in vietnam, how were they treated 45 years after the u.s. departure? >> you can be featured during our next live program. join the conversation on facebook at facebook.com/c-spanhistory or on twitter at c-span history. >> for nearly 20 years, "in-depth" on book tv has featured the best-known nonfiction writers for live conversations. as a special project, we're featuring best-selling fiction writers. withus live sunday at noon the author of the 2016 best-selling novel the underground railroad which was awarded the pullet surprise and the national book award. 1s other novels include zone and the intuitionist. in-depthal series

fiction addition, sunday live from noon to 3:00 eastern on c-span2. this year hosts the bison tell neil of illinois statehood -- the bicentennial of illinois statehood. next, -- the journalists tell story about political leaders they have covered over the years and they discuss the national role the state key figures have played in their lifetimes. this is about one hour and 10 minutes. 11 greetings to everyone. and greetings to everyone. we are glad to have such a wonderful turnout for this special program we have sponsored by the illinois state society. we begin in kick off the state society's bicentennial

celebration of 200 years of illinois statehood. we want to give a special welcome to all those who are viewing this event. program topecial highlight the political contributions and the contributions of illinois political leaders here in washington and their legacies. we have a distinguished panel of folks we have gotten to know over the years who we watch on television and listen to on the radio, who we read on a daily basis. we are pleased that lynn sweet with the chicago sun-times and clarence page with the chicago tribune are serving as our iselist and are moderator the dean of the school of journalism and serves as the washington bureau chief for a new service affiliated with northwestern university. as the illinois state society, we can take so much pride in the fact that the illinois state society is the oldest state

society in the history of washington, d.c. over are 163 years we have enjoyed the participation of some a distinguished historical figures such as abraham lincoln and barack obama. fact thatlebrated the we have had four presidents from illinois, two vice presidents, and three speakers of the house. so much we celebrate, we have 1000 members, we celebrate a lot of activities, we share our own personal experiences coming from illinois or our ties to illinois but we also celebrate the history and the culture and cheer on our sports teams from illinois. we particularly want to thank our partners for this special event. molina healthcare, southern illinois university, the illinois channel, c-span, and also the illinois state foundation for their contribution and partnership in

supporting this special event. as a native of illinois, it is my privilege to be president of the illinois state society and it is an honor for me to have that. let us give a warm welcome to our panelists and our host and let us begin our program. [applause] ellen: thank you all for joining us tonight. hearing excited to be from two illinois treasures this evening, lynn sweet and clarence page and we will be talking , possibly policy and may be little illinois trivia thrown in. is everything illinois, starting with our panelist. let me introduce you to clarence page. he is a columnist for the chicago tribune and his column is nationally syndicated.

he is also a member of the tribune's editorial board. he has been with the tribune, he first joined right out of college and has always come back to the tribune. --did not leave the tribune he did leave the tribune for a stint in the army, i felt safer knowing clarence was protecting the western united states from all enemies. the press office. he also left the tribune for television but came back to the tribune. surprise -- heet has won a pulitzer prize in 1989 for commentary and in 1972 for a series on voter fraud. he also has written several , "showing my collar" and

"a bridge to the new media sentry -- new media century." you have seen them on television and he is a longtime member of the gridiron and a tour fixing her and i feel lucky to get to talk politics with him tonight. i feel the same way about lynn sweet, who is the washington bureau chief of the chicago sun-times. she has covered politics and government in chicago for years and then moved here to washington in 1993. she was named a fellow at harvard university institute of politics at the kennedy school in 2004, she currently is president of the gridiron in , an active and

longtime member of journalism and women symposium and a past president of the washington press club foundation. i should also note she is in the chicago journalism hall of fame and the mode jill hall of -- enought -- and the about these two guys, let's get them to talk politics. before we get into the history of illinois politics, let us talk about today. we have an illinois member who resigned, maybe not a complete surprise but somewhat surprising. clarence, what is your take? i cannot wait to get he decided to leave. i have known him a long time and he has been an activist for years and years. himself a leading figure in the immigration debate

nationwide. people throughout the immigration activity community are singing the bruise over his departure. whatnot help but wonder the current dominance of republicans in the white house and congress may have to do with it. feel he will stick around to perhaps wait for another administration when people will be more friendly toward comprehensive immigration reform. i do not know what plans he has got. he did say he is leaving congress because he is planning to retire. who was a longtime activist in chicago, also a former mayoral candidate is running for his seat and this is

