one of abraham lincoln's heroes, a man named george washington in no way is abraham lincoln missing george washington and sure enough the next abraham lincoln goes to philadelphia risking his own life to be there, raises a flag and independence hall, where the declaration is signed, talking about her everyone in america deserves an equal chance and he says god bless josh mentioned, the actual quote lincoln says in that speech that day, he says if we can't save the country without that principle, then he pauses and says i was about to say i would rather be assassinated on this spot than surrender and i love the fact abraham lincoln says those words, i would rather be assassinated on the spot knowing full well there is a plot to kill him at that moment and it's not a throwaway line, he means it and it pauses and what is fantastic about that moment is soon after that moment happened is when they whisked abraham lincoln out of there. i won't tell you how. we know he lived, that's not really a spoiler but you see how they get him out, you will see the codename they give him and it is one

so i always say it's abraham lincoln no question.and when you researcher hero there is a huge risk because when you tie in the microscope and anybody famous people or your friends and look closely you start to see the cracks and then you see the scars in lincoln has them. his entry point on slavery when it ends is not perfect in every way he makes some bad decisions. and to free slaves that are not necessarily the best choice but my god and even when you tie in the microscope and then you say my gosh over and over. and then does the right thing it makes the right call and it's hard to specially define justice and the truth is something that doesn't exist anymore of abraham lincoln makes me believe it. and makes me believe in people again. it really does that's why we study him to find out how we can be that way. spent that's a perfect spot for us to end. your comments about it he will living up to the hype and what you have always thought was a great man. thank you for coming to speak last summer so florence and gail in your series.

even abraham lincoln does that.the other thing i love the story of abraham lincoln son losing the inaugural address. >> robert todd comes on board, he's there for the drink and everyone says he's a playboy. >> he is taken a little leap from harvard, he just wants to meet girls and drink and have a good time and what does the guy do, dad, i lost the oregano address. you had one job. you had one job. [laughter] >> i love that, it kinda gave you an idea of what you see in other portrayals and he was lincoln's only child who lived through maturity. >> it is there -- >> he gets there to watch another president go down it's an incredible story. >> i did not know that. >> abraham lincoln belong to any secret societies you found out ? >> that's a good question. we did not do it because you'll see the book in as he sworn in. i'm trying to remember he's on the list -- i don't think he's a freemason, i know there's 14 u.s. presidents were freemasons and i don't think he's on the list, that's a good question, you just described

abraham spotted a flock. thomas lincoln and dennis were away from the camp and abraham was too little to load and prime a gun himself so his mother nancy had to do it. abe poked the gun through the crack of the camp and he accidentally killed one, dennis rather amusedly remembered. but you know the truth is, lincoln disliked hunting. he later in rather proudly wrote of the turkey shooting that he had quote never since pulled a trigger on any larger game. he did not much like killing. killing in the boy's sense of torturing the animals that were everywhere in the indiana woods. one neighborhood recalled him writing essays on being kind to animals and crawling insects. when his stepbrother captured a turtle and crushed it against a nearby tree, abraham preached against cruelty to animals, contending that an ant's life was as sweet to it as ours was to us. his friends and neighbors referred constantly to his tender heartedness. so, here was a far from callous or unfeeling youngster, quite the contrary. if anythi

of course with abraham lincoln. but i think for us, i'll never forget the conversation that josh and i were just talking about it recently. and had less to do with lincoln and more to do with the civil war. because for us, i just felt like the ground. look who we are. and we felt like was really fed spot right now in our culture. the event space. i think it would be silly to just think like you can do things in a vacuum right now. i think that the best books that you read are not books that you love because they tell you about another character, even if you love that character, which are really looking for is a story about yourself read the stories you love the most to you something about yourself. great stories are mirrors. in great heroes are mirrors and abraham lincoln is certainly merit for all of us. this who we aspire to be. he is the best of us. one of the best of us. i think for us, big picture in the mirror wasn't awfully abraham lincoln. because we knew, the speech but this was sort of in another story lat

