beyond. beyond. a lot has changed in 40 years but today that same ideas were relevant than ever. c-span is your unfiltered view of government so you can make up your own mind. brought to you as a public service by your cable or satellite provider. >> and now on c-span2's booktv, more television for serious readers. >> so little bit about our speaker. we are excited to have today chris derose. chris was an ugly sweden here -- was in sweden? last week, and we just got the call last week that he is coming so we're just thrilled that he took time away to reach out to us and confirm his appearance. but he's a "new york times" best-selling author of the "star spangled scandal" which is the topic of today the president for congressman lincoln and finding -- founded by the stick he was

former senior litigation counsel to the arizona attorney general, professor of constitutional and international law, and clerk of the superior court for america's fourth largest county, maricopa. chris sits on the board of directors for the abraham lincoln association and the board of scholarly advice is to president lincoln's cottage. he and his wife reside in phoenix. without further introduction at present to you chris derose. [applause] >> thank you for the introduction. thanks to the gettysburg heritage center for having us. all of you for being here. pennsylvania cable tv -- cable to get c-span's booktv. this appearance on c-span's booktv. think you for all you do to promote books ever book authors. so who here has heard the one about the company who killed his wife lover across in the white

house? when i came across this story i knew it was too extraordinary not to share, says working on my last book called the presidents were which is about the five former president to look live e the american civil war, and i'm reading through the letters and diaries as it abruptly focused on the great challenges facing the country 1859 as the country teeters towards the edge of civil war. all of a sudden all the want to talk or is the sickles affair. what's the sickles of there? so had to stop what i was doing, fell into a research rabbit hole that happens once in a while and i said okay, that's a pretty good story. and so sickles did indeed kill his wife's lover across the street from white house in lafayette square. the victim was no ordinary victim. he was rpg's, training attorney, chief federal prosecutor for the nation's capital consummately author of our national anthem

and what of americans, member of america's most prestigious and n american royalty. and this is just where the story starts. i do want to read what set all of this in motion. sickles is flying high. he's a congressman from new york. he's an intimate of president james buchanan. he is considered one of the most forceful and persuasive speakers in the house of representatives. he is talk about for big things in the future, and he and his wife teresa sits atop washington social scene. until one night, thursday after the partners of this house had cleared out when they're gone to the after party at willard hotel and yes, home to try to get some work done before going to bed, and he remembers that at his party was one event and messenger come to him a letter.

he opens this letter and read the following. dear sir, with deep regret i and close to address a few lines but an indispensable duty compels me to do so, seeing that you are greatly imposed upon. there is a fellow, i may say for is not a gentleman by any means, by the name of philip barton key. i believe the district attorney who runs the house of a man by the name of john gray situate on 15th street, for no other purpose than to meet your wife, mrs. sickles. he hangs a string out the window as a signal to her that he is in and leaves the door unfastened, and she walks in and, i do assure you, he has as much use of you are as you. i read the rest for you to imagine.

most respectfully -- most respectfully, your friend, rpg. no one asked me what i think the author meant by leaks imagine imagination. sickles stranger to washington understands that gossip is the coin of the realm. you could waste of my time accrediting every bit of gossip, every story that corset to washington with a letter is awfully specific and so we realize he's going to have to verify one way or another and he will either be greatly relieved or this entire life that is built for himself is going to be completely upended. and so he goes to the house of representatives and he finds his friend george. if you look up hintzman in the dictionary you probably see someone like george. he was a black bowler hat, he has a big thick mustache. he has a huge upper body and he walks on crutches because of

infantile paralysis. a man with a massive chest walking on crutches, big mustache, bowler hat and he first meets sickles when he was the doorkeeper of the new york assembly, ladies and old tammany person. he goes up to manage a brothel and a barroom, and use all kinds of great information in his capacity and decides that the real one is to start a newspaper and print the stories and rumors in the press. he realizes that as a newspaper editor it's one thing to sell advertising but what you get a black male people who couldn't afford to see the names appear in his newspaper? and so this gets him into trouble. he ends up in prison. when he leaves he goes to europe for ten years as a manager of the first virginia serenade is and then reappears in albany where he makes a connection with state senator daniel sickles. when sickles was elected to

