>> Good afternoon.
Delighted to see you
all here this afternoon
at the History Stage at the
2018 National Book Festival.
Welcome. My name is
Becky Brasington Clark,
I'm the Director of Publishing
at the Library of Congress.
Before we welcome our next
speaker I'd like to ask you
to take a moment and spend it
with the device in your pocket
or on your wrist, whether
it's your phone or your watch
or your camera, anything
that makes noise
if you can just take a minute
and ask it to be silent.
That would be terrific
for, for all of us here.
Thank you.
So you may not know that
the Manuscript Division
in the Library of Congress
has the official papers
of 23 US Presidents.
The Andrew Jackson
collection alone includes more
than 26,000 items
dating from 1767 to 1874,
including 13 volumes
of his military papers.
Researchers and writers
who delve
into such primary source
material often discover little
known facts or new dimensions
in historical events.
These discoveries, whether
shared in books, documentaries,
podcasts or movies, keep
us connected to the history
that continues to
shape our nation today.
History really comes
alive in the works
of talented storytellers
like Brian Kilmeade.
Fellow bestselling author John
Mecham speaks of Kilmeade's gift
for narrative and intuitive
feel for great stories.
Indeed, Brian's latest book,
Andrew Jackson and the Miracle
of New Orleans has received
heaps of phrase from a long list
of literary luminaries.
Jay Winnick describes
it as a Tour de Force.
Douglas Brinkley calls it a
riveting introduction to one
of the seminal battles
in US history.
And Brad Meltzer calls it a
wild page turning history of one
of America's most
fascinating battles.
But nothing speaks as powerfully
to an author's success
in telling a good story as do
comments from readers like you,
of the more than 800
reviews I saw online
for this book, most
have five stars.
One reader wrote, if
more history were related
in this manner there would
be more history buffs.
Another said, it almost
reads like an action novel.
In fact by the time I got to the
battle I couldn't put it down.
Another said this is a wonderful
and fast read for history buffs
with an interest in old hickory.
And finally, this action story
is a well-researched page turner
and it's true.
Now you're going to get
a special treat today
because Brian is going to take
questions following his remarks
so if you'll please hold
your questions until the end
of his talk that would be great.
Please join me in giving a warm
welcome to a passionate student
of American history and
a gifted storyteller.
Brian Kilmeade.
>> Just want to warn
you I talk fast.
Hey thanks so much
for coming here.
I know there's a lot
of great attractions.
I'm thrilled you guys decided to
spend some quality time with me.
We have some audiovisual
portions of this presentation.
Because I'm a TV guy
with a radio show.
I also like to tell stories.
To give you an idea of
what's coming your direction.
So before the book
launches, Fox News,
Fox and Friends says hey Bri,
put together a three minute
piece to give people an idea
of what they're going to get.
And I'll roll that for you.
When I first started saying
to myself I love to do books,
I did the games do count.
Because I had a sports
background,
I was started as a sports guy.
I thought, if you didn't go
pro did we all waste our time?
If I didn't become Joe
Montana, am I wasting my time
when I could be doing
other things?
And it turns out most
of us don't become professional
athletes, so what are we doing?
So I wanted to show
people the games do count.
I talked to 73 people about
what they didn't accomplish is
sports, but what they tried to,
but what paid off
later down the line.
Then I came out with a
how you play the game,
so I wanted to weave in people
of history from Teddy Roosevelt
to Abraham Lincoln what they
did in sports believe it or not,
that paid off to what they
became, even to Steve Young,
and great athletes like Evander
Holyfield and people like you
and I who didn't go pro
assuming there's not
professional athletes.
And to prove it doesn't matter
that life is what you
experience, how you handle it.
You might be set
back, but you're never
down unless you decide
that is it.
And what do you learn from
failure or not getting success
to come to or come at it from
another direction, go at it,
go at it again and
don't give up.
After that I was done.
And then I started understanding
the reason when we were born
in this country we
really hit the lotto.
We're not a perfect country,
but man we are pretty great.
And even though we don't,
we do make mistakes,
for the most part, we are on
the path to getting better.
And the reason why people
misinterpret what we're doing
in this country is because
we have our fights in public.
We let it out.
But we all unify behind this
principle of understanding
that there's no country
like America.
And after reading great history
books from Dave McCullough,
like John Adams, and seeing him
bring him to life, when he talks
about John Adams coming into
New York and he is complaining
that everybody is
rude and in a rush,
I go wait a second,
they still are.
And I thought wow
history and today,
if I could bring some
humanity to this story,
I can't do what Dave
McCullough does.
I can't capture a famous person
like Adams or John Meacham
when he grabs Push
41, or Andrew Jackson.
I can't-- I don't close that
book and say I could do better,
I'm not that arrogant.
I don't close Grant after
reading Ron Chernow for a book
and say, wow that was okay.
I think it's great.
So what I thought I would
like to do is point out things
in America's past
that shows you,
you and I are what make America.
As much as we love
the Founding Fathers,
they live up the they hype.
But the people behind the
Founding Fathers made our
country what it is.
And that's why I came up and
I looked at this for 20 years.
I got it. George Washington's
Secret Six, the spy ring
that saved the American
Revolution.
Those aren't my words,
that's what Washington said.
