and how it's changed along with the nation, monday night at 9:00 eastern on c-span. c-span, q&a with author john taliaferro. >> "all of the great prizes" the toe of john hay from lincoln roosevelt. >> when did you decide to spend a lot of time with john hay and

who was he? >> i decided he was a delicious subject for a biography when it me that he had not lincoln's aham bedside at his assassination but william he bedside of mckinley in 1901, they ugt who could this fellow be. archives, i roosevelt. realized what a rich subject it was. ohn hay, his life really has end.bookends at either lincoln on one end. he was the private secretary, live in the white house with for four years. so much of what we know about from hayes' intimate contact with him. on the other end, he served not mckinley but he was teddycretary of state for roosevelt.

you have wonderful iconic bookends and you dig deeper and realize all of the chapters in between in american history from the civil war to the beginning of the 20th century, hay is a resence in every one of the chapters, the fingerprints are on all of the pages and in many ases he's written those chapters of american history. he live?id born 1838 and died july 1, 1905. where did his life start? >> in indiana. boy, his s a young father, a doctor, moved to warsaw, illinois. mississippi river town about 00 mile west of springfield, illinois. so mark twain country. >> what was his life like before lincoln?raham >> he was a bright young boy. doctor.ever was a and he -- all of those around him noted his great intelligence and potential. e had an uncle, lawyer, who

agreed to send him off to college. to brown, he went east university and providence. that transformed him. e was a brilliant student, one of the greatest translators of foreign languages he ever met. be the poet. he wanted to be the next edgar allan poe. he finished college at a young age, 19, they weren't in those days.en so his uncle, the one who sent well, why lege said, don't you come to springfield and read the law. reluctantly. office guy in the next candidate, k horse this long gangly lawyer running or president on something called the republican ticket. when this man, lincoln not only nomination, but

then won the election, he needed letters.o help write hay was the gifted writer. as the second of the two secretaries and went off in the spring of 1861 with lincoln to lexingt lexington. >> small thing, a picture you in your book, john hay with a glove only on one hand. did all thething he time? >> that was a picture that was aken of him when he was becoming sort of a blade in washington. icture put it on shows that people who send e-mails to people back then, they would rop by their card and say i'll be coming to visit. that was his calling card, as it were. country boy from illinois became something when washington.

he saw himself as a fashionable fellow. he ma'amming of him in the lincoln movie, we could talk about that later. very madeline. >> picture of robert todd lincoln at a young age. was their relationship? they almost look a little bit alike. robert todd lincoln, abraham and lincoln's elder son who went off to boarding school n new hampshire when abraham lincoln was running for president and was away at harvard all through the years was in the white house. hay and robert had known each uper in springfield and kept when robert would come down from cambridge to visit the white hous house. but president lincoln for sop didn't have a warm relationship with robert, the son.st maybe the absence, lincoln being

away when he was a circuit awyer and robert being in college. so hay who was in the white couple of g just a ooms away from lincoln on the second floor of the white house sort of got taken on as a second literature love of he shared with lincoln, a love of poetry, he would pad down the hall in his night shirt. because of hay, we nolin con a stork in the middle of the night. because of their love for literature, they really bonded. went old was he when he to work for abraham lincoln? 21.just shy of >> where did he physically live in the white house? > the secretary's room was on the -- on the northeast corner of the white house. so if you picture the white looking from lafayette square, it would be in the upper left-hand window.

the president and his family the ied seven rooms in second floor of the white house. this is before the west wing. the offices and all of the of the government of the administration were conducted on that floor as well. very little security so always office seekers and people and running in and out all of the time. who. nick lai? >> seven years older than john hay. friend m illinois and a of hey. he feels born in germany, came a young ited states as man. and had run a small newspaper in illinois. lincoln brought him on first to private secretary. nd when the mail got so that nikolay

couldn't handle it, they brought on hay. nikolay and hay came on the train together. hey were roommates for four years in the white house and ere great friends and collaborators together because once lincoln died, and even efore lincoln died, they had decided they were going to write a book about lincoln. and so they started saving collecting papers on lincoln with the idea that they eventually write a biography of lincoln. took them 25 years and they wrote a million and a half-word volume biography. >> how long did it take you? >> taking notes because i didn't want to read it twice. digress on that somewhat in that nikolay and hay spent 25 years on writing what would benchmark biography of lincoln. the century

