had rather slight understanding, so the answer is nuanced in he had his political interest was very clear, his preferences were very clear, those seems to be strengths but i think in terms of his understanding of the long runne run consequences to achieve the twin objectives by 1972 i think that is a weightier charge. >> would anyone else like to comment? we have time for one last quick question. >> i'll make it quick then. actually giving grace to my students, if each of you would mind giving a grade to nixon in terms of the policy, the environment, civil rights and as an administrator? >> hmm.

>> give nixon a grade? >> would anyone like to take a stab at that? no. all right. >> i will quickly. >> okay. >> i will quickly, just because this might spark some constitution. i don't like ranking or assessing whole presidencies or whole presidents. getting it down to policy areas makes it a little bit bitter. on administration i might call governing within executive branch settings. i would give him a mixed report card, "a" on some things, lower grades on other things. the one thing that i do think and have argued in print that the nixon administration was very good at was developing a white house office that when the system worked it worked extraordinarily well in bringing together diverse strands of

information including everyone that should have been included in the policy discussion into that discussion, and that putting that information before the president. to the extent he gets a lower grade is that that system wasn't enforced, so it didn't always operate. >> i'll pretend that nixon is a senior and grade him as a fail. i give him a pass on the civil rights policies but a fail on the rhetoric, even though there were some instances where he did speak out movingly for civil rights there's one in particular at the death of whitney young that i think was pretty important, but i guess i'm in love to some extent with presidential rhetoric and i would have had like at least that one grade speech on civil rights. >> my concern when we turn to rhetoric, ahh, this is what the president thought that we know enough about the speech writing and policy related speech writing in the nixon white house that we have to be a little bit

careful about drawing too many inferences from that. we know for example that three senior speechwriters, which included pat buchanan, ray price, bill sapphire, were assigned to speeches based on a specific policy topic and the ideological intensity that the president wanted in that speech. so that would be an "a" in terms of management though we may want to question how that was used. >> lbj's speech before congress, we give him credit and not richard goodwin even though he was one of the people who wrote that. >> that's we as scholars and the public make but we might want to be careful carrying it that far. >> thank you all but the conversation can certainly continue. >> you're watching american history tv, all weekend, every weekend on c-span3.

for more information, follow us on twitter at c-span history. >> august weekend long american history tv is in shreveport, louisiana, to explore the rich history of the southern city founded in 1836. you're watching american history tv, 48 hours of people and events, telling the american history. >> the louisiana hayride! ♪ ♪ we're gonna have a wonderful time at the louisiana hayride tonight ♪ >> it would start off with a big roar and the first thing they'd ask is "anybody here from texas" and of course a roar would go up

in the auditorium and then who is here from arkansas, mississippi, alabama. >> good evening, everybody, from the municipal auditorium in louisiana, the own folk music show the louisiana hayride. >> it was like magic when you walked in this building, the vibes for that saturday night were so exciting. the louisiana hayride is actually known as the cradle of the stars. and it literally was the "american idol" of its day. the louisiana hayride embraced young talent. all of the great stars that were here that became so famous all over the world from the louisiana hayride have never been equalled. it actually started april 3rd, 1948.

it was a live show broadcast in this wonderful building on this stage and it was broadcast by kwkh. horace logan was the producer frank paige was the announcer, along with norm and several others. and it just became a regular saturday night radio show. this building, it's kind of hard to believe, but every saturday night in the '40s and '50s, this building was packed with people that would drive hundreds of miles to come to the louisiana hayride. the show was very loose. >> you know, folks, i had a pleasant surprise tonight. an old friend of mine dropped an old friend of mine dropped in to visit with me. i talked him to coming out on stage and sing for you folks. he said if you like his singing, he'll come back next saturday night and sing all the songs you want to hear. it's been a long time since he has been on the show. come out here.

