if you look at the papers of andrew johnson, many more letters to andrew johnson than andrew johnson to other people. that is a problem for a biographer right there. we don't have his inner voice. with jefferson you have 18,000 letters he wrote over a period of his life, and other documents. even though he remains an in a glut to lots of people there is enough there to craft what he is thinking or feeling and who he was. we didn't really have it to the same extent and the letters we have that show when he is a young man lots of misspellings and phonetics spellings of things and it is difficult to wrap your mind -- for me it was difficult to wrap my mind around who he really was. you just don't have the record you would typically have. not just jefferson but other people who were president. just not there. that is a big problem. because we don't have lots of his letters and there's not a huge repository of him explaining what he is doing we don't have a lot of stories about him. there's another biography, the principal biographer of andrew johnson unfortunately died last year. i was h

and he sees andrew johnson across the room and johnson looks at him and a fleeting moment, he realizes that this is a man who had contempt for african-americans. what johnson realized, he does this face up and respond appropriately. but he says he saw -- the title of the chapter, the index of his heart and in that moment he could see this was a guy who was no friend of black people and it turned out to be -- turned out to be the case. there was no relationship between the two of them at all. at one point he comes to the white house with a delegation of blacks and johnson is very hostile. he basically says black people, slaves and slave masters were in league with one another to keyboard white people down. you would love to see frederick douglass's place as he explains what do the slaves get out of this little arrangement? there is no relationship. >> frederick douglass has several meetings with lincoln. lincoln famously hatches a plan with him which i often cite as evidence of lincoln's sincerity in making sure emancipation was promulgated even if he was defeated in the 1864 election t

so if you look at the papers of andrew johnson, their are many, many more letters to andrew johnson did enter chancing to other people. so that poses a problem for a biographer ratepayer. we don't have this inner voice. whichever city of 18,000 letters he wrote over the period of his life and other kinds of documents and other things. even though he remains an innate lead to lots of people, there is still enough there to sort of some sense of what he's thinking, what he's feeling in who he was. john finn was at a disadvantage because we don't have that to the same extent and the letters we have the show when a show lots of missed telling, lots of phonetic spelling for things and it's difficult to wrap your mind -- it was for me, difficult to wrap my mind about who he really was because we just don't have the kind of record you would typically have, not someone i jefferson, but other people who are present, so that's a big problem. because we don't have lots of letters and there's not a huge repository of him explaining what he's doing, we don't have lots of stories about him. there's an

so if you look at the papers of andrew johnson, their are many, many more letters to andrew johnson did enter chancing to other people. so that poses a problem for a biographer ratepayer. we don't have this inner voice. whichever city of 18,000 letters he wrote over the period of his life and other kinds of documents and other things. even though he remains an innate lead to lots of people, there is still enough there to sort of some sense of what he's thinking, what he's feeling in who he was. john finn was at a disadvantage because we don't have that to the same extent and the letters we have the show when a show lots of missed telling, lots of phonetic spelling for things and it's difficult to wrap your mind -- it was for me, difficult to wrap my mind about who he really was because we just don't have the kind of record you would typically have, not someone i jefferson, but other people who are present, so that's a big problem. because we don't have lots of letters and there's not a huge repository of him explaining what he's doing, we don't have lots of stories about him. there's an

so if you look at the papers of andrew johnson, their are many, many more letters to andrew johnson did enter chancing to other people. so that poses a problem for a biographer ratepayer. we don't have this inner voice. whichever city of 18,000 letters he wrote over the period of his life and other kinds of documents and other things. even though he remains an innate lead to lots of people, there is still enough there to sort of some sense of what he's thinking, what he's feeling in who he was. john finn was at a disadvantage because we don't have that to the same extent and the letters we have the show when a show lots of missed telling, lots of phonetic spelling for things and it's difficult to wrap your mind -- it was for me, difficult to wrap my mind about who he really was because we just don't have the kind of record you would typically have, not someone i jefferson, but other people who are present, so that's a big problem. because we don't have lots of letters and there's not a huge repository of him explaining what he's doing, we don't have lots of stories about him. there's an

the other interesting thing about andrew johnson, robert e. lee the famous southern general said that he was surprised johnson didn't push harder for the ecology of the freed slaves because he felt that the south would have understood where we lost the war >> host: the own understand that yet. >> guest: this is what robert e. lee fought and that showed there is still that dynamic but johnson was afraid the southern states would cause a lot of problems in the other programs, and of course he had a lot of problems with impeachment, he wasn't in teach himself so there was a whole other dynamic with him but the fear of what the south might do has been very common in our history right from the beginning. >> host: one of the president's that really surprised me, not the history, but of course was woodrow wilson. he was an intellectual. he'd been the president of princeton university so one would have fought, but his reaction to race almost unpredictable, and very, very harsh. coming after a president who entertained booker t. washington here comes th

