President. The Kansas City Public Library host of this event in 2014 and provided the video. Chris taylor passed away in 2019. Thank you. That was a grand introduction. And if you just want the major accomplishments of david rice at justin, thank you, its been a lovely evening. Needless to say, administration is a little less impressive than maybe truman or anyone else who was a president. However, david rice addison is someone you should know about. He was a significant player in the days leading up to the civil war and the term of what we call bleeding kansas. He was one of the people who really began the push to get kansas is a state and he tried to direct it in a certain direction that he felt was official for the union. Was he misguided . Very possibly. Was he successful . Absolutely not. And but what is important was whose person was and why, unfortunately, he disappeared from everything. We the library here came up with the title for this program, david rice at just, and the president no one knows. And looking at that, i realize that long ago in another lifetime as a journalist, i actually wrote a column for the newspaper i worked for entitled the exact same thing. However, in learning more about him, maybe the title should, be david rice at jason, the man, the senator and the president that no one knows. What i find most interesting about david rice addison and what stirred the creation of our president ial library is besides of course his 24 hours of infamous status as president is that this man, who is nearing the pinnacle of his political career, who was considered one of the most able senators and statesman of his time, it meant so well respected by his colleagues in the senate he was elected a president pro tem of the senate again and again. Making him the third most powerful man in the country. And then at least two extended occasions, when the Vice President or the president had passed away, and no Vice President was in office he served as de facto Vice President. And the press of the time referred to him as Vice President atchison for years and years during his tenure in the senate. How can a person who is this highranking, this luncheon influential, how could he disappear . How could he just completely fall off the map . How could someone who is so smart and so capable and so understanding of the ways to get things done at the highest levels fadeaway so completely, that he would be forgotten for nearly a century . Someone who was so powerful and was so able to change the rules of statehood just to try to keep the balance of power does not just evaporate. I think we need to look at who was David Rice Atchison . Likely because he left public life early. His accomplishments and goals were overshadowed by the civil war and its aftermath. And his moments of infamy was not followed up by greater moments. Atchison has faded from view and gotten left out of most of the history books. A fire in 1870 probably added to this. His home burned in 1870, including his library, his large collection of papers, and his manuscript he was working on for his memoirs. Had that not burned, we might know more about him today. He may not have completely disappeared. David rice atchison has been typically portrayed is this two dimensional figure, without much redeeming value, an ugly slave holder whose hold up in texas after the civil war. The most repeated stories about David Rice Atchison show him as a drunken ruffian, a vial figure out to illegally sway the elections of a young kansas territory and bring slavery into a place it was not desired. And even his 24 hours of highest rank gets twisted into him sleeping off a drunk and missing his big day. In preparing for this, i found that there is a block out there by a priest which repeats the story about him, saying that he had gone out to attend the inaugurals on that saturday night and slept all through sunday. Besides the timeline problems with inaugurals not happening until monday, there is no real evidence that David Rice Atchison was a drunk and no evidence that he did anything besides go to sleep after working with the senate for nearly 72 hours. The real David Rice Atchison was a very complicated man of exceptional intelligence, excelling and growing into someone who put principles in front of convenience. Who then entered what should have been the most productive period of his life at the same time the United States was being torn apart. As a young man, after he passed the bar and began into political life, he took the act of defending the mormons in court. This was certainly not a popular thing in missouri but he felt the mormons had the right to a proper defense, and so he put his career on the line as a young lawyer and defended the mormons. In the senate, he did on another somewhat unpopular thing. He defended the rights of the native americans and believe that all the trees should be upheld that were given them. Of course, at the same time he was taking other actions to open the west that were putting pressure on those same native americans he was defending with one hand. And then he was drawn into the kansas question, as i like to call it. Kansas absolutely consumed him. But i will come back to that in just a few minutes. David rice atchison has a lot of things going for him through his career, and one of the things i put together is a little fact sheet. So that when someone comes in and wants to know more about David Rice Atchison, someone wants to do a story on him, i can get them effect sheet that gives them a brief synopsis of who this person was and why we should care about who David Rice Atchison was. It starts out with that he is the real 12th president of the United States. And