artifacts. photographer and storyteller, john pachal on the 42 giant biased of american presidents created by sculptor, -- the cane on a private property in virginia. explore the american history, watch american history tv. this weekend on c-span 3. >> now on american history tv, a historian with the u.s. house of representatives on hispanic americans who have served in congress. he explains that prior to the mid 20th century, many served as territorial delegates and commissioners as opposed to learning representatives. >> i'm richard mcaleenan, my historian of the center for richest archives, thank you for attending today's researcher talk. this last day of july and this is the last top in this series until we resume in september.

for those of you in attendance, our guest hardly needs an introduction and wasniewski is the historian of the u.s. house of representatives, and then a member of the advisory committee on the records of congress for which the center for legislative archives for courts twice annually. he's a longtime friend and supporter as well as a source of guidance to the senators through his service on the advisory committee. match here today to discuss a hispanic americans in congress in 1822 to 2012 which is published last year. this is a third in the series that has come out of the house office of the historian under his leadership, previously published by women in congress, in 1917 to 2006, published in 2006 and black americans in congress, 1870 to 2007. published in 2008. >> the total page count for

these three volumes are calculated as 2573 and still counting. i believe there is the fourth volume in the works. >> so, this series obviously represents a very substantial which we are all grateful and very eager to hear about this in the latest publication and thank you for joining us. >> the pleasure to be here, pleasure to see so many familiar faces. >> your reference to pace count was excellent. because i was recently talking to -- and this is a book, by the, way hardcover version. i was recently talking to a major trade press editor and she was telling me about a few of her offers, one of whom is a very well-known historian and she writes big thick 800 page history books and she related

to the story who the author told her of an author who just told her. it's just a fantastic, book i can put it down. i'm taking it to get dressed, i'm taking it to bed and a last night, i was reading it in bed and holding it up like this and i fell asleep. and the book dropped on the bridge of my nose. and now i have a bruise. well, the editor thought that this was a teachable moment for the author. that no more broken books. no more broken noses, that's the new book rule. no more 800 pagers. this book definitely violates that rule. it is a nose breaker. and in fact, i think it's the arnold schwarzenegger rule which is you get your work out when you lift it up. but it's meant as a reference book, like the earlier books in the series on women and congressman. i think one of the interesting things that happens when you write about individual members at some length, the asked sales

are about 1500, maybe they range to 3000 words. you get what's looked like at first seemingly disconnected dots. and then, kind of through an act of point to listen, the dots begin to make a bigger picture. and certainly, a larger picture emerge as we are working on this publication. to give you some quick background on the book, again, as richard mentioned, the third in a series. in some ways, it's a book that is very much like it's too predecessors. women in congress, we published the latest addition of that in 2007 and the book on african americans was published in 2009. these were all originally authorized by -- by congress, and the prime mover behind the addition original addition in 19 seventies was -- of louisiana, who was a great proponent for house history. and did a lot to promote the history of the institution.

those books were like ten flights at the time. before -- because so few african americans had actually served in congress. a second addition was published for those books in the early nineties, and a volume on hispanic americans what's adding. and that point, we didn't have a history operation in the house. and, so the library of congress in the spanish -- hispanic version, produce that first addition which appeared in 1995. and, this is -- so the second addition of hispanic americans and we are working, richard alluded to a book to asia pacific islands or islands, which is a few years down the road. but that will wrap up the series. it mirrors the structure of the books on women and black americans in congress, there are individual essays about every member introduced in chronological order with contextual essays and that set them in generational groups. these are fortified by upended

seas and historical images and artifacts. some of which people around the table have helped us find. and it's aimed at a upper high school lower college audience and in striking aspects, some of the storylines do mirror one another. women, african americans, hispanic americans, and each one of these storylines, there's a turning point where the members become surrogate representatives for the larger hispanic community or women's issues nationally or african americans issues. and, there's also a similar part to the story in terms of how the groups are integrated into congress overtime. there is a pioneering generation that has to work their way into the institution. there's generally a long apprenticeship phase where they gain seniority, get on committees and work their way up into leadership. and then there's kind of a

mature integration phase and that usually happens when there is a critical pounds of enough members to create in issues topic drivers legislative an agenda. but in many aspects, and this story is really distinct from women and african americans. for one thing, it's a story that stretches back to 1822 to joseph marion hernandez, our first hispanic american in congress. so it's a century -- half century before we see african americans in congress. and, really the early part of the story is driven by american foreign policy, expansion, continentally and then globally. the acquisition of from spain, and the louisiana purchase, the annexation of texas, the warwick through mexico in 1848, the spanish american war, the first century is also about another one of the themes that emerges is democracy -- representation at the borders of american democracy.

