q&a with author carl cannon, then a look at kenyan election and a look at u.s.-north korea tensions on the korean peninsula. ♪ ♪ on q and a,his week author and real politics washington bureau chief carl cannon. he discusses his book "on this date: from the pilgrims to today , discovering america one day at a time." host: carl cannon, your new book "on this date: from the pilgrims to today, discovering america one day at a time." what is it? a snapshot, it is a

morsel. 1 throughrom january december 31, an essay on something that happened in american history on that date that tells you something you may not know and gives you an understanding of this country you did not have. host: how did you find it? >> how do people find my book? no, how did you find the essay topics? >> i do something that relates to whatever is going on that day. : for someone who is not tod on the internet they go

.ealclearpolitics.com ifthey go to am note and they like it they can get it in their mailbox. archivest about the and all the 5.5 years of these? >> we go back and forth with our it guy. buy thehy they need to book. the firsts start with one. january 1, 1915, everybody

stopped and starred, what is it? driverfirst female cab in new york. she was a mechanic, she loved cars. the woman shows up on corner and the first hurdle is, are her papers in order. there is a patrolman there. her papers are okay. the next hurdle, what are the male cabdrivers going to say? --in my mind one of her, whatever

happened, they decide to accept this. and all ofurdle, this unfolds in chapter one, how will the public -- it is a service industry, driving a cab. what will the public think? a few minutes later, someone gets in and she asks where you want to go and they say we just want to ride in your cab. essays?w many >> 368. it was my signal to the reader that you could have picked any of 1000 days. host: how long does it take to research and write these?

>> when i do my early morning note i get up early in the morning at 5:00 a.m. i wonder around my library, come up with a subject and research it. the take about two or three hours to do. when i made this book contract, i thought i had already written a book, i would just take my notes. it turns out, i had to write a book. it took a while. host: i want to pick something right in the middle of the book. it was interesting how many chapters you devoted to the uss indianapolis. julyirst day i found was july 28, 1945,

the secret mission. one page, these are two pages. this is the only one like it, it is five days running, it is a story that tells so many stories wrapped into one. this ship is sunk, these guys are in the water and no one is looking for them. host: what kind of a ship? ofa cruiser, it comes out san francisco. it has a secret mission. it, thing loaded on to very heavy, it is uranium.

it is the component of the atom bomb. it is so top-secret that the navy does not do the normal thing. this ship, after it delivers its cargo, it has out to rendezvous or what is supposed to be the vital --rendezvous for the japan.of -- battle of it is sent to submarine infested waters and they go into the water. drowned, they die of dehydration, sharks eat them. it takes five days in the book but it took years for the story to resolve itself. the captain is court-martialed,

he is a movie star, everyone loves him. he is scapegoated, he is reinstated later but he never recovers. he takes his own life. there's a boy in florida watching the movie "jaws." soliloquy on why he was onharks, the indianapolis. iny people who saw "jaws" this country had never heard of the indianapolis. host: why did you pick it? >> i picked it because at the end of the five days there is a thinks theida, he

captain has been railroaded and he wants to do something about it. he does do something about it. has anrborough interesting cameo and eventually the navy admit the captain was blameless. it matters to those people who were on the ship, the handful who were still alive. host: out of all the years, did you have one they got the most reaction? >> people grab the book if their name is there. that's why some authors don't have an index. people look for their birthday. they have different reactions. one of the reaction i got a lot 28th. august

the martin luther king story, i do not write about the speech, i write about a kid who was railroaded for a murder that day that he did not do. that's each played a role in him getting -- that speech played a role in him getting exonerated. host: how did it play a role? >> this kid was accused and convicted. up by a case was taken reporter, it was found his alibi checked out. his friends all remembered where they were because it was the martin luther king speech and they were all watching it. here is one, august 21,

1959, this is one of those universal news reels. ♪ ♪ made official at the white house, president eisenhower congratulate the new representative of hawaii. southernmostth and part of the united states with a population of 600,000. during the signing, the president was flanked by vice president nixon and speaker of the house and rivers. -- anne rivers. >> for the second time in a little over a year, 80 state has been admitted to the union -- a new state has been admitted to

the union. host: how big a deal with that -- was that for president eisenhower? >> he looks happy and he was. he wanted hawaii. for ithis way and pushed hard. cameike got angry, people around. like most american military people, hawaii had a pure place in eisenhower -- a dear place in eisenhower's heart. democrats argued it was a tactical one. thats happy that day and

