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.
Best and worst chief executives. We hear from author rosen, Michael Gearhart and from Robert Strauss. His book is worst president ever about james buchanan. [ applause ] ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the National Constitution center. I am Jeffrey Rosen, the president of this wonderful institution and this is such a happy day to celebrate the great collaboration between the National Constitution center and cspan. Cspan has an inspiring nonpartisan mission to bring unfiltered information about the u. S. Government to american citizens, and that coincides with the National Constitution centers mission which i now want all of you to recite along with me to inspire our guests and our cspan viewers. The National Constitution center is 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 coll
How the south won the civil war oligarchy, democracy, and the continuing fight for the soul of amerca. I am joanne freeman, a professor of history and american studies at yale university, and this afternoon i have the pleasure of being in conversation with heather about her book and other matters political. This program is being produced by the brooklyn Historic Society which is been a cultural hub for civic dialogue and command outreach for over 150 years. Thats some real history. Her book has gotten a lot of critical praise, for example, the Washington Post writes, Heather Cox Richardson a professor of history at Boston College explains goldwater crusade and the trajectory of modern conservatism in her masterful book. I kind of book that sheds light and was perhaps the most important Political Coalition of the 20th century. And Publishers Weekly says richardson and emphasizes the prevalence province of racism and sexism and inequality in other parts of the country during and followin
Richard norton smith, why did you call your book that you wrote 35 years ago uncommon man . Well, its taken, actually, from the title of a relatively famous hoover speech about the uncommon man. Remember, Vice President henry wallace, who was the second of fdrs Vice President s, gave a famous speech in 1942, i believe, maybe43, about the century of the common man. And wallace, from a left of center perspective, was projecting, in effect, the goals and ambitions of the generation that was fighting world war ii. And it wasnt enough simply to defeat the nazis, but to create at home a true democracy. A place where the common man would finally come into his own. And hoover approached this from a different place on the political spectrum. He was, in effect, making the case for what we might call a meritocracy. But something to say, that i shouldnt paraphrase it, but, you know, when you get sick, you want an uncommonly skillful doctor. When we go to war, we want an uncommonly able general. Yo
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