i will let you make that decision on your own a little bit later tonight. He was born in frog town, kentucky, on august 11th, 18 of seven, and this leads into one of the his self separating humor of david rice actress in. He always said i was a big frog in a puddle. He died in Clinton County, missouri january 26, 1886. He never married but raised his nephew as his own after his brothers death. He attended Transylvania University in lexington, kentucky. At the time, it was considered the equal or the premiere eastern colleges hardearned in yale. And it still exists, by the way. Transylvania university is still there. Atchison entered college is a freshman at the age of 14. In 1821. To give you an idea of how smart he was, he was four years advanced for anyone else entering class in Transylvania University. He graduated in the class of 1825. His classmates included five future senators, including Jefferson Davis, who had become a lifelong friend. As a senator from missouri, he was a democrat and he served from 1843 to 1855. President pro tem of the senate from 1846 to 1850, and then again 1852 to 1854. The only time where there was a twoyear gap where he did not serVice President pro tem, he deferred to the longest serving member of the senate at the time who had later become a Vice President who passed away as Vice President and David Rice Atchison replaced him as acting Vice President. In 1853 to 1854 under fill more, he served as acting Vice President like i said after the death of president taylor. In 1853 to 54, under president franklin pierce, after the death of william arcing, he once again served as acting Vice President. The Vice President didnt have quite as much to do is they do now, they literally presided over the senate and voted whenever there was a tie vote, and that was their only duty and the senate often refused to give the Vice President the funds to hire secretary even at the time. As he began his career, he served as a circuit judge in missouri. And then served in the missouri legislature. He was instrumental in the plaid to purchase that expanded the area of the state of missouri. As time, in his time in the senate, he spearheaded the drive to allow the oregon territory settlements and set up a territorial government. He was one of the main supporters of texas statehood. He took a firm hand upholding the treaty rights of neat american tribes during his ten year tenure as the chair of indian affairs. He oppose the Abolition Movement and was a staunch voice for states rights. He stood with the Southern States who feared this trend would break the union and he became the de facto leader of all the Southern States in the senate. Being from a zuri, that was kind of unusual position that he led to that entire delegation. Allison was also considered to be the real power, he drove the passage of the kansas nebraska act. It is thought that possibly he even wrote to the kansas nebraska act. Giving the credit elsewhere but he was the powerbroker behind it. Being able to garner all the southern votes to support it. When he retired from political life in 1856, he gave up because of the kansas question. He retired to his farm and his last political foray came in 1860 when actress and start as a candidate for the missouri government as a democrat but he failed to gain the nomination. There were other forces at work. He refused to serve the confederacy during the civil war, but he came to the service of the state of missouri and served among other positions as a general of the missouri militia. He was instrumental in enacting the defensive offensive treaty, which im not sure exactly what that means, but it sounds like a general treaty with the confederacy. I think its they are trying to say a defensive treaty but they wanted to say they could be offensive if they wanted to. That was a joke. I will come back now to the bleeding kansas era. Im not going to spend a lot of time on that, they told me this isnt something you have to spend a lot of time about bleeding kansas, you find a touched on it and other programs but i think it is really crucial to understand what happens to david rice addison atchison. You have to know is involvement. First we start with the kansas nebraska acts as i just mentioned. Well Stephen Douglas gets the credit, atchison said in numerous public speeches that he was the person behind the kansas nebraska act. Did he write this critical bill or was he the push behind it . He was the person likely driving the Southern States at this point. We could think of atchison as the godfather of kansas in this regard, driven by his vision that the fate of kansas was the fate of the union. And public, he spoke of allowing missouri ends and southerners to participate in the wealth of the west. But privately, he saw that the way kansas went would tip the power in the union and neither solidify the union or break it. He fought at all costs to protect the union and the way he saw was the only way to avoid civil war. By protecting southern interests. Was atchison a savior or deem into kansas . It depends on the view you take but one thing is certain, coming up here. One thing is certain, he saw the future course of the nation before anyone else realize that we were already on the road to the civil war. David rice atchison had this to personality thing going, not because of anything he did but because he was reported on by different sets of reporters with different agendas at the time. There was either border ruffian David Rice Atchison, or peace broker David Rice Atchison. Iowa and the question was did David Rice Atchison fired the first shot through the state hotel words or did he plead for calmer heads . Im going to read to exerts