The Eric Metaxas Show - Jane Hampton Cook

Episode Date: June 25, 2024

The Submarine & The Spies is a new book from author Jane Hampton Cook, detailing the story of 3 historical figures that helped shape the American revolution. 

Folks, welcome to the Eric Mataxis show, sponsored by Legacy Precious Metals. There's never been a better time to invest in precious metals. Visit legacy p.m.investments.com. That's legacy p.m.investments.com. Did you ever hear the expression, if life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Well, when Eric Metaxus was little, he had his own lemonade stand. And he sold so much lemonade, he became rich beyond his wildest dreams. Now he's able to do whatever he wants.

And he's now the host of a big time radio show. Welcome the guy who's oh so lemony sweet, Eric Matt, Texas. Folks, welcome to the program. My joy to speak to Jane Cook. Or is it Jane Hampton Cook? Jane, what do you prefer? Jane Hampton Cook is good for Amazon. Otherwise, you click cook cookbooks.

If you just do Jane Cook. There's a thousand Jane Cooks, right. Jane Hampton Cook. Jane Hampton Cook is the author of many books, no cookbooks among them. Jane Hampton Cook is also, apart from being an author and a cultural commentator, a presidential historian. Let me start there with you, because I want to talk to you about some of these children's books that you've written. But when you say you're a presidential historian, we'll give us some context on that. Sure.

Well, I worked as a webmaster for President George W. Bush, his first two years of his presidency, and then before that as governor. And I discovered that history was the most popular section of the website for the White House. And that people would come and it was bipartisan. It didn't offend anyone back then. It does now. But, you know, and so I ended up writing books about John Quincy and Louisa Adams, James and Daly Madison. And so I wrote these really big books about presidents and their wives and started doing, you know, cultural commentary along the way.

Well, I love that. And so now you've done a whole raft of children's books. Some people know that I have written many children's books. I think it's 30 or 31 by now over the years. And I think it's very important that we communicate good ideas, great ideas, history to kids. So what are some of the books that you have written kids' books? Sure. So the series is called Revolutionary Readers for America's 250th. And in two years, America will turn 250 years old. What? Yes. Get out of here. Really? 26. Talks about that. I think about that sometimes. So I'm kidding that I didn't know it. But honestly, it's like we're living in times that are so anti-patriotic, so broken that we're not celebrating this. I mean, I remember when the bicentennial was happening, people like over a year. in advance we're talking about the bicentennial, the bicentennial, they couldn't stop talking about it. The idea that we're coming up on 250 years, like, wow, in two years from now, that's a big deal. So keep going.

Yeah. So I discovered that on this, there's a step into reading category for children's books, but there were no books in this category about the flag or patriotism. There were a couple books about Ben Franklin, and that was it. And so I wanted to write this series to talk about patriotism. and scale the books to different, you know, reading levels so that children can learn basic things about the flag. And so the first book is my American flag. It rhymes kind of like Dr. Seuss.

And you learn about the flag. It's good for a first grader. And then we have the lyrics to America, the beautiful for the second graders. And then the pledge to the flag for third. And then my country tizabeth is the fourth one. And that's for, you know, fourth grade readers. So whatever age, you know, you might have elementary. age children are the book in this series for them.

Folks, if you're just tuning in, I'm talking to Jane Hampton Cook. Jane Hampton Cook. The website is janecook.com. So, Jane, I love the idea that you are introducing these patriotic ideas, American history, to little kids that are just learning to read. I don't, you know, even though I've written a lot of kids' books at various levels, frankly. I don't remember that level you described. What do you call it

entering reading or something? Steps into reading or I can read and the books are numbered one to four based on the reading level. And there were just one in any books about the flag in this category. And so that's why I decided to write this series.

And so you said it kind of has this happy rhyme like Dr. Seuss. Do you remember any of the rhymes from your book? my American flag can be big, it can be tall, it can be low, it can be small. And then you're seeing different pictures of the flag, you know, flying at half staff, being on top of a mountain. And then, you know, the flag can make us feel glad.

Sometimes it makes us feel sad, such as Memorial Days. It's a great way to explain what that is to young children. But then it makes us proud, and because it makes us proud, we want to chant USA out loud. So only the first one rhymes. The rest of them. I've written a lot of children's books that rhyme, and I have these random verses in my head of stuff that I wrote.