another interesting thing about andrew johnson, robert e. lee the famous southern general said that he was surprised that johnson didn't push harder for equality for the freed slaves because lee felt the south would have understood, while we lost the war -- >> host: they don't understand that you. >> guest: this is what robert e. lee thought and that's too. there is still that dynamic. johnson was afraid the southern state would cause a lot of problems. of course, he had a lot of problems with the impeachment. he was impeached himself. there was a whole nether dynamic there but the fear that what the south might view is very common in our history right from the beginning. >> host: one of the presence that surprise me, and not surprised, of course is woodrow wilson. he was an intellectual. he'd been the president of princeton university, but one would've thought that you his reaction to raise almost unpredicted. and very, very harsh. coming after a president who had entertained booker t. washington, here comes this intellectual who literally r

in general and i did get this letter from him and which he asked me to write the biography of andrew johnson for the american president series, which is a very nice series, a very short and concise book about american presidents, and they get people who actually fit, someone like george did, thomas jefferson of course is the great jefferson scholar but garrey did a book, george mcgovern did lincoln - get so the sort of mix of historians and long historians looking at the presidency is telling the basic story, but also giving your own sort of individuals been, and he asked me to do the johnson book and i guess that he figured i would put my individuals been on it. i agreed to it because arthur asked me and i had great respect for him. i knew him from the papers of thomas jefferson and we were both on the advisory committee for that. and also because paul was the editor who's also the general series editor for the

the other interesting thing about andrew johnson, robert e. e, the famous southern general, said that he was surprised johnson didn't push harder for free concern equality for the freed slaves because he felt the south would have understood when we lost the war -- >> host: they don't understand that yet. >> guest: yeah. but this is what robert e. lee thought, and that's true. there is still that dynamic there. but johnson was afraid that the southern states would cause him a lot of problems with his other programs and, of course, he had a lot of problems with impeachment. he was impeached himself, so there was a whole other dynamic with him. but the fear of what the south might be has been very common in our history right from the beginning. >> host: one of the presidents that really surprised me and not surprised because you know the history but, of course, was woodrow wilson. he was an intellectual, he had been the president of princeton university, so one would have thought he would have had good sense, but his reaction to race was almost un

generally, are the one who came before lincoln, buchanan, and the one who came after lincoln, andrew johnson. now, i personally have a stake in this. i'm going to get to your question in a second. i have a way of rambling around and then getting to the question. you know, i think andrew johnson was probably the worst president in american history, the map who succeeded lincoln. johnson lacked every quality that i mentioned in lincoln. he had no open mindedness, he was not willing to listen to criticism, he had no sense of public opinion in the north, he was sub born, he was deeply -- stubborn, he was deeply, unchangeably racist, and he was unwilling to work with congress. he took a position, stuck to it. if people didn't like it, tough luck, i'm not listening to you. he surrounded himself with yemen. lincoln was willing to -- yes men. every quality of greatness lincoln had, johnson racked. so it's not just the crisis that creates greatness, the person has to have the capacity in them to rise to greatness which lincoln had and johnson lacked. johnson, in the old days when a more racist view o

i and even at that you're in a grip yeah i'm here is the only impeachment i have and that was andrew johnson in eight hundred sixty eight i'm not quite that old but the fact is even with regard to the watergate crisis and nixon it took months before the public was able to realize the danger of a president who says if i do it it's legal and it will take that long as my judgment is there with regard to the crystal ization of opposition to president obama now i have been on many radio shows and television shows and i'm up at congress i'm not going to identify the members just because it's their privacy they like the liberation without being flashed on the on the scene if you will before we have actually an official introduction and i disagree with their if they're thinking that the president should be impeached i want to hear about that it's not their privacy this is a public matter it is they were likely to say i stand there think i'm going to force in the first round of time i want to thank you very much for joining us and you know i think it's definitely something that needs to be discussed

and i did get this letter from him in which he asked me to write the biography of andrew johnson for the american president series which is a very nice series, a very short concise books about american presidents and they get people sort of -- oftentimes get somebody like thomas jefferson like joyce appleby did and george mcgovern lincoln, i think, and there's a mix of historians and nonhistorians looking at these presidencies, telling the basic story, but also giving your own sort of individual spin on it. and he asked me to do this -- do the johnson book and i guess he figured i would put my individual spin on it. i also -- i agreed to do it because arthur asked me to do it and i had great respect of him and i knew him of the papers of the thomas jefferson and we were both on the advisory committee and paul gottieb was the editor on the book, "vernon can read" which is two friends when friends ask you to do things. who asked me to do this and i said, sure, i put aside my misgivings. i knew it's a fascinating topic. there's so much material, very, very rich, but i wondered if i woul

