, ill.. >> caller: i am honored to ask david mccullough question. why did president adams, who had been a great attorney, fair and reasonable man, ever sign the sedition act, and why was that act enforced during his presidency so vigorously against the supporters of thomas jefferson, many of whom were imprisoned for criticizing john adams and his administration? >> guest: the signing of the sedition act was a grievous mistake on the part of president adams but he himself never got involved with it. in never realized though he said so it was apparent from his actions that this was a mistake. he had nothing to do with it once it was passed. yes, it was wrong, the american faith as it were, but if you look at how relatively few people were in fact imprisoned it was a mild mistake rather than a mistake of great consequence. i don't know president who didn't make a mistake in office. it is a shame when they do but then again, history is about human beings. history is human. >> host: another text from the indianapolis area. which president had the most co

i can't believe i'm getting in on david mccullough the wright brothers and not you. i have watched book review every saturday and sunday. i am in a nursing home. anyway, i want to tell you about my husband went to mount pleasant because he was having trouble and when he came home he sat in his leather chair and told me he had cancer. i sat on the chair, we held one another and cried. we had a beautiful story of life for us. i was 62 when when he died, and he was 67. so we miss him greatly and he was a wonderful man. so that is what i wanted to say about that. i will certainly be reading your book. i appreciate your life, like i did my husband. an example example for other people, i think, they tell me that. so that's what i have to say. i'm actually in a nursing home. host: how old are you now mary? >> caller: , i am now 78 years old. guest: repeat the essence of what she needs for me to answer. host: i think she was sharing her story the fact that her husband came home from mayo, sat down told her that he had cancer and they cried and had a beautiful life together.

desaulnier: we had a great moment with david mccullough, who i just love. he was talking about the wright brothers. he has written so many great books. truman.his book on his book on john adams is a masterpiece. ugh, whatr. mccullo would you advise to us? he said, courage. he said, i think members should be willing to vote on difficult issues that they know are in the best interest of the country, but may not get them reelected. that is a pretty's is synced observation -- sis inked observation -- susinct observation of where we are at right now. that is across the board to a degree. as a former republican, i think it is very true for the republican party, particularly the extremists who are not ideological, in my view, they are just interested in their own self-interest and whatever their view is. >> we heard that earlier this year when speaker boehner announced he was stepping down as speaker of the house. why have we reached this polarization point? rep. desaulnier: you know, we have been through these kinds of swings before. i just think we are in one of

we have david mccullough here's a we should ask him since he wrote a book on truman. [laughter] in then to be living in a different world. and that is the reason why he fights so much over elections because one leader does one thing another dozen other there is only one george washington one abraham lincoln and. chairman laid out the architecture of the cold war. if it was wallace it isn't clear that would not have happened and. it shows how important individual leaders are. >> with that post diplomat bringing word jew washington with the news of the death camps. >> and he was a polish official as part of the underground but the one who escaped was a 19 year-old and this is worthy of a hollywood movie and we're talking about it now. but he had a phenomenal memory, a phenomenal health like a cat with nine knives everybody else had withered away somehow he prevailed enough to escape from this camp in though watchtowers. smelling dogs, of the gestapo, now he infiltrated a satellite kiev it was pulled over like nothing ever witnessed people stomping along like lublin skel

charlie: david mccullough, who knows something about history, quote the more time passes, the more dusttles, the clearer it becomes. deserves more attention and appreciation. now comes destiny and power. fair,am's altogether insightful biography of the 41st president -- a portrait made especially compelling by the author's remarkable access to bush's private white house diaries. his is a timely, first-rate book. ♪ charlie: hannah rothschild is here. she recently became the first female chair of the board of the national gallery in london. her debut novel is called the improbability of love. it features a talking painting. i am pleased to have hannah rothschild of the table. welcome. hannah: thank you. she writes about a familiar word. where is the photograph taken? thath: that was a house belonged to prince william and prince harry. we rescued it. the cherry on the cake. i'm not talking about myself. charlie: you and your father are great friends of mine. did he introduce you as a young girl to the joy of art? hannah: very much so. if i wanted to see him, i had to go to museums. they we

