Partnership between the General Services administration and the National Museum of civil war medicine. Thisays like to ask question how many of you have been here before . All right, everybody. Great. Welcome back to the museum. Always like to make a shout out when we see mr. Richard lyons in the audience. The reason we are here in this space is because mr. Lyons made an incredible discovery in the 1990s that saved this building from being torn down. Always like a round of applause for mr. Lyons his discovery. [applause] Evenings Program is a pay what you please event, meaning at the conclusion of the program, we encourage you to leave a donation based on what you thought the program and the museum is worth to you and an evening of civil war history. The donation bin is at the front of the Visitors Center on the first floor. As you head out this evening, if you would just drop something in there. All of the proceeds go to support the Clara Barton Missing Soldiers Office museum. Interested in learning more about membership or becoming a supporter of the museum, please let myself or other Staff Members at the front desk know. We would be happy to assist you. But tonights program we are very excited about. We will explore how the civil war shaped the celebration of christmas in the United States. Tonights presenter is brad stone, a long docent at the National Museum of National War Museum of medicine. He has had a long career with the federal government as a senior public rations executive dealing with a wide variety of Public Health issues. This experience included leading operations of the u. S. Food and Drug Administration and the u. S. Substance abuse administration. He currently volunteers as a docent on a regular basis at the National Museum of civil war usscine and also aboard the constellation and baltimore harbor. Please join me in welcoming brad stone, our civil war santa. Sister stone thank you. [applause] thank you, jake. Again, thank you all for coming out tonight. I hope since it is christmas time, the presentation i will be giving is not the typical, boring history talk. Instead, i intend to make a boring history talk in which you win some exciting prizes. I will be giving you some challenges related to the discussion about how the civil war really shaped the Christmas Holiday we all know and enjoy today. I think it is important to see how christmas was celebrated from the inception of our country to today and how again the civil war really shaped the modern holiday. To begin with, we should go back to colonial times, and i think a assume theycans holiday we celebrate today was really brought to us by our pilgrim forefathers. Well, its definitely not the case. In fact, our pilgrim forefathers the pilgrims and the puritans did not particularly care for the holiday at all. In fact, they shunned it. They viewed it as being associated with things like the church of england, which they had to flee, or catholicism, which they definitely did not like. In new england, the holiday was not celebrated at all. In fact, for quite a period of time in places like boston, it was illegal to celebrate the holiday, and if you were caught doing so, you would be severely ed. Other colonies had a far different approach to the holiday. In places like jamestown, they did celebrate christmas, but they did not celebrate it in the way we do today, kind of a reverential way. It was more of a partying type of holiday. John smith of Jamestown Colony recorded that he had lots of eggnog that day and was full of spirit but not necessarily religious spirit. Again, from our colonial times, the holiday is perceived in different ways by americans. In revolutionary times, again, different colonies look at different ways and people within the colonies look at it in different ways. Many of the patriots are actually somewhat suspicious of the holiday. They tend to associate it with britain, and at that point, they really dont want to have much to do with britain, so they ignore celebrating it. Others, like george washington, do celebrate it, but again, he celebrates it in a much different way than most of us would today. It is not really to him and many others a major religious holiday. Indeed, he does not consider it that, and thats one of the reasons why he chooses it in 1776 to launch one of his most decisive attacks of the war in trenton, new jersey. Attack,ery successful one of his most successful victories, and in large part, it is due to the fact that the hessians, who were german mercenaries fighting for the british, do observe the holiday the night of observe the holiday. The night of Christmas Eve, they were setting up decorations and drinking. Contrary to popular misconception, they do not drink themselves into a stupor. That is not why they are defeated the following morning, but a large part of their defeat is due to the part that due to the fact that they are observing the Christmas Holiday and the americans are not. Again, even in revolutionary times, christmas is not the holiday we think of it as today. Why christmas in america is not sort of universally revered, we have to look at what americans are thinking of when they think of christmas around the end of the 18th century and the early 19th century. They are looking at the traditions of europe. At that time, america is almost entirely a nation of immigrants, so they are looking at the s of europe and other places. When you look at those traditions, and a lot of them are not very reverent, and a lot of them have some kind of weird aspect to them. One of the big practices in england and in some other parts of europe is the practice of g, one of mummerin the major ways you celebrate the christmas season. Today, we may think of the who march the people in the parade in philadelphia, but in the late 18th century, early 19th century, they are