the museum of history and culture. so glad you could join us today. as always awesome -- rethinking our members who made the program possible. your support is essential for making these events happen so we deeply appreciate that. and listen today's speak, are very pleased to have with us is doctor christopher lee he who is professor college of new york law. he will be talking to us about his book, a president without a party, the life of john tyler. john tyler's the nation's own president to be kicked on -- out of his own political party. tyler's use of the veto destroy the legislative chances to win the election law in 1844. law a trade by his contemporaries -- and many historians as a night idea of, law devotion to state with construction on the constitution says to compromise -- dr. li he argues that largely added bipartisan approach to nation problems. it was his statutes as a president without a party law injection of legs and democrats museum of music industry especially -- [inaudible] >> thank you so much. i want to thank the guests of the virginia museum for their interest in john tyler and my book. i'm very pleased to be here today to speak to you about what is at least currently my life's work, and i do have slides accompanying the lecture, which always makes my students and college very happy to find out. i will hook up the slight chill right now. many years ago, it was decided upon a dissertation topic. i came upon john tyler, and of course i had a little bit of knowledge about tyler. i was a history major in college. a graduate student in history. but i became fascinated about a question about how could someone actually get kicked out of their own political party. what could someone have to do to have his political party resort to very drastic, very extreme measures of kicking him out of their ranks? that really became the animating aspect of why i was interested in him. my dissertation dealt with his life and political career before he became president. certainly, keeping an eye on him being a president without a party really guided my research and my writing for much of the last several years before the book got published. so when tyler was banished from the ranks of the whigs instep tumbler of 1841, he really established henry clay, here shown on the left, as his number one enemy. clay was essentially the senate majority leader that title did not yet exist, is essentially the senate majority leader for half of tyler's presidency. you see on the right here a political cartoon going back to the corrupt bargain election of 1824, where clay is selling jackson's lips shut so he will shut up about clay's involvement. he had a long career and presidential politics and congressional politics he had been speaker of the house, but he had come into office in the senate before tyler became president. ame his creally determined to so the course of the society and in fact yet persuaded president william henry harrison to call a special session of congress to deal with the financial panic that had been going off and on since 1837. clay really became's chief enemy. it was clay who had apparently coined the phrase to describe john tyler and mark how he ended up in the white house. this slide, i think, at least the ability of the man that one female visitor to the white house said possession of the condescension when usually expected in the virginia gentlemen debonair swab, they're showing himself when he wanted to tyler -- could be charming and gracious but his relationship with henry clay often put him in a fall mood. i detailed several instances in the book where a lot of this graciousness and affability really disappeared as tyler attempted with dealing as a president without a party. the title of the book indicates my focus on tyler as the tenth president revolving around his banishment from the whigs, and i spent a significant amount of time examining what happened, how it happened and why it mattered. today, however, i want to focus our attention on one of the themes of the book. john tyler's addiction to politics. this is an important aspect of his life and career that has been overlooked by biographers and other historians. this is not to say that other politicians, either and tyler's era or our own, have failed to demonstrate a virtual addiction to politics, success in the pit -- political arena after all, particularly at the national level, necessitates a public official to give their all to their career they hope to have staying power. this is also not to say that tyler's addiction to politics involved and addiction in the clinical sense of the term, although i did have moments during the course of my research and writing when i thought this might be true. with my book shows us that tyler calculated his self-worth and defined his life and his masculinity by success and the political arena, particularly in the national political arena. once you've been bitten by the politics bug, you could never give it a. even when he realized it was harming his marriage, his relationships with his children and his finances. he also failed to realize how much is addiction to politics tarnished his historical reputation, which is particularly ironic given that ultimately, he chose a career and politics, because it offered him the best chance to achieve historical renowned and leave a lasting mark. looking at tyler's addiction to politics also allows us to calibrate the impact of his father on his life and career. tyler was certainly the most -- his father was certainly the most important person in his life. judge