Thank you for being with us. This is the future. Dr. Cheney has focused most of her life on teaching children American History. So that the next generation can learn from the past. Before i introduced her we had a surprise guest from wyoming last night. I would like dr. Cheneys husband of 52 years to please stand up. Vice president cheney. [applause] thank you so much for coming. It means a lot to me. Well, i am honored to introduce this morning the distinguished speaker. When i called her last year to invite her she said am i the only speaker who has not won a Pulitzer Prize . I said, yes. But you are the only speaker who is chairman of the National Endowment of the humanities for seven years and you are the only speaker who was second lady of United States of america for eight years. [applause] if you google her you will be blown away by all of her awards and accomplishments. As always i am not going to list all of those. While she was head of neh she published american memory a report that warned about the failures of institutions of learning to track a accurate knowledge of the past for future generations. She said quote the system of education that fails to nurture memories of the past deny students a great deal. One of the most successful theories she founded when she was there was the civil war series by 10 burns. Ken burns. She said some credit for good and some were not. Dr. Cheney has authored 16 books. Her most recent book about James Madison is a masterful insight into one of the physically smallest of the founding fathers, but the one with the most towering intellect. Surgically the one with the most fun wife. I asked her what she liked most about madison and she said he she is fascinated by people who work hard. She compares him to mozart, both were geniuses with their gracious works changed forever how people think. She is currently working on a book about the virginian dynasty, washington, jefferson, madison and munro that will be out in about two years. What fascinates her is the first 36 years of our republic with the exception of four short years of john adams the virginia dynasty was in power. Of the 15 books she has written five of them are history books for children and we have bucked him for all of our grandchildren. I have read them over and over with the grandchildren who love them. I will just mention a few because you may want to purchase them. One of my favorites is a for abigail of course, the one i love the most is when washington crossed the delaware it talks about the general leading his army across the river on christmas night and his surprise attack on the enemy in trenton. It teaches children about courage, heroism, and dedication to your dream. She was also a pathan thrower baton thrower she required hours of practice and she was known as flamboyant as her baton were sometimes set aflame on both ends. In 1954 she was the junior champion in wyoming and in 1956 she won the state senior championship medal. I asked if she would be willing to show us a few of her tricks. She said you could not pay me enough. I have heard she still might do it for a big charity that is willing to give money to the charity. Lynn vincent met Young Dick Cheney high school and the Vice President told me that his other was choosing between two jobs. One in casper, wyoming and one in great falls, montana. He said if we had gone to great falls, i never would have met lynn. She would have met another fellow, fall in love and married him. He would have become the Vice President. That the highte school was most beautiful building in wyoming. The second most beautiful building was the Carnegie Library which opened in 1910. She said by the time i started going there some 40 winters of hot water heating had worked to combine the scent of varnished wood with a slightly acidic odor of aging books. It created a wonderful smell. One that was unique for my experience. In the 1950s it was a haven for kids who love the books. This was a different time back in the 1940s and 1950s. The audience can relate to this. I remember it, kids were free to run around and come and go. Their parents did not know where they were or worry. There was no persuasive pervasive fear of telephones or computers blaring something ugly around the world. There was a feeling of optimism. When i was the regent at mount vernon, i invited dr. Cheney to come as the second lady to talk to 350 students on constitution day. As you know it is a day we celebrate the adoption of the american constitution and her talk captivated the students. She and turn invited the entire board to come to the mansion, as you note that resides on the naval observatory grounds. She deeply appreciated the talk, she gave us a twoour. i said what is something we may not know. Every day i do that daily merriamwebster vocabulary quiz. I did not know they exist great every sense ever since i have done it too. People in their 60s and 70s score higher than people in the 30s. As our second lady of the United States dr. Cheney lived at the highest level of National Life read she remained what she grew up to be in wyoming. A serious, hardworking scholar. Down to earth and great fun, a beautiful and brilliant woman. They say she is the really indispensable cheney. Ladies and gentlemen please welcome dr. Cheney. [applause] show less text lynne you are taller than i am. Thank you for that nice welcome. Let me thank gay for that terrific introduction, i will have to get a printed introduction. For all of the hard work she has done and for her creative thinking for the series of and thankthank you all of you for being here today and for loving the idea of listening to stories about the past. It took me five years to write the book about madison. That has that that is not an excessively long amount of time. When you tell someone who is not a writer of 55 years they are stunned. After being stunned about how long i spent on the book they are stunned that i spent five years on that. I completely love the time i spent working on it. I explained that i like madison. He was not a flamboyant