times that try men's souls. and then just several years ago, on the first of july in 1907, when he visited the capitol we met at last. and i had the pleasure of presenting him to president roosevelt who greeted us with great warmth of feeling and with his usual emphasis informed us that he was delighted! [ laughter ] >> delighted to see us! and just to end where i began, after the loss of my leg i was carried to the house of samuel

withrow. i was tenderly cared for by his daughter mary. so angelically did she care for me that a feeling stronger than ordinary goodwill was awakened in my breast for this fair angel who ministered me. and it was my good fortune that the feeling was fully reciprocated. and in due time there was a marriage! [ laughter ] >> and three children. my wife gently passed some years ago, and she rests in our national cemetery on arlington heights. and when i answer the final muster, i shall rest beside her,

comforted by her presence and by the proximity of so many of my brave brothers, both the blue and the gray. thank you. [ applause ]

>> it's a little difficult to come back to the 21st century after that. thank you, stephen. it was magnificent. >> you're welcome. [ applause ] >> if you have questions, please go to the microphone. and let me ask the first one. tell us the story that we heard you begin to tell of a drink last night about how you found larry and the subject and the reminiscen reminiscences. >> oh, boy. this is -- well, let me just preface by saying, i think this is the third time i've performed this piece. and i did perform it once before at gettysburg and once at west point. so did some of you hear it before? yes. i thought you had. but not all of you. i'm glad. i got stricken with panic when i was coming up here thinking,

"oh, my god, they've all heard this already" you you know. but in any case, larry is just a superb, eminent journalist. and knows how to draw stories from people. and you know, medal of honor recipients are vets, as many of you know, reticent much of the time to talk about their experiences. and medical of honor recipients are particularly reticent. i believe part of the reason is that they feel a certain amount of what's the word, chagrin? not guilty, no, but something about being rewarded when so many of their comrades are dead. and so they've been particularly reticent. well, larry set out to interview at the time i think there were about 127, 130 living medal of honor recipients from world war

ii, korea, vietnam, and ended up publishing a book called "beyond glory" which were first hand accounts from 27 of the -- is that right? approximately 27 of them. and we used to play ball together, play basketball together. and one sunday i just asked what he was working on. and he told me. and i said, "oh, that sound really fascinating." because i've always been interested in history. and he gave me an uncorrected proof of the book. this was in may of 2003. and it was about to be published in july of that same year. and i stood in my living room after a basketball game just standing there in my sweats. and i read the book in three hours later it had really just knocked me out, it was so, so good. and i had the germ of an idea. because i found myself reading

aloud a lot of the stuff. and i found that the voices were starting to emerge. and just as an exercise i sat down and i took the first -- i took one of the fellows, some of you have heard of him, john finn. finn just passed away this year at the age of 101. finn was a navy lieutenant that went into the navy i believe in 1926, maybe even '23. and he was in bed at kenoi bay just down the road from pearl when he heard machine guns going off. being the chief of ordinance there he was pissed off. and he got up. and he went to the tarmac and he took a 30 caliber machine gun and put it on a training stand. and for the next 2 1/2 hours fired and was wounded severely. and he took down a zero. he took down it with a 30 caliber machine gun.

and i did -- and i didn't know what it was. basically a took a chapter that larry had written which was maybe a 20-page chapter. and i just sort of condensed it into what i felt would be a dramatic bouillon cube that if i added performance it would blossom. i took it downstairs and my wife tina who's here, too. you should stand up and say hello. [ applause ] >> get up. she's the inspiration behind everything, as far as i'm concerned. but she's also one of her greatest qualities is that she's a merciless critic of my work [ laughter ] >> you know, i'm quite -- as a matter of fact i'm sure i'll get note on this performance now. did you have to cry so much? [ laughter ] >> i feel it coming. but you know, i'm by nature kind of a -- what's the word?

a baroche. i'm a little baroche. i like curly cues in everything. tina's more of a minimalist. so she keeps me very, very honest. so i said, "would you listen to this?" and we sat down in the dining room, and i read her -- i just performed this thing i had just written, finn. and she was in tears at the end of it. and she said, "you continue doing what you're doing". and then i spoke with larry, and we made a handshake deal. and i just -- and ultimately i turned it into this solo performance of "beyond glory" where i enact or embody or whatever i do, eight recipients of all services and ethnicities and from the three wars i mentioned already. and started performing.

and from 2003 through really 2007, it's almost exclusively what i did. so i'd given over 500 performances of it. and as harold mentioned, i took it all over the world, into the persian gulf, up to the dmz in korea as part of a very, very unique, singular partnership between the national endowment for the arts and the department of defense [ laughter ] >> at the time, this is interesting. i know i'm going on. is that all right? at the time this was during of course during president bush's administration. and some of you are aware the nea has been a whipping post of congress for many, many years, not without some justification. but in any case, the chairman of

the nea was dana joya, a poet and a very smart guy. and he recognized when i was performing "beyond glory" first at a little theater literally at the gates of arlington national cemetery, and no one was coming. because the theater goers in washington, they go to the arena, they go to the shakespeare theater. they go on tuesday night, we have tickets, we're going. i don't know what we're seeing but we're going. that's what they do. they don't come across the river to arlington to a theater where theater has never been done before. but ways doing it. i remember once the stage manager would come out and he'd say, "we've got seven people tonight" you know? [ laughter ] >> and there were times when i played it to one person. i told the producer, i said, you know, there's an old rule in the theater that if the cast outnumbers the audience we don't have to do the performance.

