what i wanted to talk about, robert davi said no, he had no preconditions, that makes you weird. [ laughter step into, this robert downey, jr. says don't mention my former alcoholism, he may be right saying that. interviewer brings it up he walks out on the interview. >> interesting. i don't know why, i've met him several times, he's a heck of a nice guy. neil: and handles great questions. >> very intelligent. i think something to that effect look every family has been touched. my own family touched by addiction and alcoholism have had people in the family. and if you communicate to others that you have the similar problem in a certain way that it could help, but whatever personal reason he may have -- . >> i think he takes -- you're the expert but i play one on tv. it takes it off the subject. this is about promoting my movie. you might want to talk about that. it takes the attention off that and people say davi missed a golden opportunity, right? >> there is that, too. the preconceived notion is you can bring up like for whatever, the premiere of the club life coming out this week. we'll

davis rushed to washington to help robert. now here we are on may the 1st when the train gets to michigan city, indiana coming up from get indianapolis. davis went up there to getth on the train.lincol robert todd lincoln had heard -- r he had heard that robert todd the lincoln was not coming to the better funeral. davis wrote him you will regret it the rest of your life. so lincoln got here the afternoon of the funeral on may 3rd, the day before the funeral. 3rd so robert todd lincoln. so he was here for the funeral. it it was just an immensely sad bu thingt nationwide. but the people in illinois partic particularly, i know in bloomington where i live, the bloomi newspaper --ng he had spent so much time in blood work l ton -- he spent more time there than anywhere other than springfield. our newspaper said this is not just the president this is not ader o just the leader of our nation. an this is a friend and neighbor of ours that we have lost. we all feel this in such a nd personal way. that was true up and down the track tra

davis went up there to get on the train. robert todd lincoln had heard through the grapevine that robert todd lincoln -- davis wrote him and said you better get out here you will regret it and address of your life when you -- if you do not come. lincoln got here the afternoon of the funeral, may 3 the day before the funeral. robert todd lincoln. he was here for the funeral. it was an immensely sad thing nationwide. the people in illinois particularly. in bloomington where i live, he had spent so much time in bloomington -- he spent more time in bloomington than anywhere other than springfield. our newspaper said this is not just a presidents, not just the leader of our nation, this was a friend and neighbor of ours that we have lost. we feel in a personal way. that was true up and down the tracks. a tremendous loss to the people of illinois, because he was so popular and spent so much time on all the towns in the circuit. it is called "the land of lincoln," that is the motto of our state. many things to say about lincoln, they are

so davis rushed to washington to help robert. now here we are on may 2nd when the train -- or, excuse me -- on may 1st, when the train gets to michigan city indiana coming up from indianapolis. davis went up there to get on the train, and robert todd lincoln had told him -- or he'd heard by the grapevine, robert todd lincoln was not coming to the funeral. davis wrote him and said, you better get out here you will regret the rest of your life in you don't come. so lincoln got here the afternoon of the may 3rd the day before the funeral, robert todd lincoln. so he was here before the funeral. it was just an immensely sad thing nationwide. but the people in illinois particularly, i know in bloomington, where i live, the newspaper, he spent mere time in bloomington than anywhere other than springfield. and our newspaper said, this is not just the president. this is not just the leader of our nation. this is a friend and neighbor of ours that we have lost, and we all feel it in such a personal way. and that it was true up and down the

like jefferson davis and robert e lee. most importantly, what would happen to the 4 million formerly enslaved people in the south? finding answers to these questions was complicated by the fact that the civil war did not end with a peace treaty. there was no treaty signing on the deck of a battleship like at the end of world war ii. although lee surrendered at appomattox, granted not bargain over the conflict. grant simply told lee his men could stack their arms and go home. president lincoln, and most members of the republican party, had it involves viewing the war from saving the popular government to a war that would end slavery and give the nation as lincoln said famously, a new birth of freedom. in the spring of 1865, lincoln is just getting his reconstruction act together and what we know comes from things he says in cabinet meetings and a speech he gives at the white house after lee's surrender. at appomattox, but it is fragmentary. here is essentially what we know lincoln was planning. an army would remain in the s