tyler shown here on the right was a minor figure in the founding of the nation, and played a significant role as an anti federalist at the virginia convention that would call in 1788 of the great ratification of the constitution. judge tyler had served in the virginia house of delegates and had even been elected speaker on several occasions. you can see that judge tyler supported a rather prominent knows, which he passed on to his son, the future president. anyone who tried to describe john tyler usually began by noting his prominent knows variously referred to as an aqua line, a lot of the sources. john quincy adams notes john tyler's nose and a couple of his entries in fact, it could even say at some point, john quincy adams almost become obsessed with john tyler's nose among other thing's about the accidental president of the president without a pardon. but judge tyler passed on much more than his physical characteristics. tyler's relationship with his father -- his key to understanding him and the key to understanding how his addiction to politics developed. tyler was very close to his father. his mother died when he was seven years old, and the young boy took it hard as you might expect. he developed stomach ailments and his father worried about him, both because he was sickly and a nervous child, small and frail. the turning point of sorts occurred when the future president was about ten years old. the story -- at the very least, it's probably embellished. i actually kept it out of the book. i edited out of the book, the incident involved a scottish schoolmaster named murder, first name unknown who taught john tyler and several other boys in the neighborhood school not far from green way in -- county virginia. he seemed to take special delight and wrapping his students knuckles when they forgot their lessons. tyler learned that later in life, it was a winner that he did not with all the sense out of his scholars. one day, the boys in the school had had enough. john tyler led the others in tripping him and tying him up with rope. er ledon the left-hand side of s slide as what the scene may have looked like before they got the better of murder. it's not exactly i mcmurdo, but it captured the spirit of with the school house must have looked like. after tying their nemesis up, the boys exited the school in triumph leaving the school master writing on the floor. two hours later he was freed by a passer by and immediately stumped toward the tyler home, fully expecting kiss to tell judge tyler about the role of his son played in the event, and he would receive swift punishment. instead, law mcmurdo arrived at the door, knocked and spoke with judge tyler law. told him what happened or upon judge tyler banished him from the house screaming as he kicked them out of the door, the state model virginia, that's always the tyrants. we can assume the incident with mick myrtle happened as i described here. judge tyler was pleased, because his sickly, frail, nervous son had asserted himself and shed the reticent he had exhibited since the passing of his mother. in any event, john tyler's relationship with his father grew stronger. they grew very close. in fact, tyler was apparently closer to his father than any of his siblings. tyler was one of eight children and had five sisters and two brothers. he was the sixth in line, he was the sixth born child. his relationship with his father nurtured a burgeoning interest and politics. judge tyler schooled his son with the -- ideals of thomas jefferson as well as the virginia and kentucky resolutions that were passed in 1798, or proposed rather, in 1798 by thomas jefferson and james madison and an effort to try to prevent the federalists from trump bling on the rights of the states in the run up to a possible war with france. judge tyler impressed upon his son the ideals of thomas jefferson and limited government, and really relayed to him and talked to him often about the virtues of the republican -- republicanism of the american revolution. judge tyler also instilled a belief in the virtue of public service. it is also a bit associated with this, one point, judge tyler had written to jefferson saying that good and able men had better governed then be governed. so certainly, a judge tyler and later john tyler took it to heart that members of their society, the people who were -- men who were occupying their place and society had an obligation to be the ones who led the political system. i like the left-hand side of this slide. at the county election, it really shows the hurly burly of politics. the drink being applied, the rough and tumble of politics. very masculine, very male dominated context. it is interesting that for all of his gentility, tyler did take pride in cultivating the gentility that his father had deemed important throughout his life, that despite this gentility, tyler found himself quite comfortable in the realm of the nitty-gritty of politics. by the time tyler entered the preparatory division of the college of william and mary at the age of 12, he fully expected politics to be his calling. this slide shows on the left the ren building at william and mary, which is i believe the oldest college building in existence today. . it's here where john tyler took his politics courses and became a four middle -- it became a formidable place for you to go to study politics and political economy. by the time tyler graduated at the age of 17 there was no doubt he would enter the realm of politics. now it's interesting if you read the few letters that survived