vimarsana.com

Life and times. This is just over an hour. Im john eleff, president of the Lincoln Group of the District Of Columbia. The Lincoln Group has existed since the 1930s to honor the life and legacy of Abraham Lincoln. And this year we have a special opportunity to hear from an extraordinary speaker. And in introducing him i would like to repeat something that he said at the First National Republican Convention that he attended as a young man in 1884. He was part of a reform wing of the Republican Party, and they had an insurgent candidate to be temporary chair of the convention, taking on the candidacy of the Republican National committee. That candidate happened to be the africanamerican congressmen from mississippi, john r. Lynch, and here is somewhere of what our speaker said. It is now less than a quarter of a century this this great city organized it is a fitting thing for us to choose to preside over this convention. One of that race whose right to sit within these walls is due to the blood and treasury lavishly spent by the founders of the Republican Party. So it is a great honor and pleasure to introduce the 26th president of the United States no, he asked me to introduce him differently. It is a tremendous honor to introduce colonel theodore roosevelt. [ applause ] thank you very, very much, sir. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. I am theodore roosevelt, and im delighted to be here this evening with the Lincoln Group of the District Of Columbia and northern virginia. How its done my heart good to share fellowship with you this evening. So many of you recognized me and greeted me accordingly. Hello, teddy. Good evening, mr. President. My friends in my retirem call me colonel for my brief time in the first United States volunteer cavalry. History remembers us as the rough riders. All of those greetings tonight historically accurate stands in stark contrast to the one young man when we road down to Roosevelt Island yesterday, he pointed at me and said, look, theres the monopoly dude. [ laughter ] quite humbling for an old politician i assure you. And if he knew his history from mr. Obrien, he would have known i was the antimonopoly dude. Well, i am here to salute Abraham Lincoln. Of course i was a little boy born in 1878. Of course as a little boy what a hero Abraham Lincoln was to me. Even with some caution from your chief executive here, i wanted to share with you of course what you already know. Im a famous knickerbocker, a new yorker through and through, but i stand before you half georgiaen. My great great grandfather was the revolutionary of georgia. You might know mrs. Rosa is a daughter of georgia and now of course the bulks indeed some historians say if not for the stories i heard as a young boy, stories of relatives who hunted panthers in the swamp, of an uncle, of those who marched off to florida to fight in the seminal war, if not for all of these stories for southern dare ask doom and adventure, then i might have not grown to pbe you president. I can indeed improve my southern stock. My grandfather and grandmother, they were sweethearts as children. My grandfather james steven bulk and my grandmother Martha Stewart. I thought you might catch on there. Martha stewart was the youngest leaving young martha behind, he didnt want to leave young martha unmarriedch in this regard my grandfather proposed to the young lady. As those ladies in those days refused the first proposal. He married a young lady in savannah, Esther Elliott. A week later my grandmother married Esther Elliotts father, john elliott. My grandmother Martha Stewart elliott at that time was a wonderful hostess here in washington, d. C. Two years after his retirement he died. Shortly thereafter Esther Elliot bullock died at which point my grandfather proposed to my grandmother at which point my grandfather was marrying my step motherinlaw. If that doesnt make me a southerner, i dont know what will. They were married in 1853. If your travels take you nearby to atlanta, i hope youll visit bullock hall. When i toured the south i bragged about my southern heritage. Of course i had two uncles that were prominent amongst the confederacy. My mothers half brother was head of a Confederate Secret Service in europe. My uncle urvine was said to be the man who fired the last canon off of the alabama in its fateful fight off the coast of france. Both men refused to sign a loyalty oath to the union and are buried today with the symbols of the confederacy on their graves in liverpool, england. Imagine now as a boy my growing up in the heart of the union. My father found no way he could fight against my mothers family. My father, yes its true, he paid for two substitutes to fight in his place during the war. But my father wanted to serve the union cause. He was a founder of the Union League Club of new york city. And along with others of new york, they had an idea which sent my father to the nations capitol and to the offices of john hay, president lincolns private secretary, my father was seen in to meet with the president. The idea was for the allotment commission. You of course here know the allotment commission. This is the first time in our history through legislation the soldier was allowed to signup to have a portion of his pay sent home to his spouse and children. In previous wars very often the family was left at home, destitute, relying upon local charity for support. It took a while. Congress in the early years of the war, they werent familiar with a man coming to lubby congress for the idea of which there wasnt some motive of selfprofit. But my father wanted to serve. So much so he became an allotment commissioner for the state of new yorker. And during those early years my father traveled. My father traveled by train and horseback very often to his own peril to get those soldiers to signup to send a portion to send home to spouse and children. When