Episode 919: America 250 – “The Greatest Sentence Ever Written”

Summary

---

Podcast Summary

Newt's World – Episode 919: America 250 – “The Greatest Sentence Ever Written”

Guest: Walter Isaacson
Date: December 7, 2025

---

Main Theme & Purpose

Host Newt Gingrich welcomes renowned biographer and historian Walter Isaacson to discuss Isaacson's new book, The Greatest Sentence Ever Written. The episode centers on the significance, crafting, and enduring impact of a single iconic line from the Declaration of Independence:

“We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

Timed to the upcoming 250th anniversary of the Declaration, their conversation explores how this sentence became America's "mission statement," its philosophical and historical context, and its relevance to today’s challenges.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Why Focus on This Sentence?

• Unifying Aspirations: Isaacson chose this topic to highlight unity and celebrate values that bind Americans, especially in a time of divisive politics.
  • “I picked this topic because...I don't think we've made enough plans to say how can we use this as a mechanism for understanding what our common values are?” (Walter Isaacson, 04:45)
• The sentence stands as an aspirational creed, meant to inspire each new generation to strive towards its ideals.

The Creation: Collaboration, Edits, and Balance

• Isaacson traces how Jefferson originally wrote "sacred" truths, later modified by Franklin to "self evident," shifting emphasis from religious authority to rational enlightenment.
  • "Jefferson had written, 'we hold these truths to be sacred.' And there's Franklin's printer's pen crossing out sacred and putting 'self evident.' He wanted to say our rights come from rationality, not the dictates of religion." (Isaacson, 06:06)
• The inclusion of both “rationality” and “creator” reflects a careful balancing act between Enlightenment thinking and religious faith.
• The process involved compromise and collaboration among visionary founders—Jefferson, Adams, and Franklin—serving as a model for today’s political discourse.
  • "The legislative, political process inevitably has to involve people finding a common ground to do this stuff." (Gingrich, 08:25)

The Importance of "We"

• The word we signals a radical shift from rule by monarchs or conquerors to governance by social contract.
  • "That's the most important word there. Because up until that time, nations on earth were formed by divine right of kings or conquerors. What they did is pick up the notion of social contract theory..." (Isaacson, 12:10)
• Both the Declaration and the Constitution’s "We the People" express this collective ownership.

The Sentence as a Living Aspiration

• Isaacson argues that while the statement was not wholly true at the time—Jefferson, a slaveholder, penned words about equality—it has served as an aspirational force. Each generation has fought to make it truer.
• Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address is cited as an example of recommitting to these founding words:
  • "Lincoln invokes it...He said, we created a new type of nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Well, it wasn't actually true at the time. But Lincoln is using the sentence as a forcing mechanism..." (Isaacson, 10:59)

Lessons for America 250

• The 250th anniversary should be a catalyst for national reflection and renewed unity, echoing the Bicentennial spirit of 1976.
  • "I think we need to quickly get moving so that we use this 250th birthday as a nation to reassert the patriotism that most of us feel..." (Isaacson, 17:30)
• Both speakers stress the need for communities, not just the government, to take up the challenge of celebration and dialogue.

Reconciling the Paradox: Freedom and the Founders’ Flaws

• The contradiction of Jefferson owning slaves while extolling liberty is discussed candidly.
  • "No, that sentence was not actually true when they wrote it. And Jefferson knew it...So we have to realize that we weren't born perfect, but we were given an aspirational statement." (Isaacson, 20:44)
• American history is about bending the arc toward justice, invoking Dr. King and Thaddeus Stevens.

Civility and Common Ground

• The sentence is not just about values; it's also about the commons—what society provides together (education, safety, etc.).
• Civil debate and mutual respect are urged as both essential and endangered.
  • "If you frame it the way the founders did, as this is a question of what we want to have in commons, then I think our debates could be more civil and we could show the balance and wisdom that they showed." (Isaacson, 23:10)

Human Creativity: Lessons from the Lives of Great Innovators

• Isaacson shares insights from his biographies: what sets remarkable figures (Einstein, Jobs, Musk, Franklin) apart is not intellect alone, but the capacity for creative, out-of-the-box thinking and forming new paradigms.
  • "It's not the ability to be smart, because you and I know a lot of smart people...It's the ability to think out of the box..." (Isaacson, 27:47)
• He contends that the greatest innovation is America's invention of a government by the people, a social contract.

