.. >> and you can watch her presentation at booktv.org. last on the list is jacqueline kennedy, a collection of seven historic interviews with the former first lady. panel of historians and authors recently appeared on booktv to discuss this book. it is also available to watch at booktv.org. for more independent

bestsellers, go to indiebound.org and click on bestsellers. >> next on booktv, candice millard recounts the assassination of america's 20th president, james garfield. many millard speaks at the garfield historical site in ohio. >> it's a pleasure to introduce to you our speaker. candice millard is an excellent writer, formerly of national geographic magazine, and we're very excited to have her here to talk about her second book. her first book was "river of doubt," and we're very, very pleased that she's chosen to tackle another interesting presidential subject, that being the assassination of james a. garfield. i believe this is her third or fourth trip here, and it's really a great pleasure to welcome her here tonight. please, make her feel welcome,

candice millard. [applause] >> thank you. thank you for that introduction, todd, and thank you all for coming. it is a real pleasure to be here, and it is a great honor to be able to speak at the james a. garfield national historic site. i also wanted to say a particular thank you to the garfield family as well which has been incredibly kind and generous and helpful to me throughout this whole process. so thank you so much. at heart this book is not about politics or science or even the shooting of a president. it's about an extraordinary drama that took place inside the white house over more than two months. in the 130 years since garfield's death, his story has been largely forgotten.

but even at the time even though the entire nation, the entire world was watching no one really understood what was happening. what began as a shooting became a incredible struggle for power and ambition. the result was the brutal death of one of our most promising leaders at the hands of his own physicians. this is an intimate, heart-breaking story of ignorance versus science, greed versus heroism. james garfield was not, as he has often been remembered to be, just a bland, bearded 19th century politician. on the contrary. that's the wrong picture. um, i'm not sure what went up,

but on the contrary, he was one of the most extraordinary men ever elected president. although he was born into desperate poverty, he became a professor of literature, mathematics and ancient languages when he was just a sophomore in college. by the time he was 26 years old, he was a college president. he knew the entire -- [inaudible] by heart in latin. while he was in congress he wrote an original proof of the pythagorean theorum. to me, though, what is more inspirational and more astonishing even than garfield's brilliance was his decency. you know, i wrote a book about theodore roosevelt, and i have great admiration for him. he was a firebrand. he was the hero, the center of every drama. that's not garfield.

garfield was the calmest, wisest man in the room. he was a good, kind, honest man who was just trying his best. he was a real person not consumed by ego and ambition, someone who was simply trying to do the right thing. even after 17 years in congress in one of the most ruthless, vicious eras of machine politics, garfield never changed. his friends used to marvel at his patience and forbearance even in the face of the most brutal, personal attacks. but garfield was incapable of holding a grudge. he used to just shrug and say, i'm a poor hater. although garfield took his presidency very seriously, he had never had what he called presidential fever. in fact, he never really ran for

any office. people asked him to run, and he did, but he would never even campaign. he always made it clear that he was going to follow his own conscious and convictions, and if people department agree with him, they -- if people didn't agree with him, they shouldn't vote for him. when garfield went to the republican convention in the summer of 1880, not only was he not a candidate, he didn't even want to be one. he had gone there to give a speech, and he was kicking himself because he wasn't prepared. he wrote a letter home telling his wife that he was just sick about the fact that he hadn't written a speech before the convention, and now he wouldn't have time. the convention was an enormous hall in chicago. there15,000 -- there were 15,000 people there, and the favorite to win by far was ulysses s. grant who was trying for a third term in the white house.

in the midst of this chaos and noise, thousands of people, garfield got up to speak, and his speech was so powerful and so eloquent and, again, largely extemp extemporaneous that the hall slowly fell silent until the only thing you could hear was garfield's voice. and everyone was just rivetted. they were spellbound. and at one point garfield said, and so, gentlemen, i ask you, what do we want? and someone shouted, we want garfield! [laughter] and the entire hall just went crazy, and when the balloting began, delegates began casting their ballots garfield each though, again, he wasn't a candidate. and he stood up, and he objected, but the votes kept coming, and he couldn't stop what was happening and what was a trickle became a stream, became a river and then, finally, a flood of votes.

