our guest has been ron chernow and we thank you very much. mr. . ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] announcer: for free transcripts or to give us your comments about this program, visit us at qanda.org. "q&a" programs are also available as c-span podcasts. ♪ [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2017] >> if you enjoyed this week's "q&a" interview with ron chernow, here are some other programs you might like. a historian talks about his biography of president grant. our 2016 interview with ron chernow talks about his biography of alexander hamilton that was the basis of the hit broadway musical, and our 2010 interview with roger chernow on -- ron chernow on his biography of george washington. search our entire video library at c-span.org. up monday morning, revitalizing the american dream and how politics has divided a nation. bloomberg policy reporter on the congressional reauthorization of the children's health insurance program. t

ron chernow, author of u.s. new biography.ven as they rush to publish their memoirs and cashing in on their celebrity, u.s. grant refused to trumpet

ron chernow, author of u.s. new biography.ven as they rush to publish their memoirs and cashing in on their celebrity, u.s. grant refused to trumpet his accomplishments in print. when did you decide to start that way in your book? mr. chernow: when i started working on the book i read it to her friend who said, how can you write a great biography of someone who rate -- wrote a great autobiography? that stop me in my tracks and i thought about that comment for many days. it actuallyzed that helped to define the direction of my book because i realized as awhat my job was to do biographer was to zero in on the silences and the invasions -- even asians -- evasions. it is not really a biography. it covers the mexican war and the civil war. his two-term presidency and the remaining events in his life. in on thoseeroing things that grant did not want talk -- did not want to talk about, particularly his lifelong struggle with alcoholism and his repeated his his failures. host: i want to start out concentrating on the end of his life.

ron chernow's latest work is "grant" biographer of our 18th president ulysses grant. mark updegrove has written about 41st and 43rd presidents bush, his new book called "the last republicans" and we'll also be joined by nancy koehn can he author of "forged in crisis" do leaders share common straights traits. what does the path tell us about the present. also talk about genius and creativity with walter isaacson author of "leonardo da vinci" and back in the present our analysts will catch you up on what you misunderstand week and look ahead to the end of the year sprinted in congress. all ahead on "face the nation." good morning welcome to "face the nation" i'm john dickerson. most of our post thanksgiving broadcasts will dean voted to discussion on leadership in times of crisis. but we begin with the news. president trump system winding up a five-day trip to his palm beach club mar-a-lago where he played golf with tiger woods and dustin johnson and wished u.s. troops overseas a happy thanksgiving. before he left he spoke with reporters and said that he is supporting a

ur guest has been ron chernow. thank you very much. mr. chernow: always a pleasure.nk you very much. ♪ >> for free transcripts or to give us your comments about this program, visit us at q&a.org. q&a programs are also available as c-span podcasts. >> and a live look from the longworth house office building on clip. that's where the house ways and means committee is considering the republican tax proposal. we have live coverage right now on c-span3. we expect this to take several days this week and we'll bring all of it to you live on the c-span networks. also online c-span.org or anytime you like on the c-span radio app. tomorrow the ways and means committee will continue work on this bill at 9:00 a.m. eastern nd we'll be live on c-span3. >> tuesday is election day with key governors races in new jersey and virginia. watch live coverage of victory and concession speeches from both races on the c-span networks. candidates in new jersey are democrat phil murphy and republican lieutenant governor kim and in virginia it's ed northham. nd ralph listen live t

grant. >> ron chernow, author of u.s. grants new biography.ven as they rush to publish their memoirs and cashing in on their celebrity, u.s. grant refused to trumpet his accomplishments in print. when did youec

pulitzer prize winning biographer ron chernow discusses his biography of ulysses s. grant. u.s. chernow, author of grant's new biography. even as other civil war generals rushed to publish their memwause, flaunting their cop qu