about how individuals who -- political scientist called statutory representatives, delegates and resident commissioners. the constitution didn't really contemplate and how they were incorporated into congress. how congress, not only created that office, but often gave them very limited and circumvent described powers. and then the fact that these individuals, for the most part, we're representing majority hispanic constituencies. and the question of how these people have been or corrupt incorporated or how they would be incorporated into the politics. an interesting aspect of the story is that up until world war ii, two thirds of hispanic american representation rush in congress where the statutory representatives. mainly delegates from new mexico and then resident commissioners from puerto rico. and so, from a research perspective, this book is a

little bit different to because, unlike the fields of women's history and african american history, hispanic, latino studies doesn't have as many political biographies of the individuals who were covered here. and in this aspect, the field is somewhat undeveloped and splintered. so much of our research relied on primary sources. paper collections, in santa fay and albuquerque new mexico. local and regional spanish and english language newspapers. we relied heavily on the hispanic division, which was fantastic at the library of congress. they guided us to resources, both in new mexico and puerto rico. and also helped us with the storyline of the book. and we used the library of congress as periodicals to look at a number of newspapers, particularly puerto rican newspapers.

that corresponds yell monday, and -- the ever helpful san juan start, which was the only one of the three which was english. and then at national archives to capture the story, particularly puerto rican race -- territorial delegates, we went into a number of different record groups. the department of interior, territorial papers. record 1:26, affairs, record group 3:50 and then in addition to that, the senate for -- supplied us with a lot of images of original documents, certificates in the election. so, the book is structured again, like the volumes that i've been in congress and african americans around several along generations courts storylines. the first runs from 1820 to 20 1898. the era of continental expansion in the u.s.. the second breaks down from the

spanish american world to world war ii. an era of u.s. colonial expansion. global expansion and then the third period runs from world war ii through the civil rights movement, up until 1976. theúj created in december ofo!,?í?ñ 1. and that was another turning point. and then post 1977, is the modern era after the founding of the congress. i thought it might be useful to go through a couple of the individuals here to trace the storyline. i'm happy to take questions at the, and i'm hoping to leave 15 or 20 minutes for that. the first individual here, joseph hernandez served a very brief term. he's an incredibly interesting person. interest -- it was so short. but he was one of these individuals who helped bridge the state's cultural and gun governmental transition from spanish colony to u.s.

territory. he had fought for spain prior to the turnover to u.s. control, and then he later fought for the united states which leads to seminal indians in several of the conflicts with local indian tribes. he earned and he lost a great fortune on several plantations, he owned hundreds of african american slaves, his life with complex. this guy is a slave owning indian fighting politician who turned out would be cut really from the jackson ian cloth, and he embodied attitudes towards statehood and representation that many of the delegates in the 19th century later would. his term of service was very brief, but it's set a presidence for later territorial targets. he was the very first delegate from florida so he leaves at the end of the 17th congress, his focus for the couple months that he was in, the house was

largely -- and this is a storyline that follows throughout 19 century two. he focused on a postal road from st. augustine to -- , like a lot of the territorial delegates in the 19th century had no committee assignments so his powers are very limited. he can introduce members. he could lobby. but his powers on the floor were circumscribed. c9a#vzthis0q)áe0%,jv stq2- takeh the mexico in 1846. this is really the first major turning point in the story and it raised questions for congress particularly about how territories in culturally unique populations acquired from the massive mexicans sessions in the wake of the war in the provisions of the treaty of guadeloupe a tao go. how they would be represented

it and the federal government and eventually incorporated. this individual is the second hispanic american serving and congress. he served 30 years after congress. josé gully goes. this is a really interesting story that we came across. we return on to a because -- he's elected in 1853. he's actually the second delegate from the new mexico territory. there was an anglo delicate who preceded him. gallegos comes from a interesting background. he had been a legislator in the mexican legislation representing -- which in the 18 forties was a frontier land. yq adep. he had been a former priest and after the transition to american rule he had been defrocked. an american bishop came in and chased him out.