and before garfield knew it, he was the republican nominee for president of the united states. what i found again and again and again while i was researching this book was that not only was garfield's life and nomination and brief presidency full of incredible stories, but the people who surrounded him were also unbelievable. you just couldn't make them up. first, of course, is charles giew toe, garfield's would-be assassin. guiteau was a deeply dangerous man, but he was very intelligent and highly articulate. if you read nearly any other account of garfield's assassination, guiteau is described as a disgruntled office speaker, but that doesn't cover the smallest part of it. he was a uniquely american

character. he was a product of this country at that time. a time when there was a lot of play in the joint, and there was no one to really understand what he was up to and hold him to account for it. guiteau was a self-made madman. he was smart and scrappy, he was a clever opportunist, and he would probably have been very successful if he hadn't been insane. [laughter] guiteau had tried everything, and he had failed at everything. he had tried law, evangelism, even a free love commune in the 1800s, and he had failed even at that. the women in the commune nicknamed him charles get out. [laughter] but he survived on sheer audacity. he traveled all over the country by train, never bought a ticket. he took great pride in moving from boarding house to boarding house, slipping out when the

rent was due. and even when he occasionally worked as bill collector, he would just keep whatever he managed to keep. after the republican convention, guiteau became obsessed with garfield and immediately after the election he began to stalk the president. he went to the white house nearly every day. at one point he even walked into the president's office while the president was in it. he even attended a reception and introduced himself to garfield's wife. he shook her hand, he gave her his card, and he slowly pronounced his name so she wouldn't forget him. it's like a hitchcock movie. it's incredibly creepy and absolutely terrifying. finally, guiteau had what he believed was a divine inspiration. god wanted him to kill the president. it was nothing perm, he would -- personal, he would later say,

simply god's will. as strange and fascinating and nearly as dangerous as guiteau was senator rosco congressling, and that's chester arthur. we skipped a picture. [laughter] conkling was a vain, preening, brutally powerful machine politician who appointed himself garfield's enemy. he wore -- there's conkling. he wore canary yellow waistcoats, he used lavender ink, he had, as you can see, this spit curl in the middle of his head, and he recoiled at the slightest touch. in fact, his vanity was so outsized that he was famously ridiculed about it by a famous congressman on the floor of the congress. but he was no joke, he was dangerously powerful. as a senior senator from new york, he controlled the new york customs house which was the largest federal office in the

united states and controlled 70% of the country's customs revenue. conkling tightly controlled patronage within his state, and reexpected complete and unquestioning loyalty. in fact, his apartment in new york was known as the morgue. conkling was enraged when his candidate, former president grant, didn't get the nomination. but he was apoplectic when he realized that he couldn't control garfield. of to conkling, the attempt on garfield's life was his ticket back into power, but for the first time in his life, nothing turned out as he planned. chester arthur was garfield's vice president. but he was conkling's man. politically, he was completely conkling's creation. in fact, the only other political office he had ever held was as the collector of a

new york house, a position conkling had given him. he made as much money as the president, and he never showed up for work before noon. arthur preferred a life of leisure. he liked fine clothes, old wine, late dinner parties, and he was nearly as preening as conkling. in fact, he even moved his birthday back a year to appear more youthful. [laughter] even within the e republican -- even within the republican party arthur's nomination was considered a ridiculous burlesque. after the election, arthur continued to make it clear where his loyalties lay. he went on vacations with conkling, he even lived with him for a time in d.c., and he took every opportunity to publicly criticize the president. and then suddenly everything changed. after garfield was shot, arthur made a transformation so

