a letter, and van buren replied. so if you don't know, when you wrote a politician a letter in this era, particularly someone who's running for president, you were probably looking to publish that in a newspaper, and that candidate or that politician knew that. and so when they replied, they knew this was going to be public knowledge. and so the main question that hammett asked van buren was, what do you think about the immediate annexation of texas, which had become a big issue. and van buren's reply, which was very lengthy. i'm project director of the papers of martin van buren, and so let me tell you, martin van buren does not come up with short quotes that are good social media posts. [laughter] we really have to kind of figure out how do we get this into something that's digestible. so he wrote this long meandering letter that essentially said that he did not support the immediate annexation of texas. well, the problem is that most democrats did, and certainly southern democrats did. and so there begins to be a

van buren has a majority of votes. the democrats had this strange that you have to have a two thirds majority. and van isn't close to that. and as each ballot continues. it's very clear not only is he never going to get there, but he's support. okay so, marc, you've talked a lot about this. what about polk? well this is where polk comes in behind scenes. you have a group of delegates some from tennessee, some from massachusetts sit who begin to go. the other leading contenders, including van buren supporters, and say, hey, you know, you know, your guys are running pretty strongly against van buren or van buren. does it look like he's doing that well? think about polk. think about think about this guy maybe as your choice. if your guy can't get the nomination. so polk's begins to be thrown out there. and what's interesting is that if you looked at polk's career, his career was on a downward trajectory. he had served in the u.s. house as one of jackson's proteges, had become speaker of the house, which is a very powerful

he rode horseback every day with martin van buren. and so he was very much figure in washington and was in no way an isolated. the only the only time he withdrew when he was truly sick. and remember, jackson had not had what you would call a sheltered life before. he was president. and so between his military exploits, his duels, he had two bullets in him. he had dysentery. he had painful, false teeth. he was a bit battered. by the time he came to the white house. and so occasionally he would have to retire or for to be sick for a good bit. but otherwise he believed very much in maintaining an open house. also, the that's not just for noble purposes. it was a very practical reason. he was the first president, i believe, who understood democratic in the sense of leading entire mass of people. remember, the suffrage is being expanded to white men, more voters than ever before in american history are participating in politics. jackson again, first man to come from his part of the world. he understood politics was becoming form of enterta

he rode horseback every day with martin van buren. and so he was very much figure in washington and was in no way an isolated. the only the only time he withdrew when he was truly sick. and remember, jackson had not had what you would call a sheltered life before. he was president. and so between his military exploits, his duels, he had two bullets in him. he had dysentery. he had painful, false teeth. he was a bit battered. by the time he came to the white house. and so occasionally he would have to retire or for to be sick for a good bit. but otherwise he believed very much in maintaining an open house. also, the that's not just for noble purposes. it was a very practical reason. he was the first president, i believe, who understood democratic in the sense of leading entire mass of people. remember, the suffrage is being expanded to white men, more voters than ever before in american history are participating in politics. jackson again, first man to come from his part of the world. he understood politics was becoming form of enterta

. >> harry van buren. >> seth: harry van buren. and explain him for us.merica after the war, and he's taken in by this big american aristocratic family who commission him for a job, to build a monument, and things go south. and i play harry who is the son of this family, and he's -- he's there to oversee parts of the commission, and he's -- yeah, he's slimy, and entitled, and a bit of a menace, and has some daddy issues. and so, yeah, they came to me. [ laughter ] >> seth: well, i really can't compliment enough. you were all so good in it. also i should note. this your first talk show. how are you feeling so far? >> cool. it's great. [ applause ] >> seth: did you -- we had -- we had graham norton on yesterday, on last night. and i guess growing up in england you just don't -- these are more foreign. like do you have -- were there chat shows you watched over there? >> yeah, growing up we had like "friday night with jonathan ross." >> seth: yeah. >> that was a big one. i remember watching that on friday sometimes with my family. >> seth: and your dad is a d

and president van buren was a widower.cally introduced angelica, her husband, to be, which was the president's eldest son. and so she became the de facto hostess of the white house. and so entered the chain of first ladies, even if she isn't strictly a wife, but largely as a result. dolley madison doing a little matchmaking directly east of dolley madison's party room is the blue room of the white house. when she stands here in the late afternoon of august 24th, 1814, dinner was set. but the party coming was not invited. two years into the war of 1812, british troops entered the city at 730 that evening, raising the unfit capital first, burning their way down pennsylvania avenue. they head towards the white house. one of the great melodramatic moments of the white house. mrs. madison, in the blue room with her telescopes lit, puffing on the smoke from the battle the soldiers approached. she was absolutely terrified. nobody thought they'd really burn the buildings. our best account is from body servant paul jennings, a slav