Enduring Example: Benjamin Franklin’s Tolerance

• Isaacson highlights Franklin’s support for diverse faith traditions as a model for pluralism and civil society.
  • "During his lifetime, Benjamin Franklin donated to the building fund of each and every church built in Philadelphia...at one point, they were creating a new hall...he said, even if the Mufti of Constantinople were to send somebody to teach us Islam...we should listen and we might learn." (Isaacson, 29:51)

Looking Ahead: Isaacson’s Forthcoming Work

• Isaacson announces his next project—a biography of Marie Curie.

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On National Aspirations:
  • “We weren't born perfect, but we were given an aspirational statement...the arc of history bends towards justice, but only if we bend it. And that's what this sentence helps us to do.”
    (Isaacson, 20:44)
• On Creativity and Innovation:
  • "It's not the ability to be smart...It's the ability to think out of the box, to be creative, to be imaginative, to do things that AI won't do."
    (Isaacson, 27:47)
• On Pluralism and Respect:
  • “Even if the Mufti of Constantinople were to send somebody to teach us Islam...we should listen and we might learn.”
    (Isaacson, 29:51)

---

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Introduction of Walter Isaacson: 02:40
• Genesis and significance of the sentence: 04:45–06:06
• Declaration’s Editing and Compromise: 06:06–08:25
• The Concept of ‘We’ in American Founding: 12:10
• The Declaration as a Universalist Document: 16:05
• The 250th Anniversary and National Celebration: 17:30–18:58
• Reconciling Founders’ Flaws with American Ideals: 20:27–22:13
• Call for Civility and Common Ground: 23:10–24:36
• Isaacson’s Lessons from Biographies: 27:47–28:58
• Benjamin Franklin’s Legacy of Tolerance: 29:51
• Announcement of Book on Marie Curie: 32:05

---

Conclusion

This episode of Newt’s World is both a tribute to America’s foundational ideals and a call to rekindle a sense of shared purpose and civil dialogue. Walter Isaacson’s exploration of the “greatest sentence ever written” offers historical insight, philosophical depth, and an urgent message for the nation’s 250th anniversary: America’s greatness lies in its aspirational spirit, capacity for innovation, and enduring commitment to liberty, equality, and the common good.

Transcript

[Trainer Games Host]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human 10 athletes will face the toughest job interview in fitness that will push past physical and mental breaking points.

You are the fittest of the fit. Only one of you will leave here with an IFIT contract for $250,000.

[Walter Isaacson]

This is where mindset comes in.

[Trainer Games Host]

Someone will be eliminated. Pressure is coming down. This is Trainer.

[Commercial Narrator]

Watch it on prime video starting January 8th.

[Conservation Advocate]

How are USDA staff cuts and budget challenges affecting farmers with conservation?

[Commercial Narrator]

I've saved my soil and I provide food for my community. I wouldn't have been able to do that without the NRCS programs.

[Walter Isaacson]

A lot of farmers are thinking that.

[Commercial Narrator]

They'Re not able to farm next year. Crop prices are below cost of production and so these programs are what keep.

[Walter Isaacson]

Farmers in the business of farming, protect.

[Conservation Advocate]

Conservation funding and staff that supports farmers paid for by Invest in Our Land. Hey Ryan Reynolds here wishing you a very happy half off holiday because right now Mint Mobile is offering you the gift of 50% off unlimited. To be clear, that's half price, not half the service.

[Commercial Narrator]

Mint is still premium unlimited wireless for a great price.

[Walter Isaacson]

So that means a half day.

[Conservation Advocate]

Yeah, give it a [e-mail] Switch upfront.

[Trainer Games Host]

Payment of $45 for a 3 month plan equivalent to $15 per month required New customer offer for first 3 fee flow 135 gigabytes of network Busy taxes and fees Extra cement mobile.com We've been.

[Commercial Narrator]

Duped, hoodwinked, conned for 50 years. The lawn care industry sold us toxins in a bag and left our yards more toxic than a bad relationship. Sundae helps you ditch the chemicals and feed your lawn the good stuff. Soybean proteins, iron, seaweed, molasses. Ingredients that get your soil giggling like an overserved mom at the block party. Sundae uses clean ingredients in real science for thicker, greener grass this Black Friday. Get 30% off and lock in your spring subscription. Sunday a smarter, healthier yard. Getsunday.com getsunday.com Spinquest Social Casino the presents are open and you're over the in laws. It's a perfect time to grab your phone and play spinquest.com with live dealer, blackjack, crafts and a ton of slots. And here's a great deal for the holiday. A $30 coin pack for $10. And if you're hearing this ad, you can play right now on SpinQuest.com SpinQuest.

