statewide the collected this information, they were supposed to turn over to the state. there is discrepancy about whether they did turn over our didn't. the party said they never got the results. some people said i don't know why you didn't, i gave at the. so to this day, probably for ever will not be sold. so those eight precincts, those people who voted in the state precinct will never be counted. that two-week process would want to certify things, in the end they show that rick santorum was up by 34. he didn't lose to mitt romney by eight votes. but matt strong for whatever reason was hesitant to call rick santorum the winter. so that just escalated all the attention. we get into this come in the book, "finding he "caucus chaosa shouting match about how this is all going down. >> we don't know what the final vote count is going to be but congratulations to rec center. is a been a great victory. for him in the fourth effort. is worked very hard to know. we also feel it's been a great victory for us. ron paul has had a great night.

>> if you look at caucus night just by the numbers, matt strong was right. by the numbers they've gathered, romney did win by eight votes. so he was technically correct at that point. the challenge for them is that because it was so so close, the closest it has ever, ever been in the history of the caucuses, that could change once they go through the certification process. so it took a couple of weeks and then this is where the campaigns were fighting because matt strong, acted with the certification process, he and his staff were essentially saying it was a tie and the intricate in the santorum to because there's a way to minute, when it was an eight vote margin and romney was obvious that mitt romney was the winner. now digitized the process and to count the votes you can find because they seem to have lost eight precincts somehow, and they showed santorum was up by 34 votes, using it's basically a guy. how the heck can that be?

if we are up by 34, we win. so there's a state central committee that got involved behind the scenes, that's a very small group of people and they essentially forced matt strawn, that several versions of this news release they're going to send out late on a friday night, eventually they agreed on one where strawn finally said yes, santorum is the winner. but by then, it didn't really matter much. >> thanks for coming out to second. first things first, a couple things need to be cleared up. in trying to explain in great detail the caucus of certification process, i think it was a misunderstanding regarding the certified results. one thing that is irrefutable is that in the 1766 certified precincts, the republican party was able to certify and report, rick santorum was the winner of the certified precincts vote total by 34 votes. >> the way it all went down with

matt strawn is frankly a mystery with some people. he was the chairman of the state party. he had been ambitious but people assumed he was going to run for the u.s. senate and who's going to use the state party chairmanship as a launch for this, so everybody would get to know. he was all over the state and national media. but people have far different views about how the way this all went in. he was supposed to, lives in this day, they're supposed to remain neutral. strawn always said he would remain neutral, that the santorum folks especially some of the social conservative folks did not believe that at the end of the day matt strawn was neutral. they felt like he wanted me at romney to win all along and they think that when push came to shove on caucus night when it was so, the eight vote margin at that moment, they felt like what he should have done is stood up before the country at 1:30 in the morning when have the votes count and said, this is unprecedented. it's the closest we've ever had. that are only eight those between mitt romney and rick

santorum. we know have a certification process to go through the make sure everything was counted. the 14th a process according to the rules, and we will know but it's an unbelievable night. more people voted than ever before. he didn't do that. because he stuck his neck out and submit romney won, he sort of hung himself really, his reputation a lease before a lot of people because they just couldn't that come how he could do that when he knew that there was a chance that mitt romney didn't win. so once they went through the syndication that proves that romney did not win, and it really, really damaged strawn's reputation primarily in some people's eyes, but when the u.s. senate race came, that high profile race, matt strawn was not a candidate. there are people that will point to that one night on caucus night that destroyed strawn's chances of becoming a u.s. senator. after the caucus night debacle and is eventually forced to declare rick santorum the winner a couple weeks later, he eventually resigned under

pressure from the state party, which people felt like he had to do. it just doesn't look good to people where at the end of the day you never found eight precincts. said eight of 1700 precincts from the caucus night were never counted because they just sort of disappeared. so that's tough for people to take him and you wonder what the heck did i vote for? so they know that they had this, they to figure out, okay, this is a big black eye and we have to heal this and move on. >> thanks everybody. >> no, if rick santorum would have won iowa, we tv, republican nominee? we to become the president of the united states? you know, that takes many steps to get to that point, but there's no doubt that it at least hurt santorum momentum wise but if he could've come out here, been able to find huge upset over romney, he at least gets that moment in the spotlight leading him on to new hampshire and the rest of the way. maybe he doesn't win new

