announcement of the george polk awards in journalism and a panel on how reporters cover wars. at 9:00 p.m., president trump old a campaign rally in phoenix, arizona. p.m., politico 5 host a conversation about how party leaders and campaign strategist plan to engage and mobilize nonvoters ahead of the presidential election. a.m., c-span3 and not :00 army secretary ryan mccarthy and army chief of staff general james mcconnell on the army's new modernization strategy for competing against nations like russia and china. coming up in one hour, former u.s. export import bank chair and president on u.s. trade policy and his new book "trade is not a four letter word." eddie: 30, navy veteran and ceo of a rack and afghanistan, jeremy butler on issues facing

veterans of those wars. and at 9:00 a.m., national museum of american history director on women's suffrage and the 19th amendment's centennial. ♪ host: morning. it's wednesday, february 19, 2020. the democratic primary candidates will debate in las vegas and they will be joined for the first time on stage by former new york mayor michael bloomberg. president trump is offering alternative viewing in the form of a keep america great campaign rally in arizona. campaign 2020a question to begin the washington journal today. with the nevada caucuses this weekend and the south carolina primary 10 days away, we want to know what you think the role of voters of colors will be this

election cycle. phone lines, black voters (202) 748-8000. hispanic voters (202) 748-8001. all others (202) 748-8002. you can also catch up with us on wj.al media at c-span you can also send us a text message this morning. include your name and where you're from. as can start calling in now we take you to this story from the washington post. the presidential contest turns to african-american and latino voters. for some candidates that's a problem. just as more voters of color are posed -- poised to assert their say in the primary, joe biden who has been popular among latinos enters his phase as a

weakened candidate. have spotty records with weaknesses as they seek to appeal to a powerful and skeptical electorate. that's from the washington post on monday. this is joe biden on primary night in new hampshire. joe biden left that day to head to south carolina and he talked about the role of voters of color in campaign 2020. in anare moving especially important phase we haven'tuntil now heard from the african-american community. and the fastest growing segment of society the latino community. i want you to think of a number. 99.9%. that's the percentage of african-american voters who have not yet had a chance to vote in america.

one more number. 99.8. that's the chance -- number of latino voters who have not had the chance to vote. tell them, we are just getting started. our votes count, too. times you can't be the democratic nominee and you can't win a general election as a democrat unless you have overwhelming support from black and brown voters. it's a natural fact. it's true. wonthose democrats who against incumbents from jimmy carter to a guy named clinton to a guy named obama my good friend, guess what, they had overwhelming african-american support. without it nobody has ever won.

host: joe biden last week in south carolina. tonight he will be in las vegas along with the other presidential primary candidates. as they make their pitch took minority voters, president trump stepping up his own pitch to black voters and that pitch and economic one. this is president trump from an event in charlotte, north carolina earlier this month touting his records among minority groups. it's something he's been doing repeatedly. it is something he did in the state of the union address. here's vivian in fredericksburg, virginia. black motor. -- voter. caller: good morning. black people are not stupid. we've got a few that's off the rails, but they are not stupid. , he's lucky that obama

got the economy where it is. because we would be back where we were in 2008 because he didn't do anything but cut regulations and look what's happening. every time you turn around there's a recall on food. gas is up over two dollars. our medicine is higher. becauseannot retire they have messed with their retirement. i hope the few black people that are stupid, they stay stupid and the rest of us use our head because trump and nothing but a crime boss. host: who are you supporting? caller: his daughter is making millions on our dime. host: who are you supporting in the democratic primary? caller: anybody but bernie sanders his followers are just

as cultish as trump's. look at them. and i can't believe democrats are so stupid that they think they are going to get the free stuff. youraven't got free stuff whole life and you think it's going to happen now? host: vincent out of tulsa, oklahoma. maybe the south can do it again and put bernie sanders back in. what do you think bernie be on thepeal should campaign trail? caller: he's minority, he's jewish, and he's going to treat you fair. host: what do you expect to hear from him tonight? caller: he's leading. he's going to win. host: daniel is here in washington, d.c. good morning.

caller: i don't see the issues as ethnicities at all. allowingolicies like people to dump pesticides and hundreds of thousands of streams dumping pesticides in hundreds of thousands of streams. doesn't matter if it's behind it african-american's house or a caucasians house. dumping pesticides. putting pesticides back on the market that have already been found carcinogenic. developing half the protected wetlands. marshes that protect our shores are not athletic -- ethnic groups. host: why is this the biggest issue for you? caller: offshore oil and drilling. he's removing the safety features from the deepwater horizon blowout where hundreds of gallons of oil were dumped

into the gulf. host: president trump has been stepping up his pitch to minority voters. this is him from an event in charlotte, north carolina touting his economic numbers among the african-american community. >> african-american unemployment , hispanic unemployment. asian american unemployment have all reached the lowest levels in the history of our country. i say it because very importantly, african-american youth unemployment has reached its lowest level ever recorded. african-american poverty has plummeted to the lowest rate ever recorded. the best numbers we've ever had. remember i used to say, what do

you have to lose? reading off economic numbers. the worst crime numbers. worst housing ownership numbers. worst education. or 10k there were nine major factors. african-american. i said, you've been with the democrats for a hundred years. 112 to be exact. but for over 100 years and they treat you badly and they only come around two months before the election and then right after the election they say bye-bye, we will see you in two years or four years. they want your vote and then the day after the election they want you gone. that's the democrats. president trump making news yesterday on a different topic on his pardons and clemency grants that he made.

of the the front page washington post showing the 11 individuals rented clemency by the president yesterday. noting the names on the list including rod blagojevich, former new york city police commissioner. he commuted the sentences of seven convicted white-collar in cases spanning decades alongside four women whose cases were not as well-known. served eightwomen years of the 35 year sentence for her role as a minority owner of a health-care company engaged in a scheme to defraud the federal government. herher one commuted sentence. she served nearly 14 years of an 18 year sentence for allowing her apartment to be used to distribute drugs in prisons.

morning.ur calls this our topic is the role of voters of color in campaign 2020. .lack voters (202) 748-8000 hispanic voters (202) 748-8001. all others (202) 748-8002. camilla,s next out of georgia. good morning. start tearingyou down one of the highest and most respectable persons that made president. when you are destroying his character and when you see a person -- that disrespect his character, i don't have no respect for donald trump. policy,t not like his but you have to like his civility and moral character as

a husband -- and for other blacks to reach that type of plateau in our life. now donald trump is doing is bringing it back to jefferson davis days where he was president of the white south. host: with your interest in civility and moral character, who personifies that in the democratic primary? is that where you're going to find your candidate? caller: every one of them. you would want your son or daughter to emulate instead of donald trump. with thisto be real here. face reality.

thing became an emulation of our children and society to respect one another. host: dayton, ohio. your next. -- you are next. caller: i'm for bernie sanders. the establishment really doesn't want him. i'm for universal health care for all and schooling for preschool all the way through college. it's an investment in the community. i'm understanding that a lot of people don't understand taxes. we pay for everything. we the people. know the not constitution. i'm really surprised. this ideaow where

comes from or who is promoting this. we are just going to give health .are to little people we are going to go over the cliff of health care for all people. what's wrong with that? is our money. taxpayer money. that's what i'm getting at. where does the idea come from that -- do my people understand states the whole united taxpayers pay the money. host: a few of your comments via text message and twitter. this is roseanne in san diego. i'm looking to black and hispanic voters to save -- carolina, 2020in vote is what kenneth says.

charles in south san francisco says the role of the 2020 elections is to vote like your future depends on it. this from glenn on twitter. voters of color like myself will only impact the dnc presidential nomination. i have no intention of participating in the general sanders.unless bernie importance ofthe minority voters in 2020. >> in order to win in november we will have to have strong latino from the community, asian community and native american community. we cannot take these communities for granted anymore and my campaign is successfully working to earn their support every single day. sanders inwas bernie las vegas from over the weekend. where the latest on

national polling stands. this latest poll finding bernie sanders has sole possession of the lead in the democratic candidatesh four essentially tied for second place. mr. sanders at 27% among the democratic primary candidates. michael bloomberg at 14%. elizabeth at 14%. pete buttigieg stacked up there. klobuchar atnd amy 7%. of the stories today focusing on amy klobuchar and her momentum coming out of the new hampshire primary. noting that she struggles to connect with african-american voters and black activists say she has made little effort.

-- asked a former democratic official for a list of like churches. -- black churches. activist posted that if she wants black votes she has to talk to black people. about the role of voters of color in 2020. we have a phone line for black voters (202) 748-8000. (202) 748-8001(202) 748-8001 hispanic voters. all others (202) 748-8002. caller: good morning. just wanted to chime in on the sure thatmake everybody out there votes and remembers what trump said about african countries and what biden

iraq andart the war in make sure that you understand the policies that are being espoused by bernie sanders and pete buttigieg. amy klobuchar probably, i don't think she's going to make it. don't accept too easily the that people try to categorize you by because that's kind of like defeating the purpose. we are not here in this country to live up to anybody else's standards but our own. host: are bernie sanders and pete buttigieg your candidates in this race? caller: i'm a realist and i think they are probably the ones

pretty much ahead in this horserace. host: what are the policies they espouse that appeal to you? everybody is quick to care forhe free health all. freehat it's going to give stuff to everybody like the one caller said. not going to have to pay these high insurance rates. your taxes may go up a little but you have to weigh that with the drop in insurance rates that you are going to have to pay. a short phone call isn't enough to describe it unless you have a prepared speech. i don't have a prepared speech. you have to dig into what they are saying.

buttigieg, you have to dig into his past. i'm not saying one is better than the other but i do have a those two buten that's not important. what's important is for people to do their homework. host: this chart from the pew research center takes a look at the latino share of the u.s. mostorate through the recent presidential elections and the midterms as well. in 2016 the latino share of the 11.9%.ectorate was projected to be 13.3% of the electorate. that compares to the latino share of the u.s. electorate the 2000t 7.4% in

presidential elections. one more chart from the pew research center. at the top look states for latino eligible voters. new mexico has the highest percentage followed by california at early percent. texas at 30 percent. arizona at 24%. reminder of the schedule coming up for the democratic primary. placevada caucuses taking this saturday. then we are off and running towards super tuesday the following tuesday. sharon and indiana. you are next. good morning. goesr: i hope everybody out and votes because i want to get rid of trump as much as everybody else does. up to the better wake fact about bernie sanders.

because the republicans are all voting for him. that's why he's taking such a big surge in the polls. let's be realistic. how's he going to pay for all that stuff? and he has to change the senate to do anything. unless they get rid of mitch mcconnell, they are dead in the water. host: in the new hampshire primaries, republicans are not allowed to vote in the democratic primary. those unaffiliated voters in new hampshire were allowed to pick which primary they wanted to participate in. carolina primary is an open primary. there are stories about republicans planning to participate. caller: yes there is. because i heard hugh hewitt say it on tv. and you can see where he took a big surge in the polls. because they want to run against

bernie and i don't think he can win. indiana.t's sharon in , kansas, goodcity morning. caller: i think that you are trying to divide us again by role of voters of color. of this is going to divide us even more and the black voters and the hispanic voters are great and they are great people but they are misinformed about bernie sanders. he will lose 40 states if he runs against president trump. bloomberg is going to buy the nomination. bernie is going to fold again and i hope bernie's voters will have enough sense to vote for president trump this time. thank you. host: this is maria on the line for black voters.

