[inaudible conversations] the former librarian of congress james billington has died at the age of 89 from complications from pneumonia. the reagan administration nominee led the library of congress for 28 years and was cofounder of the national book festival in 2001. this sunday on book tv we bring you a retrospective on james billington's career from the wilson center. that's at 1255. what does it mean to be american. this is that student cam video competition question. they are posting on social media about it. heidi long from j stream middle stream middle school in carol stream illinois tweeted what does it mean to be an american?

and as james harman said in opening remark, we are in institution that it's actually impossible to understand what this institution would be if we don't take into account jim billington'semarkable world which began with james' scholarship and the way he thinks about the world. now, i -- i wanting to back to a comment but i want to suggest that varton is never just a footnote. [laughter] >> and i think we have evidence of that. but he spoke very eloquently about the power of the book. and what he's really talking about is the power of thought and it's the power of thought that intellectual historians like jim really explore. and it's that question of what makes people's minds work that underscored the importance, interpretive history of russia of icon and the axe, this is the book that has defined how we think about russia and widely regarded as one of the landmarks in russian history, not just american writing on russia but writing by any one on russia. now, i never have told the story and -- but jim came to speak at the university of north carolina when i was in an undergraduate a couple of years after the iconic axe appeared and we had to read, the hot-new book in th

and, former librarian of congress, james billington, dieh yesterday atpital in washington, of complicationsm pneumonia. ulllington was a foremost scholar on russianre. in his 28 years at the helm of the library, he doubled the size of its collection and helpedun the national book festival in washington. billington's tenure spanned five presidential administrations, before he retired in 2015. he spoke to jeffrey brown back in 2007 about the library's efforts to preserve historical audio recordings. th we're trying to preserv creativity of the american people, in all its richness anda variet formats, all of which really, since about thery mid-19th cenhave been on tlatively fragile, perishable material, often hafind, often impossible to play back or to read, even, because of ittle paper and so forth so we' trying to record this, and we're trying to save it for future generations, as a big part of the american story. >> woodruff: james billington was 89 years old. still to come on the nshour: the latest on the ground from a fire ravaged california. new orders from president trump for u.s. troop

trying to save it for future generations, as a big part of the american story. >> woodruff: james billingtonas 89 years old. still to come on the newshour:e test on the ground from a fire ravaged california. new orders from president trump for u.s. troops on the border raise legal questions esupreme court chief just roberts rebukes the president's criticisms of the judiciary a mississippi senate race becomes more competitive following controversial comments, and much more. >> woodruff: it's a verydi icult thanksgiving weekend in california for tens of thousands of residents there. while the fire in southern part of the state is said to be containere's fear rain could lead to mudslides in the coming days. meanwhile, in the northern part of the state, the camp fire is still not fully out and it's left a burn scar, so to speak, that's larger than the city of san jose. many people are still stuck with temporary shelters and few housing options. raquel mar dillon of public media kqed has been reporting from the area around chico and i spoke with her by phone a short time ago. >> there are just so

james: she was the blossom princess. wanted to make sure -- miss billington is in the audience and would probably be embarrassed by that. james: i was finishing up my army tour in washington and she was secretary. my brothers and does nothing to fear but fear itself. >> go back to senator woodrow wilson. when was the first time someone suggested to you be the library of congress. james: it's like saying, how would you like to be in charge of st. peter's. that's what makes our country great. >> the library was established. i use the library of congress. and my kind of scholarship is library centered. you steal from that -- i read a number of languages. in threeuently languages. english is one. russian and french are languages i can read as well. i can make out german, italian, spanish, a few others. i remember very vividly that --ebody must've had inside they had been nominated for this position. music.p the they were a little perplexed by that. in my life, there were two universities where i talked. the library of congress for archives and other major resourc