. >> that's from the archives of you portraying abraham lincoln. what's the value of understanding history through re-enactment? >> it reaches a population that may not pick up a book but they want to come and have an experience. that's what they have reported over the years. there are not readers, they are not picking up the written word but they want the experience. >> how many years have you been portraying abraham lincoln? >> 33 this year. started extremely small but i wish i could tell you there was a grand plan, and it's certainly not mine. >> how did it get started? >> i was on the board of the illinois education association. we were going to have the national convention in new orleans and one of the board members came up to this skinny, skinny man with a black beard and said, you know, if you dressed, we could all come on the floor of the convention and they would know illinois had arrived. and i was intrigued. and i said let's try this, and that was the only thing i did in 1986. but then worked at freeport with the debate and such. >> peop

. >> announcer: next an interview with abraham lincoln interpreter george buss. [ applause ] >> fellow citizens, since your last annual assembly, another year of health and bountiful harvest has passed. while it's not pleased the all mighty to bless us with a return of peace, we can but press on guided by the best light he gives us, trust that in his own time and wise way all will yet be well. >> george buss, that's from c-span's video archives of you portraying abraham lincoln. what is the value of re-enactment? >> it reaches a population that might not pick up a book, but they want to come and have the experience and that's what they have reported over the years, that they're not readers. they're not picking up the written word, but they want the experience. >> how many years have you been portraying abraham lincoln? >> 33 this year. started extremely small, but i wish i could tell you there was a grand plan. it's certainly not mine. >> how did it get started? >> i was on the board of the illinois education association. we were going to have the national convention in new orleans. on

december 1, 1862, abraham lincoln. [applause] >> so what did you have to work with to interpret his voice and how it might sound the echo >> i -- sound? >> i did underground at ball state. i was at a hotel in springfield, illinois years back. years later, brought coffee. he came to the table and said, you want coffee? i was stunned. i said, where are you from? he said, springfield. i said, how long have you lived here? he said, my whole life. this is what i have waited for. it was the descriptions of the letter writers at the time. when i met david donald in gettysburg for the award of achievement, he wanted to hear it. i thought, what do you say to an author of a lincoln biography that was just awarded the pulitzer? i thought about that a while. i gave him the voice. he smiled that smile which is ever so david donald and he said, it is as i expected. don't ever change it. >> can you give us a full line right here in the voice as you interpret it? >> if we could first know where we are and whether we are attending, we

not so with abraham lincoln. his hospitality toward african-americans was well known during his presidency. mary livermore this. she said that he bent in special kindness. another white washingtonian said the good and just heart of abraham lincoln prompted him to receive representatives of every class fighting for union. was he above shaking black hands. the hands of that color carried .he stars and stripes african-americans exhibited great pride in being able to shake abraham lincoln's hand. some believed it had near talismanic power. after lincoln was assassinated, mary lincoln gave gifts to prominent african-americans like frederick douglass and seamstress, elizabeth keckly. they cherished these gifts. as sojourner truth explained, it was the same hand that signed the death warrant of slavery. even 50 years later, in 19 13, the black poet james weldon johnson celebrated the anniversary of the emancipation proclamation with these words -- since god through lincoln's ready hand struck off our bonds and made us m

not so with abraham lincoln. in fact, lincoln's hospitality toward african-americans was well known during his presidency. union nurse mary livermore wrote this. she said, to the lowly, to the humble, he bent in special kindness. another white washingtonian said that the good and just heart of abraham lincoln prompted him to receive representatives of every class fighting for the union. nor was he above shaking black hands, for hands of that color then carried the stars and stripes, or used musket and saber in its defense. african-americans took great pride in being able to shake president lincoln's hand. some believed it had near talismanic power. after lincoln was assassinated, mary lincoln gave gifts to prominent african-americans like who had been close to lincoln, including frederick douglass and seamstress mary keckley. they cherished these gifts, these relics. as sojourner truth explained, it was the same hand that signed the death warrant of slavery. even 50 years later in 1913, the black poet james weldo

three out of four soldiers in the union army voted for abraham lincoln. one out of four voted for mcclellan. so we think was the army of the potomac ever his army that they would vote for the presidency. also at that figure it looks like a lot of democratic party union soldiers voted for lincoln. if he hits three out of four. he didn't know this in advance. he was rolling the dice. if we have voters in the armies, there's going to be republican voters, democratic voters, there's going to be voters who did not vote for me in 1960. there's also going to be some districts in louisiana, they were democratic in 1860, and in kentucky which he lost in 1860. they're going to produce votes now in the general election and are they going to not vote for lincoln because they're democrats? so it should be no surprise that this electoral map of 1864, two new states joined the union in 1864 that did not vote in 1860. we have the state of nevada, brand new, during the middle of the civil war. kansas now has a state constitution that's organized and lincoln is going to wi

