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tv   Key Capitol Hill Hearings  CSPAN  January 3, 2014 4:00pm-6:01pm EST

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p.a. had previously approved peap good behavior s.i.p.'s for a particular matter. once the epa approves a s.i.p., it's if the f.i.f. on the s.i.p. expires under the statute. so they had a problem under those 22 states. f.i.p.'s y impose when they approved s.i.p.'s? and k-6 says if peap determines a prior decision approving a s.i.p. was an error -- >> isn't that the issue that the three states are challenging below, just that discreet issue can call er the epa this corrective action or not,
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is that entire issue being determined in those proceedings? >> not determined because the proceedings have been stayed. but three states have challenged -- >> that issue is what is at issue there? >> will you finish describing the issue? i really didn't hear it. >> k 466 says a correction must be made in the same manner, end quote, as decision being corrected. epa's approval went through notice and comment and because of that k-6 requires they go through notice and comment and corrections here did not go through notice and comment. here's no disagreement between commissioners and respondants on that point. the united states tries to get out of that by saying they can use the good cause exception in rule making that sounded the administrator procedure act. that doesn't help epa at all because the requirement comes not from the administrative procedure act. the requirement from notice to
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use comments is from k-6. it doesn't help epa rely on an exception to a statute when the statute does not impose the requirement. >> this is a statute in which epa gets substantial chevron deference. why couldn't we read that language to essentially mean subject to the same procedural requirements as the original? >> that caveat does not appear in k-6. >> it's not a caveat. it's just a different understanding of what that language means. mine you say it has to be in the exact same -- in the exact same way they previously acted and i guess i'm saying it could mean subject to the exact same procedural requirements. >> i think your argument or suggestion is e.p.a. could rely on the normal rules set forth in
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the administrator procedure act -- >> whatever procedural requirements, constraint e.p.a. when it approved the s.i.p., those were the same procedural requirements that constrained e.p.a. when it disapproved the s.i.p. we're just asking are they, you know, both have to be subject to the same procedural requirements. differently as long as they're acting within that same set of rules. >> we don't think that's a tenable construction of k-6. k-6 authorizes e.p.a. to make corrections but it says specifically the corrections must be made in the same manner as decision being corrected. if a decision being corrected went through notice and comment, the corrections have to go through notice and comment as well. if a decision being corrected went through formal adjudication, correction must all go through formal adjudication. it does not try to make arguments in briefs about what k-6 means and trying to say the good cause exception in the e.p.a. while notice and comment
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should carry over here. >> i think they are trying to make that argument. they are saying in the initial version it could have done it by notice and comment rule making or we could have done it if we had good cause. so, too, when we reverse that initial determination. >> the statute means in k-6 doesn't constrain the agency much at all. >> i think it would follow it if you did it for good cause to apply the rule, you could do it for good cause to abolish it. not that you can do it by rule making when you adopt it and use good cause when you -- when you abolish it. seems to me to square with the text. >> text says in the same manner as -- >> in the same manner as. >> in the same manner. it's looking back to the original decision how it was made. and yeah, second reason we provided for why d.c. circuit decision should be affirmed. now if the court were to reach the k-6 issue, there's also the question of whether the f.i.p.'s
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could be severed -- i see my time is expired. >> you can finish your sentence. >> it does not knock out all of the s.i.p.'s standing along. > thank you, mr. mitchell. >> >> mr. chief justice and please the court, the private party respoppedants are focused on the statutory resolutions under the e.p.a.'s authority. and i would like to address the issue my friend from the government focused on a lot, use of cause and to explain not only what we think statute requires in this regard and why justin kagan, it would neither be silly nor dom or justice sotomayor crazy to read the statute as we suggest. we begin with the text of the statute which authorizes prohibition only of amounts
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which attribute is significantly to maintenance in downwind locations. the focus of the language we think is quite clearly on the effect of state's emissions on other states and not on the cost of reducing them. but e.p.a. has done it assert it has power to increase state' reduction obligations beyond what a focus on the effects of its missions would require, simply because e.p.a. has decideed that it would be reasonably affordable for that state to bear a higher burden. what that means is that states here, which are making only a slight contribution to air quality problems in down wind states are nonetheless required to make very substantial reductions, in many cases far more, in cases with states making far greater contributions to poor air quality in the same downwind locations. there's no relationship at all under the e.p.a.'s methodology between the amount of state contributes and the amount it has to reduce. because the entire driver is cost. mr. stewart said cost was one component. it's not one component. it is the entire driver.
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>> is it not wrong -- that is focus on your argument here in the brief, which is very clear and very good. and keep the example that comes to my mind is we have an overgrazing problem in state a. it's caused because cows came in from state b. and sheep come in from state c. the cowmen and sheepmen are in different states. they're not friends. now, it turns out -- [laughter] it turns out that e.p.a., which is in charge of preventing the overgrazing, discovers that if the sheepmen build a fence, that would cure the problem. even though they only contribute half or maybe less. well f. we bury it and divide it equally, you each have to cause half the problem because that seems fair. it's going to end up with the people in state a with the cows, they're going to starve to
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death. so our choice is is between taking two people, two states, each of whom cause half the problem and getting an overall plan where you solve the problem at minimal cost or just dividing it 50/50. which seems fair in mathematics but leads to starvation, cost and death itself. see what i'm driving at? that's what they have done here, second method. they're not treating each state alike, you're right. the reason they're not treating each state alike is they know one, all of the states are partly responsible in more than 1% and with this plan, we get the job done at much lower cost. where in the statute does it say we can't do that? >> i will try to respond to that fully, justice breyer. certainly it is the case and we acknowledge there will always lab jit mitt poll issy arguments in favor of the least cost, most
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efficient solution to any problem. but we also say there are counterveiling policy arguments at issue here and we believe statute sides with those counterveiling policy arguments. the counterveiling policy arguments are focused on the fact in your honor's hypothetical there's one state in which would cost more to reduce and in another state it would cost less. the only scenario in which you get a different result under the e.p.a.'s approach and our approach is where the state that would cost more to reduce is in fact contributing a lot more to the downwind state problem or other state. several reasons when we think statute looks at the issue and asks the question whether e.p.a. should have the authority to force the state which is in fact contributing less to nonetheless reduce more simply because it's costly, we think there are three reasons why statute embodies policy choice that says no. state reduces more, -- contributes more, reduces more.
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contributes less, reduces less. we think it's quite clearly focused on the effects. significantly contribute to noncontainment and interfere with maintenance. second is the whole structure -- >> amounts significantly attribute, right. it's amounts. >> amounts. >> not conduct significantly. >> that's right. i don't think the word significantly can bear the weight mr. stewart places on it. it modifies the words contribute to noncontainment so it's about the degree of causal contribution and it doesn't modify it at all the phrase interference with maintenance and they have used the same cost methodology to implement that as well. but the second, beyond the text, the whole structure of the clean air act is is focused on treating states as separate entities which are responsible for the admissions that happened within their borders and effect those emissions have on other states. that's why this is in a s.i.p. rather some general e.p.a. regulation and why the language
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of the statute is what it is. amounts of emissions within a state. in this regard, i think it's telling that in the reply brief what the government said was that it believes he had the kind of authority here to consider cost that would be considered by a chancellor of equity in nuisance case. chancellor of equity in nuisance case had private party defends before him or her. soing, of course, allocating burdens on the case of equity and fish issy and all of the kinds of things common law chancellor can take intoing. e.p.a. has separate states and separate responsibilities who have a long historic role and responsibility of enforcing missions control procedures within their border and congress could rightly or reasonably at least have concluded that it didn't want e.p.a. to have the same authority to shift costs and efficiency and equity around among different states to require points -- > you remember, please, that
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mike cow, for example, wasic ping up disproportionately what you're talking about. keep that in mind. the point is you do find in congress, and i'm interested in legislative history, did you find anything in the legislative history that suggests that where the e.p.a. faces this kind of regional problem and it's writhal, not just statewide problem, that people in congress thought they had an answer or glimmer of an answer as opposed to taking this language, which is is pretty open and saying we're going to leave it -- we don't know. we don't have a clue. the e.p.a. is is there to figure this thing out. and we're giving them a broad authority here. is there anything that cuts on your side, you see as opposed to the other side of reading this language? zi think there's one thing can cite, your honor and that is statutory history in this case is that the president sesser version to what we currently have before us simply says states would require to prohibit
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the amounts which prevent attainment or maintenance. certainly looking at that language, there's nothing in there that would suggest costs could be taken into account. what congress said in the committee report in 1990 when it added the words significantly contribute to nonattainment and interfere with maintenance was that it was doing precisely because it recognized that this was a provision that addressed causation of bad air quality effects. what it was doing not introducing some new element of cost but relaxing the causation standard saying it shouldn't be something like but for causation where the question is does it prevent attainment or maintenance? it's enough if it contributes significantly to nonattainment. >> mr. keisler, you have a statute here that clearly does not is have any language about no costs allowed, that also does t have what the american trucking association statute had public health only sufficient margin of safety. so none of that. what you have is exactly what
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you said. you have a statute that focuses on causal contribution, right? so this is a hard problem because, let me just sort of give you numerical example, which i'm sure sazzsimpliss tet as the other numerical examples floating around this case. let's say the standard is 100. and there's a state that has 120 and there are two states, x and y that have each contributed 20, right? so we, you know, we only need 20 of those. we have 40 and question is, how do you get from those 40 to those 20? d.c. circuit would say we take ten from each. if the question was only about causal contribution and that's all that the statute talks about, there has to be other ways we can make that determination of what contribution each should be
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legally responsible for, right? and what the e.p.a. said here was we're going to distinguish between -- we're going to distinguish between states that have -- have put a lot of technology and a lot of money into this already and on the other hand, states that have lots of cheap and dirty emissions and why isn't that perfectly rational thing to do under this very statute? >> first of all, i think in the example that your honor gave where you have two states and should they be each reduced to ten, the reason in favor of doing it that way for statutory perspective is that can give a consistent application to the same causal language in the statute, which means that the same causal effect from one win state to downwind state is significant if it comes from nana to delaware but insignificant if it comes from tennessee. when the statute says that states must prohibit the amounts it significantly contributes, then the more they contribute,
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more they reduce. we see that is sitting much more securely in the statutory language than kind of shifting that your honor mentioned. certainly one could imagine since the policy rationals that are behind your honor's question are certainly legitimate and more than plausible, certainly can imagine a statute congress could have written which would have said, treated as national playing field, ignore the fact there are state boundaries. think about what the most efficient way to force reductions which you ob taped in downlord locations, locate those reductions and impose those on the states. surely if that was what congress intended, it would not have written a statute which directs each state to include in its s.i.p. -- >> you have to own mr. stewart's point that congress surely didn't intend to shove down these plants if they didn't or couldn't feasibly reduce their contributions?