basically groups of people usually Wearing Masks and disguises and a lot of them come from the lower socioeconomic spectrum, and they are going to the houses of more welloff families, and they basically entertain them. In exchange for that entertainment, they expect stuff. Its either food or presence for, very often, alcohol. Its either food or presents or, very often, alcohol. One of the songs we think of is we wish you a Merry Christmas, which sounds pretty wholesome, right . But if you look closely at the like some figure putting, so bring it right here we wont go until we get some. That sounds more like an extortion threat to me. Again, it is these bands of her mask people coming to your home in this case saying we want alcohol. Toraditional punch bowl used andide alcoholic beverages, in some cases, this could be like the halloween from hell. In newfoundland, they outlawed mmering because people had been murdered in their homes from these gangs of mummers. A lot of people were wary of celebrating christmas. Thats going to change for a couple of reasons. Oops. Well, i dont have the slide so i will talk about it instead. Two big things that will really influence how the holiday is celebrated occur at the very outset of the 19th century. The first is the second great awakening. This is an enormous religious Revival Movement that sweeps across the nation, and it makes americans far more religious than they have ever been before, and it affects almost every aspect of their lives, and a ator aspect of it is a look traditional Christmas Holidays like christmas. Christmas becomes far more of a time for reverence, for observing the birth of christ, and that is going to play a very in howcant role americans start to look at the holiday. The other major influence that is occurring at the turnofthecentury is the fact that the Industrial Revolution is really starting to kick off, both in places like england and in the United States, particularly in the north, and what that is doing is basically creating more availability of goods at affordable prices, and what does that allow you to do . That allows you to manifest the spirit of giving and sharing at christmas by exchanging gifts. Again, that is also a very important aspect and why americans start to warm up to the Christmas Holiday. One of the other problems that americans face is even if you want to celebrate christmas, what tradition do you draw upon . All the nations of europe basically have different forms of christmas and different images of the spirit of christmas or the santa claustype figure. One basic problem is when do you celebrate the holiday . That ranges all over the calendar. For example, if you are from holland, you celebrate it in early december, but if you are in eastern europe, you celebrate it in early january. Most other european nations have dates somewhere, you know, around the time we celebrate but not exactly. Thats one question you have to answer. The other one is, again, who is the spirit of christmas going to center around . You have all these different figures father christmas from andand, noel from france, Saint Nicholas from germany. They all have some things in common. They all look like they could be members of zz top. Theyve got the beard thing going, but they have widely different approaches to the holiday. Some are very spiritual. Some are not. Some are very focused on children and gifts to children. Some are more oriented to, you know, adult recreation. Different images and different approaches. Decide howgoing to and when we celebrate the holiday. In looking at the christmas oops, im sorry. H, theres the slide ok. At the holiday, we see that these forces that are driving america toward accepting starting to seep into our culture by the early 19th century, and you start to see this in the literature that becomes more and more abundant as the century rolls on. It starts in america in 1819 with washington irving, one of ,mericas most famous writers writing something, a series of essays. It basically lays out how a proper family should celebrate the holiday. You are moving away from drunken revelry to a more genteel, more theesome celebration of holiday. Shortly thereafter, it is by reverendin 1822 Clement Clark mores famous what he calls a visit from Saint Nicholas, what we generally call was the night before christmas twas the night before christmas. It is generally laying out what santa should be all about. A jolly guy. Santa is there to provide christmas presents to the good boys and girls. How does he get about . Its in the poem. Flying reindeer. A lot of the things we think about christmas are established through this program. There are a few things that need to be tweaked. He refers to santa as a bright, jolly, old elf. As you can see, a little big to be an elf. The other thing is tiny reindeer. Anybody seen a reindeer lately . They could lose a few pounds. But he is getting the essential elements correct. So much so that heres my first challenge can anyone name the eight reindeer in the poem . Dachshund and dancer and prancer and or dasher and dancer and prancer and comet blitzen. All. Tone you got them congratulations. To share with you these reindeer nuggets made by reindeer. I will not tell you how they are made. The challengers get harder as we go on. The challenges get harder as we go on. Im just kidding. Charles dickens will write the very famous and very influential a christmas carol. That will really establish a lot of aspects of the modern christmas as well, the idea of christmas charity, the idea of it being a familycentric holiday, and particularly the idea of children being at the forefront. He does that through the figure of tiny tim. It is very important that he is writing this at the time of Queen Victoria or the victorian age, and the reason being is during that period, both in the