my father was away from my home, my home became a bevy of proconfederate activity. Three southern women beneath that group, so when my father was away the women would have the children in the basement kitchen preparing clothing, medicine, cash that would make its way to the war and via blockade runner make its way as aid to the south. Yes, perhaps you more than others know when i was a little boy i witnessed the sad funeral parade that came through new york city bearing the body of our martyred president through new york on their way back to springfield. Now after my demise a photographer and historian brought a photograph of that parade to my widow, ms. Roosevelt. And she was familiar with the scene. The picture being it a picture as it passed by grandfathers house. In the second window you see the silhouettes of two small boys. Thats me and my brother elliot watching the parade below. What you do not see is that my future bride, edith carol, was locked in the closet. I of course began my career as a young republican as a young student at harvard college. You must understand me when i tell you i did not learn much of practical value at harvard. Much of my College Mates majored in night lie. But it was my father who sent me to cambridge my freshman years with these words. He said theodore first take care of your health, second your studies. Sadly while i was at harvard my father died of stomach cancer. He but a young man of 45. The entire city of new york was in mourning, and i was in an entirely foul mood. I rote in my diary i thought i might go insane from sadness. I sought refuge in maine, and there with a great man i hunted and hiked and canoed. We climbed the highest point in maine of the great appalachian trail. And we visited the lumber camps where my vocabulary was greatly expanded. And each and every morning before we had our adventures, i took my canoe to where the west branch of the rivers were joined by first brook. And thereof the morning lights i began each and every day as my late father would do with bible devotion. In the years hence the people of maine would see fit to name that bible point, so named for the fact that i as a young man sought and found the wisdom and comfort of the good book there. I would later in my life say that a thorough knowledge of the bible was worth more than a college education. And when i said so i had in mind that great scholar of the good book, Abraham Lincoln. I hope that ive hat my campground cleaner than i found it, but at some point in my 3 1 2 years as president , i might have done some good. The nation gives me credit for the National Parks, perhaps erroneously so. Yellin stone in 1872, ulysses s. Grant. I was only able to double the National Parks. I discovered very often the opposite of progress was congress. But i hope that you enjoy the National Parks. And of course when we think about the National Parks we must think of president Abraham Lincoln who made a condition of california statehood in 1864 the maintenance of the preservation of yosemite as a National Park of the state. And during my administration when we discovered the California Parks Commission was not living up to the responsibility of maintaining that National Park we refederalized much of that park and expanded during my administration in 1903. Theres a great deal of my administration, of course, that has its origin during the lincoln administration. The railroad act, the settling of the west and my own adventures after the dakota territory that would not have occurred without that great legislation. And of course there are many north dakota fathers that still tell me to this day they got the deed with my signature. But that would not have occurred without am homestead act. He was your president there wasnt a major controversy, a maker issue of which i wouldnt look up to the picture i had in my office of Abraham Lincoln. A picture of an unbearded lincoln. I sort of wish the president had not have grown the chin wiskers myself, but i looked up and thought what would the president do in this circumstance. Well, as fantastic as it might sound, it gave me great comfort to put myself in the meend of Abraham Lincoln during the small controversies compared to the great controversies. Of course i was proud to be a member of the Republican Party. And for many republicans in the audience, i know you may blame me for the eight years of wilson. The reason i ran against taft was in great part because of the fact he had divorced himself from the roots of republicans party. The common man, the farmer. But he was doing quite well by the special interest of wall street by the man i call the benefactor of great wealth and land robbers. That party stole the nomination for taft. By the way, not the first or last time something political was stolen in chicago. We returned weeks later and i accepted the nomination of it progressor party. My nomination accepted by james adams, a future Nobel Peace Prizewinner. And how delighted i was to know that her father, mr. Adams of northwestern illinois was a dear friend of Abraham Lincoln and known as double d adams for the spelling of the family name. The lincoln administration, how we wished it lasted longer than it had. But it wasnt to be. But we were inspired still by the greatness of this man. We heard that theodore Roosevelt Island, during that civil war that island was occupied by United States colored troops, and it was a freedmans village. And in the later years of war and in the years right after the war, the island was known then as mason island. The revolutionary patriot, george mason, his family owning the island through those years. Theres a wonderful bit of connection through history. I love the way we find that history has these wonderful web that are woven that remind us we are all indeed connected. On that island, mason owned the island during the war of 1812. And mason served the