inauguration ceremony has been modified. watch the arrivals at the capital, the swearing in of joe biden and kamala harris and the inaugural address. the inauguration of joe biden with live coverage on c-span and cspan.org or listen on the c-span radio app. >> two weeks ago, rioters caused substantial damage to the capitol, something not seen since the british burned the building. we go inside this iconic home to congress since 1800. ♪

>> mr. speaker, we meet today at a location selected by george washington. >> it is a magnificent old building. it's not elegant or opulent. it is not like the kremlin or the great palaces of europe. the dome is simply the world's most recognized symbol of american democracy. >> what is unique about the capitol as it continues to tell a story. >> here's a place that had that battle of words and ideas. >> i'm always enthralled by the senate chamber itself. the walls themselves.

if they could speak. >> as you look at the statuaries, as you walk around, it is the history of this nation. >> people should come here and think about the america they know. >> we saw the capitol as a place of hope. the irony is, it was slave labor that built this temple for freedom. >> the framers endowed this institution with a few extremely important qualities and policies. ♪ ♪ >> standing at the eastern edge

of the national mall, the u.s. capitol has been home to the american congress since 1800. 770 feet long and almost 300 feet high, it has grown over the centuries as the country has grown. it is here where visitors have always come to see the function of congress going on. but while it is open for tours, its private spaces far outnumber those that the public can see. built with an architectural style based on ancient greek and roman principles, it is a working building. and a museum, with statues of notable americans from each of the 50 states, historical rooms

and chambers, ornately decorated with painted walls and ceilings. and in the center of it all is the rotunda, lying directly beneath the building's cast-iron dome. it is here where the senate and house share space. here, where the ceremonies of our nation take place. and here, where the paintings, architecture, and statuary all help tell the story of our nation's history, and the building that symbolizes democracy. in the rotunda, you can see everything. it tells you the whole story of american history and how we struggled for years to define and describe it, and to show the

world what it means. the thing that ties all people together, especially in the rotunda, is the notion of expanding rights, expanding civil rights, expending freedom. other countries have ideologies, but in america you get to be an ideology. >> representing that ideology more often in the capitol than anyone else is george washington. >> george washington's statue in the rotunda is one depiction of george washington out of many depictions of george washington. there are statues of washington here, paintings of washington there, washington is the single most represented person in the art collection in the capitol. the city is named for him. he is so connected to it. >> after choosing the site for

the capitol in 1791, then laying the cornerstone in 1793, it was washington's desire that the building be completely done and ready for congress to occupy in 1800. >> washington's vision for the building was something large, magnificent, and would command respect. would make americans of every state love their country better, and he hoped that it would be first in the affections of all americans. that is his legacy. >> while washington's aspirations for the building and the city have been more than realized over the course of the centuries, his hopes for what he called a congress house and the banks of the potomac being finished by 1800 would go unfold build -- unfulfilled due to construction

and weather delays. the capitol today does not resemble its early years of occupancy from 1800 until the house wing was completed just to the south in 1807. it would then be some 19 years later in 1826 that the building washington desired to be done by 1800 and now called the first capital would be finished, complete with a central section and rotunda lying beneath a wooden and copper dome connecting the two wings of the building. as you make your way from the rotunda into the senate wing, you come to the oldest part of the capitol, where the large sandstone blocks were pulled

into the building by slaves. marking the entrance into one of the early house chambers. the plaques on the wall give you hints on how the space was used from 1800 to 1807. it is in this area where the world of public tours, the nation's business, and the history of the capitol begin to intercept. they walk into an inner sanctum of the building not seen by tourists. into rooms where thomas jefferson, henry clay, and daniel webster walked, and into the pair he beginning of the capitol's history. >> the house of representatives met in these rooms from 1802 to 1804, it was a library of congress. after that, the supreme court

met in this room. following that, the house of representatives came back in for two years. from 1800 to 1810, this was the heart and the soul in the seat of government in this very room. she mentioned right in front of us what a speaker's chair was picked, it was thomas jefferson and -- a -- and aaron burr. the decision of who would be president was made right there. one was going to be president, one was going to be vice president. 36 votes later, thomas jefferson became the president of the u.s. next to that window. pretty remarkable. >> with his election in the house, thomas jefferson became the first american president inaugurated in the u.s. capitol.

>> no one enjoyed a greater role in the history and development of the capitol than thomas jefferson. thomas jefferson's legacy is seen everywhere, when we look at what is part of the capitol. ♪ jefferson had a lifelong love for this culture. he was responsible for bringing the first italian sculptors to america to undertake the allegorical and architectural statuary that embellishes the building. that planted the seed that continues to this very day. but the building is something beyond just shelter. it tries through its artwork to record history, to appeal to our

instincts for allegorical representation. ♪ the impact of jefferson is most clearly seen in statuary hall. >> with the south wing completed during jefferson's presidency, the house moved out of its temporary quarters in the north part of the building and into their new chamber in 1807.

>> and in that room, you see allegorical statuary, you see the wonderful corinthian columns. when the house was first used in october of 1807, it was generally acclaimed to be one of the most beautiful rooms -- the most beautiful room in america. imagine being a congressman in 18 oh seven, most congressmen came from rural districts, and you come to this unfinished capitol and an unfinished city, but still, you go to the interior south wing, it must have been breathtaking. it was the most beautiful room in the united states. a gorgeous room. except for the purpose of which it was built, so the people could hear one another, the acoustics. it is amazing how much that we

do resembles a regal approach. had he used marble, you could not expect the acoustics. and he did not. so he would dabble away. and they could hear him. [indiscernible] that happened very often. >> to help with the sound problems, large red drapes were hung all around the old hall. and with the house now residing in its own wing, the original north section of the capitol was reconstructed inside to include a new senate chamber, opened in 1810. with both wings now completed, construction had begun on the middle part of the building. until tragedy struck in the summer of 1814, as the war of

1812 made its way to washington. >> a force swept the americans aside, came to washington, seized it, and burned every public building but one. they burnt the capitol and they were -- and they burned the white house. >> the nation suffered a humiliating blow when the british burned the capitol and the white house. congress came back shortly after the british left, they convened on f street. one of the first things they debated was whether or not to keep the capitol city on the potomac. there was some very bitter feelings about the city. it seemed like it was a failed

experiment, a rather silly thing to do to create a new city just for the federal government. that did not hold up against those who reminded their colleagues that the city was founded by george washington. george washington's name was evoked time and again. it was his city, he laid the cornerstone of the capitol, he selected the designs. we have no choice but to rebuild here on the potomac. in order to honor washington, one must repair the public buildings on their original sites, according to their original designs, and so they did. >> with the capitol in ruins on the inside, congress moved across the street and into a building that sat on the present-day location of the u.s. supreme court. called the break capitol, it was in the structure where the senate and house would meet as they waited for the damaged

capitol to be repaired. and finally, after five years in the temporary quarters across the street, congress would move back into the capitol in november of 1819. >> this is they small senate vestibule, it is known as. what is unique about it are these capitals designed by henry latrobe. he was incorporating american teachers into the american building. this is 1800. we don't have a lot of american objects, we don't have a lot of american symbolism yet. the eagle is starting to be thought of as a symbol for our country. so corn was very unique. >> the corn or one of the few things in the interior of the building that survived the fire of 1814 intact. the first professionally trained

american architect was latrobe, who had worked with jefferson to complete the north and south wings of the building, before the fire. and again, it was latrobe, this time chosen by president madison, who was hired to rebuild of the capitol following the fire. as you make your way through the dimly lit covert doors of the oldest part of the building, you pass by the republican leaders office and come upon the old senate chamber. finally reopened for use in the winter of 1819. ♪ >> i would have enjoyed being in

the old senate chamber on the day it reopened. a marvel of architecture and engineering, a marvel of american can-do spirit. it must have been such a startling contrast to everything around it, everything else in the city, so muddy and dusty. everything else in the country, a country where most of the people lived in log cabins. this incredible temple to the legislative process, the marble columns, imported italian marble , wall to wall carpet, draperies, it must have been a stunning sight. >> henry seward of new york, henry clay of kentucky, illinois, of maine, daniel webster of massachusetts, john c

calhoun of south carolina, and sam houston of texas, that is just the beginning. this was the very apex of the golden age of the senate. everything was clean. if you were to bring back a senator from 1819 or 1833, that would probably double over in laughter, it was not like that at all. this was the floor of a stock market merchandise exchange just before the closing bell. the only place where people had a place to work. a senator's desk in the senate chamber was his office, there was no other place to go. >> no electricity, no furnaces, either too cold or too hot. ♪ >> those pristine, clean new

carpets would not have looked like that for very long. looking at those spittoon's setting in the senate chamber tells you a lot. every senate chamber had a spittoon. >> [indiscernible] he would not even use a glove to pick it up. >> i was not here to see how dirty it was, but i imagine it was pretty dirty. >> this is the room where the senate became the senate that we know today, when the senate first moved in here, it was a pale reflection of its modern self, it was sort of the rubber stamp for the house of representatives. not a lot of major ideas came up in the senate at that early period. all of a sudden 1819, 1820, the

main issue before the nation became slippery. the great thinkers who were in the house of representatives began to decide the place for them to be is in the senate. this is the forage on which the union was defined. is that a group of states, or is it something greater than a group of states? >> people used to line up to get into the senate chamber to hear daniel webster speak. he had this eloquent manner about him. even if it was not the greatest speech he had ever heard -- they had ever heard, he could speak for days. but they were able to get to what the issue was. we remember him today for not the length of the speeches, but a certain telling phrase that i speak as an american. henry clay used to sit up in the back of the senate chamber, and

people would say, does he have more seniority, why doesn't he move toward the front? he never wanted to turn his back on any of his enemies or friends, for that matter. he became synonymous with compromise. representing the west, he was trying to reconcile the interest of the north and the south. he was able to kind of keep control over the senate. people charged him with being the dictator. he said, i'm not the dictator. i'm just one of a number of senators. he knew as well that he was a dictator. whenever jhansi calhoun came into the chamber, there was a buzz at the gallery, because he was a dramatic looking man. a serious looking man. he resigned from the vice presidency to become a senator. he would come back as a section or less, a person defending his sections against antislavery, people who wanted to change the south way of life. he was too weak to actually

deliver the speech he had written and he had to sit and listen as another senator read it. he was dying of tuberculosis. it would have been remarkable to actually see him in action. >> the hips -- the history has become a shrine to the country. it's an important place in the capitol. the recognize it is important when they come into this room. they remember those great senators of the 19th century. so it is important to not just think about its past, but also it is important for the current members of the senate. ♪

>> with the north and south wings done in 1819, work finally began in earnest to build the center part of the capitol. >> it was a dome within a dome. >> the original idea that the summer space for the capitol, the great ceremonial space would be a circular room, would be a rotunda capped with a dome. it was the big thing in town. >> the rotunda was a reproduction on american soil of a roman temple.

the founding fathers were very familiar with ancient rome, probably more familiar than their own states. jefferson in particular, but washington and others wished some part of the capitol to really evoke the grandeur of rome. and it is interesting to know that the rotunda, the earlier rotunda under the old -- was not exact somewhat smaller scale, but an exact reproduction. 90 six feet in diameter, 90 feet high -- 90 feet in diameter, 90 feet high. >> as construction of the lower 48 feet of the rotunda neared completion the 1820's, congress looked back to decisions made during the madison administration on how the space would be used and presented to the country.

>> the discussion really comes to whether or not congress would buy the paintings, showing the events of the american revolution. congress appropriates the money to commission war scenes, that the function of our rotunda is sanctified, and these four great paintings are commissioned specifically for the room. they are intended for the rotunda. and in conversations with the president, james madison decides the figure shall be life-size,

to the commemorated would be the declaration of independence. the surrender of saratoga, the surrender of cornwallis. and finally, interestingly, washington resigning his commission. and that was james madison's idea, that that would conclude this series. returning military authority back to the civil authority which had granted it in the first place. he said it was such an act of selflessness. just a heroic act.

this really must be remembered as an event just as great as the beginning of the war, the turning point of the war, and the conclusion of the war. >> with the theme of independence from great britain providing the backdrop, the first ever ceremony to be held in the rotunda was in 1824, as the marquis de lafayette visited the capital during his tour of america and was honored there for his service during the revolution. the rotunda that lafayette would have seen is still a work in progress though, as italian sculptors under the direction of a newly installed architect of the capitol worked to carve different scenes into the stonework above the doorways in the space. >> the sculptures over the four doors into the rotunda show four different encounters of europeans and native americans. and two of them are violent

encounters. daniel boone in the wilderness is a violent encounter. oka junta saving the life of captain john smith is a violent encounter. and there are two peaceful encounters, the landing of hell rooms. with the native american handing in the ear of corn to one of the pilgrims certainly is an act of welcome and friendship. the last remaining one is penn's treaty. >> as you look up from about where lafayette stood, you see a ledge, 48 feet above the floor that rings the space, a marker of where the original dome of the capitol begin lifting itself above the rotunda -- a wooden and copper dome that was finished in 1826, marking the completion of the first capitol building some 33 years after its cornerstone had been laid. and and the same year that the country was celebrating the 50th anniversary of the declaration of independence.

>> when the capital was finished in the 1820's and very soon became known as america's temple of liberty. -- it very soon became known as america's temple of liberty. >> guaranty is, it was slave labor for the most part that built this temple for freedom. >> freedom, for some, was predicated on enslavement of others, the capitol in fact constructed by enslaved laborers, as well as free blocks -- free blacks. i wonder what they thought, laboring at the capitol, building the structure that was going to house the senate and the house and i -- and our

representative government. i can imagine -- i can't imagine working under those conditions and not being free myself. >> something terrible with freemen, raising a symbol of freedom, but it is built by slaves. >> my favorite part of the capitol is on the senate side, the last original part of the capitol, where you can see some of the original sandstone, the huge blocks that were laid by enslaved laborers. because it is original, it has not been touched, and that is something you can actually see and gives you a dramatic view of what slave laborers did. those blocks were so huge, i can't imagine having to live to those using simple machines. it must have been difficult. wrenching labor.

♪ >> we are standing in what is probably the most famous building in all of america. >> inside this building the slave themselves helped construct, that slaves themselves helped construct, today, there is no official telling of them in the capitol story, nor are there any images of slavery at all in the artwork collection. >> i think real history needs to be revealed. it was a place that the founding fathers, jefferson, washington, others, had slaves in their possession. and it was probably in the first -- and it was probably the first building to have stonemasons, and people who did hard labor, and doug the foundations. -- dug the foundations of society. i think it is part of the history, you should not be

ashamed of it, but the people should understand the history and the culture in which this place was built. >> inside the chambers of the capitol in the late 1820's, the debate over what to do about the issue of slavery, disagreements over the federal bank, and indian policy begin to loom over congress, as the nation's incoming seventh president, andrew jackson, is inaugurated on the east front of the building in 1829. >> andrew jackson was the first president to be inaugurated on the east portico. jackson was the first president to be inaugurated on the portico, because the capital was now finished. so he was the first president to actually see a finished capitol and his inaugural. >> -- at his inaugural. >> well, this president was

shot. he's the first president to be assaulted in the rotunda physically. he could have been killed. it's miraculous that it didn't happen. >> he was in the capitol to attend a funeral for a member of congress. following the ceremony, jackson took this path toward the center of the building, as he attempted to make his way through the crowd and outside for his ride back to the white house. just before he reached the rotunda, chaos ensued and the small vestibule, leading into that space. >> this man by the name of lawrence, who decided that andrew jackson was preventing him from becoming the king of england, pulled out this pistol and point-blank fired it. the only thing is, it didn't fire the bullet, and jackson, instead of backing off and getting out of the way, he has his walking cane, he goes after the men that strikes him,

and the man pulls out a second pistol. and again, it is fired. he used very fine powder. he was trying to be sure that he killed jackson. and the humidity was such that it ignited -- the bullet could be fired. -- it ignited before the bullet could be fired. >> it is during jackson's term in office at the lower part of the rotunda continues to take shape as we see it today. paintings complement trumbull's revolutionary war scenes. >> the first painting arrived in 1840. the baptism of pocahontas. a scene from 17th century virginia settlement. the less one that came was 1855. 15 years later. which is william powell.

the other two, the landing of columbus, the embarkation of the pilgrims, all exploration scenes of america. all very romanticized with highly romantic views of what it was. particularly when someone looks at the painting of the baptism of pocahontas, it tells me nothing at all about pocahontas. it tells me nothing about jamestown in the early 17th century. nothing at all. but it tells me a lot about america and the 1840's. >> when you mention native americans, that shows up in a lot of places, pocahontas, william penn, christopher columbus. it is interesting, because that is all over the capitol. native americans show up in the rotunda especially. >> you look at the native americans in the rotunda capitol, -- in the capitol rotunda, you get a sense that what the artists are talking about is america, and american expansion.

the expansion westward, manifest destiny, to go and populate the entire continent with citizens of the united states, to go from sea to shining sea, and often, in order to justify that, they needed to do paintings that are not just showing people planting flags on nebraska, but are scenes that people are going to recognize and are going to resonate with them. and they use native americans as symbols to show why america should do that. why does america get to go from the atlantic to the pacific? because they are in the process of doing that. and they use that by showing native americans as a symbol of what america can do. there are images of americans, they would have said, civilizing, the native americans, the baptism of pocahontas, for example. there are images of native americans being subjugated violently by the conquering europeans.

daniel boone. there are images of native americans asked of a child like people that have to be taken care of. so one of the things europeans do when they come is they take the simple, natural people and help them. if you look at the pilgrims arriving, the native americans are crouching down. often with an ear of corn. the only image in that room in which a native american appears as the equal of the citizens are in the relief of william penn signing a treaty, standing i'd i with the indian with whom he is trading and hand he is shaking. that was the one relief people had problem with. they said, this is terrible, it shows a native american towering over penn.

if you look at the picture, they are the same height. >> certainly, this is not the way the story would be told today. but it tells us a lot about 19th-century attitudes and certainly about the doctrine of manifest destiny. ♪ >> with the first capital completed in the mid-1820's, it is then less than 30 years before a bigger building is needed to accommodate a growing congressional membership. and in the 1850's, new senate and house wings are added to the building. and following this, a new dome is commissioned by congress in 1855. it is this dome that we see today. ♪

>> for me, just being able to drive into work every day and see the dome of the capitol, the highest point in the district by law, it stands out. it really is the citadel of freedom. domestically and internationally. >> people all over america recognize the dome of the capitol. probably even more than the washington monument or the tetons. i think it is the symbol of the freedom we have in america. >> what you see is a magnificent composition of a great domed center building with these swings that so beautifully reflect the bicameral nature of the american congress. >> the dome, as an engineering feat, i think it's got to rank

well up in the roster of magnificent achievements in american architectural and engineering know-how. >> it is literally a dome with any dome, with an inner and outer shell, held together by over 9 million pounds of cast-iron. >> it is because the dome does not look like it is a feat of engineering that most people don't think about it as such. but when you go up into the dome and you find yourself between the shelves of the inner and outer dome, you are amid 36 huge cast-iron trusses that hold not just one dome or the other, but they actually hold both. and they were landed on top of the department of homeland security department of homeland security old sandstone walls, so magnificent if for no other reason that it is a new addition