like luis passing it on. both working in the harold washington campaign in the 1980's when he was reaching out to the hispanic immunity. community.ispanic i cannot wait to get the rest of the story. covered luis from the --inning went he -- when he giving mayor washington the control of the city council. i've been following him up until last night. i wrote a story years ago and he told me he was going to retire and that he decided not to and then all the rumors went flying last night. now i guess it is true. when he leaves congress in january of 2019, it will mark 25 years. he is 60 something. he has a great pension. he will have a second and third after him. i want to know why he did not signal this before hand and what was going on with the filing of

the petitions. it is rare that he does not stage-managed stuff better, he is a master of that, but like clarence i want to see if there is a story behind the story because it is rare that everybody is surprised at chicago politics. the perfect fate, he filed his nominating petitions. ellen: it certainly caught a lot of people by surprise. there has been some suggestion that he wants to go and help puerto rico, do you think that could be the real reason, isn't that simple? , the he is a grandfather next two years are going to be fun, he can do what he is doing on immigration reform in or out of congress. he knows his way around. rico, hehome in puerto

has spent years there, i'm not ruling out that maybe he moves there and runs for governor there or something. i think he has a lot of other options, including private sector. he is very good on tv. i would not be surprised if he ends up with a tv show. after 25 years, there are other things you can finally do. in congress, plus the years of city council and he also does real estate. maybe there is a deal somewhere. clarence: he could run for mayor. lynn: i think by making the deal with the candidate who ran against rahm emanuel last time i even for a chicago where everyone likes to move the chess pieces around, if he wanted to run for mayor, you are suggesting that this was part of a deal to trade jobs? i do not know. i do not think at this point

that is what luis would want since he does want to spend so much time in puerto rico. ellen: in case everyone in the audience doesn't know who julie chewieoesn't know who is? lynn: he is a cook county board member who ran for mayor against rahm emanuel last time around and he remains a popular figure in illinois and he came out of the bernie sanders wing of the democratic party. old-timers forget the i agree as far as the mayoral campaign goes. lynn will never tell. possibility.t that when heg about jesus

ran for mayor that i found striking was he is a very smart man, not a stimulating speaker. that hurt him to some degree. acceptance of the nomination, the crowd cannot of been more excited, he got up to the podium and gave a speech and the longer he spoke the quieter the crowd got, which reminded me of the old roundabout you give a fireside chat and the fire went out. i saw it happen that night. i said he is going to be in trouble. rahm emanuel is not the most gifted order in the world, but he is passionate. he said he would campaign in every precinct, and he did, and he pulled off a stunning landslide. you have to go back a long way to get a landslide like that for our first election. we will see.

headlines,y's illinois in the news. rahm emanuel is a good example of illinois has been in the news for a long time in terms of political leaders. i am going to briefly remind you of things i am sure you remember. illinois is home to three presidents who were living in the state when they were elected, lincoln, grant, and president obama. ronald reagan was born in illinois, congressional leaders -- where to stop? from rahm emanuel to dick durbin to tammy duckworth to dennis hastert, i am sure i'm forgetting people, the stephensons. the dailys.

on.list goes on and the school of journalism is named after a former chicago mayor. the list does go on and on. you guys know a lot more about illinois then i do, i am from wisconsin. you're also been a mashed in illinois politics for a long time. who is your most memorable or fascinating illinois politician to cover. clarence: i was going to say joan the dill -- i was going to say joe medill but i am not that old.

barack obama is easy among those i've covered. i first met him when he was a state legislature. his political adviser, david -- david axelrod who was a former intern of mine at the tribune in the 1970's, i point out to everybody who does not know the to see hishington, campaign rise, it was fascinating to watch the parallels -- the parallels with the harold washington campaign. it was intriguing to me because we are talking about an african american political pioneer at a certain time in history when things came together. there were no guarantees of anything. to watch it all build up from the bottom of chicago, illinois and the rest of the country was infinitely fascinating and i think he has left a mark on the office that we will not be able to fully measure for a while yet. durability of the aca, obamacare, that is