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>> yes, your honor, but we think they couldn't -- >> because they couldn't feasibly do it, doesn't the word significantly contribute have to take into account in some way the cost of reducing the amount? >> your honor, here on behalf of industry and labor. certainly we believe there has to be mechanisms to deal with the kinds of problems that your honor just identified. but we don't think they come out of defining the amounts that significantly contribute to noncontainment. we think those considerations come into play elsewhere in the process. in the american trucking case it's been referred to. the course said when states are implementing the requirements of the e.p.a., for example, by deciding to allocate among different sources what -- how the reduction will be distributed, they can take costs into account. and there are other mechanisms in the circumstance p. process when that definition of what amount significantly contributes is translated into an emission reduction obligation, we think there are occasions and we noted
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them in note 17 of our brief where the state in formulating its s.i.p. can say this is the amount we have to reduce but we're going to do it in this way because costs have to be taken into account. but that is a very different matter from saying that e.p.a. in defining what amount significantly contributes can do the same thing. the reason it's different, the reason it's not just oh, we're locating in some different box what e.p.a. wants to do it its box, the box we're locating it in makes clear it functions as kind of break your honor described. something unfeasible or economic, there are ways to soften it out. >> they found a way to do that ith the cost tradeoff. with the cap and trade system. the industry itself can make that choice with the state presumably. they're not stopping a s.i.p. that stops a state from participating. >> the trading presents new issues under the statute. we support trading anymore it's appropriate but this is a statute which is focused on providing relief to downwind states. and to take my earlier examples,
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if indiana is contributing emissions into delaware that hurt its air quality, it does not good for delaware if indiana purchases allowances from ten issy, which isn't contributing into delaware. >> what you're -- you want me to write -- look what i had to write if i made it very specific. two units float over the air from the cow state. two units floats over the air from the sheep state or three. it happens if we treat them alike, we're going to tell the cow state your unit is the same as sheep state's unit. both make the same significant contribution and we have to say that even if for you to remit your unit causes death and destruction. destroys your economy. see, and i have to write those words to accept your argument. >> it goes -- >> i would like to resist the
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role, your honor, natural extender of death and destruction and starvation. words i can so then you will either have to draw distinction or something. >> isn't the distinction the one i was drawing to justice sotomayor's question. when you get down to implementing these things you can take into account whether death, destruction, starvation, take into account when the state is doing that as part of the s.i.p. process but that doesn't bear on how the amount of significant contribution is defined because when e.p.a. takes costs into account, it's not is simply preventing death and destruction and starvation, it's working the other way too. it's saying even though a causation standard only would require you to reduce this much, we the e.p.a. can shift to you an additional burden wuzz we noirge state -- >> they say that's not a theoretical possibility. under the numbers they left out. why sent this taken care of in the process that permits individual states to challenge the supply?
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>> let me make a distinction in that regard, your honor. what government said is theoretical possibility is simply whether a state would be driven below the 1% threshold but what i'm saying really goes back to scuts skea's first question, even apart from the 1% threshold, every time they're allocating on the basis of cost and displacing what you allocate on the amount each day contributes, you're shifting burdens around, even apart from 1%. >> you're saying significant must mean only measurable amounts. it can't mean -- i will pick your word -- culpability, feasibility, responsibility. feasibility. one state finds it quite feasible from a cost stand ispoint to reduce admissions by a factor of 10. the other state as justice breyer's example finds it cannot do it in factor of 100. can't you say the contribution
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in one case is more significant than the other based on feasibility? you can't. >> don't think is so, your honor. i don't think that is a proper definition of significant when it's modifying contributions to noncontain attainment. >> it isn't contributions to nonattainment. it's the word amounts. the statute prohibits activity from within the state from omitting any polluteant in amounts which would contribute significantly. >> we agree, your honor. >> amount are amounts. >> but the word significantly does import a judgmental component but i think what the government will say -- it's not a limitless -- >> i don't think significantly means that any factor that might be deemed relevant in a broad poll issy sense can be imported in. i think we have a stat here ich talks about amounts that
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goes -- >> there's an ambiguity here. add the word amount to significantly and i think, justice scalia's point might be, he knows it better than i, an amount is an amount. that's what it should say. >> that's my point exactly! >> and then the -- the response is, well, not always because you say an amount you're talking about is specific amount coming out of the state and is the one as significant as the sheep one? and that's i think we're -- i think you hit the nail as to what the issue is. >> i guess our position is is significant may have a range of meanings but it's not limitless range of meanings. one member of the court once said fact yellow is ambiguous doesn't mean it can mean purple. here we don't think range of meanings and context accommodate the goff's definition. >> mr. keisler the nature of this problem is is there's an altercation issue. it's not just everybody gets down to a certain threshold
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level. it's there's a level and we have to allocate and the question is, what are we going to allocate on the basis of? the word amounts doesn't tell you what you're going to allocate on the basis of. so there are a lot of different choices for what we can allocate on the basis of. we can just divide, you know and do it all proportionately. we can take into account per capita. take nookt state's population if we wanted to or can take into account as e.p.a. did here costs on the understanding costs reflect how much of an investment a state has already made in pollution technology. so the statute, neither the word amount nor anything else, says anything about those different methods of allocation, does it? >> i disagree with that, your honor. i don't focus exclusively on the word amount or word significantly. it's the entire phrase, amount contribute significantly to nonattainment or interfere with maintenance, which i think 10 out of 10 people who were not in
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this courtroom or read clean air act. sat down and asked them what does it mean? talking about the effect of emissions and ones they had another. there sent more ambiguous in that standard and statute of issue with american trucking talking about safety and health as standard t does supply content what the e.p.a. has to do and that content is not cost, air quality effect standard. >> what is your answer? do you have an answer to mr. stewart's basketball hypothetical. i thought it was pretty good if you ask the coach what significantly contributed to the lost, he's going to ask about the missed layup rather than missed desperation throw even though as far as amount, each would account for two points. assuming one was within the -- [laughter] >> it's very hard for me to translate the amount concept into performance on the basketball court. but mr. stewart's other example was a contribution to a charity and i certainly would accept the
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notion if bill gates and i each contributed $100 to a charity, i made the more significant contribution. but that's because we're using contributions in that context to mean something else. we're using to mean donate or give or not give. >> the basketball thing is -- to make it parallel to what is is at issue here, the question should be -- you should ask the oach, which of the -- you lost 101-100. which of the 101 points contributed most to your loss? [laughter] assuming the answer is -- >> it's the one that was lateup. he would not answer, the one that was the layup. what do you mean? all of the 101. >> but if there were different teams playing in the league and you had an overall result, you could actually determine which team had contributed what to the
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overall result and when we're dealing with states, we are dealing with groups that the statute conceptualizes as several teams entitled to be treated separately. i want to make one other point as my white light is is on, we raised a completely separate argument, first argument in our brief, that is independent of how the court decides e.p.a. may define the amount contributes significantly. whether costs, air quality effects or anything else. that is however it's defined, e.p.a. cannot regulate beyond the point necessary to achieve containment or maintenance in downwind locations. here although in the prior to good neighbor rule making it specifically said examined the issue and avoided overkill, here it didn't say that because it didn't do that. apart from the cost versus air quality issue, we had commentators that submitted evidence that showed e.p.a. could achieve attainment and maintenance and virtually all the same downwind location at lower level of regulations and e.p.a.'s response to that on
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354-a is they were not going to look at lower levels of regulation because at lower levels of regulation, some sources in some states might cease operating controls and that's all they said. if sources in some states could crease existing operating controls and still achieve containment and maintenance in all of the locations they're downlinked to, the e.p.a. has no authority to require those sources to continue operating existing control. there may be authority under other provisions but no this one. and the e.p.a. in this particular proceeding said nothing else, gave no other reason for refusing tookt on the evidence that commenters submited that lower levels of regulation at most upwind states would still achieve attainment and maintenance of downwind locations and they had no authority to regulate beyond the point necessary to achieve attainment and maintenance. if the court has no further questions. thank you. >> thank you, counsel. mr. stewart, you have four
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minutes remaining. >> thank you, mr. chief justice. as mr. keisler indicated in our reply brief, we cited the history of the statement as it bears on the common law of nuisance. as this court indicated in american electric power, if the clean air act had not been enacted, the remedy downwind states would have in a situation like this one would be a federal common law nuisance suit against upwind states or polluters in upwind states. i think there are three lessons to draw from that fact. first is as the brief's argument in this case indicate, judicial resolution of such a suit would have been herculean task and the prospect of doing that through judicial processes should reinforce the wisdom of congress's choice to replace that mechanism with the clean air act and counsel is in favor of deference to the expert agency that has been placed in the position that a common law court would previously have been placed in. second is as the reply brief
