day in a beautiful proclamation i urge you to go back and read, which it was just after the battle of gettysburg and the tide of the war had turned and looked like the union was going to win. lincoln talked about americans coming together as one people in celebrating as one voice. it's a lovely image in one that we could heed today. >> right. we . we desperately needed then and we need it now. that's terrific. >> and then after lincolns death, hale was indefatigable. she didn't give up. she continued to write to the president's for the rest of her life and that was johnson, grant and then hayes i believe, and that all followed suit. and by then the tradition had caught on. >> a powerful woman. that's terrific. why don't do we take somes from the audience? we have a couple questions appear. kirsten has the mic. >> thank you very much that was wonderful. she began by talking about yourself as an author, and in the book you talk about the influence that sarah josepha hale had being an influence on offer. what if you talk more about that? >> before hale, being an author of the book was usually a pri

it was just after the battle of gettysburg. and the tide of the warhead turned and it looked like the union was going to win. and lincoln talked about americans coming together as one people in celebrating as one voice. it's a lovely image and one that we could heed today. >> right. that's really terrific. >> hale was indefatigable. that was johnson, grant, and haze i believe. she continued to write them. >> what a woman. why don't we take some questions. a couple of questions up here, we have mics. >> thank you so much, that was wonderful. you begin by talking about yourself as an author. and in the book you talk about the influence that josepha hale had on what it means to be an author. i was wondering if you talk more about that. >> before hale, being an author of a book was usually a private undertaking. it was -- you would either self publish or you would find somebody who would take you and publish. for example, the first book of poetry by poe was published with contributions from his fellow i graduates at west point. --

beautiful proclamation which i urge you to go back and read, which it was just after the battle of gettysburg and the tide of the war had turned, it looked like the union was going to win. >> right. >> and lincoln talked about americans coming together as one people and celebrating with one voice. it's a lovely image and one that we could heed today. >> right. we desperately needed it then and need it now. that's right, that's terrific. >> after lincoln's death, hale was indefatigable. she didn't give up, she continued to write to the presidents for the rest of her life, that was johnson, grant, and then hayes, i believe. and they all followed suit. and by then, the tradition had caught on. >> powerful woman. terrific. all right. why don't we take some questions from the audience. we have a couple of questions up here. kirstin's got the mic. >> thank you very much, that was wonderful. you began by talking about yourself as an author. and in the book you talk about the influence that sarah josepha hale had on what it means to be an author in america. i was wondering if you could talk a little