>> i am the father of john -- of the john seigenthaler. i say, i used to be the john seigenthaler. nd i am very proud of him. >> who is the jack seigenthaler? >> jack seigenthaler is his -- is his son, 6-year-old jack seigenthaler is a john seigenthaler. >> you dedicate your book to him. >> i dedicate my book to jack seigenthaler. in the midst of the writing, one day i was right on deadline, and he comes in and says, "grand, can i use the computer? " i said, "jack, im really working for the next half hour on the polk book, " and i turned back to the computer. and on my desk behind me now were the 12 volumes of polks correspondence and the four volumes of his diary and the four biographies i mentioned -- the four volumes of the biography by jenkins, mccormick and salley, and i hear him say, he reads, "polk, this is polk, thats polk. grand, do we really need another book on polk? " >> what did you say? >> so i said, "i hope so, jack. well find out." >> does he know the book is dedicated to him? >> he does know the book is dedicated to him, hes proud of it and he took a copy of it to s

brian: john seigenthaler, author of "james k. polk," how'd they talk you into doing a biography on this president? john: arthur schlesinger called me on the phone and said, you're a tennessean. james k. polk was a tennessean. why don't you write a biography for this series that times books is doing on the presidents? and i said, arthur, i don't have time. i'm retired. he said, i want you to do one thing. he said alan nevins has done a paperback that excerpts his diary, his presidential diary. just take the weekend and read it and tell me no. and i read the excerpts from the diary, and i couldn't say no. i was fascinated by the man. brian: did you know much about him before you started on this? john: you know, i knew he was a tennessean. 'm a tennessean. i knew that his grave is behind the capitol. there is no marker in nashville, except a plaque on the side of a dirty motel wall. his old home place in columbia is preserved, and i'd been there many times and have been there since. but i knew virtually nothing about him and almost n

i used to be john seigenthaler. and i'm very proud of him. >> who is the jack seigenthaler. >> the jack seigenthaler is his -- is his son. 6-year-old jack seigenthaler is a john seigenthaler. >> but you dedicate your book to him. >> in the midst of writing. one day i was writing in the midst of a deadline and he said could i use the computer and i said i'm really working for the next half hour on the polk book. and i turned back to the computer and on my desk behind me now were the 12 volumes of polk's correspondence and the four volumes of his diary and the four biographies that i mentioned, by jenkins, mccormick and seller and i hear him read polk, this is polk, that's polk. gran, do we really need another book on polk. >> what did you say? >> i said i hope so, jack. we'll find out. >> does he know the books is dedicated to him. >> he does. and he's proud of it and took a copy of it to school with him. and so he's -- it's interesting to me that 6-year-old children, one, are interested in removing their grandparent

. >>> john seigenthaler, author of "james k. polk." how did they talk to into doing biographer on this. >> john schlesinger called me and said why don't you write a series of books on the presidents and i said, arthur, i don't have time. i'm retired. and he said i want you to do one thing. allen evans have done a paper back that excerpts his diary, his presidential diary. just take the weekend and read it and tell me no. and i read the excerpts from the diary and i couldn't say no. i was fascinated by the man. >> did you know much about him. >> i knew he was a tennesseean and i'm a tennesseean. i knew that his grave is behind the capitol. there is no marker in nashville except a plaque on the side of a dirty motel wall. his old homeplace in columbia is preserved and i had been there many times and have been there since. but i knew virtually nothing about him and almost nothing that was good. his reputation was the result of what was to him during his presidency over the mexican-american war. left him a bad reputation. a reputation as a

john seigenthaler talks about james k. polk who conducted the war against mexico.ory tv now and over the weekend on c-span3. >>> every saturday night, american history tv takes you to college classroom around the country for lectures in history. >> why too you all know who lizzie borden is and raise your hand if you ever heard of the jane harris trial? >> the deeper revolution took place in the minds of the american people. >> so we'll talk about both sides of the story here. the tools, the techniques of slave owner power and we'll also talk about the tools and techniques of power that were practiced by enslaved people. >> watch history professors lead discussions with their students on topics rangeling from the american revolution to september 11th. lectures in history on c-span3 every saturday at 8:00 p.m. eastern on american history tv and lectures in history is available as a podcast. find it where you listen to podcasts. >>> up next,

brian: john seigenthaler, author of "james k. ," how'd they talk you into doing a biography on this president? john: arthur schlesinger called me on the phone and said, you're a tennessean. james k. polk was a tennessean. why don't you write a biography for this series that times books is doing on the presidents? and i said, arthur, i don't have time. i'm retired. he said, i want you to do one thing. he said alan nevins has done a

find it where you listen to podcasts. >>> john seigenthaler, author of "james k. polk." how did they talk to into doing biographer on this. >> john schlesinger called me

now here is john seigenthaler on the presidency of james k. polk. >> every saturday night american history tv takes you to college how. >> how did they talk you into doing a biography on this president. >> i was called on the phone, they said why don

brian: john seigenthaler, author of "james k. polk," how'd they

. >> john seigenthaler, author of "james k.olk," how'd they talk you into doing a biography on this president? >> arthur schlesinger called me on the phone and said, you're a tennessean. james k. polk was a tennessean. why don't you write a biography for this series that times books is doing on the presidents? and i said, arthur, i don't have time. i'm retired.