you know, the girls went to their concert and i met them once but i don't know their names. one of >> [inaudible conversations] so they are older.

they aren't your age? [inaudibleconversations] program now from the booktv archives. charles peters described as the fight for the republican presidential nomination at the convention of june 1940. mr. peters profiles the candidates thomas dewey, robert taft, artur vandenberg and wendell willkie and describes the four rallies and speeches that resulted in the nomination of mr. wilkie. this program is just under 45 minutes. >> it is now time to begin the afternoon session of the roosevelt reading festival.

im cynthia cook, the director of the roosevelt library and it is now going to be my distinct honor and pleasure to introduce to you charles peters and hisvo>e4m>m>ñ book five days in philadelphia the amazing we want wilkie convention of 1940 and how it freed fdr to save the western world. i'm going to read you a little bit of the blurb from the cover so that you have the overall story but i'm sure that mr. peters will give it to you in much more detail. he has come as it says on the cover, there were the four strong contenders in the republican party met in june of 1940 in philadelphia to nominate its candidate for president. and the crusading attorney and rising republicans thomas dewey. so that members of the republican establishment taft in order vandenberg and wendell willkie had been this man with a magnetic personality favor of the of the literati and only

very recently a republican. the three leading candidates campaigned as isolationists opposing america's entry into what they thought of europe's war against hitler. the democratic incumbent frank and bill are roosevelt. from across the country over the rising speeches the deals terrifying international news and most of all, the relentless chanting of we want wilkie he walked away with a nomination. the story of how this happened and how he central his nomination would prove annulling of the art saved britain and prepare the country into world war ii is all told in charles peters five days in philadelphia mr. peters himself as a veteran journalist and well known by many of you as one of our great commentators. he managed john f. kennedy's

1960 primary campaign in west virginia's largest counties. he then moved to washington, d.c. two launched the peace corps and found the washington monthly which he edited for 32 years. mr. peters won the colonial journalism award and the first richard korman award for mentoring the young journalists. he is the author for author of eight previous books. mr. peters, welcome to the podium. [applause] on the morning of april 9th 1940 hitler invaded norway and denmark. this began with franklin roosevelt was to call the hurricane of events. it consisted of hitler's further invasion of belgium and france

leading to the evacuation of the british troops and the fall of france on june 23rd. this was the end of what had been called the phony war between germany and france and england. it was also a blow to the prevailing isolationism in america because america had been to say prevailing it was almost totally dominant. 80% of america was isolationist. they didn't want to have anything to do with the rest of the world and part of this was based on a faith in the french army which was considered the best in the world and the british navy which was considered the mighty and the french army was supposed to be

fighting behind this and impregnable outlined so why should we worry about hitler. then there was a pacifist who -- horrified by the slaughter of world war i and rightly so in my mind it was a terrible slaughter. then there were the far left communists who were antihelping britain and france because the communists at the time the was the movie -- not see how soviet pact so america's far left or all against any program of aid to britain and france. so, on top of that there was just the old george washington avoid foreign entanglement spirit in america. roosevelt had tried to do something about this and made a speech in chicago in 1937 urging

us to quarantine the aggressor nations and the speech laid a terrible egg. in fact he told sam rosen in it's a terrible thing to try to lead and look around and see that no one is following you. but now thabegan to change because the danger of hitler is beginning to seem real to people with denmark and france, belgium and holland. it was going to be clearly important to roosevelt who was going to be the nominee of the republican party that year because he was having to face of the need to aid britain and france, but if all the republican candidates were isolationist at that time, it

looked like hell was he going to possibly be able to get the aid to britain and france with opposed by the republican party. so, and at the moment taft was an isolationist vandenberg was an isolationist. vandenberg was perhaps not the most effective isolationist campaigner. his mistress was married to a british diplomat, and it seems likely that she was not devoted to helping him campaign effectively, plus she was never too energetic politician. he said why kill myself to carry vermont, and that was kind of