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citation to the law indicates, common law court in that scenario would have been able to consider the cost necessary to achieve reduction in pollution upwind in deciding whether a particular remedy would be appropriate or how much of a reduction an upwind polluter should have to make. and there's no reason absent extraordinarily clear statutory language, to deny e.p.a. the same authority. the third thing is, as the anoll ji to the common lawsuit indicates, there are sovereign state interests on both sides of this case. this is not a matter of e.p.a. versus states. it's the matter of e.p.a. trying tookt as honest broker between the upwind and downwind states. the next thing i would say about the clean air act is the statute as a whole is replete with references to economic activity and harness 0ing the profit motive. that is both the states and e.p.a. are specifically authorized to provide for the trading of allowances, whole purpose of which is is to
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achieve emission reductions in the most cost effective manner possible. i think it's worth noting in this regard although we talk about the transport rule as regulating the emission of -- emissions of states, what we're really regulating is emissions of power plants within the states. and good neighbor provision itself talks about preventing significant contribution from admission sources or admissions activity within the state. up with of the things the e.p.a. said in the proposed rule making was in some circumstances the cumulative downwind impact of a particular up with yipped state might be great not because any particular power plant was poorly regulated or emitting at a high level, but because there were so many power plants in the same state. and one consequence forbidding e.p.a. to consider costs is is that a mr. speaker power plant in an upwind state might be required to install more expensive pollution control measures and make greater reductions simply because it
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happened to be located in a state with a lot of other power plants. the last thing i would say is is, this is the statute as i have said before as perspective focus. it's intended to be implemented by official by state official. if you ask how would a state official assure herself or feel confident that her own states implementation plan was satisfying good neighbor obligations when she wasn't really sure what other states might be doing. one way is if the state official said, if everybody else did what i'm doing, i can feel confident that the problem would be solved. and that's really the approach e.p.a. used. it examines certain cost thresholds and it said that particular cost thresholds we feel confident if everybody upwind and downwind states alike makes pollution control efforts at these level, the problem will be solved or at least almost solved because there would still be slight residual nonattainment. and it seems perfectly rational to say the suggest contribution
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is the amount over and above what would occur if everyone adhered to an approach which, if applied across the board, would solve the problem. thank you. >> thank you, counsel. the case is submitted. >> the obama administration announced a couple actions aimed at strengthening federal background checks for people buying guns. the associated press reports the measures focus on limiting firearm access for people with mental health issues. one of proposed rule changes aim to clarify terminology used in federal law. the administration said states complain some wording is ambiguous, making it difficult to determine who should be blocked from buying a weapon. that again from the associated press. congress returns next week to open the second session of the 113th congress. for more on the upcoming agenda, we spoke with the capitol hill eporter.
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>> bob cusack is managing editor of "the hill." a couple of questions for you. who is sponsoring this bill? how long is the extension and what is the likelihood it will get passed? >> dean heller, bipartisan bill, republican from nevada as well as jack reed, democrat from rhode island, joined forces to extend these benefits for three months that expired december 28. big question does it have the votes to pass? there has not been any additional republican support that's come out just yet. harry reid, majority leader, strongly supports this and is hoping to put pressure on the republican-led house to pass it but he first has to get the votes. roughly democrats will need at least a handful of republican votes. remains to be seen if they will get the vote. >> senate also has a vote coming up monday 5:30 on the nomination of janet yellen to be the next chairman of the frv.
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where is her support coming senate and how are the changes under the so-called nuclear option affect the vote? >> she does have the vote. before the break, there was a procedural vote on her and she got 59 votes and that cleared the way for this time vote. that's where the nuclear option played into effect. basically that she didn't need 60, sneaded a majority. yellin got 59 votes in the procedural motion she's expected to pass. commit committee one only democrat, joe mansion who voted no. three republicans voted for her in which they. we say see mixture of votes here. most democrats that will support her and some republicans backing her. >> the house is also back next week with the least juan vote on the health care plau. how is this vote different than others the house taz taken? >> if you year and fitting over the same thing, obama care. this is different because it's not an obama care repeal bill we have seen dozens of times from
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house republicans. this bill would mandate the frag tell those who have -- whose data has been breached or there's been some security problem with their perm information who assigned up for the affordable care act. now the obama administration has come back and said that's no one. no one security or private information has been breached. republicans in congress have held hearings on this. they heard testimony from experts say that the security of the site is not song. very outspoken on this has been mike rogers, republican from michigan. >> now, house is also gaining a new member. one is officially leaving. talk with us about that. >> yes, bradley burn will be replacing joe bonner, who stepped aside. burn won a special election. he won the general medication after congress had adjourned. so that's why he hasn't been sworn in. he will be sworn in -- his last day ferblely will be january
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6th. he's been cleared to join the f.h.a., housing agency. that was a nomination that needed nuclear option to handle because he did not have necessary votes from republicans to clear. after the nuclear option was deployed, he was confirmed by the senate. so thereby a special election for his race, once he steps down. we are not sure when that special election will happen just yet. >> behind the scene, house and senate lawmakers are working on omnibus spending bill to keep the government operating after january 15th, after the continuing resolution expires. what is the status of that? ? they have been working over the holidays, and to put it in language to keep funding the government. they're facing january 15th deadline. of course, the spending level is just over $1 trillion. they agreed in the ryan murray deal before the holidays but now they have to pass an appropriations bill that curry is enough favor with republicans
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and democrats. they have been working behind the scenes to crack that language would that fund the government in massive omnibus and, of course, that will be the question whether they come out with that. bill, does that have the votes to pass? it should because of the ryan murray budget deal but we will see. >> anything else we can look at as the second session gets under way? >> i think immigration is a big issue people lube looking at and firstly in the first three months of the year. john boehner will move some type of immigration bill. that remains to be seen bchtut he did hire a former jm aid. and pro opponents of orn form like that. it remains to be seen what will happen there. also remains what boehner will do of our unemployment. of course, we're in an election year so both parties have gone into campaign mode. we will see that more as the work goes on. >> you can see bob cusack's work on bob cusack.com and at twitter. >> thank you.
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>> nopt -- book-tv and primetime looks at world leaders beginning 8:00 eastern with scott berg and his book wilson following that her ks from marie arana on book -- bolivar: american liberator." that's on c-span 2. on c-span 3, look at archival films. beginning 8:00 eastern program on "years of lightning," day of drums which exammed mowsic composed for the 1996 u.s. agency documentary. then 1990 short film titled face lincoln, on the and time of america's safe feet president. the march, which exammed the 1963 march on washington. finally hollywood roup trouble from the day after the remarks on washington with remarks from sid any poitier, charl mon preston and marlon brando.
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it's beginning tonight at 8:00 on c-span 3. also coming up, c-span sears on first ladies will continue with the look at white house lauren quarter. she traveled through lat an mrk as official envoy and supported equal mights arecommended and testifying before congress urging passth of the bill relating to mental all. "life and career of evelyn kotter" right here and you can also listen to c-span radio. >> i think it's real lipetting to sit here and talk about how the republican party is less unified than the demmic party when we start to think this. historically think i it's an interesting time to be suddenying it because recently we are seeing a republican party 0 ace faing some of the struggle that they faced 20, 30 years ago when they were trimpingering with the reform process every four years? the finger play of what happened, how indicates deal
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with whatched and contempt they're running all matterment more than underlying scandal itself when it comes to comebacks. especially if you're running in a context in which you can present yourself as an abused -- part of an abused group. abused by the system, you can really pli that quite well. and whether that's the case as jeff talked about or roy mora in so , who, you know, use the chandmentses have very eefkively, an attack on christian conservatives. i think that's very much the case. >> this weekend on c-span, state of the national parts. have alook at the political scappedals and politics of recovery. saturday morning sock eastern. live sunday on c-span two. calls and comments for take raid yes host mark lavine. best-selling author of five nonfiction books including
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liberty amendment." that the at noon on book tv's in depth. on c-span three american history tv looks in back sayeeze of the impeachment of william jefferson clinton. saturday and sunday at noon eastern. on the next washington journal, paul brand esof wg reports looks at president obama's relationship with the press and administrative goals for 2014. and talking about the u.s. determines if congressman illegals and those rehelpeded the brder will be removed from the country. and after that, richard deeder of the death penalty information center on the use of capital punishment in 2013. i will also take your e-mails, phone calls and tweets. "the washington post" live at 7:00 eastern time on c -- "washington journal" live at 7:00 eastern on c-span.