not voting anymore. i've never seen a good economy. i'm 50 years old. my mother is 82. really i don't care who gets it. i don't see much change at all. i'm just not going to vote in america. they are not right. host: when was the last time you didn't vote? caller: the last time i voted was for stacey abrams as governor. president i voted for was president obama and i wouldn't vote for him if he was running again. none of them are right. there's too much people suffering. i can't deal with america. i tried. i'm done.

host: what is someone who feels like you to do? >> we tried. we got into the system working hard and getting stressed out. i've never seen a good economy. never ever. i'm done. will here in washington, d.c. on the line for black voters. caller: good morning. i just want to say as a person ,f color here in the district keep them accountable to their track record. i can't forget how many times empty promises are coming. i definitely think it's an

opportunity we've had in this country. incarceration rates are going up and i think all the presidential .andidates host: were you listening to the caller before you? caller: yes i was. i know aheartened but lot of people that are in the same situation. i feel very fortunate to come from a family of educated individuals. for the average joe things aren't going very well. high poverty rates, high incarceration rates, joblessness. i think when you talk about the strong economies we really must think about how that affects certain communities who are disadvantaged. i definitely see some of these talking points all the candidates having the same empty

promises we've had since the late 80's. host: for somebody like that caller who said i'm done, what gives you hope to keep participating in the system? caller: i have hope because i want children. grandparentser and being part of the civil rights movement and i think we need to get back to basics. the strongest thing to do is pool our numbers because we know how all the groups are doing. i think we as black people have -- theto the point strongest signal community voice in my community is the church. everything else but the average person.

those are my thoughts. voters (202) 748-8000. hispanic voters& (202) 748-8001. .ll others (202) 748-8002 just a reminder of the massive amount of states that are voting on super tuesday on march 3. alabama, american samoa, arkansas, california, colorado. north carolina, oklahoma, tennessee, texas, utah, vermont and virginia. about 13 days up from now. carmen is next from alexandria, virginia. caller: good morning.

i think that it's really important for people of color to vote. i think as hispanic voters we of actions ondful previous candidates that the current candidates have had in their previous political histories particularly towards people of color. i know that on the democratic ballot pete buttigieg is being hoisted up but his actions as people haves black been terrible in my opinion. and an action against the black community is just as equal as the hispanic community. candidatee only running right now that's been actively keeping in mind or about the issues

of people of color is bernie sanders. a woman earlier who said she would vote for any democratic person except for bernie sanders because his voters have the same cult of personality or cultish following as trump does. i think that is in a way true but is actually a good thing. the following that trump has his so strong and it's filled with misinformation that there needs to be a strong following if there's going to be a democratic candidate that's going to beat him it's going to have to be somebody that has something similar to that. aboutyou were talking past actions of michael bloomberg getting a lot of attention this week especially in states with large minority populations.

about his comments on the past and support of stop and frisk. not just stop and frisk. his comments on redlining. 2008 bubble was a direct result of getting rid of redlining. wea sense saying that if weren't allowing poor people of color to get loans then we wouldn't have had this inflation in the economy that led to the crash. it's ridiculous. it's terrible. how are you going to run for president when you can't support all americans? host: michael bloomberg in virginia over the weekend. this is what he had to say.

>> while many of the ways we , wed to reduce gun violence did reduce murders by 50% in new york city. i deeply regret the abuse of a police practice called stop and frisk and i've gotten a lot of grief for it lately but i defended it for too long. because i didn't fully understand the unintentional pain it caused young black and brown kids and their families. i should have acted sooner and i should have stopped it and i didn't and i apologize for that. sometimes you just make a mistake and i think a sign of leadership is standing up and saying so and just learning and doing it better. i spent a lot of time with black leaders and community members. stories andheir i've learned from them and grown from them.

will make it clear as president of the united states i will work to dismantle systems by bias and discrimination. i will put this work at the very top of my agenda. host: mike bloomberg in virginia over the weekend. one of those states set to vote on super tuesday. the focusoomberg also of several beds this morning. some of the major papers ahead of his first debate appearance in the presidential primaries. mr. bloomberg on stage finally. his presence in the debate will be good for the democrats in the from the hometown paper, the new york times. you've seen the ads, now see the candidates. come soas a candidate

far while revealing so little about himself. he declined the invitation by the new york times editorial board to participate in their endorsement process. they note back to his days in new york politics he participated in at least eight baits. he tended to come prepared, data at hand although he could be prickly and awkward at times. his last turn on the debate stage was 11 years ago back in 2009. debate in las vegas starting at 9:00 p.m. and it happens at the same time as president trump's keep america great rally in phoenix, arizona. we will be showing that rally on c-span. the web atch it on c-span.org. you can listen to it on the free c-span radio app.

later this morning on the washington journal, in about an hour and a half we will continue day three of our ongoing series looking at d.c. area museums highlighting collections that explore the american story on this third stop of our visit. we will head to the smithsonian national museum of american history. ,e will talk with anthea hartig director of the museum about the centennial of the 19th amendment and women's right to vote in about an hour and a half here on the washington journal. we are asking about the role of voters of color in campaign 2020. .lack voters (202) 748-8000 hispanic voters (202) 748-8001. all others (202) 748-8002.

james, hispanic voter out of minnesota. platform.esome i just want everybody to do your research and homework. read everything. so call the knowledge in. don't be biased. just open your mind. we've got great candidates. sanders.ernie has great policies and great .ntentions everybody has great intentions. host: can you talk about your home state senator amy klobuchar? she is looking to capitalize on

her momentum. your thoughts on that? caller: as far as my perspective here in minnesota there's not really a lot of momentum. has good following as far as minnesota goes. personally there's not a lot of tension for amy. host: do you think it's time for her to drop out? she's losing momentum. i will tell you that much. host: why do you think she's losing momentum after the

unexpected finish in new hampshire? caller: unexpected. she didn't really have that advantage or able to win. for you to say unexpected -- go theredidn't to win. i just want to let everybody know please keep an open mind and just vote. we have power. use your knowledge. .e are all human beings we all want to live a great life. whoever is in power, just be a

good person and do the right thing. that's all i can say. taking care hard, of your families and love each other. host: a few more tweets and text messages. this from alton on twitter. another electoral college victory may slam the door shut on the notion that people of color will save the democrats this fall. from kevin and marilyn, trump support among black voters is surging. kathleen says democrats have a lot of nerve asking black americans for their vote. want to hear from you especially on our phone lines. this is eunice in hempstead, new york. good morning. caller: good morning.

aboutd just like to talk the black voters. out and vote, you need to go out and vote. and most important, we had black history and lyndon b. johnson signed the civil rights bill. and the black people in the united states do not remember that on black history. very think voting is important. i vote in every election that i can. in my home, school voting. anything. i go out and vote. the most important is to be nice to each other and get rid of hatred. hope what gives you especially after we heard from a caller who said i'm done voting, it doesn't make a difference. >> don't be done voting because voting is very powerful.

you should vote because it's not about you. it's about the ones that's coming behind you. we should learn how to vote. just don't jump up and run out and vote for anybody. learn about that person as much as you can and then cast your vote. host: this is bill out of north carolina. dylan, not bill. host: go ahead. you are on the air. caller: i called in because i really want people listening on c-span right now to really bloomberg is leading in florida right now.

and bernie sanders will not win the nomination. biden at the beginning of the upe people were propping him saying that he was going to win the nomination easily. now we've got pete buttigieg with one more delegate than bernie sanders. we've got pete buttigieg and all .he bernie burroughs -- bros andn came in fourth in iowa fifth in new hampshire. he's not going to win anywhere close to south carolina and the polls on real clear politics show bloomberg ahead of biden. tot: do you think it's going be a bloomberg-trump general election? caller: it's dylan, not bill. host: go ahead.

caller: bloomberg can spend $30 million a day until election day and still have $50 billion left. biden will not win the nomination. they are going to snub bernie. a my mind it will be bloomberg-trump 2020 election and trump is going to win in a landslide 40 plus states and i'm really here for it. he's going to have the easiest election since ronald reagan. host: baby is next -- bb is next on the line for black voters. caller: morning. thank you. like whichying is racist is better, the republican or the democrat?

they put a black person in the front and once the election is , it's in the back burner. what i'm saying is they remember black people whenever election. it doesn't matter whether it's republican or democrat. so now when we talk about bloomberg and trump, which racist is better? they both know how they feel about black people. so that's what i'm saying. everybody's talking about the black people. host: does michael bloomberg support for that policy concern you? >> yes.

you know the person when they are in power. when he was in power, we know how he thinks. in the same thing with trump. he's not hiding it. it's just unbelievable now people believe that they will change. they will never change. i think i will vote for biden. bb in alexandria, virginia. stop and frisk and a lot of attention considering mike bloomberg's background as mayor. it also got a lot of attention in the 2016 election. from one of the 2016 debates. the stopump defendant

and frisk policy. >> when it comes to stop and frisk, you are talking about taking guns away. i'm talking about taking guns away from gangs and people that use them. i really don't think you disagree on this. maybe there a political reason why you can't say it. 2200 murders and stop and frisk brought it down to 500 murders. that's a lot of murders. from 2200 to 500 and it was continued on by mayor bloomberg and it was terminated by our current mayor. but stop and frisk had a tremendous impact on the safety of new york city. tremendous beyond belief. when you say it has no impact, it really did. it had a very big impact. host: donald trump in 2016.

we are asking the role of voters of color in campaign 2020. black voters (202) 748-8000. hispanic voters (202) 748-8001. all others (202) 748-8002. james on the line from all others in georgia. good morning. caller: good morning. ahead james. caller: i think it's pretty horrible that every four years all we hear from the media is republicans are racist and trying to turn minorities toward the democratic vote. it's not true. a supporter of republicans for a long time and the only time we hear anything about racism and the country gets divided is at election time. issue, i lived in chicago.

i was born there. democrat doeen a anything good for communities chicago, new york, baltimore. the whole state of california. as far as bernie sanders is the plan to give everybody free health care and , that money has to come from somewhere. it's got to come from us. that's why bernie has never won a primary. the dnc themselves won't allow it. they would lose most of their support if they allowed socialism to run rampant in this country. we can't allow it to happen. host: in hanover, maryland on the line for hispanic voters. good morning.