his attitude. thomas dewey was actually the leader in the republican polls. he had been a crusading district attorney and gained great prominence as a district attorney in new york who put away a bunch of mobsters. dewey was young however and when he announced he threw his diaper into the ring and he had a certain -- he was a loose in fact one of his closest advisers said he was cold cold as an iceberg in february and that was tom dewey, so he was strongly

for britain and france. he and taft -- taft was invited to a party where wendell willkie was also a guest, and here's what happened. taft was invited to dinner at the home of the dedicated internationalist in the new york herald tribune and often read where the other guests shared their host view on foreign policy included a columnist dorothy thompson, the head of the house of morgan thomas lamont and wendell willkie utility executive who recently emerged as a possible candidate for president with influential

people whose help they might need so they were trying to be on their best behavior. however, wendell willkie said he would vote for roosevelt over a republican who was not for helping britain and france i hadn't intended on taking part in this discussion but i feel i cannot sit here and let my silence be interpreted as agreement. in the words of taft's wife the fat was in the fire. anyway wilkie had a grown-up and indiana from a small town in indiana elwood. he was a country boy in many ways but in some ways not. his father and mother with both

lawyers. the largest private library in their county so his background was different. he became a lawyer himself. in fact when he first went into practice he had a case against his father, and the problem was that wilkie didn't have any witnesses for his side, and so she lost but his father said -- predicted that he would be a success as a lawyer because he could make so much out of so well. he became a captain in served in france but didn't actually see action. he went to akron ohio where he practiced the law very successfully and was a democrat

very active in supporting the league of nations a liberal space cause and that which most democrats now oppose the country had become so isolationist. he went to the democratic convention in 1924 as a delegate from ohio supporting the league of nations plank, and also supporting the plank against the ku klux klan. it may be hard for you today to believe the plan he would have about what seems so obvious but it was very powerful in the 20's and in the states, northern states like indiana and ohio very powerful. in fact, an akron the plan to the coke plant controlled the school board and one of the greatest accomplishment was to defeat the klan members of the akron school board. he then caught the eye of a new

york utility executive who brought him to new york, and he quickly became president of the utility called commonwealth in southern. as such she became a prominent new deal critic because he was -- almost all utility executives hated the new deal because the tennessee valley authority which showed up their excessive prices, but because it was in effect a yardstick to measure reasonable prices by. but in other ways he was still liberal and remained so but he because of his new deal criticism, he became prominent the republican audience. there was a kind of republican them that it's hard to explain that there was a cartoonist for the new york herald-tribune and

it captured. they were not against a new deal per say. they admired the objectives of the new deal and they just thought they were a bunch of turkeys and why old professor's running it. so, darling had these cartoons where all of these professors were running around throwing monkey wrenches into the works of government, and that was a typical attitude among the moderate republicans and i think much shared by wendell willkie. on the evening of april 9th, remember was that morning denmark had been invaded by hitler. on that evening she appeared on a radio show called information please and that show was the darling of the nation's educated elite. everyone listened to it and

wilkie start on the show. there is no other way to put it. he answered questions with riss ballan ranging matters from dickens novel to the english literary critic to the presidential use of the pocket veto so she became a big hit the very night that the need for an internationalist to become clear to the republicans that they could no longer hide because of what he was doing was getting scary. he was embraced by a very good man to have embraced you. he was the owner of time of life and fortune. it's hard to believe life today but the object had the power of all of the television networks

combined today and maybe a little bit more. dr. george gallup the pollster said a two page spread was worth a front-page story on every paper in america. and if that turn the light into a propaganda machine for wendell willkie because he hated hitler. a lot of people who were wrong a lot of the time were sublimely right at this moment which was all lovely thing that made the nomination have been. but wall street and most of the big wall street bankers, most of the law firm's were internationalists and pro britain and france, and so they supported wilkie. in fact the wall street

character of the movement was such that -- you have to understand at this time that the people representing him it was this country boy from indiana and he said he is the barefoot boy from wall street. roosevelt said wilkie's candidate spring from the grassroots and all of that was true of the moment, but will be enthusiastically spread throughout the country through this petition drives again with yale and princeton alumni and gradually the positions got some taller of the country and the little girl who lived upstairs from me in charleston last va

