praise to me because you mustn't forget that one of his dearest friends was franklin pierce. you may have forgotten, because franklin pierce is not exactly a name to conjure with these particular days. he was a southern sympathizer, which is all you need to know for the purposes of this talk to think of hawthorne, being friends with franklin pierce. that's what i used to like to

praise to me because you mustn't forget that one of his dearest friends was franklin pierce. you may have forgotten, because franklin pierce is not exactly a name to conjure with these particular days. he was a southern sympathizer, which is all you need to know for the purposes of this talk to think of hawthorne, being friends with franklin pierce. that's what i used to like to say is a jd salinger were friends with george bush. the example has gotten a little vague. dickinson, i wrote a book about dickinson, her relationship to thomas wentworth wiggins, which was interesting because it was the idea of this strange historical moment when you have the reclusive poet who never crosses her father's house for into a or anything enter 25 year friendship with a man named thomas higgins. lost to us now, but known in his fervent as a abolitionist. so fervent was he that he was the leader of the first federally authorized group of black troops during the civil war, long before the massachusetts, which was stationed south carolina. in the particular sense, i was very intrigued by this

well, president franklin pierce, as i said, sided with the pro-slavery legislature. and he decided that the free state e llegislature was not on illegal but treasonous, so he had all the leader offense this free state party arrested and thrown in jail for treason. now, the leader of the party, the free state party, had been the main businessman in kansas for the immigrant aid company. his name was charles robinson. that name might be familiar to a lot of you. but he was the leader of the free state movement. so charles robinson and i think six other kansans were arrested for treason. now, this is kind of interesting, too. the grand jury that indicted robinson and the others, they also indicted the free state hotel and the newspapers. now, how in the world could you say that a newspaper and a hotel is treason? well, they did. and this becomes significant a little later on. well, to the pro-slavery folks in missouri, lawrence was sort of like a scab that needed to be picked. lawrence became the center of attack for these missourians. in 1855, the missourians lined up o

need to know for the purpose of this of hawthorne being friends with franklin pierce. that is what i would like to say was a friend with george bush but that example is dated.e i wrote a book about dickinson relationship to thomas wentworth higginson because it of this h this idea strange historical moment when who ave the reclusive poet never crosses her father's house for anybody or anythi into a 24 to rs man ear friendship with a phapb who is lost to us except to me us now but known in his own time, famous in his own as a fervent appear and he was the -- of the nist the head first organized group of black troops during the civil war long massachusetts 54th and which was stationed in, of places, south carolina. that sense i was intrigued by this period and wanted to know more about it. wanted to do it justice. that was my first, one of my to myself.ions how can i be responsible to the pain, the ns, the the w, the death tolls, great sense of liberation, the great sense of failed promise? ow could i be responsible to all of those historical events, many of those people

one franklin pierce won, he became the first president to visit the willard hotel. it would host many presidents. in addition to having congressman and businessmen stay at the hotel, the willard's attracted foreign dignitaries, especially the japanese delegation. they were headed to the u.s. to visit with president buchanan. at that time there was no housing for dignitaries. that task fell to the willard. rooms were re-carpeted. pantries were built in and fast and entire floor of 60 rooms was given to the delegation. security was hired to take care of any "annoyers." the japanese found our style of eating and clothing to be very foreign to them, but they enjoyed it. by the 1860's, the willard had attracted several groups of people. they continued to do this and at the beginning of the 1860's, washington was a focal point. we are now in the abraham lincoln suite. it is one of 41 suites. abraham lincoln did not stay in this room. it was named after him. let's go back to what washington was like in 1860. there was a lot of focus on military and political activity. hote