The dumbest one I should share. Now, I wrote a book called The Birthday ABC, and then I wrote a book called The Bible ABC. I don't think people can find unless they go on eBay or something, but the Bible ABC, I wrote, S is for Samson, whose hair held his strength, provided it grew to a certain length. So it's good to be clean-cut and handsome,

but not to be clean cut and Samson. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. You've been a great audience. The birthday, the Bible ABC by Erkin Tax is impossible to find. But the birthday ABC is a little bit more, a little easier to find. Children's books are so delightful. Again, the fact that I've written over for 30 of them,

I love children's books and classic children's books, rhyming children's books, all kinds of children's books. So you have written one recently about a submarine I want to talk to you about that eventually. What do you want to talk about that right now? I don't want to cut you off and talking about the series. We can talk about it maybe in a second. Revolutionary Readers is the series that we're talking about,

Jane Hampton Cook, revolutionary readers, if people want to find that. Yes. And so there's several books in the series, and one is just simply the America the Beautiful. It's the lyrics to America of the Beautiful set to really beautiful pictures. so a child can learn the lyrics to that song. And then we have a book on,

I have a book on the pledge to the flag, which is the story behind the Pledge of Allegiance. And it shows you, you know, how that came about. And then another book is just, it's my country Tysiphe, and it's for a little older reader. It's the verses to my country Tysiphe,

but I have facts in between the verses where you learn when the song was first sung. And, you know, I learned in researching this that children sang my country tisipi in thousands, thousands of children gathered in Tennessee after the Civil War, and they did the same thing in New York. And you realize that these patriotic songs meant something to Americans that brought healing to people after the Civil War.

And so when was my countryticity? I don't know anything about that song, but when I was a kid, we sang that every morning, every morning in the Greek Orthodox parochial school that I went to, we sang my country tis of the every morning. Just think about how beautiful that is. And this was, you know, or, you know, in the early 70s. But my goodness, in a Greek Orthodox parochial school,

we sang that instead of the Star-Spangled banner, I guess, because, you know, that's too difficult. We did the pledge. So I want to, so how did those two things you just referred to, the pledge and my country says they had it, how did they come about? So my country, Tizafi, was first sung on Independence Day, July 4th, 1831. It was a group of children, a children's choir sang it at a church. And then it took off.

The lyrics were published in newspapers, and then it took off. And it became a go-to song. And then the Pledge of Allegiance was thought about by Francis Bellamy in 1892, because he saw all these immigrants coming from Italy, from Eastern Europe. There were Jews coming, and he wanted a way to bring these new Americans and unite them with long-standing Americans. And so he planned for everybody, every school across the country to say the Pledge of Allegiance for the first time at the same time at 9.15 a.m. And they brought in veterans. They had scripture. They had prayer. And then that's what kicked off

schools starting their day with the Pledge of Allegiance. It's hard to imagine how far we have drifted in this country. The idea of patriotism, it's like become a dirty word for the cultural elites, for the left. They don't understand the value of patriotism. I don't care what country you come from, to celebrate who you are in your culture. And in this country, we have less than no excuse for celebrating the values that may be. it possible for people to be free, and we need to talk about it. So it's just, it's vital that we talk about it.

Folks, I'm talking to Jane Hampton Cook. You can find her at janecook.com. We'll be right back. Set me free. For 10 years, Patriot Mobile has been America's only Christian conservative wireless provider. And when I say only, trust me, they're the only one. Glenn and the team have been great supporters of this show. which is why I am proud to partner with them.

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I'm talking to Jane Cook. Her middle name is Hampton. Jane Hampton Cook. You can find her at janecook.com. So you've written all these kids books. You've written books for adults. But there is something beautiful, as I was saying about children's books. I've written so many children's books over the years.

And it's beautiful to be able to communicate truth to kids and beauty and goodness. And I know that's a big part of what you care about. You have all this knowledge, right? And so to be able to pass that along in a simpler form to children is really beautiful. And, you know, John Adams talked about how the preservation of liberty depended upon the intellectual and moral character of the people. and that as long as truth and virtue were diffused among the people, then they wouldn't become politically enslaved again to England or to any other entity. But he was concerned that people's understanding would be debased if they weren't given the truth.