between judge tyler and judge -- john tyler while he was a student at william and mary. you really get a sense and appreciate how seriously tyler took his education. the two men, tyler and his father passed letters back and forth talking about the bill of rights, the constitutional debates and the things that his father had experienced firsthand in politics and virginia. and you really get a picture of a precocious young man who is doing everything he possibly could to set himself up for a political career. tyler also benefited from the president of william and mary, the bishop madison was a firm believer in the jeffersonian notion of strict government. he was an anti federalist himself. he firmly believed that it was his duty to impart the jeffersonian lessons on to the students who were under his direction. john tyler became a favorite of bishop madison. bishop madison asked young john tyler to read one of the graduation oration's on the day he graduated in july of 1807. the other thing that comes out of tyler's relationship with his father at this time, it comes out of his relationship with bishop madison at william and mary, is that by the time he graduated at the age of 17, he was brimming with self confidence, almost full of himself. he was very confident. he had certainly moved past the reticence and the attributes that he had had when he was ten, 11 or 12 years old. it was very much confident in himself, confident in his ability, confident in his intellect. he had been largely classically trained. trained in subjects like greek and latin, ancient history, politics, political economy. this is the young man who was very well equipped both with when he got at home and also when he got and college to pursue the career and politics or earnestly wanted. his father was good for his self esteem, as was bishop madison in other words. tyler once had dinner with thomas jefferson not long after he graduated from william and mary. and jefferson impressed upon him that a successful politician, particularly in virginia, needed to establish himself in the legal profession. politician,in fact, a legal car jefferson said to the young man, was a virtual prerequisite to a political career. so, much like there was really no doubt that he would attend william and mary like his father, like jefferson, like james monroe, law he was one of three presidents to have attended william and mary, it became pretty apparent that he was going to pursue a legal career. shortly after he graduated from the college of william and mary, his father and another tyler relative took him on as a legal apprentice. a little bit later when judge tyler was elected governor of virginia, it could no longer supervise his sons legal studies, edmund randolph stepped in. randolph had been attorney general under george washington, and really presented young tyler with a very challenging way to approach the law. law tyler passed the bar in 1809 at the age of 19. now this is interesting because in virginia the law at the time -- they had to be at least 21 years of age to pass the bar exam. to even sit for the bar exam. but apparently the examiner could not ask tyler howled he was. perhaps as fathers connections allowed them to look the other way. but in any event he was 19. tyler passed the bar exam -- did not set a practice right away. kind of took some time to develop further habit, study habits he participated in some moot court proceedings around richmond, honing the oratorical skills you need in the courtroom. he was still thinking really in terms of politics. the picture here, in the image on the right-hand of the slide shows tyler at approximately age 21 when he won his first political office, a seat in the virginia house of delegates. right away, tyler through himself into the fray. he was not content to be a backbencher, he did not want to build on some sort of political apprenticeship. he did not want to defer to his betters and his elders who had been in the legislature for sometime. he immediately jumped in with an issue that he thought could allow him to build a name and a reputation. would he did was he introduced the resolution venturing virginia senators, richard brent and william grant's child, because that disobeyed the virginia legislature which had instructed them to vote against the recharter of the national bank. this is an interesting episode in tyler's life. he graduated from college. she was full of him himself. brimming with self confidence. but his resolutions failed. the legislature immediately tabled the resolutions which in effect killed them and later adopted another set of resolutions. they adopted someone else's resolution. tyler realized at that time that his colleagues did not care too much who his daddy was, they did not care that he was full of himself. he had a lot of self confidence, and really for the first time in his life, tyler had been told that something he had done did not pass muster. he wasn't crushed by it, but it did take him aback. it didn't make him think that maybe this political life is going to be a little more difficult than i thought at the outset. in 1813, tyler took another step in the phase of his political life, his political right. he married well. because this is a young woman who tyler had married on his 23rd birthday, march 29th, 1813. judge tyler had actually died a few months before, which really made it easier for tyler to get married. he inherited some property from his father. he also inherited deaths from his father, but he inherited property. eventually he would end up living