individuals. >> individuals in the species and even extending into the rest of life think about it and might say well look perhaps this happen somewhere else but at the same time we like to think we are special. the complex is dealing with all of this. and that's part of the theme of the book except exploring it in a more sophisticated analytical way. what does it really mean to have this copernicus complex and how might it help us do science?

>> jane hampden cook is next on booktv. she'd appeared at this week fall for the book festival in fairfax virginia. her book is "american phoenix." >> the afternoon. i am a member of -- and also a member of the board. i'm delighted to be able to introduce jane hampden cook to two. she makes biographies and histories relative to today's news current events and issues of modern life. jane is the author of eight books including "american phoenix" which we have for sale here and what she will be -- is

about john quincy adams and will lisa and the war of 1812. she also has a soft cover book here called star-spangled story which is celebrating 200 years of our national anthem. jane has authored several stories of faith and courage from the revolutionary war, days of american first ladies and co-authored -- [inaudible] and as an aside she's also a former -- so jane blair happy to heavy today. [applause] >> thank you so much for coming and thank you to fall for the book for hosting today and to the author's lifelong learning institute. i really appreciated and also to c-span for being here as well. she mentioned my book and here

at the cover images of some of them. these are all available on line through your bookstores. my passion really is to bring history to life in ways that are real and relevant to our lives today. we can't relate to what it's like to ride in a carriage everywhere but we can understand what it's like for our families to be separated from the dash one another by distance. that's what i try to focus on are the things we still happen, and people who have gone before us. just does away -- a way she mentioned i worked at the white house for a few years and i was president george bushes webmaster. president clinton was the first person to have a web site and this was the second person in the first time we transitioned web sites from president to present so as an exciting time. it was before broadband and

smartphones and things like that. technology has really changed a lot since 2001 but i have a love for writing before he moved to washington d.c.. i've written a little book about sam houston and his daughter maggie which was my first book. it was a children's book but it didn't come out until 2002 while i was working at the white hou house. you can imagine the excitement of having your first book in print. but i was really sweating it because the night before i was supposed to leave to go to the texas book festival in austin and i was going straight from a office to the airport. i didn't have my books yet. i got home and sure enough there was a box of books. i finally had my first copy. i was really nervous that i wasn't going to have a copy for the book festival. i go to the office the next day and i was housed in the eisenhower executive office building which is next door to the west wing that victoria --

victorian era building. i wanted to show it to a friend of mine in another office. i walk out into the hallway and there's nobody around except for secret service agent standing to the side. they don't normally just stand around inside of the building could i thought somebody is coming. now when you are a white house staffer in the president is walking through that's not your time to chitchat with him. you're supposed to stand to the side and let him pass. you can smile and wave but you are not supposed to stop them. it's an unwritten rule that you figure out pretty quickly. i was really excited about my book and sure enough the doors open and president bush starts walking straight towards me. without really thinking, i didn't say anything to him. i just did this. [laughter] he thought he would do this and

he came over and he started flipping through the book. i thought oh i have to make sure he understands that this is not about him. this is about sam houston, governor of texas before the civil war. he's flipping through it and then he looks at me and he says will i needed autographs. i realize he thinks i'm giving it to him. and i'm really not because i needed it to go to austin for the next couple of hours. what do you do? the president of the united states thinks you are giving him a book you had better give him the book. i was so nervous and i said to him sir would you like me to sign this for you now or later? he gave me a puzzled look and then make figured out. he goes, later. so he goes on its merry way and i go on my merry way that i go tossed into the book festival with my book and when i got back i photocopied the inside cover and practice what i would say to him. once i had it down i wrote a

little note and send it to the oval office and got a really nice note back from him. i have never given a book to the president of the united states before since then so is it's really nice to have my first book just to share with the president. i just never get to do that. something else about working at the white house i really fell in love with white house history. i found at the white house web site i could write about white house history and it was bipartisan. it didn't matter what your political affiliation was predicted but at the white house web site and read about biographies of a presence in the rooms of the white house. they really became enthralled with the history of our presidents and first ladies in the white house. that is what launched my desire to go on and write about american history.

