let me show you a biography he's written of james g. blaine. s "continental liar" from the state of maine. neil world is joining us from inside the blaine house, the governor's mansion. how did you get interested in james blaine to write a biography about him? >> basically i've been involved in this house since 1966. i was an assistant to governor curtis. i knew all about the blaine house. another governor angus king asked me to co-chair a group called friends of blaine house. i spent a lot of time here. i noticed there was a little bit about blaine here. there really wasn't very much. there was no up to date biography of him. the previous biographies were about 70 years old and there had been two of them written in the 1930s, early '30s. i thought it was high time that this fascinating character who came within a whis keker of bei president of the united states had a book written about him. >> what are some other words you would use besides fascinating to describe him? >> the one they used a lot was magnetic. they called him the magnetic man be

richard smith talks about james g. blaine and his times. l see you in just a minute or so. >> 1884 against cleveland. and before that, he ran for the republican nomination. ironically, in 1876, it was blaine who prevented ulysses grant from coming back -- or 1880, it was blaine who prevented ulysses grant coming back for a second term. >> besides being secretary of state for james garfield and chester arthur -- >> and benjamin harrison. he was secretary of state under three presidents. >> what else did he do? >> he was in congress, he was speaker of the house, he was a very effective, iron-willed speaker. >> he changed some of the rules in the house. i'm not sure exactly which rules they are. it seems to me speaker of the house are always changing rules somewhat to their advantage. but a smart, capable guy but corrupt, probably. >> remember, this was the period after the civil war when congress was much more central, much more potent than it had been. the reaction against the strong executive set in. to be a speaker of the house, to be a pow

presidential election and listening to campaign songs in support of the republican candidate, james g. blaine. we are live from the blaine house. this is home of james blain, and since 1920, the house for the governor. this house is filled with blaine memorabilia. do you have a sense of the man while you are here? >> absolutely. welcome to the house. mr. blaine is here every day and we see his spirit every evening. and we always say goodnight to him. >> the house was built many years ago. and what have you come to learn about the man by living in his house? >> he not only was a very strong supporter and founder of the republican party in maine, but also a national leader and he started maine on its course to where we are now. he was very influential in the state government and federal government. he was a powerhouse. a big time powerhouse on a massive scale. i am very honored to be a steward of the house. >> you probably have the best commute in america because this is right across the street from the capitol building. >> that's correct. >> there's maybe better air-conditioning. we are please

the campaign, he was running against a guy named james g. blaine. as the democrats like to say, james g. blaine, the continental liar from the state of maine. it really was that kind of vicious campaign. it all came down to new york state. new york had the largest number of electoral votes. whoever won new york state would win the election. it was that simple. a few days before the election, blaine appeared at a campaign event and was introduced by a protestant minister. the minister called the democrats the party of rum, romanism and rebellion. drunk, catholic, and disloyal, basically. this swung the catholic vote, especially new york city, to cleveland, who won -- carried new york by 1,000 votes out of 1.1 million cast. so it was an extremely close election but he won in 1884. in 1886, he finally married. he was still a bachelor when elected. he married a woman named francis folsom, who was 21 at the time. grover was 49. it was a 28 year age difference. i don't think we'll see another 21-year-old first lady again. it's possible. it's a good thing s

the campaign, he was running against a guy named james g. blaineas the democrats like to claim, james g. blaine, the continental liar from the state of maine and it was that kind of a vicious campaign and it came down to new york state. new york had the largest number of electoral votes at that time. whoever won new york state would win the election. it was that simple and a few days before the election, blaine appeared at a campaign event in new york and he was introduced by a protestant minister and the minister called the democrats the party of rum, romanism and rebellion. drunk, catholic and disloyal, basically and this swung the catholic vote especially in new york city to cleveland who carried new york by a thousand votes out of 1.1 million cast. so it was an extremely close election, but he won in 1884. in 1886 he finally married and he was a bachelor, and he married a woman named francis folsom, and grover was 29 and there was a 24-year-old age difference. i don't think we'll see a 21-year-old first lady again. it's possible. good thing sch

tonight we feature former speaker of the house james g. blaine of maine, who also served as secretary of state for three presidents and was the nominee in 1884. watch tonight, beginning at 8:00 eastern. enjoy american history tv, this week and every weekend on c-span3. every saturday at 8:00 p.m. eastern on american history tv on c-span3, go inside a different college classroom and hear about topics ranging from the american revolution, civil rights, and u.s. presidents to 9/11. >> thanks for your patience and for logging into class. >> with most college campuses closed due to the impact of coronavirus, watch professors transfer teaching to a virtual setting to engage with their students. >> gorbachev did most of the work to change the soviet union but reagan met him halfway, reagan encouraged him, reagan supported him. >> freedom of the press, i should mention, madison called it freedom of the use of the press and it is, indeed, freedom to print things, publish things. it is not a freedom for what we now refer onto institutionally as the press.

tonight we feature former speaker of the house james g. blain of maine who served as secretary of state and was the republican nominee for president in 1884. watch tonight beginning at 8:00 eastern. enjoy american history tv this week and every weekend on c-span3. >>> every saturday at 8:00 p.m. eastern on american history tv on c-span3, go inside a different college classroom and hear about topics ranging from the american revolution, civil rights, u.s. presidents to 9/11. >> thanks for your patience and logging into class. >> with most campuses closed, watch professors transfer to a virtual setting. >> reagan met him halfway, reagan encouraged him, reagan supported him. >> freedom of the press, madison called it freedom of the use of the press and it is freedom to print things and publish things. >> lectures in history, on hern history tv on c-span3, every saturday at 8:00 p.m. eastern. lectures in history is also available as a podcast. find it where you listen to podcasts. >> you're watching american history tv. every weekend on c-span3, exp

detractor in the united states congress and that is the former congressman and now senator from maine james g. blaine. blaine ridicules conkling for, quote, his haughty disdain, his majestic overpowering turkey gobbler strut. why can't our politicians today talk like that? conkling vows that the only goal he has left in life is to block blaine from the one thing he wants more than anything else and that is to be president. he says if i keep blaine from becoming president, then my life's ambitions are accomplished. 1880. hayes is not running for re-election. blaine announces he wants to run for president. conkling says, i got to block him. in order to block him, you need a candidate. and conkling comes up with a candidate. ulysses grant. this raises some questions. george washington said you only serve two terms. it was the precedent. since grant has served two terms and left, if he comes back and runs again, is that okay? and they didn't know. this is before franklin roosevelt and the change in our system. it wasn't illegal or unconstitutional for him to run again. but people wondered, is a third ter

james g blan they has an overpowering super gobbler @i% struck. conkling says the only thing hs highway left if life is to block blaine from becoming president.e says if i can keep him from becoming president then my life's ambitions are accomplished. 1880, blaine announces he wants to run for president. in order to block him you need a candid, and he comes up with ulysses grant. george washington said you only serve two terms. it wasn't set, it was the precedent. since grant served two and left, if he comes back and runs again, is that okay? they didn't know. this is before roogs velt and the change in our system. it wasn't illegal or unconstitutional, but people wondered is a third term that is not continuous a third term or is it the first term for a second time. that's the way they phrased it. grant did not want to be president again. he didn't like the job, but he was not in good health and was broke. so the two main figures for the republican nomination are james blaine of maine. a third candidate appears. it is john sherman of ohio. he had been the treasury secretary in the hayes administration. he became a senator from ohio. he is the

. >> the contenders -- are life -- are look at the life of james g. blaine continues in a moment. for more 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 of♪