tv The Presidency Cleveland- Mc Kinley Descendant CSPAN February 22, 2022 12:24am-12:45am EST
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organization. i'm related to grover cleveland and on my father's side to william mckinley the great nephew, william mckinley and the great-grandson of grover cleveland. >> is happen chance because my parents married and the two -- my father was a professor and during the course of time at the breakfast table we talk about the presidential politics and descendents and learn so many stories about both families from the conversations with him. >> of the two are very different, aren't they? let's start with the one whose
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family name you bear and what do you want them to know, you've studied his legacy. >> we had industrial revolutions and expansions around the world, just tremendous growth and i think a lot of times sadly enough both grover cleveland is forgotten but through the books that wereri written about both d you remember he's always been
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revered jacqueline kennedy founded the efforts with education and preservation and legacy, learning about those that will be remembered and i'm trying very hard to do that. >> we visited the memorial in canton ohio. tell the audience a story of how that came to be. >> the memorial people revered him and you know the significance about the roses they were back in the days but the citizens of ohio especially since several wereci assassinatd thought it would be fitting to actually come together and create a memorial in his legacy and his memory and of course in my opinion it's the most revered
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senate president because he wasn't only a house member but also the last u.s. civil war president so i think the legacy that that produced in addition to the fact he was assassinated contributed. >> the amount of space it takes and the size of the memorial itself. i understood the first lady was involved. >> that's correct. >> the memorial museum is on the same campus so would you talk about missus mckinley and her legacy and role in the white house? >> absolutely, wonderful, supportive and the story about having epilepsy and mckinley was such a wonderful husband when she had epileptic seizures at
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technological change, are there a lot of parallels to today going to the digital revolution there's challenges as there were back in that time. with a preface to help us understand our time today what would you take away from the mckinley era so people can understand the time we are going through? >> like you said the technological advances and rapid speeds money is being poured into the country for industrial expansion. ..
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susan, was founded by george cleveland who is actually at this event. he's the grandson of grover. his sister anne and also marian cleveland cohen, they found the actual dress that actually exist, the wedding dress that actual >> . a >> . >> there was an enormous age difference. >> it was a love story kindled by francis father who was a friend and i think upon his
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death grover felt the need to make sure francis was taken care of for the rest of her life. they loved each other. definitely he was a lot older by a stretch of 25 or 30 years. but have the time she trusted him and he was the guardian for many years even prior to mr. full's death and they loved each other and had a wonderful family. >> they really didn't like life inside the white house. >> correct. francis would actually take the children by carriage off campus it was unbeknownst to the press or anybody that was around and actually they were secretly do that. sometimes in the evenings when nobody would be suspect she
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controls how her children were seen. >> they also built in the cleveland park section. >> and then to exist from that particular time a voracious reader and writer and that you time at the time we don't have those presidential archive so when he left office all those letters and documents were taken by him. i was talking to george just yesterday about the violet papers that still exist in trying to give those to the museum and institutions like wiprinceton to preserve and keep those but it is a lot of
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reinformation now they are at princeton. >> what happened in their lives? >> princeton was the actual place that grover and francis retired to. i will never forget the story i have been told this many times that grover did not like woodrow wilson and at the time wilson was the president and he did not allow his children to play together because there was a rift but that is the connection he actually retireds to princeton. >> talking about the cleveland children one daughter became famous but then passed away in her youth and her name was ruth and we have a candy bar named baby ruth.
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>> the actual candy company contacted the cleveland family to put the images of the baby and also francis on that. we have political memorabilia or souvenirs and they contacted the family actually to have those images on that candy bar but sadly ruth passed away and sadly she was pregnant with the child at the time and both happened almost at the same time so she did not get a chance to say goodbye to ruth before she passed away. >> it was very early in her childhood. >> they were afraid that the disease could affect the child
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and everybody thinks that candy bar was named after babe ruth buthe that was long past that time and you hear it from the bikini company that will say it is named for baby ruth said you see a lot of the likeness on the candy wrappers both were beautiful she was a beautiful child and francis was a beautiful woman so why not put that on display? a >> talk about your interest inse politics he mentioned talking on the kitchen table when did you take a serious interest quick. >> probably not until junior high. and brothers always talk about politics and 18th junior high really peaked my interest
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in college made me take a greater luck that i had the legacies of both families and wanted to research and read as much as possible. so my junior high years fit that timeframe when i became really interested met showed an even greater interest and we went to a lot of the historical sites and then grover cleveland in new jersey that i would say i was not as familiar with it that junior high and a school and college and the interest i had in that caused me to become even greater interest in that. host: is it a coincidence your profession is political? [laughter] >> no. i have been privileged to write for newt gingrich john
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boehner and also the current speaker paul ryan. very specific paid speeches i don't do day-to-day stuff but at the thrilled to write them on policy things and i thoroughly enjoy it. but most of my work is corporate communications. host: what is it like to be part of the community of presidential constituents? >> years ago we attended the new york mayors presidential mention they used to have, 2025 years ago and in the last five years people have become more interested and i approached of the white house historical association to create an event because
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they think that it is something that has not been done that going forward we have more reunions on the hopes we have a dinner in different locations around the country and i we will because it is so important because you learn so much and share stories about the presidential families. i just love>> to be around people that are a lot like me. host: if you had to say your perception being in the white house is different than those who don't have the history because of what you know how would that be different you have a different appreciation for the job? >> i think susan the greatest word is respect.
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and then to aspire to greater office and what a sacrifice especially during the time like you said there were extremes in the country. and i do have a greater respect for the office and the people that occupy the office and the sacrifices they make each and every day and i know for a fact mckinley because of the way they had to travel back then last that time with his young daughters because he traveled by rail. it was a part from his wife also and that was very traumatic. host: thank you for visiting with us during the summit and nice to meet you. >> it's a pleasure. online? go to c-span.org/history and
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type in your topic of interest in the search box, thousands of programs look at the people in places that shaped our nation all available online at c-span.org/history. >> c-span has hundreds of programs on first ladies including archival footage, interviews, and book talks. here's a look at one of our programs. >> each of the rooms in the family quarters of the white house has a special >> each of the rooms the family quarters has a special personality a distinctive mood. here in the treaty room has a dark green velvet look the ornate the core reflects the opulence of the victorian period this became the cabinet room for andrew johnson. that president grant introduced the table so many
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succeeding presence used to conduct the nation's business. then outgrew the second floor. president roosevelt had six children and not tradition bound with the west wing presidential offices. and then doing the day-to-day work of the chief executive many come to mind earlier presidents andrew jackson and grover cleveland and guaranteed to attract the employees who visit us. had an interesting story behind it it was through president grants time that intel it found we wound up and
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