hampshire, but it just makes at least more of a player for a while. there were long-term implications, even longer come in that election. romney himself had to reach out through the general election to kind of repair the feelings with the rest of the state. he was never super popular. is popularly was about the same as was in a weight. kind of study across, one in four republicans support him in the '08 caucuses and the 12 caucuses. longer-term, serious damage control. and to get up front, work with the other states and infrastructure of this states to make sure i would remain first in 2016. but, frankly, they just had to work to change the rules. >> our overarching goals two things. to make sure the certified vote results accurately reflect how iowans voted on caucus night, too, also denniston and i with that our team here, we are temperate caretakers of the first in the nation status and

iowa caucuses, we need to make sure people have confidence to get results that are reported. >> to the process has greatly change. no more -- they want numbers that night or the next morning if it's super close. so that is something they immediately took care of. bigger picture though, there were huge changes after this happened though because the moderate, establishments if you will, they look at these results. a look at 2008 when mike huckabee won the caucuses and in 2012 and rick santorum one. they are the social conservative wing of the party took that wing hasn't necessarily grown but it's definitely grown more organized over the years so the establishment types, the moderates are thinking that might not be a good reflection on the state of iowa. so they're looking at the 2016. they want this landscape here to be hospitable to somebody like chris christie, to somebody like jeb bush, paul ryan to a certain

degree. they want the playing field open to everybody so they want to be more accommodating and, frankly, the party has gone through numerous changes since then. after 2012, after matt strawn was forced out, a. j. spyker took over. he was one of the higher ups for ron paul campaign, the libertarian wing. the almost overthrew the ever structure and the libertarian took over. they didn't have a lot of fund-raising success, so then there was another. so short term social conservative former state legislator was put in charge. establishment didn't like that either so that's another dispute and abuse of the another going back to a more establishment type leader as they try to look vote in the state and beyond about the reputation of the caucuses so that it is more agreeable, more hospitable to all kinds of candidates. for the democrats is the challenge would be, you that barack obama in office eight years. the economy is still not where people want. if you look at the polls, barack

obama is not particularly strong nationwide or in the state of iowa. it might be significant in this state because this is really where it all started for him. he came out of almost nowhere in a way. were never it was all about hillary clinton in a way and john edwards to a lesser degree. but obama came in, organize like crazy, and he won and kept that incredible infrastructure together to help them win in 2012. but now as people start to look at how he has governed the country over these years, doesn't matter really who's in charge, you always get a little bit of fatigue, so republicans as they fight amongst themselves about what a republican even is, they will be a challenge for democrats to try to get people as motivated as they were last time. as we stand here, the biggest name everyone is expected to get in the race of courses hillary clinton to bother people excited about the coming of some democrats who like the news, the

uniqueness of what barack obama brought into what, hillary clinton is not a new name, so things that came up in her past are going to come up again. will there really be a spirited democratic race? or will it be hillary clinton and maybe one or two lesser-known to want to fight the good fight but into into can't do it? so they could be disadvantaged for democrats that they won't get that really spirited primary debate. republicans on the other side, they're having their own, they don't like it when you use the word civil war but they have that own battle going. we've seen in the statewide elections here. will that be ugly and nasty, or will it be a way to drive up the intensity where in the end it puts so much more focused on a presidential campaign, then they find a way to unite and search after the into a 2016 general election? that remains to be seen. over all there's no doubt there will be much more scrutiny in 2016 than it was on the past because with 2012 went down.

i mean, the high profile moment for the state and screwed it up come and they know that. you can't get the winner wrong. and so there have some checks and balances to try to make sure that never happens again but they also, beyond that, beyond the reputation of it they just want to make sure in some people's minds, a candidate no matter where he or she is on the political spectrum when it comes to republicans can feel like he or she has a chance to win here. and i can be really important because they don't want to be thought of as just a narrow edge social right state. when big picture it's a very purple state altogether and it has been historically. is almost evenly divided between republicans, democrats. that's why the state gets the recognition it does. it takes very different types of leaders, and it's just like a pendulum that swings back and forth. it is the epitome of a swing state. if you go through the history books, history shows it's been

that way and there's a reasonably it won't stay that way. >> during a recent trip to des moines, booktv sat down with rekha basu to discuss her collection on columns of real women living in the midwest. her book is called "finding her voice." >> "finding her voice," and it's accomplishing of columns that are written specifically about women in about over a 20 year period after i came you. and as i was saying in the introduction, i moved to iowa an east coast. i was raised primarily in new york, and when it came to i was kind of armed with a new yorker sense of injustice and absolutism, which meant that no justice -- no injustice should go unpunished or unacknowledged. and i found that iowans were very kind people, very caring people, had a great sense of humor to but often didn't speak out enough and something was wrong, when someone was being discriminate against.

