Controversial, emotional, and something we need to talk about. And from time to time when ive done this panel with friends and colleagues, ive called it on or off their pedestals. The debate over statues, memory and meaning. And i discussed this topic maybe twice or three times with edna medford and it is evolving even between us as we proceed over a year and a half. And its a pleasure to welcome not only edna medford, but also liz varon and Gary Gallagher to join the discussion. Of 1728 confederate memorials in 22 states and the district of columbia, 110 have been removed in the past few years. And three new ones have been built. So its good to have the opportunity to take a snapshot. At best, it will be a snapshot. And i think that we all have to agree that however we feel about art, iconography, memorials, icons, history, american heroes and american villains alike, that the controversy over statues and memorials not only tributes to confederates in the south, but also to those, for
Good evening. Welcome to mt. Vernon. My name is kevin butterfield. And it is my pleasure to welcome you here tonight on behalf of the Mount Vernons lady associations and Ford Motor Company which sponsors a free monthly book talk to learn from the greatest historians. Thank you for being here tonight. Were thrilled to have you. To begin the Program Shortly well hear a brief presentation from susan swain, copresident and executive officer of cspan and coauthors of the president s. Shell be joined by brian lamb, the founder and executive chairman of cspan and moderating and esteemed group of historians in discussing the american presidency. The american presidency is as you know a fascinating subject of inquiry in every possible way. In the constitution, theres not as much said about it as you might imagine. Article i is quite long, ii much shorter and the key phrase is about as short as you can imagine. The executive power should be vested in a president of the United States of america.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Constitution Center. I am the president of this institution and this is such a happy day to celebrate the collaboration between the National Constitution center and cspan. [applause] cspan has a mission to bring unfiltered information about the u. S. Government to american citizens and that coincides with the Constitution Centers mission which i want you to reside along with me to inspire our guests and viewers. The National Constitution center is the only institution in america chartered by congress to disseminate information about the u. S. Constitution on a nonpartisan basis. Beautiful. That was so well done. [applause] i was so thrilled when my friend and colleague susan swain, the head of cspan, came just a few months ago, or rather weeks ago, and said, we have this great new book on the president s. Let us launch it at the National Constitution center. It is such an honor to welcome back to the Constitution Center the great founder of cspan, b
Politically, militarily. Country, ourhis views on gender and racial equality are shaped by the experiences in world war ii. There were black americans, hundreds of thousands of them, who served in the war mostly in allblack units. It was a segregated military. Many of them had a double v campaign. Victory against fascist opponents overseas and victory against racism at home. And the dignity, the empowerment, the sense of service, the sense of cohesion that that experience brought to black america was a propulsion system for the Civil Rights Movement after the war. The same for gender equality. We had 19 million american women working outside of the home during world war ii. Many of them went back to the homemakers after the war. But you dont put that genie back in the model for long. It showed women that they had an opportunity to do whatever men could do, that they could do things that men could do as well, if not better. Whether it was riveting together a ship, working in a science l
Welcome to the Constitution Center. Tos is such a happy day celebrate the collaboration between the National Constitution center and cspan. [applause] nonpartisans a mission and that coincides with the Constitution Centers mission. The National Constitution center is the only institution in america chartered by congress to disseminate information about the u. S. Constitution on a nonpartisan basis. Beautiful. That was so well done. I was so thrilled when my friend and colleague susan swain, the head of cspan, came just a few months ago, or rather weeks ago, and said, we have this great new book on the president s. At the National Constitution center. It is such an honor to welcome back to the Constitution Center the great founder of cspan, brian lamb. [applause] he is americas greatest interviewer. I was honored to be interviewed by him for this book, as were my colleagues. Welcoming him back to the center is so meaningful. Now to introduce this program, it is a special pleasure to wel