The men who stare at goats. Join the conversation. Get the complete schedule at www. Cspan. Org. All weekend, American History tv is featuring the city of topeka, kansas. Newspaper editor William Allen white advocated for the eradication of the ku klux klan and early 1900s. Hosted by our Cox Communications cable partner, cspans city tours recently visited many sites showcasing the citys history. Learn more about the call weekend here on american is about topeka a weekend here on American History tv. I came to know Charles Curtis after i moved to topeka. I am resident historian of the cemetery where he is buried. I came to him no i came to know more of history. The more i found out, the more fascinating or realized he was. He is reduced to a trivia question. The only Vice President of native american lineage or Interest Rate or ancestry. He deserves more than that. I have done some Curtis Research in the last 20 years. It has got more serious. His journey has become more remarkable to me in the last couple of years. I realize exactly what he did. He is born on north topeka, 1860. Hes born during the territorial period. He is caw french, and white dissent. His father is a white man oren curtis. His ancestors are passengers on the mayflower. A lot of haiti is made with that when he is a candidate. He has the indian on one side, pilgrims on the other. It is a great pr piece. What makes him so remarkable, i think, is the fact that he is a mixed blood growing up in a time that makes that very difficult and he somehow, i think by pure force of his personality, makes that an advantage. One historian says he played the indian card when it worked, and he played the white card when it worked. That might be true but i think it oversimplifies his experience and i think it is a little unfair to him. I think he chose the white mans world. That is his words. Because of his experiences. It is unfortunate that society forced that choice on him, and it certainly did. Charles Curtis Family operated the ferry that went from north topeka to the south side of the kansas river and was ferrying passengers on the oregon trail. He does not come from a poor family. They are always working but they are people of means. His mother has an allotment of land as a part of her mixed Indian Heritage. So we always has means. When his mother dies when he is only three years old, he goes to live with his indian grandmother on the reservation at Council Grove. By then the caw had been removed to Council Grove so he goes and lives with them. He grows up with an indian identity. He talks about his childhood as being idyllic. He was a little boy riding ponies and fishing and hunting. Is a great life. The turning point came in 1868. He is only eight years old. The cheyenne uncharacteristically come pretty for ease to attack the caw. This is not a pitched battle. It turns into a standoff. It is an incredible show of force to the cheyenne. Curtis walks six miles to topeka to alert the authorities that the cheyenne have attacked them. Some accounts say he came with his uncle, but charles spoke english, he spoke french, and kaw. He comes to topeka and tells governor crawford 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 says that is enough. You are coming to live with us and have a civilized life. When the indians, wendy kaw tribe is being removed to the Indian Nation or indian territory, what is now oklahoma, he really wants to go with them. That is 1873. He is 13. His french and indian grandmother says no. You have to make something of your life. If you come with us, you cant do that. You have to stay with your white grandmother and get an education and make something of yourself. I dont think you and overestimate what those two women, the impact those two women had on his life. He comes to topeka. He attends topeka high school. He does not graduate. It was only a twoyear program so it is not unusual for people not to a graduated. He worked. He had one horse and buggy and he borrowed or rented another horse and he basically runs a taxi service. He is running the legislators and attorneys around the capital and he becomes interested in the practice of law. He reads for the law, as was not uncommon for that point, and that is how he passed the bar. Curtis had decades of legislative experience. He was in congress, he was the first Republican Senate majority leader he was to some people some newspaper editors of the day said curtis was the most powerful man in washington as Senate Majority leader. He did not rule from the front. He ruled from the back. He set by the door. He knew every man in their intimately. He knew what they wanted. He knew their childrens names. He knew what motivated him. He was a master of compromise and getting things done and almost never rose to speak himself. In the 1928 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 he was probably already Senate Majority leader and a really big deal, almost all of the newspapers make him a mythic figure. This rise from the tipi to washington. Whether or not he lives in one i am not sure. It is the indian background. It was turned into such a colorful story. No one could match that story. By then he had so ensconced himself with business that i dont believe his Indian Heritage was a negative. It does not appear to have been. He is who hers he is hoovers Vice President. Hoover was not popular because some people think his administration was responsible for the depression. Nobody associated with that is very popular. As Vice President curtis was something of a nobody. Curtis became a caricature of the time. It is very unfortunate because he was a very remarkable man. The house. A very beautiful house. Almost unbelievable how beautiful it still is. This is called an eclectic victorian. Eclectic because it has the mooring stone and some stainedglass windows and curved windows. It is a lot of different styles of the victorian area that have been put together. They call it eclectic victorian. We just love the building. They love to come here. They love to see the house and the furnishings and talk about curtis. It has been a very wonderful retirement for us because it has kept us on the go. My husband and i purchased the house in 1993. When we purchased the building it was slated to be demolished by the city because no one was in the residence known was interested in purchasing the building. It actually has 12 rooms. Furnishings in the house are of curtis era. He would have used most of these types of furniture in that era. We do have some curtis items in the house that are very important. We have the grandfather clock. We have a bookcase, a chair, a quilt, a few dishes. We have a lot of memorabilia of curtis. When we take people on a tour the building we just tell them the story of curtis first. And how curtis story is becoming more popular. The people in our cities and i thought that was strange. It has been many years since he was in office or in office. The more we read about him, the more it is unbelievable that you can take one year of High School Education and go on to do all that. Debra when Charles Curtis was first elected, native americans did not have the right to vote. The significance of his election cannot be overstated. I think a list is sheer force of his personality it is the sheer force of his personality that is that happen. It is his ability to get on with everybody. Throughout the weekend American History tv is featuring topeka, kansas. Our city tours of staff recently traveled there to learn about its rich history. Learn more about topeka and other stops on www. Cspan. Org citiestour. Youre watching American History tv on cspan 3. Sunday night on q1 day Washington PostNational Security border Walter Pincus on the security situation in his opinion on the invasion of iraq. I think one of the things that the bush restoration, and paul wolf never explained never claimed to be an expert on iraq, and proved it. History has proved it. We look at things in our own point of view and get deceived by it. You can go back to vietnam. It was a great example of the first time we saw it openly. We have a history of trying to think other People Like Us who want our standards in the world this difference. Particularly in the middle east, is a totally different culture. Sunday night at 8 00 eastern and pacific on cspans u. N. Day. Q and a. She embraced the role of first lady and look like a queen. Hosting parties to help her husband lost political agenda. In the world 1812 when the british burned the capital, she is credited with saving a portrait of george washington. Dolly madison on first ladies influence an image. Looking at the influence on the presidency. From Martha Washingtons michelle obama. Sundays at 10 30. Cspans new book is available. First ladies. Providing lively stories of these fascinating women. Creating an illuminating entertaining, and inspiring read. It is available as a hardcover or an ebook through your favorite bookstore or online bookseller. History bookshelf features popular American History writers and airs on American History tv every weekend. May 8 is the 70th anniversary of germanys surrender to the ally in 1975. Rick atkinson examines the last year of world war ii in his book. He spoke at the National Book festival in 2013. This is about 45 minutes. Note to our author and speaker, rick atkinson. Rick served as a reporter and Senior Editor of the Washington Post