20's this instructor. high in the roster of great american engineering achievements. >> with the country growing rapidly, the first capital that was completed in 1826 was outgrown by a burgeoning congress and just when he for years. by 1850, legislation was approved to expand the capitol's senate and house wings. and with construction underway on the extensions, it was decided in 1855 that a new would be needed to architecturally complement the new wings to the building. managed by the interior department and then secretary, jefferson davis, it was left to architect of the capitol, thomas walter, and engineer in charge, montgomery meigs, to undertake something unprecedented in america at the time. >> without any committee hearings whatsoever, congress authorized the removal of the

old and construction of the new. after just a few minutes of debate. the architect found himself with an appropriation of $100,000 to begin construction. they voted for it thinking it could be constructed in a few months using $100,000. it took 10 years and a million dollars to build it. >> year after year, month after month, season after season, and we see the slow but steady progress of the dome. i think one of the great things about the history of the capitol is how well it is documented, and certainly, the advent of a photographic documentation is one of the great benefits of being a historian today, looking at the wonderful photographs that were taken of the capitol, particularly to record the construction of the new dome. the first photograph that was

taken january 18th, 1956, that shows the old dome removed, the scaffold up through the opening clearly seen from the outside, that is a very powerful image for so many different reasons, but one is how really forlorn and bad the capital was. you had to have a lot of faith that these architects and engineers have not committed one huge blunder, and taking off that. there are images taken from the west that show the dilapidated condition of the washington city canal, that was literally an open sewer that flowed through the center of town until it is covered over in the 1870's. we can appreciate a little bit about that.

it includes these foreground images. are a few that show other things that are very intriguing, for instance, at the beginning of the civil war, there is a construction photograph showing the dome as it appeared in may of 1861. and almost invisible in the foreground, but you can see it nonetheless, our soldiers -- are soldiers standing at attention. >> it was being built when the war started. it was decided by congress that we don't need to spend a lot of money on this dome when we've got a war to fight. so they decided to appropriate no more money, which meant the work would stop. and the people who were building at recognized that with vandals, with weather, all of the materials lying around could be destroyed, so they decided on their own to continue to build it, hoping of course that on the

war ended, that the congress would then pay what was owed. as it rose, it could be seen by the confederates. and that was the symbol of this nation. and it has become a great symbol ever since. >> it is very often remembered or told, the story of abraham lincoln ordering the dawn to continue during the civil war as a sign that the nation would continue. well, that story is only partly true, because it is the contractors' decision to continue the dome, and president lincoln used the contractors' decision to be a symbol of national resolve, but it was not the administration's decision to continue construction of the dome. seeing the dome under construction by the tens of thousands of union soldiers who

marched through washington facing an uncertain future certainly gave them and instilled in them a sense of continuation of the country. it is a symbol not lost on many, that that white dome rising slowly over the capitol was a potent symbol of a future of a united country, was seen as a sign of the successful outcome of the civil war, reuniting a country that had been torn asunder over the issue of slavery. >> on top of this symbol of unity stands the statue of freedom come authorized before the war began, but put atop the dome in december of 1863, while the war was still raging on. >> the statue of freedom on top of the capitol dome was a way that the architect decided to

finish off the exterior of the building. many domes in european cathedrals for instance has some type of cross at the top. for the secular building in washington, it was more proper to finish off the capitol with a statue. so after the dome was authorized in 1855, supervising engineer, montgomery meigs, wrote his favorite sculptor, thomas crawford, then living in rome, and he asked crawford to come up with an idea, and in his letter, he says, i don't think it should be a washington. we have had too many washington's. crawford replied with his idea that he thought a figure of freedom, triumphant in war and peace would be a suitable figure. that delighted meigs. so he authorized the sculptor to come up with a design which the secretary of war, jefferson davis, approved, but disapproved

of one certain feature -- and that was the liberty cap that the statue was wearing. jefferson davis concluded that american freedom should not be represented by the badge for free slaves. so the design was sent back to the sculptor with a request to modify that particular part of the statue, which he did. and he substituted for the liberty cap a helmet composed of an eagle's head and feathers. certainly, december 2, 1863 would be one of the two or three greatest days in the history of the building, the day that the head and shoulders of crawford's statue of freedom were mounted into place on top of the dome of the united states capitol. >> the most interesting part of my research thus far has been the statue of freedom, which was cast in bronze by an enslaved

laborer named philip green. i think this is interesting, because it is so ironic that the statue of freedom was cast by an enslaved person. who was freed by the time she was raised atop the capital, because emancipation came to washington on april 16, 1862. so philip reed had been free for over a year when she was raised atop the capital. ♪ >> any trip to the top of the dome is a treat. -- a treat to any visitor today and it was when the down was first completed in the 1860's. -- when the dome was first

completed in the 1860's. >> i wish every visitor had an opportunity to come here and be able to open the door to go up to the top of the capitol a beautiful day. and look out. it is something to behold. you get so close to the painting. it is unbelievable. the painting at the top of the rotunda. then you come out and walk around the dome. you see how the city of washington is laid out. >> to access the dome, one has to be in the company of a congressman or a senator whose office has made arrangements with the capitol guide service. >> you're going into the dome.

250-300 stairs. and this is the easiest part of the climbing. no elevator. when we go up there, start watching your head and your feet. there are places where it's angled. be aware of where you are walking. it is all padded, but, you know. >> okay. >> alright. >> it was long and narrow and somewhat tiring trip up to the dome. you enter by climbing a staircase, which lends you on the top of the roof. what you are looking at is, you are looking at the rounded brick wall that stands on top of the original sandstone wall. and you are there, looking at the sandstone drum of the original dome that was built in the 1820's by the architect.

you can actually look up and see the 72 brackets which hold the columns that you see from the outside. that is where you really start to see the dome. you go up a zigzag staircase to a little door, which puts you through the brick works, through this massive 5 million pounds of brickwork that were added to the top of the old walls, to knit the new ironwork with the existing structure, and through that 5 million pounds brick wall is a little opening. you go through that little opening ducking your head down as you go, and you turn, and you land yourself on what we call the first visitor's gallery. when you're at the first visitors' gallery, you are in this narrow aisle. it seems very spacious, because

you have the entire one million cubic feet of the rotunda to one side of you, and you have these large windows looking off to the east on the other of it, so you don't have a feeling of claustrophobia. you can look out the windows and see the supreme court, the library of congress, or you can look down and see the people in the rotunda below. you can also look up and see the great paintings. you continue up these series of steps and ramps until you go through a door, which puts you in what we call the interstitial space. and that is the space between the outer dome and to the inner dome, which looks like you might be in the hall of a ship. you see these large, credibly heavy strong trusses, which curve up and hold the inner dome

and the outer dome, bolted together with large bolts. but a remarkably simple engineering design, but it is so impressive to see the scale of these structural members, and to see the backside of the coffers, when you see the interior dome, which has these wonderful octagonal coffers, they look great from when you see a been -- when you see them on the floor of the rotunda, but they are spectacular when you see them on the backside when you're visiting the dome. when you are going through the interstitial space, you are on a small, steep, but very sturdy staircase that winds its way rather intricately through the trusses. i am over the arching belly of the interior dome, as it makes its way to the second visitors' gallery underneath the great painting.