To see a farmer, a
bartender, a printer which was
like a journalist, a
grocery store owner
and a socialite combine forces
in three and a half years,
to bring down the British and
infiltrate their headquarters
and do it in a way that helps
us win the battle of Yorktown,
allow the French to land in
America without being confronted
by the British, while outing
Benedict Arnold before he could
turn over West Point,
I thought they lived
and died in anonymity.
If I could highlight their
struggle on what they did,
and the credit they didn't get.
Maybe I could tell a story
that America could relate to.
And so called average
every day Americans turned
on average every day
Americans, because the fact is
without us there is
no America as much
as we love the man on Mount.
Rushmore, the people that made
America are everybody else
around Mount.
Rushmore. So George
Washington's Secret Six opened
up what I thought was a venue.
Take the Founding Fathers,
let the geniuses like Meacham
and Brinkley and
Chernow tell that story.
But what if I bring
out other elements?
So I came up with
Thomas Jefferson
and het Tripoli Pirates.
Now my problem with
Jefferson is he accomplished
so much, where do you focus?
Every time since 9-11
they tell the story.
They say well this isn't the
first time we had a battle
with radical Islamists.
And they refer back
to Jefferson.
It intrigued me.
And the great people at the
Jefferson Library were able
to open up their books
and show me how he took
on four Muslim nations that
were stealing our ships,
capturing our sailors
and capturing the cargo
and demanding ransom in return.
We wanted to take on this fight.
The only problem was, we
had no army, we had no navy.
So I came up with Thomas
Jefferson Tripoli Pirates
because the so called passive
presidents that did so much,
from Secretary of State
to the Declaration
of Independence author.
Never really talked
much about how he took
on this unpopular battle, but in
the end was praised by the pope
of his time and gave America
international prestige.
So here's a look right
now of Thomas Jefferson
and the Tripoli Pirates.
>> In the aftermath of
the Revolutionary war,
America had won independence
from the British.
And that mean no more Royal Navy
to keep it sailor's safe at sea.
The United States
became vulnerable
to a vicious new enemy whose
extremists ideology we still
face today.
Islamic Radical Pirates.
The year, 1783, the
United States were freed,
but buried in war debt.
They needed to built an economy
from scratch using their
greatest asset, trade.
The most important passageway,
the Mediterranean Sea.
But danger lurked right off
the North African Coast.
A new enemy would await.
Pirates from four
Islamic nations, Morocco,
Algiers, Tunas, Tripoli.
Without a navy for protection,
it's merchants were helpless
and vulnerable at sea.
Pirates captured our
ships, plundered our cargo
and turned the crew
into their slaves.
Held for ransom that no new
nation could afford to pay.
Without trade, America's
economy would surely collapse.
Congress tasked two
future Presidents
to come up with a deal.
John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.
They'd need Tripoli's Ambassador
in London face to face.
The Ambassador was
charming but uncompromising.
And demanded money for passage.
According to the Quran it
was their God given right.
Both Adams and Jefferson
left the meeting shaken.
They didn't have a
deal on the prisoners,
and they didn't have a deal
on safe passage for
a merchant ships.
Back in the United States they
waited for a recommendation.
And that's where Adams
and Jefferson split.
Adams said we can't
fight them unless we want
to fight them forever.
For Jefferson he says
you can't pay for peace.
He says that the
attacks would start
and the price would only go up.
In this case, Jefferson
was 100 percent correct.
The United States would cave to
the pirates, borrowing money.
It would cost them
up to 20 percent
of their national budget, yet
somehow the attacks continued.
When our first President took
office, he would continue
to make the payments,
but he would also commission
the building of six ships,
including this very one,
the USS Constitution.
What were they like?
Well they had copper bottoms,
they had solid oak sides,
they were fast, they
were strong,
and they were built to fight.
They wouldn't be ready for
the Washington Administration,
Adams would choose not to use
them during his years in office,
but for Jefferson, he knew
exactly what he was going to do.
He was going to take
on the barbary nations,
and the first ones to
declare war on us, Tripoli.
Without congressional
approval all
of Thomas Jefferson's new
navy would be permitted
to do would be to provide
security for the merchant ships
and blockade the Tripoli harbor.
The hope was to stop all
commerce coming in and out.
It strangled the
Tripoli economy.
Have a quick end to
this confrontation.
However, the blockade was
ineffective, it was leaking.
The Tripoli pirates
still had to get through,
the Cruisers had the
dial and the knowledge
and the guts to take
on the navy.
Therefore the quick end to this
clash would go by the boards.
But that would change with this
captain, Edward [inaudible].
The training would get hence.
And the confrontation
could begin.
[Inaudible] boys
were brave and brash.
They confronted the pirates,
harassed their ships
and took them back.
Even blew up an American
ship, the USS Philadelphia
that the pirates once
claimed as their prize.
Soon the navy sealed the harbor.
Day after day their cannons
would pound the coast.
But Tripoli's leader
refused to budge.
The navy needed a
more powerful force,
both on water and on land.
Enter William Eaton and a
handful of fearless US marines.
They launched the land war,
recruiting mercenaries,
enlisting the deposed
Tripoli ruler and his fighters
to march 500 plus miles on foot.
And after the trek they
took the port city of Derna
in two and a half hours.
Eaton's stunning success
surprised even Jefferson,
although ultimately his
victories would be stymied
by a surprising source,
an American diplomat
named Tobias Lear.