13-years-old became a committed worker the great people from all over america are just because of their concern because of hitler joined this movement then where there was a piece of amazement that happened to the wilkie movement. on may 28, 1940, the arrangements committee of the republican national committee was leading in philadelphia and they controlled the tickets to the convention. the chairman of the arrangement committee at that time was taft. well he dropped dead. the vice chairman was a wealthy man, so they suddenly had control of the tickets.

well they just had 105 delegates, 1,000 delegates when the convention started. but they had those tickets. and they had all of those volunteers from all over the country that like the 13-year-old neighbor of mine had gotten excited about wilkie and descended on philadelphia and ready to state the tickets and march into the auditorium and start changing we want wilkie. this was pretty powerful you could hear the recordings of it today and it is almost chilling how powerful by the end of the convention that got so if they are on their love for coming you know, 895 of them not too excited about this guy but they are hearing this chant coming and they began getting these letters and telegrams from back home in immense quantities so

that this popular support on thursday afternoon as they are getting ready to vote joel also up a columnist at the time that put in the evening bulletin articles showing an advanced league of the gallup poll was to come out that weekend and the gallup poll said that wilkie was now ahead. well, that meant that the delegates walking into the convention late that afternoon reading of that paper now to those voices from the gallery the letters and the telegrams they were getting represented people. they now represented the majority of the voters. so, he was then aided by some

mistakes that they made. he tried to bluff his way in by throwing all of his votes into the first ballot. he didn't hold back anything. so when he started to lose a little bit then quickly his delegates saw that he wasn't going to win so though he was the initial leader his strength could rapidly diminished and taft became the main opponent to wilkie and the vote and gradually switched from dewey to being the leader to finally wilkie emerged with taft closely on his heels, and it was in the day when conventions were not air-conditioned and the hall in philadelphia on that thursday night by the time they reached

the sixth ballot and it was hot over a hundred degrees these bright lights needed for the newsreel cameras more on and sweat was pulling off the delegates and the floor managers with the candidates that were working the floor that there was this tremendous sense of mission on both sides because they were the isolationist and they believed they hated the idea of us getting into another war coming and understand many of us here understand how they felt. so, they're feeling was intense and purer. so were the delegates. they felt hitler was a danger and we have to stand up for hitler and if we didn't stand up for hitler there was going to

be bad news. as a each side was working intensely and at last our and the vote -- i will read you how the vote went because it was amazing how we start off with arizona, arkansas high california, colorado, and at that point he was ahead 38 to 40. then connecticut, delaware and florida voted and wilkie got a head. in alabama georgia, idaho and illinois voted and taft was ahead. then indiana, iowa kansas kentucky and louisiana, and at that point, wilkie was ahead by one vote and that close. then arthur vandenberg decided to pull out and go back to

washington. he told the head of his delegation i want you to vote for our people try friend bob taft whose fellow senator so vandenberg went back to washington thinking about what was going to happen but the head of the delegation zero it a favor to the man so he said now is the time to deliver so the chairman said well okay, we will vote for wilkie if he will promise that he won't let those volunteers control the judgeships and michigan i want to control the judgeships so they called him up and she had been sublimely pure up until this point. he hadn't made any deals. in fact she had just been boasting to one of his close friends a half-hour before. i haven't made any deals.