hank williams. [ applause ] >> hello. thank you, horace. >> the engineer, bob sullivan said the louisiana hayride wasn't produced. it just happened. this is the hallway in the great municipal auditorium with a lot of the portraits of the stars of the louisiana hayride. of course, here is the man in black, johnny cash, who began here with his first record on sun records back in the early '50s. here is his beautiful bride, june carter. they both performed on the louisiana hayride many, many times. june is part of the great carter family whose mother maybelle and

the carter family played here on the hayride here many times. of course, here's little old elvis. of course, elvis didn't have side burns back then. he was a little teenager coming from memphis. kind of sandy headed and cute as he could be. of course, stole all the hearts of the fans of the louisiana hayride and became famous from the louisiana hayride stage when he was still a teenager. and down here is, of course, the great hank williams. hank williams was actually the first really big star of the louisiana hayride. he was the greatest back then and is still the greatest. he left here after he became a big hit. went to the grand old opry.

unfortunately, he had a drinking problem. he was in really poor health. he was fired from the grand old opry and came back to shreveport and horace logan immediately said, hank, you'll always be a member of the louisiana hayride and we continue that. he will always be a member of the louisiana hayride. this is the back door entrance where the entertainers would come up the steps. this is actually where i made my first entrance into the municipal auditorium at the ha we all came in through this back door and would go into one of the dressing rooms or go on stage. there was always a crowd back here of singers, musicians,

songwriters. everybody visiting before the show and all during the show, actually. this is a larger dressing room, which back in its day was very fancy with its own shower and facilities. they put some photographs in here of elvis and however this was not elvis' dressing room when he first came here because as you remember, he was not a star. he was a newcomer and a teenager. he mixed and mingled with everybody and became good friends with a lot of the entertainers who were performers and singers on the hayride. he loved all the girls, of course. >> he is only 19 years old. he has a new distinctive style. elvis presley. let's give him a nice hand. [ applause ] ♪

♪ why, it's all right, mama ♪ that's all right with you >> there were always just literally dozens of musicians and it was very lively. and, of course, the stage was all set and the music was playing and the person who was coming on would be waiting about right here. the engineer's booth was right over there. bob sullivan, the engineer on the hayride, and the announcer's podium was over here. so, it was just a lot of mingling around back here. but i guess the most awesome thing that when you came out here, the roar of the crowd in this building was just enormous.

♪ >> okay, thank you. nice to be back to the hayride in shreveport. >> you can hear the music playing. it seems to never end in this building. and all of the great artists that performed here, it seems to me their presence is still in this building. the last regular saturday night show was in 1960 and the people that owned kwkh just decided to close it. i guess, you know, there are many opinions on why shreveport did not develop its music industry and nashville did.

a lot of it had to do with leadership. the people in nashville, they were very smart people. very kind and loving toward the music community. shreveport really, as far as i can understand, never embraced their music community. it was something that the leadership here did not understand as a value for economic development, for cultural development. it was something that was absent from the mind set of a lot of people here and it still is. we've had a big battle fighting for the louisiana hayride. we actually created a shreveport

historic music district plan to revitalize the neighborhood and restore the old buildings. to create a music grounded atmosphere here. but that will give shreveport what it should have had a long time ago. a music presence. >> all right. elvis has left the building. [ applause ] >> i told you absolutely straight up to this point, you know that he has left the building. he left the stage and went out the back with the policeman and he is now gone from the building. all weekend long, american history tv is featuring shreveport, louisiana. learn more about shreveport and find out where c-span's local content vehicles are going next online at c-span.org/localcontent. you are watching american history tv all weekend every weekend on c-span 3. hi there, i'm mark farkus, i head up the lcv project, stands

for local content vehicle. we have three of they will. the purpose is to collect programming from outside of washington, d.c. how do we do it? we staff each one of these with one person, with a small video camera and a laptop editor so they are able to roll, record, produce and edit things from the road. that's what we're doing with lcvs. why do we want to do these? get outside of washington, d.c. and collect programming for all networks. we're doing what we call an lcv city tour. we descend on cities, one do history programming and historic, the other book tv programming, bookstores catching up with authors, third community relations events. community relations work with cable partners in each one of these cities. the last one that's important to know, all this not only goes on the air but archived on the website, c-span video library. what we're also doing in these cities is extensive social media.