Lear would cut a premature
peach deal with Tripoli,
stopping William Eaton
from taking Benghazi
and Tripoli itself.
In the end it would
be another ten years
and another president before
we ultimately won this war.
But in the end, the message was
sent, America was a naval power,
would fight for liberty and
assert itself as a world leader,
a position we will hold today.
>> So that was the battle
with Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco
and Tripoli which is Libya,
and at the same time we have
our confrontation with Libya,
the overthrow of Gaddafi,
what's happened since.
And we begin to hear terms like
Tripoli again and Benghazi again
and the confrontation again.
But if you look at
Portugal, you look at Spain,
you look at England, they
had one thing in common.
They wanted no part
of this battle.
But our country, just a
couple of decades old,
a couple of years old,
was in a confrontation.
We had to wait for a president,
we had the Articles
of Confederation.
And once we had that president,
he did not want to act.
The next president says,
we can't fight these guys
because I've seen the
look in their eye,
they're going to fight forever.
And they don't represent
the Muslim people.
These people, the Muslim
people were oppressed
by horrible leaders.
They're great people.
Our ambassadors love the
people of these nations,
but they hated the leaders
because they were
corrupt and oppressive.
For William Eaton,
you know Jefferson,
you might know Edward
Prebble, but for William Eaton,
here's a guy whose
self-educated,
put himself through
college, became this warrior
and then kept pitching to,
to President Jefferson.
Hey, Mr. President, I could
go get a handful of marines,
I'll go get some mercenaries
and I'll take these countries.
I know what makes them up.
We'll take them out.
Jefferson said, hey
calm it, calm down,
I got the ships, we'll be okay.
Well just a, a sea war
was not going to do.
Finally gets-- he gets him about
1,000 muskets, a little bit
of money, sends him into Egypt.
He gets a, a land force
together with Presley O'Bannon
and they do something that all
those other nations couldn't do.
They took on the
Muslim terrorists
and they overthrew them.
And when they took Derna,
you know what they said?
Guys, I'm not your leader, go
do what you want, open up shops,
I'm not going to oppress you.
But we pulled out early again,
leaving those people back
to the old leadership.
And then it took
Madison to go back,
because the started
taking our guys again,
to settle everything up.
And in case you think this is
an American author thinking
that America's great,
let me tell you what Pope
Pius said at the time.
And by the way it's
Pope Pius IV,
I thought three Pope Pius' would
have been enough, but they need
to go back to Pius again.
The Americans, with a small
force and a short space of time,
have done more for the
cause of Christianity
than the most powerful nations
of Christendom have
done for ages.
So we acted.
The next thing you know
we're in the War of 1812.
But I thought also, Jefferson,
a deed thinker, an intellectual,
who was asked to get
a militia together
for the Revolutionary War
said, I'm more of a thinker.
He knew the rest of
the world was watching.
And Jefferson said this,
weakness provokes insult
and injury, a condition to
punish and it often prevents.
I think in our interest,
it's in our interest
to punish the first insult,
because insult unpunished is
the parent of many others.
That is why he said
we had to fight.
Adams had a great argument,
we didn't have much of a navy,
they weren't experienced.
And guess what America did?
Started off strong, got it
wrong, rotated out our admirals,
got the right guys in there,
got better coordination
and sent a message.
And I would argue, without that
message we don't have this much
naval success in
the War of 1812.
So that book seems to resonate,
and our hope is we'll be
announcing a three part series
on the History Channel shortly.
Keep your fingers
crossed if you can,
because I think it's
an important story
that has to be told.
So then I thought, what would
be great to talk about next?
I don't know if anyone here
has toured the White House?
Have you guys toured it?
Well I had a chance to tour it,
and they showed me the archway
where they burned the
White House to the ground,
and the original
flames are still there.
It's right by the bowling alley.
If you ever get a
chance check it out,
because they wanted America
to remember how close it came
to all coming to an end.
Well when we had
social studies class,
I could not get enough
of the War of 1812.
I could not understand why we
didn't spend much more time
on it.
Well it was a draw, they
signed a peace treaty,
they had this battle afterwards.
You know with-- some people
said it was an unnecessary war.
Well the more I studied it,
the more I realized
how close we came
to utter extinction
and division.
I mean for the most part,
the vote was overwhelming,
but the northern states didn't
want any part of this war.
They said, hey you
know what England,
if you don't attack us maybe
we'll go back with you.
We're tried of the
Jefferson embargo.
I'm not really into
taking you guys on.
And we just want to get
our economy growing.
And most of the votes
came from the south.
So when the war started we had a
very little army and we thought
to ourselves, wait a second,
let's take on England,
we think they're taking our
sailors against our will,
so we're going to take them on.
Let's send our army up
to Canada to fight them.
It doesn't seem like
a great idea.
It wasn't.
We left our whole east
seaboard wide open.
What do the British do?
Terrorize.
We're losing badly.
Jackson put his hand
up early and said,
I've got a militia I want to
fight, I want to get revenge.
So please call on me.
The Virginia base said,
no, we got this handled.
They didn't.
Sooner or later they
had to call on Jackson.
So this is the story that led to
the battle that I think is one
of the most biggest
upsets in military history,
certainly in American
history, and can I just say
on a partisan basis,
I'm glad we won.
