I would also like to recognize and thank one of our trustees who has joined us today, david blight. One of our panelists. Opportunity tois say how proud we are to count david among our trustees at New York Historical. I want to recognize laura washington and mercedes franklin, who are cochairs of our Frederick Douglass counsel. Of course, welcome all members who have joined up today. Who have joined up today. [applause] and i want to recognize a if not, my colleagues are going up and down the aisles with notecards and pencils. The notecards will be collected later on in the program. There will be a book signing following the program this morning. The book signing will take place right outside these central doors in the smith gallery. Copies of the books are available for purchase at our ny History Museum store, which is located to my left on the 77th street side. We are really, truly delighted to welcome our guest speakers. David blight, professor of American History and director of th
Soon as possible so that we can start to heal the divisions of the campaign, and the contest through which we just passed. Almost a century and a half ago, senator Stephen Douglas told abraham lincoln, who had just defeated him for the presidency, part isnt feeling must yield to patriotism. Im with you, mister president , and god bless you. Well, in that same spirit, i say to president elect bush that what remains of partisan rancor must now be put aside, and may god bless his stewardship of this country. Neither he nor i anticipated this long and difficult road. Certainly, neither of us wanted it to happen. Yet it came, and now it has ended, resolved, as it must be resolved, through the honored institutions of our democracy. Over the library of on one of our great law schools is inscribed them on, not undermanned but under god and law. That is a ruling principle of american freedom, the source of our democratic liberties. Ive tried to make it my guide throughout this contest, as it ha
Please take a minute to silence your phones before we begin. While you are doing so, we have a fair number of members with us tonight. Supporters of president lincolns cottage. In seeing some of the names on the list, i wanted to take a moment to recognize two members who have been dedicated supporters since before we were open to the public. Eric reese has been a member for 12 years. Can you raise your hand . [applause] and thank you to all the other members tonight. I did want to name everyone but i thought the fact since the two of you have been getting since before we open was special, so thank you. At that conclusion, we invite you to the book signing which will be downstairs in the library. Joining us tonight is Sidney Blumenthal and jamie raskin to discuss mr. Blumenthals new book, the third volume in his series on the 16th president. Sidney blumenthal is the author of a selfmade man and wrestling with his angel, the first two volumes in his biography, the political life of Abra
Project. Busy people get things done, and we knew we were in for it when dr. Whittenberg talked about that. Jonathan white has to be the busiest young scholar in the field today. Hes not only a prolific historian, with more projects on the back burners than ive ever seen on the stove before. He won the outstanding faculty award for academic education. Hes a parent of young children, i dont know where john finds the time. Hes been very generous with what remaining time he has from all of that for this museum and our Education Programs for which were all very grateful. As you can see from your printed programs, the topics of johns work are his published work are many and varied with something of a focus Abraham Lincoln with the legal and constitution, as well and hes coauthor of a book entitled Civic Education and the work of citizenship and because he has news they wrote our little monitor, the greatest invention of this civil war. I asked him to put it on a topic, and it draws from oth
We are thrilled tonight to welcome back the distinguished george will, who will be in conversation with the awardwinning broadcaster i am sorry, i am sure you have won many awards, i cannot be sure which ones. I welcome you on behalf of our leadership, caroline kelly, david layer, the Leadership Team of jews united for democracy of justice, and Community Advocates inc. , the creators of this series. Thank you to our many wonderful sponsors. Temple isaiah, Stephen Weiss temple, leo beth temple, israel Hollywood Jewish center for justice, the Holocaust Museum l. A. , the forward, and the pico union project. As it is thanksgiving eve, just a word on that topic. On october 3, 1863, at the height of a bloody war dividing our country, Abraham Lincoln issued a thanksgiving proclamation which officially established thanksgiving as a national holiday. He proclaimed that though the nation was at war with itself, there were still blessings for which both sides could experts gratitude. He also pro