so he switched to a career and politics he comes to washington in 1853 i and he doesn't speak finish english. he knows very little about the political system, he's very adept at finding out with the levers of power. but he literally and figuratively is a voiceless legislature he's relying on members of the house to vote for him. , his friend among them was john smith phelps of missouri who acted as his formal interpreter, they both want to

the floor on his behalf in the early 1854, and pleaded with the house to allow for civil to pay for a translator, and then second ok, if you don't to pay for a translator, give the translator the privilege of the floor. in both cases the house rejected this -- or to have members have him on the floor.

the language barrier isn't the only impediment. he didn't serve on a committee. he has to lobby other members to help push legislation. he went election again in 1855. but this election is contested by another hispanic from new mexico who had run against him. miguel. that contested election really kind of opens a window into what is happening in new mexico politics in the 19th century. gallegos was really part of a dominant faction of hispanics in the district who favored kind of the proceeding spanish system. they had kind of been revolutionary orator during the mexican revolution and that was kind of politically where they were coming from and the other side was represented by --

who was from business oriented class. and that class tended to align with the american political model which had been introduced to new mexico. where he was a pillar of this you ruling class, a terrible belong to a group of u.s. educated entrepreneurs who are openly aligned with the americans, and here is a picture of a thorough. there was a contested election in 1855. it came down to disputed votes what happens on the floor is a fascinating event. this isn't a lot of 1865, gallegos is defending himself through an interpreter. through the clerk of the house. reading his statement on the floor. and he stresses his personal ties to his constituents.

describing himself as needed to that very mexican soil. he emphasizes the fact that mexican american constituents choice me as my representative. -- he judged that the smears and the just with which house members had spun to his faltering english to be insults against all mexico knows. as i am petra presented under all laws so to -- under sarcasm and ridicule about this contested election. i received it all as the representative of my people. ottero stark contrast come to the floor and heat's beaks and english. he addresses the house. and he repeats relations claims against gallegos going back to his days in the priesthood. and he accuses tanden gallegos

of being a creature of alien political culture. the mexican party faction which he described as indulging great hostility against institutions of the united states. in contrast to gallegos, ottero describe some self as being of an mixed spanish descent. he's part of the mexico elite who views the annexation as salvation, and quoting him again, the only security from the perpetual discouragement civil wars of mexico. i confess that i've always been attached to the institutions of the country and have been taught from childhood to look for this quarter for the political regeneration of my people. this was a strategy that leader territorial delegates like ottero would adopt because they thought that it was a crucial argument for statehood because they believe that congress needed to be convinced of mexico knows readiness for self

government, and also they're whiteness. so there's an interesting multi layered debate going on. and ottero typified as panic delegates from new mexico in a number of other ways as well would serve in the 19th century. his son, mariano, become the first a spike to service governor and the territory in the 1890s, and these delegates, but hispanic delegates for new mexico who represent each of the town has banks who served in congress in the 1800s, they had much income, in the came from upper class backgrounds. from wealthy, well to do merchant families. most of the more inter related by blood or marriage. most had prior experience and elected office in a territorial assembly in new mexico. many were successful entrepreneurs. in fact, the interesting thing is that the delegate office in

many respects as a launching pad for their leader career in politics. they served in washington for a brief term, go back to the district, -- either to hold territorial office or to push forward their interest. like many other new mexico politicians but especially future territorial delegates, ottero another delicate such as chavez had a connection to the santa fe rink which was the first of perhaps a most notable political machine in mexico politics in this era. the group dominated politics in the latter 19th century. counting among its ranks nearly every governor of the territory and most federal officials from 1865 through the late 18 eighties. whatever these delegates interested in? virtually the same thing that territorial delegates from many territories, nebraska, kansas,