congress he brings wooldridge within a gets him a job as a clerk in the map room at the house of representatives it is to wooldridge his old friend that he turns and confides about this awful that he is received. so they begin a stakeout in this neighborhood. neighborhood north of the white house in this house where barton g and his wife are supposedly meeting. everyone in they would want to talk about what's happening in the house. it is also exciting things going on. agrees it is barton going into the house but they also say the woman who wears a veil. so they're trying to catch these two going into the house trying to catch them in the act. what happens is they are able to match a clothing description of the woman seen going into the house to an outfit owned by teresa. so there's no hiding it or skipping get. as daniel sickles will say often

over the next few days, i was the last person to know what was happening in my own family. he's not far off the mark and, indeed, he tries to did not get to himself long as he can until he can't ignore the evidence any further. he confronts his wife and he gets her to sign a confession about what she did. what happened in his house while he was gone, what happened at the house that was rented for the specific purpose of carrying on this affair with barton key, amanda sickles believed should be his earnest friend. and sickles now needs to get what is going to do about this. and so he sent for his friend samuel, , another old tammany mn who had a variety postings under various democratic administrations use turning in mississippi now he's the head of the office in york city that test the purity of american

coins, and he is in d.c. in business. yes two of his old tammany stallworth in george woolworth and samuel butterworth in the room with him. butterworth advises that it's almost the end of the congressional session, send to trace back to new york, go to europe, super divorce, no one will know what happened. sickles says that's pretty good advice but it sounds like likel intent on windows about it so that out closed off for me. he tried to get what to do. enter barton key. barton key shows up in lafayette square as sickles is in his house. sickles lives lives in a home e west side of lafayette square and what might be of particular interest to this audience, it's not as though you'll house. it was built and originally owned by the father general you will. he was a doctor, child a physician who came to the nation's capital when it was a new city and ended up, big dreams, built up a hospital,

fell into alcoholism, fell into mismanagement and had to sell the house. and so sickles was on the west side of lafayette square in the home built by general gules father. key walks into lafayette park and to start waving his handkerchief at sickles house which was a prearranged signal for sickles wife to go meet him at the rendezvous house your a while sickles is losing his mind everything he's built up his entire life is, his aspirations at the mucus amendment and a state senator and that the congressman, perhaps the future senator and maybe a future president can looks like it's all going up in smoke. his beautiful wife that he had come the most popular woman in washington betrayed with one of his best friends, the mother of his child. and he's trying to figure out what to do, and there is key walking in lafayette park waving

the handkerchief at his house. and so butterworth leaves to go visit a sick friend on the side of lafayette square in the building. and magically known as the clubhouse, a private members club on the east side of locket square, i a particular interest this is a home that would be occupied by william seward and a home where he is attacked and nearly fatally killed at the conclusion of the civil war. but at this time it's a private members club. but it's worth goes to go visit a friend of his sick in the club picky encounters key, , they hae a conversation acs daniel sickles show up he tells key your dishonor my home, prepare to die. he brings three guns to the fight. he brings them in a trench coat in an unseasonably warm february day. of course where to go if you're congressman who just kill u.s.

attorney? where to go to jerusalem in? they go to the home of the attorney general. and so word of mouth spread throughout washington, d.c. that key has been killed, that sickles is the killer. people leave their homes, leave their boarding houses, leave the bars and restaurants and all try to get a look at what happened. yet over 100 people show up for the inquest of the clubhouse with the body right there on the ground with one witness after another being summoned to testify what happened. you have people going into sickles house instead of standing out on the lawn waiting for them to get arrested. he is allowed to go and say goodbye to his wife. his promised that he will not armor is good enough for the police officers, even though we just killed a u.s. attorney for d.c. walks into his wife's room, triumphal in ounces i have killed him. and so this is just the

