madeleine albright opens the comments. it is about 50 minutes. gentlemen, the harryent of the s truman scholarship foundation, former secretary of state, madeleine albright. [applause] ms. albright: thank you. good afternoon and welcome. i am truly delighted to be here with all of you in to celebrate public service and the legacy of harry truman. as someone who believes passionately in the importance of america's global leadership, i have a natural love and affinity for harry truman. but my affection for him is

rooted in something more basic. he was my first american president. my family and i arrived in america november 11, 1948. a week after he narrowly beat his opponent in 1948. that was some time ago. in fact, i tell my students now that i went to college about halfway between the invention of the ipad in the discovery of fire. [laughter] ms. albright: so, it was much later when i became secretary of state and the question arose as to where to hold a particular ceremony. the event was to mark naito's 's decision too include:. i cannot think of a more appropriate place than the truman presidential library in

independence, missouri, a place devoted to the man whose vision is responsible for nato. as i stood there, i was so excited that i cannot help to use in old czechoslovakia expression, hallelujah. [laughter] ms. albright: i was equally excited to hold a ceremony in washington to formally rename this building in honor of president truman. in 2002, i was honored to be asked to serve this foundation. harry truman was both a remarkable precedent and a remarkable man who spoke often about the importance of promoting young leaders. he wanted this foundation to be a living memorial, encouraging educated citizenship and political responsibility. for the past 40 years, thanks to the generous support of congress and the american people, that is precisely what this foundation has done. surveying the problems facing

our country, i think we can all agree its mission is more vital than ever. it is a great pleasure to be about to convene this symposium and to have a conversation on the past, present and future of public service. to get that discussion started, it is my pleasure to introduce the executive treasury and the rich --andy rich. [applause] >> good afternoon. ,hank you, secretary albright to be vice president of the truman board into all of the officers and the trustees of the truman foundation, to the many uests.guish g it has been my privilege to lead the day to day management of the german foundation. i am in 1991 truman

scholar myself. pleased you can all be with us today to celebrate the german foundation's 40th anniversary. -- truman foundation's 40th anniversary. our work is at a time when public service is all too often extraordinarily difficult and undervalued. the truman foundation was president truman's idea. toward the end of his life he told his admirers he did not want a brick-and-mortar monument, he encouraged a living memorial, an institution that support new americans from every single territory that value service to their communities and this country as much as he did. that is what the truman foundation has been doing for four years now. we have selected more than 3000 public service leaders in the community in which they can be helped and make an even bigger

difference in the life of this country. 40 years into our work we have a wonderful track record, and so this afternoon we pause to take stock in to celebrate. secretary ofnk state john kerry and everyone here at the state department for hosting us this afternoon, and i want to extend special thanks to the center of american history at the university of texas, alston for sponsoring this event with support from the bernard foundation. we cannot have found a more perfect sponsor in the real partner for this event. as many of you know, he was the governor of texas and i 70's and whend in the legislator harry truman was president. the center at ut austin holds his papers and also those of such revered public service figures as former house speaker sam rayburn and former vice president john garner.

and inre contemporaries some cases good friends of president truman and each embodied his same spirit and commitment to public service. so, that will be the subject of our first panel and we have four distinguish historians with us. we have the centennial professor of history and professor of government at the university this university of texas, austin. he has written books including a bestseller on franklin roosevelt. we have the director of the lyndon johnson library and museum at the university of texas next to the center. he is the author of four books and is an expert on lbj and the presidency. we have professor of history at the university of houston. she is also an expert on the presidency in presidential congressional relations in the 20th century.

she is currently writing a bargain three of jenks. . john garner he has written books on many of the leading public figures of the 20th century. he has been a tremendous partner to us on this symposium. our sincere thanks again to him and went to turn it over to don in our fellow panelists for the first discussion this afternoon. [applause] >> well, it sounds like -- can you hear us ok? all right. we are on. thank you andy for that introduction. it is a great privilege and an honor for us to sponsor this celebration of the 40th anniversary of the truman

scholars program. richo want to thank andy and secretary albright for really the outstanding job that they have done in pulling together this program. it has been about a year since we were talking about this and we are so delighted we have reached this point today. this, want to acknowledge we received really substantial funding for this program from the artery and bernard foundation in waco, texas and i just want to have a shout out to them as well before we get into the program. i want to add that the decision for us to support this conference was very easy to make, primarily because the truman scholarship over the past 40 years has made such a significant contribution to the public good with all of the gifted individuals, students who