fascinating to me because he was doesn't -- he was dedicated to that idea and so was the democratic party. he made it happen. someone was trying to get national healthcare since teddy roosevelt and he made it happen. it caught the republicans offguard in terms of when they were suddenly thrust into power over both congress and the white house, they do not have the to fulfill their promise of repealing and replacing obamacare. this shows you just how far apart the parties are ideologically. i expect the republicans would be much more successful at cutting taxes. as my friend tucker carlson says, what is the joy of being a republican who cannot cut taxes? they are even having divisions

over taxcutting which show something about the division of our current political landscape. i think obama was a pioneer and a trendsetter. lynn: certainly covering the rise of barack obama was an incredible historic experience. i bring up someone else who was ,ust very interesting to cover and that was dan rostenkowski. he was the house ways and means committee chair when i came here at the end of september in 1993. i did not know a lot. town, i covered politics in chicago, so i kind of knew him. flashback.a i covered from chicago one of his reelection's campaign and i went to a coffee at a

neighborhood in lincoln park in chicago. all they want to to know from , i think they were during the 1986 tax law. fromeople want to know this great power, that you're the president, the drinking buddy of everybody, are we going to keep the passive tax credit in the bill? he was a storyteller. he was not afraid to give an opinion. he was candid, he was insightful, and he was a player. story is sometimes if you're on deadline went on and you cannot cut him off. , we know how ended the story ended. the time when i came and covered him in the early 1990's was before he got in trouble. let me put another point here.

in my time in washington, i've of --he rise and the fall clarence: this is going to be a long list. lynn: y'all know who i'm going to mention. dan rostenkowski. rod blagojevich. jesse jackson, jr. all people that had great promise and dan rostenkowski is an enduring figure because by the time he got into trouble he had a lot of his legacy established. he could make a deal happen because he had relationships, you're right about this for years how it used to be. i came in at the tail end of how it used to be. bob michael was in the house and the endthey thought result was supposed to be a deal, they would compromise, do horsetrading, they also had your

,arks -- they also had earmarks which was the great -- i got a ringside seat in the way barack obama did not offer. he played it close. washington,r in covering dan rostenkowski was something that provided good story and insight had a local angle with a figure who was still a towering national figure. clarence: and he loved to teach. and preach. i was at some restaurant and he was telling a story. it is aorter -- maybe story that everyone has heard three times, but it not matter, every time he told it sounded fresh. this reporter cut him off and the look he gave, and he said, do not -- don't you ever cut me

off. he might've used a stronger word, in the middle of a story. clarence: when i was growing up i thought the world powerful -- about the word powerful was part of the chairman of the house ways and means committee title because that is what news reporters always said. when i met dan rostenkowski, he really had the power and knew how to wield. so did bob michael a different way. from a minority's point of view. lynn: that is an interesting point. president obama is who he is, he is a reserved, cool person by nature. ellen: that idea of saying dan rostenkowski had opinions and would up -- and would express them. today there is a lot more guardedness in most offices, not necessarily all offices, but i

withr if that has to do less camaraderie. knowing every word will be used against you. and bobstenkowski michael would drive back to illinois together. then,were airplanes back but they made road trips all the time. that is how you get work done. i think it isg is hard to compare barack obama and 10 rostenkowski because obama was only in congress does go years because half that time he was running for president and the other half of the time he was writing a book. he never did any legislative work in the way that the committee chairman would do it year in and year out for a very long time. clarence: we can talk a lot

about how obama did not like politics, which was remarkable for a guy who was as successful as he was. the democratic party now, he did not engage in party building and a lot of folks in the party resent that. it was in his nature, he was not into that. i never saw him so happy as when he was out there surfing after he was out of office. ellen: we are talking 25 years after the death of harold washington. 30 years this week. lynn: we are kicking off the bicentennial for illinois and not of these themes, it is a real long time when you think ,bout the span of people rostenkowski is just one generation removed from other historical figures in the story of illinois. ellen: we have talked about some

of the people you have covered. maybe this is the same person. what have been some of the big impacts you feel illinois lawmakers have made? is there one towering figure? what have been the big contributions from the illinois delegation? derksen: for me edward was an early influence. i remember when a lot of black folks were republican, that is hard to believe now. the party of lincoln was a real thing and when i was growing up i remember the little rock nine that gave me a political consciousness, i was about 10 or 11 years old at the time. i remember our national guard keeping the black students out , the next high school

day i turn on the two and there is -- i turn on the tube and there is the airborne escorting black students into the high school. i asked my parents what happened and my dad said president eisenhower. i thought president eisenhower was the job title, i said who will be the next president eisenhower when he is gone? that is how large he was in my consciousness. i started high school when the civil rights debate was going on in 1964. and charleserksen on the democratic side. derksen was such a towering , he broadcast leadership and authority and confidence.

