“Few names resonate in modern literature like that of David McCullough,” President Buchanan said as he introduced the eighth annual author series speaker on Tuesday. “The only private citizen to speak before a joint session of Congress and at the White House, we are happy to add UW to his long list of venues.”
McCullough, originally a journalist, has earned world renown with his use of intimate portraits and intricate landscapes to capture the passionate stories of human success and strife that distinguish his histories from contemporaries. The winner of two Pulitzer Prizes and National Book Awards, McCullough’s words are as articulate and eloquent in person as they are in his books.
“The best way to draw anyone into history is to tell stories. That’s what history is: it’s a story,” McCullough said. “And every story has an element of uncertainty and cause and effect; it develops and delineates characters and tells from the point of view of the people involved.”
His voice, the same that narrated “Seabiscuit” and Ken Burns’ “The Civil War,” carries an air of reassuring experience and genuine optimism that continuously emerged throughout his presentation. These qualities complemented his main focus,
President Harry Truman was the subject of one of his most acclaimed books, “Truman”. Truman, according to McCullough, was one of the greatest presidents, not only of the 20th century, but of American history.
“[He] was the exception, not the rule,” he said. “You can’t expect exceptional presidents every four or eight years.”
Despite McCullough’s endorsement, Truman left office very unpopular.
“Whether politicians were popular in the polls or not doesn’t matter now,” McCullough stated. “Harry Truman regularly said, ‘You have to let the dust settle before you can cast judgement.’ You have to let about 50 years pass before you can look at things without bias. To be a subject of history, real history, you need time to go by.”
To McCullough, Truman represents a leader willing to do what was right instead of what was popular.
“There’s nothing new about adversity, facing bad predictions and dire situations and human evil. There is no doubt that evil is a reality, but people who will do what is right far outnumbers the other deviants,” he said.
McCullough stressed multiple times the need to remember that these people who made such momentous decisions and great accomplishments were people. They could make mistakes, they could act without logical reason and they could do something stupid.
“History is about people: history is human. Nothing nor anyone is perfect. No one knows what’s going to happen in the future. The more we see people in the past as human, the more we can learn from them,” McCullough said. “At this point we can ask, ‘What can we learn from their tenacity, ferocity and courage? What can we learn from these people who just wouldn’t give up?’”
When asked what keeps him writing books he responded, “Curiosity. I never undertook a subject that I knew much about; it’s part of the journey of finding out.”
McCullough finished his talk with a quote from Winston Churchill when visiting the US after Pearl Harbor. Following a perilous flight from England, Churchill said, “We haven’t traveled this far because we’re made of sugar candy.”
McCullough simply concluded, “Let’s never forget that.”
