could you discuss general curtis lemay's program? >> that's a great question, and i do go deep in this book because -- so the question was about general curtis lemay's fire bombing, fire bombings. one of my favorite parts of my research was going through lemay's papers and finding these documents where he's talking about -- prior to them happening -- very deliberate documents of instructing pilots how to drop these canisters of these fire bombs so that the fires set by all of the canisters would join. and so the pilots were told how much acreage each bomb could burn so that all of the bombs would join and burn tokyo to the ground. and there were fire bombings on the -- >> [inaudible] >> right. so at the beginning it was the 9th and 10th of march, and then i think on the 19th of march, i think. and then they ran out of fire bombs. and it so happened that the day truman became president, lemay had a new stock of fire bombs, and we dropped them. so as he was taking the presidential oath, tokyo's on fire. that happens in chapter one. and

>> curtis lemay. >> why? >> i think curtis lemay is the architect of these firebombings of cities, and he, to me, faces, in a way -- how do i say this? the struggle between good and evil more than any figure i have come across. he makes the decision to fire bomb the cities without approval from anyone. >> at low level. >> and he knows women and children will die. but the reason he does it is because he thinks it will win the war and save american lives. >> how concerned were you when you took on this subject that you're up against a tremendous amount of people who have written about harry truman? >> that's a great question. when i began, i dedicated the book to my father. when i called him, he is a truman fan, he has had a portrait for years. he said, you can't write a book about truman. maculla! he is one of the great presidential biographers ever. this is a very different book, exploring different topics, putting a lens on four months. half the book is about truman, half is about all that happened. i though

.: curtis lemay. brian: why?hink curtis lemay -- he is the architect of these firebombings of cities that kill all of the civilians, and he to me faces, in a way, how do i say this? he embodies the struggle between good and evil more than any figure i have come across in my life. because he makes the decision to fire bomb the cities, without approval from anyone. brian: and at low level. a.j.: at a low level. he knows women and children are going to die. but the reason he does this is he thinks that this will win the war and save american lives. brian: how concerned were you when you took on this subject that you're up against a tremendous number of people who have written about harry truman? a.j.: that's a great question. the book is dedicated to my father. when i called him, he is this truman fan. he has had a truman portrait on his office wall for 45 years. he said, you cannot write a book about truman. i said why not? "mccullough." of course that is one of the great biographies. book.s a very different it's p

>> curtis lemay. >> why?think curtis lemay is the architect of these firebombings me,ities, and he, to faces, in a way -- how do i say this? he embodies the struggle between good and evil more than any figure i have come across. he makes the decision to fire bomb the cities without approval from anyone. >> at low level. >> and he knows women and children will die. but the reason he does it is because he thinks it will win the war and save american lives. >> how concerned were you when you took on this subject that you're up against a tremendous amount of people who have written about harry truman? >> that's a great question. when i began, i dedicated the book to my father. when i called him, he is a truman fan, he has had a portrait for years. he said, you can't write a book about truman. maculla! he is one of the great presidential biographers ever. this is a very different book, exploring different topics, putting a lens on four months. half the book is about truman, half is about all that happened. off.ugh