character. He was reserved, he got things done without making a whole lot of fuss. I think that is an achievement to these values. For the ones who are quietly moving ahead and getting things done. He got things done. One of the things you will read often if you read about madison is that he was reserved. He was not a man who pats people on the back. He was so reserved that sometimes he intimidated people on first meeting. There was a young man who described his first meeting with madison this way. The impression made on me was of sternness rather than the mildness and suavity that i later characterized him with. He was resisting james monroe which he encountered him. It is possible that he and monroe are discussing something serious and that accounted for it. It was also possible that madison, reserved is turned look for strangers. Tucker said he never received madison that way again. He was not the only one to note how stern he could be on first meeting. He gave away nothing. It can also be aware that he was very different in public and private. In private he was witty, appreciate jokes that were not fit for the drawing room. Once it is said that his humor led the British Ambassador he was not a tall man. He was five foot six inches, that may have been exaggerated. 54 inches may be closer to the mark. He was a nicelooking gentleman. He had a receding hairline that he may have warned in a stylish way. He comes his hair forward into a point. Is there anybody in this audience who watches blue bloods . I knew i had dick for sure. On that show there is a player named detective danny regan. He is the one who jumps over a car at least once an episode. He is played by donny wh ahlburg. He combs his hair exactly like James Madison. If i ever get the opportunity to do casting for someone writing about the founders i will suggest him. He was not physically impressive and a sixfoot man like Thomas Jefferson or monroe or washington in particular. I am struck time and again when i read about how important his physique was to his accomplishments. When Abigail Adams first met him and john had told her about washington she scolded him, first she said for not preparing her for the phenomena. I thought the one half was not dr. Benjamin rush describes washington this way. There is not a king in europe that would not look like a valet by his side. What madison lacked in stature he more then made up for in brains. His presence as jefferson described it it came out of a habit of self possession. It placed at ready command the rich resources of his luminous and discriminating mind. In my book as she mentioned i call him a genius. This caused some murmur around critics. I am happy to stand my ground on that. Madison not only saw the world that he was born into. He also saw how it could be different. At age 36 he arrived in the Philadelphia Convention later known as the Constitutional Convention full of ideas and intent on creating a nation from the 13 states that had never been seen before. Just four years before they had thrown out the rule of great written and went through a rocking a rocky time with the articles of confederation. This totallyo make new kind of nation. He imagined a vast republic where people were sovereign and their fundamental rights respected as nowhere else on earth. At that time, anyone who was inking about such matters believed that a vast republic was impossible. Where all thelic citizens were homogenous, a little republic might make it. As the 13y as large states was sure to be pulled apart by all the interests and ambition of its any inhabitant. That was the idea. Idea machiavellis montesquieus idea. People believe that for a very long time. Madisons insight was to see that those ideas were crucial for a republics survival. Clashing viewpoints would keep any one viewpoint, even that of a majority, from becoming tyrannical. Stunning to read about someone who changed the way furtherhink and to read about how important his insight was, how transformative it was. Brought theuse it idea of a republic down to earth. Ofdid not require a citizen selfeffacing angels. It would not be a place where anyone had to stifle their ideas and aspirations. Ordinary people could live there and pursue their dreams. Because of madison the republic was no longer a distant idea but something in which people around the world could inspire. Bringing the idea of the extended republic to bear at the time with a great nation was created was his first act. By no means was that his last. He more than anybody else was responsible for the United States of america as we know it today. His time of great achievement came up after years of deep focus and concentration and a nearly obsessive effort to describe these lives as genius. Let me just give a few examples of how hard he worked in the runup to the convention in philadelphia and the convention itself. First of all knowing it was coming up he began a intense study of laws and constitution. He had been interested in the idea since his 20s, with the book that jefferson prepared. He began this intense study and a relative that was the same with him. Virginia is just one big cousin mary cousinry. He stepped back from this constant socializing and started working very hard. A relative who came to see him wrote in his diary that he came and eatate sparingly and would work until dinner. While everybody was riding horses, he was in his room working. Now he knew that washingtons presence at the convention could make all of the difference. Washington was so admired and so loved by the American People at this time that if he were there the convention would have a greater chance of success than if he was not. He wrote letter after letter to the general to attend. He also traveled through a snowstorm to the Confederation Congress in new york to ensure that the Congress People were on board. While he was twisting arms there in his own subtle way he spent hours in a boarding house setting issues that were bound to come up. He was working very hard. He also left philadelphia early, he was the first outofstate