Transcripts For CSPAN3 Comparing Approaches To Historical Na

Producer grace guggenheim whose credits include the Academy Awardwinning johnstown flood. And michael hill who coproduced pbss the civil war. The u. S. Capital Historical Society hosted the event as part of the National Heritage lecture. It is about one hour and 20 minutes. I am stacy mcbride. Welcome to your 25th lecture. Senator blunt is a High School History teacher. I will try to do him justice in describing this room you have chosen for your 25th lecture. You have chosen a remarkably historic room. But first, i have to thank the offices of the Senate Curator and historian who prepare and fantastic histories of all of our art and all of our rooms. Without them, this introduction would not be possible. To begin, in the early the house 1900s, and senate decided they had outgrown their space. They commissioned two architects from new york to build them a house and Senate Office building. Those buildings have become the Cannon House Office building and the russell Senate Office building. They are mirror images of one another from above. A lot of people do not know that simple fact. Those two individuals were educated in paris and a part of that education brought this beautiful art that you see around this room. They took great care to design this room. In fact they spent over a year , finding this marble that came from south dover, new jersey. Which is very interesting. This was originally known as simply the caucus room. It was intended to be a room for Political Parties to meet and caucus and determine their leadership and priorities for their party. But over time, it became a very popular and preferred place for congressional investigative hearings. Among them, the 1912 hearing on the sinking of the titanic, and the watergate hearings of 1973. I am a rules Committee Staffer so i find the following interesting facts far more interesting than that because there are no circumstances under which we would allow these things to happen in the United States senate today. Nine United States senators announced their candidacy for the presidency in this room. That includes john kennedy, Robert Kennedy, george mcgovern, and hubert humphrey. Those Political Campaign activities would not be permitted here today. The second thing i find quite interesting about this room, and i have seen this movie, is the 1961 film advise and consent was filmed in this room and it has to be abc cult classic classice a d. C. Cult because it is one of the only commercial films ever filmed here. If you have not seen it, you should. Today it is not used much as a Committee Hearing room. It is available to use, but they choose not to because we have much larger and more technologically advanced rooms. What we use this room for is primarily legislative seminars and educational seminars, like this one. We are happy you have chosen this room for this lecture. And now it is my honor to , introduce mr. Don carlson. A member of the capitol hill executive community and an active member of the societys development committee. [applause] mr. Carlson good evening to everyone who has joined us tonight. I am a member of the executive committee at the u. S. Capitol Historical Society board. We were founded in 1962 and chartered by congress in 1978. We are a private, nonpartisan, Nonprofit Educational Organization that communicates to the public the Rich Heritage of the capitol and congress. I am pleased to welcome you to our 2016 national lecture program. We are honored to work with the White House Historical association and the u. S. Supreme court Historical Society to enhance the knowledge and appreciation of the american system of government and the principles upon which it was founded. Tonights topic is a very unique look at the historians craft. I want to thank my fellow board member, Cokie Roberts, and the other distinguished panelists for sharing their personal insight into the work of telling American History. These are highly accomplished people who have received numerous prestigious awards, including an Academy Award, an emmy, and the National Book critics circle award. We have a distinguished audience as well tonight. Guests representing members of congress, the architect of the capitol, the Senate Historians office, universities, journalists, think tanks, museums, and others. I am sure the round of questions from the audience will be engaging. We are very pleased to welcome several speakers to share in the program tonight. We are honored that dr. Curtis sandberg is here to add some words of welcome on behalf of the white house Historical Society. [applause] dr. Sandberg good evening. I am very grateful to don because i have this long title and now i do not have to say it. I am delighted our association has a longstanding friendship with the United States capital Historical Society and United States Supreme Court Historical Society that were reunited together. I was thinking earlier, on a personal note, i began just a year ago directing the Rubenstein Center at the association and it was just at the time of the last lecture, the heritage lecture. For me, i think this is going to be Something Like haleys comet. It is notable that every year it will come back instead of 