host: marty in van buren, arkansas. republican. caller: good morning. my thoughts on it are reminding us how we got here. we say that trump is easy on putin and he is sympathetic. i think we forget putin's biggest problem with this thing is pushing nato towards his border. i would think of that as if china and north korea and russia had a military pact to come to each other's aid and they call canada and say we want you in. we would have an issue with that just like putin. i don't think his -- some of his concerns are to be brushed off by the u.s. i think trump is wise to hear him out and consider. i don't think that the war is necessarily justified. i don't think -- since the 1990's, a chain of events has gone on that is far more complex that we can have any two-minute conversation. the best thing to do is to understand the history and what's going on rather than blaming biden or blaming trump or whoever. where we are now is more complicated than anyone listening in the radio will ever know. we are not in those closed-door meetings. host: let's talk to

that's martin van buren. anthis, of course, is thomas nast's famous image of boss tweed, right? this is what what we think of when we think of 19th century american graphic humor. right. and in fact, you look at most histories of the comic strip in american by comic strips mean, you know, these these images tetori.viple panels and most of the histories will start in890sith rf out called yellow comics in the sunday newspers. ins veion of the historytatement was colton watts, 1947 book the comics, which begins by deg that our colt's yellow character stood right at the volcano when it shot off. and so started digging. and when when i began digging, i was really surprised by what i found. to start, i found lots of things that you'd absolutely call a comic strip. these were neither caricature nor political cartoons, but stories with distinctive aracters settings, plots and situational humor. things like mr. snip kins over here andisis little dog. or mr. pescatore all experience. and the further i dug in, the more i was surprised. impressed not just by the fact that there was this hug

in the 1830 and 1840s, lincoln publ basically mocked the idea of black men voting because martin van buren, a democrat, had shown support for it. in new york, black men could vote in new york if they had property and lincoln used that as an issue to go after the democrats. so on on issues like that, lincoln absolutely changes and i actually i argue in my book that it's his personal interaction with african-americans during the civil war. at least three delegations of black men meet with lincoln at the white house and say, we should have the right to vote. we are loyal. by the way, a group of north carolinians comes to the white house and they say, we had the right to vote from 1776 till 1835. and that right was taken away from us. it should be given back. and and they persuade lincoln. so i don't disagree with you on the issue of race. lincoln's views change, but on slavery, i think as ron quoted, i think he always believed slavery was wrong. harold, would you like to give us some background for this illustration, please? i have to turn around first. yeah, this is probably the most famous

president van buren was out whatever.ced angelica to her husband to be which was the president's eldest son and she became the hostess to the white house. enter the chain of first lady even if she was strictly a life largely as a result of dolley madison doing a little matchmaking. >> directly east of dolley madison starting as the blue room of the house and she stands here in the late afternoon of august 24, 1814 dinner was set but the party coming was not invited. . two years into the war of 1812 british troops entered the city at 7:30 p.m. raising the unfinished capital first and their way down pennsylvania avenue they had toward the white house. she was absolutely terrified. our best account is from his body servant was the last one we know whoever saw the white house he wrote a memoir he tells about it. dinner set for 40 people and he sat at the end of the dining room table with monroe and a glass of wine that they took off and jennings retires to the kitchen and left lock the doors and then they finished the dinner.

host: marty in van buren, arkansas. republican. caller: good morning.y thoughts on it are reminding us how we got here. we say that trump is easy on putin and he is sympathetic. i think we forget putin's biggest problem with this thing is pushing nato towards his border. i would think of that as if china and north korea and russia had a military pact to come to each other's aid and they call canada and say we want you in. we would have an issue with that just like putin. i don't think his -- some of his concerns are to be brushed off by the u.s. i think trump is wise to hear him out and consider. i don't think that the war is necessarily justified. i don't think -- since the 1990's, a chain of events has gone on that is far more complex that we can have any two-minute conversation. the best thing to do is to understand the history and what's going on rather than blaming biden or blaming trump or whoever. where we are now is more complicated than anyone listening in the radio will ever know. we are not in those closed-door meetings. host: let's talk to f