Here is Andrew Jackson and
the Miracle of New Orleans.
>> The War of 1812,
America's second war
of independence was going
terribly for the United States.
>> We were so weak, we've
got just the worst generals,
we've got no plan.
>> The British, the
world's premiere economic
and military power,
thirsted for a second shot
at destroying America
after losing the Revolutionary
War 23 years earlier.
The most perilous and bleak
time for the United States?
The invasion and
burning of Washington,
including the White House.
>> But here is the hermitage,
Major General Andrew
Jackson was seething.
And his country was
losing this war badly.
America needed a leader.
Without a standing army,
for President Madison,
America's utter future
hung in the balance.
He found his leader in Jackson.
His greatest challenge?
Stopping the British forces
from taking New Orleans.
>> He lost New Orleans
and if the British
controlled the great city,
you lose the entire Mississippi
River and you lose all
of our western frontier that we
acquired through the purchase.
So we wouldn't have been
able to do western expansion.
>> The plan, build a wall, dig
a canal, fill it with water,
and wait for a British charge.
This berm, this protection,
this wall was built in a matter
of weeks, miles long to
protect Andrew Jackson
and the American troops.
Over there, with
thousands of British troops,
what they wanted
that was New Orleans.
What's at stake?
The future of the country.
>> His mishmash of troops that
comes in part Choctaw Indians,
Kentucky and Tennessee militia,
[inaudible], rifles and free men
of color, they're not going to
go out and engage the British.
Jackson knows that
would be suicide.
>> Any expert would tell you
Jackson's ragtag army would need
a miracle to stop the British
from spending Christmas
on Bourbon Street,
and Jackson knew just
where to go to ask for it.
>> Why would I be outside
a convent when I'm trying
to tell the Battle
of New Orleans?
Because this isn't just any
convent, this is the home
of the Ursuline Nuns, it
dates back hundreds of years.
They prayed for Jackson's
success.
And among the people who think
that these nuns brought
his a miraculous victory?
Major General Andrew
Jackson himself.
>> It's the miracle, it's
praying for a miracle,
the Catholic Church and
the Battle of New Orleans.
I mean that is where we know
that there was divine
intervention.
>> And that divine
intervention would reveal itself
in the final fight
January 8, 1815.
>> This becomes a
blood bath here.
The purposes, now we're
just in a green grass.
It was the beginning
of the end of Britain
and in many ways the
birth of modern America.
>> Jackson's forceful
leadership would help record one
of the most decisive
and stunning upset
victories in military history.
But Andrew Jackson left
his estate, before the War
of 1812, he was known locally.
When he was done
winning the Battle
of New Orleans he
became a national star.
Maybe the most famous
person in America.
But more importantly his wins
sent a message to the rest
of the world, that we
would fight relentlessly
and furiously for freedom.
As for Jackson, he would
ride that fame for two terms
in the White House and go down
as one of the most consequential
and influential Americans
in our history.
>> And that's this the hard
back that came out last year,
Andrew Jackson, the
Miracle of New Orleans.
So if you think about it, the
army that just beat Napoleon,
Wellington's invincibles, they
get together and they say,
let's just wipe out America.
Let's stop America from growing
past the Mississippi River.
We are going to stay and we're
going to stop this growth.
They saw us as a rival,
they saw the potential
that we could have, and
they thought they had it.
Now in case you thought that
I'm overestimating that,
here's what the British
Foreign Secretary said,
while they're trying to
negotiate the Treaty of Ghent.
I expect, at this moment, that
most of the large seaport towns
of America are laid to ashes,
that we're in possession
of New Orleans and have command
of the Mississippi Valley,
that Mississippi
River and lakes.
And that the Americans
are now little better
than prisoners in
their own country.
So what stopped that
from happening?
Andrew Jackson.
This instinctive
military leadership.
He didn't come from
the academies.
The guy was brought up outside
the so-called Virginia base,
or the Boston power base.
Either one of these.
He was the first outside to
actually rise to prominence.
And what did he go through?
And I didn't realize this
until I started researching it.
What he went thorough
was the ultimate
and maybe the first
rags to riches story.
I mean his parents come
here from Scotland.
His dad dies before he was born.
His mom raises three kids
by just basically being a
housekeeper for other people,
doing whatever she can to
get through, very tough times
in the Tennessee /
South Carolina area.
And then when a time for
the war, of the older son,
they knew one thing they
didn't like the British
because they're Scottish.
He goes to fight.
He dies of heat stroke.
So the two, 13 and 14 years
old, Robert and Andrew,
start becoming couriers
in the Revolutionary War.
Well they get caught,
followed back to a house,
and the British soldier
says clean my boots
to both brothers,
and they both say no.
Up come up the sword,
down goes the sword,
right to the brother's
head, a direct hit.
Andrew puts his hand up,
he'd have the scar the rest
of his life, but he was
able to parry the blow.
They went to prison,
after walking 20 miles,
after they take their
shoes off, in the winter.
They spent a couple
of years there.
But you know what stopped them?
The mom was relentless
to get them out.
But by the time they
got back to their house,
they were so sick
that Robert died.
And it's just Andrew
and his mom.
So they need money.
So she goes to a
cousin to earn money.
A trunk ends up on the doorstep
of Andrew Jackson's house.
It's his mom's stuff.
