b. hayes and in 1880 his name was put in nomination, and he again did not have quite enough support, andinally in 1884 he was nominated and he ran against grover cleveland and narrowly lost in that national election. this is mr. blaine's study and library, and this is part of the addition to the house that the blaines made in 1872, and it is the room that still remains the closest to what blaine and his family would have known back in the victorian period. when the house became the home for the governors in 1920, the decision was made to preserve this room much as it was in the earlier period, so it has become the repository for many artifacts that relate to blaine. the first one we'll look at is blaine's desk when he was editor of the kennebec journal. he came to augusta in the 1850s to be a newspaper editor, and this desk was made especially for him at the time, and then when he left the newspaper to go on for his political career, the desk stayed there and in recent years the journal still being published every day, they very kindly gave the desk to the blaine house so it can be viewe

b. hayes which is how he got on the supreme court. the reason i have john marshall harlan up here, he was with a the sole dissenter in the case of plessy versus ferguson in 1896 which upheld segregation in public accommodations. it was rail cars. that dissent in 1896 became the unanimous decision in brown versus board of education in 1954. so every freshman law student who's had constitutional law can tell you who john marshall harlan is. i probably told you more than you wanted to know. but how he ended up on the supreme court, it was a reward for helping hayes get the nomination. this is a depiction of the compromise -- the debate surrounding the compromise of 1850. the reason i have it up, not only henry clay, daniel webster, john c. calhoun, i have it up not only because i'm an admirer of clay but i did my senior thesis in college on henry clay and the compromise of 1850. >> is it because he was a kentuckian that you did that? >> yeah. i recently reread it. it wasn't very good. frankly, they should have had me rewrite it. it was o

b. hayes commanded. did they know each other? professor robinson: oh, yes. sure hayes did whatever he he d to help, even though was in poor health, although he did not live. ost: from your knowledge of history, and this is a dangerous question, but is there any war rison with this civil era and today? professor robinson: yes. host: and what is it. professor robinson: it's what me, mr. lamb. it worries me because i see in politics the polarization, the negativism, of a dysfunctional government. see the 1850s all over again, it.i'm truly alarmed by the country seems to leaders seem to feel that america can exist over any not of impediment, and it's true. democracy is the most tenuous form of government. beating, take much of a because so many people are involved in it. leaders just don't seem to know this. what especially disturbs me, and hate to get political in an interview like this, but what are our leaders who just don't know history. truman once said, the best news i get is the history i know. news isn't like that today. politicians. politicians think of

b. hayes, what did he do?james robertson: part of the 1864 all-encompassing campaign that great initiated and hayes went from that to the white house. he had had distinguished career in ohio and was elected president in 1876 and his one memorable act was to order the end of reconstruction. the occupation of the south and officially ends. one thing the voters liked about him where his, sister served one -- he promised to serve one team. -- one term. it was an interesting term. president hayes and his wife were teetotalers. they were very evangelical. no alcohol, no smoking. the first lady became known as lemonade lucy. they had a state dinner and after this date during the -- dinner the secretary of state came out and said what a wonderful evening and the water for the campaign. -- flowed like champagne. brian: how many men were wounded in battle that cannot be -- came to be presidents? james robertson: hayes and grant. he thought with crutches, grant. mckinley was ok. two of them were hurt. brian: we move into

b. hayes was a distinguished graduate of the law school.ntil recently, the kids have not done so well. i spent some time at hyde park and a lot of the kids were roosevelts. strengthen roosevelt's son james, i read his letters to his father from harvard and he struggled with the -- german and ended up talking and never graduated. partyers.s kids were sources,r thing about i viewed additional unpublished letters between tro adams at his charles adams and his father. a letter that charles gentoo john adams have long been reported that missing. there's an unpublished memoir. how is it that after all these years, someone like you, he see something never published? >> what you're talking about is archival resources. letters that are in the archives or a memoir in the archives and publishers, george washington adams wrote that is not a well known figure and wrote a memoir about his life. if you put it in barnes & noble, no one will read it. it will be of interest to historians. by method was to read to make biographies and then do my own thinking

b. hayes. >> that's right. >> '80 was garfield. >> he ran again in 1880.facts we talked about, the half breeds and the stalwarts still active in the party by then? >> i'm not so sure they had those terms anymore, that they were thinking along the same lines. there were still, of course, divisions within the party. >> that year james garfield did get the nomination thanks to blaine in many ways. >> yes. >> and can you explain why. >> blaine, although he very much wanted the nomination himself came after many, many ballots if i do understand that that was not going to happen -- >> i think the 36th ballot. >> something like that. he threw his votes to garfield in order to make sure he would get the election. >> and then what happened to him after that? >> became secretary of state in 181. >> i know he was nearby, and that they were walking arm and arm, they were very good friends, though garfield had -- i remember reading something that said garfield never quite trusted his friend james blaine. they were good friends and he was sending him off on the train to

b. hayes. >> that's right. >> '80 was garfield.utherford. >> that's right. >> '80 was garfield. >> was the faction still the half breeds and stalwarts still active in the party by then? >> i'm not so sure they had those terms anymore, thinking along the same lines. there were of course divisions within the party. >> that year james garfield did get the nomination. >> thanks to blaine in many ways. >> can you explain why? >> because blaine, although he very much wanted that nomination himself came after many, many ballots, if i understand that was not going to half. >> i think it was 36. >> he threw his votes to garfield in order to make sure he would get the election. >> then what happened to him after that? >> became secretary of state in 1881. >> now james garfield of course was struck by an assassin's bullet in 1881. i read that james blaine was with him in the train station? >> yes. i know he was nearby and they were walking arm and arm and very good friends. although garfield -- i remember reading something that garfield never