United States and in england, everybody is following the lead victoria. His work is a blockbuster, not in england not only but also in the United States. We will talk about this more again, but what is happening in victorian england will happen in the United States during this period. We are starting to get to the point where everybody likes the Christmas Holiday. Everybody wants to celebrate it, but the question is whos tradition are you going to follow . As i mentioned before, there were all these european traditions, so who is going to be the dominant one . Is it going to be the british tradition . Is it going to be the scotch or irish tradition . The answer is no, its actually going to be the german tradition. The hessians who lost the battle of trenton actually win the war in terms of how we are going to celebrate christmas. The influence from germany is coming in two directions. One externally and one internally. Lets see who is doing it outside the United States. Albert. S guy, prince he in essence will become the Martha Stewart of christmas in both victorian england and the United States, and as Martha Stewart would say, thats a good thing. He is influential because he is the husband of Queen Victoria,nd when he comes to her court he introduces a lot of the native traditions of germany. One of the biggest is the Christmas Tree. He will introduce that along with the idea that it should be decorated with lots of ornaments. He also stresses the importance of giving gifts, which many people trace back to the , butence of Martin Luther that was a way of really observing the birth of christ thought that was a way of really observing the birth of christ. He also introduced the way of specially wrapping the gift in special christmas wrapping paper. He introduces all these things into the court, and very quickly, the leading british publications at the time publish these illustrations of what the holiday looks like in her home Queen Victorias home and almost immediately, every proper british family has a Christmas Tree. When these images cross the pond to the United States, the same thing happens. Almost immediately, every proper American Home wants to have a Christmas Tree decorated with ornaments. Speaking of these ornaments, at about the same time these traditions are catching on both in england and the United States, germany is developing a whole industry in creating glass ornaments. Indeed, this industry will become so pervasive that germany will remain the leading provider of christmas ornaments to the United States all the way up until world war ii. This tradition of decorating the tree establishes two important things. Generally speaking, it is a time when families get together and enjoy each Others Company by decorating the tree. Kind of a bonding experience. Home it establishes a different tradition. That is my wife yelling at me for clumsily dropping the ornaments and breaking them, but it is a very important part of the Christmas Holiday. Other part ofthe the german influence coming from . Its coming from a wave of german immigrants coming into this country in the 20 years leading up to the civil war. About 1. 4 million germans come into this country. It is comparable in size to the wave of irish immigrants also coming into this country, but the german immigrants have a little bit more influence than other immigrant groups for a couple of reasons. They tend to be a little better educated, they tend to be more skilled, and the other thing is theres already a sizable herenamerican population in the country established. When they come, again, they are bringing a lot of their traditions, bringing Christmas Trees, bringing, you know, this idea that you should give gifts, and that it should be centered around the children. Leading into the decades just before the civil war, christmas is really taking off. And indeed, its not only becoming part of the culture, it is becoming a significant part of our economy. Start to see industries developed around things like christmas cards, christmas wrapping paper, christmas decorations, and things like toys. Another thing that is happening is christmas advertising really starts in earnest during this period and will become a major part of the publishing industry. Now, all these things are beginning to gel and create a holiday we can relate to a little bit more, but thats not to say there are not some outliers out there. Cities, the holidays are still celebrated by gangs of drunken hooligans places like new york. Have a name for themselves. Theres still wild and crazy , but these begin to diminish and eventually disappear. So much so that the holiday becomes seen as a very respectable thing, a very wholesome thing that everyone that innjoy, so much so most of the states leading up to the civil war, it becomes an official state holiday. In 29 out of the 34 states leading up to the civil war, it does become an official holiday. It is one of the few things leading up to the civil war that americans can seem to unite about because in this period, again, there is a growing rift in the United States that is going to lead to the civil war. Is christmas enough to unite the country . Unfortunately, the answer is no, and one of the major reasons is it cannot address the central issue that is dividing the nation, the issue of slavery. Milliones, the 4 africanamericans who are enslaved, christmas is not a good time of the year. It is a very strange time of the year. If you look at southern newspapers, you will see christmas ads for toys and other goods and they will be right next to ads for slaves. In some cases, women and children. For the slaves themselves, christmas can be actually the worst time of year. Why . Many of their masters will lease them out to other farms and plantations, and those leases come up at the end of the year and once they