the new -- how the left wing money machine shapes american politics and threatens the future. in america you sexy bitch a love letter to freedom daughter of senator john mccain discuss their differences and similarlies. look for the titles in bookstores this coming week and watch for the authors in the near future in book tv and booktv.org. pulitzer prize winning author traveled the globe to research the new book barack obama the story. visiting places like kenya and kansas to exam the president's family tree. book tv will give you a preview with exclusive picture and video including our trip to ken kenya with the author on 2010. join us sunday on later on 7:30 the same night. your phone calls, e-mails and tweet for david on c-span2 book

tv. up next on book tv, john hughes chief oral historian in the washington secretary of states office recounts the "slade gorton: a half century in politics" washington state. this is just under an hour. good evening, everyone my name is diane i'm the executive of director of city club. we're excited to welcome you for the special night and celebrate the 55 year plus career of one of washington's and our nation's leaders. we're also grateful to see company for covering it and making it available not only to citizens throughout washington but throughout the nation. to tonight the international center policy center, the gordon center was greated about two years ago, i think it's so meaningful it was created by

colleagues ever senator gordon and friends and former staff members i think it says a lot about the leadership over time that they've stayed together stayed together as frengdz and colleagues and maintained a warm connection to him and his work. we're proud of that partnership and thank them for being here and making this program possible. especially to -- cree he was our partner in coordinating the program tonight. the gordon center is dedicated to still learning about public policy, and it contains the papers of senate gordon from the 9/11 commission, as well as presenting public programs and containing other memorabilia and information from his career in politics. i'd like to intro-- introduce the people who will be spearheading the conversation. john is the biographer who wrote the terrific book about laid

gordon. he has a long he's i are service to the state as well both as the journal list and the author. he has written several books about governors and leaders of washington state, a biography of gardener. this book, slado gordon, nancy evans the first lady and little began walker washington state civil rights leader. he has had over a 42-year career in journalist winning many awards for investigative reporting, historical features, editorial and columns. right now he's working on a biography of john spellman. he was writing about incident with dicks city ray and told me he was happy about having the break forecast intensity of that encounter to come and talk us tonight. next i'd like to introduce slade

who needs to introduction and thank him for his service. he has characterized his service by into the ground by -- into the ground city, bipartisan, and intense focus on public policy and the great intelligent something that we wish was pervasive in political leadership today. i think he is missed within he is missed in terms of representing us, i think he is really missed in washington, d.c., we're so grateful for his legacy. and finally, to 0 connelly, another addition tissue winged -- distinguished journalist who served pi both in print and now online. he has been a come list for many years. you can enjoy his come limbs. with that, i'll turn the program over to john we'll get started.

>> i first met him in 1966 when i was a 22-year-old reporter from the daily world covering the legislature. it happened that the man who introduced us was my former adviser at the high school. an amazing democrat. when he introduced me to slade he said later he was scary smart. i thought for bob to say that spoke volumes. i don't know with the time has gone, senate, all the 46 years, go i keep interviewing men and women in the 80s and 90s who are an inspiration. the other day i was following dan up the counts at the capitol he was taking them two at the time. he has artificial knees as well. the fascinating thing about the job i have now about the three and a half years. the experience i gasolined from

covering a lot of amazing people and long form biographies in the so many steer typical motions about slade in particular. the notion that he's a right wing republican. human moreless. hates indians environmentalists. thinks spotted ours taste like chicken. it dwunt square with the person that i covered for all those years. joe, who my friend and colleague for all the years years better than practically anyone took the time to portray the shades of grade. not enough sometimes for this guy. but nevertheless in my view in my stand outing way. i'll give you a thumbnail, it's amazing to me. i lived it and covered a lot of it. when i had the time to start doing the research, getting to work at the state library with

amazing resources of microfilm from every newspaper in the state and access online to news bank and other search engines. slade longer than jackson 56 years in all has been active in political history of the state. the adopted state. he was elected the legislature in 1965 of 58958 -- 1958. the most fascinating thing to me early on was to see the battle of wills between gordon and the rr bob. the senate majority leader democrat over redistricting. slade, dan, and joe knew if they couldn't prevent him from winning once again and the legal women voters the republican would be reduced to the minority party. the redistricting wars.

