it's a great pleasure to introduce william seale. i have known william for a very long time because he married my good friend and colleague classmate. william seale is a charming if texas gentleman whose interest in history and the building has fuelled a long career in both off. he holds a b.a. and ph.d. from duke. he left texas and spent two years in colombia south carolina restoring the campus. he then came to washington to write a history of the state capital with henry hedgecock and their two sons settled in the native alexandria. at this point in his career, he focused on two things. historic restoration. his volume in the white house was published by the white house historical society in 1986 with the second edition in 1996. he is the editor of the association journal white house history. his other books include an architectural history of the white house come history of the national trust houses and of democracy. cavils in the usaf and american courthouses. a commission book of the garden club of america was published earlier t

it is a great pleasure to introduce william seale. i have known william for a very long time because he married my good friend and college classmate, lucinda smith. i married a brilliant historian, and so did she. [laughter] william seale is a charming and witty texas gentleman whose interest in history and buildings has fueled a long career in both. he is a native of beaumont, texas, holds a ba from southwestern university, an ma and a ph.d. from duke. he left texas in 1969 and spent two years in columbia, south carolina, restoring the home of wade hampton. he then came to washington in 1972 to write a history of state capitols with henry russell hitchcock. he, lucinda and their two sons settled in lucinda's native alexandria. at this point in his career, he focused on two things; historic restoration and writing. his two-volume history of the white house was published by the white house historical society in 1986 with the second edition in 1996. he is the editor of the association's journal, "white house history." his other books in

. >> now on booktv, historian william seale examines the transformation of washington, d.c.' political and physical landscape between the spanish-american war and world war i. this program from the society of the cincinnati's anderson house in washington, d.c. is 40 minutes. [applause]

seal the well closed. the oil would be pumped out by another rig later. williams says that during a safety meeting, the manager for the rig owner, transocean, was explaining how they were going to close the well when the manager from bp interrupted. >> i had the bp company man sitting directly beside me. and he literally perked up and said, "well, my process is different. and i think we're gonna do it this way." and they kind of lined out the way that he thought it should go that day. so there was sort of a chest bumping kind of deal. the communication seemed to really break down as to who was ultimately in charge. >> when we return, the mishaps on deepwater horizon have tragic consequences. >> i heard this awful hissing noise, this "whoosht," and at the height of the hiss a huge explosion. [watch ticking] ♪ ♪ i wanna spread a little love this year ♪ ♪ i wanna spread a little love and cheer ♪ [ male announcer ] this december, remember -- provocative design and exacting precision come together in one powerful package at the lexus december to remember sales event, w