Michael Beschloss - Presidents of War: 1807 to Modern Times - 11/13/18

Michael Beschloss is an award-winning author of nine books on presidential history. He is the presidential historian for NBC News and a contributor to PBS NewsHour. A graduate of Williams College and Harvard Business School, he has served as a historian for the Smithsonian Institution, as a Senior Associate Member at St. Antony’s College, Oxford, and as a Senior Fellow of the Annenberg Foundation. His books on the presidency include, among others, The Crisis Years: Kennedy and Khrushchev, 1960-1963; The Conquerors: Roosevelt, Truman and the Destruction of Hitler’s Germany; and Presidential Courage: Brave Leaders and How They Changed America, 1789-1989. His latest book, Presidents of War, will be published in October. He is the recipient of the Harry S. Truman Public Service Award, the New York State Archives Award, and the Rutgers University Living History Award. He is a trustee of the White House Historical Association and the National Archives Foundation and a former trustee of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation.

[@joaquinpraveenvishnu8509]

My favorite historian...Mr. Beschloss, thank you. I will always call myself a student of history. True leaders be transparent and tell their nations on what they are doing. Lying is just a crime that is used to cover up other crimes...sigh

[@garretttedeman]

Outstanding talk. ...How about the piece about the Chesapeake and the Leopard when, so goes the story, way back when Thomas Jefferson was president, in 1807, there was an incident when the British warship HMS Leopard pursued, attacked, fired on, boarded, and seized the frigate USS Chesapeake off the coast of Virginia. ...Following this seizure, there was ferocious outrage against the British that nearly led to a war. ...The antagonism eventually, of course, led to the War of 1812, but in 1807, Jefferson held-off, saying that we shouldn't fight over this one issue. He said that if he wanted to start that war, all he'd have to do is to "open his hand". It's a fascinating statement: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chesapeake%E2%80%93Leopard_affair