wherever, desired. that was infrastructure improvements. postal roads, railroads, improvements to airways and waterways. those things that would spur business and population growth and lead to stability in the territory and put it on the road to statehood. the one outlier in this story of territorial delegates is a california. he was the first hispanicób american to serve -- he also cheered the private land and the committee in his final term. like new mexican delegates, he is interested in internal improvements in california. it's important to realize that with pachinko, with the exception of pachinko, all of these delegates were constrained by these institutional most of their powers. they couldn't serve on a committee until the house changed its rules in 1871 and

allow them onto one committee. the very prestigious waits committee. it made sense for a territory with a lot of mining interests but not exactly the most appropriate. they served brief terms in office. when someone decided that they want to spend a second term that set off a interparty fight that could be brutal, and lead to messy, contested elections. so these individuals were very reliant on their individuals with key, we came across a beautiful newspaper quote, which summed up, territories are really to be pitied. they're like children under a bad stepmother. there's not position so trying as the delegate in congress. they have no vote. or they are backers looking -- trying to help their own

constituents. the second phase in the story starts with the spanish american war like the war with mexico. this is the central story. it would become how, or even, f culturally distinct peoples from non -- territories that were never contemplated as ever being incorporated into the u.s. culture could or in fact should be represented and the federal legislature. after the united states assumed 40 regan the wake of the spanish american war u.s. officials for a strategic reasons and economic reasons were loathed to give it up. so congress passes the -- act of 1400 which creates the office of commissioner to congress. but it left the island so

disambiguates. puerto ricans at this point were in limbo. they were neither autonomous near where they citizens of the u.s.. the supreme court was no more clear on the issue than the -- .v the languagec was one of the so-called insofar cases which tried to defined territorial status had to freeze, and we use it as a title for this section. the territorial inhabitants were quote foreign in a domestic sense, resident commissioners found themselves in the curious position that territorial delegates had been an in the 19th century. their powers were greatly circumscribed. and after presenting his credentials, since friday rico degetau, first resident commissioner, comes in in 1901,

degetau was presented in congress, and the expectation was that he was going to lobby officials and government. not just congress. but across the federal government. but the four core acts ambiguity coupled with the uncertainty about puerto rico's essential fitness for government led congress to deny degetau for privileges. he couldn't speak on the floor. he couldn't come onto the floor. for many months until gradually his privileges began to be extended to, and eventually he got resident commissioner, the second resident commissioner got committee assignments. so individuals who are in this position tended to act more like diplomats than lobbyists then legislators. one such legislature, one of the more important ones was louis meadows rivera, a senior

statesman by the time that he came about as a resident commissioner and -- in the u.s. congress. he had been in negotiations are for the spanish, he meant a political leader in the early 1900s. he was a renowned poet, newspaper editor, i mean a man of high culture. he comes to the u.s. and he is in this position where after having struggled to carve out a measure of puerto rican autonomy in the weaning spanish empire, he now has to face and stupid u.s. colonialism. he's a devoted nationalist, but he also had a sense of pragmatism. he kind of understood in a basic way that puerto rico's chances were complete sovereignty, certainly in his lifetime war nail. and he was going to focus on a system of promoting home rule,

and some measure of autonomy within the american empire. that and, he sought to shape the provisions of the second jones act which passed in 1917. van jones acts somewhat liberalized the colonial regime that had been set up under the -- act but it still kept power concentrated in a council that was appointed by the u.s. president. the governors of puerto rico were still appointed by the u.s. government and could override the acts of the -- legislature. rivero came on to the floor and said give us know what we ask of you to show that it is easy to reinstate a government with all possible opportunities for all possible governments. it was a steppingstone for later reforms. he passed away shortly after

passing the act. as it does so often, the u.s. senate comes a very late to the story. and fact more than a century late. this is the first hispanic american senator, knocked obvious lara's a low. it's a symbolic appointment. he is elected in 1928, he leaves and 1920. nine he's in poor health and heat passes away shortly after that. what's most important just his work in new mexico in the territorial government. and then later after new mexico becomes a state finally in 1912, he pushes hispanic civil rights at the state level. so it is a fitting appointment but highly symbolic because he wasn't in the senate for very long. of course another first here is denis chavez, who's the first

