similar we are in that way because she also painted from a place of pain. and that's the way i write. and when i'm happy i cannot write when i'm happy. and i tell my husband, because he's a wonderful, i said you're going to to make me miserable because i'm not miserable. so sometimes it is very hard to write when i feel good. >> reyna grande, do you think your experience coming across the border, growing up the we did, as an illegal immigrant, is it a common experience or do you think? >> it's definitely very common, especially, i mean like my experience of being a child left behind and separate it from my parents, and then being brought here to the u.s. as a child by my parents, it's very common. i mean, when i was researching

this topic, i learned that 80% of the latin american children in u.s. schools get separated from a parent in the process of migration. so i mean, that's a whole lot of kids that are being separated from parents, who are coming here, you know, as undocumented child immigrants. so definitely my experience is not unique, but not, there's not a whole lot of awareness, you know, or when people talk about immigration, very seldom do they consider, you know, that other side of immigration, which is the children who get left behind who later come to the u.s. to be reunited with her parents. and we don't talk about how immigration breaks up families and how, you know, it takes a toll on the whole family. so this is one of the reasons why i wanted to write about this.

because you know, it's something that it's an experience that definitely scarred me, that has really like shaped the woman i am today, and then also an experience that i think right now with the dreamers, you know, where the young undocumented people who are fighting to get of their legal status, and felt it was an important story. in terms of giving people an insight into what the situation might be like, and that touch upon the fact that my family benefited from the amnesty of 1986. i had a green card by the time i was 14. so the moment i got my green card, you know, the whole world just open up to me and there were so many possibilities that came my way that i was able to jump on because i had a green card. and i would really love to see this happen to the dreamers, you know, for us to give them that chance to pursue their dreams,

and to also give back to society. because they will pay everything back the way i have been paying back, you know, through my writing, through all the work that i do. so i want to see that happen for them. >> and we've been talking with reyna grande, "the distance between us: a memoir," a simon & schuster title. you're watching booktv on c-span2. >> tell us what you think about how programming this weekend. you can tweet is at booktv, comment our facebook wall or send us an e-mail. tv, nonfiction books every weekend on c-span2. >> joseph wheelan recounts the life of union general philip sheridan whose cavalry corps forced the surrender of robert e. lee at appomattox courthouse. the author recalls general sheridan's military tactics and

his postwar career, which included command of the u.s. army. it's about 45 minutes. >> i want to thank quail ridge books for inviting me back, and all you people for coming out to hear about general philip sheridan, who, of the triumphant union generals credited with winning civil war, he's probably the least known of them. the others being the seas as grant and william tecumseh sherman. in 1937, the three generals appeared together on a commemorative postage stamp, as part of a series on ring great u.s. military commanders. in the center is grand, to his right is sherman, and sheridan is on grants left.

this is appropriate because by the time the civil war had ended, sheridan was sometimes referred to as the left hand of grand, left handed. he was 10 years younger than grant and sherman. he was a dynamo, inspired his men with his intensity and by his personal leadership. he led from the front but he was also a careful planner. yet he was one who promptly acted on a plan and once it was made, and was willing to change it if the conditions changed on the battlefield. but during the war shared and became a household name because of his great victories in the shenandoah valley. especially at cedar creek. and for waging what was called a total war there. he was one of grants most dependable generals, so much so that during the closing days of

the war, sheridan became the de facto commander of the army of the potomac. few would dispute that sheridan was the most aggressive commanding general the union had. like grant and sherman, sheridan first fought in the wars western theater at stones river, tennessee. his alertness and tenacity saved general william's army from annihilation on the last day of 1862. his division stormed missionary ridge in november 1863, and in march 1864 grant broad shared in east with him to command the army of the potomac's cavalry corps. sheridan spent the last year of the war in virginia. after the war shared and carried out the government's reconstruction policies in louisiana and texas. you waged a cold war on the mexican border. during the plains indian war,