magazine at first and then ten volumes of book. they always said that we did it together. they didn't publicly acknowledge who wrote which part. i discovered in the papers of of lay and the library congress there is a note written by nikolay 's daughter indicating which father wrote. and therefore by logic, the chapters are written by hay. i read through the ten volumes, summer, most of a summer, with this memo from daughter beside me. words sprang out. nikolay -- english wasn't the first language. was the poet. with that little matrix guiding you can -- it's starkly parts of this

by john are written hay. some of the writing is really special. >> when you think back on the volumes, when were you stopped and said i can't believe just read that? two instances. the hay took responsibility for riting the first 40 years of lincoln's life before he went to washington. some of the evocative on the ions of life frontier and hay's -- of personality are really very, very soulful. they're not -- they're not compared to some of the lincoln today, not necessarily rev la toir. ut more in line of karl sandberg. very -- very -- they were -- just are written almost as

an elegy to lincoln. wrote most of the attle scenes, the civil war battle scenes and just his bility summoning tennison or somebody like that, he could pickett's charge in a of the virginia cold harbor is him. >> when did john hay meet his bride? >> john hay, after he left the white house after the assassination, incredibly traumatized. abroad had planned to go legation -- we didn't call them embassies then, in paris. he did -- another one of his mentors, secretary of state seward got him a him. job in paris.hn hay meet

he went off there, two other and madrid.nna came back, instead of going to biography, lincoln instead of being a poet. to ead of going back illinois, which he considered the boondocks, he started which was torials horace greeley and called the greeley editorial writer they ever had. he met a daughter of a man named amethyst stone, one of the wealthiest men in america. before a carnegie or a rockefeller, he was a big deal. built editorial writer they ev had. he met a daughter railroads, st banks. he feels from cleveland. is daughter, clara was introduced to this promising young journalist and they fell love. in

>> what kind of marriage did >> a very strong marriage. children.our they lived a grand guilded age life. they would travel in the grand abroad. a mansion on millionaire's row, avenue in cleveland. and ultimately in 1886 moved into a house in washington. now having said this about their marriage, hey also was still a bit of the and fella with the glove ff knew how to impress the ladies. there were two who caught his voted a greatm he deal of attention even during his marriage. >> those two were? the first one was anna who was the wife of

congressman soon to be senator henry cab both lodge of massachusetts. he was one of the great expansi foreign policy guys. the large policy was lodge's and a great friend of theater of congressman soon to roosevelts. he had a beautiful young wife her.ay became schmitten by another the wife of senator james donald cameron, cameron, a guy ho lincoln had kicked out of his cabinet. wife nanny on's the femme really fatale. cameron.y >> thank you, i'm tong tied. she wase litz beth sherman

cameron. she was a beauty and a femme atale and all of the men in washington had their tongs out when she came to town. younger than her husband. he had grown children. friend, t hay's best fell for her and john hay himself. i don't understand . th nanny lodge then subsided >> i want to show you some video of you. you were 11 years ago, in 2002. 35 seconds. we'll come back and ask you some yourself. bout >> what i shrank from, what me about mt. rush more is that the story is too

oversimplified that america can be boiled down to a bumper sticker. things are a little messier. fact that the creator of the democracy had also been a clansman, that's complicated. values as good as they are, the message from democracy comes from a stew -- happened 11how what years. talking about orgland. how many books have you written since then? here.onnection if you look at the subtitle and think about mt. rush more, going get it. meniacal sculptor.

