david mccullough. [applause] mccullough: thank you. thank you. thank you very much. i want to thank the university first of all, for the honor of taking part in this program. this series. and thank all of you for coming

so that david mccullough can be heard in response. i want to get things under by asking david a question myself. and asking you how you go about your work, how you have accomplished writing these incredible books. mr. mccullough: i do not know. [laughter] host: that is a short answer. mr. mccullough: i have a wonderful wife. host: that is an advantage she has over me. [laughter] mr. mccullough: i say that because i do not know that i would have had the courage to have embarked when i did. on a full-time writing career. if i had not been with the complete support of my partner. now, i did not used to say this publicly. but i feel why not? i had never undertaken a subject about which i knew very much. if i knew all about the subject, i would not want to write a book about it. for me, writing a book is the adventure. it is the quest, the journey. it is an education unto itself. and no one life is a subject, it is many subjects. it is many people. it is often from the secondary characters you learn the most about your major character. so l

david mccullough. [applause] mccullough: thank you. thank you. thank you very much. i want to thank the university first of all, for the honor of taking part in this program. this series. and thank all of you for coming out on such a fabulous day. i just got here from boston. [laughter] so you know how thankful i am. one of the clearest lessons of history is that there is no such thing as a self-made man or a self-made woman. and that almost everything of value is accomplished as a joint effort. very rarely does anybody ever do anything alone. and i know that from personal experience because in my career, beginning back in the time when john kennedy was president, i have been assisted in every way professionally in my work by my editor in chief and my, the star i steer by, my wife rosalie. and i would like her to stand up and let you -- right down here. [applause] we have five children and 19 grandchildren. and she's mission control. [laughter] and secretary of the treasury. and the best dancer i have ever danced with in my life. i would like to just start with a cou

david mccullough' spoke at florida atlantic university. this is 90 minute. >> i want to take this opportunity to thank you for coming. it is wonderful to see the high school students and teachers. ask any history professor to ask what -- to tell you why he or she chose to be an historian, and i'm sure you'll hear a story about a history teacher in high school. although i did never know alan b larkin, i am aware of his legacy. look around. it is because of his love and passion for history and in particular the american presidency that we are here today. born in 1922 he was part of a generation that made a lot of history. they fought a great world war. they suffered through a cold war in which the soviets like to joke to their counterparts the future is certain. the past is unpredictable. alan's generation advanced our civil rights, and quietly instill the virtues of self-sacrifice in my generation. those who are still what is that even learned the vocabulary of their grandchildren beard they have learned words like e-mail skype, text, tweet

you saw that very well with one of my favorite books which is by david mccullough on truman.the fact that truman was such a forthright guy a bold guy, called it like it is and at the same time was able to take action decisively as president to stop world war ii by bombing japan, to create a whole structure for dealing with the cold war and containing the soviet union. this is so basic that, of course, we should look at character. and yet, again, we, when we are engaged in elections when the media talks about who's ahead, who's behind, character is pretty much ignored. another example with hillary is there was this discussion when her book came out last june is she disconnected from real people because she's well? well, that's a ridiculous proposition to begin with, you know? is bill gates disconnected from people because he's wealthy? was andrew carnegie disconnected from people, didn't care about people because he was wealthy in of course not. it's a non sequitur. but what is important is how she actually treats people, and that is that she treats them like dirt. >> host: ro

you saw that very well with one of my favorite books which is by david mccullough on truman. the fact that truman was such a forthright guy a bold guy, called it like it is and at the same time was able to take action decisively as president to stop world war ii by bombing japan, to create a whole structure for dealing with the cold war and containing the soviet union. this is so basic that, of course, we should look at character. and yet, again, we, when we are engaged in elections when the media talks about who's ahead, who's behind, character is pretty much ignored. another example with hillary is there was this discussion when her book came out last june is she disconnected from real people because she's well? well, that's a ridiculous proposition to begin with, you know? is bill gates disconnected from people because he's wealthy? was andrew carnegie disconnected from people, didn't care about people because he was wealthy in of course not. it's a non sequitur. but what is important is how she actually treats people, and that is that she treats them like dirt. >> host: r