sheridan was the army's top indian fighter. eventually became commander-in-chief of the army. and surprisingly, phil sheridan saved yellowstone national park from exploitation. shared and grew up in ohio and graduated from west point in 1853. when the civil war began in 1861, sheridan was an obscure 30 year old infantry captain serving in the oregon territory. grant first recognized sheridan's leadership abilities in 1862 when sheridan was commanding a cavalry brigade that defeated a larger rebel force in mississippi, three months after shiloh. in chattanooga in november 1863, grant watched sheridan and his division stormed missionary ridge, and then pursue

confederates for hours when no one else did. grant me than that sheridan was much like him, someone who'd act probably probably, they would fight always, and he would never quit. with hundreds of justice or to both sides of the civil war that description fit just a handful. grant broad sheridan east with him when president abraham lincoln appointed grant general in chief of all union forces. shared his first command was the cavalry corps of the army of the potomac during grants overland campaign. union cavalry had improved a lot since the beginning of the war, but it was still being used primarily for scouting, guarding wagon trains, and patrolling picket lines. shared in was determined to change that. with grant's blessing he forged

the core into an independent strike force. may 1864, sheridan strippers overwhelmed jeb stuart's fabled rebel caliber. stewart was wounded in the battle and died the next day. it was another hard blow to the confederacy, coming almost a year to the day after stonewall jackson's death. grant's confidence in sheridan was reported by sheridan's battlefield victories and his impressive postwar achievements. when he was president, grant once told the congressmen that sheridan had no superior as a general, living or dead, and possibly no equal. sheridan, said grant, was capable more than generalship. he could manage a territory as large as any two nations can cover any war. but sheridan was never written

so high nor would have cities and counties named after him without cedar creek. a statue in sheridan circle in washington depicts sheridan on his towering warhorse in the act of rowling his army at cedar creek. green with age, a statute conveys sheridan's electric energy. lincoln and more secretary ever stand had thought of the 33 year-old sheridan too young when grant proposed in july 1864 that he command the new army of the shenandoah. sheridan's size contributed to the impression of youth that he projected. he was just 5'5" and only 115 pounds in 1864. but as grant memorably replied to one officer commented on

sheridan's diminutive stature, i think you'll find him plenty big enough for the job. just before sheridan's appointment, confederate general early and 14,000 troops have marched down the shenandoah valley, across the potomac at threatened washington, the tremendous shock, the capital was thrown into a panic, grant rushed troops to the city from his army outside petersburg, and early withdrew. to prevent a recurrence, the lincoln administration merged for military departments into a new one, with sheridan in charge of it. he was ordered to pursue jubal early's army to the death, and to destroy the shenandoah valley's grains, produce and livestock. grant told sheridan that nothing should be left to invite the enemy to return.

at first, sheridan did little him more than one of been cautioned not to go on the offensive until he was sure of victory. a defeat would harm president lincoln's reelection chances in november. and this was his first major command, so he was moving carefully. in mid-september, sheridan learned from an informant that a quaker schoolteacher in winchester named rebecca wright had earlier sent away men to robert e. lee's army, sheridan saw his chance. on september 19, he attacked early's army and defeated it at the third battle of winchester. three days later, sheridan's army followed up with a second victory at fishersville. after the two victories in september, sheridan did not expect an attack by the rebels who were outnumbered roughly two

to one. but at daybreak, october 19, they launched a brilliant surprise attack, literally catching the union soldiers sleeping. they routed sheridan's 34,000 men. sheridan was not there. three days before, he had been summoned to meetings in washington and have not yet returned to his army. he had spent the night in winchester, 15 miles away. after a quick breakfast he left winchester with his staff and cavalry escort. news of the debacle that was still unfolding in cedar creek had not yet reached him. writing style. cannon fire, as he and his entourage drew closer, the firing grew louder. then reaching a hilltop, sheridan saw the magnitude of the disaster that had befallen his army. blue clad soldiers swarmed

towards winchester in disorderly retreat. he stopped to wave the next move and tried to reform the new line near winchester. most commanders would've thought only of damage control at this point. this is where sheridan demonstrated his greatness. he rode down among his disheartened man exhorting them to turn back and fight. when they saw their commander on his big warhorse, men began to cheer. they threw their hats in the air. he rode on, shouting to his men, that they would with early's army that day and sleep in their camp that night. twice victorious under sheridan's command, and, indeed. they turned back by the thousands and followed him. late that afternoon and sheridan counter attack and smashed early's army to pieces. confederate general john gordon