on different sides of this and you can decide which one makes more sense for that time period. I will start off the story of the peace broker, david rice at jason. And this was as he told us someone else reported he told them in later years. I made several speeches at least half a dozen riding horseback to the Different Companies i spoke in the interest of peace exerting myself to check not to insights not to operates it was not a wish that the hotel should be destroyed, i urge serge jones disparate, i told him it would satisfy the ends of justice if they should throw a cannonball through it and then let them have arrest. But jones was bent on mischief and i could do nothing with him. The squatter sovereign which was the newspaper of the time in addison, the city of addison, reported on lawrence this way. Actress in began by reminding them in that they were there to enforce the law, not violate the law. And should put personal animosity and private passions behind them. The general remind the posse of the critical political conditions of the country and told them that the eyes of the nation would be riveted on their actions that they. These men owed it, therefore to their friends and familys in distant places to remain temperate and calm in the discharge of their duties. That sounds like a human being talking, doesnt it . On the other side, the new york tribune which had reporters stationed in atchison and northeast kansas throughout this entire time period, reported on the same event. And this is the story of border ruffian. Voice this day i emma ranger by god. To this day we have entered lawrence and not one abolitionist has dare to fire gone. And now, voice, we will go in. And test the strength of that downed Free State Hotel and learn the immigrant aid society that kansas shall be hours. Boys, ladies should be respected by all gentlemen but by god, when a woman takes on herself the garb of a soldier bomb by carrying a sharks rifle, then she is no longer woman. And by, god treat her for what you find her and trample under her foot as you would a snake. If a man or woman their stand before you blow them to hell with a chunk of late. There is a subtle difference between these two accounts. So, you have to decide, who was David Rice Atchison . Obviously, you have to completely different characters being portrayed in the media of this time. Atchison was consumed by what was happening in kansas. He let himself be drawn into the detriment of Everything Else in his life. He even ignored the opportunity to be reelected to the u. S. Senate to try to reconcile how the kansas question was going to be answered. Now, David Rice Atchison was no st. He was a slave owner he was concerned about what would happen to missouri into owned slaves like himself. But he was more concerned about how he might preserve the union if only for a while. Was he shortsighted . Was he cutting himself the kansas allowed the extension of slavery would solve the problem . In both cases, probably yes. But you have to consider that he was not this radical slave state while died whiskey breathing he then as we often get the image from atchison of this time. If he only cared about slavery or not at all about the union, his record in the senate would be different and his lifelong friendship with Jefferson Davis wouldve allowed him to have any position in the confederacy he wanted. However, they deferred a very great deal in what they felt about what was happening. Jefferson davis was not David Rice Atchison biggest fan at this time because David Rice Atchison had other agendas. And David Rice Atchison was probably closer to lincoln in his opinion of trying to preserve the union, then of Jefferson Davis or any of the Southern States that he was supposedly the leader of the senate. Some he couldve had any position in the confederacy but when he finally admitted to himself, long after many other people around him and solid it, that the kansas cause was absolute futility, sometime in 1857, or 1858, he retired, going to his farm in Clinton County. He would be pulled back to serve with the missouri militia and he used his contacts to benefit the state but forging a defensive alliance with the confederacy. Late in the civil war, his path literally disappears just as he would do later. Finally resurfacing, he owned a farm in texas where he stays for at least a couple of years, wary of returning to his family property in missouri. During this, time he writes some letters to his brother still in missouri. And you can see there is this dual thing going on again. But he is concerned about his property and how missouri is around them are glaring to be able to keep their property but he is also writing what to do with the slaves here that he has with him, his family slaves that he has with him in texas. And he points out that no one desires them and he is afraid to let them go. Because he does not think there is any way they can support themselves at the time, because texas was probably not a very good place to be a freed slave at this time period. So, you see there are two things going on. He is concerned about the economics of slavery. At the same time, he does have a concern for the people who are now freed that he has a responsibility for and some feeling. Once again, we are not putting him in a good life. He was a slave owner and that is the in institution that cant be defended. But he is in this interesting position, that he has been straddling this line between two things that are going on for so long. And he is finally given up on politics and he is kind of a loss for what to do at this point. He finally does return from texas, but its kind of an interesting time period to see that