her book on andrew johnson is part of time's book on the american president series. visit americanpresident whoseries.com. >> next on booktv, the daughter of former house speaker newt gingrich discusses her book the essential american, the most significant documents and speeches in the history of america. this is about 40 minutes. .. >> somewhere else either in the library of congress and in the capitol building but really this is where i spent a lot of my time growing up so for me it's the particular thrill to be back house. thank you very much for having me here. it's really quite an honor. where i am i'll give a little bit background where i am -- kind of my personal background and my journey through the book and why i think particularly at this point in our notion's history, why this book and why our founding documents in the history of our nation are so very important because we really are, i think, a really very important crossroads of the gun and i think we're going to have to figure out in the end who are we as a country? what do we believe in and that's goin

and andrew johnson. we love andrew johnson and those like that.but if he -- if he did not run for re-election, he would have a lot of accomplishments. he would have a goodor. if he runs for re-election he might get into difficulty. but i think -- the guy -- i can't believe this guy. he's so cool. i mean, i don't know where he gets his inspiration from, maybe his mom, you know, or -- you know, that midwestern thing. maybe there's something to that, this midwestern, you know, vision of the world. i don't know where he gets it from. but -- but i think he's inspired a lot of people. he inspired young black people, i think. and i think that's -- they can look at him and not be deceived by the images that they give us every day, athletes fighting outside of strip clubs. i look at aol and yahoo! news every day. it's about some athlete fighting outside of a strip club or crime. one thing about california, though, we get a night off, they do hispanics crime. so i say, wow, tonight this is our night off. they're not doing us tonight. they're doing hispanics

. >> tonight on c-span2, it's booktv, and then andrew johnson and later author and columnist discusseshis book and that gets underway at 8:30 p.m. eastern right after the communicators. his books include private rights and public illusions, the promise of liberty, and the man without a hobby, and he'll take your calls, e-mails, and tweets live sunday, may 1, noon eastern on c-span2's book tv. >> in may of 1961, president kennedy announced his decision to send men to the moon in the next decade. next, the american association for the advancement of science hosts a look back at the history of the moon shot as well as the legacy of jfk's decision. this is just over 90 minutes. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> okay. good afternoon. i'm alber teich, senior policy adviser here at aaas, the american association for the advancement of science, and behalf of aaas and the washington policy alliance and its participating organizations, i'd like to welcome you here to this afternoon's symposium, and i'll also do the usual thing of asking you to pleas

then at 9:30 eastern pulitzer prize-winning author annette gordon-reed on andrew johnson. she recounts the president's reluctance to provide civil rights to recently-freed slaves and his lack of leadership. later, columnist eric alterman talks about his book, kabuki democracy in this which he con tends president obama has been unable to deliver on many of his campaign promises. that begins at 10:30 p.m. eastern. booktv in prime time all week here on c-span2. >> may 1st in, in depth, your questions for tibor machan. his books include private rights and public illusions, the promise of liberty, and the man without a hobby. and he'll take your calls, e-mails and tweets live sunday, may 1st, at noon eastern on c-span2's booktv. >> now, author and political commentator ann coulter and americans for tax reform president grover norquist. they talk about the afghanistan war and u.s. policy toward libya and the middle east. this event was part of a series of discussions hosted by the afghanistan study group. from the carnegie endowment for international peace in washington, this is

we will see our astronauts, mark kelly, gregory johnson, michael fincke, greg chamitoff, andrew feustel, and italian astronaut roberto vittori. we expect to be going up into the room a few minutes from now. after the astronauts touched down on tuesday, since then, commander mark kelly and gregory johnson have been honing their landing skills. they did a final inspection of space shuttle endeavour. they had a fit check for the suits they are donning right now. they receive some briefing on the payloads. they have been watching the updates come in to the weather forecast. they always have a final medical exam. yesterday, they did a final review of their flight plan and packed their associated flight data files before they were stowed aboard along with their personal effects last night. 23 minutes 50 seconds remaining in the hold. we're standing by for live video from the astronaut quarters. at t-minus 3 hours and holding, this is shuttle launch control. this is shuttle launch control, t-minus 3 hours and holding. we are seeing the final inspection team on the mobile launch platform, havin

andrew lutz returning to quarterback big things are expected of the stanford football team this season. after leading the cardinals to a 12-1 record he figures to be the favorite for the heisman. steve johnsonphone taylor led the team with more than a thousand yards rushing last season. here he finds his way into the endzone. he looked to be in mid season form and found wits tight end for a pair of touchdowns. he is a junior. the cardinals went on to crush the whites 45-3. >> you know, and this is great and lots of great players stepped up to the challenge today. >> there was a lot of personalities, a lot of leaders, a lot of great players that have gop on an gone on any will do great things in the nfl and the business world. we play football at a high level. >> we play with the same kind of minds that we did last year, the same that we believe in. >> we make sure that our edge to kind of play nasty out there. >> it is now official, women's basketball coach jo ann boyle is leaving for the university of virginia. they have called a news conference for monday. that is bad news for the bears. >>> thank you, rick. coming up, we will take you to the northern california cherry blossom festival. s