Constitutional vision, you see Ronald Reagan aspiring to repeal the new deal republic through transformative Supreme Court appointments. Bruce ackerson was here. He argued that had reagan succeeded in his appointment of a rubber board, he would have been as great a president as roosevelt and lincoln because he would have been led to a new republic. With one more Supreme Court appointment, a republican president might achieve the resurrection of the republic. It would be just as transformative as the transformations of washington, lincoln and roosevelt. It is wanted to add one quick thing to that. I just wanted to add one quick thing to that. Often times, people say, about lincoln, he did not really do anything before he became president. I think one reason why lincoln gets elected is because the people cared about in the 19th century is what they still care about now. They care about vision. They care much less about experience than a president s judgment. Lincoln had both. Many of our great president s, that is what they have. Susan jeffrey, im going to turn to you for this paired why has wilson dropped so many points . Jeffrey his views on race. The president who resegregated the federal government is not a president who can speak to our time. That is one important reason for progressives now questioning wilson. At the same time, conservatives and libertarians are questioning wilson. George was here two years ago. He is coming back next wednesday to talk about his new book. George says, the defining question for whether you are a conservative today is who you would have voted for in the election of 1912. Conservatives would have voted for taft. Anyone who voted for wilson or roosevelt is a progressive. Wilson,races to woodrow the questioning of the separation of powers, the birth of the imperial presidency, the rise of demagoguery. Lots of conservatives and libertarians blame it all on wilson. That is a tough series of critics to have from both sides. Maybe related to that, for you to start on this, to shifting cultural views impact the ways historians rate president s . Michael absolutely. In part because we are embedded in culture. They can try to break a lot of things, but they cannot break out of their culture. It might be able to change the culture. ,incolns vision encompasses lets change our culture by getting rid of slavery. Lets break the chain so to speak and begin a different way of thinking. Then, unfortunately he died. Culture is critical for a president because it defines the context in which they operate. Susan will take about 10 more minutes with questions. Place. Jfks is it camelot . He did not pass much legislation. Signal things he ted to have done, he found well, not too much success in congress. Back, people who do not like trump are in a horror of our age, but the queue mid missile christ the cuban missile crisis, we thought we were going to blow up. I would not call it a great successful presidency, except culturally shared except except culturally. Except the idea that the youth involved. Any of these things that he represented as opposed to the old times. It is probably now why we are having a resurrection of eisenhower. We are remembering those old times is not so bad. As robert wasng speaking, silence is not something that helps a presidency. This reminds me of one of the greatest stories of any president. That is calvin coolidge. Coolidge did not like people all that much. He also was burdened by the death of his son while he was president. He also did not like to speak all that much. There is this great story that arises with coolidge when he is at a dinner party. A woman sits next to him and says, i made a bet with someone i can get you to say more than three words. He said, you lose. [laughter] susan not surprisingly, we have four or five cards that went to ask about the incumbent president. I will use this one. Perhaps again, michael, because you just talked about historians being a part of the culture in which they live. Will historians be able to look at President Trump in a nonbiased way . Michael great historians, that is what they have to do. They have to find a way to be dispassionate about their subjects so they can be able to write about them in a way that will improve understanding and enrich our understanding of history. Trump, itth president might probably take some time for people to be able to put him in perspective. That is what historians do. He is also a president who cannot stop himself from talking. The more and more words he ammunition so to speak for people to be able to judge them not just now but later. Susan im going to throw this question to you because at is about the Supreme Court appointment. 2020,less of who wins in it is possible that the supreme and gayll overturn roe marriage, which are out of step with public majority proopinion. Im going to use the president s ability to appoint and what the majority of the culture might be saying in Public Opinion polls. To help people understand that. It is a very important question. We just did podcasts on both of these questions. A plug for the we the people podcast for every week, i get to talk get the call of the top liberal and conservative scholars in america. We did a twopart podcast on roe. Since 1973, the polls have been consistent that about two thirds of americans have supported the right to choose early in pregnancy and a stronger majority, 80 or more, however have reported restrictions. Mirrored in the 1992 casey decision. The debate has been transformed with the fascinating new debate of new debate of when