and made him one of the country's 15 official national heroes. is especially pleased by it.

a wider bunch of americans. a vehicle for sharing him. to all of the armenians. we've only been out now about three weeks and were already in the third printing. and thank you for this moment.

we will have someone come around and collect the cards for the audience q&a. you alluded to this a little bit at the end. but how private private kirk was and how he valued that privacy.

in my experience as a journalist. i have to say whenever somebody says i can't have semi. some. it works the opposite. on that was the case here. it turns out when they start looking for details. they're out there. recorded an oral history in las vegas that was on tape in the library. we found it. and it was a treasure.

i wish it had been the interviewer on the other end of it. and the ferry command was the subject of a documentary done by pbs. and there were a lot of people close to kirk who so treasured his legacy that they wanted to share it.

they spent their lives in their careers protecting their privacy. but most of the people that knew him were so devoted and grateful for what he was and what he did. to keep the lessons of humility and expand them and show them to the world. i'm delighted by the success of the project. many of us here in los angeles is a quick trip to las vegas.

i know idea how many they touched. modern las vegas is kirk's invention. he is the one that recognized that it was big enough for the joy hotels and casinos and then fact called it why are you buying hotels and movie studios. these were all part of what he called the leisure industry. after the war he saw this as

the economy was changing people would have more time that this would be that it would be part of the met benefit. the spending money that would be flowing. when he built the biggest hotel in the world in las vegas his first time out the international hotel there was another billionaire in town and kirk was not yet a billionaire. it was all at risk. the other guy was named howard hughes. the similar interests howard

was secretly working against kirk. howard said and told his people las vegas is it big enough. kirk had the opposite view. the best thing that could happen was for everybody to compete again here is this competitive boxer and tennis player and businessman who want to competition. he wanted the best hotel next to his to be built across the street so that they would both be driving people. they relish competition and they relished a good fight. anyone having dealings with anyone who have good ideas and big ideas. and he never changed. in his business advisors in lawyers all wanted him to include a new competition

clause in the deal with steve wynn. he said the best thing that could happen is steve when would build a hotel across the street from us. which of course he did. las vegas is a success because of big ideas and big ideas from kirk and steve and howard hughes i think in the case of kirk he was the real mastermind. he also talked a bit about the mgm graham fire. the second worst hotel fire. you can talk about his reaction to that. another business deals something that really captures what his business ethics were like in one story.

the mgm fire at the first mgm which is now the valleys the fire aftermath kirk did not want to have the insurance adjusting take forever. he wanted to move quickly to help the victims in the families recover as best as they could. so he ended up being impatient with insurance companies and they were paying off or settling the claims fast enough. kirk sent his people to settle the claims. these people who are victimized these are our customers. this is our family. were on their side.

and so he wanted them made whole to the extent that could be done with money and so his lawyers and advisors went out and settled these claims faster and more generously than the insurance companies were willing to do. they refused to pay off their claims to kirk. so cook --dash mike he made sure the victims were all taken care of and then he assumed the risk of the litigation that he recovered from the insurance companies. he did think in a courtroom having a lawyer for the insurance company he have paid too much too fast to victims he have a certain edge.

and he played those cards right to the end. and the insurance companies a folded. it's a tribute that he would take the risk in the trouble to make sure that the people who needed it most were taking care. they have to deal with him. you mentioned the book already being on the third print. it sounds like there's been a lot of demand for it. many armenians consider kirk here. maybe talk about his relationship and how he saw his heritage and then maybe we can go from there. he was definitely a proud armenian. i would say, what concerned him sometimes is that there were a lot of factions in

different groups. sometimes they don't get along that well. after the earthquake by stepping in and helping to set up the air left is an airlift by the way that rivals it was run by his end of into the different groups of charities. that banded together. but what did have the greatest satisfaction was that they all worked together. and this he felt was a serious accomplishment. i was all them. it was very important what

they did. but kirk was a catalyst and proud to be an armenian. there was the first time that he actually went to armenia. it was a very emotional trip for him. i recommend that. it seems like that was a catalyst in the book setting the stage for a lot of this philanthropy how did he view philanthropy prior to the earthquake he was extremely generous philanthropist. but you didn't know it because if that some people here called the millionaire.

it was a tv show every week the secret millionaire gave a million two someone on the condition that they never explained where the money came from. he gave generously everywhere but with the caveat you can't tell anybody i gave this to you otherwise well never get another dime. even after the earthquake before the airlift began. he gave money to armenian causes to groups that were helping with the earthquake recovery. it was with the save same caveat don't tell anybody. he took some heat in the media for not stepping up and helping that's when he formed the lindsay foundation. he realized he have to have a formal way to assist.

the lindsay foundation ended up giving away more than a billion dollars over the next 20 years and that some are from a billion to a billion and a half. much of that went to armenia. the records have become public documents so that was different. it just continued a pattern that he have always been generous. >> and one of the amazing things about the book that you go into a lot. the personal relationships that he built. he was always around famous people and in some of the cases. he was extremely loyal to the argosy family.

how did those develop over mine -- over overtime in your mind. as i said he valued his lawyer friends as treasures. and he showed in many ways. andre agassiz's dad he loves kirk. they met when he was a waiter. in las vegas. but they have a common interest in boxing. and tennis. they became good friends. some of that friendship is monitored through the story in the book.

but mike agassiz wasn't working at the mgm grant. he was out of work. privately he delivered his paycheck every month and have the vice president of finance so he was taking care of until the hotel reopened. the loyalty worked both ways. it's little note that andre agassi's middle is kirk. he is the most famous tennis players in the world. and his middle name was an accident. that is a symbol of love and friendship.