stunning and complete that no one could believe it. the entire country was horrified by the thought that chester arthur might be president. but unlike conkling, arthur was sickened and grief-stricken by the shooting. the last thing he wanted was for garfield to die. he hid himself from public view, he refused even to go to washington for fear that it would look like he was waiting in the wings, and he cut himself off from conkling. finally, after turning his back on the man who had made him, arthur found moral strength in the most unlikely of places. the letters of a young, invalid woman named julia sand. sand believed in arthur when no one else did, when he didn't even believe in himself. after the shooting sand wrote to arthur: if there's a spark of true nobility in this you, now

is the occasion to let it sign. faith in your better nature forces me to write to you, but not to ask you to resign. do what is more difficult and more brave; reform. and to everyone's amazement -- not least of all arthur's -- he did. he changed dramatically, and he tried to be the president garfield would have been had he lived. he became an honest and respected leader, and he never forgot julia sand. not only did he keep her letters, he wrote her back, and he even went to visit her. one day after sunday dinner, sand was at her brother's house, and a highly-polished carriage pulled up in front of the house. and to sand's astonishment, president arthur stepped out. he had come to thank her in person for her help. the reason arthur became president was not because of

madness or even conkling's political maneuverings, but the ambition, ignorance and dangerous arrogance of the man who assumed control of garfield's medical care, dr. dr. doctor willard bliss. that's right. his first name was doctor. [laughter] his parents had named him doctor. bliss was a well known surgeon with a profitable practice. in fact, he'd even been one of the doctors at abraham lincoln's bedside, but he had far from a sterling reputation. he had enthusiastically sold something which was supposed to cure cancer, syphilis, ulcers, chronic blood diseases, you name it. bliss had even been disgraced for taking bribes, and he had spent a small amount of time in prison. when lincoln's son, robert todd lincoln who was garfield's secretary of war, sat for bliss

after the shooting, bliss saw in this national tragedy a once in a lifetime opportunity for fame and power. he immediately took charge of the president's medical care, even though no one had given him the authority. he just took it. he dismissed the other doctors, and he completely isolated garfield in a sick room in the white house. he wouldn't even let him see his secretary of state. and what happened in that room inside the white house is nothing short of horrifying. bliss and the few surgeons he had hand picked to help him inserted unsterilized fingers and instruments in garfield's back again and again, day after day searching for bullets. the last thing bliss wanted was for garfield to die. he had too much at stake. but his own arrogance and ignorance were slowly and excruciatingly killing the president.

the only hope for garfield was to find the bullet and end the search, but this was 14 years before the invention of the medical x-ray. what happened next is nothing short of incredible. only the most brazen novelist would make it up. none other than alexander graham bell stepped forward to help. bell, a young, restless genius, had invented the telephone just five years earlier when he was only 29 years old. by 1881, the telephone had earned him some money and a lot of fame, but he wanted nothing to do with the company that had grown up around it. he said it was hateful to him at all times and that it fettered him as an inventor. worse even than the business was the lawsuits against the telephone. there were 600 lawsuits against it. five of which went to the united states supreme court. finally, bell had had enough.

he said he was sick of the telephone, and he quit the bell telephone companiment -- company. bell just wanted to help people. he had lost both of his brothers to tuberculosis before he was 24 years old, both his wife and his mother were deaf, and he knew that he could make life better for people, maybe even save lives. but he worked so hard that his parents and his wife were terrified that he would literally work himself to death. when he was working, he wouldn't stop to eat or rest. his only rest was to play the piano deep into the night, but even then he played with such an intensity that his mother, who had taught him to play, called it a musical fever. when garfield was shot, bell turned his life upside down to help him. it sickened him to think of garfield's doctors blindly searching for the bullet.