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>> over the next two hours we will look at the private and public lives of "first ladies: influence and image." conscientious about her family's well being, first lady edith roosevelt bought a refuge outside of pine washington called pine nut. >> edith sought a place for rest and repair for the president. close enough to d.c. to get out here as often as needed but far enough away there's wilderness. so she brought the cottage and 15 acreses and herren vagues that she prescribed for $280. the deed is written in her name. and the renovations she did include this porch, which she called her piazza and sess fayed it be supported by untrimmed cedar posts. these are the original, most of what you see is original.
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and the color of the house now is the color that it was when the roosevelts were here. interior is completely unfinish. they are bare because eed edge wanted them to be looked athat. she wanted it to have a total crustic feel, just as the porch and wanted it to be natural in every since. this room was originally divided into two and edith opened it out into a lodge-like room. she wanted to have the family be able to be here together. and they cook their meals by the fireplace. generally p.r. would do the cooking and edith would water for the tea. and the children would fetch the wood and do the various things that were needed to get the meals together. when edith saw the cottage the first time, there were no fireplaces. cottage was unfinished. these fireplaces were done to her specification.
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she has designed these wfled little stone ledges that are built into the fireplace to provide some functionality and also some interests. the stairs were originally and center of the room so they can kichede of took up the whole thing. and edith specified she move them to the side for a really two reasons. why is she wanted the bottom for to be in an open like-like room and the other is she wanted to create a room upstairs. typey room he created from ethyl. but spemble if he chur is he had a door so ethyl would have been able to shut off her brothers from hering her room. this is where edith and tiara slept. it would be master bedroom as it was. but clearly as you can see, the light streaming through the boards, it's to better appointed than any of the other rooms. this is the boy's room so all four of the boys would have slept in this room when they were here. and it too has a wonderful mantel and even better yet the
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stone support edith would have designed. this was a family place. in that sense it was unique for the roosevelts because sagamore hill had become a place where p.r. had politicians and press and constantly a hubbub of activity. this is one place where private family time and roosevelts made it very clear they did not want anybody but family here. >> this was designed to be a summer home. it's always their primary residence. first five or six years they were married and lived here, they lived here year around. after the white house, they lived here year around again even though it was hard to heat in the winter. it really was the center of their life, even if they weren't here, it was were their hearts were. edith ran the house. not only at sagamore hill but all of the places they lived. albany and washington, d.c. she managed the family's accounts. she managed the family's investments. what we have here is an account
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book. and it's an example of the annual accounts from 1891 i think it is. every one is listed and it should be keeping track for each family member, every month of the year and broken down into grocery bills and what she was buying from the butcher and what she might pay for plumber to come in and do repairs and counted every penny. and kept very good track of what er household was spending. and it was never a commercial venture. they did not try to be self-sufficient. what edith wanted from sagamore hill was basically to offset the expense of living there. -- and did raise hay to alfalfa and rye and grains to feed horses and reduce the cost of having horses here.
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they did have a lovely garden as produced everything from corn to strawberries. they had an arbor that had a different kind of grapes and strawberry and blueberry fields but the idea was to both feed the family and staff that lived on site but also reduce cost and maintaining a property like this. we're holding a book, sagamore hill guest book. when people would come out to see t.r. and edith they would sign their names like they were visiting the white house. it's a casual list. it's not as formal as the white house list would have been but usually, they would have been politicians or government officials but even family signed the book. anna, here in 1904 roosevelt visited and t.r.'s older sister visited and her brother-in-law, douglas robinson, who was carin's
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husband, so it was obviously a family visit and there are signatures from them. don't think these people find their name. i think edith went back and made note whoff were made visiting in this wonderful administration done by one of the visitors showing hope at sunset is what the illustration says. but it's a way for family to keep track of who came to see them. and when families were here and friends were here. and what they were up to while they were visiting. edith roosevelt came to sagamore hill in 18le 7 as -- 1887 as young bride and lived here until 1948. she lived here until the he of her life. this was done in the 1920's and charcoal sketch done at sagamore sergeant.hn a painter. edith was we widow in the
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1920's. she traveled a great deal visiting farmlands and visiting her children and just basically seeing the world. she spent a lot of time away from sag amere hill then i think fulfilling her curiosity. she's always interested in the world and after looking through books for years got on a boat and planes and automobiles went to see it. what we have here are two of edith roosevelt's diplomatic passports. first one was issued in 1919. right after theo roosevelt's death and her first trip noted in it is to france, where she traveled after two weeks after t.r.'s death. she went to france to visit the grave of quentin roosevelt, who had been killed the previous july and she wanted to see his grave and dedicate a marker to him. the later passport is from the 1930's and it's wonderful because it's got lovely picture of edith but it also has stamps
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from her travels to europe, to portugal, france, italy and south america, el salvador, mexico, brazil. her interests in the world and effort she went to get there. >> first lady helen taft's long-lasting influence is seen every spring in washington, d.c. because she was driving force in acquiring 3,000 cherry blossom trees from japan. >> when helen taft became first ladies one of the first things she did was address having cherry trees planted around the title basin near potomac park. it was a mess. there was a speedway where people raced carriages at a top speed of 15 miles an hour but there was really nothing to draw people or make it a beautiful place for people to gather and enjoy nature. and helen taft wanted to change that. so she -- one of the fist things she did when she became first lady was ask for trees to be planted.
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they were requested from nuseries in pennsylvania but the japanese heard about her interests and they decided to give 2,000 trees to the united states in her honor. so the city of tokyo to the city of washington as a gift honoring the american support of japan in the japanese war. 2,000 trees arrived in january of 1910. everyone was shocked. the trees that were sent were older and very tall and bug infested. so it was decided that they would have to be burned. in fact president taft himself made the decision they would have to be burned. the japanese were very accommodating and understanding and decided to send 3,000 trees which arrived in 1912 and it's those we still have a few of around the title basin. this is the north section of the title basin with a view of the washington monument which many of the original trees had been planted. you can tell older ones are wider and naturally tranchings, overarching branches very
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typical of the dominant variety of cheery tree around the basin. this is where helen taft would have planted the first cherry blossom tree that came with the shipment of 1912. this cherry blossom of trees would not be here if it weren't for helen taft. while many were enchanted with all things cherry blossom, architect, pictures, plant material and it was due to her the trees are here today. >> smithsonian actually has very few pieces that belonged to helen taft but the piece we do have is i think the most significant actually one of the most significant pieces in the first lady's collection. awe're going to open it up for you. helen taft was a woman of firsts. helen taft was a woman of combinations. is to me symbolizes all of that. and this is helen taft inaugural gown. she had it embroidered in the philippines to wear for the inaugural ball. inauguration was very important
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to helen taft. she saw it as -- her husband coming into the white house and herself coming into the white house. it was a very ceremonious occasion for her. into rked this occasion her entry into the white house and added it as marker of first ladies in the united states. when she became the first, first lady to donate her inaugural gown into the smithsonian institution. she happened to be the first lady when the founders of the first lady collection were putting the collection together and they met helen taft at a lunch commemorating dolly madison. they asked her if she was would be interested in this new collection they were putting together, this exhibit they were putting together on the first ladies. trying to acquire something from every first lady, every presidential administration. mrs. taft generously offered to lend and donated her inaugural gown to the collection. she's really the founding patron
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in many ways of the first lady collection and established the tradition first ladies would donate their anyone nag ral gown to the collection. every first lady after taft who had a ball and gown has donated it to the smithsonian institution. >> she loved to travel and william howard taft got a chance to be chairman of the philippine commission, she jumped at the chance, encouraged him to take the job and they took the family went to the philippines, where william taft was later governor general of the philippines. she had a chance to travel around the world. she also got a chance to introduce her children to this travel. she learned different languages. banquets were a big thing. in fact before she and the children got there, william taft cabled about some of the banquets he was interviewed to and mrs. taft liked to have dinners and incorporate military people, philippine people and these are some programs from the different banquets that were there. filipino people loved william howard taft and his family.
