President . Arthur called me on the phone and said youre in tennessee and james k. Polk is a tennesseen. And he said i want you to do one thing. He said allen evans has done a paper back that excerpts his diary, his president ial diary. Just take a weekend and read it and tell me no. And i read the excerpts from the diary and i could say no. I was fascinated about the man. Did you know much about him before this . I knew his grave was behind the capitol. There is no marker in nashville except a plaque on the side of a dirty motel wall. His old home place in columbia is preserved and ive been there many times and ive been there since. But i knew virtually nothing about him and almost nothing that was good. Result of what was done to him during his presidency over the mexicanamerican war left him a bad reputation. A reputation as a warmonger, and the attacks on him in congress in the latter days of his administration reminded me a great deal of the attacks on Linden Johnson at the end of
Historians. Mr. Poke ranked 14th in cspans story of president ial leadership. John seeingigenthaler, autho james k. Polk. How did they talk you into doing a biography of this president . He called me and said youre a tennessean, james polk was a tennessean. Why dont you write a biography for the series on the president s. I said, arthur, i dont have time. Im retired. He said i want you to do one thing. He said allen evans has done a paper back that excerpts his diary, his president ial diary. Just take the weekend to read it and tell me no. I read the excerpts from the diary and i couldnt say no. I was fascinated by the man. Did you know much about him before you started this . I knew he was a tennessean, im a tennessean. I knew that his grave is behind the capitol. There is no marker in nashville except a plaque on the side of a dirty motel wall. His old home place in columbia is preserved, and ive been there many times and have been there since. But i knew virtually nothing about him
The president and ceo of the United States capitol Historical Society. I just took this job in february, so this is my new adventure. But this organization has been around for more than 50 years, and we are delighted to have you all join us for a celebration of the distinguished history of the Senate Finance committee. We begin the program tonight with the presentation of colors by the United States Capitol Police ceremonial unit and the pledge of allegiance. Please rise. Forward march. March. Right shoulder. Now please join in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america and to the republic for which it stands one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you very much. You may be seated. Our celebration this evening is possible because we have generous support from the bank of america, from grant thornton, from allergen, from the National Retail federation, from the association of global automakers, United Techno
Painter from missouri. He was most famous in the 1930s, 1940s. He is known for doing a style of art called regionalism. A lot of the midwest rural scenes, he often paints. He paints a lot of American Labor scenes. But it tends to be the rural aspect of it. His core belief was common art for the common man. But he is an artist that becomes very famous during his career. And fairly welltodo. Tom benton came from a political family. He was named for his great uncle senator thomas benton. So tom grows up surrounded by politics. Father, a colonel, was a successful lawyer in missouri where tom was born. His father was a u. S. District attorney. In 1896 when tom was seven his father was elected to the house of representatives. The family does move to washington, d. C. For eight years. For benton the ages of seven to 15 growing up in d. C. Then coming back to the ozarks every summer, that will be formative for him to experience those two different worlds. To be able to move in this political,
Annette dunlap she changed it in terms of putting education in the forefront and getting involved with education and taking care of children. She was really concerned about how children were cared for, and that was something she definitely emphasized. Susan swain and, taylor where would you put her in the pantheon of first ladies weve been learning about this year . Taylor stoermer shes the first celebrity first lady, the First National celebrity first lady. And i think when were talking about the development of our understanding of the institution of the first lady, then she is the first one in which we get to start thinking about what really are the uses of that celebrity in good ways and bad ways, because there are concerns that have developed about the first family being owned by the American Public, but also how that can actually be a positive tool of the broader presidency if only Grover Cleveland would have been able to see that. Susan swain and the story in that regard will con