that is washington. he would just think about things and it had a lot to do with how our cultures have changed. we are in the twitter world where things, no one has any kind of ability to concentrate on anything. washington had this incredible ability to dial up the static and figure out the most important thing for me to do. that is incredibly in any age but it gets back to his lack of formal education. this is a guy who as a young surveyor spent countless nights out there in the wilderness just thinking. that is how he got through the revolution and would be a big part of his presidency. >> to sit under his fig tree and thing, you would think it would be all great but it is not. you have this scene of him thinking in mount vernon towards the end when he is troubled. talk to us about that. what is he troubled about? >> guest: throughout three books about the revolution i kept wanting washington to have a high five moment where he said yes, i did it. it never comes. never gets that sense of satisfying ac

that's washington. washington, you know, he would just think about things. i think it has a lot to do with how our cultures have changed, twitter world, no one has any kind of ability to concentrate on anything. washington had this incredible ability to dial up the static and just figure out what is the most important thing for me to do and, you know, that's pretty -- that's incredible at any age but i think he gets back to his lack of formal education. this is a guy who as a young surveyor spent countless nights out there in the wilderness just thinking and that's how he got through the revolution and that would have a big part of his presidency. >> yeah, towards the end of his life heist retiring and able to go back and sit under this fig tree, you would think it would be all great but it's not. talking about thinking, you have this scene of him thinking at mount vernon towards the end where he's troubled. talk to us about that. what is he troubled about, what do we think he's troubled about? >> yeah, yeah. throughout this, throughout the 3 books about the

you do washington, right? how many volumes of washington papers are there? there are 50 volumes. you can go through all of. that. it's insane. so the other question, what was it a question! what was like to be in france? so, i am in paris. i lived not too far from the hotel to feel, not too far from my own. i was able to go and take my laptop. right chapters in the places that i was writing about, right? the atmosphere, the philbin. i'm a great believer in the power of inhabiting spaces, where the history actually happened. when we used to these tours, hopefully, covid may go away at some point we detours again. i would take people out to the battlefield at canning in italy, which is just a field, right? but just to be in that place is a special thing. i think that it did ... if i wrote the book in the united states, i think it would've been very good. i think the fact that i wrote it in paris, in the places of these things are actually happening, i just think that it gave the pros, gave me, gabe ... there is a sensuality to what i'm describing but doesn't exist if i'm not there

washington internalize that. one of the reasons the senate has a six-year term is supposedly to make them more likely to vote in the long term interest of the public it's the most partisan portion of the government now. i will shut up but public, public, public he represents them. >> he mentioned the aurora and i know you wanted to say something very quick so one quick thing i want to sort of highlights when joe was talking about how personally wounded washington was that was really quite intentional on the part of the newspaper editors. the editor of the aurora would deliver three copies of his newspaper every day to the front steps of the president's house. even though washington is not a subscriber. he did so intentionally to get under washington skin. we know it works because he rants and raves about in cabinet and jefferson took careful notes. this political warfare in the partisan or wound they were trying to inflict was quite intentional. >> let's get a taste of washington on parties and we can further exp

in washington now. okay. the press, avalon, you have to listen to this, there was no rules for the press. all the rules fit to print. now, washington stands firmly against that whole thing. he thinks if you have any problems you can vote me out of the next election. the level of partisanship in the newspapers in the 1790s is scat logical, and washington really can't understand it. it's just -- he doesn't understand it. and i think he's hurt by it. i think that he survives the french and indian war. he should have been killed, you know, at the monongahela when he was a young man. you know, he should have been killed several times in the course of the war for independence. he wasn't even wounded but they wounded him in his second term. they really got him. and he couldn't wait to get out of there. i know we want to move into the discussion of his attitude toward political partisanship, but i think the context is what i described and the specific legislation that it really explodes on is the j treaty. and

