Transcripts For CSPAN C-SPAN Cities Tour- U.S. Politicians 20240712

Hes the most important political figure in wisconsins history and one of the most important in the history of the 20th century in the United States. He was a reforming governor. He defined what progressivism is. He was one of the first to use the term to self identify. He was the United States senator. He was recognized by his peers in the 1950s as one of the five greatest senators in american history. He was an opponent of world war i. He stood his ground advocating for free speech. Above all, he was about the people. In the area after the civil war, america changed radically from a nation of small farmers, small producers, small manufacturers. 1870s, we had concentrations of wealth. We had growing inequality. We had concern about the influence of money in government. The United States senators were elected by legislators. There were huge sums of money going into those campaigns. Individuals were looking for a way to change the status quo. Around 1900, the idea of progressivism coalesce. Reformers, nationwide, looking at how we got into this problem. What can we do about that . Progressives were especially interested with changing systems. They were concerned that the game was fixed so that the big money folks the corporations, the specialinterest were going to be able to get their way. They werent advocating inequality of result that they wanted everyone at the same starting line. Lafollette went on to United States congress as a member of the house of representatives and was a rather conventional congressmen, booted the party line but in the early 1890s something happened to Bob Lafollette that change him. 1891 he was called into the office of his the senator republican u. S. Senator and sawyer was involved in a locked case which was going to be tried by lafollettes brotherinlaw. Sawyer offered lafollette a retainer for legal advisers. Heres 50. You will get more if the case comes out right. Lafollette said, im being bribed here and got up and walked out. His brotherinlaw excused himself from the case. Lafollette alienated himself from the rest of the Republican Party establishment. According to lafollettes own story thats when the insight hit him this is what politics right now is about. Its about money. Its about those who can afford to buy justice and those who can afford to buy offices. Believe the system needed to be reformed. He spent the later part of the 1890s giving speeches all over wisconsin. If you wanted a speaker for your club or your group, Bob Lafollette would give a speech. He went to county fairs. He went to ever kind of event that you could imagine and built a reputation for himself. By 1900, he was ready to run for governor advocating on behalf of the people on two issues. One is the direct primary, no more selecting candidates at conventions. And stop the interest , Pacific League the railroads. Wisconsin farmers were dependent on setting prices and they believe those prices were being fixed through collusion as the major railroads agreed on those prices. Road rhoades gave out free passes to legislators. It was like getting a free rental car. Thats how you got around to keep gave a free pass to every member of the legislature it would look kindly on you. You are getting Free Transportation from them. So lafollette ran on that and to the connections he made throughout the state and speaking and the data he gathered about who would likely support him he won that nomination. Lafollette was supposed by the conservative Republican Legislature and didnt get the legislation that they wanted. He tried again in 1902 and was elected governor and still being blocked by the stalwart republicans. 1904 he went on the campaign trail against members of his own party. He started reading world calls at meetings at who voted against regulating the roe roads . Who voted against the direct primary . In 1904 was the tremendous victory for Bob Lafollette because he not only won reelection but he won enough of this progressive supporters in the legislature. The other thing that lafollette was successful in doing as he believed in a referendum, recall and initiative. He was able to get the legislature to agree that a primary bill would be passed but only if it was passed by referendum. Lafollette when he campaigned he distributed literature on one side of it supporting top lafollette and the other side was a reminder to vote yes on a referendum so he would use his Campaign Machinery to campaign for both the cause and the man. At the time Bob Lafollette wasgovernor of United States senators were still being elected by the same legislature. Progressive all over the country advocated the direct election of senators. 1905 the Senate Position opened up in wisconsin and Bob Lafollette announced that he was going to run for senator but he was not going to resign his position as governor until his reforms were passed so he was successfully elected senator stayed in wisconsin for the first nine or 10 months of his term and not until the legislature adjourned after passing his program that he resumed his seat in washington d. C. In 1906. That began a 20 year period of service in the United States senate. All the lafollette was tryingto repeat on the National Level some of his successes in wisconsin. Lafollette message of politics had to change because he was dealing with persuading and majority of 96 senators to support his position. Lafollette was a master tech titian. On the state level he was able to gather data on who would support him and who needed to make contact. He was a master of the senate. Bob lafollette to use the filibuster to stop legislation that he felt was harmful. He was recognized in the u. S. Senate as a leader of a small group of progressives there whose votes were needed by the majority to pass legislation. Lafollette was a republican as were most progressives in the u. S. Senate and that group of 12 or 14 boats that he controlled to negotiate in terms of Bob Lafollette spreading progressive ideas nationally he used two techniques. One started a magazine called the followups magazine, great at promoting lafollettes name in that magazine still exist today. Its called progresso but secondly bob loved the public but if you want to speaker bob would go anywhere in the nation to speak. He did this partly because he was not an independently wealthy man. He needed income for speaking but he would go to chautauqua and various events to spread his word and he started getting progressive candidates in the