the reason i have it up, not only henry clay, daniel webster, john c. lhoun -- i have it up not only because i'm an admirer of clay, but i did my senior thesis college of the compromise. host: was it because he was a kentuckian that you did that? senator mcconnell: yeah. yeah. i recently reread it. it wasn't very good. frankly, they should have made me rewrite it so i'm not exactly sending it around for publication. but, it was one of the three sort of major copper prices -- major compromises that clay was involved in, widely attributed to holding the union together as long as it held together before the inevitable conflict blew things up. host: and gave him the nickname "the great compromiser." correct? senator mcconnell: yeah. that's what he was known as. host: what does that message mean for you for the senate today? senator mcconnell: because you have to compromise. and we do a lot of that. unfortunately in today's world the things we agree on never , make any news. it's only when we have differences. or something goes off the track , or something is

before i get to that though, your honors thesis was henry clay, senator henry clay . that inspired you to want to be a united states senator? >> guest: i had gotten interested in politics in school, ran for the student body president in high school and a big high school,, it was a contentious race. >> host: you said you were hooked. >> guest: i one. [laughter] so i began to follow politics. i remember at age 14 when the conventions were really, coverage of conventions was really dull. they focus on the podium and listen to all the speeches on tv. >> host: or we used to, there's a bigzenith radio and we sit there and listen to the whole thing . >> guest: pretty boring. youmay have been doing this too but i thought i was the only 14-year-old . only 14-year-old in america i thought, maybe you are watching too. watching those things from gavel to gavel so again, i began to try to practice this craft and see if i could get good at it and i was, ran for president of the student college in college and law school and clay was the most famous politician in kentucky . >> host:

before i get to that though, you are honors thesis was henry clay, senator henry clay. that inspired you to want to be a united states senator. >> guest: i'd gotten interested in politics in school. i ran for president of student body in high school. the big high high school, very contentious race. >> host: you said you're hooked. >> guest: i won. so i began to follow politics. i remember at age 14 when the conventions were coverage of conventions were really dull. they would focus on the podium and listen to all of the speeches on tv. >> host: or there is a big zenith and we would listen to the whole thing. >> guest: yes. pretty boring. i thought i was the only 14-year-old doing it maybe you are watching it too. watching those things from gavel to gavel. i began to try to practice this craft to see if i could get good at it. i ran for president of student council and clay was the most famous politician in kentucky. >> host: what about clay inspired you most? >> guest: the fact that he come in a not terribly significant state somewhat argue had become a major statesman.

before i get to that, your honors thesis was henry clay, senator henry clay, and that inspired you to want to be a united states senator? >> guest: i had gotten interested in politics in school. rant for president of the student body in high school and was a big high school, probably contentious race -- >> host: you said you war hooked. >> guest: i won, and so i began to follow politics. i remember at age 14, when the conventions were really -- the coverage of conventions was really dull. they'd focus on the podium and listen to all the speeches on tv. >> host: or there was a big radio and we would listen to the whole thing on the zenith radio. >> guest: pretty boring itch thought i was the only 14-year-old -- >> host: might have been two. >> guest: only 14-year-old in america. thought maybe you were watching, too. watching those thing from gavel to gavel. so i began to try to practice this craft to see if i could get good at it, and i was -- ran for president of the student council in college, too, and law school, and clay was the most famous politician in kentucky. like andrew jacks

henry clay. >> the great compromiser. >> lyndon johnson. >>. >> as a senator? >> overrated. >> mike mansfield? >> master of the senate's. >> dirksen. >> the indispensable player in the unsung hero in the civil rights movement. >> senator cooper of kentucky. >> role model as a young man great conviction very smart. >> ted kennedy. >> many books about him have been written he and he roared he was the light of the senate he was passion about almost everything but in many ways it think the most accomplished is that he never got to be president never was attorney general but in almost every way the most accomplished senator we used to laugh with him about going to those dinners you decide to mention caddie's name. [laughter] automate river speech on the senate floor of american history he came over and solicited and sponsored my bill and got co-sponsors within one day he knew exactly how to make the senate worked. senator byrd? >>. >> could well have been senate historian. >> during a the presidential campaign governor christie got over senator rubio view say in you

