training of afghan security forces as they prepare for u.s. and nato troop reductions later this summer. we'll have live coverage beginning at 2:00 p.m. eastern on c-span3. >> jill abramson will be the first woman executive editor of the "new york times" in its 160-year history. watch her almost 40 appearances on c-span from 1988 as editor of the legal times through managing editor of the "new york times" online at the c-span video library, just one of the more than 100,000 people you can search and watch for free any time. it's washington your way. >> this week, james grant with a biography of the man who established majority rule in the house and senate. his name was thomas reed. he served from 1893 to 1891.

>> why do you think the public would be interested in reading a book about the life and times of thomas reed? >> i have no idea about the public. i would be delighted to spend three or four years in the company of this man. this person never leaves and has no job and stays for the weekend. you have to live with him or her. it's ever so helpful if you come to like him. instantly i knew that we would be friends. i know is delighted to welcome him into my house. >> did you know instantly? >> i came across an essay that was in a book, and in this

book, reed figured for a chapter. it was a fabulous sketch of this most interesting and sadly obscure figure. it turned out he was instrumental in turning something from talking shop that was engaged in active legislation. he was a full participant in all of the drama of monetary debates. he was all of that. he was also funny. who can resist? >> he was the 13th longest serving speaker in the history of the united states. there have been 53. what is the thing you remember most? >> he was known as this. it was czar reed. it was want a compliment, although he regarded as flattering indeed. he was impugned as a

tyrant. he overturned a longstanding custom in the house. it would be an equal parliamentary footing. it meant that the minority party occurred by refusing to acknowledge its presence in the roll call and eliminates the evident quorum. you could count the noses. if they refuse to speak, then there was no quorum. they sat still. he thought this is a great affront against the gales of improvement in progress. he wanted to bring the house into maturity. >> when did he live? >> 1839-1902. >> where was he from? >> he was from portland, maine.

he went to wall street after his congressional career. >> how long did he serve in congress? >> 12 terms. these questions are getting hard. >> how did he become speaker? >> by sheer force of intellect and by the cut and thrust of debate and the devastating way he dealt with the democratic enemy. all of that was in the credit to his claims to be speaker. he was a political leader. people looked up to him. he was not physically magnetic. he stood 6 foot three. his weight sometimes approached 300 pounds.

he had a lot of intellect that was overwhelming. >> one of the books was the artist that did this cover on your book, john singer sargent. >> how difficult is the art of portraiture? it is difficult. he said he could not do it. reed has a delphic face. he is ever so bland to look at. sargent was charmed by the man. they sat together in paris. reed just delighted him and vice versa. sergeant could not capture reed through his face. >> how did he turn out to be doing reed in paris?

>> reed went to europe. he is not running for congress. he would take the summer and go to paris. he studied french. he engaged the french in washington. he would hang out. they would take walks. there would converse in french. he loves the letters. h worked so much. he had been home in portland. he spoke french like a native.

>> you have a picture of him where he is quite handsome and looks so much different than the portrait of him. >> at the unveiling of the portrait, it was polite but shocked silence. i hope my enemies are satisfied. >> where did he go to college? >> bowdoin. it was the place to go if you were a bright kid from maine. >> that is located where? >> outside portland. >> when did you write this book? >> i can answer that question.

i started about three or four years ago. four years and three days ago. >> when did you finish? >> what book is this? how many have you done? >> you have them in the front of this. >> the first one is this one. he is a political adviser and legend. the dates were 1870 to 1965. where did you first write? >> i started in journals in the "baltimore sun." i first became a financial journalist. >> why did you get interested in money?

>> it seemed like a timely subject. i got out. between my discharge date, i got a job on wall street. i was the only kid making 100 grand a year in 1967. $100,000 was it was real money. i have a couple of summers working at this brokerage house. when i first caught my job, i was a renowned financial expert. as much as 12 months, i might have been there himself. >> you were born in manhattan? >> yes. >> grew up? >> long island. >> how did you get up to indiana university?