>> [indiscernible] one of the neat things is you can talk is not as you want to appear and they can't hear anything you are saying in the rotunda. if i go to the other side, you can hear my voice completely perfectly because of the elliptical shape of the right pane. it is called the up of the office of george washington, done by constantino brumidi. it took him 11 months to paint it. this is his most famous well-known work. it is sometimes called the michelangelo of the capitol. he was scaffolding here, basically sat on a chair and painted above his head. 4664 square feet. it was done in frisco, which is applying -- fresco, which is

mixing paint pigments and water together. that is why they hired him for the capitol, because they liked this kind of work. >> you can see george washington sitting there, it is called the apotheosis of washington, which means he is ascending into the heavens to become a god. >> most people were going to be looking at it 18 stories down, that is what he made it this way, but at the same time, he puts all detail works that she puts all the detail works. because he knew people would be up here looking at it. ♪

>> it is awesome just to stand and the rotunda and see the painting, the ceiling, to look

up, there's nothing like it in the world. >> one big point it is that he put george washington in the center of the capital. washington is rising up into heaven, like he is some kind of saint or hero. nowadays we wouldn't portray president that way, necessarily, but it was common to show george washington like that in the 19th century. >> i think the apotheosis represents just what it's supposed to, it is that she is being treated as a god, it is a greek term. meaning that in a sense, when you have been such a wonderful person on earth, the other gods want to take you up to heaven with them. >> he is sitting there, ascending to the heavens, surrounded by the 13 colonies. just on either side of him are two figures, and you can see that one of them is holding

something that looks like an axe inside a bundle of sticks. that is an ancient roman symbol of power and authority in government. each little shaft is very delicate. you can break it easily. you put a lot of them together, and they are very strong. and that reflects of course not only the ancient roman idea that the roman people together are strong, but the idea in america that, together, we create a great nation. some of the other stuff there that does not seem terribly american to us today are the folks around the edge. those are greek and roman gods. it kind of invokes that heritage much older than this not very old nation. they look like americans. >> minerva is talking to

benjamin franklin, samuel morris about their inventions, and, underneath, there's a sort of attraction, which is an early electric generator and battery. there were batteries exactly like that up in the dome, and they were used for igniting the gas jets that provided the light at night. they were a wire with an electric spark. they reflect what was there in the capitol. neptune, the god of the sea, and venus. they are carrying a black cord or something -- chord or something -- cord or something, the transatlantic cable. it was brand-new. he was very proud, very

interested in new technology. there is an ironclad ship. kind of a strange sort of combination of the modern and the classical there. >> that's all of the symbolism in the apotheosis, the wonderful fresco at the top of the dome. it is the crowning jewel in the capitol building. >> when you leave the second visitor's gallery, you go up a stair that leads one way and then switches and comes another wave to weave its way through the structural members of the dome, and it ends up at a platform level below the statue of freedom. >> you walk up those steps, walk

through some narrow hallways, and you realize the breadth of this country, where we had one dome, and we outgrew it and put another dome on top of that. walking up to that statue of freedom on the top and then looking out, a 360 degree panorama. this is the seat, the heart of democracy around the world. as you are ascending those stairwells, which not many people can see, you realize what a wonderful, moving, magnificent building this is. >> you get a great view from the top of the capitol. you see the senate office building, the house office building. you see the supreme court. you see union station. you can look out toward

washington national airport. >> the city is easy to understand it the top of the dome when you see all the avenues converging on the capitol. >> it is almost the first time some of the streets in washington make any sense because you are looking down at them almost as if you are in the air and you can see them all converge on the capitol building. it is a great experience. >> looking at the capitol from the west, you see, at either end of the building, the extensions built in the 1850's to accommodate larger house and senate chambers as the members of each body expanded along with the population growth of america. to the left is the northern or senate wing of the capitol. all the way to the right is the southern warehouse wing of the building. -- southern or house wing of the

building. as you make your way south through the old hall of the house, today statuary hall, you leave the boundaries of the chamber used from 1807 to 1857 and coming to the south wing extension, heading directly toward the doors of the current house chamber, urgently opened up in december, 1857. -- originally opened up in december, 1857. >> the gentleman from michigan is recognized. >> this congress must not walk away from its role. >> this is a bill that deals with constitutional rights. >> i urge my colleagues to support this bill. >> the chair recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania. >> please. >> mr. speaker, we meet today at a location actually selected by

george washington. >> you teach about this place, what happens inside this building, the people that interact here. the dynamic that happens in here is unique around the world. >> green of wisconsin. >> let's say like the body -- let's say the body is like a heartbeat. it would be fascinating to watch it go like this. >> the house of representatives and the senate are made up of average people. right ones, brilliant ones, some dumb ones. they are good, bad. they have all the foibles of the american population. >> thing not come here to fail. they really want to make a difference. too often, americans think of them as just criminals, you know, the famous joke. mark twain said, in the united

states, we do not have a criminal class except for congress. they are windbags. they care only for their own interests. they are greedy and such. >> this house is where we fight the battle of ideas and come at the end of the day, we make the laws that govern this nation. >> i cannot help the look over at that chair and think about previous debates that were here, debates about going into world war ii and debates about coming out of suppression and debates about world war i and times where guys were fighting the progressives and doing the things they had to do to get their agenda across. it is an interesting place. this place is just steeped in history. the house really is the people's house, and i think members have to remind themselves of that.

they are out of how many thousands of predecessors served and how many to come? and that the history of this chamber and its traditions is what constitutes, for many, their love and affection for the institution. >> every day, i walk onto the floor of the house. i looked down at the speaker's rostrum. literally, the hair on the back of my neck stands up. >> this is where president kennedy stood, president reagan stood, or president clinton. this is where queen elizabeth stood. this is where president mandela stood. and it is a great feeling to be in the gallery. the president walked down. you go around.

