George washington university. Before he introduces our speaker today, let me acknowledge our partnership with the National History center and the American Historical Association we are cosponsoring and coorganizing this seminar with. Let me acknowledgment our donors, the George Washington University History department as well as a number of individuals giving support for this series. We want to acknowledge roger lewis, the cochairman of the seminar. Hes here all the way from texas. I want to welcome all of you and say thank you to the ones who do the heavy lifting in terms of getting is here and organize. We are grateful to you. [applause] thank you. With that, i think we should turn it over to eric. One last technical announcement, if you have one of these devices, and i suspect everyone in the room does. Turn it to vibrate or silence, that will prevent embarrassment and interruption in the next hour and a half. With that, it is my pleasure to introduce this afternoons speaker, an ind