science, he thought, should be able to do better than that. bell abandoned everything he was doing and spent day and night inventing something called an induction balance which was basically a metal detector that he hooked up to a telephone receiver and which he slowly ran over the president's body listening for a telltale buzzing that would tell him where the bullet was lodged. in the end, bell and science were defeated, but not because the invention didn't work. it did work. in fact, it went on to save countless lives before the invention of the medical x-ray. alexander graham bell was defeated by the arrogance, the ambition and the ignorance of the president's own doctors. as i began my research for this book, the question that kept coming to me was how could this have happened? what i found was, first of all,

the presidency in 1881 was very different from the presidency today. first of all, secret service. this is 16 years after the assassination of abraham lincoln, and there's still no secret service protection for the presidency. garfield had only his 24-year-old private secretary and an aging policeman. not only was the president not protected from the public, but he was expected to interact with them one-on-one, face to face on a daily basis. you have to remember that this is the height of the system, and many americans believed they were entitled to government jobs even if they had no training or credentials for them. more than that, they insisted on making their case directly to the president himself. garfield was forced to meet with office seekers from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. every day. and the situation made him

desperate. he longed for time to work and think, and he wondered why anyone would ever want to be president. but while he found office seekers tiresome, even maddening, he never considered them to be dangerous. he said that a fascination can no longer be -- [inaudible] against than death by lightning, and it's best not to worry about either. he walked all around the city by himself all the time. in fact, one night he left the white house, he walked down the street to his secretary of state's house, they walked alone together through the streets of washington with guiteau following them the entire way holding a loaded gun. in fact, by the time, by that time guiteau had been stalking the president for weeks. he had even followed him to church and be had considered shooting him this church. him in church.

finally, he made his decision. the president, he knew, would be at the baltimore and potomac train station in washington, d.c. on the morning of july 2nd, 1881. and guiteau would be waiting. the moment guiteau -- the moment garfield walked into the station that morning, guiteau stepped out of the shadows and shot him twice. the first bullet hit the president in the arm. a second ripped through his back. by an incredible stroke of luck, however, guiteau didn't kill garfield. he only wounded him. the bullet that tore through his back didn't hit his spinal cord, it didn't hit any vital organs. today he would have spent a few nights in the hospital. even if he had just been left alone, he almost certainly would have survived. unfortunately for garfield and the nation, dr. bliss stepped in. bliss took advantage of the fear and the chaos that followed the shooting to assume control of garfield's medical care.

but he was not only am wishes and -- ambitious and arrogant, he adhered to the most traditional medical meths of the time. -- methods of the time. bliss gave garfield, a gunshot victim, rich foods and alcohol. he took great satisfaction in this what he called the healthy pus issuing from the president's ipfected wound. and he avoided any treatment he considered to be new and radical including antiseptics. the drug had been discovered 16 years earlier. the death rate had plummeted, and he had traveled all around begging doctors to sterilize their hands and instruments and warning them that if they didn't, they ran the very real risk of killing their patients. by 1881 antisepsis was widely

accepted in europe, but the most experienced and respected doctors in the united states still dismissed it as useless, even dangerous. some still didn't even really believe in germs. they laughingly referred to them as invisible germs, and they certainly department want to go to -- didn't want to go to all the trouble that antisepsis require today kill them. they took great pride in what they called the good old surgical stink. they would not change or wash their aprons because they believed the more blood and pus that was encrusted on them, the more experience it showed. even those who tried antisepsis had little success for reasons that today seem painfully clear. they would sterilize their knives, but if they dropped them during surgery, they would just pick them up and continue using them. if they needed both of their hands during surgery, they would hold the knife in their teeth and then use it.

even alexander graham bell could not outrace the infection that was coarsing through forward field's -- garfield's body. the story, however, doesn't end there. garfield's death brought about tremendous changes, changes in medicine, in politics, in the fabric of our nation. as soon as garfield's autopsy was released, the american people understood that their president didn't have to die, and they understood why he did. bliss was publicly disgraced, and antisepsis was adopted across the country. americans turned their rage and their grief on the political system that had encouraged a madman like giew -- guiteau. chester arthur himself signed the pendleton act which was the beginning of the end of the spoil system. garfield's death also brought the country together in a way that had not been seen since the civil war.