b. hayes. then in 1880 his name was put in nomination but he did not have quite enough support and in 1884 he was nominated and he ran against grover cleveland and narrowly lost in that election. this is mr. blaine's study and library and this is part of the addition to the house the blaines made in 1872 and it's the room that still remains the closest to what blaine and his family would have known back in the victorian period. when the house became the home for the governors in 1920, the decision was made to preserve this room much as it was in the earlier period so it's become the repository for many artifacts that relate to blaine. the first one we'll look at is blaine's desk when he was editor of the "kennebec journal." he came to augusta in the 1850s to be a newspaper editor and this desk was made especially for him at the time and when he left the newspaper to go on for his political career the desk stayed there and in recent years the "kennebec journal" which is still being published eve

b. hayes. hayes for those of who you we'll talk more about him next week, hayes won the contested presidential election in 1876 in which hayes got less votes than samuel tilden, popular vote, and also got probably less electoral votes. but because of florida -- you can't make this up. we were together with al gore on election night in nashville in 2000. and i had a discussion with gore that this reminds me of the tilden/hayes election. he had gotten far more popular votes and in the electoral college, he was one short. florida sent two sets, one republican, one democrat and washington didn't know what to do with it. so they set up a commission on whose electoral votes to count. they picked five house members, three democrats, two republicans. they picked five senates, three republicans, two democrats. and they picked five supreme court justices, two democrats, two republicans, and the only independent on the court. who realized that he would cast the deciding vote so he quits. resigns from the

b. hayes. hayes for those of who you we'll talk about him more next week because he's such a good friend of william mckinley, hayes won the contested presidential election in 1876 in which hayes got less votes than samuel tilden, popular votes and also got probably lessee electoral votes. but because of florida -- you can't make this up. we were together with al gore on election night in nashville in 2000. and i had a discussion with gore that this reminds me of the tilden/hayes election. of 1876 in which tilden went to bed thinking he won. he got far more popular votes and in the electoral college, evers one short. and the question was, where would florida go. and florida then sent two sets of elect tors, one republican and one democrat. and washington didn't know what to do with it. so they set up a commission on whose electoral votes to count. they picked five house members, three democrats, two republicans. they picked five senators, three republicans, two democrats. and they picked five su

b. hayes was a distinguished graduate of the law school.ntil recently, the kids have not done so well. i spent some time at hyde park and a lot of the kids were roosevelts. franklin roosevelt's son james, i read his letters to his father from harvard and he struggled with german. he ended up flunking german and never graduated. roosevelt's kids were partyers. brian: another thing about sources, i viewed additional unpublished letters between charles adams and his father. it letters have been reported as missing. there's an unpublished memoir. on the page before that, there's another unpublished memoir. how is it that after all these years, someone like you, you walk in and see something never published? mr. kendall: what you're talking about is archival resources. letters that are in the archives or a memoir in the archives and publishers, george washington adams wrote that is not a well known figure and wrote a memoir about his life. if you put it in barnes & noble, no one will read it. it will be of interest to historians. my method was t

hayes won ther b electoral college in 1876. voteore won the popular but george w. bush won the electoral college. will we get rid of it? don't hold your breath there have been more constitutional amendments to get rid of it than any other issue, including slavery. at last count, there were over 740 attempted efforts. we have never come close to doing it. even of the electoral college may seem to be a flawed mechanism we would need to amend the constitution, and so far we have been unsuccessful. questions? >> was it significant that he didn't become president because he did offer the compromise? prof. watson: good point calhoun was one of the giants on the political landscape. as was clay. they were giants on the political landscape. today we don't have a lot of members of congress that our national household names, that are just giant figures that loom over the congress. what calhoun wanted, he got. clay and calhoun would never get their destiny, because of andrew jackson. john c calhoun, it was because of his opposition with jackson. he picked the wrong fight. cal

hayes. >> i don't think help would help him. >> he wrote i'm a real person and sometimes i get too drunk an say the wrong things so get off my b or i'll murder your family. >> i have a twisted sense america's family and murder them. that would be exhausting. it would take way too long. i just make some weird jokes sometimes. >> he just keeps digging that hole deeper and deeper. from a train wreck to a car crash. kris jenner was in a terrifying wreck that left her rolls-royce loooing like this. >> is your mom going to be okay? is she going to be okay? >> yes, kris is okay. despite this frightening image. her simple message was "i'm okay, just shaken up and a little sore." quickly to the scene were daughters kiley and khloe and son-in-law kanye. kiley rushed there so quickly, she was still in bedroom slippers. the driver turned in front of kris attempting to enter the 101 was moved to another car. kanye was soon there lending his support. she supposedly bought the rolls-royce just a week ago. after worries, tweets poured in. kylie texted she was okay. i rushed to be by her side because she was alone. this suddenly shocking event

b-roll from cable tv. >> the tape was made, with the airplane coming in. nice plane. i mean, folks, what's going on here? what's going on? >> good evening from new york. i'm chris hayes. this week, donald trump has been asailed by the president of the united states, leaders of his own party and his own staff talking anonymously to the press. but the one thing that could happen to donald trump, a man who spent hours upon hours talking about his numbers in the primaries, are his plummeting numbers now. already, hillary clinton with a significant bounce from the democratic convention. today a new poll puts the democratic ticket nine points ahead of trump and his running mate mike pence. another poll from maris college, gives clinton an enormous 15-point lead over trump, up from just a three-point lead last month. those are both national polls. if you look at the battleground states where the election will really be decided, the picture gets worse and worse for trump. in colorado and virginia, two states with a big haul of electoral votes, clinton is already so far ahead, her campaign has stopped buying tv ads there. and she holds big leads in a handful of other states t