American products. [applause] [crowd chanting four more years] pres. Biden thank you, thank you. Hello wisconsin. Nick, thanks for the introduction. Before i get started, i went to set the record straight. Please sit. I went to a Catholic High School in delaware taught by the no 14 priests from saint norbert college, a little team called green bay. [crowd cheering] heres the deal. You are the only high school in delaware who overwhelmingly rooted for green bay. [laughter] pres. Biden not a joke. I will tell you why. Every single sunday, not only did they have a great team at the time, still do, but at the time, my theology professor at the Catholic School i went to was a guy named riley. Last name. He had been drafted by the Green Bay Packers and he decided to become a priest before that, so he didnt go. But for single solitary monday that green bay won, we got the last period of the day off. [laughter] [applause] now we catholics call that indirect bribery. [laughter] but it worked. Its always great to be with one of the best governors in america, tony evers. [cheers and applause] i think it, and i mean it, only one word, integrity. You are a man of absolute integrity. [applause] and what i am really doing, i am really auditioning for a job with a Little Company that is going to build something out here. Thank you for the comments you made about what were doing. Look, well she couldnt be here, i want to thank one of the best u. S. Senators in the United States of america and a good friend of mine, tammy baldwin. [cheers and applause] you also have a great mayor in racine, corey mason. [cheers and applause] brad smith, president of microsoft, thank you for your partnership, for showing how we get things done and big things done in america. Send thank you for your friendship. [applause] thank you for all that you do to benefit the American Union movements. I got called to the most prounion president in American History. I make no apologies for it. [applause] nine. I am serious. The middleclass built america. But unions built the middle class. [applause] i have been saying that for a long time. Folks, i am here to talk about a great comeback story in america. I im sure you remember, racine was once a manufacturing town all the way through the 1960s. Power companies. They invented the manufacturing windex, portable vacuum cleaners and so much more, powered by middleclass jobs. From then came trickle down economics, that cut taxes for the very wealthiest and biggest corporations. In the 1960s we shipped american jobs overseas because labor was cheaper. We slashed Public Investment in education and innovation and as a result, we hollowed out the middle class. My predecessor and his administration doubled down on that failed trickledown economics along with the trail of broken promises. My dad used to have an expression. He said, my dad was a well read man and never went to college, but he was a good man all across the board. He said, a job is a lot more than about your paycheck. Its about your integrity, about your dignity. Its about being treated with respect. Its about being able to look your kid in the eye and say, honey, everything is going to be ok. [applause] in fact, six years ago when my predecessor came to racine with the promise of, quote, reclaiming our countrys proud manufacturing legacy, we heard that every week for four years and did not build a thing. Give administration promised a billiondollar investment by foxconn to build a new manufacturing complex to create 13,000 new jobs. In fact, he came here with your senator ron johnson literally holding a golden shovel promising to build the eighth wonder of the world. Are you kidding me . [laughter] look what happened. They dug a hole with those golden shovels and then they fell into it. [laughter] they didnt shovel all the dirt. They did shovel some dirt. 100 homes were bulldozed. They wasted hundreds of millions of dollars, your state and local tax dollars to promise a project would never happen. Foxconn turned out to be just that, a con. Go figure. Instead of creating 13,000 jobs in racine, my predecessor, rather than creating those manufacturing jobs, one thousand manufacturing jobs left racine. 85,500 total jobs left wisconsin during my predecessorss term. But thats not on my watch from that we are determined to turn it around. Thus far since we have come to office, we have created with the governors over mobileme leadership, over 178,000 jobs in wisconsin. We are going to create more here in racine, and big time. [crowd cheering] some of my friends on the far right have criticized my investing in america agenda. Which includes my bipartisan infrastructure law, the chips and science act, and inflation reduction act. A lot of businesses are supported as a key to Economic Growth that we are seeing now. Remember you were hearing recession next week, recession next week. No soft landing. I asked Business Leaders like brad a simple question, when the United States decides to invest considerable resources in the new industry that we need to build, it does not encourage or discourage them engage in . The answer overwhelmingly is it encourages business investment. That is what we are seeing now with our administration. My investing in america agenda is fueling historic boom and rebuilding our roads and bridges , developing and deploying clean energy, revitalizing american manufacturing, and so much more. So far, we have created 860 6 billion in private Sector Investment nationwide. Almost 1 trillion. Historic amounts in such a short time. Literally creating hundreds of thousands of jobs. Building new semiconductor factories, electric vehicles, and battery factories, and so much more here all here at america. Today it is another example of privatesector optimism. Microsofts president pointed out, he is investing 3. 