i will never forget david brinkley described his voice as a chorus of quarterly -- of corduroy pants. it has to be on youtube. he was a magnificent guy. watching that debate take place at home, the southern democrats were keeping the bill from getting debated and passed. derksen led the northern republicans in that spirit to get the bill passed. later i was working with granddaughter's who was in charge of tribunal on testing in washington for a while. i went over to her in person and set i want to personally thank you on behalf of your grandfather.

he was a giant, i think about people like that when i look at congress today. i like a lot of people, i like and i find a lot to like about mitch mcconnell, believe it or not. i do not see the leadership happening in congress today. at the same time, we are in a different atmosphere today where party organization is not what it used to be. the house and senate organization and leadership is not what it used to be. the dynamics are different. i do not know when that is going to change. they are still working on it, i'm still working for congress to produce something this year. if we get through the whole year without major legislation that will be history in itself.

>> we want another towering figure, but let's look at how we measure towering figures. if we look at capitol hill and a jury of their peers, the fact that a house building is named senateanon and a building is named after derksen, when you think of all the people who have served in the house in senate, that two of those buildings are named for illinois tells you how a history of the congress and the people who served under the dome thought of these two figures that were towering in their time. share also wanted to little sense i had of how long covering in vault in -- involved in covering this and my first glimpse of how illinois history was brought home. we havehe things alluded to tonight and one of the famous political families in illinois is the adelaide stevenson family.

for -- was the 25th vice president of the united states under grover cleveland. he was the grandfather of 2, who ran for president in the 1970's. was thetor at the time third, who served between 1970 and 1981 so i walked into his office and it looked like a room out of the chicago historical society because there were ,ictures of adelaide stevenson i realized he was not just a collector of political paraphernalia, this was his .amily it was like when i was invited

to ethel kennedy's event with her children, i walked in there and i know everyone on the wall. that deep sense of illinois history that existed before me, and was planted forward is something i thought was just a remarkable, it made a remarkable imprint on me. historiclook at other figures, in his own way, and i know he came to a tragic indeed and i did not name him him a is dennyeople before hastert, the longest-serving republican speaker. saded to joke, and it is when i cover people from announcement to indictment. this is one that during his reign in congress he fashion a that set the tone for a lot of what we see today, that the governing party is the majority, you do not compromise.

under president bush i thought of himselft thought as a complementary power, not necessarily a competing or a rival one. it is a different or managerial style that you solve the ball. when i think that -- that you saw evolved. asked about illinois history, i think the end of denny hastert is perhaps the sad and tragic and stunning end of anyone to come out of illinois to become an important person in the capital. i think when you look at the picture here, you have these rise and fall's. i think the sense of proud illinois is when you look at the dynasties that have come here in some ways with our delegation. lipinskis,s, the

made sure rod blagojevich in. you do see a lot of that in our delegation as time has gone on. one other thing about the power of illinois, i just looked this up because i bet there are people that know this, at our seats in the7 house and we peaked in 1943. when you talk about the influence of illinois, it diminishes because we do not ,ave, except for dick durbin who is a major figure within the party, both within the illinois democratic party and the national democratic party, we have gone from 27 at a high to now 18 and we might lose another seat after the census, when you

think we might not have as many people who are powerful, we do not have as many chances of bringing people up that we used to. i think it is mechanically a result of the shrinking illinois population. ellen: and the expanding population elsewhere. a lot oftalked about illinois politicians and the impact that i had not remembered all of the names you are talking about. wondering -- the illinois delegation, how are they unique delegation,ne massachusetts delegation, is there something about chicago and illinois politicians that separates them? has anly chicago politics reputation around the country as

brawling, at the very least. clarence: my favorite line came from george will, chicago is the only city that associates the feast of saint valentine with the massacre. that describes the political atmosphere here. remember back in the day, i think clarence remembers this, , only in illinois and specifically in chicago would it ita promotion, as it was -- was a promotion to step down as a member of congress to become an alderman. clarence: i remember the news conference, were you there when he announced? some chicago reporter said, why? why you want to leave congress? a said congress is only national