beginning of where the story starts. it all gets crazier from here. it was a media firestorm, unlike anything anyone had ever seen. this would be the most covered event in human history up until this point. i found newspaper articles from hawaii, from bermuda. it was daily coverage in almost every newspaper in the united kingdom. that was regular coverage in france. i found a book written about it in german. the entire world was paying attention to this fantastic case, and it is the first story we as americans all follow together because you just had the telegraph. some people find out about this story in f this close to real-e as had ever happened up to this point. and so you and people in new york finding out about it that he dinkum sickles family and friends in near a funny but that

meeting. -- new york. your newspaper corresponds running all of its kind in elective effects as he can try to get out on the wire so it can hit the morning newspapers. i should back up a little bit and talk about how news was changing at this time. originally the concept of news were these very expensive commercial newspapers where you learned the price of cotton and copper and other commodities. business intelligence, a very expensive. what ship is leaving, what ship is going. nothing exciting. angela political newspapers, they were financed by political parties to either promote the candidate or put down a candidate or party. any other injury of the penny press starting with new york central 1830. we want do want to talk about politics. we don't want to talk about the shipping news. let's talk about fires, animal stories, tragedies, and yes, some true crime. the real human interest stories.

they make money by selling advertising which meant they didn't have to rely on a particular political party or rely on businessmen to underwrite the cost of the paper. also, the lightning press have been introduced. the length of the broadsheet, the number of newspapers that could be printed in any given day, the lateness of the hour it could be printed. you could get a story like this out on the street hours after it happened and that's what happened all over the country. and they were, reporter shock of detailed and, of course, you got some fake news in the period you got people racing too quickly to try to verify things. people say things like butterworth had been arrested as an economist. teresa been arrested. teresa was pregnant. all kinds of false information but a lot of really accurate information included in these first reports and intimated by all the supporters is that yes, this is not a surprise to us necessarily. sickles really was the last note of what was happening pic you

have this baby media feeding frenzy which is very familiar to us today. we are blurring the lines between jews and entertainment, and i think it's never been more relevant by jeff to look back to this incident to see what happens. so sickles if he's going to have any hope of surviving the hangman's noose, it just killed a chief prosecutor in broad daylight in front of many witnesses, he has to put together the best possible legal team. each our heart, johnny cochran. this is the first legal train that the legal dream team and it looks like it was chosen to liberally. you just pick all the best lotion new york city d.c. and virginia but it happened quite haphazard. once the news of his being arrested hits the streets, his family members and friends for hiring lawyers. by the end end of the first dae already had four lawyers representing including most famously edwin stanton who of course a short time away from

his glory as her secretary of war during the american civil war. but at this time is a prominent lawyer in washington, d.c. and is one of the first people retained to represent daniel sickles. the prosecution in this case, no slouches either. your james carlisle who was one of sickles first choices represented. he happens to be a very close friend of barton key, no interest in helping the murderer escape justice. and you robert who will become assistant secretary in the confederate states of america and in charge of hostage -- of prisoner of war swaps for the confederacy. also we will go on who will go on to be jefferson davises lawyer. but at the time robert is a deputy u.s. attorney. key wasn't actually the best u.s. attorney. he is there basically because of his family name, because of his political connections. robert is a lot of the work.

key is also intermittently sick and the travel and put a lot of the most important responsibility on robert. i thought is interesting he really vexed robert about by putting all this work on it and now i dine he is given him the hardest case under the biggest microscope in the history of the world. robert will be appointed by resident buchanan to replace key as used attorney. might be a singular phenomena in american history where you actually to wait for new your surfing to be a point a murder case because the other one has been killed. you got this incredible lineup as are trying this case of the judge crawford who's been appointed by president polk and news present over almost every major trial in washington, d.c. up to that point. one of the things that struck me about this book was the confluence of all these fascinating people who either

