“History, to me, is so easy to sell,” said Brian Kilmeade. “If it’s done with passion, you can’t say that it’s boring and uninteresting.”
Most people know Mr. Kilmeade as co-host of the Fox News morning show “Fox & Friends.” He’ll be the first to tell you he loves his job. But his passion is history. Mr. Kilmeade is the author of eight books, all related in some way to American history. His first two, written more than 15 years ago, are sports-related. His last six, however, discuss more serious historical matters.
Mr. Kilmeade has written about George Washington’s spy ring, Thomas Jefferson’s war against the Barbary pirates, Andrew Jackson and the Battle of New Orleans, Sam Houston and the Texas Revolution, the relationship between Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, and, most recently, the relationship between Theodore Roosevelt and Booker T. Washington. Although the first four focused on American military history, the tune changes slightly in his last two offerings. He suggests that the change is more incidental than predetermined.
“I’m just trying to move through time, and I got to the Civil War,” he said. “It was really about [Lincoln and Douglass] and how they got through that rough time together. Their partnership was way too short, but very effective. Then we had Reconstruction, then the falling apart of Reconstruction, then the 20th century, and then in comes Jim Crow, and I thought how do I move through time and tell the story between two people.”
Roosevelt and Washington: Self-Made Men
“After Teddy Roosevelt did what I did (that’s my only comparison with Teddy Roosevelt, I promise) and read ‘Up from Slavery,’ [he] gave it to his wife, who couldn’t put it down. And she said, ‘We have to meet this guy,’” Mr. Kilmeade said. “The first time they met was April 1, 1901. They immediately knew they could help each other.”Roosevelt and Washington, despite growing up in vastly different environments, had something important in common, Mr. Kilmeade explained. They were both self-made men.
Washington, as his autobiography suggests, was born a slave nine years before the end of the Civil War. After emancipation, his family moved to West Virginia, where he worked in a salt furnace and a coal mine. Desiring an education, he traveled, mainly on foot, to Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute (now Hampton University) in 1872. He was provided a job as a janitor to pay his room and board, and a benefactor paid for his education. After graduating in 1875, he went back to West Virginia to teach for two years. He returned to university for eight months at Wayland Seminary in the nation’s capital. He joined the staff at Hampton, but he was soon selected to lead a new school in Alabama: the Tuskegee Normal School (now Tuskegee University), an institution to train African American teachers. Under his guidance, the school grew exponentially. Washington went on to write 40 books, became a prolific speaker, and assembled a network of some of the nation’s most powerful people, including Andrew Carnegie, J.P. Morgan, and Teddy Roosevelt.
Roosevelt was born to an uncertain fate. Plagued by illness, including asthma, the future president was not expected to live very long. His father advised him, “You have the mind but you have not the body. You must make your body.” Roosevelt began a lifelong undertaking of sporting challenges, including hunting, hiking, boxing, and exploration. Roosevelt, along with his speeches, wrote 45 books, and he became one of the most influential politicians in American history.
Keeping the Path
Seven months after their first meeting, Washington was invited to dine with Roosevelt and his family at the White House. It was the first time a black person had ever dined at the White House, and the only time for a long period afterward due to political and social backlash. This backlash came primarily from the Southern press and politicians.“In their case, they changed their strategy, but they didn’t change their relationship,” Mr. Kilmeade said. “Roosevelt was totally shocked by it. But they kept their path together. They would have done more if they thought America was ready for it.”
Mr. Kilmeade explained that both Roosevelt and Washington continued to help each other’s causes. Whether it was Roosevelt assisting Washington’s pursuit for educational progress within the black community, or Washington assisting Roosevelt in obtaining the black vote for reelection, the two forged a bond that, as Mr. Kilmeade’s book suggests, cleared a path for racial equality.
A Proper Perspective
“I wanted to show that you can be pro-America and still admit that Jim Crow existed. People were lynched, interracial marriage could get you arrested, all these things that took place in America, and then how we got to the place where we are right now―the most successful, multicultural country in the history of the world and the place everybody wants to come,” he said.
Displaying America’s exceptional characters, like George Washington, Booker T. Washington, and Roosevelt, is his motivation. His books, however, do not shy away from the darker sides of American history, like slavery and racism. Addressing those topics should not be an issue, Mr. Kilmeade explained; focusing solely on them, however, does become problematic.
“If you look back in American history and acknowledge slavery, you’re not anti-American. You’re telling the American story,” he said. “But if you say that America is evil because they had slavery, keep working, pal. If you have a better country with a better past, then go. I’m not keeping you here. But you should get perspective on what was happening in the world at the time.”
Perspective is precisely what Mr. Kilmeade is working to provide Americans. Currently, he has written six books ranging from the American Revolution to the turn of the 20th century. He has another century to work with to find his next subject, but it will undoubtedly be a subject of promise and encouragement.
“I don’t pretend to be David McCullough. I am not Jon Meacham. I am not in their class. I don’t pretend to be. I’m just an average intellect with an above average work ethic and a big curiosity,” he said. “I just want to remind people of great Americans who came from meager means who cared more about the country than themselves. The fundamental thing is that they cared about the country.”
Combating the ‘War on History’
Mr. Kilmeade stated that a “war on history” has come along with the country’s current obsession with race. He recalled that the last time he was at the White House, a noose was being wrapped around the statue of Andrew Jackson, the subject of one of his books.“They tried to pull it down. They’re pulling Thomas Jefferson out of City Hall in New York City. They’re debating whether [George] Washington statues belong in New York,” Mr. Kilmeade said. “To think we are judging Washington. Are you crazy?! I try to push back and talk about these extraordinary, but less than perfect people who are like everybody else who has ever lived.
“Could you possibly just study and not judge?” he asked rhetorically. “I always thought that was the key to history.”
Mr. Kilmeade hopes that more Americans will return to studying history. He suggested more Americans need to either immerse themselves in history books to garner a proper perspective about the country, or visit and study other countries to make accurate comparisons and contrasts. If nothing else, Mr. Kilmeade’s books are a good way to introduce people to some of America’s most noble figures.
These books are an ongoing series. When asked if the series had a particular name, he said it didn’t. He did, however, provide a suggestion for a series title. Although it was rather long, it was nonetheless fitting: “America: great from the start, never perfect. What makes us great is that we try to be.”