-- and he said congress is only national. [applause] do you see a difference between upstate and downstate? what are the differences of how to the members work together or work separately? what struck me, i will give you a chance to talk about this, you have more experience with the day-to-day. i think it was back in the 1990's covering the democratic convention, the republican convention, when i went to a reception afterwards and just talking with illinois republicans, how moderate and sensible my illinois friends seemed to be compared to a lot of the folks from more conservative states.

it was the beginning of the change of atmosphere we have seen happen in washington sincerely 1990's. more polarized. talking to a senator, paul simon, saying i just moved to washington and he said it is striking to me how quiet and low-key people are here and i and he said this is a small town and you can hardly stretch your elbows out without poking somebody in the ribs so everybody tries to be civil. at that time he was deciding to leave the senate and things of gotten less civil ever since, that was the rise of newt the kindand that was

of republican and democratic politics i have not seen in illinois. illinois was more concerned with the folks back home. that was my impression early on. end, at the at the beginning of september in 1993 and it was a given that the delegation buried the ax when it came to any illinois issue, especially soybeans. that has deteriorated. it used to be a great tradition that when there was illinois lunch and it was always hosted by the senior members from illinois, it would either be hastert and now it is durban, all the members would comment, they would pass around letters, they would chat about issues in common. right now dick durbin host these lunches and it is just the democrats who come. when mark kirk was the senator he was a big believer in these joint events and he would,,

11-7 now the delegation is . seven republicans. the sense of being part of a more cohesive illinois entity is not there anymore. i do date this unraveling to when hastert was speaker and rahm emanuel came to washington and he was immediately installed as the chair of the democratic congressional campaign committee whose job it was to take back the house, which would have toppled -- you have these combustible personalities and it was the beginning of an era that we are in now where i do not see people getting together. the other thing i think makes a big difference, i will use the had earmark again, when you tomarks a delegation had

work together and you always had somebody who was the power that you would go to. a quick side pivot -- every reporter who couples local news wants to know when the project is coming out of committee or whether this or whether that. what a waste of time. you just have to get the list of earmarks. whatever you thought the process was, you have to get the list of what the real list is. -- you this is when you did not need to have these transactions. i think they were productive in that it forced people to discuss , i cannot give you everything but i can give you this, what you need. --hink it may be more between the obama years and the trump years there is such polarization, it is hard to think of what issue, what illinois issue would bring them

together in a way you could work. it would not be a policy issue like the tax bill, it would probably be if there was some project that everybody thought was a good idea. clarence: like infrastructure repair. lynn: not in general. it would be like to land another laboratory are some big national entity, preferably near chicago or in chicago which would make it easier. when you asked about the downstate and upstate, and i am obviously as a chicago reporter happened to see things through that lens, there is so much of the congressional power even with the republicans in control, it does seem to be in the hands of democrats who are the most active right now in illinois even if they do not have power. the republicans in the delegation are not -- most of , so are not from chicago

the other four are not in the consciousness. an issue, ire was do not know what it is right now and some of you might be involved and could tell me later, that would there was a need to rally around, the other thing that is very unusual is we have a governor who was almost totally disengaged from washington. who was a creature of washington, work in the white house, knows where the money is. a lot of times, as our viewers might know, you do not necessarily get a line appropriation for something, you figure out if you want more money for mass transit, you work the point list, so rahm emanuel knows about that. usually in years past we have the governor and the mayor working together, even of different parties. when george ryan was a governor he worked very well.

