enter, abraham lincoln. as you may know, my new book killing lincoln comes out tomorrow. it is a day by day microlook at what lincoln, the greatest american president, went through during the last two weeks of his life. i wrote the book so americans would understand the tremendous sacrifices president lincoln made for his country and the amount of personal suffering that he went through in order to keep the union together. simply put, we need another abraham lincoln right now. like america back in the mid 19th century, we are a divided nation. on one side, are americans who believe we need radical change in this country. we are not a noble nation. our economic system has to be torn down and old traditions are useless. that movement is led bisek could you led bisek could you larr progressives. the jew judeo-christian tenants should be retained because they have made this country the strongest country on earth. president obama is progressive. he has tried to control so it expands industry and mr. bama's economic policies have not worked. he still maintains the support of 40

lincoln got to 13. the was the abolition of slavery and that is sound in the constitution but the others are not clear. grant says it's not going to be president, which allows african-americans to get the vote, and course everybody said in 57 when eisenhower passes the first civil rights bill in 80 years you to 80 from 57 and grant was the last that sent troops to the south and if you're looking at extending freedom, a mother is the general, basically carried out lincoln's work but he believed the cause he did not sell out the troops. he said that she was the commander-in-chief and the took off the uniform and she would have the right to vote, and i quote him indirectly in some letters to people that he did not let this happen. and we all know well because very, very slowly we have a economic depression in the 1870's, the end of party it's all the southern states are back and win the democrats lose congress which is significant in the hands 74 by election. we didn't think to do that. the democrats were

bill henson, westerville, ohio, a big difference between barack obama and lincoln, lincoln thought heepresented all americans, while barack obama chides his opposition. bill, the big difference between abraham lincoln and barack obama on leadership, your take is misguided. the big difference there's lincoln wanted to preserve the union while obama wants to change the country, but lincoln wanted to change the country, too, travis, he destroyed slavery. lincoln and the founding fathers are willing to die for their country. today's politicians are not. shirley, virginia. morgan freeman should be embarrassed calling the tea party racist. shame on him. i was a fan of freeman until those comments. harris, utah, you mentioned the five living presidents signed three posters for the wounded warriors. where are the other two? they will be auctioned off later this year. if you donate 25 bucks to the warriors, you will get a facsimile of the poster. we appreciate everybody, as i said last night, who helped the warriors out. from new york, bill, i want to give my sister your new book, only problem

he got his memorial before lincoln. his tone, buried in grant's tomb well, that was the most visited site in america. an icon before the statue liberty, the lincoln memorial. and i urge readers to if you read nothing else. >> abraham lincoln according to alvin felzenberg, five all the way across in all six categories. george washington comes in second with an overall rating of 467. roosevelt, tied with ronald reagan at four and a half. james k. polk, a couple of the biographies come out. you have him down at number 20 right below george h. w. bush. he gets a one in character. >> right. by himself he decided he was going to grab two-thirds of mexico. the was not clear that the other states wanted that. he dated and very -- to he was called opposed to the mendacious he did achieve his goals. >> george w. bush you have in this book. came out recently. you have him ranked tied with jimmy carter. george w. bush, three in character. >> well, maybe as papers come out and we get into his files we will see a little more. the fam

in other wort lincoln just study lincoln.nt togannoyoutwhy lincoed t d something as president you look at his law career. fou want to ainsow wte i he he certain views about slavery you study his early readings. the water world has a way of slipping out of view and too arlch literature on lincoed ttl wanted to put lincoln in the historical contemil. this is not a biogry dte i of lincoln. there are many of them. it isolates this question but it is a question about slavery and liainoln's relationship to slavery and changing attitudes and policies regarding slavery across the coueven e of his car. i want to situate lincoln in the history of what charles s muner called the anti slavery enterprise. i like that term because enterprise is not an organization. is not tir sten it. it is a conodyomeration of peope working sometimes disagreeing with each other but working for a general end. involved radical abolitionists who demanded the irepediate freeing of the slaves and bringing them in as equal citi 1ns of american society. included