supportan foundation's has made possible for them to go to interpublic service, and so it was easy for us to sponsor something that was going to celebrate that. also, it gives us the opportunity, the center the opportunity to bring to tension -- bring to attention our own work and furthering knowledge of the research and teaching we support and facilitate. andy also a fact that mentioned that we have the sam rayburn library in the john garner museum. we also have a very, very close working relationship with the lbj library, our next-door neighbor at the university of texas, austin. we have three experts, as andy mentioned who will join me in discuss the relationship harry

truman had with three texans who were among the most influential and well-known political figures of their day. was speakergarner of the house of representatives and he was later vice president for the first two terms of franklin roosevelt's administration. his protege, cactus jack's protege, john garner was sam rayburn who was the longest-serving speaker of the house in american history and urn's crochet lyndon b. johnson was vice president and then president of the united states himself. so, let's begin the discussion today, turning to dr. nancy young who will start the john garnerff about jenk

and harry truman's relationship. >> they were cut from the same cloth in many ways born and raised in rural backgrounds. they did not have the formal education of a john f. kennedy. they both appreciated the experiences of a common man and woman. that is what drove them to public service, i believe. garner was mentioned fdr's first vice president. they share skepticism about that office of a both held with garner once observing that the vice presidency was not worth a couple of warm spit. that is a sanitized version of the quote. there is a less sanitized version, and i will let your imagination take you wherever it does. harry truman, not to the

outdone, made a similar observation about the vice presidency, that it was like the no way toon a cow, really change that one around that i could think of. [laughter] >> hopefully that will suggest to you the common bond of the two men. andner was truman senior garner was in the vice presidency when truman came to the senate so he was the presiding officer in the chamber. garner gave truman the same advice he gave all new members and that was to be quiet and learn how things were for a while. garner did serve as a mentor to truman when he was a young senator and if you went to truman's washington, d.c. home, you would see on his small bookshelf a few bucks -- a few books, a two-volume biography of

andrew jackson, the bible, stories of great operas, a bit darker fee of john garner. -- and a biography of john garner. garner and truman did not always think alike and perhaps the most important moment where they plan in was with fdr's 1937 to expand the size of the supreme court. the supreme court had been deciding against measures and fdr did not want the trend to continue with pending court cases, so he hoped that expanding the size of the court will solve that problem. truman was happy to support the president in that regard but garner said, "i will oppose it with all of the strength that remains to me but i do not imagine it will be any good. congressresident asked

to commit suicide, it would do it." so a little frustration there. not that long after in the 1940 presidential election, garner made a brief challenge to fdr that did not work out well for him, so he left washington dc, saying he would never go back again and he never went back again. some had mistaken that statement as a resignation from politics overall, and that would not be true because garner remain very involved in politics until he drew his last breath. when truman became president, he , when garner was vice president, there was hardly a day when at least half the members of the senate did not see him in his office or talk to them somewhere in the capital. in the past four years when

henry wallace was vice president i am sure there were only a half a dozen senators in the office. you can draw your own conclusion. garner provided a model for truman in how to approach is increasing role in public life. truman saw when reelection to the presidency in his own right, he made a series of. source throughout the country. one reason he did not visit was giving up on any hope of carrying southern states with thurman splitting off into the dixie party. truman did get to texas and he made a special point of going on a whistle stop resume and meet with his own -- old friend, cactus jack garner. truman needed texas to win the white house.

he campaigned very well in texas and throughout the country. sam rayburn said he was one of the folks very good from the back platform, a crowd of 10,000 people showed up to greet truman at the train station at 6:50 in the morning and the high point breakfast garner have for truman served on the back porch of the home and the crowd cheered. they cannot care so much about truman's civil rights agenda, but a friend of john garner in that is all that mattered to them and he did indeed carry texas. truman came back to visit garner one more time in 1958 for a celebration of his 90th birthday. truman erick wright -- airplane was delayed with mechanical problems in dallas so he did not get there until late in the ner's thatssed gar

time of 8:00 so they agreed to talk the next morning after agreeing that they were a sight for sore eyes. i think that sums up nicely the garner-truman relationship and i will turn it over to my wiser and more learned colleagues. >> you want to talk about rayburn? >> sure. i would love to. [applause] >> i would add that 8:00 was pretty much truman's that time as well. they did not miss out on much. hady truman and sam rayburn a lot in common. they were both small-town southerners. ony both prided themselves their plain speaking, straight shooting character. they would tell things the way they saw it. they did not feel inclined to mince words for political benefit. perhaps most important at least