>> i was a french horn player in high school. i quit my first college experience after a semester. i did not play the french horn. by the time i got back and confronted school, indiana was a mecca of horn playing. they had not quit. they thought it was no place. it was rather exalted. >> today let's talk about some

of the books. the grant's interest rate observer -- how did your life go down that? what is grant's interest rate observer? >> say it again for the people on the west coast. i went to barons after the "baltimore sun." there was one of those intramural spats you see. at baron's, one could see your own copy appearing without an editor meddling. i thought what i would do is start my own sheet. according to the surveys, i had tens of thousands of letters. if only a few dozen of them signed up i would have insurmountable tax problems.

i had a consummate experience. one was having children. when people returned your calls when you were an employee, it was not because of you. you were living on borrowed luster. i had the eye opening experience in going from who is who to "who is that?" i took a salary after about four years. my wife supported the family. i would highly recommend entrepreneurship. >> what does it cost for somebody to subscribe? >> it is close to $1,000 a year. we are running out the

subscriptions. >> how much of your business is conferences? >> it is a good part. it is terrific. >> what did you learn about bernard baruch that matters? >> he was the george soros of his day. he was a speculator who had the golden touch and who had the ear of the powers that be in politics. he has an agenda. he has a specific left-wing agenda. bernard baruch was in the influence line. i admire him for so many things. he finally showed himself to be someone for whom getting along was more important than

principle. it was ok. he was a great friend for the people who loved him. many did. my impatience with him was over his choosing to get along rather than to choose to stand on principle and be on the outside looking in. that is baruch. reed was a horse of a different color. he was a man of a certain bloody minded principle. it showed vividly in his stance toward the spanish/american

difficulties of spain. it brought out his stand on principle. it brought out of his morbid sense of humor. it was one of the most pungent chapters in his life. >> you point out that the democrats then would the republicans now and the republicans then would be democrats. how close is that? >> it survives the exaggeration. william represented indiana. he was a jeffersonian.

he was a man of cultivated simplicity and habit. he was the watchdog of the treasury. he loved that they could block legislation through the assertion of these parliamentary obstructionist techniques. he was once called out as a single known as exception as a jeffersonian obstructionist. it would resemble progressive politics. he was almost to his friends and adversaries -- one day he showed up at work and supported a bill to spend money. what was this? it turns out that he was log rolling. he was actually supporting some piece of thing to get money spent in his home district.

so, knowing this, he mischievously got up in front of the house and quoted a few lines from lord byron. sweet is the honest watch dog's bark, as they open mouths as we come home. the bill was lost in this wonderful laughter. a characteristic of the debate at the time -- people had nothing else to do except read. they were educated and well read people. they amused themselves listen very high-minded banter in the house. they started quoting lord byron. that was characteristic of the

debate and quality of banter. >> it is funny you should mention holman. i will quote a long paragraph. at 67 years of age, he was one of the house greybeards. he was first elected to the 38th congress in 1858. he had a different view of partisanship. members kept pistols at their deaths. once a careless politician, fishing around for a piece of paper, accidentally discharged his weapon, sending a ball blasting into the desk in front of him, narrowly missing human flesh." >> it is different and yet the same.

i sometimes wonder if the nature might be improved by a few fire arms around the house. i guess we have metal detectors now. >> did you find any pictures of any members back in congress these days? >> so many of them by the time we got into congress most of representatives were veterans of the civil war. they knew something about fire arms and firing at human beings. when people talked in the heat of debate and it got personal, you could tell that they were not so far away from a

challenge. dueling was on its way out. >> born in 1839, tom reed would have been 22 or so at the beginning of the war. did he serve? >> he did. he went to california and pursued what he thought to be his dream. he was unhappy. he became a lawyer. he was all for the union. this must have seemed odd to people. he was not in uniform. one never knows. he must have felt the call to

arms. one of his close friends had been called. he had one of the least sounded titles. assistant paymaster. >> how long did he serve in total? >> 13 or 14 months. >> when he came out of the navy, what did he do? >> he went back to maine and resumed his legal studies and opened a one-man practice. he waited for customers. >> you talked about his diaries earlier. is there an english version? >> some of it is in english. much of it was in french. my high school french was inadequate to occasion.

