morgan" and biographies of alexander hamilton and john d. rockefeller. his latest is a look at our first president george washington, the book called "washington: a life." it's an honor to have you on this program. >> apleasure. tavis: let me start with the obvious because it's a pretty dense text as the audience can see. so there's obviously more about washington we need to wrestle with because one would think everything has been said about this guy. >> you know, tavis, i think the starting point of any biography is there is a sense there have been significant i did mentions of the subject's life who for one reason or another had been overlooked by previous biographers and had that revelation when i was doing my last biography on alexander hamilton. late in the revolutionary he has a quarrel with washington and he sits down and writes a letter describing washington as a very moody, irritable, tempermental and said for once the great man shall repent of his ill humor. i remember sitting there thinking ill humor? it was very hard to grab at with the image

following acclaimed books like alexander hamilton, his latest bestseller is called "washington: a life." and also tonight the remarkable story of liz in youry -- liz murray and her journey from being homeless to harvard. her story is the basis for the acclaimed new memoir "breaking night." we're glad you joined us. biographer ron chernow and liz murray. coming up right now. >> his name is james and he needs extra help with his reading. >> james? >> yes. >> to everyone making a difference. >> thank you. >> you help us all live better. >> nationwide insurance supports "tavis smiley" with every question and every answer, nationwide insurance is helping to improve financial literacy and remove obstacles to economic empowerment one conversation at a time. nationwide is on your side. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- tavis: ron chernow is an acclaimed author and biographer whose houses include "house of morgan" and biographies of alexander hamilton and john d. rockefeller. his latest

his books include "alexander hamilton and tie on the" and "the life of john d. rockefeller." the "new york times" has called him as elegant an architect of monumental history as we have enn decades. his new book "washington: a life" is a detailed and vivid portrait of america's first president. it follows georgewashington's rise from a younger? the british terpl the man who became the father of our couny. m ve pleasedo have him back at this tle. weome. >> aleasure, charlie, thank you. how many bgraphys are there? >> since washington died there have been 900 biographies so you woerg why i'm perpetrating number9012 they started appearing within months of his death and infact the cherry spr story, the most notoriou invtion, started veryoon te hisdeat has had amazi longevity. >> rose: sowhy did you tur washington after what you had done? >> i thinkhe srting int of any biogphy is at ere have en significant events of that

>> i did alexander hamilton, and that was an 1800 page botook. washington had -- that was an 800 page book. washington had a longer life. we all knew it was going to be a long boat. we ought -- long book. they were largely out of print. the most difficult thing is to do the one volume biography. there were various places i said, this could shorten the book. there is always another book that will come along and add things to it. i wanted every significant event that you could go to the index and not only enjoy it as a third read but use it as a standard reference, so there were various episodes, but this was an important moment, and i thought it should be there. >> when you write a book like this, the use of myth chapters before you are finished to penguin, and -- do you send chapters before they're finished to penguin? >> i felt here are not only wanted and to see the pacing, but i wanted her to see the proportions. there is so much ground to cover. how are you going to allocate the space? >> the penguin people put out promotion on this. i am goi

on the other hand, i did -- alexander hamilton had died at 49 and that was an 800-page book. washington dies at the age of 67, and it's a much longer life than hamilton's. so this is only maybe, at most, 80 to 100 pages more. so i was actually relieved that it was only another 100 pages. so we all knew that it was going to be a long book. and again, we all felt that the problem was that in years past there had been these great multi-volume biographies that were kind of out of print and largely unread. and the most difficult thing with washington is to do the one-volume, authoritative, cradle-to-grave biography. and so what i wanted to do -- and there were various places in the book where i told myself you know i could cut this scene. this would shorten the book. but i thought if this was going to be an authoritative book on washington, not just the very definitive you know because there's always another book that will come along and add things to it. but if it was going to be an authoritative book, i wanted every significant event in his life that you could go to the index and

these folks were in their late-twenties and early '30's and taking on this whole revolution. >> alexander hamilton very quickly was chief of staff. he was only 22 years old. calculation,e's even 20 years old. when hamilton becomes the first treasury secretary and de facto prime minister, in washington's first term, hamilton was 34 years old. this was a unique moment in history. the population was under them -- yiounger -- younger than they would be now. you would not have the political system dominated by people in their 50s and 60s. this was a unique period of history. there was a need for youth and vitality and creativity. we had a war to fight and the constitution to write and the government to create. these were things that required an enormous amount of energy and imagination. people had that kind of creativity and you see this in the careers of both madison and hamilton. they are quickly drawn into politics and the need was there. >> was he a humble man or was he a man would ride a big white horse. he requested a personal guard. explain that story. they had to be a certain height? >> this is