[Walter Isaacson]

Is a free to play social casino void where prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details.

[Newt Gingrich]

On this episode of Newts World. I'm very Pleased to welcome my guest, my good friend and somebody I've worked with, I think, for 30 years. He is the best selling authority of biographies of Elon Musk, Jennifer Doudna, Leonardo da Vinci, Steve Jobs, Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein. He's a professor of history at Tulane and was the CEO of the Aspen Institute, the chair of CNN and the editor of Time magazine. And he was awarded the national humanities medal in 2023. I'm really delighted that he's joining me today to discuss his new book, a New York Times bestseller, the Greatest Sentence Ever Written, which is so appropriate for this time. As we look at the 250th anniversary, this is a book that should be central to how we approach this. It takes readers on a fascinating deep dive into the creation of one of history's most powerful sentences. Quote, we hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Water welcome and thank you in the middle of your busy schedule for joining me again on Newt's World.

[Walter Isaacson]

You know, it's great to be with you, Newt. And I know how much of a historian you are. Like me, you taught history at Tulane and you know the importance of a sentence like that of being our mission statement as we enter our 250th year.

[Newt Gingrich]

Your timing could hardly be better. And it's such a break from the biographies that you've been doing. And yet when I read it, I was fascinated with how you took it apart. What made you decide to take this one sentence and turn it into a book?

[Walter Isaacson]

I think it's important that we celebrate our 250th in a way that unifies us and brings us together rather than divides us because we've had such a poisonous period in our politics where we're so divided and sometimes history has been used to divide us. I picked this topic because we're going into the 250th and I don't think we've made enough plans to say how can we use this as a mechanism for understanding what our common values are? You and I can remember after the horrible periods of Vietnam and Watergate and the assassinations of Kennedys and kings and the riots, we came together under Gerald Ford to do the bicentennial. We need to get a movement going to say, let's do that again for the 250th.

[Newt Gingrich]

This is really the year to celebrate patriotism and to have everybody, whatever your Ideology or your background, to have everybody understand that at its heart, America is a romantic idea and that patriotism is what binds us together. And I think this book is a real contribution. But it fascinates me because you can approach this from a hundred angles. You decided to dive in, go past everything else and pick one sentence. How did that come to you?

[Walter Isaacson]

Well, when I was doing Benjamin Franklin About 20 years ago, I noticed that he had done an edit of the first draft of the Declaration of Independence that Jefferson wrote in late June of 1776. And that edit was totally fascinating, especially of what I think of as the mission statement, the aspiration statement of our country. And Jefferson had written, we hold these truths to be sacred. And there's Franklin's printer's pen crossing out sacred and putting self evident. He wanted to say our rights come from rationality, not the dictates of religion. But the sentence goes on to talk about being endowed with rights. And John Adams, rights, endowed by their creator with rights. And so I was amazed at how just in crafting this sentence that becomes our creed as a nation, they were balancing things. And Newt, you've talked about we need to all come together in times of patriotism, especially like this is not simply about everybody being centrist. You have a very strong ideology, but you work in a civil way with people with different ideologies. We have to regain that ability to work across different ideologies. But saying we're one nation, that sentence and its editing stuck with me for 20 years. And I said, if we parse this sentence, what do we mean by we? What do we mean by created equal? What do we mean by the pursuit of happiness? Then the sentence wouldn't be just like something we chant along without thinking about it, like a hymn or prayer. We've said too much in church or synagogue. But we could think about the deep, profound meaning of this beautiful sentence.

[Newt Gingrich]

By the way, put in a brief plug. My daughter, Jackie Cushman, chairs the commission on John Adams. She was thrilled by your book. In fact, she was waiting. We did FaceTime earlier today, and she was waving it at me, but I said I was going to talk to you later on today.

[Walter Isaacson]

Well, you know, Congress created In June of 76, a committee to declare why we're having the revolution. With all due respect to your time as speakership, it may be the last time Congress created a really good committee. It's got John Adams, Ben Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson.