kessant of the original mason. Mason served as commissioner in charge of exchange of prisoners with the british. So he was sought after by Francis Scott key. And it was mason who gave Francis Scott key his Commission Papers to go and negotiate in the release of prisoners outside fort mckenly during that fateful battle. Of course we have our National Anthem the starspangled banner written at a result of he taking that commission. I first served as your United States Civil Service commissioner. Apoined by jecbenjamin harrison fought against corruption. And then i fought corruption in his democratic regime just as well. You may know that the author of the United States Civil Service act, whats known as the pendleton act, George Pendleton of ohio, the Vice President ial nominee of general mcclellan in 1864. And George Pendletons wife, alice key, the daughter of Francis Scott key. Ive been told so much history that i didnt know by your members. I thought i might share a little bit i knew with you today. I hope i lived up to the asoperations the American People had for my presidency. I sadly came to the presidency through the graveyard with the assassination of president mckinley occurring. 1991 in buffalo new york. I raced through a fish and game dinner to be by his side. And after somedays his physicians assured me and his members of the cabinet who had assembled there that the president would recooperate from his wounds. I remember the trip well. Ted junior shhis first buck. I climbed the highest point in new york state and when i reached the apex, the clouds split and my french kwiguide shd me the bodies of water. When we came down a hunting guide known to me was coming up the path rushing with what appeared to be a telegram in his hands. I knew it was bad news. The telegram was from john hay, now mckinleys secretary of state. It informed me, indeed, that the president was dying in buffalo and i was needed there. Terribly sad news to come to the presidency through the graveyard. Unfortunately those treating his wounds were obstetricians. When i reached it along the hudson river, another telegram given to me from john hay stating at 2 15 that morning president mckinley had died. I was now your president. I raced to buffalo by train, paid condolences to ms. Mckinley. And alwilcox mansion on Delaware Avenue and buffalo, of one of only four times that the president took the oath of office not in the nations capitol. In a burrowed suit of clothes i took the office with a bible in hand. Stating for the peace, prosperity of the American People would remain entirely unbroken. I wrote to a friend while we were in a period of national mourning, it would be worse if we ignored the duties before us. So much so that within weeks of becoming your president and after allowing ms. Mckinley time to move out of the white house, in the month of october, i spent a day working on issues of education and southern improvement with a gentleman. Then that night when i invited booker t. Washington, the president of tuskegee university, he in his youth had been enslaved, did you realize it was the first time a man of color had been a guest of the american president . Some change is retrogression. By all things done by the most recent administrations, the thing i lument most that the name of president mckinley, the last president to have fought in the civil war, who was taken off officially the highest point of north carolina, the president said the federal government should refer to that mountain as denally. The park is named denali. Would it really have been much of a cost to keep the name of mckinley atop that mountain . Might some child in an american schoolhouse wonder why that mountain was named mckinley and look up that name whose record was perhaps overshadowed by my own but it was during the administration we pursued the open door policy of the secretary of state in china. During that time we annexed hawaii. Mount rainer National Park and so much more. History is a tenuous thing. Its important to keep the names of history alive. And salute the work youre doing to keep the name and the legacy of abrahamlengthen alive. Believe it or not, that man who is amongst the greatest men who ever lived, of course theres revisionism in history. There are some who would perhaps have us believe lincoln was not perhaps as great as he was. I applaud your work and i ask you to redouble it, to keep alive the spirit of Abraham Lincoln. I saluted lincoln in 1903. I toured the country. Congress had recessed in the spring. I toured 22 states and two territories. When i was your president and i did not go golfing. I went hunt [camping, very often in the National Parks of the country. During that trip i was in yellow stone National Park and after camping two weeks with john boroughs, i camped in what is today known as roosevelt arch, creating that first act in 1972 and from the act creating the National Park service. By the way, about the only thing president wilson got right. Those words, for the benefit and enjoyment of the people. The parks belonged to each of us hence to all of us. And each responsible to pass them ton in better condition and not in worse. For the first time i saw the grand canyon and the great Colorado River in arizona territory. And how it took my breath awayal. And for the first time i visited california and climbed the camps of yosemite and saw the maintenance of that great gem as a park. In that trip around the country i also spoke at lincolns tube in springfield. And of all the things i said that day i think the most important was to acknowledge the troops of the regular army who were there that were colored gentleman. I saluted them and stated if any man who was willing f fight for country was equally deserving of all the rights of his country and laws there to. When i took the oath of office in march of 1905 you may not know that the night before secretary of state