I've Been To The White House A

What I Learned, More Than Anything, Was That You Can't Have It All Balanced Perfectly At Any One Time. When I Was Young, It Was Much More Balanced Toward Work. When I Had My Children, It Was Much More Balanced Toward Love And Family, And I Didn't Get A Lot Of Work Done. So You Can't Ask Of It To Be Perfectly Balanced At Any Time, But Your Hope Is, Before You Die, You've Somehow Had Each Of Those Spheres Come To Life. That's Probably More Important Than Success In Any One Of Those Spheres Alone.

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.

I Think That's Still What The American Dream Means: That With Perseverance, With Hard Work, You Can Become Something, That The Classes Won't Prevent You From Becoming, That There's A Movement Up That Ladder With Hard Work.

As Much Research As You Think You're Doing, You're Going To Mess Up, Without A Question.

I Think The Most Important Thing I Wanted To Say At Various Times To Franklin And Eleanor Roosevelt Was That It Seemed So Sad To Me That - I Really Believe They Loved Each Other And Had A Great Deal Of Affection - But Because Of That Early Hurt In Their Marriage, There Was A Certain Kind Of Distance From Then On, Until Their Deaths Actually. So At Times, I Just Wanted To Push Them Together And Say, "come On, You Guys! I Know You Love Each Other. This Is Crazy!"