Taylor Branch was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. He spent years chronicling the decade in which he came of age, the 1960s, when he, along with his friend Bill Clinton, was “among the few Southerners in the antiwar movement.” While Clinton continued to pursue politics after working with Branch on the failed George McGovern presidential campaign in 1972. Branch returned to journalism. “I was very disillusioned,” Branch said, noting how idealistic Clinton remained. “the war had gone on, and all the promise of the 60s seemed to be going up in smoke and riots and Watergate.” Before taking the podium at RAND to discuss his book, The Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History with the President
Q. What music have you listened to today?
A. Probably none, though we’ve been talking about music all day, and I am wearing a Beatles tie. My daughter gave it to me as a present, when my old college buddies and I released the second of our reunion CDs, songs we’d sang in a college band, mostly Beatles songs.
Q. When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A. A doctor.
Q. What is your favorite cocktail?
A. My wife has converted me, and I’m a bit embarrassed about this, but my feminine side embraces the Cosmopolitan.
Q. If you could take only one more journey, where would you go?
A. South Africa.
Q. What is your favorite thing about Los Angeles?
A. Right now, HBO.
Q. What is your fondest childhood memory?
A. The birth of my brother when I was 14. He was the fifth child. It was very exciting to be there.
Q. What is your most prized material possession?
A. A painting I have of Haitians celebrating American soldiers in 1994, which is almost inconceivable in any moment except one in all of American history. So I love the painting.
Q. What promise do you make to yourself that you break the most often?
A. Well for years it was, I’m going to quit smoking. But I quit smoking 32 years ago, finally. I suppose it’s that I’m going to get under 180 pounds.
Q. What should you throw away but haven’t been able to part with?
A. Fifteen pounds.
Q. Who is the one person living or dead you would most like to meet for dinner?
A. James Madison.
To read about Branch’s talk, click here.
*Photo by Aaron Salcido.