fillmore, franklin pierce and james buchanan. the author recounts the president's thoughts on the war and their criticisms of their successor abraham lincoln. this is a little over an hour. [applause] >> thanks to all of you for being here tonight. this is the tim time further reg on the president were six american presidents into the civil war that divided them. if you are here for water harvesting the desert you need to come back on tuesday. first thanks to changing hands this is the third event we've done together over the last three years. by official book launch for both of my books were both here. thanks to c-span book tv i think it's amazing that you can turn on the tv on the weekend and watch tv with authors talking about books. that's fantastic. if they manage to get through without saying anything say anything inappropriate they will broadcast me which is exciting. this is my third book the presidents were six american presidents and the civil war that divided the. as a history lover and a junkie which is what i was bef

breckenridge, the former vice president of the united states under james buchanan, he was from kentucky, a confederate general. he had been in that house before and knew where the wine cellar was, so early and his men drank up the blair wine, had a nice dinner and decided the next morning, july 12th, they'd come here bright and early and decide whether or not to attack. they did that and this time early could see that the 6th corps was here. they had a distinctive patch, it was a white cross. so he did not, again, did not invade. however, there was more fighting. there was skirmishing, there was artillery exchanges. men were killed. there were 300 union causalities and we're going to go to the union cemetery later. 300 dead and wounded, we don't know officially how many confederates were wounded, never made the records, but had to be that many or many. that fighting went all of july 12th, or most of the night. july 13th, they looked out here and early's army was gone. they retraced their steps, went back through montgomery county, poolsville and crossed the potomac at whites ford and if

he will not be by james buchanan or richard nixon. >> of all the people you have written about, who doou admire the most? >> theodore roosevelt and franklin roosevelt. they put public service first. they cared about the country. tr was more conservative. their pragmatism and love of the land. both tr and fdr loved rivers and lakes. they thought in order to love america, you had to be a custodian. >> i knew that about tr but not about fdr. >> he planted for the civilian conservation corps. the waterfowl was shut out and fdr created bird fly ways. america owes a lot to that family. ken burns is doing a documentary on the roosevelt. >> i have talked to him about it. who is the smartest? >> in the nixon tapes? >> of all the people that have occupied that you know about? with historians agree on one person? sheer brainpower. >> i would go with theodore roosevelt. thomas jefferson. george washington in his own way. there are only a few intellectual events. >> fdr was not that. >> jimmy carter was marred. he is very smart. >> clinton? some said he was the smartest president he had ever met. >

being vice president under james buchanan, and the confederates are feeling good. now, lincoln had kept construction going on the capitol dome. the dome has been completed. you can see it from the soldier's home, and they are debating, because breckenridge had been expelled from the senate in october 1861 as when he left the vice presidency and then the senate. as they get more and more influenced by what they are drinking, they boast, tomorrow we'll march down massachusetts avenue and we'll escort general breckenridge into the capitol, into the senate chamber, which he had presided over and place him back there. well, the president is going to pay a visit out here again on the wealth. he's going to arrive out here and he's going to bring mary with him. now mary and he, there have been causalities out here, and close to the walls of fort stevens is a hospital. they go in and visit several wounded union soldiers there and then mary sits down. out here also is the secretary of state. the secretary of state, of course, is william seward. soon to arrive is going to be

breckenridge, the former vice president of the united states under james buchanan, he was from kentucky, a confederate general. he had been in that house before and knew where the wine cellar was, so early and his men drank up the blair wine, had a nice dinner and decided the next morning, july 12th, they'd come here bright and early and decide whether or not to attack. they did that and this time early could see that the 6th corps was here. they had a distinctive patch, it was a white cross. so he did not, again, did not invade. however, there was more fighting. there was skirmishing, there was artillery exchanges. men were killed. there were 300 union causalities and we're going to go to the union cemetery later. 300 dead and wounded, we don't know officially how many confederates were wounded, never made the records, but had to be that many or many. that fighting went all of july 12th, or most of the night. july 13th, they looked out here and early's army was gone. they retraced their steps, went back through montgomery county, poolsville and crossed the potomac at whites ford and if

being vice president under james buchanan, and the confederates are feeling good.se breckenridge had been expelled from the senate in october 1861 as when he

