this story, rip van winkle, became the most popular of irving's most ministorage. i think 18th century americans appreciated the notion that the world has been transformed in a very short period of time. superficially the leadership seemed the same. george washington replaced george the third on a sign outside the tavern, but beneath the surface, everything was change. and that's a quote from the story. in a few short decades, america underwent, i think, a fantastic transformation in politics, society and the culture. and i think most people wanted what had happened and who were they at the end of this period. in the decades following the revolution. before the revolution, america had been a collection of british colonies composed of some 2 million subjects, hobbled along the atlantic coast 3000 miles from the centers of civilization. european outpost so to speak whose cultural focus was still not the metropolitan center of the empire. by 1815, following the second war with great britain which is often referred to as a second war of independence independence, these

i hadn't seen him for 20 years, as you say, and felt really like rip van winkle when i got word that he wanted to see. he didn't call me himself. there was a tiny item in the baltimore sun saying that he was quoting him as saying he was sick that he didn't see his old friend taylor branch on election night because my wife and i went down there just on a lark, having played no part in his campaign. i was busy writing my martin luther king. went down there, stay there, watching from afar. got on a plane and came home. a few days later in the baltimore sun there was a little thing saying he was sick that he had heard i'd come and he didn't see me. i will call him. my phone started ringing off the hook in baltimore. the president-elect wants to call you. has he called you? he did go a long time, but find i got a call from the office and the president-elect would like me to come to a data. i had no idea what that it was a captain graham's own. it was a big to-do. it was probably the zenith of clinton's love affair with the washington press corps and the establishment. >> host: i remember