a lot comes full circle. two of my best sources were dean at the time was a young college student in the resource apresent sis in the redistricting wars and professor howard when was the aid and later we'll talk about what it was like to do redistricts in 1963 versus 2012. it seems like he's gump like, he's there when the amazing things happen. in 1963, the topple the speaker of the how's, john oh bleen. he met john gold mark became friends in the favorite debating partner with a very liberal democracy who stood accused of just amazing libelous things in terms of communist politics. that lead to the friendship with bill and absolutely brilliant

young attorney who defended gold mark against the charges they were communists tool of the communist conspiracy i think. he did that as a republican at large risk to his reputation. then his run for attorney general in 1968, same as cross country bike trip with a family in 1973 and then, one of the first highest ranking officials in america to call for richard nixon resignation in the what he referred to as a nixon had burdened america with a moral slime of cynicism and suspicious. i had a -- [inaudible] to the landmark decision by george on indian fishing rights because when the legislature wasn't in session, i covered that in the rise of a long of indian activist, billy, frank, joe. i think it's crazy what he's

done. forget about landmark decisions. in my view, just a tort of force campaign to defeat warren but not as the kids say discussing him. it was the more maggie campaign. he had been a senate and how about the next great senator. i think when you bring it full circle, he had done known of that, when you look at the achievement of singular achievement on the 9/11 commission appointed by trent in the service to america, that alone would have been worth a major book. he strived for consensus rather than the view we have that so awrve painted the part disan rather working with democrats on the commission, he absolutely drove consensus and graced the

for a fact finding i would assert it makes america a lot safer today because of it. enough of that, senator, the floor is yours. [laughter] >> for the ten years almost i left the senate in 2000, i would be asked by well many acquaintenses when i was going to write my memoirs. and i always passed off that question with a murmur because the true answer was never. not under any circumstances aiming i going to put myself in that sort of kind of discipline. and then a long comes don hughes to -- [inaudible] and do it in a with a far greater degree of quality and

they areness they could ever accomplish on my own. i can't count the number of hours he interviewed me directly. it was only l tip of the iceberg. he knows about my remote ancestors than i did. [laughter] and he talked through frnd and colleagues and opponents and enemies. i learned a great deal by reading first the draft, and then the book itself. i learned things were absolutely true that i didn't tell him because i had forgotten them. but beyond that, i learned things that i never knew. [laughter] that i'm certain, you know, obviously it was a case. so i've been blessed by a wonderful good fortunate and not

having found john but having john find me. dan and i agree many most respects the daily world editorial board was the one we were most interested in visiting because everyone there were simply interested in learning what we were about and not debating, you know, points. but the state is extremely fortunate to have them for what he's done as nancy evans for -- [inaudible] and now the process of doing for john. i can tell you because he sends me those chapters in brief that will be a fascinating story, and book when it comes out. he did mention, you know, the 9/11 commission, you know, i reflect that afterwards that very close loss and the year

2000, i still feel today, you know, was a loss for the and a lots for the country. it was an amazing gain for me. the things identify been able to do and not only with family, but in other opportunities as well. more than madeup for another six years in the senate. and the 9/11 commission, of course, was a unique lifetime experience of ten people, five emergency rooms and -- republican and five democrats united in the partisan fashion defined by the drafters not to succeed. nevertheless, over a period of a year and a half, it gained not only knowledge but a degree of respect for one another that knead absolutely imperative to all of us. that we come out and are unanimously down to the last footnote -- and we ask, of course, it was that unanimity

that caused the report not only to be so forceful but to be probably more successful than any other similar endeavor outside congress and persuading congress to take action perhaps in the history of the country itself. but with that, anymore and with the wonderful biography, i guess joe, it's your turn. >> thank you. recently reading robert's latest volume on lyndon johnson and a memory came to mind by a wonderful cartoon of the los angeles times, showing a wise figure beginning to write the history of the johnson administration with the right hand while lyndon johnson had his lefts arm in a lock deck dating what was going on in the memoirs. so first for both much you, and to john, you find your book subject to be a person preof