i received a fellowship from the white house historical association, an organization of american historians to do some research on the white house. i left my job in 2003 and started pursuing writing. i fell in love also a few years ago with the story about john quincy and the lisa adams and the war of 1812. that is what i want to focus on today is the story. this is a picture of john quincy adams, a younger man, a young diplomat who lost his hair. he does not keep that hair for very long. so what i want to do is start with july 4, 1809. it's independence day and we are going to hone in on boston. boston is a town of 33,000 people. support largest city in the united states. adams is not a very happy fellow because he has lost his dream

job a year earlier in the u.s. senate. he's teaching at harvard at the time. he's practicing law into uni that would be perfectly respectable if that is what we did with the rest of our lives was to teach and practice love it when you are the son of john adams and you're not serving the public nothing else compares. so he has really lost his dream job and his wife talks in her diaries about how miserable it was to live with him during this time because he was just very unhappy. we all know someone who has lost a job or who has had to change jobs and maybe they didn't want to. this is what makes him relatable is just that thanks to of losing your purpose in life is something you don't really want to be doing. how did he lose his dream job? in 1807 the british navy attacked right off the coast of

north vote. three were killed, 18 were wounded and four were kidnapped. the british navy captain siege for the men on the ship and accused them all of being british -- in fact two of them were legitimate american citizens. this is called impressment, the act of taking someone and forcing them into the british navy. this is what john quincy adams thought about impressment. he thought it was too all intensive purposes to practice as unjust, immoral and oppressive and tyrannical in slave trade. he was someone who opposed slavery. he thought it was just abominable to take someone and rob them of their citizenship and force them into military that can intentionally be out for to that person's native country and that was awful to him.

the practice was going on because britain was at war with france and they needed every man they could get. some of the men were legitimate deserters. the state department estimates that 5000 men were impressed. john quincy adams thinks the number was low and he thinks the number was more around 9000. you can understand the injustice that a lot of people felt. the other thing that was going on was that we are a country that only has four ambassadors around the world. they were not a higher rank as ambassadors. they were a country that was struggling for its identity and sovereignty. in order to survive as a country we had to survive economically. this is what is happening. britain and france were at war. britain created a policy that if you were an american merchant ship and he wanted to go to

europe and trade you have to first get a license from great britain. france led by napoleon turns around and makes the same policy. if you want to trade in europe you have to first go to a french port and get a french license. you can legitimately have a license from france into license from england's first. this was creating havoc for our really -- merchant ships. there was a lot of british wri writ -- ships with fake american papers. he was just chaotic and that's an economic problem we were facing as a country. after the british attacked the chesapeake in 1807 president jefferson took his time to find out what he wanted to do. he didn't want to go to war with england to what he decided to do was to us send the senate and

embargo and asked them to cut off trade with england. what does senator john quincy adams of massachusetts to do? 's father ran against thomas jefferson and lost and he also knows that the man back in boston aren't going to be happy if he cuts off their shipping trade. but what do you do? he really was concerned about impressment and he decided to put the union above regional interests and he supported jeffersons embargo. as a result he lost his senate seat. they were so mad at him they didn't even put his name on the ballot in 1808 so he resigned when he realized he wasn't on the ballot. he just out and out resign. this is what he said. he wrote his mother a letter and said this. i just discharged my duty to my country but i committed the unpardonable sin against the party and that's how he viewed

his loss. he felt it deeply. it was a deep wound for him. to do what he thought was right and not be supported in that. back on july 4, 1809 there's a new president in town, james madison became president in march of 1809. john quincy adams received official paperwork from washington. he's doing very much what we do on july 4. he's going to an independence day parade in these watching fireworks. he receives a packet of paper saying he's been appointed as minister plenipotentiary to the supreme court of washington. this was quite an astonishing development. russia had not officially recognize their independence at this point in time. his friends and foes responded very differently. his enemies got was a great way

to get john quincy adams out of the country to send them off to russia. his friends call that an honorable exile. he was an honorable position to be a diplomat but russia was so very far away. today is constitution day and this was the basis for john quincy adams decision. he said i had determined to go, have acquiesced in the judgment of those to whom the constitution has lifted and thought it best to place me abroad. he was very dedicated to the whole concept of the three branches of government and two to those branches have called it a service. he ultimately believes that public service to patriotism was needed to be solicited nor refuse. think about that in our modern politics.