delegates agreed that means he could read the other delicates meet the other delicates as they arrive. In altogether they produced the virginia plan. As you all know that set the agenda for the Constitutional Convention area. During the convention he was one delegate who spoke most often. He may crucial interventions when the convention was about to enter into the constitution. Congress had the power to make war, madison stood up and successfully changed it to declare war. Thus making the president commander in chief. If you think about it we would not ever have done so well, i am sorry to mention it, if the congressman were in charge of war it would not have been successful. This was a very important intervention. While he is speaking and understanding how important it is to get the words just right he was also taking notes read he sat up at the front of the room and wrote out who said what and then back to his room at night and would transcribe them. I could go on and i can talk about this central role in getting the constitution ratified, he is working at break neck speed with hamilton to put out the federalist. Madison describes his effort as having to get the paper while the printer is still working on the last one. I think he wrote 40 essays in 23 days read i may have those numbers wrong. It was a amazing accomplishment. I can also cite his work as a leader who had the bill of rights added to the constitution. I have made the point that his genius like many genius was the product of hard work. 10 inspiration and 90 perspiration to quote thomas edison. Like mozart, newton and edison, James Madison changed the world. His hard work makes another point as well. He was often ill, many historians have called him sickly. He was even a hypochondriac. When he was well he was very well. Traveling 1000 miles through new york, traveling through that blizzard, indeed in the beginning traveling from my failure to philadelphia was quite a challenge. He often traveled in the rain, i am struck by how often it was on the roads. Ddy he was forced to dismantle his carriage, taken apart and make three trips with it which involved Something Like a poet over a pond. Then he had to get his horses across. This is an extraordinary amount of energy to expand if he is sickly. It is true that he had gastrointestinal problems that plagued everyone in the 18th century. Many people believe illness was caused by bad air and doctors did not wash their hands. He also suffered from what he called sudden attacks which he describes as somewhat resembling epilepsy and suspending the intellectual function. His most influential biographer describe these attacks as epileptic hysteria. He was writing in a time when Sigmund Freud was very influential. Madisons description fits todays understanding of epilepsy. His attacks may well have been complex partial seizures which leave the affected person conscious but without comprehension and ability to communicate. Such attacks passed in minutes and may leave the person tired and confused for a short time after. They are not necessarily disabling nor do the prevent exertion. He was lucky enough when terrible things were described prescribed that he was lucky enough to encounter doctors who did not put him on those. It is often recommended today, he wrote and walked over the hills of the virginia piedmont, he became bitter. Ready to hold high office. I find Research Like this fascinating. I could happily spend days reading 18thcentury medical annuals. They may be lucky that we are not describing those same remedies today. When you are writing a book you have to ask yourself is what you are doing important. Does it offer insights into the person you are writing about. I think in his case it does. A hypochondriac or someone who given to hysterical episodes is quite different than someone who has a identifiable understanding the ailment also explains certain things he did and did not do. He want to be a soldier as the revolution was coming on. He wanted to be a rifleman and he was a good shot. He told a friend that he could hit a eight inch target at the length of a football field. That was with the 18thcentury weapon. His military career came to a sudden and when during training he suffered one of his attacks. Madison had several chances to go to europe and always turned them down. Ive realized a day or two ago that of the first five president s he was the only one who never set foot outside of the United States. Medical manuals today recommending people with epilepsy avoid water. Presumably because a seizure could cause you to fall overboard and drowned. That is when jefferson invited him to france. He declined and said he had some reason to suspect that crossing the sea would be on friendly to my constitution. Madison was a lifelong defender of religious freedom and when we try to answer the question of this lecture series to propose how has the past influenced the present rate it is his addled for religious freedom that i always think of. It is absolutely essential, that is kind of the ground for. It was a part of his treatment of the baptists as he was young. He was charged with preaching without a license and thrown in jail for people subscribing to what he describes as that diabolical hell conceived principal of the first amendment. At age 22 in a note as angry as anything he had ever wrote he declared that religious bondage, and unfit sit for every enterprise. He spoke with the authority of the men who knew the misery of being bound to a received viewpoint. Probably because he had experienced it firsthand. The standard religious view of the time was that people with epilepsy were lunatics. They were unclean, sinful, being possessed by the devil. Its easy to understand medicine being indignant about such notion. He determined to free people from having to he worked with his longtime friend, lifelong friend, Thomas Jefferson. They worked together in this cause. One of their proudest achievements is the virginia statute for religious freedom. If you then to monticello, you know it is one of the three acc