but that doesn't stop me enjoying mark twain's books. a few years ago, the oxford university press published, at a very modest price, a complete reproduction of all mark twain's books. and i have them in my library in london, and i read them constantly. i get enormous enjoyment. of course, he is best known for huckleberry finn, which is one of the greatest books in the whole of american literature. and i suppose it is his best book. but he wrote many other good books, too, and lots of short essays and entertaining little reads. and all of them are in my mail. so isolate mark twain, but that doesn't mean i have to agree with all his opinions, particularly his opinion about my favorite president, theodore roosevelt. >> why was theodore roosevelt your favorite president? >> for six good reasons. first of all, he was a very active man. he was always in the saddle or on the move or doing things. he was a hard, very hard-working man. like winston churchill. secondly, he didn't take anything for granted. he didn't necessarily take the received

one of directors is mark twain and we have this twitter message cover your favorite author mark twain considered you're favorite politician roosevelt a revisionist work longer. >> guest: all opinions differ. mark twain was a man of strong opinions zero to his long life. some of his opinions are not very sound in my opinion but no doubt if he was alive today he would reject a lot of my opinions to. he was a very great man and like many, he has sharp opinions about the enormous sufficient -- opinion summer right is some were wrong and sell more arguable. that is the kind of man he was. he did not like theodore roosevelt but i do. so we differ there but that does not stop me to enjoy mark twain's books. a few years ago the oxford university press published a very modest price complete reproduction of all of mark twain's books, i have them in my library in london. and i read them constantly. i get to enormous enjoyment he is best known for "huckleberry finn" which is one of the greatest books in whole of american literature and i suppose it is his best book. but he roche many other good b

light rail metro subway looks good and mark twain, 870 running 10 to 15 minutes late on the brunswick line. i am mark jones so you ate lots of decadent rich food during the holidays. and i got irregular and sluggish. then you took the activia challenge. ♪ activia! honestly, i had my doubts. but activia really works, i can feel the difference! oh, good! help get your system back on track! activia with bifidus regularis helps regulate your digestive system in two weeks. you're convinced! i'll be treating myself to activia every morning. mmmm! take the activia challenge now. it works, or your money back! ♪ activia so warm and fluffy. make the most out of the most important meal of the day. made with gooey hersheys mini-kisses. spontanious joy may occur. >>> all right we have this weather alert, delays and closings at the bottom of the screen and a little bit of ice left over but most of the snow is gone. 30 degrees easton, baltimore, york pa. for a second storm we beat them on snow 3 inches up there, about 4 to 5 inches on average here in the baltimore area. eastern shores slightly lower

mark twain who was then still kicking around, said this about your former senator, clark of montana. he is the most disgusting creature that the republic has yet produced. [laughter] >> and i should say, they knew how to hurl an insult back in those days. so clark spends his one term and the united states senate most living in his 106 room house in manhattan, and he has one great passion. in the senator do you know what it is? stop the national forests. so he is one of roosevelt's villains. these are the people he is fighting against. clark is democrat by the way. roosevelt as a republican. so the party is sort afflicted me with. clark goes on to cofound las vegas pick and clark county, the biggest and most populous county in nevada is named for this man that mark twain called the most disgusting cleat creature. that's who he was. so that's what they're up against. let's talk about the forced service itself or just a moment here. pinchot wanted these men to be the finest people of public service. so he endows the school in you with this pinchot money, they yale school of forestry. no

mark twain was not. do you have any idea why he didn't want people to read mark twain? guest: i don't. c-span: in this letter, he writes to his daughter, helen, who is 17. and it says -- i jumped to the second paragraph -- "in the first place, my dear child, you must not allow yourself to be worried about this trait of your character which renders you indifferent to most persons, as though it were a fault or a sin for which you are originally responsible." do you have any idea what that's all about? guest: well, she was having trouble attaching to people. and he -- it was a sentiment that he had felt in himself, that he often felt detached from other people. and it's a case of, "do as i say, not as i do." he's telling her she can do better than he has and that she really -- that indifference is something that she should shy away from as much as possible. she needs to feel and she needs to be attached. and sometimes people find -- they act like that detachment is a strength. and he's telling her, no, it's really a weakness, and you've got to work on it. c-span: he later