do, these slaves may be leased out to other farms or plantations, and that is a prime time when those families may become divided. The tax season in many Southern States comes due at the end of the year, around christmas time. If you are a slave master and you owe taxes, in many cases, what you will do is sell your property, including your slaves. Again, those families may be divided at that time. So it is a terrifying time for many slave families. Some slave masters make a big show about giving their slaves time off or extra food or even some presence, but in many cases, these are very hollow gestures. One blatant example of this, one of the people who brags about it the most is a South Carolina senator by the name of james henry hammond. He brags about the bountiful food he gives his slaves, but he is renowned for the way he savagely beats his slaves and very often sexually assaults his slaves. Americans whoion are enslaved, christmas is not a good time of the year, and the Christmas Holiday can do nothing to resolve this issue. So of course in 1861, the nation will go to war. Almost as soon the civil war starts, both sides try to weaponize the holiday. You see confederate or southern publications talking about how the yankees hate christmas and they declare themselves a confederacy of christmas states. In the north, publications say its a fine yankee tradition and the south is acting like a bunch of scrooges. Why are both sides doing this . Both sides think that their cause is just. Both sides think god is on their size, so it is a larger goal for them to try to make the argument that christmas and santa claus is also on their side. The north will have a big advantage in this struggle over christmas in the form of this man, thomas nast. He is one of the most influential writers and illustrators of this period, and he works for one of the leading publications harpers weekly. A few things about him he is staunchly prounion. He is a staunch antislavery person. He is an abolitionist, and he is also a staunch republican. In fact, he is a friend of abraham lincoln. He is from a germanamerican background, and that influences his work a little bit, and his willduring the civil war be to do everything he can to make it clear that christmas and santa claus is on the side of he will become one of the primary chroniclers of not only santa claus but christmas and almost every aspect of christmas, and his work will carry on beyond the civil war, as we will see. But im just going to take a little swig of water here. See how he portrays santa role in the civil war. We look at his first illustration of santa during the war. One, which should look familiar. I will explain whats going on here. He is doing everything he can in this illustration, which is the start of the new year in 1863 and harpers weekly, again, the most influential periodical in the United States, or as it humbly calls itself, the journal of civilization, and he is making every effort to make sure you get the message. First at the top, you see the u and the s that stands for the United States, for the union. Then lets look at what im wearing. I am literally wrapped in the union flag. This top part is the blue field of that flag. I have 35 stars which represent the states in the union. Pants are themy stripes of that flag. Again, he is rapping me in the flag, and i am surrounded by union troops, and they are all carrying lots of presents, and i am giving them those presents because they are good men fighting for the right side. In the background, theres the union flag. He is doing everything he can to make the case that santa is on the union side. If you still have not gotten the point, i will point your attention to the fact its hard to see in this picture, but he is entertaining the troops here with a little toy, and this is the toy he is entertaining them with. This is confederate president Jefferson Davis hanging by a noose. I think we can all agree they dont make toys like they used to. So, anyway, he is making every point he can to show that christmas belongs to the union. He is also chronicling the holiday, and during the war, christmas will take on a far more sentimental, poignant role in americans lives. You see this picture, and its making a point that is very important for families to be together and increasingly during the war, families are a part apart. Millions of men for the first time in American History have had to go off to war. You see this very sentimental picture of the wife with the two children in bed looking out the window thinking of her husband on the battlefront, and there he is at the battlefront thinking of the family he left behind. The war has this effect of intensifying the idea that christmas is a time for families to be together. It really highlights that emotion. Nastto make it clear that has not forgotten me, santa claus, i am up here on top of the roof. I want to get those gifts to kids. In this depiction, it looks like i have maybe gained a few pounds, so i had to shed some of my outfit to fit down the chimney, but im still there with reindeer. The other thing he is americanng and becomes apparent to everyone is the christmas is the other thing he is chronicling, and it becomes apparent to everyone, is that christmas is highlighting the disparities between the north and south. The north starts out with a far more robust economy, more industrial economy, and as the war goes on, the north is suffering in terms of the men it is losing, no doubt, but in terms of its economy, it is getting bigger and bigger and more affluent, and that is reflected in the way they are celebrating the holiday. More,e, they are feasting exchanging more gifts. Things are better and better. Likewise in the field, men are enjoying the holidays more. Partake of more rations, a wider variety of rations. They are feasting