hispanic american to serve in both chambers. he's known best for his long senate career, of course. he's one of the highest ranking as panic americans in congress believe the 24 century because he chairs three congressional committees. one of the house, he does in the senate and he chose the public works committee, which is a major part of his career. but his career which bridges the new deal into world war ii makes him a transitional figure in the story. and he really is the first hispanic american member of congress who we can point to and say, here is someone who is acting as a surrogate representative. he is advocating for people far beyond the boundaries of his district or his state. and he's picking for hispanic americans nationally. he does this with his work on the fair employment practices commission. also and advocating for greater

puerto rican time in the late 1940s and into the 19 fifties. so this storyline largely foes after world war ii. the storyline with one and african americans. it's tied into the larger push for americans in the post-world war ii era. again there are two strands post-1940. five first involves mexican american rights which were enabled by chavez and other has been a congressman. the second was puerto rico's evolution from a territory to commonwealth, which was made possible by any line of reform minded commissioners, these strands were widely diversion but by the end they come together. resources are pooled. agenda that have been local are

nationalized. there's a large grassroots movement. the community service organizations in california, groups like this, -- a more radical period come together in this is a period in congress for hispanic american members really serve a long institutional apprenticeship. the length of -- a handful of people here has to get in the period. antonio furnace i certain. the longest serving resident commissioner from puerto rico. the principal architect of puerto rico's move to commonwealth status in the early 19 fifties he was widely respected by house colleagues. he had a very close working relationship with the puerto

rican governor, louise, that partnership produced a commonwealth change in the fifties. another individual here. and we can solids. he gets a start and housing issues. he's involved with the pan american association and texas. this launches his career in texas. in 1956 he becomes the first african american elected to the texas senate.

%hé3÷. , he was one of the cofounders of the -- statewide organization that

pushed hispanic interests. he's elected to the l.a. city council and i.t. 49. he's the first mexican american to serve on the l.a. city council since the 18 eighties. his welcome was a little bit rough but he fit in and it was very important in terms of programs. housing to hispanic americans, and the growing population in east los angeles. he was elected in the house in 1932 and served for several years. heat rises to a high position in congress. he becomes one of the appropriation cardinals cheering a treasury postal service and general government subcommittee. and i want to and hear briefly by talking about the last period in the book. its post 1977.

this is the main page of the website, where the entire book is available online. this chapter we titled strength in numbers, and challenges and diversity. and it starts with the congressional caucus in united states in 76. by members -- as a service organization that would influence policy affecting african americans, hispanic community. unlike other congressional caucuses over time the diversity of the caucus somewhat limited its legislative effectiveness. it was open to members from both parties. its roster included rosters from across the country, there were regional parties at work -- the operation clearinghouse

than a legislative vehicle for moving legislation through congress. hispanic american numbers were divided for instance in the 19 eighties on immigration reform and also entrée polls in the 1990 such as nafta. perhaps most are computer of this era is simply that again that's going on. the civil rights act and voting rights act in the 1960s, and court ordered redistricting which began in the early 1960s open the new avenues for political participation for millions of hispanic americans. the voting rights act and an extension's profoundly changed the face of congress in terms of african americans, but also in terms of hispanics. in the case of the, latter two thirds of all hispanics who had ever served in congress were elected after 1976. so that is tremendous growth.

we are now up to hundred to his top spanish members who have served in congress. 1965 when the voting rights act was passed, there were just five hispanic members, four representatives and a senator. and a 113th congress, there are 30 in the house and three in the senate. the numbers have gone up. and these numbers have cheered powerful committees and subcommittees. they have authored important legislation. they have been party leaders. they've directed national party organizations. mel martinez, former senator, and they have held cabinet positions. -- indeed, this hispanic population in the united states has grown from 6% to 1980 to 16% according to the 2010 census. as their advocates when powerful seats at the federal level, hispanic americans have become one of the most influential photo boxing the country. but getting that representation