you'll see us on facebook, cable partners on facebook. you'll see four square with location-based, tell people where we're going. you'll see us on twitter as well. it's a chance to get out our message not only on air but also online and through social media as well. so that's why it's important we want to get outside of washington, d.c., do programming in places we don't normally do and produce programming for all c-span networks. >> there's a new website for "american history tv" where you can find our schedules and preview our upcoming programs. watch featured video from the regular weekly series as well as access the history tweets, history in the news and social media from facebook, youtube, twitter and four square. follow "american history tv," all weekend, every weekend on c-span3 and online at cspan.org/history. owen lovejoy was a u.s. congressman from served from 1857 until his death in 1864.

coming up, owe when muelder of the underground railroad freedom center at knox college in illinois talks about owen lovejoy. the u.s. capital historical society hosted this 40-minute program. >> good morning. first of all let me do a sound check. can i be heard? very good. well cop, i'm don kenyon, vice

president of the united states capital historical society and it's my pleasure to welcome to you today's lecture observing african-american history month. we are pleased to be joined by the illinois state society of washington, d.c., and the college alumni of washington, d.c., in presenting today's lecture. i want to acknowledge and thank rod ross for all of his assistance in planning the event and rod, are you -- there he is. thank you very much, rod. i want to invite everyone to attend our second african-american month lecture on wednesday, february 15th in room 121 of thehe cannon house office building. you can find upcoming events at the back table or online to the society's website at

www.uschs.org. later this year, the u.s. c capitol historical society celebrate action its 50th anniversary. we are proud of so survived for five decades aa non-profit and n nonpartisan educational on capitol hill. this pales in comparison to the proud history of knox college of galesburg, illinois which later this month celebrates its 175th anniversary. i'm pleased to introzeus the president of knox college, teresa arnaut, the 19th president and first woman president in the history of knox college. she came to knox college after a distinguished academic career at

several institutions, including bucknell, harvard, the university of massachusetts, wellesley, gettysburg and william barth colleges. professor arnaut. [ applause ] >> thank you. thank you very much. and thank you for that wonderful mention of knox college's 175th anniversary. it is a great honor to join you today for this lecture by my wonderful knox college colleague, owen muelder. i'd like to thank the u.s. capitol historical society, the illinois state society, the d.c. knox club for sponsorship of the event and also following in your footsteps thanking our alum rod ross, class of 1965, retired reference archivist at the national archives and records administration. of course, one never really retires from a devotion to the

discovery and the preservation of our nation's storied past. thank you, rod, for your service in this very important effort that the societies join you in carrying out. one of the many gifts that -- well, yes, let's thank them all. [ applause ] thank you. most fitting. one of the many gifts that a liberal arts gives its graduates is a lifelong respect for the historical perspectives and power of historical imagination for the inseparation that the me dic kuls historical record brings to the. the and the future. i want to thank you all today for coming to be part of that important effort of discernment and inspiration. at knox, we are very proud of our abolitionist beginnings. we were founded as was noted earlier 175 years ago.

our founders then imagined into being at a time when this was an heroic effort, a town on the prairie in gailsburg, illinois, distinguished by the presence of a college, a college open to all students of talent and promise, irrespective of means of race or color or creed. to this day we honor those commitments in many ways on our prairie campus, including our exceptional lincoln studies center, home to two of the nation's most renowned lincoln scholars, rodney davis, and two-time lincoln prize winner douglas wilson. the most recent book together "the lincoln douglas debates" has been hailed as the most complete record of those debates. instructive perhaps in this campaign year. the fifth of those debates i'm very proud to say was held in