democratic party. Woodrow wilson getting elected, the governor of new jersey as a progressive, Teddy Roosevelt nationally was viewed as a progressive but the kind of trust busting illicit interest in doing against monopolies. Child labor, there were reformers around the nation who were concerned about the use of children in factories and eliminated those. Bob lafollette oppose war. He voted for Woodrow Wilson in 1916 go Bob Lafollette was a republican voted for wilson because he believed in wilsons pledge to keep the United States out of the war. Bob lafollette was one of only six United States senators to oppose that war. He was concerned that only munitions makers, profiteers would benefit from that as the people would suffer the loss of loved ones in the military. He was concerned that the government was not telling the people the full cost of the war. His principle concern was the suppression of Civil Liberties. In 1917 Congress Passed a bill called the espionage act. It didnt have anything to do with espionage. It was about suppressing opposition to the war. Newspapers could be shut down a were shut down as a result of that. People were jailed for their criticism of the war and Bob Lafollette to leave the bill of rights was not repealed because the United States was at war. An event on september 20, 1917 was a critical turning point for lafollette gave a speech in st. Paul minnesota and at that meeting Bob Lafollette was critical of the war effort. He said we have grievances against germany but those grievances are not sufficient to go to war. The Associated Press reported him as saying we have no grievances against germany. That news story created a national uproar. In wisconsin 90 of the faculty of the university of wisconsin signed a round robin petition opposing lafollette. There were calls in an investigation in the United States to expel Bob Lafollette. There were threats on his life. Lafollettes point was i didnt say this, but the war hysteria that when one, that is the explanation that didnt carry much weight because he did oppose the war. Wasnt until mid1819 that the Associated Press apologize for the air and it wasnt until 1919 that the United States senate cleared his name and said there are no grounds for expelling lafollette. Lafollettes fame and the respect that he has comes from his stance was Civil Liberties when he was one of the few people in the country speaking out on behalf of of the right of the people to exercise their freespeech rights for the constitution. I think was interested in being president from the very beginning. 1908 Bob Lafollette Unitedstates Senate only two years throws his hat in the ring. Bob lafollette thinks he would be a good candidate and he was an unsuccessful unsuccessful candidate and the republicans convention. In 1912 it was the year that lafollette thought would be his year. He sounded out Teddy Roosevelt. Teddy said im not to be running. Bob lafollette was going to be the leader of the progressives challenging William Howard taft for the republican nomination. After anticaste forces start developing some strength rosabell changes his mind. Lafollette is outraged at this. Hes not going to support roosevelt and the convention and takes his fight to the convention and William Howard draft gets the nomination and Teddy Roosevelt runs as an independent on the progressive ticket. He did finally run for president on his own progressive ticket in 1924. Lafollette looks at the two parties davis and democrats , coolidge and the republicans who said both of these are conservative parties. Neither of them are running on progressive reform issues. He created a thirdparty that ran with Burton Wheeler a democrat as his Vice President lafollette for president. It was poorly funded. They had about 250,000 to spend nationally compared to about 4 million that the republicans had and about 2 million democrats had. Lafollette relied on his own speechmaking ability. [inaudible] to build at least a part of his life into the life of his country. Amazingly lafollette got about 17 of the vote nationally. At the time the second the second best run of the thirdparty. Only Teddy Roosevelt pulled the Progressive Party exceeded that. He came in second in 10 other states and that was lafollette s last hurrah running for president in 1924. The lafollette name has magic in wisconsin. The two sons went ahead and created that Third Political party the Progressive Party and attempted to take the party nationally in 1938 carrying on the issues that bob fired for which were important in the context of the 1930s so use out things like Unemployment Compensation and you saw many of the ideas being found in the new deal that emerged out of wisconsin. Franklin roosevelt delivered patronage in wisconsin through wisconsin progressives rather than the Wisconsin Democratic party. And that continued through bronson lafollette, the Third Generation of Bob Lafollette who was wisconsins attorney general. Many of the ideas that Bob Lafollette fought for are open issues. Lafollette called for the direct election of president as opposed to electoral college. He wanted to see the elimination of the influence of money in campaigns. He wanted popular review of judicial decisions, being able to overturn Supreme Court decisions. And he wanted referenda as one calling war that the United States would not be able to go to war except in a defensive fashion without a possible referendum. Some of those ideas are still being debated today. It shall not corrupt but shall obey that government that guards and protects its rights. Mere party citizenship is not enough. If government is to be saved from those who are aggressive or what is wrong. His time in the you and said it can sided with another powerful midwestern republican, Charles Curtis of kansas. He served as the 31st Vice President and broke ground as the first in that position to be of native american descent. I came to know Charles Curtis after i moved to topeka. I came to know more of his story. The more i found out, the more fascinating he became. The more i realize how under told his story is. He is reduced to a trivia question. The only Vice President of American Indian lineage or ancestry. He deserves a lot more than that. Ive been doing some Reader Research for 20 years. It has gotten more serious in the last couple of years area years. His journey has reppo become more remarkable to me. I realized exactly what he did. Topeka inin north 1860. Hes born during the territorial time. His father is a white man. He comes