john hay had given to me a ring, a laukt ring. And in the locket of that ring, a clipping of hair taken from president abrahamlengthens deathbed. I held that right hand aloft. And unlike the oath in 1901, this time i had my own suit and had the family bible at hand. Open to and my left palm against james 1 22. Be not only hearers of the word but doers of the word, too. I promised on election fight, 1904 that i would maintain the tradition of George Washington not only in its letter but its spirit, that i would not be a candidate for the presidency in 1908. I shared with one of our members tonight, can only found one record of regret in all my writings and diaries and that was making that statement. I wrote my friend i would have bitten off my left hand if i could have taken that pledge back. But in my day a mans words was as needed as his honor. And i had to keep that pledge. Mrs. Roosevelt and i toured europe. And then i returned to the United States and saw that president taft had made a mess of everything. Returning my and Abraham Lincolns Republican Party back over to those special interest on wall street. So i told the Republican Press i would stick to the waist, and my hat was in the ring. The first time that pugilism was used to declare candidacy. And across the country i campaigned. I do hope i received the votes of every lincoln republican that was. But of course i was not successful. I only one six states. 27 of the electoral vote, the most successful Third Party Candidacy in our history unless you count the and i think an argument can be made for that. There they acknowledged the creation of the Republican Party in 1864 in wisconsin where the founders said they entered that schoolhouse as democrats, wigs, free soilers and republicans. I still got hope from my Republican Party and Abraham Lincolns Republican Party. And i want you do know when i finished my administration of course, we today inaugurate the new president in january. In my day before the constitutional revision we did so in march. Of all things i took great delight that allowed me to salute both president lincoln and president washington during their birth month of february, during that last year of my administration in 1909. And as i considered with your president , what i might share with you, i thought i cannot improve upon the original. With yourfo forebearance, remar that i made in kentucky. And if youll bear with me, i wrote the speech as i wrote tens of thousands of letters, i wrote 30 books. I did not write well. I simply took well to writing. But if youll bear with me what i wrote in 1909 bears repeating, and id like to get the words correctly read. We have met here to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of one of the two greatest americans. Of one of the two greatest men of the 19th century. Of one of the greatest men in the worlds history. The railsplitter. This boy who passed his ungainly youth in the dire poverty in the chorus of the frontier folk. Whose rise was by weary and painful labor lived to lead his people through the burning flames of a struggle of which the nation emerged purified as by fire, born anew to a loft yr life. After long years of iron, effort and of failure that came often in victory, he at last rose to leadership at that moment when that leadership had become the stupendous world task of the time. Success came to him but never happiness. Save that which springs from doing well a painful and a vital task. Power was his but not pleasure. The furows deepened on his brow, but his eyes were undimmed by either hate or fear. His gaunt shoulders were bowed but his steel never faltered. His great and tender heart shrank from giving pain. And the task allotted him was to pour out like water the lifeblood of the young men with the fuel in his every fiber the surow of the women. Disaster saddened but never dismayed him. As the red years of war went by they found him ever doing his duty in the present, ever facing the future with fearless front. High of heart and dauntless of soul. Unbroken by hatred, unshaken by scorn, he worked and suffered for the people. Triumph was him at the last and barely had he tasted it before murder found him. And the kindly, patient, fearless eyes were closed forever. As a people we are indeed beyond measure fortunate in the character of the two greatest of our public men, washington and lincoln. Widely though they differed in externals, the virginia landed gentleman and the kentucky backed woodsman, they were alike in essentials. They were alike in the great qualities which made each able to Render Service to his nation. And to all man kind such as no other man of his generation could or did render. Each had lofty ideals. But each in striving to obtain these lofty ideals was guided by the soundest common sense. Each possessed inflexible courage and adversity, and a soul wholly unspoil bide prospair ety, each poesdsed all the virtues commonly exhibited by good men who lacked rugged strength of character. Each possessed also all the strong qualities which commonly exhibited by those towering masters of man kind who have too often shown themselves devoid as so much as we signify the qualities of duty, mercy, lofty disinterest and battling for the good of others. There have been other men as great and other men as good, but in all the history of man kind there are no other two great men as good as these. No other two good men as great. Widely though the problems of today differ from the problems set for solution to washington when he founded this nation, to lincoln when he saved it, and freed the widely though the problems today differ from the problems founding this nation, to lincoln when he saved it and freed the slaves, yet the qualities they showed in meeting these problems are exactly the same as those we should show in doing our work today. Lincoln saw into the future with the prophetic imagination usually