ironically under horace greeley.hey made little effort to mask device when you begin writing but they did set out to write this history in a professional windows grounded in evidence. in the early days of the project nicolay spent several months interviewing dozens of individuals who had known lincoln both in delight in washington. the transcript of these discussions are still an in the library of congress and they are fascinating to read an assortment form their work but they came to cast after a few years a skeptical eye on these recorded memories of old men and women who were remembering things after the fact, and in many times doing so inaccurately. it's a factor, an antidote couldn't be confirmed potential evidence all to my hay and nicolay decided they would distort it which is a methodology that historians today believe that presidents don't apply. we rely a lot on the postdoctoral memories of people. they didn't think that it was particularly useful to do so or they didn't think it was reliable. wing chapters

loyalists roll their eyes, but the problem was that horace greeley's a lot of books and papers, so his opinion mattered. the end of the day they were uniquely positioned to help rescue the reputation of lincoln from the dustbin of history. they first met in 1851 as a gifted, inquiring student in a small country school in illinois. a was a physician's son and one of six children. nikolai was stirred poor, immigrated from bavaria at age six. by age 14 he was an orphan, parents had passed away. he was an audit date dad who could count his months of formal schooling on two hands . nikolai rose up from being a printer's devil which effectively meant that that he did everything from sweeping the floor of the week in his paper to set in the print and cleaning the office. he rose within two years from doing that to becoming a newspaperman and within a year or two of that he bought the newspaper and became editor in his early 20's. this was in the early 1850's when the whole country was a fire with the debate over slavery and its prospective spread into the western territories. nicolay quickly

as the newspaper editor horace greeley said at the time, there was 40 times the reason for shooting him in 1861 than there was in '65. and at least 40 times as many intent on killing him or having him killed. greeley was sitting behind lincoln when he delivered his first inaugural address, and he spoke of expecting at any moment to hear lincoln's words arrested by the crack of a rifle. but he said, no shot was then toured, however, for -- was then fired, however, for his hour had not yet come. as for pinkerton, he came to regard the episode as the highlight of his career even if, as he freely admitted to william herndon, lincoln's law partner turned biographer, that he had come upon the whole thing by a lucky chance. he said, from my reports you will see how accidentally i discovered the plot. i was looking for nothing of the kind. and had certainly not the slightest idea of it. but on his tombstone here in illinois, one finds the following inscription: in the hour of the nation's peril, he conducted abe hamlin con -- the abraham lincoln safely through the ranks of treason to the scene

horace greeley had a quote that harry truman used to like. fame is a vapor, popularity and accident. riches take wings. those who cheered today may curse tomorrow. carrote thing and doers, endures,s -- character. i am a lucky man. god has given me the privilege of serving in the greatest institution on earth for a great toy years and i'm grateful the people of my district in texas and i'm grateful to you, my colleagues, all of you. institution.s god bless the united states. [applause] >> find more highlights from 35 years of house floor coverage on our facebook page. created 35 years ago and brought to you today as a public service. >> the house foreign affairs committee passed a ukraine aid and russia sanctions bill that does not include imf changes. after this house markup, the senate moved to drop the imf provision from its bill. the committee chairman is ed royce. >>> this committee will come to order. pursuant to notice we meet today to mark up three bipartisan measures. without objection, all members may have five days to submit stateme