on things like delicaciesg with the like canned oysters. For the union, increasingly, christmas is a time of celebration, of joy, and of prosperity. The situation is far different in the south. For them, christmas highlights the fact that conditions are getting worse and worse, both on the homefront and in the field. Withhem, they are dealing an economy that was not as robust or is established at the beginning of the war, and its getting worse and worse. First of all, most of the war is fought on southern soil, and that is creating a lot of devastation, but also, they have to contend with things like the union naval blockade, which is strangling their economy. As the war goes on, christmas highlights the fact that things are becoming more and more desperate, harder and harder times. As a result, they are not able to do things like give gifts to their children, so increasingly, they have to explain to southern children what is going on in terms of santa claus. You have things in southern publications that say things like santa is a yankee or was shot by the yankees. One of the weirdest explanations came in the richmond examiner. The richmond examiner. ,hey said no real santa existed however, he was a dutch toy monger and an immigrant from england who had nothing to do with Virginia Hospitality and christmas merrymaking. Thats very convoluted. Gist. Ain, you get the they are trying to say that santa and christmas just does not exist anymore. Nast recognize this disparity and they will do everything they can to make the most of it in promoting the war effort. Lincoln for a second, it is interesting to look where he started and where he ended up. When you, as a state legislator in illinois you know, many years before the war, he had actually voted against making christmas a holiday. This president of the United States and leader of the Union War Effort he is going to do everything he can to promote the holiday. Lincoln is at lot of things. Lincoln is a very shrewd politician. Lincoln is a very skilled statesman. Lincoln is also a master propagandist, and he throughout the war will work with nast to drive home messages, and this illustration really drives home several. If you look at it, what you see here is this massive christmas feast going on throughout the union. Its like a neverending cracker barrel. Everybody is partaking of it. What this message is sending to the union is look, things are better than ever. Hes trying to build up union morale by saying we are stronger and more affluent than ever before. Hes also sending a message to the confederates. As you see in this illustration, hes going to the door, he opens it, and who does he see but these scraggly looking confederate soldiers . They represent the confederate states, and he is basically beckoning them to come in. He will forgive them if they return to the fold, and they can take part in this sumptuous banquet. He is also sending a message to europe and other powers, saying, dont get any ideas. We are involved in this war, but we are prospering, so dont get any ideas about messing with us or trying to help the confederacy. Both he and nast in many ways are sending different messages to different audiences using christmas and using santa claus. He will augment this by hosting a lot of receptions in the white house during christmas. He will make it a point for he and his cabinet to visit the troops at christmas, both in hospitals and at camps. Lincoln considers christmas to be so important and nasts work in promoting christmas to be so important that he will say that santa was the best recruiting sergeant the north ever had. To reinforce this, we look at whenhappens in 1864 general sherman makes his decisive victory in capturing the port city of savannah. Many people consider this one of the deathknells of the confederacy. How does sherman characterize this when he informs lincoln . He says he telegraphs lincoln , i beg to present you as a Christmas Gift the city of savannah. How does lincoln respond . Your, many thanks for Christmas Gift, the capture of savannah. Again, driving home the fact that christmas, santa claus, is part of the union cause. This not only establishes that, but also the civil war at the time is when you start to see this tradition of linking christmas with the u. S. Military, and that tradition continues to this very day as i will talk about in a little bit. Fortunately, the war does come to an end. Unfortunately, lincoln does not get to enjoy it very long, but nast does want to commemorate the fact that the war has ended, and he wants to tie it into christmas. Now he is doing it in a slightly different way or actually, a significantly different way. Christmas is no longer promoting the cause of the union. It is promoting the cause of reuniting the nation, and that is what you see in this cartoon. First of all, you see santa claus front and center. He is looking bigger and jolly or than ever bigger and jollier than ever. At the top, you see children enjoying their toys. Below, you see families reunited for the first time. Below, you see the American Family getting together on literally a national stage, and, you know, it is a time of joy, a time of harmony, a time for the nation to come as one in this harmonious Christmas Holiday. Nast being nast does have to make one last little dig at the confederacy. You see at the bottom the figure of ulysses s grant, who nast views as one of the people who has brought the nation together, and he is surrounded by the disembodied heads of leaders members of the confederacy. What can i tell you . Even at the best of holiday reunions, we all know there are those awkward moments. Overall, the point of the illustration is to show that christmas is a time to bind wounds and reunite the American Family. As the years following the civil war go by, theres more and more of a feeling that there is a role that holidays can play to help unite our country, and that will focus on certain key holidays that people believe all americans can enjoy. This effort is, you know, focused on bringing the north and south together, but it is also focused on dealing with the fact that there are more and more immigrants coming into this country. Indeed, during the period of 1860 to 1870, even though there is a war going on, more than 5. 