He still lived and died
without knowing how she died.
He is alone at 14 years old.
A war veteran you could say.
He was raised by his town,
he was raised by his village,
he was raised by his country.
Therefore he bled
red, white and blue.
He became a self-taught
lawyer, a judge, a congressman,
a senator, a major general
and then when the War
of 1812 happened,
what is he thinking?
Revenge. Put me in coach.
They didn't.
You're a backwoodsman, you don't
really know what you're doing.
You didn't go to West Pointe.
But he could lead,
he couldn't get
through when all the other
guys failed, he got through.
And all he did was roll,
roll off battle win,
after battle win, but
he knew they were going
to go for New Orleans.
But he didn't have enough guys.
So he had to get free
men of color, Cassian's,
make a deal with local pirates,
had Tennessee riflemen,
Kentucky riflemen.
He put them together
in three weeks.
He got the whole
town to dig a ditch.
And if just in case he walked
into New Orleans and felt
as though they weren't
all in, he let them know.
If you don't fight with me I'm
burning this town to the ground.
It turns out they were
all in after that.
Then he said, the British
are going to land here.
What do I do?
Stop here.
What happens if we don't, if
they get through our first line?
Dig another line.
Told them there's no
substitute for winning.
They knew by the time
this battle started they
couldn't miss.
You know what they had better?
They had better riflemen,
they were more determined,
because the British
were not fighting
for their freedom they were
fighting to stop growth
of a free nation, many
of which wanted to stay
and ended up staying here.
So listen to these numbers.
In under 45 minutes, we
have 13 dead they have 291.
We have 5,300 fighters
they have 10,000.
We have 39 wounded, they
have 1,262, 484 are missing
which means essentially
they were blown apart.
We took out three generals,
seven colonels, 75 officers.
So why is it that
Andrew Jackson was able
to do what Napoleon couldn't?
Because I believe on some
level America was meant
for something special, to the,
to be the beacon of freedom
of the world it doesn't
mean we're perfect,
but it means we're like no other
and it means we have a
responsibility to do so.
And for those who say the battle
did not have to be taught,
because that's what they
taught us in school,
this is what Jackson said.
If General Pakenham, which by
the way was the brother-in-law
of Wellington.
Wellington's like yeah, I fought
already, I'm not into going
to America, but you're
my brother-in-law,
so why don't you take my
army and go, and you can stay
and be the governor,
it'll be easy.
It wasn't.
General Pakenham and his
10,000 matched with veterans,
if they could have alienated
my little army he would have
captured New Orleans
and sentried all the
contiguous territory,
so technically the war was over,
Great Britain would have
immediately aggregated the
treaty again, would have
ignored Jefferson's transaction
with Napoleon.
That means no Louisiana
Purchase.
It means the country of--
our country wouldn't
have doubled in size.
It means our Washington
was burned,
our five foot three inch
president was on his own.
Our records were scattered
out throughout the country.
We were over, we were
finished we were through.
If not for this 14 year old
who finally found a way to get
out of prison thanks
to a relentless mom,
who was determined to
pay back his country,
and pay back the British.
I did not know when
I dove into this
that I'd come out with this.
I did not know I'd be talking
about what I thought was one
of the original American
success story
and the promise of
our country as.
That if you do whatever you
can, if you believe in yourself,
and you are determined
to be successful,
you'll have the opportunity
to pursue happiness/success.
That's what he was
trying to say.
And when he rose up
through the ranks,
he wasn't representing the
rich, the famous, the powerful,
he was representing the
so-called average every day
Americans doing extraordinary
things
to keep our country alive.
Was he perfect?
No. I'm not debating
his presidency,
that's for John Mecham, he's
really smart with better hair.
I wanted to grab the
moment in which he emerged
at 40 something years old, as
the most famous man in America.
Now when Donald Trump
puts his picture
in the Oval Office
he becomes a story.
In the paperback that
comes out in two months,
I decided as my excerpt to
not debate Andrew Jackson,
what kind of President
he was, and what he did.
Because back then
when people now are,
are revisiting our history
and think we know more,
and I think we're coming off
as a very arrogant generation
that looks back and
says how could they,
no one defends slavery,
no one ever will.
No one defends fighting
the Civil War
and saying wow the south
was right, no one ever will.
But understand these
people were, were monuments
in their time, put up by people
in their day for a reason,
and when you look at
Jackson we're revisiting him.
So I thought I'd
revisit him with this.
Lincoln, FDR, Teddy Roosevelt,
Harry Truman, Ronald Reagan,
when asked who they looked
to most in times of trouble,
and for setting out an agenda,
those men looked at that man.
Did they look at him
because he was perfect?
No. Did they look at him because
he was a self-made American
success story that defined
leadership in its own way?
Knew how to consolidate
power, and get things done
and he cared more about the
everyday people than he did
about political power
and prestige.
And once he left office, he
had a lot of power afterwards.
So when Harry Truman took
office, he had a figurine
of Jackson on his desk.
Before World War II, FDR in all
his pain, locked in his braces
and walked up the steps to go
to the hermitage before he
put our nation again at war.
When Ronald Reagan chose to give
a speech after being elected,
he did it in front of
the Jackson statute.
When Lincoln wanted to know how
to keep our country together,
he looked back at Jackson's
papers, because Jackson said
to South Caroline,
oh you want to leave,
you got about one week.
