[applause] ♪ >> this week on q&a our guest is historian richard norton smith exploring the new york governorice president who was born into the privilege and power of the rockefeller family. he addresses his earlier years, 1st marriage, children, influence of the republican party over the years and time is efforts as governor of new york state. he state. he also talks about his interest outside of politics, his 2nd marriage the murky circumstances surrounding his death and his legacy. c-span: after years of work what would you tell somebody who did not know who he is and what he did? >> guest: he was a significant indeed historically significant figure in a number of fields on one level i gave his name to rockefeller republicans which i would suggest without much evidence to back it up accurately describes the existing political views of tens of millions of americans who may not even be aware of the phrase. in a nutshell a combination of policies that are fiscally responsible and socially liberal. he said himself that he had a republican head in a democratic heart. the great powerful reagane

susan: back talking about martha washington with pat brady and richard norton smith. 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. richard: it wasn't viewed as genteel 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 closest 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 that 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 washingt

presidential historian richard norton smith, whose biography of george washington is called "patriarch and patricia brady, who is done a part of the of martha washington subtitled "an american life". why does martha washington matter? patricia: 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 helpmate, always. susan: the concept for this series was something that you championed early and were a guiding light into how cspan might do it. what was your thought as a historian about why studying first ladies should matter in the society we live in today? richard: first of all, we don't know enough about them as individuals. we do not know enough about them for the windows that they open upon their individual periods. individually they are fascinating. collectively it seems to me they , provide a way of tracing women's history and the history of the country and any number of political and other institutions as well. ultimately, i suspect o

. >> richard norton smiths is the executive directors of abraham lincoln presidential library and spoke with ray swears on "inside story" about the immense challenges the nation faced after the civil war. >> was the country in 1865 divided by the martyred president initially? >> the country was divided by everything, for all the celebration in the streets of washington in that week between we surrender and the lincoln's trip to fort's theater that masked a larger truth, one that lincoln better than anyone understood, the south lay in ruins, there were hundreds of thousands of confederates who indeed would go to their grave rewarding themselves not as citizens of the united states, but as con fed receipts. lincoln understood that the challenge before him binding up the rooms as he talked about in his second inaugural was arguably greater than that of actually winning the war. i mean, fortunately though, we had lincoln it's impossible to estimate the kind of special moral statiture that he enjoyed as a result of the northern victory and how the north won and his own growth as a president,

you are and, again let me mention it's "on his own terms: the life of nelson rockefeller," richard norton smith i do have to ask you you're on to a new city. >> guest: i am. congress is in its second week at recess. coming up on c-span2, we will bring you conversations with authors from our "after words" series. we will start with journalist april ryan's book "the presidency in black and white." april ryan recounts are over 25 year career in journalism and the presidential administration the presidential administration she is covered. she's interviewed by ann compton whitehorse correspondent for abc news. this is about one hour. >> host: april ryan i don't think anyone, any african-american reporter has covered the white house as long as you have and now you have taken the clinton bush 43 and obama years and written about them through the prism of something that's important to your listeners on american urban radio networks. john kennedy. john kennedy and martin luther king. >> this was growing up in baltimore. >> host: what was it? did they kind of resent this newcomer? >> guest: they did rese