mr. beschloss.r richard nixon voted against a proposal to an amendment to give the president more power on foreign policy and later ron it turns out -- the second question is why did president lincoln called the civil war -- why not call it a war -- an insurrection instead of calling it a war? >> guest: legally lincoln refused to recognize the confederacy as a separate country. he felt they were renegades of the united states. legally in his mind this was an insurrection against the federal government has much against american law as for instance the whiskey rebellion was under george washington. that was both in terms of framing the problem and legally dealing with it. that is why he did it that way. the other question about nixon's presidential power from the beginning of this time in congress nixon was in favor of presidents having a lot of authority particularly in foreign policy. one thing he and eisenhower had to deal with in 1953 was something called a proposed amendment, senator john brinker

mr. beschloss, i have a question about reagan.he republicans seem to worship him like he never raised a tax and never incurred a dollar in debt, and yet he left us $2 trillion in debt and he raised taxes, i don't know, five or six times. that was why bush said no new taxes. and i don't understand how it is they do so well at ignoring history. >> guest: well, i think part of that is right, but when you are, especially on the popular, but what party backs to the president's legacy, you pretty much collapsed into about three sentences. and if the deficit catches continue to grow constantly from 1989 on, i think reagan would be criticized more for the deficits. his view at the time was, these are bad deficits that we will get over them and we will overcome them, and they were rewarded by the fact, he would say, these deficits were required for the defense buildup that i initiated to try to end the cold war. and as bad as deficits are, that was the price of any the cold war, it would be a price i'll be willing to pay even economically

mr. beschloss, i have a question about reagan.he republicans seem to worship him like he never raised a tax and never incurred a dollar in debt, and yet he left us $2 trillion in debt and he raised taxes, i don't know, five or six times. that was why bush said no new taxes. and i don't understand how it is they do so well at ignoring history. >> guest: well, i think part of that is right, but when you are, especially on the popular, but what party backs to the president's legacy, you pretty much collapsed into about three sentences. and if the deficit catches continue to grow constantly from 1989 on, i think reagan would be criticized more for the deficits. his view at the time was, these are bad deficits that we will get over them and we will overcome them, and they were rewarded by the fact, he would say, these deficits were required for the defense buildup that i initiated to try to end the cold war. and as bad as deficits are, that was the price of any the cold war, it would be a price i'll be willing to pay even economically

mr. beschloss, about a battle in the pacific war during world war ii. it's a very significant battle that's not often mentioned, but it was the battle that made the guadalcanal effort such a slog for the or marine corps. and as i understand it, it was the information and the story about the battle was suppressed for many, many years. and i was just wondering if you would have knowledge about how far up the line that whole effort to suppress the story went. did it come, did it come from the top, would you say. >> >> guest: i don't know enough, and i would like to know. i will look into it, thank you. >> host: well, albert looking ahead to your next book, why not include jefferson and the war of 1805 in your book on wartime presidents? >> guest: i think that one will find that if you're dealing with the war of 1812, the name of thomas jefferson does not go unmentioned. thank you, sir. >> host: and our last call for you comes from woodland park, colorado. bob, please, go ahead with your question or comment for historian michael beschloss. >> guest: yes, pr