C-SPAN and I came of age at pretty much the same time. The network launched when I was in ninth grade. Through high school, I watched it frequently. I continued in college and beyond. The network taught me a great deal — about Congress and about government in general. About politics at large.

The guru was Brian Lamb, C-SPAN’s founder. I owe him a lot. So do other Americans. Wisely, George W. Bush hung the Presidential Medal of Freedom around his neck.

You can imagine how I felt to be interviewed by him not long ago: It was like meeting Reggie Jackson or Jack Nicklaus or something. It was a brush with the big leagues.

I am Brian’s guest tonight on his Q&A program, which airs at 8 and 11 (Eastern). We’re talking about my new book, Children of Monsters: An Inquiry into the Sons and Daughters of Dictators. Brian plays several video clips, featuring these children.

And I have occasion to mention a tidbit concerning Brian himself. In 1967, he escorted the First Lady, Mrs. Johnson, down the aisle. Her daughter, Lynda Bird, was marrying Charles S. Robb. Lamb was in the military, serving as a social aide in the White House.

I learned something right after our taping. By pure coincidence, Lamb would moderate a conversation at George Mason University that very night — a conversation with the wedding couple, Mr. and Mrs. Robb. Almost 50 years later.

Anyway, it was an honor to meet Brian Lamb and to be interviewed by him — even better than being ambushed, let’s say, by Mike Wallace.