wrote that the yankees rolled up the flank like a squirrel, brigade after the grade were crushed in rapid succession, and as gordon put it, the superb commands crumbled to pieces. henceforth, union forces controlled the shenandoah valley. in washington, citizens are rated by torch light to the streets in celebration. standing at an open window under the white house, president lincoln propose three cheers for sheridan. too much earlier, lincoln had despaired -- grant's shocking casualties during the overland campaign, without a decisive victory have strengthened the peace party. but the calculus have changed. sherman captured atlanta, and that sheridan had beaten the rebel army in the shenandoah valley.

months after cedar creek, sheridan rejoined grandes main army outside petersburg. on april 1, 1865, sheridan broke the eight-month siege at page brick with his victory at five for the first clear-cut triumph of grant's virginia campaign of 1864 and 1865. grant's army stormed into pete berg the day. the pursuit led by sheridan ended a week later at appomattox courthouse on april 9, palm sunday. they are, sheridan, his cavalry, and two infantry corps bard robert e. lee's path to virginia's mountains. after the confederate surrender, grant said shared into louisiana and texas to force capitulation of the rebel armies in the

southwest. by the time sheridan reached new orleans the armies had already surrendered. so instead, sheridan devoted his attention to the second mission given to him by grant. to lead an army to the rio grande river and menace the french troops in mexico under the emperor maximilian. maximilian had come to power in mexico during the civil war and he has supported the. former rebel troops were streaming into mexico seeking refuge. state department opposed any actions that might lead to war with mexico. so sheridan conducted a clandestine cold war, arguably the first in u.s. history. he conducted conspicuous troop maneuvers near the rio grande river, and he secretly provided mexican insurgents with weapons from the federal arsenal. partly due to sheridan's

efforts, but also due to events in europe, france's emperor, napoleon iii, withdrew his support of maximilian. maximilian's regime collapsed and the mexican insurgents that sheridan had supported took control of their country. sheridan was a military governor in texas and louisiana during the early phases of we construction. the army commanders in the south were caught between congresses harsh reconstruction policies and president andrew johnson's opposition to them. most of them kept a low profile. sheridan did not. urged on by grant, he alone removed elected officials who defied congress' policies. fired scores of them. city alderman, governors of louisiana and texas. consequently, president johnson removed sheridan as military

governor. he was transferred to the west to command the district encompassing the southern great plains. they are, indian warrior bands were slaughtering settlers in western kansas and eastern colorado. and it was here that sheridan begin prosecuting with brutal effectiveness, a strategy that implemented in the shenandoah valley, one of cold war. as wage in the shenandoah valley was a milder form that did not distinguish between soldiers and civilians. by 1864, lincoln, grant, sheridan and sherman were in agreement that inflicting suffering on seven civilians would more quickly and the bloodshed. and urging shared into conduct the cold war and the shinto,

grant wrote him if the war is to last another year, we want the shenandoah valley to remain a barren waste. sheridan believed it was more merciful to destroy property and to kill southern men. he wrote, if i had a barn full of weeds and enhance them, i would much rather soon lose the barn of wheat than my son. unlike the marauders of ancient time, sheridansame are usually careful to bill -- spare something like. still, the burning as it was called, horrified and embittered valley residents. one described how the invaders came up the valley, sweeping everything before them like a hurricane. there's nothing left for man or beast from the horse down to the chicken. on the great plains sheridan repriced this strategy, only with less regard to collateral damage. half starved by the governments

failed to provide enough food to them on their oklahoma reservations, warriors raided the new settlements on the planes. they raped and burned, they killed the man and carried off women and children. shared initially took the cauvery after the raiders, just as his predecessors had in the spring and summer. but it was an exercise in futility. troopers could never catch the young shiite and rapid awarded to they knew the country well. so sheridan elected to strike the indians in their winter camps where they had previously been left unmolested. there they would be most vulnerable, and least expecting an attack. and attacking indian villages and sheridan was acting as police in collecting responsibly. in other words, civilians who supported the indian raiders