and she said, "well, there is one person out there and you're just one person." i said," yeah, that's true but i play eight guys." [ laughter ] >> now, the producer happened to be my sister, who is if anything tougher than my wife. so i went on. but in any case, this is going just sort of -- what was the question? [ laughter ] >> anyway, anyway, the nea saw it. and what dana joya saw was very smart. because what i was doing, no question about it, has some artistic merit. but it also would fit so well into the -- it supported the bush administration. i mean, the virtue of the piece is that this is a military piece

that it's for everyone. it's for americans, you know? it's for human beings. it's not pro-war. it's not anti--war. it is -- it's men's feelings about it. and so everyone could get behind it. and that's been the signal virtue of the piece to it. and larry has -- we've gone out together at times and done things. and he's just remained such a great friend. and then some -- i guess i was asked to come down here to do something at the -- i believe it was for the dedication of the new visitors center which i think it just so magnificent. i'm sure you've been there. if you haven't been there you've got to go there. and i premiered this purman piece. and i thought i'd found in "beyond glory" i had found a forum that works for me, you know, doing something that's a

ten-minute sort of bite that just comes up and you plunge right in. and if it's written well and performed adequately it will work. [ applause ] >> as you may know, stephen lang is the 2011 speaker at the national cemetery on november 19th. so those of you who are going to make the trek, you'll be in for another treat. ruth, you have a question? tell your name and ask your question. >> my name is ruth. [ inaudible ] from long island, new york. high school teacher. your commitment to the preservation of military history is irrefutable, as is evidenced yet again today. and you have been long admired for your portrayals of general george picket in gettysburg and stone wall jackson in "gods and generals." as you prepare for your upcoming role as abraham lincoln into

appomattox, a heavy responsibility indeed, i was wondering if you could speak to your preparation and what you hope to bring to that role and how you will endeavor to unlock the lincoln in you. [ laughter ] >> the main preparation is for an hour every day i am stretched. [ laughter ] >> we've got four inches to go. [ laughter ] >> then with the lifts things should work out just fine. you know, onto appomattox is a proposed miniseries. some of you may be aware, some not. and what they've done is -- and i've read the script, which is why i agreed to do it.

and they're excellent. i think it's a difficult climate anytime to make anything about the civil war. i think it's a -- but i wish them all the best. and what really is happening -- and i'll talk about preparation in a second. but making something like this is a bit like making stone soup, you know? you basically they go out, the guys who want to do this, who they have credibility. they're guys who produce many things, and they're good. they go out to actors that they want and get them to agree in principle to do it so they can use their name. and that helps them then to secure the financing that they need. so they have secured some really marvelous actors. i had never in my life conceived of myself playing abraham lincoln. i had felt that if i was going to do another civil war piece that i probably would like to do

robert e. lee just to kind of finish off the trifecta, as it were [ laughter ] >> but they came to me about playing lincoln. and i said, don't screw around with this. don't -- that's too serious a thing. and they said we would like you to play this. and you know, i thought, well, i mean, i don't know how one would -- would say no. so my feeling is that if it comes together, which i hope it will, that i will first of all my greatest resource is standing on the platform with me. no question, i wouldn't make a move in terms of the -- you know, i'm always interested in the really material parts of the character. how did he walk? was he a good rider?

and did he wear his hat straight? did he not? how were his teeth? whatever it is. and if you kind of accrue enough details you find yourself somehow acquiring the confidence to play the role. but i haven't even -- i've had my hands full with other things. and as that project begins to solidify and mature then i would work out a very detailed way of working on it, i think. yea yeah. >> you deserve an oscar for your academy award performance. >> thank you. you're right [ laughter ] >> why are you telling me that? >> i'd like to know what institution granted you your recent doctorate. >> i received -- i'm dr. doctor. [ laughter ] >> i received a doctorate from

first from jacksonville university, a wonderful school down in florida. and beautiful -- i went down there, and they gave it to me in a doctorate in theater and film. and i made remarks to the kids down there. and then several months later my alma mater, swarthmore college, gave me a doctorate in humane letters. and i found a great thing to do when you're giving commencement addresses. i just prior -- these were both in 2010, i think, right? and my film avatar had come out. and they had done a line of action figures. and there are action figures of me, which had we had any foresight we would have on sale

outside [ laughter ] >> but they're wonderful action figures. you can get the six inch one but i recommend the nine inch one [ laughter ] >> and they're totally -- you know, as it says on the package, they're fully articulated. and the head rotates 360 degrees. much as my own does [ laughter ] >> so i -- so what i've done is, i bring one with me. and then at the conclusion of my remarks i present an action figure to the college president, which never fails to elicit laughter and merriment from also -- they forget about the tedious 17 minutes that preceded it, you know? >> i think you deserve a lincoln far more than an oscar.

