america's great historian david mccollough. but i'm also very, very happy to introduce his wife rosalie. because i said to david, is rosalie coming to the lecture, and he said, i can't go anywhere without adult supervision. rosalie is awesome. rosalie is to david what abigail adams was to john adams. she's the fabulous -- [ applause ] it's true. she's the fabulous indispensable life partner. she's not only beautiful inside and out. but she told me last night when she met david mccollough, she was only 17, and the first time they went to a coming out party together, they danced until 7:00 in the morning. and she said when she took her heels off to go to bed, her feet her so much she had to put the heels back on in order to sleep because her feet were bent in that shape. they care deeply about each other and each other's well being. and they take advice from each other. and she told me that she often reads david's books to him because he likes to listen to his words and see where he might be boring. when you google david mccolloug

history sounds like david mccollough. so let's start our question and answer. i want to discharge something joseph ellis who started the program and was our first speaker said to me you have to ask david this question. i said, of course. he would like to know if you mr. mccollough would like to tell the audience is there a secret affair with abigail? >> who has he been talking to? i feel very strongly that if i can -- if i were to bring to light, bring down stage, that medal of recognition, people who deserve that now at the time who haven't gotten it, then i'm fulfilling a need that is important. it's one of the reasons i wanted to write about harry truman. it took a great deal of courage. i felt the same way about john adams. i felt the same way about emily robely, the wife of washington robely, the builder of the griffon bridge. and when he contracted the bridge and put out of commission fairly early in the project, she took over and never got sufficient credit for it. and she was a brilliant, brave, and impressive person. i felt the same way about catherine

david mccollough talks about how the founders valued education. >> they worked hard every day from childhood on. but because he got a scholarship to this little college in cambridge called harvard, he became the john adams who helped change the world. >> for our complete schedule, go to c-span.org. >>> this week during the july 4th recess in prime time on c-span, tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern, a debate on technology and privacy and whether tech companies should be required to disclose customer data. >> some suggest that we ought to build a back door in order to allow law enforcement access to data. the problem with that you cannot build a back door that works only for the u.s. government, good guys or other people with good motives. if you build it for them, the encryption will be weakened for everyone. >> wednesday at 8:00 p.m. eastern arizona supreme court justice clint bolick. >> the most important and enduring decision a president will ever make is who to ap point to the united states supreme court and the judiciary. >> thursday at 8:00 p.m. earn x hillary clinton talking about women in p

. >> next on american history tv, pulitzer-prize winning historian david mccollough talks about how the founders particularly john adams valued education, viewed slavery and persevered in the face of hardship. mr. mccollough then discusses how these ideals then shaped american society. following his talk, he sits down to discuss why he thinks studying history is important. what his writing process is like. and how he started writing books. he also previews his upcoming book about the pioneers of the northwest territory. this event was part of the series of the founding fathers hosted by the society of fine arts in palm beach, florida. >> wow, it's great to see it fill like this. and thank you, all. good morning. and i'm really happy that there are students here today from cardinal lumin and also from palm beach atlantic university. ultimately the people i want to reach most are the children and grandchildren of all the people in this room. but today i'm introducing a dear ie

and that was really the story of 1776, that campaign that was documented so well in david mccollough's book that were just fighting and really a dozen actions from manhattan, being driven and washington's army is in full reteat by december of 1776. and these are some we pulled together that illustrate the american forces that were fighting in 1776. so this portrait is by relatively unknown at the time or very famous today is charles wilson peel. and peele has been born in maryland and was part of a large family. he was orphaned relatively young, apprenticed as a saddle maker but showed promise as a participator and received patronage of some wealthier, more influential people in maryland. and eventually in the 1770s had painted george washington and was starting to get a good reputation of a very good painter. so this is a portrait of philadelphia flower, and he's depicted in his uniform as an officer of the continental army. he was one of the volunteers of the militia that lived in philadelphia and really marched to washington's assistance as his army was starting to fall apart after