vowed to the poet and the seer. Without any of the visionarys jealousy of the practical man and inability to strive in practical fashion for the realization of an ideal. He had the practical mans hard common sense and willingness to adapt means to ends. But there was in him none of that ma that morbid growth of man and soul. He had nothing in common with those practical men whose consciousnesses are warped until they fail to distinguish between good and evil. Fail foounderstand that strength, ability, shrewdness whether in the world of business and politics only serve to make the world more nox s, more evil in the community if they are not guided and controlled by a fine and moral sense. We of this day must try to solve many social and industrial problems, requiring to in a special degree, the combination of indominantable resolution with coolheaded sanity. We can profit by the way in which lincoln used both these traits as he strove for reform. We can learn much of value of the attacks which followed in that course brought upon his head. Attacks alike biests of revolution and extremists of reaction. He never wavered in his devotion and principles and in his abhorrence of slavery. Timid and lukewarm people were always denouncing him because he was too extreme. But as a matter of fact, he never went to extremes. He worked step by step. And because of this the extremists hated denounced him with a fervor which now seems to us fantastic in its dayification of the unreel and impossible. At the one time holding him up because he was against slavery, it leading abolitionist denounced him as the slave hound of illinois. When he was the second time candidate for president , the majority of his opponents attacked him for what they term said as extreme cadicalism. While a minority threatened to bolt his ats the very time he overroad the opposition of those who wished not to go forward at all, the goal was never dim before his vision, but he picked his way cautiously without either halt or hurry as he strode toward it. Through such difficulty that no man of less courage would have attempted it. While it would have sury overwhelmed any man of judgment less serene. Yet perhaps the most wonderful thing of all and from the standpoint of America Today and of the future, the most vitally important was the extraordinary way in which lincoln could fight valiantly against what he deemed wrong and yet preserve undiminished his love and respect for a brother from whom he differed. In the hour of a triumph that would have turned any weaker mans head, he said truthfully that as long as he had been in his office he had never willingly planted a thorn in any mans bosom. And he sought his supporters to study the trial of which he was passing as philosophy, through which to learn wisdom and not as wrongs to be avenged. Ending with the solemn exeritation that as the strife was over, all should reunite in an effort to save their common country. He lived in the days that were great and terrible, when brother fought against brother for what each sincerely believed to be the right. In a contest so grim the strong men alone who can carry it through are rarely able to do justice to the deep convictions of those with whom they grapple in mortal strife. At such times men see through to only a rarest and loftiest spirits are vowed safe that clear vision which gradually comes to all, even to the lesser as the struggle fades into the d distance. Wounds are forgotten and peace creeps back to the hearts of the hurt. As lincoln gave to this supreme vision, he did not hate the man of whom he differed. Weakness was his weakness and strong nature. But his courage was one so high it needed no bolstering. As it was given to them to see the right, belonged to both the men of the north and to the men of the south. As the years rolled by and as all of us, wherever we dwell, grow to feel an equal pride in the valor and selfdevotion alike of the men who wore the blue and the men who wore the gray, so this whole nation will grow to feel a peculiar sense of pride of the man whose blood was shed for the union of his people and for a freedom of a race, the lover of his country and of all man kind. The mightiest of the mighty men who mastered the mighty gaze, Abraham Lincoln. [ applause ] careful, careful now. Thats an encouragement for a politician to go on speaking. I was the first president to make Permanent Office space veil for members of the press at the white house. Something im sure many of my successors deeply regret. I would be negligent in my duties if i didnt open up the floor to questions and perhaps your president might do so first. I defer to each and every one of you, any question or comment you might have . We can do a bit of a boxing. Given the strife of our Political Parties in the last decade, would you support a third party, and do you think it would be possible . Currently as you know the election laws the current access laws are written to the development of the third party candidate. The internet, of course, has brought great change to the way that we campaign. So i could imagine by some circumstance if these two major parties are not attendant to the needs of the American People, that the American People may seek out some sort of tremendous change just as the Republican Party was borne of the need of the inability of the major parties at the time and the kansasnebraska bill had upset the compromises. Again, if the American People choose to put their faith in a third party effort, maybe they wont be looking to the example of the bold moves party but to the party of the 1860s as the marvel of success. Yes, please, sir. I would raise the story, you and the french ambassador going out to rock creek. And what we would call skinnydipping and theres a monument of the ambassador near the spot. What can you tell us about these outings . The game of course was called point to point. Its