Because if you decide to
leave, I'm sending troops
in to make sure you stay.
He was going to keep
the union together.
It's exactly like
Lincoln did, no?
But there was something
to learn there.
So I through Teddy
Roosevelt too,
when he had to do a biography,
he chose Andrew Jackson.
So I choose to take on passage
of where Andrew Jackson emerged
and a victory that people
still can't makes sense of,
they still teach
about in war colleges.
My next project, which I
hope you're enthusiastic
about which I can't get enough
of, and no one wants to hang
out with me because I can't
stop talking about it.
Do you ever get that when
you're in the middle of a book,
or in the middle of research?
All you do is think
and talk about that?
Because I'm very, very
simple, I pretty much think
on one track all the time.
But I'm doing Sam Houston
avenging the Alamo.
And the link to Sam
Houston and Jackson
to see Sam Houston fighting
in the Creek War for Jackson,
getting wounded, Jackson walking
over to the sick bay and saying,
I need more guys
to finish them off.
And he gets up and fights
again, gets shot again.
They send him back to
Washington to heal,
it's burned to the ground.
They think he's going to die.
He lives. Jackson
would mentor him.
So I thought it would
be a perfect next step
and to see what Texas
has done is fascinating.
I always thought you had to
be from Texas to study Texas
because they get
kind of resentful.
For a New Yorker to do it.
But I'm finding nothing but open
arms, and I cannot wait to tell
that story, and I
hope you like it.
What I try to do in my books,
I don't try to impress
you with a vocabulary.
I don't try to get you
caught up in the background
and the smell in the air.
And some people don't like that.
What I try to do is tell a story
that's accurate but concise
that makes you want
to study more.
I don't think I can do
the definitive biography,
even on myself, but I
think I can grab a slice
of what made these men and women
great, and tell you the story.
Because really the supporting
cast matters so much.
We are the supporting casts.
We're not on Mount.
Rushmore, but we matter.
And that's what I try
to do with the books,
and people have been
kind enough to get them.
And I just love telling
the story.
And I never thought history
would be so under attack
as it is today, so I never
thought there would be
so much news about
things in the past.
But it's here.
And I'm still going to
say America's not perfect,
but man we're special and
I will always believe that.
And I believe all of us, even
if we were the biggest critic
of this country, we hit
lotto when we were born here.
Everyday we're allowed
to thrive here.
We're all in the Super Bowl.
So with that I like you to
come up to the microphone
and tell me how I'm wrong.
Or tell me what you like.
Or ask any questions about
the book and/or the radio show
or Fox in the morning,
whatever you want.
So unless you are
a really shy group,
which I understand you're
not, because I can't even get
on the elevator,
because everyone's
so loud and deliberate.
But I appreciate it.
Yes.
>> I'm not shy.
I think you gave a great speech
and I think it's very important
that we recognize the
humanity of people in history,
both the good and the bad.
But I really need to push back
on your view on the monuments
that were erected to them.
Most of those Civil War
monuments were erected after,
way after the Civil War,
as a way of putting blacks
in their place, and
reminding them.
And reminding them of their
history in a negative way.
I'm not for getting rid
of the monuments but I am
for putting history in context--
>> Well lets' talk about this.
Great point.
And if you read Grant
it really comes home.
>> Yes.
>> Because reconstruction is so
underappreciated, underreported.
As a white guy whose family
wasn't even in America
at the time, I'm horrified
that a country this great
could rationalize slavery,
to be honest.
I don't know what
to say about it.
And I think a lot
of white people
in America feel the
exact same way.
But I love, like I
interviewed Jim Brown '80--
I did a show with
him for five years.
I interviewed him Tuesday.
And he said yeah he
came from slavery
but look how far we've come.
And he says, when it comes
to back then no one will
ever justify slavery,
but in 2018 he says if a white
person in Manhasset didn't pay
for my school without
telling me,
I wouldn't have become the
running back from Syracuse.
He says, a lot of white people
have died because slavery was
so wrong and they
wanted to fix it.
So I'm not going to put that.
I cannot-- Douglas Brinkley
I think said it best.
He said, we can take
the confederate statutes
and put it separate
from past presidents.
For example, if you are
a confederate general
and you fought to keep
slavery intact, if I'm black
and I looked at that every day,
I'd have a problem with that.
But if you look at
Jefferson, Washington, Madison,
Monroe I believe, everyone
except Adams I think
in our first to eight
Presidents, they had slaves.
I can't rationalize that.
I could say at 30 they
were geniuses, but for them
to make sense of
that, I can't do it.
But I think, and I don't
know your name, I'm sorry.
>> CQ Tillery.
>> Hi, that's the, CQ Hillary.
>> Tillery.
>> Tillery.
But I would say this,
I would love,
I thought the 60 Minute
special was great,
and can we put a plaque
next to the statute
that says they also sadly had 26
slaves, or rationalized slavery
for somehow put that
along with it.
But I think you take down
Jefferson in Washington and,
and, and Madison and
Monroe, and Jackson,
I think to diminish
them as great leaders,
acknowledge the slaves
or the slavery was wrong,
but to diminish as great
leaders I think we're in danger
of losing our history.
>> And maybe you didn't hear
me, that's exactly what I said--
>> Great.
>> I said it needs to
be placed into context.
