john meacham is executive editor and executive at random house. andrew jackson and the white house was awarded the pulitzer prize for biography, he has also written a biography for thomas jefferson and george bush 416789 he is a proud graduate of the university of the south where he graduated phi beta kapa. i recently went with him to his alma mater where they gave me an honorary degree. i made the commencement speech. also while on campus the two of us sat down for a conversation called the art of conversation. here it is. >> i grew up as an only child. and i grew up with huge imagination canned curiosity. and it began with my father went to world war ii. and my mother moved back while he was away to a small village of a hundred. and helped her father run this country store. and then when my father came back, he stayed there for awhile and commuted to a business that he had about 20 miles away in a town of 18,000. but i, in the form tiff years between two and 12 literally lived above the store. and what the store did for me was a very southern th

with one of that school's most honored graduates, the historian and pulitzer prize-winning writer john meacham of what we said. >> we're fortunate, indeed, to have two experts in the art of conversation. i suspect before very long, we won't be quite sure who is interviewing whom. ( laughter ) >> so 1991, can which is a critical year, the soviet union expends your show begins. >> that's exactly right. >> maybe not in that order. but in these 25 years, we've gone from a republican president, george h.w. bush, the most civil of men, who could not talk about himself; to republican nominee who talks about little else. >> rose: that's right. you tell me what do you think has happened between bush and trump? >> this is the first time where the plane has been hijacked with the help of the passengers. >> rose: right. >> right? so this is-- this is someone who now has a-- one of the two major parties in the country since, you know, founded in 1856, that, you know, he now can fly that through the general election. you've interviewed how many presidents? back to -- >> nixon. i was trying to probe into why

have i this kind of inform 58 testing of the water thing with john meacham and dorris concerns good winand others. they say what are you working on. oh. >> that's a good idea but we'll see. >> are you thinking about an idea that you might start in on. >> yeah. >> well,i don't know, i'm starting to write some essays around it. >> so one of the bucket list things was to write a short story. >> i still would like to do that. i'm-- i don't know whether-- i've got a notion in mind. but i don't know, my friend tom mcwayne who is a great short story writer. he is published constantly in the new yorker, it always intimidates me because i get kind of up to the point where i think can i start. then i read one of his short stories and i think i can't do that. but i do also like writing nonpics. soimee and kind of at the moment about things that i have seen and things i have experienced, things i have enjoyed in my life. >> i think you have had such a remarkable life. and such really amazing friends. i know of no one and i thought about doing this myself. i know of no one belter able to write about