Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the nixon president ial library and museum on this 150th birthday of president nixons birth. It is a day like this that the family comes together and you begin to see many people that have relationships with one another. We are waiting for one to come up from san diego. And people that were connected to the president making it very special. If this seems a bit long it is because our family has grown over the years. When i talk about special people , you are all very important to us. All of you here are vips. Today, i would like to acknowledge of you people and if you could hold your applause until the end, we can get to our speaker. First, i would like to acknowledge our Foundation Treasurer and his wife, betty who are here today. Also, marine nu maureen nunn and her husband, john. And mr. Hamilton. Wife of the late don vendetti. Jim and sharon goodwin. Two outstanding supporters of the next in foundation. From the city of yorba linda, first, i would li
Mr. Ferriero for most people long out of school thinking back on u. S. History dredges up memories of lessons on the revolutionary war, the establishment of the constitution, and the war of 1812, and then jumps to the beginnings of the civil war. The in between times may be indistinct but they saw the emergence of an increasingly divided nation. Throughout this time, the federal government, time and time again, had to deal with the questions of slavery and its expansion. Among the the voluminous records of the federal courts in the National Archives, are hundreds of freedom suits, cases brought by slaves seeking to obtain their freedom. One such case initiated by dred scott in 1846 made it all the way to the Supreme Court where the final decision became one of the most infamous decisions of the history of the court. Our guest today looks at three notable precivil war Supreme Court justices and how they uphold the institution of slavery in ruling after ruling. The first, chief justice o