lincoln's assassination had only deepened that divide, but garfield's had been the first president who was accepted by the south since the civil war. he was accepted as the leader of the whole country, north and south, immigrant and pioneer, freed men and former slave owners. his death was their loss, and their common grief brought them together. above all, garfield's death changed the presidency itself. you could argue that this really marked the end of the idealistic or perhaps naive concept of the president alone meeting with office seekers, personally making appointments at every level of government. it was, obviously, an unworkable system for many reasons. it was open to corruption, it was completely inefficient, and it was personally dangerous. it would never have worked as

the united states grew into a major world power. and it's good that it's gone. but at the same time, these changes also make it almost impossible to ever again elect someone like garfield. the presidency today is not about a single person, but about a large, complex institution. the president may be our greatest political celebrity, but his personal power is bounded by and filtered through many layers. he's surrounded by elaborate security, his contact with the public is carefully controlled, and he operates in this bubble of secret service officers, high officials and the press. it is very unlikely that what happened to garfield could happen today. but by the same token, each if we could find someone like garfield, we couldn't elect him. the presidency is too big and too distant for americans to be able to choose someone who

suspect even trying -- who isn't even trying to be elected. it seems to be open only to people who are willing to sacrifice almost anything to become president. we have, hopefully, outgrown the day when a madman could just walk into the oval office and an incompetent doctor could seize control of the white house for nearly three months, murdering the president in the process. but we likely have also outgrown the day when americans could recognize the promise of a fine, honest man, a man with no financial support, no political machine, nothing but the strength of his own words and ideas and in a shining moment of democracy, make him our leader. thank you. [applause]

[applause] .. >> well, offered his help. as a said, he quit the bell telephone company and he had opened a small laboratory in d.c. as soon as the president was shot he knew that he could help him and he offered his help. by that time although his public face was that everything is

going great, the president is doing very well, he accepted those of. and interestingly although, as i said, really the most respected and most experienced dismissed his methods, there were some young doctors who had been studying his methods in europe and who want this with growing horror but did not feel that they could stand up to these well-known doctors. there was, and proudly say, i am, by the way, born and raised a high one, but i live in kansas now. it was a doctor from kansas erode to lucretia and told them don't let them prove the london make sure they sterilize everything, but that never got through. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> i don't mean to get you off track, but i'm thinking that

carfare played a very severe in role in the 1876 election and the commission that elected the president. if i'm right about that could become the. >> that was a very controversial election. given the presidency. i'm not sure, to be honest, exactly how much of rule carpool played in that, but it was interesting in that everyone was very, very closely watching the election of 1880 because of this and also because it was such a stunning nomination for our field as a republican convention so this election was closely watched really by everyone except for garfield it was very happily here with his family and was thrilled that he was not asked to campaign which was considered unseemly at that time >> thank you. >> thank you very much. i find it very fascinating that three of our great presidents,

lincoln, are filled, and mckinley, will all kindly toward the african americans and all assassinated. our calendar this year is the same is 1881. it was on this date on a thursday and tomorrow that his body lay in state at the nation's capital. i would thank you for coming here on the state to our hometown. thank you. >> it's my honor. thank you. [applause] [applause] >> what do you think about the fact that car field quit being a general while the civil war was still raging to go back into politics? what is your response by a car filled the politician? >> pier phil didn't want to. abraham lincoln asked them to come back. he needed him back in congress fighting the fight. and garfield understood that. you know. it was difficult for him. he loved his regiment. many were made of.

so was a difficult decision, and he felt very passionately about the civil war. the only keeping the country together, but for me about abolition. he was a fierce abolitionist. a national hero. >> thank you very much. toward the end of your presentation, the very last paragraph, the active list was murdering the president, you don't any malice but utter incompetence. one more question, this the little bit about your background curious to know how you get interested in this subject. >> your absolutely right. the last thing that he wanted was for garfield to die. in fact he wrote a letter from white house stationery saying i can't afford to have him die underlining each word.

he worked night and day. the lost his health, lost his practice. but he was incredibly arrogant. he dismissed all the other doctors, and he was willfully ignorant. he knew about antiseptic. so you have to judge him on that. and your other question to be honest i didn't, even though i live in ohio i did not know much about car filled beyond the fact that he had been assassinated. i was necessarily interested in writing about another president's, but i was researching alexander m. bell. i stumbled upon the story of bell trying to help save our field after a curfew was shot. i was stunned. i had never heard the story. secondly i cannot understand why bell who was at the height of his fame and his power would turn his life upside-down.

