presidential historian richard norton smith whose biography of george washington is called patriarch, and patricia brady who has done a biography of martha washington subject titled an american life. why does martha washington matter? >> she was the first, and she was one of the best. those things always count. she was able to help george washington make it through the american revolution and then two awful terms as president. she was his help mate, always. >> richard norton smith, this concept for this series was something that you championed early and really were a guiding light into how c-span might do it. what was your thought as a historian about why studying first ladies should matter in this society we live in today? >> first of all, we don't know enough about them. as individuals. we don't know enough about them for the windows that they open upon their particular periods. individually they're fascinating, collectively it seems to me they provide a way of tracing not only women's history but the history of the country, and any number of political and other institutions as well

take look at the influence of first ladies. .e would hear from authors this is moderated by richard norton smith.

richard norton smith, it is a pleasure and an honor to be up to talk to both of you folks. have as a love of history i have followed both of your works for years. i'm just honored to bring to talk to you tonight. first of all, with regard to mrs. mckinley's help -- health, i noticed you comment about six months before mr. mckinley was assassinated she was gravely ill when they had a trip out to the west coast. i noticed there was a report that was in the "new york times" about how near death she was. was that the first time that a first ladies held was publicly reported that mark i am curious to know why they felt the need to even get that out there. maybe 20 years since that a president or first lady would not have wanted that information to be released. >> thank you. >> a really great question and observation. the only other first lady would go through an element -- an illness was caroline harrison. that was toward the end. before she died, more details were learned. in large part it was they were traveling. they went through tennessee down to new orleans to texas. ida mc

we have two guests at the table, richard norton smith and meet amanda matthews. the massachusetts historical society where she is a research associate for the adams papers. ms. matthews, we learned there was not much documentary evidence about elizabeth monroe. how about louisa catherine adams, what exists? >> quite a wealth. she kept diaries intermittently. she wrote autobiographies and memoirs. there are hundreds and hundreds of letters of hers. we have her thoughts and feelings from her point of view, both reflective and contemporary as the events were taking place. >> another suggested that in her research she saw louisa adams as the first modern first lady. do you agree with that contention that she developed a sense of self? >> in some ways she has her own cause. she works with the washington female orphan asylum, so in that way it's somewhat modern having this cause that she was involved in and she does work politics in her parlor in such a way as to help win the presidency for her husband in her own way. >> well, richard norton smith, explain to people ho

former senate historian richard baker co-author of the new book, "the american senate"; and richard norton smith of george mason university. >> welcome.->> thank you. ->> start us off here. in your historian's hat, what do you see going on in washington today. how would you describe it. >> i think some of what's going on in washington at the moment is stuff we've seen before in the past. we tend to romanticize past periods as being provocative beautiful periods. we look back in the laws for past things for the right laws it's been very very messy.-that said i do think we are seeing a particular level of dysfunction that is different from what they've seen before and in many ways is a little bit more extreme.->> we'll pick that up but first richard baker you looked at this one substitution where you many years in the senate. do you see a clear evolution devideodevolution. there are times of great heart burn, hurt feelings and then were going to pull themselves out of the hole and pass some reform legislation and move on into the future. the mid 1970's, the senate maybe coming out of the nixon era

we asked "newshour" regular and presidential historian richard norton smith to join us at the cemetery. he said the groundclearing goats were not in fact trailblazers. >> back in w.w.i., the white house put a flock of sheep on the south lawn. mrs. wilson was called little bo peep, then as now presidency involved theater. >> holman: he also acquainted us with some of the once-leading lights laid to rest here. >> well among the stars: there's j. edgard hoover and john phillip sousa, who's regularly serenaded here. there's a whole host of quasi historical celebrities: belva lockwood ran in 1884. >> holman: when she couldn't vote got 4,000 votes, from sympathetic men. preston brooks, who beat charles sumner on the floor of the senate. you think partisan bickering is bad now. >> holman: beyond that, richard said this quiet place recalls a timeless majesty now all but lost. >> there are no red states or blue states in here. doesn't matter if you have skins tickets it all winds up here in ultimate form of democracy. >> holman: the goats are above partisan rancor. when we arrived, the goats we

presidential historian richard norton smith whose biography of george washington is called patriarch, and patricia brady ho has done a biography of martha washington subtitled an american life. why does martha washington matter? >> she was the first, and she was one of the best. those things always count. she was able to help george washington make it through the american revolution and then two awful terms as president. she was his help mate, always. >> richard norton smith, this concept for this series was something that you championed early and really were a guiding light into how c-span might do t. what was your thought as a historian about why studying first ladies should matter in this society we live in today? >> first of all, we don't know enough about them. as individuals. we don't know enough about them for the windows that they open upon their particular periods. individually they're fascinating, collectively it seems to me they provide a way of tracing not only women's history but the history of the country, and any number of political and other institutions as well. but u