they used to, and there was a joint meeting, they came to meet with the delegation, and here's it has been a while since we have seen that. the mayor's been in washington wants and it was shortly after he was elected and before he was inaugurated. he has gone out of his way not to comment on any federal issue. oft is a loss in a way another player and another voice we are used to hearing from illinois. clarence: that is true. ellen: i was going to ask you guys, who should we be watching? who is the next barack obama? is it garcia, is he the next person to watch, who do you see as the future of illinois politics? clarence: that is a good

question. lynn: i have two names to throw out, a democrat and a republican. i think the two people who are the most ambitious and have the statewide potential to run on the republican side is adam kinzinger and on the democratic side is sherry from northwestern illinois. she is in democratic leadership now. backgrounds,ferent but they have the kind of ability to get to be known around the state. adam kinzinger is one of the rare republicans who i see on cnn and msnbc and fox. fox,democrats will not do some republicans will not do msnbc, so adam kinzinger is who, if we're making a

list of who from the delegation might make a move at some point, i would put those two on the list. clarence, any thoughts on the up and comers at the local or washington level? clarence: that is a good question. i've been so depressed lately at the lack. particularly on the democratic side because they have lapsed long in developing young talent. they are fairly well aware of it now, you can see the vacuum out there. republicans have done a much better job over the last 20 years of spotting young talent and finding ways to use them and move them up into leadership positions. stars in rising illinois, i've not seen them. i like lynn's picks. i hope they do not get squashed by the powers that be before they rise up.

another name of people to watch his representative robin kelly who took the second district seat after jesse jackson stepped down. sometimes it takes time. i do not know what the future holds for darren lahood. he is still in his first term. great peopleabout from illinois, let me mention ray lahood. clarence: everybody knows ray. lynn: he is about as illinois as it gets in washington. he is an example of a politician you ared dick durbin, fluent in illinois and he can talk national or globally but you always have one foot back home. look at the ray lahood career.

top staffer for bob michael, takes his seat, rises in the house, goes to be the transportation secretary under barack obama. when you talk about moderate republicans, that is the mold of ray lahood. he forged a relationship with rahm emanuel, they got things done, i think they also liked each other. that helps a lot in the political climate when you have differences and not like each other, which is how we are now, it is harder. he became a member of the obama cabinet. to this day, he is one of the leaders. when he was in office and out of of the movements for bipartisanship, which i think at the moment as a way to go. he was marvelous.

it was not contrived at all, just get along with everybody. he was the kind of moderation i was referring to. more sensible. neither of the states two senators came up? lynn: in talking about illinois history, we should discuss the .istoric election of 1992 i first met her when she was a state representative in springfield. clarence: i met her when she was part of the harold washington ticket. in the 1980's. springfield.er in after the anita hill, clarence thomas hearings, she decided to run and it was

historic. the first female senator from illinois and the first african-american female in the united states senate. when you asked us about senators, until then, alan dixon was another big figure back home who was able to juggle that local and national and everyone viewers, whenour you say al, it is al the pal because he got along. he had staffers who worked on the hill for years. he ran the base closure commission, the base realignment commission after that. when we talk about up and comers, the reason i did not mention tammy duckworth is because she has already up and come.

i met her in 2005. dick durbin invited soldiers who were from illinois to be his guests at the state of the union . she was recovering from her wounds at walter reed. dick durbin did a little press availability before hand. i met her. god to evenh my come outside with the kind of wounds she had, we talked about the war in iraq. she had views and we talked about them, and even though she suffered terribly in that war, she understood what war meant and why she did it, even if i got the sense in that day, in 2005 she did not necessarily the way,h it, which by fast-forward, i just did a story on how she wants trump to be made more aware and to talk more about the cost of war because she knows what it is.

people -- shebout has a relatively quick rise in the scheme of things because after two terms in the house, she ran for the house in 2006 and lost, went to run the illinois state department of veterans affairs, then president obama tapped her to be an executive in the the a, -- in the va, and then she ran for the house and the senate so that is a fast rise. ellen: she is already rising. do you see her as a future player? lynn: absolutely. she is starting a career now that i think has no limit, depending on what she wants to do. you're asking, is she a potential leadership, absolutely. durbindo you see senator