we talk about our greatest president, abraham lincoln.ut harriet beecher stowe -- lincoln was at least 6 ft. 4. harriet beecher stowe was five feet tall. lincoln looked down at her and that you are the lady who started the big war. that is true. but it is the fugitive slave law and the polarization grows. zachary taylor might have pulled it off. had more union states come in they might have been able to abolish slavery constitutionally with a constitutional amendment. more states and legislators and history might have been a lot different. >> host: truman and mckinley and zachary taylor ranked above calvin coolidge. one other gentleman is here on the front of your book with a pin in his face. ulysses s. grant. >> guest: let's talk about him. here is a gentleman with a larger funeral than abraham lincoln. the american people adored him. they trusted him. two elections after the civil war, let us have peace. on the other hand let us have peace but everybody argues it was slavery, the southern said it was slavery and wanted to extend and the

he parallels lincoln, even though lincoln probably grew up in greater poverty. one of the differences between the two is fillmore grows up in rural upstate new york which means there are public schools, and so he gets a kind of rudimentary education through about age 13 or 14 when his father apprentices him to work in a textile mill. later on when the mill is closed during the panic of 1819, america's first depression, he enrolls in a local academy to kind of get as much of a high school education as he can in one year. i'm not sure how much education he gets, but what he does get is his teacher who four or five years later, he mar -- marry, and so he was an instructor in the white house for his career as president. in 1820, the fillmore's leave rural county and move to east aurora which is quite frankly no those days the middle of nowhere and today is 5 -- a suburb of buffalo, but in those days, it was a long horse ride into buffalo. at the age of 22 when he's a full majority over 21, emancipated, he moves to buffalo, teaches school, works for a law firm, and a

we think of lincoln and the majesty of lincoln. it should be given in english courses as well. then, i teach a course on president's foreign policy. i'll tell you one story about that. i start by saying, okay, what happened the night and 45? they knew it was at the end of world war ii. 1965 as the antislavery. so what happened in 1763? not in. nothing, no reaction. 1763, and of the world where, the british get the french out of north america, master of. two years later, stanback crisis although said. it was supposed to be eternal peace. were still waiting for a piece and for problems to be behind us. and yeah, not so easy. each of those men in their own way try to do with these situations. >> host: how long have you been teaching? >> guest: on and off for, good lord, about 30 years. i was in and out of government. my last government job was spokesman for the 9/11 commission. i worked in george herbert walker bush administration. i worked briefly in the second president bush's administration. i worked on the house side of the hill for five years. and i was assistant secretary of

the clay and lincoln ever meet? -- did play and lincoln ever meet? >> we do not know, basically. there is one person who left a memoir that said that person had seen the two in lexington. mary todd lincoln, who was from lexington -- her family was very closely allied with the clay's. she came to kentucky several times. he certainly heard henry clay speak. whether they met is unknown. you have to think they tried to meet its nothing else. if lincoln had come to ashland, the two of them would sit in the parlor. they would go back and forth. but clinton never said he met clay. in think he would have said that had he met him he did say in 18601864 things to write the inaugural with. clay's a effect on abraham lincoln was important in the douglas debates. >> we are going to take a call and then we must spend some time talking about the 1844 election. let's listen to a question from charles i in california. >> hello. my question is this -- i am at a ian.uck a i understand from the panel that henry clay is considered the favorite son of kentucky. although he and lincoln were members of

my name's janney and i'm currently a student at lincoln high school. and i was just going to talk about how i've been harrised and discriminated against -- harassed and discriminated against. a teacher at lincoln high school, a name, i've been chastised, discriminated against and antagonized in order to get -- vice president yee: excuse me. when you talk about your situation for our meetings, it's bestst that you do not nam any particular person. >> i'm sorry. yo vice president yee: no, that's ok. so go ahead and continue and we're going to have somebody talk to you afterwards. >> ok. and how i've been antagonized in order for her to get me out of the program. but thanks to

fillmore turns on lincoln and attacks the lincoln administration. he is asked to speak at a fund-raiser for wounded soldiers and in this speech he says we are making war on desolating affairs portion of our nation and loading of the nation with an enormous debt rather than talking about emancipation. rather than talking about freedom or the traders in the south who made war on their own country or people like robert e. lee who took an oath at west point to defend the constitution and turned on his country. he is saying we are making war on the fairest part of the country. he argued it was caused by petty jealousy and malignant envy and intriguing selfish ambition and the diluted fanatics in the north, the abolitionists. they for the trees and word around. the lincoln administration had a stronger sense what treason is than he did when he prosecuted abolitionists for refusing to help enforce the fugitive slave law. had he not been a former president is possible giving speeches like that would have led to his arrest in the civil war. after the war he

