mt. vernon, you may know there are actually two tombs. there is the tomb and the old tomb. this is lafayette at the new tomb, which immediately tells us this is not an accurate depiction. the new tomb was not built until the 18 3030s at the time of washington's death. he does write in as well that a new tomb needs to be constructed. the old tomb is just not structurally sound. people were breaking into it. he wanted a more secure place to be buried. but this does not happen until the 1830s. it was recently discovered mt. vernon got a donation of the only contemporary artistic depiction of lafayette visiting washington's tomb during his work. this is a watercolor and silk embroidered piece. this is lafayette right here. that's the old tomb right there. and this was done in 1824. so this was done shortly after lafayette. i don't know if this is on display at mt. vernon museum now. i'm hoping that if it's yet, it comes soon. and it is a really beautiful piece. but they have no digital white of it. in addition to its connection to george washington, i mentioned military service

mt. vernon, and churchill later reads at the tomb of george and mrs. washington. that itself was a symbol of reconciliation from the revolutionary war, but it was remarkable that, during the service, the rector wells had asked the congregation to sing the battle hymn of the republic. so because the need for unification during that -- from that war, it was time for us to all come together. so they left in the cold rain. they came back to washington. they stopped at the lincoln memorial and went back to the white house where churchill was staying. and that evening, they were joined by the ambassadors of the soviet union and china to sign the first declaration of the united nations. and churchill was amazed that his friend, franklin roosevelt, had purr ersuaded the soviet ambassador to sign a document that called for freedom of religion. he jokingly said to roosevelt if you lose re-election of 1994, i'll ask the king to make you archbishop of cantebury. of course, that never happened. so the relationship of the two men was famous, they met many times. but i feel this

mt. vernon college in washington for a couple years so i could continue to participate in some of the white house stuff. i knew it was not, there was no guarantee we were going to win the election and get four more years and then i went on to the university of kansas. so, there were things that i wanted to experience, the state dinners were amazing. the head's of state you get to meet. the weekends at camp david were, you know, the carters, i have seen more of that footage and the carters went almost every weekend. i don't blame them, to get out of the lime light and get some of the focus off of you, but i do feel like i had a somewhat normal. i went to uva. i went to fraternity parties, i did those things. and georgetown, i went to georgetown, i drank under age. what a surprise. and those things were normal. but if i had social media component it would not have been -- i probably would not of stuck around i would of changed schools. during the 1984 conference, liz carpenter said, it was not part of the video footage. but, she said that i think strong first ladies make news, people salute t

mt. vernon well into the late 1820s, even though lafayette at this time was long gone from our shores, americans still looked for tangible memories of his visit. and there are thousands of these pieces that have sat in private collections and public archives for centuries. each item was not only purchased by someone, but saved and preserved and passing through the hands of family members treasured and loved. and as we are in the thick of celebrating the bicentennial, many of these pieces are now on display as part of special exhibitions commemorating lafayette's visit. and i believe there are some on display downstairs as well. but as i continue to research, these souvenirs continue to stay with me for a multitude of reasons. one, the sheer number and variety of these items offered meant that the demand for lafayette was universal and long lasting to these pieces meant the concept of people wanting a physical item as a memory of an event is certainly not a new concept. and three, it meant that lafayette meant something very important to americans in the early 18 and the early 19th century. and w