i'm robert watson. talk about my latest book "george washington's final battle" the epic struggle to build a capital city and a nation. virtually any american school child knows that george washington was heroic and stoic. he was a great and courageous commander on the battlefield and of course one of our greatest presidents who through his every action and inaction everything he said or didn't say pretty much carved out the precedence for the presidency but what we don't always know is that george washington had another side to him. it he could be a visionary and a dreamer and he also could be a political player and political chess mask. americans love their capital city. a spacious grand boulevard the memorials and the monuments the majestic government buildings and the tree-lined mall. very few americans know the story of how the capitol city came to be an almost didn't come to be and that's why we are here today to talk about it. okay, so our story begins the back drop in newburgh new york. this is

now let's hear from robert watson. >> thank you for joining us today. >> hello, everyone. i'm a robert watson avenue tok about my latest book, "george washington's final battle: the epic struggle to build a capital city and a nation." so virtually any american schoolchild knows that george washington was heroic and stoic. he was a great and courageous commander on the battlefield and, of course, one of our greatest presidents who through his every action and inaction everything he said, and didn't say, pretty much caught up the president's for the presidency. but we don't always know is that george washington had another side to him, specifically missed in history. he could be a visionary and a dreamer. he also could be a a political player if not a political chessmaster but by the same token almost all americans have been to our capital city. americans love their capital city. it's spacious grand boulevards with memorials and monuments, the majestic government buildings, the tree line small but very few americans know the story about the capital city came to be an almost

now let's hear from robert watson. and thank you for joining us today. >> hello everyone. i'm here to talk about my latest book "george washington's final battle". the epic struggle of the capitol city and that nation so virtually any american schoolchild knows that george washington was heroic and stoic. he was a great and courageous commander of the battlefield and of course one of the greatest presidents through his every action and inaction, everything that he said, but it is a pretty much carved out the presidents for this presidency. but what we don't always know is that george washington had an upside to him, this is, he could be a visionary and a dreamer, and he also could be a critical player. at the same token, almost all americans have been to our capitol city, americans love the capitol city. it is spacious boulevard stand memorials and monuments, the majestic government buildings, the tree-lined mall, very few americans know the story about the capitol city of how it came to be an almost didn't come to be and that's why were here today to talk about it. so, ou

now let's hear from robert watson. thank you for joining us today. everything he said and didn't say pretty much carved out the president for the presidency. but what we don't always know is that george washington had another side to him, which is missed in history. he could be a visionary and a dreamer but he also could be a political player is not a political chess match. by the same token almost all americans have been to our capital city. americans love their capital city. it's spacious grand boulevards with memorials and monuments, the majestic government buildings, the tree-lined mall but very few americans know the story of how the capital came to be an almost didn't come to be. that's why we hear here tok about it. okay. our story begins the backup for extra begins in newburgh, new york. this is along the edge of the hudson at the end of the revolutionary war. not too far today from fdr's hyde park or west point if anybody has been there. so the main battle of the revolutionary war was a battle of yorktown which of september and october 1781.

now let's hear from robert watson. thank you for joining us today. >> hello everyone, i'm robert watson here to talk about my latest book, "george washington's final battle". the epic struggle to build a capital city in the nation, so virtually any american schoolchild knows that george washington was a relic and stoic. he was a great and courageous commander on the banner filled and of course one of our greatest presidents who through his every action and inaction everything he said and didn't say pretty much carved out the precedents for the presidency but what we don't always know that george washington had another side and this is missed in history. it could be a visionary and a dreamer and he could also be a political player not-- by the same token almost all americans have been to our capital city, americans love their capital city. its spacious boulevards with memorials and monuments, majestic government buildings to tree-lined mall, but very few americans of the story of how the capital city came to be and almo

robert watson is distinguished professor of american studies at lynn university and senior fellow at the florida joint center for citizenship. the author of numerous books on history and politics including the ship of brooklyn, massey titanic hit america's first crisis, the war of 1812. the editor of two encyclopedias the american president in american first ladies. professor watson served on the board of the harry truman foundation, the memorial foundation and the george macomber library and center for public service. also served as the visiting scholar with many organizations including the truman presidential library, the fort presidential museum, illinois holocaust museum and u.s. military academy at west point. now let's hear from robert watson, thank you for joining us today. >> hello, everyone, i am here to talk about my latest book george washington's final battle. the epic struggle to build a capitol city and a nation. virtually any american schoolchild knows george washington was heroic and stoic. he was a great courageous commander on the battlefield and of course one of ou

