he joins the board of bob jones university in 1950. he does it to win votes in the country of south carolina. bob joandz had moved to the country of south carolina. moved the university and thurmond needed votes in the upcountry of south carolina. he lost the 1950 race in the

you know, he joins the board of bob jones university in 1950. he does it to win us. bob jones had just moved to the country, just moved his university in thurmond needed votes. he had lost the 1950 vote to decide that. i'm not begin a long process, a long relation ship of thurmond was conservative, fundamentalist and evangelical folks looking to get involved in the political process. so we need to understand theremins racial politics in the midst of these other conservative causes, these conservative issues that he was involved with and see how they intersect with one another. and i think doing so gives us a history with strom thurmond's america looks like and helps us rethink not only what was going on in the south, but what is going on in the national conservative political realm as well. rethinking strom airman helps us rethink modern conservatism. a history that too often thurman is left out is because we openly have this cartoonish, racist figure from the deep south. let me read you an excerpt from the introduction that speaks to this point. one reason we forget

joins the board of bob jones university in 1950. he does it to win votes, and the upcountry of south carolina. been jones just moved to the country. just moved his university, and thurmond needed votes in the upcountry of south carolina. he lost the 1950 race for the senate. largely on votes he didn't win in the upcountry. that began a long process, a long relationship of thurmond with consecutives, fundamentalists and evangelical folks looking to get

and then bob jones university want a tax exempt status of the university and was denied by the irs becauseversity would not allow african-americans into its campus or to african-americans to change that and then wouldn't let them date anybody but african-americans. and they said that is our religious beliefs and we should not be denied tax exemption because of a religious belief. the government should not be allowed to have that power over us in the supreme court's that, too bad, you lose. the government can deny you tax exempt status. even though it does involve your religious belief because there's some role for civil society and secular society we are founded on the principle that we get to have an organized non-chaotic government, even if it does infringe on religious belief as long as we are not targeting a religion. so saying all that, i think a lot of what is going on with this birth control argument and with the compromise that the churches are wanting from the government has constitutional implications. i look back on my alternative charlie who knows about religion much more than

then that the case of bob jones university won a tax-exempt status and it was denied by the irs because bob jones university was not allowing african- americans and to its campus. they change at and that would let them date anybody african- americans. they said that our religious beliefs and we should not be denied tax exemption because of our religious beliefs. the government should not be able to have that power over us and the supreme court said to that, you lose. government can deny you tax- exempt status. even though it does involve your religious beliefs because there is some rule for civil society and secular society and we are found on the principle that we get to have an organized, non chaotic government, even if it does infringe on religious beliefs, as long as we are not targetting a religion. saying all of that, the glut of what is going on with this birth control are given and that compromise churches are wanting from the government has a constitutional implications. with that, i going to turn it over to charlie who knows about religion much more than i do. [applause] >> bu

and then a great case bob jones university a tax-exempt status as a university denied by a the irs because jones university wouldn't allow african-americans and to its campus or african-americans changed that and wouldn't let them date anybody but african-americans, and they said that as our religious beliefs and we shouldn't be denied tax exemption because of our religious beliefs. the government shouldn't be allowed to have that power over us and the supreme court said too bad, you lose. the government can devalue tax-exempt status. even though it does involve your religious beliefs because there are some rules for the civil society and secular society, and we are founded on the principle that we get to have an organized non-chaotic government even if it does infringe on the religious belief that as long as we are not hurting the religion. so saying all of that i think a lot of what is going on with this birth control argument and with the compromise of the churches are wanting from the government have constitutional implications, and with that i'm going to turn it over to charlie who kn

right to pass its regulation and has the right to ask you to follow it and then a great case, bob jones universityuld now allow african-americans into its campus or african-americans they changed that and then they wouldn't let them date anybody but african-americans and they said that is our religious beliefs and we shouldn't be denied tax exemption because of our religious beliefs, the government shouldn't be allowed that power over us and the supreme court said too bad, you lose. the government can deny you tax-exempt status. even though it does involve your religious beliefs because there are some rules for the civil society and secular society and we are found on the principle that we get to have a organized non-chaotic government even if it does infringe on the religious belief as long as we are not targetting a religion a lot of what is going on with this birth control argument that the churches are wanting from the government have constitutional implications and with that i'm going to turn over to charlie who knows about that much more than i do. [applause] i don't know a darn thing about

bob jones just moved his university and thurman needed votes. that began along process and relationship with conservative fundamentalist and evangelical looking to get involved. we need to understand the racial politics amidst the issues he was very involved with. to do so gives a history of was strom thurmond america looks like. not only going it on in the south with the national conservative from. it helped us think history of modern conservatism of. mitt all may remember as the cartoonist ratio at -- racist figure from the south. >> you're watching booktv on c-span2. on location in las vegas at bally's hotel four freedomfest. of the annual event organized by this off there. mark, what is freedomfest? how did it come about? >> it is a renaissance gathering talk politics, philosophy, econom ics, science, technology, re ligion, healthy living. we get to a wide group, an investment conference conference, investors comment concerned citizens with a focus on political, economic and financial freedom. it is growing. we're bigger every year. 2,000 pe

he joins the bob jones -- in 1950 and bob jones had just moved to the country from the university and thurmond needed votes from the south carolina. he had lost to olin johnson and that began a long process, long relationship with thurmond with conservative fundamentalist and evangelical folks who were looking to get involved in the political process. so we need to understand thurmond's racial politics in the midst of these other conservative causes, these conservative histories that he was very involved in and to see how they intersect with one another. i think doing so it gives us a history of what strom thurmond's america look like and it helps us rethink not only what was going on in the south out what was going on in the national conservative political realm as well. freethinking strom thurmond forces us to rethink history. a history that too often thurmond is left out of because we only remember this cartoonish racist figure from the deep south. let me read you an excerpt from his introduction that speaks to this point. one reason we forget about strom thurmond is because he was

he joins the board of bob jones university in 1950. he does to win votes in the country of south carolina. bob jones had moved to south carolina moved university and he needed votes in the south carolina. he lost the 1950 raise for the senate. and that began a long process a long relationship with strom with conservative moneyment lal and even evangelicallists who were looking to get involved in political process. we need understand the racial politics in the midst of these other conservative causes. these conservative issues that he was very involved with. we see how to they intersect with one another. i think doing so gives a history of what his america looks like. it helps us to rethink not only what was going on in the south what was going on in the national conservative political realm as well. rethinking strom helps us rethink the history of modern conservative. a history i think two too often he is left out of because we only remember him as cartoonish racist figure from the deep south. >>> you can watch this and other programs o