. >> you've done a book on jp morgan, the war birds, on alexander hamilton. which of those books were the most successful? >> actually the grass keeps rising. each has been more successful at least in the commercial standpoint than the one before. and what i've tried as an author is to keep broadening my focus to stay fresh. a number of people have commented that george washington book is actually the first one that doesn't have a large financial or economic dimension. and that's true. i found what was happening after i did morgan and the war berg and rock feller that i was being stereo typed. and i would go give a speech, do vanderbilt next, as if i would spend the rest of my life knocking off edge moguls. with it would lead me into constitutional law, foreign policy. and i think with each book you have to try to expand your range as a writer, otherwise you go steal. so i'm hoping people who read the priest book won't mind with washington there's not a very big financial or economic dimension. >> when did you actually start this book? >> i started this book

with justice kagan i applied the alexander hamilton federal standard will who says it is not up to individualenators make the appointment. it is up to them to make sure that the president's appointment is appropriate and not subject to family favre or corruption and to see it if it is the best appointment as president at this time would make. i announced i would favor justice kagan. i would hope that we would have federal judges that were largely conservative in nature that always deferred as much as possible to the elected representatives of the american people to make laws and the justices interpret them. >> would you have voted for justice thomas? >> i mckee is this good supreme court justice but i would tell to that i'm looking forward the nominations that president obama as their president would make. with one, i felt he erred with one justice and the other, i felt that justice kagan was careful and considered. it was because she was careful and considered pretty it was his choice to make. i thought was a pretty good one. >> let me give you the follow- up. is there any member of the supr

>> it doesn't get more heated than alexander hamilton versus alex burr.is is real rivalry. >> i think we should bring dueling back. >> this is in honor of doris. teddy roosevelt versus college football. teddy roosevelt loved college football at first because he thought it taught particularly young men from wealthy schools, ivy league schools how to be real men, preparing them to rule the country in the 20th century. then players started to die on the field because there were no rules. teddy roosevelt wanted to ban football in this country. they had to organize the rules. as a way to keep college football around. so because of teddy rose velvor crusade against college football is how we have the game we know today. >> amazing. >> that's interesting. >>> i hate to break up the conversation. we're throwing a party every night at this time on "parker spitzer." thanks to our guests for coming. we hope you'll come back and join us again. >> thank you. >> we'll be right back. rning pa? introducing bayer am, an extra strength pain reliever with alertness aid to f

but he and alexander hamilton had in common was that neither particularly cared for the constitution at the time of this past. they're co-authors of the federalist papers represented the means of salvaging union, without which the states would continue to argue among themselves. madison believed, even after the constitution was adopted, and he wrote this in a long letter to jefferson, that the u.s. still remained, for him, a loose confederation of states. what he called a feudal system of republics, and in short, he believed this might lead to a alliances between individual states and even regional coalitions. the other thing we have to remember is the federalist papers, which we often think of as some of the most important writings were not particularly important at the time they were written. no one cited the federalist papers as any of the ratifying conventions. and when we think of the important federalist number ten, this founding document really only achieved renown century. as a leading voice of the first united states congress in 1789, 1790, madison wrote president washington

. >> my previous book had been, i wrote a book of alexander hamilton and i said to people, he was the protagonist of the book and washington was the lear r -- hero and people have an image of george washington as worthy, but bland and dull and boring and that is a shame, he was a magnetic and charismatic figure, we know the reserved and stoical facade but beneath that was a passional, complex, sensitive man, with many moods and fiery opinions and he was a real force of nature. bill: i think the image you see is what people think, of george washington. a wax-like figure with a flowing white wig. >> it is unfortunate, our image of him is gilbert stewart and he looks stiff and confederate flaggy but that was the george washington of his final years, the person i try to recreate is a dashing athletic young man, who was a great hunter, a fierce warrior and somebody who was a magnificent dancer. who was live and dashing and somebody who excited his contemporaries. bill: people would thing of him as unemotional. >> absolutely wrong. bill: was he. >> no. bill: had feelings toward, what. >> he

