successors who owns at least especially those who did so while they occupied the white house. owned over 100 slaves holding a large percentage while he occupied the white house. he is responsible for proposing and expanding the 3/5 compromise which guarantee this out how that disproportionate influence upon congress to preserve and doubled slaveowning interests. anduncer: tyler perry california state university fullerton on the 12 american presidents who were slaveowners. for the complete american history schedule, go to c-span.org. the state department announced that a u.s. citizen held in syria has been released. department spokesperson mark toner cannot identify the american because of privacy laws he confirmed russia's

assistance. he also said the u.s. is still working to locate american journalist austin ties who went missing in 2012. >> can you say anything more than what was said in the release, specifically, what led up to it, what was the u.s. officials involvement in it, the circumstances, and where he is now? mark: i will give you what i can say. we have not confirmed the identity of this individual. we can confirm a u.s. citizen was released, but obviously, privacy considerations prevent us from commenting further on the identity of this individual. as john noted in his brief statement, we do applaud the work of our check protecting

power in syria, which helped gain access to the individual and also his release. i can say this individual was released in the last few days, just to give you a sense of the timeframe. he is no longer in syria. and, beyond that, i do not have too much else. if you have any other questions, i can try to answer what i can.

>> if he is no longer in syria, understood, but is he in u.s. government protection or custody at the moment or is he just free? >> in the u.s.? mark: i cannot say that. >> if he was released in the last few days, it is not right to say he was released today. mark: that is right. >> besides the czechs, who else participated? or the russians involved? mark: we are appreciative of the efforts in the part of the russian government that it undertook on behalf of this u.s. citizen in syria. >> just to be clear, the russians were no way involved in this detention, only involved in helping secure his release. mark: correct. >> u.s. citizens in syria. and you tell me how many are missing? mark: i do not have a precise number, but we obviously continue to work through our protecting power on behalf of

the citizens. sorry, one of those individuals is austan. we continue to work on the whereabouts and -- of him. we also take seriously a responsibility to get access to and protect other u.s. citizens who may be detained. >> you thanked the russians and the czechs, can you be any more specific about what either the russians or the czechs actually did, or how he came to get from syrian custody to outside syria? did the czechs play a role in the physical removal of him or was it just the russians? mark: obviously, the czechs would have protecting power,

provided whatever support on the ground that u.s. officials would have been able to provide or would have wanted to provide during this individual's detention. i cannot speak to the logistics. in response to your question about the russians, what was it? you are just asking -- >> i was wondering what was the progression of this individuals release from syrian custody? did he go from the russians to the czech embassy and out, or how did it work? was there any direct, u.s. syria discussion of this person? mark: other than to express appreciation for russia's assistance, i do not want to characterize their role.

i can say we have been indirect periodic contact with the syrian government. >> that means not to the czechs. mark: i cannot qualify that. i apologize. >> would you be able to describe this person as a freelance photographer? mark: i cannot speak to his identity or i'm sorry it we can confirm u.s. citizen but i cannot go beyond that in identifying. >> and fbi missing persons report about the individual identify online, are you able to confirm that? that he is no longer missing? mark: i would say that the reporting we have seen thus far is not in accurate in describing the individual release, but i

cannot really go beyond that. that is as far as i will go. i'm sorry. >> does this release mean you feel more positive? >> good question. we continue to work on the ground to get information on the welfare and whereabouts of austin. it is something we raised all the time. we cannot provide any additional details at this time. we're obviously in direct contact with his family as well as the family of any u.s. citizens detained there. >> [indiscernible] mark: without speaking to great detail about individual cases, i would say support wherever we

can get it in terms of getting the release of any americans who are held or detained in syria. >> can you talk it all about why he was detained, why this government helped him -- held him? mark: i do not have any details. >> do you believe he was improperly detained? mark: i cannot pierce sorry. i apologize. requested the syrian regime get anything? mark: no, i am not aware of that. again, we worked with assistance from the russians, but beyond that, i am not aware there was any kind of exchange in any way but we are just gratified the american was released. >> other americans, are they in the syrian regime custody?

can you be more specific? mark: i do not have any more specific details beyond that. again, in terms of austin, i think we are trying to still get information about his whereabouts. >> exactly what assistance did you get from russia? mark: i cannot. >> was it getting him out of there or was it specifically involving his release? in actually negotiating his release? mark: we have expressed our appreciation that they did play a role and i do not want to go beyond what i already said because it is really up to them to characterize. >> a special envoy for hostile fares was the lead negotiating

effort? mark: i do not believe so. i would have to check on that. i just don't know. >> you do not know who was leading the effort to secure this release? mark: i will try to get clarification. >> is it like single digits? some general sense? mark: let me see, i apologize, i mean, we have, in general, i do not have a concrete number. we are aware of reports of u.s. citizens who have gone missing in syria. obviously, we take all of those reports seriously and, as i said, try to get as much information as we can on their welfare and whereabouts. i do not have a specific number other than obviously the austan case. >> more than one? mark: yes.

quite how would it be best to describe this individual, a hostage, detainee? a detainee. he would not describe him as a hostage. mark: no. >> where he was held, or where he was released from? damascus? mark: i believe released in damascus. i do not have that level of detail. our campaign thus makes stops around the country visiting winners from the student camera competition. we visited the art institute in phoenix to present awards to winners. their classmates won second prize for their video on gender wage inequity.

for the in los angeles third prize winner. c-span dixons a things to our cable partners. every reading this month, be sure to watch one of the top entries before washington journal. next, a discussion about the state of manufacturing in the united states. from washed injured, this is 40 minutes. -- from washington journal, this is 40 minutes. joining us now is scott paul, the president of the alliance for american manufacturing. he is joining us today to discuss the state of the manufacturing sector in