. >> john mearsheimer, we often hear about the special relationship between the u.s. and england, and given the special status of that relationship, are there lies told between the two nations as well? >> tony blair, bill clinton, george bush, tony blair, very close. >> i looked very carefully at the relationship between tony blair and bill clinton and then tony blair and george w. bush, and i know a great deal about the bush and lawyer relationship because both of them were involved in dragging their country into the war against iraq in march of 2003. and i think in both cases both the case of tony blair and of george w. bush there is evidence they told a hand full of lies to the republics, but there is no evidence that they told lies to each other. in fact they worked hand-in-hand to drag the united states and britain into the war. >> did you write the book between -- before the wikileaks that was so? >> i began on the book a long time ago in fact in 2003 and what happened is i got a call from a man named serge in "the new york times" who was writing a piece for the

but this was untrue. >> host: john mearsheimer white leaders lie, was as a fun book to write? >> guest: yes, was very much a fun book to write and in most part because i didn't know much about the subject. and i was sort of feeling my way around in the dark and i learned a lot in the process. and i ended up surprising myself. as i said before actually thought i was going to end up telling a very different story which is that there is lots of lying in international politics. the leaders lie to each other all the time but i found the opposite was the case. there is not much lying in international politics and i was even more surprised to find out that leaders lie more often to their own people than they do to foreign audiences. so i am learning new things and it is really kind of exciting and fun and what this academic enterprise is supposed to be all about. >> host: john mearsheimer is the author of white leaders lie the truth about lying and international politics and also professor at the university of chicago where booktv is on location. thank you for being with us. >> guest

[applause] >> university of chicago professor at john mearsheimer who do politicians like to? >> guest: tutu audience is. they lie and two other leaders and their public. number two, they like to their own people. >> host: to whom do they tell the truth? >> guest: they tell the truth often and in fact, politicians and leaders like to a foreign audience and lie to their own people. and if you think about it it makes sense if you lie all the time nobody would believe you if nobody believe do with it would not make sense new can catch people off guard. >> host: you have examples why leaders -- "why leaders lie" about american presidents with specific examples of when they lie. >> i have a whole slew of examples. my favorite example of what i call a noble lie is what kennedy told with the cuban missile crisis. he hoped to end that by getting christian of to withdraw the soviet missiles from cuba but the end of the crisis before it can in the word remove those munn from the jupiter missiles. kennedy had no problem and in fact, told pentagon to get them out of turkey before it that

. >> host: john mearsheimer "why leaders lie" was it a fun book to write? >> guest: very much a fun book to write because i didn't know much about the subject. . . where booktv is on location. thank you for being with us. >> my pleasure. ♪ coming up next, booktv presents "after words" an hour-long program where we invite guest hosts to interview authors. tonight hoover institution research author charles hills discusses his latest book. in it mr. hill provides a historical perspective on islam analyzes what he calls the long war against the international state system. he identifies several areas in which he claims islamists are at wore with the rest of the world including their belief in the role of state law and the role of women. he discusses his analyses with david ignatius, foreign affairs columnist for the "washington post." ♪ >> host: i'm david ignatius, a columnist for the "washington post" and author of a new novel. i'm here today to interview charles hill who is the author of a nonfiction book called "trial of a thousand years: world order and isla