has never been, easy and likely won't ever be easy or simple or straightforward. the experiences of the hispanic numbers in that post 1977 period illustrate very clearly that there is no 1% or caucus that can drive the agenda or determine the needs and desires and aspirations of all hispanic american voters. this was very clear after the emergence of a separate congressional hispanic congress watch was composed of republicans in the early 2000s. a caucus began to break over cuba policy and zone others and hispanic caucus, in conference, and they are divided in a partisan fashion. this is perhaps the clearest sign that political debate is alive and well, in that community, but regardless, based on this long history, there are obviously as much inspiration that has banning members, and those who studied

them can draw from the rich history in the hard won victories over the years. we have 15 minutes left for questions, and i would be happy to answer any. >> raise your hand so we can pass the microphone. >> out of curiosity, how did you guys define hispanic for the purposes of inclusion in this volume? was there a specific definition? our was it like a know it when you see it. >> me relied on the hispanic division of the library of congress. it pulled new members of congress as to whether they identify themselves as hispanic. the interesting thing is that in the 19 eighties, it gets a little bit more complicated because tony called will of

california who is of portuguese dissent lobbied to get on the hispanic caucus and actually goes back to the roman definition of hispanic milan and clings that puerto rico is part of that area that would be referred to as hispanic. there are a couple of members who come to his aid. bill richardson from new mexico, and he's allowed onto the caucus. but it creates a problem in later years because there has been probably a dozen of members of porch accused dissent of not more who have been elected since then. and it is a matter of whether they identify as being hispanic or not. some do and some don't. so we really rely on the library of congress. a number another question that we had very early on is that you have the philippine resident commissioners from the early 20th century. and many of them have hispanic

sir. names almost all of them have hispanics or names. but in working with the library from food station division, and hispanic division, we vowed to cultural preferences, and we are told that filipinos regard themselves as asian pacific island or, so they will be in that book. so we really relied on the guidance of the libraries at that point. but it's obviously trickier than women or african americans. you can get on a slippery slope of cultural preference. and the book itself, we've also been asked i should say, latino or hispanic? we use the term latino, latina, in the text itself. the title of the book was passed by a congressional resolution and it was the title that the hispanic caucus wanted

in a recent legislation. so that's the title that we went with and hispanic is also the census term still used by the federal government, so yes ma'am. >> >> with regards to the need for translators, you mentioned that a lot of the translators were from the east, and therefore, i am finding that this also occurred in new mexico obviously, but in southern colorado, those hispanic representatives have no english background and territory of colorado would not p for a translator. so then they also had translators from east come. but then there were differences and political language that the translators can help them with. can you tell us what the

government started paying for translators? >> we don't know that the government ever paid for translators. based on anecdotal stories that we have come across, he is relying on the french but he has struck up in particular with missouri representatives who are bilingual. it didn't appear that he was paying, not in any way that we could track, any clerk disbursement reports or anything like that. he may have been paying for it out of pocket but it's hard to know. >> what are your thoughts on a translator from the east versus maybe even a hispanic who had served in prior legislations? >> what is my thought about that? is there a disconnect?

>> yes. >> did these translators have to go through some kind of a litmus test? >> i don't know. i would imagine that gallegos, him in particular, he's the one who relies on the translator in this time period, although louis -- he had a tutor, but there is no record of him appealing to the house for a translator, never pay for translations out of his office, at least not that we're able to track but someone in gallegos position who was familiar with territorial politics under two national aims would probably be savvy enough to overcome differences and translations. >> i also have a question on

weights and measures committee. you said that the house allowed the territorial delegates to serve in the committee. what year was that? >> 1871. >> that was the one specific committee that they could serve on for about two decades. and then the committees are opened up a bet. after a while they can serve on the territories committee. and after that there is another liberalization that opened set up later in the 20th century. but for a while it is very circumscribed. i don't have a specific russian weights and measures during this time period for the government. in colorado territory during the 18 sixties, there are changing weights and measures so that southern colorado can no longer use the spanish

variance. >> simply no doubt in new mexico as well. is that the canals? >> can i ice and christiana counties. >> okay. >> any other questions? yeah. >> long stretch. >> a general question. in the process of doing now the third volume, as you get later, have you had any overlap in women, african americans, between the three volumes. if so, how has that changed the way that you have talked about those individuals? or has it? >> in some aspects, the hispanic caucus and the black caucus to team up in the 19 eighties on certain issues.