this person who was so involved in everything is now sitting on the sidelines, just trying to stay out of the way until things settle down. So you can have a picture of who David Rice Atchison is. Now we come to the question, was he or wasnt he . In 1849, he was a senator on the rise. He was very well respected. Everyone thought he was probably someone who had a long way to go in his future. In a different time line and a different time period for the union did not split itself apart shortly after, we very well may be talking about him as someone who was actually a full term president at some point. It was certainly mentioned during his career. But, at this point, i am going to lay out the reasons why for 24 hours, he may or may not have been president of the United States. But the congressional glow and the senate laid out a series of events that are pretty easy to follow, as you make a case for what happened in this unique 24 hours. First, president elect Zachary Taylor decides not to ascend to the presidency on the normal date, march 4th, 1849. Because that day fell on the south. That of course is 165 years ago today. Second, on february 9th, 1849, thomas hart button, the other missouri senator, presents the credentials of davis rice atchison from the legislature of the state of missouri, reelecting atchison to another term from 1849 to 1855. The acceptance of these credentials extends his term in the senate of course with outbreak. The third point, on page two 93 of the journal of the senate, in relates the departure of Vice President george and dallas. I will relay a little bit about what dallas said at this time. And this occurred on march 2nd. As dallas was getting ready to leave, he says something that points out a very salient fact to deciding whether david rice at justin was president or not. This is george and dallas, Vice President. Gentleman of the senate, the close of my official term be near at hand, i conform to an established and convenient practice by withdrawing from the double really deliberations of the body and thus creating the occasion for the choice of a temporary president. Says he conforms to establish and convenient practice withdrawing to force the creation of the choice of a new president of the senate. He went on to thank the senate for their countless courtesys and noting that his constitutional duty to vote, break tie votes in the senate had occurred 30 times during the polk administration. He used a very flowery language going on and on about this for about a page. And then it comes to the end. My draft of your generous indulgence is a heavy one. When i ask you to forget or overlook them any imperfections with which the duties of the chair have been discharged. Its labors occasionally more arduous and anxious are always more absorbing than is generally supposed. And i undertook them with an oppressive consciousness of inexperience. Now that i have finally, now that i am finally relieved from my burden, let me say that i shall take back to the private pursuits whence i was unexpectedly called, the most grateful recollections of your kindness and an ardent wish that your title toils to advance the prosperity of the country beloved by us all may be rewarded by the purest public favor and the prolonged lives of happiness and honor. In other words to put it in todays top, think got that is over, im out of here. George dallas had an exceptional desire to have a great political career, but he had no political energy. Being Vice President wore him out. And being pokes Vice President most especially war him out because polk made no friends. Polk was a one term president , he intended to be a one term president and the first thing he did was declare war in mexico. And then he threatened to declare war on Great Britain in canada. He was trying to fill up all those corners of the map of the continental United States. In that, he succeeded in making a lot of extra friends. Polk did nothing and George Dallas suffer the consequences of that because he hoped to have a political career after being Vice President. But his career was ended and we never heard of George Dallas again. And in this case probably with good reason. So immediately after Vice President dallas is exit on page two 93 of the journal of the senate and page 6 46 of the congressional glow, senator David Rice Atchison is chosen Senate Pro Tem and word is immediately sent to the house and president polk. This put atchison third in line to the presidency. Dallas gone, he is second in line to the presidency. And he is in this line of succession because of the absence of the Vice President. Even though it atchison had held this president pro tem over the last three years on numerous times when the Vice President was absent, atchison chose this time to thank his colleagues in the senate in such a way that it makes you think he realized there were something a little different this time. This is david rights atchison addressing the senate that day. Senators, i cannot refrain from returning to you my heartfelt thanks for the repeated honors you have conferred on me, that i will endeavor to discharge the duties of the station faithfully and impartially. In the past, he had not said anything other than accepting. At this time he felt he had to address them, for some reason. The fifth step, David Rice Atchison leaves the senate to its duties until the end of the session. Including a 25 hours straight session of the final day of the 30th Congress Beginning at 6 am on saturday, march 3rd until the adjournment at 7 am, sunday, march 4th, 1849. At noon, president james cape polks term ends and polk is officially out of office. With the president elect not yet assuming the