this year, hegseth will perpetrate general washington. -- willer to portray general washington. >> look at crossing stars jeff daniels. >> a moment of fear. >> the whole thing is a damn lunatic affair. >> a moment of courage. >> this revolution is over. >> a moment that would define a newborn nation. >> the army will advance. >> the true story of the night that changed the course of american history. >> get the books. >> epic struggle of one man. >> how dare you. >> and one moment in the fight for freedom. >> crossing also dropped december 17, sign up to fox nation so you will be set to stream it. >> following year, general washington and his army arrived at valley forge, pennsylvania. >> he wanted to be troops close to british in nearby philadelphia. >> washington and his army spent a long cold winter getting in shape. >> one of the most famous images, perhaps in history of wartime, detects washington kneeling in the snow to pray at valley forge. >> image of washington kneeling and praying in the snow is absolutely iconic. it has inspired many generations of americans, it is based on a

one of his sons george washington, lived with washington for a while. sometimes, though, they're so different. right? you talk about la fayette losing himself in public, washington would never, their thoughts on slavery which i'll get to, very different, but they do have a lot in common, which is that they both had to marry rich, found love in their partner, found good partners. and also felt most at home in these uncomfortable situation. that is true of both of them, by the time they get together, washington comes into money, and, you know, he was used to a rustic setting, tromping through woods, enduring the hardship of nature, all of this stuff as a young militia officer, and before and during the french and indian war, we in europe would call the seven-years war, but they, and la fayette had that too because he grew up tromping around in wood and see hills and forests and both of them had a kind of physical endurance and a willingness and desire to put themselves in difficult circumstances and endure them. so even though washington winds up as, you

washington was more, lafayette had a bit more of perks that washington felt were denied to him a little bit more invested or better, invested in his home when your wealth is invested in people but before we go there again, another thing they have in common is known is going to totally debate that. so not considered great statesmen, they're not considered great thinkers, their contribution was to be born during the right time for their part to make killer inclination. i push back against that and my out biography of washington because i feel like he completely rolled by the public court of opinion. it's so important to him during the revolution. he's actively thinking of setting up america as a country to enter the scene and look stable. he is inventive, he is a quick thinker i would argue he's a little bit better than that then he would've been on the battlefield. do you think that's an unfair wrap lafayette has as well? >> in the sense that lafayette and washington to were surrounded by some pretty genius level people, like is a washington and intellect compared to alexander hamilton o

several, in fact three, the first will be to protect washington. objective two, defend the shanandoah valley and disrupt the central railroad in the neighborhoods of charlottesville, particularly by threatening that area of the shanandoah valley they hope it will compel the confederates around washington dc or opposite washington dc, opposite richmond and mclellan's army, they would pull away from mclellan and ease the way into richmond. stanton knows from that point he's been called east to carry out the objectives, at this point in the conversation, stanton stops talking and they just look at each other and there's this long awkward silence. stanton says to pope, general, you don't seem to approve the arrangements i have out for you. >> he says i concur in the wisdom of drawing these forces around dc in the way you suppose, but i don't draw in favor the decision to place me in command of them. the title of tonight's presentation is john pope's reluctant rise. for the last 18 months doing anything he can to rise through the ranks, now saying i don

and washington shared that fear. adams shared that fear during the j treaty debates that joe mentioned. adams wrote in his letters back to abigail, that he thought either a civil war was coming or maybe, maybe the constitution would last another ten years at most. so that's really the vibe of this moment, and one of the things that i think washington highlights in this sort of party section of his farewell address is that the party animosity, and the intensity of that parting spirit can lead us to forget the similarities we have with one another. we might have differences, we might have regional differences and sectional differences, but we actually have much more in common as americans than we do as federalists or as republicans, and that is a lesson we really need. >> can i build on her just for a second. >> i think we need to recover the historical context for listeners and viewers. she's doing that right now. okay. and i'm building on her book in this remark. if you read article two of the constitution of the uni