robert todd lincoln apparently did not intend to come to springfield for his father's funeral. david davis, who was a supreme court justice and who had been the judge of the circuit here in illinois where secretary blinken practice law, went to the white house immediately upon the death of lincoln and assembled all of his letters and documents, took them with him back to bloomington. but he stopped in chicago for a memorial to lincoln by the chicago bar association. after that meeting, he sent a telegram, which i found, to i will paraphrase it -- telegram to robert todd lincoln. i will paraphrase it, but it basically said, "robert, it is imperative you come to springfield. after talking to all of your father's friends here in illinois, to a man they said , that if you do not that you would regret it for the rest of your life. i have prepared a train to take you and you should make preparations to come immediately." of course, after that kind of admonition from david davis robert got on the train and did come to springfield. he stayed here for several days. at least. he selected the spot an

abraham van buren went to west point with jefferson davis and robert e lee.e had friends on other sides of this issue. pat: i think what is interesting is that after she is widowed -- or even before, she spends the rest of her life in new york city. caller: i grew up in kinderhook in the 1930's and 1940's. my recollection of the farm was that it was an abandoned home that was in total disrepair. the grounds were totally wild and any evidence of the farm was totally absent. the question is, at what point was this property -- did this property get improved? my recollection is that a man with some wealth bought the property and started repairing it and then the government took it over. michael: your memory is quite accurate. the family lost the farm after van buren died. it became recently a very large and ornate farmhouse. by that i can 30's it had been sort of run down. they tried to make a tea-house out of it, a couple of the things. it basically had never been owned by someone with enough money to do anything great for it. the person who bought the house try

robert e. lee was ready to throw in the towel and jefferson davis kept going. >> but on the other hand he was willing to let the south keep the slaves and the territory. >> eventually. >> we live contrary -- comfortably with canada and mexico. was it worth 600,000 lives? >> america would not be america. >> of course not. i guess it's all in the gettysburg address whether a nation like this could endure. >> that's right. >> so far so good. >> most years. [laughter] and get some food and drink. hey darling. how are you? >> you have a mic? >> for c-span. we have a nice turnout. >> yes. how are you feeling? >> jet lag. having n having not been on the jet. i did get the taxes then. it was a total clichÉ. >> thanks. >> i just want to let you know you are totally special. d said to say cokie hello. >> oh my goodness. how are you? >> i'm good. i'm going to miss you next week rated. >> i will tell you something about that when i don't have a microphone on. [laughter] you look good. >> that's pretty. is rebecca here? >> i think she a program tonight actually. >> i see stephanie over there. [laughter] thank you

well, of course after that kind of admonition from david davis, robert got on the train and did come to springfield. he stayed here for several days at least after the funeral. he selected the spot and sent the selection to his mother, where eventually the monument would be constructed, which is right in back of me on top of the hill. above the receiving vault. and perhaps you'll be able to see that a little later on. >> once again, we are live here on c-span3, american history tv springfield, illinois, the reenactment of president abraham lincoln's funeral and making some room for your phone calls. again, those numbers, if you're in the east, call 202-748-8900. in you're mountain or pacific time zone, 202-748-8901. we'll go to perry idaho, is that right? with jeff, hi jeff, go ahead, you're on with our guest. >> caller: thank you for this awesome program today. i was born and raised just 30 miles from springfield, a little town. my question for mr. hart is what if any role did abraham lincoln's former law partner william herndon play in the funeral? >> that's a very interesting ques

i mean abraham van buren went to west point with jefferson davis and robert e. - so i mean he had friends on other sides of this issue. brady: i think what's interesting though is that after she's widowed or actually even before, that she spends the last part of her life in new york city. henderson: yes in new york city. brady: it's again that that cosmopolitan yearning. swain: let's take a call from courtney in naples, florida. hello, courtney. >> hi, good evening. i grew up in kinderhook in the 1930's and 1940's. my recollection of lindenwald was the following. that number one, it was an abandoned home, there was total disrepair. the grounds were totally wild. and any evidence of farm was totally absent. and i guess my question is at what point did this property get improved? my recollection is a man with some wealth bought the property and started repairing it and the government took it over. could you fill that part of story? henderson: sure, your memory is quite accurate. van buren and van buren's family lost - left lindenwold after van buren. it went out o

davis was secretary of or. the superintendent was robert ely -- robert e lee. the lee family would host cap connect at their home on sunday afternoon and entertain the boys and try to teach them some manners. from time to time, mrs. lee would invite some of the girls from the community to entertain some of the boys. some of the memoirs say how awkward it was between the young cadets and the young girls, but lee took note of the young cadets who were doing well in school and took note of this tall boy, godfrey weitzel. godfrey was one of the top students in his class all four years. this is the grade from his junior year. the number one position was held by cyrus comstock from massachusetts. godfrey weitzel was in third place by the end of their junior year. comstock was 20 when he entered west point. official records say weitzel was 16, but we know he was 15. even though he was five years younger, he was nipping at the heels of cyrus comstock. weitzel had only 60 merits for the entire year his junior year, pretty remarkable feat at west point -- weitzel had six