>> why do you think he wrote his diary in french? >> i think he was practicing french. he was a serious student. i think he believed it imparted some discretion to what he was saying. one of his valentine's got hold of the diary and burglarized it. one would suppose -- some of the portions that remain i think they are pretty indiscrete. i do not know what the standard of judgment was for portions that were obliterated. it is fascinating. >> you tried to get to know him. how did you do that?

where did you go? >> his papers are collected at bowdoin, untouched since his death. one of his benefactors was a man named gallagher who set out to write a life of him. he organized the papers and collected bits from the congressional record and went writing to historical archives. i hired some researchers. this is part time work for me. my day job is on wall street. it took a while. it was never a labor. it was a labor but one of love. >> going back to why you thought this book would sell? >> i had no anticipation a monetary return. my editor liked the book. i think she thinks that the

world ought to know about this fascinating chapter in american history. it is pertinent to the day, not at least given events in wisconsin where the legislators walked off to deny the quorum. these events of yesteryear are relevant politically and economically. >> let's say the paul ryan budget that just got past, if your majority is in control and sticks together, today you can get anything passed. could you have done that in the past?

>> absolutely not. >> congress has convened. one part of the majority party have a majority of members in the house. they have many fewer members in the house than are required to accept a quorum. the majority stand up for work. it begins. they take a roll-call. and then somebody moves to introduce the legislation. suddenly there is no quorum. they do not respond to the roll call. they sit there for days on end until they reach some sort of

compromise that will result not in that legislation but in some legislation upon which they can agree. until reed got the leadership, little was enacted. pretty much all of the bills dropped. it would be discussed. much would be enacted. he got to washington and was shocked and dismayed to realize that 5% or 10% of things that were put up got enacted. reed was all for the progress of the century. he had the least amount of nostalgia for yesteryear as any politician you have ever met. most politicians, that is why they got into the law. they revere the past. there is an undercurrent of a yearning of yesteryear. he knew thomas edison. he cannot believe what was happening.

he could see the television. he could see that coming. he could see the glimmerings of the internet. he could see instant communication. he got to work. it was stymied with rules that were enacted. he wanted to bring the house up to the standards. >> this was his first. he became speaker in the 51st. what did he do in the early years? >> the judiciary committee was one. the election was run. it was between a new york

democrat and the republicans. it seems as if he had won. this would have been a triumph for the democratic party that had been out of control. they had been under suspicion of treason. tilden had this seemingly won this presidential election. he did win the popular vote. as the hours dragged by, it seemed as if the electoral vote was still up for grabs. they were in pursuit of money. they got on trains and went out

to the states that were still up for grabs. they distributed money and promises of political preferment and offices. they finally brought it to a compromise. it stunk to high heaven. what do we do about it? the democrats had rolled over. they said they will stand by the apparent verdict. next time, watch out. he distinguished himself with this examination of the witnesses.

it was really a case of who had done the most thorough job of this process. republicans managed to persuade the world until the democrats outlined it. >> i know that he served in congress. >> you put out that he was a friend of henry lodge. >> yes. he was. he was a great hero. he was a wonderful figure and

mentor. he was a very accomplished writer. he was a professional author. roosevelt admired his style. >> he was a friend of mark twain? >> he was. that was much later in life. he went to wall street. he became the partner. he gave a funny testimonial talk. >> reed was 63 when he died. >> he died in 1902. >> he was the speaker three

times. as you were doing your research, when did you start to really like him? how many books have been written? >> i am afraid that my sales would go to the hypothesis. people want to read our lives. there are a number of biographies in washington. he just came out with the doorstop. the powers that be in commerce line up behind the biographers taking up a known this subject. i have a pretty good day

job. i was able to do this for the sheer love. it was a deep rooted and abiding love. you were kind enough to ask me about reed. think of all the people who have lived and died in america. you cannot know them all. to me one would do worse by choosing him. >> you had the diary. what else did you do to make yourself familiar? what did you start writing? >> one procrastinates. i spent the last 2.5 years writing. what also interested me was not

merely reed. the times were also intriguing. my day job has to do with monetary affairs. that means the nature of our currency and federal reserve. the last quarter of his life was a time of enormous turmoil. we talk about this mysterious thing. it is quantitative easing. it really means money printing. the fed conjures dollar bills.