and he presents me with a copy of jackson's indian wars and he presents rodney with a copy of henry clay biography because rodney, i believe it was his great, great grandfather theodore who actually ran on the ticket with henry clay, actually he held the floor against indian removal for three days. so we were both sort of jackson enemies by dissent. and, it was a wonderful lunch. i remember the book common and say now you probably won't agree with my thesis in this book, but i want you to read and think about it and come back. and. and it was basically not that he meant to do it, that in some ways the removal of the five great strides of the southeast, choctaw's, greek seminole, they fail because they push them further out because it kept them to be totally up over run. that is the unique explanation for violating treaty rights and what was effectively ethnic cleansing of the southeast of the country. so the tone, i said i do not agree with you in some ways but i will say this, i remember having gone and i remember having read this and we have a great chickasaw festival which is the site

polk is pictures stumbling in a pothole on the road to the white house, and henry clay to the far right is ahead of the pack, although polk does win the election. clay is seen as a frontrunner in this particular rendering. so again, you can see political parody cast as a cartoon about a foot race among the candidates and getting diverted down to texas. and finally, this particular cartoon is about the tariff, which is i dare say 9/10 americans wouldn't know what a tariff is today, but at the time in the 1840's, it's the absolutely pressing, maybe the upper most issue in the presidential race, and the cartoon concerns the tariff on wool and protecting domestic wool growers, sheep farm ers and wool manufacturers from foreign competition, and you see polk is fleeing before this charging ram and then all of the products of american manufacturing are being thrown at him because typically, the tariff was a contest between manufacturing interest and agricultural interest. so again, fairly complex economic issues being depicted in popular political cartoons. so polk's presidency comes to an end

because they think it was his great great grandfather theodore actually ran on the ticket with henry clay and actually held the floor against indian removal for three days. so we were jackson enemies by dissent but it was a wonderful lunch hour remember him saying you probably won't agree with my thesis in this book but think about it and the argument was basically not that he meant to but in some ways the removal of the tribes of the southeast saved them because a push them further out to keep them from being totally overrun and that is a unique explanation for violating treaty rights that was basically ethnic cleansing so i told him i don't agree in some way but i will say in the same time frame i read this and went to one of chickasaw festival that was on site of the old capital and the great-grandfather was the treasurer of the nation and there are thousands that come to this and it is amazing that may not have been the case maybe they wouldn't survive the same way because we are large tribe of 60,000 you have anything here that size on the east coast of the areas where obviously euro

henry clay, john quincy adams. john quincy adams served 17 years here in the house. his presidency was considered, by and large, a fairly failed affair. but his -- after he served as president, he came here in the house, and he found his voice. and he was an incredible champion of the right of the people to petition their government. he was an incredible champion of abolition way before his time. he was a statesman, and although he drove southern slavery holders to distraction here in the house, nonetheless they respected him for his intellect and his doggedness. and he's an incredible figure, actually. so there are some great, heroic figures who served here in the house that are also, i think, worthy of reading about and learning. >> host: and there's a brand new biography out on john quincy adams, by the way. >> guest: that's right. >> host: this spring. >> guest: i'm looking forward to reading it. >> host: and have you ever thought about writing a book? if you did, what would it be about? >> guest: actually, there are two books -- well, yes with, i have. and there

when he ran for president did he get any votes in his open native state, the state of henry clay?s he even on the ballot? >> i believe that kentucky went from are for mcclellan in '64. but the did keep the state in the union. what you mentioned is exactly right. lincoln was deeply concerned about keeping kentucky in the union and preventing kentucky from seceding. he felt that a premature emancipation proclamation would lead to kentucky's secession and raising an additional army against the union. he said there would be 50,000 more bayonets against us. and so he was bitterly attacked by the equivalent of his left of the day, the radical abolitionists who felt he was betraying the principles of -- and lincoln was very political on the issue of emancipation proclamation and felt he needed a victory, which he got at -- and he could announce it. kentucky was absolutely central to lincoln's thinking and he had a deep understanding. he visited kentucky. it's where his wife was from, her family, and he wanted to make sure that it stayed in the union, not only for kentucky's sake but in o