neither is it to be solicited and neither is it to be refused. this is his philosophy. he really believes and this is a quote that he shared with the sun, let the uniform principle of your life be how to make your talents and knowledge most beneficial to your country and useful to mankind. that was his governing philosophy. this is what makes him relatable because we know people who have dedicated their talent to their country and to humanity. sometimes it's service nationally in the military and sometimes it's organizing -- making your talent useful to your community. i think that philosophy really makes him relatable. what about luisa? luisa was his wife. in fact i got chills because when i was doing research on this a couple of days before she

finds out about his appointment she's singing and entertaining people at the piano after dinner. we don't know what songs she sang that we do know one of the most popular songs in the country was called the boston patriotic song or the adams and liberty song. they had two names for the song. the adams and liberty song was written for her father-in-law. so i don't know that she ever sang that song but i would be shocked if she had frankly because it was for her father-in-law. when i looked it up i discovered from the library of congress that it's the same tune as the "star spangled banner." this was before the "star spangled banner" so even though was an old english drinking song most people associated it is the boston patriotic song. louisa finds out that she's going to russia. she's very shocked as you might be and two weeks before they left her father-in-law made a

very critical decision. he decided that john and lisa quincy had three sons and the two older sons would not go to pressure. they would stay behind in boston and john quincy and lisa would be allowed to take their 2-year-old. she had no say in this decision. she was heartbroken. she wrote every preparation was made without the slightest consultation with me even the disposal of my children. she was shunned -- stunned and shocked an anguished over this. this was the heir of jane austen when women didn't have a lot of decision-making power even in their role as mother or things like this. she cried out in her diary this is agony can ambitions pay suc such --

[inaudible] this makes her very relatable today in my opinion because we know people whose families are separated by distance, by divorce. we can understand her emotion and being forced to be separated from her children. it makes john adams her father-in-law seem really cool by our modern interpretation that he made this decision but he made this decision, he decided to separate the family in order to preserve the family line. if the whole family had gone on the ship and if the ship had racked he would have lost all of them at once. he also really one of the older boys to be educated in america and that's another reason why he made the decision but it was very very heartbreaking. on august 5 they embarked for russia. this is the ship that they took. it's called the horus. it's a merchant ship. it wasn't enough time to acquire and military vessel.

they were already worried that they wouldn't get to russia on time because the sailing season can and as early as october. the water can freeze in the harbor in russia as early as october so they were nervous about getting there. it took him 80 days to travel by ship and on their journey they came face to face with the practice of impressment and english ships had all the sailors lined up and read the descriptions written about each one and gave -- accused each one of them of being a british deserter. john quincy quincy intervened and he a set of known this family my whole life. he came face to face with it. he also discovered when they were in denmark that 300 u.s. sailors had been detained by the danish. the danish were under the psalm of napoleon at this point. after madison became president

he lifted the embargo so all sorts of ship set sail for europe. some of these got captured in denmark and they were accused of being british, not being american and selling british cargo. he comes face to face with the very problems that america is dealing with at that particular time. this is a panorama around the time period, illustrated around the time. not that they were there so this is very much what it looked like. this was the library of congre congress -- congress image. when john quincy gets to russia he is a distinctive mission. his mission is to convince alexander to trade openly that the united states. this is the strategy. if we can get russia to trade with us then that would put a lot of pressure on england and

france to change their policies because russia was the largest country in europe at that particular time. alexander accepted john quincy's credentials will be the first time. during the revolutionary war we sent a delegation over there and his grandmother catherine the great was allied with england and refuse to officially recognized american independence. this is a big step here in our relationship with russia. emperor alexander is a 30-something-year-old emperor, very charming but he's also allied with napoleon at this particular point in time. he was at war with napoleon a couple of years earlier but at this point is an ally. there's not an ambassador from england to russia at this time. as a french ambassador and he holds the highest rank of all the ambassadors of europe.

very quickly they figure out that they are fish out of water in russia. custom is the law. this is an image of the winter palace where the emperor held big events and everything you can imagine. the lisa and john quincy realize they are expected to entertain the other diplomats. john quincy writes his mother that visitation is become a public duty because they were going to ball after ball night after night whether hosted by the emperor or one of the other diplomats. louisa only had one dress that she could wear. it was silver tissue which was a gauze like material. she had a french dressmaker sjoberg different ways to wear it but there was no hiding the fact that she had one dress. he had one suit as well and it

was embroidered most likely but not nearly as decorative as the others. the women were covered in diamonds and so were the men. how different from the plain frugal yankee adams is were in russia. they really could not compete. so they realize very quickly that they cannot compete financially with the other diplomats. this was the disparity. john quincy adams salary was $9000. he's the second highest-paid u.s. government official only after james madison the president. the french ambassador salary is $300,000. the other problem was that he hadn't received his money yet. adams didn't have this checked yet from the u.s. government. he was using his own savings until he received a salary check. that was a huge part of the

problem. if you are an american how do you convince the czar of russia to trade with america he can entertain, your wife being teased by the emperor's mother because she only had one dress to wear, how do you do that? this is boiling it down pretty simply that they engaged in respectful debate about fair trade with the other diplomats. they showed a genuine interest in russian culture. they would go off the record. they used the term back then that they would ask if they could speak to one another, these diplomats so they could have their official conversation about whatever issue and they would ask if they could talk two gentlemen not representing their country. he said a lot of times -- spent a lot of times discussing with russian officials and other european diplomats.

