and the real prototype for this in a lot of ways is the education of henry adams which maybe some of you guys have read. and i read it when i was in college, i went to harvard. and i hated it. i hated every minute of it. unfortunately. and what i loved about the education of henry adams was, he said i'm going to write a book about the education that mattered to me and he tax about his childhood and he said and then i spent four years at harvard which i don't need to discuss. and then went onto what the other stuff he did and i thought... this guy and i have -- share something here! so, his prototype was, i am going to look at my life and see what i learned that i actually ended up using and how i learned it. that is the basis for the book. and it goes -- star at ben franklin, and as you said, goes through elvis presley, with -- let me talk briefly about franklin, with franklin as this kind of prototype in a lot of ways, americans think of it, he talked about his self-education and franklin went to -- he was the tenth child, so he was tithed and you are supposed to become a minister i

with king the historian henry adams wrote men where not so much their friend as the ideal american they all wanted to be. but of all this, of for husbands tried kennedy and even his real name, ada had not a clue. not until he lay dying of tuberculosis in phoenix in 1901, his last desperate hope did james todd write a letter to his wife and tell her who he really was. so, that is the opening of the book. and i thought i would just stop here and talk about some of the challenges involved in trying to write a story like this. there is first of all the literary and historical challenge really of making the two principles of equal partners of this tale because of clarence king we know much and his wife, ada copeland todd we know little. we can trace the the memories of his friends, through his letters, there is published writings, through the records of the government agencies for which he served as an in administrative. his race, his social status, his education, his professional career let us know much more about king them in know about most americans born in 1842 in the basic outline of t

with king and the historian henry adams roach, men were shipped not so much as the ideal american andthey all wanted to be. this, of for husbands tried kennedy and even his real family genealogy through the memories of his friends, through his letters, his published writings, through the records of the government agencies which he served as an administrator. his race, social status, education, his professional career let us know much more about him than we know about most americans born in 1842 and the basic outline of his life as easily told. king was born in rhode port or by live in 1842 to a distinguished family the could trace its ancestry back to the back jakarta. his great-grandfather was a senator and helped establish the smithsonian institution. his grandmother was an abolitionist whose work was admired by her friend, the great frederick douglass. his father was a china trader often gone from home and john clearance scarcely knew his father died when he was a young boy. preclearance was raised by his mother a woman who had been only 16 when he was born and they were very close

in 1825, he was muscled out of the presidency by john quincy adams and henry clay, and you just don't but he accepted, he called it a corrupt bargain but he accepted it, went back and then he took his case to the people and he ran and won, and then though there was vicious campaigning, no one ever said after jackson won the presidency that he was not a legitimate holder of the office. >> they tore into his life now. >> they tore into his life, but if it weren't for andrew jackson, florida would still be part of spain. >> yes. >> so joe scarborough would be jose scarborough. >> of course, well, that's great. thank you for that, jon meacham. >> thank you. here to help. >> so peggy, this has another effect, too. while there's a barack obama or a hillary clinton or a john mccain who will be willing to step into the fray to run for office, think about literally the tens of thousands of great congressmen, senators, governors, presidents that we will never have because people just aren't going to step in -- >> a number of normal people, never mind the number of people in politics who won't g