[Newt Gingrich]

It's pretty hard to argue that any other three people would outweigh them in terms of wisdom. And knowledge. But I'm curious. You take this sentence and you get us to understand. And I think this process thing's important. This wasn't automatically coming out of a rock or lightning. These were three really smart people who had thought about this for a long time. And they're evolving. Even in writing this one sentence, they're evolving what is going to become America. And it takes conversation, it takes compromise, it takes creativity. And I think that's part of what people don't understand, that the legislative, political process inevitably has to involve people finding a common ground to do this stuff. I think your experience in going through this and looking at it has to have, in a sense, stunned you with just how really wise these people were, how remarkable we were to have them.

[Walter Isaacson]

What they understood was a concept of balance, which is that they're contending forces, contending values that we have to deal with. And they were scientists. Ben Franklin was the best experimental scientist of the time. Jefferson was a great scientist. And they studied Newton and the idea that forces can be contending, but you find an equilibrium. Just as I said about them putting in truth being self evident, but putting in creator, that's creating a balance between the role of divine providence and the role of rationality. Ben Franklin said at the time of the Constitution, compromisers may not make great heroes, but they do make great democracies. So we have to learn how to balance our contending values. The sentence shows us how to do it because it's a living, breathing sentence. It's something we have to aspire to each new generation to make it more true.

[Newt Gingrich]

It's Gary Wills who makes the argument that what Lincoln does is resurrects the Declaration, which in many ways had been surpassed by the Constitution as the central organizing document. And Lincoln goes back and basically re educates us into the moral framework of the founding fathers and the degree to which this was really a call to an astonishingly different world than the world at the end.

[Walter Isaacson]

And Gary Wills does it very well, many, many years ago, because what happens four score and seven years after they write that sentence? Lincoln invokes it at the Gettysburg cemetery. And he said, we created a new type of nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Well, it wasn't actually TR at the time of that sentence. If Jefferson writes it, he's enslaving 400 people. But what Lincoln is doing on that battlefield cemetery is using the sentence as a forcing mechanism because he's burying more than 7,000 people who had died to make that sentence more true. And that's the arc of American history. Is each generation saying, can we get closer to that aspiration?

[Newt Gingrich]

It fits exactly the concern you're expressing about coming together as patriots again. But you point out that the Declaration's opening word, we, reappears in the Constitution as we the people. In your mind, what was the significance of this dual recognition of the word.

[Walter Isaacson]

We that is so crucial? That's the most important word there. Because up until that time, nations on earth were formed by the divine right of kings, or the governance came from conquerors or swords. What they did is they pick up the notion of social contract theory, which I think you taught and you know so well. It comes from Hobbes and John Locke and others, which is a true governance of society comes from a social contract where we all agree to enter into a government, give up some of our rights in order to have a civil society. No nation had been created that way as a constitutional democratic republic that was based on the consent of the governed. So when they start we hold these truths, or eleven years later when they say we the people, we doesn't just mean 50 or 60 people hanging around in Philadelphia. It means a social contract that was the basis for a moral governing society.

[Trainer Games Host]

10 athletes will face the toughest job interview in fitness that will push past physical and mental breaking points.

You are the fittest of the fit. Only one of the you will leave here with an IFIT contract worth $250,000.

[Walter Isaacson]

This is where mindset comes in.

[Trainer Games Host]

Someone will be eliminated. Pressure is coming down. This is Trainer Games.

[Commercial Narrator]

Watch it on prime video starting January 8th.

[Conservation Advocate]

How are USDA staff cuts and budget challenges affecting farmers?

[Farmer]

I have land in conservation to provide water quality benefits. With the nrcs being short staffed, the USDA isn't releasing any information because they're not there. I made an agreement. I've done my part. But now I'm sitting on potentially a large sum that is owed to you. My bills are coming due at the end of the year, but I can't even finalize my plans for next year. It's pretty frustrating.

[Conservation Advocate]

Protect conservation funding and staff that supports farmers paid for by investing our land.

[Commercial Narrator]

We've been duped, hoodwinked conned for 50 years. The lawn care industry sold us toxins in a bag and left our yards more toxic than a bad relationship. Sundae helps you ditch the chemicals and feed your lawn the good stuff. Soybean proteins, iron, seaweed, molasses. Ingredients that get your soil giggling like an overserved mom at the block party. Sundae uses clean ingredients in real science for thicker, greener grass. This Black Friday get 30% off and lock in your spring subscription. Sunday A smarter, healthier yard get sundae.com getsunday.com forget whatever plans you have this weekend because you're staying at home and playing on spinquest, and there's never been a better time to sign up than right now. New users get $30 coin packs for just $10. All the table games you love, with hundreds of slot games and real cash Prizes. That's at spinquest.com S P I N.