office, the line of succession now falls to atchison, why this time is of course at home in bed asleep. This is where people think that he was drinking a night before but if youve been up for 25 hours in the senate, where if you had read some of the stuff from the 25 hours you would be at home in bed asleep to. With the president elect now gone, and refusing to come in, David Atchison is a woken that afternoon about 3 pm, supposedly, and other times during the afternoon and evening, a friend of his who was a judge another senators show up asking for appointments to his cabinet or one day ambassadorships. It has been noted in some stories that he signed some papers during this 24 hours as chief executive. Possibly papers related to Zachary Taylors inauguration. However, nothing like that shows up in the congressional records of any type. If there was anything possibly zach retailers president ial papers might have something but no one has ever seen anything like that. It very well couldve referred to papers that were dieting the eyes and crossing the teams from a 24hour marathon session of the senate. At noon on monday, Zachary Taylor, the president elect takes the youth of office and now the 24 hour president is officially out of office. I think this lays out a pretty ironclad case the for 24 hours from noon, march 4th to noon march 5th, senator david rice addison was the highest ranking official in the United States. The question is, does that make him president . There are people out there who of course a. No if you ever look at the urban legend debunking websites snopes, they have core say this is false. They however use the three reasons that virtually everyone who says this is false used. One, is that David Rice Atchison was out of office as both the senator and president pro tem since the 30th congress adjourned. Second, the oath of office reason, if not taken the oath makes taylor not president , then it also makes at just and not president s. And of course, third is the fallback one that everyone goes to, this whole thing was an invention of the early 19 hundreds of 19 fifties and it was not realized at the time. This is the reason william perish, who was the biographer of David Rice Atchison and by the way theres only one book written about David Rice Atchison by william, parish certainly someone as this interesting should have more than one book written about him. But william perished was back on that saying that they didnt know about it a reason however im going to try to point out that all of these have us uphold in these theories. The end of term, i contend that the leaving of message of Vice President George Dallas points out the common practice of the time was to force the senate to put in place this president pro tem for succession reasons because this was a time before the secret service and before antibiotics. And just to point out how pratt fresher president s, were four months after leaving office, polk died. Believed to be of cholera. And 16 months into his term, zach retailer died, also likely have cholera. Zak retailer in this case on july 4th, he was out attending events, celebrating Independence Day and in five days, he was dead. This was a time where death came very suddenly. And the rules of succession, setting this up, was very important. Because it was cold, a number of people had died while marching the inauguration route in cold very cold weather. So if all the senators were out of office, which i think, you have to agree that if you are senator, you are still a senator the next term. You are still in office. If youre out of office for that 24 hours and between, just think if that happened today and there were no ethic rules to abide by. Just think how much trouble our senators would get into every time assistance. The oath of office thing, it seems to me that most people making this argument are mixing up the rules of succession to the presidency as opposed to the rules of president ial transition. Today i am not a constitutional scholar and i dont play well on tv. However, when it look through, theyre mixing up a lot of things here because this occasion is so unique, it is involving the rules of succession and the rules of transition and they are mixing together in this case. Of course, transition is the peaceful transfer of power that occurs after election of a new president. While the rules of succession apply to an event where a vacuum of power is left. Now this occasion mixes these two and you also throw into this the constitutional scholar hair splitting exercise that a president elect does not have to take the oath of office to be president but he must take the oath of office to execute the duties of the office. So by that reasoning, taylor was president but could not act. So at this point you could fill in your own no more reagan joke a few have ever seen bond so. The point is, there is a 24 hour vacuum and the walls of succession in the laws of physics should apply here, because nature of pores a vacuum and pretty much so does the federal government. As soon as the president is out of office there is a vacuum of power and in this case one of two things must happen the line of succession immediately comes into play, to fill the vacuum which would mean david rice at jason or Zachary Taylor must fulfill the duties of transition and take the oath of office to become president. No someone out there are sure is saying if youre looking at this up here david rice at just and didnt take the oath either, but the rule of succession says they dont have to take the oath until a convenient time. But of course, zak retailer had never held elected office, he is never taken an oath of office of any type. However, david