I Am A Historian. With The Exception

The White House Is Such An Extraordinary, Simple, Beautiful Place. It's An Extraordinary Piece Of Our History, Because It Is The One Thing That Binds Our Country Together. We Don't Have A King Obviously, But We Have This President, And The Fact That Almost All Of Them Have Lived In The Same Place, And So Much History Took Place In Those Rooms. You Can't Help But Feel Awe-inspired By Being There.

I Think If I Were Reading To A Grandchild, I Might Read Tolstoy's War And Peace. They Would Learn About Russia, They Would Learn About History, They Would Learn About Human Nature. They Would Learn About, "can The Individual Make A Difference Or Is It Great Forces?" Tolstoy Is Always Battling With Those Large Issues. Mostly, A Whole World Would Come Alive For Them Through That Book.

People Tease Me About Knowing Somehow That Obama Would Put Clinton Into The Cabinet, And Everybody Would Talk About A Team Of Rivals.

Even Though Lyndon Johnson's Presidency Was In Many Ways Scarred Forever By The War In Vietnam, And Destroyed In A Lot Of Ways, He - As A Character - Was Even Larger Than His Presidency. Being Able To Get To Know Him Well, That Firsthand Relationship With This Large Character, I Think Is What Drew Me To Writing Books About Presidents.

We've Got To Figure Out A Way That We Give A Private Sphere For Our Public Leaders. We're Not Gonna Get The Best People In Public Life If We Don't Do That.