an outdoor hiking game, a game we played in oyster bay, long island. Other than the lincoln boys i do believe that the roosevelt children captured the imagination of the American People with their life at the white house. And of course we were able to do so in a time of peace and prosperity. The way we played pont to point with the children in oyster bay was to first spin around a child at point a, and where that dizzy child came to rest and landed, was an imaginary child. The rule being whenever you came to an obstacle, you never went around the obstacle but always and only under it, over it or through it. Its great. We should play it right here in arlington. I imported this game to washington, d. C. And played the game with members of congress and dip mats, with army and Navy Officers and childs themselves too unfit to keep up with the fat, asthmatic president through the winds. The ambassador came to the white house obviously disregarding the part of the invitation that said wear your dirty clothes. For he arrived wearing the finest silks of the french court. We raced through the woods for several hours eventually coming to the potomac river. The french ambassador looked greatly relieve. He had sweat through his clothes. And he felt certainly this was our terminus, that we would return to the white house for some wellearned refreshments. But i said, gentlemen, left us take off our clothes, put our clothes on high and then return. Can you imagine this today . While he had his robe he kept on his lavender gloves. I said, ambassador, why have you kept on your gloves . He said mr. President , thats in case we meet any ladies. I see fashions have changed greatly along the riverfront. I dont believe any president ever enjoyed himself as president in the white house as much as i did. Certainly no family enjoyed themselves more than the roosevelt family. Six children, most of them small. But my daughter, alice, was 17 when we entered the white house. And her behavior was scandalous. Alice Smoke Cigarettes in public, flirted with the white house officers. Alice kept a nak in her purse and introduced the snake as emily spinach, sometimes wearing it as a necklace over her neck. Alice is often seen smoking on the white house roof. During one conference with an old friend alice continuously and exuberantly interrupted. Finally the ambassador said, mr. President , can you control your daughter . I i said sir i can either run the country or control my daughter. I cannot do both. She was married in 1906 to a congressman. He in the future the wedding was a great success. The color alice blue popped in for decades and went on as fashion and home decor. She lived into the age of 96. Well into the administration of james carter and all those years living in her duplex apartment here. She was known as the second washington monument. And i believe her personality lightly summed up by a message on her pillow. The message said if you dont have anything nice to say about someone, come sit next to me. Yes, sir, mr. Brown. Please. There are two president s in the United States who are born in new york city, you being the first. What do you think of the second occupant . Seems weve run out of time tonight. Well, i am sometimes asked by audiences, theres been a bit of an editorial opinion. Someone wrote a common, oh, President Trump is so much like president roosevelt. Its true we were both born in new york city. We both came from a bit of wealth, and i think early on i lost most of my fathers inheritance in a cattle ranch gone bad along the missouri river. I think President Trump showed a bit more finesse with his investments. But if i were to find for me something that might be similar in my time period, you might remember that the publisher William Randolph hurst sought the democratic nomination. You might remember the film citizen kaine. Its based on william hurst. In that regard hurst was a selfpromoter. He had little public service. His claim was that he was awealthy man who had been quite successful at promoting his own business interests. So i would say, sir, theres probably a closer relationship and a historical relationship between William Randolph hurst and the president than myself. By the way, were on cspan, so im on the record here. Im delighted to see cspan here today. If we make the cut, i want you to know im delighted by the wonderful work cspan does bringing hearings and seminars directly to the people of this contray without editorial comment or commercial. It was during one of the wonderful programs hosted by brian lamb, book tv on cspan. You may know he interviewed my biographer edward morris, he who wrote many years ago the rise of theodo theodore roosevelt. And it was during that interview all in all he was glad i died at 60. For if he lived any longer, it would have cost him a decade as my biographer. Questions, comments, anyone at all . Oh, right, theres a real president in the room. By the way, ive heard you got board elections coming up in may. Never miss a meeting. There was a cold strike in 1902, and you had to intervene, and how did president lincolns example influence you as you dealt with that crisis . Of course i asserted the power of the executive in this case. Its known in histories a the anthrosite cold strike of 1902. Primarily in eastern pennsylvania, bit to the north and central portion of pennsylvania. The coal was the coal we burned in our fireplaces in places like new york, philadelphia, boston. The workers had gone on strike for increased wages and rational reasonable working hours. And when theyd gone on strike the mine operators locked the Union Workers out. We were producing no anthrocite coal. Well, i threatened to mine owners unless they negotiated with the Union Members that i would send federal troops in to operate the mines. And this is similar to what president truman would later do during the steel strike during his