with his ss wise fellow klansmen, they drove him of georgia. they persuaded them to carve the called sh rinning of democracy on mt. rushmore. 11 years you asked me, who was on mt. rushmore. fright.age i almost forgot. george to tell you jefferson, thomas teddy lincoln, and roosevelt. who's on the cover of all of the great prizes? two of the mt. rushmore people? lincoln and roosevelt. the genesis of this book goes back to some of my research into those presidents because i had rushmore, i ut mt. had to understand what the american understanding of those presidents was. >> what have you done between

then and now? wrote one book between now and then. th o set in the late 19 century. a book called in a far country a man s about a couple, nd woman who go up to the bering strait of alaska to bring civilization to the eskimos who there. it's quite an adventure story to researcht of fun because i got to sfend a lot of time in the wild country and go ice.to the >> where are you from originally? native of baltimore. married a texan, moved to austin 30 plus years ago. have a summer house in montana where i go when it gets too hot in texas. >> what else have you done efore you got in the book writing business? >> a recovering journalist. orked for several different magazines. last stop was "newsweek" before you knew me. been 20 years and now

newsweek is no more. >> back to john hay. again, he started in indiana, to illinois, worked for abraham lincoln. spent some time overseas. how many different countries did in?ive when did he become an ambassador? he -- when he went -- after he lincoln presidency, he went first to paris, then to vie entana. then to spain. he came back. all of the years after that, he feels married to this wealthy woman, they travelled, took the grand tour. three, four, nd abroad.hs at a time they loved england above teddy roosevelt. who's on the cover of all of the great prizes? all f the mt. else. in 1897 when another of hay's ohioans william mckinley presidency, o the

he chose john hay who was very kotz no politan. very well connected in foreign circles and also a very large his campaign. e sent hay to london as ambassador. the term ambassador was not used 1893 under the l second cleveland -- grover cleveland administration. ambassador e second to england. war broke -american 1898. the spring of mckinley had a hapless secretary was ate, john sherman, who not up to the task and was trying to decide and hay was back. >> general sherman's brother? >> yes. from ohio. hay was brought back in the fall after the war was over to take over the portfolio of which is a much larger

portfolio. of just being the continental united states and cuba, puerto w had philippines d the with a civil war raging in the philippines. >> how many years had he spent bun?e new york tra >> i think it was about three? four? later. in >> did i count right? seven years as secretary of state. help me -- >> started in october -- october in 98 and left and died office in june. in 1905, 6 1/2 years, something like that? go back to the children. his children was named delbert. they called dell. story of his life? >> we talked about how robert incoln was not that close to

his father. hays' oldest son was a great kid do anything right in his father's eyes, at least boy.young he feels big and ungamely. lazy.ther thought he was he was a physical kid. rugged -- an indoorsman. new on wanted to play the sport of football. he went off to yale, did well. in the years of after did an amazingay thing. he chose his son to go off to pretoria, which was the head of the poor republican south africa middle of the war to be america's consul to the republic. the boy acquitted himself well. he grew up on the spot. very impressed.ddle of

he came home. president mckinley said i would like for you to be my private secretary. that john hay had lincoln.braham you can imagine how proud he was to see his son go through this maturation. before he could start very the yale t hay went up to his reunion and was coming back to room, sitting in the window, smoking a cigarette, fell asleep, fell out the win and died. an awful year for hay in 1901. dying.gan with his son then the death -- the assassination of mckinley in and the death of his writing partner and old friend, george nikolay.

then the other man named clarence king. he?who was >> he was sort of the ideal man hay.e world of john he was he'd gone to yale. explorer.e -- an he had gone out as a surveyor and geologist and climbed -- of the climb many sierras.in the seer wonderful, wonderful handsome who hay and hay's circle all idealized. the guy but he never really way.ved in any he would start off and a mining venture would fail. he would borrow money. a frustrating friend. so it was crushing when he died would reaching his full potential. >> died of what? tuberculosis?

>> five of hearts? group of friends in washington when the -- when to washington, hay had a short period when he was state nt secretary of under president rutherford b. hayes. henry adams, his dear friend moved here to start researching the great, great of the madison and jefferson administrations. king had come to start the survey.al that's three. was hayes' wife and clover harry's wife. that made five. they had tea every afternoon and called themselves the five of hearts. >> anybody who goes to goes to lafayette square and sees the white house hay be in the middle of country. xplain what you see and how it

relates to john hay and henry adams? a lafayette square is six-acre square and park on the orth side of the white house and it's lined with town houses. and everybody and anybody seemed to live on lafayette square or in the blocks around it. and what we forget today, ashington was a very small place socially. everybody knew their neighbors and the history of who lived there. and people came and went as they washington because people change jobs and people are in ffice and people are out of office. hay and henry n adams began construction on houses on the north the idea e square hays would take