, who is a leader in the senate for the democrats, will he maintain that? if you had to predict his future plans, what is he planning to do? to get out've tried of the prediction habit ever since last november's election, you may recall that. the thing about dick durbin, i hope he does not fall into what bob michael fell into because throughout bob michaels long career he was never in the majority. it would have looked good that he had that kind of personality that was a good deal maker. he was able to get things done even with the party being in the minority for along time. with dick durbin, i detect a similar thing. the democrats do not have the clout in this town right now. things can change. depending on what the next

couple of elections do. he will be well positioned. particularly on international affairs. i think he is been a good senator from illinois. lynn: here is what is interesting about dick durbin. he is one of the few lawmakers who i have covered who could actually create an issue. see something out there and it -- and was able to articulate it. what do i mean? dick durbin invented the dreamer movement when he came across a young lady in illinois who do not have the term dreamer, he invented it. we have thisve -- young lady who realize there are 70 people who realize there are some a people around illinois alone who have been brought here illegally through no fault -- there are so many people who no matter where you

stand on the issue, it is an issue that needs to be your -- that needs to be addressed. it durbin started the crusade that led to the banning of smoking on airlines. he identified that as an issue. dick durbin was one of the leaders in food safety. the first time i heard of elizabeth warren is when dick durbin mentioned her, she was a harvard lawght -- a professor and wrote a paper on the need for some kind of consumer finance commission. it was dick durbin who turned bill,onograph into a calling for the creation of what is now the consumer finance board. it is dick durbin that was taking on the issue of student loans debt and predatory practices. it of all of the people

cover, i try sometimes to say what is this person identified with. it is for some people hard. everybody says i want tax equity or i want more business. those are generalities. when you think of causes, this is where dick durbin is unique among almost everyone i have covered. to do that.ability as a: i have to say wisconsin native, i have a serious inferiority complex now because listening to these stories, it is fun to think about all the things that illinois lawmakers have done for the state or the country. we cannot have had better tour guides to take us on that trip down memory lane and a little into the future. thanks both of you. [applause] clarence: thank you.

ellen, thank you for being a wonderful moderator, clarence sharing, thank you for an interesting story and providing insider stories for all of us tonight. sweet honored that lynn with the chicago sun-times and clarence page of the chicago tribune took time to participate with us and share their insights into illinois political leaders both current, past, and historic. verynk we all enjoyed it much. on behalf of the illinois state society, i want to say thank you again to our partners who helped event, molina healthcare, southern illinois university, c-span, the illinois channel and the illinois state society foundation. we are so very fortunate, as we mentioned earlier, to have the illinois state society which is

the nation's oldest state society, which celebrates the history of illinois, which we participated in this special program tonight. we certainly want to invite the viewers of this program to take time to go to the illinois state ilstay website at and check out our activities we have planned for the bicentennial year. we certainly want to encourage anyone who has an interest in the land of lincoln, having come from the land of lincoln or participated in the land of lincoln or has strong ties and cares about illinois and its contribution. we particularly want to encourage people to take a look at the calendar, to mark their calendar and make plans to attend and participate, i want to highlight what will be the major event hosted by the illinois state society. we'll be bringing the taste of chicago to capitol hill where you will have an opportunity to

hometown foods, hometown music, and a lot of hometown lookny and of course we forward to enjoying that, we plan another -- we plan a number of smaller events, we have the cherry blossom festival activities, we will have a major event on december 3, statehood day, the actual day of illinois becoming the 21st state. we will also do some other things. derksen, hed edward was mr. marigold. we have a plan to plant marigolds around the dirksen building. white looking to plant 21 oak trees at the illinois bicentennial grove. white oak is the illinois state tree. there is much to celebrate. ' role inon illinois

abolition, in the growth of the organized labor movement. there are many contributions illinois has made. we look forward to hosting everyone in the illinois state society activities. i am president of the illinois state society, it is my privilege to be president during the bicentennial year and i look forward to seeing you all at state society events in the coming year. thank you for being here. thank you for being part of this program. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2018] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] now that we've completed the taping of this program, there are participants in the panel who all agreed to take a few questions or comments from the audience. i do want to mention that this is likely to be videotaped as well.

you are on camera when you asked her questions. afore we do that, i want to knowledge, and stephanie has offered to pass around the , and the executive director is going to give her microphone. i just want to knowledge the leaders of the illinois state society their present tonight. we appreciate all of you for being volunteers and helping to make the state society the successful organization it is. i also want to knowledge the president of lisa with the

illinois bryson tenniel -- of the illinois bicentennial commission who traveled all the way from springfield. [applause] wen it comes to activities, are partners with the illinois bicentennial commission as we move forward with our activities, complementing what is happening back home. >> i'm sure she would be more than happy to share a business card. i know we had questions. mark has been the most enthusiastic and waver. if you would give him the microphone. we want to give everybody an opportunity. >> one thing that occurred to me when you are talking about cooperation for the greater good in the illinois delegation of the old days, when mayor richard j daley show cans with bill l ee, whatever the deal was it stuck on a handshake.