that's a tough sell. "gods and generals" for one reason or another it didn't well. it tanked. it's a difficult thing to make. but i'll also say that it's a gettysburg, "killer angels," if you think about it, that was a film that i won't say made itself but the structure of that is so symmetrical, the star of that film is not tom baringer, the star is the battle of gettysburg, the first day, the second day, the third day, it works.

it's about stone wall jackson, it's about chamberlain and it's also about lee and it just a much -- in a way it would have been more suited to a, you know, a sear cal, a mini series format. well, when you get into the last full measure, you're basically talking about zig zagging through virginia, everything leading up to it. i think that's a tough one. of course grant really becomes the central figure. i think then it becomes grant and lee. i don't know -- i mean, the guy -- whether ted turner has lost his mojo for doing civil war stuff right now or whether he hasn't, you know, ted could call ron maxwell and say, well, let get to work, you know, on the thing. but i'm not holding my breath for it but it sure would be --

i'd love to do it. that's where my robert e. lee inclination comes from because i thought marty sheehan is terrific in his way, bob duval is bob duval. he was great in his way but i'd like my chance to fail in the role as well as. [ applause ] >> final question for the session. >> final? >> final question. >> you've been pickett, you've been) you were at ok corral. what life lessons have you learned by portraying those particular individuals throughout your career as an actor? >> well, that's kind of a wonderful question. i've learned life lessons, you know, it's interesting you'd bring up the o.k. corral. as historical as a real figure

as george pickett or stonewall jackson or abraham lincoln for that matter. when you play somebody, you have to play it with a self-love and self-loath they go have. you have to really embrace the character. my kind of motto is and this i stated several time in "avitar" because people come up to me constantly and say i really hate you. and they mean it in the nicest way, you know. and my feeling for characters is if i don't love them, who will. and if i love them deeply and enough, then i can bring you to some kind of understanding. or not even understanding, recognition. i just want you to recognize iclan. so what that is, to me, my relationship with my characters is many things but one of the

things it is is an act of kindness, me toward the characters. and i've come to believe as i've gotten older that the most important life lessons, the most important quality that in my life is kindness, more so than intelligence or intrupdity or anything. but if you can live a kind life, i think you're going to die happy, which has yet to be determined, of course. [ laughter ] [ applause ] stephen lang, you've brought the alongon forum -- lincoln

forum that i can only say with a tip of the hat is beyond glory today. thank you for everything. every weekend on c-span3, american history tv, 48 hours of people and events telling the american story. coming up next, we learn more about the rich history of baton rouge, louisiana, one of eight southeastern cities we toured last year. >> za >> zachary taylor was our president and was known as the great compromiser in helping to keep the union together. he emerged from relative obscurity as a military commander after the war with mexico in the 1840s.

he was able to capture the imagination of the local public. it was one of the first wars carried off with a lot of the news reports sent back telegraphically, quickly from the battlefield. so these riveting accounts of taylor and his command overwhelming armies that were much larger, much more equipped at times made him a folk hero. so when he came back from meks korks he was well known to most everyone in the united states. an interesting connection because he was a southerner by birth but his military career and service made him appeal to northerners, too. general zachery taylor chose baton rouge as a home. where we are now in the 1820s was one of his early air signments. he was sent here when this was a u.s. garrison, formerly on the site of a spanish fort after we

became part of the united states. so he helped supervise these buildings behind me, we call them now the pentagon barracks. this was an outpost on the frontier. he came back in the 1840s. he and his wife had a small cottage near the site and they had close friends. so when he came back after his service in the war with mexico as a well-known popular figure, everyone in baton rouge could claim him. he was someone they knew. he was their neighbor. they called him old rough and ready because he would do anything he made his troops do. if he had to sleep out in the field, he would do it. after the war with mexico, there was a great deal of interest to encourage taylor to run for president. he had never affiliated with any political party. he'd been a military man. people were unsure which party he would align himself with.

he started writing a series of letters from baton rouge outlining the things he believed in. those things spoke to a larger audience, a way to garner support in a time before media. people love those letters, learned what taylor felt about all the major issues of the day. he generally became associated more with the wig party and became that party. evened as a whig and a whig president, he was always kind of independent and was willing to step on the toes of his own party members. zachery taylor's accomplishments as president were rather short lived. unfortunately his career, his term of office was very short. the major things that happened while he was in office was he was able to prevent disunion. he was able to convince rather strong handedly to keep the north and south together early. he'd fought for a 40-year military career as an army

soldier so he believed in the union. even though he was a southerner, he owned a plantation near here and had slaves, he did not believe slavery should be the deciding factor to sever the union. he thought there was a way to compromise those issues and often took a very strong stand to make sure people believed in the union. and i think he was probably was -- is best known for those stands. he helped prevent the expansion of territories, slavery into territories and california and new mexico became states during his previous period as president. he was born in orange county, virginia, grew up in kentucky and spent most of his career in different military posts around the country, primarily in the southwest. but he chose baton rouge as his home. he liked baton rouge. he had a home re