battle of midway, from four or two navy veterans who took part in the battle and sunday at 4 p.m. eastern on real america, the film, dreams of equality between a re-creation of the 1840 eight women's rights convention. american history tv, all weekend, every weekend. only on c-span3. artist thomas hart benton called this home for nearly 40 years. it included a studio in the back where he completed many of his works. come inside to learn more about his personal life and his career. welcome to the commissar benton home, a historic site. this is where the famous painter from missouri lived in 1939 until 1975. tom benton lived here the last half of his life. when you visit the house, it is almost as if the benton's have

stepped out for the david you can take a peek around and see how they lived. he was probably the most famous painter from missouri, most famous in the 1930's, 40's, is known for doing a style of art called regionalism. a lot of the midwest rural scenes, he often paints. he paints american labor scenes but it tends to be the rural aspect of it. his core belief was common art for the common man. he is an artist who becomes famous during his career, and fairly well-to-do. tom benton came from a political family. he was named for his great uncle senator thomas benton. tom grows up surrounded i politics -- by politics. his father was a successful lawyer. a u.s. district attorney. when tom was seven his father was elected to the house of representatives. the family moves to washington dc for eight years.

for benton, growing up in bc, then coming back to the ozarks every summer, that will be formative for him to experience those different worlds. this able to move in political, powerful orbit but also then to come back and go to the swimming holes of the ozarks and float on the rivers and hike the hills. that is what he ends up painting a lot of as an adult. tom often would travel around the country, he would take sketching trips in the spring, sometimes in the fall. he would disappear for 3, 4, 5 weeks until his wife headed south. going west, down to the ozarks. he would hitchhike, he would have come he would catch a train and go to little farms, stop at a country church, visit a steel mill, here about a rodeo.

just sketch what he saw. doing drawings of the overall scene, sketches of details. those drawings where the raw material for his paintings. whenever he wasn't drawing, he said he was thinking about drawing. right now we are standing in the living room, when they lived here, this house served as a gallery. you could get introduced to his wife, rita, you could make an appointment and come to buy the artwork you probably do not see tom, he is busy in his studio at least until 5:00 at the cocktail hour. if you are here, tom figures you must be a big shot, leave me the hell alone. the artwork hung here, there are extra nails to accommodate that. the changing artwork. except for the peace behind me, that one chose their son, and their dog, that was never intended for sale but it always hung there. tom benton becomes famous as a

painter, christmas eve, 1934 he was featured on the cover of time magazine, his self torture. he was the first -- his self portrait. that was the first all color issue of time magazine. that was the first big break. he was already famous but this gets him into the public attention. it turns him into a rock star painter. almost everyone had heard of thomas hart benton. ticket, ise his own hired as the head of the painting department for the kansas city art institute and given a commission to paint a neural and the missouri state capital in jefferson city. that is called the social history of jefferson city. it is not the famous missourians, his great uncle is nowhere in that mural. it is not the governors. it is the everyday folks. it is not a military history. general john pershing, the commanding general of world war i morning north missouri is not in that mural.

mural, mulest that did more for the development of the state and his great uncle ever did. it is the people's history that he paints. , it is the master bedroom becomes more his wife's bedroom, in the past several years she had been having car trouble, tom begins to use a bedroom at the far side of the house. -- she had been having heart trouble, tom begins to use a bedroom at the far side of the house. rita was crucial to his success. business manager, she raised the children, she ran the house, handled the money, she was his biggest cheerleader, she devoted her adult life to managing him and putting up with him in a lot of respects. tom said, rita was a hard woman to live with but when i met her i was a bum. rita said maybe he was the worst

husband and father in the world and no american woman could stay married to them, she was from italy but she also called him a genius and refer to him as, my tom and thought he was the greatest artist ever. we also have the library, a very extensive book collection. he was an avid reader. he could read french and italian, he said he did not trust translations. this ozark country boy, not so much. because he does a lot of history meetings and murals, a lot of these are history and reference books. mixed in, books on music, philosophy,, economics, james bond. i'm sure a lot of people remember, national geographic. --es mission or novels feminism, a little bit of everything. one of the important books in his career when he was in the navy during world war i, he

found a four by them set of books by spencer called the history of the united states. we have his copy appear. it was very much a people's history of the united states. it didn't go into the great men of the history, it was how the united states was created by the people. that affected him quite a bit. that is what he begins to paint. immediately after the war he begins to work on and on commissioned mural series called american historical epic, of the history of the united ways. he painted like a textbook. in chapters and panels. the everyday sorts of folks that he is painting in his history paintings. was an excellent writer in his own respect. he wrote two autobiographies. the first in 1937 was an artist in america, it is his adventures, his travels around the country.