sunday night on q and a ron chernow and his new book on ulysses s. grant. >> you know, grant's life moves through a very different kind of -- the charisma of ulysses s. grant is that he had no charisma. he was not dramatic in different situations. he's no less fascinating, but he's kind of no less deep than hamilton. but kind of very, very subtle character. george washington had a similar kind of reserve and egmatic quality to grant. >> sunday night on c-span's q and a. >>> from washington journal, this is 20 minutes. >>> congressman tim ryan is back at our desk. he's from a region particularly hard hit from the opioid crisis. and president trump last week declared the opioid epidemic a public health emergency. what will be the impact of him doing that on the ground? >> it's welcome, but there's no money there. if you look at some county, portage county, my district, you need money. money on the ground for law enforcement, money for the first responders addressing a lot of these issues. and mostly you need the money for treatment. this is not alcohol

now comes "grant" by ron chernow, who's made a specialty of writing of big historical figures, includingp. morgan, and alexander hamilton. that biography was the inspiration for the hit broadway musical. ♪ ♪ welcome to you. >> pleasure to be here, thank you. >> brown: so, no doubt everyone starts by asking you, are we expecting ulysses s. grant, the musical? >> reporter: well, i decided that ulysses s. grant's life doesn't move to a hip-hop beat. the problem is, since the "hamilton" musical, people expect me to, at appearances to start snapping my fingers and singing in rhymed couplets. so i'm trying to get beyond the image of the hip-hop historian. >> brown: all right, so you provide the research for these things. it is interesting to think, though, about changing reputations and views of people. that happened with hamilton. i wonder, if somebody came to you and said "ulysses s. grant, how do i capture him?" >> this man has suffered from more misleading stereotypes than perhaps any other leading figure in american history. far from being this brutal and clumsy general, he was a strategi

ron chernow is author "grant" a new biography of the civil union general in 18th president. nancy koehn is "forged in crisis" which looks at five historical figures who demonstrated leadership. and mark updegrove snoot last republicans" examines the president he's of george w. bush and george herbert walker bush and their relationship. welcome to all of you. eye so glad you're here. ron, let me start with you. you are all historians but also story tellers, too. so, but general grant, president grant on stage for us, give us your favorite story. >> my favorite story is virginia 1864, grant is standing on the edge of the woods when lethal shell comes whizzing by him, passes within three inches of his ears. grant doesn't blink, he doesn't flinch, his facial expression doesn't change he turns to hissage than says, hudson, go get that shell let's see what the enshe firing at us. the reason i love this store tree t literally coolness under fire. and his metabolism was such that at moments where the rest of us would be fearful or anxious he gets very cool and focused. >> dickerson:

. >> rose: ron chernow is an award-winning biographer. subjects among the shapers of american history, both political-- george washington-- and businessmen, like john rockefeller and j.p. morgan. of his biography, "alexander hamilton was the base for the broadway hit "hamilton." now he turns his attention to ulysses s. grant. >> the other people i have written about i felt were built for success, and even as i was researching hir childhood, you knew they were going to soar into the wild blue yornd. this is a completely different story, this tremendous pathos in this story. it's a man who was repeatedly defeated by circumstance, and there was nothing ordained about his success. >> rose: lacked ambition. >> yes, in fact, when he graduated from west point, his highest ambition was to be an assistant math professor at the academy-- not, mind you, a full professor but an assistant math professor. >> rose: how did he ascend the beginnings? how did he get on the road to greatness? >> finally 1860, 38 years old, he goes to his father and asks if

then pulitzer prize-winning biographer ron chernow explores the life of ewe lizzies s -- ulysses s. grant. and wrapping up with brian kilmeade's history of the war of 1812's battle of new orleans if "andrew jackson and the moore cl of new orleans. -- miracle of new orleans." you can watch some of these authors on booktv.org. >> good evening. good evening to each one of you. [inaudible] i want to welcome you to the -- [inaudible] i am holmes adams, chairman of the board of the foundation and also the national advisory board. our mission is to preserve the literary legacy of -- [inaudible] and to encourage writers and readers of literature. the eudora welty lecture is a collaborative enterprise whose mission is to promote the

q&a, pulitzert on prize-winning biographer and -- on sure now -- ron chernow his new book about u.s. grant. >> hamilton was the perfect leading man for a musical. and laconic and the charisma of ulysses s. grant was that he had no charisma. he was not dramatic in different situations. he is no less fascinating, but he is a much more -- than hamilton. a very subtle character. he reminded me much more of george washington, george washington had a similar reserved quality to grant. >> sunday night at 8:00 eastern "q&a."an's announcer: next on the presidency, an interview with historian william seale on the white house. susan: white house historian bill seale, your latest is called "a white house of stone -- building america's first ideal in architecture." you have written so many books about the white house. why this project about the stone of the white house? mr. seale: well, susan, one thing that had not been addressed in a book is what is what is left of the white house?

