they say it was andrew jackson who put it in, who defeated john quincy adams of adams. both sides had particularly nance nasty campaigns. when rachael suddenly died, before his victory, jackson made it known that he believed the assault on her character and good name, killed his wife. he never forgave adams. grief stricken the widower president, brought seeds from the his wife's favorite trees, and planted them outside the white house in her memory. the story is more fiction than fact probably, neither jackson or any of his contemporaries ever mentioned the tree, and it does not appear in the earliest photos of the white house. or does not in any way, take from the love story, that the -- over the centuries. it may be the most famous, but the jackson magnolia, is far from the only tree planted in the white house grounds. the states to the year 1900, and marks the location of some large trees and shrubs. that's all of those tiny dots are. this is about the same amount of trees and shrubs on the grounds today it's about 500. beginning with rutherford hays in the 18 sevent

i like john quincy adams. hn quincy adams was probably the most intelligent and cultured president that we ever had. this is a young man who went with his father, john adams, to russia, to meet the russian ambassador i think at age 17 or 16, travel all over europe as a young man in the ports of france, etc., etc. also he was a president who faced some tough, difficult transitions in america's early years. the beautiful thing about john quincy adams, i read a biography years ago -- i don't remember who did it -- the beautiful thing about it is that after he was defeated by jackson, he went back to serve in the house of representatives, which i think was a wonderful thing and is a wonderful thing, and served the rest of his life in the house. so i like john quincy adams. host: when did you realize that you like john quincy adams, and what do you think lead to that? when was this first a thing for you when you realize that? caller: when i read his biography. it is an encouragement to everyone, read the biographies

i like john quincy adams. ncy adams was probably the most intelligent and cultured president that we ever had. this is a young man who went with his father, john adams, to russia, to meet the russian ambassador i think at age 17 or 16, travel all over europe as a young man in the ports of france, etc., etc. also he was a president who faced some tough, difficult transitions in america's early years. the beautiful thing about john quincy adams, i read a biography years ago -- i don't remember who did it -- the beautiful thing about it is that after he was defeated by jackson, he went back to serve in the house of representatives, which i think was a wonderful thing and is a wonderful thing, and served the rest of his life in the house. so i like john quincy adams. host: when did you realize that you like john quincy adams, and what do you think lead to that? when was this first a thing for you when you realize that? caller: when i read his biography. it is an encouragement to everyone, read the biographies of th

most famous book of all is john quincy adams. picture in his location of capitol building. of course, andrew jackson won the popular vote and got majority in the congress and they didn't let john quincy adams accomplish very much and so adams left office, woodiest , and theyarrested all of him le house of representatives and he had been elected senator by the state legislature in massachusetts but willing elected to the house of representatives, he was elected by the people and he always considered that to be the greatest honor he had ever received. became famous and known as old man eloquent, but he was sitting there at that seat when he had a stroke and carry intoed the speaker's office where he died, members of congress with proper attire in his desk at the speaker's office. he was plan to go giver a speech. they were giving him medals to the general in the mexican war. he thought that was the most unrighteous war and nobody should get a medal for serving in an unrighteous war. his ghost is still trying to give the speech in statuary hall. i like to go to house receptions

most famous ghost of all is john quincy adams, this is our painting from the corridor of adams in his location in the capitol building. now, this was when the house was meeting in what's now statuary hall and john quincy adams was actually elected president in that room. he's the last president to be elected by the house of representatives because there was no majority in the electoral college in 1824. of course, andrew jackson had won the popular vote and got the majority in the congress and they didn't let john qu anymorey adams was defeated in next election and left office and they elected him all of the rest of his wife to the house of representatives. he had been elected obviously by the house as president he had been elected senator by the state legislature in massachusetts but being elected to the house of representatives he was elected by the people and that was the greatest honor he had ever received. so he served 17 years in the house chamber and became famous. he was known as old man eloquent but he was sitting there at the seat work when he had a stroke and carried into th

john adams instead. he did not own slaves to principle, build statues for people that embody our ideals, and we went further, and how about john quincy adams, his son, first nonfounding father president, not only became president only president that went back to congress. to beat an a-- to get rid of slavery, quincy adams died on congress 4, while he did a speech. these are stories of american history that we're not teaching our kids, we have spent so much time talking about how we have fall up short of our ideals, we have forget everyone what our ideals were in the first place. a good time to remind ourselves of what america is about as an idea, not just a place. >> thank you, i did not know that. you have taught me something. with that one example. i think that you know -- if. >> if i could go a second further on that. talk about cancel culture, there was cancel culture in democratic party when john quincy adams was a congressman, one step further, he was barred from saying the worth slavery, you could not say that word because the south did not want to debate it, he was already president in united states, he said slavery, slavery,