and i said are a lot of different cases of discrimination against women, especially in smaller community around the state that went on redress. a lot of them were for institutions whether the police department of the county attorney's office or the public welfare system. and with the school system. and that oftentimes women were not raising their voices enough about it, were not protesting, not championing the causes. and yet a lot of women were very quietly trying to make a difference in dealing with cases of inequality and injustice. so i started writing columns about a lot of those instances, and they range in everything from in a small town, there was a coach who was very popular because he kept winning games, but he was accused of sexually harassing to students who helped with the team statistics and scores, two girls.

when they complained about it, the king and actually turned against them and were very hostile towards these two because this guy was a winning coach and because the team was always winning games and coaches in small towns seem to be extremely popular people. so going against that institution was in a way putting them, making them arius. and i started -- pariahs. i started writing about this case and a couple of women came forward who had the same man as a coach like 30 years ago and are much younger younger and he said he had also sexually abused or harassed them and they tried to do something with the school district never listened. so you knew that there was a pattern. and yet women would see these girls coming towards them and would spit at them or say nasty things to them on the street because they didn't want them to be saying bad things about the coach. so if it opens with swept under the rug and the school board didn't vote to do anything to him. no credibility. i wrote a column about fixing

this is outrageous. how can, first of all, how can a coach get away with harassing people students? and secondly why was the community line up with the aggressor when there is evidence there's -- visit to ghana for decades but at that point the iowa board of education suspended his teaching license. so some justice was done. and then i started writing of the columns like that but in some cases i chronicled in the activism of particular groups of people where they have brought about change and they simply have written about it. i'll give you one example which is this is one my favorites. again, this involved young people students at a school. so in ames, iowa, there was a group of middle school students, and they have been getting tired of the fact that the boys in the school were always wearing hooters t-shirt to school. i'm sure you know about hooters restaurant, it's a chain and very popular for the name and, of course, the word hooters is

an allusion to the middlesbrough's. some of the girls thought that was maybe not the collegiate move in education. as i said michael. so they want to make a point. they did not want to get anything band and they did want to get the boys in trouble but they want to make a point to the boys about how it would feel to have a t-shirt that sort of is making you squirm because of your gender every day going to school. nothing is said about my future. so they got together with the support of teacher and the design their own t-shirts, and it was called cox, nothing to crow about. ..

and they contacted me and said, we would like you to come out to our school because we are having a public forum about this and have the president of the american civil liberties union who will come and address this issue, free-speech and sexism. they said, all it was about was sexism and ours was about a message, free speech, appropriate speech, offensive speech. basically they brought the school to its knees. all of these people came. a school district was forced to

admit they made mistakes. that story when national. alice kelly requests with t-shirts that the gross have come up with, and it was a creative way of resolving the situation calling public attention to inequities. yet he instinctively the school tried to take away these young girls' voices were as they had been giving the boys' voices for over six months. that was a story where did not have to do anything except make the world aware of what they had done and what was going on in there have been others like that as well. my columns are distributed nationally one day a week. write three columns a week for primarily our audience, one is sent out nationally, and i think that most of these stories have a national impact and some of them about national figures as well. a fourth example, wrote about

the nuns on the bus tour a couple of weeks ago when they were protesting against the paul ryan budget and saying that it was undermining social services and funding for social priorities. i came to the morning and a chance to sit on the bus with them and talk with them about what some of their perris work. a case where the author of dead man walking came and spoke about her anti death penalty crusade and the story that was popularized in the song dead man walking and the book. ahead chance to sit down with her, interview glorious time when she was here about a feminism and the changing face of it and the kinds of impacts that feminism has had not had on young woman today compared to women of my generation. and then there are stories that may be the person who i used to tell the story -- this is a vehicle i often use in trying to

get across the point. i use a person to kind of exemplify an issue. even though that person is based , the issue is whether global. for example, a woman contacted me some years ago and said that she wanted to get the word out about trends in terrorism, that she was born female but had this feeling that she was born into the wrong sex and identified with males much more and was going to the process of actually taking hormones and trying to change its entity. at that time it was in the 90's. a very little was known about trends in terrorism are around the country. but she wanted me to follow along with her through this journey so that people would understand what it meant. i did that. what people might do that, and she lives in town now.