for the relationship between the two, fable loyal democrats -- they were loyal democrats and they would stand by the democratic party. there was a lot in the background of the two that might have made them friends, but the fact that they became important political partners was less ordained. in fact, it was largely a matter of accident. the accident was the death of franklin roosevelt. came to real political power before harry truman day. he was speaker of the house starting in 1940. truman was a member of the senate. he developed a certain reputation during world war ii in terms of keeping an eye on government spending on the war. that brought him to national attention or at least the attention of franklin roosevelt, and when there was a revolt in

the democratic party in 1944 against henry wallace, roosevelt was looking for someone that he could talk into the vice presidency and he would not create another revolt in the party. harry truman was sufficiently registered that the party accepted harry truman. truman's appreciation of the vice presidency and was elected. 's lowred john garner opinion of it. while he was try to find what to do with himself, he used to hang out with sam rayburn. rayburn had this hideaway deep in the bowels of the capital where what he called the board of education used to meet late in the afternoon. they would share their favorite drink and they would ruminate on politics in washington and the state of the democratic party. harry truman was in sam

rayburn's office on a moment to stay in 1945 in april when he got word that a call had come from the white house and it was important he called the white house so be good. he called the white house. the first thing he said, according to somebody that was there, he puts on the phone and christ andesus general jack." he knew that something was up. he went to the white house and discovered franklin roosevelt had died and he was now president of the united states. he realized that his relationship with sam rayburn all of a sudden have become very much more important. it is a surprise for both of them. when harry truman became president, he had no idea that twoas about to launch revolutions in american affairs. domestic affairs

that did not go as long as he wanted. it would take another 15 or 20 years. harry truman was the first president since reconstruction to believe that the president needed to take a positive role in improving race relations. harry truman, for example, was the one that issued the executive order to desegregate the military. whiles one that hung fire truman was still president, but it was essential to the relationship between truman in raburn. the other, perhaps more far-reaching revelation was that harry truman launched an american foreign affair and in both of those areas, truman made raburn uncomfortable to --r ayburn uncomfortable. he had an idea that after world war ii the united states might gradually proceed from responsibility for world affairs

of the taken after pearl harbor and but somehow approximate the previous attitude of the country toward the rest of the world. truman realized this would not work. the world would not remain peaceful and but not remain well ordered unless united states continue to play a large role. one of the moments in which harry truman had to call on sam rayburn was when truman was presenting congress with what became the marshall plan. i will let truman tell the story. he invites sam rayburn into his office. and whenin sam rayburn i told him what we had in mind, he would not believe it. his first reaction was just like everybody else. he said, we cannot afford it. he said, mr. president, it will bust the country. and i said to them, this instrument, sam, if we do not do it, europe will have the worst depression in its history and i do not know how many hundreds or

thousands of people will starve to death and we do not want to have a thing like that on our conscience. not if it is something we can prevent, no we do not. if we let europe go down the drain, then we are going to have a bad depression in this country and you and i have both lived through one depression and we do not want to have to live through another. do we, sam? rayburn says, no we do not. much do harry, how we figure this is going to cost? he says, i never told sam anything less than the whole truth. that is the kind of relationship we have. i looked him in the eye and said, is going to cost about $16 billion, sam. say,hen, truman went on to

he had worked on behalf of saving the government money during the war. now, sam, i figure i save the people of the united states about $16 billion with the committee of mine. [laughter] >> you know that better than anyone else. now, we are going to need that money and we can save the world with it. yburn says, every, i will do my damnest. when was another moment sam rayburn essentially came to the rescue of harry truman. he describes this from the perspective of john garner when truman is running for election in 1948 and his stance on civil rights has prompted a revolt within the democratic party and strom thurmond has led and is

about to lead half of the south out of the democratic party. truman is trying to shore up support in the south. he goes to texas. breakfastr holds a rode onand sam rayburn the train with him. sam rayburn invited him to texas where he holds a reception and everybody, nobody is going to come so we are going to make sure texas turns out for a democratic president. rayburn himself has some questions whether the timing was right for civil rights reform that truman proposed. he was a good enough democratic to say, this is our president