that is that this card -- seven days before lincoln is assassinated he went to lincoln.ow from other instances that he would have had opportunities to meet and talk with lincoln. we also know that he was an admirer of lincoln that when he met -- he but the addition to the house for the study -- he wanted to build the very same wallpaper in his study that he had used in his cabinet room. >> that was the card but -- i believe it was a replica? it would have been necessary at the time. i do have a mean person this -- involved in the discussion. >> of was wondering what kind of other attacks he used aside from the claim that he had a child out of wedlock. >> thank you. as far as i know that was his primary personal attack against him. it would have been political attacks against him and so on. but some scandalous would it have been in this time. for someone to have a child out of wedlock? what to think it would have been quite scandalous. >> i would think so too. >> just to answer that question a little bit more. there were nuts and bolts issues. one of the strongest issues

i see the count 000, 0er zero at be a ham -- abraham lincoln, zero at washington, three at lowell. i see jrotc section two, i see zero at abraham lincoln, zero at galileo, zero at george washington, i see four in a class at lowell high school. which you want to put another instructor. zero at mission and zero at phillip. so i'm looking at jrotc rivalry. i see zero, abraham lincoln, zero balboa, zero at galileo, zero at washington. i see two at lowell. i see zero at mission high school and zero at burton. so a lot of these class sizes are very, very small. i'm looking at also, let's see, i could look at another class here. naval science one, i see zero at lincoln, zero at balboa, zero at washington, zero at lowell, zero at mission and 84 at burton. so it's sort of the same numbers across the board here. so i'm sort of wondering, even with these class sizes, how many sections does a teacher teach or how many sections of jrotc are there in a school day , how many students are instructors actually teaching and, you know, we're not including students who participate after school. we are

congresswoman pelosi quoted abraham lincoln earlier. i think what he also said 150 years at the dedication of the national cemetery at gettysburg applies as much today as it did then. lincoln said that the world will little note nor long remember what we said here, but it can never forget what they did. over 2900 people were killed 10 years ago in the attacks on the world trade center. for the 16 of those who perished or our brother and sister firefighters -- 416 of those who perished work our brother and sister firefighters. 25,000 other lives worse. because of them. none of us will ever forget where we were on the morning of september 11, 2001. at police headquarters in san francisco, we watched in horror as the images were replayed on every channel. we learned one of the airplane is believed to be hijacked was heading to san this is good. later, we learned flight 93 went down in pennsylvania. in the days that followed, we heard stories of incredible heroism in which the passengers engaged and saved the lives of others. as we came to

is that the party of lincoln? lincoln was a republican. >> bill: i'm not going to get into republican politics. that's not what i do. i watch them all. >> bush did not ask the country to make sacrifices after 9/11 that's the time to do it. >> bill: i'm not bush bashing that's boring. >> you are historian. i'm giving you history. >> bill: that's right. if you read, look, if you guys want to live your life as partisans, go ahead. that doesn't interest me. i'm talking to both sides. doesn't interest me. what interests me is problem-solving. >> bill: all right. so i had to deal with a lot of that stuff there. here now body language maven tonya reiman. let's take me first. >> oh yeah, that's a great idea. >> bill: what was my body language saying to the audience? >> you did two things that you always do. i want to point them out. the first thing is when someone goes against your belief, you tip your head back. >> bill: tip your head back. >> yes. somebody says something you don't agree with tip your head back. that's o

it does offer tours for those of you who travel through lincoln, nebraska. we're joined from palm springs, california. >> hello, i'm from desert hot springs near palm springs. i have a kodak picture in my files. he had a relationship with my family. i am not a mormon. it is just my hobby. i researched my family. i have 60 two hundred names. -- 6200 names. i would like to know about buying the book, where it is, and where i send the money. >> what is your connection to william jennings bryan, through your family research? >> he is in a car in this picture. it is like a kodak picture. it is a single-seater with the top down. i know is thought that the other man was the one whose name -- always thought that the other man was the one whose name i can remember who believed and religion. i can remember his name now. but he is in my family. i have 60 two hundred names i have researched on my computer. i do not say, i would like to have that one. i researched them to be sure they are my relatives. >> i'm going to ask you to stay on the line and get your phone number

