Home to the house and senate since 1800. But it is their home districts and states that send members to washington, d. C. Over the next 90 minutes, a look at pivotal u. S. Politicians as we travel the nation in search of their stories. Coming up first, u. S. Congressman and senator, former wisconsin governor, and 1924 Progressive Party president ial candidate, robert fighting bob la follette. There is work for everyone. It is large. It is a glorious service. This service for the country, the call comes to every citizen. It is an unending struggle to make and keep government representative. Bob la follette is probably the most important political figure in wisconsin history, and one of the most important in the history of the 20th century in the United States. He was a reforming governor he defined what progressivism is. He was one of the first to use the term progressive to selfidentify. He was a United States senator who was recognized by his peers in the 1950s as one of the Great Ame
We begin with a visit to nashvilles Ryman Auditorium as author david ewing talks about how the venue became a place for political rallies, civil rights events and home to Country Musics grand ole opry. Today were at the historic Ryman Auditorium in downtown nashville, tennessee. It definitely tells the history of both things it is famous for. It was built by a river boat captain who was famously converted under a tent in downtown nashville in may of 1865. After his conversion, he believed that traveling ministers should have a permanent home inside that was large enough to take the large crowds of the traveling ministers who came to town. So captain ryman built the Ryman Auditorium and it opened at first in 1892 as a tabernacle. So thats the church part of the history. The music part of the history, the Country Music part, deals with the grand ole opry which came here in 1943 after being in many different homes in nashville, and stayed here until 1974 when the new opry house was built.
I am joined by alley and hope. Hope wright, my dear colleague, began her career at Colonial Williamsburg when she was in the third grade. She was a performer in a play on my own time, and the black music program. She has collaborated with many other departments at the foundation as well as with other museums over the course of her career. She has worked a variety of educational institutions as an actress, story teller, writer, refer, and mentor. Please welcome hope wright. Thank you. Our special guest, ally larson, is a professor of law and director of the bill of rights law. Cynic she joined the william and mary faculty in 2010, she has received many awards including the statewide outstanding faculty award in the rising star category. Professor larson is a scholar of constitutional law and legal institutions with a focus on how information dynamics affect both. Her work has been featured multiple times in various publications and these are just a few of her accomplishments. Please hel
And did a lot of research there. And i went to the military library in chicago which is , probably the best military library in the country. There may be one better, but it is extraordinary. And i started working on this book. I started developing it. I wrote four other books in between. Those were sort of to keep bread on the table, so to speak. I just became haunted by the story and tried to get deeper and deeper into it and discover who the people were, who saved the country. , for me it was a revelatory moment because i placeso go to libraries, and book sales to try to look up some of the things i write about in the book, like the louisiana maneuvers, for example, and found almost nothing. I really had to dig go through a , lot of archives and primary source materials, newspapers, daily newspapers from obscure places like small towns in louisiana and such. That is how i put it together, i came up with this to get it right. This is like telling how sausages are made, but i had two p
Im delighted to move us to our second panel the Conservation Movement in state and National Parks and we are lucky to have lauren meyer or historian and Landscape Architectsts serving s moderator to kick off this event. Lauren has a longstanding relationship with the olmstead having edited the list of Design Projects which were just mentioned as well as part of the near 12 volume thousands and thousands of pages. He is currently the cochair of the nonprofit partner of National Historic sites and with that welcome lauren. Thank you enough i can figure out the technology here i will pull up the next i might need someone. [inaudible conversations] there it is. Right in the middle. Welcome everyone to session to. Im going to kick off this panel covering sort of a flyover of the role of the olmstead and the National Park service. Followed by scholar and historian Hope Christian who looked into the work of Frederick Law Olmsted, jr. And ending with sam hodder who will talk about the importan