and we are going to stick with him. he invites all of his friends and they all show up in the gives a speech on his behalf. he emphasizes not civil rights, because he knows that it's going to be devices and texas, but he emphasizes foreign policy. speaking of truman's foreign policy and is a candidate, his shoulders are broad enough, his heart is big enough and his mind is keen enough. i do not know if all of the texans come into the recession were listening but this was sam rayburn, so they were going to come. margaret truman went along on a trip and she recalls to the burn's coming to the ray house, they came in droves and they kept coming. they kept coming in such numbers that they alarmed the secret service. the secret service, i should point out, that harry truman would be the object of a

fascination, and the secret service was worried and so they wanted to make sure that everybody that came to the reception, and sam rayburn stood up and said, i know every man, woman and child here and i will vouch for them. rayburn was willing that everyone should, and face truman . he did not want to give more of a party necessary when he realized some of the guests were coming through the eu line twice.ng he said, shut the door, they are coming through twice. anyway, his support for truman was absolutely critical in holding half of the south for truman and that is what gave truman the victory in 1948 and made possible the completion of truman's revolution in foreign policy including the north

atlantic alliance, the korean war and someone. .- so on it was this partnership that made truman the president that he was. burn did not agree with everything, but he believed truman was somebody he could see i to eye with. leave rayburn the last line and this is something truman would have endorsed, any a barn down but it takes a comforter to build one. -- takes a carpenter to build one. [applause] >> thank you. let's hear from mark about his relationship with lyndon johnson. >> you that.

let me start by adding lbj's contribution to despair in the vice presidency. with very earthy language from texas, johnson said that the vice president was like being stuck in a screen match -- screwing match. like the gentleman nancy and bill have spoken about, lyndon johnson and harry truman were very much cut from the same cloth. both were born of modest means in small-town america, what we may call flyover country today. they never forgot where they came from. truman never went to college although he read every book in the independent's misery public library -- independents, missouri public library. both men were accidental presidents, stepping into the

outside shoes of their eloquent harvard educated predecessors. truman assumed the presidency upon the death of the titanic and lbj after franklin roosevelt and lbj after the assassination of the eloquent and graceful john f. kennedy are. the german took office, washington post did not have a high opinion of him an. and lbj set of kennedy, he was a great public hero and anything i did somehow, if it wasn't approved of, it would always say that president kennedy would have done it that are, that i would -- that he would not have made the mistakes that i made. yet belts german and johnson

made near great presidents. they shared an acute sense of social justice. while truman and johnson never forgot where they came from, the advancement of causes of civil rights, where civil rights policies were immensely unpopular, truman desegregated the military and pushed in vain for civil rights laws. johnson passed a trilogy of transformational civil rights legislation, passing the civil rights act of 1964, to break the back of jim crow in the south, the voting rights act of 1965, and the fair housing act of 1968. they both shared a great personal bond. from the house to the senate during truman's tenure in office, eventually becoming the senate minority whip during truman's last years as president.

johnson admired truman and considered him a mentor. truman had many daddies, as he called them, including sam rayburn. he also considered truman, in some ways, a daddy. when lbj became president, he often paid tribute to harry truman, perhaps anticipating his hopingt-presidency and that well goes around goes around, he lavished them with raise and attention, showing truman that, while he was gone back to his modest life in independence, missouri, after leaving the let -- the splendor of the presidency, that he certainly wasn't forgotten. a telephoneste of conversation of johnson calling truman to express his congratulations after johnson won a landslide victory to earn

the presidency in 1964. you will hear truman and lbj very clearly and then truman brings on his wife beth to talk to the president as well. or ask mr. president, i love you as everybody in america does. i am so honored that you would take the time to call me. [indiscernible]01 office,as i am in that

you are in it and the privilege of it, our power of it, and our purpose of it that you can share and your bedroom is up there your plane you and standing by her side and your doctors and anything you want or need. i'm able to travel year-round, i like to come to see you. >> tell mrs. truman that we love her. but anything that you want or need, you tell her. let me tell her. >> hello? >> mrs. truman? >> oh, we are so happy. >> i know you are. you are as responsible as any to in the nation that wonderful work you have done. he always had time for me. >> naturally. he has a ways talk tomorrow

if his party and his friends than he did at himself. you make him watch himself because he is no spring chicken. [laughter] very tagged on lbj's bar. it was just a tad self-serving. and lbj host desperately that his successor will take care of him in the same way that he was taking care of his predecessor. medicare intod law in 1965, he insisted on doing so with the trial -- the truman library, since truman had tried and failed to pass similar legislation when he was president. at the signing, lbj paid tribute to truman for planting the seeds of compassion and duty which have today flowered into the care of the sick and serenity to