in this town here. green way. the house where john tyler had been born. i hope i'm back. we had some technical difficulties. i apologize for that. i think we left off with my analysis of john tyler's marriage to them leticia christian from new kent county. i made the point, this is another step in his political process. because i'm marrying well to the political standing, get the sense of tyler, even at the early stage of his political career, he has wrestles -- he must get along joint national political career. he's like the person we're talking to scanning the room for someone more important to talk to. so maybe that's what happens to me when i met parties. when she'll surpasses -- as a compliment and politics but he's going to be a judge that is a steppingstone to his career. it's like the person you're talking to at a party who standing in the room. hello there was the sense that he was motivated by his father's example. e he certainly wasn't going to be a judge as he did not have that much interest in the law. only as a stepping stone to a political career. but he certainly wanted to surpass his father and become a political figure and national renown. he was also quite adept at taking advantage of fortuitous timing. in september 1816, the very popular congressman who represented john tyler's district -- tyler saw an opportunity for election. after an election against the sun -- and another candidate named andrew stevenson who became a friendly rival at the time, tyler when the election. a close election. he was headed to washington. he had never been to washington before. and when he got there he was shocked by what he saw. washington still bore the effect before 1812, with the british had done, to the capital building and to the executive mansion. and tyler was quite shocked at seeing what it looked like in the wake of the destruction that was wrought by the british during the war. the destruction that he saw reinforced something else that his father had instilled upon him as a young man. it was a dislike of all things british. tyler seemed to operate under the assumption of a congressman and president, than anything that was good for the british was not good for the united states. so he kind of nursed a grudge if you will looking at the destruction that the british had brought about during the war of 1812. he quickly got over that. he got over the initial shock of seeing the way the buildings looked. law the capital -- was not in the actual capital. -- another building. a much more cramped building across town. tyler, much like he had done in the virginia house of delegates, did not wait for an invitation to enter the fray. ofhe did so immediately by pouncing on the condensation issue. the previous session of congress law, before john tyler had gotten elected. congress had passed a compensation bill that provided a significant raise for congressman. and once the word got out, the news of the compensation bill got out to communities all across the united states, the reaction was swift. people didn't like the fact that congressman had decided to give himself a raise, particularly in the wake of the financial difficulties of the war of 1812. the human cry against the compensation bill, -- it was deep and wide. tyler adopted the petition that he was going to take a stance for the people. he thought the compensation bill -- he jumped right into the debate. he made two speeches on the compensation matter before congress. there was a sense that his colleagues were little bit taken aback by the fact that this guy had come in and instantly decided -- for what they had done at the previous session. tyler got into a little verbal spat on the floor with congress, with the new york congressman, but all in all, tyler held his own. he was put in his place a little bit, recognized that he still had work to do to require the statute that would give him respect, but he also recognize that it probably changed at least a little bit of the tenor of the debate. the company say shun act was repealed and tyler claimed his triumph when he went back to his constituents in virginia. during his congressional career, tyler sharp and his commitment free trade, which meant that he was anti protective tariff. he opposed the national bank and he opposed federally sponsored internal improvement. he is really crafting a persona for himself as a politician in the old republican tradition a virginia politics. republican favored limited government -- of the constitution. state rights. tyler was really crafting his persona and developing his reputation as an all republican in good standing. this was going to be the way that he would develop or allow himself to develop his political career. being in washington took a toll on his marriage. while he was in congress he had three young children at home. his wife never tired of reminding him how much she disliked his political career. how much she wanted him home. but at least for a time tyler did not want to give it up. but it was a crisis over slavery that will play a significant role and forcing tyler to retire from congress in 1821. and 1819 the territory of missouri had applied for statehood to the u.s. congress and a debate quickly developed over whether slavery would be allowed in the territory. now tyler did take part in some of this. it was actually quite shocking. he related to his confident, his brother-in-law -- he became tyler's go-to confidant while he served in congress. the two men would have a falling out later over some very serious financial issues, among other things, but