he passed a copy of his address to the speaker and to the vice president. >> this place is recognized all over the world. >> this is a working building. this chamber is a working chamber, but there is so much that you cannot see on television that, when you visit the chamber, it just opens your eyes. it is like the experience of seeing something written on a page and then seeing it come to life in a play or a museum. it is a wonderful example of how the day-to-day activities that are so important for the nation and the goals of the nation are held up by the declaration -- decorations.

it does not begin to describe how important they are. they are the symbols and images that support what we do. ♪ i want to measure and take a look at this generally and see what is going on. let's take the measurements. when i walk into the house chamber to check on art, for example, actually, the first thing i notice are all the symbols that are in there. the symbols are important. there's the cornucopia, a traditional symbol of abundance,

one of the fruits of liberty. there are stars, the states. there are lots of other things. the fasces on the speaker's rostrum, rods bound together in each room that, individually -- in ancient rome that, individually, would snap. it is a symbol of republican government in which the people rule. you raise your eyes up and you see this wonderful eagle with its wings spread. the sky, and it is rather like [indiscernible] although it is covered from behind. it is not open to the heavens. it is a wonderful eagle. the thing i love the most about it is the sense that it is

spreading its wings over the day-to-day work of the congress, our great aspirations, foremost among them, of course, the american bald eagle. when congress is in session, the mace is also there. i love seeing the mace. it dates to 1841. it is a bundle of ebony rods. a terrific silver globe with an eagle sitting on top of it. >> traditions are important because, when you forget about traditions, you forget about the flavor of this place. every time i see the speaker of the british house of commons, i accuse him, because, in 1814, when the british burned the capitol down, they also stole our maze. if you read the stories of the

former speakers, when the place got rowdy or things got out of hand where there was a fight on the floor -- or there was a fight on the floor, you brought out the mace. it is a symbol of the power of congress, the people coming together and getting things done. >> please take your seats. >> the experience of [indiscernible] about what is really going on on the house floor during a roll call vote. this is america coming together. this is like the stock exchange, but of ideas. in the hubbub, the discussion -- and the hubbub, the discussion, there is a lot of business occurring. sometimes i like to find 10

members on the vote. imagine that. you see all this activity. it is a very exciting time, actually. and the people in the galleys think, why don't they behave themselves? but it is a very american exchange, very alive. it is a human institution. there is nothing good about that, nothing bad about that. >> there are 435 in there and you cannot see everybody and call the mall. there are too many of them, but you need to work with many of them. how we do that is on the floor. every time, with an issue or a bill or to talk to somebody, i talk. it gets loud, seems unruly, but there is business going on. that is the way a legislative body functions. i hope it is always that way. i hope even, with technology, we

don't from our offices or districts because one thing about technology is it disconnects people from getting along, tolerating other people, looking you in the eye and asking for forgiveness when you need to. >> the scoreboard. i sometimes think of a baseball stadium. what is the score? there are yellow and green lights next to their names and there is a count going on. there is drama going on in the house chamber because of that. these people pouring in, not knowing how the vote is goading. the senators still vote by voice. its nature is different. alexis to tocqueville -- de tocqueville noted that the differences between the chambers were almost the same as a visitor to the capitol would notice today.

>> we see something that looks vaguely colonial. although the space was very much the same, the architecture, the structure and the shell have changed, what was inside was different. if you were to be transported back in time, you would notice that the members sat at desks with chairs. today, they are called benches. they are seats, essentially. since the chamber itself was the office were each -- for each member at the time, they had desks. the other big change that we see in the chamber today from how it looked in 1857, if a member came back to life and walked in here, he would be surprised at the change in the rostrum. laurel wreaths are carved around the front of it.

some of the words, justice. at the time, in 1857, the height of showing your architectural respect for the institution would be to create something in marble. the capitol itself, we think of it as entirely marble. to the endeavor there. the greeks and romans used marble. today, we have so many people doing so many jobs to keep the congress running, that there are a lot more people sitting there. when you turn on the television and a look at what is going on in the house of representatives, there are lots of people down there, more than there would have been in the 19th century. when you go into the chamber yourself and sit in the gallery, they are of high -- up high.

>> right above the speaker's podium is a profound quote from another of our distinguished founders, daniel webster. >> when you look straight u along the wall -- up along the wall where the speaker sits, there's a quotation from daniel webster. what it said is an oration he gave not even in washington, d.c., but a wonderful reflection of what is important to us, what we consider to be -- in fact, some of the reasons we are here as citizens. why members of congress are here. something i think, like many symbols in the capitol, with which members can be reminded to the high purpose for which they are called.

lawgivers, the important people throughout history who have created great laws it advances -- and advances in how laws are made and administered. the portraits of washington and lafayette. the first that came into the house collection was lafayette. he had been such a young man during the american revolution that as late as the 1820's he was still around. he came and did a tour of the u.s. before returning to france. at the time, in the early 1820's, that picture was presented to the house of representatives. he's the first foreign dignitary to address the congress as well. and because he had been such a great friend of washington's, as well as one of his strongest allies, there's also a portrait of washington there that was subsequently commissioned to match the portrait of lafayette. that's an example of the way our history continues to thread

through what we do. wherever the house has met since they first arrived here in this congress -- what, 100 years ago -- 180 years ago? >> the people can make a difference. and i think that's what every member of congress has to recall, that they have been given the gift by their constituents to come here and make a difference and they should spend every day towards that end, and when they fail to do that, and when they fail as a member of congress, than they have failed the american people. -- then they have failed the american people. >> it is not just what we do in the present. it is not just the decisions we make that affect present lives. it is part of being the thread and the cloth of the history of america.

-- in the cloth of the history of america. >> it is a great honor to serve in this institution. >> this place is unusual in all the world because here you can come in and have spirited debate, disagree, battle with words and ideas, and that's what the system is about. it is the stuff of all this congress process is about, but we don't settle it with pitchforks or guns. this is a place you can come to have that battle of words and ideas that actually have progress, get things done. ♪ >> the rotunda bridges the house and senate sides of the capitol. it is from here that you enter

into the oldest part of the capitol and into the senate wing of the building. and as you make your way from the oldest part of the capitol into the extension old into the -- extension built in the 1850's, you see a contrast of the old and new, as the senate of the 1850's desire to showcase their part of the capitol to visitors from around the world. it is into this artistic and architectural design that you find the current senate chamber, surrounded by ornately decorated halls and rooms, and opened in the winter of 1859. >> i am always enthralled by the senate chamber itself. the walls themselves. if they could speak, what they could tell us. what would they tell us? i think of the great men and women who have served there. >> there is something special

about seeing it when it is empty. it is an empty theater in a sense. there is a feeling. you stop, look around, look at the busts of the vice presidents, the desks, the people who stood there, the robert tafts, hubert humphreys, lyndon johnsons, barry goldwater's, people -- barry goldwaters, people who have had huge impacts. this is where they fought their battles. >> the senate is almost a living creature, as a whole, breathing. it has a temple, an atmosphere. you can watch it. you can feel it. it is almost like a person. if you treat it like you would treat another person, i think it responds well, even when you are try to make it do something it does not want to do.