well, she made this one. he won the nomination come and sing god he did because roosevelt was in a pickle. history reports this brave man all-time great man. he had his popularity sunk in the 30's because of the attempt have the supreme court, then he tried to purge the senate of his conservative opponents and that largely failed, and now he was going to run for a third term unprecedented in our history so he had a lot to worry about. he -- the same week as the

republican convention his chiefs of staff from the navy and the army said look you can't give any more to britain and we can't risk losing any more. they just have the experience they loaded up this big aircraft carrier with 105 of our most precious planes, so it was starting to cross the atlantic and then france surrendered. well, they devoted the carrier to martin where it set out the whole war so those 105 planes were lost, so these mitary leaders were telling roosevelt we can't have any more of that, but roosevelt new he had to aid england but he had to fight the military leaders over that and he had to fight joe kennedy, the ambassador to britain telling him well, they are sunk.

you are a fool to give them anything more and give them into this war. in fact she said the colonel donovan to britain to find out if there was a different opinion in the embassy. and thank god three guys in the embassy, general raymond lee colonel spot the captain leader the admiral kirk had the courage to say joe kennedy was wrong that britain could hold out and so that helped -- that is one thing that helped give him the courage to hang in there and to keep supporting. but at the same time that roosevelt was having a democratic convention that i attended where there were some of positions within the parties for a third term as the former campaign manager from campaigns

jim farley was against a third term, and roosevelt decided he -- well he had good reason to get rid of john farmer who was a conservative opponent of his as the vice president but roosevelt insisted on henry wallace as his vice president. well henry had many merits but that reflects those merits but he was something of an eccentric, and so france -- he was devoted to a russian mystic named nicholas too he would address in letters. so there was great opposition

in the party, and i attended the convention and i remember i fancy myself as a reporter for a great newspaper i was 13-years-old and in these great overstuffed chairs in the hotel lobbies they all hung out in the hotel lobbies, and on eighth would act it's like i was reading the paper and try to year over conversations so i would have the inside to find out what was happening. and the inside dope to being -- to the extent the reporter could get at 13 was intensely antiwallace and pro farley like roosevelt but disgruntled so the convention ended so this is another problem he had in this

convention and the military opposing many of them. he had churchill begging for the aged and so his nomination was crucial to him and wilkie so they have a destroyer deal that didn't oppose the which was just essential to tell you how essential the draft was we had an army of to under 70000 in the same size army at pearl harbor without -- we had an army of 1.6 million what a difference that made in the history of the world. so that the draft if you think about the risk to roosevelt of supporting the draft two months

before the presidential election and two weeks before the draft he took this unprecedented step he thought he might be impeached for of sending those destroyers to england, but just in the nick of time just a minute of time and i can't overemphasize my feeling that he couldn't have done this if they had been in isolationist opposing at so he was a german is the important figure in the life of this country come and indeed in the world and i would read one thing that walter wittman who was the wisest journalist of the time wrote about wilkie and said second only to the battle of britain the sudden rise and nomination was the decisive

providential which made it possible to rally the free world when i was almost conquered. under neither leadership but his republican party in 1940 would have turned its back on great britain causing all who resisted hitler to feel abandoned. i think there is true and that is why i wrote this book. thanking. [applause] please raise your hand before you ask your question was for the statistics of the election? >> he got 22 million votes which was more than any other

candidate before that when you had those isolationists, how did they become? she was just the opposite -- >> i think the amazing thing was there were more moderate republicans then and there are today. the new york herald tribune which i didn't mention was then the kind of the official spokesperson for the republican party. well was moderate republican. and they controlled the moderate republicans controlled wall

street the new york law firms which had great influence in the rest of the country. the lawyer in small town indiana would substrate when they got a call from a new york lawyer. and as the power of the press that henry was just incredible that time and life and fortune. his campaign manager in effect was a guy named russell davenport who had been the editor of fortune right up until may and april i forgot to tell you that to wendell willkie in an article by wilky in fact that is where those petitions came from some young new york lawyer

sending copies of those articles are of the country and with the petition. >> one question to follow. they had a approach watch about it? >> did we find out about it from dorothy thompson? i don't know whether she was the original source, but she was there. and she was violently against taft yes. >> and interesting statistic is that wendell willkie died in 1943 -- >> 44. >> 44. and also his vice presidential candidate dhaka aid at the same time. >> that's right. >> president roosevelt was frustrated by the conservatives in his party and there have been reports that he had reached out