course if id with legacy. senator, are you preofoccupied with your legacy. >> i appreciate you saying that. you did one of the first reviews that pointed out that the legacy project that for which i'm chief historian is not interested in that in any way. the ground rules, when i took the job with the secretary of state's office we were going to do meaningful work not subject to fair favor and that the subjects themselves didn't get to be the editor had their -- [inaudible] slade from the get go, he wouldn't haven'ted that and he was -- he wouldn't havemented that. he was understanding about some of the harsh things people had to say. i don't know if he bristled or not in private, but it was a very interesting experience for him. i know, sally is his wife was an absolute amazing resource i

think one of the things about the book, it offers breadth about what it's like to be a political wife and mom and a occur. there's a wonderful scene in there when the gordon girls who took things sometimes with a lot more seriousness than their dad happened to be in the same pew with you at easter at the church and i love when you said that the sign of peace was probably hostile during that time. [laughter] to cruel and formal. he neither asked for or got any special favors in the biography, it was a real treat to get to spend thatch time in -- that much time, when we did journalist and what you're doing so ably, you always wished you had the time to kick wack and do a longer forum, and this is it.

>> i think if i had primarily interested in legacy, i would have written it myself. >> let's talk a little bit about the 9/11 commission. also, the commission on the texas city refinery explosion that the culture of bp. i was watching the cbc news in canada there was a commission that just reported on the police conduct during the g8 summit rites in or it or it or it toronto. they timed it what the report said to film some of this to people talking about it. do you believe that when we have invested in the time of effort that you undertook on 9/11, and also on the baker commission, that these reports have gotten adequate attention particularly say in the case of the bp report

where you mapped out things about the culture of the company that came home to roost in the gulf two years ago? >> well, i guess my both tom line -- bottom line conclusion is that bp is a real corporation. and, you know, we found that it had no corporate safety followings if i during the course of that fouls if i of the -- philosophy was the chairman seven of the numbers of the commission were safety experts that was their career. four were, you know, lay people. but again, we reached unanimity about agreeing -- egregious degrees on the part of the corporation. perhaps that best expressed by our last interview when browne

the ceo of bp would not come to the united states to be interviewed we had to be flown to london and lodged in a very, very fine hotel and given about two or three hours with him. he was disciplined. he could speak for an half an hour and he spoke for three. and then the first question was from the union represented a heck from the ozarks who stressed accent and he said, browne, he said, i'd like you to tell me now what you felt when you heard about these deaths and injuries. what your emotional response to which lauren browne proceeded to answer for fifteen minutes what he did.

which he already covered. one of jim baker's lawyers and the staff was sitting behind me, leaned over and said in my ear, a perfect michael due cabbing -- answer. and it was and we sledded bp in that. now for another reason he had to retire early, i think in some respect there refiery safety record improved. obviously the drilling safety record didn't improve. and so they had a second major accident with, you know, with the fatalities. and, you know, i think that, you know, their reputation, of course, effects the entire industry. it's bp that had the problems.

i don't know whether they're any better today really in the long run, than they were when we started. but that's, you know, that's a long answer on that one. you know, the 9/11 commission was an inquiry into the past. and i believe on the day at which we started, we all implicity and some expolicely reached the conclusions if we couldn't write the history unanimously, we were wasting our time and the taxpayers' money. from the very beginning, the idea was we've got to say what happened period. everything relevant that lead up to 9/11 itself. we were constantly frustrated by the president's legal counsel, gone gonzalez who became attorney general who i thought

rented the.very badly. after he said no two or three times to the request, we would go to the press, the "new york times" "washington post" and give us what we wanted from beginning to end. i don't understand he wasn't let us interview the president two of us would get fitch -- fifteen minutes with the president. sitting in the oval office far longer than i did in the senate president bush asked every member but the bush administration got the reputation of having interfereble frustration and the 9/11 commission when in fact, we got all we wanted from it. having reached that an agreement on the fact we had to go through both the description of the enemy that we're fight and the set of the recommendations. and we just found that the

incentive to agree on those even when reasonable people could disagree was simply overwhelming and the last agreement on the functions of the fbi was made at about 10:00 the night before we were going announce when we were going to put the report itself. it was a phenomenal experience. it was a magnificent staff. it was a group of ten very hard working people who did lay aside their partisanship and the fact that we were in the midst of a president issue election campaign we came out in august of 2004 that would help the country. it was followed to a very considerable that the rights were adopted by congress far better than the bp. >> the question for both of you, let me see how to get at it. as i recall, when you came back