the fearful. the first twoted medicare card numbers, numbers one and two, to harry and best truman, respectively. ,n so doing, he called him truman, the real daddy of in alle and was likelihood paying tribute to one of his own daddies at the same time. comfort inok great being around truman, another who had shouldered the burden know ae presidency during turbulent and ultimately a very consequential time. in 1968, during a trip to the west coast -- from the west coast back to washington, lbj insisted on visiting truman in independence along the way. temple, tode larry propose the visit, best truman declined saying that harry had company recently and he was a

tad bit worn out. lbj was not want to take no for an answer and he was sure that best truman didn't understand that he was coming to independence and wanted to call on him. so he insisted that larry temple asked again, which larry temple dutifully did. he called mrs. truman back. she reluctantly consented, but she had conditions. she ordered that there be no more than 10 people in the presidential entourage trampling on her lawn and on her living room rug. the president was supposed to show up at truman's house at 2:00. a little after 3:00, finally, the presidential entourage arrived. stepshnson bounded up the to the porch of the truman home, and said, hand out

hi, mr. president. sorry we are late. without missing a beat, truman replied, you ought to be. it is your own damn fault. if you had left on time, you would have been here on time. [laughter] and then there was a presidential entourage. larry temple began counting all party trampling rug.s. truman's he stopped counting when he got to 20. as lbj said after his visit with the 33rd president, "i feel stronger when i leave him." my guess is that harry truman felt a little stronger, too. [applause] >> you know, we've been talking and i was referring to cactus

jack. you know, nancy, you want to explain where that comes from, cactus jack? before jonas garner went to the house of representatives, he went to the texas state legislature, which seat inay, he used his the texas state legislature to draw his own congressional districts, one that he was sure to in. when he did multiple times over. but when he was in the texas state legislature, the lawmakers were debating what the state flower of texas should be. know that it's the bluebonnet. the jonas garner was a proponent of the prickly pear cactus being the state flower of texas. and he lost that battle, but gained the neck name cactus jack as a result. what parentsagine

in texas would think if they had to plant their children down in pear cactus.ickly maybe it's a good thing that garner lost on that one. >> we produced a documentary on the life of john s garner. truman figures prominently in it. at the last couple of months. i think it covered about 80% of the previous market. i want to recommend it to you for viewing. the sam rayburn library is a division of the center of the briscoe. i'm interested in truman's relationship. with the sam rayburn library. anhink it's sort of provides

insight into what probably most of us already know about germans love of books and reading. truman's love of books and reading. i think it was reader's digest. cash award, and rayburn had very little money when he died. he was kind of like truman who never accumulated any personal wealth at all. he didn't know what to do this money. hewas against, you know, didn't like to take money from lobbyists or anyone else. anyway, truman suggested to him that it would be a great idea to have a library. he suggested to truman -- excuse me truman suggested to rayburn that, you know, we don't have enough libraries. why don't you take that money and set up your own library someplace and it was really the

seed, the kernel that made the samgo on and create rayburn library. thingsg so, one of the that also came in to play is the truman saw to it that, when rayburn provided absolutely critical support in the congress and led the house, as you were pointing out on the marshall plan, the greek government with aed sam rayburn vase that was more than 2000 years old. and it is incredibly valuable. it is an amazing piece of art, ancient art. anyway, they presented it to him and truman suggested to rayburn, if you get that library build, that will be a great place to put that vase.

so that all came together and provided some impetus into creating this really wonderful community and state resource that we have in the sam rayburn library. truman also played a role in connecting the national archives to plan a library and set it up and so forth. then he told rayburn that he would come and dedicate the library, the museum, when it was ready to open. in 1957, truman, who is now a former president, makes the trek , for those of you whose geography of texas may not be that good, is between dallas-fort worth and just northeast of dallas-fort worth, near the oklahoma boarder, or the red river. truman went down and gave the dedication speech for the sam rayburn library. we have film of that and it is a

great movement. this -- scott briscoe and truman, we talk about how john snt it was that garner was to truman's campaign in 1948 in texas. recall, the odds were strongly against harry truman being elected president in 1948 to his own term. everyone expected thomas dewey to win that election, including thomas dewey. and as the democrats were split, s with stromt thurmond and everything, it was that truman could carry texas and no one really gave him a chance. that is when this visit with garner, as you already mentioned, was so important. but when he came to you validate, there was some question.