[Walter Isaacson]

Q U-E-T.com Spinquest is a free to play social casino. Voidware prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details.

[Conservation Advocate]

AI agents are everywhere, automating tasks and.

[Walter Isaacson]

Making decisions at machine speed. But agents make mistakes.

[Conservation Advocate]

Just one rogue agent can do big damage before you even notice.

[Walter Isaacson]

Rubrik Agent Cloud is the only platform.

[Conservation Advocate]

That helps you monitor agents, set guardrails and rewind mistakes so you can unleash agents, not risk. Accelerate your AI [e-mail] that's R U B R-I K.com.

[Newt Gingrich]

Wasn't this a universalistic document? It's not actually aimed at the Americans. It is defining for the Americans a universal truth.

[Walter Isaacson]

It's defining for the world. Because in the previous sentence, the first sentence, it says with a decent respect for the opinions of mankind. They're explaining how we're creating a new type of nation, and back then we were the only one that was that way. But over the course of 200 years or so, most nations on earth began to resemble this notion where we defend individual rights, the rights of liberty of each individual. And yet we come together in a civil society to govern ourselves as a representative democracy.

[Newt Gingrich]

You've covered the news. You had remarkable exposure to most of the major media. The we've used in our lifetime to communicate the news. How do we get the country.

Back to understanding these kind of simple basic truths? This isn't exactly TikTok. It's not even X or Truth Social. It's not the daily news put out in three minute bites. But yet somehow this sends and the document that it's in is at the very core of whether or not this country will survive.

[Walter Isaacson]

Precisely. That's why I wrote it. That's why I think our 250th is a great opportunity. I worry that we're not really using it. Back when you were in government, we probably would have had a bicentennial commission, as we did 50 years ago, that were people of all parties and community leaders. And we'd have bicentennial moments on TV and tall ships in our ports and fireworks. I think we need to quickly get moving so that we use this 250th birthday as a nation to reassert the patriotism that most of us feel, to reassert the values that underlie our nation. And those values are embodied in the sentence. But I'm hoping many people can do it. You can do it. You're doing it on this podcast. Jon Meacher, my friend, is doing it bringing out a book. Ken Burns is doing it by bringing out a documentary. I don't think Washington, the government right now is paying much attention to it. I'm trying to get the National Archives to take the first draft of the Declaration, which is at the Library of Congress, and display them together. And that can all be a way that each of us in each community. I've gone around, I just came back from Dallas. I've been in San Antonio and Austin and then Nashville. I'm trying to encourage each community to say, how are we going to celebrate who we are as a nation for our big birthday?

[Newt Gingrich]

I felt that it almost has to be looking to the past and looking to the future. I mean, while we want to celebrate 250 years, we also want to say, and what we have learned from that gives us a chance to create an even better 250 years.

[Walter Isaacson]

Especially coming out of what I think is our biggest problem today, which is the polarization that's been caused by everything from social media and talk radio to the way we do our politics. How are we going to come out of this very divisive period, which is similar to the one we went through a little bit more than 50 years ago with Vietnam, Watergate, and the assassinations. And we can remember the lines when they signed that Declaration. John Hancock says, as he puts his big signature on it, with all the forces contending to divide us, how do we hang together? And Franklin, who's very witty, refers to what's going to happen to them if they don't do it. He said, yes, assuredly, we must all hang together, or most assuredly, we'll all hang separately. How do we use this event to take some of the poison out of our discourse and say, get rid of that poison that comes from social media, sometimes from the politicians, the politicians who are trying to enrage us and play on our resentments. Let's all remember we're one nation with a really great mission statement, and that's the Declaration.

[Newt Gingrich]

How do you explain to people when they do raise the legitimate fact that, for example, here's Jefferson writing about freedom and about being given to us by our creator. Well, he does own slaves.