abraham lincoln and the election of 1864. we are going to look at this as if this is 2018 and we're going to look back on it and see some stereotypes that have come forth in the past several decades. we're going to look back on it and say, well, of course he was going to get reelected. that's the impression that most people have. if you read any textbook or most popular treatments it's like lincoln is elected in '64, who is going to doubt that? we're going to see there is plenty of doubters to his reelection of 1864. now, how does that relate to the doom of the confederacy? did the confederates say, we give up. he is in the white house. it's over. march 4th, 1865, it's done. no, they are not doing that. are any other of the individuals who didn't vote for him giving up and saying, well, just forget about it, he's there? no, that's not going to happen, either. okay. so we're going to look at some of the things we know. was lincoln's second election to the presidency is turning point in the civil war is this we debated that bac

abraham lincoln knew a great storm was coming.e knew that the union was going to fracture, and he knew that there would be a great, costly war, but the idea is an idea that breathes life into a new nation in 1776. that idea was the most radical expression of human dignity and freedom ever put on paper by the mind of man, that all men are created equal and are endowed by our creator with inalienable rights, amongst them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. and in the great war that would follow that would kill 600,000 people on the shores of our land, lincoln re-consecrated the idea of america, the only nation in the history of the world founded not on ethnicity, not on territory, not on land, but by an idea, which is why when somebody takes the oath of citizenship, they are as much an american in that instant as a descendent of the mayflower. [applause] one of the great battle captains of the civil war was william tecumseh sherman. in 1861, he was a colonel in the union army, and in his letters, he was deeply skeptical of

i can almost say that except when abraham lincoln died, we were supposed to get abraham lincoln's vision of reconstruction but instead the bullet of john wilkes move gives us johnson was a man born racist, died a racist, the last president to own slaves, a man who didn't anticipate his own slaves until 7 months after the emancipation proclamation, a man who has president ended up resurrecting every moment of the confederacy paving way for the jim crow laws which gave us segregation. if i look at the story of civil rights and post-civil war america it can be described as a story of two presidential assassinations beginning with abraham lincoln and ending with james garfield. when i set out to write the chapter about andrew johnson you think what can i write that great scholars haven't written about this sort of seminal moment in history and i decided to vindicate the one stanley can's record which is putting andrew johnson a heartbeat away from the president. back in the vice -- the president didn't choose the runway but this is an important moment in lincoln was a service he would lose t

dare to do what abraham lenk and called this nation to do, to do our duty. give you the lincoln project. [applause] >> it's always a challenge following rick wilson. i appreciate the opportunity to be here, speaking before you on such sacred ground. my name is mike madrid. i come from california. i want to speak about the cooper union speech that we are honoring this evening. theow that i cannot escape fact that the address here at is fundamentally a moral pronouncement on race in america. it is not just about the evils of slavery, it was about the very notion of our own american identity, and the concept that could beyond whites somehow join in the family of who we are, the idea that those who could not join were born to basic founding principles. history should remember that while the first republican auditionss national -- ambitions were cemented in this great hall, the current president's ambitions were lost in a speech given not far from here as well. the speech at cooper union and the speech at trump tower offer dramatically different perspectives on h

we now have the weight of the war on abraham lincoln's shoulders. on august 23rd he doesn't think he is going to get re-elected, and part of this is the numbers that are coming in. now, i'm going to be -- we are going to change not the numbers but what they mean a little bit. battle of the wilderness, 1766 casualties. 2,246 new graves in virginia. 12,037 new hospital beds needed in the hospitals in washington, baltimore, new york, philadelphia, pittsburgh, any place else. 3,383 soldiers disappear in the confederate prisoner of war camps, salisbury, bell island, newly opened andersonville. continue on to spots ill vein ya', 2,725 new graves in virginia. 14,416 we need beds in the hospitals. 2,258 are now somewhere in the confederate prison city. battle of north anna, 223 graves. 1,460 new hospital beds. 290 people disappear in the confederate prison. battle of cold harbor, 1845 new gaves in virginia. 9,000 new hospital beds. 1,116 disappear in confederate prison camps. these are the totals that abraham lincoln says, nobody is going to like me for thi