30something years. It is the 25th and very near and dear to our hearts. This topic of doing history and considering the historians craft. History never goes away and all of us are kindred spirits. There is a cyclical quality to history. It is important to be an historian. It is important to know these things. It is important to be able to tell stories well to contextualize them. Tonights panel, this is extremely important. Last year, the lecture was Calvin Coolidge, in our carriage house. It is a threeyour circle. After the Supreme Court society gets it next year, we look forward to having it back. In the meantime, what an amazing place, the titanic. The association, we are a private Nonprofit Educational Organization. We have a terrific mission to enhance the understanding and appreciation of the executive mansion and it is a lovely history. We were founded in 1961 by first Lady Jacqueline kennedy and at the time, she was in her early 30s and the goal then and today was to help the white house collect and exhibit the best artifacts of American History and culture and this grew and grew and continues to include acquisition, preservation, research and education. We have a very robust Education Program at the Rubenstein Center. Some of you will know our publication, books, and on and on. And of course not to forget the , white house ornament, and christmas is coming up. Hoover and an amazing white house story of wrapping up, on behalf of the 1929. Association, i am here with a number of my colleagues. Including our new chief historian. We are delighted to be here. It is a marvelous partnership. Welcome to everybody, and thank you. [applause] i am honored to introduce dr. David pryde, executive director of the United States Supreme Court Historical Society and we are so pleased you could join us. [applause] thank you for being here. The National Heritage lecture was instituted in 1991 as a consequence of meeting between Staff Members of the historical groups serving the three branches of government. I was privileged to be at that meeting, the agenda of which was to ascertain how three organizations of similar mission might work together. We settled upon a rotating lecture series. Each of the participants would take turns every third year as a principal sponsor for the program that would appeal to the members and friends of the other collaborators. The first of these was a lecture at the Supreme Court by justice on f. D. R. sedy Court Packing plan of 1937. My apologies, of course, to the unrepentant new dealers. They are given to referring to that as the court enlargement plan. Justice kennedy did a masterful job that evening weaving together the historical threads of three branches involvement in that legislative process. That has been a hallmark of many of the National Heritage lectures ever since. Some have focused on the build of expertise of the primary host in any given year. Offering the friends and members of the other cosponsors insights into the history sometimes less familiar to them. Each approach, i think, has been well received and hence the continuation of this important series. The board of trustees has asked me to convey its gratitude to tonights principal sponsor, the u. S. Capitol Historical Society , for putting together this latest installment in what has been a venerable tradition. Similarly i want to convey our , thanks to the White House Historical association for its Outstanding Program on president Calvin Coolidge which took place last year. The Supreme Court Historical Society is honored to partner with each of you and looks forward to many more years of cooperative programming and hosting again next year. Thank you. [applause] thank you, david. It is my extreme honor to introduce my fellow member of the board of the capitol Historical Society, Cokie Roberts, who constantly amazes me about her long service on the board and her inability to say no to any request we make of her. She is a political commentator for abc news and npr with many years in broadcasting. As one countless awards, inducted into the broadcast and cable hall of fame, and among her many honors. Long ago, i was taught the greatest introduction in washington was a short one. I intend to honor her by doing that tonight. Here is Cokie Roberts. [applause] ms. Roberts thank you for being here. I was thinking when we had that nice little history of the room, when some of us were young, there was only one Senate Office building when we were kids. It was this building. There were two house office buildings. The Senate Office building had towels that said s. O. B. [laughter] i do feel one other thing in terms of introductions. The capitol Historical Society also has christmas ornaments. So. [laughter] dont miss those. I have spent an inordinate amount of time in my life in this room, not only because it has had these big events, like president ial announcements. The two i was here for ted kennedy and al gore. But also all of these hearings, including the endless iran contra hearings. I can tell you every greek key on the ceiling because really, they went on. I do complain today, i am complaining a lot because i did not get any sleep watching that really edifying debate last night. [laughter] but the truth is, many of