And so that's why it's important to pass along patriotism to children and to adults as well. I mean, this is an opportunity for me to say I wrote a book called If You Can Keep It, the forgotten promise of American Liberty. And what you just said is at the heart of that my book, if you can keep it. It's not a kid's book, but it is something that can be read by any teenager, certainly any high schooler, and a lot of high schoolers have read it. But it talks about the idea that you were just mentioning that, first of all, the founders, John Adams, among them, understood that if we do not have virtue,

and if we do not teach virtue, we will not be able to be. able to remain free. Freedom on the model of the American founders is not something that is amoral. There's the issue of morality is at the center of it. The issue of virtue is at the center of it. And that is one thing that we've drifted from. So in my book, if you can keep it, I talk about this. And it's interesting to me, Jane, that we have drifted far from this in this country. The cultural elites and the left, they're at war with even discussions of virtue. To them, it's a dirty word. Virtue, honor, dignity. They don't talk about that anymore. They used to talk about that. But after the 60s, it's almost like they said, well, we don't want to get into that. And it's part of why we are where we are in the culture. Yes. And that's why you need, not only are they not talking about it, many of them are attacking it. And so you have these attacks that hit like the Appeals Heaven flag or the Betsy Ross flag. And people don't know how to defend it because they're not historians.

You know, they're going about today and they're like, well, that doesn't sound quite right, but I don't know exactly what it is. And so it is important. And colors of the flag have virtues assigned to them. The means behind the color blue. Red means valor. White means innocence. And we're protecting the innocence of children when we, you know, talk about patriotism and other things. that's part of our job as adults is to help foster their innocent.

And I think also, and I write about this in my book, if you can keep it, is we've got to take responsibility, not just for teaching these ideas, which are centrally important, vital, but also to tell the stories so that every generation celebrates the stories over and over and over. One of the stories that is so powerful is the story of Paul Revere's Ride, to know the history of the revolution, to know the history. And so I love, I actually write about it in my book, if you can keep it. There's a whole chapter on Longfellow's poem, Paul Revere's Ride. And it's so beautiful.

But the idea is that by communicating that story through that beautiful poem to generations of young people, many of whom memorized it through the decades, we're communicating something vital. These stories need to be known and taught over and over and over again. And I know that's part of what you do in some of these books. At some point, I want to talk to you about your new book about the submarine, because unless you know these stories, you're just sort of drifting along and taking in whatever the news media is feeding you today. That's very true.

And, you know, the submarine book is called The Submarine and the Spies, and it's about friendship and vigilance in the American Revolution. And you had three young men at Yale College who were studying together. They became friends. And they all made a significant contribution to the American Revolution. And their friendship played a role in some of the decisions that they made during the American Revolution. And so, you know, they're a true story. Yeah.

It's, yes. So it's about Nathan Hale, Benjamin Talmadge, and David Bushnell. David Bushnell was the first person to invent. the submarine that was used in warfare, and it successfully navigated underwater. And I want to tell you, you got to forgive me for interrupting, but I want to tell you, Jane Cook, I did not know that Bushnell or Talmadge went to Yale.

I knew that Nathan Hale went to Yale, but you're saying that Benjamin Talmage and Bushnell went to Yale? Oh, yeah, they were friends. They were in the same social club. Okay, this is where I tell my audience, ladies and gentlemen, I'm not pretending to be ignorant. I am genuinely ignorant. It drives me crazy when I discover something like what you just said.

I'm thrilled and then I'm annoyed. Like, how have I gotten this for on life? And I didn't know this. So God bless you, Jane Hampton Cook, for writing a book about this. So tell the story. I am so excited. I mean, I really did not know that they knew each other. Talk about this.

And forgive me for being ignorant of it. I'm ashamed. Well, so the story is about, it starts off at Yale and their time at Yale. on how they became friends. And David was a little different because he was thinking about building a machine that could blow up a ship, you know? But they all became, they became friends.

And then when David was ahead of them in terms of he knew that he felt like war was coming. And Nathan and Benjamin were like, they weren't quite there yet. But when after Lexington and Concord happened, they all joined. And David worked on this submarine, George Washington,

Tim's who deploy it. It was called the turtle, ladies and gentlemen. That much I know. It was called the turtle. It was the first submarine. And it's really, you know, if you're claustrophobic, I don't think you want to get inside the turtle. It held one person.