was genuine. on that date i write in my book an armgressman who lost fighting in the famous regiment was there. host: richard nixon on the right, eisenhower on the left. do you have any personal rayburn?ion of and think about rayburn eisenhower and lyndon johnson. guysnk of these three sitting around in the white house and running the world. we do not want to go back to the days when three white male from

back ruled the country but then it seemed like a better system than we have now. host: this is another news reel from october 1967. ♪ ♪ new moon is in the sky. a metal sphere placed by a russian rocket. 50 tons.t estimated at thearred on -- carried on, speedcial moon is put to

counterbalancing gravity and put in place. one of the great scientific feats of the age. host: one of the first things i want to ask you about is not in the book but the handling on that was reds. why would we not see that headline today? >> we might. we have this russia scandal with the donald trump. now it is the democrats. we are talking about russians again the way we used to talk about them then. what goes around comes around and that is a deliberate pun about sputnik. sky,sputnik is up in the it sent shockwaves through this country. it is not just the soviet union

doing this, the country thought, they are superior to us. they are in the heavens before us. it was a shock. they wanted to know why eisenhower did not know about it. congress demanded it. this was a big deal. a radio commentator said listen now to the sound that forever more separate the old from the new. the old from the new. is groundheadline zero. the sky was the same unbelievable blue in new york city. getting at?u

>> this was a bombing on --lstreet by anarchic anarchists. it killed mostly working people. attackshad these before. themesre three or four one, if things seem inconceivable to us, we have had them before. people on 9/11 did not talk about the wall street bombing. it backfired on the people who did it, the human eyes wall street -- it humanized wall

street. host: 38 dead. >> no warning of any kind. all of a sudden a bomb goes off. host: they say the crime was never solved. next be my book could 385 unsolved crimes. it was widely considered a political act by people. world war i had been this cataclysmic event. forces, -- it unle ashed forces, people were

questioning capitalism itself. there were many people who thought the united states should not have entered world war i, that people had profited from it. there was a lot of anger on the left against wall street from people who thought this way. it helped to humanize wall street. 1947.october the fifth, you talk about the first tv address of president truman. to address a looming human catastrophe taking place across the ocean, a u.s. president employed a new technology -- the first televised address from the white house. >> the newspapers covered it.

from the beginning of television, people wanted those things in their house. technology,mbracing that is one of the things we know. they embrace it because they want to communicate. askance at donald impulsetwitter but his to reach as many people as he can without a filter is an impulse many presidents have had. what you had was a collection of forces coming together. the marshall plan, herbert hoover coming back into public service to organize relief efforts in europe, credited with saving millions of lives and truman is the one who tapped h im. ,hen i was a young reporter

people would still talk about hoover at the democratic rallies. complicated,h more he is more than a president who did not do much after the stock market crash. herbert hoover, woodrow wilson sent him to organize relief efforts after world war i. he saved many lives. in this easy talk about the marshall plan. piece you talk about the marshall plan. fort was for relief devastated communities in europe after world war ii. it was sold to congress as an effective 80 communism measure --anti-communism measure.

we used to talk about countries falling to communism and greece was on the verge. eastern europe was under the iron curtain. the marshall plan was a massive plan to help these people. it was not really motivated by anti-communism, that is how we sold it to ourselves. but americans got it, it was to help people we did not want to see star. -- see starve. host: you mentioned the current president but you have items on every president along the way. from your standpoint, what is the most interesting president in history to write about? >> that is lincoln. i do every one of them on

lincoln. i had to watch myself. when i had these morning notes, there were 40-50 on lincoln. i did a couple. i learned something about myself doing this about presidents and how i feel about president. consideredosevelt is the greatest president of the 20th century. some conservatives would tell you reagan is right there with you. ok, that is being generous. who were the two greatest president of the 20th century, some scholars think he is the third greatest after george washington and lincoln. but i go back to treatment. -- to truman. you look at richard nixon's approval ratings after watergate, jimmy carter and george w. bush have these low approval rating. truman, by the end of his

presidency democrats do not want to be seen with him. this --senator fulbright shows up and says we should go to a parliamentarian system. they cannot stand this guy but he has weathered well in history. he is the principal guy who is a guyh teller --principal who is a truth teller. african-american soldiers come theyafter world war ii, are being lynched at home, truman signs and integration order for the military.

