brian lamb: in detroit or here?avid: downtown washington dc archives, they have all the congressional files. and it was one of the first things i found among all the documents that i uncovered doing this. brian lamb: he was 34 years old the day he testified and wanted to read the statement and the chairman said no. where was the family and how big was the family and did he have a job? david: he had just been fired a week earlier from the detroit times, a first newspaper where he was the lead write man on the copy desk, which was a different job in that era than it is today, we take the feeds from reporters and put it into motion , you write the stories. and so he did not have a job. two- the family was, i was and a half. my older sister jeanie was five. wasjill was almost -- jim almost seven. and my mother, it was a family of five at that point and we were living in detroit in a flat in detroit. and i don't remember it. the first thing i say in the book is i have no memory of that day. brian lamb: but does your brot

brian lamb: congressman.avid maraniss: i didn't know any of that until i started researching this book. became a ckett later congressman from detroit. integrated lawan firm in detroit before there really anywhere else. not a was a leftist but communist ever. in he believed deeply protecting the rights of controversial minority groups you know, if d, they go after -- the same rights to members of the communist party as have been denied to african-americans. connection between the two. statement called freedom is everybody's business, sort of was his strong manifesto defense of why he was he nding communists even if didn't agree with them because e saw the same dangers that anyone else.nst brian lamb: the former mayor. david maraniss: you could write a whole book about him. i didn't make him a major character. same called before those hearings in 1952 as my father. had the same lawyer, crockett, coleman young turned those hearings on end. he was not a member of the party.ist he was friendly with a lot of ommuni

i am a c-span junkie and brian lamb is my hero. i want to know, can we perhaps look back in history through the lens of our modern day and rank some of the presidents from the past through skewed eyes, a skewed perspective, talking a lot about social justice and how we treat each other which is fine, but it seems you have to take the presidents within the context of their times. is that something we could have a broader discussion about? >> that is an important point, something everyone who participated in the poll, how do you rank someone, take andrew jackson for instance. andrew jackson for many years after he lived, was considered an important progressive and it was andrew jackson that, the right to vote was expanded dramatically, he established, and establish the democratic party against big business. and for many years those were considered very progressive and that was the way he was ranked until the last 20 or 30 years but you can't unlock the other side of the coin and i don't think it is a bad thing that modern historians

following the presentation, i had the distinct privilege of speaking with brian lamb then founding ceo and chairman who over the course of many years conducted the use of presidential historians that make up the content of the book in addition to your joined by historians ken ackerman and david stewart who both contributed to the book. at this time, please welcome susan swain. [applause] good afternoon, everybody. nice to see you. wwe had a have a long friendshid relationship with the freedom forum and the journalists who run it. it's a delight to be here with them and used to talk about a project that c-span took on about a year and a a half ago ts year is the 40th anniversary of the circuit in 1979 with coverage of the house of representatives. [applause] about a year and a half ago i went to brian lamb's office since i have a project idea for the 40th anniversary. we had done buying books of collectedks interviews and the most recent one was actually 2015 which is a collection of biographiesle of the first ladi. it felt like if we were going to do anything special for the university

brian lamb: what happened to him after that?avid: he was there from 1937 until the americans were sent home, a little bit before the war ended with franco defeating the loyalists, the republicans. and he came back to ann arbor. the third member of that group, ralph, was captured by franco's troops and executed. and if you don't mind, when my wife and i were in spain, one of the most powerful moments was, i knew where he was captured and the cathedral where he and some other american soldiers were held, in the cathedral in the top of the town, and to go there, into that church, you know, all these 70 plus years later, and, it still felt like a dungeon of death. it was a very moving experience to do that, and to trace his route all the way through spain. so after he came home, he was hailed at the university of michigan. he and elman, for surviving the war and what they had done. 400 or 500 people came to an event at the michigan union. his little sister, mary cummings, my mother, was there. a reporter for the michigan daily, elli