there was no written paper, it was all court of honor, it was extremely impressive, i had never seen a duplicated since. >> i can see everyone due to the eagles. >> you talked about concerns you have for the leadership in illinois at the present time. we all know the financial situation the state is in, and chicago is in. how do you see this getting resolved as you view the leadership potential to bring it out? you talk about the democratic not having power, but you have a guy named madigan that is powerful. i was curious about how you see that. it is very concerning, where we are right now. >> this has been resolved with great pain. madigan is not going anywhere,

neither is his opposition. that is the way it has been here, a form of gridlock mirroring that has been going on in washington. ink we are going to go into the next election cycle, and quite puzzled -- quite possibly we will get a new governor. it may take an election to get any result at all. problem,n intractable i don't see how you can even -- a change in government. mike madigan the longest serving speaker of any state legislature , has a way of doing things that i wonder even if on certain

issues, it wouldn't solve anything quickly. you can't make money out of nothing. these are problems that money consult, even with chicago. -- money can solve, even with chicago. the democrats of springfield raised the tax rate to 4.9%. i don't know what the solution could be that could be so easy that it wouldn't cause some local pain on somebody, even among democrats. say, if it was an easy problem, it would have been solved minor. -- it would have been solved by now. both -- thank you both. i heard you have a musical tone to you, can we get a preview of

your musical inclination? >> no. [laughter] they do have noise pollution ordinances that restrict me. i was living in fear, i did i thought somebody might want to hear it. >> feel like after last weekend, we sure that. i also have a second question that is more pertinent. retirement gutierrez , what do you think will affect in 2019?al election you. >> you can't beat somebody with no one.

there is no one out there now that is a strong, compelling figure who has surfaced. >> that's what is remarkable. who wants the job? he ran for, but it was remarkable, it took about 45 minutes to count the votes. it was an amazing landslide. ethnic people from every quarter in the city. said people are going to hate him. he had a landslide, they wanted him, much like folks wanted trump in the white house. to shakeed somebody things up. it didn't take long for people to start complaining about him.

around, who is going to run against him? >> i feel like -- >> that was before the video came out. we will see who surfaces. at the moment, there is no one. up,e the illinois sun came friday rivers gently flowing. comes unethical on the breeze rustling through the trees, it's bellow tones are these. illinois. illinois. harry's, aerness of lot -- prairies.

upon land and sea, standby great commercial tree, turning the world to the. when you heard your country calling, illinois, illinois. house withdrew, pinning great against the blue, there were no more brave venue, illinois, illinois. not without thy wondrous story can be ripped the nation possible glory, illinois, illinois. the record of thy years, abraham lincoln name appears, illinois, illinois. grant and logan and our tears, illinois. [applause] nobody had the guts to sing it. that's where you were

supposed to come in. >> i will put it to a hip-hop rhythm. i think that was a wonderful way to end our session with the audience. on behalf of the state, i have a token of appreciation. as i recall, members of the news media are not covered by any ethics limitations. [laughter] you can accept these gifts. >> thank you. >> thank you very much. [applause] thank you, everybody for all those who helped with this event, all those who participated in a panel. our moderator did a wonderful job. thank you for helping us kick off the bicentennial year for the illinois state society in

washington, d.c. [laughter] -- [applause] >> next saturday, american history tv takes you live to the museum of the bible in washington, d.c. for symposium on the bible and its influence on the founding of america. historians explore references to the bible in 18th-century political discourse, entering the american revolution, and examine benjamin franklin's much debated faith. 9:00ive coverage begins at a.m. eastern saturday, february 10. c-span's history series returns next month with a look at 12 news supreme court cases.

each week, and historians and experts join us to discuss the issues and personal stories behind the significant something -- supreme court decisions. at 9:00g february 26 p.m. eastern. to help you better understand each case, we have a companion guide written by johnny morrow "landmark cases mali him to." it costs -- volume two. >> all weekend, american history tv is featuring fayetteville, arkansas. the city stewart visited many shiites -- many sites featuring its history. the city of arkansas has the largest university in the state. learn more here on american history tv. >> an