you for c-span forgiving people of all different narratives to give their viewpoint it i'm a hispanic. i group in south florida. the rest oft from the latinos. i'm puerto rican and i grew up with cubans, nicaraguans, colombians. a lot of people that left a lot of governments that were leaning towards a certain ideology and also my wife is from venezuela. this is going to be her first election voting in the u.s. and she compares a lot of what the democrats are promising in terms of rhetoric and ideology to what hugo chavez did in venezuela. it is very compares similar to what they promised. i think when it comes down to it it comes down to values and ideology for us as a family and of course we are first-generation immigrants so we have that memory very fresh

as to what we left. i don't think the u.s. needs that sort of ideological change toward a certain side. that's our viewpoint from a venezuelan and puerto rican first-generation immigrants. host: what are your thoughts on the pitch president trump is making to minority voters to all americans in this election cycle? caller: that's a great question. i think what my wife would say is that he's doing a lot more for venezuela than any previous administration. it's been pointed out by several political pundits that the previous administration kind of saw venezuela as something things happening over there. it's in your backyard. it's a two hour flight from miami down to venezuela in your

hemisphere and the way that country has been overrun by our adversaries. russia, china, cuba, iran. they have proxies there and they set a foothold where it's really hard for the u.s. to have any influence over the region. from my perspective i think a lot of what he's done is something that i haven't seen in my lifetime. i'm 35 and i voted in all the elections. grew up in a very liberal part of south florida but i somehow find my way to the republican side of politics. moderate republican. i'm not an extreme right republican. i think he's done a lot more for hispanics that aren't generally focused on immigration. if your focus is immigration of course you are going to think this president hasn't done anything for you. floridians, our

focus isn't immigration. it's what's happening in the countries that are explicit to the immigration issue. he speaks to a lot of hispanics that aren't focused exclusively on immigration. host: ranks for the call. ronnie is next out of alfalfa, georgia on the line for black voters. >> good morning. i'm pushing towards biden. we don't need that free stuff. we need health care, education. in georgia we are behind in education. on our publicused schools more than private schools. we need to vet our teachers. when i look into health care, education, retired veteran.

a lot of focus is not being done. they are hitting the points but not getting all the points. all of them have a lot. they have good ideas. but they need to combine those ideas. they are not doing it. bloomberg, he did something wrong. stop and frisk was entirely wrong. point toat the apologize. trump went along with his policies. those black males in new york city that he ran that full-page but yet he has still yet apologized. going trump, when are you to do your apology to that rube of african-american men that you say was guilty? host: you mention you're a veteran, and about 35 minutes we

will be joined by jeremy butler, ceo of the iraq & afghanistan veterans of america. this headlineunce off of you from the wall street journal. you said you liked joe biden. the headline noting joe biden's black voter support showing some signs of strain. the x vice president has seen his standing and carolina polls with voters saying they may switch support. caller: all of them have flaws. we need to take all the information that we have on each one of them and sit down and grind out who would be the best person to defeat donald trump. that's what we need to do. everyone has some stuff in their closet. take theers need to time to vet each and every one

of them in their own heart. i want to say something about the black voter female. don't give up on voting, ma'am because a lot of people suffered and died to make sure you have the right to vote. that man who said there was no racism, i don't know what world he's living in. it's ridiculous. i will say one more thing on trump. to ask trumpdy when he's at his rallies that he's putting out there, where are those ties made at? the united states of america? president from holding another keep america great again rally tonight in phoenix, arizona. the same time as the democratic primary debate tonight. you can watch the presidents rally here on c-span, listen to

it on the free c-span radio app and watch it at c-span.org. coming back to that wall street journal story about joe biden's support in the african-american community, there has not been a lot of bowling in south carolina east carolina to university survey conducted showing biden leading the field among black south carolina likely voters. another poll was conducted in which joe biden's black support fell to 36%. during that timeframe bernie sanders saw his support double from 10% to 20% after new hampshire. this point a at week old and we are just days away from the nevada caucuses. roberto is next out of houston, texas. caller: morning.

i'm an independent. i can see the good side and the bad for the republicans and the democrats. fori will definitely vote lunenburg. the american dream personified. he's a self-made man. i think he's an excellent role model for us. just the opposite is our president. he did not make his millions. his dad made the millions. and he's the american dream turned nightmare. i definitely will be voting for bloomberg and i will not vote for sanders. two socialist. too much. those are my views. president,ing of the one of the lead stories in several of the national papers focusing on his top law officer.nt the washington post reports that considering -- officials

was sharing his that he should stop weighing in on criminal investigations. he has his limit, said one person familiar with him speaking. spokespersontment declined initially to comment. after the article appear online that spokesperson said addressing the beltway rumors some of the attorney general has no plans to resign. president trump's very high-profile pardoning's yesterday. his commutations. he weighed in on his ability to do so yesterday saying he has the right to shape the country's legal system as he sees fit.

presidentit of trump's comments when he spoke to voters yesterday. >> i just pardoned bernie has any a man who recommendations from a lot of good people. often times much all the time, i rely on the recommendations of people that know them. have mike milken who's done an incredible job for the world with all of his research on cancer. he suffered greatly. he paid a big price. paid a very tough price. but he's done an incredible job. these are all people that you have to see the recommendations. >> are you planning to pardon roger stone? >> i haven't given it any thought. he's going through a process. but i think he's been treated very unfairly.

host: that's going to do it for this first segment of the washington journal today. plenty more. we will be joined by u.s. import export bank president fred hochberg to talk about his new book, trade is not a four-letter word. veteran jeremy area museums. dc smithsonianfrom the museum of american history where hartig inth anthea the 19th amendment. we will be right back. >> during this election season, candidates beyond talking points only revealed over time but

since you cannot be everywhere, there is c-span. campaign 2020 programming differs reason -- it is c-span. we have brought you your unfiltered view of government every day since 1979 and we bring it to you this november. in other words, your future. this election season, go deep, direct and unfiltered. the biggest picture, see it for yourself and make up your own mind. brought toaign 2020, you as a public service by your television provider. >> students from across the country told us the most important issues for the presidential candidates to address our climate change -- rights,ate change, gun mental health. we are awarding $100,000 in

total cash prizes. the winners for this competition will be announced march 11. >> washington journal continued. host: fred hochberg joins us now, the former president of the export/import thank of the united states -- bank of the united states. why did you pick the title for your first book? guest: you are very kind to assume there will be more to come. could be a series. i spent eight years working for president obama, promoting trade and financing small and large businesses and sold businesses overseas. the tenure around trade got mixed up with exporting, outsourcing on a negative path. i did not understand.

it has been one of the great strengths of our country, the open market. my family came to this country in 1937 as immigrants and traded with the rest of the world. that is what prompted the title. i was teaching a class at university, harvard and in chicago and thought, how will i get students interested? that will be a way of getting their attention. host: you don't think trade has improved much, the tenure, and the trump administration? guest: the most important changes are it took trade from the back section of the newspaper and put it on the front page of usa today. it made trade a more central issue. donald trump has tried to define his presidency around issues on trade versus perhaps also including climate, immigration or equality and other issues

that have often been influence on administrations. host: the biggest misperceptions americans have right now on the issue of trade? continually, that the chinese are paying the tariffs. these tariffs are being paid by the united states. that is being paid by citizens when they go shopping. some companies are able to absorb tariffs and not pass them on and it is hurting prophets -- their profits. run to $1000 per household, being impacted by these tariffs. we pay them. we have two bailout -- we had to bailout the agriculture industry at twice the level of the auto bailout. we had all this concern. now we have double the level.

host: how much do you think our discussions for politics right now about trade have been continuedy nafta and concern about nafta, how nafta has played in current political debates? is statest of that that had impact from nafta -- ohio, michigan, pennsylvania, wisconsin -- also, not surprisingly, battleground states every 4 years and that has cap nafta more in the national conversation as a result. we have done a better job as a country. benefits of trade are spread far and wide. pain, or losers of trade, highly concentrated, the states i mentioned bore the brunt of it. we did not do a good job of a country of finding a way to

support them. lives were disrupted, communities were hollowed out. families and communities got ripped apart and we did not put enough effort into supporting them and helping them get back on their feet. host: fred hochberg word:e is not a 4 letter how six everyday product make the case for trade" viewers can call in if you want to talk trade. eastern or central time zones 8000, mountain or pacific time zones, (202)-748- 8001. longest-serving chair of the export-import bank. how do you do it? guest: quick history.

started 1934, fdr. roosevelt realized to support more jobs, one way to do that is to export more goods and services. financing anddes financial support to companies so they can export goods overseas. why? two reasons. one, banks are often uncomfortable lending to accompany doing business abroad. other there are 100 export-import banks around the world. china has four. if we want to go toe to to with competitors, china, korea, france, britain, japan, we need to arm our exporters the way they have armed there's. host: eight years. guest: the longest-serving chairman. host: how did you become the

longest-serving chairman? do people not usually stay in that position for two terms of a president? guest: it is unusual. bybecame a target of attack the freedom caucus so as a result it became very challenging. the republicans, a section of , weblicans, not all ultimately got a majority in the house, but the freedom coffins was able to stall there -- the freedom caucus was able to stall for five months. no new loans, no new insurance. i assume he thought i was doing a good job, he wanted to keep a steady hand to make sure we got through that. host: fred hochberg with us until 8:30 a.m. eastern, taking your phone calls. phone lines split up regionally

and throughout the segment we will dive more into his book. rita, freehold, new jersey. caller: good morning. my question, sir, about trade, basically our farmers getting all this corporate welfare from our government and our debt is so extremely high under this administration, what are we with to do about china this coronavirus and since we import from them so much -- i am so concerned -- my family now, we are preparing, the older generation is preparing our younger generation to be prepared for the crash. we know the economy is going to crash because of this coronavirus.

how are we going to protect our farmers when they cannot sell their goods? because we are taking so much from china. now that they are down, basically, what is your suggestion that we do here? host: thanks. guest: three or four questions in there. number one, i put this in the book, it is why a trade war was a bad idea. war,roblem, as with any but not as bad as a real war, it is hard to de-escalate and get out of. pinchade war had a huge on american farmers and has really hurt them dramatically. that is why we have had to bail them out. trade war is about idea. we should find a way to move beyond and work with other leads to encourage and china to better behavior. coronavirus is a tragedy. this morning, 2000 people have

died, as of this morning. the infection rate is declining. . 75,000 people infected. we are very interconnected. trade, health, environment. we cannot build a moat around america as people did in the middle ages and think we can protect ourselves. we have to find ways we can thoughtfully and safely engage in trade, health and the environment. host: lakeland, florida, john. usmca, the president said farmers will export milk to canada. well, how does that work? the exchange rate. canadians pay 25% more dollar versus canadian dollar? also, currency exchange is a trade war.

