Special miniseries of six lectures entitled great president ial lives. This series is particularly attractive for two main reasons. The first being its timeliness. As we face a president ial Election Year and prepare for it, it will be an insight that all of us can benefit from. The second is the speaker himself, our esteemed umw professor of ameritas of history william b. Crawley who had completed 50 years on the faculty. Hes contributed in inpneumonnu ways. But its for his excellence in teaching that hes best known to thousands of our students who have come through our halls. Hes received our institutions highest honors in teaching both from his colleagues and from his students. Many of whom through the years have voted him as the faculty member who has made the greatest impact upon their lives. Dr. Crawley has become a true icon of this community. It is with great pleasure that i introduce Professor William b. Crawley who draws on his 50 years of teaching political history has truly
And now the contenders. Our series on key political figures who ran for president and lost, but who nevertheless changed political history. Tonight we feature former House Speaker henry clay of kentucky, known as the great compromiser. The program was recorded at clays ashland estate in lexington, kentucky, its about 90 minutes. This is an encore presentation of cspans original 14week series which first aired in 2011. This is a portrait of kentuckys henry clay, known to us in our history books as the great compromiser. During his 49year political career clay served as secretary of state, speaker of the house and as a u. S. Senator and he was a contender, making five president ial bids, including the election of 1824, 1832 against Andrew Jackson, and 1844 when he ran against james k. Polk. Tonight we are on location at ashland, henry clays home in lexington, kentucky and for the next 90 minutes we will explore the life and legacy of this man. Unsuccessful in his long quest for the white
Podcasts. Sarah polk was very up on diplomacy and her strong suit happened to be intelligent political discussion. She made no bones about the fact she really took an interest in politics. And that she was her she grew up in a political household in tennessee. Her father was a local politician, so she grew up loving politics. She married james after he won a seat in the legislature because she would not have married him if he had been content to be a clerk. Unfortunately for james k. Polk, he died just three months after leaving the white house, and sarah began a 42year widowhood. Polk place became somewhat of a shrine to her husband, and she would invite anyone who wanted to to come for a visit to see the objects they had collected through their long and illustrious political career. She lived there for many years on her own, and during the civil war, generals on both sides would come and visit her to pay their respects to her. A very interesting commentary on what a beloved status sh
The u. S. Botanic garden and, of course, thank you all for attending. My task here this morning is to give you an overview of the first 100 years or so of the white house grounds. Focusing on the various uses of the landscape as well as the physical development and to squeeze this all in in a little under 30 minutes. Now thats a bit of a tall order. Were obviously not going to be able to touch on everything. But i like a challenge. I think well do just fine. Okay. So lets start with the basics. As im sure youre aware, the who us is the official residence of the president of the united states. And is located just a few hundred yards south of near downtown washington. The white house itself stands as the centerpiece of a grand 18. 7 acre site which we know as the white house grounds. Having been established in 1790, the white house grounds in fact constitute the oldest continually maintained landscape in the nation. The grounds are older than the mansion itself. George washington is rath
Tonight that i would like to acknowledge and that the the simpson circle and that is a group composed of former Mary Washington b. O. V. Members and theyre here tonight and wed like to have them stand so we could acknowledge them. [ applause ] in introducing tonights speaker, dr. Joann freeman, would you like to mention at the outset that one of her most commendable qualifications is that she received her ph. D from the university. Thats right. Uva, right. In any case, not long after receiving that degree she was recognized already as one of the nations top young historians. She subsequently has achieved widespread recognition as a scholar of the revolutionary American History. Shes the author of numerous articles in those subjects which include the journal including the william and mary journal and the yale law journal among others. Shes written oped pieces for the New York Times and has appeared in numerous documentaries on pbs and the History Channel and on radio programs for npr an