i would go to really good research libraries and get in those card catalogs and look up john quincy adamshis last name. how many books are there by john quincy adams? making that list, it was astonishing how many books there were. how many strange books. herbert hoover wrote a mining textbook. who knew? also, there were these really intimate and important books. i started to realize that abraham lincoln, calvin coolidge, ulysses s. grant, jefferson, adams, there were so many examples of these books really mattering. that is when i started to realize that there was a story to tell here. susan: your book is also, and you alluded to this, the history of nonfiction book publishing in america. why do you tell that part of the story? craig: that is what helps us realize how important these books have been. even if you read a good biography about a lot of the presidents i talk about, their books don't come up. there books are not central. -- their books are not central. biographers and historians have a lot of work to do. they are worrying about the white house, policies, and legislative debate.

or john quincy adams. both of them had extraordinary x presidencies. carter winning the nobel prize. john quincy adams, an abolitionist. i think it was something like 16 years in congress. huge figures as human beings, but their performance isn't as high as some of the other presidents. the 25 year rule is a good one. i wish it could be 10 years. it's hard to get into papers these days. you have to wait in order to be able to resurrect those. sometimes it's fun to watch. why does one president start moving upwards? grant, suddenly everybody started reassessing grant. a new biography on coolidge or gerald ford or jimmy carter can work its way into. it's also books matter. a biography of harry truman and he started moving into one of the top-ranked presidents. his very right for someone to do a book on james madison. he's been underestimated as a president. you might start seeing madison rise. do you wait 20 years? it was a decision we made and we did not want to start excluding presidents so we decided to include them all. host: books matter. i think our

anticipation about the deliberations were further heightened when former president john quincy adamsepresenting the mendi. the abolitionist community wanted a prominent statesman on the legal team and when daniel webster declined, they turn to the 73 year old former president. adams was then serving as a member of the house of representatives, where he had earned the nickname, old man eloquent for his tireless condemnation of slavery. in february, 1841, the case came before the supreme court and its chamber on the ground floor of the capital building. large crowds gathered in expectation of dramatic -- . u.s. attorney general henry guilty and presented the government's arguments in support of the spanish claims to the alleged slaves. and roger sherman baldwin repeatedly arguments he had used in the lower courts. then, former president adams hole offered the court and its audience a seven-hour performance over the course of two days. his emotional arguments included a blistering critique of the van buren administration. adams accused the administration of concealing the spanish demand

or john quincy adams. both of them had extraordinary x presidencies. winning the nobel prize. john quincy adams, an abolitionist. i think it was something like 16 years in congress. huge figures as human beings, but their performance isn't as high as some of the other presidents. the 25 year rule is a good one. i wish it could be 10 years. it's hard to get into papers these days. you have to wait in order to be able to resurrect those. sometimes it's fun to watch. why does one president start moving upwards? grant, suddenly everybody started reassessing grant. a new biography on coolidge or gerald ford or jimmy carter can work its way into. it's also books matter. a biography of harry truman and he started moving into one of the top-ranked presidents. his very right for someone to do a book on james madison. he's been underestimated as a president. you might start seeing madison rise. do you wait 20 years? it was a decision we made and we did not want to start excluding presidents so we decided to include them all. host: books matter. i think our frien

was it gary coleman, john quincy adams, james madison, jimmy carter or danny devito? madison was a tiny, tiny boy. he was like 5-foot three and 100 pounds or something. kennedy: he was 5-foot four and you are correct. now time for contestants to t track their luck. double or nothing. double your points get a whole lot of nothing. here you go. >> i can double my.on the barometric g petrick the day jfk got shot. this is exciting. [laughter] kennedy: george washington was elected president with one 100% of the popular vote. he was elected with a 0%second-highest percentage? thomas jefferson, james monroe, ronald reagan or joe biden? would you like to press your luck? >> i would and it's ronald reagan. kennedy: you are at zero now. it was james monroe. 80.61%. [laughter] >> ridiculous. kennedy: jessica. >> the first time you answered with something other than zero. kennedy: which presidents face is on but 2-dollar bill? thomas jefferson, john adams, franklin roosevelt or martin ben brown what you like to put tried your look before your answer? >> no. kennedy: you don't wa