a member of the community, creator, filmmaker, and wanted to talk about exactly what was going on, not something she considered a choice but rather something inherent in her as a person that she was not meant to be a woman. she was meant to be a man and to watch how other people around here reacted and to reestablish your love life and continue to do our job. i think that was a very educational peace for people across the country. similarly, when there have been columns about encroachment upon women's rights, efforts to ban certain guns a birth control and the state of walmart refusing to carry the morning after pill, that has national implications for women everywhere. this of the that originated here that are relevant to anyone.

the column that had the most impact on me that really, i think, changed my life and got me thinking about why this work is important and calling attention to these was one involving a young student at a catholic high-school in the morning he said that she had been raped at her school by a fellow student. now, this student came from a rather well-placed family. the father was in broadcast comanche came from the proverbial wrong side of the track, single-parent household to low-income households, no access to power, people. he insists he did that give the justice inch did not come to the school authorities and said she had been raped. she started mouthing off because people were harassing her, giving her hard time.

she was mouthing off in class and getting into trouble because she was angry. the police did a little bit of digging to find out why there was tension and found out that that it was because this hearing man had allegedly raped her in school in a utility closet near the theater room. what does the school do? did expels her. it exposed a young girl for mouthing off in class and not handling it well that she had been raped and does not do anything to the hon man. so it basically favors the perpetrator of the crime. again, at this point it is all legit. i talked to the police in weston moran who covered this case and asked them if they believe the young woman, and they absolutely did. yet the county attorney declined

to press charges. he moved away eventually demand erech column at the time the headlines of which was dollar and up to a punishing a victim and i talked about the injustice even now, there were no charges. time passes, and i spoke to their young woman. some time past, 18 months or so. there was contacted prior grower and a southland she said to my go to school with the sports and he ripped me. ehrlich to his name and fun your column. abu drolen like to compare notes can you put us in touch.

so that spoke volumes and tell me there was basis and that she could not be making it up. it just does not happen. is to uncanny nothing came of it. he was not prosecuted, but the years went by, and it was 15 years. i came in one morning and there was a message on my answering machine in my yard woman asking me to call her. i called her back and she said, i am the one you wrote about 15 years ago after was read to us cool and then carry them around with me for 15 years and seven have since moved to another city to mike and my right to gather, become a counselor for sexual assault victims myself drawn but

so many times i have read that column as the judge last night in the middle of the night in shed a few tears and thought i should tell you that often that has been the only thing that has kept me from killing myself, knowing that someone believed me because every one else did not. you did, and that is what kept me alive. it choked me up. how important it is to tell these stories and advocate for people cannot advocate for themselves in the context of an institution and how we can be, not fundamental to understanding what we do to young women when we do is empower them that way. that is why aid is so important for people to understand the

stories and their roots of rage that is kept uncovered because there are some many when, some many women who have good reason to feel enraged, but when they use their voices and speak out things do change, even if it means just one person does not kill herself. >> from book tv palace meyer talks about the challenges of opening a local bookstore and the current state of the book industry. >> we are in the heart of a wonderful neighborhood in the northwest area of the morning known for its brick houses. forbes magazine named it one of the prettiest neighborhoods in the country.

and we have a lot of shopping and restaurant opportunities here for people one of the things that happens, especially as a person first comes in, this is just like that story in that movie, what is called? you've got mail. they are just so unappreciative. it is small enough, you know, that we can know our customers. obviously we cannot carry everything in our inventory that we would like to, but or a book and have it here for them for a couple of days. we just want to be a neighborhood bookstore. a little bit. the second section to my best sellers, lots of nonfiction.

it one of the things where most proud of is a local author section. a lot of the authors, the first day that we opened the store we have so many authors coming in asking us if we could carry their book. a couple book shelves. 400 authors. and i think about this as a great literary tradition. also 60 percent of our section is self published. eviction to history to memoirs. we'll also have authors that are published with major houses. it philosophy, anyone is willing

to put themselves out there. we do much here to see how the book is selling. the part of our grievances that if it does not sell anything over a certain amount of time that they can take it back. one of the things we are able to do is just be such a part of the community. after for almost 25 years, and we are able to support organizations. we have worked with a program called everyone wins. we have had places where kids can come in and read we are proud of that legacy. we get about 70 in store.

