after his birth on when they get their legacy as well. i had the opportunity but i did not include that in the book. >> wonderful advice. ladies and gentlemen we have been very lucky to have a meeting with us spee17 at booktv.org. this is live coverage. [inaudible conversations]

>> welcome everybody. i am david moscowitz, i am head of government relation [inaudible conversations] i would not be dry to the bestseller list today. but even more and book festival is literacy for the learning and opportunity. the book festival was all about. and the biography sees as

grant or other popular founding fathers of how people get involved with persistence and hard work. had ahamilton

was the inspiration for the award-winning musical for which ron worked as a historical consultant.the library of congress is honor to have you join us today at the national book festival. [applause] >> it's worth noting that our cochair of the festival, david rubenstein was supposed to conduct this interview today. due to scheduling changes, become of senator mccain's funeral, he was unable to do so. but i have david's questions here today and i just happened to be a big admirer of ulysses s grant and ron's books so i think we will have a fantastic time at the book festival. before we talk about grant, we need to ask a question about alexander hamilton. how could we not?

lin manuel miranda first approached you and said he wanted to create a hip-hop musical based on your book, what was your reaction and did you think it would become a cultural phenomenon? >> people say when you are writing the alexander hamilton biography, did you have any idea it would be turned into a hip-hop musical. i always think the question answers itself. when i first met lin manuel miranda in the fall of 2008, he was co-storing incostarring in musical, the height. it asked me to be this historical advisor to this yet nonexistent show. i said you mean you want me to tell you when something is wrong. he said yes, i want historians to take this seriously which was music to my ears. i was a little skeptical but i was quite intrigued.

i thought nothing could be more delightful than to watch the evolution of a broadway musical. i was a lifelong theater goer and the offer to be on the other side of the lights was absolutely irresistible.it turned out to be a rocket ride far beyond anything i could have anticipated. >> so moving on to grant, you penned a definitive biography of grant. i have to start with a cute question but has a good story. who's buried in grant's tomb? [laughter] >> when i first started working on the book in 2011, i found that approximately half of people when i told i was working on grant shot back, who's buried in grant's tomb? so naturally i got interested in the arts. i traced it back to groucho marx. and some of you are old enough to remember had a - - he was dismayed that someone could not

answer a single one of the questions. so he decided he would ask the contestant the question that every contestant could answer. that question was who's buried in grant's tomb. to his astonishment, half of the guests got it wrong. such is the staying power of a great comedian that the line has become a part of popular culture. >> let's start at the beginning with grant. where was born, what were the conditions of his upbringing and what was his family like? >> he grew up in a series of small towns and southwestern ohio, near cincinnati. point placid was right on the ohio river. the significance of that was it separated the free state of ohio from the slaveowning state of kentucky. on winter evenings, the ohio

would freeze over an refugee fugitive slaves would spring to freedom. important terms of thinking of grant later.he cryptically straddling the world of both north and south and understood both of their cultures. he came from a fairly well-to-do family. his father was mayor of one of those three towns. his father was really the vein of his life. he was very pushy and domineering character. and then grant went to west point. he didn't want to but his father wanted him to go. his father saw west point as a free form of vocational education. >> how did he do at west point? >> fairly well. i would say his performance was lackluster. he was 21st in the class of 39. there was already considerable attrition before that. he became famous for two things at the academy. one was he was probably the best sportsmen of his generation, if not century at the academy. he established a high jumping record. they set the bar and more than

five feet and grant managed to clear. he was also very good at drawing. this may seem strange and insignificant but, it was important for generals to be able to draw maps during battles. grant was very good at lying. during the civil war, he had an uncanny ability to visualize the battlefield. and it comes from this visual sense he had that was first reflected in his capacity to draw.>> after west point, he eventually ends up as a quartermaster in the mexican war. why is his service as a quartermaster, why does that turn out to be important? >> extremely important because being quartermaster in mexico gave grant a nuts and bolts knowledge of the logistics of an army. looking ahead to the civil war, grant would be in charge of 4-5 different armies stressed the costs 1300 mile front.

his mastery of logistics and the railroad and the telegraph enabled him to supervise these vast armies. and it goes back to being quartermaster. and as part of the line made by his troops were involved in. >>host: married julia do what you like with the family that becomes the bane of his life but julia was very outgoing and maybe should vivacious and had a view that he did not

have of himself.om during the 1850s he tries to establish himself as a farmer in st. louis and failed that real estate. she has a dream that her president -- her husband will be president of the united states then tells friends and family nothing could be more foster us. long -- preposterous. >> you talk about his struggle with alcohol. what did he conclude.