1858 on the knox college campus. i'm delighted to introduce yet another example of how knox college has served and been inspired by the past. owen muelder, class of 1965 -- '63, thank you very much. [ laughter ] >> sorry. >> yes, can't read my own handwriting. owen has been the director of the underground railroad freedom center since 2004. he has lectured across the country on the anti-slavely movement. his first book available in the back describes the central role of the founders of knox college who were part of an important web of individuals across this country, fighters for freedom. it has been described as an essential text for understanding that struggle for freedom in the

midwest. his second book entitled theodore dwight weld and the american anti-slavery society also recall this is important collective effort that brought many people together in small and sometimes unrecognized ways to make great and enormous changes which we celebrate this month. he will speak to us today about a distinguished 19th century member of this house who represented the proud state of illinois. i give you owen muelder, a true son of knox class of 1963. [ applause ] thank you, president aranut and i thank the united states capitol historical society, the illinois state society of washington, d.c., and the knox

college d.c. alumni club. in the early evening of november 7th, 1837, an ugly, drunken crowd of violence-prone anti-abolitionists gathered together in the city of alton, illinois, by 10:00 that night, they had turned into a crazed mob. a few hours earlier, this troupe of troublemakers attacked people barricaded in a warehouse belonging to elijah p. lovejoy. the crowd had learned earlier that day that lovejoy had received a new printing press that would make it possible, possible for him to resume the publication of his anti-slavery newspaper "the observer." lovejoy had moved across the river to illinois from st. louis in 1836, believing that he would

be safer as expressing his anti-slavery views in the free state of illinois, rather than the slave state of missouri, but alton was a pro-slavery community in a free state. its character was much different than the yankees owen lovejoy had grown up with and his brother, ally ja p. lovejoy had grown up with in maine. lovejoy soon came to recognize, however, that there was real danger and he was courting very real problems for himself even in alton. he had written a letter earlier to his mother saying "it is harder to fight valiantly for the truth when i risk not only my own comfort, ease and reputation, and even life, but that of beloved one as well. i have a family that is dependent upon me, and this is the bitterest ingredient to the cup of sorrow i am called to drink."

lovejoy's abolitionist stance so outraged the majority of alton citizens that mobz had on three previous occasions stormed his newspaper office and destroyed his presses. on this moonlit night, however, lovejoy and his loyal group of friends, including his brother, owen, were determined not to let that happen again. night, gunfire was exchanged and one man in the crowd was shot to death. the rioters retreated for a while and consumed more liquor. they regrouped and charged the warehouse again. this time, bringing with them flammable materials. the building was set on fire, and when elijah lovejoy emerged from the structure, rifle in hand, he was shot down. as he lay dying, his brother, owen, swore that he would thereafter dedicate his life to the abolitionist cause. as word of' lie ja lovejoy's

martyrdom spread across the nation the anti-slavery cause in the united states was galvanized. few other events in the anti-struggle would trump in significance the murder of elijah p. lovejoy. scores of newspaper editorials across the north registered their outrage at what had occurred in alton. what was at stake, these newspapered said, was the assault on freedom of speech and freedom of the press. the death of lovejoy also brought about the fame of a very famous american abolitionist, wendell phillips, later own as abolition's golden trumpet, established his reputation as a famous anti-slavery orator delivering a brilliantly crafted speech defending lovejoy's stand. shortly after the killing, owen lovejoy returned to east to help compile a publication about his brother's death, which was

issued by the american anti-slavery society. he told abolitionist comrades there that elijah had done more by his death than living and unopposed he could have done in a century. the office of the american anti-slavery society on nassau street in new york city remained owens' headquarters until his brother's memorial volume was released in the winter of 1838. owen lovejoy returned to illinois in the spring, where he attended the episcopal church convention in rushville. he then went to jacksonville where he hoped to be ordained as an episcopal minister, but the day before his ordination, the bishop asked lovejoy to sign a pledge promising not to discuss the topic of abolitionism. lovejoy refused to accept the condition and so was not ordained. a few weeks later however following an anti-slavery ray