3 billion to build a new data center here in racine that will operate one of the most powerful Artificial Intelligence systems in the world, and i have gone around the world, literally, not figuratively, meeting with the leading architects of ai. It is going to result in 23 hundred Union Construction jobs. [applause] and 2000 permanent workers to work in the data center. In addition, we are also providing a pipeline to train for these new jobs, a pipeline that starts right here at this very spot. Microsoft is partnering with Gateway Technical Community College right here to to train and certify 200 students a year to fill highdemand, goodpaying jobs in data and in i. T. At microsofts new data center. That is not all, microsoft is continuing to pipeline, going to high schools in nearby Mount Pleasant to train High School Students for jobs of the future. As he pointed out, it will create 100,000 jobs over time. It is all part of microsofts plan to build an Artificial Intelligence ecosystem right here in racine that is going to be transformative not just here, but worldwide. It is not only a significant investment in infrastructure in racine, but for the people overseeing. It means folks are getting trained in new, highpain, highskill jobs that dont require a Fouryear College degree and dont require you to leave home. You know where i come from, that really matters. I know what its like when your parents have to move the family in search of work because there no jobs. What it does to the familys dignity. Last year my wife jill announced our first five workforce hub sites to build a pipeline of workers and industries that are creating a new hometowns in phoenix, baltimore, columbus, ohio, augusta, georgia. Building everything from semiconductors to electric vehicles. Last month, i announced four new hubs to continue to train workers for the jobs of the future. One is in milwaukee that trains workers to help replace every poisonous lead pipe in america in a decade and funded by the infrastructure law. [cheers and applause] and by the way, buy america has been the law of the land since the 1930s, but has been ignored by past administrations. Past administrations, including my predecessors failed to buy america. Not anymore. Here is how it works. When the president when Congress Sends something to the president to build something , whether it is a road, a highway, an aircraft carrier, whatever it is, a law passed in the 1930s is supposed to hire American Workers to build it and use American Products. On my watch, under tammys leadership, federal projects like the bridge here in wisconsin it will cost a billion dollars but it is all going to americanmade products. AllAmerican Workers. It will create 10,000 new jobs. In addition to the roads and highways and so much more would be made with American Products , built by American Workers, creating goodpaying american jobs. What is happening in racine is really important for another reason. We will see more Technical Community colleges, technical changes needed in the next 10 years than we saw in the last ai 50. Is already driving that change in every part of American Life from how we teach and learn to how we solve the Biggest Challenges from curing cancer to climate change. America is a Global Leader in ai. American Companies Lead the world in Ai Innovation and a lot of what we will see here in racine. Because of our initiatives, American Workers will power that innovation here in america. But, look, to get the full benefit of all of these safeguards, we need safeguards. That is why i signed the landmark executive order which is the most significant action any government has taken anywhere in the world, has ever taken, for ai safety, security and trust. This order helps make sure workers have a seat at the table determining how these technologies are developed and used. [applause] for real. I will support workers in every industry by defending the right to a fair wage, to organize as these technologies emerge across the board. And they are going to happen. Folks, [applause] during the previous administration, my predecessor made promises which he broke more than kept him left a lot of people behind in communities like racine. On my watch, we make promises and we keep promises. [cheers and applause] we leave no one behind. Since i took office, we have added more than 178,000 jobs in wisconsin. The Unemployment Rate has hit a record numeral. And it is only just beginning. We are seeing the Great American comeback story all across wisconsin and, quite frankly, the entire country. The bottom line is were doing what is always work in this country, giving people a fair shot at leaving nobody behind them to the economy from the middle out on the bottom up, not the top down. When that happens, everybody does well. [applause] everybody does well. Let me close with this. When folks see a new factory being built here in wisconsin, people going to work making a really good wage in their hometowns, i hope they feel the pride that i feel. Pride in their hometowns making a comeback. Pride in knowing we can get big things done in america still. Folks, i have never been more optimistic, and i have only been around a couple of years, i know. [laughter] i know it dont look at, but i am 40plus two. I swear to god, i have never been more optimistic about our future. We just have to remember who we are. We are the United States of america and there is nothing beyond our capacity when we work together. Nothing. I mean that, nothing. [cheers and applause] god bless you all