of book clubs, charter schools, a pickup place for today's supported agriculture. we have had campaign events here they choose the store because they know that people like to gather here. you know, the first the ammunition. so i think people on a politically well read. in we have the seating for about 12 people, so it is not a huge. there have been events where we

had up to 70 people and the store. one of the things that we joke about, they say a lot is kind of sad. a lot of communities have lost their bookstores because that was the place that would get their books. there are not bookstores and people do not have a lot of options. it is important. some of the challenges of running an independent bookstore committee online presence of other places, i was fortunate when i opened the store in 2006 that i was already aware of the change in the on-line presence as far as books are concerned.

lost a lot of our independent bookstores, but i went into it with my eyes open concerning that. we would weather be -- me have realized people come in here and in say that they just push for books. people are starting to realize that. we were told that about 20 percent of the loom's to have never been activated. people still have their books. >> up next his book investing in

>> probably the most important visit. he owned most of the real-estate in the industrial district south of the downtown area, developed a lot of the agenda. maybe most important was the trust in 1962 for his properties which said that that trust said most of the properties could not be sold. the properties that could be sold to many had to be invested in the morning. so what that it was kept her family in the morning. that is one of the very important legacies. it came in late 1860 by a as a next year and came out to

speculate on land. after that to the he wanted to stay. he had quite a listing of the federal land office. he became the wealthiest man in iowa through land development, utility development, railroad, and insurance companies. was an accident that he got into land development. he did not know how long he would be in iowa he loved the experience. he was from connecticut in did not see a future there. when his dad said, i want to go home i would like to stay, and his debt said, of perry.

he took after a one-year arm pregame. his job was only one year. he branched out on his own and became a land agents. he wanted to get back to the morning. a civil war had started. a partner went to lead and i were regimented cassidy in poll. cassidy soon left. he was criticized by not volunteering for the civil war. many did this, of course, and some, he has the anti were pro southern sentiments. he was is not interested in fighting. and like rockefeller, for instance, a lot of businessmen did not join the fight for the

civil war and made a lot of money he made a lot of money buying distressed properties, which is true. he realized that he could make a lot of money if he spent all of his available cash on land, sure sales, and foreclosed properties and a lot of people see that as a bottom dwelling type of strategy. he went almost broke buying distressed property, but when the economy turned around he made a lot of money. after he went into real estate in his specialty was real estate in law, but they realized the lack of an opportunity in railroad development, and to mourn did not have great railroad connection and it began to sponsor the real road that

connected. they also considered life insurance as a business. a great way to make money lending. they could take money in at 4% and lend it out at 10%. he put together a group of investors and they started the equitable life insurance of iowa , the first life insurance company west of the mississippi river. insurance became more of the biggest industries in the morning. others saw opportunities, and companies began to move into the morning. bankers life is another early one. that became the principal command and other companies followed. there is synergy in having expertise. i think in the most important move was a creation. so really it was clearly important. they helped bring people in

business, but it became a major insurance company, and when it was sold to ing, which is now 48, it was sold for over $2 billion. its really a ecru great value. the more and would not be the way that it is without the influence but the philanthropic influence giving millions and millions of dollars throughout the city. i think one of the things that is so impressive is the families continue to hand the business down throughout the generations. businesses are very, very difficult to continue to own. >> this weekend book tv is in tomorrow. up next, a tour of the salisbury house library with more than 3,000 rand first edition books.

>> we are here in town, and it is the home that was built by carl and edith weeks in the 1920's. and if their aim was really to emulate the great english manor homes here in iowa here in the morning. karl himself to not come to my money. everything in salisbury house as a result of this great self-made man story. born in 1826, and his family had difficult financial times. the end up moving out to kansas. they try to make a go of it. ultimately that does not work out and they end up moving back hair around the 1890's. at that point karl enters the pharmaceutical trade which is what is mother's brother, the fraternal uncles, the field in

which they work. he becomes a pharmacist and it is through his work in the pharmacy fealty develops with the chili becomes a million-dollar idea which is women's cosmetics. he combined powder with cold cream and perfume and creates foundation essentially. the companies incorporated 1915- 1916 to a man between then and the early 1920's karl was literally becoming a millionaire one of the top selling in the 1920's and the united states. so they have four boys by that point and have amassed enough wealth to think about building something like cells baryons. upon a visit to it and went they go to cells vary in sierra house called the king's house, a home

that was built over centuries 14, 15, 16 centuries in england. is this house that is the inspiration here in the morning. after seeing that home in england they come back to the right inspired and break ground to my house that is finished enough to mike completely finished in 1928. it he was not of varied interests. one of the most notable legacies is his amazing collection amassed in terms of our work, the library collection and a library advocacy is an amazing collection of rare, limited, first edition works, medieval manuscripts. collected the books that he collected not only because they

are important historical books but because he believes that books themselves were works of art and had a worth beyond the words on the page. so he collected almost every edition. now, that change over time. but it was the art of collecting, amassing a collection of such work that it reflected different elements of the craft. so this book here is our first edition by walt whitman from 1855. the cover has already been detached. you can see on the inside reviews of his work cases of the inside of the first edition.