[Walter Isaacson]

Yeah. I mean, this is the thing we have to wrestle with, with American history. And we have to look at the narrative of the history, the arc of the history, because, no, that sentence was not actually true when they wrote it. And Jefferson knew it. As you know, he writes in the Declaration a lot of words decrying slavery, and they had to take it out in order to get Southern votes. And yes, people are complicated. I've written about Elon Musk, I've written about Steve Jobs. I've written about people. And Shakespeare teaches us people are complex. Even our heroes have dark strands. Henry V kills all the prisoners from France. So we have to realize that we weren't born perfect, but we were given an aspirational statement. And so whether it's at Gettysburg when Lincoln uses that statement to move forward so that we can end slavery, or whether it's in the 1920s when the suffragettes used that statement, this sentence, to move us forward so women get to be included in All Men are Created equal. We have to look at the narrative of history, how in fits and starts, sometimes we go forward, sometimes we go back, but the general arc of history, as Thaddeus Stevens, the abolitionist, said, and Dr. King quoted him as saying, the arc of history bends towards justice, but only if we bend it. And that's what this sentence helps us to do.

[Newt Gingrich]

Hopefully this book will help create a dialogue. People have got to come out of their shells, and instead of just yelling things at each other, they have to have a genuine mutual curiosity. And getting them, I think, to take seriously the 250th anniversary and to ask, why has this system been so amazing? Why has it been able to absorb so many different people? Why has it been possible for people to rise in ways that would have been impossible in much of the world? I think that this kind of book, we get people to slow down and realize the folks who put this together were very wise and they had spent a long time thinking about it and they had studied a lot of history. And if we will sort of steal from their wisdom, we can have a dramatically better country.

[Walter Isaacson]

Right. We all have to dedicate ourselves to it. You've done a lot of documentaries, documentaries about what makes America work, whether it's a documentaries about immigration or about our founding and. Or about our history. I'm so glad you're saying that this is this opportunity to get everybody discussing it in a civil way. Because despite all of our divides, I think most Americans, 80% of Americans, can basically agree on the fundamental values even if they disagree on how to approach it. And they can have civil discussion about what's in commons. What do we share in commons? And I write about common ground in the book because that's what this sentence is. But common ground is also the goods and services that we keep in commons, whether it be having a good K through 12 education system or good libraries, a fire or police protection. And then we have to debate on the edges how much should health care be in the commons like that? Well, those are good debates to have, but if you frame it the way the founders did, as this is a question of what we want to have in commons, then I think our debates could be more civil and we could show the balance and wisdom that they showed.

[Trainer Games Host]

10 athletes will face the toughest job interview in fitness that will push past physical and mental breaking points.

You are the fittest of the fit. Only one of you will leave here with an IFIT contract for $250,000.

[Walter Isaacson]

This is where mindset comes in.

[Trainer Games Host]

Someone will be eliminated. Pressure is coming down. This is Trainer Games.

[Commercial Narrator]

Watch it on prime video starting January 8th.

[Conservation Advocate]

How are USDA staff cuts and budget challenges affecting farmers?

[Farmer]

I have land in conservation to provide water quality benefits. With the NRCS being short staffed, the USDA isn't releasing any information because they're not there. I made an agreement. I've done my part. But now I'm sitting on potentially a large sum that is owed to you. My bills are coming due at the end of the year, but I can't even finalize my plans for next year. It's pretty frustrating.

[Conservation Advocate]

Protect conservation funding and staff that supports farmers paid for by Invest in Our Land.

[Commercial Narrator]

We've been duped, hoodwinked, conned for 50 years. The lawn care industry sold us toxins in a bag and left our yards more toxic than a bad relationship. Sundae helps you ditch the chemicals and feed your lawn the good stuff. Soybean proteins, iron, seaweed, molasses. Ingredients that get your soil giggling like an overserved mom at the block part Sunday Uses clean ingredients in real science for thicker, greener grass this Black Friday. Get 30% off and lock in your spring subscription. Sunday A Smarter, Healthier Yard getsundae.com getsunday.com the holidays can get expensive, but streaming your favorite festive films and music doesn't need to be. The Vizio Smart TV experience makes it easy with Watch Free plus and the iHeartRadio app built into every TV, giving you access to free holiday classics, new favorites and playlists all season long. Add movies to your watch list and jump in anytime. Perfect for family movie nights and cozy evenings in. You can even take watch free plus on the go with the Vizio Mobile app. Head to vizio.com iheartradio to learn more and take advantage of the Vizio Smart.

[Walter Isaacson]

TV experience Today, America's Christian Credit Union.