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they treated them just like -- just like equals. mrs. taft invited them to dinners. they attended a lot of the celebrations there where she liked to see the bands play and entertain was a big part of the things she did over there while she was in the philippines. about to go into the collection storage area where we keep some of our more valuable artifacts as well as things that are not on display. and as we come in, we see a philippine chest mrs. taft collected a lot of philippine items, furniture, chairs, beds, these types of things. this is a storage chest they bought while they were over there and it was one of the neater items they were able to pick up while they were there. what i have here is in photographs from some ladies in the philippines. they took some formal
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photographs here and they wrote inscriptions and gave them to mrs. taft. my dear mrs. taft, best fishes adelia paterno, manila, philippines and goes to illustrate the admiration the filipino people had for the taft family, especially mrs. taft, as she worked to make them feel integrated into greater society, make them feel equal to the other people, invited them to parties, put on musicals and those types of things, helped with their education. they really loved the tafts and to this day, we still get people coming from the philippines that have that connection with the taft family and things that they did while they were there. >> while they were courting, first lady ellen and president wilson wrote fervently to one another expressing undyeing
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love. >> here on the shelves are correspondence between woodrow and ellen, love letters really. it has to be largest collection of love letters exchanged between any future president and future first lady. in fact these letters were sealed in a trunk when the wilsons moved to prospect house in 1902 and trunk wasn't opened until 1960's. so it's a time capsule shedding extraordinary light on the wilsons' life together. woodrow is living in baltimore going to john hopkins and writes january 1894, my own darling, when you come into my study and kiss me as i sit at my desk, it is odd how this attachment of yours to me seems part of the force of my mind. oh, darling i trust it is not wrong to worship you as i do. you are the presiding genius of both my mind and heart. and in that fact con is sifts the happiness and the strength
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of your own, woodrow. i think we see in this letter the extent to which woodrow wilson not only loved ellen but acknowledged in this very, very clear way his intellectual debt to her. in how many cases can you say that, that the first lady and husband, that he is stepping forward and saying i acknowledge that you are the source of so much, not only of my happiness but of my interlech chull development. you introduced me to literature, to brownie. they would sit together on campus on cannon green in front of nassau hall and read together in the grass. he acknowledges this foundly important role that ellen plays in his life. she writes back to woodrow and says to him, how can i thank you dearest for the sweet things you say in today's letters, how happy it makes me you think such thingses to me even though i feel with a heartache how sadly unworthy i am of it all. i too trust it is not wrong to
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worship you as i do. i had to the question to be wrong to breathe. both are inevitable if i am to live at all, for i am in every breath all together your own, ellen." often she does not respond to him as exuberantly, because she is somewhat melancholy. she puts herself second to his needs again and again. she is serving him, helping him. that was her conception of her role as woodrow wilson's wife. as she is dying in the white house, that tragic summer, august 1914, the world about to enter into a great international convulsion with world war i about to break out, she is dying in the white house and she grabbed the hand of dr. grayson and whispers to him, "doctor, if
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i go away, promise me you will take good care of my husband." this was the home of woodrow and ellen wilson from 1902 to 1910. they lived here until he entered politics in 1910, becoming governor, then ran for president and became president in 1912. let's take a look inside. it is in this reception hall that ellen wilson would have greeted many guests that came to prospect, including at the time of his inaugural when she greeted mark twain right here. she greeted the son of the slain abraham lincoln, jpmorgan, and also booker t. washington. all were entertained right here by ellen wilson. this is the reception room.
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this is the grand space where ellen would have entertained people who came to the home. it could've been anyone she was entertaining, everyone from visiting foreign ministers to very significant college presidents, all the way down a freshman. she entertained 300 freshmen in this room every fall. she was the first 20th-century person to live here, and she strips away a lot of the victorian detail. she tries to make it modern, current. for example, she love the marble mantel piece from 1850 that was here, but it had decorative roses. she did not like roses. she thought they were too thick victorian, too fancy, so she had been chiseled away, keeping the mantle but chiseling off the roses. she also add the heavy details, the chair rail and the molding
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that came up the wall. all of these are original ellen wilson detail she personally supervised along with the architect. on the second floor of prospect, we are in the private family part of the house with the bedrooms all around. she would recognize these rooms. she would recognize the details. her bedroom around the corner has the original ivory door knob that she would have turned every day. it is these details that bring her very close to us. i think ellen wilson seems quite real and immediate. this is the porch of prospect house. it has been more than a 100 years since they lived here, but it is extraordinarily similar today to how it looked back then, the same beautiful view and lovely garden that ellen wilson designed and would recognize if she came back. the wilson family love to sit out here and have tea. we have records of them having long conversations on this porch, dictating everything from is kindergarten a good idea to should women be allowed to vote. they would often sit here in the
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heat of the summer underneath the veranda, the same wisteria vine growing across as was growing there in the wilsons' day. ellen wilson enjoyed the architecture of prospect tremendously, dating from 1850. it was lushly victorian. she simplified and tour out some of the details so the house could be more modern and classic. we are in prospect garden here in princeton, new jersey. his is a garden that ellen originally designed when she was the resident from 1902 to 1910. i think here we see the full expression of ellen's aesthetic vision. she is an oil painter, very competent. she knows a lot of the american impressionistic painters of the
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day. she loves to paint landscapes and as a corollary to that she lays out this beautiful garden at rossbach house. she plants the seed or trees. she plants roses and all kinds of flowers. in fact, she loves this garden so much, she hates to leave it when the wilsons enter politics and leave princeton. when ellen wilson is in the white house, she brings the white house gardener back here to this garden at the prospect house and says to the white house gardener, let's re-create the rose section of this garden at the white house. ellen wilson could look out of her bedroom window at prospect mansion, she could look down and see flowers all day. similarly, she wanted the president of the united states to be able to see roses when he looked out of his window at the white house. of course, this becomes the famous rose garden at the white house. ellen tragically does not live to see the rose garden completed. she is dying in the summer of 1914. she is wheeled out into the space outside of this, in her
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wheelchair, watching as the gardener works, but does not live to see the completion of the vision she had four roses blooming at the white house. that is a vision that really begins here at prospect garden at princeton. >> the daughter of a judge, first lady edith wilson wrote in a small rural town of virginia. >> this is the birthplace and childhood home of the edith wilson. today it looks very much like it did when they lived here from 1866 until 1899. originally, in the 1840s, this was two houses. they were joined together, which connected the upstairs home. the downstairs was used as retail space. the upstairs was the home of the bowlings. this is the original front door to the bowling home. this is where the bowling family would have entered. let me take you inside. this is the birth room of edith bolling wilson, the bedroom of her parents. she was the seventh of 11
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children, born to the bollings. she was one of over 20 family members who lived upstairs in the home. two of the most interesting pieces we have are the bolling cradle, which belonged to the family. the cradle their children would have slept in. the other piece is a child's chair we know was actually here in the home. we can just imagine all of the bolling children sitting in the chair. the cover is original and we are so happy and has not been reupholstered over the years. the us the bedroom of grandmother bolling. we know that edith as a little girl slept in the room with her grandmother. her grandmother was invalid and had back problems. she was quite spoiled by her grandmother. she was her grandmother's favorite. but along with that came the
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responsibility of being her caregiver. this is the back sleeping porch. this is where edith would gather with her family, where they would enjoy evenings together. i think one of my favorite pictures is the picture of young edith at age 13. she is actually sitting on a stool in this corner. she has her books in her lap. we are very fortunate to have this picture of her. we see what she is dressed like, we see her books, we see how her hair is fixed. we see her in a place where she was very comfortable and spent a lot of time as a young girl. this is the library of her father, judge bolling. her parents sent her to washington, d.c., to keep her away from an older gentleman that was wishing to court her. they sent her to her sister in washington. there she met and married her first husband, norman, and it really changed her life. we have a letter in this box
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from henry morgan paul, who was wanting to write a book about his experiences. so he is asking grayson if he can use certain information. he wants to use in the book the information you gave me about president wilson, and you're having come to the conclusion they should resign and how he was influenced by mrs. wilson to give up this plan. so mrs. wilson was very concerned that her husband would not get better if he did not have something to engage his mind, that he would just deteriorate if he was forced out of the presidency. while president wilson was ill, it has been speculated among historians that mrs. wilson essentially became the president. we have one document here that sheds a little bit of light on that.
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it is a telegram from henry morgan paul, the ambassador to turkey, and he is writing to dr. cary grayson, asking if the president has any objections to a citizens meeting to protest against turks being left in control of constantinople. morgenthal has been asked to speak at this meeting and he is asking permission, he does not want to embarrass the president, so he is asking for advice. at the bottom of the telegram is handwriting that is edith's handwriting. we are familiar enough with her handwriting to recognize it as such. at the bottom she writes, "thinks it well to postpone speaking on such subjects." what we don't know is, did edith take this telegram in to wilson, ask his opinion, then write that, or did she just come to that conclusion herself? the public was very interested
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and curious to know the condition of wilson's health. so there were rumors that were rampant in the papers, even congressmen did not know what was going on. they only knew what they read in the papers. after it was all over, cary grayson later wrote a summary of what happened, from the time of the stroke until wilson left the white house. on the last page, the decision was made to announce that wilson was suffering from nervous exhaustion. there were no other details given as to what was wrong with him. really, nobody knew the extent of his illness, that he really was not capable of doing anything. "i dr. grayson thought it was wise to issue general statements only. further, mrs. wilson, the president's wife, was opposed to any other course." she did not want it to be known
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that he was really suffering. again, she was protecting her husband. she wanted him to be able to fulfill his duties as president. she was worried about his legacy. she ultimately was concerned about his health, and she felt if he left the presidency, left the white house, he would just waste away and die. this is woodrow wilson's 1919 residential limousine. i imagine edith loved riding in this car. she liked the finer things. she owned a jewelry store after her first husband passed away. i imagine she relished the luxury of being transported in a car such as this. edith was very independent. she was one of the first women in d.c. to have an electric car.