abe happen lincoln was the most hated man in america.rth. a lot of people hated abraham lincoln because he basically told them the truth and that's what we need. >> gretchen: don't you think that president obama in his mind, potentially might think he's acting as president lincoln? >> i've never, ever said that president obama didn't have the country's best intentions at heart. the problem is his strategy isn't working. it's not working. this isn't a quasi socialistic system. the engine of our economy is driven by the private sector. we can't overreact and you have to stop with the fossil fuel bashing because we don't have an alternative. all of these things are facts that the president for some reason doesn't acknowledge. >> steve: so your brand-new book not only historical account of what was going on leading up to the two months of the assassination, but essentially a plea for somebody to step up to the plate? >> it's an example. but the real reason i wrote this book was because i know most people don't read history books and they cer

she died at the age of 34, leaving behind 9-year-old abraham lincoln. he helped build his mother's casket by carving the woodallen petition douche the wooden petition himself. >> we transformed the gallery to and eerie victorian garden. my name is lowe hodges, and i am the director of operations and exhibitions at the conls tore of -- cons tore of flowers. we decided it needed context. so we needed a house or a building. the story behind the couple in the window, you can see his wife has just served him a glass of wine, and he is slumped over the table as the poison takes affect. a neat little factold dominion about that house is actually built out of three panels from old james bond movie. we wanted people to feel like i am not supposed to be in this room. this is the one that is supposed to be barred off and locked up. >> the ole andersonner -- oleander. this popular shrub is popular in warm climates. it has been implicated in a surprising number of murders and accidental deaths. children are at risk because it takes only a few leaves to kill them. a

abraham lincoln married mary todd lincoln. mary todd lincoln, who was from lexington -- her family was very closely allied with the clay's. her family knew the classes. she came to kentucky several times. he certainly heard henry clay speak. whether they met is unknown. can you not imagine what a great time it would have been? you have to think they tried to meet its nothing else. if lincoln had come to ashland, the two of them would sit in the parlor. clay would say something and mr. clinton would say, "that reminds me of a story." they would go back and forth. but clinton never said he met clay. -- clinton never said he met clay. -- lincoln never said he met play. in think he would have said that had he met him he did say in 18601864 things to write the inaugural with. abraham effect on lincoln was important in the douglas debates. lincoln said his views of henry clay were the views of abraham lincoln as well. >> we are going to take a call and then we must spend some time talking about the 1844 election. let's listen to a q

she died at the age of 34, leaving behind 9-year-old abraham lincoln. he helped build his mother's casket by carving the woodallen petition douche the

lincoln sort of benignly looking down on them and the reflecting pool in the front. well, i grew up in the washington, d.c., and i'm now old enough to remember when i was a little boy there were still elderly women in washington, friends of my mother's, who still were not really very happy that the mall had been gummed up with a memorial to abraham lincoln. so we don't always, we don't always arrive at these consensuses instantly. but what interested me about the roosevelt memorial is that as with many monuments to historical figures, it really tells us almost as much about the times in which the memorial was made as about the subject of the memorial. and i think that's particularly true in fdr's case. my own opinion is that i don't know that -- i mean, i'm, as a great admirer of franklin roosevelt, i'm delighted that there is a memorial to him, and better the one there is than none, but i'm not a huge fan of the fdr memorial, and i don't know that it's really a memorial that he would particularly like. we have a, we have a notion of what he considered a good preside

let me add to your lincoln quote., being written about the question of whether or not there could be a supreme court wrote back, that would be an oligarchy. think about it. this is the center of american exceptionalism. we're a people of law. to be a people of law, you have to have a structure. the structure of the constitution says there's a formal way to attend the constitution. it's a very complicated process. the idea that the founding fathers also meant to say oh, by the way, by a 5 to 4 vote, appointed lawyers can be the equivalent of a constitution convention. it's an on second degree murderty. all of the starts in 1958 with a warren court assertion of supremacy, which is profoundly wrong. the supreme court is supreme in the judicial branch. and the judicial branch is one of the three branches, it's the third branch mentioned in the constitution, and in the federalist papers, alexander hamilton says explicitly, it will be the weakest of the three branches. and so i think for the congress to begin a systematic p