rice at justin is a sitting senator and he has taken an oath of Office Multiple times, every time hes been elected. And if you look at these two oaths, they pretty much cover the same ground. So at least to me, i think the oath of office arguments is a difficult one to make stick. An invention of the 19 hundreds or 19 fifties, this is the one that they all fall back to. And at this point, i have to say not so fast, because this is the ultimate argument they give to the discount this rare incident. Smokes uses it as it doesnt matter anyway arguments and sodas william perish, the biographer. However, there is physical evidence and in the newspapers of the, time there was one of two things that counters the story the diatribe there was a paragraph. And those are what they called stories, typically at that time. We now this argument is not only wrong it, is completely wrong. And heres why. The Daily National intelligence is the Washington Post of its time and on march 10th 1849, the National Intelligence prince eight note about david rice actress in as president. On the inside page, the president for a day, the honorable david are atchison of missouri, president of the senate, was on sunday, last by virtue of his office, president of the United States for one day. Of course no, they did not know about this in 1849. Now the next one not only shows that this got spread around the country, it got picked up for the National Intelligence sir in many papers, this is from the new york, new jersey paper. Hunted includes the line, his salary for that day was 68 dollars and a half. So if we can find that pay voucher for 68 dollars and 50 cents, we have ironclad evidence that David Rice Atchison was present for a day. Now finally, what does David Rice Atchison have to say about this case . Depending on the time period, he said different things. At one point, he said he was president. At one point he said he was merely the Senate President pro tempore, next in line if needed. He also said that for 24 hours, either the country was without a government or i was president. He often joked that i have the Honest Administration this country ever hat. And in a later interview, he said, i had one boast to make, that not one woman or child shed a tear during my incumbents of the place for being put out of a job. It was probably a little fun here at the time. I think it shows you get a sense of humor, he didnt take it too seriously but he realized this was an unusual situation and he was probably ready to accept this position if it had come to him. He had spent pretty much his entire Senate Career getting ready for this. Of course, like i said, for long periods of time, he was just a breath away from being president. As he served as acting Vice President , for most of us in a career, he was two steps away from being president. Something happened Zachary Taylor the situation of half in differently i think you wouldve been ready for that position. And of course you have to remember Zachary Taylor 16 months after this 24 hours, died. In office so why is there a david rice adjacent World Smallest unofficial president ial library . For one, we could not come up with a way to make that title longer. You might have guessed by now that the library is actually an exhibit on david rice atkinson and a collection of material, papers and artifacts that help tell the story of this important figure in the earliest days of the kansas territory. Depending on the time, it is two or three enclosed cases inside the historical museum. Theres also a banner above it declaring that the president ial library so that people can see it and go right to it. We opened up the current president ial library on president sday 2006. Although the idea came long before that, maybe as far back as 1989 when we moved into the current building we are in which is a large stone santa fe freight depot. The first time i saw it, the president ial library was a picture of david rice atchinson. His sidearm and a book cover. We did not even have the book, we had a book covered wrapped around another book. At some point, i took all of this down with the idea that if were going to do this, were going to do it right. We will have it informational. We will have the facts there and let people come in and decide is david rice atchinson a good guy or bad guy . Whats the president or was he not president . So how big is the worlds smallest president ial library . I was informed there are apparently some challenges out there for us, but im pretty confident we have this wrapped up. Originally, our exhibit, the president ial library, was 21 square feet. Then we made a major expansion when we acquired the National Intelligence, or we had to have room for that, so we expanded it to 32 square feet. I thought about putting it in cubic feet, but that would make the number larger. So how much space do you need for a 24 hour presidency . And when youve spent no money and declaring awards and broke no promises and passed no bills, you dont need a lot of space. However, as a Senate Career, he did do a lot of things and we try to acquire as much of the material that is out there as possible about david rice atchinson. What is the david rice atchinson library . There is of course a growing collection of books, papers and information related to david rice atchinson and all of the president ial ties and visitors by other president s and president ial nominees. Everywhere from Abraham Lincoln who stopped in atchinson during his tour of kansas in 1859, all the way to harry truman who was in atchinson windy bridge was dedicated. He was there giving a speech on the atchinson side of the bridge. Of course, the centerpiece of the exhibit is david