editor who's also the general series editor for the series, was my editor for the book i did for vernon jordan. these are two friends, you know how it is when friends ask you to do things. who asked me to do this. and i said sure. i put aside my misgivings. i knew it was a fasting topic, so much mature, very, very rich but i wondered if i would be able to sort of curve my natural feelings of antipathy about looking at this particular period of american history. and i agree to do. that was many, many years ago. this book is i have to confess long overdue. in between thing i would do that i wrote "the hemingses of monticello" which took a lot of time and energy, and then i came back to this and seriously, and finished it. i'm very, very glad that i did. so, the first thing i had to do was to think about how do i approach this. now, andrew johnson is not known by lots of people, not lots is known about him. but one thing people are do know is that almost every survey of rankings of american presidents, he is at the bottom. keys near the bottom. he's in the bottom five. since 1997 i have participa

little known today but walden really inspired a generation of african-american lawyers, including vernon jordan, a lawyer, the counsel to the president who i'm sure some of you have heard of. jordan called walden so impressive. he said, quote, i wanted to be a lawyer just like walden. i wanted to walk like him and talk like him. and hang out my shingle on auburn street just like walden. above all else, pragmatists like walden and the black college presidents prioritized voting rights as the path to black power. and here we see walden challenging the so-called white primary. the laws, the tradition of excluding african-americans from the vote in georgia and elsewhere. and here is the result of his activism. in 1946, after the fall of the white primary, blacks lined up all over the streets in atlanta eager to exercise the franchise. and yet walden and other pragmatists and uncle tom's. why would that be? they didn't challenge segregation and he found housing for african-americans whenever he could. in the midst of a post-war housing crisis. and this has the effect of maintaining the color line. a

you stand on the shoulders of kenneth clark and john jacobs and vernon jordan.[applause] you stand on the shoulders of cathy hughes and edward brooks. you stand on the shoulders of judge robert carter, meir david and shirley franklin. you stand on the shoulders of the attorney general pamela harris and douglas wilder. you stand on the shoulders of the ambassador andrew young, general benjamin davis, laurie, toni morrison, and yes, michele miller. you stand on the shoulders of all of the mothers and fathers and grandmothers who are here today who have gone before us and who struggle and sweat and who bled and year-end, who sacrificed and borrowed and scolded and nurtured, who tolerated each and every one of you. you stand on all of their shoulders today. so, howard university class, let us the united, let us be united under god, indivisible with liberty, justice, and a commitment to excellence, the quality and high expectations for all. congratulations. this is your mission. this is your moment. good luck and godspeed. [applause] [applause] general electric chair

you stand on the shoulders of kenneth clark and john jacob and vernon jordan. you stand on the shoulders of cathy hughes and addison rand. you stand on the shoulders of attorney general, pamela harris, and governor wilder. and you stand on the shoulders of general davis, and lori stokes, tony morrison, and yes, michele miller. you stand on the shoulders of all the mothers and fathers and grand mothers who are here today who have gone before us, who struggled and bled and yearned and sacrificed and nurtured and tolerated each and everyone of you. you stand on each shoulder today. howard university class, let us be united with a commitment for excellence and equality and high expectations for all, this is your mission and this is your moment, good luck and god's speed. [applause] >> tomorrow on are "washington journal" townhall guy benson and judd legum speak about the presidential race, and sheila krumholz will speak on "washington journal," live at 7 a.m. eastern on c-span. and tomorrow morning, former president clinton will speak about the federal deficit and

the shoulders of kenneth clark and vernon jordan. the shoulders of malaak compton rock, cathy hughes, and edward brooke. the shoulders of judge robert carter, mayor david dinkins, and mayor shirley franklin. the shoulders of attorney general kamala harris, mayor kasim reed, and governor douglas wilder. the shoulders of ambassador andrew young, general benjamin davis, fredricka whitfield, and laurie stokes. the shoulders of toni morrison, taraji henson and michelle miller. you stand on the shoulders of our mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers, we stand on the shoulders of all who have struggled, all who have sweated, all who have bled, all who have yearned, all who have sacrificed, because they join in celebrating howard university's class of 2011 united, under god, indivisible, with liberty, justice and a commitment to excellence, equality and high expectations for all . . congratulations class of 2011. this is your mission. this is your moment. good luck and godspeed. [applause] [captioning performed by national captio