investigated cia, fbi, irs, and nsa intelligence committees. next weekend, saturday at 10 p.m. and sunday at 4 p.m. eastern time, only on american history tv on c-span3. >> tonight, we will take a look at some of the speeches by president obama during his two terms at the white house correspondents dinner. this year will mark his final attendance at the dinner. >> jeb bush identifies himself as hispanic. i understand, it reminds me when i identified myself as american back in 1961. >> be sure to tune in for live coverage of this year's white house correspondents dinner.

this year c-span's touring cities across the country, exploring american history. up next, a look at our recent .isit to tuscaloosa alabama you are watching american history tv all weekend on -- and sohere ever was -- often the men and women who deserve recognition do not receive it. and to see him receive it was a wonderful thing. we are standing in the lobby of the library, the main library in the center of campus at the university of alabama. this is the first profile and courage award ever awarded by i library foundation in 1990, the

former alabama congressman. carl elliott was many things. he was a congressman from until 1964. 1948 carl elliott was born very poor in northwest alabama. he came to the university with two dollars and $.50 in his acket and a $25 check -- and $200 check he had been given. he presented himself to the president and said you said anybody can come to the university. the president examined his findings and said you were not -- and said but not you. he slept under a truck on campus. they found on the next day and hauled him back to the president. the president said if you want it that badly, we will find a way for you to get an education. he ended up as president of the student body and with a law degree, the first of his family

to receive a college degree. he actually ran for a county judgeship and lost. in 1948, he ran against the four-time incumbent congressman and defeated the incumbent congressman and began his congressional career. there are few members of the house of representatives who ever author a major bill that becomes law. mr. elliott, during the time he was in congress, authored two. the library services and construction act of 1956 and the national defense education act of 1958. the library services and construction act was aimed at constructing libraries in rural areas. it was the father of the book-mobiles, that takes libraries into remote areas today.

the national defensive education act was very comprehensive. but the heart of it was scholarships and loans for college students, graduate students. first, legislation in regard to education that over $1 billion was spent over the years. and some 20 million americans received a college education through a loan or grant. it has been said, if you take those 20 million students, it may be the most significant legislation ever passed by congress. following the 1960 census, alabama lost a congressman. the state legislature refused to redistrict to cut to eight districts and came up with a suicidal plan, called the 9-8 plan.

this was at a time when the democratic primary was paramount to election in alabama. you ran for your congressional district in the first primary. if you received the nomination, then all nine names went on the ballot one month later. each voter had eight votes and they could drop one. mr. elliott survived in 1962. but in 1964, george wallace had become governor, and carl elliott was targeted because of his progressive stance. a ballot was circulated all over the state. we know it as the infamous "blue ballot," and it had a list of eight candidates, but not mr. elliott. the message was to drop carl

elliott. so he was unseated in that crazy 9-8 primary. he began practicing law after he was defeated. in 1966, he ran for governor in the democratic primary against governor wallace's wife. it was a campaign fraught with race, as you may imagine. one of his lines that he would give over and over was they will tell you that i am u.s. government approved, but they are wrong. it is not stamped on my back. what is stamped is on my heart. and that is my country, right or wrong. what you had was mrs. wallace appealing to all of the segregation votes. the alabama attorney general ran as a direct appeal to african-american voters. and mr. elliott was the moderate, the man in the middle, which was the most difficult position to take.

i think one of the things that characterized was that he went to selma. the place in selma where the civil rights demonstrators met was at the church. and of course the edmund pettus bridge, where the marchers were so badly beaten. mr. elliott said i have not, to selma to sing "we shall overcome," nor have i come here to stand on the bridge and yell "never." surely, the people of alabama, there is room in the middle for all of us. he came in third. and it was essentially the two races that bankrupted him. he withdrew his congressional pension. all of the money he had contributed.

he was left to begin learning to practice law at a very late age. he was diagnosed with diabetes. and it began to take a real toll on him, ultimately confining him to a wheelchair. in 1989 -- there was a cover story with john f. kennedy junior and caroline's picture. they urged america to nominate people for a profile in courage award. the name coming from president kennedy's pulitzer prize-winning book from americans who display great courage in public office. they encouraged nomination for the first award, which would be given in 1990. when the magazine article came out, a longtime aide to mr. elliott, who remained throughout his life one of the closest people to him, called me and

said julian, we ought to nominate mr. elliott. i said if you will put together these stuff, i will write the nomination. we were told there were 5000 nominations for the profile in courage award. interestingly, erica stern, who headed the committee, said when they read mr. elliott's

nomination, they immediately said this is it. the award -- it is a sterling silver lantern. that is to be a beacon. the sculptor or designer was, ed schlossberg, caroline kennedy's husband. it is modeled after a lantern that would have been used on a 19th century sailing ship. the lantern is universally regarded as a symbol of truth and hope. which is the characteristic the library looks for. at the time of the presentation of the award, mr. elliott was on the stage at the kennedy library. he made remarks -- expressed his gratitude to the kennedy family. he talked about his relationship, followed president kennedy in congress by two years, they served together in the house of representatives. he ended with a statement that summed up his life. as long as we have overcrowded classrooms, underpaid teachers, schools with inadequate libraries, and young men and women who are denied an education because they do not have the resources, our work is not finished. john f. kennedy's vision for america will not be fully accomplished until all of our young people have the opportunity to obtain the quality of education which is their birthright. such educated young people,

engaged in public service, are essential to meet the challenges of each new frontier. there are those who said that i was ahead of my time. but they were wrong. i always believed that i was behind the times that ought to be. >> our cities tour staff recently traveled to tuscaloosa, alabama to learn about its rich history. learn more about tuscaloosa and other stops at c-span.org/citiestour. you are watching american history tv all weekend on c-span3. historian -- speaks about the

musical hamilton. me i was reading your book on vacation in mexico, and hip-hop star -- hip-hop songs started rising off the page. he said hamilton's life is a classic hip-hop narrative. i was thinking what is this guy talking about? he said to me on the spot, because my first question to him be the vehiclep for telling this kind of large and complex story? he said, i'm going to educate you about hip-hop. he pointed out that in hip-hop you can pack words -- you can pack more information into the lyrics than any other form, because it is dense. he talked about the fact

of the internal rhyme, and all the facts of the show. >> next on history bookshelf, former u.s. marine quang pham talks about his personal experience as a vietnamese refugee in his book, "a sense of just before the fall of saigon in 1975 when he and his siblings and mother went to america. his father, and air pilot, stay behind and was held in a prisoner of war camp for 10 years. this program was recorded in 2010 in san francisco. it is about 45 minutes. [applause] mr. pham: