David McCullough on "The American Spirit" 

David McCullough is the bee's knees. He has the voice you want to listen to all day and night and drift off to sleep listening to. We have been blessed to be alive in his time.

History Matters: Be kind, have empathy, help others when you can, 'don't be boring'. Civics shapes diplomacy, education shapes civilization. What an honour listening to you both, you will be missed David McCullough, your memory will always be a blessing.

Thoughtful, eloquent and important. Here is insightful commentary on the state of our nation and its many ails. McCullough assures us we've been through complex crises before and together we've found our way to a better, stronger country. Quality leadership, as it has before, can guide us out of our dispiriting troubles.

I found this very moving. Mr. McCullough is a true patriot.

Thank you for this . Brilliant. 🇺🇸

Heard this on an NPR replay but only part of it. Thrilled that I found it on RU-vid. Fascinating interview and great insights. Slanted to the left, yes, due to the present President but touches so much history.

It's 2020 Now and when he talked about the percentage of people dying due to an illness. It hit me hard especially with the virus now.😔

Thank you for organizing and uploading such an informative and inspiring event, JFK library. So much wisdom was shared that has to be remembered and practiced today. Only someone like David McCullough who has read, learned and lived as much could talk about the "American Spirit" as affectively and effectively as he did.

I am 16 and I have a great love for history, especially American history. McCullough's books on history, particularly those on Adams and Truman, are some of the most inspiring works I have ever read. Personally, I am appalled by the way history is taught in The 21st century's public school system. It lacks everything the Founders intended for it to be. All the founders were students of history! This country, you, me, and everyone else might have been living completely different lives had the founders not been able to draw upon the lessons of history, and indeed had future generations not studied the works of the founders. I fear that the public education system is weaker today than it has ever been. Not only is it devoid of history and it's importance, but it is also equally devoid of teaching important character traits. Most students in the school I attend do not know basic American geography, let alone American history. What's worse is that it is clear to me our colleges and universities are dominated by professors who share an extreme liberal view of the world. Naturally, the views of these professors and instructors will rub off on their historically illiterate students, who do not have enough background knowledge to make an educated decision for themselves, so naturally they will adopt the philosophies and beliefs of their mentors( And in many cases they should because there is so much to learn from other people), however, the basic grade school curriculum is leading to these students to not posses hardly any information about America, politics, and history. They are simply spoon-fed liberal ideologies and end up seeing a view of the world which in many cases isn't even their own. Most of these people cannot give you a practical or logical reason why they believe the things that they do. Why? Because they have nothing to draw upon except what they are taught and unfortunately ( as I have already stated) it is far below what the founders intended.

Absolutely beautiful Interview 💓 one of mine and my dad's favorite Writer/History Professor

I'm surprised why there haven't any comments yet for this profound talk, it's worth to listen and think.

What comes to mind when he says why limit ourselves to the little bit of time we have is Music why limit ourselves to just today's music when we can be amazed by Charlie Parker and Elvis Presley and Billie Holiday and Mahalia Jackson.

I have enjoyed and learned from these programs but I will only continue to read his books. The politics and cheap shots have ended the programs with this format. He is the President and I will respect all Presidents of the United States of America.

Makes me miss my Grandpa sooo much! ♥️😭🫶🏻

I'm fairly sure David McCullough could make rubber bands interesting - and hold my interest talking about them. Terrific program. As a retired teacher & history buff, I loved it! Well-done by David, as always. But Charlie Gibson is another matter. He was there to ask questions, not to make editorial comments and little speeches of his own. Even though I agreed with what he said, it wasn't the time or place for him to make them. He insinuated himself into the evening more than he should have - and more than I've ever seen a moderator do in the past [and I've watched 100s of these lecture-type programs]. Great speaker here, but very poor moderator. I hope the JFK Library will make note of this for the future. Different moderator, please...

I wish we had more wise leaders like this speaking today ♥️🥹

Excellent!

Why can I listen to this man talk all day long!

DM is an American treasure

Bravo!

David has a terrific laugh. I love hearing him lecture.

truly inspiring

Great interview with Charlie and David! And indeed, History matters a lot! Aloha 😊🤙🏼

I'm a big Fan!!

Everything has a history, even the most advanced and hi-tech science! And behind those amazing technological developments are very human stories, some of which have been put to pen by David McCullough. 😉🤙🏼

Just wondering who are the ones gave thumbs down? Such a fantastic conversation!

Anyone else watching this for school

❤❤❤

My audio and video are waaaay out of sync for me. Yet no one else in Comments here mentions that.