roosevelt whenth he left washington. he was against social security. he was against labor unions. he was very unhappy with the second new deal, which is the so-called liberal new deal. he was very supportive of the and theof wall street banking industry in this country. he was a small-town banker himself. so there was some question about whether garner would be that act .o and supportive of truman because of the democrats coming back to the white house. it was never a question. it was never a problem. garner was a huge fan of chairman. hostnor briscoe was the for this. he was not governor at this time. this is 1948. but they concocted this harebrained scheme with garner

sheep andvalley is goat country in southwest texas. it is to the west of san antonio. so they were all sheep and goat racers out -- razors out there, they did not raise cows. he decided to get a goat and put clothing on it and put a sign on it that read dewey's goat. inn garner and truman came in the convertible into town after truman's train arrived and they were going to have breakfast, they would take the goat -- they would have the press there from san antonio and the normal press that accompanied the president, and they would have the president raisers, andd goat razor the go -- this is a different world than we live in today. [laughter]

in the convertible with a john s garner, and tosent dewey's goat president truman. question was some about whether this was in good taste or whatever. so they did do it. they brought the goat out and truman is sitting there and you can see the shock on his face when they picked up this goat and dumped it on his lap. do is go. and then governor briscoe does his little speech. well we are going to get dewey's goat. and here it is. like that. and john s gardner starts laughing and said, you know, dewey's goat is probably going to have a call from nature any minute here. [laughter] so maybe dewey's goat ought to leave. so they picked him up and so on.

is, when dok story we told garner he would be back for his 90th birth day, he was texas new,veryone in john s garner liked his bourbon. as a test, you needed to have a couple of glasses of urban with cactus jack when you visited him. of course, truman liked his bourbon also. so they drank together the night that truman spent in you valley. actuallydent truman slept in the briscoe home that night, in governor briscoe's home. president truman had a couple of glasses of stiff bourbon. it was then time for them to go to bed. truman got up and he turned to governor briscoe and said, bob, now listen. i need for you to call bass and tell her that i'm fine, but that i've gone on to bed and then he left.

a little later on, come to find out he did was because best absolutely for bade him to drink and he knew come i when he got on the phone, she would be able to pick up that he had been drinking and he didn't want to deal with it. [laughter] i think we've got about three minutes here. >> you talk about the modest upon that truman had leaving office. indeed, he went back to the same home that he and bess had lived in before he went to washington in 1934, which had been owned by his in-laws. and didn't have a lot of money. if not for the sale of family farmland, he would have been broke. and some of johnson his colleagues in the senate knew that and they ended up -- in those days, there was no presidential pension.

fore were no of monuments former president of any kind. truman had sold a book to make a little bit of money. codeiven the draconian tax at the time, lost much of that the taxes. people would send him the book to sign and would not give a return envelope. about $35,000 by his own estimation in postage alone. for formerkage presidents by lyndon johnson and some of his colleagues allowed for a modest residential pension, around the same amount of money that a ceo at the time would get so that he could set things out in the mail and some other emoluments, including office space. it further saved harry truman from further embarrassment. johnson, too.ed funny thing. [laughter] >> join me in thanking my

colleagues. [applause] and i again want to say what a privilege it is for us to sponsor this conference and how much we appreciate you being here. we have more wonderful things that will be happening this afternoon. thank you again. appreciate it. [applause] announcer: american history tv airs on tv every weekend, telling stories between interviews and visits to start locations. this month, historic best history tv is in prime time.

our features include lectures in history, visits the college classrooms ross the country to hear lectures by top history professors, american artifacts takes a look at the treasures at historic sites, museums and archives. real america revealing american history through newsreels. hearivil war, where you about the people who shape to the civil war and reconstruction. and the presidency focuses on u.s. presidents and the first lady. learn about their policies and legacies. every weekend on american history tv on c-span 3. announcer: american history tv is marking the centennial of the national service. we asked members of congress about which national park service sites on their state -- in their states have significance to them. >> i've lived all my life in

paterson new jersey. it is part of my congressional district. from thelive too far falls. so i have fond memories. this is where alexander hamilton brought george washington and invent -- and develop to the first industrial city in the united states with the technology that was brought from europe. so this national side, which is a national park for the last seven years, it is a new park. usually, the park service was not into urban parks. thethis is right smack in middle of urban america, industrial urban america. .ith some problems, of course industrial a station -- industrial is a. it's changed. but this combines the aesthetics of the great falls, the second largest faof