fun for washington. he was working tremendously hard to pull this country together. then the other, you know, joke is washington's teeth. you know, that he had dentures made of wood. he had dentures. they weren't made of wood. they were made of teeth from various animals, from ivory of the hippopotamus. but even before he ended up with those dentures, he in desperation, he had only a few teeth left in his mouth by the time the revolution was over. he was back at mt. vernon, and there was a new technology in dentistry of tooth transplants, and the way it worked was a dentist would extract the tooth, the diseased tooth, and then a person would be paid enough to donate their healthy tooth that was then extracted and then stuck into the jaws of the person who was paying for the procedure. and it almost never worked. sometimes the tooth would hang in there for a year. sometimes five years. sometimes it would be rejected from the beginning. but washington at some point invites a french dentist to mt. vernon. a

you know, at that point in time washington city is what they called it which was the grid of washington, was still the city which people thought of when the thought of washington. outside the grid was washington county which was undeveloped and mostly farming land. and that was not too far from anywhere you were in washington. the two of them could take these walks out into the wilds so to speak of washington county which is what they did. now when burroughs of first got to washington as i said he wanted to be a teacher. he was wanting to write he had no particular marketable skills. the first job that he found, the only thing he could find in the measure of his desperation was actually he was a member of a burial detail run by the quartermasters unit of the u.s. army. varying black soldiers who had been killed in the fighting. and, according to the records which the biographer found, these bodies were taken to the outskirts of washington, to maryland where they were buried in mass graves. and as you can imagine this was a horrible, horrible work. burroughs did not last very long with t

pope arrives to washington d.c. june 24, what he describes enthusiastic welcome, also reported in the philadelphian require, his wife wrote him a quick note and that this moment, this movement to washington d.c., this movement, this order, this meeting was perfectly, she was perfectly convinced it was leading to a greater purpose and that greater purpose was pope would not return to the west. she'd write this and her letter to her husband, i'm almost sure he will not have fremont and perhaps mcdowell's department and you will then take the field against jackson. it is possible you may supersede mcclellan but i do not come up with my present white on the subject considerate lightly how clairvoyance was pope's wife in that moment. june 25, pope arrives to washington d.c. and he has his first interview that date with secretary of war, edward stanton. he goes and sticks stanton and there they sit, and they sit and they look at each other and size each other up, they have some faint chit chat about lighthearted topics an

to cover washington d.c. number two, oppose and delay the confederate advance to the last extremty, to allow the army of the potomac to make their way to alexandria and fedricsbering and link up with the army of virginia. number three, pope is to attack the critical rail lines, confederate rail lines and communications with gourdensville and charlottesville. going to force robert e. lee to send reinforcement said away from the capitol and hopefully mcclellan can turn the tide on the virginia peninsula. these challenges, all of these things pope is fighting against begin to change him and they weigh on him. phil kerny, what a great reputation he has, will say this about pope's challenges august 4th. how do they expect pope to beat, with a very inferior force, the veterans of ule and jackson? get me in my fighting division with pope and with pope's army, i would breathe again. several days into the campaign, pope's men are defeated at ceder mountain? and that defeat and his pulling back, surrendered the initiat

because i'm really sympathetic with washington. he had what he called "chimney corner heroes" we would refer to as monday morning quarterbacks. everyone was saying oh come on. you can get this over with quickly. and he's a very very proud guide and that is part of the enslavery mentality is to think of yourself as one of the patriarchs, to quote another slave holder, and he's very sensitive about his reputation. and nobody likes to be called a coward. but that guy least of all. but that to me was his real strength, because that he didn't allow people to gull him into doing something that may have made glory for him or may have been -- but more likely to have led to disaster for the -- and again, dorchester heights, he was ready to go into boston and it was only because the british disappointed him by leaving that he didn't do it. but he learned his lesson to his great credit. >> one question i want to add. i do want to get back to the place of the incredible contributions of women during the american revolution, of course as -- as