us have had the great privilege i have had the credentials where they give you a pass to make it easier of being eyewitnesses to history. We have lived long enough. We have lived in the city. We have been connected to these institutions where we have had a huge privilege. And that is one approach to history, is to live it and to record it as you go. It is always the saying about journalism, the first draft of history. It has been a huge if exhausting privilege to be able to write that first draft. It is also true the other drafts that are more thoughtful, the drafts that have some perspective, are very, very not only interesting, but important and useful and we do have three approaches and i am going to stick with the idea of short introductions. You do have some biographical information in your programs and also google will be able to help you with anything you need to know. We have starting on the end, we have michael hill, who toiled in vineyard for a while working in government and politics, including as a press secretary for Walter Mondale when he was Vice President. And then had the serendipity of meeting David Mccullough and started this wonderful ride. Right . I mean, really of working with , david and ken burns and john meacham and evan thomas and lots of other people, writing books and movies and traveling the world, learning all kinds of wonderful things. And he has also written and edited the diary of washburn, the United States minister to france which fascinated me 187071, because that is one of my approaches to history to read books like that. You have taken the diary and annotated it and made it much easier for me to do the work, so thank you. That is one way of writing and reading and producing history. Grace guggenheim has taken another path where she has produced so many wonderful historical documentaries, including the Academy Awardwinning johnstown flood. They go on and on and on, theaters, tv museums, where they live forever president ial libraries. , she has been the creator of so much visual information that we can absorb and have access to our history in a way that would not be true if she had not been doing the work she has been doing these many years. Her most recent work is a treatment designed to cure cancer where she was the producer, director, and narrator. The full job. And she is the president of the guggenheim productions, where she has been overseeing the preservation of her fathers film legacy. I must say that her Fathers House on nantucket marthas vineyard, my mother and lady bird would hang out there. Honest to god, i was dying to be a fly on the wall. The best i ever got was to deliver my mother there and then i had to leave. And they always made me leave and it was not fair. Did you get to stay . You got to stay. But they probably did not talk as much with us there. Tom mallon does these wonderful nonfiction histories the rest of us do but also does these wonderful models and creates historical fiction. Another way of making history more accessible. And having people actually read it in ways the rest of us dont. His 2013 novel watergate was a finalist for the faulkner award and he has won many other awards. He also had a guggenheim fellowship, so you can turn to grace and say thank you. [laughter] in addition to his wonderful fiction, and i am told i must read finale, which i will do as soon as this dreadful election is over. He has also written two books of nonfiction that interest me. One, a book of ones own people and their diaries. Yours ever later, people and their letters. Part of the reason that interested me is because that is how i do my history work. I need the diaries and letters in order to write the history. I am very eager to have other people help me find the letters and the diaries. I also loved the fact that they were published by ticknor and fields. The work of the women of the 19th century. When john fremont ran for president as the first republican candidate for president in 1856, nobody knew who the Vice President ial candidate was because all of the posters were fremont and jesse. Jesse. Our she was the most famous woman in america but also the most famous woman in politics for a very long time, and incredibly powerful. When he won the nomination in philadelphia, all of new york showed up at their house and said, show us jesse. When she fell on hard times, she started writing. She supported herself and her children through the writing. They came through by publishing for her. They also published grace greenwood. Known to Abraham Lincoln as, grace greenwood, the patriot. She was the first woman to write for the New York Times in the 1850s. And she wrote from europe. And she wrote such things as her admission to the house of lords where she went to hear Queen Victoria speak and she said the queen displayed more rosy plumptitude than regal attitude. And then she went to dinner at Charles Dickens house. She said he had a very elegant and simple lifestyle. She do this because his servants wore no livery. I wonder how her american readers reacted to that. That was fairly foreign in this republic. But i know what she wrote because i read it in the New York Times. One of the wonderful things about writing history right now is you can read th