this is why lincoln talked about new thinking. you have a paper based bureaucracy trying to keep up with crooks who have a and ipad. it is impossible. second, you give people a choice. why did you just passed tom price's law that says if you are successful and you would like to contract out, you are allowed to contract out. if you want to pay more to the doctor or hospital, you can pay more. every liberal will tell you that is impossible. medicare today is more restrictive than the british national health care service. why not allow people who are successful to have a choice? you could institute next year paul ryan's model of support, but make it voluntary. and then you say to the insurance industry and others, to you want to compete for the customers? fine. if you want to stay in the old system, fine, but we will give you more and more opportunities to have better choices. we do not compel people to go to wal-mart. you'll hear some folks say, oh, senior citizens get too confused. you cannot allow them to have this many choices. t

after lincoln was assassinated, he was the prosecutor of the lincoln assassin. anyone who was seen the film, "the conspirator," has seen a representation of joseph holt which is more that i could say -- than i could say before that film came out. >> it is going to be available. [clock chiming] it is funny because it is not the top of the hour. the clocks are ringing. you will hear a number of them at the top of the hour as we get into the second half of our program. a phone call from michael in tampa. >> i think your show is wonderful and i appreciate the historical commentary as well as the interviewers. commentary.wers' can we put forward some personal commentary relative to his experience and time as compared to today political landscape? -- to today's political landscape? >> what do you mean? >> i think he represents something that is dominant in the american populace today, and that is not being representative. i think blaine was very inspiring to hear about. i was curious of some personal input from all three of you relative to that landscape of then versu

his new book is called "killing lincoln," the shocking assassination that changed america forever. please welcome back to the program mr. bill o'reilly. sir. [applause] a pleasure. a pleasure. >> thank you. thank you. >> jon: as always, thank you so much for being here. the book is, and again, i don't want to criticize your cover designer, "bill o'reilly killing lincoln." [laughter] [cheering and applause] by the way... >> yes. >> jon: it is an excellent book and a nice read and... >> jon: somebody read it to you. [audience reacts] >> jon: damn you, o'reilly. always quick on the draw. excellent book. you're going to sell millions and millions of copies. we're not going to talk about it. [laughter] here's what i want to ask you, you were on you show the other night, and i watch it frequently. you say if obama raises your taxes to 50%, which you believe is possible, that you may not do your show anymore. >> right. i might take colbert's place. >> jon: yeah. [laughter] >> you know he's taking it. >> jon: somebody has to. what percentage of that threat is empty? >> all of it. [laughter

the overriding arch in "killing lincoln" is lincoln himself.f conspiracies out there. he knew people were out to get him. yet, he had a very fatalistic attitude about it. >> he did. he didn't even up his security, after he had that dream that he related to his wife and other people in the white house. and he saw that he was going to be killed. he saw himself. that's another historical fact he said that. and he still didn't up his security. at that time, you could go to the white house, anybody, and walk around. >> didn't he get -- one thing i learned here. he had one bodyguard who wasn't at his post. >> he was drinking. this guy was drinking in a bar. he left his post because he thought lincoln would never know because lincoln was watching the play in the ford theater. i try to put some of that stuff in and make it a thriller because most people don't read history. it's too boring. this book will keep you up at night. >> it does. and it moves quickly. you address some of the broader conspiracies, even the one that a lot of historians looked at,

. >> between lincoln and fulton and the beach. >> you're saying, why did they decide that exact plot?they brought someone from new york to come up with a park plan. they eventually made it a rectangle. they had the panhandle part. the panhandle was the same with as golden gate park, but there was dealmaking going on between park commissioners and they decided they would buy the land and cut off part of the panhandle. >> the development of lincoln park is interesting. you can see the cemetery. >> on the map, it is a cemetery. >> what happened to that and all of the bodies? >> they decided around the turn of the century the land was too valuable to bury people. where uss is now there were four cemeteries. they moved all of the cemetery's out -- cemeteries out. the heir did not want to move one of the places. there are two people -- two places where people are buried in the city. the other ones were moved out. >> the big scandal of lincoln park, someone wanted to build the legion of honor out there. she did and she got it done. they had to prepare the land, the golden gate cemetery, so t