Conan O'Brien

I said, let's do this.

Well, we are taping this as we approach the 250th anniversary of our nation.

With hope.

And-

One of the things I've always loved about history is that it constantly reminds me we've been here before.

Again, watching it, and as you said, smallpox, there's a terrible scourge that looks like it's going to cost us the war.

What to do about that?

And they're making decisions about inoculation that we're struggling with today.

Yeah.

which is a little mind blowing to me as the son of a scientist and physician.

I have a hard time with that.

But so many people will say to me, oh, but now we have the internet.

And I think, yeah, that's true, but they had broadsides back then.

They had their version of the internet.

They had people saying irresponsible, inflammatory things all the time and everybody's reading it.

Yeah, and I think, you know, when I grew up, there used to be this kind of hagiography about the American Revolution.

And we would get these textbooks, you know, George Washington chopped down the cherry tree and I cannot tell a lie.

And, you know, these people were represented to us as these marble men who were infallible.

And then what I've loved about

my lifelong obsession with history is you see George Washington is a very impressive man in a lot of ways.