this is what he said about abraham lincoln. is hardly just to judge the administration too severely. mr. lincoln honestly wished to do what was best, but partly on account of his circumstances and partly because of his education he could not act very differently from what he did. the training of a lawyer is not very well fitted for making a good general. a planner of campaigns needs breadth of view, comprehensiveness, directness, a knowledge of how to make time his ally. but the legal mind, while active, loses in breadth what it gains in sharpness and intensity. mr. lincoln could not understand why if a rebel army could be whipped at the west it was not done at once overlooking all the remote consequences. to move on the enemy's works was all that was required to gain victories. it is somewhat remarkable that of the large number of lawyers who have entered the armies, north and south, so few have achieved real distinction. well, this struck me when i read it because i had just finished writing a book in which i assessed the inf

abraham lincoln was a colonizationist. this is a part of lincoln's legacy in history that has caused quite a bit of controversy, but it is also very reflective of what existed in antislavery and northern moderate at that time in history. kol colonization movement was the belief that after emancipation that freed slaves should be settled abroad. in another location. liberia was a location where freed slaves set up their own government. lincoln was interested in colonization some what closer to the united states, he investigated central america as his primary space where he was hoping to obtain land. in 1862, lincoln actually held a meeting at the white house with five free african-americans from the district of columbia, to pitch the colonization proposal to them. he had obtained $600,000 in funding from congress to subsidize and support their transport and he was in the process of negotiating contracts with the government of colombia, which owned panama at the time, the government haiti which was interested in obtaining pop

something from abraham lincoln that seems fit for this afternoon. the probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just. that seems to be very appropriate for our conversation about civil rights and the united states. we enter the panel having look t at the cold war, the personal responses of people like ernie green of the little rock nine in terms of what was happening in terms of the violence. and the movement by both truman and eisenhower though they may not be supporters of social equality to do some things to move the country forward with regard to civil rights. now we come to the terms of john f. kennedy and lyndon baines johnson. typically regarded by people who think of the modern civil rights movement as two presidents that were very much associated with civil rights. we think we know those stories. and the question on the program is to ask how legislation was moved forward. what were the forces that inspired the legislative process by these two presidents to advance actual

abraham lincoln. as bob was nice enough to say, i would tell that story in a book that will be published this year, "1862 the making -- abram had a lincoln and making of america" and i hope you will all read and enjoy that. and thanks for letting me slip in that plug. today i want to talk about an overlooked branch of the government during that extraordinary year 150 years ago. the 37th congress of the united states was arguably the most productive, the most creative, the most farseeing and the most consequenceal in american history. don't take my word for it. here's john nicolai, the grouchy gatekeeper of lincoln's presidential office. the secretary whose job it was to say no on behalf of the busiest man in the world and, boy, was he ever good at it. people called him irascible. that was the only one of the names that i can repeat in -- on c-span. when congress adjourned in mid july after about 7 1/2 months in session, having wrenched american history from the dead end of slavery toward the hard, slo

. >> you write a good bit about abraham lincoln and your most recent book was about abraham lincoln. is there any indication all of this is a fallout from the union victory in the civil war. is there any indication about how abraham lincoln felt about immigration and citizenship? >> yes. even though the no knowings or the anti-immigrant party at that time were quite powerful, lincoln repudiated their views and in fact made it clear that the basic liberties applied to everybody no matter what your origin, immigrants were welcome, they were part of the american -- you know, american firmament here. lincoln did not pander to anti-immigrant sentiment the way many politicians at that time did. as to black citizenship, before the war, he was ambivalent. but during his -- the attorney general said any black citizen is a citizen. that's before the 14th amendment. he said the dred scott decision was wrongly decided. so the citizenship of african-americans was recognized by the lincoln administration even before the 14th amendment, so certainly in that, the civil war itself creates this nation

. >> abraham lincoln? >> abraham lincoln. very good. lincoln himself heard clay speak. and he remembered clay. and when lincoln became president in 1860, he gave clay a diplomatic appointment. the u.s. ambassador to russia. you know, which is not the most important appointment in the diplomatic corps. that would probably be u.s. ambassador to england. but still it was a political favor, we might say, for somebody who had been a long-time outspoken critic of slavery. clay said later that his service in russia mostly consisted of going to parties and drinking a lot and listening to conversations between russian aristocrats to try to figure out what the czar was thinking about the american war, would the czar want to intervene in the war, and he did not. he came back to the united states, became more conservative as he got older, but still remained very defiant, became more and more reclusive, and finally died on his farm in 1903. now, some abolitionists were from the south and they were themselves ex-slaves. and probably the most famous ex-slave and the most famous black