when you prohibit from another country because your dollar is lower than the other country, you will not import from another country because it costs more. thank you. guest: thank you. currency is a key issue. currency rates flow. that is a factor, how much we import and export. when the dollar gets high, we tend to export less because it cost more money to buy u.s. goods. that is always a factor going back and forth between trading nations, whether milk or other things. on the milk front, there have been restrictions globally, not just in the u.s., on agriculture imports and exports. eu, countries, u.s., others, certainly japan, have

been very protective of the farm community. hurtsy, to be honest, it consumers the most and farmers in poor countries. that is something many people have been trying to fix for a long time. it is very hard to fix. farmers are important constituency and governments have been afraid. host: the subtitle of your book, how six everyday objects make the case for trade, we will put those on the screen so viewers can see. iphone,ad, banana, classic american car, college degrees and the hbo series, game of thrones. start with that last one for us. guest: game of thrones. i chose six products to make the case for trade and how trade is integrated in our life. broadcastrones, was,

in 170 countries, generated millions of dollars of revenue for hbo. to make that series required actors, technicians, musicians from around the world, traveling around the world to film and produce it. his is often forgotten entertainment is one of our biggest tradable items. we export over $200 billion worth. partly, if you listen to president trump, we talk about cars, airplanes, heavy equipment, soybeans. what we should be talking about, we should also talk about, one of the things we do so well in this country, services, entertainment, financial and legal services, architecture, design. these are key exports. they are what people look to in america, whether it is brands

like coca-cola or levi's or american movies. that is important. it creates high-paying jobs. it cannot be ignored. host: what can we learn from the common banana? or as you put it, the $10 banana? if we were to start a trade war -- right now banana scum from five countries in fromal -- our bananas, five countries in central and south america. they could retaliate, reduce the amount of bananas, ship them elsewhere and all of a sudden, bananas, the most common fruit consumed by americans, we eat 27 pounds of them. , a lot of bananas, they could start restricting them. instead of bananas costing $.19 at trader joe's, they might go up to $10 theoretically.

chain for our food many countries and from many countries and the banana is an example. another one is avocado. before nafta, there was not a lot of trade, fruits and vegetables between u.s. and mexico. avocados are featured in the taco bowl. consumed it was hardly 25 years ago in this country. today, we consume more avocados than cherries, pears, asparagus. we consume so many avocados we now import 85% of them because our hunger for them is so great. as recently as the super bowl, we smashed estimated 140 million pounds of avocados in guacamole. host: if this segment has not made you hungry already, we will go another 15 minutes. stephanie, highland, california. caller: good morning.

let's be clear. nafta has hollowed out the middle class. it is no way to spend it. it has been a disaster for the u.s. in the middle class. we don't want bananas and avocados. we can grow our own here and create jobs here. free-trade is not the answer. wasn't the answer. statistics have shown we have lost on free-trade, united states, american citizens, the middle class. there is no way to spin it. everyone is into revisionary history. i have seen it in my lifetime. i am 55. i have seen what nafta has done. i know what they said it would do, what it wouldn't do and it has done everything they said it would not do. we lost jobs, people lost homes.

let's be clear. makingain someone from $30 per hour to going into the service industry where you're getting paid $15, is not the key. host: stephanie, california. guest: a lot of things in that question, stephanie. nafta, go back for a minute. trade deals, whether nafta, usmca, transpacific partnership, they are never about jobs. jobs does not appear in the language. they are about, how do we trade between countries? what are the labor standards? how do we resolve disputes? how do we protect intellectual property or copyrights? environmental concerns. what nafta set up to do was accomplished. many people did get hurt, badly hurt and as a country, we did

not do a good enough job of acknowledging that and planning for it and helping to train people. by the way, every service job does not pay $15 per hour. game of thrones, entertainment, those kind of fields, every average pay is $90,000. justiceman named rusty in kentucky, putting this book together, coalminer, he trained them and has a small company now doing coding, computer coding. will that work in every community? now. . we have a number of experiments. there are innovative programs in rhode island, to make sure we re-train and re-equip people for a new economy. global trade is not going away. we have to find a way to face it and make sure it works for america. host: twitter tweeting about food.

avocado used to be a great lunch. keto, notblame guacamole. i can live without bananas or avocados, i will just eat other food. not a big deal. jack, fairfax county, virginia. caller: good morning. well-known we owed china billions of dollars in debt. i heard a report once, they called in their debt, got their debt back from us, that we would be in like a financial disaster and yet trump deals with the chinese like he is going to do this and that but how can you owe someone so much money and threatened them with trade tariffs? them with trade

tariffs? guest: very good question. we are connected, whether we realize it or not. today it was reported the supply of apple phones coming to america maybe slow down because of the coronavirus. whether it is health, environment or trade, we are highly interconnected. our debt, yes, a lot is held by the chinese or americans, let's be clear. china is one of the biggest holders outside of the u.s.. by the way, one of the reasons they hold debt is we let them buy stocks and other equity. if china wants to have investment in u.s. dollars, we have sort of push them into our debt instead of letting them easily by stocks in publicly traded companies. the root of what you are saying is, we need to be strong with china, goto tinto with them -- them. to toe with

host: on tariffs, there is a question we occasionally get on this program -- where did they go after they are collected? do they just go into the federal government's checking account? another place? are they used for something specific? guest: tariffs are tax revenue. just like when your weekly paycheck, part of that goes to the government or on april 15 when you file taxes, tariffs are paid by the importer, when they bring the goods in, they have to pay that tariff to the internal revenue service and it goes to taxes. we have used some of that money to bail out the farmers particularly hurt. we collect from all-americans and send it to farmers. host: randall, stevensville, texas. caller: good morning, mr.

hochberg. i look forward to reading your book. my brother and i wrote a book called, faction free democracy. he actually wrote it. i want to compare notes. i am not here to blame. i am here to get along. i am 68. i don't want to play chess with putin and the guys. i want to assemble the pieces. in the course of talking with you -- the avocado. i did a story about the increase in importation on avocado, the drought exists in california. admitting, the trees are dying. that is what you call environmental, right?

mentor was hugh wolf, of wolf nurseries, famous at the university of texas, played on the world championship new york giants, and we were in the department of science, big time 1967. greta thunberg, bless her heart. host: we are running out of time, randall. caller: i'm sorry. i forgot. is, he said 1934, your bank was started, fdr, douglas supreme court justice, started the fcc and the glass-steagall act ok? host: all right, that is randall out of texas. he talked about climate change,

mentioning greta thunberg, a champion on fighting climate change around the world. the impact future? guest: i think, whether it is climate or more currently, the coronavirus, climate is having a big impact on farmers, what they can grow, where they can grow, what the growing seasons are, and that will have a huge impact on trade. 25% agriculture we produce in this country, we export. exporting is important. it will change what farmers can grow and where they can sell it. that is a huge factor. one other small factor. a terrible outbreak of disease among pigs. a quarter of the global pig population has died. half of the pig population in china has died, where a lot of the soybeans go.

health, environment and trade issues are all wrapped into one. you cannot pull them apart. host: peter, ridgefield park, new jersey. caller: good morning. what was the guest's previous employment before head of the export-import bank. come from then, i tax dollar sector, totally fossilized along with multiple other industries, you know, everyone looks at gdp, thinking, one day it will get to 4% when it is averaging 1.5%. our gdp will never go past 2% in my eyes if we do not have a more versatile balanced economy with manufacturing than just solely relying on service sector to support our economy.

thanks. host: thank you. guest: well, manufacturing is critically important. the real differences, and i saw this firsthand when i chaired the bank, manufacturing requires less and less actual labor to produce products. we are producing as much as we did 30 years ago with roughly half employees. ex-im.his at the number of employees needed to export $1 million worth of goods is less today than it was 10 years ago. that is a good thing. automation and ai will make products faster, cheaper and more competitive globally. it also will require less actual labor to produce. part of that, by the way, because, you know when i was growing up, we had cars that were lemons.

with better manufacturing technology and techniques, there are less rejects. if you have less rejects, you produce more goods with fewer people. host: and what you did before the bank? guest: sorry, yes, the first 20 years of my life i ran a company called lily and vernon, started by my mother, lily, direct marketing catalog, like l.l. bean or a precursor to amazon. i worked for president clinton at the small business administration, i was the number two person and a brief acting head of the administration and i was the dean of the new school in new york, public affairs, public policy, graduate school for five years. host: time for one more call. catherine, ohio. two minutes. caller: i will make this quick. 71-year-old woman, retired. you are talking about the u.s.

i don't fear china. who i do fear is american companies. americans have taken all their jobs out of this country. contractve a service and you try to call someone, you cannot even speak to an american. i am an old hillbilly woman. i speak with a southern accent. i cannot understand someone in a third world country. i'm sorry. i just can't. that is just how i hear words spoken. i don't fear china. i fear american companies. they left us because our wages were high enough we could buy a home or vehicle like they had and they did not like that so they decided they would go someplace where they could get cheaper wages. host: the final minute. guest: important question, catherine.

you have a beautiful voice. i did not discern any accent. there has been outsourcing. auto industry. a lot of complaints, cars were all made in america, they were better. frankly, i put this in the book, by using global supply chains, and sometimes we get the brake pads from someplace in the shock absorbers and the transmissions -- what we have done is make better cars that are more competitive that now run routinely over 100,000 miles and can compete globally. without global trade, the u.s. auto industry would have been half the size it is today because we were making cars that had lemons, defects, did not run as well and were not globally competitive. the problem you identify is, yes, people have gotten hurt. we did a bad job. politicians and people in washington, congress, did not do

a good enough job taking care of people who got hurt by trade and now the issue will be manufacturing, artificial intelligence, automation. that will not be geographically concentrated but it affects all of us. host: plenty more in the book, trade is not a four letter word, how six everyday products made the case for trade, fred, thank you for your time. up next on washington journal, we are joined by navy veteran, ceo of the iraq and veterans of america, jeremy butler. we discussed veterans issues. later at the top, the third stop in our week long c-span, washington journal, american history series, exploring the american story, live from the smithsonian national museum of american history. we will be right back. ♪

>> our c-span campaign 2020 team is traveling the country asking voters what issues should candidates address? >> this election, the most important for me is civil rights and liberties, like voting rights, reproductive rights, criminal justice reform and reproductive freedom. these rights are more important now than ever because we are seeing them being violated left and right. they are as important as every other issue. >> the issue most important to me right now is the fact that veterans do not have housing. i feel as though new hampshire, one of our 50 states, should do more for veterans and right now veterans have to leave and either go to vermont or massachusetts in order to get services they need.

i don't think that that is appropriate. these people make sacrifices for our country and they should be able to have services when they come home. >> actual environmental policy. rejoining the paris accord? real policy. carbon emissions, renewables. >> the most important thing to me about this is the truth. we need to work on gun violence, health care, college education. a lot of things to work on. when the senate votes openly and against the truth in a partisan manner, it is time for us to return to our roots, face facts, listen to witnesses. it is just time to face the truth and move forward. we cannot do that if we don't open our eyes and pay attention. >> one of the most important includingeducation, the cost of education for

postgraduate and graduate work and also the concerning legislation coming out of the trump administration regards to secondary education and k-12. not done a lot of good for teachers. as a teacher, i have seen it. education is number one. that is why i am voting. >> voices from the road on c-span. during this election season, candidates beyond the talking points only revealed over time but since you cannot be from all other political coverage for one simple reason, it is c-span. we brought you your unfiltered view of government every since 1979 and this year we are bringing you the unfiltered view of people seeking to steer that government this november. in other words, your future.