robert watson is professor, historian and author with over 40 published books and hundreds of scholarly articles. he served as a prison, and many sites including presidential libraries, museums and universities and an analyst for nbc and pbs for many years. several books one awards putting off the titanic, close toun a brooklyn untold american religion and americans first crisis. what. >> the story i tried to tell was intriguing to me because i became aware of something a lot of people know, washington one election in his life, reluctant president of the convention and elected twice for the cougar as he was elected unanimously and you don't get that with box tops. as a big deal in the 18th century and unimaginable today so i wanted to try to understand how that o happened and what was the magic is able to apply to make that happen and the story i found was different maybe from the one we all think we know about george washington and was not an instant success, it wasn't easy, a planter of the second rank, not in virginia by any means. his father died when he was 11 and when you are the

watson. thank you for joining us today. >> i'm here to talk about my latest book george washington's final battle. so virtually ever any schoolchild knows that washington was a relic and stoic and great courageous demand are on the battlefield and through every action and inaction everything he said it didn't say carved out the precedents for the presidency. and then as a visionary and dreamer and a political player. and those that have been to the capital city americans love their capital city it is spacious grand boulevard with memorials and monuments. to the tree-lined. but very few americans know the story of how the capital city came to be and almost didn't. that's why we're here today to talk about it. the story begins as a backdrop in newburgh new york along the edge of the hudson. and the head of the revolutionary war. so the main battle of the revolutionary war so that would be the last major battle of the war and that's what the british good and in new york city and in for almost tw

robert p. watson delves into washington's involvement in the establishmentt of the capitol city and describes how the process nearly tore her young and old apart. robert p. watson is a professor historian and author with over 40 published books and hundreds of scholarly articles. he has served as a visiting scholar at many historic sites including presidential libraries museums and universities and who was an analyst for nbc, and cbs for manyou years. several of hisis books have won awards including the go ship of brooklyn and untold story of the american revolution and america's first crisis. welcome david and robert. >> the story i tried to tell was intriguing to me because i became aware of something a lot of people know which is washington one key elections in his life. he was elected manager of the army and president of the constitutional convention and the president of course but he was elected unanimously. you don't get that with box tops. that was a big deal in 18th century and its unim

george washington's final battling, the epic struggle to build a capital city and a nation by robert watson delves into washington's involvement in the establishment of a capitol city and described how the process nearly tore our young and vulnerable country apart. watson is a professor, historian and author with over 40 published books and hundreds of scholarly articles. he has served as a visiting scholar at many historic sites including presidential libraries, museums and universities, and was an analyst for nbc and pbs for many years. several of his books have won awards including the nazi titanic, the ghost ship of brooklyn, an untold store-at the american revolution, and america's first crisis. welcome david and robert. >> i drew the straw to start first, and it's -- the store i trade to tell was intriguing to me because i became aware of something a lot of people know, which is washington won key elections in his life, elect commander in chief of the army. elected president of the constitutional convention. elected president once, of course, but the kicker is he was elected un

p-letter watson delved into washington's involvement in the establishment of the capitol city and describes how the process nearly tore are young and vulnerable country apart. robert p-letter washington is a professor historian and author with over 400 published books ad hundreds of scholarly articles. he has served as a visiting at many historic sites including presidential libraries, museums and universities and wasn't nbc and for many years. several of his books, has won awards including the nancy titanic, the ghost ship a brooklyn an untold story of the american revolution and america's first crisis. well, david andl robert. >> that i would start first. the story try to tell it was intriguing to me because i became aware of something a lot of people know is that washington won election as it is life from elected to the armenian president of constitutional convention elected present twice of course. but the kicker was that he was elected unanimously you don't get that. the big deal in the 18 century an unimaginable today. so wanted to try to understand how that happened. what was the mag

riley, and i can tell you bradley watson i'm sorry, i can tell you having read them they are all better than my bookok. i am not ashamed to say separate i'm grateful for whatever clerical error temporary insanity has landed me here rather than those authors. i cannot think temporary insanity. really, to me, it's always been the great antidote to the serial bouts of insanity that it added up to the life of our culture in the last few decades. isi is stood against temporary insanity in for permanent sanity's. the kinds of permanent sanity's that are required to sustain our culture. it's rooted in a sense of the worthiness of our inheritance and in the worthiness of the civilization has been passed down to us. rooted also in a sense that gift is so valuable because it can enable us to deal with permanent human problems. the ones we always face. our culture has been a long train of insanities because it forgets those problems are durable and we have learned from the ways in which they have been dealt with by wise men and women over centuries of millennia. that we know better now we don't ne