And it could go underwater for about 30 minutes. And so it was just, it was, they were hoping that if the turtle could blow up a British ship, that that might end the war. That's what they wanted to happen. The torpedo aspect of it didn't work, but it did navigate under the ship of the enemy. And then Nathan joined, and he was in a regiment that stayed on Manhattan Island. Benjamin Talwidge's regiment went to Long Island to fight, and Benjamin was one of the first to, one of the last to leave the Battle of Long Island and witnessed the big miracle that happened where this fog. envelopes the continental army and kept you're putting together you're connecting dots for me

jane hampton cook i can't tell you because i have quoted from the journal in in the book that i'm mentioning if you can keep it i talk about the miracle of the battle of long island the fog it's a total miracle of god and i quote benjamin talmage i did not know uh that he went went to yale um and i did not know that david bushnell who created the turtle submarine went to yale like you have to understand. I was at Yale at a time when they were anti-patriotic. Of course, now they are even more so. They've gone over to the dark side. They're basically a Marxist recruiting center. But the idea that it has this history is so, so beautiful. And I write about Nathan Hale in the book. If you can keep it, I wasn't planning to talk about my book. But when you bring up this stuff,

I get so excited about knowing these stories. The story of Nathan Hale is one of the most beautiful stories. And I write about it at length in my book. Again, it's not a kid's book. So this kid's book that you've written, what is the title? We haven't even covered that. So it's called The Submarine and the Spies, Friendship and Vigilance in the American Revolution. And it's for ages 12 and up. So it could be used by a teacher to teach the hero's journey and the American Revolution at the same time. So good, you know, middle school, high school, you know, and adults can enjoy it as well.

And it, you know, what I realize is that David and, I'm not David, I'm sorry, Benjamin and, Nathan were such good friends that I really think the death of Nathan Hale led to Benjamin deciding that when he became Washington's spy master, he was not going to do anything that would risk the identities of his spies. I think Nathan's death just had such a profound effect on him that that made him understand. He could not tell anyone, not even other generals in the Continental Army, the names of his spies on Long Island. And I think there was a correlation there. You know, and Nathan was all happened right where I live. I mean, I live in New York City.

And this all happened. I mean, I think less than a mile from where I live, there's a plaque that says near this spot, Nathan Hale was hanged by the British. He was 21 years old. I mean, it's just, it's just extraordinary to history. Just 30 seconds left in this segment. We've got plenty more time. Go ahead. Well, just, you know, their friendship and how so many of the students that Yale left the school to go fight. And we don't think about that. And just how faith was an important part of Yale at that particular time. There were ministers teaching classes.

And yet they played a really important role in the American Revolution, the students of Yale. It's just so beautiful. We'll be right back. I'm talking to Jane Hampton Cook. You can find her at janecook.com. The new book we're talking about is called The Submarine and the Spies. I don't know about you, but I really want a copy and I'm going to get a copy. Submarine and the Spies, Jane Hampton Cook. We'll be right back.

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Hey, it's Mike Rowe with a new film in theaters starting June 27th. The film is called Something to Stand for, and it's a great way to celebrate the extraordinary Americans who made our nation the land of the free and the home of the brave. From our founding fathers to the soldiers

and Marines who made their ideas a reality, these are the stories you didn't know about the Americans who risked everything on our behalf. It's only in theaters for limited time, Visit something to stand for. Dot Movie to get your tickets now. Welcome back. I don't know about you, but I'm talking to Jane Cook. Jane Cook.com. Her middle name is Hampton. Jane Hampton Cook has written many, many books.

