james g. blaine of maine who also served as secretary of state for three american presidents, and was the republican candidate for president in 1884. this 90-minute program was recorded at the blaine house in augusta, maine. each sunday at this time, through labor day weekend, you can watch the contenders here on american history tv, on c-span3. ♪ ♪ from the length and the breadth of columbia's land ♪ ♪ from north and from south and from east and from west, from the lakes and the oceans and sand ♪ ♪ resounding on high in a rallying cry, for victory ♪ >>> you're looking at some of the images from the 1884 presidential election and listening to a campaign song in support of that year's republican nominee, james g. blaine of maine, and his running mate, john logan. tonight our "contenders" series continues. we're live from the blaine house in augusta, maine, home of james blaine, and since 1920, the official residence of maine's governor. we are inside the blaine house with maine's sitting governor, pau

a campaign slogan used against james blaine, of course. olde is joining us from inside the blaine house, the governor's mansion. how did you get interested enough in james blaine to write a biography about him? >> well, basically i have been involved in this house since 1966. i was assistant to the governor. so i knew all about the blaine house. and then later on, another governor, angus king asked me to be co-chair of a group called friends of the blaine house. i was spending a lot of time here. i noticed there was a little bit about blaine here but there really wasn't very much. and there was no up to date biography of him. the previous biographies were about 70 years old then. and had been -- two of them written in the 1930s. early '30s. so i thought it was high time that this character who came within a whisker of being president of the united states should have another biography. that's how i got involved. >> you said fascinating. what are other adjectives you would use to describe blaine? >> sorry, would you repeat that. >> what are o

in 1862 james blaine and his wife acquired this property.laine lived here until his death in 1893. mrs. blaine kept the property until her death in 1903, and then after world war i their daughter, harriet blaine beal donated the house and grounds to the state of maine for the purpose of a governor's home. sadly, harriet blaine beal lost her son, walker blaine beal in world war i and he had actually owned the house and then upon his death the house reverted back to her and she recognizing that it probably wasn't going to go on in the family and in addition to that recognizing the need that maine had and the close proximity of the blaine house to our state house across the street, she donated the house for the purpose of the governor's home. this is the state reception room. when the house was built in 1833 this was two rooms, and then when the blaines acquired the house in 1862, in '69 and again in 1872 they made some major changes to the house which included opening up both these two rooms into one big reception room. this really reflects th

blaine in the white dress, james g. blaine to the right, that they invited the president of the united states, benjamin harrison, to spend several days with them at their summer home in bar harbor. one of the reasons, of course, for this presidential trip to maine was the fact that james g. blaine at that time was serving in benjamin harrison's cabinet. blaine had been u.s. secretary of state under garfield and briefly under president arthur but then in 1889 benjamin harrison appointed him secretary of state and he hold that position through most of the harrison administration. >> where did blaine get most of his money from? >> well, there's a lot of discussion about that and his political detractors would have said that it was ill-gotten in some ways, that was one of the issues that he ran into when he was trying to get the nomination in 1876 at -- just at the time that he was vying for that nomination issues came up about whether he had ill-gotten gains, so to speak, to simplify it. and that's one of the issues that ma

one of the reasons for this presidential trip to maine was the fact that james g. blainet that time was serving under benjamin harrison's cabinet. blaine had been u.s. secretary of state under garfield and briefly under president arthur, but then in 1889 benjamin harrison appointed him secretary of state and he held that position through most of the harrison administration. >> where did blaine get most of his money from? >> well, there is a lot of discussion about that. his political detractors would have said that it was ill-gotten in some ways. that was one of the issues he ran into when he was trying to get the nomination in 1876 at just at the time that he was vying to are that nomination issues came up about whether he had ill gotten gains so to speak to simplify it. that's one of the issues that made it difficult for him to obtain the nomination in 1876. by the early 1880s it was the fact that he had written an extremely popular two-volume memoir called "twenty years in congress." it was a best-seller of its time. it sold tens of thousands of copies. it netted him a

white house and the cabinet, he puts together his cabinet and tries to split it, and he appoints james blaine to be secretary of state. blaine is a half breed and believes in civil service reform and is probably the closest member of the cabinet to garfield. he appoints conklin supporters to other key positions in the cabinet, and he appoints robert todd lincoln, lincoln's son to be the secretary of war. the feud between conklin and garfield breaks out almost immediately. garfield appoints an enemy of conklin to be the job to new york, and garfield says i am president. conklin says senatorial courtesy, it's a new york job and you can't do it without me, and garfield says i just appointed him. conklin says i will show you, i will resign from the senate. so he and the other senator from new york, thomas platt, both quit, believing they would reappoint him to come back to the senate and that will show garfield i have support and you have to get my guy in. and they refuse to re-appoint them. it's the presidency and it's the executive power, and it's the senatorial power being weakened compared to

in 1862, james g. blaine and his wife acquired this property.ine lived here until his death in 1893. mrs. blaine kept the property until her death in 1903 and then