in life.dv university press published at a very modest price a complete reproduction of all mark twain's books and i have them in my library in london. i read them constantly. i get enormous enjoyment. of course, he's best known for huckleberry finn which is one of the greatest books in the whole of american literature. and i suppose it is his best book. but he wrote many other good books, too. and lots of short essays and entertaining little jour de spirit. and so i salute mark twain but that doesn't mean to say i agree with all his opinions and his opinions about my favorite president theodore roosevelt. >> host: why was theodore roosevelt your favorite president? >> guest: for six good reasons. first of all, he was a very active man. he was always in the saddle or on the move and doing things. he was a hard -- a very hard-working man like winston churchill. secondly, he didn't take anything for granted. he didn't necessarily take the received wisdom. as a young man he wanted to see it for himself. he went to the far west and the badlands of dakota and all those sort of places and saw

and mark twain was a man of strong opinions. th

he loved some american writers, mark twain, jack london, henry miller, oddly enough. >> host: thomas payne. >> guest: absolutely. british born. for orwell, america was -- it didn't have the things he was attached to and that are the things winston smith in 1984 is clinging to for sanity, the odd traditions, the things passed on from one generation to another, like the lyrics or a nursery rhyme or a song, old books and book stores that trade in old books. of course, some of these things are available here. >> host: little country churches war brass rubbings. >> guest: you got it. the tree in the country churchyard. those things were the bulwark against the month alightic paving over of everything by not just to tall tearannism but modern life. he hated concrete, central heating, mechanical entertainment, advertising, and all these things seemed to be coming not just from the east but from the west and the united states, and his -- in this sense there was something parochial about him. >> host: he disliked antiamericannism very much, which was beginning to become a disease on the left.

grant was saved from financial ruin by selling his memoirs to mark twain and the memoirs were commercial and critical success, although there were published after his death and he finished writing them shortly before he died. congress was loath to grant pensions to presidents. they were a little more generous with widows. generally presidential widows got $5,000 a year. there were many bills introduced to provide for presidential pensions but inevitably these bills died. and, i guess there was a feeling, just looking back at some of the newspaper clippings from the various bills that presence, it was undemocratic for presidents to receive pensions. they were just another citizen toiling in the service of their country, and that, when they were done, finished with their presidential service that they would return to being just ordinary citizens. it is really quite a grand ideal, but as harry discovered not a very realistic one. incidentally congress has been a little more generous or was it a little more generous with their own pensions because they began collecting pensions in 1946. unfo

he loved some american writers, mark twain, and jack london. >> oh, sure. >> henry miller, oddly enough. but, i think for orwell -- >> thomas paine. >> thomas paine, absolutely. british-born. but i think for orwell, america was -- it didn't have the things that he was attached to. and that are the things winston smith in 1984 is clinging to, for sanity, the odd traditions. the things passed on from one generation to the other like the lyrics of a nursery rhyme or a song. old books that -- and book stores that trade in old books. of course, some of these things are available here. >> churches with brass rubbings. >> and the country church yard, and for him those things were sort of the bulwark against the monolithic paving-over of everything by not just totalitarianism but by modern life. he hated concrete. he hated central heating. he hated mechanical entertainment and advertising and all of these things seemed to be coming not just from the east and the soviet union but from the west in the united states, and his -- in this sense there was something parochial about it. >> he did dislik

yalta was visited at some point by mark twain, the 11 author commesso cultural and other wise it ran about and hopkins later wrote i knew fdr loved to travel to the places he had never been before so i don't know whether he had ever heard about odessa opportunity but yalta since the time of the war generally were in his memory and map. the palace was constructed in 1911 but then the revolution came in 1917 and was turned into a resting house for the workers and peasants and you can see here the picture of the 1920's with peasants and workers sitting and reading probably the last issue [inaudible] this picture was taken not molto come at the image it projects is close cooperation between the leaders of the free world. in reality it was not in the picture that there is no real business discussion going on. around the table doctor of fdr and the bodyguard and doctor of churchill, sarah oliver, and the british kept complaining that they said this specifically appointed to discuss the common strategy at yalta, and fdr does everything in his power to avoid any meaningful discussion. and he