this was sort of astounding to me. the russians and the french didn't believe her realize that we produced sugar cotton and indigo. it's astounding to me that there was a point in time when america was not known for producing cotton but that is where we were at this point in time. american families produced 16 million yards of cotton and cotton mills produce 146,000 yards of cotton a year. there's a humorous entry and john quincy's diary where he had 600 diary pages in his life. there was a lot of material to work from. we produced 8 million pounds of refined sugar. he gets into this conversation with the french ambassador in the french ambassador doesn't believe we produce that much sugar and he kindly remind them that polian sold as louisiana and that is where most of the sugar is coming from.

the other thing that really surprised me is even in this time period americans in the english. >> differently than the britons. i wouldn't have necessarily thought that but john quincy adams makes it very distinctive note in his diary several times. he said to the french ambassador do you want to know how you can tell the difference between americans and people from london? we speak english differently. listen to how we speak english. i thought that was very interesting and fascinating because we don't have audio recordings from that time. we don't really know how people sounded. that was very fascinating. that is some of the debate that he got into with these diplomats and with the emperor himself. also john quincy in the lisa take a genuine interest in russian culture and they find

ways that don't violate their principles but living within their means. a lot of the things that they did it and these are pictures from the late 1800's from the library of congress said city can get an idea of what the architecture was like back then. they would ask the government, the russian government if they could do places like the hermitage which had a very large art collection. they loved art. both the lisa and john quincy were fascinated. adams himself went to a factory so he could see what russian commerce had to offer america. they also visited churches. we go to services with the emperor at the palace and to see how the peasants went to church. at one particular point he thinks the diplomats are expected to be at the saints day service led by the upper but it

was for peasants as well, the common man. he shows up and he realizes he's one of the only diplomats there. he made a phonecall -- call. the russian foreign minister sees him and comes to him and he begins to explain the liturgical nature of the service. ..

>> >> on the london side so when war broke out during the revolution he would take his family to france lamesa was born the same year as jane austen and her mother is british and they flee to france. and his top five french nuns her mother always thought louisa spoke french better so she could have conversations about art or culture and it did impress a lot of the diplomats. in the whitman that she spoke to.

so while we do this means the beginning to change in the world stage. bay 1810 napoleon is neither the french ambassador to russia is hosting a big ball. napoleon is nowhere to be seen but the emperor is a guest. he comes to the ball and suddenly louisa feels a tap on her shoulder and turns around to see the emperor standing there and he says in french and she is stunned should never been asked before this is not english country the a single forum audience thinks she is nervous. they take said dance floor and dance by themselves and

others join and they go through the formality and she said she got through it will even ask you could almost read that if we would make a movie of this story because covering her mouth he is with the american's wife. that he is dancing with louisa also even a romantic undertone to it. she was not sure what they were up to. and they did not know for a while but suddenly within one week the french ambassador and all diplomats from france will start to pay a lot of attention to louisa adams then the french ambassador says mr. adams would pay -- would make a

great representative maybe should go to france to ask for a transfer of lot of attention paid to adams and realizes it was the emperor is way to signal i will trade openly with america and within four months there was up policy to america. the french ambassador, and they engage and john quincy adams. there is a lot of back-and-forth and intent by the french ambassador to squelch the decision. and to give a good example from 89 it would take the ship's six months to reach russia. it is shortened at six weeks

when they agreed to open the trade with the united states. trade is open now, we have russia as an ally. what happened? in 1811 president madison sent a letter to notify him that with unanimous consent it has nominated him to be of the supreme court. but they voted unanimously for him. so we know he becomes president later he was never the only president to be elected to all three branches. what does he do with this

disappointment? he knows his bother is doing a the hefty advance. but it goes back to louisa. she is six months pregnant at this point. and if he accepts the position, it is in a they could get back to america but she already lost two pregnancies before this time. her health is delicate. why a he does not use the term pregnant in his letters

but he notes their dedication and are pegged -- to this family. to read between the lines. he also tells madison i have wanted to change deep and serious mistrust for a seat on the bench. he wrote a letter that said i a very sorry by withholding myself but happier for me than to put the expectations upon the feet of myself. he knew where the talents were and what they were not. he knew he was not a judge. he was a lawyer by training but he had some heretical views on common-law and we knew he became supreme court justice he would make some pretty radical decisions to upset the applecart.

so he just decided that is not for me. but he also turned it down but to put the to have your sense come to him of the the

heels a little ahead the same time whether if if.

