since bob strauss' heyday. and i think, you know, some of us who have lived through that era and are living through now kind of shake our heads and say, you know, is there something missing these days? maybe a lot. so i really am delighted to welcome a first-time author, katherine mcgarr. she will tell us the story of how this biography came to be and a lot more about her famous great uncle. so thank you so much for being here. please, join me in welcoming katherine. [applause] >> thank you very much, lissa. for having me and everyone at politics & prose and c-span, and thank you all for being here because i know it's a miserable night out, and i really appreciate it. um, so lissa and i were talking about how do you write a book about your famous great uncle and remain in the family and, also, write an accurate book? and the way i tried to get around that was doing a lot of research, especially at presidential libraries and at national archives because the uncle bob, as we call him in my family, that i knew gro

since bob strauss' payday. i think some of us who have lived through that era and are living through it now shake our heads and say isn't there something missing these days and maybe a lot. i really am delighted to welcome a first-time author, kathryn mcgarr. she will tell us a story of how the biography came to be and a lot or about her famous great uncles of thank you so much for being here and please join me in welcoming catherine. [applause] >> thank you very much. everyone of at politics and prose and c-span thank you for being here on this miserable might out and i really appreciate it. we were talking about how do you write a book about your famous great uncle and remain in the family and also write an accurate book and the way i tried to get around that was doing a lot of research, especially at residential libraries and national archives because the uncle bob as we called him in and the family that i knew growing up was very different from the man in the book. people asked me all the time, what surpris

who was the mayor then, a wonderful fellow, a christian, good friend of bob strauss. >> host: where'sious nationalism? >> guest: where's the moral authority of the catholic church there? i don't disagree with you. they ought to stand up for the palestinian, christians, but, ralph, look, look at all the christians. there's 17 million christians in that part of the world. i will say this, if it's in israel, they are not persecuted there like in egypt or callet licks are in iraq. they are victims of perse -- persecution, and one guy converted to christianity, and they sentenced him to death. >> host: demons have been released because for centuries, the whole arab-islamic world was a paragon of tolerance for religious -- >> guest: under the at mon empire? >> host: they prided themselves on it, but when the west moved in, divide and rule, you support one muslim sect against another, they engage in a furry, and then they turn on other -- >> guest: got a problem with the british empire, ralph? >> host: a little bit. this is what happens. >> guest: i don't disagree. >> host: invaders destroy

he was a christian and good friend of bob strauss. >> where is the religious nationalism?their skin, but by the content of their character. americans still believe we are all equal in rights not because of where we came from, but because of who we are as americans. so why to you go overboard with this who's white who's not white? do you think justice sotomayor is not white? she looks white to me. >> she's a puerto rican lady. >> yeah. >> let me tell you what i see as the problem. there's no doubt as i've said many times before, anybody can be a good american. i think any group can be asimilar assimilated. the enormous numbers of people who have come into this country, never been -- >> well, that was two years ago. 1912 -- >> okay, but now we get the second. >> okay. >> the process of the melting p pot, the parochial schools, the fact we rooted for the same team, all these things the melting pot people are told keep your own faith don't assimilate, be similar the sunni versus the shia, the curds versusñx the arabs, they're all coming apart.>h the uighurs versus the chinese.

we had bob strauss and colon powell and henry kissinger. i don't know who else. we had don rumsfeld. we h fun. we tried to give them good advice and i guess we thought we d because i went on the board of one of his companies, the golf stream company and again we accomplished a lot. and we had a good time doing it. that was an interesting acquisition on the part of forstmann little. what teddy realized with a he bought a great airplane and a manufacturing capacity. no sales force, no real organization. and after a little sputtering start he decided to make himself the chf executive. and boy did he do a job. he really worked at it and the company turned out to be a very successful investment from his standpoint. as we all know who had a chance to ride on the government stream now and then. it's a great airplane. >> charlie: what do you think he was most proud of? >> probably the k-12 scholship fund. i might sayalso though, put on these annual conferencesn aspen and you've been the person chairing or moderating the sessions. i've been to practically all of them. and

a good friend of bob strauss. look, i don't agree -- >> host: what is the religious nationalism?s is all that liberal a society that's going to emerge out of any of these places. but could one of the fact is ralph, is his writing militancy of islam. let me say this. i think in looking at europe as a decadent and i'm gonna come and get exactly right. the europeans the europeans can provide enough service workers>h>h to take care of aging shrinking>h time populations.>h>h>h>h and i think the folks are going to be moving across the mediterranean into europe. >> host: there's been a huge backlash against colonialism. look at iraq.>h>h>h>h>h>h you don't think u.s. military is>h>h>h>h>h>h going to defeat the taliban? >> guest: know. i think he will end very badly but i think the talibans will be coming back to power. >> host: general mcchrystal was quoted as saying 30,000 people in santos.>h>h>h>h>h>h>h>h >> guest: the colonists took care of the brits. >> host: it's very hard to see any resistance from foreign>h>h>h>h>h>h>h invaders. >> guest: they live there and they're going to stay