i'm bill harris, the director here, the fdr presidential library museum and it is wonderful to see so many here today because today is important. it's an important every year and it's in as the years pass. even more important i'd like to thank c-span and people who will be joining us through that means for covering this as well as for those who were watching online.

it's been great to be able to expand our audience not simply for any you know self-serving reasons, but so that programs like this can actually reach further and that's what we're here for. just a couple of logistics. i go into anything there will be a question and answer period after after rebecca's talk and there will be a mic that will be carried around. so you don't have to, you know, get up in the michael come to you and make sure that that you wait till you get the mic. ask the questions because people can't hear it on otherwise or online and then there will be a book signing afterwards. so for this holocaust international holocaust remembrance day, we're really happy. welcome, rebecca brenner graham whose bookstore? three of. i'm sorry, dear miss perkins, the story of francis perkins efforts to aid refugees from nazi germany. because i know she's a great deal of research and because evidence based conversations are

what we about and what we need to be about a nation. first, i'd like to introduce karen hochhauser though we all know our good friend who will give additional greetings. so thank you very much and and hope you enjoy enjoy. the. so welcome everybody. my name is karen hochhauser i'm executive director of the jewish federation of dutchess county or as i lovingly queen of the --. so we you today for international holocaust. well welcome that we're able to be together for international remembrance day. this started as a resolution in the un in 2005, which makes it 25 years old. so think about what you were doing 25 or 20 years. i can't do math. don't worry about that. but it is based. it's on 27th and aligns with the

liberation of auschwitz concentration camping liberated by the soviets in 1945, which means 80 years today, which is overwhelming when we think about then we think about where we are, which is why this conversation lines are so important and coming together as a community is so important. there is sometimes a question international holocaust remembrance day, yom hashoah, yom hashoah and as we say, international holocaust remembrance, the mass murder and systematic extermination of 6 million -- and other victims of nazi persecution and other genocides. yom hashoah, which falls in april, it's based on a lunar marks the beginning of the warsaw ghetto uprising in 1943. that date and that was designated in the fifties and an opportunity to educate children and adults and honor victims in the holocaust and we will be having a program here as well for yom hashoah. so that's the hook. you have come back.

but with that, what i would like do is i would like to introduce our speaker now if you didn't know about this event, that means that may be you didn't get our newspaper, the voice or our weekly email jewish and duchess so whip for leave, make sure you sign up. but since you are here and we will be doing a book signing after which i think bill said we just want to make sure that you don't miss opportunity for that. rebecca graham is a postdoctoral research associate at brown university. previously, she taught at the madeira school and american university. she has a ph.d. in history and an may in public history from american university and b.a. in history and philosophy from mount holyoke. holyoke college. in 2023, she was awarded cookie cokie roberts fellowship from the national archives foundation and rubenstein center research from the white house, historical

association. her writing has been published in the washington post. time slate and the los angeles review books. she'll be speaking us today about her new book, like think two days old, out on the presses. if you didn't read it before, you're speaking not alone. we're all in good company. dear miss perkins, a story of frances perkins efforts to aid refugees from nazi germany and that i welcome rebecca to the stage. thank you so much to. the franklin d roosevelt presidential library and museum for inviting me to talk about my dear ms. perkins, a story of frances perkins as efforts to aid refugees from nazi germany. it feels especially powerful to be here on international holocaust remembrance day. and thank you all for being here. if you've of frances perkins

before today, raise your hands. that's literally highest proportion i've ever seen when asking that question, which could make the next part interesting. turn to the next to you and tell them how you first heard of her. all right. that could take too long, because you all actually have frances perkins. let me change the slide. frances perkins was born in boston in 1880, though she would later claim to be born in 1882, likely to appear not older than franklin d in 82, her family moved to worcester, massachusetts, when she was two years old. later she moved farther west into western massachusetts to attend mount holyoke college,

where she graduated 1902, after college, she moved even farther home to teach high school in chicago and to volunteer at whole house. jane addams has been settlement home, both mount holyoke and whole house perkins to immigrant communities and to the idea that poverty was the fault of poor people not working hard enough. well, come back to perkins as she is our protagonist. but first we need a parallel story of american immigration unfolding the same time. although my book to your ms. perkins focuses on. 1933 to 1940, when the immigration naturalization was in perkins's labor department, it really spans perkins's. 1880 to 1965, which happened be bookended by the chinese act of 1882 and the immigration. of 1965, the latter reversed a series of explicitly immigration laws that govern country