. >> back talking about martha washington with pat brady and richard norton smith. i have a tweet here from jennifer sherman who writes, "amazing how much time martha washington spent with her husband on the front lines." on the front lines what i wanted to start with. it sounds genteel, the existence we were hearing about. but 2500 soldiers died in that encampment in that winter. >> it wasn't viewed as gentile by her contemporaries. one of the things that fostered a bond between mrs. washington and what would be the american people was the perception that she sacrificed every bit as much as her husband in the war. this is another part of her training in a sense for being first lady. he was in effect for eight years an executive. the klose thing that the country had. she was a first lady of sorts. and very touching story. they -- they had one room on the second floor of valley forge. then they had an hour every morning in a was sacred. one hour when they weren't to be disturbed. wouldn't you like to be a fly on the wall for those conversations because washington unl

panelists include cokie roberts and historian richard norton smith. join us live next saturday at 2:30 p.m. eastern right here on c-span. coming up tonight on c-span, president obama's remarks from earlier today on syria. marcharticipants from the on washington discussed that day and the media's role in its coverage. then a discussion about developments in technology are influencing the quality of education. the most fun times i ever had was -- it was 2000 six. it looked like the democrats were going to take over the house and it would be bad for republicans. vice president cheney's office called and wondered if we could have breakfast with them. we went over to the vice president, had breakfast. -- itmet him before, but was unbelievable how much he knew about individuals. he has been to so many of these districts over the years. basically he was sort of asking this?" bad is yeah -- it saying, is pretty bad. but it is fun when you can see this on both sides and you get a glimpse of the inside players. than 30 years as a political analyst, charlie cook

our guest, richard norton smith, was very much involved in the creation of.oing back to her need for money, abraham lincoln was a very successful lawyer in springfield. he worked the railroads and made quite a bit of money. what was his income? >> that is a great point. it is interesting. if you go back and look at the accounts, her money seems to be something that started with washington. there are friends and neighbors that talk about how thrifty she was. what a good housekeeper she was it was his legal days. grounded in her sense that we talked about already, she was a national figure representing the west, if you will. people were condescending to her and her husband. she had a place of status and an appearance to maintain. i think it was as simple as that. i think it got out of hand. $85,000 was in his estate at the time of his death. his widow would inherit 1/3. you would think that she was in debt $27,000. >> she got duplicates, hundreds sometimes, of parasols and things. >> that is true, that is the nature. over time, it became more pronounced that sh

probably four months after her dou >> who is julia gardinehe was >> who is julia gardiner, richard norton-smith called on julia gardiner is a -- she's a young woman from ft,ng island, new r in. from where in fact anna haduraison had gone to schns,l. she is from a very well-known, lon trtandin p new r in. depor in the 17th century they owned gardiner's island and family still oines nco miner's island and her father was a new york state senator. they were in washington frequently for the social seasons. and she was wp>> he known at t white house and was well known to the daughters of the tylers wasaugven known to come over no just for the parties but do thin tr like quiet ncomes of whisk. so the family knew her quite well. she was quite bel.tin' he and quite rambunctious and was very well educated both here and in eher t so it made her quite -- quite a troubling woman to be around. >> and she quickly caught the widow president's eye. >> she quicetty ca itshe i the widow president's eyes. this moved shockingly quicetty. >> when we have to establish the difference in age between the tino. >> yes. j

take look at the influence of first ladies. .e would hear from authors this is moderated by richard norton smith. it is about one hour. >> thank you. it is great to see all of you. many of you are old friends. it is nice to come back. it feels like the homecoming. we have a great panel and a huge subject. how to know where to begin? this is about the first ladies as influence makers. that is the term that is itself subject to perhaps misunderstanding on multiple definitions. you have written among other about the book explicitly first ladies of the 20th century, which presume there is someone -- something different about them. influence?ou define >> it is a vault. -- it has evolved. we saw the influence begin as one that was ceremonial and focus, and since the beginning of the 20th century, and since 1960, we have seen the presidential spouse assuming more influence. it goes way beyond hello talk. lady bird used to say that the first lady was the only one who could tell the president to shut up. and then, not be fired. that influence has taken various forms. sometimes, the concerns of the first