as a grateful reader, i thank you and i think david mccullough . i am only sorry i didn't say it sooner. [applause] david: good morning and welcome to the history of biography state at the national book festival. the theme of this year's book festival, books brings us gather , let me say how wonderful it is to see you all here together in person for the first time since we gather here last in 2019. [applause] we are

the first award is given to david mccullough. ig award and comes with honorarium and so david got the award. should there in front of several hundreds of thousands of people. he did not talk about himself. he talked about his wife, rosalie who sadly passed away about two months before david did. his wife of the 67 years i think it was had a unique style with david. what david is due as he was write the books. who would write the paragraph and rosalie were to read it. he greeted back to make sure read well and sounded well. that is how they did all those books ready write a couple paragraphs, she'd read it back to him they go back and forth retold a store that night when he talked only about his wife. talked about time is writing a book which later won the pulitzer prize i think is the book on jon adams. he wrote a paragraph and rosalie read it back to him. and he said it sounds okay she said no, this one sentence is not really work. he said read it again. she read it again, that's okay. no, it really doesn't work that sentence is

of intellect of what it takes to write the book sadly many don't read books anymore so on was david mccullough. and extraordinary individual and he wrote two books on a pulitzer prize and the personification of a great historian and a a great writer and he had the white hair, a great voice and came to many times and did a lot of his research here in the dialogueer we have where we talked about american history and interview historians interviewed him on other occasions in the me tell you one story jackie help put together an effort to raise money for the great american prairie and the first award was given to david mccullough. and then was several hundreded thousand people and got there he talked about his wife rosalie who said the passed away two months before david did and his wife had a unique style. he would write a paragraph to make sure he not only read s well but sounded well. and then write a couple of paragraphs she would read it back and then go back-and-forth talking about his wife that he was writing a book that won the pulitzer prize. and then to say that it doesn't really work. r

as a grateful reader, i thank you and i think david mccullough . i am only sorry i didn't say it sooner. [applause] >> that was historian candace mo illard. david maraniss will be talking about his most recent book about jim thorpe. this is live coverage of the national book festival on tv. >> just a small housekeeping note for those who are interested, there are restaurants in drinking fountains around the corner from the pavilion and if you need to use those during the author presentations, we ask that you do so by quietly departing. we also want to notify you that this event will be recorded and your entrance constitute your consent to be filmed or otherwise recorded. thank you and enjoy the program. [applause] david: good morning and welcome to the history of biography state at the national book festival. the theme of this year's book festival, books brings us gather , let me say how wonderful it is to see you all here together in person for the first time since we gather here last in 2019. [applause] we are thrilled that c-span's book tv viewer

as a grateful reader, i thank you and i think david mccullough . i am only sorry i didn't say it sooner. [applause] david: good morning and welcome to the history of biography state at the national book festival. the theme of this year's book festival, books brings us gather , let me say how wonderful it is to see you all here together in person for the first time since we gather here last in 2019. [applause] we are thrilled that c-span's book tv viewers are also joining us. so welcome. [applause] c-span will be here throughout the day recording the events on the stage. this stage has a long history of being one of the festivals -- festival's most popular stage and we will delve into the role women played in the civil rights movement, america's relationship with the bald eagle, and a more complete accounting of the mexican revolution, and the strange history behind the search of the source of the nile river and many other topics. you learn a lot here at the history and biography stage and we hope you will visit us at the library of congress to do re

. >>> the late historian, david mccullough, was a frequent guest on c-span with more than 70 appearances. he was also a frequent speaker at the national book festival. here's a look at some of those appearances. [applause] >> mr. mccullough is here for his sixth national book festival appearance, and we hope you will continue to make this a habit. >> ladies and gentlemen, david mccullough came into my office two days after the first national book festival to say how important it was to continue to do this kind of event nationally, and he offered to help in any way he could. >> and it was here in this library, the great library of congress, while i was employed in a government job as a young man that i first discovered the pull of history and first discovered my vocation, found out what i wanted to do. so i can never, ever express sufficiently my brat the tuesday to the library of -- my gratitude to the library of congress or to the library system overall. when you think of what we have in this country in our public library system, there's nothing like it in the world. when you walk throu

recalling something david mccullough said with john adams by that point have brought to lesser presidents with john adams to the attention of the american most successful book was being interviewed among the 20th century residents. the president really needs to be known better. so here we are march 10 rainy monday a spring and washington talking to his chief of staff don rumsfeld were in the background as a fellow by the name of john percy. john is a pulitzer prize winning novelist, journalist she's working for the "new york times" magazine and they asked ford for permission to follow him for a week during his presidency. president ford agreed to that the object was to write a lengthy story about gerald ford because they said americans are more about the president. the polling that was being done inside ford's own sense confirmed just what the magazine was asserting. they needed to be better known by the american people. he was well known in the beltway on capitol hill and his district would we go to the next slide where he had run for office in 1948. i notice the image on the left of for

take you to the oval office on march 10th, 1975, and set this up by recalling something that david mccullough said after he had published his biography on john adams. by that point, having -- lesser-known presidents, harry truman and john adams, to a fuller attention of the american public through successful books, he was being interviewed and asked by interviewers, among the 20th century presidents, which president really needs to be known better by the american public? and without hesitation, mccullough said gerald ford. so here we are, march 10th, 1975, a rainy monday spurring in washington, and gerald ford is sitting behind his oval office desk, which he has occupied for seven months by this point, talking to his chief of staff, don rumsfeld. in the background, sitting in the -- is john hershey. he has that -- a poll surprise winning novelist and journalist. he's working for the new york times magazine, and the magazine had asked permission from fort to follow him for a week during his presidency. president ford has agreed to that, the object was to write a lengthy story in the new york t

it was a tribute to the late historian david mccullough. >> i have been voting my working life to the american story for over 50 years. i am ever grateful that i somehow had the good fortune to wander into this way of life contributing what i can to the betterment of our country. i have done this on paper, and classrooms, on television. and on the stage. in every way i can to convey that history is not about boring statistics and quotations and memorizing dates. it isn't about politics and the military. history is human. it is about people. when in the course of human events, our declaration begins. >> that entire opening celebration which was last night friday night can be watched online well, here is another author discussion, the role of the essay during short talks and social media, so here are authors talking about their writing and the important of the written word. >> festival, where books bring us together. we ask you turn off or silence your cell phones. if you need to leave the room, use the doors on the left. we want to notify you that this event will be recorded, and your