rice atchinsons whitney navy six shots percussion 36 caliber revolver. This was carried by david rice atchinson and was likely one of the four pistols he carried in march 1885 when he came to kansas to safeguard the first kansas election. By the way, there was a huge investigation. A 1200 page book was produced by congress in and they decided that david rice atchinson did nothing illegal in kansas. We acquire this gun in 1896 from atchinsons great great great nephew. He wanted it to be placed with a significant weapons collection and now it fits into our david rice atchinson president ial library. Every president ial library has to have a hall of president s and we have one as well. Ours is just a bit smaller than most of you have probably seen. These are the marks toy Company President ial toys from the fifties and sixties. And of course, this also gives us one more piece of evidence that david rice atchinson was the real 12th president , because there is a man out there who runs a company producing all the president s who were not included in the marks. He produces not only everyone from nixon forward to obama. He also includes david rice atchinson as the real 12th president. Of course, that should be the clinching reason right there. For the opening, we produced some of these little pedestals with david rice atchinson, a collection of his books and a reproduction of his revolver. A nice bronze colored plaque, not actual bronze, but you know. The Daily National intelligence, like i said, this was the cause for our major expansion in the worlds smallest president ial library. This is something i think ill share with you that i had been looking for this, because i found a mention that there was an article in this newspaper about david rice atchinson as president for a day. I looked and looked and finally i found a citation saying where this came from. The day i found the date of the National Intelligence article that had this little paragraph that i showed you earlier, i opened up my computer and started looking online that evening when i got home. The first thing i looked at was Library Websites to see who might hold micro film of the Daily National intelligence or. This was several years ago and i had absolutely no luck finding any listing with that holding. So i said ill take a chance. Under the date, i will look on ebay. I opened up ebay, this is within 24 hours of i found the date i was looking for. I opened up ebay, i typed it in and there was one copy of a Daily National intelligence or for sale. It was the date i was looking for. It has that in it. So i think this is one of those signs that we were meant to find this as the evidence to present to you. I hope you will consider visiting the david rice atchinson worlds smallest president ial library. Chris, thank you so much. That was terrific. I think we have a little bit of time if anyone has a question about the atchinson administration or david rice atchinsons career as a senator or what he did in his post senate, post civil war career. Chris is pretty knowledgeable about these topics and will be happy to answer your questions. Yes sir. I was always under the impression that the line of succession was president , Vice President , speaker of the house and then president proclaimed of the senate. Is that not true . Am i wrong . That is the way it is today. In 1849, the president pro tem was before the speaker of the house. So back then it was president , Vice President , speaker and then speaker of the house and then secretary of state. Yes. At some point, it was switched. Im not sure the exact date, but you are correct. That is the way it is today. Okay. How much did you have to pay for the paper . I knew someone was going to ask that, but i could not find it in my records. I think it was about 18 or maybe 22 dollars. It wasnt too much. But for an 1849 newspaper, and of course it is made 1849, its that beautiful paper made out of rag so it will last forever. Good evening, my name is david reid atchinson. My brother is robert dean atchinson. My name is spelled like the secretary of state under harry truman. Our family definitely felt that david rice atchinson was hung over on his day of presidency. We are yankees from Northern Illinois and im sure the newspapers irritated my family. We spelled our name, but not originally. It was 80. It was 80 when churches kept tracks of birth records and death records. Counties did not do that a long time ago. My great great grandfather changed the spelling of his sons name in the church records. The one thing that i have been steadily learning more about david rice was that it wasnt all bad as you said. I went to your museum, its a very nice museum. I talked to the ladies there and i said, my father went to plett city where david rice atchinson is buried. And next to his grave is five children. And no wife. And that was more fire for her family. Until i found out that he was never married, his brother died and he raised to these children. So i had to call off the wolves. My sister my brother. But we followed this quite closely, the chicago tribune, years ago, did a big story on his one day event but i wish i knew the dates. I found a number of things, this popped up in dear abby at one point. There was an interesting conversation. Everyone said he wasnt president who wrote in. But she said he was. And of course paul harvey says he wasnt. I found out in trying to find this dear abby listing. But the David Rice Atchison, he came from kentucky, of course and his father was a minister. Im not sure how many brothers and sisters he had off the top of my head but there are other branches that originate from kentucky as well. But there seems to be a number