in the play could have happened but they probably didn't most of them. >> tell us about the john quincy adamst we see on stage. >> you seeour different john quincy adams, each one at a different age and stage by his life played by both men and women, white folks, people of color. it's trying to be a story of america, of the sort of full picture of america now. soven though it's a historical play in the sense of these are historical characters, it's ally much more about what's going on in the world right now. >> okay. interesting. phyllis, you are one of four actors who have the opportunity of playing portraying john quincy adams, explain the part of his life that you cover and what it's like as a woman to play this character. >> well, what's great about it is, all four actorsre on stage at the same time so i have really the benefit since i'm playing john quincy adams later in life, i get to watch t life unfold before me as the early parts of his life are played by the other actors. i kind of have started to think about it as if i'm watching -- it's watching these actors is like watching the m

john quincy adams almost had a fit. and he wrote to the president of harvard saying you can't do this. it will sully the reputation of my dear alma mater. but the occasion went forward. there were dissenters on the faculty and they decided, ok. we can't stop this. but we will show jackson up. in those days it was not unheard of -- and it was still accepted practice on certain occasions for academics to give their addresses to deliver their papers in latin. their traditional language of intellectuals in the academy. and so without telling the president of the university whose reputation was on the line, sure, i'll be happy to speak on this occasion. and it was a commencement and there were several speeches. and the speakers before jackson stood up and gave their speeches in latin with the belief that this would really flummox jackson. he obviously would not know what was happening. and he would be so embarrassed that he would be humiliated and he would be shown up. and that would be the end of it. now, as i say with expl

there have been a number of biographies that have come out about john quincy adams' wife.ms loved to write letters and there isa diary, and all of this material, and sarah polk has no material. i collected all the letters i could find and then i wrote to archivists. they put me in touch with people who owned letters that have not been published. papers,or of the polk michael david cohen was so remarkably helpful. every time they came across a letter regarding sarah, he would forward it to me, so a lot of people all around the country helped me out. pass: i cannot which you michael cohen, saying he shared the only known example of james polk laughing. [laughter] prof. greenberg: he found a letter where james was looking at the plans for this remarkable house he hoped to build in nashville, which he ended up building. there was a joke about one room would be the ballroom for dancing, and the reason it was a joke because james and sarah did not dance at all. joke, but not a funny joke and he did not joke at all. this, howore we end long have you been at penn state? prof. gree

john quincy adams, who had been president years before, a one term president, he went to congress as a representative for massachusetts and he made it his main work to bring up slavery as much as possible in response to the gag rule. soy he would not be gagged. he was constantly being called to order because he would talk about slavery. brian: how did she do as a health worker? prof. greenberg: james, not naturally good at convincing people to do things, not a good communicator, not necessarily a persuasive person. sarah opened up rooms in the boarding house that she lived in. particularly to entertain. she held biweekly or triweekly dinner parties where she would invite members of congress to come and talk. they would talk over issues. she would lobby them carefully, always saying, the speaker of the house thinks this, or the speaker of the house thinks that. brian: was he there? prof. greenberg: sometimes. often times he was not. he loved to work, so many times he would work and leave it to sarah to do the negotiating. brian: you talk about how sick he was and that he died three mo

john adams and john quincy adams were one term president. our first two one term president. their presidencies nearly a quarter of a century. john adams was only alive for the first year and a quarter of his son's presidency and in a way in quincy, massachusetts, far away from washington, d.c. the bushes only had eight years between their presidencies ay i reigned at consequential times. george h.w. bush when the iron curtain fell, and we were entering into a brand-new post-cold war period and george w. bush, of course during 9/11. enormously consequential and important periods and two men just eight years apart in the oval office. >> just eight years patient. that's nothing. yet father, son, both presidents of the united states. you look at the relationship between the two bush presidents in your book from both your professional and a personal perspective. when you look at their presidencies, what more do you see as key similarist and differences? >> well, the similarities, somewhat similar styles. there's an ethos i know is explored in the original series that on cnn is doi

it this is america, sir, nobody is born to be the presidency, just ask grornlg w bush, john quincy adamsn burin. he gushed about his speech writing ability, i got in there, and i don't know if it is speech or not but it felt a paizing because every word was pulled out of me like some, some greater force, which was just the people. there everything that i said, i was like watching myself being like, how am i saying this stuff. where is this coming from. adding also i've never dieted. i just decide sto lose weight and it falls off, i mean i could eat ice cream and hamburgers also i picked up a guitar and i could just play. right after the announcement, beto went to iowa where he spoke to voters in a coffee shop. >> in texas we have a problem with broadband in rural communities. people cannot start businesses in their hometowns or finish their education after high school because they can't get online. they can't go to tinder and find a dated tonight, to find that special person that can make the difference in their lives. i want to make sure every american has that opportunity. >> stephen:

. >> for the first time since john quincy adams in 1825, a president's son reaches the white house. >dad have expressed that even greater than being president is watching your own son being sworn in as president. it was a joyful moment for the whole family but especially for mom and dad. >> they reached that iconic photo where he goes to the oval office for the first time as president and his father joined him and his father said, hello, mr. president. and he said back to his father, hello, mr. president. it was an extraordinary day in that family. >> wash "the bush years" at 10:00 p.m. eastern only on cnn. ♪ - [woman] with shark's duo clean, i don't just clean, i deep clean carpets and floors, so i got this. yep, this too, and this, please. even long hair and pet hair are no problem, but the one thing i won't have to clean is this because the shark's self-cleaning brush roll removes the hair wrap while i clean. ♪ - [announcer] shark, the vacuum that deep cleans now cleans itself. be right back. with moderate to severe crohn's disease, i was there, just not always where i needed to be

george bush was called quincy after john quincy adams, john s son of john adams.rd dynasty was thrown around. the word dynasty wasn't a word they liked to hear much. politically they think that word is risky. why? >> i'm not sure i know why they thought it was risky. but you're right. they ignored, rejected that word. the notion of legacy. the notion of dynasty. their family commitment was one of service. if that suggests dynasty then so be it. that was not the driving force. the driving force behind the family's engagement in public life was service to others. in all things. at early ages and throughout their careers. this is true of all the bushes, not just the two presidents. >> when george h.w. bush died, we got to talk to some of his grandchildren and hear about, you know, all the nice touches he did as a father. as a grandfather. he wrote handwritten letters they cherished. i don't know how he did it. i don't know how he was able to accomplish what he was able to accomplish. obviously it was a different time. he had a devoted wife helping him on every level.