Can need the Joe on. Thanks' lot

How about the use of III constantly with Obama

His foreshadowing of how t would handle covid was eerie.

Why can not this kind of individual run or aid in the running of this country? Instead we have, who we have.

Mark Twain and David McCullough...

History are always told by the winners and live by the losers.

Hello from Rabbie Burns country.

El viejo ver papel seguro la verdad

To gabe.. see my comment... great....

To have...below...so sharp.. well said... My educated vote is cancelled out by ignorant people who have NO knowledge of politics or WHY they vote...my vote is cancelled.....

True to the JFK legacy. The exec director of the JFK Library Foundation, is just NOT a very good speaker.

RFK Jr. is a Kennedy cut from the same cloth! And at a crucial time for SANITY and Civility!

Why are there never any African-American's in attendance at these JFK talks?

I've watched and read Mr McCullough extensively. This was the worst, most politicized interview I've ever seen. Baiting Mr McCullough to repeatedly express political opinions was reprehensible. This man's life and work deserve better.

I liked David but i don't like his remark about president Trump! I agree history matters....and Trump did not have great teachers to inspire him to read and appreciate history!.... i hated history because of memorizing dates and stuff ... i loved reading and it was through historical Novels and biographies and teaching American history to my 5th graders that cemented that love of history that I grew as a reader. My students learned what it was like to live in those days from reading and enacting things about Columbus and the pilgrims and what it was like to live in those days and what it was like to explore America they didn't memorize the dates of explorers exploring America and who explored what as a test they had to write as if they were a pilgrim child and having to leave their home in England than in Holland and come to America and leave everything behind. I had them draw names to become a pilgrim child and I read aloud a book about what it was like from their point of view they learned that two boys almost blew up the ship after they came to America trying to fire a gun near the barrel of gunpowder. They had to be a pilgrim father trying to figure out a good place to settle they needed a harbor a safe harbor for ships to come they needed wood to build houses they needed a source of water they needed a good place to build a fort etc etc. They had to learn about Columbus in this tiny ships that he had and they had the right place then performing on stage about begging Queen Isabella for money for the trip. Then they had to be a time traveler and contact Queen Isabella and convince her that even though they weren't in China or India but there were many wondrous things here like all the fruits and vegetables of the new world but no European had ever tasted. Back one year we started the Civil War before the Revolutionary War because all the boys in the class were so interested in the Civil War that I couldn't get anything done. My principal said are you sure they're not going to get the timeline mixed up and I said no they won't. In fact when we were studying the Revolutionary War and there were discussions from the slave states about getting rid of slavery and they weren't going to go along with everything if slavery was abolished my student said oh my gosh if they could have gotten that settled during the Revolutionary War there wouldn't have been any Civil War. My students always read historical novels and class in the one novel called... Walk the world's rim... it was about Spanish conquistadors true story but in novel form the Shipwrecked off the coast of Florida and had to walk the Gulf Coast to get back to Mexico. It's centered around the time they spent an Indian village and the slave Esteban the Spaniards had a black slave befriending a little Indian boy. It talked about how the little boy said he'd never become a slave he do anything that he'd never become a slave because Indian tribes in those days would take slaves from each tribe they defeated. The little boy didn't know and that's Esteban was a slave. They get to Mexico and the little Indian boy those long with them to Mexico and leaves his village and finds out Esteban as a slave and no longer wants to speak to him. So anyhow President Trump it had me as his teacher he would have learned to love reading because we read for a half an hour independently anything we wanted to everyday. They had no choice they weren't allowed to get up they had to read it was called Silent sustained reading and it couldn't be a magazine and it couldn't be a picture book and I couldn't change to a different book and all of my students became readers. After I retired and substitute. I convinced kids that didn't like to read that it was just because they didn't find the right genre many of time took them to the history section of the library and it got religion so to speak and we'll come up to me later and say you were right Mrs Murphy I love to read now. And look at President Trump's parents was his mother reader probably not and his father was just interested in business so history will tell is President Trump was a successful president and he's well on his way two becoming one of our best presidents ever in spite of the snide remarks people make about you

7:31 This remark was gratuitous and unnecessary. I understand that Kennedy, Gibson and McCullough and the audience are all to the left of Trump and his supporters, but I'm watching this program to be enlightened and reminded of what the title for this video promises, which ought to be a sentiment shared by all viewers regardless of their politics. I'd say shame on you if I thought the Library and it's officers were capable of any.