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she drove around town in it. to give you a better sense of her style and fashion i can take you upstairs and show you some clothes. edith wilson was a stylish lady. she was a lady of society and she dressed the part. one of my favorite pieces -- and we have photographs of edith wearing this -- is the fox stole. it was very fashionable in the early part of the 20th century. a lot of high-society women wore this. we have another for that edith would have worn -- fur edith would have worn. another piece is this black evening dress. this is a perfect example of an evening dress that would have complemented by one of the furs that she owned.
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two very special pieces we have are two delphus gowns. these two are from the 1920's come in 1930's. it would've been after wilson passed away. these are not of the wilson period, but they did belong to edith. they look rather shapeless hanging on a hanger, but the idea was that the shoulders would've hung and just draped and kind of clone to the body -- clung to the body. from this, you can tell that edith was a large woman. broad shouldered, broad chested, rather buxom.
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from of these clothes we can tell that edith was a member of high society, a woman of fashion. she was very comfortable wearing expensive fabrics, expensive clothes. she encoded -- enjoyed going out on the armor the president wearing such gowns. >> first lady florence harding played a major role in it -- in her husband's campaign. >> all of the action took place on this very poor cheer. -- porch here. during speeches, worn would stand on the steps here. they would wave to the crowd who were parading down mount vernon avenue towards the house. this was a perfect track -- backdrop for the campaign. not only did it show the human side of the hardings, the fact they did not live in a mansion, they live in a very normal house like most of the folks coming to see him speak. they wanted to feature this town as well.
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warren himself often said that this am pain was taking main street to the white house. -- campaign was taking main street to the white house. florence was very much a part of the message. she was a visible part of the campaign. she was always near him on the front porch when he was speaking. she gave interviews herself to magazines, especially women's magazines. she alternated between being the savvy politician to being the homebody, the wife, the caretaker of the candidate. she knew how politics works. she knew the different sides of her that would have to be portrayed as part of the campaign. -- campaign in order to make his campaign successful for him. she is not afraid to wade into a crowd. she is not hanging back. she is in the line, shaking hands alongside the president. going to hundreds if not
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thousands of people. standing there as long as it takes to shake hands and greet people. we see a florence harding who knows how her husband is going to get to the white house -- through the vote. it is very important politically, but she absolutely believes in the people of the united states. >> every detail is thought-out. you put a lot of energy and a lot of time into those little things that make your house different from your neighbors. this house is really florence's house. all the things in the house -- the stained-glass windows, hardwood floors, tile around the fireplace -- that is all florence. she is bringing her influence of what she has experienced in life into this marriage, into the house. this really is a very, very personal space for them.
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this key is a very special key. it is hinged, so it fits in your pocket. it folds up. mr. hart -- it folds up, and that is neat. mr. harding carried this key for a long time. it was the key to his newspaper building, "the marion star." you cannot speak about it without bringing florence into the picture. she had the circulation department for 12 years. it was very much a joint enterprise between the two of them, certainly a sense of pride. it was something that was kind of their baby. i would like to take you into the museum on our site to other things connected to "the marion star. mrs. harding kept the books that
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the "star." this is an accounting book in her handwriting. she's keeping track of the money going in and out. warren worked the editorial side. she is running the business. she's keeping the books, running the circulation department, assembling newsboys and starts home delivery of the newspaper for the first time. so you don't have to come to the newspaper office to buy your newspaper. you can have it tossed on your front porch. also, in this case, we have the time start ash timestamp -- timestamp from "the marion star." a picture of the building at that time. that does not stand any more. florence harding at a very -- had a very business-like mine. she's a little bit out of step with other women in her time. because of that. her father was a businessman atop her about giving books and mortgages and other parts of the
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business world, things that most women would not have an interest in nor would have anyone taken time to teach them, as well. this sets her up nicely to with warren at the "marion star." he needs help keeping the place afloat. he finds it difficult to hound people to pay their bills. she does not. she does not shy away from that at all. that frees him up to do what he does best, which is the editorial process. the relationship with advertisers in town. it is a win-win situation for the newspaper at works really well for the two of them. >> after graduating from the university of vermont, future first lady grace coolidge work at a school for the deaf. it was the place where she met her husband. >> this is the school for the
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deaf where calvin and grace met for the first time. she was a teacher living in a dorm here. he was a tenant on a boarding house on the property. she lived up here in the second floor of this building. we are standing in a courtyard area. there would have been a flower garden. she would've attended to it in her free time. right beside us is were calvin: lived as a border -- calvin coolidge lived as a border. he would've stood there watching grace in the flower garden. she caught a glimpse of him standing there watching her in his undershirt. he was watching her tend the rose garden. >> we are now in grace's bedroom. the part of the room below them
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was available for them to meet up. we are now in the parlor room of the dormitory that grace coolidge lived in. in this room is where calvin and grace, when they were courting, would meet up and be able to sit and talk and have some time together. despite him being in his 30's and her in her 20's, and they had to abide by the rules of the school and needed to meet some meet somewhere where they could be chaperoned. >> plymouth notch is the birthplace and boyhood home of college who -- calvin coolidge. he was born in a little house attached to the back of the store that his father operated. when he was four, he moved across the road to the building we knew -- now know as the cool coolidge homestead. this was quite even back in the roaring 20s.
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> -- quaint even back in the roaring 20s. she loved to watch and would go down -- walk and would go down to the cemetery, especially after her son calvin junior died. she did a lot of knitting and other types of handwork was you was here. she just enjoyed the country area. she was a burlington girl, growth in the biggest town in vermont. when she was growing up her house had electricity and plumbing. when quiche -- when she came here, this is very much a country home. no electricity or plumbing in the house where she stayed with
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her husband. this is the kitchen. this is where they would've had breakfast and lunch and some suppers, too, i'm sure. there is no real dining room in the house. it is very simple. there was one running faucet in the kitchen and i was the only plumbing in the entire house. this is quite a contrast to a grace had been experiencing not only as a child growing up in burlington, which was kind of sophisticated at the time, as well as in the white house years when she had all of the modern luxuries. this is a two-hold pretty -- two-hole privy. this is not what she was used to. hearing all the reports about grace, she probably took this in good stride and regarded this as part of her experience with her husband. this is part of the bedroom set that grace and calvin used when they were here at the coolidge have instead -- homestead. it is a simple set of furniture. it is very typical of furniture circa 1870's or so.
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the rooms are small in this house and not the spacious rooms they were accustomed to at the white house, certainly. she was among the select group in the family sitting room that was witness to the swearing-in of calvin coolidge after all -- after harding died. we now know this room was the oath of office room. this is where the family gathered were president coolidge was administered the oath of office. all the furnishings in here are original. they gathered around the central table. the pen that was used to sign the documents, the lamp that with the scene, but the bible that was here but not official use in the swearing because that was not required by vermont law. grace would have stood about where i am now and there is a
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famous painting by arthur teller of the homestead inaugural. it shows the group gathered around and she is right next to calvin's side. >> let's head into the vault where we keep specific things about the coolidge family. grace coolidge's earlier life for her marriage to calvin coolidge as well as documents about her relationship with her family, specifically her sons and grandchildren. grace is not only a loving wife, she was also a loving mother. we have some wonderful correspondence. in 1922 grace wrote to the head of an academy where both of her sons were. she writes, is there a way in which we can arrange for calvin junior to have a soft oiled egg for breakfast for a time without great inconvenience? he had had a minor surgery and grace was very worried about his
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health. the other letter we have is written by calvin junior. this is written in 1924. like many songs, -- sons, he talked about his schooling, his clothes, because he was growing out of them, and traveling back to d.c. to visit his mom and dad. here is an interesting side note obviously, he forgot to put something in the letter. "send me some socks." it is sad because we see it at the last documented letter that we have before he suddenly passes away while in washington dc, less than a month later. shortly after his death, people wrote to the president and first lady in the white house sending their condolences. as was common at the time, grace
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and calvin acknowledge their sympathies by sending letters in reply thanking them for their condolences and sympathy. these letters were always ordered in black as a way of showing a were in morning. we have quite a few of those letters in our collection. grace and calvin had two sons. calvin junior was the younger. john coolidge did not die young and lived to an old age. we have a wonderful letter from john to his mother on her birthday. is a wonderful letter where it describes his love. dearest mother, just to let you know i am thinking of you on your birthday and loving you as no oil has ever loved his mother. -- boy has ever loved his mother. john and grace had a very close relationship. he never really said much about how the passing of his brother affected the family. he was very quiet on that. you can tell from the letters between john and grace until her passing -- there were letters many times a year and they were
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very, very close. whether that was increased by calvin junior's passing or not, there is no way of knowing although i would assume that is the case. >> i wish you both a very happy christmas and a bright and prosperous new year. >> it is a pleasure to greet you, mr. santa claus. and have you open the seals which begins on thanks giving day of this year. >> would you mind autographing some of the christmas seals as a special favor for santa claus? >> why, i should be delighted. it is one of the things that i do best. it is a good thing you have, santa claus. >> my father, santa claus, give it to me. >> oh! it has some of the dog's hair in it. >> grown up a tomboy, first lady lou hoover got her fondness for
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the outdoors from her father. >> the father wanted a boy, which is why we think the name lou -- it is not sure for anything, it is actually lou -- as a result of that, he takes her out. she becomes a tomboy of the era. she was had to go fish, shoot, camping. she is learning about the outdoors and loving it. this is a .22 rifle owned by lou. what i love about this is that you have this photograph. it is an early photograph of her on top of this mule looking pretty rough and tough there with a bunch of provisions. then she has this done. -- gun. very any oakley to me. -- annie oakley to me. one of her most famous essays is "independent girl.