felt culpable, too. sheridan had just one man in mind to lead the 1868 winter expedition, george armstrong custer. though i do, the union wide cavalry. custer had served under sheridan and the shenandoah valley at five forks and it seems greek and appomattox. sheridan raised custer through the ranks just as grant had raised sheridan. custer and sheridan were kindred spirits, both were energetic, aggressive, bold, inspiring commanders who led from the front. as sheridan had become grant's go to commander, so had custer become sheridan's most dependable hard hitter. custard and had 1800 men from the seventh calvary, yet the cheyenne chief black kettle's camp on the washita river, present-day oklahoma, at

daybreak november 27, 1868, snow lay deep underground and it was bitter cold. the indians were caught completely off guard. 103 of them were killed. then the troopers slaughtered 800 of their horses and burned their lodges, food and supplies. sheridan's troopers pursued the cheyenne throughout the winter. the indians were pressed so hard that a little time to even hunt. they were kept constantly on the move. hungry and ragged, they gave up by summer 1869, and came into the reservations. the winter campaign smashed the power of the southern plains indians. sheridan and sherman were demonized in the eastern press or the ruthless tactics. by the western settlers hailed them as their saviors. in 1876, custer was brought in

again to help wage the pivotal campaign that forced the northern plains indians under their reservations. it's at the little bighorn river in montana he was careless and overreached. thousands of northern plains indians pounced on custer and is more than 200 men and wiped them out. little bighorn was a shock to the nation. now, even former critics of sheridan agreed, the indians must be suppressed at whatever cost. sheridan plant another winter campaign, led by two other of his favorite lieutenant from the civil war, nelson miles and mckinsey. in snow and subzero temperatures, they carried to the indians, attacked the camps and burned their largest. by summer 1877, all the northern plains indians had surrendered after their reservations.

sheridan toward the little bighorn battlefield, the year after the disaster to try to understand how did it happen. he wrote, poor custer, he was the embodiment of gallantry, but was always fearful that he would catch it if a loud command. used to impetuous without deliberation. sheridan and sherman and grant had long believed that a permanent solution to the so-called indian problem might be the extermination of the buffalo. the indians depended on the bison for food, clothing and shelter. yet the buffalo could be wiped out, the indians would have to live on their reservations in order to eat. but at the end of the civil war more than 10 million buffalo still roamed the great plains. then german tenors and in a process to turn buffalo hide

into high-grade leather. the 1871 east coast tanneries began to play -- pay premium prices for buffalo hides. teams of buffalo hunters flooded the southern plains with their big 50 buffalo guns. and commenced wiping out the great hurts. just a few years, the buffalo disappeared from the southern plains. members of congress and some state legislatures tried to stop the slaughter. but sheridan, grant and sherman block to that. sheridan told the texas legislature the buffalo hunters have done more in two years to help fight the indians than the army had done in 30. texas he said should give each other a bronze medal, with a debt bubble on one side and to discourage looking indian on the other. -- dead buffalo on one side. by the end of the 1880s just a few thousand buffalo remained in

the west. while sheridan was one of the most successful warrior generals of his generation, there's another side to him. he believe in fairness. in texas and louisiana after the civil war, he defended a black freedman. they have become the target of southern fury over losing the war. and many former confederate states the generals overseeing reconstruction turned a blind eye to the lynchings, beatings and burnings. sheridan, however, dismissed elected officials who condoned the massacre of blacks in new orleans. he conducted what may have been the first official act of racial integration in the south, vanishing separate streetcars in new orleans for blacks and whites. but there's little he could do to defend blacks in texas. the state was too big and

sheridan had too few troops. in 1865 and 1866, 500 white men were indicted for murdering blacks. and not one of them was convicted. of texas, sheridan memorably said if i owned hell in texas, i would rent out texas and live in hell. [laughter] >> when the plains indians were last overwhelmed and forced to live on their reservations, sheridan tried to defend them, too. corrupt indian agents and contractors routinely stole their supplies and exploited them. the u.s. government looked the other way. sheridan and sherman repeatedly advocated letting the army managed the reservations. but they were foiled by the indian bureau and its

contractors, lobbyists and congressional supporters. in 1878, sheridan vented his frustration to sherman, writing we have occupied the country, taken away the lovely domain, destroyed its herds of game, and then up on reservations, and reduced them to poverty. for humanity's sake, let us give them enough to eat and integrity in the agents over them. sheridan questioned whether treaties, military campaigns have been the best way to deal with the plains indians. might've been better, sheridan row, if the indians had received kind treatment, ministered with steadiness and justice. in 1872, yellowstone became the first national park. sheridan had always shown a keen interest in the region. ..