>> the real senate is the form -- the real set -- the senate is in the form of the states. each equal in degree with any other senator. each senator can speak as long as he or she wishes. there is freedom of speech. freedom of speech runs deep in english history, roman history, even, and colonial history and american history since the constitution came along. freedom of speech. >> the senate chamber opened on january 4, 1859. on that day, members of the senate as a body left their old chamber, which is now the old senate chamber. they walked down the corridor and into their new chamber. there was excitement.

there was enthusiasm about this new space. you go into the senate chamber today, it is really hard -- it is hard to evoke the way that would have looked in the 19th century. it has changed so dramatically. in the 19th century, when that chamber first opened, the room looked very victorian -- highly ornate floral patterned carpets, filigree and gilding on the walls, and a wonderful stained glass ceiling. the chamber was expanded in the 1850's and it opened because, as new states joined the union, more space was needed. so congress appropriated $100,000 to build the two new wings and later also the capitol dome. when you look from the galleries into the senate chamber, there's a variety of things going on. the layout today is very similar to the layout in the old chamber. while decorations changed, that

same formality, that same layout, has continued. what you have in the center of the room is the dais. at the dais, the presiding officer's desk. in the 19th century, it would have been the vice president who would have frequently been at that desk. now it is more frequently a member of the majority party. they sit at the presiding officer's desk for a period of time basically overseeing what is going on in the chamber. in the gallery, you have the press gallery above the presiding officer's desk, so the press can look down and see what is happening. as you look into the chamber, other galleries. visitor's gallery, diplomats gallery, even members gallery. and, of course, the room is divided into the republicans and the democrats. if you are at the desk looking out towards the senate, on the

left-hand side would be the republicans and on the right be the democrats. the majority leader and the minority leader are front and center, right at the front of the room in the center aisle. >> when i walk into the current senate chamber and i see 100 beautifully polished desks, i have a lot of different thoughts. one is that those desks are occupied by the latest in a long, unbroken chain of senators going back to 1789. there have been over 1880 members of the senate. and they really have reflected all kinds of shades of opinion and walks of american life. >> the senate chamber desks that you see in the senate chamber today are probably the most unique and important pieces in our collection as far as decorative furniture.

the reason being is that 48 of those were purchased in 1819 at a cost of $34 by thomas constantine. there have been desks since that time, but the british marched on washington in 1814 and set fire to the capitol. all of the furniture was destroyed. these desks stayed until after that period. in 1819, they need new desks and acquired these. there beautifully made, mahogany, inlaid veneer. there are even grilles on the sides of the feet of the desks used for air conditioning. the earliest air conditioning -- one of the earliest air conditioning systems was here in the capitol to cool the chamber and ventilate it, to allow the air to come through slits in the floor.

today, as curators, we try to preserve that history. we also recognize that every senator who sits in that desk, every event that happens in this chamber, adds another layer to the history of that desk. members started signing their desks. we have the signature of not every member, but the signature either in pen, or carved with a pen knife, inside the drawer. >> i used my father's desk. i carved the name instead of the schoolboy tradition that has gone here. senator cope was the first to carve his name in my desk. my father used my desk. lyndon johnson had it. i carved my name in the desk and they kept that desk for a quarter-century. there are two dodd names in that desk. knowing the history of that desk, the daniel webster desk,

he was such a tightwad when it came to public spending he would not have a little top put on the desk to give him extra space, so his is the only one that does not have a lift up top. the history of those desks and what occurred there is significant. -- what occurred at them is significant. >> people come and walk around the senate chamber, they will see a lot of busts, marble busts, and recognize a lot of these as presidents of the united states -- lyndon johnson, richard nixon, gerald ford, george bush senior. they are there because they were presidents of the senate, vice president of the united states. the constitution provides that the vice president be the presiding officer and break tie vote. for much of history, that is all the vice president did. through alvin barclay, harry

truman's vice president, that was the primary role. beginning in the 1890's, the senate began commissioning busts of each of the vice president's. -- presidents. the first 17 ring the inside of the chamber and they are all throughout the rest of the building. some of the vice presidents left office under a cloud. in the 19th century, henry wilson and colfax were implicated in the credit scandal. in the 20th, spiro agnew had to resign from office when he was accused of accepting bribes when he was governor. there are a number of people whose careers were less than stellar, but they are all in there because the artwork represents the office of vice president, so all of them are here. they are also object lessons, perhaps, on american politics over time. some of them are quite

spectacular. the bust of theodore roosevelt is really dynamic, as you would expect a theodore roosevelt bust would be. >> about the doors in the senate chamber are latin phrases as well as symbolic imagery, basically marble reliefs. the reliefs are by an artist who did them in the early 1950's, as well as the latin motifs. the imagery that you see is patriotism, courage, and wisdom. we don't know exactly why the artist selected those three images, but he was given a lot of latitude to design what he felt would be appropriate to go in the senate chamber. these are quite lovely pieces. the latin phrases, the, firs god has favored -- phrases, the

first, god has favored our undertakings, over the east doorway. then the new order of the ages. then you have in god we trust. and finally, e pluribus unum, one out of many. >> misuse of the hold in the senate has become a fundamental problem and do not see how anyone could support the concept of the secret hold. >> what if you play an active role in opening up both chambers? -- why did you play an active role in opening up both chambers? >> i do not want to get sanctimonious, but i believe in openness and government. i generally do not like secrets of any kind. life is easier if you live in open book. -- an open book. i thought it was part of the modern era. we were not covered by media that was only beneficial.