i think washington was president, maybe john quincy adams. it was a long time ago.e talked about how these governments get overcome by events. what are the events overcoming president xi right now? david: remember that graham allison of harvard, who wrote a wonderful book about the risk of a u.s.-chinese war, said that american sanctions against china are the equivalent of the political embargo of japan that led to pearl harbor. the difference is that japan couldn't invent oil in 1941, and the chinese can't produce chips -- the chinese can produce chips. their national self-sufficiency program has proceeded much faster than the west expected, so they feel much less vulnerable to the united states, and they are throwing down a gauntlet, saying stop coalition building against china. the foreign policy aggressiveness is entirely consistent with the domestic populism. it is all part of one policy, which is china is going to be a tech superpower, but in a way that benefits ordinary people and not just billionaires with unicorn ipo's on the internet. lisa: you said that t

debt how it penalizes people and even the idea of purchasing slaves that's an idea that even john quincy adams -- because it is the whole issue, the debate over how do you convince slave owners to give up their slaves? you compensate them for them. so that was interesting because he's clearly paying attention to what is being debated politically. he's not just on the fringes. i mean, in many ways, he's trying to put together a real platform that addresses what are the issues that are relevant to people at the time that he's running. so he is listening. you may not say he's a political animal, but he's astute enough to figure out what were the political issues that people cared about. >> even in writing this book, something that wasn't apparent to me at the beginning that became apparent as i wrote it is joseph smith's development, the development of his political -- for when he shows up at the white house, i just need to make my case and of course they will see the merits of it and take our side and by 1844 he realizes you have to play political hard ball and take on these big issues front and

[laughter] john quincy adams, james mattis, jimmy carter or danny devito?e -- 48 you are correct. now is time for our contestants to prez your luck. it is double or nothing party can double your points or get a whole lot of nothing, here you go. >> i can double my points on the barometric pressure on the day jfk got shot this is exciting. [laughter] 's before george washington was elected president with one 100% of the popular vote. who was elected with the second highest percentage? thomas jefferson, james monroe, ronald reagan or joe biden would you like to prez your luck? >> i actually would edit see ronald reagan. so far jimmy you are zero now it was james monroe 80.61% of the population. [laughter] this is ridiculous. [laughter] kennedy: jessica x is a first time you answer was something other than zero. kennedy: jessica which presidents faces on the 2-dollar bill? is it thomas jefferson, john adams, franklin delano rose or van buren question work which elect to prez your luck before you answer? >> no. kennedy: you do not want to prez your luck? >> i r

the governor of georgia demanded that the president john quincy adams announced it as illegal under u.s. law. but adams responded to the nation that they had every right to a written constitution. european empires, the u.s. federal government regarded indians as sovereign nations. now you know the cherokee story. every american knows at least a little bit of it. but the cherokee constitution and a court system often presented as an anomaly. cherokee leaders themselves push that interpretation ahead of every other native nation. but in fact many other native nations were developing self consciously modern versions of themselves in the era of the are the republic. a creek leader in the late 18 century sought to centralize the creek or muskogee federally into a nation. as with the cherokee's iffy decades later -- came both from creek politics and external pressures. when we arrived at the 1783 treaty of paris having carved up north america without having any indians there at the table at the negotiations, mcgill if ray convened a council of chickasaws, creeks, and they wrote a joint letter

listen to the words of abigail adams wife of john adams writing to her son john quincy during the war. abigail is trying to persuade her son to get on a boat across the atlantic. and join his father in france to help the cause of freedom. john quincy doesn't want to go he'd rather go to harvard to college. his mother has a different sense of his obligations. here's a piece of what she wrote him. these are the times in which a genius would wish to live. it is not in the still calm of life that great characters are formed the habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulty. she says contending with difficulties great necessities call out great virtues and form the character of the hero and the statesman. now i put the question. do you ladies and gentlemen if you got a letter like that from your mother? what would you do? you get on the boat, you know you would you get on that boat the character of the hero and the statesman is forged in the fires of a great contest of great difficulty in the crucible of war and war has come upon them. with a firm alliance on the prote