and as washington's manservant has been with into the whole war. but then there is a man named harry washington who escapes from mount vernon and then is evacuated at the end of the war going to nova scotia then back to sierra leone eventually. and with the commander-in-chief. and eventually wants to be in the resistance to british rule. that two different black man choosing different courses for liberty. >> supposedly we have lost the war or is it too hard to predict? and then to take on the w american leaders. and then around westminster. and then the american army just disintegrated. with that peaceful d'negotiation. with the british commonwealth. and then remain in the empire to be economically connected. >> so what are you currently reading? >> what am i working on now? when you finish a book you are happen as the publisher wants you to go all over the place. why did the founders failed to end slavery? and those in political terms from that all-important history. and their reasons they haven't thought about before. what my reading now? and rea

that was the phrase they used read washington is not a radical man. he made clear any had proposals that he had received and asked the people he trusted most, john j knox, madison of the type of central government that they wanted. the central government had a two house legislature, not a one house like the confederation. the un like everybody sense of representative. the states are paying sovereignty. he says i will only go if it could be a fundamental transformation. madison spent most of the two months before going to philadelphia living at mount vernon. he didn't have other things per he stayed at mount vernon and he worked on these ideas at mount vernon talking with washington. they went in with the pretty clear idea wasn't just madison washington and franklin the first person who visits when he goes to philadelphia. he said we have to be on the same wavelength with the two most respected people nationally, the other two national heroes we have to work at the same wavelength. >> they came and franklin as you know had met and had a regular weekly

in washington freeze him in his will. on the other side, a man named kerry washington, he was serving as a british and in south be evacuated out if you new york at the end of the work and going to nova scotia and eventually interesting pattern but one black man, serves the cause with the commander-in-chief and the other goes and pursues his own freedoms with the british and eventually achieves it when he gets to sierra he helped lead a movement and resistance to british rule climbing to be taxed without their consent. it is two different black men choosing different courses for the same reason. >> okay, by the way, suppose we had lost the war the neck and sauce work, how would history be different because when we eventually become free pretty thank you so too early or too hard to predict. >> if we had will depends on how he lost my philosophy in a real military way, good lasted at the battle of new york and long island, then there would've taken all the american leaders including washington and jefferson carried them over

and will, to the podcast and program, having a bit later we will be talking with a washington post the book a critic carlos lozada, getting his take on some of the notable books of thef past year but first, here's the publishing news. this week former white house chief of staff, mark meadows, b the chief chiefs was published, lots of news came out of it, udincluding the president trump has tested positive for covid-19, prior to the first presidential t debate in the former president was in the white house bunker following the murder of george floyd and that the then president front into bomb and afghan village of his taliban leader did not cooperate with him and president trump did write a book for the chiefs chief, and since denounce some of the revelations as fake news andnd all seasons press is the publisher and also this week, the children's publishers, military party under potter series and morend than estimated $1.2 billion is facing a potential challenge it toti the companies recentom leadership succession in the publisher's former ceo, robinson who died earlier this year, lost

and opposite washington d. c., opposite richmond, around richmond and opposite mcclelland's army, that they would pull away from mclelland and it would ease mcclelland's way into the city of richmond. stanton tells pope at that moment he's been called east. it's at that time that stanton talk stops talking and they just look at each other. there is this long awkward silence. stanton finally says, you don't seem to approve the arrangements i've outlined for you. pope responds, mister secretary, i entirely concur to the wisdom of concentrating these widely scattered forces in front of washington d. c.. and using them generally as you propose. but i certainly do not view them with any favor or proposition to place me in command of them. the title of of tonight's presentationtonight's presentatn popes reluctant rise. for the last 18 months, he's been doing everything he can to rise through the ranks. but now he is saying, i don't want this command. stanton is annoyed, to say the least. stanton is saying, look, you