were witnesses in the telco with her in a courtroom who participate in some way in this extraordinary story over the -- would rule over the life of daniel sickles. sickles met his wife when he was very young. he was a border in the house of her grandfather and here preparing him for entry for the university of new york which is now new york university. the man's name is lorenzo and it mips million into some of you. he's most famous as mozart liver test but he start off as a young man in finnegan becomes a priest, decides that life is a for him. he is ultimately expelled from the city of venice because of his possible resident in a brothel and his chart success with public concubines. he finds his way to the court of emperor joseph the second reconnects with mozart were the ads the words to famous shows

like -- figaro, operas we probably all seen or heard of. and then finds find his way bao new york city restarts the first opera company on the island one of his daughters which he treats as an adopted daughter but was suspected be very much a biological daughter of his due to a liaison in his 60s, that's going to be the mother of teresa. she's just a little girl when sickles moves in as a border, but he will stay in touch with the family as his career progresses, as it enters the law, becomes a new york the sentiment and he continues to visit the family. ask teresa goes up he decides he's in love with that or the fan was a post at first because of the age difference. she's still in the equivalent of high school. so they marry secret with the

mayor of new york performing the ceremony. let it never be said that daniel sickles was not one for grand gestures. eventually the famine will be reconciled to the idea of this marriage when you're married a second time in a public ceremony for the archbishop of new york. it's a pretty good start to your marriage. your cup of blessing of the mayor of new york city and highs ecclesiastical officer of sin city. they should've portended good things for the sickles. so sickles will end up going off to the united kingdom when james buchanan is hacked off by president pierce. president pierce wants to be the first president since andrew jackson to win a second term. the only real stature to challenge him for a second term is james buchanan. he resolves to send began office minister unmedicated. buchanan is a former secretary of state, longtime senator and congressman. he doesn't need this appointment turkeys that interested in disappointment but pierce takes every concession, meets every two minutes of the candidates

sent packing. he needs a really good aide to go with them, and a mutual friend of this makes the connection. sickles inset hitching his wagon to the sky looks like he's in his last chapter of long public service so you end up going to united kingdom together what teresa really shines, our ability to speak multiple language, her familiar -- familiarly with music and culture. they probably should've stayed there, because he'll come back to pave the way for james buchanan said campaign for president. because pierce had sent buchanan to united kingdom to put an end to his career but, in fact, pierce will sign the kansas-nebraska act, undoing the missouri compromise leading to violence and election fraud in kansas. the only democrat with the hope of winning the presidency in 185687 who is an hated by the

kansas-nebraska act. the very act that meant to and begins career ended up making sure he become the next president sickles comes back to lay the ground can people speculated he would be in life or something bigger in the buchanan administration. sickles is not interested. this is a recurring theme. daniel sickles is his own man. in fact, let me read something to you which i think is illustrative of his general life philosophy. he writes this as a congressman, but think about him it, think t sickles at gettysburg, in every aspect of his life and see if this doesn't fit. i cannot play courtier to the multitude much less individuals. i know all the consequences and that many a long years since to enjoy it, even at the price which must inevitably be paid. i do not deem it a wise course, nor approve it, nor recommend it to any friend, but i've adopted

it and it is mine and i will follow it come what may. that's sickles and a nutshell. that's sickles at gettysburg. that's sickles at his home in lafayette square. wanting to kill the chief federal prosecutor for the district of columbia in front of a crowd on a sunday afternoon in washington, d.c. sickles is his own man. he's going to run for congress he wins. he distinguishes himself, steps out from underneath pecans shouted and becomes renowned as an expert on foreign affairs, on military policy, the speaker of house thought he was the most capable member of that particular house of representatives everything is going well but the way to get it in washington, d.c. is to fill the best parties. it's the easiest way to get invited to the best parties but it's also the best way to court other legislators, journalists, ambassadors, names of the

cabinet. the congressman souder is $3000 a year. that wouldn't pay for a months worth of festivities so you has to maintain his law practice in new york city which means he is often away from washington and if so glad to be able to entrust his wife to barton key to escort her to events, they are introduced through a through al friend, u.s. marshal for washington, d.c., and key is hoping to hold onto his job. even as pecan is taking over for a fellow democrat, they were in war within the party. you can would be well within sites to send all the pierce appointees packing. so pardon is hoping to hang onto his job. the u.s. marshal makes that connection between sickles and key and says please intercede on death of my friend, my dearest friend sickles is happy to do it. so that's actually how the friendship was launched. we say sickles was the last to

