- From George Washingtonand Thomas Jefferson

to Sam Houston,

Brian Kilmeade has written about them all,

and moving right on down the line

in American history,

his newest book intertwines the stories

of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.

- I wanted to move gradually up

until I hit the future.

- [Jenna] But instead of focusingon just one man this time.

- I thought what about howthey interacted together

and how they made the country better?

And the incredible obstaclesthey have to overcome

to do what they did.

- [Jenna] And thatresulted in "The President

and the Freedom Fighter:

Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass

and Their Battle to Save America's Soul."

Brian tells the little known story

of how these two American heroes moved

from strong disagreement to friendship,

and in the process, changedthe course of history.

Both men had to overcome huge adversity,

especially Douglass who was born a slave.

- [Brian] Born a slave, literally sold

and then after one failed escape,

finally gets out, wasable to live his life,

and remarkably, within seven years

is writing a biography

and it becomes one of themost respected intellects

and speakers in the world.

- [Jenna] And Lincoln,born into abject poverty

whose parents were illiterate.

- And then you have Lincoln

who is basically a self-taught guy.

They both had a couple of similarities,

there're a lot of similarities.

They had a thirst for education.

They were gonna findout some way, some how.

They were going tobarter, do work for a book

just to have a chance toread and learn about a story.

They were buried in the Bible,

and great thinkers their entire life.

- [Jenna] Despite their similarities,

there were also deep differences.

Most notably, how toapproach the big issue

of the day: slavery.

You read about how Lincolnwanted to abolish it

but thought that doing it too quickly

would really hurt the country.

- What happens is there's no doubt

about it, Lincoln evolved.

He was not really exposedthat much to slavery.

Only 1% of all theslaves were in the North.

The rest were in the South.

- [Jenna] After the UnitedStates won its independence,

the South built an economydependent on slavery.

Southerners felt an attack

on that would destroy their economy

and way of life.

The North wanted freedom,

although not necessarily equality.

They saw slavery as morally wrong.

- The minute Lincoln getselected in seven states

before he can get to the White House,

Frederick Douglass' like okay,

Emancipation Proclamation,free the slaves,

let us fight.

- [Jenna] But PresidentLincoln wasn't ready

to move that fast.

He knew the North wasn'tready and risked losing half

of his army by rushing the process.

- And Frederick Douglass had a newspaper

that he started,

and he would write andhe'd lambast Lincoln.

You let me down, you're going halfway.

This is not what you promised.

And then his inaugural, in an effort

to get us reunified, hesaid keep your slaves,

we'll work it out.

Just come back.

And they said no.

And Frederick Douglass celebrated that

and Lincoln knew we're in for a war.

They thought it would be 90days and it was four years,

and it cost between 600 and 700,000 lives,

which is just unthinkable.

- [Jenna] Through time though,

the men came to respect one another,

and even form a friendship.

- And then Lincoln wouldevolve and it was timing.

And people would be pushing him to do it.

He's like I'm not ready.

He wrote it out, he wasn't ready.

And he was so impatient.

Then he realized we need a big win.

After a big win, I'mnot only gonna come out

with the Emancipation Proclamation,

I'm going to allowAfrican Americans to fight

for their freedom.

And when he finally getsa chance to meet Douglass,

I don't wanna give the whole book away,

but you know it historically,

Douglass realizes this guythat was frustrating him

for the longest time,

that he saw so much promise in

was the honest great manhe always thought he was.

He saw authenticity,kindness and greatness.

And that was just in themoments in which they met.

- Is there a lesson inthis book, in this story

of these two men for us today here?

- Yeah, they wanted to be Americans.

They wanted to make America better.

So they studied the Founding Fathers.

They studied where we came from.

And they said, "Okay, mycountry's isn't perfect,

so let's make it better."

Let's not disparage it.

Let's do it in a way that's,

you know, call it out but make it better.

- It's the great Democratic experiment

and these two men made it better.

Not only that, together,

their grit and determinationhelped the United States begin

to live up to its ideals.

Brian, I don't wanna get ahead of my skis

but I think a lot of our viewers,

they'll pick up this book

and then they'll finish it

and they'll say all right, what's next?

- No idea.

I have no idea.

- Writing a book likethis is a huge deep dive.

Brian says he's going tofinish this publicity tour

and then maybe this spring start thinking

about his next topic.

In Washington, Jenna Browder, CBN News.