i mean, he had a family in boston. his wife and children. his wife was pregnant. they had been planning and going to maine. incredibly hot, and he just let them and spend all of this time night and day working on this. and so it made me wonder, why would he do that? what was car filled light? and when i started to research her feel i was just completely captivated. i knew i had to tell the story. >> good to see you. >> i want to follow the same thing. and of that you are from a small town in ohio and are a product of public education. how did you become inspired to be a writer? >> it's a great question. i didn't ever think of would be a writer. i was a reader. i was a voracious reader and loved to read. i thought i would probably teach . i get an undergraduate and

master's degree in literature. but the above would go get my ph.d., but to be honest i hated literary criticism. [laughter] i realize that i've really wanted to write. so really it was a process. it was not all overnight. little by little. i got my master's at baylor. i knew -- moved in with my parents, open the yellow pages calling every publisher in town looking for a job and just that all of these little magazine jobs. i work for a magazine for veterinarians and never even had a pet. [laughter] knew nothing. and finally got my dream job when i was 28 years old working in national geographic. was a researcher the first year, but they had this terrific blind pat for writing position on the magazine. i applied along with 300 of the people and get the job. it was like the best thing that

ever happened to me up to that point. the for six years. i got the idea for my first book. it has been a journey. >> when the doctor was working on garfield why didn't mrs. garfield tell the doctor to stop working on in? >> that's a wonderful question. was a time of chaos and confusion and fear. bliss came forward very confidently. he wrote a letter to the other doctors say the president and i think you for your help and concern, but your efforts will be necessary any longer, even though garfield and lucretia had never given him that authority. and lucretia, you know, even though most doctors knew about antiseptics lucretia did. she didn't understand what is happening. she had a female doctor, which

is very rare at that time but strip used to go away. is it all right, you can state. but not as a doctor, only as a nurse. state ended which could. >> what time are you from? can i find the book and lebaron. [speaking in native tongue] >> i did -- of virginia was born in marion ohio. and i think that the public really is a lover. thank you for asking. >> what is it like to be a doctor? is it -- if you're going to read and i spoke what is it going to be about.

>> it's really fun to be in author. i would recommend it highly. the best part for me is doing the research because you get to do all of these incredible things. my first book was about this and nest where. i get to go down to that river. so incredibly remote. i hired a pilot and a small plane and flew for hours over absolutely unbroken jumble from horizon to horizon. i met this isolated group of tribesmen. grandparents and great grandparents followed and attacked. they remembered it. the robert all of these stories. you get these incredible experiences. researching this book was interesting. the difference -- researching the rev. dawn was difficult logistically, planning of this. this is difficult emotionally because i became very attached. i really cared about him.

and it was difficult to see what was happening. i kept wanting to just yell over the span of 130 years stop. somebody stop these men. but reading his wife's diary, reading his children styrenes, actually a section of his spine, the national museum that was used during the trial. also the names in the door with the remains of john wilkes booth. there is a jar of pieces of his brain which was sent around the country after he was executed the study to see if we could see any physical evidence of insanity. anyway, a very interesting job. a real privilege. yes, i am working on next book. i can't get into details about it because it's really early, but it's going to be about winston churchill.

thank you for your questions. >> i remember hearing about the story of alexander graham bell and what he was doing. i heard at this thing that he did for the president actually did work but one of all the time, seemed like it was all over the place. with didn't realize was a work because it is picking up the middle bedsprings underneath the president, and that is why they have a hard time finding the bullet. is there any truth to that? >> one of the reasons. isn't that astonishing. he actually asked them if the president -- very new and rare thing at that time to have a mattress with metal springs in it. they said no. in fact was on a bed with metal. obviously that's going to affect. the other reason it did find the bullet was that he believed and publicly stated that the boat was on the president's right side.