. >> for the first time since john quincy adams in 1825, a president's son reaches the white house. >mom and dad had express thatted that even greatn being president is watching your son son being sworn in. it was joyful moment for the whole family, but especially mom and dad. >> there is that iconic photo where he goes to the oval office for the first time as president and his father joined him. and his father said hello, mr. president. and he said back to his father, hello, mr. president. it was an extraordinary day in that family. >> part five of the bush years airs sunday night at 10:00 only on cnn. >>> more on this confuse the president has sparked with yet another foreign policy announcement over tweet, this time involving north korea. plus a lot of questions about this active shooter drill that included teachers shot execution style with pellet guns. we'll talk about what the teachers went through and hear from a union leader who wants a new law to make sure this never happens again. ♪ come on... (buzzer sounds) at some point, a line has to be drawn. nooooooooo! i'm sorrrrryyyy

it was for the most famous freshman member of the house of representatives since john quincy adams, alexandriaso cortez talked about republican fear mongering. >> we should be scared right now because corporations have taken over our government. and that's why the emphasis in democratic socialism is on democracy. it's just as much a transformation about bringing democracy to the workplace so that we have a say and that we don't check all of our rights at the door every time we cross the threshold into our workplace. because at the end of the day as workers and as people of society, we're the ones creating wealth, not a corporate ceo. it's not a ceo that's actually creating $4 billion a year. it is the millions of workers in this country that's creating billions of dollars of economic productivity a year. and our system should reflect that. >> alexandria ocasio-cortez might not be invited to the annual gathering of the super rich at the world economic forum in davos, but they made the mistake of inviting dutch historian bregman earlier this year, and what he had to say at davos went viral. >> a

monroe leading from behind with john quincy adams and then of course link and then later grover clevelandalso, not to forget grant during the reconstruction. seems like we had strong presidents in the 19th century and so i think we had those focal points there. then the question would be, hasn't there been a tense sense lyndon johnson and since bush to recover strengths for the legislature? >> ten to the last part, i fully expected after the election and inauguration of donald trump, republicans in congress holding majorities in both houses would reassert the congressional prerogatives. but, they did not. they did not in part because president trump remained popular among the people who elected him. also, the leaders just got out of the habit, they did not know how to lead and organize. executives have an advantage if they get used to things. in the 19th century, congress would write the budget for the united states. the 20th century that fell by the wayside in congress would wait for presidents to deliver their budget and then react. what congress became was the reactive branch of the 20

. >> for the first time since john quincy adams in 1825, a president's son reaches the white house. > have expressed that even greater than being president is watching your own son being sworn in as president. it was a joyful moment for the whole family but especially for mom and dad. >> there is that iconic photo where he goes to the oval office for the first time as president and his father joined him, and his father said hello, mr. president. and he said back to his father, hello, mr. president. it was an extraordinary day in that family. >> tune in tomorrow. "the bush years" airs at 10:00 p.m. right here on cnn. staying at hampton for a work trip. oh no. your new boss seems cool, but she might not be sweatpants cool. not quite ready to face the day? that's why we're here with free hot breakfast. book at hampton.com for our price match guarantee. hampton by hilton. i'm missing out on our family outings because i can't find a bladder leakage product that fits. everything was too loose. but depend® fit-flex feels tailored to me. with a range of sizes for all body types. depend® fit-f

john quincy adams and rutherford b. hayes went on to serve as president.enjamin harrison losing to grover cleveland by 96,000 votes in 1888. bushtly in 2000, george w. losing by 540 4000 votes. i'll go to elected president. and of course donald trump, losing by nearly 3 million votes to hillary clinton but winning the electoral college vote. willie is first up, democratic line. what do you think of this? first of all, i think the electoral college should be completely abolished and what you just said is good reason. also, with the cyber warfare and everyone talking about russia, that would make it much harder for them. by 3 million loses -- wins by 3 million and still loses, that's ludicrous. i think it should be abolished. not by an electoral college started by dixiecrat democrats who now control the republican party. yes, i do think it should be abolished completely. host: thank you. good morning, randy. collects good morning, good morning. we definitely should not abolish the electoral college. our founding fathers could see up ahead what would happen,

james madison, not a fan 81 year after he wrote that john you'ins e quincy adams became president.1876 and 188, which make grover cleveland so mad he reclaimed the office reporters felt could be stolen from him. reform efforts continue. a senator came within a few votes to abolish the elect tractor-trailer college. in 1968, his effort committed 80% approval. one year later, the house of representatives voted overwhelmingly, even president nixon was on board, it was filibustered in the senate. all of this was more or less forgotten until 2000. by that time, we were all getting a little used to the depressing idea if you don't live in a hand. of swing states, your vote should be taken for granted. the national vote interstate exact. it's simple? states pass elections to vote for the popular vote. so for 12 states passed it. colorado last week. it has report from republicans as well as democrats. they won't kick in until they hit 270 votes. this will face a court challenge. it won't be based on allocating the elect tores. the big question is whether it's constitutional look, trump bot