2/3 of the property. the had four children, adams who had none would take 1/3. would live friends to -by-side looking across the white house. really was ground zero for the social scene in washington. were in andem, they out of everybody's house all the parties and r carriage rides and that sort of thing. wonderful.ht and really why it was remarkable that adams and hay such wandering eyes and not -- not be noticed by all of those around them. > located there now, something called the hay-adams hotel. is that the same building? >> no.

john hay died in 1905. his daughters who was married to a united states senator continued to live there 1920s at the time when the hay house and the adams was torn down and the hotel was built on that site. hay adams present day hotel. >> what's the view if you're thereupon and hay adams looking out. hay built that house. from his parlor, he could look across and see his bedroom that lived in in the white house. moving thing to go there and imagine. as you look there, he was on left-hand side on the second floor. >> if your back is to the your back is re, to the hay-adams hotel, if you the trees, you

could -- hay could look right up to his window. course, the adams hotel, all of those win dopes on that side basically in the across the es look the white house to the washington monument and clear to memorial.rson >> you mentioned in your book st. john's church which is right from the street hay-adams. that?s the importance of >> well, theodore roosevelt went on sundays.ere and after church, he got in the of walking across the street and coming in to hay's sit in d they would hay's library and talk for two or three hours. his is the president of the united states and the secretary of state. mentioned that lincoln was ort of a father figure to john hay. well, theodore roosevelt's father had died when he was a young man.

recently died.has and neither roosevelt or hay loud.this out but hay became almost a father figure to theodore roosevelt. >> he feels the secretary of state. >> he was the secretary of state. >> what's the difference in the age? >> they were exactly 20 years apart. >> that church is now known as the church of president s? yeah. >> in the book, let me ask you this -- you read the ten volumes. the diary?d >> hay's diary? >> yes. yeah. my goodness, >> how much is there? >> well some of it -- you always wish for more. then there are large gaps in it. but it's so genuine, it's so somebody that was iving that close to lincoln

making these observations. most concern with the daunting aspect of this book was okay, i'm going to have to write lincoln here. plenty of people come before me. on lincoln. choset i had though do or lincoln off on the first page and bring him back as lincoln.e's then the reader realizes that so much of the lincoln we know and us by ze was given to john hay. mostly from the diaries, some the his letters and from later biography. these little snippets, himself john hay saw

as a writer, as a poet, as a -- he realized that he was a writer in the presence of greatness. so descriptions of lincoln on horseback, what lincoln ate for breakfast, lincoln's moods, all of this comes from john hay's diaries. to have so much more but we're so much -- anybody who reads or writes or about lincoln, so fortunate to have had john hay these observations. >> can himself as a writer, as a poet, as a -- he realized that he was a writer in the presence of greatness. so the average person read he ten volumes today and the diary? >> the ten volumes you can get. there's a wonderful thing called you can look up almost anything on-line. he diaries have been wonderfully transcribed and -- by one of the great lincoln scholars, michael burlingame and paperback and anybody who loves lincoln would enjoy reading these. it's not a chor to get through them. >> i go it this quote from your book by a fellow named david "barbie." journalist and historian. quote, hay was such an

ntellectual snob, so superior to everybody including jehovah, you you want to puke as read him. >> well, hay was -- he came from humble roots. not so -- he came from rural roots. the big city, he cosmopolitan. he took to gentility. had servants. >> where did he have money? money. wife's she was married to the wealthy guy from cleveland. you can sort of make that observation about him.

