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

American is the first democratic nation-state.

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

Washington's character was rock solid. He came to stand for the new nation and its republican virtues, which was why he became our first President by unanimous choice.

When Hitler declared war on the United States, he was betting that German soldiers, raised up in the Hitler Youth, would always out fight American soldiers, brought up in the Boy Scouts. He lost that bet. The Boy Scouts had been taught how to figure their way out of their own problems.

I've always tried to be fair to my subjects. That's easy when they are as likable and admirable as Lewis and Clark, or Eisenhower.

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