i like truman more than roosevelt. host: what is realclear's politics.com? >> it was started by two guys who went to princeton at the same time. after college, they were political junkies, they were doing different jobs. politics was their passion. they saw a need where you can politics-stop jump of whether you are a conservative or liberal or libertarian. only was our not business model about to be blown up because of the internet. these two guys who knew nothing

about the news business, that was a time when it was the right amount to know. we who had grown up around it had negative knowledge. they started this company, it is a free website. anyone can go to it. we have 17 stories on the front page every day. it is left, right, center. whatever your views are about politics, you will find them there. then they started aggregating polls. when you aggregate polling you do not run off with your hair on fire. iew ofn have a calmer v what is happening in politics. reporters,f, we have they cover the white house and congress. i am pretty proud of it.

our goal is to adhere to the old model which is we are not taking sides, we're just trying to present the information and trust the voters to get it right. host: where is it based? >> it was in chicago but we had migrated to washington. host: it is mainly based here in washington. how does it make money? business the old-fashioned way, ads. it the ads, we try to do right way. we do not sensationalize. our hope is there is enough people who want the news without

hype and it is working. host: is it working financially? >> it is working, the paychecks clear. host: how many people on rea lclearpolitics.com? 50-50 people -- 50-60 people. host: if you go to realc learpolitics, what else is available? >> there is video, video of interesting clips. pretty good archives. the stories i commission and

edit. job you it the best have ever had? >> it is the best job i have ever had. host: what over the years was your favorite job besides this? >> when i came to washington i was here two years and thought i would get back to california but in reagan was president and that did not happen. i helped set up politics daily at aol. i love what we do. i loved it since my first newspaper job. i was a paperboy delivering the "san francisco my god is in cal. if you are with reagan, he spent

a year of your life in santa barbara. there were other people who do not spend on that time up there. my dad grew up in nevada. i was born and raised in california, where my mother is from. we did not know that part of the country. he loved santa barbara. he bought a house out there. and he retired, he moved out there. net.ites for state he is in his mid-80's. he covered the status of electricians -- scottish elections a few years ago. foreigne only 82 rolled correspondent on that story. -- 82-year-old foreign correspondent on that story. host: the first world war ended on this date. in here are awards from woodrow

wilson. >> it is the war to end all wars? yeah. that is something i try to do. we think we know history, we know some of these stories. sometimes what we think we know is wrong. the woodrow wilson thing is a much less arrogant and much more appealing, really a better comment. it is not far off. i have calvin coolidge in here and he is famous -- the quote business here is the of america is business. he said that any beach -- an ace reach. a speech. he went on to say that profit is not enough.

it is a particularly unfortunate misquote because he was speaking to american newspaper editors. i've been known to be a schooled in other forms are you had -- forms. it is important in history to go to sources and to your own thinking. the: this is from april 30th 1975. it is an abc news report. a lot of people will remember this day. it is the american immigration of saigon. loads of men, women, and children were appearing during evacuation day. they were searched upon them -- arrival. weapons were thrown overboard.

the navy was caught by surprise by how many finally reached the u.s. ship. arrivals the continual of fleets of helicopters. the people diving for safety. the helicopters were flying in all directions. the navy tried to decide what to do with the planes that managed to land on the deck. they finally decided to take them into the sea. there are many people that can remember that day because they were there. what did you read about on that about on that day? song that ibout the heard on the radio that day,

"white christmas." -- ignoble.oble united states last. -- left. we left without adequate warning to the people who supported us create this was a -- supported us. this is a different experience. ronald reagan would later call it a noble cause. it did not seem noble at the time. whatever your view, if you are against the war this would have seemed like a waste. if he supported the war, it seems like we cut and run. host: let's go to the white christmas during berlin. i thought you had a clip.

it is not just politics. there are athletes in this book, musicians, horses, and jockeys. i write about elvis, the beach boys, john lennon in new york. i wrote about bing crosby. hit.s an unlikely it has never gone away. it stayed with us create it was written by an immigrant. that is another theme in my book, immigrants. host: why did you dedicate the book to immigrants? >> in american politics right now, i used to cover this last election. we have this broken debate on immigration. liberals will tell you that donald trump one by applying to racist -- won by applying to resist impulses.

i think that is unfair. impulses. i think that is unfair. we are not having a political conversation. you're not having a civil conversation. i want to take a step back and not debate the m -- merits. i want to write americans that is asomeone says america nation of immigrants, that has been a historic fact. immigrants have been there at key places in our history when we needed them, giving us something that we needed, and invention, an idea. jose andres is a chef. there is another example. when a group of immigrant scientists realized that nazi

germany was trying to build an , they gotd -- bomb authorized and started to write a letter. because it is einstein, the president reads it and launches the manhattan project. john peter's anger is in immigrant -- an immigrant. he writes that you have to have freedom of the press. it is not in our law. we do not have laws. we are british subjects. he was put in prison by the governor. apologizes, but not to the governor, but to his readers for missing a single edition of his paper. another immigrant enters our story.