We're talking right now about your kids' books, and we're talking about the brand new book called The Submarine and the Spies. Do you have a copy that you can hold up for the camera? Sure, here we go. folks if you've got a really great radio uh you can see this the submarine and the spies and you can't see it in the picture that in his head is the turtle there's a little like he's thinking about the submarine it's in his oh i see it yeah oh i can see if people watch the video well listen the idea that nathan hale benjamin talmage and david bishnell uh all knew each other that's amazing to me. The fact that they went to Yale, this was a time when there was real patriotism

at a place like Yale University. And of course, that existed. You know, I keep bringing up my book, if you can keep it. In the book, if you can keep it, I write about Nathan Hale, and I say that the dorm where Nathan Hale, where he lived, when he was at Yale, it's still there. It's called Connecticut Hall. It is still there. They use it. Freshman, stay in. it. So it's still there. And in front of it, around World War I, they put a gorgeous statue of Nathan Hale in front of it. And in this statue, it's very, it's very noble. I mean, I wish I could get a replica of it or a miniature of it. It's so beautiful. But it, it pictures him in a moment before he steps into eternity. His hands are tied behind his back. And he's, he's just about to be hanged. It's so

powerful. But the reason I bring it up is that that was 1914 or thereabouts when it was commissioned and it still stands there. But the class of 1975, this is, I don't know, about eight or nine years ago, they thought it would be fun for their reunion to have a little bobblehead dolls made of the Nathan Hale statue. And I thought, you want to talk about bad taste? Do you want to talk about bad taste? And so I wrote about it in my book, if you can keep it, I would. was scandalized, utterly scandalized. I wrote to the Yale Alumni magazine about it, but it shows you how far we've fallen that here's a young man literally giving his life for his country and they don't see the gravity of it to the extent that they would make a bobblehead doll,

like, oh, this is kitchy, this is cute. It's so sick. And so in case you want a metric of how far Yale has fallen since this is just World War I, this is a little bit over 100 years ago. but that's kind of where we are in the country, and it's why people need to read books like the ones we're talking about and tell the stories like the ones we're talking about. And of course, right now we're talking to you, Jane, about your book, The Submarine and the Spies, which you say is for 12-year-olds and up.

So when did the book come out? Is it just brand new right now? It came out last summer. Okay, it's still new. It's a year old, yeah. Yeah, yeah. And, you know, Nathan, what happened is that one of the things that happened is that someone collected all the letters in diaries of Nathan Hale and published it, you know, in the 1800s.

And that's how we know things about him, that otherwise we wouldn't have any clue. And he, we know that he corresponded with a young lady who referred to the play Cato about a year before he died. And he's saying at his death, I regret that I have but one life to give for my country. those words that comes from the play Cato. And we now know that he knew of the play for sure because he's writing about it with... Was Cato written by Addison? Yes.

Okay. This is obviously the 1770s. And remind us if you would who Cato was. I mean, because this is part of what we lost is how the revolutionary era had a link going back to Rome to ancient Greece. They had Cincinnati's societies bursting out. They were aware of the roots of freedom,

the idea of a republic, of democracy. They were aware of that. So talk about the play of Cato or talk about who Cato was. Yeah, so Cato, you know, was someone from the ancient history world, you know, and George Washington was very familiar with his story about, you know, had dined for the Republic. and he wanted to pass that along.

And he allowed his men to put on the play, Cato, by Addison. And it was an inspiration. His story of self-sacrifice was an inspiration. Washington allowed his men, the men under his command, to see this play. I'm amazed by this. It was when they were at Valley Forge. It was the end. It was in the spring.

So right before they went into, you know, the Battle of Monuments. And so they, they had, he allowed them to have a play. And, um, apparently the guy that played Cato did a good die is how one of the, um, men described. Good die. That was the, he died very effectively on the stage. Yes, died very effectively on stage. But let me ask you, is this in your book, uh, the submarine and the spies? Do you write about this? I don't remember if I said this. I think, I know I've written about it. I can't remember which book. In one of your many books, I know it's a problem, isn't it? Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I think I wrote about it in the book, War of Lies, because I think it fit better in that book.

What was the book? Sorry? Well, book is called The War of Lies when George Washington was the target and propaganda was the crime. And it was about counterfeit letters that were written in George Washington's name. And I think I figured out who was the counterfeiter. And these were published. Wow. Yeah. Because the literary record left behind of those four suspects, one has a real definitive pattern that fits time, place, and manner of the crime, you know, the propaganda that was used to. That is so interesting.

We'll be right back. Final segment, folks, I'm talking to Jane Cook, Jane Hampton Cook. You can find her at janecook.com. Jane has written many books, including the one we're discussing right now, the submarine and the spies. I can't wait to read it. I've seen fire and I've seen rain. I've seen sunny days.

