Doris Kearns Goodwin's One-On-One Talk with President Obama; President Carter Builds Legacy Through Charity.
HARLOW: One woman knows more about presidential history and politics than, well, just about anyone else on the planet, and I'm lucky enough to have her as my next guest. She spent decades studying political geniuses as well as political downfalls. She is presidential historian and Pulitzer prize-winning author, Doris Kearns Goodwin, a woman who, "New York" magazine has dubbed America's historian-in-chief. I can not think of a better voice 24 hours out from the biggest political moment for both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, so thank you for being with me.</s>DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN, PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING HISTORIAN: Oh, delighted to be here.</s>HARLOW: You know, Doris, so much of this election is about one candidate upholding President Obama's legacy and the other one seeking popular support but, frankly, repudiate it. And you recently sat with the President for an in-depth interview at the White House. It's all in this issue of "Vanity Fair." And you asked him about his ambitions. And he described it like this, "They end up being rooted in a particular worldview; a recognition that the world only makes sense to me given my life and my background if, in fact, we're not just an assortment of tribes that can never understand each other, but that we're, rather, one common humanity that can meet and learn and love each other." Given that, do you feel he regrets leaving his post as the leader of the free world at a time when there is so much division?</s>GOODWIN: I don't know. You know, I mean, I think he's feeling a certain sense that he looks back on these eight years and feels a sense of pride in the decisions that he made. What was really interesting, he said to me, I think on the basis of the information I was given, I made the best decision I could. But suppose I've had the genius of a Lincoln, suppose I've had the genius of a Churchill or the charm of an FDR or the legislative acumen of LBJ, would I have come up with other solutions that we couldn't think of, which is a really interesting thing to think about. But I think he's ready. I think he's ready, he thinks of it as a relay race. He gives a start to the next president, the people before him gave a start to him. And the most interesting that he said to me, one point I said to him, you know, Lincoln used to right these hot letters when he got mad at people and then he would put them aside and hope he would cool down psychologically and never send them. I said, have you ever thought about that? He said, thought of it all the time. I write up these rants and then I crumple them up. That's something maybe Mr. Trump could learn from. Just write it and don't say it.</s>HARLOW: You are writing a book now, yet another book, this one on leadership. And given that, you know, the lens of history as opposed to sort of the moment-by-moment, day-by-day view, that sort of cable news and the news cycle gives us, how important is it to President Obama, Doris, and his legacy that Hillary Clinton win this election?</s>GOODWIN: Oh, I don't think we've seen the President as actively involved in the election of his successor for a long time, as we have with President Obama, so it's obviously critically important to him. It's not just for his legacy, but for the country that he hopes he's leaving behind. And the initiatives that he started, whether they be climate change or the health care initiative or the economy that seems to be doing better. And so I think he's allowed himself to become part of this because he sees it -- it's not just the way his legacy will be, but he sees the country, hopefully, will be going in a direction that he started it in or continued it in.</s>HARLOW: At the same time, regrets. I mean, every human -- you wouldn't be human if you didn't have regrets, even in the highest office in the land. I know that he said in your interview that Syria still haunts him. Is the lack of the ability for the world -- or enough initiative, some would say, among many, many players to put an end to the atrocity in Syria his biggest regret?</s>GOODWIN: That's certainly what he said. It haunts him to see those people who have been hurt and the people who have been killed, and to know that he wasn't sure that there was any answer to make that different. And that's, again, what he meant when -- maybe there was some answer out there that we didn't think about, and every day, have to see those pictures and know that you have power and you want to use that power to make things good and you are unable to do it in this situation.</s>HARLOW: Your book about President Lincoln's "Team of Rivals" (inaudible) inspired President elect Obama years ago now, and take Hillary Clinton as his Secretary of State, you know, that she said no the first time around and then he eventually got her to a yes. Do you think a president Clinton or a President Trump would be that bold, to pick a rival as their secretary of state or another key cabinet position?</s>GOODWIN: Well, I think what it takes to do that, it takes confidence in yourself so that you're going to be able to know that that person is going to argue with you, that person might even seem more famous than you at the moment. Certainly that was true with Lincoln. He chose his three chief rivals, each one of whom is better known, that is celebrated, more educated than he. Some said, why are you doing this? He said, because he is in peril. These are the strongest people, I need them. So you have got to depend, I think, on whether or not both Trump and Clinton have that internal self-confidence to say, it doesn't matter if this person is going to argue with me and question me. I'd like to hope so. I mean , we haven't seen that kind of idea of what the working team will be for Mr. Trump yet. I mean, that's one of the key questions for leadership, who will be surrounding him? And we don't know that from his campaign because people have come and gone and there hasn't been that steady voice, and there hasn't been a lot of people outside the family. So, it's very important for him to begin, even maybe at the debate, to talk about what are the kinds of people who are going to surround him. We don't even know from his business whether those kind of people argued with him. But it's critical.</s>HARLOW: Let's talk about the debate. The big show. It's why we're here at Hofstra. You've said, and you've said it earlier today -- they're very excited, by the way, behind us. You said earlier today that when Hillary Clinton takes the stage, Doris, she has to address the e-mail scandal and talk about it in a way that makes clear to the public, I am human. I have made mistakes and I will make mistakes again if I am elected president, and to open up and show how it affects her emotionally. What would that look like? Can she do it?</s>GOODWIN: I think, you know, what it means is to show just exactly like you said, that a president, a person is going to make mistakes. The question is, can you grow from those mistakes? And there's been a pattern of defensiveness on her part and a series of issues and if she uses this episode, not just the e-mail episode but to say she knows what she's lost as a result of it, she lost the focus of the campaign, she lost her credibility, and it may not be as important as all the other things that she can give to the presidency, her experience and the respect and her knowledge and her competency, but she knows that people have that lack of trustworthiness in her now, and if she says next time something like this happens, I'm going to learn from this experience. I'm going to speak out more quickly about it. I'm going to acknowledge it. I'm going to be more forthright. I'm going to be less defensive. I'm going to try to. That's all you can ask somebody to do is to learn from it. Lincoln said, I'd like to believe I'm honored today than I was yesterday by having learned from your mistakes.</s>HARLOW: I think we all hope that. Very quickly, 10 seconds, what's your headline Tuesday morning?</s>GOODWIN: Whoa! You know what? It is so unpredictable that my headline would be, "Question mark, I don't know what's gonna happen." After the story and I'll tell you after the facts, but not now predicting ahead.</s>HARLOW: All right fair enough. Fair enough. That's why 100 million people will be watching because who knows what's going to happen? Doris Kearns Goodwin, I'm absolutely delighted to have you on. Thank you so much.</s>GOODWIN: Thank you Poppy.</s>HARLOW: All right. Coming up, just over 24 hours from the debate, and some people are angry that my next guest will not be on the debate stage (ph) and others are angry she is in the race at all, Jill Stein, with me next, live here at Hofstra.