roosevelt thought he wasn't rugged s enough or enough. e hung out with other intellectuals, henry adams, the artists, enry james, people like that. he wasn't the guy you'd see down the street with his sleeves rolled up. so that's an apt description. of ou paint a picture roosevelt and hay being close and spending a lot of time ogether and in chapter 17 titled, "a reasonable time," i some of to read back the quotes and get you to explain it. this is from theodore roosevelt. personally roosevelt wrote of hay in the first letter, his loss was very great to me fond of him. very he had died. then he wrote, from the business, of public the case is different, his name, his reputation, his staunch loyalty, all made him a real administration, but n actual work, i had to do the

big things myself. > well, this was after hay had died, roosevelt wrote this. he didn't get the light under a bushel. he wanted to take credit for happened in his public life. writing that letter also henry good old buddy cabbott lodge. and remember hay had been chasing after henry cabbott little wife there for a bit too. so i think that's -- if you consider roosevelt writing to he's saying, hey, yeah, well our old body john hay, he was a great man. i'm -- i'm ember, even greater. the -- the -- what i go on to chapter is that roosevelt never ever said any thing about hay to hay while he feels alive. >> i reeled some more here.

then while laying more garlands, roosevelt could not resist leaves. a few of the quote, he was at best at a dinner table or in a drawing room. neither place have i ever seen anyone's best that was his, the president allowed. andhay's easy loving nature moral timidity also caused him to, quote, shrink from all that rough in life and therefore from practical affairs. >> teddy roosevelt liked to, you fighting sticks in the white house. he liked to get up on a frosty his horse andt on gallop through rock creek park. cabbott lodge, thin as he horseman also a great and liked that vigorous life too. of exercise was to go out and stroll up 16th street his friend henry adams.

so theodore roosevelt had a about guys who didn't have calluses on their hands. had a callus on his hand. >> you also -- see if i can find talked -- somebody criticizing the talking in an effective manner. mean?did that >> well, first of all, we don't actually know how hay talkled. no audio anywhere? >> he died in 1905. none.ere is but he wrote sometimes in a that may have seemed affected. letters were to is friends when there was a tongue in cheek sort of droll, stock byness to the writing tone. not trying to be apologetic or him, but i think

anybody who reads into any of letters at any length realized he was one of the great day. rs of his >> did lindsey cameron who was the wife of the senator. senator. >> live on lafayette square too? a stone's d within throw of hay's door. her husband was 23 years older didn't know or didn't care what she was -- what she did. she kept hay and also henry cats.like tame always around here. >> you have quotes in here from henry adams to lindsey cameron roosevelt. this is coming from the other way. the president, he told lizzie, stupid blundering bolting bull calf. unquote.

>> pretty accurate. >> i gather he didn't like him. -- no small ego. he fancied himself as an historian. history of 1812 efore he got out of college practically and always trying to lecture adams on history, adams, one of the great historians of couldn't stand it. and roosevelt, of course, his his physicality was like a bull in a china shop. adams, who grated on was much more of a drawing room will.if you >> some good -- some good quotes -- n -- from adams as usual, theodore absorbed the onversation, adams reported to lizzie. and if he tired me ten years ago, he crushes me now. enjoyed it would be, to you, a gratuitous piece of decrease.

what i annoys me is his infant tile superficial y'allty with dog assertion. he lectures me on history as if he's a high school pedagogue. let's just say if henry adams chose who was going to go on mt. rushmore, it wouldn't be theodore roosevelt. the interesting thing is not adams' low opinion of theodore roosevelt, but his best hay, also had a close relationship -- a very close relationship and close orking relationship with theodore roosevelt. adams forgave his best for being friends with roosevelt. -- flexibility. >> there was five of hearts plus

one. six.zzie cameron, the five of hearts existed for a brief moment. looked through all of the letters and correspondence. the number of times the so-called five of hearts, the the two hays, and clarence king were in one room together is probably -- after called themselves the five of hearts, probably ten.r than after clover adams committed suicide, which she did at her lafayette square, right before they were going move into he new house on lafayette square in december of 1885, the longer hearts were no five. and it was right after that that hearts, hay and adams started looking at the other women in washington. the fifth, king, had his own secret wife and ltimately married unbeknownst

to all of his friends married a black woman in new york. >> because of what's going on in now, i wanted ht to drop back to page 131 and get in perspective. it's part of this discussion was at the tribune writing. and it's a paragraph i want to get your reaction. reform was the journalistic biword of the day. had been preserved. andrew johnson had been purged. and time had come for a fresh start. newspapers in their hunger for readership, vied to expose corruption and out the their own virtuosity. quidnemy was fraud, graft, pro quo, and the spoils system. rings came in various sizes, all unscrupulous. the whiskey ring, the gold ring, the tweed ring. ailroads were crooked, machines, repatience, boss, in an es was a bad name and honest politician was someone who when bought stayed bought.