we know the old saying by mark twain whiskey four drinking and watcher for fighting over and we know it is true in the environmental community people feel strongly about removing water from the ecosystems and people from stolid like herbert hoover the water that flows to the sea and used is wasted. i am somewhat neutral on the subject i don't take the strong position that strongly that you can never take the water act of ecosystems i think the world is what it is and we have to use it but we have to preserve ecosystems on the other hand. >> i am with water advocates here in town. great speech i look forward to reading the book i may not be a youngster but happy to report that the beautiful actress jessica biel has some did not kilimanjaro and i have what should that -- i have watched that very attentively but all of these are part of the solution to building awareness of global save water and sanitation in challenges. one quick question you mention the two 1/2 billion without sanitation and the lack of an allegory for that issue i think we did have one and that was senator paul simon

it is a culture that produced mark twain and toni morrison, john philip sousa,marion anderson, louisind a place and we can all take great pride in. all take great pride in. the men and women we honor today are part of this unique american tradition. in a cultural moment that too often prizes the some days -- the sensational, it is worth recalling the contributions of those in this room that rise above the particular moment in which they are made. with us are actors and authors, conductors, curators, collectors, civic leaders, champions of the arts and humanities -- each has taken a different path to get here and made the most of their different gifts. they have all reached the peaks of cultural achievement and are a testament to the bre it is through contributions like there's that and nation's legacy is forced. ancient greece and rome are remembered for rulers who conquered the known world, but also for the "odyssey" and "the iliad." for the coliseum. europe is remembered for the strains of revolution, but also for the encyclopedia. china is known for its poetry. it is the legacy of

well, you know what mark twain there are three kinds of lies. lies, damn lies and statistics but the facts are that when bush -- in bush's last year, 2008, the deficit was $485 billion. the fiscal year begins october 1st, in this case, 2008. right before bush left office and the deficit rose another $100, $150 billion up to about $600 billion which was the real deficit at that point. then the tarp money comes along and they have to lend it to the banks. $700 billion. but it's a loan. it's not a grant. $500 billion of it has been paid back already but it counts as part of the deficit. so technically, for five minutes when obama took office, it was up to $1.3. but then a few weeks or months later, it would have gone back down to $800 billion which is about the real figure. but obama took the money that was being repaid on the loan and as fast as it came in, he threw it out in spending which he'll never get back. and that moved the deficit up to $1.1 to $1.2 and then revenue collections fell off and it went up to $1.4. so the real number is $800 bi

mark twain -- >> host: sure. >> guest: -- jack london, henry miller oddly enough.ut i think for orwell, america was -- >> host: thomas kane. >> guest: -- thomas kane, absolutely. british-born. but for orwell, america plus -- it didn't have the things he was attached to it that are the things winston smith in 1984 is clinging to for 70. the art traditions, the things passed on from one generation or another like the lyrics of a nursery rhyme or a song. old books and book stores that trade in old books. of course some of these things are available. >> host: googled country churches with brass rubbings. >> guest: the huge tree and the churchyard. for orwell, those things were sort of the bulwarks against the monolithic paving over of everything by not just totalitarianism but modern white. he hated concrete. he hated central heating. he hated most mechanical entertainment, advertising and all these things seem to becoming not just from the east and soviet union but from the west and the united states and in this since there was something provoking -- >> host: he did t

he loved some american writers, mark twain, jack london, henry miller, oddly enough.t i think orwell -- >> thomas paine. >> absolutely. british born. i think for orwell, america was -- it didn't have the things that he was attached to. and that are the things that winston smith in 1984 is clinging to for sanity. the odd traditions, the nursery rhyme or song, all books and book stories that trade if all books. some of these things are available here. >> church with brass rubbings. >> the tree in the country churchyard. for orwell, those things were sort of the bull work of the paving over of everything by not just totalitarianism but by modern life. he hated concrete, central heating, he hated -- >> advertising. >> mechanical entertainment. advertising. all of these things seems to be coming not just from the soviet union but the united states. in this sense there was parochial about it. >> he did like anti-americanism, which was beginning to become a disease on the left. he understand to be an anti-liberalism. it's what you find on the left that sees america has has -