The institute, i also want to welcome you to our fullscale replica of the United States senate chamber. At the kennedy institute, we are committed to engaging the public in a conversation about the role each one of us plays in our democracy and in our society. We do that through Civic Education programs that bring the United States senate to life, and conversation like tonight, that bring American History into focus. We are very proud to partner with the Massachusetts Historical Society on todays program. They are an invaluable resource for american life, history, and culture. All of us at the institute are proud to gather and esteemed panel tonight. Fred thys covers politics at wbur, where he has been since 1998, breaking news and serving as a trusted source of truth and information. He previously was the nbc news bureau chief in mexico city, and a south america reporter for cbs news, based in argentina. Joining fred on the panel are distinguished scholars who provide perspectives on
Years, you and your team have been charged with telling the story of the news media in society. Were going to talk today about news media and president s. When you think about that relationship from a macro standpoint, what has characterized the relationship between president s and the press throughout our history . Patty it is an interesting courtship, that relationship between the president s and the press. Early on during, the campaign years, the candidates want to woo the press. They want to put on the best face. They know the power of the press to get their message outside. But when they get in office and the confetti is down and the celebration is over, and the reality of governing comes in, and they realize that the role of the press is to be a watchdog, to be the peoples watchdog on government, to see how are they doing the job that they are doing. To be a check and balance on the president. Few president s enjoy being criticized. That is often the role of the press. So that re
Innovative course design award on his undergraduate course on the topic of ordinary lives in the American Revolution. And his book, stolen five boys kidnapped into slavery in their journey home, which tells the true story of five boys kidnapped in the north and sold into slavery in the deep south and that during attempt to escape and bring their captors to justice, is being published by Simon Schuster in october. Thank you once again for joining us this evening, and without any ado,er do any further please join me in welcoming dr. Rick bell. [applause] professor bell thanks to heather, thanks to cspan for covering this. Those of you who might have been to the Smithsonian Associates before and heard me give other programs wont be surprised to hear my strange accent, which is not exactly a maryland natives accent. I was raised in england yet find myself teaching about the American Revolution as part of my job, which let me tell you is a blessing and a curse, an undergraduate classroom to
Story about five boys kidnapped in the north and smuggled into slavery in the south. Toir daring attempt to try bring their captors to justice is being published by Simon Schuster in october. Thank you once again for joining us this evening and please welcome me in joining dr. Rick bell. [applause] bell thanks to heather, thanks to cspan for covering this. Those of you who might have been to the smithsonian before wont be surprised to hear my strange accent, which is not exactly a maryland natives accent. I was born and raised in england , yet find myself teaching about the American Revolution as part of my job, which is a blessing and a curse in an undergraduate classroom, to teach with an accent like this. I am very proud of where i grew up. I often carry in my back pocket a giant british flag [laughter] dr. Bell which i might drape around the scenery for cspan to drink in. But i was also naturalized as a u. S. Citizen a couple of years ago, something i am incredibly proud of, so it
The project is founded by the National Endowment for the humanities, the largest grant awarded in the last year for which we are eternally grateful. I thought i would tell you a few words about the institute and what we do and how we came to do this project. The Gilder Lehrman institute is rather young. It was founded in 1994. The mission is to promote the knowledge and understanding of American History through programs and resources. At the present time, we have 65,000 documents in the Gilder Lehrman collection which is the core of our programming. The collection is drawn upon to do programs, outreach, to contribute to a website visited by 7 million people, and also to support a network of 6500 affiliates to whom we send materials on a monthly basis, as well as teachers and seminars. It is the collection that really gives us the capacity and ability to bring people facetoface with primary documents and engage in understanding the people, events, and controversies that shaped our histo