originally. Passengers onare the mayflower. That of hay is made with when he is a candidate. He has the indian on one side, the pilgrims on the other. Its a great pr piece. Him so remarkable, i think, is the fact that he has mixed blood growing up in a time that makes that very difficult. By sheer force of his personality, he makes all that an advantage. He played the white card when it works. That might be true, but i think it oversimplifies his experience but i think is a little unfair to him. I think he chose the white mans world, he said that. Because of his experiences. Zaidi forced that choice on him. It most certainly did. His mothers family operated the ferry. It went from north to the south side of the campus river. Passengers ong the oregon trail. People of means. His mother has a lot of land as a part of her mixed Indian Heritage. When his mother died when he was only three years old, he goes to live with his indian grandmother on the reservation. By then and been removed to counsel growth pretty goes in their lives with him. So he grows up with an indian identity. He talks about his childhood as being ideally. He was a little boy plain with bows and arrows, writing ponies, visiting and hunting its a great life. The turning point came in 1868, hes only eight years old. The cheyenne uncharacteristically come pretty far east to attack. This is not a pitch battle. It turns basically into a standoff. But is is an incredible show force to the cheyenne. Charles curtis, by his own account is selected to walk to topeka, 60 miles to alert the authorities that the cheyenne have attacked them. Some accounts say his uncle that he actually came with his uncle. Charles spoke english. He spoke french, and english. So he comes to topeka and tells governor crawford that the cheyenne have attacked. And i think a lot of this is due to the influence of his grandmothers. But his white grandmother in topeka said thats enough youre coming to live with us and have a civilized life. His indian grandmother agreed. So the indians then, when the tribe is being removed to the indian nations or the indian territory what is now. He really wants to go with them. This is 1873 and he is 13. And his indian grandmother, is french and indian grandmother says no. Youve got to make something of your life or if you come with us you cant do that. So you have to stay with your white grandmother and get an and make something of yourself. I dont think you can overestimate what those two women, the impact those two women had on his life. He comes to topeka, he attends high school. It was only a twoyear program. So it is not unusual for people to not graduate at the end for it but he worked. He had one horse and a buggy. And he borrowed or rented a horse and he runs a taxi service service. Hes running the legislators and he becomes the practice of law. And so he reads for the law thats not uncommon at that point. That is how he passes the bar. Curtis had decades of legislative experience. He was the first republican he was to some people, some newspaper editors said curtis was the most powerful man in washington as majority leader he did not rule from the front he ruled from the back he knew everyman in their intimately he knew it they wanted, their children, he knew it motivated them, he was the master at compromising, getting things done. In the 19208 president ial campaign, curtis was hoping to get the top spot. He was campaigning for president , not secondplace. When the convention met in kansas city that year, he was very disappointed and made it known that he was disappointed, not to be chosen as president. During that campaign, because probably he was already Senate Majority leader and a really big deal, almost all of the newspapers make him a mythic figure. This rise from the tph of washington. Whether or not he ever lived in a tp, i am not sure. That was the myth. Again this pilgrim and indian background, it was just turned into such a colorful story. Nobody could match that story. So by then, he had so entrenched himself with business that i dont believe his Indian Heritage was a negative. It doesnt appear to have been. So hoover is Vice President. Hoover is obviously not real popular because his administration, some people think responsible for the depression. At least ushered in the great depression. So Nobody Associated with that is very popular. And as a Vice President , curtis was something of a nobody. All Vice President s are to some extent. But curtis became kind of a caricature at the time. Very unfortunate because he was a very remarkable man. The house, a very beautiful house. Almost unbelievable how beautiful it still is. This is actually called eclectic. Eclectic victorian, eclectic because it has the stone in. And its got stainedglass windows with some curved windows. Its just a lot of different styles of the Victorian Era is put together may call eclectic victorian. And we just love the building. And people love to come here. They love to see the house and the furnishings and they talk about curtis. It has been a very wonderful retirement for us. It kept us on the go. My husband and i purchase the house in 1993. When we purchased it was going to be demolished by the city because nobody was interested in purchasing the building. It actually has 12 rooms. And furnishings in the house are curtis era. He wouldve used most of these furnishings in that era. We do have some curtis items in the house at a very important. Weve a grandfather clock when curtis was here, we have a bookcase, chair, quilt and a few dishes. But we have a lot of memorabilia of curtis. I will be take people on auteur of the building, we just tell them the story of curtis first. I know curtis story has become more popular. The people in our city did not know about curtis. I thought that was very strange. But of course it had been years since he had been in office, you know. And the more we read about him, it was almost unbelievable to think you could take one year of High School Education and go on to do all of that. When Charles Curtis was first elected, native americans did not have the right to vote. The significance of his election cannot be overstated. And again i think it is the sheer force of his personality that makes that happen. His ability to get along with everybody. As republican Charles Curtis was ending his time as Vice President in 1933, democrat huey long was beginning his in the u. S. Senate. The former governor of louisiana had his career cut short in baton rouge, 1935. The date of huey longs assassination. He