Safer: He's won most of the literary prizes worth winning. His voice is familiar to anyone who watches public television. As an historian, he's bridged that yawning gap between popular and academic history. david McCullough is in love with america's history, from its struggling birth to its soaring achievements. In turn, american readers are in LOVE WITH david McCullough; more than ten million copies of his books are in print, all published by simon and schuster, a company owned by cbs. In these last hours before tuesday's election, in this season of uncertainty, we thought it might be useful to REFLECT A LITTLE with McCullough on our history and the people who got us here. David McCullough: We are an optimistic people, by nature. And we've always had reason to be optimistic. We also have always had reason to think we're a nation in decline. That's nothing new about that. You can go back and read the letters of henry adams and... Written in the 19th century, and the country was just going to hell. Safer: And still is. McCullough: I grew up in a republican family. And the night of the '48 election, I couldn't stay awake. So the next morning, I got up and my father was in the bathroom shaving. I said, "dad, dad, who won?" And he said, "truman!" Like it was the end of the world. Well, 30-some years later, I was back home. And he was telling me all about how the world's going to hell and the country's going to hell. I'd heard this so much in my life. And then he paused and he said, "too bad old harry isn't still in the white house." (Laughter) and that's what we want-- somebody who will address the problems and do things that aren't popular. Safer: David mccullough's books have all come from a machine invented about the time abe lincoln was president. Some of you may recognize it as a typewriter. McCullough: I bought it when I was embarking on my first book IN THE MID... RLY 1960s. Safer: He calls this world HEADQUARTERS, AN 8' x 12' Sanctuary in his backyard on martha's vineyard in massachusetts. Why do you use this, as opposed to a computer? McCullough: I can't press the wrong button and eliminate a month's work. Safer: From his trusty royal have come books about the johnstown flood, the brooklyn bridge, the panama canal, and the revolutionary war. And biographies of three presidents-- john adams, teddy roosevelt, harry truman. McCullough: The only way to teach history, to write history, to bring people into the magic of transforming yourself into other times is through the vehicle of the story. It isn't just a chronology, it's about people. History is human. Jefferson-- "when in the course of human events..." "Human" is the operative word here. Safer: And "human" rhymes with "truman," the unlikely victor in that presidential election McCullough slept through as a teenager. McCullough: Every candidate running for any office ought to study the harry truman 1948 campaign. I think what's important about it, he ran by being himself. And he said, "i'm going to go out there and say what I mean." Can you imagine, a politician Spapers, the pundits all agreed-- truman didn't have a chance against tom dewey, even when truman started drawing big crowds campaigning by train. McCullough: It was the first time any president had ever done that. He would pull inse little stops where nobody would ever stop and give a talk. Harry Truman: I'm coming out here so you can look at me and hear what I have to say, and then make up your own mind as to whether you believe some of the things that have been said about your president. (Laughter) McCullough: He wasn't smooth. He wasn't glib. He just talked straight. He said, "i'm going to go out THERE AND GIVE 'iEM HELL. And later on he said, "i didn't GIVE 'iEM HELL; I JUST TOLD 'iEM The truth and they thought it was hell." (Laughter) well, there seems to be a trend and the trend is for dewey. Safer: Election night, it was all over for truman... Until it wasn't. Truman: And the morning after that, in st. Louis, I was handed this paper which said "dewey defeats truman." Of course, he wished he had but he didn't. And that's all there was to it. McCullough: Authenticity. It worked-- authenticity. Safer: As for the current seemingly endless campaign, McCULLOUGH GIVES BOTH SIDES LOW Marks. McCullough: The shame of it is, the shame of it is they're spending all this unconscionable amount of money. And what is it producing? A not-very-good show. Safer: Well, it's schoolyard squabbles. McCullough: Imagine the quantity of words that are being produced, and you think there's anything that's going to stand the test of time in there? I haven't heard it yet. We should demand more of them. We should get to be like people who go to the theater all the time or go to the symphony all the time, and they know a punk performance when they see one and don't like it. That's the way we should be. Safer: But if you think negative campaigning has hit a NEW LOW, McCULLOUGH WOULD REMIND You of the presidential election of 1800, when thomas jefferson beat john adams. The mudslinging in that campaign... McCullough: Brutal. Safer: ...Makes today's look quite tame. McCullough: Well, jefferson was paying a slander specialist, a journalist, to go after adams, writing that he was mentally unbalanced, he was a hermaphrodite, all these things. Safer: A hermaphrodite. McCullough: And... Yeah. Safer: The adams camp