5 Million Immigrants come to this country. Again, there is this need to try unifying things that will bring the people together, and one of them is a holiday. Grant signs into law a series of bills that make certain key Holidays National holidays. The fourthristmas, of july, and new years day. Theres one other one. Can anyone guess what that other one is . [inaudible] that . One who said ill have to ask you to leave. No, just kidding. You won. Oops. Smarties. In the if you can pass them back to her. Right,thats thanksgiving. By the way, thanksgiving is another holiday that lincoln really promotes during the civil war. Eresting note there Jefferson Davis also declares thanksgiving and holiday during the civil war, but heres the difference lincoln declares it a day of feasting, of enjoying lots of food, family. S declares it a day of fasting. You can determine who is doing better just by the way they are observing that holiday. Lets get back to christmas. When christmas is declared a national or federal holiday, it is let me step back here and say of course christmas is a christian holiday. It was established to observe the birth of christ. But in making it a national or federal holiday, that is not the purpose. Indeed, grant during his administration will successfully defeat efforts to declare america a christian nation. In this sense is being used two unite americans around a holiday that everybody can celebrate and enjoy in any way they want to. If you are a christian, of course you look at the religious aspect, but if you are a nonchristian, you can also enjoy it, and indeed, that seems to be the effect. Accounts by, for example, a philadelphia newspaper, they note that even in the homes of hebrew brethren jews Christmas Trees bloomed, and the little ones of Israel Jewish kids were as happy over them as christian children. Again, it shows that almost instantly, christmas is adopted by people from all backgrounds and walks of life. Its a very popular holiday. Period following the civil war, the 20 years following the civil war, nast will continue his efforts to refine and create the modern Christmas Holiday that we all know and love and particularly with regard to santa claus, he pretty much establishes the modern santa claus in every aspect. When he is doing this after the civil war, who does he model santa after . He tries to do it after the most respected people of the era, and who are those . The titans of industry. The rockefellers, carnegie. He makes santa claus a tightening of his industry, which is giftgiving. He doesnt number of things to really establish that santa claus is a very respectable figure. First of all, he decks him out and according to this picture on the left here i think it is your left he is wearing a fine red suit, very nicely trimmed. He also makes sure that santa has an International Operation that will be centered in the north pole. Or it will be a workshop factory, and it will be manned by elves or workers, and again, he has an International Database to work off of the book of who is naughty or nice. He can tell every child throughout the world if they are naughty or nice. In almost every conceivable way, the santa claus we know today is the invention of thomas nast. Some people say that modern center comes from the Cocacola Company and the illustrations they did in the 1930s. This illustration here is one of the cocacola illustrations. You can see by the other illustration that nast did in the 1880s that basically, that is borrowing every aspect of santa from what nast did. In many, many ways, santa and christmas really owe almost everything to thomas nast and the work he did both during and after the civil war. Second toack for a the tradition i talked about the start of the civil war, tying in christmas and santa with the u. S. Military. Of course, that tradition continues, and it is even kind of hinted at in this illustration here. Is wearing a sword. Nasa is constantly driving home that theme, but it will continue even after nast nast is constantly driving home that theme, but it will continue even after nast. Theres santa in world war i and then santa in world war ii and then santa in the cold war. Santa in more modern engagements, and of course, santa is affiliated with many military things, including the toys for tots campaign, which is run by the u. S. Marine reserve. Santa, christmas are really an enduring image of american patriotism and goodwill throughout the world to this very day. So much so that theres a special branch of the military that keeps track of what santa is doing on Christmas Eve norad, the north American Aerospace defense command. Since 1955, they have been tracking santa. If you want to know how that all started in the question and answer thing, i can answer that for you or at least attempt to, but if you hear or at home are interested in what santa is up to on new years eve, you want to track his whereabouts, go to the norad website, and you can do that if you here for at home. It is a fine, established tradition. Lets look at the major ways christmas really was established , that modern christmas was established during the civil war. First, the civil war unified the observance of the holiday by transforming it into a national holiday. Again, largely through the work of nast blended and the images of christmas and a lot of the traditions of christmas from different cultures