>> i think the word drunk. you were listed and then to be irresponsible. i felt that i tried to approach it that he was an alcoholic i say that because

he could never have just wondering because just one last the change in personality. he was already a member of the temperate lodge with those previous riders had with his was a binge drinker it would go to work and then had a three day vendors where people post. certainly that will not precipitate back and kind in california he was lonely and depressed her drinking and then was drummed out of the service. so there was a very active rumor mill. following him into the civil war. how people see him. and then to act as general in chief. >> we have a very poignant description

on st. louis to support his family how does that happen? >> julia as a wedding gift from hery father was very industrious but could not make a go of it. so he takes firewood and

actually walked beside the wagon was shoveled to come in and shocked by his end. they will property. one that i want to buy presents for the family then they had change over one third the better he still had that word in line with that too. though he only to the meteoric

is four months after a brigadier general in by the end of thee civil war and then in galena illinois in 1860 as certifiable theory or those under his command with that establishment the country up until that time. >> that catches the eye of lincoln? >> absolutely so like the confederacy is winning battle after battle with one victory after. we were in the northwest corner of tennessee there was

significant for the following reasons and those two rivers penetrated into the confederacyy to be the first time in three times he cap was in 13000 people because the confederate general wanted to send a message to grant to negotiate a truce and he said no terms except unconditional and immediate surrender that became unconditional surrender. that was the first large-scale victory.

>> late 1862 general order number 11 because he believes they are engaged in the illegal black market cotton ring. was he anti-semitic or did he regret that? we make he did as soon as he issued it. grant said he did regret that almost immediately. and what they don't know is and or the 19th century presidents combined to be the first to speak out on human rightsts abuse with the persecution of the jews. so during the last year he was

invited to the dedication of very tiny synagogue.

and in less than another day or 50 people are present we present we are. now that he gave the key to god. was not a terrible write about.s t you make this a theory out of life. >> to have more power and resources why is vicksburg so impressive? >> so new orleans or bad news -- baton rouge that the one bastion the river that spur was located that was forced to slow down very elaborate fortress so grant had a daring strategy under the cover of night men to come down the

river and he also marched some troops down to the banks of the mississippi percentage the only guy driving in the area and there was a lightning campaign and then to surround vicksburg surrenders at the same time as gettysburg and for a second time grant has captured an entirely confederate army of more than 30,000. at that point the union not only controls the mississippi but the forces in the livestock came from west of the fee. so with this major source of supplies. thatat was.

>> february 1864 congress passes a bill reinstating the title of the lieutenant general. and then grant becomes that lieutenant general. he comes to washington. but he happens to arrive the same day lincoln was having a reception at the white house grant goes in lincoln warmly embraces him. because he was such a hero because he was relatively short.

and grant later said the hardest campaign he ever fatwas in the whitete house. and at the operational level in the strategic level. how does that compare to robert e the? >> he said that grant strategy and thenha to inflict so much pain and then to destroy that he had a strategic vision that

grant coordinated that movement and to turn them by force and the two when the confederacy to see those forces simultaneously to not switch. enforcement from one to another and here is another wonderful comment to say robert e the and said he would attack the regiment in the kitchen. [laughter] that's medically to cut off every canal and feeding supplies at the courthouse

where grant overtake please be to force a surrender. i cut as he conducted himself? >> then allow his soldiers to celebrate.y literally starving to issue rations. then that most beautiful passage that they were sad and depressed between the downfall to suffer such hardship that

the cause was the worst anti- army could have fought for to have that long discussion of the confederate money.fo f then to pay homage to the bravery with many of those battles at the same time the perpetuation of slavery.

that valid that he brought to that said he did not accept the teaching more later. why history differently there dates march 1864 and with signs the mental instability with a jealous fit match young wife and says we can figure out what's going on but jodi means intervene to protect it and we all know what happens. and then winter on to juliet. so the night lincoln goes to ford theater. then they don't want to say i refuse to be a ford theater if

mary lincoln will be there. they met their excuses and went to burlington new jersey where they had a house. one of the great sites in the history if grant was in the box at ford theater with lincolnat what he have these purity detail there was this military instinct? or it's entirely possible he could have killed grant as well number 37 howdy brand when the nomination for the republican nomination in 1868?