to reed that would have been astonishing. they debated the basis of a dollar should be either silver or gold. it ought to be something. to be the idea that government prints money backed by nothing but good intentions was to them the heresy they reserved to other renegades. the renegade has become mainstream. now if you advocate a gold standard, as i do, you are regarded as a tea party eccentric. everything changes. all cycles come around. those who are last shall be first. >> the last year the country

was on the gold standard, what? >> it was 1971. richard nixon got on the television. he interrupted "bonanza." he said the dollar would have no more gold. for the past 40 years, we have been on pure paper standard. >> you mentioned the fed does not bother printing money anymore. how do they do it? >> they materialize it. there is a guy in new york city who has a computer keyboard. he clicks and credits to the account of commercial banks hundreds of billions of dollars. just like that. the dollars are electronically deposited in the excess reserves bin. it sounds implausible.

the federal reserve has to approve it. >> i might as well tap into your reserve. when will the interest rates go back up? >> my call is 2005. [laughter] we are not getting any younger. they is so tiny can barely make them out. a couple weeks ago, i had a guy figure out. he asked, do you have a point of view on this? they said, no. do you have a line on whether it is a good or bad thing that they go to 0 on the money they

have set aside on their retirement? they got back. we have not heard much about it from our members. within the district of columbia, i say it stinks. i say this is an affront to common sense and to equity. the rates will go up. the trouble is -- every time, it is a little bit different. at least this time we will go back up when the fed is forced to reconsider the zero interest-rate money printing policy.

it'll be forced when inflation becomes not as evident and also undeniably manifest to those who look at the numbers. they insist that inflation is 2.3%. maybe it is a maybe it is not. some think is is higher. the fed is not forced to act because the world still thinks that it can accept dollar bills for our debts. we are privileged in that we have a reserve currency franchise. we print money at home. we pay for goods that are imported. we send money west to walmart suppliers. walmart suppliers deposit the dollars in the banks and the peoples republic of china. the people's republic of china sends it back as investments in treasuries.

the difficulty in the way it differs is that there is some tangible check on money. now there is none. >> i want to go back. i want to go back to something. i want to see how it compares to what is going on in the company. >> the 36th congress was the first. it was the last before the war. it appropriated $638 billion.

>> what has happened? it crystallizes the objections of the libertarian opposition. it shows the way that the reform -- it shows how this brought into doing this creates enormous states that absorb so

much of the income and the well. they are protesting the exponential lives. you can see it coming. you can see the patterns in every empire. the people do not trust the government. they are subject to all the political power. empires to go broke. that was him in a flamboyant response to this parliamentary gambit by which reed was able

to undo his libertarian opposition. when he affected this reform, he can run through legislation in the name of progress. he was setting the united states on the road to a much bigger government. holden saw this coming. >> what was the disappearing quorum? >> that was when someone calls roll-call. the minority party simply does

not open its mouth. they are in the chamber but they are vocally absent. by saying nothing, they bring it to a halt. you can see how frustrating it would be to anyone who as elected to do business in congress. they come all this way to sit there and read the newspaper. >> how did he stop the disappearing quorum? >> one day in early 1890, congress is in session. reed is in the speaker's chair. there is a contested election. congress itself is the judge in the suitability of members. it decides the outcome. one of these was brought before

the house. the republican had the majority if not enough to constitute a quorum. the democrats knew they will lose the contested election vote if they allow the quorum to form. they said nothing. it was then that he introduced the reform that reverberates. he began counting names out loud. he said, would the court please down names of the members who are present? the place erupted. >> how did he stop it? >> he kept on reading. there is some very dramatic moments and some very funny ones. people got up with their face

flushed with the rage. they were sputtering and quoting from the parliamentary handbook. they seemingly sided with those who said that this was out of order and an act of tyranny. the republicans break up in sarcastic laughter. finally, he is the speaker. at one time, it was the guy speaking in the back. he had been to the civil war. calgary was outbid. he knew something of this. he wanted some of the talent to give an order. they lifted this republican out of it and got down to the real business.

all he wanted was a word. he has it in for you. he did not care. he did not flinch. his family said that he went home. there is this brutality directed against him. he laid down in a cold sweat. the democrats would have been astonished to hear that. he was unstoppable. the way he fought back was by showing no emotion. they had to admit that this was some demonstration. >> the disappearing quorum went away? >> it did. he had the majority votes.

he told them that they were here. they finally could not do anything about it. they got down to business. the democrats go home and the worst nightmares were realized. they became legislating. it became known as the billion dollar congress. that is what it appropriated. they certainly approved of this. >> at the time, benjamin harris was the president. he was a republican. did they have any relationship? >> i do not know. he was known as the iceberg. i think cordiality was not his strong suit.