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the interesting thing is that she is talking about being someone independent and doing her own thing, but at the end, "sooner or later she will meet a spirit equally as independent as her own. " then there is a clash of arms ending in mortal combat or they will unite and take on the world." this is her diary from 1891- 1892. she is talking about her life. one of the things she talks about a lot is her botany classes and going out hiking. she really likes to be in the outdoors. she refers here -- mrs. palmer and i were a good match for climbing. we beat the others altarpieces. -- all to pieces.
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we found a lot of flowers. lizards and frogs. all these things that are just a lot of fun to be outside in the world. as part of that class, they are also drawings that just -- drawing sketches of flowers. there are flowers and butterflies. different kinds of things. they had the latin name with them as well. it would be something lou had learned from her class. lou does not write about herself, necessarily. she writes about the experiences of her life. she is a highly educated woman at this time period. both her mom and dad created a loose, open edge here you go, if you would learn something we will encourage that and allow you to do that. she was able to do that and explore that as fully as she could. >> the first time mr. hoover came to rapid and cap -- rapid end camp, they came in on
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horseback on a horse trail and came up to the headwaters with at the river where there was 164 acres for sale sandwiched between two small streams. in those days it was five dollars an acre. for less than $1000 they purchased 164 beautiful acres here in the mountains. she was instrumental in the design of this camp. it very much shows her love of nature and her simplicity, we what she enjoyed about being outdoors. it is all wrapped up into buildings that were opposite of what they had in other aspects of their lives. they were trying to create a retreat where they could relax and get back to nature. lou wanted the house to be as much outside as possible. she had it designed where the windows would open, the panels will float down -- fold down, screens would let the air in. she could smell the outdoors smells coming through right into
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her room. she did the inside but at the same time have a feeling of being outside. the sun porch was her office and it is a beautiful room with windows around again so the light can be natural all day long. in fact, there are not any lights in there at all. no electric lights hanging from the ceiling. it is all natural semi coming in. -- sunlight coming in. she had a desk and there were she would spend hours writing letters. much of what we know about rapid and the camp -- rapid end camp comes from the letters she wrote there. many of the guests would set out here. we have lots of pictures with the hoovers and guest sitting right here on this porch. mrs. hoover love to smell the smoke of a campfire and she wanted to have that smell in camp all day long. mrs. hoover wanted her gardens to be different than what she had the white house.
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she wanted them to be very informal. in fact, she is quoted as saying she wanted them to be a little bit wild-ish. she did not want formal beds. she wanted everything out there randomly. she wanted her paths to be lined with rock so you could find your way but nothing very outstanding. she wanted it to blend in. the rock structure behind me is lou's fountain. it is a rustic fountain made out of rocks from the local area. this was a rock garden. his is what she referred to as a rocker re- -- rockery. she emphasized rocks because that was her love of geology. >> we are at the lou henry hoover house here on the campus of stanford university. it is significant because this is the primary residence of the hoovers. this was known as family headquarters and it is significant as it relates to lou hoover because she was the one
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who designed it. she worked with several architects to come up with the plans and they gave her advice. she was the driving force behind the design of the house. it was something that impressed the architects that helped her with the formal blueprints and plans. she had such a strong grasp of design and how she wanted the house to look even though she was not an architect. that was not her professional training. she was a geologist, but she had a very good sense of space and design, how she wanted the house to look. it was something that she intimately is involved in. -- was involved in. we're lucky to have a lot of the original documents and correspondence relating to the design and construction of the house. we are looking at the documentation related to the building and design of the lou henry hoover house. it is especially important because it shows how involved lou henry was in designing the house. here are some the earliest
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drawings we have from the design of the house. here we have some details about the cabinets they were going to be installing. a little footstool, here. some design details that were likely sketched by lou henry herself. a lot of lou henry's influence came from her travels in the southwest of the united states. also from her travels in north africa, which he traveled with herbert hoover, so there is definitely an influence of native cultures, non-american cultures, but also native american cultures influencing the architecture of the house. you can see here that there was an initial design for arches above the doorway. i was changed. there are definitely a lot of
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arches in the house, as well. what we have here are some floor plans of the house. they show details of the rooms. the living room, there, the terrace. you can see the rooms are designed in a way where they easily exit out into the outside, the outdoors. it is a great legacy of lou and a's because she designed the house, she created it. it was inspired by her ideas. she had very close involvement in all aspects of the house's creation. >> i am very glad that as your honorary president, is my honor to receive the support of the -- counsel. and so it is with great joy that i give to you the -- [indiscernible]
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>> encouraged by fdr, first lady eleanor roosevelt bought a residence to develop her own job ideas and later became her home after his death. >> let's go upstairs to where the bedrooms are located in we will climb a historically creaky staircase. this room here is her master bedroom. in this room, franklin roosevelt takes prime footage with the largest portrait in the room. mrs. roosevelt's that is somewhat interesting in its addiction and it shows how mrs.
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roosevelt referred her laundry to be delivered by household staff. folded and placed upon her bed. she would place it throughout the cottage. on close examination of the laundry, it reveals it is all monogrammed. we have mrs. roosevelt's monogram on the main towels. we also have nancy's monogram on some of the linens. some of the linens are jointly monogrammed with the initials e.n.n -- e.m.n. that was pretty consistent. when i look to this room, it just surprises me that a lady who was born into wealth, that married into wealth, and generated wealth in her lifetime would live in such a simple fashion. the bed is surely not an elaborate bed for a woman who was 5'11" tall. she had a simple lifestyle. it stands out. this is eleanor roosevelt's sleeping porch.
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it is a very important area here. this is where mrs. roosevelt would come in the evening at approximately 11:00 after saying good night to her guests. it was a private space for her. the little scottish terrier dog that is so famous with and roosevelt story would accompany her to this area and spend the night here with her. this is where she would sit, do some last-minute letter writing, maybe some last-minute reading, and then retire for the evening. she referred to this area as being like a tree house since it is surrounded with glass, screened in areas. she can overlook her property, the fall kill creek -- faulkhill creek, the stone outage, which was so important in the early years. this is her private space where she could get away
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connectivity's of the cottage for a short while and be with herself. when she fell in love with franklin roosevelt back in 1905 when they got married, they would move in with franklin's mother. when she fell in love with franklin roosevelt back in 1905 when they got married, they would move in with franklin's mother, sarah. she operated this estate since the year 1900, when sarah's elderly husband, mr. james roosevelt had passed away. because this was sarah's home, she made the decisions here. she also handled the finances of the family and was most definitely the matriarch of the family. this is where the family gathered for the daily mail, the
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activity of this room is important because it reflects the interaction of the family. sara roosevelt sat at the head of the table, franklin roosevelt at the upper end, and eleanor roosevelt would find whichever seat was comfortable for her. she did not have an assigned a seat at this table. this is the bedroom that franklin and eleanor shared as adults. up until 1918, when infidelity was discovered within the marriage. from that point on, mrs. roosevelt insisted on not sharing the same bed with franklin roosevelt. at that time, mrs. roosevelt chose a bed room right next to this room, and it has a doorway coming right in. this was an area where she could
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be by herself. it was a bit of a private space. the furniture in this room was used by mrs. roosevelt, one of the fear areas where she could get privacy. when they were both here, it was given they would vote here in the big house. if for some reason franklin was not at hyde park, mrs. roosevelt here on her own was spent her time a couple short miles away from the site. in this direction we have the entrance to sara delano roosevelt's room, sandwiched between sarah and her husband franklin, the same as in their lifetime she was sandwiched between franklin and his mother, sarah. the involvement of mrs. roosevelt in the political career of franklin roosevelt is right from the beginning. but she becomes much more active in her role after 1921, when franklin roosevelt contracted polio. she would encourage franklin roosevelt to continue with his political ambitions and she would join forces with political strategist.