charlie: david mccullough, who knows something about history, the more time passes, the more dust settlese clearer it becomes. george h.w. bush and the strength of character he brought to his service of his country deserves more attention and appreciation. now comes destiny and power. jon meacham's altogether fair, insightful biography of the 41st president, a portrait made especially compelling by the author's remarkable access to bush's private white house diaries. this is a timely, first-rate book. thank you. back in a moment. ♪ charlie: hannah rothschild is here. she is a writer, documentarian, and philanthropist. she recently became the first female chair of the board of the national gallery in london. her debut novel is called the improbability of love. it explores the london art scene and it features a talking painting. i am pleased to have hannah rothschild of the table. welcome. hannah: thank you. novel, hannahnew rothschild writes about a familiar world. where is the photograph taken? hannah: that was a house that belonged to earl spencer and prince william and prince harry. we

desaulnier: we had a great moment with david mccullough, who i just love. he was talking about the wright brothers. he has written so many great books. "1776," his book on truman. his book on john adams is a masterpiece. i asked mr. mccullough, what would you advise to us? he said, courage. he said, i think members should be willing to vote on difficult issues that they know are in the best interest of the country, but may not get them reelected. that is a pretty susinct observation of where we are at right now. members are so interested in their own careers and that is across the board to a degree. as a former republican, i think it is very true for the republican party, particularly the extremists who are not ideological, in my view, they are just interested in their own self-interest and whatever their view of thei heroic role is here. >> we heard that earlier this year when speaker boehner announced he was stepping down as speaker of the house. why have we reached this polarization point? rep. desaulnier: you know, we have been through these kinds of sw

. >> rose: david mccullough who knows something about history, quote, the more time passes the more the dust settles, the clearer it becomes, george h.w. bush and the strength of character he brought to his long service to his country deserves more attention and appreciation and now comes destiny and power, jon meacham's altogether fair, insightful biography of the 41st president, made especially compelling by the author's remarkable access to bush's private white house diaries. this is a timely first-rate book. thank you. back in a moment. stay with us. >> rose: and a the hannah rothschild is here. she is a writer, documentarian and a philanthropist she recently became the first female chair of the board at the national gallery in london. her debut novel is called "the improbability of love". it explores the london art scene and european history, also features a talking painting. the times of london said she captures the contradiction between art as money and art as the soul of humanity. i am pleased to have hannah rothschild at this table. welcome. >> thank you. >> rose: good to have

thought of as perhaps one of the greatest presidents, largely to revision and largely due to david mccullough consequently, there was some discussion within bush circles that, well, long-term history will prove us out. look at truman as an example. and i'm curious what the panel thinks of not only the thought that bush's lek city will e -- legacy will evolve over time, but what do you think, ultimately, it will land upon? >> i think that bush's legacy will evolve. i think that -- what did he leave at, 19% approval rating? it's gone up now a little bit. that what -- time heals all wounds, to some extent. and the bush legacy really is the war in iraq. so the question is, and i don't see that changing right now, has the war in iraq, have we as a society moved past the war in iraq. and i don't think we have. and i think the bush legacy, as much as i talk about the faith-based initiatives and we talk about some of the other things that happened in the bush administration, george w. bush, the only thing that people remember about george w. bush is the war in iraq. so if that, if the middle east and

david: doris kearns goodwin did a book on taft and roosevelt. we just did mccullough, the wright brothers, previously on john adams. we have had a lot of great scholars talk about the presidential figures who were great americans and we will do more of this. liz: let me ask you a question specific to private equity. there is a school of thought that the golden age is over and this concept of dry powder is so abundant. talk about the difficulty of making successful investments in this era. david: there is a lot of money, the returns of an good, investors see that there is nothing better than private equity overall, so that' s why there is a fair amount of money. in the old days investors might want 25% annualized rate return. that' s very good. today if you can get 16%, that' s great too. expectations have come down, that' s probably good, fueling the money coming in, they are happier with lower returns. we have had high stock prices for a long time now. until there is a market correction it probably won' t be the case it you can buy that many things. prices are very h

mccullough. brussels under lockdown for a third day in a row. the city's transportation system, schools and museums remaining close today. davidstern countries in the effort to defeat isis. pfizer/allergan, agreed to merge in 150 billion-dollar deal. the largest of the year. pfizer the tenth largest american company wanting better tax rates, move headquarters to ireland. futures indicating weakness this morning. we do have the dow jones industrial about 30 points today. gdp out this week and holiday short week with thanksgiving on thursday. in europe. take a look. down about 3 quarters of a percent in paris and dax index in germany third of a percent. but the data out of france show it is economy there continues to slow sinister ris attacks. in asia, nikkei close for holiday, but you did have weakness in the shanghai and kospi was up.