Journalists peter baker and Susan Glasser on the brandnew book on james baker, the life and times of james baker. Iner baker, no relation come Susan Glasser, welcome to washington journal. Let me start with a question about the idea of doing this book on james baker. This obviously predates the 2020 election, but this is earlier than 2016 correct . Visualize thenot rise of donald trump in the transformation of the Republican Party we started this book back in the obama era. We had a sense that baker was a character who would help us to write a big story about washington as well has as well as his own personal story. From watergaten to the end of the cold war and james baker is in the middle of that. Host was an easy prey . Did he easily agreed to be interviewed for the book project . Wast at this point, he willing and ready for some of the l2 write a biography about him. Some ready for amebody else to write biography about him. He was open and cooperative. He didnt put anything off bal
There is no such thing as free labor right . That doesnt make sense. Could you help us understand, what do you mean, what do scholars mean by free labor . Mr. Luskey thanks for having me on. I appreciate the opportunity to talk about this book. It is a question my students, even after having me teach the concept to them, they still have trouble understanding. Free labor ideology came together as a set of ideas, most clearly in the 1850s, around a new political party, the republican party, and what the ideas at the heart of this ideology proposed was that wage labor, as it existed in northern states, was a superior economic and social system to southern slavery. It was a system, in its ideal form, that allowed workers the opportunity to make a contract with the employer of their choice, and to save their earnings to become independent. And this was something that was not available to enslaved people in the southern states. It is art of an attempt to rehabilitate wage labor, which many w
Conference. However, he and mrs. Baker contracted covid19. Im pleased to report that they now have covid19, the illness, in their rear view mirror. Today the secretary will be interviewed by talmage boston. Talmage in his own right is a highprofile persona in texas and across the nation. He is a leading trial lawyer. He is known in our profession as what we call a goto lawyer or a super lawyer. Talmage is also a historian, and he has a special focused interest on the qualities of leadership in the public and the private square. Recently he authored a book where he sat down with authors. Im pleased to announce this is the sixth lecture in the star federalist papers lecture series. The lecture series endowed by john and marie chiles in choernhonor of judge starr is where we can learn more about the federalist papers and the role of the federalist papers and the ratification of the United States constitution. The papers were authored from 1787 to the time of the ratification of the consti
Vote vote vote vote vote vote the presiding officer are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote . Hearing none, the yeas are 64, the nays are 24. The nomination is confirmed. Under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table, and the president will be immediately notified of the senates action. Mr. Thune madam president . The presiding officer the senator from south dakota. Mr. Thune i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to legislative session and be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Thune madam president , i have four requests for committees to meet during todays session of the senate. They have a approval of the majority and minority leaders. The presiding officer duly noted. Mr. Thune madam president , before i begin, i want to acknowledge the tremendous news released yesterday that early
What we were going through then as comparison to whats happening now and also some of the lessons that were learned. Lets start with the court itself in 2000. The Rehnquist Court. Nine members of the court and seven of them have been appointed by republican president s. But how do they align ideologically . David its sort of a 54 conservative court. Rehnquist was a leader. Justice scalia was a prominent figure. It leans right. There were several moderate republicans. John stephens, david souter and Ruth Ginsburg and stephen breyer, four on the left. So it leaned conservative. But it was also an interesting you know, the court the court is never 100 predictable. I found that Justice Kennedy and Justice Oconnor were middle of the road conservatives. And you could not predict them in all sorts of cases. Susan would you say a bit more about the chief Justice William rehnquist and his approach to leading the court . David well, he had, you know, he had been on the court for a lot of years b