[Conservation Advocate]

Stands firm in faith, serves the community.

[Walter Isaacson]

And delivers top financial services with Elite Checking. Earn up to 4% APY on balances under $15,000. Get paid early, enjoy loan discounts and more, because at Accu, your money should reflect your mission.

[Conservation Advocate]

Visit AmericasChristiancu.com Elite to learn more.

[Walter Isaacson]

Early pay depends on when your employer sends your paycheck.

[Conservation Advocate]

We can't guarantee early direct deposit APY.

[Walter Isaacson]

Equals annual percentage yield.

[Conservation Advocate]

America's Christian Credit Union is federally insured by the ncu.

[Newt Gingrich]

So I have to ask you, you know so many different things and you have sort of had a knack of picking very interesting people to write biographies about. And given the authoritative and deep books that you write, in order to deal with these brilliant people, you've had to learn an enormous amount. Is there any, any common lesson or common observation as you look back on all these personalities that you've now spent your life with?

[Walter Isaacson]

Yes. It's not the ability to be smart, because you and I know a lot of smart people. They often don't amount to much. It's the ability to think out of the box, to be creative, to be imaginative, to do things that AI won't do. And that's what Einstein does. He's sitting there and he thinks out of the box that maybe time is relative depending on your state of motion. Or Elon Musk does. So I think that ability to have a reality distortion field, to think different, as Steve Jobs said, that is what humans bring to it, is this intuitive creativity that allows you to just come with an out of the box idea. Leonardo, one of my other favorite subjects, did it well. And to get back to the greatest sentence ever written, that's what Ben Franklin, when I was writing his biography, you talk about innovation. Look, rocket ships that can land on their own platform or ipods. Those are innovations. But the greatest innovation ever is to take the social contract theory and to create a democratic republic. That depends on we the people. And that innovation is what we're going to be celebrating next year.

[Newt Gingrich]

Yeah, I think in that sense, if you think of America as an invention, Bingo.

[Walter Isaacson]

Exactly right.

[Newt Gingrich]

You know you begin to realize what an astonishing gift we've been given. You know that you and I, our children, our grandchildren, our friends and neighbors, have been given this gift of self government and this gift of mutual acceptance that our rights come from a divine basis, can't be taken away by politicians, by lobbyists, by bureaucrats, by billionaires, because every single person of every background has been endowed by their creator. And of course, what you do in this book is you take us deep into this miraculous belief that these handful of extraordinary people put together in a single document that's available to anybody on the entire planet.

[Walter Isaacson]

I think we should all read the Declaration often in this coming year, and we should all read this particular sentence often and think of the profound wisdom in it. Because as I said, they weren't necessarily just smart, they were innovative. They realized they could form a new type of government and they were wise, which is what you mentioned earlier in the show. Meaning, even though they had strong beliefs, they knew how to do the balances that were necessary to keep a democratic republic alive. And I think we've lost a lot of their talent of balance, of tolerance, of respect, of civility. Your show is about that. Our country is about that. And I'll say one thing about Benjamin Franklin near the end, now we talk about being a nation of respect for individual rights. During his lifetime, Benjamin Franklin donated to the building fund of each and every church built in Philadelphia. And at one point, they were creating a new hall for preachers that were coming around from the first Great Awakening. And he wrote the fundraising document. He said, even if the Mufti of Constantinople were to send somebody to teach us Islam and about the Prophet Muhammad, we should listen and we might learn. And on his deathbed, he's the largest individual contributor to the Congregation Mikvah Israel for a synagogue in Philadelphia. So when he dies, instead of his minister accompanying his casket to the grave, all 35 ministers, preachers and priests link arms with the Rabbi of the Jews and march with them to the grave. That's the type of civil society, that's the type of respect for individual liberty they were creating back then. And that's what next year and our 250th, we have to remember we're still trying to hang on to today.

[Newt Gingrich]

You have done an extraordinary civic service by writing this, and I hesitate to come down from that moral high ground, but I can't resist. Do you have a new book in mind?

[Walter Isaacson]

I actually do. I love science. I love invention and how science helps humanity. And I'm doing a book now I'm totally immersed in on Marie Curie because she is the only person to win the Nobel in two different sciences, physics and chemistry. She basically shows that physics and chemistry are actually the same. And I'm going through all of her notebooks to find out exactly how did she make the leaps of the imagination and then how did she apply it? She comes up with the notion of radioactivity and we now use it to cure cancer and of course for power and weapons. So that notion of moving from theory into practice, she and Einstein set the stage for the 20th century. I'm doing her next.