life begins. It is not supported by large numbers even within those states. The position does not have a super majority or human majority support in the writer states should in the red states. Conventional wisdom is you need another Supreme Court appointment to change the balance of the court cleanly to justurn roe rather than chipping away at it. Marriage equality does have majority support. It is for that reason that many conservatives and libertarians think that even the Roberts Court will not be in a hurry to overturn the Marriage Equality decision. That is the answer to the question that over the course of time, michael and many other wonderful scholars have written about those. The Supreme Court has tended to mirror the broad currents of Public Opinion on the rare chain on the rare occasions when it challenges them. It will often provoke backlashes that lead to judicial retreat. What is so dramatic about this moment we are about to enter into. Imagine the scenario the questioner signals and what i mentioned before comes to pass. President trump wins. He has another Supreme Court seat. Say the court did overturn roe or even overturn the Marriage Equality decision, which are not inconceivable. That would put the court in conflict with the majority of Public Opinion. It could lead to the striking down of federal laws such as regulations that are supported by a majority of the American People. What happens next . The democrats might be talking about court packing, about not funding the courts. The definition of a constitutional crisis is when government breaks down. One branch does not fund the other. These are some of the scenarios that might play out. It is a long way of saying that the court get strongly out of step with Public Opinion and the public has a way of fighting back. Susan this will be the last from the audience. It is about eisenhower inching ahead of truman and wondering what happens considering that truman gave us the marshall plan, integrated the armed and stopped the expansion of communism in korea. Michael it is another great question. Im thinking about eisenhower and truman. They did not like each other. It would bother truman a great deal to know that eisenhower just inched him. I am sure that eisenhower would chuckle. I think the fact that eisenhower to some extent has begun to rise nowttle bit is there seems between us and eisenhower, eisenhower was a president who also was not a man of many words. Andas a man whose deeds actions even as president have become important. Jeff mentioned earlier, eisenhower had to enforce the civil laws, but it took them some time. Much of the story of his presidency is how long it took him. That may be critical. He did not fail in the end. Valuingnd, he ended up something. I will come around to the fact that one of the things that are important our values. What are the values that animate a presidency and defined them . The president s who are regarded as great are those who embrace values that the American People as a whole embrace. President that do not do that, buchanan, fail. President who do that, like lincoln, are remembered. Susan the last question is about our poll. It says, showed the 10 categories be weighted . Genocide notns cap more . Are historians made the decision early on to be consistent over time and rate each category evenly. I would argue that the survey does take into account and that is why jacksons poll numbers have gone down in two major areas. Pursue justice for all and moral authority. Our shifting understandings of his role have affected his poll numbers enormously. It does get weighted in the court of historians opinion. If you are a math ways, go to cspan. Org the president s. All of the ratings are there. You can play with the survey results yourself by knocking off one of the categories and see what happens to the results. Have a little fun with it. I would like to thank you all for your attention and have you thanking brian for his questions. [applause] susan all five of us will be at the table if you would like your book signed by everybody. We are happy to accommodate it. Thank you to you and your colleagues for hosting us. The president s. From public affairs. Available now in paperback and ebook. Biographies of every president organized by their ranking by noted historians. From best to worst. And features perspective of our nations chief executives and leadership styles. Visit our website, cspan. Org the president , to learn more about each president and historian featured. Order your copy today. Wherever books and ebooks are sold. Next on the civil war, scott mingus, coauthor of targeted tracks, talks about the importance of the Cumberland Valley railroad during the civil war. This was a one track Railroad Running from hagerstown, maryland to harrisburg, pennsylvania. It was used to move union troops and supplies and was often under attack by Confederate Forces. The Gettysburg Heritage Center in pennsylvania hosted this talk. A little bit about our speaker. We have with us today scott mingus. I have known scott for a number of years but i really didnt know scott until i reviewed his bio that he sent to me. Surprisingly, he is a scientist and a consultant in the global pulp and paper industry. And he holds patents in selfadhesive postage stamps and barcode labels. I never knew that. He is an ohio native, graduate of miami university. While working for avery dennison, he was part of the Research Team that developed the first commercially successful selfadhesive postage stamp. He has written 20 civil war and underground railroad