programs are also available as c-span podcasts. ♪ >> if you enjoyed this week's q&a interview with ron chernowhere are some other programs you might like. a historian talks about his biography of president grant, "--tled "a american ulysses our 2016 interview with roger now talks about his bag fee of alexander hamilton was the basis of the hit broadway musical, and our 2010 interview with roger now on his battlefield george washington. search our entire library at c-span.org. next, we are live with their calls and comments on "washington journal". live at noon, the congress checks in. >> the house ways and means committee begins its work today for some to the full house for a vote. watch live coverage today starting at an eastern. at c-span.org. listen live using the free radio app. morning, former new york representative crist groups and talks about his book. revitalizing the american dream. after that, representative jason mireem re -- jason talks about his book and then

. >> guest: the one we're selling a lot is ron chernow's book.he's another one like walter, that ron chernow -- >> host: put his name and topic -- >> guest: yeah, people want to read anything that ron writes because he's such a good writer. and that's what's really heartening, is that readers really do respond to really good writing. and particularly when they're learning something at the same time. it's like the perfect storm. if you get a really fine writer who's chosen a really interesting topic, and maybe it's a topic that people don't know a lot about. it's guaranteed to be something that would be a big seller. but i just want to defend c-span a little bit. i watch c-span booktv all the time, and i can say that you guys have done a very, very good job of presenting people from all spectrums. in fact, the other night i remember watching the anniversary of regnery. you did an anniversary there. and certainly, there's no more publisher from the right than regularrer regnery. so, you know, it really depends on when you watch. if you happen to wa

"q&a,"ay night on pulitzer prize winning author, ron chernow, and his new book on ulysses s.rant. >> hamilton was young -- and hing and -- and -dasi romantic. grant is a very different kind of beast. and leighnnin aconic. the charisma of ulysses s. grant is that he had no charisma. he was not dramatic. he is no less fascinating, but he's kind of a much more no less deep in hamilton. is a very subtle character. he reminded me much more of george washington. george washington had a similar kind of reserved and magnetic quality. sunday night at 8:00 eastern on c-span's "q&a." announcer: "washington journal" continues. this is representative tom mcclintock, republican of california and member of the budget committee, also a member of the committee on federal lands, here to talk about a variety of things, first and foremost the status of the tax bill. the announcement yesterday that there was a delay -- what have you heard about this delay? guest: it's just that could they are stil., that are still working out the details. it's a complicated issue when you're working out people's

sunday night on q and a ron chernow and his new book on ulysses s. grant. >> you know, grant's life moves through a very different kind of -- the charisma of ulysses s. grant is that he had no charisma. he was not dramatic in different situations. he's no less fascinating, but he's kind of no less deep than hamilton. but kind of very, very subtle character. george washington had a similar kind of reserve and egmatic quality to grant. >> sunday night on c-span's q and a. >>> from washington journal, this is 20 minutes. >>> congressman tim ryan is back at our desk. he's from a region particularly hard hit from the opioid

sunday night on q and a ron chernow and his new book on ulysses s. grant. >> you know, grant's life moves through a very different kind of -- the charisma of ulysses s. grant is that he had no charisma. he was not dramatic in different situations. he's no less fascinating, but he's kind of no less deep than hamilton. but kind of very, very subtle character. george washington had a similar kind

. >> sunday night on "q&a," pulitzer prize biographer ron chernow on his new book on "ulysses s. grant." >> hamilton was young and dashing and romantic. in a way, he was a perfect leading man for a musical. grant is very different. he was plain, laconic and the charisma of ulysses s. grant was that he had no charisma. the drama was he wasn't dramatic. he's no less fascinating but he than hamilton. in my perspective, he reminded me much more of george washington. george washington had a similar reserved, enigmatic quality. >> sunday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span's "q&a." >> the house has passed a measure which continues the children health insurance program for five years. the vote was 242-174.