to wendell willkie in 1943, 44. to form a new progressive party. what do you think we have -- >> i believe that is true. i a.b. leave there was -- i know of someone who was in a meeting that was very important about this, and i think that columnist was one of the best reporters at the time. that was true, and if the two men had lived they probably would have moved in that direction. >> what did wendell willkie do after he lost the election? >> the first thing he did was noble indeed. he devoted himself to getting -- making sure that we gave aid to britain while britain was standing alone against hitler. so he went to london to gather

evidence to support roosevelt's bill which was the crucial bill for england and came back and made an appearance before congress that many people felt turn the tide and by the way i think i forgot the draft was so important that senator johnson, the leader of the draft of the opponents of the draft said that wilkie broke our backs. that's how important it was. >> did you find much evidence for the run-up to the convention that roosevelt had handicapped the republican convention? did he has a favorite? did a surprise him in this momentum? >> i think the momentum surprised everybody. and i know little of what his attitude was before the convention.

i know the morning after the convention he was of two . one coming he thought thank god wendell willkie is the nominee because he will support my foreign policy. and jesus, i'm scared because this guy might beat me. and i think that is really true. >> if roosevelt is in such a precarious position, why was he still in favor of wallace? what was the interest for that? >> i think he was switching his general-interest from dr. mcafee to the oppression, doctor new leader, doctor win the world she was a member action and i think that he felt guilty about leaving the new deal behind or seeming to leave the new deal behind it. and that's really my best guess. he was determined to have a real

new deal and that is the only reason i can think of because it certainly was a pain in the neck for him. but curiously four years later the democratic convention which had been riding against wallace when roosevelt tried to tell wallace or truman four years later there was a riot at the convention for wallace. i will never forget it was one of those memorable nights if you are a political junkie, because it was clear that the convention was going to go for wallace if they didn't do so sam rayburn entertained the notion for the journal and said nay.

it was overwhelming from the audience nay and the convention was adjourned. [laughter] so the next day forces pull themselves together. anyway, excuse me. that is a diversion. >> do you think the convention can be that exciting again? >> i think the craziest thing we have done -- much of this came out of the reform of 1972 but we now have things so that it is for closed by april 1st you know who the nominee is. just think in 1940 if the nominee had been decided by april 1st it would have been thomas dewey who would have been a disaster and when the wilkie wouldn't have had a chance.

he was nowhere in the polls on april 1st. nowhere. so why foreclose the possibility of getting the best man? why would you want to think right up to the last minute of who was the best and let everything emerge when the moment people voted that convention. thank you for asking that question. >> do you think barack obama could be a wendell willkie 2008? >> it is an exciting possibility i have to say. he is attempting one to me right now. he is really by eight. he seems like he has a capacity to grow and learn. that's something i don't think the incumbent has and i think

right now i have high hopes. you just have to see what he does. on a remember with john kennedy very early on salles him growth and i think the most important thing is how you see a person develops you see them learn from experience to see them get better. i will never forget the last ten days in west virginia when we were behind and kennedy had to be good and he became a better speaker than he had ever been before. he beat hubert humphrey in the debate when she was the best debater in the democratic party or any party so that if he can grow and i pray he can because i think that he could be our redeemer.

thanking. [applause] that coincides with a significant occasion that happened that week in history. for more history programming checkout american history television. we feature 48 hours of people and events that will document the american story. watch american history tv on c-span3 or visit c-span.org/history. off when the queen was at one of her yearly garden parties at buckingham palace making her way through a crowd of nearly 9,000 people had agreed to a selection of guests she was asking such standard questions as have you come far? when one woman looked at her and

