he was here for his biographies of kissinger, benjamin franklin and eleanor weinstein -- elbra neinstein to read in the past he has been the chairman and ceo of cnn and the managing editor of time, and then i just actually read this this afternoon. in november this past month a couple of weeks ago he was nominated by president obama to be the chairman of the broadcasting board of governors and that is a body that runs the place of america, radio free europe and other international broadcasts run by our government. what i felt was a really engaging introduction to american sketches walter isaacson shares the dr. she has had since his youth in new orleans to become a great writer. he was in a place he was soaking up the atmosphere of tennessee williams and william faulkner but he was also a very good friend of walter percy for many years until walter percy's death. before he went off to be a rhodes scholar the summer before, he was still on his great writer mission and offered a job as a summer intern by "the washington post" and he turned it down. he turned it down to become a stevedore o

understand in one aspect that she lost her own son named frankie therefore took a dislike to benjamin franklin illegitimate son william who was born before they married. there is a lot to say about franklin's women but in terms of his place as a founding father, where does he fit 10? >> as i see it and other historians may not agree but he is second only to washington to really create the nation even before the revolution gave americans a sense of themselves as a people. but his achievements in france and became the ambassador over there, without the 80 procure from the french, the revolution would have collapsed within another year because congress was just printing money hoping for the best and pretty soon the money was worth less. they printed $200 million worth of paper money. the price -- price of a horse before was $200 and then the same horse cost $20,000 the revolution would have collapsed without that help but at the same time, unlike washington somewhat similar but he had someone accusing him of being a playboy a while he was ambassador to france that washington never had to cope wit

. >> host: very different situation and the case with benjamin franklin. these are at opposite ends washington and franklin where we might question the story of whether washington was a lady's man and there's a lot in the book i don't think we have a lot of time to go into but there was a lot of questioning as to whether he faltered this one or that one. >> guest: can i just say you know this i have a chapter i tell a sally fairfax started and i have a chapter called the other george washington scandals and there are so many of these people wanted to believe these stories about washington street through the revolution long after he was dead. >> host: but you don't find proof of this. >> guest: it is amazing how many people believe them. there were papers in the midwest in the 1870's who were printing statements for people saying yes she was the father of thomas posey, the son of another neighbor of mount vernon and so forth so why? thomas was 6 feet two and was a soldier in the revolution and people take the argument from resemblance as the weakest argument

his name was frankie and therefore took a dislike to benjamin franklin's illegitimate son, william, who had been born before they married. so she really -- but now, there's a lot to say about franklin's women. but in terms of his place as a founding father, where does he fit in? where does his -- >> guest: as i see it and other historians may not agree with it. he's second only to washington and really created the nation. even before the revolution give americans a sense of themselves as a people. but his achievements and france in late 1776, when he became the ambassador, without the aid that he procured from the french, the revolution would've collapsed within another year. there's no doubt about it because congress was just printing money. and hoping for the best coming in now, and pretty soon this money was worthless. they printed $200 million worth of paper money. and the price of a horse, which was $200 before the revolution, by the 1780's, the same horse cost $20,000. and so, you know, the revolution would've collapsed. but at the same time, i like washington, somewhat similar to

was the very different situation than the case with benjamin franklin. these are at opposite ends, washington and franklin where we might question the story of whether washington was a lady's man and there's a lot in the book about that that i don't think we have a lot of time to go into, but there was a lot of questioning about whether he fathered this one or that one. >> guest: can i just -- your note this of course i have a chapter -- i tell a fairfax story but then i have a chapter called the author george washington scandals. and there's so many of these. people wanted to believe these stories about washington right straight through the revolution and long after he was dead. >> host: but you don't find proof of this. >> guest: they don't stand up to the historical examination but it's amazing how many people believe them. there were papers in the midwest in the 1870's who were printing statements from people saying yes, he was the father of thomas posey, the neighbor, the son of another neighbor at mount vernon and so forth and so on. why? thomas pos

there is a wonderful -- benjamin franklin's last piece, some of you may know this, he wrote in march of 1790, he had signed a petition that went to the congress asking for the abolition of slavery. congressman jackson gave an impassioned speech about how this would be impossible, it is so hot here. we brought christianity to them and he went on in this vein. the last hoax ever written for a newspaper by franklin was imagine one of these arab leaders in coming out of tunisia or something and writing a piece saying why they had to enslave these white sailors because they needed them. they were much better workers than the mediterranean people and we are bringing islam to these souls. it is just a wonderful -- last thing he ever did. it was perfect for expression of franklin's irony and humor. yes, sir? >> is it fair to say the bitter partisanship we face today in the political world we live in is a logical extension of the hamiltonian, jeffersonian cleavage? is that too sweeping? >> there are some elements in that. i don't think the partisanship today is comparable to what was back the

tank in washington and has written biographies of two creative geniuses: albert einstein and benjamin franklin >> you see at the founding of our republic you've seen that great industrial revolution where people were inventing the telephone, the telegraph, the light bulb and everything else, the phone owegraph. you've seen the push that came because of the internet and the digital revolution. now we're looking for what is going to be the engine or the driver of the new creativity. >> reporter: the challenge for the u.s. now, how to keep up that momentum. >> you can kind of feel it in our society that there's no new burst of innovation or imagination happening. >> reporter: is it an attitudinal thing? are we too greedy? >> i think one problem we've had is that people who are smart and creative and innovative as engineers went into financial engineering. they decided to go to wall street with the great derivatives and hedge fund. didn't really help our economy and i think may have hurt the economy. >> reporter: they were creative. >> they were very creative. when the fpk sector sucks up all of y

and then second to see it was benjamin franklin and benjamin franklin made more changes, the editor and publisher that he was, and then that was brought to the body and they debated and they came up with this -- the final declaration. and after they had come together they signed it. the last part of john adams' letter to his wife, abigail, was this, his words, i'm apt to believe that it, the signing of the declaration, would be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. we call it july fourth, independence day. it ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverans by solemn acts of devotion to god almighty. john adams wrote, it ought to be sol omized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, of course we use fireworks instead of guns, bells, bondfires, illume nation from one end of this con -- i lule nation from one end of this continent to the other from this time forever more. then he went on very seriously, would you think me transported with enthusiasm but i am not. i am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure that it will cost us to ma

had a kind of deepening of his capital by studying benjamin mays who had been working on elegance and passion, gardner, sandy ray and aretha franklin's father had an exodus and daddy king spent a month with his rifle who had gone to a white seminary and king was attracted to workers. workers was the man who write the sermon on am somebody that jesse jackson and ripped off from king because he watched every single thing that he did for about three years saying how do you do this. if you can't run, fly. that's like king in birmingham. all of those things. so, daddy king did have this prophetic exodus come at that, and he and borders to the full month of preaching on the liberation in polls of exodus and as many people would say, that is the central narrative in african-american religion. so daddy king had that and had been involved in the double ecp. with the refinement and some of this other stuff, that is king elaborating it through the crossover artists who are his models, benjamin mays, were tied johnson, howard thurman and howard thurman king king sample his story of what happened at india to tell the story of what happened when k