of different actions. Whether they are all interrelated, i dont know. Thank you for your marvelous presentation today, sir. Seems to me a terrible dichotomy in that he would champion the rights of native americans while holding slaves. Over . I regret you. One of the things i always point out is when you are looking at this time period, if you look with 2014 eyes you are not getting an accurate idea of what was going on. You have to kind of put yourself in place of what was common practice at the time. And, you know, that is very difficult to do and there is no defense for slavery. But that is how he grew up, you grew up in a family who owned slaves and kentucky. And that was part of his family, what happened in that. And so it was kind of accepted. As a senator and later on he was usually considered to be very fair. How does slavery fit into that . This everyone who own slaves, are they a horrible people . They are participating in something that is terrible, but it was something that happened. And we have to kind of factor that in somehow and looking at who he was. Yes . You mentioned his quandary about what to do about it slaves, do you have any idea or any information on what did happen to them . The only thing i have come across and ive been told by a couple people is that he put it in his will for slaves to be freed of, course he didnt die until 1886, that has no bury on reality. My understanding is, he sent one of his slaves, he sent them to be employed at his property in missouri. Because during the time he was in the senate, he had a body servant, who went with him everywhere. And it is believed that two he sent back to missouri to be employed on his farm there in continue working for him. The other slaves as far as i could tell, i really dont have any details, i dont know if they were left in texas or sent somewhere else, usually seemed willing to pay and put them at a better situation since he could no longer protect them as he saw it. You have to take it with a grain of salt. The thing i wonder about is the fact that a missouri sanity but they need to tone after him in kansas can you explain how that happened . Like i said, he was kind of the godfather of the kansas territory so he had it really interesting what was happening in kansas. Seven of his friends from county missouri, came up the Missouri River when kansas was open for settlement, they come up the river and they came looking for an investment and they wanted to include David Rice Atchison in his investment, they had the side of what is now actress in kansas and it was beautiful open sites, he went out on a pretty level playing out to the curry, it was a great investment. They needed for david rice addison because they wanted the good things that would come with having his name associated with it. He would draw interest to it, because he was still influential at this time. It would be a few years before he started dragging his on name through the mud or the new york tribune drew his name through the mud. At this point, he came in and he was in the city of a in kansas, when they saw the first town lots and he actually was one of the first pot holders in atchison. He gave his interest away, he never kept any property, as far as i could tell, never continue to own any property in kansas. He gave it away to a man named james henley who was a lawyer nashs addison who was a done to fight isis nephew. I cannot find where that family relation works out, if he was actually his nephew or free was some distant relation. But, he wasnt at just, and it was named for him, he did support him early on. He was an early Property Owner within the town and then he gave his interest away to someone else. Supposedly, they kept a room reserved for him in one of the hotels and not just in, so they could say that he was a kansas Property Owner and could come in to support the various activities of the polls. Those were his friends more so than him directly doing the. I grew up in Clinton County missouri and plots burke, of course is a county seat, there has always been the statue there of david rice allison. Was his land, his farm may be considered part of plants . Burke im not sure why he has always been there. That was probably its in front of the courthouse, correct . I dont know if thats the original town from that period probably worked in that courthouse. Thats probably why its located there but he did own property in Clinton County, he did own quite a bit of property at a time and that is of course where he lived in his buried there. He is buried in Clinton County . Yes. There is a Youtube Video that i wanted to pull up to be able to use tonight but i couldnt figure out how to yank it off youtube at the time and i forgot to book market but it is someone coming out to find this grave and its completely covered by monographs. I didnt realize he was buried there. Its one of those things for the unknown president that his grave is covered by. I cant thank you enough for giving us a great deal of thoughts on whether or not who was the 12th president. Can i ask . Absolutely. Who thinks David Rice Atchison was president for 24 hours . And who thinks he wasnt . Okay, the ayes have it. I think they accept the nomination. Weeknights this month, we are featuring American History tv programs as a preview of what is available every weekend on cspan 3. Tonight, cspan cities tour takes you across the United States and through time, as we explore our music history. Some of this stops include the ryman auditoriums nashville. The rock and roll hall of fame in cleveland, and the birthplace of jazz music, new orleans. Much tonight, beginning at 8 00 ea
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