announcer: next on american history tv, author and lincoln scholar harold holzer discusses the creation and meaning behind the many paintings, sculptures, and photographs of president lincoln now on public display in the u.s. capitol building. hethis illustrated talk, features the story of a large painting depicting lincoln and his cabinet in 1862 reading the preliminary emancipation proclamation. this 55 minute black history month lecture was hosted by the u.s. capital historical society and washington, d.c. .> welcome harold holzer [applause] harold: well, it is great to be here. so i've learned about these talks by watching c-span. can you all hear me? yes? good. i was watching chuck give a presentation and saw my friend bruce taking pictures and i wrote him a fan letter. i got all the letters in his name right. it is a long name. he was nice enough with a little prodding to invite me to give one of these talks, so it is a great pleasure to be here. it is always wonderful to be in washington and remember another fraught period in our history when people were uncertain about the new p

capital historical society and washington, d.c. >> welcome harold holzer. [applause] harold: well, it is great to be here. so i've learned about these talks by watching c-span. can you all hear me? yes? good. i was watching chuck give a presentation and saw my friend bruce taking pictures and i wrote him a fan letter. i got all the letters in his name right. it is a long name. he was nice enough with a little

. >> at 8:55, lincoln scholar harold holzer on the many paintings, sculptures of lincoln. >> what the presidents present in their life time and after, motivation, caution future leaders in the days when before twitter and instantaneous photography, which i see going on over here, or c-span, these images which look rudimentary and primitive today, had enormous power, impact, and influence. >> sunday at 6:30 p.m. eastern, international spy museum historian talks about the attempts by the u.s. government to overthrow or assassinate fidel castro. >> during the 1950s, he certainly had a dog in the fight. he was somebody who had been kicked out by castro, along with all the casinos and mob people. these are the guys you want to be working with. they're the ones that really, really want to get rid of castro. so the cia said basically, we've got $150,000 on the line, whoever kills castro, the money's theirs. >> at 8:00 on the presidency, ben stein, former speechwriter for president nixon and gerald fo ford. >> richard nixon accused of being anti-semite left israel's defense in a way no presid

. >> welcome harold holzer. [applause] harold: well, it is great to be here. so i've learned about these talks by watching c-span. can you all hear me? yes? good. i was watching chuck give a presentation and saw my friend bruce taking pictures and i wrote him a fan letter. i got all the letters in his name right. it is a long name. he was nice enough with a little prodding to invite me to give one of these talks, so it is a great pleasure to be here. it is always wonderful to be in washington and remember another fraught period in our history when people were uncertain about the new president. i am not making any comparisons that you need to think about for too long, but there was a period of dismissiveness divisiveness. not only in my comfort zone, but the first books i wrote were about the lincoln image. in fact, what prompted me to want to look at the images of lincoln that reside in the u.s. capital collection -- i have never put it together and quite this way and you would let me know afterwards whether it works. why is it important? because the her roads

. >> at 8:55, harold holzer on the paintings and photographs of president lincoln on display in the u.s. capitol. >> the heroic images that presidents present in their lifetime and after inspire, motivate, caution future leaders. and the days when before twitter and instantaneous photography, which i see going on over here, or c-span, these images which look rudimentary and primitive today had enormous power, impact and influence. >> saturday, international spy museum historian vince houghton talks about the attempts of the u.s. government to take over or assassinate fidel castro. >> he certainly had a dog in the fight. he was somebody who had been kicked out by castro along with all of the casinos and mob people. they are the ones that really really want to get rid of castro. so the cia said, we have $150,000 on the line, whoever kills castro, the money is theirs. >> at 8 will okay, on the president okay, ben stein, former speechwriter for nixon and ford reflects on nixon's time in the white house, his energy policies, initiatives in israel. >> accused of being an anti-semmite, left in

. >> at 8:55, harold holzer on the many paintings, sculptures and photographs of president lincoln on display in the u.s. capitol. >> the heroic image that presidents present in their lifetime and after inspire, motivate, caution future leaders in the days when before twitter and instantaneous photography, which i see going on over here, or c-span, these images which look rudimentary and primitive today had enormous power, impact, and influence. >> sunday at 6:30 p.m. eastern, international spy museum historian talks about the attempts by the u.s. government to overthrow or assassinate cuban leader fidel castro. >> it was the head of the mob in havana during the 1950s. so he certainly had a dog in the fight. he was somebody who had been kicked out by castro, along with all the casinos and all the mob people. they were the ones that really, really want to get rid of castro. so the cia said basically, we've got $150,000 on the line, whoever kills castro, the money's theirs. >> and ben stein, former speechwriter for presidents richard nixon and gerald ford reflects on nixon "time in the

capital historical society and washington, d.c. >> welcome harold holzer

. >> at 8:55, lincoln scholar harold holzer on the paintings and sculptures and photographs of lincoln in the u.s. capitol. >> the heroic images that presidents present in their lifetimes and after inspire, motivate, caution future leaders, in the days when before twitter and instantaneous photography, which i see going on over here, or c-span, these images which look rudimentary and prim tef today had enormous power, impact and influence. >> sunday at 6:30 p.m. eastern, international spy museum historian, vince hoeten, talks about the attempts by the u.s. government to overthrow or assassinate cuban leader fidel castro. >> he was the head of the mob in havana, during the 1950s. so he certainly had a dog in the fight. he was somebody who had been kicked out by castro along with all the casinos and all the mob people. these are the guys you want to be working with. these are the ones that really want to get rid of castro. so the cia said basically, we've got $150,000 on the line, whoever kills castro, the money's theirs. >>> at 8:00, on the presidency, ben stein reflects on nixon's time

. >> then at 8:55 lincoln scholar harold holzer on the many paintings, sculptures and photographs ofsident lincoln now on display in the u.s. capital. >> the heroic image that presidents present in their lifetime and after inspire, motivate, caution future leaders in the days before twitter and instantaneous photography, which i see going on over here, or c-sp c-span. these images which look rudimentary and primitive today had an enormous power impact and dpluns. >> sunday at 6:30 p.m. eastern international spy museum historian vince houghton talks about the attempts by the u.s. government to overthrow and assassinate cuban leader fidel castro. >> traficante had been kicked out by castro along with all the casinos and mob people. they're the ones that really want to get rid of castro. the cia basically said we've got $150 now on the line, whoever kills castro the money's theirs. >> and at 8:00 on the presidency, ben stein former speechwriter for presidents richard nixon and gerald ford reflects on nixon's time in the white house, his energy policies and initiatives in asia and southe