charles sumner, charles sumner was a radical republican. if you go back in your history books, you will recall seeing an image of a caning on the floor of the senate in 1856. charles sumner was the canee. preston was beating the snot out of him, and beat him so badly charles sumner could not go back to work for three years. when he did, when he did, he was a terror. charles sumner helped make sure the french and british didn't come out on the side of the confederacy. charles sumner was a loyalist to president lincoln. charles sumner did not like grant. charles sumner was blocking his precious bill, which was going to keep him from being reelected. so old butler, the beast, waits until old man sumner goes back and takes a nap. he calls the committee together, gets a quorum, and passes the bill out of committee, waits -- raises it to the floor of the senate, and under the suppression of rules, they pass this bill. because it dovetails nicely with the house version, they race to the white house. grant signs it into law. sumner goes nuts when h

was born in strom thurmond's hometown of edgefield, came into this chamber and attacked senator charles sumner of massachusetts with a cane. it is at those times we have learned the hard way how important it is to work together, to see beyond the human frailties, the petty jealousies, even the occasional craven motive, the fall from grace that every mortal experiences in life. calhoun didn't like clay. he didn't share his politics. he didn't approve of his methods. but he loved clay because clay was like him, an accomplished politician, a man in the arena a master of his trade, serving his convictions and his constituency just as calhoun was doing. calhoun and clay worked together because they knew they had to. because the business of their young nation was too important for them not to. and their roles in that business was too central to allow them the luxury of petulance. i read recently that our late friend and colleague barry goldwater had proposed to his good friend, then senator john kennedy, that the two of them make joint campaign appearances in the 1964 presidential campaign, debating

seated at his desk in the back row massachusetts senator charles sumner was beaten violently over the head with a cane wielded by representative preston brooks of south carolina, who objected to sumner's strongly abolitionist speeches and the vituperation that sumner had heaped upon brooks' uncle, senator butler of south carolina. the senate first met here in 1810, but, because our british cousins chose to set fire to the capitol during the war of 1812 congress was forced to move into the patent office building in downtown washington, and later into a building known as the brick capitol, located on the present site of the supreme court building. hence, it was december 1819 before senators were able to return to this restored and elegant chamber. they met here for 40 years, and it was during that exhilarating period that the senate experienced its "golden age." here, in this room, the senate tried to deal with the emotional and destructive issue of slavery by passing the missouri compromise of 1820. that act drew a line across the united states, and asserted that the peculiar instituti

most famously this occurs in the 18 50's when you have the case of charles sumner, a senator being beaten on the floor of the senate with a cane by preston brooks a congressman from south carolina. sumner nearly dies and becomes an event that precipitates the world war. in terms of inaction beating someone with a cane was the mark of a higher order imposing a lower order in such an action is typical for washington city. we find this is not unusual in any way and there's violence in all aspects of the culture from the bloodsport including things like and bear baiting and this climate of violence in terms of mobs and riots that usually break out. no matter what the initial cause is the ultimate victims of these rights and of being african-american or ultimately attacked in their homes, their churches and their schools and in their different societies. african-american brothels and taverns are not usually attacked but those that cater to the uplifted people are. this is difficult throughout the 1830s and afterward and it's another notorious legacy of this era. so what we find is in the city

kate was escorted by charles sumner who later became a favorite and a confidant of mrs. lincoln. this young, eligible daughter of a wealthy cabinet member enjoyed a wide circle of admirers. anne richardson french, wife of sculptor daniel chester french described kate as a professional beauty. she was tall and slim with an unusually long white neck and a slow, dibeliberate way of turning it when she glanced about. french concluded both chase's striking appearance and her distinctive manner demanded that when she appeared, people dropped back in order to watch her. when she returned to the white house for the lincolns' first state dinner on march 28th battle lines were clearly being drawn as the story is repeated that mrs. lincoln said to her as she left, i shall be glad to see you anytime, miss chase, and chase allegedly replied, mrs. lincoln, i shall be glad to have you call on me anytime. this might be mistaken as a polite or genteel interaction, but i think we know that both parties were giving thinly veiled signals of the rough seas ahead. mrs. lincoln knew that the gauntlet h

preston brooks nearly killed charles sumner on the senate floor, nearly caned him to death.here is a darker side to american politics, of violent side, a trivial side out of which greatness came. i am trying to figure out a way we could have really good but not great without some of these nation encumbering crises and the trauma that has some shaped our country's history. >> let's let the conversation began. thank you very much. thank you. [applauding] >> the book is "the end of greatness' aaron miller. [applauding] all right. we're going to take some questions. q&a. hang on one second. do the book one more time. with or without pause. with applause. all right. on cue. we want to applaud again if you still think it was good. thank you. [applauding] the book is "the end of greatness' aaron miller. thank you. all right. let's have some questions. raise your hand. we will come around with a microphone. a microphone. ask your question and give the microphone back. >> it sounds like you read the book collapsing complex societies. your next book should be on followership. it seems

back row, massachusetts senator charles thurman beaten violently over the head with a cane wielded by representative preston booths of south carolina who objected to sumner's strongly abolitionist speeches and sumner had heaped upon brooks' uncle with the governor of south carolina. because our british cousin ss chose to set fire to the capitol in the war of 1812, congress was forced to move into the patent office building in downtown washington and late into a building known as the brick house located on the present site of the supreme court building. the incident was december of 1819 before the senators were able to return to the restored and elegant chamber, they met here for 40 years. and it was during that exhilarating period that the senate experience its golden age. here in this rom the senate tried to deal with the emotional and destructive issue of slavery by passing the missouri compromise in 1820. that act drew a line across the united states. and asserted that the peculiar institution of slavery should remain to the south of the line and not squared to the north. the missouri compromise also set the precedence therefore every slave stayed admit