into a uniquely american one, both in terms of customs and in terms of images, and it also helped to establish the christmas that we celebrate today, which is a unique blend or balance of the spiritual and the material. That hased christmas an allinclusive character, and i will talk a little bit more about that in a second. Finally, in my humble opinion, it established america as the arbiter of all things christmas throughout much of the world. Played an civil war instrumental role in the holiday that we all celebrate today. Been such aouve great audience, im going to have one more question for you. One thing did not get established about christmas during the civil war or through thomas nast. Can anyone guess that one factor about santa claus . Anyone . Who is up on the screen there . [inaudible] mr. Stone bingo, you win next nation point as a result, you get these. You can decorate either yourself or your car with these. The red nosed reindeer. Interesting story very briefly. Rudolph was discovered in the late 1930s . He was developed for the Montgomery WardCompany Store chain. They used him for a wild. Eventually, they decided to go on to other campaigns. They gave him, the copyright back on rudolph the red nose reindeer. That was a mistake in part because his brotherinlaw was a guy by the name of johnny marks, wrote a littleo song will know and love called rudolph the red nose reindeer, making rudolph one of the most popular reindeer of them all and made a ton of money for both of them. Johnny marks was a kind of interesting fellow. He would become the most prolific christmas songwriter of them all. His songs are too numerous to mention, but they include things like i heard the bells on christmas day, run, rudolph, run, rocking around the Christmas Tree, and a holly jolly christmas. Theres an interesting aspect about these men. These two guys together created the last big piece of the christmas puzzle we all know and love today. What in theirow background we all might find ironic . The answer is they are actually both jewish, and that goes to the point that christmas is something that all americans, no matter their background, celebrate and enjoy. During literature searches, i found many articles talking about many in the United States, many muslims, many buddhists, and many hindus all celebrate the holiday. In conclusion, i think Many Americans enjoy the holiday, the foundations of which were established during the civil war. I want to thank you all very much for coming out tonight. I will remind you that if you want to make a donation to the museum, either because you have enjoyed this presentation or you are just so gosh darn glad it is over, please feel free to do so at the end of the presentation, and i want to thank both the museum for inviting me here, and especially the folks at cspan for some Technical Assistance thatgave for this program made it possible. Again, if you have any questions, i will be happy to answer them, but i want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and very happy new year. Thank you all very much. [applause] mr. Stone oh, thank you. Anyone have any questions at all . You all, again, thank for coming and showing up. I really enjoyed seeing all of you. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2019] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] jake thank you very much, brad. Thank you all for coming out this evening. A reminder, it is a pay what you please program and there is a donation bin at the front of the Visitor Center on the first floor. Our next program is on saturday, the battle of janesville, if you want to hear another presentation. We do have another one coming up in just a few days. Thank you very much. American history tv is on social media. Follow us at cspanhistory. As the u. S. Congress considers impeachment, American History tv looks back to the 1999 Senate Impeachment trial of senator bill clinton, which of president bill clinton, which took place over five weeks in 1999. Here is a preview. Will all senators now stand and raise your right hand . To knowolemnly swear all things pertaining to the trial of William Jefferson clinton, president of the United States, now pending, you will do constitution . The we are none of us perfect. You say he should have thought about that beforehand, as everyone should have, just as adam and eve should have, just as you and you and you and you and millions of other people who have been caught in similar circumstances should have thought of it before. As i say, none of us are perfect. Chaplain chaplain is not here, is he . Its too bad. He ought to hear the story. [applause] holding thisst was great revival meeting, and at the close of one of his meetings, he said is there anyone in this audience who has ever known anyone who comes close to the perfection of our lord and savior jesus christ . Nothing. Reviewed the challenge, and finally a little guy in the back of the audience says, are you saying you have known such a person . He says share it with us. Who was it . Says my wifese first husband. [applause] [laughter] wakes ladies and gentlemen of the senate, what if he had not shown up . What if he had refused to answer any court order . What if he said, im not going to play, thats it . What if he said im not going to listen to you, Judicial Branch . The remedy we have you know where that remedy lies . It lies with us, the United States congress. Theou can watch more of senate trial of president clinton sunday at 8 00 p. M. Eastern here on American History tv. Corinne hi, im corinne porter. Im a curator here at the National Archives museum. Im going to show you around the rightfully hers exhibition today, which is in the lawrence f. Obrien gallery. Before we head into the gallery i wanted to talk about this lenticular thats out in the lobby in front of the entrance