know. teresa had a stalker by the name of stephen beekman. in the process of stocking teresa, a new yorker but hang around in d.c., the process of stocking teresa come he sees she's going out riding along with barton key. follow simcoe sees fit disappeared into a hotel for a time and come out together. he starts telling people about what he saw. finds himself summoned to the sickles home. i would that want to be summoned to the home of an angry daniel sickles. sickles demands he told what he has been saying about his wife and about him and beekman folds. he denies what he said. he denies what he saw. that's enough for sickles. that plus key's denialist enough for sickles to go back to his obliviousness, as to what's happening. lest you think that key and

teresa were appropriately concerned about nearly being discovered, two weeks later they are dancing together at the most popular ball in washington, and masquerade ball run the wife of senator guinn. it will become notable in retrospect not for its opulence, but for the fact that many people present in people like jefferson davis, william seward, this is the last time they will be on friendly terms. this incredible party can everyone in washington is there. all these different costumes. they described as a stimulus for the costume makers and tailors of washington, d.c. sickles indisposed and he can't go. his wife shows up as little red riding hood. key shows up as an english huntsman and end up conspicuously leaving together. so in a situation where discretion was really called for, weeks after their close call, none could be found.

people tried to warn key about the situation. at first key did not appear to said no, no, i have nothing but fatherly feeling torture. eventually he says, sickles is a damn yankee and is not going to do a damn thing about it or he says i prepared for any ugliness and the pats his coat to indicate where he's got his firearm. what his firearm was on the date of the murder will become a subject of a lot of contention, a lot of rumor and speculation. a major part of the trial. but he was wrong in his estimate of what sickles was willing to do about it. of course this will lead to the most incredible trial, 20 day trial in a country where the average homicide case was typically get resolved in an afternoon. and really as a former attorney present current attorney former prosecutor, ormer courtroom criminal lawyer, the most excellent a case that i've ever

come across. not just a temple for every celebrity trial but what followed. the template for every scandal that followed for the era we live in now where the line is erased between entertainment and news, and what's edifying to read and learn about and what's sensational and exciting. and so that's where we found ourselves today. i was really delighted to go to spend this time with these incredibly vivid characters and to tell the story which of course will lead to sickles moment momentous decision on day two of gettysburg. with that i love to throw open the floor to questions. thank you so much for being here and for your kind attention. it's truly an honor to be speaking at an gettysburg as of the anniversary celebration. [applause] >> what was your take first

temporary insanity defense or not? >> you've got the insanity defense was brought over from united kingdom. and so it's really relatively new kind of defense where you don't know what you're doing is wrong or you don't understand what it is you are doing, and so it's a relatively new defense. temporary insanity was really the only opening they had if you're going to police insanity because having conversations with people right before the incident, event after the incident is having all kinds of conversations. he goes to the attorney generals house actually and he encounters a former u.s. senator who remarks that he is forgotten to wipe the mud off of his boots. if he had known that sickles was packing a a hot pistol that had just been used to kill the chief prosecutor he might've had less regard for the carpets. i guess a perfectly lucid

conversation. really there aven in pleading insanity to say look, he's temporarily insane. at some point before putting on the trenchcoat and packing three firearms, and when key hits the ground. sickles attempts to fire a final shot stand over him, and the pistol misfires. really quite a brutal killing, a number of shots fired even after the fatal shot so that was their avenue but the case was famous for the temporary insanity plea, but also they started with an argument about just a straight justification. so key had an affair with his wife and sickles is justified for getting it done. they make the case to the jury even though it's completely contrary to the law, contrary to the judges instructions to the jury.