this election season, deep, direct and unfiltered. the biggest picture, see it for yourself and make up your own mind. with c-span campaign 2020, brought to you as a public service by your television provider. continues.on journal host: jeremy butler joins, president and ceo of the iraq and afghanistan veterans of america. remind us what your group does and how the needs of iraq and afghanistan veterans are unique or different from other veterans? guest: good to be here. we were formed after the start of the invasion, excuse me, the war of iraq, to respond to changing needs around post 9/11 generation of veterans. we focus on three things. advocacy in washington dc and around the country to make sure government is taking care of veterans in the ways they need

and those support services are evolving with changing needs of service members. we do advocacy work, education and awareness, things like this. appearing on her show to make sure -- your show to make sure the country is aware of the needs of veterans and we work directly with veterans to make sure they are getting resources they need. we have the rapid response program, veterans can call tony 24/7, 365 days-- to get connected to a support counselor to get the resources they need. those are the primary things. there are some needs that are unique to the post 9/11 generation of veterans but there are some that continue to affect veterans of all generations. we work on all those issues. we have our big six policy priorities, designed and defined by membership, annual member survey.

we are about to release the most recent next month. it is by the results of that survey that tell us what to focus on. one of the biggest that continues to plague all generations of veterans is a lack of support for suicide and mental health issues within the veteran community. that has and continues to be our number one priority. there are some that are more unique to our generation. two big ones, supporting and defending the post 9/11 g.i. bill, making sure it continues to be as effective and useful for veterans in today's changing educational environment. the other one is increasing support for women veterans, we have an increasingly large percentage of current military and by default, the veteran community, made up by women veterans. we need to make sure, not only the v.a., the military, the dod, government in general is evolving with the needs of women veterans to make sure they are getting the care and support they need when they come back

from fighting wars overseas. host: in this segment until 9 a.m. eastern, phone lines split differently. iraq orre an afghanistan veteran, (202)-748- 8000. all others, (202)-748-8001. one of the main ways government takes care of veterans is through the department of veteran affairs. president trump released his budget last week. in it, the department saw a 13% increase in budget. that is the only double-digit increase in that budget for cabinet level agency. are you happy with the numbers? guest: we are. we always want to make sure the v.a. is adequately funded. the numbers alone are not going to solve the problems we have. there is a big factor which involves oversight and the way we manage programs the v.a. runs. the v.a., before this proposed

budget increase, which most of viewers no, this is the budget, we don't know what congress will authorize in terms of the v.a. budget but a big part of it is oversight of how programs are run. one of the biggest ones, which also saw increasing line items is implementation of the mission act, bipartisan legislation passed last year, put into effect in june last year to reduce the wait times for veterans to get medical care they need. it has only been several months, eight months since that is in effect. we are having hearings on capitol hill, getting reports from the office of the executor general on possibilities that program is not actually going to reduce wait times to get veterans the care they need. these are areas where you cannot just look at budget numbers. you have to look at the way programs are implement it. that is 1 -- the way programs are implemented.

most out of the taxpayer dollars and solve the problems they were put in place to solve. host: you watch this every year. how likely is the 13% increase to make it through the congressional appropriations process? how likely will that come out on the other side? guest: i will guess, total gas, by me, jeremy butler, i'm guessing we will not see anywhere near that large but i think there will be an increase. there is an understanding amongst legislators in general, the v.a. is important, it is doing incredible work for veterans but it needs to be supported. part of that support comes through financial support. we will see an increase. part of that is to support the mission act, which was bipartisan legislation everyone wants to see be successful so veterans get the care they need. there will be an increase in the budget.i don't think it will be as large as the proposed budget. host: plenty of calls.

tim, baltic, ohio. caller: morning. i am calling about the v.a. health system. in for a hangnail on my toe. ended up losing my big toe. the infection went up my leg, .nto my heart now i am unable to work. i get no social security, medicare, medicaid. the only thing i got is 40% disability from the v.a. basically, they delayed my died. care until i i look at myself as a discarded veteran. host: are you talking about your

ability to continue to work when you say you died? guest: -- caller: i cannot work. my foot is no longer attached to my ankle. host: mr. butler? guest: i am sorry to hear that. that is a good example of how there are instances where our v.a. is not providing anywhere near the level of care, obviously, that you earned and deserved certainly. i hope we can find a way to get you treatment and support you need. what we tend to find from our surveys, our membership, from talking to the community, in general, veterans like the care they get from the v.a. but there are absolutely horror stories, such as yours, where the system failed them. i am sorry to hear that. maybe there iava, is something we can do.

855-891-rapid. where there are underperforming, poor performing v.a. health centers, individuals, that they are being reprimanded and cut loose from the system. this is one of the pieces of legislation passed last year to make sure the v.a. has the ability to do that. i do not have a short answer to your question or way to direct and immediately help you but overall, we absolutely hear the complaints, and valid complaints from veterans, and we are working to make sure the health care system overall is really able to handle all of our veterans needs, in a timely manner. it sounds like one of the big problems here was that you were not seen, treated and evaluated in a timely manner. that is absolutely unacceptable. host: carol, north carolina. mills river. was over by the

time he got out, he was drafted. he did not have any choice but to go in the military. all i ever hear is more and more money going to the military. i mean, a lot of money goes into the military. we are in debt and about to go in a recession, probably 2021 after this next election. i just don't get it. people that go back in, one tour after another, were not drafted, didn't have to go, they come out with ptsd because of what they have seen and they did not have to go into begin with. they get over there and get used to being around guy friends in ,he military, cannot object coming home to everyday life, their marriages end in divorce. it is one mess after another. we just keep throwing money at it. one: carol, do you think no should sign up for the military? caller: i am not saying they

shouldn't but it screws them up, they want to go over and stay. host: how would you respond, mr. butler? think,i understand, i where you're coming from, carol. i would disagree of a number of characterizations of the people serving. i continue to serve in the navy reserves today, not because i enjoy warfare or want to be deployed in combat overseas but because like most people in the military today, who joined and those who are drafted, they want to serve their country, protect and defend the constitution as they raise their right hand and swore to do when they joined. a lot of people that answer the call to service every day because their country is telling them, we need you to do this job, all they are asking is that when they come back they are given the respect and care they earned and deserved while they were serving in uniform. to your bigger question about the amount of money spent by the

dod, that is another debate that can certainly be had. overall, there are ways in which we can improve our government spending, find the same outcomes but better spend that money but that is a different question in a different debate. i certainly would not turn it on those who raise their right hand and volunteered to serve or who were drafted and answered the call the country asked them to do. host: william, good morning. caller: how you doing? good morning. i'm curious to know what i can do about my veterans disability. i am a veteran. i went in front of a judge. he agreed my case was in my favor. the regional office said no. inave had everybody put it as unmistakable error, five different communities, the veterans helping people. what can i do? i have been in front of a judge

ruled in my favor. what can i do? is oneyeah, your issue we hear far too often. there is a real backlog and difficulty with the v.a. disability claims process. it sounds like you are really falling victim to that as well. i wish there was a short and easy answer. i would encourage you to keep fighting. , wecan reach out to iava can try to help. there are local and usually state level claims workers that can work with you to resubmit disability claims process to hopefully, along with the judge's decision, get you the appropriate level of disability it sounds like you have. it is a challenge. there is a backlog. we continue to work with the v.a. to reduce that. it is and has been a problem. host: jeremy butler, ceo of the

iraq and afghanistan veterans of america, numbers this morning on the current levels of u.s. troops in those countries. 5200, iraq, to train iraqi forces and fight isis. assistin afghanistan to afghan forces against taliban, conduct counterterrorism operations. one of the issues, mr. butler, i know you have spoken about his concern about those who have experienced toxic burn pits. explain what those are and what your concerns are. guest: absolutely. this goes back to your initial question. issues, you need to post 9/11 veterans and ones that transcend all generations. this transcends all eras of veterans. they are routinely exposed to toxic materials and substances that can result in sometimes, short-term, immediate effect and sometimes long-term.

the agent orange crisis from the vietnam veterans. they continue to fight and we fight alongside them to make sure they are taken care of. it is an ongoing fight for them. post 9/11 generation of veterans, one of the big problems in iraq and afghanistan were the use of large, open air pits to burn every bit of trash and refuse the dod generated. everything from clothing to wastecs to ammunition, that comes from the medical facilities, everything gets thrown into a big pit by hand, by bulldozer, sprayed with jet fuel and lit on fire. some of these are small and you can see videos online. them,rg, you can see service members, maybe at most, a paper mask filter over their mouth as they do this. for so many, they have spent deployment breathing in fumes that came from these huge open

air burn pits, burning 24/7, coating their person, their living quarters. standing on perimeter, maybe 12 hours, breathing in fumes. this has resulted in illnesses, death, short-term, long-term health and breathing effects. ongoing problem. we just successfully had legislation iava lead on the burn pit accountability act that passed last year and was signed into law to begin to address the problem by forcing the v.a. and the dod to document for every service member, if overseas and put in place, exposed to these pits, it is in their medical record. there is more we need to do. we are working with a coalition of veteran organizations, toxics exposure in the middle of the military, to make sure it is

documented in every service record but they need to get care. the v.a. and the government does not want to acknowledge many of these problems that come. cancers, lung problems, breathing problems are a direct result from burn pits. burn pits is a short and to the many other types of toxic exposure often achieved in the military, just by nature of serving. host: scott, iraq war veteran, st. cloud, minnesota, good morning. go ahead, scott. caller: i apologize. [indiscernible] please talk to them. ask questions. [indiscernible] not: sounds like scott is going to be asking a question this morning. charles, merchant bill, new jersey. caller: good morning.

navy in 1956. a few things to say about veterans. all hospitals should be run by veterans. all medical centers should be run by veterans. this way, we get the veterans coming out, they get jobs. a lot of them want to work. 1956, it was like moving to mississippi, the white neighborhood, you know what i mean, brother. this is the only way we can help veterans. give them jobs. veterans should be run by veterans. we got them. if you ain't got them, you can train them. thoughts butler, your on 100% veterans job programs? guest: you are touching on a

good point. a couple things. veterana problem with employment and underemployment, even though unemployment numbers are low right now. when you dig down the numbers, you see there is veteran unemployment is up a little. beyond, unemployment, you also have underemployment. veterans are coming back, anxious to put leadership skills they picked up in uniform into effect in the civilian world and they find it is hard to find a job that will allow them that same level of seniority and leadership they had in-service and the ability to put to good use some intangible skills they picked up. you see a lot of underemployment and unemployment. there is a need to focus on veteran hiring. the country needs to understand veterans want to continue to serve, they want to continue to have a focus and mission bigger than an individual.

