. >> in may of 2011, historian richard norton smith led a 10-day bus tour from asheville, north carolina to austin, texas, the group stopped at several presidential and historic sites along the route. one of the stops was the andrew johnson homestead in greenville, tennessee. a site owned and operated by the national park service. johnson served as vice president under president lincoln. and succeeded him when lincoln was assassinated. here's park guide daniel luther portraying president johnson and telling the story how andrew johnson met abraham lincoln. >> in 1847, i went into the 30th congress for my third term representing the people of the first district, and while i was there i met an extremely tall raw-boned young man representing the prairie state of illinois. and his name was abraham lincoln. and we fell into conversation and i introduced myself and told him that i was from northeast tennessee and he replied that he had relatives in northeast tennessee and perhaps i knew some of them. he identified his great uncle isaac as having owned a farm. at which his father thomas lincoln

earlier this year historian richard norton smith led a bus tour from asheville, north carolina to texas. one of the stops was the james k. polk ancestral home. the only surviving home except the white house in which the 11th president lived. before serving as president polk served as speaker of the house of representatives and as governor of tennessee. he was president from 1845 to 1849, and died of cholera three months after leaving the presidency. john holtzzapple led this tour. >> come on in. we can open this other door. come on in. i think we can fit. i'll go ahead and get started. i know i was trying to introduce myself to all of you when you were getting here, if i missed any of you i'm john holtzzaple, director of the james polk home. the home was built by president polk's father samuel in 1816. i think one of the first brick residences in what was a frontier town of 300 people. it's kind of odd talking about tennessee as the west but it was in the early 1800s. when this house was built columbia had dirt roads. someone else coming in? come right on in, ma'am. okay. there were dir

richard norton smith, who will be chairing this panel, is a nationally renowned author. between 1987 and 2003 he served as director of the herbert hoover presidential library. the dwight d. eisenhower presidential library, the ronald reagan presidential library and the gerald ford presidential library. so he has presidential library experience, and in 2003 he was appointed the founding director of the abraham lincoln presidential library in springfield, illinois. he is the author, a commentator on c-span, pbs, and he's now working on a biography of nelson rockefeller. on our panel today is bess abell. bess as president johnson said a kentucky girl who can walk with kings and prime ministers, maintained the common touch but could also lecture the president. she was five years white house social secretary. miss abell organized dinners for kings and prescriptions, planned two white house weddings, and advanced presidential trips from manhattan to manila. she designed and carried out to the last detail events as different as an lbj ranch barbecue, state dinners in bangkok, a

visit their website at nps.gov/anjo, and to learn more about tours with historian and author richard norton smith, go to president's&patriots.com. you're watching american history tv, all weekend, every weekend on c-span 3. >>> abolitionist john willis me nard was. elected to congress in 1868. although he was never seated, he was the first african-american who address the house chamber. we heard more about him from phillip magness from george mason university, and matthew wasniewski, historian of the u.s. house of representatives. this is about an hour from the u.s. capital historical society. >> before we begin, before i introduce the speakers, let me introduce congressman danny davis of illinois to make a welcome to the audience. congressman. [ applause ] >> thank you very much. and let me just say how delighted i am to be here. as a matter of fact, the last time i was at a meeting, i was so inspired by a woman who made a presentation of a book that she has written that i have been trying to get that book into school districts all around illinois and other places throughout the country. and act

visit their website at nps.gov/anjo, and to learn more about tours with historian and author richard norton smith, go to president's & patriots.com. you're watching american history tv, all weekend every weekend on c-span 3. >>> between 1861 and 1868, clara barton, known as the angel of the battlefield and founder of the american red cross, lived in this washington, d.c. building. she employed 12 clerks on the third floor in her missing soldier's office where they received over 60,000 letters from families searching for lost sons and husbands. in 1996, richard lyons, a carpenter for the generaler is verses administration, was helping to prepare the building for demolition when he discovered this office sign in the attic. american history tv visited the building on seventh street. to learn about the missing soldiers office and to hear the story of richard lehr yons who worked alone for months to save the building from demolition. >> hi. i'm susan rosenvold and i work for the national museum of civil war medicine in frederick, maryland and have a great project i'm working on i'd like to give you a