to the senator in 1988, joe lieberman from county was elected the same year. as i recall they bonded on a trip to hum -- humphrey, something of that nature while you were on the opposite sides of the aisle. you liked each other, you coordinated on things. in the 2000s, election clearly you want al gore to be president of the united states. and senator lieberman coming here at the vice president nominee had to deal with the fact that his friend was running for re-election of the other party. i'm interested in asking you both what are we losing when the participates in that kind of relationship namely were youd a vir says and got at each other and cooperating on others and enjoy each other's company. are we losing that and what is

the country losing as a result of that noting the lieberman retired this year. >> i think i can more precisely say what we gained from that particular relationship, and that was that joe lieberman i and i each with the assent of our leadership set out the riewps for the conduct for the president clinton's impeachment trial in the senate and sought we felt there was sufficient debate and the beginning on the middle and the end. i think to cover -- i think we cover that in the biography. whether or not that would happen again under similar circumstance, i can't say. there are still some pretty good cross party relationships in the senate, but for the first time in history, the best analysis of

voting records by national journal, you know, fur the last congress shows there was no philosophical cross over of the members of the two parties. in other words the most liberal republican was more conservative than the most conservative democrat. i was there, there were probably twenty five overlapse twenty five senators of the two parties who had the cross over philosophically and that lead to, you know, more positive answers than the present system does by a significant degree. >> john, looking from the outside in, how you answered that question. >> i was struck by the on the night that gordon defeated warren one of the first calls he

received was from henry. sayings graduations we're the senator from the washington state let's meet for lunch and peter jackson, by the way, affirmed that the bond and you have written about it as well about the environmental consensus that reinvolved around that friendship, and i was struck by the fact in interviewing trentd in -- trent and joe and analyzing the voting records in national journal that we see today in 2012 dramatically more polarization than existed in at your time. in fact, dan evans the bloc bucker -- block buster new york times piece why i was heaving the -- leaving the united states senate. he didn't get into the bush cabinet. vanity fair has a new article on

the topic how much more polarized things are. it was certainly a-- appear to be that. we do one other thing in the bipartisanship way in the state. you came together again recently to redistrict our congressional boundaries. and we do not have things making 200 miles through the state. we do not have, you know, republicans of gary ohio, the republicans of illinois, or north carolina but we have a two-two-one system. two people from each party yourself and mr. foster being from opposite parties, of course. and -- no we don't have a tie breaker.

and but the legislature of the in 19 60s. with the best single system in the united states. and largely it is because there is no tie breaker. we one of only two or tree states ha has an even number of numbers, you know, drawing the lines. so where there's a tie breaker, the two parties don't talk to ..

go legislative districts in vancouver up to that line they did the congressional districts and the other did the eastern washington legislative districts, but you're right they are much more regular, and neither party has cheated the other and will have i think this year however it comes out congressional delegation reflects what the people want. >> looking at the country as a whole, bill bradley was in town this week on a book tour saying that as a result of the gerrymandering and the

partisanship we have about 60 seats in the member house of representatives that can be described as competitive. what is the yet vintage in terms of the quality of people we send back to the capitol? >> there is a specific answer to that. it's great from the point of view the house of representatives and the senate seats change you get those who most reflect the voters will and you don't get the greatest leaders in that fashion. both the problem and the a advantage of the single party district is either you get

people who can become the mall but it's where you get most of your leadership to reach across party lines. sometimes you get both the best and the worst of the single party districts in the house. >> one part is you were the editor of the world. one of the two counties in the state of washington the voted in 1972 that voted for the president of george mcgovern. they had a reddish substantial margin for the senators look at how senator gordon cord of the place where you live.

they are blue-collar old new deal democrats. more than any other person in the county and empathy for what was happening. does a wonderful line in the look where he thought was ironic that someone from seattle who need your hon or officious doesn't know much but turned out to be the champion of people you know this by heart but represent a real working-class people in america, and they got its. in the wake of the clinton summit which you in by both covered, you know that the predictable harvest we are going to have on the peninsula matter to about zero and nothing flat, and gordon who was accused often of being a demagogue stepped in

and tried to mediate things, so they've responded to gordon being in the trenches and more than any other politician we saw a sleeve month in and month out. >> raise your hand and i will come to you. >> i actually read the first three chapters i didn't know how it came out -- [laughter] i think the thing that impressed me the most was the 9/11 commission. bipartisan, five republicans will able to come to a consensus