how do you get from jonathan edwards and religion to abraham lincoln? >> well, it's a little unusual, but not more unusual, well, let's say a chess game. there's a few strange moves that have to get made and processed, but not too many. i wrote my doctoral dissertation on jonathan edwards and the problem of determinism and free will in 18th century moral philosophy. >> that's a title made for wide public consumption. >> yeah. i was -- >> is that in the 19th printing now? >> they actually -- they actually did do a second edition, but, all right. >> the one with matthew mcconaughey and jonathan edwards is the one that really resonates. >> yeah, yeah, and the one with nick nolte at -- >> lurking. >> when nick nolte as george whitfield, right, but i -- i wrote the dissertation which was then published by wesleyan university press, and the problem with free will and determinism seem to me a real perennial philosophical american problem, maybe not the kind of thing you stay up at night reading about, but still a perennial, and i had planned to write a follow-

how do you get from jonathan edwards and religion to abraham lincoln? >> well it's a little unusual but not more unusual than, well let's see a chess game. there is a few strange moves that have to get made in process but not too many. i wrote my doctoral dissertation on jonathan edwards and the problem of determinism and freewill and 18th century moral philosophy. >> that's a title made for white public consumption. >> yeah. >> is that in the 19th printing? >> (laughs) they actually did do a second edition. >> the one with matthew mcconaughey that really resonates. >> the one with nick novelty as george whitfield. i wrote the dissertation which was in the university press and the problem of freewill and determinism seem to be a really parental american philosophical problem, maybe not the kind of thing you step night reading about but still. a perennial. i plan to write a follow volume, kind of a john edwards two point oh or freewill to war no. bring things to the modern philosophy. as i was working on this project this was in the mid-90's i knew that

how do you get from jonathan edwards and religion to abraham lincoln? >> well, it's a little unusual. but not more unusual than, well, let's say a chess game. there's a few strange movers that have to get made and processed. but not too many. i wrote my dissertation on jonathan edwards and the problem of determinism and free will in philosophy. >> that's a title made for wide public consumption. >> yeah. >> is that in the 19th printing now? >> actually, they did do second edition. it was -- >> the one with matthew mcconaughey and jonathan edwards that really resonates. >> yeah. and the one with nick nolte as george whitfield, right. i wrote the dissertation which was then published. the problem with free will and determinism seemed like a real philosophical problem. a perennial. and i planned to write a follow up volume, kind of a jonathan edwards 2.0 or free will 2.0. and bring things -- the discussion of the problem of modern philosophy and as i was working on this project, this was in the mid 90s, i knew that abraham lincoln had something to say on t

so i will go with b, holding a kitten. >> tucker: was abraham lincoln holding a kitten in the statue in california? >> reminder that the los angeles federal courthouse has a statue of abraham lincoln where he is a shirtless, young stud, suggestively tugging at his waistband and "sports illustrated" swimsuit model and abraham lincoln like you've never seen them before. >> greg: so i won with a score of zero, tucker. >> tucker: this is the lowest score in the history. >> greg: and we have little scores. >> dana: we have little scores. >> tucker: the "final exam" continues and the most observed history of the game including barbra streisand cloning her dogs, stay tuned. ♪ >> tucker: welcome back to special "final exam" edition of "tucker carlson tonight." our goal is to ask about each weeks weird and unusual news and after almost two years, that has given us a lot of strange questions. tonight we remember the strangest of all. we are going to begin with multiple-choice question. in a marketing move, a brilliant or insane one fast food chain is selling fire logs that make your whole ohmi

it's not fair to abraham lincoln, a great president.y should call it the losers project. >> the president not happy with a new ad from a group of conservatives who haven't been shy in going after him. on monday, the lincoln project released this ad. they call it "mourning in america," but it's a different spelling of morning than the gauzy reagan campaign ad of the same title. this one you see is about our current president and the coronavirus. >> there's mourning in america, and under the leadership of donald trump, our country is weaker and sicker and poorer. and now americans are asking if we have another four years like this, will there even be an america? >> and in that way just by adding the letter "u," you can get everybody's attention. the ad was debuted on social media a few days back, but then it aired last night on fox news. and so just before 1:00 a.m. this morning, the president took to his phone to attempt to filet the founding members of the lincoln project, including our next guest. back again with us tonight, steve schm

