Heroic, imperfect, and truly all-American. The latest book written by Brian Kilmeade, “Teddy and Booker T.: How Two American Icons Blazed a Path for Racial Equality” continues his success of sharing under-told stories from American History.
“My theme is, you know, America is not perfect. What makes us great is that we try to be,” Kilmeade told Barrett News Media over Zoom, “By chronicling what we’ve done, I think we’ve showed a lot of the world how to do it.”
A continuation from his last book “The President and The Freedom Fighter”, Brian Kilmeade found a connection between Washington and Roosevelt’s friendship to Douglass and Lincoln’s, “Booker T. Washington is somebody who was born a slave until he was nine years old. He looked up to Frederick Douglass.”
He continued on to say, “I found a link between Roosevelt and Lincoln because at six, seven years old, [Roosevelt] was asked to go to his grandfather’s house because Lincoln’s body after his assassination was coming down on a casket down Broadway and he actually saw the body. And I go, ‘Okay, this is a great way for these two to pick up where they left off and tell the American story’.”
The Fox News host called both men “unbelievably motivated” but most importantly Kilmeade said, “They both love the country. You never hear them really talking about themselves.” Later adding, “They were overachievers and they were driven, not money-oriented. They were looking to inspire the most people possible.”
On Roosevelt and Washington’s relationship Kilmeade notes they were “big fans” of each other and always helping each other, “One turned out to be an advisor to the president, you know, 30 years after he was a slave,” later adding, “The other one ends up become a board member of Tuskegee, a historically black college.”
It’s Kilmeade’s eighth book in all, but the sixth in a presidential series. He was inspired to tell stories like “Roosevelt and Booker T.” because of what he called a war on history. “You know, the governor of New York says America was never that great. You know, you have people tearing down statues… I’m used to other countries running us down, but I’m not used to us running ourselves down,” Brian Kilmeade said.
He wanted to make one thing clear, “I’m not saying slavery was good. It’s an abomination. I’m not saying we didn’t have Jim Crow. I’m talking about how we worked our way through it and all the great people that made us better.”
He also wants to give critics a “reality check” on history.
“Understand, every continent had and it wasn’t just African-Americans that were enslaved. White people were enslaved.” He added, “It’s just the way early man was working. Doesn’t mean it’s right but you see the struggle to push forward, and you see it every step of the way.”
A lover of history Kilmeade noted, “I used to think we recorded this history and we studied it. Now I feel like we’re judging. And I’m thinking to myself, Why are we in 2023 judging history?”
Period and modern-day critics of Booker T. Washington claim his biggest flaw was being a sellout in his “Atlanta Compromise” speech because some believe it accepted segregation. Kilmeade says no, Washington believed in the greater good.
“W.E.B. Dubois, who founded the NAACP, was somewhat of a rival of his. He says Jim Crow is wrong. KKK is vicious. These guys got you. [Washington responding with] Yeah, I feel the same way. But I’m in the eye of the storm trying to fix it. I’m not sitting in the North lecturing about it.”
When asked if flaws make American heroes Kilmeade said, “[Flaws] humanizes them. If you introduce me to somebody who never makes a mistake, never gets shot in war, and wins every battle, I say well enough with the children’s story. Now I want the real story.”
Brian Kilmeade believes what sets America and American heroes apart is “Trying to do the right thing,” even when it doesn’t come out that way. “We’re just looking to keep the world safe for freedom to do what they want to do,” Kilmeade said, “I think that’s our story internationally and at home. It was a fight for freedom. And then we have to, through the Civil War, make that freedom and liberty for all.”
He also noted, “In America, you have the opportunity to achieve what you want to achieve. You don’t have the guarantee of an outcome, but it’s the opportunity.”
His thoughts on history are simple, “Don’t run from [history]. Understand it. Don’t pull someone’s statue down. Understand what they did to get that statue. Understand they weren’t perfect and understand that nobody is.”
Kilmeade surmised everything he’s learned from history simply, “At one point we’re going to have to we have to admit we’re Americans first. It would almost be better if we could be American-Italian, American-Irish. Instead, it’s Irish-American. Italian-American, African-American. I wish there was some way to reverse that and that would be the commonality that would get us over a lot of [today’s issues].”
More importantly, Brian Kilmeade wants Americans to know, “You can tell the American story. Chronicled that it was imperfect while saluting those who made us better.”
Kilmeade also took aim at critics who say he is “whitewashing history”. “Really not.” he said, “I just want to do it in a way that it doesn’t vilify. It tells the story and see who emerges to make us better. And I look forward to seeing who’s going to emerge in 2024 to make us better because we’re still the country everybody wants to come to that the world can’t live without.”
Brian Kilmeade said he does not have another book planned right now but, “My thing is now between the radio show from nine to noon, between One Nation on Saturdays at 9:00, Fox & Friends 6 to 9. My goal is to be doing those shows as good as I can, getting as many interviews, sometimes leaving, oftentimes leaving the building to do it. Especially through this next year, because all I know is things are going to happen that nobody expects. And I’m so glad I’m going to be here to cover it.”
Krystina Alarcon Carroll is a news media columnist and features writer for Barrett Media. She has experience in almost every facet of the industry including: digital and print news; live, streamed, and syndicated TV; documentary and film productions. Her prior employers have included NY1 and Fox News Digital and the Law & Crime Network. You can find Krystina on X (formerly twitter) @KrystinaAlaCarr.