a book that he planted himself and sent copies to renowned writers of his stake to most famously to ralph waldo emerson. something to the effect of, i greet you at the beginning of a great career. and in successive editions he includes blurbs on the sign of his successive editions that the printed. the most famous interiors in literary history is here. woodman does not sign his name. he includes this image of himself he is a big the korean-american voyages, portraying himself as this new voice, this american canal with this book of poetry to make this

first step toward establishing an american literary voice. it is this piece particularly transitioning from our discussion of religious texts suggest the diversity of collection focusing on in some instances religious texts but included an incredible amount of literary works. so we have got upwards of 20 editions of leaves of grass. he also collected checking into the 20th century a variety of first editions of ernest hemingway's work. this is the green horn of africa published in 1935, a great piece because it is illustrating the personal relationship that existed.

so this inscription was very best wishes, ernest hemingway. so we discovered the it was a bar in key west, one of the bars that he famously frequented. we have in our collection a postcard from hemingway to carl weeks community has planned a trip to florida. he is not going to be in florida, but there is great fishing of the particular part of florida peninsula within our collection we have these two great hemingway pursuits, drinking and fishing, if photo of his wife in havana, cuba. some of the work itself, first edition of the green horn of africa is great, but and we have a personal connection which is

really fantastic. another wonderful component of our correction is our james joyce collection. and first editions of ulysses -- ulysses. this particular work, it was part of works in progress which eventually published. the printing that are and marked and in some cases sign or initial. this is an incredible piece. the objects that we have seen speak to a longer history of bookmaking, from the earliest handwritten manuscript completed two the gutenberg bible we which

marks this fundamental shift in european history in general. from there we transition to workman, hemingway, joyous taking advantage of the written word, manipulating, using it in innovative ways, and all of these pieces still let proper story of polk making, communicating. in terms of visitors we get a range of folks who come by, people will come by for visits, school tours commander for a public program in scattered throughout here we have a history series. so it is really sort of a public

forum for these different events and constituencies that we bring to the property. the running of the house, the fun and is through our private company of a portion -- nonprofit portion. after they took over there was extensive renovation done to the house. all new wiring. systems or updated. the balance between schering ag and preservation and conservation of our incredible collection is that we have.

>> with the help of our cable partner book tv also spoke with both research in the morning of the real deal. >> he won the highest civilian award in the state of viola baena and others included grant would, norman borlaug, chapman. it is a huge award. and he sat down in an antique chair. he sat down, and the first lady came over and said, do you know who's chair you're sitting in? no, i have no idea. that is fm hovels share. i happen to be the perfect statement.

the 1920 of century to the 20-21 businessman. a huge impact. a first of all, probably better than anyone i have heard of envisioned a piece of land and imagined what the future could be. with that they seem to have this amazing sense of where development is moving. over the last 40 years he had been buying land on the periphery of the city. as development move that way he developed that land and made a lot of money. significant on the periphery of the city and became interested in downtown to mourn in 1977 when he bought the hotel.

he spent millions of remodeling and refurbishing. the divorce and -- to mourn developments. he realized the only way to encourage more development was to put together parcels of land and encourage developers to come and. they began buying up land and sell it to developers. probably the leading purchaser for that organization, so he played a big role in bringing capitol square. a big, big role in bringing downtown housing into the area in the 1980's on when there was not much downtown housing. he brought in the civic center court apartments, the plaza condominium cabiri is luxury development. he played a big role downtown and recently there has been in

development doing the same thing that the morning redevelopment company which was pretty much bills idea is now involved with the mca. it is involved adding on this court house and ex. a big convention. this kid who could not wait to get off of the farmer and check the our virginity of world war ii to get off the farm joining the navy. he was out in the pacific for two years. he was a landing craft pilot. involved in manual labor, hated

having a boss and did not like being told what to do. tried a restaurant. he bought a building where the restaurants but soon realized that a restaurant is too much work. so bill and al green parrot the building upon the market. a real-estate agent listed it and add eggplant see the building but the real-estate agent could not show the building. he took the client and sold the building and then was mad because the real-estate agent demanded his condition -- duration. it he quickly became the biggest real estate agent for that

company and then he built it into the largest real-estate company in iowa. of the best deal maker that there is some. in his late eighties he continues to close deals. there is as separation from business and social. at a christmas party. one of the last to leave, walking out, trying to plant -- say thank-you. the chief operating officer says, thank-you for the party. how many deals did you close of the party. and he said only three. he was a democrat from early on.

