you and let you know where i stood on that. rather than mill about the subject. the 10th amendment is a federalist victory. thank you, everybody. [applause] >> you are watching american history tv. all weekend, every weekend. like us on facebook at c-span history. >> all weekend, american history tv is featuring provo, utah. we visited many sites showcasing

the city's history. it is located approximately 40 miles south of salt lake city utah lake. the largest freshwater lake in the state. provo all about weekend here on american history tv. riis smoot was an early morning apostle and u.s. senator. n apostle for the church running for national office did not sit well with some. long series of a occuronies were called to smoot before he could be elected said for the senate. they took testimonies of key leaders of the church and others

including the president of the church at that time. they would ask a series of questions mostly about the practice of polygamy and at that time, the president of the church, president smith was a practicing polygamist. there are some good political cartoons related to this time period. s did not see any of the one reed smoot kept. there are a few that relate to this time. some of these might be related to the fears going on. some of these relate to the testimony of president smith.

there are some things said that put the church in a bad light or put him in a bad light. most helpful to smoot.ith -- reed showing how he might have felt after hearing president smith's testimony. they were all over. there are many political cartoons of that time. there were books published about that. while this is going on, and polygamy being the main focus of these hearings going on, what is interesting about that is that he was not a practicing polygamist. it was in his family. the president of the church and others were practicing. he was not. wife.y had his one after the first term as a

reed smoot served for four more terms. time he was involved in several important pieces of legislation that i will focus on . he had been a big proponent of the national forest service which was around for several years at that time. he was probably towards the idea of government being able to manage the lands, public lands of the nation. try to pass several bills over a aries of years establishing natural park service. unfortunately been filled for one reason or another. failed for one reason or another.

senator warren kent of california was try to draft legislation -- trying to draft legislation to establish the national park service and reed smoot jumped on board to help him. were able to be successful and to him, it was a great day. finally able to see this come to be. 12,is personal diary, july ed a, he writes i tend meeting of the public plans committee and reported from the committee to the senate the bill to establish a national parks service. they measure i have been interested in for many years past.

a few years after the establishment of the national smootervice, senator uses it was to establishment of the first national parks in utah. here's a photograph that was taken from a visit that he went president warren g. harding. the most prominent piece of legislation, the second-most that he was involved in was what became known as the smoot-holly tariff act. i felt the need to pass this deflation in 19 -- legislation in 1930. the first ages of the depression, the main goal the u.s. was going for was to

protect american jobs as well as farmers from competition. this act, in the minds of the senators, a way to come back that. -- combat that. people saw the meat of this, raising the tariff to record levels seen by a lot of economists at the time and major business leaders as a somewhat, quite controversial and many protested it. time, senator smoot was extremely, he felt like this was a positive thing. he felt like this would boost the economy of america and protect their jobs and interest. in his entry on friday, june 13, 1930, talks about the fact that he was crowded with colors.

-- callers. he talks about giving several speeches about the act and at the end he says, the house will agree to it and will be sent to the president for his approval. i know he will do so. unfortunately, this is one of haslast acts as a senator gone down as one of his unfortunate legacies. of the most positive way to end his time as a senator. senator smoot in his 30 years in washington actually became pretty good friends with many of the president that were there. many of them respected him. within his papers, there are a have froms that we that hethe presidents served under. a couple i want to point out, one here, a couple here from theodore roosevelt.

this one is an original copy of one from president roosevelt that basically says, this is 1904, your senator, talk about a report that senator smith had sent him. smoot has had to. i had not seen the report. thank you for writing me. after theyear or so hearings had started and this is evidenceher piece of showing senator smoot during his time was still doing his job as a senator with the direction of the president and was able to function as a senator at that time. letter thatpy of a is in the possession of the family, the smoot family.

i wanted to bring it out because of some of the things, he gets president roosevelt felt about senator smoot. i have your letter, you are a start friend of the poorest service. as far as i have seen, -- forest service. you have been sound for the nation and the people of all questions that have come up. what you say carries great weight with me. senator, withg the very influence of president, he is able to lead a very positive impression. another thing i was impressed with as i read through some of , is how personal relationship he had often with these presidents. this letter here it from datedent woodrow wilson

august 14, 1914. this is just a few months after president wilson had lost his first wife to illness. of course, this is also during the beginnings of world war i. a lot must have been on his mind. a very difficult time for him. writtensmith had hadident -- senator smoot written president wilton. president wilson writes back, i'm sincerely grateful to you for your thought. sympathy does strengthen and sustain and i want to say that meets welcome evidence of the kindest and personal awfulness. being from different -- thoughtfulness. being from different parties, i think this says a lot.

>> our cities tour staff recently traveled to probe a utah learn about its -- provo, utah to learn about its history. you are watching american history tv all weekend, every weekend on c-span3. >> the hard-fought 2016 primary season is over with historic inventions to follow. conventions to follow. watch c-span as the delegates consider nomination of the first woman ever of a major political party and the first non-politician and several decades. watch live on c-span, listen on the c-span radio at and get video on-demand with c-span.org. you have a front row seat to every minute of both