the chapters are, the west, this outcome of the mountains, the rivers, things like that. he is only 40 years old when he writes that, he had to add chapters. in 19 59 andck writes a second autobiography, a technical autobiography about art. that is unfortunately in-of-print but, an artist america is still available, most libraries have it. his life he end of was working on a third autobiography, titled, and intimate story. he was going to -- go into more detail on things, we have in our archives and collection some of the manuscript from that. is, on his typewriter, with his handwritten

note, chapter nine, what i do. he is working on this unpublished autobiography. he is not able to get it completed at the time he passes away get a completed by the time he passes away in 1975. in 1903.use was built originally was this outbuilding which served as a stable and carriage house. then it became a garage and then after the benton's bot the property in 1939 he had this stable turned into his art studio and pretty much all day every day this is where he was at. he was not just a sunday afternoon painter, this is his job. come on in. house, it isthe completely furnished.

it is his items, his tools, i loves that it -- i love that it is not fancy. he has coffee cans to hold his brushes. he is using baby food jars for his pigments. he has a big piece of glass that works just fine as a pallet. to change this from a stable into a studio, tom had one big adaptation made, this large window to replace the stable door. this window faces north which gives him a soft constant diffuse indirect source of light. he died in this room at 85 years old. yet been working on a small mural for the country music hall of fame in nashville. tom was having trouble with the mural. in the background was the train and he cannot get the train to come out right. january, -- in january 19, he told his wife that it was good enough.

he was healthy enough you would sign it and enjoy it. had a massive heart attack and dropdead. at 85 years old, in his studio, with his boots on, it was ok. the mural is in nashville where belongs. rita said she and nothing left to do. she said tom was not supposed to have died. she had been ill for a few years and she died 11 weeks later. at tom's funeral, rita said we need to preserve this place. she is the one that got that started. just a few months after rita died, it was designated a state historic site and in 1970 seven the state of missouri purchased with alland the studio of their possessions. our cities tour staff recently traveled to kansas city, missouri. learn more about kansas city and other stops on our tour at

c-span.org/citiestour. you're watching american history tv all weekend, every weekend on c-span3. sunday, live on in depth, professors cornell west and robert george will be our guest. >> anytime i get a chance to be in dying dog with professor to be in dialog with professor george. we go back 13 years. we share commitment to the world of ideas. we have had a chance to lecture around the country. when i see him, i do not see a conservative thinker, catholic philosopher, i see him as my friend, as my someone who has a right to be wrong. >> if you're going to work together in conversation, even

, thee, to get at the truth people involved in the conversation have to recognize that they are fallible, frail, fallen human beings. they have to recognize that they could be wrong, each one has to recognize i could be wrong about my most cherished beliefs. i could be wrong. has thatct, one attitude and understanding, not in a merely notional way, but in a deeply appropriated way, then one will begin to develop a virtue that is indispensable for truth seeking. >> among the books mr. west has written are "race matters" and brother west. mr. george's books include conscience and its enemies. we will take your calls, tweets, facebook questions.

watch in-depth with cornell west and robert george sunday on book tv on c-span2. >> next on "the presidency," joe wiegand gives life to theodore roosevelt in a portrayal. he recounts the 26th president's life and times, including his unexpected ascension to the white house after william mckinley's assassination. this is just over an hour. john: i am john elliff, president of the lincoln group of the district of columbia. the lincoln group has existed since the 1930s to honor the life and legacy of abraham lincoln. and this year we have a special opportunity to hear from an extraordinary speaker.