throughout perkins's lifetime. the first was in 1882, when banned chinese laborers from immigrating to the u.s. the immigration act of 1917 expanded that restriction to, what it called the asiatic zone, adding additional restrictions like barring people with disabilities from entrance in 1924, the johnson reed act, also known as the national act, established quotas, or limits on how many people could immigrate from each country congress used racist pseudoscience to calculate the numbers those quota numbers structured us immigration policy throughout the german-jewish refugee crisis. today, january seventh, 2025, is international holocaust day. today marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of auschwitz, one of many crucial moments that contributed the immeasurable devastation that was holocaust

was the election of adolf in germany in 1933, after first world war ended in 1919, the allies blamed germany for everything and punished. from that context emerged a nazi ideology, human history as a race, war against jewish people. did nazi party platform of 1920 made clear that the parties two goals were to reserve german citizenship for non-jewish people and to elevate and expand the people perceived as true germans. the nazi rise to power was both gradual for over decade and escalated quickly in the early 1930s. on march 4th, 1933, about a month after the nazis attained power in germany franklin d, roosevelt became president of the united states. he appointed with wide ranging perspectives to his cabinet. perkins the industrial commissioner for the state of new york, governor fdr, became

of labor. she accepted job with a list of policy goals such as unemployment insurance and the minimum wage. these ideas root in her background in workplace labor disputes, the national consumers league and settlement homes since its inception inception in in 1913, the labor department had allocated much of its resources, deporting people under illusion of protecting american jobs. the immigration bureau and the naturalization bureau were in the labor department for this reason, but with a background in not deporting immigrant, newly appointed secretary, perkins asked fdr for an executive order combining the immigration naturalization bureaus to create the immigration naturalization service, the i.n.s. this way as she consolidated oversight and

began working to reform the system. the first battle the newly appointed secretary of labor, frances perkins, fought behalf of refugees was the charge funds controversy. this was really a turf war. the department of state that started when perkins and her progressive noticed a little known in the immigration act of 1917, the stated that the labor secretary could accept $500 on behalf of an immigrant who would otherwise burden the. and she would deposit it into a postal savings bank to ensure that they would not burn the economy. this provision, the brainchild of anti-immigrant congressmen who assumed that labor secretary would always be anti-immigrant and always be a that literally said he and the description in 1933 when perkins brought the

church bonds provision up in a cabinet meeting the state department immediately objected to her using in this state department called perkins who scolded them at according to the diary of a state department official. maybe she just spoke as. a woman empowered either way. the president told both department to deliver their opinions to the attorney. in very late 1933, the attorney general sided with the labor department by end of that chapter, perkins could legally church bonds to help refugees refugees. but by summer 1934, she still had not not. instead jewish active groups who were following the charge bonds controversy controversy mostly through word of mouth notice that perkins wanted to, they observed the political leverage she gains in mid 1934, whether charge bonds themselves would be remains unclear.

activists wanted to avoid political backlash or a rise in the anti. and enter cecilia rose off ski. okay here's another one. raise your hand if you've heard of cecilia ski. okay the. one person who has held the person next to how. risky was a daughter of poor jewish immigrants and a colleague perkins on the ellis island committee. in april 1934 resolved. she took charge of the newly formed german jewish children's inc, the aca joined forces with the children's bureau a section of perkins's labor department that oversaw child welfare questions to facilitate the immigration of several hundred refugee children ironing out this process through a series of meetings. the charge gave way to a corporate affidavit enabling a group like the aca to sponsor refugees the first refugees that we see in my book are a group of

nine children who, through this program, arrived at ellis island in. november 1934, and those their names. most of them lost their parents in the holocaust holocaust, mean. meanwhile, the refugee crisis was far from the only problem on. perkins's desk in 1934, a communist immigrant labor organizer led a successful strike in california. conservatives took notice. in 1935, the national labor relations act provided legal mechanisms for such strikes in unions. in response, anti new dealers escalated their targeting of a key architect of the new deal, frances anti-new, wanted to use all the tools of bigotry available to take down perkins. antisemitism was one of those tools inconveniently for them. she was not jewish.