lincoln walked into incredible chaos largely the fault of his predecessor james buchanan but he prevailed. president obama did inherit a terrible economy but a fairly stable foreign situation. not only has mr. obama failed to improve the economic story but on his watch foreign policy is nearly collapsed. by nearly every measure things are worse in america than when he took office. summing up, the american people sending president obama a very clear message, they're losing faith. and that's a memo. the top story reaction joining us dr. goolsbee former economic advise ir. i want to keep this in the big picture, but if you feel i'm being unfair to the president who you know very well and you worked for him let me know now if i'm being unfair. >> well, i think you're being a little unfair. you know, i think if you take just the economy, the early period of his first term for sure it's going down and really down the tubes but if you look at the last two years, we have had modest success and things have been coming back. the last six months we've had jobs over 200,000 a month. the last time we

being vice president under james buchanan, and the confederates are feeling good.e vice presidency and then the senate. as they get more and more influenced by what they are drinking, they boast, tomorrow we'll march down massachusetts avenue and we'll escort general breckenridge into the capitol, into the senate chamber, which he had presided over and place him back there. well, the president is going to pay a visit out here again on the wealth. he's going to arrive out here and he's going to bring mary with him. now mary and he, there have been causalities out here, and close to the walls of fort stevens is a hospital. they go in and visit several wounded union soldiers there and then mary sits down. out here also is the secretary of state. the secretary of state, of course, is william seward. soon to arrive is going to be gideon wells, secretary of the navy, and his wife. now mary gets the one cabinet member that mary gets along well with, mrs. wells. she doesn't get along with others. the president will go up and stand on that paraben, where in the 1960s they'l

he may not be seen as a great president, but i don't think he is going to be down there by james buchanan and richard nixon. >> of all the people you have written about who due admire the most? >> thank you for scsmght theodore roosevelt and franklin roosevelt, both of them, because they put public service in america first always. they always cared about this country so deeply, and they -- tr was a little more conservative than fdr but their pragmatism and their love of the land. and both t.r. and fdr loved the rivers, the lakes. they thought in order to love america you had to be a custodian of it. >> i knew that about t.r. i didn't know that about fdr. >> he planted for the civilian conservation corps a billion trees. olympics, kings canyon, all of our waterfowl was shot out, and fdr created bird flyways and our first national seashore, cape hatteras. the song america the beautiful, that was fdr. he really -- both of that family, i think america owes a lot. ken burns is doing a documentary on the roosevelts this fall. >> i have seen it. i mean, i have talked to him about it. there's als

lincoln walked into incredible chaos largely the fault of his predecessor james buchanan but he prevailed. president obama did inherit a terrible economy but a fairly stable foreign situation. not only has mr. obama failed to improve the economic story but on his watch foreign policy is nearly collapsed. by nearly every measure things are worse in america than when he took office. summing up, the american people sending president obama a very clear message, they're losing faith. and that's a memo. the top story reaction joining us dr. goolsbee former economic advise ir. i want to keep this in the big picture, but if you feel i'm being unfair to the president who you know very well and you worked for him let mew if i'm being unfair. >> well, i think you're being a little unfair. you know, i think if you take just the economy, the early period of his first term for sure it's going down and really down the tubes but if you look at the last two years, we have had modest success and things have been coming back. the last six months we've had jobs over 200,000 a month. the last time we put six

where he's representing a congressional district near the mason dixon line that had produced james buchanan. this is not a place where he's immune to popular pressure. he says i shit on the people, he says that, he wouldn't do that in real life. lincoln and stevens had known each other for years. i could document that in a way that would be really special at a symposium like this because they first met in the summer of 1848, and they met when abraham lincoln was a congressman. he served in congress for one term, and during that one term, he spent almost his entire service in congress trying to get zachary taylor elected as president. that was his ambition. and he goes to the whig national convention in philadelphia and he meets stevens who had at to time was a lawyer from lancaster, but who was about to become a candidate for congress and about to enter congress as a whig, and lincoln writes him a letter in september, right before he's about to leave. it's so revealing and it shows them, i think, in such a rich light that it's worth reminding ourselves about. he writes him on september 3rd,