he would only let bell run the index in balance over the president's right side, and the bull was on the left. >> in the other one, was kind of curious. the old ad hoc. ignorance is bliss. is this where it goes from? >> i have that in the book actually. so after the autopsy results newspapers in medical journals, everybody understands. one of the doctors says this proves that ignorance is bliss, but it comes from a paul from the 1700's. [laughter] of care. very apropos unfortunately. >> did you write any fiction books? >> no, i haven't written fiction. fiction and nonfiction writing is very different. i read a lot of fiction.

i love it enough gone to a lot of talks by fiction writers. i always marvel of myself because they will say what is your process like. well, i sort of let the story lead me, and i kind of follow. to me that is a nightmare. i know. by process, spent three years writing the book. the first year is cheering for additional research. the entire second year has been going through the research and outlining. always on-line. very important. it will help, and it saves you a lot of pain, believe me. i worked on structure for an entire year. only then do i start writing. and throughout all find holes in my research and not go back and do more. >> that's what my teacher says. [laughter] >> she's right. she's right. you can skip the on line.

sorry. >> what is the term political machine mean? >> incredibly incredibly corrupt and power maundering. it was the pinnacle example of that kind of corruption. in the gilded age. it was just a time of rampant corruption. and so things and not perfect now. >> when you're doing your research and it will to use the diaries and stuff like that, how do you go about painting that? out there for the public order permission from the family or

river? >> o love of the papers and the presidential papers are at the library of congress, and anybody can see them. you just need a driver's license, get a reader id card. i will say that they are very, very strict with their rules. they obviously should be in regard to national treasures, but muggy view a story year. you know, i'm a good person. very carefully follow rules, but you're only allowed to have one car at the time. five bins on at the time, only one been on your desk at a time, and one folder out of that and. following all the rules. i open the folder. there's an envelope in the folder. it's not sealed and the face of it is just facing the table. the opening of an elk falls all this hair. i turn it and it says clip from president for a film on his deathbed.

oh my god. my career is over. they're going to it could mean out. you never know what they're going to find. it's an adventure. >> you mentioned lucretia garfield letters and diaries. are those published? >> kept a diary for many years. lucretius' diary, the last volume. and then, yes. there is this wonderful volume of letters between the three share and james. they only sent -- spent five months together during the first five years of their marriage. the fighting during the civil war and a few weeks in washington. here in ohio. and you know, to her credit she kept all of those letters. at the end of his life car filled question whether he would have much of a legacy because he

had been present. but lucretia understood who he was an understood that he would. even though many of those letters were very painful. early marriage was very difficult. she kept all of them. they are beautiful. as brilliant as he was, she was his equal intellectually. and i would highly recommend the book. >> thank you. >> i think you for a very enjoyable evening. >> thank you so much. >> one question. wondering, you talked about james garfield being a multifaceted to multi talented man. how do you rank him with jefferson? >> to me personally i am obviously biased, i think he would have been one of our great presidents. it's impossible to know because he was in office for such a

short time. i am a great admirer of jefferson, a great admirer of lincoln, but i think that honestly garfield had a mind like jefferson and the heart like lincoln. >> i agree. thank you. >> is it hard to find research on him? >> you know, it's like being a detective. and so it's really fun and now wait. when i began i looked everywhere and every place. the obvious places. we went to the college. that teacher and a president. went to the library of congress. then i found the new york bar, a library of the new york bar has letters which are just

incredible the of the zero universities have bits and pieces here and there. it's like the treasure hunt. it's a lot of fun. >> i just have one question. he said he was -- was there any government action taken against them or prosecution, did they ever investigated in at this? >> they didn't. the country was heartbroken and enraged and focusing on the trial. he had an insanity defense. the country was terrified that he was going to get off. that is where the focus was bliss never admitted that he had done anything wrong. he insisted that he had given the very best medical care to the president. in fact i handed congress is