bye neglect killing thousands. the geysers were routinely bad brutalized. the parks would be protected, expanded and preserved for big game. he called on the congress and called to act on sportsmen's clubs are not of the country. he proposed using the army if necessary to keep owls game

hunters -- skin hunters. the senator in misery pushed through an amendment to congress to reduce the area that could be developed in the park from 4400 acres to ten. also under the bill the army could be deported from last resort to protect the park. that is exactly what happened in 1886 when the northern pacific allies narrowed the park budget and park rangers stopped receiving paychecks. in august of 1886, he ordered the first calvary to the park to operate it until further notice. the army did so for the next 32 years until the new national park service took over in 1918.

in 1984 the general of the army william sherman retired and philip sheridan succeeded him as the general. sheridan became the first general in chief whose entire adult life had been spent in uniform. he was general in chief for just four years. he died of heart disease in august of 1888 at the age of 57. sheridan is remembered as the commander who could inspire and improvise on the battlefield. this was evident at stone's river, missionary ridge, winchester, cedar creek and the courthouse. he transformed the calvary corps into a strike force capitalizing on its superior mobility and firepower of its repeating rifles. miss sheridan was also singular in the use of calvary, infantry

and artillery in support of one another. in his book the science's war the british military and the story as the colonel henderson with one exception the generals had been unequal to the task of combining the three arms and bedle exceptionally sheridan. henderson wrote that his operations in the shenandoah valley and during the pursuit of the federal army to preserve the closest study. the pioneers in the 20th century warfare studied the operations sheridan and others like him as they forged a new battle at the creek. tanks replaced the calgary and the element was introduced on the war plane.

the style of offensive warfare practiced down through the years by generations of american leaders. theodore roosevelt presided at the dedication of sheridan's 14 feet high statue in washington, november, 1908. president roosevelt told him besides being a calvary leader and a great commander, sheridan also as he put it, speed shared his greatness which we call genius. [applause] be happy to take any questions. i am sure there are some. you mentioned at the beginning the historical focus has been placed on him.

why is that? pretty amazing. >> there's a good reason for that. all of the papers were burned in the chicago fire of 1871. the commander of division he had moved the district to chicago because of the railroads going through, and the great chicago fire wiped out the headquarters so we don't have that much to go on and rely heavily on people that served with them as the biographies are the official record of the course and then he rode his personal memoir and he had papers after. so i think that is one of the main reasons.

yes, sir. >> i really enjoyed the book by the way. >> thank you. >> a question i have for a long time is why is the generalship of the confederacy so poor in the western compared to the eastern side, and i think if sheridan and sherman and grant had faced the same kind of generals they might not have survived long enough to -- >> it's possible. they have the qualities of the generals and is not that great i'd think because so many of the good ones came out and defended their state, so you know, when grant came east, he was hailed as being a great general in the

west and everybody said he hasn't faced lead lee yet. he had a hard time with him in his campaign. yes. >> the did sheridan have any influence with what happened? i never understood to return the troubles like the icon it doesn't make sense. did he have anything to do with anything? >> he didn't because geronimo was the last to give up. he gave up and then he went back out and gave up again the end came in. so, sheridan wanted to stop that and so he decided the best thing to do is to ship them to florida

well, they eventually ended up on the oklahoma reservation after a couple of years in florida but he had a direct input into that as far as the other reservations, not so much. that is a policy made by the indian bureau, part of the interior and that's where the army wanted to get control because they thought they could do a better job and keep track of everybody and keep them more fairly. yes, sir. >> can you tell us about his personal life? >> yes. he married, he was in his early 40's and he married the daughter

of daniel walker who was a court master general who shared in the department of misery in chicago, met her during the great chicago fire. she was just a teenager, and irene they lost their homes so they came over and stayed with sheridan and his brother in their home, which wasn't damaged by the fire. so they were married and ended up having three daughters and a son and she was i think in her early 20s when they married in 1875 and she was 42 or something like that. they really had been married and they all moved to washington when he became general in chief. but the further out he didn't have a home life at all.