and may god protect our troops. Thank you, thank you, thank you [crowd cheering] [cheers and applause] susan early on your latest book is an epic journey from slave to freedom. What makes their story particularly compelling to you. Ilyon woo i cant even begin to say what does not make it compelling for me i am obsessed with the story and have been for a really long time. I think what originally drew me to it was the phenomenal adventure story and their narrative, running 1000 miles to freedom which they published in 1860. It talks about this incredible escape they make. They are husband and wife enslaved in makem george at jaya georgia and they decide they are going to for freedom not with any underground railroad which does not reach south where they are, not by hiding and traveling by night. But they go out in the full light of day, disguised as master and slave with william playing the role of the slave. That story grip me from the beginning. In their time how well were they . Ilyon woo they were quite wellknown known actually there is a quotation from Wendell Phillips who is a celebrated abolitionist lecturer, he is called the golden tongued man and he predicted that future people, millions will read their story and know it with admiration and applause because many people across the United States knew their name at that time. Because their escape was phenomenal but also because they chose to tell their story. Susan what do you think we get from the history books . Ilyon woo that is an interesting question and it depends on which history books you are talking about. I would probably quote one of the great granddaughters on this one, she said whether people know the story or not has to do a lot with where they are coming from and the kind of stories they have access to. But it is certainly true that the crafts are not known like douglas or truman people who are known by a single name. I think that reason is complicated, it has a lot to do with which stories we decide as a nation, people in power in this nation have decided to tell. And remember over the years. It is also a difficult one for us nationally to remember because it has so many pieces to it, because it does not simply end with them achieving their emancipation when they reach the north. Lots of things continue to happen where they have to live in america. It is not one that is easy for us to embrace, s so it needs a happy ending in other words . Ilyon woo it doesnt it has so many endings and that is what makes it so exciting and my point of view and so rich and worthy and deserving of our attention, our renewed attention today. Susan besides william and ellen at you mentioned frederick to who or some other important characters in your narrative . Ilyon woo there are a lot of people across the board from abolitionist lecturers, black activists, the president of the United States, who come in and out of the story. One thing, i have a writing partner i also work with, we actually used to be running partners. We would always keep each other going and we were doing the same thing on the page, one thing she pointed out was its like in an ordinary movie, not an ordinary movie i guess a mainstream hollywood movie that you might have seen over the last number of years, you would have henry clay or Daniel Webster. Someone like Frederick Doug a set the center of the story. Now these characters get walkon roles and that is sort of how i like to see them. So many of them come in and out, there is douglas and William Brown who are great lecturers and people who really show the crafts of telling the story and what it means to live a life in freedom in the north and overseas. There are the president of the United States and secretary of state Daniel Webster who have to figure out how they are going to recapture the crafts, there are International Celebrities who get to know the crafts abroad. Lots of people who go in and out of the story and if you take a look at the book, the book jacket, and you undress the book and you read the jacket. You will see there are a lot of people on the inside of the pages, you can see that. But these are some of the many people who you will meet along the way. Susan so the story opens in 1848 make the point that this year is a real seminal one in not only American History but globally, what are the important things that were happening in this country in 1848, that makes this a real focal point of their ability to make the escape that they did . Ilyon woo well 1848 is one of those crazy years were so many things are happening, worldwide you have democratic revolutions sweeping across europe and those revolutions are being celebrated in the United States and sheared and toasted in washington dc by people who are holding enslaved people in bondage themselves. Meanwhile you have the year of falls, the american womens right conference, the year of a Global Pandemic with cholera sweeping around. You have got an information revolution, a transportation revolution, the trains and steamers at all kinds of technology are working as never before to bring news and people across the country. Youve got the close of the mexicanamerican war in the mexican session which explodes the contours of the country, so we have western migration, the gold rush. I mean it is a really intense and exciting time in United States history. Manifest destiny is a catchphrase. That is why the craft escape, which fit so interestingly with this because they encompass all these revolutions that are at play and they make manifest a new destiny of their own. Susan approximately what was the population of the country at the time . Ilyon woo that is a really good question i dont have it at my f