surprise the newly elected president of united states. to be america's ambassador, to nazi germany. this post has been empty about five months.

but one reason he has called do through a friend of his that you speak german the main reason is that nobody else wanted the job. three weeks later you are on the ship to germany with your family here why figure rose seven and the 24 year-old and she is one heck of a daughter. i am a father of three daughters of that is partly my fascination. martha is smart and sexy and has a way that inflames the passions of men young and not so young. the age of 24 she already had an affair with carl

sandburg whose 55 years. do my own research like what happened to me in the library of congress. i came across a folder that contained two blocks of carl sandburg's her. clear plastic archival envelope. to tuffs of her tied with string looking like a little broom head and i am here to tell you his hair was quite blond and very kors. [laughter] but at this point* she has broken to engagements and is now in the midst of a divorce from a dead marriage to a new york banker. she came along for the venture and falls in love with the nazi revolution and

finds event -- intoxicating at first. quite a few people thought hitler was good for germany. you can correlate the message to help restore the pride and claimed all he wanted was to make germany an equal among other nations. the night before the dogs have left for they gathered, but they went to a fancy dinner party on park avenue at the home of a wealthy philanthropist of his day. charles crane and made his fortune from plumbing equipment and supplies. i cannot speak for the women but the men has seen the crane logo staring up at you from urinals around the country. [laughter] he takes haddad aside and tells him, what hitler have

his way. also revises him in no uncertain terms avoid all social interaction with jews while he is in berlin. looking at the world through martha resides she finds herself in dave firebreak charismatic city. we usually think of as black and white and old newsreels. she sees the color every where. the trams running, the fact that every brock any seems to have red geraniums, at christmas there was christmas tree lights and christmas trees so much so dodd writes in his diary that he would almost think the nazis believed in jesus because there is so much

evidence of the love of christmas. the glorious cafe sifting hundreds at a time. movie theaters sitting 1500 people at a time when of the most popular movies was king kong that was said to be killers favorite movie. dancing every night. from the roof of the eden hotel. five story buildings with nightclub venues and one of which was a bar that had an actual artificial thunderstorm complete with a light dusting of rain and in america been at wild west bar in hitler's berlin. were you ordered the martini and we served by a german in a cowboy hat. . .