latrobe was a devoted family man. and one of the legacies that he has left my home city is his children after he died in new orleans, they returned because they had a sponsor in baltimore, and they lived in baltimore. and that became important -- they became important businessmen and engineers. and his grandson, ferdinand, was a seven-time mayor of the city of baltimore. and so i think we have a special allegiance to this creative genius. >> and since you brought up his family, i wanted to ask you a little bit about his wife, mary elizabeth. and her role in his career. >> she's fantastic. one of the things that is so upsetting when one does a biography of a man is that there are no pictures. i could never find images of mary latrobe. there are all these wonderful portraits that we have of latrobe, but there is no image. but my view of her, because he writes really sexualized for that generation letters about i wish i could hold you and feel your bosom, etc., etc. it's amazing. but he always compliments her figure and

here's a portrait, of latrobe. and i love the fact that the eyeglasses had been such a constant part of his portraits and now they are on his face. and i love the idea of the curly hair is still somewhat uncontrolled. now this is the rembrandt portrait. he was charles wilson peels son. this in a family just to give a short shout out to the field family. he named his son rembrandt. raphael, and this is his view of latrobe. he moved to baltimore. let's go on. latrobe had to declare bankruptcy in washington. when he lost his daughter at the capital, he no longer had a salary. and he was in debt because it steamboat project that failed in pittsburgh. and so with some humiliation, latrobe declared bankruptcy to the city of baltimore in 1816. and he had been working on the area for number of years. and so he knew the city. this is a cross section and that i include because it seems to me that characterizing the sophistication of latrobe's presentations to the clients. but that's not what the architects do. he clients bec

when latrobe was 13, he was chosen as one of the clever boys and believe me, latrobe was a clever man and boy all his life, and he was sent to the pedagogia in what is now eastern germany, but for reasons that always unclear to biographers, although we like to find the keys to our subjects -- he rebelled against his background and he was expelled from the community, much to this disgruntlement of his parents who were leading stars in their church. his father, benjamin henry latrobe, became an important figure in the church, and as was his mother who ran educational program its but despite their stature, he was nonetheless expelled from the schools and he ended up in 1783 in london. so, susan, maybe we can see the next slide. >> dress net the quiet clothes and has the demeanor of them. the has become something of a dandy. i spent a lot of time on that hair. i could never figure out whether it was a wig, and i finally decided this was the way that young people in london wore their hair. what is also significant but this -- this is by the way by a swedish artist who came to london to stu

tonight she is talk about building america, the life of henry latrobe. she dwell we joined in conversation with susan schoelwer, i hi, susan. >> hi, kev

what is unique about it are these capitals designed by henry latrobe.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,

tragically, latrobe had already died at that time. he died in new orleans. i imagine there might be some historians in the room. if anyone is interested in helping us involve the mystery, we would love to know. the bell tower is a beautiful addition to the church. and it houses a bell that was forged by paul revere's son. stamped on it, it has 1822, boston revere. it's not the only revere bell that came to washington, but it's the only one that is still in its place and being used for its original purpose. it's interesting too to think about this building. this is the only building on lafayette square that goes back to the era that it goes back to that is still being used for the purpose for which it was built more than 200 years later. and i'm very happy to say that we are open most days of the week and we welcome anybody who likes to come in and to spend some time and be in this gracious space. i also feel compelled to mention that it usually looks a little different than it does tonight. stewart was telling me this could be practice for our new tell evang

first history professor jean baker looks back at the life of the architect henry latrobe who created supreme court in the chambers. in the u.s. capital buildings . then host joe describes harry truman's efforts to prepare american for the cold war. also tonight, it is foundation senior fellow, talks about identity politics. another beat chief of staff are former democratic majority leader harry reid of nevada. argues that the modernization of the senate is damaging to democracy. george washington professor talks about the power struggle between the u.s. and china. in southeast asia as well. for more information visit booktv.org . mark sawyer program guide partied and now here's a look at the life of the

it is nice to hear from somebody from latrobe. latrobep very close to and i think there are a lot of schools where school districts feel safe in the covid rates have been lower, but are getting higher. you are right that right now schools are remote and it is not working. that has been driven home by our research in particular. host: would like to thank julia kaufman, senior policy researcher for rand corporation, for coming on this morning in talking about the study on how the pandemic is impacting teaching and learning at america's schools. thank you for washington journl continues. host: we are back and once again we want to hear from you on whether you will get a covid-19 vaccine this year. if you plan to get a covid-19 vaccine, we want to hear from you at (202)-748-8000. if your answer is no,

it is nice to hear from somebody from latrobe.

we will have another book talk, we are looking at benjamin latrobe, stay safe thanks to jeanette patricknd see you again soon. >> thank you. >> you are watching booktv on c-span2 every weekend with the latest nonfiction books and authors, booktv on c-span2 created by america's cable television company. brought to you by these television companies to provide booktv as a public service. >> during a virtual event in new york comedian judy gold offered thoughts on free speech and censorship and here are some of the discussion. >> you have a right to say whatever but the basis of that argument in the book is if you are going to talk about the holocaust or whatever, kids in cages, racism, whatever it is it has to be funny but you can tackle that issue but you better craft a beautiful joke around it because gratuitously viewing the sets for shock value humor with no joke about it, that is not what we do. a good comedian makes you think and laugh at the same time. i write about -- i am a lesbian and i came out in the mid 90s but i came out on stage as a gay parent because i had the first one and

it is nice to hear from somebody from latrobe.p very close to and i think there are a lot of schools where school districts feel safe in the covid rates have been lower, but are getting higher. you are right that right now schools are remote and it is not working. that has been driven home by our research in particular. host: would like to thank julia kaufman, senior policy researcher for rand corporation, for coming on this morning in talking about the study on how the pandemic is impacting teaching and learning at america's schools. thank you for being with us this morning. guest: thank you. it was a pleasure to be here. host: when we come back, more of your calls and stories on whether you will get the covid-19 vaccine. we would like to hear from those who have been vaccinated already. we will be right back. ♪ announcer: join us tomorrow for opening day of the 117th congress. i would live coverage starts at 7:00 a.m. eastern on washington journal. at noon the house and senate gavel into session. the proceedings will take longer