[Newt Gingrich]

That's amazing. I look forward and hope you'll come back and help educate us even more. But in the interim, I just want to remind everyone that the Greatest Sentence Ever Written is available now on Amazon in bookstores everywhere. It's already a New York Times bestseller. It's a perfect set piece, I think, for entering into the 250th birthday. And by the way, I want to tell folks you will be at Politics and Prose bookstore in Washington on December 7th. You'll be at Melba's in New Orleans on December 12th. So anybody's looking for an amazing holiday gift for friends or family, I encourage them to come and see you and buy several copies. And if they can't get to the two bookstores, go to one of the online places. But knowing you is a genuine honor.

[Walter Isaacson]

Hey, I feel the same. Back at you. Thanks for everything over so many years, Newt.

[Newt Gingrich]

I look forward to it. I appreciate very much your joining me today.

[Walter Isaacson]

Thank you. And happy birthday to our country.

[Newt Gingrich]

Thank you to my guest, Walter Isaacson. Newt's World is produced by Gingrich360 and iHeartMedia. Our executive producer is Garnesey Sloan. Our researcher is Rachel Peterson. The artwork for the show was created by Steve Penley. Special thanks to the team at Gingrich 360. If you've been enjoying Newts World, I hope you'll go to Apple Podcasts and both rate us with five stars and give us a review so others can learn what it's all about. Join me on [e-mail] I'm Newt Gingrich. This is Newt's work.

[Trainer Games Host]

10 athletes will face the toughest job interview in fitness that will push past physical and mental breaking points.

You are the fittest of the fit. Only one of you will leave here with an IFIT contract for 250 $50,000.

[Walter Isaacson]

This is where mindset comes in.

[Trainer Games Host]

Someone will be eliminated pressure is coming down. This is Trainer Games.

[Commercial Narrator]

Watch it on prime video starting January 8th.

[Conservation Advocate]

How are USDA staff cuts and budget challenges affecting farmers?

[Walter Isaacson]

My dad and I both have a CSP contract but staff can't check the fields to approve them for us to get paid. We're going through a very bad economic time. If we don't have the the funds to support our conservation practices, we're going to see a major drop off in producers. I don't know guys. This is scary. I got a young family, a young business and have no idea what's going to happen.

[Conservation Advocate]

Protect conservation funding and staff that supports farmers paid for by Invest in Our Land.

[Trainer Games Host]

I use Shipt Same Day Delivery to stay connected with my sister during the holidays. She lives across the country. Shipt has tons of stores to order from. Groceries from Albertsons, crafts from Michaels, even pet supplies from petsmart. The list goes on. So when we have long distance movie nights, I turn to Shipt to get face masks, snacks and everything else we need delivered to her and to me same day. Download the app or visit shipt.com that's.

[Conservation Advocate]

S h ipt.com oral health goes beyond just aesthetics. It's deeply connected to your general health and well being. That's why preventing oral health problems before they start is so important. When you use the Colgate Total Active Prevention System, you're not just helping to prevent oral health problems like cavities and gingivitis, you're laying the groundwork for overall wellness. Colgate Total's three product routine includes a reformulated toothpaste, an innovative toothbrush, and a refreshing antibacterial mouthwash that all support a healthy mouth. In fact, the three products were designed to work together to be 15 times more effective at reducing bacteria buildup in six weeks starting from week one compared to a non antibacterial fluoride toothpaste and flat trim toothbrush. Take control of your oral health and get the Colgate Total Active Prevention System today so you can be dentist ready. Visit shop.colgate.com Total.

[Commercial Narrator]

We'Ve been duped, hoodwinked, conned for 50 years. The lawn care industry sold us toxins in a bag and left our yards more toxic than a bad relationship. Sundae helps you ditch the chemicals and feed your lawn the good stuff. Soybean proteins, iron, seaweed, molasses. Ingredients that get your soil giggling like an overserved mom at the block party. Sundae uses clean ingredients in real science for thicker, greener grass this Black Friday get 30% off and lock in your spring subscription sundae a smarter, healthier yard. Get sundae.com getsunday.com this is an I heart podcast.

[Trainer Games Host]

Guaranteed human.