administration. We at the blare house, the white house was being renovated at the time. We built the east and west wing during my administration. Id had some surgery on my leg, so at the blare house im met in a wheelchair with my leg upon another chair. And the union and the mine owners would not even meet with mr. Lewis, the head of the mine workers union. We decided to go about an arbitration. I put together an arbitration commission, and the mine owners were adamant no union man should be represented on that commission. So i discovered that they didnt man that a union man might be appointed as long as he werent called a union man. They didnt so man twital dum or tweetal diaz long as the phrase was used properly. President wilson during his time as a professor as a political scientist wrote a great one called congressional government. There are two president s during the period before and after that period when the federal government was dominated by the speaker of the house, the senate and all the Important Committee chairman. There were two times when the executive was ascended. And when the executive asserted power, perhaps power beyond that constitutionally authorized, and that was president lincoln and myself. There was no Constitutional Authority for me to build the panama canal, to recognize the break away republic of panama just as there had been no Constitutional Authority for president jefferson to purchase the louisiana purchase. But lincoln did much to raise the power of the executive, and i think i followed in his footsteps to make sure that the president just wasnt a rubber stamp for the acts of congress but instead that from the white house might emanate leadership for the American People. To do the thing that was necessary to do for the common welfare and benefit of the American People and the Common People of this country. This was the idea that the federal government existed not only to enrich the people of wall street as some of the previous administrations had done but instead a government for and by the people. I couldnt imagine sitting by the side lines and watching a terrible winter decimate the people of england and instead do what i could do to bring them heat to their homes in 1902. How did you get the Nobel Peace Prize . I helped to settle the japanese war with the treaty. The major parties of europe, well, they either all were allied with the japanese or with the russians. And we were able at the invitation of the french and english who stood behind those major powers, to help negotiate a peace that eventually i think was proven to save hundreds of thousands of lives. Both the czar and the emperor both fighting for honor. So it wasnt only to my credit but the credit of the people of portsmith, new hampshire, wentworth by the sea kept alive and remembered. I felt fortunate to do that work of bringing peace to asia in such a way that eventually was acknowledged the following year with the awarding of my Nobel Peace Prize. I accepted that peace prize in 1910 when i toured europe. Of course theres a great deal of money that came along with the Nobel Peace Prize. And explained to my children since i was president of the United States conducting my public duties when that peace was negotiated that there was no way i felt i could retain the money. I delegated the money to congress, asking congress to fund an institute for industrial peace. But congress wasnt interested in doing such a thing. So when the First World War came about, i asked for my money to be returned. It was returned with interest. And that money was then parcelled out for the relief of famine in belgium, for the support of our troops in france. And hope it came to some effective good especially for the doughboys who carried on that duty in world war i. Thank you. Yes, sir, doctor, please. As you look back do you have any regrets about your relationship with mr. Taft . Im from cincinnati and you know i won ohio not in the general election but in the republican primary in ohio. The first republican primary held for president ial election. In part because he promised to continue the progress. For example, he promised me luke wright would be secretary of war, but then he did not appoint luke wright. This was to the point of wanting to replace taft. He broke several personal promises to me, and under the influence of his brothers primarily, i think returned my Republican Party back over to those in control of wall street. Subsequent when i return today the United States and toured the country famously speaking in kansas about my program of new nationals, that we needed a federal government that would indeed advocate for the American People and, for example, the continued conservation of our american resources. Held the first governors conference on the conservation of natural resources. In 1909 before the end of my administration, we held the First North American conference on north american conference. We had begun and plan to implement plans for the First International conference on natural resources. The earliest activities of the Taft Administration was to cancel that conference. Unfortunately between tis lethargy and under the influence of the old powers behind a more corrupt and boss driven Republican Party, president taft was a great disappointment to me. When the nomination was stolen in chicago, the behindlicle says not to steal. There was no way i could support president taft after such a fact. Yes, please. Now that youre you may have heard theres an election again in three years. Since perhaps you had not quite achieved the second elected term, would you be interested in running . Would you run if nominated and would you serve . I shall not give a shermanesque response, if not elected i shall not serve. Ill run on this position, if president elliot joins my ticket. How about that . Are you with me . Apparently hell accept the nomination on condition of