so i will go with b, holding a kitten. >> tucker: was abraham lincoln holding a kitten in the statuen california? >> reminder that the los angeles federal courthouse has a statue of abraham lincoln where he is a shirtless, young stud, suggestively tucking at his waistband and "sports illustrated" swimsuit model and abraham lincoln like you've never seen them before. >> dana>> greg: so i one with ae of zero, tucker. >> tucker: this is the lowest score in the history. and we have little scores. >> dana: we have little scores. >> tucker: the "ultimate final exam" continues and the most observed history oe game including barbra streisand cloning her dogs, stay tuned. when you say what you're in the mood for, the xfinity voice remote will find exactly that. happy stuff. the group's happy, i'm happy. you can even say a famous movie quote and it will know the right movie. circle of trust, greg. relax, the needles are jumping. you can learn something new any time. education. and if you're not sure what you're looking for, say... surprise me. just ask "what can i say" to find more of what you

how do we balance the time of abraham lincoln specifically? was abraham lincoln a hero? of the slaves or was he too cautious? was he too fearful of the general population? >> i mean, i'm not a historian. i am a journalist, but this is what i will say. what the project attempts to do is complicate the narrative. my daughter, my 10-year-old daughter asks me all the time. was this person good or was this person bad? and i tell her, where are these people who are one or the other. that people are capable of holding contradictory views. they are capable of doing both amazing things and things that are really devastating. and abraham lincoln was a man. i think -- and he was a man of his time. so we have defied our founders and abraham lincoln and i was not saying that abraham lincoln did no good. clearly he did and clearly his views on black americans were evolving right before his death. that's one of the reasons he was assassina assassinated. but we have to have a more complicated narrative because the narrative has been extremely harmful to black americans. we're told we're

so far i haven't mentioned abraham lincoln. where is lincoln?gely off stage presence and abundance of excellent books of his presidency and many many others. but by most historians in a more skillful political manner with a contemporaries but in 1861 he was no more prepared for war that were most americans and considerably less so than some numbers or many members of congress actually and for much of the war tyranny was a work in progress. although he governed more than any other predecessor he depended on the republicans in congress who often read him more often and followed him and vigorously insisted the power to shift resided on capitol hill are not in the white house. so toward the conclusion, i have a strong suspicion that one or several of you may wonder does this book have anything to say about today's congress or politics? just a wild guess. [laughter] the answer is yes and no. this is a book of history and the civil war, the time span is primarily 1861 through 65. is not about the present day united states although it often says histor

the top score was 1000 and abraham lincoln got a score of 907. he had a terrific rating on every single one except for relations with congress where he scored a 9. who are the bottom five? who is on the other end of the spectrum? john tyler is number 39. our biographer does argue that he has redeeming qualities. i invite you to read that chapter. [laughter] the man who ended up not having a party but managed to establish the presidential succession because it was not written into the constitution. number 40, warren harding. he scored 360 out of 1000. we know some much about the scandals that plagued his presidency. the biographer we selected was john dean. that john dean of watergate fame that knows a thing or two about presidential scandals. he uncovered papers of warren harding that were previously unknown to biographers and argues that he deserves a little bit better than the place the historians have given him. it is up for you to decide. next is franklin pierce. new hampshire's only president. 41st place. he also had a bit of a drinking prob

goes into the endlessly fascinating question of who is abraham lincoln? he is still elusive to a biographer even more than 15000 books have been written about him. why did his speeches become so good? he had given a few important speeches, not too many, a few. the lincoln douglas debates are important the cooper union address in new york is very important, he steps it up to an even higher level while traveling under very difficult conditions. under rapidly moving a railroad through all these different cities of the upper midwest in the north. and then how did he deal with some of the worst political problems any incoming president has had to deal with? he was elected with a very, very weak plurality it was not a mandate it was less than 40% of the vote he had the second lowest of votes of a winning presidential candidate and our history. which is amazing if you think about how famous lincoln has become, to look at the bad hand he was dealt when he won the election. after john quincy adam he is the second weakest victor of a presidential race. seven states