it was said that mark twain and charles dudley warner dubbed the 1873 novel "the gild sounds" because like guilt. >> have we improve? >> the journalism or the conduct of our country? some of our civil service reform helped some of that. get back to hay's part of all of this huge was letdown and i'm oversimplifying here. lincoln was johnson ted and andrew was nearly impeached and it just an embarrassment, ulysses became president. lincoln, d ohs,

circled. they thought grant had won the war. general. a great they thought he was a disaster as a president. hay as a journalist saw grant as lincoln to all that had worked for and martyred himself for and then the party was in serious trouble. so it started at the top, all of the flaws in government. there were a number of scandals, thesecretary of war, one of personal secretaries driven out of office. using the pulpit of the great moral organ of the new york tribune went after the old just mercilessly. >> a couple of numbers from your book, when he was at the had a circulation of 45,000. >> i'm trying to remember, it's close. >> in your book. >> yeah.

in new york, that was the case. tribune remember the was also published in weekly and editions that went around the country. so it became -- it was a much that.r circulation than and was probably the most widely country. aper in the >> the other number that struck me as interesting is when he was ecretary of state, they had only 80 people? >> well, when he was assistant '79.etary when he came in but it was a -- it was a small country. this member, this was -- is foreign ministers were still wearing swords and sashes and and that sort of thing, yeah. hey officed in the -- what was called the war -- the state war building now called the old office building next to the white house. there were maybe 1,000 other abroad that trade consuls and things like that. wasn't much of a -- an

operation. >> we're leaving a lot out that's in this book. big book. how long did it take you from research through writing? >> five years. every minute of five years. it was unrelenting. s soon as you finish lincoln, you have to move on to hay's great career as a writer and public st and back in life, he's assistant secretary state. and then many -- you could write the volumes on his work in state department. >> interesting how excited other historians have gotten over john hay. a clip with an interview harold hoetzer at the willard hotel down at the white house when he talks to john hay. to talk to john hay. i was a political operative once or twice. >> for? she feels o, when

congresswoman for mario cuomo hen he was candidate for mayor and governor of new york state. the idea of being so close on such a spare staff and writing and seeing him and observing him, helping him, him ciating -- watching interact with other people, being a witness to history. writers don't think they're making history, but they think they're observing it and history.ting so hay is the one i wanted to be. competition did you have of other books that have been written? >> nothing to speak of on hay particularly. many books that were great help. i mean, you can imagine if you you -- it's oln, a -- it's a groaning library of work. on the other end, there's roosevelt, lots of good work done there. all of the work that's been done emergence as a

world power at the turn of the scholars ry, great have weighled in to that. so i could have availed myself to that. biographieswo other of note on john hay, one written part of -- i think 1914, 1917, something like that. one, nother one, a second written in 1933, which i believe prize. pulitzer >> how did you make it years different? > i made mine different by writing about hay as he moved theugh history, not so much history that surrounded him. is said n -- when all and done, when you would say hay was statesman or hay lincoln's secretary, what hay -- what got hay to lincoln's attention, he feels a writer.

and when i realized that there ere so many thousands of payments of letters for john hay and there was a man's life who loved umented -- people to keep his letters in the sense that there was so much of hay writing, i veryn story.cided to tell his and let the history be the ackdrop to john hay's story instead of putting him as sort zelig-like character in the corner of all of these other historical snapshots. would you give us an example of an example of a story you when john hay workled right closely with abraham lincoln? gives the kind of humanity of both? there's one part of john hay's diary where he really more n for a few pages than elsewhere. the night of the

election returning from in 1864. re-election a few months earlier, nobody hought lincoln would win re-election. it was -- it was -- there was a white gloom there in the house. lincoln overpanied to the telegraph office where lincoln was a habit of going. short walk away from the white house. and sat up through the night lincoln. and watched lincoln pace there and wait for the returns to come n from various states and when the returns came in, they soldiers had the voted and it was really what made the difference. the soldiers in the field had allowed to go home on leave. hay's description of lincoln being concerned but being calm the other all of people around him at ease by telling old folksy stories is the great little moments