was the u. S. Senate. But he was in baton rouge visiting the louisiana legislature, in particular the house of representatives. And visiting with the speaker of the house at that time, alan allen. Walked to the speakers desk where huey and eleanor had just finished the conversation or were discussing everything. Get the idea from their you can see the entire chamber. Hes a hands on governor and never really felt like he was no longer governor, huey long was still wielded great influence in legislature. Even more so some say because he was a u. S. Sending senators sitting senator. U. S. Sitting senator. This is where they would have been, the last photo taken to huey long prior to his assassination. It was huey long standing right about here were this chair is. Speaker of the house presiding to the senator huey long produced after those conversations were finished that they walked down the chamber, walked down the hall right there what im relating to use it was given to me by the bodyguard in the mid70s, bid 1970s. the bodyguard stayed with him the whole time. And as he staying with him, the question kept coming up what is he doing . Why did he shoot me . Why, why. And at that time he would let those doctors work on him, one of the doctor who is the head of Charity Hospital to be the surgeon who would treat him. By the time they made the phone calls to new orleans, and a member we are talking again baton rouge is an hour and half dry bread back benefits for hours on a narrow two lane road to the marsh. It took four hours to get the doctor here. By the time he got here the poison and the other things and the gut shot kind of set in the infection. And he would ultimately die several hours later. Who shot huey long . It was all a bunch of come about artie got shooting. It was one small caliber bullet. I was there when they took it out of his stomach. It was put in my hand. I turned it over to the lab. I held it. I know for a fact. Then, it said, he we long had done some things to the weiss family. Because they were antilong back then. That is what provoked weiss to do what he did. He was a mild mannered, nice doctor who for whatever reason did what he did. And of course everyone is denied the real meaning. He was killed in the confrontation with the bodyguards. He we long knew the family. It is said. Some of the weiss family more than he knew weiss. You know, as the colonel used to share with me the stories, it was not uncommon for huey to really go after someone if they were against him in a particular he would do what he could to bring that parish to its knees or that leadership to put his folks in place. So could that have had something to do with it . I really dont know. I never really explored that in great depth. The newspaper accounts from that time. It as oneo think of of those unfortunate instances that changed the course of history. The reason i say that, look what he did in louisiana. Many have speculated that there was a conspiracy to take him out. He could have been a president ial candidate. There have been many books written about you was. You could get inside his mind, if you can figure out who he was. I like to think of him as a unique individual. Oneofakind. He just happened to be the right time in our States History where we needed someone of his persistence, someone of his sheer determination, someone of his ilk. Yet, humble background. Taking our state somewhere. I would like to say he brought us kicking, screaming into the 20th century. He had a vision. He didnt want to admit it. He bought public highways. He paid for paved roles roads. He brought them in, realized, you cant your get your goods and products to the market. Public education as we know it started with him. Free textbooks started with him. Speaker, he had a saying. A chicken in every mans pot. He was a pop populist. He believed in doing for the people. Ive heard and read stories on him. If he saw you were genuine and sincere, he could relate to you. When you made it personal, it was over. And wereuly believed of conviction about whatever you were discussing, he could relate to that. He was of the same else. In politics, you have to learn. And as youcoming up progress through it, you cant burn all the bridges. I think he understood that. He also understood, you are either for me or against me. In getting to that determination, and we need to work it out. If you were against them how to treat you . There was no treatment. You knew it. You didnt bother with him. You just prepared. Prepared for what . Whatever was coming. You know it wasnt going to be pleasant. An example of something that occurred in history . Only the many stories of those who were against him, it was a swing vote coming up they mysteriously got stopped by the police and the miss the vote. If they were in opposition or were going to speak against him. Things like that. Thats common. When did the bodyguards come into play . When did he start having bodyguards . Louisiana governors traditionally had that. , as the kernelr would tell me, when they would travel, when he was governor he maintained the manchin here, right down the street from the old State Capitol. Spend a lot of time in new orleans which was the next largest city. I mean the largest city, in the roosevelt hotel. And he said many a nights. Many days, we travel in two cars. And we traveled the airline highway which is now u. S. Highway 61 between there and baton rouge. He said it was a two or three hour trip, easily a three hour trip. We would run down that highway. He said i would make my phone call. Get something to drink, i didnt know enough to say was an alcoholic or nonalcoholic. And to this day that service station, restaurant still there. It looks are echo, 30s by a. We stopped there and i would make my phone call. All we had in our cars were receivers. It would receive a radio transmission. They could not transmit back. It was a radio. And he said it would make my call we would leave. I traveled with the governor and he said theres always a car in front of us. It was not uncommon you hear plank, point, someone shooting at us along the way. He said remember, we were just coming out of the throws. The war was over, world war i was over, huey long was a populist. There were antisentiments. Theyd never had anyone like him as a governor who got around to use the media, the soundtracks. Baton rouge is what it is in large part because of the contributions of the governor. Think about this. Louisianas capital is here. It wasnt always here. At one time, it it was in new