abraham lincoln walk side-by-side with him arguably one of the best speeches of his career and points out frederick douglass the most famous ex- slave in the country and douglas of the autobiography describes a man glazed over stumbling with hatred and describing a drunk person but doesn't realize johnson is drunk but he comes to the conclusion he is no friend of my race that we should think the heavens he's not president but then six weeks later lincoln is kill johnson becomes president and his views are not transformed when he becomes president but when the civil war is over and all of a sudden the best thing from his perspective is to get the southern elected officials we integrated back into congress let the states deal with civil rights of he goes back to those tactics what is interesting about johnson is the plot that kills not just lincoln but johnson and seward and others, the first time the cabinet sees johnson after the drunken tirade and he is told by one of the cabinet members he's making mary todd lincoln uncomfortable and by all accounts he should be treated as president

john will booth shot abraham lincoln in order to kill abraham lincoln. lee harvey oswald shot jon kennedy in order to kill jon kennedy. what charles cato was trying to do, he had nothing personal against james garfield. he liked the man, he met the man, met his wife, what he was trying to do was reverse the election of 1880. he was not so much trying to get garfield out of office as to put someone else in office. he was trying to make chester allen arthur and his circle of friends the president and the willing circle in the united states. it was a regime change. that is a very scary thought when you think about it. >> getting back to andrew johnson. i will steal a question that susan asked at an earlier event amount burden to other historians. abraham lincoln is of course ranked number one president. james buchanan who preceded him and andrew johnson who came after him or consistently ranked the last two. how do you explain that? >> lincoln is sort of historical kryptonite. you do not want to be close to him. he had the greatest challenges of any preside

one of the great acquisitions is abraham or bari, -- is abraham abraham read bari -- rahari.im are we to get suckered again into strong euro and then oops? onahim: thanks for having me . that is exactly how we feel. for the moment, there's a bit of upside drift in the euro. that is partly because there's a search in markets for , and to somessets degree the euro. even though we think there will be a little bit of drift, there won't be much more headroom, and this rally will be over before long. lisa: a question about the other side of that trade, which is watching the dollar continuing to weaken. i was kind of shocked when i came in this morning to my living room that the dollar was weakening against even the chinese yuan, the remain be -- the renminbi, despite the tensions. have people had it with the increase in the debt loads and some of what is going on in the united states, moving away from the dollar? or is this just a temporary reallocation? ebrahim: from our perspective, it is probably more temporary. i think the good reason for why the dollar is a little bit under pressure ri

abraham lincoln. who? and they have been tilted. as we considered here is the positions on slavery and we've been talking about that. re leave it alone or popularhe sovereignty. political manager.rk as ager this is important to remember about him. he is a lawyer, that is how he makes his living. he is a politician. he has spent his life running for office. we have been studying not, butn for the front ofof it, he runs a 32, 34, 36, 38, 40, 42. , tries to find a way to get to congress. theys, work out the deal for location and office. he helps them run in 44, he runs and 46.he help is campaigning in 48. there is not much happening in no 50 and 52, then suddenly 54, le legislature, 55 senate, 58 he is up for the senate. he he hashe h done it a lot.ice. from his little act in springfield, he has a little office andcapi state capital, hs writing letters back and forth and trying to gain support,is find out what is going on, broker disputes. he is doing what he can to help himself. now it's a nasty campaign.s it gets a little tiresome wh

it was not a campaign book like abraham lincoln's.he story started a little earlier for jefferson. he worked on that book in the 1780's. it came out more than a decade before he ran for president. it was essential, it was a huge flashpoint during the elections of 1776 and 1800. this is when thomas jefferson and john adams are running against each other. there were other candidates as well. to understand why 'notes on the state of virginia' was so important, we have to talk about how campaigning worked in that time. nowadays, presidential candidates want to be everywhere and they want to be on tv and twitters and make their case directly to voters. it was the opposite of that. early in our history, it was the complete opposite. if you went out to everyone and said i want to be president, that was proved to most voters that you were not the right person to run for president. the idea was that you should be humble. you should be called to serve. it should be other people advocating for you and your ideas. so most presidents stayed home a

these are the words of president abraham lincoln. that from these honored dead, we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion. mr. president, may those who have fallen rest in peace. may we always remember them this memorial day and forever. and may god bless the united states of america. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from indiana. mr. young: memorial day, we travel door to door in neighborhoods across this country. all americans will agree that this day is special. it's a day to honor the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice on behalf of our country. thanks to their heroism, we have our freedom, our strong democracy, and our country's greatness. for their contributions, we owe them a debt we can never repay. it was 152 years ago that our 16th president, abraham lincoln, enacted the first national memorial day. it was a day meant to honor the valiant soldiers who fought in the civil war, and today we still heed abraham lincoln's timeless words --