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this was the room where their strategies were laid out. it was important because lewis howell and mrs. roosevelt did not have a real close relationship until the polio came into the story. lewis howell was with franklin roosevelt since 1910, when he started his political career. it would encourage franklin, it in a sense against the wishes of franklin's mother, sarah. sarah felt as franklin contracted polio, thinking of the resources of the family, that franklin could very easily live his life out here at springwood in the role of the gentleman estate keeper. mrs. roosevelt and howell would encourage just the opposite and motivate franklin. louis howe would be a big influence because he would tutor mrs. roosevelt and her public speaking and teach her how to
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put emphasis on certain words, how to control her very interesting voice that sometimes went high-pitched. soon, mrs. roosevelt would be comfortable with her public speaking and realize the power of that ability. some might think it was a self- serving of mrs. roosevelt, because when you think of the gentleman estate keeper, his wife would also be confined to the estate. by franklin roosevelt pursuing his political ambitions, mrs. roosevelt would enjoy a certain freedom. her tutoring relative to our public speaking was very important because very shy eleanor roosevelt was a little intimidated by public speaking. she was suddenly realize she had the ability to conquer that fear through the tutoring and she would realize the power of public speaking. and in this case, the power was that a cap franklin roosevelt's image alive to the american
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public until he addresses the democratic convention in 1924. >> good evening, ladies and gentlemen. i'm speaking to you tonight at a very serious moment in our history. the cabinet is convening and the leaders of congress are meeting with the president. the state department and army and navy officials have been with the president all afternoon. the japanese ambassador was talking to the president at the very time that japan's airships were bombing our citizens in hawaii and the philippines, sinking one of our transports loaded with lumber on its way to hawaii. by tomorrow morning, the members of congress will have a full report and be ready for action. in the meantime, we the people are already prepared for action. for months now, the knowledge that something of this kind might happen has been hanging
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over our heads. yet it seemed impossible to believe, impossible to drop the everyday things, and not preparing to meet an enemy in a matter where he strikes. that is well over now. there is no more uncertainty. we know what we have to face and we know that we are ready to face it. >> as a young woman growing up in missouri, first lady bess truman would often be paid a visit by her neighbors relative, harry truman. >> when my grandfather visited independence, 26 miles from where he lived at the time in grandview in 1910, he often stayed across the street at the nolan house, which is where his aunt and two cousins lived. one afternoon he was over there with his cousins, with the family, and his aunt brought a cake plate. that my great-grandmother, madge wallace, had given her a cake. mrs. nolan had cleaned the cake plate and was asking if anybody
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would take it back over. and my grandfather moved with what my mother once described as approaching the speed of light and grabbed the cake plate and moved over here, rang the front door in the hope, of course, that my grandmother would answer the door. and she did. and she invited him in, and that is the beginning of their formal courtship in 1910. they first met in sunday school, when my grandmother was five and my grandfather was six. they were baptists. i grandfather's family was baptists, but the first purpose carry in church -- but the first presbyterian church down the street had a good sunday school, and that is what my great- grandmother was interested in, a good sunday school. so she took grandpa over there one day to talk to the reverend. as she was talking, sunday school was in session. as she was talking to the reverend, my grandfather noticed
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this little girl sitting in sunday school class with what he described beautiful blue eyes and long golden curls. he sort of fell in love with her right then and there. as far as i know, as far as anybody knows, never looked at another woman. we are on the back porch in my grandparents home in independence, missouri. as is the way that we came in. this is weighed the family came this is the way the family came in, through the kitchen door. came into the kitchen. the first place i always headed it was back here to the pantry. and i don't see the 10, but there was always a tin in here on one of the shelves of nice round tin filled with brownies. i was made sure that was in here before i went anywhere else in the house.
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once i made sure the brownies were in the tin, the next stop had to be my grandfather's study. because whenever you came into the house, he did not meet us at the airport when he got older, but when she came into the house, you had to stop here and say hi to grandpa. this is where you found him most of the time as he was getting older and i was getting older. if i wanted to talk to grandpa, is where i looked because he was always reading. my grandmother and my mother sat in those chairs and often read in here with him. apparently my grandmother and mother always used to start fights where my grandfather would read down to the end of the page, mark is place with his finger, he and look up and tried to decide if the fight was escalating to the point where he had did get out of the room. if everything was ok, he would read down to the next page. sometimes he left, sometimes he stayed. this is the formal dining room. this is where we ate the evening meal every day. we had breakfast in the kitchen, a sandwich or something for lunch, but this is where we ate all formal dinner meals.
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my grandmother sat at that end of the table is where she sat. closest to the kitchen, i think. so if we go through here, in the center of the house, in the foyer, you'll notice that the biggest portrait in the house is that of my late mother, margaret truman daniel. she was their only child, only conceived after my grandmother suffered two miscarriages. my grandmother was 39 when she was born, so she was very precious to my grandparents and they were very close as a family unit. my grandfather kind of spoiled her. my grandmother was more of the disciplinarian. the three of them were very, very tight as a family. because she was their only child. and if we go through this way, we are in the living room. this chair is where my grandmother later in her life, this is where she did her reading. after my grandfather passed
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away, this is often where my grandmother sat. she read a murder mysteries. she loved murder mysteries. she had stacks of them on either side of the chair. she would have a stack on the side, that she had not read yet, and she had an out stack. it would be donated or put on the shelf after she read them, but this is where she spent a lot of her time. she gave a lot of those cast-off murder mysteries to my mother, who do the same thing, reading with stacks on either side of the chair, and mom, of course, eventually became a mystery writer. this painting was originally painted as my grandmother's official white house portrait. in the 1960s, lady bird johnson went looking for portraits of first ladies to hang, re-hang in the white house. she thought that was important. she looked high and low and cannot find my grandmother's official portrait. so she called my grandmother and
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said, mrs. truman, do you know where the painting is, what can i find it. the grandmother said, yeah, it's on my wall. mrs. johnson said, you really should not have that, it belongs in the white house. my grandmother said, no, that is my painting, it is on my wall, and that is where it is going to stay. i think mrs. johnson tried a couple of more times but eventually gave up. there were two copies made by the artists. one of them hangs in the truman library down the road, the other is in the white house, but those are the copies. and this is the original portrait. >> first lady mamie eisenhower's sense of style got her noticed by the fashion world. >> she often worked with one of her favorite designers for her suits and they wear outfits. this is the outfit that she wore to the formal opening of the saint lawrence seaway, where she
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and ike met prince elizabeth -- princess elizabeth and prince philip. this is a printed cotton fabric with many of the houses the eisenhowers lived in during their marriage. it also includes the five-star symbol. these are a few examples of mamie's day dresses. she was very fond of the color pink. many of the dresses are sleeveless. she'll we set her arms were ike's favorite feature, so she chose to show them off. this is a handmade dress that shows her attention to budget. this has an exceptionally long ham that she would raise and lower. jackie kennedy is well known for the little black dress. here are two examples of mamie's little black dress. mamie always said that she would never dress like a little old lady. these gowns show her love of bright colors and wild fabrics. like any high-fashion lady of the day, she loved hats.
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this is a small sampling of some in the collection. one of her favorite is honors with sally victor. no one outfit is complete without a fabulous pair of shoes. nobody knew that better than mamie. her love of fashion to not begin in the white house. this dress and undergarment from the mid-1920s shows her love of fashion. she was about 30 years old, too old to be considered a flapper, but still stylish for the day. let's look at some of the exhibits that focus on her style. mamie is well-known for her trademark hairstyle. you could even purchase fake bangs to put into your hair at all of the drugstores in the 1950s. she would regularly go to the elizabeth arden salons. elizabeth arden had one of her hair stylists create the drawing so that she could take them with her so she had to go to another stylist, her hair would always be perfect. unlike ike who grew up in a poor family of all sons, she was from a well-to-do family of all daughters.
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she attended a finishing school and we have her report card from the school in denver, colorado. while she got a b in english, she actually got a c-minus in european history and a c in french. who knew that in later years as a military wife and future first lady that she would be so well traveled and have so much to do with european history? we actually have a special passport issued to mamie. in 1945. this is when she could go join her husband ike when he was the first military commander of the u.s. occupied germany at the end of world war ii. while in germany, she actually purchased this sterling silver pin. mamie renewed her passport one more time a few years later to travel with ike.
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we have her inoculation card. this is from 1951, when he was commander of the naval forces, stationed in france. mamie loved charms. early on, ike bought her this west point football charm showing the army and navy game scores in 1913 and 1914 when ike was coach of the army football team. this calvary-themed sterling silver pendant was purchased by ike for mamie when he was stationed in the philippines working for general macarthur. mamie could not always travel with ike, but she was often on his mind. these bangles were purchased in north africa in 1943 during operation torch in the invasion of north africa during world war ii. as first lady, her military connections continued. as she christened the uss nautilus in 1954, the nautilus
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was the first nuclear-powered naval vessel and the silver sleeve of the champagne bottle that she smashed against the hull. as a military wife, she took great pride in creating a home in each of the 36 places they lived during their marriage. as a young girl, mamie was diagnosed with a heart condition. in later years, she was ordered to stay in bed three days a week. that was a little much for her, so she compromised and stayed in bed every day until noon. she was a busy lady. she would get up in the morning, do her hair, put on her makeup, then wear a lovely bed jacket and lay back in bed. while wearing the bed jackets, she would often meet with her secretary to plan the day. as first lady, she ran the white house with military precision. her schedules were often blocked
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out in five minute increments per day. we have schedules from every year that mamie was first lady. on the schedule, we see not only did she have a diplomatic dinner, but the next morning she was cutting the ribbon at the national presbyterian church bazaar. some of the things that she some of the things that she would discuss with her social secretary were of a personal nature. here she is shopping for christmas gifts for their grandchildren and notes to buy this doll for her granddaughter, susan. she was always good with figures so she wouldn't go overbudget even shopping for family budgets. >> having a keen sense of fashion, jacqueline kennedy was admired for her clothing ensembles. >> mrs. kennedy is known as a tyle icon. admiration of her fashion sense. the first ensemble that she wore as first lady, of course, was on inauguration day. this grayish color dress and