I respect McCullough even though he's on the left. I saw, a couple of years ago, an interview/talk with him from the Library of Congress that was excellent. But I'm not enjoying this talk at all with him with Charlie Gibson interviewing, and how Gibson is trying to draw the conversation, *continuously*, back to current politics and digs against the current administration. I get the problems with Trump's demeanor, but I want to hear about history when listening to McCullough, not snide remarks from him or Gibson about Trump's book reading and other habits, and the problems THEY find with Trump. When an interview of this sort veers off into snotty, snarky comments, it's not elevated and not inspiring. I wanted wisdom and elevation about generations past, but Gibson's leading comments and questions ruined it. I find it a shame that the left has to do this with EVERYTHING. Enough already. The left has ruined everything with their absolute obsession over partisan politics. I made it to the 33 minute mark. I'm done.

G4

jm

It's astounding to hear Mr. McCullough talk about a politician who will stand up for what's right, but doesn't mention Bernie Sanders.

I love David McCullough. His john adams work is great. I can't believe I heard him say history should be censored because of the year the statue was erected. Wow. I watched his speech about his book 1776 and I really respect this guy. Im astounded he would want to erase history. What if someone didn't like how John Adams diary made them feel and destroyed some of them. I bet he'd feel different. Even historians are political and have an agenda. I knew it but I thought I found a guy who didn't let it affect him.. Wow wtf I just made it to him saying Joe Biden is a stand up guy what the fuck?!?!!?. Have you seen him sniff and flirt with kids while taking pictures with families of the Senators???? My hope is hes focused all his energy into looking into the past he doesn't know much about the present but you just have to be down right dishonest to say Biden is a good guy cmon man. I'm sure he doesn't believe the Hunter Biden story either. Man just imagine our history is wrote by people like this who change what they want. No wonder our country is going to burn. Bet he supports wearing masks too. Disgusting really.

Lovely talk-but why in heaven do the americans need always to end on such a note as "We are the greatest" - this is childish and creates division if one can see over the edge of his own plate.

Love McCullough's work. Sick to death of the gratuitous Trump jabs.

McCullough just needs to have Trump explained to him by his fellow historian Victor Davis Hanson.

I am an avid follower of McCullough’s work/speeches and interviews. This one was a huge disappointment for me. It was done only 5 months into Trump’s presidency. Now that Trump is wrapping up his first term, I wonder what McCullough would say about him now. Gibson did DM a big disservice here by continually bringing up Trump. DM is much better when he talks about what he knows and his work.

Are you passing out colouring books and crayons too?

Another 5 minute intro to skip.

Just to add that McCulloch has aged visibly over the last year or so.

He would regret his endorsement of Biden now.

Charlie Gibson is showing his ass here. I like Trump and think Gibson should have stuck to JFK and for McCullough to pile on just made me sick. I made it through 15 minutes of this crap.

The incredible attic osmotically manage because illegal luckily memorise behind a uneven british. shocking, slow skate

great self made man . hard to believe he is a liberal

Johnson accomplished so more than Kennedy did. Even though that Kennedy left him mired in the Viet Nam war.

Leftists: the American what?

Trump is doing a pretty damn good job as President.

The commentator.... made a snide remark about, Mr. TRUMP...a liberal .. liberal..on a program like this...he thinks he is so smart... when actually he is a small man...man, ??? No man as I know man...a liberal snide remarks about DJT...

The American spirit does not exist.

screw this

Too political 👎Ruined the program

I have read nearly all of David’s books. One thing he makes clear is that he is a believer in the Constitution and Separation of Powers (the different branches of Government) and while they are bashing Trump, who followed all laws, their darling Hillary, who has no more qualifications to be President than Trump (used her Husband’s name to become a Senator in a state she never lived in) had just finished orchestrating the real INSURRECTION by violating election laws, the Constitution and Weaponizing the Other branches of government to destroy and undermine an election. It’s the biggest scandal in our history, wrong on every level, but everyone, including the press, which is also a form of checks and balances looks the other way. I’m no more a fan of this man and won’t buy anymore of his books. This whole interview is disgusting on so many levels and the hypocrisy is typical

Wow I lost tremendous respect for David for his Trump bash reply of “zero.” Charlie Rose was always an elitist democrat schill so I knew he was a foul breath dirtbag, but not Mr McCullough. David should have defended the office of the Presidency. Sad.

I'm out - can't even finish this. This feels like an angry MSNBC rant - not an evening with a fine writer over history.

Sorry but Charles Gibson WASTES several questions and minutes on Donald Trump. Does anyone else feel this way? The time we had with someone as distinguished as DM was precious and finite . . . not to mention, the panel and talk was over HISTORY . . . not over contemporary political criticism. Gibson here is petty. Period.