>> it was up until 1891. you mentioned the family. what was his wife like? >> we do not know exactly. the only thing we know about her was that she was against woman suffrage. reed was for it. he thought it was absurd that the overbearing male sex, that they should have a monopoly of political value. this was an affront to the progressive ideas. he set about to change things. he wrote a minority report.

he was embarrassed to death of being a man by the way they were patronizing. he would go home and engage his wife in these discussions. in this great book you hold in your lap, there is a very funny account of his reading to his wife. he wrote in a letter two things. his wife crawled up on the sofa. the body language expressed that she was embarrassed of what her husband with was about to input on her because she would have to answer to her friends. she could not bear it. >> where was he on race? >> he was one of the leading

this seems so patronizing when used -- liberals. he was for the declaration of independence. he was for the declaration of independence. he was at his humorous best when confronting these in congress. he gave wonderful speeches against those that would put these terrible things over and who wanted to enact jim-crow and statue laws. he succeeded. he stood up for what i thought was right. >> there have been 53 speakers. he was the 13th. >> people accepted his revealed truth.

>> the ones that are on top our names that are recognized. sam o'neal, john mccormick, tip o'neill. if you go back to what we were talking about earlier, when he ran for speaker, who went against them? >> william mckinley. he was reed's frenemy. he was everything that reed was not. mckinley was bland. someone once said that he

should have been a priest because he listened so well and sympathetically. he was everybody's friend. he had his ear to the ground constantly. once he got into money trouble, he got distracted and signed a bunch of notes for an entrepreneur and friend of his. mckinley was asked to sign a note signing the credit worthiness. mckinley was cosigning many dollars worth of note in excess of his own net worth. it came to light when he was in the public eye. i cannot even manage my own affairs.

how will people entrust me with the nation? people rallied to him. people just loved him. reed was admired. people so admired him for his intellect and the power of his arguments. not many loved reed. reed himself got into money troubles. he entrusted his brokerage account to a child of friend of his in portland. the guy comingled his funds

with the firms. he basically bankrupted reed. reed was not for giving of this guy as mckinley was to the people who do him dirt. reed did not have that popular personality. >> he eliminated the filibuster that was in the house. what year was that? >> 1890. it is his first term as speaker. >> how did he eliminate the filibuster? >> i am lumping filibuster with the disappearing quorum. >> in the end when he left, where did he go? >> be mckinley government was waging this war with spain. reed despised war. he had not one ounce of fame and glory.

he saw nothing glorious about war. he called memorial day the day of the dead soldiers. he wanted no part of it. he saw through the pretenses. along comes this universal theme. john philip sousa had been written "stars and stripes." people walked down the street hearing this irresistible music. it was lost on reed.

he believed that he believes in the declaration of independence. that was his line. he would never say a word against the republican party which he loved. he would never say a word out of loyalty against the mckinley administration. he would not do this thing. >> our guests daytime job is grant's interest rate observer. his morning and evening job is writing books. thank you for joining us. >> thank you.

[captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] >> for a copy call 1-877-262-7726. for free transcripts or give us your comments, visit us at q and had a.org. programs are also available as c-span podcasts. >> next live at 7:00 a.m., your calls and comments on "washington journal." then live at 11:00 a.m., former pennsylvania senator rick santorum announces his candidacy for president. live at 2:15, canadian prime minister stephen harper takes questions from members of

parliament, his first sips last month's election. today the commission on wartime contracting hears from undersecretary of state, patrick kennedy, on the state department's contracts in iraq and afghanistan. live at 9:00 a.m. eastern on c-span2. >> blair levin, who led efforts in the national broadband plan, asells the status, as well as other pending issues, tonight on "the communicators" on c-span2. >> this morning, the executive director of the national association of state budget officers will discuss state fiscal situations. then walter olson from the cato institute and maya rockeymoore talk about house republican efforts to stop the government from requiring school meals that are more nutritional but also more