it is one of the first washington, later told george washington refuses to become the dictator. george the third says if he does that, the greatest man in the world. at that moment, he was. that is not what they will do. they tend to be the revolution. separating themselves from it. >> okay. from anna, what set you in theec path of becoming a historian? what set your path in history? >> i think reading biography, i came to history through biography. i love biography. because there is always a center of this topic. i sort of thought, look, we all come into this world the same way and we all leave the same way. and so that is perhaps an adolescent way to calm. as i said, i did not major in history. i could not pay for law school. through history, raising the intellectual questions that i thought philosophy should invest an intellectual historian, whatever the heck that meant. so, it is a strange path. it worked out for me. >> free african-americans, what role did they play in the american revolution? >> well, especially new england which they were the greatest of african-americans

pope arrives to washington, d.c. on june the 24th, to what he describes an enthusiastic welcome, as it's also reported in the philadelphia inquirer. upon his arrival his wife wrote him a quick note that this moment, this movement out to washington, d.c., this movement, this order, this meeting, was perfectly -- and she was perfectly convinced all of this was leading to a greater purpose and that greater purpose was that pope would not return to the west. she would write this in her letter to her husband, i am almost sure that you now will have banks and perhaps mcdowell's departments and that you will then take the field against jackson. it is possible that you may supersede mcclelland, but i do not, with my present light on the subject, consider it likely. how clairvoyant was pope's wife in that moment. now, on june the 25th, pope has arrived to washington, d.c. and he has his first interview that day with secretary of war edwin stanton. he goes, he sits with stanton, and there they sit, and they sit, and they look

this with about washington's heyday. very ambitious and washington himself after the british had left saw just how impregnable the british defenses were. how much they built it up and how they barricade in every street from house to house streetfighting that even he pretty much admitted if he had carried out his aggressive plan it would've been a disaster. the main thing for me as he kept making aggressive plans. we ticket to new york city on the next one. takes people allowed to get oriented but if you see the red stuff you're seeing the one part of manhattan island there was actually new york city in 1776, the british capture that city on september 15 and held it for the war and really turned it into fortress new york. outside new york he never did. he never tried this assault because he learned how disastrous it would been had he gotten his brothers and had his chance to do and amphibious assault back in boston. so he would make these plans i think he was sincere about them but he would always find a reason to cancel

we see a lot of letters that pass between tyler and mary going back from virginia to washington washington to virginia. tyler took 18 interest in what his daughter was reading. recommended all the things he read when he was young. we definitely wanted her to develop a fertile mind. his oldest son, robert tyler was born in 1816 had a pretty decent relationship with john tyler. he was a student at william and mary like his father. did well at william and mary but there is still a distance between the two of them or formality almost. the fact they did not see each other that much will robert was growing up. john tyler junior was born in 1819 no doubt took his father's absence of the hardest. young john, and eventually became an alcoholic, suffered through a troubled marriage that was largely his doing. before and after despaired of that one point thinking he was going to be dead they found that his son and namesake would be dead. with his children, leticia who found it extremely difficult to deal with her husband continuous absences. there is an anecdote from may of 1831 that is particularly

he's so remakes washington college that trustees remain -- renamed the place has washington and lee university and that's a tribute to the fact that the place probably would not have survived had it not been for the presidency of robert e. lee. >> we does have a couple more minutes and i'd like to spend a little bit of time talking about a great question from the audience who says lexington virginia the place aerial places we and stonewall jackson. he hero worships lee and jackson. as we are approaching the lost cause and seeing him as a person rather than confederate or -- we try to figure out who the man is any sense how can i introduce my dad to the more modern approach to the civil war that he might be receptive to? >> first of all reflect on yourself and your own experience all of us are the products of many times places and things that we have met. we are all of us the confluence of mainstreams. not all of it at the same time or with the same power but not even with the same message. we deal with complexity ourselves and that's simply in the nature of human beings. there's no such thing