profiles of presidential candidates continues tomorrow night on american history tv, with a look at james blaine, republican presidential candidate in the 1884 election against grover cleveland. that's at 8:00 p.m. eastern time here on c-span3. >>> the c-span radio app makes it easy to continue to follow the 2016 election wherever you are. it's free to download from the apple app store or google play. get audio coverage and up to the minute schedule information for c-span radio and television, plus podcast times. stay up to date on all the election coverage. c-span's radio app means you always have c-span on the go. >> c-span is touring cities across the country, exploring american history. up next, a look at our visit to ashland, henry clay's estate. you're watching american history tv, all weekend, every weekend on c-span3. ♪ >>> we are at ashland, the henry clay estate, in lexington, kentucky. ♪ the mansion at ashland is a unique situation. clay's original home had to be torn down and rebuilt. it fell into disrepair and could not be saved. he rebuilt on the original foundation. what we have i

what was the legacy, what's the importance to america today of james g. blaine having been a politician here? >> i think his influence as secretary of state was very important. it's a great legacy. his desire to build some kind of cohesion between the north american and south american and central american states. >> i think there's that and i think also if you look back across his long career in public life it is that he is one of the key builders of the republican party in the 19th century. he's there at the beginning in 1854. and he is still there almost 40 years later as probably their most powerful and most identifiable figure. >> and maine today has a republican governor and two republican senators and congressional delegation here is democrat, correct? >> the congressional democrat. i was thinking our state legislature is all republican, too. >> we're out of time. i want to thank a number of people as we close here. thank you to the governor for hosting us at the governor's mansion tonight, and the director of the blaine house here and the staff has been f

profiles of presidential candidates continues tomorrow night on tomorrow history tv with a look at james blaine. that's at 8:00 p.m. eastern time here on cspan 3. >>> the c-span radio app makes it easy to follow the election. get audio coverage and up to the minute schedule information for c-span radio and television. stay up-to-date on all the election coverage. c span's radio app means you always have c-span on the go. >>> next author talks about the compromise of 1850 and the two generations of senators of the debate. mr. bordewich focuses on the compromise that preserved the union. the new york historical society, oxford university press and the bryant park corporation hosts this event. it's just under 90 minutes. >>> can you hear me? good evening. thank you, paul. and we're delighted at the new york historical society to partner with the bryant park corporation and oxford community press on this exciting series. tonight's program will be followed by question and answer session and a book signing. so please do join in for both. i'm really delighted this evening to welcome author and histori

profiles of presidential candidates continues tomorrow night on american history tv, with a look at james blaine, republican presidential candidate in the 1884 election against grover cleveland. that's at 8:00 p.m. eastern time here on c-span3. >>> the c-span radio app makes it easy to continue to follow the 2016 election wherever you are. it's free to

you had grover cleveland, who had a child out of wedlock, and then you had james g. blainehad scandals following him like just, you know, like tin cans tied to his ankle. and both of these people were -- people looked at the election and said the lesser of two evils and that's not unlike the way they're looking at this one now. then there's the question of donald trump, who is a totally unique figure. the last businessman in 1940, wendell willky. but my favorite one is 1964. there was a stop goldwater movement, which looks exactly like the never trump movement, and it was equally successful. at the end of it, richard nixon said to pat buchanan, if there's ever a stop x movement, you always -- nixon was first against goldwater but then was for him. >> define the importance of these debates in this season. they're always relatively important, right? but is it specially important this time around? >> it depends. if it's still true that there's about 20% of the people that are sloshing around that we've seen in these polls, then those people are going to be looking for who's th

chaplin for letting me know about the rehiring the investigators to come and look at my sons case, james blainm saying his name right. he called me and i spoke with him yesterday and they are looking into it and i'm happy about it, but it took 10 years for this to happen. the only investigator i thought helped me in the past is calvin jones and he is no longer here, but i'm glad to have this happen. it is giving me a little bit of hope that something will happen. i'm still weary and still want people to see what i have to remember every day. my son laying on the gurney lifeless. me standic over his cas dt when he was murdered. i'm still in pain even though it is 10 years. i want people to knethat it is just not just my son recollect it is other unsolved homicides to be. mothers like myself are suffering. but i do want people to say that. i want my beautiful sons case to be solved so i can get closure. i haven't any and tired of crying and got on the phone with inspector [inaudible] today and was in tears and i didn't think i would. i said i want to see my sons clothed he wore when they murdere

chaplin for letting me know about the rehiring the investigators to come and look at my sons case, james blain, i thipg i'm saying his name right. he called me and i spoke with him yesterday and they are looking into it and i'm happy about it, but it took 10 years for this to happen. the only investigator i thought helped me in the past is calvin jones and he is no longer here, but i'm glad to have this happen. it is giving me a little bit of hope that something will happen. i'm still weary and still want people to see what i have to remember every day. my son laying on the gurney lifeless. me standic over his cas dt when he was murdered. i'm still in pain even though it is 10 years. i want people to knethat it is just not just my son recollect it is other unsolved homicides to be. mothers like myself are suffering. but i do want people to say that. i want my beautiful sons case to be solved so i can get closure. i haven't any and tired of crying and got on the phone with inspector [inaudible] today and was in tears and i didn't think i would. i said i want to see my sons clothed he wore when

. >> the contenders -- are life -- are look at the life of james g. blaine continues in a moment.ore information on our series "the contenders", but to our website at cpsan.org. they will find biographies of all the candidates, portions of their speeches when available. and that is all at c-span.org/ thecondenders. we now return to maine and their discussion on the life ofthey s. thank you for being with us tonight. ♪