orleans. It moved around. Building this building here, was one of the first steps and in really forming baton rouge. It was the foundation for the seat of government. Within a matter of a couple of years of this building being occupied, what we call the capitol annex, across the street from here was built and completed in like 1938 or 1939. The government had already outgrown this building. You consolidated. By that time, in my opinion, assured an insured at the same time that baton rouge would always remain the capital of louisiana. Louisiana State Capitol in baton rouge, we traveled to montanas capital city of helena, into the congressional pavers of Jeannette Rankin the first woman to serve in the u. S. Congress. We are in the Montana Historical society and the state archives. The archives is one of three programs that makes us the Research Center here at the historical society. We will be talking about jenness rankin. She was a woman from montana born in 1880. Her biggest claim to fame was she was the first woman to be elected to the United States congress. That was in 1916. She was elected again in 1939 just before we got into world war ii. So she served two different terms but lots of years in between them. Jenness rankin, when she came into the congress she came in with a bit of fanfare. There is a bit of a honeymoon of which she was given a standing ovation when she walked into congress. She was given flowers, very positive time for her. That quickly ended when she voted no for entry into world war i. This is a letter from anna garland spencer, she is from leader phil pennsylvania. And in it she talks about how difficult it must have been being the first woman in congress, but also being the first one to have to say no to war. It wouldve been so much better and easier for you if two or more women had been inaugurating. There probably would not have been entire agreement between them. Their responsibility would divided and you would have stood not just for womanhood for only for ms. Rankin in your first most serious folk. Im sure others to be with you later. Your sincerely will win the confidence of your comrades. One of the places Jeannette Rankin took the worst beatings if you will, was in the press. And unfortunately the newspapers in montana were largely owned and operated by the Mining Company and they were very prowar. So a lot of the newspapers in montana really vilified her. Theres an old saying about death by a thousand cuts. And i just wanted to provide one example of the slights that she, Jeannette Rankin experience all over the state. This particular one, she is supposed to sell liberty bonds and give a presentation, sell liberty bonds in butte. When she got there the doors were locked against her. She was trying to figure out why they werent letting her in. They basically said we have no knowledge that you were supposed to be here. Her response of course was to stand in front of the building and give her speech anyway. [laughter] so it shows that she definitely had the wherewithal and the spine to be able handle all of these cuts. The death of a thousand cuts. Every town she went to, every time she went to give a speech these kinds of fights were given to her. Despite the rocky start to her term, Jeannette Rankin did a great deal. She was the woman to put forward the Susan B Anthony amendments which eventually became the 19th amendment, giving women suffrage. That was one of the big thing she really wanted to have happen during her term. She also tried to get Child Welfare reform and things like that. There were a lot of issues she work toward. I think one of the best examples for her relates to the mine disaster that occurred in 1917. That occurred in 1917. I was after 100 68 men were killed and of course many orphans and women without any means of support. The safety of the miners would have been assured and this is after the disaster would not of occurred at all. One other piece i would like to show you is sort of a call to arms, telling jeanette that she really needs to get to butte and participate. It looks like the highest duty for you is to participate and investigate these conditions firsthand. This knowledge will force congress to action and bring dollars to the industrial world. My plan is to close this termination, you can trust the people here. This is a tremendous opportunity for even the biggest man, the workers here trust you, youre the biggest and most effective action that can come here, you cannot be to costs cautious. This is your hour to prove your justice, so, jeanette did in fact go to butte and she was greeted with open arms by the mining community, 10,000 strong attending her speeches. Unfortunately, she could not affect change and a lot of the information that came out of these rallies was twisted in the lens of the Company Owned newspapers. The result of all this is welltte rankin knew full that she was committing political suicide because if she crossed of the company, they were not going to allow her to get elected again and of course coming into the 1930s into 1940 we were facing more and she believed it was her duty to serve again. One again run and wion. Again and sheim voted her conscious and did not go for work vote for war. Place afterelf took pearl harbor so the passions were very high, this is a very poignant photo of her sitting in the phone booth outside of congress where she has taken forge and is has called the guards to come and get her because she is afraid for her personal safety, so she did not run again. I think what is important is that she was consistent in what she believed, and she let people know that. What is really extraordinary about her i think is the tenacity with which she thought fought after office. In the 50s and 60s she was in peace organizations, she traveled the world fighting for peace and that is what she absolutely believed in and she did until the day she died. U. S. Politicians continues as we go from Jeanette Rankins pacifist views towards work to senator arthur vandenberg, an iconic isolationist who changed his end of the Republican Partys Foreign Policy after the pearl harbor attacks. Otherropose that no nation shall have any chance to forour silence as an alibi ulterior designs, if such there be. I propose action instead of words, i propose action now before it is too late. I propose it for the sake of a better world, but i say again and again and again, that i propose it for our own american selfinterest. Arthur vandenberg first came to notoriety as one of the leading isolationists. He