of course davis is usually matched against his wartime opposite abraham lincoln and invariably he comes in second. usually quite a distant second. yet, to me, trailing lincoln does not automatically brand davis a failure. for, in my judgment, and lincoln was clearly the greatest war leader in our history, but even when viewed alone, outside the lincoln boundary, davis commonly receives poor marks. without going into an extended discussion, i'm confident that my fellow historians in the audience would agree with me that generally his ttorians and still today are quite critical of davis. in general, they portray him as brittle, ill tempered, unwilling to grow with responsibility. according to this script these shortcomings were especially disastrous in his inability to appreciate the political dimensions of the war and in his micro-management of his generals. now before assessing davis as a war leader, it's essential, i think, to begin with the criteria used to judging in this capacity. now i make no claim that i will include every possible category, but i do believe you all would agree o

tonight president bush speaks to the nation from the aircraft carrier uss abraham lincoln, which has been at sea for almost ten months. >> a victorious commander in chief thanking all men and women in uniform for a mission accomplished. >> that was nine years ago today. the previous president put on a flight suit, pretended the fly a jet onto the deck of an aircraft carrier that was parked off the coast of san diego and standing under a banner that read mission accomplished he declared that in the battle of iraq, the united states and our allies have prevailed. >> that was three months into a eight and a half year war. he was celebrated that we successfully invaded iraq. we started a simultaneously land war alongside the one he was still muddling through in afghanistan while he didn't pay much attention to bin laden.

what the republicans end up doing is going with this fairly new, unknown guy by the name of abraham lincoln, okay? he's not well known. if you remember from your reading, some of y'all read that primary source essay, you were reading about lincoln's position on the mexican war. he's had one term in congress. that's pretty much it. he lost his senate race in 1858 in illinois. but he's this kind of rising star who's clearly a very talented speaker, clever debater. he's that kind of guy who -- he's kind of got that classic southern thing about him is what he has. have you ever talked to somebody where they talk a little slow, look a little disheveled. he's a country guy. old guy. probably doesn't have that much education. you sitting around. y'all probably don't. i do. i'm from the north. i fall for that trick. you're listening to him, all right. next thing you know he's lapped you three times. that was lincoln. he tells you these barnyard jokes. kind of got this awe, shucks kind of style, bam, he backhands you in the middle of a debate. that's lincoln. what he's able to do is convince enough

abraham lincoln received a smaller percentage of the vote. that was smaller than any president in american history. he used to say why they were not fired, i'm a minority president and he's a majority general. but by the end of that war, the republican party was definitely a majority party and was and they had articulated an agenda that americans were ready it get behind. >> you raised the spector of corruption and i wanted you to comment on an issue. it was legal to drib them until 1852. after which time it was legal to pay consulting fees to do things. that was interesting. in relation to the money you were talking about that came out after 1862, i know the stocks and you mentioned that, if you could comment more. >> a huge amount was the question, what was the legal status of the money that the lpnw was throwing around in congress. it was offering land and they were going to. and that land was of questionable value. it was certainly scandalous. the reason we know so much about about the extend of the dribry was in 1876, 14 years older, the

is there indication about how abraham lincoln felt about immigration and citizenship? >> there is. even though in his prewar career, even though the know nothings or the anti-immigrant party at that time were quite powerful, lincoln repudiated the views and made it very clear that the basic liberties of the declaration of independence et cetera applied to everybody, no matter what your origin and immigrants were welcomed as part of the american firmament here. lincoln did not panneder to immigrant sentiment. as to black citizenship, before the civil war, they were ambiguousuo uouabout that, but attorney general said any black person born in the united states is a citizen. that's before the 14th amend am united states is a citizen. that in a sense said we're not abiding by the dred scott decision anymore. so it was recognized by the lincoln administration before the 14th amendment. so certainly in that era, the civil war itself as linda mentions creates this national n means there has to be one standard for the nation. >> is this sort of when we begin to recognize the nation for the

and if you look at the republican party, certainly not a majority party in 1860, you know, abraham lincoln received a smaller percentage of the vote in 1860 than any president in american history. he used to say when people asked him why he hadn't fired george mcclellan, he'd say i'm a minority president and he's a majority general. but by the end of that war, the republican party was definitely a majority party and was for the next 30 years because in large part they had articulated an agenda that americans were ready to get behind. >> you raised spectrum of corruption. it was legal to bribe congressmen until 1853, after which time it was legal to pay them consulting fees to do things. which is interesting. so i wondered in relation to the money you were talking about, was it consulting fees some i know it's stocks. you mentioned that. if you could comment a bit more. >> a huge amount -- question if anyone could not hear is what was the legal status of the money the lp&w was throwing around in congress. a huge amount of what they were doing is offering land which they had not yet fully st