andrew hamilton, no relation to alexander hamilton, is from scotland are you he argues the case for jury notification. -- scotland. he argues the case for jury notification. he went past the court and talked to the jury. they exonerated him. we think that the founding fathers, that the country .reated freedom of the press freedom of the press helped create this country. this is nbc news september 5, 1975. this was a political trip. part of the president's campaign to lock up the nomination. he was shaking hands as he went along, working the crowd. it was a friendly crowd,

aides, he reached for every hand insight. gunung woman holding a appeared at the president's side. secret service grabbed the gun and wrestled the woman to the ground. they moved the president swiftly to the capital. >> i think the secret service and other law enforcement orncies that were on the job doing a superb job. i want to thank them for everything they did in this unfortunate incident. host: that was sacramento. a couple weeks later, it was san francisco and sara jane moore. women, slightly unhinged. they tried to take a shot at the

president. it did not do much to the presidency. it into your people to jerry ford. nixon, hepardon of has never run for president. -- he had never run for president. killed president. she bought the gun that morning. she had never tested it. it did not fire right. that is a scary thing. ford came back. the reporters say can you tell us how you feel? he takes a deep breath and says i just want to look at all of you for a moment. can i just do that? that was jerry ford. he was so happy to see these reporters again. he was happy to be alive. 19.: november

i am trying to help here. america had part one and part two. why dickens? >> his visits to america are fascinating. the first time he comes, he has created this hero. he is a massive celebrity. mass before there were celebrities. people wanted his autograph. there is no real international copyright law. people are publishing his books and he is not getting a nickel from it in the united states. he sours a bit on americans. at first he loved us that then that she does back to england and rights this nasty book about us.

then these people who have dickens in their house felt betrayed. the wars he comes back. he is different and we are different. it is a very positive experience. parts to set the scene. dickens is the guy who helps us. christmas, as we celebrate it, he has a lot to do with that. who first betrays the democrats as donkeys and republicans as elephants also draws the nicolas santa claus as the jolly old elf. who had a great impact on our country. is america ise richer because we borrow from

these cultures. they talk about cultural appropriation, but they are missing the point. host: how much of this do you agree with? you read that charles dickens americans-- found quote overbearing, boastful, boulder, and double, and incentive, and above all acquisitive. >> i do not agree with any of that. that was his first visit. on his second visit, he apologized. -- he was like scrooge coming back. he was reformed. two that i think about for how he thought about

americans. page 369, breakfast of champions. we are talking about william howard taft and how he ate. dickens describes his visit to america on his first visit. this book is about the american identity. as i sit here thinking about it, if you think -- as we what i think about americans, i think we are optimistic. i think they are inventive. i think we have a can do spirit. i think we are brave. warlike thane more we would like to think of ourselves. but most of us are problem solvers. we try to get it right. we usually, in the end, we do.

it can take a while. host: breakfast of champions. there is a connection here. at his howard taft heaviest was 332 pounds. he liked to eat breakfast alone and never before noon. >> that is not taft, that is thompson. i can go from taft to thompson. i can do that by writing what they had for breakfast. taft was a guy who was ahead of his time. he had a weight problem. he knew it. stress increased it. he ballooned up. he wanted to be on the supreme

court and he eventually was. the exercise he liked was horseback riding. insert joke here. he kept a journal of what he ate. you could argue that he discovered -- he founded weight watchers. he just could not always stick to it. het: you go on to say that described the contents of the meal itself. coffeeody mary's, pot of , crates, i have pound of either sausage, bacon, spanish omelette , andgs, chopped lemon something like a slice of key and two margaritas for dessert. was he serious? >> no. he was taking liberties.

look at that writing. he is obviously exaggerating. he covers bill clinton. he was working for a rolling stone and the interviewed bill clinton in 1991 and he was running for president. thompson does the same kind of thing. he is writing the story and goes fancy.his flights of he has clinton grabbing the food and stuffing his face. it is a style of writing. he is the last practitioner of it. one of the few who really ever tried it. it is satire. lost to probably be

today's literal world are we have to use emoticons to show people that we are kidding or being ironic. thompson was a brilliant writer. makebservations, he would a point. he would paint a picture for you. inre was a great writer murray. he would use metaphors, watered-down -- metaphors. it was a hybrid of journalism and fiction, and he was the best. host: you say you get up at 5:00 in the morning and write these pieces. what time do you send them out? time.0 eastern i have missed deadline, but it is ritual journalism. -- virtual journalism.