so they found a man who shared her name, who shared a name with husband paul wilson, who married a russian jewish immigrant around the same time they accused perkins of secretly being that russian jewish immigrant matilda watsky. well, perkins rarely bad faith attacks. this time the conspiracy was so pervasive that she responded. her reply is located here at the franklin d roosevelt presidential library library. it's in the lowell millett perkins carefully drafted and consented to the distribution. this letter clarifying her protestant, the most quoted is if i were a -- would make no secret of it on contrary, i'd be proud to acknowledge it. interestingly, she altered her birth year in the next paragraph, but the ancestry part is correct in february 39. the red baiting backlash

snowballed into an impeachment hearing. perkins's adversary in congress could not impeach her, as they could not substantiate claim of treason. yet the experience of the resolution impeach her diminished perkins political capital. the impeachment saga cemented her reputation as pro-immigrant and, as a political liability while linking those together and, creating problems down the line. while attacks, perkins escalated, she to receive countless letters people that she knew on behalf of refugees from nazi germany. these letters came from people from all stages of her life and career who knew someone whose life was in danger? the person could be her dentist, cousin or, an actor who worked with her friend journalist dorothy thompson. these letters in the u.s. national archives at college, maryland were my own entry point

into the topic. they even provide the title of my book, dear ms. perkins. sometimes perkins found herself unable to help refugees due to the limits of u.s. immigration law. other times she helped them clarifying complicated processes a vital way in which perkins helped refugees was extending their visitor visas, sometimes repeatedly. in 1938, fdr took her advice to make visa extensions. the official policy for. the 12000 to 15000 jewish germans in the us after, kristallnacht, the nazi program targeting people, businesses, synagogues and even graveyards increased. public support for helping refugees from very little to some pro-immigrant activists in congress tried to push a bill expanding refugee policy through congress in summer 1939.

after it became clear congress would not vote to let even jewish children into the country. pro-immigrant lawmakers turned their attention to the colonized territory of where they proposed a separate quota. perkins was politically sidelined by this point due to her impeachment hearing, but she had urged interior secretary harold ickes to consider this idea in 1935 and then again in 1938. the alaska plan materialized because xenophobia, antisemitism, overpower american drive to imperialist in chapter eight of my book, i explain that only by looking through a colonial lens can we understand the full extent the other bigoted social forces that overpower the characteristically american lust for lands and settlement. in late spring 1940, fdr urged to transfer the irs from the labor to the justice department.

perkins's adversaries in congress need to be asked twice. three motivations prompted support for the transfer. first, it was politically popular in an election year when he was running for an unprecedented third term. second, he wanted to tighten, not loosen the implementation of immigration laws in anticipation of american entrance into world war two. third, perkins was unpopular among wide swaths of americans following the resolution to impeach her for not deporting an alleged communal east perkins opposed transferring the i.n.s. because it moved immigration policy from civil and humane realm that. she had worked to cultivate to a more punitive, legalistic one. for example, the same people who would now implement immigration policy might decide contentious immigration cases. at the same time, perkins released from a burden because overseeing the irs was

undoubtedly onerous for seven years. i don't think she characteristically felt relieved for herself, though. rather, the transfer affected the people who reached out to perkins because they now had fewer people to turn for help. both before and after transfer to the irs. perkins lends support to the immigration case of trapp family singers of the sounds of music renown. i highlight the track family as a case study because they epitomize who could find success through the u.s. immigration system. the traps who were white catholic performers traveled around the u.s. singing culturally christian music. they were popular and had a wide network of contacts including perkins's close friend gertrude ely, who made the connection. the story perkins is refugee policy mostly ended in 1940 with the transfer of the i.n.s.

i up in the final three chapters of my book with how this narrative became buried and forgotten, holocaust memory was slowly its way to the front of american consciousness. the u.n. is international holocaust remembrance day. in 2005. by then, holocaust memory and nazis were of mind in american collective consciousness, though not always in victim center in ways historical memory is challenging measure, but is part of how we understand narrative. the us ended its immigration system in 1965. since then, and culture have ingrained the assumption of a nation of immigrants into american minds through examples ranging from the popularity of john kennedy's nation of immigrants to. the schoolhouse rock video, great american melting pot. today is a political issue that affects people's lives is increasingly polarized and volatile. the united states has not