had been a crusader for world war i and the american involvement following Woodrow Wilson. Like so many americans, was disillusioned with what happened after that. As the totalitarian states, mussolini, and then hit litter were becoming hitlers were becoming belligerent, mussolini said we dont want to get involved again. He argued for a very strict neutrality act to keep the United States out of what might become a european war and so in that way, he was a leader in the fight with Franklin Lett Franklin Roosevelt as roosevelt was trying to engineer aid for great written and people who would become our allies against hitlers Great Britain and people who would become our allies against hitler. After the war, vandenberg came forward and said things have to and in effect reversed his own position and said isolation was no longer possible for the u. S. As a global power. That we have to take responsible the on the global stage and by making that shift in the last months of world war ii, he pulled a lot of American Public opinion with him and really helped enable the changes in americas right rise to leadership. As someone who grew up in grand rapids with an interest in politics, i have been curious about vandenbergs life. He was a vicious kid, his father had a business that nearly went 1893, sothe panic of he was always doing odd jobs to support the family. Once he was in high school here, he thrived he was editing the school newspaper, and he thrived on political news. That won himech second place in an oratory contest in a 1900 when he was a senior in high school on the peace conference in 1900. So already he is thinking about Foreign Policy as a teenager, he started reading congressional records when he was 15. We have no record of this, but that is what he thought of himself. When he built his house at the age of 22, he was a wonder can ,ditor at a daily newspaper from then on he is covering every Political Convention and his mentor, part owner of the paper is a senator, michigan senator best known for having shared the titanic investigation. First hearing held in the Senate Caucus room. Vandenberg has a mentor like 1911,nd then in chose the campaign to put a statue that michigan had coming to it in the statuary for an the capital abolitionist senator name is zachariah chandler. He gives a speech in statuary hall at the dedication, he would then be a 27yearold newspaper editor, he is feeling the political excitement covering conventions, being mentor to buy a senator, speaking in the halls of congress, he had the bug. He could not resist. Then he became a question of, what is he run for . Man, he prided himself on being in order and was being a popular after dinner speaker, so people wanted him to run for congress or lieutenant governor, but he really wants to be senator. 30s, ihis 20s and dont want to bother with this peanut stuff, i want to be senator. He arrives to the senate with great advanced billing and an unwillingness to be quiet and be on a backbench for a while, no sign of humility which did not sit well with his colleagues. That, really resented there was tube or three generations ago there was an understanding that as a freshman you have to wait your turn and he did not do that. ,hen the depression comes along he is accused of vacillating because he is sometimes supporting roosevelt and aretimes not so republicans not sure what to make of him and he is trying to weave a fine political line as michigan tilts more and more away from being a purely republican state. That also means he is not entirely reliable in the eyes of his fellow republicans. Visiblehe had been so before the war, fighting he becamenvolvement, in effect the republican spokesman enforced in Foreign Policy after the death of one of his mentors, senator borah who died in 1930. Vandenberg was the voice of the Republican Party Foreign Affairs , the republicans had a big conference in the Northern Michigan and a vandenbergs challenge was to unify the party around a platform for the 1944 election. In the 1940 at had been torn apart with Wendell Wilkie and robert taft having two different visions of what republicans should stand for. So, vandenberg puts the group together and gets them to agree that the republicans will support an International Organization after the war, what became the United Nations. Planningoosevelt was the creation of the United Nations, he was not talking about it because he did not want to have the british with their colonies or the soviets with their concern about Eastern Europe start to argue and jockey for position. They were our allies and we needed them to finish fighting the war. Vandenberg were addressing things that the democrats have kept bottled up, so he is taking the republicans who have been the isolationists to such a degree he is taking them, expressing support for a new league of nations. Isa time when nobody else talking much about it, that identified him with a new way of thinking both for the republicans and because the democrats were not talking much about it for the americans. When the United Nations was being discussed, Franklin Roosevelt knew that he could not make the mistake that Woodrow Wilson did after world war i when they created the league of americannd wilsons delegation league which he let himself contained no republicans of any stature. So, he brought it back to the senate, and the republicans who are than the majority said what is going on here . Despite seeing vandenberg as a rival, also knew that he needed him for the credibility of the american delegation to United Nations. He did not want to, but he had no choice. This is in february and march of 1945 and then in april of 1945, roosevelt dies. Becomes president , roosevelt had really functioned as his own secretary of state. He had a secretary of state named edwards to tenuous edward who is a capable technician, but really out of his depth in Foreign Policy discussions. So, secretary of state is not strong, poor president truman who had lunch once with Franklin Roosevelt and had not been included in on what roosevelt unschooled ins where things stand and so vandenberg goes to San Francisco as really the most influential american delegate and he has and hedeferring to him is helping set to stage for what the United Nations charter is going to look like. No nation hereafter can immunize itself by its own exclusive action. Only collective security can stop the next great war before it starts. So, he found himself being the country found looking to him as an outspoken ,oice for rational approach