a campaign slogan used against james blane, of course. and he's joining us from inside the blane house. how did you get interested in james plane to write a biography about him? >> basically, i had been involved in this house since 1966. i was assistant to the governor, so i knew all about the blane house. later on, another governor named king asked me to be the co-chair of a group called friends of the plane house, so i was spending a lot of time here. and i notice that there was a little bit about lane here, but there really wasn't very much. and there was no up to date biography of him. the previous biographies were about 70 years old then, and two of them were written in the 1930s. so i thought it was high time that this fascinating character, who came within a whisker of me, should have another biography, and that is how i got involved. >> you said fascinating. what are some of the other adjectives, descriptive words that you would use to describe james blane? >> repeat it. >> what are some words that you would use besides fascinating

tonight, we feature former speaker of the house james blane, who service secretary of state through threesidents and was the republican nominee in 1884. watch tonight beginning at 8:00 eastern. enjoy american history tv, this week and every weekend on c-span 3. >> you are looking at some

blane house, governor's mansion. mr., how did you get interested in james plane and how did you write a biography about it? ell, basically, i've been involved in this house since 1966. i was an assistant to the governor kurt is, so i knew all about the blane house. and then later on another governor, king, asked me to be the co-chair of a group called friends of the blane house, so i was spending a lot of time here. and i know it is, there was a little bit about playing here, but there really wasn't very much. and there was no up-to-date biography of them. the previous biographies were about 70 years old, and two of them written in the 19 thirties, early thirties. so i thought it was high time that this fascinating character, who came within a whisper of being president of the united states, he should have an autobiography so that's how i got involved. >> now, you said fascinating, what are some of the other adjectives descriptive used to describe james lane? >> i'm sorry, would you repeat that? >> what are some other words he would use besides fascinating to describe him? >> well, the one that they used a

prominent colleagues of guard field, including james blane secretary of state, they spearheaded the fund-raising efforts. efforts were made between various competing guard field memorialization efforts. for the statues in washington and cleveland, to the hospital in washington, to do some collect -- collaboration funding. but the press reports, that each effort folding in favor of the other. it shows the on their lying robberies during the project. a grand reception anti party was held may six, 1882, in the capital rotunda. organized by the ladies eight society. this is not the first, i was hope this was one of the first receptions in the written of this kind, but there had been others. previously. refreshments were held in the rotunda, and dancing in statuary hall, music supplied by the memory ban. despite last minute logistic issues, the event went off brilliantly, according to their was 6000 people in attendance. one of the documents -- one of the discontented press, using the supreme court chamber as a cloakroom, and statuary hall is a bow room, with ladies of dubious reputation in attendanc

tonight, we feature former speaker of the house, james blane of maine, who also served as secretary of state for three american presidents and was the republican nominee for president in 1884. watch tonight beginning at 8:00 eastern. enjoy american history tv this week and every weekend on c-span 3. up next on lectures in history, arizona state university professor jonathan birth teaches a class about the rise of andrew jackson and his presidency. he focuses on andrew jackson's clashes with weak party members such as henry clay and daniel webster in the bank wars of the 1830s. this class is about 55 minutes. well, good morning everybody and welcome to american history. my name is jonathan, barth. you all know me is professor birth. i am a history professor at arizona state university. in conjunction with two very

tonight, we feature former speaker of the house james g. blane of maine who served as secretary of state for three american presidents and was the republican nominee for president in 1884. often tonight beginning at 8:00 eastern and enjoy american history tv this week and every weekend on c-span3. every saturday on american history go inside a college classroom and hear about the american revolution, civil rights and u.s. presidents to 9/11. >> thanks for your patience and for logging in to class. >> with most college campuses closed due to the impact of the coronavirus watch professors transfer teaching to a virtual setting to engage with their students. >> gorbachev did most of the work to change the soviet union, but reagan met him half way. reagan encouraged him. reagan supported him. >> freedom of the press which i'll get to later, madison called it freedom of the use of the press and it is freedom to print things and publish things. it is not a freedom for now what we refer to as institutionally as the press. >> lectures in history on ameri