Ho you are looking at some of the images from the 1884 president ial electionthey discud his time. 1884 against cleveland. Ironically, in 1876, it was b laine who prevented Ulysses Grant from making a comeback and winning a third term. Besides being secretary of state for James Garfield and Chester Arthur he was secretary of state under three president s. What else did he do . He was a speaker of the house. He was a governor. He changed some of the rules in the house. The speakers are always changing the rules somewhat to their advantage is. This was after the civil war when congress was much more central, much more potent than it had been. Their reaction against the strong executive said in. To be the secret the speaker of the house, to be a power in congress meant a lot more fun than it would today. Do you have anything to say . What do you think would have happened if he won . I think he would be regarded as the best president between lincoln and tr. He was assertive, he had intelle
He wrote a book not as many people know about. It is a short book and i think it is about the role of religion in america. I read polks diaries. He sat down and must have with a quill pin, this was 1840s, and he wrote sometimes lengthy notes, probably 1011 at night. Something like senator houston showed up at 9 p. M. For an interview. Took a long time but where read it all the way through. I dont know of any president who has written such detailed diaries. What is counterly on your reading list . I am reading a book at robert nole wrote. It is the biography of alex haley. He was a tennessee man and he is in the news because this is the 40th anniversary of roots which people may have forgotten was the best watched Television Show ever. About 85 of the American Television sets watched some part of roots in 1977. Alex haleys book is about slavery really told it in su such in terms that had not been presented before. When that was combined with the movie it just jolted the country. And it
You can watch previous episodes on our website. Senator lamar alexander, if somebody asked you for a recommendation about tennessee or tennessee history what would you recommend . I would recommend alex stewart by john rise erwin. Stewart was a clipper who is a barrel maker and lived in hancock county, a remote county. John rice erwin is the creator ofhe museum of appalachian. He could make anything. He could pull teeth, catch a squirrel and skin it, fry it and eat it. He was so interesting he was invited to washington to be part of the smithsonian folk life festival one time. If you want to get a sense of how some Mountain People lived totally off the land, alex stewart by john rice erwin. Host a lot of famous politicians from tennessee. Poke, a couple president s like jackson and johnson. I mentioned two, john meechamp best book. He wrote a book not as many people know about. It is a short book and i think it is about the role of religion in america. I read polks diaries. He sat down
Line up were ready to take some questions. Hi, my name is sean, and im from the university of san diego. So speaking about incentives for Congress People to take the long view, take the hard vote, what do you think in your opinion is the best solution to incentivizing individual Congress People to take the long view . Well, first of all, nobodys going to do something that deliberately and intentionally causes their loss. That wou defy the laws of nature. So im from kansas so if i went up and i said wheat programs are bad for this country, im going to vote against them my constituents would think i was nuts. Okay. Because im sent there to represent their views, their perspectives on as much as i can. But im also sent up this to use my own up there to use my own judgment with as well. And, you know, my judgment is that philosophically these jobs were not meant to be permanent jobs. There was meant to be turnover. It doesnt mean i believe in term limits but it means that people have to ha
Most important symbol of democracy in the world. Although i have come to work every day here for 25 years, it never fails to impress me. Senator mcconnell, thank you so much for your time. That was senator Mitch Mcconnell in 2010. He is the Incoming Senate majority leader for the 114th congress which convenes on january 6. We continue with a look at the historical role of the majority leader. We will hear from robert byrd, speaking in 1998 inside the Old Senate Chamber. [applause] welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the third lecture series that the leaders have been sponsoring. I think this will be one of the most interesting ones we will ever have. We have had three this year and we hope to have three more next year. When the idea was first suggested that we have some further attempt to preserve the history of the senate, that we had a unique time in history because we had such a large number of former Vice President s and former leaders of the senate that were still in the senate or a