they go for straight notification argument. it's okay if you don't buy that. you know that can be found on the ground that didn't match the ball that came out of barton key, that was key's gun. they trust halfhearted self-defense argument, and if you don't buy any of those, daniel sickles was to bring insane for a few minutes. but really what you have here is this isn't a jury getting bamboozled by pseudoscience. this isn't sure jury who believes that you're entitled, they are convinced that you are justified in killing the seducer of your wife, a seducer of your wife. and this will actually start a trend in the united states pick something called the unwritten law here so for almost a century in america the most rigidly adhere to law in the united states is a lot you would never find any statute book, and you wouldn't fight any case called the unwritten law. but he was absolutely followed regardless of the circumstances or where it happened, and what

you will see is juries, if it even gets to the jury, , juries will equip people who commit murder to avenge their honor, their families, the honor of a female representative or are about to no relation. and even when a female, females could successfully invoked the unwritten law more often than men could successfully. you had thousands of cases that were never charged. get thousands of cases that were dismissed by the jury. u.n. judges who would issue direct vertex and throughout cases in the circumstances. if the case could get to the jury, jurors would were often a quick. if they found the circumstances that they were persuaded that someone had killed in order to avenge their honor or their families owner, if the juries convicted, the judge would often issue a very nominal sentence. and if you seriously got to this point and the judge issued a

series sentence, the government was expected to pardon you. how serious i might about this? our geeky two examples. so in kentucky of your classic unwritten law scenario, a man catches his wife in bed with another man. he kills the man. the governor announces preemptively come if you charge business and convict him, i will pardon. don't even bother. that's remarkable by itself. what's more remarkable is the victim in the case was the governors said. as an elected official who were expected to pardon the killer of your own son. if it wasn't unwritten law scenario. i'll give you one of the. south carolina, 1890, post reconstruction, birthplace of the confederacy, a black man finds his wife in bed with a white man and kills him. the governor of south carolina pardoned the black and because that's what public opinion dictates. so the unwritten law was even more powerful than jim crow, more powerful than

state-sponsored segregation in south carolina in the 1890s. this will continue to be the case, the last unwritten case law was virtually impossible to punish someone who had committed the killing to avenge -- to kill the lover of their wife or perhaps it was someone who had been lover of their sister, a female relation he wasn't prepared to accept responsibility for marrying them or taking responsibility for their child. any one of the number of scenarios like that, if imposse to successfully punish them. for almost 100 years, and as a lawyer i know i did about about this until i started researching this case but it will start in the sickles case. really become a conversation and every living room and the united states so you had some limited instances where juries were acquitting under spurious claims of insanity or self-defense, but after the sickles the case this is when a wildfire starts.

it won't go out for a century. >> so it sickles had been found guilty, was the option to find him or to give a sentence that would not be execution or, , lie a prison sentence reduced sentence? >> the only option in the judges command what about a death sentence. i'm pretty confident judge crawford would have painted if the jury had found him guilty. really, sickles is playing an away game. are people who live in washington, d.c. and the run the country but they also think mistakenly they were in washington. i don't when washington. certainly not in this era. so congress and everyone has gone home for the session, and it's the residents of d.c. who are in charge of this trial. let's think about d.c. culture at the time. seven, unapologetically proslavery.

key is part of the firmament of the city. source people come and go, presidents, go, congress can come and go, , people like key remain. and so key had been the u.s. attorney under multiple presidents, here's an and begit also previously in the polk administration. he tried every case in front of judge crawford. i think the bar of washington, d.c. particularly would have insisted on a death sentence to avenge their friend, the former u.s. attorney and so i think that would've happened if the jury has convicted sickles. really there was a time would look like that very well may happen because at first there's this reaction, like you know what, the guy was having an affair with his wife, good for sickles. and then when you think about it, you got a few weeks to consider it, you say we can't just have people going into the street and killing people. even if the person has done wrong to them. so the delay in bringing this case to trial, which would not be considered a delay by any