And I think that along with
some of those Civil War leaders
and generals, we need to put
up a statute to Harriet Tubman,
the first woman, black or
white that led a regiment
of soldiers into combat.
>> Absolutely.
>> We need to acknowledge
that it was African slaves
that shared the, the
cure for smallpox.
We would have lost the American
Revolution had we not had the
smallpox injections, because--
>> Did not know that.
Okay.
>> Soldiers were dying of that.
But women and blacks
and Mexicans have become hidden
figures in American history.
And when we unveil those
hidden figures along
with the people that--
>> I hear you.
>> We accept, then we
have the whole picture
of what makes America
great and continues--
>> Great, thank you.
>> To make it great.
>> Thank you.
>> I hate to follow
that, that was beautiful.
So thank you.
I'm just concerned
with Jackson's wife.
I don't know if she
had been married prior,
but there's a big
scandal around her--
>> Yes.
>> And their romance.
And I just wanted to know
if you had done any
research on that or--
>> Not heavily, but by the
way they have life size things
at the hermitage of the wife.
The wife was like 4'9",
he was like 6'3"--
>> Yeah she was Rachel.
>> It was, yeah, yes Rachel.
And the way I understand it he,
she had an abusive marriage.
>> Yes.
>> She got out of it, the
paperwork wasn't done perfectly.
He got married, and they tried
to pin that scandal on him.
>> Yeah.
>> Like Sam Houston, for
example, had a, had a marriage
that lasted two weeks.
He couldn't shake that.
They basically told
him resign as governor
so those are the good old
days in terms of scandals.
But that was in it, so more
of a paperwork thing,
the first husband.
They tried to sully
who they became.
But you know what
when I see about--
hear about Ronald and
Nancy Reagan and you read
about those two, Rachel and
Andrew Jackson, it makes you--
they are such a great
marriage, these, these two had
such great marriages,
they really got their
strength from each other.
And I think the women
are so underappreciated.
>> Yeah that's what I, I guess
that was my point was that,
I think she went through
a lot of strife because--
>> She had a heart attack too.
>> Right. Because of her
situation and I just wanted
to know if you had
any information
about her and her life?
>> A couple of things.
She did not want to
go to the Washington,
but went out to pick a
dress for the inauguration,
and basically had a
heart attack right after.
So he ends up going
to Washington with a,
with his niece and
nephew and they were--
they were his, his confidants.
Because when he got
to Washington,
no one wanted him there.
They didn't like him there.
They thought he wasn't
worthy of the office.
John Quincy Adams wasn't
even there when the,
to transfer the power.
He left early.
But Jackson got there,
no security,
they wrecked the place,
like it was a frat house.
So they had to protect Jackson
from his own so-called
friends, every day people.
So we know some of that.
Some of the similarities with
Trump and Jackson were true
and that he was despised
by Washington, DC.
He was despised by
Virginia and Boston.
So there are some similarities
between the two in that respect.
>> Right. Well thank you for
that information about the wife.
Thank you.
>> Yeah, thanks,
Rachel Donaldson.
Any other questions?
Yes.
>> We'll just go with this,
this, want to just go ahead
and step up sir and
then he'll come.
>> Yeah I want to
know what about the,
what was the existing
diplomatic structure
between the great powers
and the barbary pirates.
So why was Spain and Portugal
they were clearly paying
them off.
And you know trades been going
through the Mediterranean
for thousands--
>> Right.
>> Of years.
What really made the
US, sparked it to,
to go against the grain there?
>> Here's, here's what,
first it wasn't right away.
As you know, in the beginning
of 1789 we started having our
first, our first clashes, 1783,
excuse me, 1785, 1783 we
started, 1785 is starts,
1789 we get a president
to make a decision.
We really had no
ambassadors there.
We started putting ambassadors.
One of the ambassadors
ended up being a guy
that was captive for years.
He actually went back and went,
what we had was an embassy.
We tried rationalizing, but the
whole meeting and I don't know
if I characterized correctly
but I do in the book.
So Jefferson's in
France, Adams in England.
Adams goes, I had a
great conversation
with the ambassador of Tripoli.
He ought to come
over there you, this,
you know you're a better
writer, come on over,
let's just lock this deal up.
By the time they lock it up they
realize they're charging three
times what we're charge, what
everybody else has been charged,
because they believe
like the rest of Europe.
Europe, many people
think this is the hands
of Britain behind him to say,
charge these guys to the hilt,
they're not going
to be able to pay
and let's start taking their
ships, destroying their economy
because they can get their
feet underneath them.
By the time Adams and Jefferson
get into office they do end
up having ambassadors there.
One was given two weeks to get
out of town or you're going
to be held prisoner,
so he just left.
One other thing that I'll add,
when they started to declare
on you and it was
Tripoli that did it,
they chopped down
your flag pole.
And when Tripoli went to do
it, they couldn't get it down.
After like two hours the
ceremony kind of ended
and they ended up bending
it like the next day or two.
But we tried to rationalize it.
We tried to make payments.
We were late on everything.
It made it extremely
stressful with the ambassadors.
Number three, when
Jefferson took over, he said,
all payments stop,
let's see what happens.
And what happens is
they declare war.
Jefferson goes, now
I got no choice I got
to go in with my ships.
I'll blockade.