at the time he served in congress who really told curtis a lot of what he was thinking and a lot of what he thought about washington and politics. at one point as the missouri crisis over the missouri debates are occupying an ever more acrimonious place in washington politics, tyler was amazed that men were speaking of the dissolution of the union with perfect nonchalance. it appalled tyler that people were talking about breaking up the union rather than governors, rather than taking slavery out of missouri. tyler phoned all of this quite demoralizing. in the midst of the missouri debate, what would become the missouri compromise, in the midst of the debate he also suffered a debilitating illness. he took to his bed for about a week. he was quite shaken. he had never really felt anything like that before. he had sensation's of paralysis in his arms, a tingling in his head and face. it really alarmed him that he was experiencing such devastating physical symptoms. the missouri crisis demoralized him politically. he had had a serious illness and he was also broke with financial difficulties that were coming out into the open with respect to his family. and leticia christian wanted head home. so he retired in 1821 at the age of 31. he went home to virginia, telling people that he would have no more to do with politics. retirement for politicians in the early 19th century, essentially for southern politicians, was itself a political act. it allowed politicians to portray themselves as disinterested statesman who could walk off the political stage at any time they saw fit. the principal demanded that they leave, even as he retired, though tyler was setting himself up for a return to politics. of course he kept this from leticia christian. this is where you really begin to see the addiction, the all-consuming desire for being in politics. one month after he retire and home, one month after he retired, tyler was writing letters to political associates throughout virginia telling them that he would be willing to get back into the political battle if the occasion required it. so here he is using his retirement as a way of the political act too and hansen further his political career. even while he's telling leticia and portraying to his children that he's happy to be home, but he is still very restless. there's never any doubt, however, that he would return to politics. he won elections in the virginia house of delegates again, and that really seem to be the pattern for tyler. he is looking of course for more national political exposure. but he starts again with the virginia house of delegates. then in 1825 he was elected governor of the commonwealth of virginia. this had to have some important psychic meaning to john tyler. his father had been governor of this image here on the left, showing tyler at the age of 35 or 36 when he became governor of virginia. on the right it's the governor's mansion in richmond. leticia actually light this political office, because it allowed tyler to stay in virginia with her and the children. but tyler hungered for a return to national politics. in 1827 after his reelection as governor, he defeated the incumbent john randolph eggs -- in the united states senate. john randolph shown here on the raw with a faithful adherence to the old republican principles -- but by the mid 18 twenties, randolph and his erratic behavior had a lot of -- had caused a lot of people who follow virginia politics to become very nervous about him, very nervous about his future defending virginia in the south of the u.s. senate. there was a lot of support from around all 14 for virginia, and it's interesting when you look at the subtle campaign that tyler -- at one point he is declaring to support randolph for another term. behind the scenes he is steaming with -- for the western part of virginia to try to enhance -- so he can supplant randolph, which he does. in 1827. during his senate career, the full impact of his addiction to politics is felt by his family. its children are growing up without their father. this affects them in different ways. tyler's oldest child, his daughter mary, had a pretty good relationship with her father. we see a lot of letters that passed between tyler and mary going back from virginia to washington, washington to virginia. tyler took a keen interest and what his daughter was reading. it recommended that she read newspapers. shakespeare, all the things that he had read when he was young. he definitely wanted her to develop a fertile mind. his oldest son robert tyler who was born in 1816 had a pretty decent relationship with john tyler. he was a student at william and mary like his father. he did well at william and mary, but there is still a distance between the two of them. a formality, almost. probably because they didn't see each other that much while robert was growing up. john tyler junior who was born in 1819, no doubt was the one who took his father's absence the hardest. young john big, he eventually became an alcoholic and suffered through a troubled marriage that was largely his doing. he really had a lot of trouble both before and after tyler's presidency, that john tyler really disparate of at one point, thinking that he would end up dead. that they would find out that his son and namesake would be dead. so there is a lot of tension within the relationship that tyler shared with his children. but it's leticia, especially who found it extremely difficult to deal with her husband and his continuous absences. there is an anecdote from may of 1831 that i think