said what do you do -- [laughter] several days later at a friend's birthday party the clean described the exchange and confessed i had no idea what to say. it was the first time and all the years of meeting people that anybody had ever asked her that question. my job and was in the elizabeth the queen was not only to explain what she does, but to tell what she is like and take the reader as closely as possible treeless of death of a human being, the wife, the mother and the friend as well as the highly respected leader. today i am going to talk first about what it was like to write about queen elizabeth and second i would like to share with you some of the many surprising discoveries that i made about the queen because she is the best known woman in the world. people feel as if they know her but the real woman is very

different from the woman in velvet and amend. this is my sixth biography. all of them about larger-than-life characters that barbara mentioned that there is no one like the queen and she lives in her very own remarkable world. while other heads of state have come and gone elizabeth is the longest serving leader in the world spanning the 20th and 21st centuries she is the 40 of monarchs in the thousand year history of the british monarchy. reigning over the united kingdom of england wales, scotland and northern ireland along with 15 realms and 14 overseas territories. she is the second mark to celebrate a diamond jubilee marking 60 years on the throne of which is a milestone she will reach on february 6th. the only other was her great great grandmother queen victoria

who is a celebration was 115 years ago in 1890 sefton mine she was 70-years-old. if elizabeth who will soon turn 86 is still on the throne in september 2015 he she will suppress victoria's reign of nearly 64 years. between the two of them victoria and the elizabeth had been on the throne for 124 of the last 174 years and had symbolized britain far longer than the men who were kings between the reins. elizabeth is always surrounded by people. but being cleaned makes her a solitary and singular figure. it is crucial for her to keep a delicate balance at any time. if she seems mysterious and distant she loses her bond with

her subjects but if she seems too much like everyone else, she loses her mystique. she doesn't carry a passport she doesn't have a driver's license, although one of her cousins told me she drives like a bat out of hell on her country's estates. she can't vote she can't appear as a witness in court and she can't change her face from anglican to roman catholic and because of her hereditary position every one around her and putting her closest friends and family bows and curtseys when they greet her and when they say goodbye to her. although she was trained by strict nannies who prevented her from being spoiled, she was also trained from childhood to expect this difference. a friend of mine told me about the time when men then princess elizabeth came to visit his family castle in scotland and he playfully threw her on to the

sofa. his father, the 12th furlough barely took him by the arm punched him in the stomach and said don't you ever do that to royalty. the princess didn't mind, my friend told me but that was the structure in which she was brought up so high as a biographer particularly american penetrate the royal bubble? especially when the queen has had a policy for the past 60 years of not granting interviews? actually, it really wasn't different from the way that i approached my other books which was to turn to those that knew her best insight and information i am a longtime anglophile coming and i visited britain frequently over the past three decades and have made a lot of friends. some of whom helped me when i was reporting my book on princess diana in the late 1990's they also serve as am i

at tickets. dahlia had been fair to the royal family and particularly to charles thomas of the senior staff at the palace briefed the queen and they gave me the green light. as a result i had access to her inner circle of close friends and advisers. the qtr views and a motion under rabin public. those close to her shared and feelings and worry most about prince charles and his marriage to diana was falling apart for example. what would happen if she became physically or mentally incapacitated.

and even some politically sensitive opinions including one hot-button issue that she discussed with an american ambassador. her friends explained the secrets of her serenity and her courage and the size turn up some time in her unusually perceptive ways. monty roberts the california horse whisperer was one of her most unlikely friends told me that when the queen gave him good advice, she showed an incredible ability to read in tension just like a horse does. with the assistance of the palace i was able to watch the queen and prince philip and many different settings at the carter parade, windsor castle representing honors of buckingham palace, investors coming in at one of her annual garden parties at the palace. for that i received a personalized invitation on the

white pasteboard in boston gold with the queens crown in seifert announcing that the lord chamberlain had been commanded by her majesty to invite me. everybody got that. watching the queen at the garden party make her way along a line of people i was struck by her measured pace. the lord chamberlain who was the senior official with buckingham palace later told me she moved slowly to exhort everything that is going on and to take as much in as she possibly can. i also marvel at her mastery of brief but focused conversations and her stance. a technique that she once explained to the wife of one of her foreign secretaries by lifting her evening gown and above her ankle saying one plants one's feet apart like this.