consistently welcomed immigrants. the exceptions are real, but have been used to advance a myth of the statue of lifting a golden door. perkins worked around system from within the system with varying degrees of. this is not a savior story. frances perkins went great lengths to keep most of her personal life and her work private. sometimes she had practical reasons such as an ill husband's young daughter or the reality that helping child refugees could overwhelming backlash that stop the program if publicized. male journalists and scholars need to be asked twice to overlook perkins and their drafts of history. in 1980, president carter dedicated the labor department building in washington, d.c., to be named the frances perkins of labor building. that same month, there was a postage stamp marking the centennial of her birth. yeah, anti-new dealers of the

reagan era sidelines perkins again. her memory not the right fit for the 1990s either, when democrat downplayed big government in 2009 personalities biography the woman behind the new deal and the established. in the form of the frances perkins center in, maine restored to perkins a compelling narrative and a true home base. since frances perkins rose in prominence for media, including children's books and documentary and documentaries. women leaders as hillary clinton, elizabeth warren, kamala harris usually post on social media about perkins to mark historical anniversaries such as her appointment as labor secretary. today, perkins is having new moment the frances homestead in maine but she of national monument status in december 2024. she is a moral icon on the rise when. most americans voted for a

congress that did not want to help non-citizens the nazi era. they entrench bigotry into laws. structures affect individual. perkins understood that in her words, immigration involved human lives. there can no delaying. the relationship between individual and collective action is a message that i hope my readers take away from. dear perkins. thank you again to the frequency presidential library and museum for hosting me. and thank you all for listening. i look forward to your questions. to. there's a running microphone. and i'll try to make that.

i'll try to make sure the microphone gets everyone who has a question. okay. how many children did she end up saving? it was several hundred. so it was beneath a thousand. i don't remember exact number, but between 34 and 1941, there was a consistent stream of strips of ships that arrived in york. sometimes the ship only included one refugee, but it was still worth saving. is the department of labor building still named after her? yes. okay. there is. i think the next town was here or i'll trust your judgment on the microphone, because you're down there. we'll get to everyone for sure. yes. thank you very much. it's very interesting. i have to read the book. you know. how were the selected?

and did she work with which organizations did she work with in europe? and did she travel to europe and understand the immediacy of the situation of people having to get out. thank you so much for asking that question. the mechanics of the child refugee program are really compelling. it was really driven by jewish activist groups in the u.s. so cecilia was headed the jca that i mentioned, and they worked with an agency over in germany to the children. there were criteria that they used to evaluate whether they were in danger. one of the criteria for evaluation was whether their parents would let them travel. actually, the first ship there was one child that was supposed to be on it and then wasn't at the last minute because the parents changed their minds. i mean, that's such a terrible situation, like child refugee

policy is never a happy story because in most cases the children never saw their parents. in addition to selecting the children that dgca also canvased jewish communities across the u.s., many were in new york for sure, many of the foster homes. and the understanding was that the homes where they would go provide a temporary home and. then they would go back to germany after after things settle down. and they really couldn't. in the 1930s, what would happen. but that was important for publicity reasons, because there would be backlash if people thought that a bunch jewish children were coming to the u.s. to stay. running. microphone let's see who's next. thank you. by the way, what similarities and differences you see between what happened in germany after the war and what's going on?

let's say here, the last ten years in 1920s, the labor department allocated its toward deporting and then that was a program that frances perkins reversed. so what frances perkins did when she into the labor department. when i watched the speech by the reverend at the national cathedral, marion edgar by the it sounded like something that frances perkins would say to the labor department of the 1920s that had a federally funded mob known as section 24 that would arrive in immigrant communities and deport them, that's all in the 1920s and thirties. thank you.

gentlemen. thank you. your talk. are you saying that these children came by ship, by themselves, their parents? and who were the people who chaperon them and saw to their needs on ship? mm hmm. yes they definitely came without their parents. there was typically a chaperon and who worked for the company? that was the shipping company that was contracted by. the german jewish children's aid. and what they did on the ship is is available through records of the eva institute in new york that are all available. and sometimes if they were practicing they would have sabbath on they would have shabbat services on the ship. they were definitely without their parents. and the was very difficult, even if it meant that they get to