missed a deadline, couple of them in july. how often do you find those items in your books? >> there are a half-dozen websites. the library of congress has one. i pick something. think that is i not very original. i began keeping a file of things i wanted to use. it was more time-consuming than rewarding. i really started getting going on this. something iy pick want to write about and find a date that corresponds to it. that is more difficult. that is where the books come in. it is more rewarding. host: whose idea was it to put

these different columns together , these different essays into a book? >> there is an editor called sean desmond. we were having a couple of coffee at the mayflower. i do not drink coffee, but he was having coffee. i was having an adult beverage. he asked me if i knew anybody who wanted to write a book. i took that as an opening. i'm thinking about turning my morning notes into a book for you. they came out of that. -- it came out of that. they put one book a month. andinally, one book a month they are all going to be bestsellers. i do not know if this will be a bestseller, but i hope it will be. i want people to read about their country and maybe fall in love little bit with their country again. december 10, 1969 in

wyoming. page 386. this chapter begins "remember up -- ladies." it took a long time to give the vote to ladies. how long did it take off people that before they were estate -- he said they had difficulty becoming a states because people resented the fact that people have the right to vote. >> people just said no. to, wyoming, and you want to be a state or not? wyoming said if that is the price of it, then fine, we're

not going backwards like that. you could argue that it took 50 years or more. after wyoming did that, it was just a matter of time. asked a historian was there anything about grant you did not like? it was funny. i was in the library and he said follow me. and he picked out one book, and in their was what is what he said about jews. abouts folly, you talk this relationship. when grant was commander in

the western theater, there were privateers who would come in and the army stuff. several of them were jewish, but they were brought there by greta's father. he had a difficult relationship with his father. get the idea that he is really mad at his father. he issues this hasty order that no jews can be in the district. his wife is appalled. the other commanding officers do not want to follow the order. lincoln worsens it a few days it a -- resend -- rescinds few days later. he spoke about this. he wrote about it. he atoned.

no one is perfect. 1901.march 12, the first third of his life was acquiring an education. the second third, acquiring wealth. the last third, giving money away to worthy causes. this repeats itself over and over again. >> it is part of the american identity but you can come from nothing and make money. and the question, what do you do with it? in this day and age in that day and age, they buy their mother a nice house for you by themselves fancy things. -- nice house. they buy themselves fancy things. they realize that is not enough. there are very few people where that is not enough. some people want to give it back.

modern billionaires do it. part of the american identity. how often do you waive your personal views -- host: how often do you read your personal views into this? of baseball and there. >> -- in there. >> i love baseball. to yankee fans. i have dimaggio in there. in there boys are twice. i was a member of the beach boys fan club when i was a little kid. some of that. to political

figures and historical figures, i try really hard to not just give my view. i try to give a fuller view. , wee is a great editor stole him from the washington .ost, called tom cavanagh i probably could not have done this book without him. host: does the edit your daily? -- does he edit your daily? >> yes. we did not pick paper because we are in love with it. this new technology is here to stay and it is digital. whatever comes after digital. the important thing for people like you and i come old-school

-- you and i, old-school people, is to take a model from old-school journalism and being fair to both sides, not doing snarky stuff, just being honest and true to the craft. hoping those my great to the new technology. that is the challenge. book inu can find this any number of places. if someone is intrigued by the politics.com clear , they find your piece everyday, where? >> the left-hand column. they find a lot of other good -- by ourr reporters reporters. david is our analyst. it is a good website, it is

free, and i think they will love it. host: the name of the book is called "on this day." thanks very much. ♪ announcer: for free transcripts or to give us your comments on this program, visit us at q and a.org. programs are available at c-span podcast. if you enjoyed this week's q&a interview, here are some other programs you might like. author scott christiansen talks

about his book "100 documents that changed the world." another discusses his book "assassinations, threats, and the american presidency program presidency." you can watch these anytime or search our entire video library at c-span.org. c-span's coverage of the solar eclipse on monday starts at 7:00 a.m. eastern with the washington journal, live at nasa's spaceflight center. a scientist and a chief scientist at goddard. at noon, we join nasa tv as they provide live views of the eclipse shadow passing over america. at 4:00 p.m. eastern, your eclipse over this

the united states. listen live on the free c-span radio app count. -- app. tomorrow night, president trump addresses -- in afghanistan. his speech at fort myer, virginia on c-span. next, a discussion on the recent elections in kenya. betweenlitary exercise u.s. and south korea among tensions between the u.s. and north korea. with british permanent and recess, the prime minister's questions were not be seen tonight. two veteran journalists will