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Bushnell, Benjamin Tomic, and Nathan Hale, all knew each other, all went to Yale. I'm just astonished to hear this and thrilled, frankly, to hear it. Well, one weekend when my husband took my oldest son to visit a college, I thought, oh, I'll write a little article about the submarine. And then I kept digging and kept finding information about David Bushnell submarine, and I realized that there was a novel there that you could bring, use the story, use the motif of the hero's journey. And I just started writing and researching and it just kind of flowed out of me in a way that I really cannot explain. And I kept finding really fascinating things like they played a version of football.

David, Nathan Hale's diaries say that he played football while he was a soldier. And it may have just been a kicking game, but I was able to use that in the book. And just to see how far back, you know, some of these ideas. And I know modern football didn't get its rules until, you know, much later in the 1800s. But just to realize that these three men, they put their life. on the line for their, the line for their country. And it was love of country. You know, Nathan Hale would probably have been president of Yale one day if he had not

gone into the military because he was on track to be a teacher and it was just brilliant. He was the best debater at Yale when he was a senior. And, you know, you just... What is the best book on Nathan Hale? Can you think of a good book on Nathan Hale? I would, well, I would say the correspondence of Nathan Hale gives you the best picture of who he was. You can read from Benjamin Talmadge to Nathan and you can find out when he had a crush on a

girl. I mean, you know, just all sorts of things. What's amazing to me is how young he was. I think either in my book or someplace I say that he's 24 and I realized, no, I don't know where I got that from. He was 21. So this extremely mature, brilliant young man was 21 when he was 21 when he, gave his life for his country. And I think that we act like, well, you know, guys don't really grow up until

they're in their 30s or something. This man, he was a man in his late teen years. He already had tremendous maturity. And I think we asked too much of our young, too little of our young people. And we need to make them understand that, that someone like this lived a life. We're talking about him today because of his tremendous maturity and dignity and courage and intelligence, all of these things, and that he went to glory at age 21. And he was a profound Christian. Let's not forget. He was a very serious Christian. Beautiful. Yes. And you know, back then in school, they memorized a lot of things. They memorized a lot of passages from literature. And you get that, you see that in his writings, how important that was. And yes, I think the maturity

and the faith element, you know, they were very, they were, and they didn't have things to dull their minds. You know, we have a lot of cultural things that kind of keep us from learning sometimes. And they just had it all in spades. And you just that when we think about July 4th and Independence Day, you know, they witnessed the first Independence Day. They got to hear the Declaration of Independence read out loud to the Army on July 9, 1776, you know, and what that meant to them and how just everyone was ready to say goodbye to England and to trade royalty for representation.

They really wanted a representative government. And yet, you know, it's the responsibility of every generation to pass along love of country. And I want to do that through stories, whether it's the submarine and the spies or the new children's books, my American flag, you know, just to help people connect to America's story. George Washington said the name American belongs to you in your national capacity and must always exalt the just pride of patriotism. And he wanted American, the name American, to unite us. It was great to be a Virginia. It was great to be from Pennsylvania.

And I think if he were alive today, Washington would like football. But above all of those things, what unites us is that we are all Americans. And that was important to them. And that's what they want to pass along. Really, it's so beautiful. Folks, I cannot stress how important all of this is. I hope you'll go to janecook.com and see what Jane has written. I hope you'll get a copy of the submarine and the spies.

I hope you'll get a copy or read the copy you already have of if you can keep it, because these ideas are vital. And it's vital right now with the fourth coming up really soon, really, really, really soon that we celebrate this nation. So buy these books just to celebrate with your family, to read these things out loud. It's our job, I think, to communicate, I think, I know, to communicate these ideas and these stories. I want to ask you in your book, The Submarine and the Spies, I don't know whether you talk about what happens to Benjamin Tomage and David Bushnell after this period.

We know that Nathan Hale gives his life for his country at age 21. But do you say or do you know what happened to Benjamin Tompich and David Bushnell? So at the end, I have a summary of the rest of their story, of their life story. You know, and Benjamin Talmadge went on to serve in Congress. He moved to Connecticut. He was originally from Long Island. He moved to Connecticut. He got married, had kids.