>> because of these sanctions was it just northerners were were the seveners into the manifest destiny, too? >> they were into it, too, definitely. before the war they hope to get more states out there and keep the balance and congress and everything but the great majority i would say just because they were population allies to they all came into the northeast. a kind of flowed from the northeast through the midwest and on out but there were some southerners, definitely.

>> he demonstrated a great qualities and leadership was he ever approached about running for political office? >> i think it was mentioned. he never had any interest at all. and i think he was a little rough around the edges for that. sherman was highly intelligent and polished and came from a good family. i don't think sheridan ever was. there are some biographers that i've read that think that sheridan was born in ireland he said he was born in albany new york just in case he wanted to run.

i don't believe that. i think there's pretty strong evidence that he came over on the boat. but i think he gave his book place as albany new york because there was such a bias against the irish when he went to west point in 1848 at the height of the immigration family william irish hanover so i think he just wanted to avoid that. he didn't want to be cast as an immigrant. >> did you say that he fired two governors, am i correct, the governors of two states and under whose authority could he fired the governor's? >> he thought he had the authority under the converse reconstruction policy, and he

did actually because they refused to cooperate. so he did. he fired the governor of louisiana and the governor of texas he was removed. [laughter] >> most of them saw them as a travel basis and this is [inaudible] >> what did he think of the behavior and did he get involved in those? >> i don't think he did. no, he didn't get involved in that. he kind of hinted that over to others.

he was pretty high up at that point. he was in charge of the division but i had never seen anything like that. >> for >> was close to that. they say that was an old saying out in the west. he was at the fort down in oklahoma, and he was introduced to an indian chief who said so and so would be a good indian and sheridan looked at him and said the only good indians i ever saw were dead ones and is somehow ended up in the newspapers at the time when the army was involved in the portable attacks in montana on the indian village liked out like 150 innocent indians, so it

really looked bad. yes, sir. >> many of them were able to get 32, 33. he didn't have that opportunity. where did these come from that such an early age? >> well, he was in oregon when they were trying to suppress the indians there. was oregon territory in washington state and he ran a small unit operation along the columbia river and he also managed an indian reservation on the pacific coast of oregon, too. so he had some experience for him but he started out small. he was given command of the

regiment and then he evidently shared his ability as training and the experience that he had. he had been in the army a long time. >> did he ever faced the calvary? >> no, no he didn't. the army of the potomac and the army in shenandoah in virginia. when he was in the west he was in charge of an infantry division in the missionary ridge >> you have another book in mind? >> yes. i'm working on a civil war macbook that's kind of more focused on the 30 days of the

overall campaign in northern virginia. the campaign against lee and cold harbor and the siege of petersburg began. >> was he married already with children? >> no. that was about five years, four years married. that was an interesting episode which i didn't get into here. he went to europe and observed to be a franco prussian war. he was an observer with the prussian army and his traveling companion of bismarck for. he sat in on all of the meetings with the king and the high

command witnessed all of the big battles which the french were crushed. during this time, the germans encountered something they hadn't before which was the guerrilla activity in the allegis. they were cutting telegraph lines, they were sniping at soldiers on the roads and troops in the towns and sheridan was at dinner one night with bismarck and the king and some of the high command that said we don't know how to deal with this because in their view there are still with a little 18th-century view of the warfare as a battle between the army and the civilians that were left out

entirely. so sheridan told them you have to involve the civilians, too. he said you should leave the people with nothing but their eyes to weep with. and they were shocked. [laughter] they really were. the they said the guerrillas were on the village so they pondered this awhile and they started doing that retaliation so he did have an effect and after that became a part for the army in 1902.