measure by today's standards, that at the time he's not going to go trial until april, and so the community has had time to think about it. there was a rejected jury who was telling what if i'd made it on this journey i would've voted to convict him. so no, i'm pretty confident he would have tanked. one thing apple say that key was concerned of and this would abandon president began his power, president began would've been able to commute his sentence or to pardon him. i'm not sure that would've happened. you can have got his own problems at the time. he's thinking about another term. you obviously can't alienate key's supporters in the city and in the democratic party sought think that would've been a tough decision for beginning but we don't know what is happening at that would've been the option for the judge, carry out a death sentence for capital murder. other questions from anybody? >> one more interesting characters in the book, could

you share any more information? >> he asked about danny white was indeed one of these incredible characters who appears in this book the you couldn't make these people. if i tried to to write a novel about this, you would have not found this characters to be credible. it's just too much. sickles becomes acquainted with danny white as a young man in new york. yet just fled the academy where he is been kicked out of school and is back in your work as a journeyman printer and he gets to know wi-fi patronizing her establishment of ill repute. it's a very high end brothel were a lot of big names in new york city like to hang out, but it's a house of ill repute nonetheless. fanny falls in love sickles but daniel sickles is a limit i think in history to show up night after night at the most high-priced brothel in the city and come out ahead because even

the sickles was making a lot of money, you know, in his career as he moves on and becomes a blur, becomes very successful lawyer, shortly thereafter fanny white is probably the richest woman in new york city, and she likes to buy him fancy things, likes to buy jewelry and nice suits. sickles and only got i know who could show up at a high price brothel and come out ahead. so fanny white and sickles like to go out to bars together. women were not allowed in bars at the time. no problem, fannie white will jessop is a man. one night they are caught, the individual. sickles is a going to marry anyway. i think i give him credit for bring up the assembly and introducing her to his colleagues. that was a brave move, and in different move toward what their opinion must of been. but he's not going to marry fanny white. upwardly mobile allocation will not marry fanny white. he falls in love with teresa.

the fanny white finds out about this, puts on men's clothing again, goes and finds sickles at the bar of the carlton hotel in new york city and bull whips him. i assume it's a singular event in new york's city of the carlton hotel. thanks for asking about that. she's a fascinating and very unique history and american history. any of the questions from anybody? i thank you so much for being here. [applause] >> you're watching booktv on c-span2 with top nonfiction books and authors and we can. booktv, television for serious readers. this weekend on "after words" journalist natalie wechsler argues the american education system can be improved by making changes to the elementary school curriculum.

the "wall street journal" russell gold reports on alternative energy, one america news networks offers her thoughts on how to debate the left check your cable guide or visit booktv.org for more schedule information. >> at a a recent talk at the nn presidential library in yorba linda california harry stewart reflected on his military service during world war ii. >> it was something like five or six engine bombers that were involved and we were one of seven fighter groups that were assigned to escort these bomber groups that were both made up b-17s and b-24s. and, of course, for the mission so they wouldn't run into each other there stretched out for a

distance of maybe 100 miles. but my squadron was due to escort the last of the bombers going over, and i was relegated to not only the in deposition of the last squadron to escort the bombers, but i was the last member in the last flight in the last squadron speedy which is called? >> which is called tail and charlie. and i do remember taking off and i was a little but bottled as to just which way to turn in that type of thing, except i was flying on my element need and it did whatever he did but when we got on the course, we were climbing out going up into germany, and after the bombs started reaching a certain temperature and altitude, he

would start pulling these extremist which you all have seen when you go over the white condensation trails that they have. each of these 600 bombers had four engines and they began when the reached that mr. kite where this takes place, they started to each of these started polling streamers. i could see this for miles and 50 miles in front of me and it was just a beautiful sight. but then the fighters that are in front came over and they maintain the same ground speed, the fighters are so much faster, as a bombers. they were doing as turned over the bombers. so there was this how late in the sky of these vapor trails, and it was the streamers going ahead and then the streams of the fighter planes going above them. it was just awesome. it was just eyesight, actually i'll never see it again because

we will never put a force like that in the air again. that's the last of what we'll see as far as the big bombing raids like that are concerned. one bomber now can do as much damage with its payload as all of those bombers during the entire war. .. >>. [inaudible] good afternoon. and thank yor