handling of very delicate military situations that they faced. >> well, i chose abraham lincoln, not own but because president obama said that was the person he wanted to emulate. so i figured it was reasonably just to go to abraham link. the night after lee surrendered, lincoln deliver his last speech from the window of the white house, he rejected taking any credit for it. put it on general grant and the troops and talked about the problems of reconstruction and in favor of black sufferrage-- >>> he did the opposite. he stood up for general george mcclellan. >> earlier in his career, he stood up for mcclellan and his defense secretary, who were blamed. he said, no, no. the blame should be mine. the definition of a -- one definition of a great leader is somebody who takes less credit than he should and takes more blame than he should. that's not what we have now. >> sean: you talked about dwight eisenhower. >> dwight eisenhower before normandy, wrote out a message to be given in the event that the germans threw us off the beaches. what it said was, i picked the place where we landed

in the summer of 1860, abraham lincoln won the nomination for presidency on the third ballot of his party's convention in chicago. lovejoy made over 100 speeches for lincoln during that campaign and later said he never worked harder for anyone in his life than he did that year for lincoln. lovejoy himself easily won re-election to the house, was congratulated by party leaders for being instrumental in helping lincoln's victory and election to the white house. in 1862, lovejoy returned to his congressional district. it had been reconfigured. this posed real problems for him politically, indeed he only held on to one of his old third county districts, a third county -- counties, excuse me. lovejoy faced a very difficult campaign and when the final votes were counted, he was barely re-elected to congress. during the civil war lovejoy returned to illinois in order to help raise five illinois army volunteer companies. he strongly backed efforts to arm black troops during the war. he worked hard to prevent radical abolitionists from being too critical of lincoln's war policy. in february of '62 h

handling of very delicate military situations that they faced. >> well, i chose abraham lincoln, notn my own but because president obama said that was the person he wanted to emulate. so i figured it was reasonably just to go to abraham link. the night after lee surrendered, lincoln deliver his last speech from the window of the white house, he rejected taking any credit for it. put it on general grant and the troops and talked about the problems of reconstruction and in favor of black sufferrage-- >>> he did the opposite. he stood up for general george mcclellan. >> earlier in his career, he stood up for mcclellan and his defense secretary, who were blamed. he said, no, no. the blame should be mine. the definition of a -- one definition of a great leader is somebody who takes less credit than he should and takes more blame than he should. that's not what we have now. >> sean: you talked about dwight eisenhower. >> dwight eisenhower before normandy, wrote out a message to be given in the event that the germans threw us off the beaches. what it said was, i picked the place where we la

people reading the bible, the same thing that john adams, the same thing that abraham lincoln read and they came to same conclusion but that's why support for israel in this country is the close of all time high, between 71 and 70% of americans find themselves pro-israel the only one downside during the 1999 -- 1991 gulf war but israel was being pummeled by scud rockets. in support for israel, it is favor high and one reason is this great spiritual connection between the two countries. but israel comes into being 64 years ago not only as a jewish state, it is also a democratic state. the only functioning democracy, and believe it or not at 64 years old today, israel is older than more than half the democracies of the world. and it's part of a very, very small plot. america is a member, canada is a member. new zealand a member, do you know what club this is? this is a club of those countries, those democracies that have never known a second of non-democratic rule. very unusual. think about it. inspite of the just unspeakable pressures that israel has known since its creation that it cra

on the other hand, abraham lincoln was not very well-known in 1858, and the effect of the debates really catapulted his name and reputation across the nation. so lincoln was interested in having these debates because it would enhance his name and increase familiarity with his name throughout illinois. so in '58, both of them and both of their political allies on both sides decided that these debates would be beneficial to each of them. there were seven debates because there were seven political -- congressional districts in illinois at that time, and when illinois at that time. and when lincoln and douglass come to galesburg, lincoln knew very well what president mott and i know and the knox alums in the room today know, which is lincoln knew very well about galesburg and knox college's reputation. he knew he was on very good ground that day. and though you must understand there were many, many supporters of douglass in the audience that day, lincoln had a very friendly crowd that day and at one point he turns to douglass and says, "you are blowing out the moral lights around us." you're

you had abraham lincoln in 1863 pledging to help the jews go back and regain their sovereignty after the civil war. you had woodrow wilson, who was the grandson and son of presbyterian ministers saying it was his greatest privilege to be able to help the jewish people return to their holy land. woodrow wilson was absolutely instrumental in helping to persuade the british to issue what they called the balancefour declaration. they threw their weight between what was now palestinian and it became the basis of the u.n. participation resolution creating an arab and jewish state, which the jews accepted and then whether the united states should recognize the recreated jewish state. in an event which is completely unique in the annals of foreign policy, i know of no other case like this, the state department, the defense department, the pentagon, without exception told the president of the united states don't do it. if america recognizes this jewish state, there's going to be a cutoff of oil from the middle east to the united states. american soldiers are going to get embroiled in a war th