henry willard backed franklin pierce when he was running for president and when he won, he became the first president to visit the willard hotel. it has hosted many presidents, and since then the hotel was called the residence of presidents. in addition to having congressmen and businessmen stay at the hotel, the willard tried to attract foreign dignitaries, especially the japanese delegation. the japanese had never left their homeland and were coming to the united states to visit with president buchanan as a -- just signed the treaty of it amnesty and commerce. at the time, there was no blair house to house foreign dignitaries, so that task fell to the willard. congress a prorated $50,000 for the willard to refurbish and redecorate to accommodate the test -- the guests. the rooms where read carpeted, there was a pantry built in and an entire floor of 60 rooms was given to the delegation. the japanese into through the ladies entrance on 14th street and the security was tight to take care of any way word, what they called -- of the time. the japanese found our customs of bathing in pri

senator, secretary of war to franklin pierce, and the only president of the confederacy. he was married to marina howell. her family was from the north. her grandfather was four times governor of new jersey. unfortunately she was from a large family. she was one of nine children, and her father had difficulty supporting the family. when she was 18, she was engaged to jefferson davis. he was 18 years her senior. the davises had six children, four sons and two daughters. none of the sons lived to their adult years. thisaughters are winnie, monument is the angel agrees. the first daughter of the confederacy. and margaret, is monument is the angel with the open pages of the bible. harvard is the only child who married and had children. her descendents are continued to be buried at this site today. jefferson davis died in new orleans and was buried. inwas reburied in hollywood 1893 after misses davis chose this site for the family burial ground. the first saturday in june the sons of confederate veterans celebrate the birthday of jefferson davis with cans, guns and flags. guns

[ laughter ] is franklin pierce seth meyers? possibly.i read that back in the '90s, jason priestly punched harvey weinstein. and i was like, 9021-what? then, australia voted to legalize gay marriage, and i was like, what mate? [ laughter ] what mate? but, there's actually been 22 unsuccessful attempts to legalize it, since 2004. so australians have been, like, wha-wha-wha-wha-wha-wha-wha-wha- wha-wha-wha-wha-wha-wha-wha wha-wha -- [ laughter ] and now they're like, whaa? [ cheers and applause ] then -- then the fcc repealed net neutrality rules. and i was like, what am i gonna do when i want to stream "what not to wear?" when i want to stream "what about bob?" when i want to listen to "what a girl wants." when i want to listen to "what's love got to do with it." hell, when i want to watch "what's love got to do with it." what are you going to do, ike? a bunch of people came here to see me. so what you gonna do? [ laughter ] [ cheers and applause ] then, i heard jaden smith did the moon walk at a concert. and i was like, what would make yo

as the associate vice president for student financial services at franklin pierce university told me, ken ferrara, he said in no uncertain terms that tuition waivers are not income and that it's wrong to tax them. could i not agree more. tyler kaine is pursuing a master's degree in environmental engineering at the university of new hampshire. he told me he already owes close to $40,000 in student loans. he works nearly 60 hours a week. after paying rent and other expenses, his stipend leaves him with less than $200 a month. now, if his tuition waiver becomes taxable, that would be a tax increase of $2,500, and it would wreck his budget leaving him with a $33 a month hole. along with many of his graduate student colleagues, he would have to consider dropping out of school. it makes no sense to increase the burden of student debt and to impose new taxes on graduate students struggling to get by so that we can give the biggest corporations in this country and the wealthiest a tax cut. it's estimated that by 2020, two-thirds of all jobs in the u.s. will require some form of higher educati

differentiate it from a party that is proslavery, pro-southern, and under the leadership of people like franklin pierce and james buchanan. for many, the jacksonian legacy should belong to abraham lincoln and not stephen jackson. but how many of those democrats were in the democratic party in the civil war era? or they true democrats? i would say yes. the 1850's democratic party still the party of jackson. once we recognize that, it raises implications for jackson's politics. like republicans in the civil war era, the democratic party also detective a dangerous monopoly that threatened white men's liberty and the union itself. but it was not the slave power, it was the anti-slavery power. instead of protesting against slavery and slaveholders, democrats detected a conspiracy among abolitionists, antislavery republicans, reformers, and their african-american allies. democrats believed these reformers want to consolidate governmental power to aunt democratically takeaway white men's liberties through reform. antislavery power for these democrats replaced the money power in their jacksonian populist formu