books. His biography of general William Smith won multiple awards, including the dr. James i. Robertson junior literary prize for confederate history. He has written several articles for the gettysburg magazine and other historical publications. Scott and his wife debby reside in york pennsylvania york, pennsylvania. Scott . Scott thanks for coming today. I want to talk a little about the role of the railroads in pennsylvania. I have written three books on the three railroads that ran between maryland and pennsylvania during the civil war. From east to west, the philadelphiawilmington and Baltimore Railroad which of course ran through those three key cities. The Northern Central Railway which ran from harrisburg down to baltimore, and the third key railroad between maryland and pennsylvania during the civil war, the Cumberland Valley railroad, the subject of our talk today. All three of those railroads were targeted by the army during by the Confederate Army during the civil war multiple times. Two had their bridges burned baltimore both in 1861 and again in 1864. In 1863, there were attacks on the northern central bridges. 31 destroyed in york county, pennsylvania. But perhaps no railroad in pennsylvania perhaps saw as many confederate incursions or attacks as the Cumberland Valley railroad, hence the title of our book, targeted tracks. This is the route of the Cumberland Valley. The Cumberland Valley railroad ran during the civil war years from harrisburg, pennsylvania to chambersburg. There, it met the Franklin Railroad, a subsidiary later owned by the Cumberland Valley railroad. In essence, the the cvrr will be consisting of the entire line of the Franklin Railroad that ran from hagerstown north to the susquehanna river. Now, the cvrrs president during the civil war years is named frederick watts. He is very important in the history of Pennsylvania State university, for those of you familiar with that college. He was one of the leading proponents of agricultural education in the United States, and is recognized in some quarters as the father of Pennsylvania State university. Long before that, he was the father of the Cumberland Valley railroad. He was one of the early proponents to get the railroad built. He served on the board of directors and later as the president of the railroad during the civil war and for several decades before and after. Frederick watts had a vision to turn the Cumberland Valley from a small, Regional Railroad to something nationally important. Little did he know that his entree into the National Scene would be the Confederate Army and the publicity his railroad would get. Probably the first time the cvrr plays any role in the conflict between north and south is during john browns raid on Harpers Ferry in 1862. Most of the raiders, including john brown himself, arrive on the Cumberland Valley railroad, having traveled through harrisburg. They set up their headquarters in downtown chambersburg. Ironically, in a boardinghouse owned by a widow of one of the abolitionist governors of pennsylvania. Governor joseph ritner. Mary ritners boardinghouse would see numerous people coming and going throughout the summer of 1859, including john brown. Frederick watts Frederick Douglass would come on the railroad as well. He would meet with john brown. Some accounts suggest john brown tried to sweettalk Frederick Douglass into joining the attack on Harpers Ferry. Doesnt do it, of course. Throughout the year, throughout the summer in particular, brown and his cohorts are bringing in large shipments of goods on the Cumberland Valley railroad. He calls himself dr. Isaac smith. He has been telling the good people of Cumberland Valley, he is a miner looking for possible iron ore mines. Hes been bringing in supplies, the bills of lading are things like picks and axes when in reality they are muskets and pikes. They were used to go down to maryland and set up headquarters at the kennedy farm, and then in october 1859, john brown and his men will raid. Some of the raiders after the raid come back to the Cumberland Valley and try to catch the railroad to get out of the valley. A number of of them a number of them are going to be captured near the Cumberland Valley railroad station in scotland, pennsylvania where some of the raiders are captured. One will manage to escape on the railroad and end up all the way in york, pennsylvania, where members of the underground railroad will smuggle a free black, osborn perry anderson, all the way to toronto, canada at that point. So this railroad, the cvrr, has a somewhat of a starcrossed background. It gained a lot of National Publicity for the role. Some of the members of the railroad are investigated as collaborators. Did they get involved with brown or not . But no charges could stick. In fact charges were never , brought, but it leads to speculation as to the railroads overall loyalty. Judge watts himself tends to be a middleoftheroad person. War begins and the clouds of war start with the election of abraham lincoln, the secession of a number of states and then war physically breaks out in april 1861 following the confederate bombardment of fort sumter. Judge watts goes to a political rally in carlisle and is in favor of the compromises that are trying to hold the union together, perhaps even allowing the south to keep slavery. His son is the most vocal person against the compromises, and he wants immediate abolition and immediate war against the south. Over time, the Cumberland Valley railroad sees they will become a critical part of the overall war effort. This is a quick sn