nothing utopian, it was not going to be one world. Rivalshis republican Wendell Wilkie had written a book called one world and there were people who thought maybe we should have a world government and then there were isolationists coming out of the closet saying bring the boys home and lets wash our hands of what is happening in the world. Vandenberg said no, we cant do that, but we have got to look after american interests as part of a global structure. Vandenberg was an early advocate of dwight eisenhower. Vandenberg and robert taft were friends and rivals for control of the Republican Party throughout the 1940s. Understanding was that vandenberg does Foreign Policy. Taft was more isolationist, so he is always chipping away at vandenberg, and while vandenberg policies,afts sometimes vandenberg takes a harder line. So, in 1950 vandenberg is back here illl that back. Thenhowers nomination for election in 1952 was taft, so eisenhower would later say that vandenberg was one of the people he most admired and vandenberg lifes last months of his talked about hearing a radio broadcast of eisenhower and feeling like my legacy is going to live on through eisenhower. So there is the strain of the Republican Party that we still see today being played out that vandenberg was just immersed in and helped define. His greatest legacy is the notion of bipartisanship. When the first gulf war comes about and you have a republican president and democrats in control of congress, the cry goes up, where is there a vandenberg among the democrats when among the opposing party when a few years later when clinton is contemplating i think it was response to bosnia and you have got republicans in control of congress, the cry goes up, where is there a vandenberg . The role of a leader of loyal opposition who is not going to sacrifice principles, but work with the president in these tough Foreign Policy moments, that is when we most mr. Bennet bird and when he most miss vandenberg and when he is most remembered. As arthur vandenbergs time in the senate was nearing an end, jay william folk rights was just beginning. The arkansas democrat served from 1945 to 1974 and his papers at the university of arkansas tell a story. Senator, a longtime serving from 1944 until 1974, 13 years. Before that he was a senator in the arkansas area, he was president of the university of arkansas. He worked for the department of justice, he was a rhodes scholar, he was a distinguished graduate alum at the university of arkansas, star football player, writer. A native oft fayetteville. Had a lot of ends important stuff, stuff that has lasting implications. He was a leader of international affairs, the longest serving chair of the formulations committee for the senate, which particularly during the cold war was one of the most powerful oppositions in the United States in the world. The developing of diplomatic policy, so he had that role. He was also a fierce advocate for the states and the people of arkansas. As a representative, he was a dynamic political figure, as a senator, he was a leading figure. Gave his speech at the library in 1972, it required several addendums and additions to the collections. We have a question of those, and then we have associated archives that go along with it. If we were looking to things related to fulbright, you would be here for weeks. We look at some highlights from the papers as well as images and a few books that the senator wrote. A couple things to highlight his connection to the university. What we have here is one of the really important images that we were able to preserve and save with the fulbright papers. This one has what would turn out to have decades of significance. This is senator full but with president truman senator fulbright with president truman. Fulbright is witnessing truman assign and act on august 4, 1946. This establishes what we come to see the program later, since then scholars from all over the. Orld that is something he would hope to be known for forever, he is one of the most Impactful International Exchange Programs in the history of the world. He is elected to the house of in 1942, he has just left his role as university only electedhe was from 1942 until 1944. In the was instrumental United States participation in what we would come to understand as united stations after that she had nations after world war ii. This would be known as the fulbright revolution where he is encouraging the United States to help establish this international bardi body to resolve issues, to help nations get along. To use Diplomatic Solutions to avoid another world war, this is fulbright as a very young representative from his state defending an idea, making the argument for an idea that would be, one of the foundational institutions that shape the rest of the century which is the United Nations. We are looking at a photograph from senator fulbrights papers which shows one of those pivotal moments in his career, also sheds a little light on what the senate used to look like or would could be at its best moments. Right here is senator greene from illinois, a republican, and what he is doing is handing over the gavel for the formulations committee to senator fulbright. Looking on ra couple individuals, looking on ra our a looking on couple of notable individuals. Johnson is the majority leader in the senate, the democrats have taken control of the senate and fulbright is going to become the chair of the elections committee. This is 1959 and he remains chair in the longest continuous he resignede until from the senate in 1974. This scrapbook is from 1973. We have senator fulbright over here, then we have the premier of the soviet union right here in the middle. He looks a little serious, i think he always looks serious. Fulbright looks very pleased with how this is going on. One of the things he was doing was helping diffuse conflict and helping diplomacy in the United States and other nations around the world to avoid nuclear annihilation. What were looking at are some documents from the fulbright papers that show the complexity of his political position as a senator and also the compromises and mistakes that even distinguished leaders as senator fulbright make. Right here is the southern manifesto or a draft of the southern manifesto, which some senators gave remarks on the senate floor basically opposing brown v. Board of education and the federal innovation intervention into school segregation. That theyve said were not necessarily opposed to but theirality, stance was as many of us