>> view said they approved the fed to pay them with the outcome of the war. >> reset gave first eight sarah and dash eat 18 bill within a few minutes we don't understand how she dead but she was tv and a recovering addict and the

increase vichy underlying condition or policy was to do is be married to her daughter. that is how she becomes. but they are stuck in st. petersburg and burning moscow and fears that the french will take over moscow then things go bad for the french vin there are zero

kinds of diplomats but the rest went shoreham -- but for russia his country is at war. but that is mias from napoleon across russia. said now the second there with the but is called to read the a priest of lot of that was born with information from the adamses. he doesn't know what he will say be it is confident for a russian mediation and with

the larouche have a very different reaction defense ultimately to the eighth part does the team to lead

and he chose to negotiate its st. paul dash treaty but the waterfall lattice with sage rose in st. petersburg the with every bit to say that intel the results should be publicly known in other words, he was sharing state secrets with his wife with the letters.

and he talked a lot about the negotiations. but there is set for it -- between with russia that when she of them may have about the negotiations for. but to talk about those negotiations to for they get to them. finisher in her but on the 24th april for a share merger her but you don't

burn somebody else's our store their letters. of long prairie one daschle library of congress will but she witnesses where the

reddish but the british think they will have the appear hand at these negotiations over - - happened to europe but there is less then but then to wait six weeks to give something from madison. vivid negotiators but for

that american city is quite funny if you think about it everyone was to take care of the tree and then they were bringing yellow roses that is the symbol set to fill out that treaty on belgian?

but to have the one shares to restore peace. adams said he removed the very. >> said that it says? >> yes. and women the bases decisions and i fear i am much imposed upon this is a

high fahey and hot the authority days and 16 handrails. hit his tenth but where this'll make a difference is because their lives of some of an into the locals lifted

their ahead the folly with genoa and a core into his seat in the takeover of where nick it? and that and that to stay on our side prepare she makes a room dash silk products today are in peace. and she gets to ultimately be the outskirts of france and the shipping country. she hears the river and

finds out it is sure it napoleon has been in exile and as a logger a next while is of the 14? >> and gathering to replay. to assume it is a war. between napoleon and france. she has to decide what to do. she told you it day in behalf and sure enough they can across the planned one but the french hate the russians.

but to call me explain who she was and why she was going why she did he said. >> it is just the effect --

and so does not -- it is enchanted. the start to chant was long live america. lot with america. that is not as referred repairs hershey out there is the rhythmic ahead but to find out if and the suns will have to try to draw them in england but then to with that and swarming faith

that teaches us never of a of "american phoenix" because she recognized to review years later as part of the united states may be to show things are not quite that way as his a imagination where he was supposed to be. speeto she really wanted to show men were more capable but they were. but around that scene the various appropriate of uncertainty -- the phoenix riddle has manoah -- more risk.

in that is a referring to marriage? each it here and we remember from ecology. he's actually describe looking like an eagle. and source to greater heights. and that is why john quincy and louisa knew quite well. transforming was started your life to be down under lot to lose your job now on past to become secretary of state and the president. madison had been secretary of state thomas jefferson, all of these comes back to the united states after a short period and after that he becomes president. but also that is what filmmakers look for louisa was a phoenix as well.

she had overcome her depression and that jury helped her and forced her to realize if i am going to live and for my child that is with me have to get to school to make decisions. she transforms aha week sat.

that is for many indeed produce in the book original source material still in with other domes of the letters and is based with the resume but it just is not that much.

there is some but not nearly as fast have a way - - carefully prepared its hand-in-hand good to propose louisa respected her but i found produced in that is another mysterious in russia and sites i'm sorry i let you know, mariah arrive each but to have a letter from abigail that her forces

and to have it out of correct the share is the hands but anybody else goes to the record from? that will be