and my question is how can we do that? >> i've been asked that question very frequently, and i don't believe there is an answer because the 9/11 commission is vital in its task in s controversial issue that is involved first of the judgments were made by people who didn't have a direct responsibility to food. they didn't have to run to get the job and they had nothing to run for when the job was over. second coming as broad as important as it was it was a single issue. you can use the 9/11 commission as the best possible example of how such commissions should work

when they are bipartisan and they don't buy any steps of the imagination. but i think it is hard to make it a precedent for how congress works work. let's see, three of us and had experience in congress. almost all of the rest in some kind of a government collectivity, the two former governors some of the trading about getting along with people on the other side came from that but played an important role, too. but it's a better example for the commissions for congress. >> from your time in the senate

would you comment on the role of the lobbyists and do you think there should be tight parameters around that role? >> i am a lobbyist today one of the parts of the first amendment guarantees the right to petition congress redress grievances we have to register and see who we are representing we can't even take a member of congress to lunch or for a cup of coffee anymore. i think personally they are greatly overregulated at the present time and in connection with many personal relationships

>> yes, sir. >> we have been impressed very much by the ability of different thoughts and positions to come to agreement on the redistricting state of washington my question is do you think that same spirit can be achieved to overcome the position where we had 15 trillion-dollar deficit carrying over to the children. >> my answer is that it has to be. the worst thing that happened to barack obama who's getting a 60 but democratic majority on the united states senate when he became president that his party could break filibusters.

he saved 57 democrats they would be better off today because he would have reached out with some of the most controversial goals would have been reached in a way that crossed party lines because issues as important in how we are going to deal with entitlement and what we are going to end one and a half trillion dollar deficits by one party alone. it's possible but all will be republican and even if they're in a majority but in many respects to require both sides

to be responsible in order to meet these challenges - is one of the foundation's to be successful. i know you've interviewed lots and lots of people in preparation research for this book including many women over the years who is former staffers i happen to know some of them and i'm married to one just to clarify. my question for you is when i got to know some of these men in the universally worshiped him as one of the best boss is the ever had in our best mentors they ever had and decent human beings

they ever worked for while you were shettle of those that you talked to? >> we probably ought to ask the women. analysts had something about you being utterly colorblind if with an equal opportunity employer in all ways that in the course of doing this book i heard people that alleged that he was chauvinistic and i had to laugh out loud nothing could be further from the truth. he is the father, she married a really bright strong woman who is a former journalist. he has had ever gone to them recruited and promoted a

remarkable cadre of successful women. on the 9/11 commission a democrat told me that she heard all of the typical things about gordon for you and i sure he heard some about her she was flabbergasted that he was a warm and nurturing kind of guy. he would maintain he said some day and i had to laugh out loud early on if we'd known each other for so many years he said he may have noticed i'm not the world's warmest human being. i said to tell. his staff male and female alike an old and in between found him successful, worked incredible hours all he expected was excellence. she was never said that her. from the youngest in turn to the most seasoned ph.d. for legal aid, he was just always there to be supportive and when he lost

sally told me the story that one of the most agonizing things to him was to go through the rolodex and try to ensure to tell his staff it's going to be all right and he worked incredibly hard to try to find a job, so i think that he is deep down a closet softy in particular for females. [laughter] let me follow up on that. i think there's a slightly broader question and there's help with all of the things somebody has to do in the united states senate do you not become dependent on your staff or hell are you able to separate what you have to do from what they do for you?

>> you were dependent on your staff. there is a psychic overload from the day you start but the country is so complicated and the issues are so complicated that while every member has a certain form of political philosophy known in the general terms how he or she stands on the major issues facing the country there are hundreds of other issues and those that come from committees and there could be brought up or there's a request for unanimous consent where someone has asked for an amendment and the like and you are dependent on the staff to give you not for the suffolk or political what types, but to give you a factual background so that you can yield intelligently with any question.