always keep them at parallel. meek sure how your weight is evenly distributed, and that's all there is to it. as i observed the queen over the course of a gear, on a accumulated impressions that helped me understand how she carries out her role and how earnestly she does her job with great discipline and concentration in every situation. she is not just a figurehead and she has an impressive range of duties. every day except christmas and easter she spends several hours reading those government boxes that barbour just described. they are delivered, they are red leather boxes that can only be open by the four keys. she raises them in the morning in that light and even on weekends. one of her close friends told me about the time during one of the queens visits when she was dressed down all morning. must you ma'am?

the queen had replied if i missed once i might never catch up again. mary, the youngest daughter over the queen's first prime minister winston churchill told me that when elizabeth was a young 25 year old queen, her father had been impressed by her attentiveness that she always paid attention to whatever she was doing. it's hard to imagine the amount of information the queen has accumulated over six decades and she has used it in exercising her right when she meets with government officials as well as senior military officers clergymen diplomats and judges who come to her for confidential private audiences. as she once said the fact that there's nobody else there gives them a feeling they could say what they like. the most important of these

encounters had been the weekly audiences with her 12th and ministers. consider the trajectory from churchill who was born in the 19th century and served in the army of her great, great grandmother queen victoria to david cameron, her current prime minister born three years after her youngest child prince edward. she actually glimpsed for the first time her future 12th prime minister when he appeared at age eight in the school production of the total topol with edward. probably her most fascinating relationship was with margaret thatcher, and in the course of my reporting, i gained some great insight into how that relationship worked and some of which contradicted the common

view. the queen and doesn't have executive power, but she does have a unique influence. in her role as the head of state she represents the government officially at home and abroad but she serves as the head of nation which means she connects with people to reward their achievements and remain in touch with their concerns. past the normal retirement age she does something like 400 engagements a year. the cities as well as tiny hamlets. charles cole who served as private secretary to both john major and margaret thatcher told me that the queen knows every inch of this country in a way that no one else does. she spends so much time meeting the people that she has an understanding of what other people's lives are like. she understands what the normal human condition is. she is also spending an extraordinary amount of time

honoring citizens and members of the military for exemplary service. in 60 years she has conferred more than 400 falls and honors and awards and has given them in person over 600 times. people need a pat on the back sometimes, she has said. it is a very dingy world otherwise. traveling with the queen was particularly valuable especially the overseas leal tour i took to bermuda and trinidad. she was 83-years-old at the time in her program called for long days of meeting and greeting. her stamina was impressive and matched only by each-year-old prince philip. whenever they go off on a trip together like that, the lord chamberlain always accompanies to the airport when flout turns around and says my and the shot. [laughter] i got a sense of how much the look and elizabeth are with an

expert choreography sort of like ginger rogers. also salles aspects of him that contradict his curvature of brashness and insensitivity. she always watches the queen intently to see whether she needs assistance. i once saw him bring a child over to greet her. he often spots people in the crowd who can't see very well and he will walk them not to give them a better vantage point. when the cleaned needs a boost she is also there with a humorous aside such as don't be so sad sausage. [laughter] on the last night in a trinidad eyewitness to a close range i heard about from several people that the queen that doesn't perspire even in the hottest temperatures. the british high commissioner was hosting a garden party in his home on such as the evening that everyone including me was

dripping from the heat. but after an hour of life conversations with some 65 guests, the cleanup walked past me very close by if there was absolutely no moisture on her face. one of her cousins who traveled in the tropics with her explained to me in her own way that the queens skin and doesn't run water. and that while it may look good it does make her uncomfortable. i saw further evidence of this a year later on july at ground zero in manhattan when the temperature hit 103 degrees. and one of the women, the queen spoke to said to me afterwards we were all pouring sweat but she didn't have erbe the delete -- a bead on her. i was able to see the buckingham palace machinery on the road t