if we were all alive in 1795 or '96 and we heard alexander hamilt hamilton, they hated each other.founders of our country. so, what's made things worse, quite frankly, is the internet, the youtube and the fact that we have 24/7 cable and really we have pollerization that is not quite bad. but the emotion that we're seeing is probably being magn y magnified because the media and youtube put it around the world in seconds. >> it's good to see you, thanks for coming on. >> have me back. >> i would love to, thanks. >>> it's interesting he talks about polarization and youtube and the media and just really the difficulties that we're seeing in this society. his parents say that 13-year-old was bullied to death just because he was different. asher brown was in eighth grade at a houston suburban school and his parents tell a heartwrenching story that other children picked on him because he had a lisp and he liked to read and he didn't wear the most stylish clothes and then he shot himself with his father's gun. thank you very much for being with us. i know this is very difficult. amy, the

he would know the federal reserve act was based on alexander hamilton. my point is glenn, by his own admission. began to read history recently and a review of people he has gotten from hillsdale college. no offense on hillsdale. i watch him once a week -- host: according to "new york times," it's the number one program dvred on available. >>caller: we get a kick out of him. i couldn't watch the whole show. i have a hard time dealing with that because he's probably just in step six. he was on step 12 this past friday. his founders friday. i thought were really pretty interesting. i think he had some of his facts wrong. once again, i think that he, i think he is appealing to a certain element in society that hasn't really read their history and their political history particularly. i think if they did, they would see glenn is a little off base. host: thanks for that call. the complain about beck's history. couple more calls. we are getting your opinions beck is driven by principles not politics. he says american citizen who are the terror citizens should b

i will -- i would refer to alexander hamilton. even he said one of the major purposes of the federal courts to exist is to referee these disputes of constitutional power between states and the federal government for it on monday, the lawyer got up and said his name and said he is here for the government. he corrected himself, the federal government. in court on monday, two governments were contesting with each other directly, the commerce of virginia and the united states of america. the founding fathers, it wasn't just the division between the legislative power, the executive power, and the third period thursday continued vitality of the state's. i would say that the check of power that we are exercising in federal court in this case is the most significant since maybe 50 years ago when the federal government was checking state power when many states were defined -- were denying the full exercise of their citizens, african-americans in particular, and the federal government exercised its powers to check what the states were doing

has always been a trading nation and always will be for over 200 years, we followed of the alexander hamilton rules and we had a balance of trade. we shipped goods and bought raw materials and less money to the world. now, we export rawaterials, we import finished goods and we are more in debt that any nation in history. this has got to stop. we need to build our manufacturing base and live by the rules that were in place in the 1960's that gave us the strongest middle-class boy ever had. the new york times wrote that in light of globalization, americans are vastly overpaid for the they need to expect across-the-board real wage cut of 20% and get in line. >> mr. gray, i am sorry. i have to call time. >> ms. lincoln? >> i want to thank the panelists for not only being here today, but the dedication to journalism. i want to say a special appreciation to trevor drown and those that have served in our military. i think that this election is about jobs and the economy. without a doubt, we have the deepest economic crisis that we have seen since the great depression. there is no doubt that governme

for over 200 years, we followed of the alexander hamilton rules and we had a balance of trade.e shipped goods and bought raw materials and less money to the world. now, we export raw materials, we import finished goods and we are more in debt that any nation in history. this has got to stop. we need to build our manufacturing base and live by the rules that were in place in the 1960's that gave us the strongest middle-class boy ever had. the new york times wrote that in light of globalization, americans are vastly overpaid for the they need to expect across-the-board real wage cut of 20% and get in line. >> mr. gray, i am sorry. i have to call time. >> ms. lincoln? >> i want to thank the panelists for not only being here today, but the dedication to journalism. i want to say a special appreciation to trevor drown and those that have served in our military. i think that this election is about jobs and the economy. without a doubt, we have the deepest economic crisis that we have seen since the great depression. there is no doubt that government cannot create jobs and need to pro

for over 200 years, we followed of the alexander hamilton rules and we had a balance of trade. -- wead a positive balance of trade. that means we sold more materials and we bought. -- then we bought. we shipped goods and bought raw materials and less money to the world. now, we export raw materials, we import finished goods and we are more in debt that any nation in history. this has got to stop. we need to build our manufacturing base and live by the rules that were in place in the 1960's that gave us the strongest middle-class boy ever had. -- we have ever had and the greatest prosperity. the new york times wrote that in light of globalization, americans are vastly overpaid for the they need to expect -- overpaid. they need to accept an across- the-board real wage cut of 20% and get in line. >> mr. gray, i am sorry. i have to call time. thank you for your statement. >> ms. lincoln? >> i want to thank the panelists for not only being here today, but the dedication to journalism. i want to say a special appreciation to trevor drown and those that have served in our military. for thei