survive survive. hi there. thank you very much for this. there are at least three or four good books on this. i'm about halfway yours. thank you very much for this. it's an excellent thank you for reading and. i'm just overwhelmed. i was just curious. i haven't got to a point in book and i wonder if you can talk to her about two things. one is albert einstein and her efforts to get him out of out of germany, actually out of into the united states at that point. and second, since this took place in 1939, the saint louis. what? i don't know if you've got the book. i have got to it yet. but if you could speak to that, that would be great. but thank you very much for this very, very important topic. thank you for your question. to my knowledge she was not directly involved in the immigration of albert einstein because would have come in on a nine quota visa because he was a specialized expert, whereas her

ad hoc intervention was with repeated extension of visitors visas. and then so saint louis received was tragic, received a lot publicity and there's really good chapter on it in fdr and the -- by. by richard breitman. i don't mean i don't read about the saint louis. that was really an issue in congress that. the law made it so there were not quota slots for those people. it wasn't something that the executive branch could do anything. and franklin d roosevelt. i mean, according to the book fdr and the -- like if there presidential power in that situation he seemed personally invested but it was really congress setting laws in advance. but it's just such a terrible situation. there, michael. there you go. and this might be a silly question, but did the families have to pay to get their

children on these ships? no. no. good. in fact. one of the criteria was whether they could find another option. they were looking for children who this was saving their lives. i'm curious to know whether or not the children were in the united states or were sent back and how how that all worked out for them. in most cases they remained in the united states unless they chose to move somewhere else. i was only able to follow a couple of individual cases. so while was writing this book, i taught high school and at one time i was meeting with a prospective student at the prep school where i worked and her mother was literally in the daughter of one of the child refugees and that i would love to follow up with the family, but it was kind weird because like i was a teacher, right? so i kind like reach out to them personally, but. so in that case, yes, they

stayed in the u.s. there are also a couple of individual examples that are available through the holocaust museum. and they stayed in the u.s. i have not seen any examples them being forced to go anywhere because by the time the situation, i mean by the time world war two and the holocaust had happened they were adults and they had been here most of their lives actually couple of fought in world war two for the u.s. we also have in our community whose father was on the first children's ship over. oh, wow. yeah. wonderful. thank you for sharing sharing. i was wondering if mr. perkins had any public or private feelings about the eugenics

movement. the united states in the 20th century. i i'm sorry. i have not come across talking about eugenics in 20th century, but eugenics movements were relevant to this story because when congressmen wrote the immigration of 1924, which dictated the laws that were on the books throughout the story. they eugenics and science science. we have one question in the front here or the person who's heard cecilia was asking either one. thank you. do you did you find any community patience between ms. and dietrich bonhoeffer? secondly, did you find any of her writings to be inspired? emma lazarus. that's such a great question.

okay, have more of an answer to the second part. for the first part, do you mind while you still have the make just celebrity in which the first question that you asked. so he was a minister who spoke about the rise of hitler and the nazis and the corruption of the german church and the great peril and threat that was facing and --. he came to for a time, spent some in harlem. he was greatly inspired by the the black clergy there and the he was a brilliant pianist, by the way. and he felt he needed to go back to germany, essentially risk his life to fight for what he believed in. but he was here in america. i wondered if could have possibly have met miss perkins and because he was fighting a similar cause, they might have communicated in. so in her correspondence, i have not his name, but it sounds they

might have known each other or known the same. she was very well-connected in, new york. and it sounds like they were on the same page. and as for the molaison this poem when people wrote to her, they referenced it almost constantly. and it really shaped how idealists viewed what they thought, the u.s. government could do for a german-jewish refugees. i would just about a side note. sure. that if you look at the statue liberty, which was, of course, an iphone project, and i believe it was somebody, a mother, that it was supposed to be modeled after. but if you look at the profile of, emma lazarus in photographs and the profile of the statue of liberty they're strikingly images. fun fact. thank you. and while the migrants if i could get more hot water up here that be awesome i had laryngitis last week i.