a friend of james averell's name frank buchanan followed them a safe distance. finally they left the river and headed up a gulch in the rocky hills south of independence rock, got close enough to see james averell and ella watson standing on a large rock under a pine tree. buchanan got close enough to see them on a large rock, two variants slung over the biggest branch. a rope was around james averell's neck. ella watson was trying to keep mcclain from getting the other rope around her neck too. he fired his revolver until he ran out of bullets. they fired back with rifles. buchanan fled and road as far as he could to the ranch of a man named haley who wrote the next morning with the news. man or woman he reported had been hanged in here this weekwater river. buchanan had not reported it but his report proved correct when a coroner's jury found them monday morning still hanging and cut them down. all six clinchers were named in the first of two corner's inquests. five were charged with the crime and made bail by signing security bonds for each other. they had die

not because of the prior president, not because of other presidents, not because of james buchanan or john tyler or anybody else, because of him. he's hollowing out our military at the same time he's telling the world what we're not going to do. he's playing golf. he's on martha's vineyard. he's busy attacking republicans. the guy is -- he's not focused. he's disconnected from reality. we have a real problem in this country. i don't know what we do about it, but people are suffering overseas. they're being wiped out. we have genocide going on. people are looking to the united states. and they have to look to martha's vineyard and find him on the ninth hole. i don't know if he reads his intelligence reports. i don't know if he even knows what's going on, if he's bored with the job, whatever the hell the problem is, the world is on fire and this man doesn't seem to give a -- >> at the heart of this the genocide we see in iraq, the proclaimed desire to wipe israel off the map and have a modern day holocaust has one common denominator and that is radical islam. secure america now came out

breckenridge, the former vice president of the united states under james buchanan, he was from kentucky, a confederate general. he had been in that house before and knew where the wine cellar was, so early and his men drank up the blair wine, had a nice dinner and decided the next morning, july 12th, they'd come here bright and early and decide whether or not to attack. they did that and this time early could see that the 6th corps was here. they had a distinctive patch, it was a white cross. so he did not, again, did not invade. however, there was more fighting. there was skirmishing, there was artillery exchanges. men were killed. there were 300 union causalities and we're going to go to the union cemetery later. 300 dead and wounded, we don't know officially how many confederates were wounded, never made the records, but had to be that many or many. that fighting went all of july 12th, or most of the night. july 13th, they looked out here and early's army was gone. they retraced their steps, went back through montgomery county, poolsville and crossed the potomac at whites ford and if

he wrote a letter to his imminent friend james buchanan who became president just before lincoln and outlined everything memorablee on that 24th of august, 1814. have beencould rewarded by thousands of pounds sterling by the british if i had given them the documents, and i did not. is in buchanan's papers in the library of congress. by thelways upset condition of the president's grave. i had been to the cemetery behind the capital. it was at an angle. you could not read his name will. i held a fund-raising walk to restore the tombstone. we walked from the capitol to the white house. as we passed the national archives, i was telling stories all the time from the war of 1812. i said if it were not for stephen pleasonton, you probably would not be able to see those documents in the national archives today. of course, i raise the money. we got an expert to restore the tombstone. it is up right now. the man has got credit that is so long overdue. i want to tell you about a woman who was equally as brave and disregarded the safety of her own life. her name is dolly madison. she is without

where he's representing a congressional district near the mason dixon line that had produced james buchanan. this is not a place where he's immune to popular pressure. he says i shit on the people, he says that, he wouldn't do that in real life. lincoln and stevens had known each other for years. i could document that in a way that would be really special at a symposium like this because they first met in the summer of 1848, and they met when abraham lincoln was a congressman. he served in congress for one term, and during that one term, he spent almost his entire service in congress trying to get zachary taylor elected as president. that was his ambition. and he goes to the whig national convention in philadelphia and he meets stevens who had at to time was a lawyer from lancaster, but who was about to become a candidate for congress and about to enter congress as a whig, and lincoln writes him a letter in september, right before he's about to leave. it's so revealing and it shows them, i think, in such a rich light that it's worth reminding ourselves about. he writes him on september 3rd,