of in political history. we've all become familiar with the story of election night for candidates.idential this is one of the first great ones. >> you start your book out with quote from john milton hay in 1905, i know death is the common lot, and what is universal ought not to be deemed a misfortune. and yet, instead of confronting with dignity and philosophy, i cling instinctively to life nd the things of life as eagerly as if i had not had my chance at happiness and gained all the great prizes. from? did that come >> john hay essentially wrote his own benediction. the spring of 1905, he had a bad heart. very poor.lth was and yet theodore roosevelt who re-elected in the previous fall and had been inaugurated in march of 1905 please stay on for as long

as you can for another term. he'd been with mckinley as secretary of state when mckinley being re-elect md. he stayed on with mckinley. roosevelt came on after ckinley's assassination. stayed on for the full -- the with roosevelt. he was headed into his fourth presidential term as secretary state. in poor health. e had gone to europe to what was the state of the art for treatment at that time, going for the baths in germany. home, he knew his health was not any better. his diary, his -- just about the final entry in his passage. wrote that and, of course, that's where i got the title from. >> i wanted to ask you -- i ask before you started to do this to read that from page 543, he died as you told us early on july 1, 1905. about the u talk

diary and it's where he starts with "i say to myself." now, wouldn't we all love to epitaph like this? i knew when i read this this was going to be title of my book. this is john hay's diary. i should not f, rebel at the thought of my life ending at this time. old, lived to be something i never expect in my youth. i have had many blessings, domestic happiness being the greatest of all. my life.d i've had success beyond all of the dreams of my boyhood. the me is printed in journals of the world without iscryptive qualification, which, may, i suppose, be called fame. length of service, i shall occupy a modest place in the history of my time. if i were to live several more years, i should probably add othing to my existing

reputation. while i could not reasonably further enjoyment of life, such as falls to the lot sound health. i know death is the common lot, and what is universal ought not deemed a misfortune. confronting ead of it with dignity and philosophy, the things ife and of life as eagerly as if i had chance at happiness and gained nearly all of the great prices. -- prizes. isn't that lovely? you that the moment decided to name the book "all was that?prizes" when >> i believed i was in the library,- the john hay graduated john hay, from brown university. brown john hay library at

university and i was looking through the microfilm of his handwritten diaries and, of course, went to the end to see how far it went and what was the end. his beautiful bold handwriting, so distinctive that across the gnize it room was that passage. is at the actual diary the brown library? >> yes? of monumentany kind where he was born or in warsaw where he lived or the house in new hampshire? salemre's something in se where he left when he was 3. i never went there. there's silhouettes of him lined up in main street. little town.ng his summer home will which he sinope in new to shire in the late '80s

the time of his death is called the fells. restored as a national site and conservation area. a beautiful place and i invite anyone to visit it, one retreats in new england. his wife g did clara, live, after he died? >> what did she live? another ten years or so, devoted her r children and grandchildren. >> what happened to henry adams? adams lived through the world war. and he published his great book, the education of henry adams" that we all had to read in school at the end of his life in ed digsz. and i think the book was then posthumously. >> what happened to lizzie cameron? on.she lived she was much younger. she lived much longer. forgive me for not having the date.

she never remarried. she lived most of her life apart paris.er husband in she helped in along with edith figure ofnother great the time in helping with refugees and war relief in the england.ld war in had many other men had an eye for her too. >> for those who didn't see the 2002, i started by asking you about the name. you.e got to ask "toliver" when n we started. anglicized g pronunciati pronunciation. from italy. came they got here early in virginia i'm sure the and pronunciation got stepped on for many years. father used to say it means

eisenhower in italian. often do people call you john taliaffer. >> i'll say what the hell? person said oh, my second grade teacher was named sharon tolller. you're damned if you do, i'm damned if you don't. ideas.few i haven't settled on one. i don't want to jinx it. >> another book. bet. u >> going to continue to live in austin, texas and montana. great life. >> the name of the book we've been talking about is all of the john prizes, the life of hay. from lincoln to roosevelt. our guest, we thank you very much. >> thank you. dvd copy, call

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