very expensive bill for his work and was outraged when congress refused to pay it. >> thank you. >> i have several small questions. have you ever talked to the group of hiram college about this? >> have done research there. i have not spoken with any group there. quite a bit of research in the library. >> do you think this will make a good book or movie? >> yes. [laughter] [applause] [applause] >> i think it will make an excellent book or movie. i can hardly wait to see it come out. my father was an ordained minister in the same church the car for less. i heard somebody say that he rode a horse over to the frankland christian church which

is the disciples of christ church. do you know if that's true? >> i would love to hear it, but i don't know it. >> that's what i heard. >> thank you very much. they que. i really enjoyed it. thank you so much. >> can i make just one comment? >> go ahead. [laughter] >> as senior member in this part of the country as a matter of fact, i'd trade some of those years, but it's not going to work. i wanted thank you for an absolutely extraordinary undertaking. you took on and achieve some much. you humanize someone who was a ghost in the past to many people who didn't even know the ghost was there.

there have been things written about him and about the family in the past, but nothing begins to compare with what you've done here. thank you very much. [applause] [applause] >> this event was hosted by the james a. garfield national historic site in mentor, ohio. for more affirmation visit in ps doubt go / jaga. >> pulitzer prize-winning author had 1507-acre farm outside knoxville tennessee where he lived before his passing in 1992. former caylee employee talks about mr. haley's time and not smell next on book tv. >> he did some writing here.

although i think that kind of scared mrs. haley. so much that it was really hard for him to finish folks the publishing companies were requesting that the finish. he just really had a hard time with it. it really took a lot out of him. the emotion that was in the story, the things he had found out about his family. very, very emotional for him. he just really didn't want anything like the success to happen to him again because it was so overwhelming to have. he had no idea that when he embarked upon this venture to researches routes, how was going to affect.

his first visit came in 1982. he came here to visit the welfare of. his first visit to east tennessee. he absolutely fellow love with this area and his people. mr. wynn is the museum owner in our area who specializes in the urban history. upon his departure from the world fair he asked mr. one if some property came up for sale if you would please let him know and he would be interested in coming this way. at that time he lived in california. six or eight months of so after his departure from the welfare this facility can up for sale. a hundred and 25-acre farm. so you can mount to let this

farm. the only things on the property at the time of the purchase was his two-story house and the barn which now has library. mr. haley fell in love with the. time to purchase it. at think it was purchased in june around 1984. all other times through be entertaining for him. we would set up the big black and cattle and build fires sticking over the fire. so there really like that. and then we just pick the tractors up and took everybody for hayrides. really exciting time. their rig usually be a band playing from a gazebo.

a lot of times we would just a great the place, whenever a team for the time of year that was. heat the relentless farm. sixty-one years old before he ever on his first home. when he for to -- when he purchased his farm he described it as a tree to himself. really loved for people to come here and visit. oprah winfrey had been a guest here. my angelou, lamar alexander, a lot of people have traveled through the facility here. mr. haley was comical at times. he was simple and down-to-earth and very warm heart. he loved to help people. he put numerous kids through college that could not have afforded to have gone had not been for him. he was talking to one young man. he told mr. hayes, would relieve

the to go to school, but i can't afford it. i have to help my mother took care of our family. he asked him where he wanted to go to school. the young man replied. and he's paid that boys weigh all the way through college. he told him to go and go to school if that's what you wanted to read a lot of people, it was broke when he passed away in a sense he was, but it wasn't because he squandered. he used to help people. he loved people. he loved being around people. mr. haley may leave here one day entellus of want to have supper. and he came back home he might have 30 with a. to give you an example of that a lot of times he continued to write. he liked to go back out to write i guess that's just where he felt comfortable. anyway, reporting a chord in the

freezer. we drew a lot of vegetables here on the farm. he called us. be warned expecting him and for couple of weeks it. he call a city in a binder lee. putting a balance of. we happen to ask them about how many he thought he would bring. he said that think about a hundred and ten would be a good number. what happened is he had met this planeload of teachers who were enroute to a conference. there were having mechanical problems with the plane. somebody got to talking to him. he ran a bus from the greyhound station and had the teachers bust out here. frantic out here trying to get together a meal for hundred and ten. we made it and everything turned out great. he would do that to us