they are not looking for a job. they are looking for a career that is as satisfying as it was to serve alongside so many others who had a shared sense of mission a compliment. we are looking -- mission accomplishment. we're looking forward to helping veterans coming back. another point, we hear all the time from veterans that they enjoy and prefer, for the most part, getting their medical care from the v.a. because they are going to a community that understands what they went through, the sense of service. they don't have to explain what it meant to be in uniform, a lot of these acronyms. they find that the care is better when they're dealing with someone who has an understanding of what it means to serve in uniform, what the challenges are and where the issues are when they come back to hang up the uniform and they are looking to get the care and support they have earned. host: five minutes left with jeremy butler of the iava.

we will do as many calls as we can get to. pat, new york. caller: thank you. i want to discuss something a little off track. i am a veteran. i am part of a father's rights movement. we have had a number of suicides in 2019, some prior to that, veterans who come back from afghanistan, iraq, and older veterans who are alienated from their children, when they come back to this country. we have served to protect the constitution of this country, the right to due process. we come back and we are know, through no fault laws and separation and divorce, we are unable to see our children, a lot of us. it is hard for us to come back, having served the country and supported the constitution, to find out our rights as fathers

are probably greater in some of these nasty countries we have been fighting. i'm wondering, i know you cannot do anything about this but i am wondering if there is any attention -- the suicides are not people who suffer from ptsd. these are solid veterans who are ok, working, who have been dealt a terrible hand through crazy statutes that override the constitution of this country. how do we help -- 90% of father's lose custody of their children through no fault of their own, because again, the rule is no fault, which makes absolutely no sense. host: got your point, pat. guest: one of the things he is getting at is the complexity of the suicide and mental health epidemic among veterans in the military community. i wish i could speak more to your specific question. that is outside of my area of knowledge. you raise a really good point. we are not doing enough to

support all veterans, frankly, when they come back from serving and getting left of the problems. we are not only responding to when people are in a time of mental health crisis, at that verge of suicide, we really need to get far-left of that to make sure we are providing them early with the support and care they need. this includes everything from child support, child care, making sure parents are able to connect with children in an appropriate way so that we do not have veterans getting to the point where they are contemplating suicidal action. we are pushing for the commander, john scott henan, veterans health care improvement completelysed 17-0, bipartisan by the senate v.a. committee. we need it passed by the senate, sent to the house and signed by the president. it will go a long way to a calm pushing these types of things.

getting mental health to these areas that are not easily accessible to the v.a. to make sure veterans get the care they need so they never get to that point of contemplating suicide. almost one year ago, the preventative task force, the president initiated to work on veteran suicide. they are expected to announce the roadmap next month. we are looking forward to that. more needs to be done, immediately. we're still losing 20 per day to suicide. completely unacceptable. host: wheeling, west virginia, mike. caller: i am a vietnam veteran. i spent a year with agent orange contact. i tried three times, 1970's, 80's, 90's, to get a via disability and i got disapproved. i tried two years ago and they have not picked my case up. they say i'm not presumptuous.

can you tell me when they will add that on or what? i have prostate cancer. it was not at that time presumptuous. skin issues. another cancer. can you discuss that? i appreciate it. thank you for your service and for fighting the good fight. your case is why we are continuing to work with our vietnam brothers and sisters on how the v.a. deals with presumptive conditions like yours. there has been some movement increasing the number of presumptive improvements so those of you exposed to agent orange can get the care you need , but it is moving maddeningly slow. i don't have a short answer other than to say there has been

some increase in the presumptive conditions and there has been work to get you the care and support you need. we will continue fighting on your behalf. this affects veterans of all areas, pre-9/11, post 9/11, and will continue to be an issue because military members are often exposed to these toxic hazards and down the line will cause effects. host: you can find out more at iava.org. jeremy butler is the ceo. appreciate you. guest: appreciate it. host: up next, it is the third stop in the week long american history tv series focusing on d.c. museums at the museum of american history. we will speak to anthea heartache about the centennial hartigea heartache --

about the centennial of the 19th amendment. >> during this election season, the candidates beyond the talking points are only revealed over time, but since you can't be everywhere, there is c-span. our campaign 2020 programming differs from all other political coverage for one simple reason, it is c-span. we have brought you an unfiltered view of government every day since 1979 and this year we are bringing an alt -- an unfiltered view of the people on c-span who run this government. see the bigger picture for yourself and make up your own mind. with c-span campaign 2020, brought to you as a public service by your television provider. students from across the

country told us the most important issues for the presidential candidates to change, gunmate violence, teen vaping, college affordability, mental health, and immigration. we are awarding $100,000 in total cash prizes. studentcam for the competition will be announced on march 11. inside the democracy exhibit at the smithsonian national museum of american history, we are joined by anthea hartig, of the museum. this centennial year of the passage of the 19th amendment, explain the wagon behind you and how it figures into women's suffrage and democracy in america. guest: good morning, and welcome to the year of the woman, which you could argue every year should be.

this year is incredibly special for all in america and at the smithsonian. we are banded together in celebrating the american women's history initiative throughout the smithsonian museums, online, and through all of our activities. we are particularly grateful to have three exhibitions opening, spurring really from this one. this is democracy in america, the great leap of faith that opened a few years ago. i am in the gallery that takes us through the long and arduous and continuing effort to expand democracy to enfranchised more and more americans. as you might know, early on, only landed, white men with property were able to vote. in the 19th century, the long battle expanding that suffrage to slaves, previously enslaved, and women, culminating finally

in 1920 with the ratification of the 19th amendment, not guaranteeing women the right to vote but barring the federal government and states from discriminating against voters because of their sex. suffrage wagons like the one behind me were taken in the field during the ratification process to encourage states and state legislators, almost all men, the vast majority -- i think there was only one or two sitting women -- to vote for the 19th amendment. it was painted with slogans, brightly colored. are black of suffrage and gold originally and changed into purple and gold and white. , creating will open icons, how we remember women's suffrage on march 6. we will be showing and taking

you through the long effort to frameworkregulatory for how women can vote and the incredible activism of women who arked tirelessly throughout century and a half to get the vote to happen. as wein this segment focus on the 19th amendment, the phone lines are split up differently. if you want to call in and join the conversation, (202) 748-8000 if you are in the eastern or central time zone. mountain or pacific time zone, (202) 748-8001. you can start calling in. as folks are calling in, i want to focus on the ratification process. after a 14 month process the 19th amendment was passed by congress. was it a sure thing? how touch and go was it during

those 14 months, and why did it take 14 months? guest: the ratification of the amendments is probably never a sure thing. it is easy for us to look back as historians and track that, but all the amendments, the expansion amendments, reconstruction amendments after the civil war ending slavery and trying to work toward the abolishment of slavery and equalization of rights for african-americans, the women's movement that had worked actively since 1848, original sentiments, the declaration of sentiments penned by elizabeth caddy stanton, and we have heard table on which she wrote that, 1848 by 68 women and 32 men, including frederick douglass, the remarkable and powerful abolitionist who believed in equality and the

declaration of independence. modeled after the declaration that said we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men and women are equal. these are fabulous. in terms of the original declaration saying that the king had done this to men, elizabeth and others are saying men have done this to women. he has not ever permitted her to exercise her inalienable right to the elective franchise, and the powerful 16, he has endeavored in every way that he could to destroy her confidence in her own powers, to lessen her self-respect, and to make her willing to lead a dependent and abject life. those are pretty harsh words in

1848. by the time the amendment gets introduced in 1878 and voted on, sent out by an all-male congress to the states, there was really nothing insured about the passage of the 19th amendment. and remember that in order to get this past, the coalitions that might women -- white women built excluded women of color. womenve extraordinary born into slavery, fighting against slavery, and forcibly joining, saying, these are our rights too. can you imagine how powerful it was for african-american women to get the vote? the great thing for me and all of us at the museum, nothing is preordained. it is always the choices we make and it is those men who walked into their state houses and chose to vote for the 19th amendment.

host: which states lead the way in that process? process, way in that during the ratification process? guest: it varied. the big states were in favor of it. a lot of it became, if women got the vote and could vote in the 1920 election, became part of the chest game for that, -- that, there were already women and men who were used to having women vote. the big states who wanted to swing the election of 2020 two the republicans were among the most ardent supporters. host: you talked about the declaration of sentiments earlier and we showed viewers a

picture of that table that you have. guest: wonderful. host: how you got that table to the smithsonian, and what happened to the original declaration? guest: great story. the way in which the smithsonian acquired this original core collection that we will be displaying as the women wanted it to be displayed in 1919 is fabulous. they knew they were making history, so they had been petitioning the smithsonian institution to accept this collection that they had very and they hadated, kind of modeled it off of what they thought to be an appropriate museum display of an important american man. so it looks kind of very genteel. there is the tea set in the

table, but what is fantastic is mensmithsonian, led by all said, no, thank you. you do not turn people like the creation mott and -- lucretia stanton --san b susan b anthony away. it will be grouped together when we open on march 6, and the declaration next to it. host: go ahead. guest: who has the declaration of sentiments? host: exactly. guest: i believe it is at the library of congress, but we should check on that before the show and we will get that to you. host: i appreciate the real-time fact checking. phone numbers to join this segment, eastern or central time zone, (202) 748-8000, mountain

or pacific time zones, (202) 748-8001. our third stop in our "washington journal" american history tv tour visiting museums, the american history museum. the table was brought to the smithsonian that was led by only men. that is not the case anymore. you are the first woman to serve as the director of american -- director of the museum of american history. what does that mean? guest: it is a true honor to lead this museum. i joke that one of the great things about being the first woman is no other woman will have to say that. it is incredibly important as a wife and a mother and a sister and a daughter, my roles as a woman in society, i think enable

me and reinforce the way in which i have seen the world as a historian, as a nonprofit leader, and certainly here is a public historian and public servant, there is no higher calling than to be at the smithsonian at this time in our history, and especially with the exemplary leadership of our new secretary, he himself a theorian, creating african-american museum of history and culture. it is a special time, and i am embraced by many when in -- men and women directors. host: do you remember when you first visited the national museum of american history and how the 19th amendment, the women's suffrage movement was represented then? guest: that is a great question.

