Presidential power topic of author’s festival talk

Most people know presidential historian and author Jon Meacham for his political insights on CNN and MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

But the Pulitzer-prize winning author and former Random House top editor will bring his expertise to the Festival of the Arts BOCA March 2 to 12 among the authors and performers.

Meacham will talk about “The Art of Leadership – Lessons from the American Presidency” at 7 p.m. March 6 in the covered Mizner Park Amphitheater, 590 Plaza Real. Tickets are $30 to $50 at festivaloftheartsboca.org/artists/jon-meacham/.

From his home in Nashville, Meacham recently about his upcoming talk in Boca.

When you made the arrangements to speak here, Donald Trump hadn’t won yet. Will you do the same talk you originally planned?

What I talk about is how historical moments can help us understand what’s happening now and going forward. Trump’s presidency has raised the stakes and sharpened the contrast. The 45th president of the United States is the most unconventional occupant of the Oval Office in our history. So any conversation about how his predecessors confronted and overcame obstacles in the past is cast in a different light. What we have to do in the conversation here [in Boca] is talk about the perennial forces in the president character and experiences likely to occur.

What’s your take on Trump?

He has an apparently absolutist view of the office. His way or no way. The question is going to be which Trump actually governs, the Trump the absolute campaigner or the deal maker.

The presidents you wrote about had their issues, too, didn’t they?

Whatever value I might add is what we have done in the past that has worked and the past is not a smooth story. The people in the past are human beings with foibles. This is not now about leadership but about followership.

You wrote about the founding fathers. Do you wish you could interview them?

I would talk to all of them. I find the figures from the past to be compelling because they’re so much like us.

You’ve written about Presidents Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson and the other founding fathers. You even wrote about Jackson’s lessons for President Donald Trump for Time Magazine. Are you still on the road with your book on President George H.W. Bush, “Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush?”

I just finished the paperback tour. I was at the Miami Book Fair. [The hardback debuted in November 2015.]

Who are you writing about now?

James and Dolly Madison. I’m early in the process. His papers are in the Library of Congress and hers are in Charlotte.

Why did you pick the Madisons?

Madison was an underappreciated and overlooked two-term war president who designed the Constitution and was architect of the first opposition party.

Trump’s winter White House is in Palm Beach just a few miles away and he’s here all the time. Do you think he might come to your talk?

I can only hope.

mshatzman@tronc.com