it was the electronic age. audio, radio, and, of course, that powerful medium, television. i thought the people who could not come to washington from small town, usa should have a chance to see and observe what we do. in summer specs, i think it has -- in some respects, i think it has adversely affected us. there is some performing in front of the eye of the camera. but people also see us at our best. the debate soars to a degree. it was kind of simple for me. >> it is for the good of the public to hear the debates going on. as a firsthand -- to be a first-hand witness to history, to understand exactly what is occurring, not just by reading the record but hearing the voices, watching the faces of

those who are the authors and architects of policy. the downside of it is it is almost theater. it is not real. we do not have as many real debates any longer because people are aware that they are performing on a public stage. not that they were not before either, but there was a limited audience. i think that truncates the debate. it has a way of stylize in the debate in the way that deprives people of the negotiations that are part of any legislative production. >> mr. alexander, mr. allott, mr. allen. >> what perplexed me when i first coming from the house is i said i like order, i like rules, all of that. i got to the senate, and having been a member of the rules committee in the house, and now in the senate, chairman of the rules committee, i kept watching the institution and saying this

does not make any sense. this is not roberts rules of order, not the house rules of order. finally, i went to the parliamentarian and saying, explained to me. how does this work? he said, there are really only two rules that matter, exhaustion and unanimous consent. >> that senate is the forum where the people speak, and where senators can speak as long as their feet will hold them. and if their feet will not hold them, they can sit down and get unanimous consent to speak at their desk. that is the protection of the people's liberties. as long as there is a place where one can speak as loudly as he wishes and as long as his lungs will last, there -- we can be sure the people's liberties will enter. -- endure. >> it was everett dirksen, a

republican leader of the senate in the 1960's, who said, thinking about the members of the senate, what a diverse lot they are. what a great tour it is to harmonize these discordant -- sure it is to harmonize these discordant voices. the great success of the senate is not because the rules are better or worse, but because of the quality of people who served and the understanding of the role of the senate as a unique place that has a coequal obligation to make sure the people's voices are heard. >> the doors of the senate chamber lead out into what is called the ohio clock corridor, named for the large antique clock situated across the hall from the chamber. from there, you enter a hall

with statuary on each side. one of the capitol's most powerful ways of telling our nation's and the building's history. the hallways and corridors of the capitol are filled with statues of notable americans. some of them are commissioned by the federal government, but most part of the national statuary collection, as each state in the nation is allowed to to send in two statues for representation in the capitol, and while some of these names and faces are known to visitors, it is in the rotunda where the most recognizable and visible of the collection reside. because so much of the artwork in the rotunda is of a permanent nature and emanates in the 19th century, it is the statuary in this space that takes the visitor through the 18th, 19th, and then 20th centuries.

as new statues come into the capitol, it raises the question of how america should be represented in this most visible of spaces in the building. >> the first statue to come into the rotunda, which was the first statue to come into the capitol, was the great statue of thomas jefferson. i mean, we go to the rotunda today and see all these statues. it seems fitting that the rotunda should be reserved for presidential statues, but try to imagine the capitol and rotunda without any statues. nothing. no statues anywhere. it is kind of hard to imagine. it is such a powerful part, statuary is, of the experience of the capitol today.

imagine when they brought in that statue of thomas jefferson. it must have looked lovely. >> lincoln said statue -- the first statue the government commissioned of abraham lincoln. when people look at that statue of lincoln, i like to point out it was done by a teenage girl. she was an orphan. she allowed mr. look -- mr. lincoln allowed her to sketch him. she made a plaster model, brought it to the rotunda, and members of the senate came out to decide whether a woman could do a great work of art. someone said it, it was not a very handsome likeness. someone else said it, he was not a very handsome man. james garfield perhaps does not live up to the stature of lincoln or washington, but there is some connection. garfield was a martyr president the way lincoln was.

the only president of the u.s. from march until september, a very short period, did not accomplish much, but his death shocked the nation, just as lincoln's did. >> when i walk into the rotunda and see the bust of martin luther king, junior standing there among the busts of some of our founding fathers and other political leaders who played unbelievable roles in helping to shape this country, i believe martin luther king, junior is the only african-american person in the u.s. capitol. and when i bring young people, especially young children, to the rotunda, i point out the

fact that martin luther king, junior is there. >> the statue for women's suffrage. susan b. anthony was here all the time trying to lobby for women's suffrage and felt they were being held back by forces in the congress who did not want to change the status quo. >> the statue is another example of how difficult this congress is -- the contribution of women. part of it is on carved. it is not sculpted. it looks like they are being cut out of this piece of white marble, white stone, and there's this piece that is unformed. it is a piece of art. there was a major lytic code struggled to get that moved upstairs -- political struggle to get that moved upstairs. i thought, why was this such a

struggle? i think that there was some hesitancy to put representatives of a movement on the first floor. i cannot give you all the reasons that the architect and the arts commission were so hesitant. it but found old me. -- it befuddled me. >> kids go on tours through that rotunda. they see that we have a common history. we should have a common future. if i were a person in charge of the future of this wonderful building, i would think it a burdensome task to find ways to make an accurate representation of the fullness of american history. >> one of the things we realize

as curators, and the members realize, too, is there is a lack of diversity in our collection. we have a lot of white men because in the 19th century that is what you saw in terms of the politics of this nation. lots of washington, lots of senators, male senators, but since this is the nation's capitol, we need to represent the entire nation, the story of everybody here. i think we are doing it. it just takes time. >> george washington, martin luther king, susan b. anthony. >> ideas of freedom and liberty have expanded every generation. you look at some of the more recent art, it gives you a whole different approach to who should be in the capitol. the most recent statue to come here in the capitol is a wonderful statue of a person many people are not familiar

with. the important thing about her addition here is she is important to the state of nevada and she stands there, face-to-face with our founding fathers, and i think that is -- i think that really tells me that all of us have the same right and responsibility to guide our nation as the founding fathers did. ♪

>> you are watching c-span, your unfiltered view of government. c-span was created by america's cable television companies in 1979. today, we are brought to you by these television companies who brought c-span2 you by viewers. >> on tuesday, one day before the inauguration, watch senate confirmation hearings for three incoming biden administration nominees. at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span,

janet yellen for secretary of the treasury. she previously served as chair of the federal reserve.at the same time on c-span2, alejandra mayorkas for secretary of homeland security is confirmed -- if confirmed, would be the first latino and immigrant as homeland security secretary. later in the day at 3:00 p.m. eastern on c-span, the confirmation hearing for lloyd austin for defense secretary.if confirmed , he would be the first african-american secretary of defense. watch live coverage of the confirmation hearings on c-span and c-span2, on demand at c-span.org or listen on the c-span radio app. >> there are confirmation hearings streaming live tuesday on our website. starting at 10:00 a.m. eastern, the senate considers the nomination of avril haines to be director of national