fired back, saying if jefferson were elected, murder, robbery, rape, adultery and incest would sweep the land. A gentler time? Hardly. McCullough: It was rough and tough. When adams was vice president, presiding over the house of representatives, they went at each other on the floor with fire tongs. They grabbed the fire tongs off and come hammering each other. Imagine how that would look on the nightly news. Safer: In the long history of this country, who was the greatest president? McCullough: George washington was our greatest president in that he set the standard. He had no example to go by. If he had been a fool or a self- indulgent, lazy glory-hound, it could've been disastrous. He did everything right. Safer: Talking about great moments in american history, McCULLOUGH WILL OFTEN SAY, "I Wish I could have been there." We couldn't arrange that, so we took him to philadelphia, where the first fires of the american revolution were fanned. McCullough: This is where our country began, not in a grand presence but in a space that's really quite small, but beautiful. I love this building. Safer: It's carpenters' hall, where delegates from the 13 colonies met for the first time in 1774 to air, in secret, their grievances against british rule. It was treasonous talk. McCullough: They closed the windows so nobody could come up and listen at the window. Safer: Because there were so many british sympathizers in... McCullough: Exactly. Safer: ...Philadelphia. McCullough: Exactly. And they wanted to know who were the ringleaders, what were they saying. Safer: Was that a real worry for these men, that they would be taken and hanged? McCullough: Yes. And when they rode away from their homes, their families, they knew that, possibly, they'd never see them again. Safer: Upstairs in the hall, there's a library, the country's very first lending library. McCullough: It was ben franklin's idea. At the very beginning comes the id of learning, of books, of ideas. Safer: Ben franklin still watches over this city. And so does george washington. Tell me something-- as a historian, do you get any funny feelings when you wander around philadelphia? McCullough: Now, morley, you understand, I don't believe in ghosts. You... You... That's clear. Safer: Okay. McCullough: But at night, walking up market street or chestnut street, going past where they all lived and convened, it gets very quiet. I know that they're here. They really... You feel it. You feel it. Walk around at night. Walk over to the cemetery at christ church just up the way here. You'll feel it. Safer: You might feel it too at the city tavern, the watering hole for franklin and the others, where, after hours, they plotted revolution. McCullough: This is the place where george washington and john adams first met. This was the hangout, and it was loud, it was lively. Well, I would like to start with mr. Washington's beer. And say, "here's to our founding father." Safer: The beer is from washington's own recipe. And you wonder, looking at the examples of colonial cooking from chef walter staib's kitchen, how the founding fathers ever got up from the table-- fried oysters, beef pie, mushroom toast... Walter Staib: Thomas jefferson served it often. Safer: ...Washington's west indies pepper pot soup, supposedly fed to the troops at valley forge. Fried tofu, first introduced here by that early hippie, ben franklin. McCullough: Whoa! Safer: Mccullough's favorite, homemade sausage and sauerkraut. I think I've hit my limit here. And finally, martha washington's orange cake. McCullough: You understand those other times by being in the buildings, walking the streets, hearing the music, and eating the food. Safer: It's a walk of just a few short blocks from the city tavern to the most revered site in philadelphia, the old pennsylvania colonial statehouse, independence hall, where, in july 1776, the colonies, already at war with britain, voted on making the final break. Can you give me a sense of the atmosphere in this room on that day in 1776? McCullough: The atmosphere is tense. And it's exciting. It was very, very hot. It was summertime in philadelphia. Flies biting through their silk stockings. This is on july 2, not on july 4. Nothing really happened on july 4. That was the date that was on the document when it was printed. Safer: The document, of course, was the declaration of independence from britain. The writing of it was largely jefferson's work. This is an early draft, in his handwriting. McCullough: In this room, thomas jefferson never stood up to say much of anything, ever. He left that to others to do. Safer: Not a speaker. McCullough: Not a speaker. And when he spoke, his voice was weak. He would be terrible on television today. Franklin often looked as though he were asleep. And his admirers and friends said he thought, "if I look like I'm asleep, people might say things they wouldn't say in front of me if I were awake." Adams was short and stout, and cranky and abrasive. But honest and courageous, and he had great humor. Safer: To those still wavering, john adams' speech turned the tide. It was delivered during a thunderstorm-- an hour long, but carrying a short message. McCullough: Adams insisted now was the time. Now was the time. Safer: Whether you celebrate it on the second or the fourth of july, john adams also spelled out how it should be observed.