a k is pictures stumbling in pothole on the road to the white henry clay to the far right is ahead ofon. clay is seen as a frontrunner in rendering.cular so again, you can see political arody cast as a cartoon about foot race among the candidates diverted down to texas. and finally, this particular about the tariff, 9/10 is i dare say americans wouldn't know what a tariff is today, but at the time n the 1840s, it's the absolutely pressing -- maybe the upper most issue in the race, and the cartoon concerns the tariff on ool and protecting domestic wool growers, sheep farm ers and from foreign rers polk ision, and you see fleeing before this charging ram products of of the american manufacturing are being thrown at him because typically, was a contest between manufacturing interest and agricultural interest. again, fairly complex economic issues being depicted cartoons. political so polk's presidency comes to an end in 1848, and unfortunately, dies three months later here in nashville, and what's polk's passingut a that it's a result of cholera epidemic. cholera t's the third epidemic t

presidents, half of the secretaries of state became presidents and others came very close like henry clay and daniel webster. there's in new york angle with hughes. william o. douglas who learned his law at columbia wants desperately to be vice president of the united states and comes this close to being fdr's running mate in '44. he is fdr's poker buddy. he had a more political personality than a judicial one. it was more suited to his temperament. critics would say he was a trump -like figure in many ways. he thought about running for the presidency in his own right area -- in his own right. that's another new york angle. in an earlier world -- in our world, it is preposterous what i'm about to say, but in an earlier world -- justices did not give up politics or political ambitions. chase wants to be the president desperately and his angling for even as he is presiding over johnson's impeachment trial. he is angling to replace johnson as the democratic nominee. so -- and almost all of the people lincoln put on the court are angling for the presidency. that is not as true today. from an

rodney i think it was his great great grandfather theodore who actually ran on the tickets with henry clay. also, held the floor against indian removal for three days, so we were jackson enemies by the sense-- by dissent. it was a wonderful lunch and i remember when the hand in the book insane, now you probably won't agree with my thesis in this book, but i went you to read it and think about it and come back end of the argument not that he meant to do it, but in some ways the removal of the five great tribes of the southeast, cherokees, choctaws, seminole save them because it push them further out and kept them from being totally overrun. that's a unique explanation for violating treaty rights and what was effectively ethnic cleansing of the southeast part of the country, so as i told him i said i don't agree with you in a some ways, but i will say this, i remember having gone at the same time frame i went-- read this have a great chickasaw festival in oklahoma, which is the site of the old chickasaw capital and had a great grandfather who was a treasure of the chickasaw nation and there

andrew jackson, john quincy adams, william crawford, and henry clay. jackson and clay, it's fair to say they hated each other through the remainder of each other's lives. thehe election, jackson won most number of popular votes, about 48%, but he did not win the majority of votes. the remainder of them word divided between john quincy adams, number twol. henry clay's number three. crawford's number 4. not a majority opinion from the electoral college. the decision went to the house of representatives, and in the process, henry clay and john quincy adams did some horse trading. it's called the corrupt bargain, where clay supposedly approached adams and said, i give you my votes. the trade took place. representatives elected john quincy adams as president and jackson lost out. jackson was furious. he felt that the will of the people, the majority of people, the most number of people had voted for him as opposed to the other candidates, and as a result of this horse trading, the people's will had been circumvented iac saw in the aristocratic interests of

actually named after henry clay, interesting enough. the one way in which clay tried to align his presidency. let's take this to the 19th 19th century. much to be said about other presidents. in that period but we'll come to the 20th center, and barbara you wrote a chapter on president kennedy and give us a flavor what is happening to the presidency, particularly just president kent. >> i mentioned i had a soft spot in hi heart for abraham lincoln but in the period of time, when i was six or seven that my merits took us to only kips veil, they were very bipartisan and almost, i think, knowing would grow up to be a presidency scholar so when i was four my mother took us to see john f. kennedy who was campaigning one month before the eflex our home town of louisville. and until she appealed on she would say, we got there early and we stood right from front of the podium. said i was four. i can remember the balloons and the confetti but can't remember what the future president said. and then a couple years later former president eisenhower

it is named after henry clay. the one way clay tried to align the presidency.that takes us to the 19th century. there is much to be said about other presidents in that period. one of the chapters you wrote on president kennedy in the modern era what is happening to the presidency. >> absolutely. i mentioned i had a soft spot for abraham lincoln but in the period of time when i was 6 or 7, my parents took us to hartsville they were very bipartisan and knowing i would grow up to be a presidency scholar. when i was 4, my mother took us to see john f. kennedy who was campaigning one month before the election in our hometown of louisville. don't you remember we got there early and stood in front of the podium, i was for, i remember the balloons and confetti but can't quite remember what the president said. a couple years later, former president eisenhower came to town and they took us to the airport to see him as well. they got us interested in the topic to be sure so kennedy is a lifelong interest and passion of mine. one of the reasons mother packed three kids inc