is particularly telling in this regard. in may of 1831 after the congressional session had ended, john tyler returned home to virginia. he had barely put his baguette down after being gone for five and a half months, he had barely put his bags down when he informed leticia that he had been invited to a political meeting in richmond, he would be leaving tomorrow and likely be gone a few days. well that night, leticia got very ill. so ill and fact, she could not get out of bed. tyler wrote the next day to his friend and fellow senator, virginia senator who was supposed to meet him in richmond at the political meeting. he wrote, leticia was so very ill upon my receiving the invitation that i was left with one course to pursue, and that was to decline it's acceptance. it seemed apparent from other letters from this one and others, that tyler had spoken while they were together in washington about leticia's health situation. you variously refer to her health situation that it was delicate, troubling. it was clear that leticia suffered -- marriage trauma, that developed because of the constant separation she faced with her husband being in washington for five or six months every year. tyler really obviously recognized what was going on. he recognized that he was the cause of this marriage trauma. he recognized that his behavior, his political behavior was responsible for having his wife manifest symptoms of marriage trauma through illness. yet he still wanted to maintain his political career. he relied on his daughter mary to act as a caregiver in his absence to her mother. he instructed her to take care of her mother with warm baths and try to treat her migraines and all the things that he would have done had he been there, he make sure that he interested to his daughter mary. mary really became a very key figure, probably indispensable and making sure that john tyler maintain his political career. tyler resigned from the senate in february of 1836 rather than vote to expunge the censure of andrew jackson. the whig party led by henry clay and the senate had passed a resolution of censure that to president jackson to task for moving the bank -- deposits that inaugurated the bank more in jackson's second term. when the democrats regained control of congress they pass what was known as the us plunging resolution. but they aim to do, -- what they aim to do is expunged the censure from the senate journal to literally get it out of the record of the senate journal. tyler was instructed to vote for the expunging resolution by the virginia legislature. he refused, he resigned in february 1836 out of principle. but he return to politics yet again a year and a half later. he was elected to the virginia legislature for the third time. again, we see a pattern of looking at a way to try to continue his political career by using the legislature as a springboard. he got himself nominated as vice president at the whig at their convention, their national convention. they nominated william henry harrison. and of course law -- defeated the incumbent martin van buren in november of 1840. harrison, as you know, died 32 days into his term. tyler became president, the image on the right is a romanticized picture of tyler, of harrison's passing and an elevation to his presidency. harrison had declared his intention to serve only one term as president. tyler almost desperately wanted a second term. he did not make any claims that he would serve only one term, and after being vanished from would only serve one term. after being banished spent much of his time trying to put himself in the position to secure election of his own right in 1844. most notably by pursuing and getting the annexation of texas. tyler became the first president to marry while in office on june 26, 1844 he married a new yorker 30 years younger julia gardner in a ceremony in new york city. on the rights of the slide is muslim i fear favorite characters the 1844 political campaign. ralph pennsylvania abner the six or $25000, $25000 as a presidential salary at the time. or you have tyler sing is not going to run for president anymore he's going to chase with the farmer calls the gardener's daughter. marriage definitely became in a way took him out of the politics release a brief period of time. and march of 1845, john and julia tyler retired to sherwood forest not far from where tyler had grown up. still, tyler thought about returning to politics. he toyed with the differing for the u.s. senate in 1848 if you can believe that. his correspondence entertained ideas about being the democratic nominee for president in 1856 and 1860. that put this in a little more context at least at one point in the late 1850s tyler's family but he would die from one of his illnesses. here you have a man who was habitually unhealthy who is still thinking at least at some level he might be able to secure the democratic nomination for president. when abraham lincoln's election in november 1860 brought secession and civil war tyler decided he had to get back into politics. i like the image on the left shows monroe during the civil war. the ignore focus area is where john tyler and juliet honeymooned in the summer of 1844. tyler became the chair of an ill-fated peace conference in washington february 1861. it was at this time he was in washington that tyler met president-elect abraham lincoln. he came away from lincoln very impressed. lincoln was quite unimpressed with john tyler he returned the favor. once virginia seceded from the union in 1861, tyler won election to the provisional