being vice president under james buchanan. the confederates are feeling good.vice president, he entered the senate. as they get more and more influenced by what they're drinking, they will vote. tomorrow we will march down massachusetts avenue and we'll escort general breckenridge in to the capitol, in to the senate chamber, which he had presided over and place him back there. well, the president is going to pay a visit out here again. well, he's going to arrive out here and he's going to bring mary with him. now mary and he, there have been casualties out here, and close to the parapit walls of ft. stevens is a hospital. they go in and visit several wounded june onsoldiers there. and then mary sits down. out here also is the secretary of state. the secretary of state, of course, is william sureward. soon to arrive is the secretary of the navy, and his wife. that's the one cabinet member that mary gets along well with, mrs. wells. she doesn't get along with others. the president will go up and stand on that parapit where, in the 1960s, they'll put a monument th

being vice president under james buchanan, and the confederates are feeling good.e vice presidency and then the senate. as they get more and more influenced by what they are drinking, they boast, tomorrow we'll march down massachusetts avenue and we'll escort general breckenridge into the capitol, into the senate chamber, which he had presided over and place him back there. well, the president is going to pay a visit out here again on the wealth. he's going to arrive out here and he's going to bring mary with him. now mary and he, there have been causalities out here, and close to the walls of fort stevens is a hospital. they go in and visit several wounded union soldiers there and then mary sits down. out here also is the secretary of state. the secretary of state, of course, is william seward. soon to arrive is going to be gideon wells, secretary of the navy, and his wife. now mary gets the one cabinet member that mary gets along well with, mrs. wells. she doesn't get along with others. the president will go up and stand on that paraben, where in the 1960s they'l

being president under james buchanan. linc lincoln had kept instructions going on the dome.own massachusetts avenue and distort general breckenridge in through the capital, into the senate chamber. well, the president is going tog play a individuals it out here e again on the 12th. he's going to arrive here and bring mary with him. mary and he have been casualtie out here. close to the parapet walls is a hospital. they go in and visit several wounded soldiers there, and the mary sits down. also, secretary of state, secretary of state,th of coursei is william seward. soon to arrive is going to be gideon wells.well secretary of the navy and his wife. now, mary gets -- that's the one cabinet member that mary gets wh alongwell with, mrs. wells. wi she doesn't get alongwell with p others. the president w will go up and stand on that parapet wherein t the 1906s, they'll put up a wi monument there, the principle rn speaker there willri be one of breckenridge's soldiers that they put up that monument to commemorate where lincoln is to standing there. his top hat 7 feet tall lookingo

where he's representing a congressional district near the mason dixon line that had produced james buchanan this is not a place where he's immune to popular pressure. he says, "i shit on the people,. he says that, he wouldn't do that in real life.'t naventh in fact, the movie doesn't have a chance to convey all of this, but lincoln and stevens had known each other for years. i could document that in a way that would be really special at a symposium like this because they first met in the summer ofa 1848, and they met when abrahamt lincoln was a congressman. he served in congress for one term, and during that one term, he spent almost his entire service in congress trying to get zachary taylor elected as president.rv that was his ambition. and he goes to the whig national convention in philadelphia and he meets stevens who had at to e time was a lawyer from at lancaster, but who was about tor become a candidate for congress and about to enter congress as s whig, and lincoln writes him a letter in september, right in before he's about to leave.t it's so revealing and it shows l them, i think,

>> will this be the first time the two presidents -- it seems like james buchanan went back -- >> lettakenly said -- >> what? what? >> once mistakenly said -- >> we'll be back with that. le p. and "minus" our expenses. perfect timing. we're offering our best-ever pricing on mobile plans for business. run the numbers on that. well, unlimited talk and text, and ten gigs of data for the five of you would be... one-seventy-five a month. good calculating kyle. good job kyle. you just made partner. our best-ever pricing on mobile share value plans for business. now with a $100 bill credit for every business line you add. angieby making it easy to buyng and schedule service by top-rated providers, conveniently stay up-to-date on progress, and effortlessly turn your photos into finished projects with the angie's list mobile app. visit angieslist.com today. (yawn) (ding!) toaster strudel! more fruit in the filling, ya? mmm! ya! warm, flaky, gooey, toaster strudel! now, with more fruit! i'm spending too much timer our calhiringer. and not enough time in my kitchen. need to hire fast? go to zipr