David Bushnell wasn't quite as successful in what we might consider family world, you know. But he became a teacher and he didn't have a family of his own, although I have a friend who's descended from his brother. And so, you know, the risk and the genius of inventing this submarine that was successfully navigating underwater in 1776 is just amazing. And how it's really, you know, part of our nation's military history is this submarine. And so they, you know, they, it's, it was fun to read the obituaries of these men in the newspaper and how they put all of the things that they've, did in the revolution and in their next phase of their life, you know, into perspective. And they just loves their country.

In my class of Yale, class of 84, I was very good friends with Tom Edmund. His middle name was Talmadge. And he would always tell us that he is related to the Tompages. And so he goes back to Benjamin Tomic. I didn't realize at the time that Benjamin Tomic went to Yale as my friend Tom Edmund was at Yale. But it just, this history is so beautiful. and we need to be proud of it. And we're out of time, but I'm so grateful Jane Cook to you for these books.

Folks, go to janecook.com. Jane Hampton Cook. God bless you. God bless America. Thank you. Thank you so much, Eric. Hey there, folks. Before we close out for the day, a couple things I need to mention.

I got to mention about running through brambles. I'll mention that in a minute. And I got to mention about staining the deck. I want to talk about that. But before I do that, I want to remind folks that our friends that Americans for Prosperity are on the front lines fighting against the border crisis. Yes, Americans for Prosperity Foundation has taken hundreds of concerned citizens to see the border for themselves, turning them into informed activists. Americans for Prosperity knows what we need to deal with the border crisis. They understand we need more border agents, more wall or more walls, more technology.

they actually organize and mobilize everyday Americans to make a difference in all of this kind of stuff. They've just announced a major campaign to hold Biden and his allies. It says allies in my copy. It should say cronies. Accountable for the crisis at the border. Learn more at SecureBorder, SecureAmerica.com. That's secureborder secureamerica.com.

And one more thing. Have you seen the film The Relentless Patriot yet? we've had on the guy who made the film and we had on the subject of the film Scott Labedo. It's called The Relentless Patriot. It is in theaters. People often ask me, Eric, what can I do? One of the things you can do. No kidding. Get out of the house and go see this film in a theater near you. The Relentless Patriot. It's across the country. support films like this, we should not complain. This is an important film. It's made by Global

Ascension Studios. They are Hollywood's first ever conservative movie studio. It's a gripping documentary about Scott Labetto as he champions American values through his art. He paints flags and he does crazy activists. I don't know. They're almost like, it's almost like It's a satire. Performance art, yeah. So, but don't miss. And the art's incredible. I mean, it's really quite good.

Yeah. So we hope that you'll support it during this Patriot, patriotic season, July, sorry, June 14th was Flag Day and Trump's birthday. And obviously, July 4th is coming up. So go to the Relentless Patriot. And, you know, again, people ask me always, what can I do? Well, I just, I tell you many things you can do. and I'm not blowing smoke. I hope you will see this film, The Relentless Patriot.

I hope you'll support our sponsors, Mike Lindell. Mike, you can go to Mypillow.com and MyStore.com. You can get almost all of my books there and the most gorgeous Bonhofer poster ever. These make great gifts, folks. Great gifts. I mean, the Bonhofer poster is just absolutely heavenly. But you have to go to MyStore.com. People know there's a Bonhofer movie coming out on November 24th.

It is fantastic. It is Angel Studios, very exciting. Yeah, it's going to be good. I was just back to the movie thing. I mean, there's only so many hours in the day. My wife and I will sometimes, you know, scroll through the TV and try to find something to watch. But it's very clear that kind of the legacy media,

they kind of hate us. You know, they don't really need your love or help, and so when they're opportunities to sort of support things that actually align with your values and our values that it's important we support them. I should mention, I should remind folks, if you are interested in homeschooling your kids, or if you're interested in pulling your kids out of public school

and finding a genuine Christ-centered K-12 education for your kids, the one place we are now recommending is Herzog Foundation.com. We've gotten to know these folks, and they are all over this. It is spectacular. When people ask me what's happening in America, why I have hope, this would be one of the examples. The fact that somebody has funded the Herzog Foundation so that they can help Americans figure out how to homeschool their kids easily and get their kids. This is big stuff, folks. When people say, what can I do?

This is what you can do is you can get involved in homeschooling your kids or any of this stuff. Go to Herzog Foundation.com. I didn't want to forget to mention that.