listening to a speech like that i was thinking, if only we had , c-span in the 19th century to hear henry clay's last speech or john calhoun's. clouds similar to senator packwood. i think we would hear the same kind of emotion and capture the humanity. host: humanity, but also coupled with the rules of the senate. senator packwood resigned because of accusations of sexual impropriety. i wanted to ask in the general sense about ethics. how have they changed in the past 30 years, under the glare of television cameras? >> i don't believe any formal changes have occurred in terms of the ethics of the senate. i think in the modern era, when communications, the communications industry, is operating 24/7, everything a senator does in the senate, on the floor, in a hearing, in that particular office, they are public people. every action they take is subject to public scrutiny. for better or worse, members know that. they have to conduct themselves with a level of propriety possibly unheard of in a previous era. i think that is a good thing. host our next televised moment : occurred in 2009. you will wat

listening to a speech like that, i think, if only we had had these been in the 19th century to hear henry clay's last speech -- to hearerney felt whe john calhoun's speech. i think we would hear the same kind of emotion and capture the humanity. host: humanity coupled with , rules. senator packwood resigned because of accusations of sexual impropriety. i wanted to ask in the general sense about ethics and ethics rules for senators. how have they changed in the past 30 years, under the glare of television cameras? mr. frumin: i don't believe any formal changes have occurred in terms of the ethics of the senate. i do think, in the modern era, when communications, the communications industry, is operating 24/7, everything a senator does in the senate, on the floor of the senate, in a committee hearing, in a particular senator's office, they are public people. every action they take is subject to public scrutiny. i think, for better or for worse members know that. , they have to conduct themselves with a level of propriety possibly unheard of in a previous era. i think that is a good thing. host: ou

the reputation of our great legislative bodies that have given us such giants as daniel webster, henry clay a. taft. [applause] mr. ford: whether in the nation's capital, the state capital, or city hall, private morality and public trust must go together. [applause] president ford: from august of 1974 to august of 1976, the record shows steady progress upwards toward prosperity, peace, and public trust. my record is one of progress, not platitudes. my record is one of specifics, not smiles. my record is one of performance, not promises. [applause] [cheers and applause] [applause] president ford: it is a record i am proud to run on. it is a record the american people, democrats, independents, and republicans alike, will support on november 2. [applause] president ford: for the next four years i pledge to you that i will hold to the steady course we have begun. but i have no intention of standing on the record alone. we will continue winning the fight against inflation. we will go on reducing the dead weight and impudence of bureaucracy. [applause] president ford: we will submit a balanced bu

remini and he presents me with a copy of jackson's indian wars and presents cod any with a copy of henry clay biography because rodney, i think it was his great, great grandfather teoder. a wonderful lunch, i remember reading the book and he said, you probably won't agree with my thesis in this book but i want you to read it and think about it and come back. the argument is not that he meant to do it but in some ways the removal of the five great tribes of the southeast cherokees, seminole saved them because it pushed them further out and kept them from being totally overrun. that's a unique explanation for violating treaty rights and what was effectively ethnic cleansing of the southeast part of the country. as i told him, i don't agree with you in some ways but i will say this, i remember having gone up -- we have a great chicksaw festival which is the site of the old chicksaw capital, i had a great grandfather who was chief of the nation and there are thousands of chicksaws. that might not have been the case, we might not have survived in quite the same way we did because we were a large t

and henry, is this the equivalent of game one in the nba finals where steph curry and clay thompson areng, but it could change. >> yes, it could be an unusual number, but if you several of these, and if you remember in the last election, how much energy was focused on the numbers, and when they came in higher or lower, and the accusations of the number fudging and the rigging of everything, and everybody is focused on the numbers and trump pounced on this within a minute, and it is terrible, and you are to make a change, and folks are going to be focused on this politically over five months. >> and nobody is getting laid off, so the jobless claims are low, low level, and not nearly enough evidence to say it is in an important turn month to month in looking at the turn. >> is it people leaving the workforce? h >> it is a noisy data series, and that in any given month, it will be revised by tens of thousands after the fact, and it is not, and seemingly the household surveys say, yes, fewer people are looking for jobs, and almost all of that, the unemployment rate is entirely and non-high