has heard, it is a state rights approach. They did not think the Supreme Court should be the ones forcing integration. Senator fulbright did sign onto the southern manifesto and throughout his career as he became very well thought of and revered for his stance against things like the vietnam war, this would knock him later in his career. After he left the senate it is something his career would be stained by, his opposition to full integration early on. He was a u. S. Senator from arkansas and the state of arkansas does have a unique distinction about several Smaller School districts embraced integration after brown 58, thes of 19 57, majority in the state was opposed to integration especially in a way that looked like it was happening with federal intervention. Right over here is some writing that he did to help shape the southern manifesto in a different way. You can think of this as caveats he put in there, he was softening the manifesto, he did not wanted to be about racial inequality necessarily, he wanted it to be about federal intervention. What we are looking at here is a photograph from our put picture collection. Documents what for razorback fans is perhaps one of the most important events to ever happen here or one of the most disappointing events, anyway. That is when the University Arkansas hosted what is known as the game of the century, just a regularseason game between number one and number two games in the country. It was an important game and everybody wanted a ticket, and if you are a political powerhouse at the time, you were able to get a ticket. We had remarkable people attend the game, in the stands right here, all sitting together we have senator fulbright in his fine head observing the game, we also have the president at the time in the 1960s nine 19 1969 richard nixon. , thepaul hammersmith person bill clinton would lose raceirst political against. Future president george h to be bush sitting there as well looking towards the camera. Library is who our actually named after, david mullen all here watching the Football Game together. A proud moment at the university of arkansas even though we did end up losing that came that game. Here we have papers from president johnson. Johnson was a longtime leader in the senate, was a majority leader in the 1950s, then became president after kennedys assassination. He and fulbright had a very close relationship and were very good friends, but they also had disagreements. Major of the mid political leaders in the country. Here is ar right white house letter, it is an official letter, we see that it is actually a very long letter. It is a long piece to senator fulbright and what he is doing is explaining the fate of asia as he sees it. Johnson has been to asia and met with World Leaders there, met with people on the ground, talked with the military and he is trying to convince senator fulbright that the people of asia really want us there. They want us involved in vietnam, supporting cambodia and other places, fighting communism. He says the people of asia approve of the United States efforts there and of course fulbright is quickly coming to the opinion. This is a personal letter, dear isl, where Lyndon Johnson explaining this is what is going on for real, this is what i see. A threepage document saying i am trying to understand it, i think what we are doing is right , and at the end of it he says i wish you could have been there with me. I wish you could have seen what i saw. Then, a couple years later, another letter dated november 8, 1968. I will read it quickly, it says dear bill, congratulations on your reelection, you and i had our differences above foreign and domestic issues, yet we both served america in the best way we knew how. So, fulbright has been reelected yet again, but johnson takes the time to write fulbright. Saying, i know we disagree with so many things, but we were both doing the best we could for the country. What were looking at here are two photographs of many of senator fulbright with the other famous politician from arkansas, bill clinton. Bill clinton and bill fulbright have a very close mentor, mentee relationship for decades. These are two photographs from fulbrights papers that show fulbright at the very end of his career, almost at the end of his life after bill clinton has been become ascended as the most powerful politician in arkansas. So, the governor at the time is there sharing a warm up moment with his mentor warm moment with his mentor. Course clinton has become president in 1992 and this photograph is from 1983 and clinton has the honor of presenting the president ial medal of freedom to his idol and mentor, bill fulbright. Fulbrights record provides insight in what nations can do to really invest in the future. He was somebody that really saw a long way on beyond. Culturalonal conflict, cultural misunderstandings, these things are always in human history, they will always happen. Nations like the United States and other nations dont want war, we want to grow into the future, fulbright is one of those people who shows you how you learn about the world and yourou use your talent and research, how do you use your talent to shape the world . Tour spans thes country exploring the american story with support of local local people providers we bring you the history of a city. To watch videos of any of the places we have been, go to andan. Org cities tour follow us on twitter at cspancities. The contenders about the man who ran for the presidency and lost. Monday, do, tuesday, stephenson, wednesday, barry goldwater. Thursday, hubert humphrey. Friday, george wallace. And saturday, george mcgovern. Next week at eight bam 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan. This is President Trump and other state and local officials looking over storm damage in lake charles, louisiana where hurricane laura came ashore thursday morning. Ever was the most powerful to make landfall in the state and thousands remain without power in the area. [indiscernible] [indiscernible] [indiscernible] [indiscernible] later, the president moved on to orange county, texas about 30 miles from lake charles and met with officials including governor grade greg abbott and senator marco rubio, the president took some questions after the briefing. Are at rest, lets go. Thank you very much everybody, id appreciate you being here. We love the state, it has been a great state for me and a great step state for everybody in this room. Arere here to help, we joined by governor greg abbott, a special man. He is