STEPHEN AMBROSE

Washington, not Jefferson, freed his slaves upon his death.

Like their predecessors, the Presidents of today just throw up their hands.

American is the first democratic nation-state.

The past is a source of knowledge, and the future is a source of hope. Love of the past implies faith in the future.

The Holocaust was the most evil crime ever committed.

American corporations hate to give away money.

Winning the Revolutionary War, or the Civil War, or World War II were the turning points in our history, the sine qua non of our forward progress.

I was too young for Korea and too old for Vietnam.

The American Constitution is the greatest governing document, and at some 7,000 words, just about the shortest.

In 1945, there were more people killed, more buildings destroyed, more high explosives set off, more fires burning than before or since.

Andrew Johnson was a Southerner generally who proclaimed that his native state of Tennessee was a country for white men.

I'm no politician. I'm an historian who has learned through a lifetime of studying that nothing in the world beats universal education.

The great wars of the 20th Century made it into the worst Century ever.

World War II, the atomic bomb, the Cold War, made it hard for Americans to continue their optimism.

Washington and Jefferson were both rich Virginia planters, but they were never friends.

My first book was the book that changed my life.

Jefferson owned slaves. He did not believe that all were created equal. He was a racist.

My favorite book is the last one printed, which is always better than those that were published earlier.

Eisenhower had the clearest blue eyes. He would fix them on you. In my every interview with him, he would lock his eyes on to mine and keep them there.

I was taught by professors who had done their schooling in the 1930s. Most of them were scornful of, even hated, big business.

In America, Jefferson noted with approval, women knew their place.

You don't hate history, you hate the way it was taught to you in high school.

The Canadians have managed to live peacefully with their Indians. It is disgrace that the United States has not done the same.

Almost everything Truman did in foreign affairs I approve of.

The number one secret of being a successful writer is this: marry an English major.