kind congress and eventually sought election to the permanent congress, he won. this is the best example of how politics retains its hold on him. how he was addicted to politics. he died before he would take a seat in congress he died january of 1862. but he should have stayed out of it. i'm very critical of him for the decision to get back into politics. critical because it really tarnishes historical reputation beyond repair. he was starting to enjoy a little bit more of the statesmen like settlement the american people had for him. a lot of bad feelings that had developed on him being banished from the whigs ranks had seceded in historical memory a little bit. getting involved in the politics again , coming up of retirement and part of the confederate government ruined all of that. he renounced his citizenship, renounces dedication to the constitution that he had been sworn to uphold and affect's more importantly his decision to reenter politics in the confederate government had negative repercussions for his family. particularly julia, later in her life julia sought a pension from the federal government as a president a widow. during her campaign which was very difficult to required a lot of legal maneuvering, a lot of help a lot of aid from politically wealthy individuals in washington, newspapers never seem to tire that she was married to the trader president. i think it's right to be hard on john tyler for this decision to enter politics one last time late in 1861. i think there is an anecdote for me later president that couldeally speak to what politicians like tyler thought about and how politics really consume them. the later president is john f. kennedy. in 1963 assume sizing up his potential rivals the potential republican nominees for president in 1964 he talked about barry goldwater's name was being mentioned significantly. he talked about nelson rockefeller. he thought about rockefeller and he could not really understand what rockefeller was doing. about a year earlier rockefeller had left his wife tamir a yet much younger woman. i woman it was said in the press she stole from her husband. he had seemingly sacrificed everything for the woman he loved. because of the scandal that ensued because he was marrying the woman he loved. thinking about this and declared no man would ever love love more than politics. i think john tyler probably would have understood exactly the sediment john f. kennedy mentioned at that time. i appreciate your attention today. if you have not bought my book , this is the title of the book, this is the cover of the book. and before i go i just wanted to make sure i give you an indication of coming attractions. my wife and i have a book a biography of under contract with the university press of kansas and her manuscript is due is in october a few months away. so i will be happy to take any questions that you might have. and i appreciate your attention. >> thanks chris. again folks apologies for the brief delay due to technical difficulties. questions, one thing that comes to mind we have seen other figures in politics historically and in contemporary times like tyler is one of the things that makes this fascinating as historians is the detective work goes into understanding. i'm wondering what you might have uncovered in your research made it clear that he left in his hand in his own well, he does refer to his father, particularly early in his political career about emulating his father house father had given effect set on this course. i think the situation after he retired in 1821 where he is talking about, the way he put it as he owed a duty to his family to return to virginia to earn more money as a practicing attorney. yet even as he is saying that within a very short period of time after he returns home, he is writing political associates in effect repudiating his retirement. in effect think i don't really mean, i don't want to stay out of politics. there is a sense you get read the letters preclude the ones that pertain to politics. this is something that tyler is about constantly. he has a money problems he has significant money problems. he doesn't worry about his children come he worry about his wife. it's not to say he's not completely unfeeling about these things. reading his correspondence you really get a sense this is a man who defines himself by his political career and success in the political arena. whether it was unwittingly or not he does reveal himself as he's talking about, as is writing about what he intends to do with his political career. >> you mentioned might have been possible difficult with alcohol any evidence to believe he might've had some type of clinical addiction? >> no i don't think so. he wasn't much of a drinker. he would drink champagne and modest amounts that usually gave him a the next day. and if anything after white house parties or whatnot. other than his near compulsion to be in the political game he does not show the clinical aspects of addiction as a son with later. obviously he does not the language of the 21st century to characterize what he's doing, how he's acting or even how his son was acting. i don't think he necessarily, tyler himself, necessarily does exhibit any clinical sign. >> you mentioned briefly about his role in annexing texas. i wondered if you would expand on that a little bit more than what it was for that? it appears we might have gold difficulties again. folks, i apologize for that. we might need to wrap up since we are very close to ending. but

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