>> [inaudible] the germans learned it well. >> they carried it far beyond. but before the 18th century that is how war was conducted. the civilians and soldiers burned villages and killed everybody, the religious war in europe but in the nation state in europe these professional armies would go out to be white casualties they would go back and they would then negotiate peace and that's what the provisions were used to.

>> is your next book going to be more northern and southern? >> no, in fact it will be balanced approach. grant definitely is a mover of this campaign, but lee and his corps commanders and how they reacted with a very ably defended themselves against overwhelming numbers in the skillful defense all the way through virginia so there would be more of a balanced approach. >> i was wondering if sheridan and sherman engaged in what they

consider the war crime? >> certainly what they did on the great plains would be war crimes but they did in georgia and the shenandoah valley because they tried to scare pecos barras civilian lives. the purpose was to destroy the southern resources and their ability to wage the war. so i think that would be arguable but a great point, yes. [applause]

i want to talk to you today about my book strom thurmond america and i want to begin by telling you a story, why strom thurmond story. when you go and do research in south carolina and given to the archives and people ask when you're interested in writing about and to tell them strom thurmond and they say let me tell you my story you can't throw a stone in south carolina without hitting somebody that has a great story about strom thurmond. my story about strom thurmond begins in late july, 1992 and i am on a flight from washington, d.c. to charlotte north carolina and i've been and in turn that summer up on capitol hill, and

one of my regrets of the summer was that i had never seen strom thurmond because all of my fellow interns said you have to see strom thurmond. it's such an unusual appearance about him and i didn't know what they meant. so i am on the flight and a look ahead of me at a man that space of these kind of orange colored hair practically so brightly colored and he's a first generation kind of hair club and it shows you how slow i am that must be what his head looks like and i knew that when people were reaching over for. i wanted to shake his hand, too heuvel dalia been there for the first time and i met all of these politicians that were seen on tv and i was about to go home and speak to my dad's rotary club and i wanted to tell them about the people that i had met up in washington, d.c..

so i was going to try to shake his hand when i got off the plane but as i got off the plane, there were people already lined up to shake his hand. and i didn't get in line. i was thinking i'm not a constituent, i don't have anything to say to him and also to be honest i was a little self-conscious. was a busy airport. i was kind of self-conscious about standing in line to greet a man that is best known for his own segregationist terrain to say that i have seen him and keep on walking but. everybody had dispersed and shaking his head and here's this 89-year-old man at the time that has a suitcase and a briefcase in one hand and a travel bag and the other and a package under one arm and he's shovelling down

the busy crowd airports. i would be happy to get you get the flight. he's a are you sure you have enough time? i have plenty of time and would be happy to do it. so we walked together for about ten minutes and i was trying to make a conversation with strom thurmond and so i told him all about the people i met that summer and said license of the various colleagues. i had a girlfriend from florence of carolina and i said a comment i guess because the small talk one day with strom thurmond of all about that story a lot as i've written this book because my story is a metaphor for the

difficulty that i had been writing about the challenge that i face in writing about this very controversial figure. there is no easy or straightforward way to write about a figure as controversy old as strom thurmond to carry his back, to carry the baggage keas baggage he's carrying. the challenge in the book is to try to fight the urge to not kind of simply walk away and not meet the man face-to-face and present him as a kind of three-dimensional character. to write in a way that in a

critical but a dispassionate way in a way that would shed light on some of the issues that have shaped each of our own americas today and i hope that in doing so you can add a sense of a measure of reason and dispassion to these issues that in the royal our politics today and divide us but what are the big issues that a history of strom thurmond's america speaks to? we've remember, a lot of us remember who strom thurmond was. he was the 1948 dixiecrat presidential candidate. strom thurmond was one of the lead authors of the 1956 southern manifesto which is the protest of the supreme court decision in the brown versus board of education system of 1954. strom thurmond is the record

holder on this one man filibuster 18 minutes he spoke against the 1957 civil rights bill. remember him as one of the dead by dogs and he was, he was one of the last demagogue's but what we forget a lot one of the first of the sun will conservative. and now the sun belt one of the big stories, one of the major stories in the history of 20th century american politics and that is the flow of jobs come industries, resources as the states from the northeast and midwest and the south and the southwest in the post world war ii period. southern states were recording industry is passing the right to