now it is my distinct privilege to introduce james bennett. since 2006, james, who is a graduate of yale, has been editor in chief of "the atlantic." prior to that, he was the jerusalem bureau chief for the "new york times" where his coverage was widely acclaimed for its balance and sensitivity. before jerusalem, he was "the times" white house correspondent and he was preparing to go to the beijing bureau when he was snatched away by "the atlantic" to be its editor. please join me in welcoming to the podium a true i'der and visionary, james bennett. >> thank you very much, richard. i'd like to tell you a quick story about "the atlantic" to explain why the conversation we're going to all have together today means so much to us. "the atlantic" as you may know was founded a very long time ago, in the 1850s, to advance big ideas in the culture and the society, and particularly to try to promote the abolition of slavery. but when the magazine actually launched in november of 1857, the country was very preoccupied with a different issue which was th

now, it's my distinct privilege to introduce james bennett. since 2006 james has been the editor and chief of the atlantic, prior to that he was the bureau chief of the new y"n york times", before jerusalem, he was the house white house correspondent and he was preparing to go to the beijing bureau when he was snatched away by the atlantic to be its editor. join me in welcoming to the podium a true leader and visionary, james bennett. [ applause ] thank you, very much, richard. i would like to tell you all a quick story about the atlantic, to explain why the conversation we will all have together today means so much to us. the atlantic, as you may know was founded a very long time ago to advance big ideas in the culture and society, and particularly to try to promote the abolition of slavery. the country was preoccupied with a different issue when it was started, which was the economic crash of that year. so the big public policy offering in the first issue of the atlantic that november, was not about slavery it was about the state of the econo

and we have our editor in chief james bennett. james this morning told you a little bit about our coverage issue. i think the deals we're trying to make is gene said i'm not supposed to be on that cover. so gene sperling and james bennett. [ applause ] >> thank you. >> gene, as many of you know, has been in politics for more than 20 years now and served in the same capacity in the second term of the clinton white house, if memory serves, was the negotiator of the budget deal of '97. i think that cheryl sandberg, formally of treasury, now of facebook, said i've seen heads of state cower before this man. maybe you can tell us a couple of those stories. and "the washington post" referred to you as obama's jobs creator. which is a pretty mighty responsibility. so i thought we might as well start there. there have been signs lately of what seems like a slow and steady recovery. i think that's been the view on this stage today. yet we remain in a very deep jobs hole, consumer debt remains very high. what is a realistic range for the unem

joining us to talk about the issue is atlantic's editor james bennett and deputy editor. gentlemen, thank you for joining us. >> thanks for having us. >> the commemorative issue, less talk about "the atlantic." it has a great history that goes back to the civil war. how does abolition and abolitionist movement play into the founding of the magazine? >> we had a wonderful time putting this issue together partly because we love these pieces and partly because it gave us the opportunity to reconnect with the founding history of the magazine. atlantic published its first in november of 1857 in boston. the magazine was basically created by a group ofwriters who came together with two fundamental purposes. one was to capture what they saw as an emerging voice -- an emerging american voice in letters, one their own voice. the other was to abolish slavery. they were very committed abolitionist. this was a very radical idea still. they were interested in promoting the founding of a magazine what they called the american idea. they didn't exactly define what they meant but regarded

. >> james bennett, editor of "the atlantic," thank you for joining us. we'll have a link to our website and you can watch this program and all our other than american history tv programs on c-span.org/history. >> commemoration of the 150 anniversary of the civil war continues, join us saturdays at 6 p.m. and 11:00 on sundays. go to c-span.org/history for our schedule. to send us your questions or comments, follow us on twitter. we' we're. >>> up next, kevin hymel talks about his book "patton's photographs: war as he saw it." he uncovered a number of photographs patton took during world war 2. he presented them a

and now, it is my distinct privilege to introduce james bennett. prior to that he was the jerusalem bureau chief for "the new york times," where his coverage was widely acclaimed for its balance and sensitivity. before jerusalem he was the "times" white house correspondent and was preparing to go to the beijing bureau when he was snatch bid "the atlantic "to be thedder to. so please join me in welcoming to the podium, james bennett. [applause] >> thank you very much, richard. i'd like to tell you all a quick story about the "atlantic" to explain why the conversation we're going to have together today means so much to us. "the atlantic" was founded a very long time ago in the 1850s, to advance big ideas and cultural, and to try to promote the abolition of slavery. when the magazine actually launched in november of 1857, the country was very preoccupied with a different issue, which was the economic crash of that year, and so the big public policy offering in the first issue of "the atlantic" that november was not about slavery. it was about the stat

james gordon bennett, publisher and then editor of the influential new york herald, a particularly virulent critic, who excoriated the navy regularly. the capture of the banshee by an army transport -- that wounds me, by the way -- filled bennett with glee. his editorial the next day was blistering in its treatment of the naval department. the ship defied every ship in our navy to capture her. but when she was at last run to ground it will be noted, it was not by one of our naval vessels but by an army transport. this was simply more evidence as far as bennett was concerned that wells was as obstinate as he is ignorant. and that he should be removed at once in favor of some competent person. secretary wells in the audience here this morning? i don't want to get into trouble here. lincoln, however, whom bennett described as a great deal more kind than just, stood by his embattled secretary of the navy who remained in the cabinet for the duration of the war and in fact the duration of the lincoln presidency. the newspaper stories did not deter lincoln or wells in their purpose, but they did b

and now it is my distinct privilege to introduce james bennett. e 2006, james, who is a graduate of yale, has been editor in chief of the atlantic. prior to that, he was the jerusalem bureau chief for the new york times, where his coverage was widely acclaimed for its balance and sensitivity. before jerusalem, he was the times' white house correspondent and he was preparing to go to the beijing bureau when he was snatched away by the atlantic to be its editor. please join me in welcoming to the program, a true leader and visionary, james bennett. [applause] >> thank you very much, richard. i would like to tell you all a quick story about the atlantic to tell -- to explain why the conversation we're going to have today mean so much to us. the atlantic, as you may know, was founded a very long time ago in the 1850's to advance a culture of ideas in society and particularly to promote the abolition of slavery. when the magazine actually launched in 1857, the country was very preoccupied with a different issue, which was the economic crash of that year