we came here shortly after the bicentennial and my mom took us all. we were dressed up, and came here. i will never forget that first time in washington. the museum, which my father had seen in the 1950's when he was here before this museum was told ait opened in 1964, pretty traditional story of american history, although it was the 1970's. times, they were certainly influenced by the remarkable energies of the civil rights movement, so i don't remember a lot about how women's stories were told. ofo remember being in awe

both this museum, air and space, which was very new at the time, and that feeling that i feel every day i get off the metro and walk across the national and respect and participation in this incredible experiment that we call the united states. host: joining us from inside the democracy exhibit at the american history museum. linda out of mount laurel, new jersey. caller: good morning. i am so fortunate to live on the land where alice paul lived and grew up. guest: be still my beating heart. that is wonderful. at the national constitution center in philadelphia on january 16. i just wanted to know if anybody

has worked with you at this smithsonian? guest: i am so grateful for your call, and if you haven't brought up alice paul, i would have. one of the things that we have, and maybe you can show it to our viewers, is a remarkable pin that alice paul and others who were imprisoned for their advocacy literally trying just to get the vote, sent to prison soyou know alice's story is brought -- but attention to the incredible length to which women would go. host: you are seeing that on your screen now. guest: isn't that amazing? we have an amazing collection from alice paul's family, including her suffrage bracelet. so every a long life

time a state would add the 19th amendment, she would add it to her charm bracelet. hallowed ground for the suffrage movement. host: i want to talk about the ,uffragettes serving in prison showing a new story from san francisco, touring country in campaign for universal suffrage, suffragettes who served terms in prison and they are getting off the prison train. explain the story behind that. guest: it was an amazing moment, and the tactics used by suffragists -- and in the u.s. they called them suffragists and in the u.k. they called them suffragettes -- but the tactics were remarkable and powerful, and the lessons learned from the suffrage movement, you can trace throughout the 20th and 21st century. movementsnt like many

broken two different factions. some work in servant -- conservative and somewhere activist. some like alice paul felt if not then then when would women finally achieve the right to vote? they saw this as a long trajectory lasting throughout the 19th century, and even into the 18th century. they took to the streets. they took to the white house, where they were first of all kind of seen as an oddity. imagine the silent sentinels standing there day after day throughout 1913. president woodrow wilson decided enough was enough, they were getting way too much attention and distracting from the work of the presidency. as they were imprisoned, in a way they were against wilson and those who wanted to defeat the

amendment and their spirit of advocacy, so they became even more famous. these were very educated, brilliant women, so as more and more were arrested, adding to their ranks, and finally when they were released they realized prison, whichved was heroic, and they had a special story to tell. so they went around the nation making sure everyone knew they had just and released from prison -- just been released from prison and giving it a sense of urgency, a huge sense of sacrifice that they were , toing to give literally let themselves -- after a while they knew they would be arrested so you can imagine what that took. askingaking your calls,

your stories and your questions. eastern and central united states, (202) 748-8000. mountain and pacific regions, (202) 748-8001. this is anne out of cape canaveral, florida. you are on. are you with us? caller: good morning. host: go ahead. caller: two things. perhaps your engineers could put up a picture of someone in a hobble skirt. e.r.a.er paraded to the -- i am 97 -- and she was wearing one of those hobble skirts. guest: fantastic, that is great. caller: question, the e.r.a., please get it through. guest: thank you, ma'am. life, iu for your long

am sure well lived, and for your mother's advocacy as well. the equal rights movement, technically the last date -- virginia just ratified it and we are waiting for the legal rulings as to whether that ratification process will be complete, but the long fight continues for equal rights for women, both with the big in 1977, and as you will see in our exhibition, the women's march of 1917. the arc continues. host: take us back a little bit to the beginning of the equal rights amendment, why it was -- why the supporters of it felt like it was needed in the decades after the 19th amendment, and that history, when the momentum happened for it.

guest: sure, absolutely. thank you for that question. the reconstruction amendments that were passed in the 19th century and then the 19th amendment are not necessarily outling amendments that lay a series of rights that people are assured, so the promise of the e.r.a. for many women and men, many activists, was trying anreach any quality -- equality that would be present in the workplace, in the home, and that veered more into reproductive rights and the bundle of rights that its framers believed would ensure an equal place for women. the long battle ensued over the

e.r.a. throughout the 1970's and 1980's and even into the 1990's. you can see that stemming from the advocacy of so many people in the 1950's and 1960's through the civil rights movement, and you can picture it within its context really of the american indian campaign, civil rights advocates throughout the nation. that is its context. it was always kind of conflict did, like all of these were, because you are challenging the governing paradigm of how relationships between genders work, the power of women, women in the workplace, and so those are still conversations we have today. up ashave not given evident by the state of virginia literally within the last four

weeks ratifying the e.r.a. host: in terms of conversations we have today, you and i were having this, this is a common from twitter -- the history of hard toving to fight so obtain and keep the right to vote is so often ignored. republicans love to focus only on abortion so they can keep women trapped. it is the only time you will hear comments about women from a public and men. i wonder how -- republican men. i wonder how you and your museum deal with the contentious issue of abortion. is it talked about in the american history experience? guest: that is a great question, and you are right in that -- and i love uncle sam too, by the way theut the importance of

ways in which history helps us contextualize the modern, battlesmatter -- modern over a woman's right to choose is remarkable. we have a collection of the scienceof medicine and which will go on the floor in the next year and a half ago, which takes people through the long conversations about the ways in which women's bodies and men's bodies and bodies of color have been both treated, cured.ted, demonized, so we see certainly as historians, we see that in a long history of medicine, the history of reproductive rights, history of family rights and of course women's rights.

our jobs in essence are to help people understand themselves, where they have come from, so they can be empowered to make the best decisions they can for themselves, their family, and the nation, using history as their guide. host: about a half-hour to go in our conversation with anthea h t rtig. fromis on the phone galesburg, illinois. in my history class, it is so often forgotten that these women got arrested just for picketing for the right to vote. liberty is not equality. equality is not freedom, and we need to remember that. proactive, wee would make more progress.

host: thanks for those sentiments. guest: thank you for that. thank you, cody. your beliefs are very aligned with ours here, that the past can be put to utility and that -- you said it well -- that liberty and freedom are something we would like to believe our unalienable rights but we have learned we need to keep fighting for. host: i want to talk more about some of the exhibit, some of the items you feature and how you make this history come alive in this centennial year of the ratification of the 19th amendment, and how you do that from something like a votes for women umbrella. guest: yes, the votes for women umbrella, what could be more fabulously feminine than a

parasol? we have a number of those, as you might guess. later, they are pretty fragile, but we have conservators who have helped us conserve these beautiful parasols. aboutimation of thinking popping open your umbrella, twirling it around and votes for women, it had a great element of surprise, but also when women were marching, if you were looking at the parades from a window up a couple of stories, it was a great way to show off your colors, if you will, and what you advocated for. host: all of these items we are talking about you can see in the democracy exhibit at the national museum of american history, and you can call in and

ask your questions. steven from huntsville, texas, good morning. caller: good morning. guest: how are you? caller: i am great. i am excited to talk to you. guest: thanks so much for your call. caller: my grandmother was a suffragette. guest: nice. caller: i grew up with hard-core , 1940's, all the way 19 50's, 1960's. they were not violent unless you talk against women and then it was a gang. grandma was a suffragette in large part because of the depression. moneyther had taken the of the whole family, grandpa and everybody, and he speculated on stocks. when that went down, he was bankrupt. so he took a gun, bought some

insurance, went to a train, and committed suicide, trying to make it look like a robbery so that the insurance money would make the family solvent. day between the day he bought the insurance and shot himself so they did not pay off. they were very victorian, had money. she ran around in those little dresses and all of a sudden they are broke. up in as out, ends sanitarium and two weeks later hangs herself, so within two weeks, my grandmother, a little girl goes from happy to destitute living with family. so part of her being a suffragette was in opposition to the excesses and abuse of capitalism. they went hand in hand with her,

and she was always trying to protect yourself, or object to the abuse of capitalism. saying, we have abuse out of medical fields or economics or politics. it is the abuse that leads to the movement. host: thank you for sharing your family story. guest: that is an amazing story. thank you for sharing that. i think that is replicated throughout so many families, especially during the depression, the great depression, but even earlier, women were very active in the prohibition movement and passing the 18th amendment because of men's drinking and abuse that would come from that. one of the ways in which they advocated for the vote was they would put up an objection.

placards thatry said objection, women are too pure for the dirty pool of politics. if the pool is dirty, the time has come to clean it. women have long experienced cleaning up after men. it sounds like your amazing grandmother had to clean up after quite a mess. on a serious note, what you have shared with us, for which i am grateful, goes right to the heart of women's advocacy, advocating for themselves, their children, when they didn't have the kind of voice that they had hoped. they didn't have the capacity to earn a living, and your grandmother sounds like one of those amazing women who probably until the day she died thought for justice, so thank you --

fought for justice, so thank you. mary.tacoma, washington, so my: i am 79 years old memory isn't what it used to be, so i can't quite place the date, remember somewhere in the 1970's talking to a black colleague. --ad just point -- joined joined the army and the black population was integrated before the population in general was, and the civil rights movement was on. i remember making a comment to my colleague, you guys got the vote for we did, and his answer was, yeah, but the bible says the men are supposed to be over women. my question is, do you still encounter that attitude from

evangelical men today? first, thank you for calling and sharing. one of the -- one of the tensions in the 19th century you just highlighted was for those who were advocating for the abolitionist slavery, the movements were very closely aligned for a while, giving the abolishment of slavery and giving women the vote were held close in the hearts of many peoples advocacy, certainly people like frederick douglass and others who advocated for both. it has been presented in history that some people had to choose which was the worst horror. i bet -- i think it is a bit more nuanced than that. the human and economic wars of

slavery were, i think, oneeasingly thought to be to thekey detriments promise of democracy and expanding the franchise to african-american men newly freed was something that was critical to the abolitionist movement, and was very hard won. day, is not as extended as we would hope. in terms of dealing with abject sexism, i think every woman in america has some set of stories that reflects the ongoing internalization of gendered roles and of the way that sexism plays out subtly or overtly in our daily lives. i don't necessarily think it is

just segregated to religious beliefs. i think it transcends and has a much deeper and ingrained pattern that in many respects, the work we are doing now here at the smithsonian and elsewhere tries to counter that, tries to and newknowledge narratives about the ways in which our equality can be played out now and in the future. thanks for calling from tacoma, because it is early. host: more reaction from those watching. objectively love the and answer, if the pool is dirty it is time to clean it. women have long been cleaning up after men. it is a good slogan for men's andt -- women's rights elizabeth warren still they persisted.