it up a political angle from his father, but he becomes the most influential democrat in the state of iowa. so represented. a trucker. he gets into politics to run for governor in 1962. it is that year or maybe 61 that bill began to campaign for governor. made a donation and became fast friends after the donation. once the election -- collected he served two terms as governor and one term in the u.s. senate. one of his closest friends and

advisers. governor when the interstates were being built. many people noticed that's he had land along interstate exits and entrances. about that was increasingly peculiar. many accused him of getting inside information. i investigated that, and it looked to me like bill did certainly buy land where the exits were, but the purchases came after it was public knowledge. that is a statement that -- bill worked hard to get to use reelected, to push him to run for president, considering a run for presidency in 1962. he set up an office here in the morning. it did not work out because information came out that he was

involved in seances and talking with the dead which pretty much signed his presidential aspirations. his rivals would say that he works hard. they might characterize him as crass, but they would have respect. again, some would say there were behind closed door deals. i do not think that that was true. critics might pick up on some of the under handedness, for the most part he garners a lot of respect in the community. >> and now we hear from the former editor and president of the des moines register michael gardner on the role of editorial writing in public discourse. >> talking with friends at the freedom forum one day. by that time i was fascinated by

editorials, had written a lot of editorials. someone ought to write a book. they said to me gimmal would you do it? shore. i took it upon myself to find the four best editorial writers. there was one starting with horace greeley. the first paper that separate opinion from fact. and then a man named henry watterson, around the turn of the century. after that william allen right from the gazette who was a small-town editor, but an adviser to presidents and wrote for one of the great, great muckraking magazines of the time that and a great editorial reporters. and then a widely known person,

a wonderful name. how did you hit the name? everyone in the family was named after states. wisconsin and illinois, they were all named after states. i left the "wall street journal" and came up. he says come i understand you're leaving. will you be in charge of the editorial page? yes. have you ever written an editorial? no. do you know how? no. come on down. went down to the office and we sat and talked. the key to an editorial is this. give the other side's the fact and north side that thought. don't cheat on the facts. lay them out. do not just give one side. as you analyze and look at it

and offer opinion, give your side of the thought so that the reader can understand your thinking to get to the conclusion that you got to which i thought was great advice. i looked for issues, wondering what newspaper said when all the japanese were imprisoned when world war ii broke out. and one newspaper in california said it was an outrage. everyone else either let it pass or thought it was a good thing. the new york times came out against women's suffrage. you look for editorials that were interesting and surprising and especially that were well written because i've learned up very on as a newspaperman going to work at the "wall street journal" in 1960 sitting with the copy editor at the copy desk

one night. a man walked by and looked at me and said, what are you doing? i am trying to make this story understandable. just remember this. the genius behind the wall street journal, the president of the old company. he liked to wander the news room . the most important thing i ever learned about newspaper and baseball when i was 15 years old i had been to a baseball game at the park. the umpires had kick someone down. i went back to work. some went up to one and said,

what does a guy have to say to be kicked out of a baseball game and he said anything that ends in you. that is what i know about baseball and editorial writing. great to immigrate editorials, and some of them very, very short. the philadelphia -- the philadelphia -- i think there is philadelphia daily news, an editorial that said -- the headline said adios, dictator. only the good die young. he was 82. that seems about right. that pretty much sums it up. there is another one in the philadelphia daily news that talked about a criminal. it is about time for leonard and

words to take the hot spot, put him to death, you know, you do not see that. thirty or 40 years ago. the discussion, charles o. will be. do not forget about been bubbler what about him? all been butler is dead acting under the devils orders, to a camp from earth and landed him in hell. in all the seven countries there are no tears, size commander grants. he lived only too long. we are glad he has been removed from earth and pity it doubled the position he has procured. it is my view editorials by and large have gotten more water down over the years. the greatest editorial, i

