it was endorsed by president james buchanan from pennsylvania. he was a northern man, but he was strong proslavery. his predecessor was franklin pierce, president franklin pierce, from concord, new hampshire. a strong pro-slavery mantra. the democratic party in the by thecontrolled southern influence, strong proslavery. what president buchanan was not counting on is stephen a douglas, the father of kansas in thery, who believed concept of popular sovereignty, let the will of the people bespoke. stephen douglas was outraged by the lecompton constitution. when the lecompton constitution arrived in washington, douglas got on the floor of the senate and called the lecompton constitution a swindle and a fraud. it did not represent popular sovereignty, did not represent the will of the people. this constitution was ferociously debated in the halls of congress. the u.s. senate which was didrolled by southerners, pass it, the ratified it. it got to the u.s. house, was more the northern influence. when it got to the u.s. house, the debate was so rancorous

he said, would you rather be a james buchanan's grave or disney world? she said disney world and he said, you are not normal. brian: you note that at the james buchanan website, you went back again and found that they had improved the site. kurt: sometimes the surrounding areas aren't as nice. the only one that was really that bad at the time of my first visit in july of 2005 was james buchanan's grave area. his was nice but some of the surrounding graves were toppled over, not in good condition. it really wasn't in a good section of town either. i went back on a subsequent trip a couple of years ago. i don't want to see any graves toppled over. brian: martin buchanan, you said there was nobody there but you. kurt: martin van buren. brian: i mean, martin van buren. kurt: that would be probably even fewer people at martin buchanan's grave. i have been there a few times and every time, nobody was at martin van buren's grave. it is kind of hidden away a little bit in kinderhook. brian: how much research did you do before going to each gravesite? kurt: enoug

thank you so much, james buchanan, for your beautiful words and your work. and and cynthia cummings for the beautiful work you do. and a shout out to edward brewi bruegeman, the founder. i just want to say it's a true pleasure speaking at a university where your stated goals have to be with peace and justice and that's actually up front who you are. it's not that common, actually, so it's just really a treat to be here. i'm going to talk to you a little bit about the global water crisis. welcome, by the way, to the high school students. we're really happy you guys came here. it's really special you're here. and then i'm going to talk a little bit about what we can do and what we are doing. i want to say to you that i hate it when people my age come to talk to younger people and say, oh, it's doom and gloom and you should just forget about it. there's nothing you can do, tear your hair out. actually, there's lots we can do about the crisis that i'm going to talk to you about. and i do deeply believe that hope is a moral imperative. if i share with you some of

including powerful and influential individuals like billionaire ross perot and james webb was now a presidential candidate. pat buchanan, a tall wolf some congressmen or senators from the heritage fund asian for from the secretary of interior. they had envisioned the memorial in my opinion is the vehicle to justify the war and to celebrate heroism and glory they saw that competition designed as a betrayal. f first glance the negative perception may have been understandable after all in contrast with the washington monument to was black in it in the ground. second, it constituted a contemplation rather than an object or a building or any other monument of glory. it my view, the controversy over the design that almost sank the ship constituted a perfect store visit was intensified to tsa and touched unresolved fault lines in american society which was still present after the war including the question of the war itself was right or wrong or a question if it was ill-conceived from the outset or due to the activities of domestic power with the backstab also if they could be honored. and finally weld not finally but would i

buchanan's letter, "you are dismissed from the service." he's a free agent. but then he becomes the commander of the james river defenses with the css virginia as his flagship. it is buchanan, who on the morning of march 8, 1862 will take his ship on what is called a shakedown cruise. when they get to craney island he will call the men onto the gun deck and say, men, today we will do not just our duty but more than our duty. today we will attack the union fleet. to your cannon, to your death, we will sink before surrender." we are supposed to be practicing our ship, not fighting. as a result of buchanan's dynamism, the virginia would come out and sink the uss cumberland by 3:30 on the afternoon of march 8. that moment really creates that ironclad revolution that was so fondly talk about. buchanan, however, late in the afternoon, after forcing congress to surrender -- and i want to tell you, buchanan's brother is on board the congress. thomas buchanan. when the congress surrenders he sends some boats over to take off the wounded and the officers as prisoners. the union soldiers on the shore start firing at

powerful and influential individuals like billionaire ross perot, james webb who is now apparently a presidential candidate. columnist pat buchanan, the novelist tom wolfe. there were some congressmen, senators, members of staff of the heritage foundation, some members of the staff of the secretary of the interior. they in my opinion had a vision of the memorial as a vehicle to justify the war and rebuked the anti-war movement and celebrate heroism and glory. face of the competition winning design as a betrayal. at first glance there negative perception might have been understandable. after all it contrast to the gleaming white tower of the washington monument. this thing was black and reseeded into the ground. secondly it constituted a space for contemplation rather than an object or rebuilding or any other monument to glory. in my view the controversy over the design that almost sank the ship constituted a perfect storm. is intensified by a teasing and touching a number of unresolved fault lines in american society which are still present after the war. these included the question of whether the war itself was right or wrong. t