18 paradeshow viewers tinbird with the words -- a parade bluebird with the words "votes for women" across the bluebird's chest. explain that one. guest: the way in which suffrage was represented extended to , and then evenes to animals. the bluebird singing in the morning represented both a new song of freedom, as well as birds kind of historic symbolism of taking flight and being free. let me see if i know anything else about it from my handy notes here. i don't so.

could evenwhy we have -- that is a cast metal bird -- there was all kinds of newer technologies that allowed for campaign buttons, what we -- swag,l judge goes to really be part of the narrative so you can wear your sentiments. animals were used. obviously, the donkey and elephant that subscribed to the parties. one of my favorites we have in our collection is a picture of a donkey, don't be an ass, vote for dewey. there is all kinds of things that were kind of brought into the popular material culture that expressed peoples

'preferences for candidates and causes. host: having this conversation about the 19th amendment in the centennial year of its ratification live from the national museum of american history, dave from massachusetts, good morning. caller: good morning. i am noticing on the cart behind you -- behind your head on the wagon, if it is not, is it wise to conflate slogans from different periods? guest: it is a great question. used over and over again, so some of the slogans are newer.

it. is the way we inherited your point is well taken. it is not exactly the way it looked in 1913. it was used over and over again so there is magazine ads and everything. equal pay for equal work is certainly a later sentiment of the 20th century, but became, especially after world war ii, a rallying cry. although some earlier suffragettes after the ratification, who as women increasingly entered the workforce into world war ii where defense contractors paid women less than men for doing the same jobs, welding and other wartime related work, were starting the notion of pay equity. good call, good eyes. thanks for your call.

host: what would be some of the most popular slogans at the time from 1919 and 1920 at this ratification -- as this ratification process was taking place? guest: so, certainly votes for women was the big easy one. very simple, very straightforward. everyone knew exactly what it meant, but they were very up to the time in terms of almost feeling a little bit like social media does today in terms of as soon one state ratified, they would produce slogans and buttons and newspaper articles about what was next. california next, so they were very kind of of the moment. included time for a .hange

the ways in which the times were changing was part of it, but votes and women, pretty and are changeable. -- interchangeable. the beautiful one that women would hang over their windows, i just voted for the first time. you can imagine the thrill of .hat host: we can show viewers some of those badges that came after the 19th amendment was ratified. barry in center harbor, new hampshire. caller: good morning. i have two questions. i will give you both of them and then maybe i can listen on the phone. does the opposition to the e.r.a. come from people who don't want women to have equal

rights, or would you categorize them as thinking that the situation is already taking care of by the rest of the constitution and we really don't need to do anything? that is number one. comparison, or do you think we can draw parallels between when the subject of abortion comes up, it is women's rights to control their body, which would go to more than just that one item of abortion. there is a movement in the men's attacktivism, where men are complaining about being circumcised as infants, having no say over the matter, so the patient was unwilling to consent and the parents were maybe misinformed and the change is irrevocable. can you see a parallel with

those two? guest: thanks for calling. i am going to take the first one first. i don't know much about the second one, but i will. need forion over the an equal rights amendment is an excellent question, so thank you. i think it goes both ways and you actually answered it. some people feel the work of the -- ory of women is undone not done yet, and needs further articulation, and i think that there are those who feel like the constitution is a living document with its amendments should suffice. tension is still being played out, and i think there

are still very passionate arguments on both side, actually. in terms of your second question, i haven't seen those two conflated historically in terms of abortion and circumcision, but each, maybe just a swing at an answer, each of into notions of the body, religious practice and preference, of how we see our bodies and perceive our bodies ,hrough the lens of our family our community, our cultures. i think it belies an easy answer, but i keep on thinking about that one. host: we have about 15 minutes to go. if you are in the eastern or central time zones, (202) 748-8000, mountain or pacific time zones, (202) 748-8001.

the house passed a bill recently , pretty overwhelmingly, to create a women's history museum as part of the smithsonian. it would still need to go to the senate and be signed by the president, but if that museum is created, how would it impact your collection at the american history museum? guest: that is a great question. arms have been advocating for a museum solely dedicated to the rich and complicated histories of women for years, so i give them credit for their perseverance and their desires to create that. the smithsonian does not object outright to any new museums. only congress can create smithsonians. what we are doing in the meantime is working with our

whon and men in congress have supported this, along with other donors, to the americans women history initiative which started last year and rolls all the way through this year and beyond. exhibits we create here, including one on girlhood, the first major exhibit on what it means to be a girl, how do you find a voice when you have no vote? who gets to be a girl? how are girls supposed to act? that will be here in june and through early 2023 it will go on the road. what we hope to do is tell the broadest and most inclusive story that we possibly can, and especially now in this year of women with the centennial, and under my leadership we are excited to do that.

see, i hope we are proving also that we can tell these incredible stories of women and bring forth these truly remarkable collections. host: is there any lesson for you to take after the creation of the national museum of african-american history and culture, and how that impacted the collections of the american history museum, and how you dealt with that? guest: i wasn't here during that time, but i track that museum like all people who love history and who love the smithsonian, proud to callbly lonnie mauer secretary and work with our incredible colleagues there. there is a lot of cooperation. we have curators here who used to work there. we have some of our objects from

this collection. we don't own this. we are honored to steward this collection on the behalf of the american people, and that is our top priority. the remarkable thing that lonnie and others did when creating the national museum of african-american history and culture, they went out and find everything in the attic and basement and closet that people had been holding dear, and asked people all around the nation, and even throughout the world if they would consider donating those precious items from their family stories to the new museum. aat collecting effort was really significant part of the creation of that museum. it feels that way today, that collection is coming out of places of pain and joy and memory.

then you will have a number of objects from all the smithsonians that we were like to say, to bring across the street to the new museum. in terms of lessons learned, i think for all of us, the power team werennie and his able to do with the support of congress, with the support now of 3, 4 presidents, is a powerent to the lasting and importance of seeing one's self reflected in museums. when you go into the national museum of american history, the national air and space museum, national museum of natural history, and the natural portrait gallery, the smithsonian national art museum

and others, it is a critical moment when you see people who look like you there, when you see their art, their histories presented. i think that is something we share across the smithsonian. we will soon -- we are incubating now and it will be -- no,ginning next year in 2021. the smithsonian latino center's molina family gallery at the national american history museum. we also advocated that the national american -- national african-american museum of history and culture. journal"r "washington viewersican history tv who cannot make it to washington, d.c., we will be at the national museum of african-american history and

culture at 9:00 a.m. on friday. arlene in farwell, michigan, good morning. caller: good morning. guest: good morning. i am a woman74 and who wears a lot of pins, not necessarily political ones. -- have these -- i amn replicated questioning about the bluebirds, the umbrella, and the prison pin -- i would love to purchase those to represent women and our rights. guest: that is a great question. i believe some of them are available at the smithsonian store, so i would check smithsonian.com and see if in the store you can find them. answer,check on that

but i am pretty sure there is a number -- there is an incredible book we published with hundreds of objects about suffrage, and i believe there also is merchandise, so check us out online and see what you can find. host: carolyn is next in washington, d.c. caller: thanks so much for taking my call. i wanted to just acknowledge for the callers who are interested in the equal rights amendment that our group united for equality is responsible for the legislation in congress that seeks to eliminate the ratification of the e.r.a. guest: thank you. caller: we began this into thousand nine and the bill was introduced in the house in 2011 and the senate in 2012, and became the catalyst for the last three states to finish. -- instion to you is

regards to the suffrage movement, what concerns me a lot is suffragettes are framed as racist and white supremacist. i have seen a couple of op-ed's from "the new york times" that were disturbing, and i would love for you to place the suffrage movement into the context of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments, so if we place the original betrayal and where it occurred and the fact that andn had to fight 50 years, that they were originally abolitionists, it gives people a broader picture of what happened. there is a story on both sides. i just want to say that i think the risk you run and not allowing white women to know this amazing movement that took place among educated, well-to-do women, is we don't know what our

place is to currently address and propel the equal rights movement forward for women. we have a place and i do not want white women to feel ashamed and disgraced by this moment in our history. have a moment, but we responsibility to continue the suffragist momentum and their dedication that we would have better lives today forward for the young women coming after us. host: thanks for the call. guest: thank you. thank you for the work, and helping bring me up to speed. i had forgotten about the legislation that was passed finally in 2011, and the reason advocacy of your group and others around e.r.a., so thank you for that, and i will go look that up. on the declaration of sentiments, it appears it was at the national archives but we are

not sure where it is now, but we will keep on working on that question and i will check in with my friends. it appears to be lost, which would be incredibly sad. -- so to yournt point about the tensions between abolitionists and advocates for women's suffrage in the 19th century, the 19th century for many feels like a foreign land. we kind of know it, maybe we think we have been there before, as thisng us back exhibition does, democracy in america, it shows the contestations over the extension of democracy came squarely into the efforts that were started by many in the early 19th century and before that, throughout the

world in which slavery had ruled and had ruled in a different way in the united states. you can certainly understand the tensions that arose within those advocacy movements. seeingaracterization of to put betrayal of women forth a strong abolitionist platform, and the reconstruction constitution,the 13, 14, and 15, is an interesting one. i think historians would complicate that a bit. many women did feel it was a betrayal and many women didn't. many abolitionists, white and black thought that was the more important because of the moment. i think what you are getting to

are some of the scars or scar tissue of the ways in which advocacy evolved, and the choices that were made. fromomen who felt excluded suffrageard work of were many. poor, white women, often self excluded, and women of color were outright excluded. hold twot, we can things in our mind at the same time. we can hold a deep admiration for the sacrifices and diligence and remarkable work of women to get the 19th amendment passed, and we can simultaneously hold the stories that we know from nettie helen burroughs of the

work that they had to do which was doubly hard. i think you are right, they shouldn't erase each other, if that makes sense. that as complex humans, we should be able to hold them both in our hearts and minds and find inspiration from both, also understanding their context and place in time. i hope that helps. host: jerry in somerset, kentucky, good morning. caller: good morning. i asked my granddaughter if she knew how women got to vote. she said they didn't have the right to. guest: what did she say? rights,two wars, equal women's rights, voters rights, the only way you can get anything done is when people have their seat on the street. they marched on the capital and

in 1913, they marched in washington. guest: you are a great historian, grandpa. caller: you march off to war, you parade after you win. keep up the good work and help give our grandkids the information that they really and children the information that they really need. thank you very much. host: thank you for that phone call. nie waiting in elkton, maryland. guest: hi, lonnie. caller: you are absolutely wonderful. it comes through the tv screen. i did a video about 20 years ago in a tribute to my grandma. she had a very hard life, raised three children by herself, three , was always happy and

wonderful person. justs on youtube and it is three words to locate it. miss lillian remembered. ms. lillian remembered. guest: miss lillian remembered. ok, great. i will look it up. is very sweet. she sounds like an amazing woman and i am sure you are too. >> before we leave you today, there are a lot of museums in d.c. when visitors come to look around the national mall and the -- what is your pitch to why they should make the museum of american history one of their stops? guest: oh. if you are interested in what it if youo be an american, are interested in, discovering some of the ways in which this ,ncredible complicated, beautiful nation has evolved.

if you want to see some of the very objects and almost bear you areto the past, welcome here. your family is welcome here. stories andell your 100, we tell- 0 to your stories and we welcome you here. like all that sony is -- must smithsonians, it is free of charge. host: director of the national museum of american history, thank you so much and thank you for having us in today. guest: you are so welcome, john. thank you. istoryn track us on amh

twitter. we thank you for everything you do to keep democracy alive. host: if you want to see more of this program or watch it again, you can see it tonight on c-span3, american history tv. we will continue museum week tomorrow from the smithsonian museum, but the american indian. we will be joined by director groverg -- kevin to discuss artifacts import to native americans today. that starts at 9:00 a.m. on the washington journal. that will do it for us this morning on washington journal. we will take you now, already in progress, to the george washington university program on extremism, the session on state and nonstate militias influence activities and efforts to counter propaganda and disinformation. >>