believe, or which and around part of the late 1890's to the 1930's, maybe then 1940's. newspapers became more homogenized and editorial papers became more homogenized. editorials became weaker. i am sure it is a great editorial, but i did not think that it was -- i have a limited amount of space in the book and did not think the recent editorials were as great as the earlier ones. the first was a guy named frank muncie who died in 1925, and when he died the daily gazette wrote this. a great publisher is dead contributing to the journalism of his day, the morals of a moneychanger in the manners of an undertaker. he and his kind have about

succeeded in transforming the once noble profession into an 8% security. may he rest in trust a man that was 1925. think what happened since then. now there are changes that own 50, 60, 70 newspapers. publishers and editors, you know, it is difficult to to comment intelligently on a community if you have to live there for a long time. i speak from experience. the most response i have ever received to my personal editorial, i have probably risen five in my life. a son who died when he was 17. died 20 years ago almost today. at wrote an editorial about him. it enormous response, and part

of their response was because of a line in the editorial. i worked at nbc and i put to him on the air. he became a close friend. he knew my kids. the phone rang. the phone rang at home. he was in tears. he says, you know, got has come to you 17 years ago and said, i am going to give you a big, healthy, happy to immigrate kid only for 17 years and after 17 years i'm going to take him away, you would have made that deal. and i would have, of course. i put that in at the end of the editorial. that brought a tremendous response to me.

in fact, seven years later, 15 years later i went said a funeral in washington. his son was the only person to speak, and he mentioned christopher and talked and said, if god had come to me 21 years ago and said he will have the greatest father in the world for 21 years he said, i would have made that deal, and that was the way that he closed his comments about his dad. that probably brought more response than anything ever written in my life. why should people read editorials? i think there are all kinds of reasons, but the main one is you do not have time to look into an issue yourself. you do not have time to look into obamacare. you do not have time to look into a supreme court decision on

the marriage. you do not have time to look into the budget of the state of iowa. you must rely upon people you trust to do that, and editorial writers have called a to do this research and then to -- and then to comment on it. and did he believe that your general view of the world of lines with the general view of newspapers, then you can be pretty comfortable voting for making determinations because your noted is like a movie critic. i trust -- i just fast that movie critic. tsk tsk and as i have said, on the other hand, people said don't agree with anything that person said. they think obamacare is a good

thing, i've won't. they're is a yardstick. editorial pages provide a great yardstick if they are consistent , if they are consistent. if all of a sudden they change their view they owe it to the reader and you were to explain what brought about that change just like when a court all of a sudden does not follow precedent. it goes it to america to explain why they changed, what has changed america so that this is no longer the law of the land. in the book i mentioned that the editorial is the soul of the newspaper. really is the soul of a community. the community has to have some kind of yardstick. you know, news is news, but opinion on that news, discussion of that news, analysis of that

news, but most of all a moral position on aid is vital for any community. you can have a terrific newspaper, but if it has got a middling editorial page or a shy editorial pages and is not a great newspaper. all of the great newspapers have had great editorial pages and great editors. like i say, you go back to of horace greeley wrote the most famous editorial of all time, a long letter to president lincoln it was so -- it was like a brief laying out all of the things that people were disappointed in prompting linkedin to sit down and write a response which was a lovely, lovely response about slavery and holding the union together. exact words, but if i could hold the union together i would free

no slaves. if i could by freeing all slaves , would free all slaves. fight it hold it together by freeing some, was freed just some, and he went on to say that that was his mission in the war but it did not offer his personal view which is that slavery is bad and all states should be free. what president since lincoln would sit down and write a reply in the midst of a terrible, terrible war. and it was just a dot on the map and tell he bought this crummy little newspaper and turned it into a first rate newspaper because of his editorial which was full of so much common sense but also of rage and passion. that is why i named the book outrage, passion, and in come.

>> more information on book tv recent visit to the morning and many other cities. go to c-span.org / local conscience. >> book tv covers hundreds of of the programs throughout the country. here is a look at some of the events attending this week. look for these programs to air in the near future.

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unintentionally. its program is about an hour. >> host: "please stop helping us how liberals make it hard for blacks," author jason riley. if i were to tell you that i've taken this around me for several cookouts are just around town, political circles and it has raised a few eyebrows, just title alone become and sparks conversation, what would you think about that? >> guest: publishers would be happy to hear that. it's not surprising. i've had a similar reaction. when i went to get the jacket photograph taken the photographer was black and ask me what is the title of the book and it started a conversation. >> host: you touch a