a good response a his question, which is let me speak. Yes, sir. You quoted abrahams lincolns statement, quote, labor is spear yoer to capital. What did you mean is this it was also lincoln that said there was no justice in stealing bread from the man who labored. The men of capital have run this country for some time. Its the emen of labor that are cut out from deal making, sometimes in misname on his behalf. The demagoguery of putting class against class is one im never accused of. We have suffered through secondsle ichl. We were told we are different by race, by party. When i brought booker t. Washington to the white house, i stated i never judged a man by race, color, creed nor by their section. Theres no hyphenated americanism nor differentiation between the man of labor and capital. Unless that machine of Capital Shows himself to be per in addition to the American People and whether consumers or competitors, hence the enforcement of the sherman antitrust law against the man of capital and for the man of labor. I think thats an answer. Are you on the ticket . That general sherman had it. We have had a wonderful night. Madam, i think well take yours as last, it being a school night. [ inaudible question ] you might remember there was a famous run on wall street in 1927. After their weekend of being locked up in his library in new york city. Carnegie was convinced to purchase the shares of tennessee iron and coal company which had a great smelting plant. Birmingham, alabama, and he was aware this would increase his portion to be something of 67 capacity. He wanted, before he purchased that stock to boost some of the shares of the Trust Company in new york, he wanted the i insurance that i would not sue. I assured mr. Carnegie theres a difference between a good trust and a bad trust. That as long the action ogs of his corporation were not dumping of product and price dropping, that as long as his actions were those of an honest business p proprietor, that i would be all right and he would have no fear of the Justice Department for such a purchase. [ inaudible ]. A great deal the terms of what was the role of the federal government. Should have been much greater. In fact, the creation of the department of congress, labor. It was really that we might gath gather statistics of business that. Publicly traded companies should open up their books. Much of this would accomplished later in Franklin Roosevelts administration. It was the idea that we should have the information b of these corporations and they should be operated honestly. On wall street, they have fallen far short of this with open books for the consideration of the American People that many speech again, if kansas was calling for a great deal more activity of the federal government in not operating industry as the socialists would have us do, but instead in regulating the businesses so they would do to right thing by their shareholders and the people of this country. Delightful. Bully bully. Thank you all kindly. Bully thank you, a real delight. Thank you. Delighted to be here. You cant fool me. I can tell when ive kept an audience in their chair too long. Join me in three cheers for lincoln. Hip hip. Hoar ray hip hip. Hurray hip hip hurray this weekend on the cspan networks, saturday at 19 15 p. M. Eastern, former president ial speechwriters from nixon to obama. Sunday at 6 30 p. M. How your impacts your health. On book tv, Daily Caller News Foundation editorinchief op how his book the art of the donald. And on sunday at 11 00 a. M. , Rebecca Frazier and her book the mayflower. Saturday at 8 55 p. M. , Matthew Restall on the u. S. Capitols art and architecture. Sunday at 9 10 p. M. , the Ground Breaking ceremony of the dwight d. Eisenhower memorial in washington, d. C. This weekend on lectures in history, peter castor teaches a class about how the United States changed from the post civil war reconstruction period to the progressive era in the 20th century. Heres a preview. Now, to them, both of them, immigrants who acquired u. S. Citizenship. Citizenship brought with it an extraordinary opportunity. They had not been born in the United States, but by becoming citizens, they enjoyed equal legal status with american citizens. United states in general, st. Louis in particular became a land of opportunity for them. This is what many immigrants will find. One of reasons is that the germans in general faced less antagonism than the irish. I think the experience for any immigrant is difficult. You arrive in anew country. People may not trust you. You may not speak the same language as anyone. Its always difficult. Then there are matters of degree. Watch the entire program on lectures is in history at 8 00 p. M. And midnight on saturday. American history tv, only on cspan 3. The cspan bus is on the 50 capitals tour, visiting each States Capital and hearing about his priorities. We kicked off in dover and have now visits 12 state capitals. Our next stop is tallahassee florida. Well be there with live interviews. On lectures in history, middle State University professor Ashley Riley Sousa teaches a class on native americans and capitalism in early 19th century california. She focuses on local tribes commercial interactions with Spanish Missions and for traders. She also talks about the commodities these groups exchanged. Such at livestock, fabric, fur, beads, and fish. Her class is about one hour and 15 minutes. All right, todays lecture will pull together the topics we have been exploring throughout the semester. Spanish colonization of north america contributions of native american societies to the colonies, manifest destiny, the american conquest of northern mexico and the american wests role in slavery, but from a slightly different perspective. We read about indian removal in the 19th century and how it was

© 2025 Vimarsana

vimarsana.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.