civi o guerra de secesiÓn de este paÍ cuando miles de hispanos se unieron a las fu presidente abraham lincoln 00:04:05--- dr bautista asÍ que fue esa poblaciÓn que cuando estallo la guerra de secesiÓn dijeron nosotros no queremos la esclavitud en ca, no queremos una supremaci Ía blanca, queremos democracia, ostad00:04:18 embargo, la uniÓn fue derrotada varias veces y los a Ánimos estaban por el suelo.... pero en estaba sucediendo otra guerra... que los latinos en california seguÍan muy de cerca.. 00:07:43--- dr. bautista y con ansÍas leÍan que se acercaba ese ejercito a la capital de mexico del d.f. y muchos creÍan ya se va acabar la guerra de la secesio Ón y va a ganar la esclavitud y supremacÍa blanca. 00:07:58 00:27:06---- daniel eran tiempos de oscuridad que estan perdiendomuchas guerras y pensando quiza que vamos hacer esclavos. desde estados unidos...... los hispanos empezaron a enviar las primeras remesas hacia mexico, para tratar de ayudar a un pequeÑo ejercito que muchos pensaban iba a ser derrotado por las poderosas fuerzas francesas.. 00:09:00 dr. bau nsab 20--ese caso los sacaplua

goes back to the abraham lincoln quote.ve character are the people who don't care if they lose power. >> greta: where are they? i mean, because we need them? >> you know, there are a lot of great people in washington. and i don't demean -- mean to demean any of my colleagues. but a large portion of them have never done anything but public service. and so, you know, it's part of their career path. so you want to stay on your career path so you do what is politically expedient, rather than what is not expedient, in other words, counter to your best political interest. >> greta: do we go back to the abraham lincoln quote -- if you want to test a man's character, give him power and see what he does with it? >> we are failing as an institution. both parties have members who are failing. we're making decisions that are politically expedient for our position, rather than the truth to the american people. ask yourself this question: why are we not addressing the preeminent existential threat to our country, which exists today? our

she taught math at abraham lincoln high school in the district. when we talk about community activist, you would not normally think of an 88-year-old woman. she attended many of our community meetings over the years. she asked questions, and demanded answers, she held all of us accountable. she was always engaged in the neighborhood. she was very passionate about her city. i just wanted to adjourn in her memory. she will be missed. supervisor kim: i also wanted to speak on behalf of the 2012 clean and safe neighborhoods bonds. these are some of our most beloved parks and playgrounds. i think this will be an important step forward, an important next step, as we continue to rehabilitate and maintain the parks. as we have often seen in research, retaining employment in the city, one of the aspects that companies looked at is the variety and diversity and the well-being of our open space and parks. it is an important commitment that the city of san francisco has made. we do want to thank the recreation and park department for working so closely with t

abraham lincoln once said that the best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time. with each new day comes a new challenge to overcome and a new opportunity to embrace and drive forward, a new future to shake and to make your own. as i look at these proud graduates today, i see leaders who will be wheeler predict who will be willing to make these bold decisions, leaders afraid to ask what is next. leaders with the courage to constantly adapt and change themselves for the better. leaders ready to meet tough challenges and seize new opportunities. baltimore and the world need the new generation of leaders like you. in fact, we are banking on it. st. mary's gave us baltimore's youngest current councilman, brandon's got. i have no doubt that you can

abraham lincoln once said, that the best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time with each new day comes the new challenge to overcome and a new opportunity to embrace and drive forward a new future to shape and to make your own. and as i look at these proud graduates today, i see leaders who will be willing to make these bold decisions, leaders unafraid to ask what's next. leaders with the courage to constantly adapt and to change themselves for better. leaders ready to meet tough challenges and seize new opportunities. baltimore and the world needs a new generation of leaders like you. in fact, we're banking on it. st. mary's gave us baltimore's youngest current councilman brandon scott and i have no doubt that you can join him as a member of the new generation of great leaders. at a times it will be tough and you will find yourself asking as we all do at all times in our life did i make the right decision? but you did. and you are prepared to make it through those tough times. your complete liberal arts education has prepared you to take on challenges of all kinds.

. >> some here, the martin luther king picture, abraham lincoln. he loved former presidents. >> he loved abraham lincoln. he loved freedom. he loved the whole aspect of people being free. being able to cree beautiful things to inspire people like he wanted to create his music. >> he had a strange obsession with the number seven. and with chairs. now, tell me why those two things are in the pictures all the time. >> well, michael was a seventh child. he -- his name had seven letters in it. he would always talk about that. and, you know, the number seven means completeness in the bible, it tells us. >> so it's like a lucky number for him. >> for him. >> and what about the chairs? why did he like drawing or painting chairs? >> he just had an obsession of chairs. not just a plain chair, but chairs that you see had a lot of art in it. a lot of curves, a lot of other things like that. he would draw that. >> there's one very prophetic picture which is of a little boy sitting on his own in a corner. just seeing it on the screen. what's poignant is michael