i found john norti mentioned this. i found eight very important to say to the staff when i started that they would call me by my first name and not senator. with both of the members of the body it was rarely my personal office or i guess angeles of the two of you particularly is quite an editor it went back without being edited but another thing i did my stuff came and had gone

to school here and had a connection in the state. i didn't hire washington, d.c. professionals for my staff as many senators do and i wanted them to come home and some of them stayed there but most of them came back home. i wanted them to be a staffer for a relatively short period of time for a few years and come back and be better and be participating citizens they've done just that but it was the reciprocal relationship they were treated well and worked their tails off to make sure that they were right and got things right for me. >> the thought of me as the only

judgment that the quality of my work and the racist. with the senator magnuson was the champion of public courts and we were unions and the like i got to know the so-called bumblebees and senator magnuson had a reputation for having high-quality staff and i thought that this the sleeveless -- the slaves and all things specific rim there's a wonderful story in here that curtis was watching on tv late one night at the cnn and square worked all night and by

that morning he had a hold position paper for the senator and what the gulf from that is when the signature achievements the chinese student not exclusion act that allowed an amazing cohort of bright young asian people to stay in the united states. >> hello, senator. i have two questions. one is wider than the other. but given your positions and work attorney general from 1968 until 1980 and some of the positions that he advocated for the attorney general was compared to the perception of your positions as somewhat more conservative as the united states senator do you feel that you became more conservative or that your positions involved in such a way as to be more conservative moving from attorney general to senator and i would like johns perception as well and my second question is

what to consider being the commissioner of major league baseball at this point in your life? would you consider being the commissioner of major league baseball i know you love baseball at this point in your life? >> the answer is there was very little relationship between the two. one of the difficulties of being the attorney general is the overwhelming bulk of the job is representing other people's philosophical and you're representing every elected officials and you represent the department and the like and to a massive degree you are simply reflecting the views of other people in almost all the cases

they are good in the supreme court in the state of washington i was representing the position of some officials in the state often elected in the party of her than my own. but i took a position on axson's impeachment those are my own ideas. i get frustrated as attorney general because you aren't really advancing what you're own of the government is. >> due to become more conservative do you think? >> i think i've been totally consistent from my first day as the state representative. >> as the book is winding down i was at borders and the new

edition of ronald reagan's diary was being stalked and the good book is the index involved in politics they go and see if their mentioned and if they are the bar copy so there's been a lot of time on an index and i found an entry where he had said that a group of senators had come to him as seeking a judicial appointment for them who had just lost. the stereotypical notion that the slave was a lockstep conservative certainly wasn't born out and trent lott found that one enslaved it is his counsel because what he brought

he had a largely homogenous group of southern conservatives and they figured that with gordon has the majority leader council he would stop and say wait a minute how is this in the rest of the country. when i check the national journal, very good day annual summary of the voting analysis. >> one of the grid lines in the commission the day after richard clark the attack we have on the

deputy secretary of state richard armitage who ended up being responsible for a lot more than we knew at the time coming and he was asked whether or not he had read the book and his answer was i gave it a washington, d.c. read. >> we need to go through one episode which is a part of the history of the state and that is the discussion of the deficit and the budget. in the ronald reagan administration a spirited debate on the budget broke out and i made some kind of comment.

i worry about the resources available with the diminishing number of newspapers and the political correspondence who is going to be double to right as detailed a biography of christine gregoire, whoever comes after. i think we all have to treasure the history link crosscut and the like but when i cover the legislature in 1966 there were more than 30 credential reporters there comes wallpapers included in the record. we covered it and it's a much fenner resource out there today than it was when we start all those years ago. so support your local newspaper. we need them. >> thank you.

please join me in thanking. [applause] the vietnam they think of the history as the b-52 cold war as opposed to other. >> these are friends union and confederate who knew each other prior to the civil war and fell against each other in 1862 and here they are at age 100 sitting on the porch talking about the old days. >> we have one to the east, the date to the west is marked 903,

and they really reflect the reference. >> what are you reading this summer? book tv wants to know. >> the first thing i do is look for anything that michael connolly has out and i buy a hard copy right away. but i'm reading about right now which is terrific. and she's one of my favorites. probably every year with another i think she's out to see but that's great. as you sit on the beach you just

want to finish your book. >> i love the action pack. i just stay away from policy. i just go for something that takes me away from where i am and allows me to relax. >> pulitzer prize-winning author might trouble the will to research his new book barack obama the story.

earlier today book tv bus live from the printer's row with fest held every year in downtown chicago. now you can watch the complete coverage from the room and the university center. here is our schedule.