If he basically baited them
into declaring war on us,
because when the
payments stopped.
>> All right.
>> Thank you.
>> Thank you.
>> Yes. Hello.
Let's see where to start.
>> I only have a
couple of minutes.
>> Okay.
>> I might want to
get another question.
Two minutes.
>> Yes.
>> Okay I got one minute.
>> Okay so I just want
to say real quick.
No one is attacking history.
When, when we look back at
things, and we try to point
out discrepancies and
people that were there
and did also did great
things and were not included
and remembered in the same way.
That's not attacking history.
Okay. So that, that's,
that's the first thing.
The second thing is for
you to draw a line--
>> No you can, no you,
no, no just a second.
>> Can I finish?
>> No you know, just
you said we.
>> Okay.
>> You represent you.
>> I understand that.
>> Okay.
>> I understand that.
And you represent you.
>> Right.
>> Okay.
>> So when you say
we are attacking
who are you representing?
>> Okay you--
>> So just--
>> You said that there is
an arrogance now of people
that are coming out
and attacking history.
>> Yes.
>> Okay and I'm saying
that that's incorrect.
>> Okay tell me real quick.
Tell me what you think.
>> Okay. Well I, I,
like I just said.
For the, the woman that
first came up to point
out that the monuments that
were created after the Civil War
that were put up by
white southerners to--
>> Okay.
>> Say to people--
>> I'll cut right to it.
>> You are, you are--
>> What do you think
should happen to Jefferson,
what do you think should
happen to Mount Vernon,
what do you think should
happen to [inaudible]?
>> Okay excuse me, those are,
those are different
things because--
>> Okay different,
that's the difference.
>> Yes.
>> There's a difference.
>> So but--
>> Okay.
>> First of all I didn't say
monuments should all be torn
down, I didn't say that.
They, they could be in museums--
>> Okay.
>> First of all you had a war
fought, decide lost by the way,
so what are you honoring
number one?
But, but aside from any of
that, my other thing is you know
for you to draw lines, and
I appreciate your passion
for history, I appreciate
the books
that you've written the stories
that you tell are
very important.
But for you to draw lines
like you did in your videos,
like you're mentioning Jefferson
and the Tripoli pirates
and you draw a direct
line saying Muslim nations
to Isis now, the,
that is outrageous.
Okay.
>> Okay.
>> Okay. The other thing is, in
the, the second video as well,
when you, you were
mentioning how no,
nobody can explain
how the battle was won
and so the answer is divine
intervention, that, that's,
you know, that's a
little a historical also.
But I--
>> Okay that's your option.
I want to get one
more question in.
>> Okay.
>> All right.
On that I said, just
to be clear,
the leaders of those Muslim
nations were oppressing their
own people.
And what our ambassadors
came back and said,
I love these people William
Eaton especially loved the
Muslim people.
He had Muslims as mercenaries
come back and take Derna
in two, two and a half hours.
Without them they don't win.
Yes sir.
>> You've written several
books with Don Yeager,
how does the collaborative
process work between you two?
>> Don deserves credit in
that, Don and I met in sports.
And he said, let's do
another sports book.
And I go Don I can't,
for 20 years I've been
studying this spy ring,
and I showed all these
pages, these yellow pages.
So he goes back, he
goes can I take them?
I go there is no other copy.
So he takes them, he comes back,
it was Thanksgiving
three and a half weeks.
And he said, I cannot, I
think we could do more.
I go Don, we can't do
this unless we approach it
like a news story.
So we went out to
Fort Washington,
we went out to Stoneybrook,
we went out to Penny Packard,
we did the original
biography in 1930
and put the spy ring together.
We were able to capture that
and I was able to take a lot
of this oral history and put
all the experts in the same room
in a Holiday Inn in Suffice
County, and I catered it.
I didn't get Subway, I
went to a regular deli.
And I had all these historians.
And I said, first
off, whose 355?
Everyone had a different theory.
Second off, Robert Townsend,
did he ever meet Washington?
Where did it happen?
It could have been diagonally
across from Sagamore Hill.
But how do we know it?
Can you point to anything?
And they were able to go
through all our things.
So he's the one who
pushed me to do it.
But he's the one who's an
organizer, an economizer
of words, I'll pump
stuff out, he'll gut it,
he'll give it to
me, I'll gut it.
And I don't know how people do
it, but he did it in Tallahassee
and I stayed in New York,
and we only saw each
other three times a year.
But the magic of back and forth,
back and forth, back and forth,
while he's doing
Namen's biography,
while he's doing Walter Peyton,
and all these other things.
So he wanted to add sports
a little bit, I'm a sports
because at Fox I can't
do sports anymore,
that's why they have Fox Sports.
So it was kind of a thing.
I never thought I could
do if Don didn't push me.
And after then, then I really
thought to myself, I could do it
because if I just capture one
element and try to dominate it
for two years, and move forward.
And I made sure that John
Meacham and Douglas Brinkley
and Jay Winick, I go
guys look at it, read it.
If you're not comfortable
with it, let me know.
And they said to me, it
works, it checks out.
And they go, I'll go on
the back of the book.
So that's why I felt, I
felt good about doing it.
But I'm still in awe
of everybody speaking
in the other room and
everything like that.
What I just try to
do is tell a story
that hopefully will give other
people an understanding of,
of America.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