. -- spirals into those secession of the first date in 18 60 after the election of abraham lincoln in november of that year. matt, would you like to add to that? guest: there is a lot there. i would simply add that the act also accelerated the demise of the whig party and led to the rise of the republican party which was a regional party. the republican party was not represented in the south. it was the election of the republican president, abraham lincoln, without southern electoral votes that prompted south carolina and 10 other states to secede from the union. host: a couple of technical questions. they want to know your advice on this. the first one comes from sydney from pius x catholic school in lincoln, nebraska. she wants to know how you correctly cite a document? we have another question, i will add it to that from one of our online followers, who wants to know, will the question be same for everyone on the test? start with jason and go to matthew. guest: to the first question, there is no official way in which you have to cite your documents. citeommended my students them at

on the presidency, abraham lincoln scholar harold sleas talkamity about several presidents. centers on the c-spanr book the presidents. president lincolnanks first in the survey of presidential leadership. came in at 20 seventh place. 27th place. ♪ brian: amity shlaes, why do we spend so much time in this country and on our network and in your life talking about presidents? ms. shlaes: thank you, brian. i'm glad to be with you and with harold. we talk about presidents because people understand people better than ideas. and we eventually want to get to ideas, but we get at those ideas through people, our presidents. brian: dr. holzer, i'm often want to call you even though you're not a doctor. mr. holzer: thank you for that mixed introduction. and thank you for having me on the show and welcome to franklin roosevelt's home from which we are broadcasting tonight. why? i think amity has it right. i also think that we were blessed to have a first president who was a national hero before he became president, and was a touchstone and an icon and created a presidency that was cente

john wilkes booth shot abraham lincoln in order to kill abraham lincoln. lee harvey oswald shot john kennedy in order to kill john kennedy. the other man shot william mckinley in order to kill william mckinley. what charles guiteau was trying to do, he had nothing personal against james garfield. he liked the man. he had met his wife. what he was trying to do was reverse the election of 1880. he was not so much trying to get garfield out of office as to put someone else in office. he was trying to make chester alan arthur and his circle of friends the president and the ruling circle in the united states. it was a regime change. and that's a very scary thought when you think about it. and he was successful in doing it. john: and getting back to andrew johnson, i am going to steal a question that susan asked at an earlier event. lincoln of course is ranked the number one president. james buchanan, who preceeded, and andrew johnson, who came after, are consistently ranked the last two. how do you explain that? is historical kryptonite and you don't want to be

here, 80 years before, lay abraham lincoln.me again to the garden of his family home in hyde park, new york, comes president roosevelt. here in the old and lovely hudson river estate which several years ago he bequeathed to the people of the united states, immortal remains of a man whose career has known no parallel in our time will rest forever. ♪ ♪ the nation and the world mourn with mrs. roosevelt and her family. harry s. truman, president of the united states. distinguished senator from the state of missouri for ten years and vice president since the last national election, mr. truman brings to his new high office an understanding of the gigantic american war effort, second only to that of the late president roosevelt. climaxing a long record of senatorial leadership as three of the famous truman committee on war production, his work was a vital factor in the vast allied war effort. at last summer's national democratic convention, harry truman was chosen as candidate for vice president with president roosevelt. his brillian

abraham lincoln didn't have a briefing every day, which the president has. >> although i do think that lincoln's second inaugural or the gettysburg address will live a lot longer than anything that donald trump has ever said or will say. just guessing. >> i wouldn't bet against that. >> michael, i also wanted to ask you -- i also wanted to show a little bit of a video that george w. bush issued this weekend. a number of leaders were putting out inspirational videos about coming together and how important unity is in our country. let's take a look at this. >> let us remember how small our differences are in the face of this shared threat. in the final analysis, we are not partisan combatants. we are human beings, equally vulnerable and equally wonderful in the sight of god. we rise or fall together, and we are determined to rise. god bless you all. >> and so, michael, the president -- president trump -- tweeted against that video message, complaining that president bush had not supported him during impeachment. >> well, yes, and had not supported him certainly in 2016 when his brother,