we've a couple questions in the audience about his relationship with his family. maybe you can talk a little bit about the relationship between him and his kids maybe some of the basic family items. he was married four times. his second wife they were married for almost 30 years. together they have a daughter and then they adopted another daughter who grew up together as sisters. by all accounts kirk was not a particular trendy father. they went on family trips. he went horseback riding with his daughters in palm springs and in las vegas. they went on on cruises to

alaska a couple of times with cary grant in his kids. family vacations together with cary grant sounds pretty cool. he wasn't known as a family man so much but he took care of them and to this day he set up quite healthy trust funds for his still living first and second wife in for the daughters. his matrimonial history gets really complicated later. but it's all in the book. i will try to explain it here. maybe you can just talk about obviously he was a major risk taker. he starts from zero and at one

point is he's worth 18 million on the forbes list. what was it in business that made him so successful he was obviously making some smart decisions he made a calculated risks. and he always value to having valued having some kind of backup plan he was big on plan bnc. as part of why he could be so at ease if things weren't going quite right. he have a hard time losing sometimes. the chrysler deal where he tried to take over chrysler along with lee iacocca. they have the money to do it. but it was resisted by the chrysler management to his surprise i might say.

after fighting for that deal for several months he finally had to surrender and concede defeat. he put in his pocket $2.7 billion in profit. this is a bet he lost and profited the fact is have that deal worked out. he probably would've made like six or $7 million profit. he plotted them. it was a plan. i don't know what the secret is. i would be doing it. i would not be sitting here.

i was the silly stories that are in the book when you think about what surprise you the most on that. it's this ted turner straight that was famous. in your mind what did you like the most. as the author i love every little in a dope. i love it because i know it. one of my favorite stories in the book was where he tried to lose a million dollars at a crap table. an opening-night gift to larry tesch. who owned and opened a new casino in the south of france that's what fellow casino owners do. it's an act of generosity.

i'm going to give him a million dollars it was way past the limit that they wanted to absorb. they agreed to do it. they gave him a little orange chip just for the day. for that moment. he wanted to put it on one role at the craps table. when it or lose it. they went on to all of these tables. he decided that this table over here table number three and he decided to do at that table over there because at the big crowd around it. there was a woman rolling the dice and so kirk decided he

was gonna put that orange chip on this role. and so it she throws it one more times and the dice bounce all over the place. when it stops she hit seven he won. he's trying to lose a million dollars and he wins a million dollars that's just the way the dice roll. we also have a question i'm i was curious about. i think the story is a

wonderful story that is very symptomatic and i hope you find that way even in writing. but the range of tales and the adventures in the military the adventures in business. even the adventures with women. it's a story that reveals character all the way through. i think it is such an inspiring story it was to me that i hope it gets wider and wider sharing. the books will be back there and you will do some signing as well. i highly encourage all of you to pick up a copy. it is a very fun read. obviously you developed a type of relationship.

what did you think of him at the end of this. how did it change over time. i'm just curious to how you think about them today versus how you started. as i was saying. what struck me is how inspiring his story is. the rags to riches is only part of it. it's thrilling, and amazing story. but the way he did it. he did it by keeping his word. this demonstrates and captures his ethic in a way that mattered to me. he was selling the desert in.

he was selling it i forgot what year this was. it was his main business associate. alex was in charge of taking a bed from different suitors. and one suitor that came up with the best deal was a japanese investment group and they worked out a deal and agreed to a dollar amount in terms and alex is very happy and very proud of the result it was an amount that kirk would approve. anyway. on the phone they have haven't celebrated this chart until the next day. another outfit shows up all the sudden unannounced in

offers something twice is good. now, he wasn't sure of himself at this point. he thought he better call kirk and let him know. any calls did you agree to the terms. then why are you calling me. this is a man who have turned out a double offer because they have already promised it. on behalf of our organization and the library.

[applause]. you're watching book tv on c-span two. television for serious readers. tonight a book tv and prime time. starting with steve a call on the cia secret wars in his book directorate asked.

writes about her life as a cia agent and breaking cover. it's about the connection between the pentagon's intelligence operations and the creation of the internet. and ronan bergen on the use. it's part of book a book tv and prime time. they take you to norman oklahoma. with the help of our cox communications partners. the complex history. with the book. notes for wooded place. it is definitive white.

and the tulsa race riot. on sunday at 2:00 p.m. eastern on american history. we visit the national weather center. the stuff we do here at the national weather center impacts everybody. this is the only national weather center. we are at tourist destination. and for the entire country. everybody is interested in whether they want to see what's going on here in our facility. at the university of oklahoma. which houses the papers at 58 former members of the united states congress. this document is a memo it's

labeled personal and confidential. if he becomes president. you can look at says step one take the oath of office. he would have had to resign the speakership. i would really only be temporarily. many people really don't know about. we think about nixon and impeachment. we don't think about the other things that could have happened during that time working with our cable affiliates as we explore america.

he was tape-recorded by the fbi while transporting illegal bats. on sunset boulevard in los angeles. the supreme court's decision in this case ultimately expanded american's rights to privacy under the fourth amendment and forever changed the way law enforcement officers conduct their investigation. they discuss this case. and jamil jaffer. and director of the national security law and policy program. watch landmark cases monday. follow us at c-span. we had resources on our website. the landmark cases companion book. the interactive constitutn.