President s day. First, sir, explain the significance of that moment thats portrayed over your shoulder there, the swearing in of George Washington. You see the first president being sworn in at federal hall in new york city. This would have been in 1789 in april. How well were the duties and the powers of the office that he was about to step into . How well were they defined at that moment when he was sworn in . They werent defined at all. There was nothing like it in america and really in the world. It was a new experiment of an elected magistrate who would at one point be the head of state like a king but at the same time also sort of the chief executioner of the laws, the chief executive in this case, the chief policymaker. And it wasnt exactly clear where the powers of the legislature and where the powers of the president would be defined. Washington created that office and many of the precedents, many of the things we come to think of as president ial really come down from his ex
This will be different because we are simply focusing on case studies. Today we are going to talk about bill clinton and for w bush. Next time we will talk about barack obama and donald trump. There will be so little to talk about when we talk about donald trump. With the clinton and george w on the docket today, there are a few things that warrants just some quick musing at the start. The first of which, which always older folksind of like us have to acclimate our psyches to realize that, to you all, bill clinton jen genuinely is a figure of history. None of you have an active recollection, or even a childhood recollection of bill clinton in office. Which actually is kind of amazing. Kind of a hazy figure to you. Thanof you all were older probably was anybody altered the intent when w left office . No. Even w is kind of a childhood figure to all. That just in it of itself just gives a sense of, especially for us, how quickly history can move. And how things pass from current day to hi
And the first peoples were here at least 12,000 years ago. We are going to start looking at indianas first nations, and the very thing you will see in the first gallery is a case filled with beautiful objects that show how these cultures were not only surviving in indiana, but really thriving. You have the entire span represented, everything from projectile points for hunting, and very practical vessels to really beautiful objects. A couple items i would highlight are the pipe in the center of the case here, which is one of the first artifacts in the museums collection. It is actually a very beautiful pipe in the shape of a wolf and shows the importance of pipes for ceremonial purposes in those early cultures. This one was probably made between about 100 and 500. It is about 1500 years old. Directly below it is in enormous vessel and it is probably directly before europeans came to indiana. This holds 14 gallons. It was probably a food storage pot. It was found in fragments. Archaeolog
Hard to imagine we could be a country without washingtons battlefield heroics. If you want to understand military history, look at washingtons campaign in new jersey and the hudson river, et cetera, its quite remarkable. Washington journal continues. From the ground of George Washingtons historic mt. Vernon, were joined now at the education and Museum Center there by doug bradburn, the president and ceo of George Washingtons mt. Vernon on this president s day. First, sir, explain the significance of that moment thats portrayed over your shoulder there, the swearingin of George Washington. Well, good morning, welcome to mt. Vernon. Behind me you see George Washington, the first president , being sworn in at federal hall in new york city. This would have been in 1789 in april. How well were the duties and the powers of the office that he was about to step into, how well were they defined at that moment when he was sworn in . Well, they werent defined at all. The presidency was a brand ne
My name is kevin butter fooerfi. Im t it is my pleasure to welcome you here tonight on behalf of the mt. Vernon Ladies Association and the Ford Motor Company which each month sponsors a free monthly book talk just like this one, an opportunity for people to the community to come and learn from some of the greatest historians in the field. Thank you so much for being here tonight. Were thrilled to have you. To begin the program, just shortly, well hear a brief presentation from susan swain, copresident , chief executive officer of cspan, and coauthor of the president s which will be discussed tonight. Shell be joined by brian lann, founder and executive chairman of cspan, in moderating an esteemed group of historians in discussing the american presidency. And 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 1 is quite long. Article 2 much shorter. And the ke