have they shown an aptitude for politics previously? >> early. then to 4g or present at the right. and also the way john did the republican party.. but grant had a funny way to not campaign for things. >> and so that 15th amendment is ratified with a

backlash and strengthening the kkk. she will start up a social start during the peak organization. nothing to hide this out but

was very much directed registering to vote is so and 3000 the first from the 1920s. and with those techniques and ideologies. >> why was there so many corruption related scandals in the two terms of office? was he complicit to my --dash have a blindca eye? >> and it didn't get muchor

better but he told ulysses to go to the farm and gave instructions to offer $20 for the farm then you can even offer 2250. so if you don't take it then i will offer you 2250 but then i can offer you $25. i wish i wish i could say there was a learning curve. [laughter] and then they were unscrupulous. that there is a scandal in one of those that were very involved was the chief of

staff and when babcock is investigatedst he writes a letter to have full faith in those integrity's over 14 years to see i cannot believe he is not the trustworthy person and i can imagine. >> how was he received?

>> and queen victoria at the countless -- at the castle. the pope and the vatican with alexander -- alexander the second of the 250,000 people time even the emperor of japan to step forward and to shake hands and to pioneer a post presidential role that often is a dispute and then to come back he is a statesman it is

amazing. >> trying to get the nomination trying to to new york city how does that turn out? >> and to form a partnership the one that is lionized they created a partnership the only time he allowed his name to be used. and for those that don't know the story and then was using money from the new investments. and then grant imagines that he wakes up one day to find

outfi that it is worth the $130. not only did his fortune be wiped out but he had a lot of cousins and a lot of friends and his family was involved in this catastrophe. >> what was wrong with him? and then to have longbranch new jersey and then to bite into one of the peaches and says ouch that teach stung me for some reason that he realized there was a problem with his throat.

then he consulted with doctor in new york to find a cancerous mass onon his throat and on his tongue. so grant realized it was a terminal illness and was petrified that leo would be left destitute. so he decided to do something he swore he would not do and write his memoirs so during the last years of his life in excruciating pain and with his mind on opiates he wrote a memoir that is considered the

greatest military memoir of the thousand words in the day. >> publisher was mark twain. 10,000 were killed and write 5000 cannot believe you were doubted that i -- improve upon in the last years of their . lives in manhattan. with john mccain with the royal gathering. and that they provided this beautiful spot but grant you

when i hear i hear they made 50,000 there were great. the again at the right lesion that will a largee array that

was the final statement beyond the grave with a bravery it what that page and we are grant that magnificent book and then to be built for success. but grant did not. in responding the higher than the high so this is the story of a lot of light and shadow it with the setbacks and thenid some upcoming and then to make

a comeback. what about relationship with custer and how do you describe the very old lane by not following orders.

the media that will be. >> on my person with anything different but it happened that the aspirin and gave the unfortunate additional. but congress to find anyone

interested in what the wife did not work. it is perhaps the this will the this will not be a problem that will be directed by steven spielberg. [applause] and also leonardo which is exciting. >> washing val hamilton. >> but a very strange thing

people ask me about. every person that i have written about a had to from an early ag age. i know this something history response to question with the self-centered mother grant had this domineering and overbearing father but there is something about the very difficult areas that shapes character and forces people to be self-reliant at an early age. this is where they all have written about but never talk about it. and then to be on the family dynamic.

>> it seems like a ponzi scheme. for ferdinand would. >> did he help catch him? >> nobody had grant was simply place the access by three grant because there were sophisticated walls people that were absolutely certain and should have been suspicious guzzles were getting her 1520% that i wish

i could tell you so what happened the bank that was lending money went bust. mick and this legacy? >> yes. very, veryth nice suffering and that is why he is successful with six union officials. and that grants presidency was betrayed and that's in many

ways it was a successful presidency with the african-american community. with that revisionist vents so people accepted the portraits i'm happy for that but surprised. jean. translator: _spee17 speemac we are are joined by our fox and friends .