and again everyone at the time including mexicans who were defeated seeing something supernatural. we have been enormously blessed. this country is the product of so many breaks. if you are playing poker. if someone across the table from you wins every game you figure either he is cheating or it is a rigged game. it is a rigged game. i believe it has been rigged on behalf of the united states of america. it is up to us to continue to merit that favor and do the most with everything we have been given. thank you so much for your attention, a pleasure to be here at townhall. [applause]

>> here is a look at some authors featured on booktv's afterwards with our weekly offering interview program, jonathan weighed in on the legacy of president obama. journalist sophie pinkham reported on how ukraine passed conflict with the soviet union has impacted its current political landscape. wall street journal news editor joe and woodland profiles women who successfully climbed up the corporate ladder. in coming weeks on afterwards, philosophy professor explores whether happiness comes from frugality. hugh hewitt outlines how republicans can lead america out of political gridlock. this weekend fox news's bret baer looks at dwight eisenhower's final days in office. >> curious about your interest in eisenhower. how familiar were you with his record when you developed an

interest in the subject? >> at the pentagon for six years a healthy appreciation of general eisenhower, we didn't have an appreciation of the eisenhower presidency. i am a college golfer, got the holy grail of golf invites to augusta national and i was on cloud 9 and went down there and was driving down magnolia lane, such a spectacular place and for golfers it is the place to be. they told me you are staying in the eisenhower cabin. i couldn't believe it, i couldn't go to sleep and poured myself a glass of wine and walked around the eisenhower cabin which is just spectacular. it is a little white house. the memorabilia on the walls, the books, the statues and the

arts, overcome in the midst of the next day and i did not know and i cover politics, a lot about presidency of eisenhower, and going forward. is there a way to breathe life into that and share the experience with younger people. >> every saturday at 10:00 pm and 9:00 eastern. booktv.org. >> every weekend booktv brings you 48 hours of nonfiction books and authors. the 35th annual key west literary festival in key west, florida celebrating new voices

in american literature all over the world through conversations and panel discussions. this includes joe klein on politics and literature, stephen carter on race, power and law. op-ed columnists on women and politics. the discussion on writing history, with biographer robert caro and historian brenda wineapple. united arab emirates ambassador to russia, and what it means to be a good muslim in the world today. fox news channel brett there looks at the exchange of power with president dwight eisenhower to president john f. kennedy. the latest book, 3 days in january, dwight eisenhower's final mission. he is interviewed by susan

eisenhower, ceo and chairman of the eisenhower group inc.. >> great detail from both sides. eisenhower is impressed and says to himself, there's a lot to this guy but what concerned him most is he didn't -- kennedy, the national security apparatus set up for dissenting views. >> go to booktv.org for the weekend schedule. >> the first constitutional republic that can trace its founding to a single document, the declaration of independence. think of what these documents are. there are artifacts, protected in humidity prove cases is your proof cases, computer digital

computer that can monitor inch by inch the condition, certainly artifacts. to make this point they are symbols as well, very strong symbols of the founding of the country and what does unitas which is our history in those documents and working documents. if you think about it the declaration of independence, we trace our principles or the underpinnings of our democracy to a single paragraph, we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, that paragraph is part of the discussion, part of the debate, part of every political discussion explicitly or implicitly, we didn't always get it 100% perfect but that is the discussion. the constitution is part of our

lives on a daily basis. anytime your newscaster say does congress have enough to override a presidential veto? the senate in the next election, it is part of our life on a daily basis. artifacts, symbols and a blueprint to the way we run the government and our society. that is why people need stewardship. >> i agree with everything you are saying, but none of that will change if the documents are lost. if they were destroyed, my point, it is not something i am trying to push. it is worth thinking about the

importance of them as objects we generate physically. the center is here in a single purpose but without those documents, through the things we are doing today, that happen here all the time, every day without having the documents. i love the documents. i was there with -- looking at documents of thomas jefferson, i love these documents and what they mean. there is a story about north carolina using documentary research. the document itself, editing of documents produced a lot of information about those documents and those lines in them. >> you can venerate the documents without the documents.

there is something about being in the room with something thomas jefferson touched, that is irreplaceable that experience. >> if 1 million people a year go through, it says something about the documents and something about our culture. my thoughts, i won't write a book about this. polly mayer got into this, how our reaction to world war ii, to communism, the continuing threat to the government, the way of life, amount to think coming around these documents, around the table around the christmas tree at christmas, that we embraced and come up with

derisive terms, i don't feel derisive about it. interesting to me as a historian looking at the changing attitudes toward the documents, as i read your books, read history, when these things become important as objects, really important, people taking care of them, the farmer in virginia or wherever, in lexington, virginia, the values and secrecy, i don't think there was the thought that this -- these documents in them. >> you can watch this and other programs online at booktv.org. >> on this inaugural weekend we