all hell would break loose and washington, but washington needs to realize the times have changed. the days of the sole remaining superpower as of white to describe itself in the 19 nineties and long since disappeared. and if washington does not careful, is going to suffer. i'm afraid to slay a rather punishing defeat. all right, gerald horn, author and historian, thanks for being with us here on our to international. interesting to hear thought . thank you. now let's take a look at some other stories making headlines this hour more than a 100 nations are taking part in a democracy. some right over the next 2 days, hosted by the u. s. presidential button. but ahead of the gathering thousands of respondents from u. s. allied nations said that they think america is no longer a good example. more than 16000 people from 16 advanced economies took part in the large scale research about america's image abroad. seems more than half of respondents think the u. s. has lost its credibility as a leading democracy, almost a quarter say that it never has been one. and according to china, americ

a group of 150 people boarded the train and departed for washington dc at 9:35 at 9:305 am. the funeral train reached the station at 1:25. president and mrs. johnson greeted the hoover family. just outside union family the johnsons into thes lined up to watch the casket loaded onto the case on. the escort commander led the procession in washington dc down delaware avenue 3 blocks to the east from the fred fiumano. this included the army band, the national color detail, the caisson and the body barriers, the personal flag bearer, the comparison horse, black jack, next was the hoover family and limousines, president johnson followed with secret service escort and cars with other dignitaries. as the column moved down delaware avenue to the south, escort troops were in units along the east side of the avenue facing the center of the street. in order to the south were a company from each of the service academies, from the army marine corps, navy, air force and coast guard and composite company of servicewomen, the army national guard, air force reserve and coast guard reserve com

at that point i knew we had a big story on our hands for the "washington post". here you have generals, diplomats admitting these colossal failures inlo afghanistan. as general lee said it's much worse than you think. i think most americans at that point understood the war was not going well despite all the rosy talk from their leaders. if a war drags on for two decades by definition is not going very well. i don't know if it's a were your site started but they thought it was important to tell the story as best we could based on these documents. while i was doing it i came across another batch of documents these are called snowflakes these are memos that rumsfeld the defense secretary under bush, he wrote so many memos when he was the head of the pentagon he would dictate them to his staff. he did not use staff you dictate one page or two page memos and print them out and they would flutter down on people's desk that's why call them snowflakes he actually dictated like 50000 of them during his time in office. there is a nonprofit group george washington called th

and washington did a great job on 1776. but that is famous for chasing the british out but that's what washington used to describe and then way talk about his disappointment because he didn't want to walk away from a fight he wanted to fight them. that threatens boston so they tried to take it back from the american troops and while they are doing the american troops moved to her left and in cambridge with the undergraduate school they had troops over there way across the river the same of washington's d-day. and of washington himself. this is just how impregnable. and how there are barricades and house to house streetfighting that even he pretty much admitted to carry out an aggressive plan and that was a disaster for his side. and the fact that he kept making then you see manhattan island in 1776 the british capture on september 15 and then they turned into syracuse new york. that he never did. because had he gotten his druthers said he would make the plans and i think he was sincere but he always found a reason to cancel

once again, from washington, moderator yamiche alcindor. yamiche: welcome to "washington week." we begin with the omicron variant of covid-19. the new strain is causing concern across the globe and here at home, though officials have been insisting all week there is no need to panic. still, there is a lot we don't know. here's what we do know. scientists say it appears to be more transmissible. they are also studying how well our current vaccines work against it. they say in most cases, people had mild symptoms. meanwhile, the new strain has been found now in several states across the country. it has also shown up in more than three dozen countries around the world. thursday, president biden announced new plans to fight the virus. they include stricter testing requirements for people traveling into the u.s.. pres. biden: we are going to fight this variant with science and speed, not chaos and confusion. yamiche: white house officials are occurred during -- encouraging all eligible adults to g their booster shots. critics say the plan may be too little, too late, and the admits r