not so much the women's caucus. so i can't say that it has really changed the way that we have approached the buck. the storylines in that our guard, i mean they cross in terms of party association more than caucus one way or another. but there are these, again, i mentioned it in the beginning, there were these very clear patterns but how each of these groups who were introduced in the political process integrate into the institution. and it may take many more years and one case for one group for one stage, but there are three very clear stages, for instance, for women, for very long time, the early members of congress from janet ranking up to world war ii very purposefully with the exception of rankin did not

embrace what you would call it women's rights agenda, and back they try to minimize gender distinctions and they felt that was the best way to work their way into the hierarchy and it's kind of the same way with the hispanic american members up until chavez and up until the post world war two period. but there's always the tension of the degree to which are going to act as a surrogate representative. and organs also is a cofounder of the congressional caucus in late 1876. but he so turned off by activists, and particularly barrasso attacked and in the and we, sixties might seventies, that he questions a lot of the tactics that are used by -- and he eventually that the caucus moves towards in the eighties to the point where at some point in the eighties, we don't know exactly when, he stopped paying his dues and he is no longer on the caucus

records. and there is absolutely, we have yet to find the press article that says today henry is all this left hispanic congress. but we know he lost interest. that is a story that is familiar with women as well. they're not a monolithic book. so there are those similarities, but i would say that those are more kind of a general wheeze and which decent vigils interacted with the institution, and in fact, the story of the caucuses interacting with each other is, there is not so much there. >> in the 18 fifties, you

mentioned that gallegos had no connections the political system, can you mention what political system they were working with? >> he came straight out of new mexican politics when you mexico was a province of mexico. >> excuse me. my real question is how difficult was the difference in changing for them? from the american political system. >> i think he just wasn't familiar with the national democratic party. the democratic party in mexico had its own kind of policy agendas. there is a great book that talks about this. howard lamar, which talks about politics in the southwest in new mexico, to make that leap from territorial politics to the national democratic and i think was tough for him. the governor of the territory

at that point was governor david merriweather who was a longtime democratic politician from back east and he served as something of tutor, he came to two and full-time, we know this because mary weather recorded in his memoirs so. but i think once you got him into a legislative environment, he understood how things worked here in d.c., certainly knew who were there to key committee chairs were and he was convincing enough to get them to go onto the floor and argue on his behalf, even though it didn't work. but there's parts of the story that, you know, we really have to, there are large gaps to the story. >> the difference between english law and then spanish or mexican law, that they had to work through.

what might have they encountered with that? >> that's really kind of a territorial transition, you no question. i'm not so familiar with with how to answer that >> thank you matt for that splendid presentation and let's give you an applause. >> weeknights this month are featuring american history programs as a preview of what's available every weekend on c-span 3. thursday night, greg candle talks about his book, the peoples revolt. texas populace and the roots of american liberalism. he describes the 1890s origins

of the people's party, their political goals and populists since legacy today. watch thursday beginning at eight eastern, and enjoy american history tv every weekend on c-span 3. >> american history tv on c-span 3. exploring the people and events that tell the american story every weekend. coming up this presidents day weekend, saturday at 6 pm eastern on the civil war. author edward acorn talks about his book, every drop of blood about abraham lincoln's second inaugural speech, considered one of the greatest speeches in american political history. sunday at 2 pm eastern on oral histories. for gina coleman describes her experiences as a chemist for the manhattan project at oak ridge to build the atomic bomb and monday at 7:30 pm eastern on american artifacts, photographer and storyteller,

john pachal on the 42 giant bus of american presidents created by sculptor, leave it attics. the cane on a private property in virginia. explore the american story. watch american history tv. this weekend on c-span 3. >> next on history bookshelf. the author of the book, the crusades of cesar chavez. she also chronicles liven activism of the farmworkers cofounder, and she also discusses the truth behind some of the myths that have developed about mr. chavez and the movement he led. good >> morning. welcome. today we are very fortunate to have a very special guest with us. miriam powell, however i would like to introduce myself