so ab year and a half[a ago i wt out to brian lamb's office and said i have a great idea for a projector our 40th anniversary. we have done already nine books of collected works of interviews, and the most recent one was actually in 2015 which was a collection of biographies of the first ladies. and it felt like if we were with going to do anything special for our 40th anniversary we really ought to add the president to our bookshelf and collection, but the idea was to actually use two resources when we were putting this together. we took idea to our long time publisher at public affair press in new york who specialize in nonfiction books started by a journalist from "the washington post" name peter. and the idea was to merge as a i said two significant resources. first, one collection of 30 years of interviews for sunday night program and among those really hundreds and hundred of hours are some of the top historians alive today and books that they have done spending often years of their lives so that was one idea was to use the basis of his interviews for the collection. the second w

thanks to brian lamb and c-span for this great service. i am utterly disgusted.he voice of lindsey graham is like nails on a chalkboard at this point. i don't need to hear from them anymore. when the nra butane tina connections are involved -- revealed, -- filthy russian mob rubles, which is what comes out of their mouth any time they open their mouths. i was really disappointed that multiple times you were misrepresenting that mueller gave the report to barr as if he expected barr to make the decisions he made. that is clear by the text he did not. he has specific language about practically compelling congress to take up the cause because of the office of legal counsel's bs memo. that memo that passes for a constitutional amendment, it doesn't. .t was a hastily scrawled memo essentially, it is meant to protect the president so he can do his job. so trump can be better at destroying nato, give more inflammatory speeches that inflame domestic terrorism. that is what we are protecting here? page 2, paragraph 4 of the mueller report spells out barr's unconstitutiona

brian: so far. harold: mr. lamb i've always , wanted to meet you. have to tell you, i can never go to sleep until i watch you on tv. >> [laughter] brian: to tell you how bad it is, since i have been in new york, i was walking down the street yesterday, and a couple walked by me and as they walked by me, the woman said, "that is john mccain!" >> [laughter] brian: back to presidents. >> [laughter] brian: if you had -- i really want to ask you this question, if you had to pick between fdr and lincoln, what would you do? you are working -- harold: who is writing the check? >> [laughter] harold: obviously they belong in the top three. roosevelt dealt with two emergencies, in a state of diminished health, which i find extraordinary. lincoln destroyed his own health, working for four years on the existential crisis that challenged the country and determined whether it would survive. so i would like to get them both in the room and talk to them both, but i don't choose. i'm privileged to have created an association with lincoln, and to have had this thrust o

i love brian lamb, i wish he was back. i really like c-span, thanks a lot.ost: thanks for calling and mr. lamb is very much around in the office. i see him just about every day and a supporter of u.s. military .ction, tell us your thoughts iran is also a puppet for china. oil is going to go to china and it is rising just like japan did in the 30's. to cut to do something the head off and let the chips fall. thank you very much. host: thanks for calling. rallyent trump will do a this evening, 7:00 eastern time , sort of innia center. we will have it live on c-span numeral through -- 2. -- c-span 2. the committee headed by congresswoman maxine waters, democrat from california. we will hear about the tax returns and u.s. china relations. that is wednesday at 9:00 in the morning. we have james from harrisburg, pennsylvania. a proponent of military action against iran. go right ahead. caller: sometimes when you listen to this discussion, you almost have to wonder what the .eople have been listening to if you look at the easter attacks in sri lanka, they were spon

i know brian lamb left, but you guys are a puppet like all the other news organizations.ost: a couple of things. he has not left the organization. &a is not doing the sunday q program, but he is continuing to do interviews in the coming months. covering the hearing today, it is a hearing on capitol hill, a big hearing and many people will be watching. ahead of that, we are giving all of you the opportunity to let washington know and people around the country know how you feel about it, what you think about it. what questions would you ask the attorney general if you had him before you? he will be in that hearing room on your screen at 10:00 a.m. eastern sitting in the witness chair, taking questions from the members of the senate judiciary committee. let me tell you a little bit about the seats in the room. there are 25 seats reserved for the media in this hearing room. 10 seats reserved for the department of justice, these are in the first row of seats. there are 10 seats for the of five ando rows 10 seats for the minority side of the room. of course, there is room for .