grant's troop, jefferson davis is in flight south determined to keep the war going. a few days later, general robert e. lee surrenders commencing the beginning of the end. those two events but april 9 booth is waiting for the right opportunity to present itself with lincoln. >> [indiscernible] eric martin: do i believe mary surratt deserved to be hung? i think she got a bad rap. i thought the movie "the conspirator" was good. i'm skeptical she had direct knowledge of booth's plan to assassinate. whereas the other three knew they met with booth that night. i think she was set up and booth planned things in such a way that if it failed, she would get implicated too and bring her down and that the evidence is largely circumstantial. i think it is problematic that she knew that afternoon that this was going down. although we will never know for sure. [applause] eric martin: thanks for coming. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> she em

lincoln goes to richmond at the invitation of general grant and said that jefferson davis is task in richmond. on april 9, roberte surrenders in appomattox courthouse. robert todd lincoln was present at the surrender. on april 11, lincoln gives what turns out to be his last speech. he stands in the balcony of the white house and says that he wants the southern states to be readmitted into the union african-americans to be part of american life, to improve, to give them suffrage, to improve the quality of their educations they will be equal american citizens. booth is standing directly below the balcony at the time and turns to lewis powell and says that's the last speech he's ever going to give. that means nigger citizenship. by god, i will put him through. we will never hear from him again. it's hard to tell if that's accurate, but it is certainly something he felt that it shows up in a lot of books on the assassination. lincoln began to have provisions of his own death. three days before his assassination he told is very close friend, ward hill lemmond that he had a dream that he walked through the white house

the robert todd lincoln did not intend to come to springfield for his father's funeral. david davis, the supreme court justice and who had been the judge of the circuit here in illinois, went to the white house immediately upon the death of lincoln and assembled all of his letters and documents, took them with him back to bloomington. but he stopped in chicago for a memorial to lincoln by the chicago bar association. after that meeting he sent a telegram to robert todd lincoln. i will paraphrase it, but it basically said robert, it is imperative you come to springfield. after talking to all of your father's friends they said that if you do not that you would regret it for the rest of your life area you should make preparations to come immediately. robert got on the train and did to springfield. he stayed here's -- stayed here for several days. he selected the spot and sent the selection to his mother, where it eventually the monument would be constructed. a perhaps you will be able to see that later on. host: the reenactment of president abraham lincoln's funeral, making some rule t

the robert todd lincoln did not intend to come to springfield for his father's funeral. david davis, the supreme court justice and who had been the judge of the circuit here in illinois, went to the white house immediately upon the death of lincoln and assembled all of his letters and documents, took them with him back to bloomington. but he stopped in chicago for a memorial to lincoln by the chicago bar association. after that meeting he sent a telegram to robert todd lincoln. i will paraphrase it, but it basically said robert, it is imperative you come to springfield. after talking to all of your father's friends they said that if you do not that you would regret it for the rest of your life area you should make preparations to come immediately. robert got on the train and did to springfield. he stayed here's -- stayed here for several days. he selected the spot and sent the selection to his mother, where it eventually the monument would be constructed. a perhaps you will be able to see that later on. host: the reenactment of president abraham lincoln's funeral, making some rule t

robert craft and tom brady might get it reduced. but how about the draft picks? >> it's interesting. they took it for the team here. he doesn't want to be the next al davis.ing this to court and have this conversation be in a federal court that would be worse. as a dolphin fan, i don't mind them not having a couple of picks. that's the bottom line. we at nbc in the family are looking forward to a possible triple crown. is he going to win it and what would it mean to the sport to have the first since 78? >> in their 13 horses who have been in this position, i put my money on smarty jones. no, we didn't win it either. those were all of the -- here is the next big thing. for mark lazarus at nbc sports, why not. now they are going to vault for the seven weeks a year. everybody is excited about the triple crown. it goes back into oblivion. let's not hold a bake sale for all of those people around. the kentucky derby and the stud fee. that will be a big one too. >> i wonder if they limit the field to like three horses. that's what matee did at the preakness. >> and a huge thunderstorm in baltimore to make matters worse as we know. >> we done? >> he wants a stud