i feel your pain. i have two questions. the first has to do with to what degree did frances perkins interact with eleanor activism on? the president's special committee for, german refugees in the 40 is so after the attempted impeachment. second question did the folks that she help especially children were they require to have the same degree of extensive affidavits adults refugees had to provide in order to even get visas to get out of europe and come here to. excellent question. thank you. oh, well, my voice back. thanks for the hot water. so your first question about eleanor roosevelt, they were politically on the same page and careers are so from each other. right. because perkins, her husband was

ill, could not provide the family. that's how she ended up in her position. eleanor roosevelt, her husband was, the most charismatic political leader of time. that's how she ended up having an influence and so their office i mean a cabinet department and the office of the first lady, which was not even in office yet. eleanor roosevelt dramatically expanded the role of the first lady. they both worked on similar things. sometimes they correspond sometimes like eleanor roosevelt would send a note to frances perkins and be like, i know this person or. i know someone who knows this person can. you see why their immigration case has been held? i've even seen examples her saying like, that's literally the state department's problem. and at the same time, like some of the some of the people who were helping refugees in the state department were like friends with the roosevelts personally. so, i mean, someone can write book on that honestly, like a comparison that is not my book to write, but i've seen like a

trend of books about the parallel lives of people who are around at the same time, how they were the same and how they were different. so it's definitely a question that i find interesting. and then your second question was about the child refugee like affidavit. i think it's really every single person who came to the u.s. it was really difficult to come and the processes so unclear there that a lot of perkins's work her correspondence was explaining people how to help people in need. so the child refugees, their families probably they had to a few specific documents but then the activists organizations were able to provide for them whereas then later as the as the corporate affidavit evolved into affidavit of support then that

was it's tough compare. they were all very involved. and they still are, from my understanding. hi. thank you for being here. i'm here. where's my voice? oh, my gosh. okay. thank you. i hope you feel better soon. also, um, my question pretty specific in your research, do you know, if the, the line, the transport was the red star line that transported these children. so that phrased does not ring a bell so i'm not sure it is i don't want to say no, but i don't the phrase thanks for um. i love a good specific question like i used to attend talks and ask specifically about buttons because that was when i wanted to know. but then no one knew that. so then that was when

researched. that question in the back. would you know the approximate number of the people that she helped extending those visitor visas? that number is in the tens, thousands and we have that number because congress no notice and asks the department of labor for the numbers and the labor department probably minimized that number as much as they could. what would you want reader to take away from this book? the question i take away from this book that i think is really

worth consider is the relationship, individual and collective action, which probably sounds like jargon, but it's something i've been thinking about a lot recently. so like one person who's in the right position at the right time can make meaningful difference in individual lives lives. i don't want to portray as a savior, but like in a lot of cases, didn't have to. she extended the visitor visas of at least one alleged communist after there was a resolution to impeach her for not supporting alleged communist just because it was the right thing to do that made a complete in that person's life and collectively the 1930 is policy wise was super anti-immigrant like none of these bills made it through congress, but there so few options. americans who were concerned about what was happening

overseas. most weren't concerned and they continue to elect people who did not want to expand opportunities for immigration and those happened because people numbers voted for things to go a way, which is an of a collective. and so that delicate interplay individual and collective action continues to be the takeaway. me. as for readers, though i'm a huge reader of nonfiction and i carry a book around with me like my greatest hope for the book would just be that someone wants to carry it around and read it. oh, things. thank you. hello. um, we all have codes, so i sympathize. there is an article about how

everyone in dc is sick. i'm getting over the. i don't think i'm currently contagious. my question a little bit. it's not quite related to your book, but it's also something i often how did someone like perkins get nominated to be in the cabinet and how you pass work because as a woman obviously she had tremendous hurdles. so i wonder if you could speak a little bit about that in 1920 women voted in a presidential election. the first time after women got the right to vote. and between 1920 and 1932, there women's groups who typically voted democrat lobbying the president, candidates to nominate a woman in the cabinet and then franklin d roosevelt won and among his supporters, there was, understanding that he would choose woman for some position. but why her she had risen through the ranks of appointed political positions in new york.

she was on the state industrial commission under al smith. you all actually know who that is because you live in new york. he barely won any states president in 1928. so then continued in the state government and she became the first woman cabinet secretary, the state of new york. she was the industrial and she ran put people back to work programs during the great depression. so in terms of who did fdr know, who would make sense for a cabinet, she actually was quite a logical choice and there was a lot of backlash, like even in franklin roosevelt's papers here he received he received a lot of mail from the unions. she was not a union. right. because most unions did not. women, so many people. she shouldn't be the secretary of labor. i go on and on about that. that's an interesting convergence of factors made her

a natural choice despite significant opposition. around. thank you. for those great questions and thanksit's my pleasure to introe

dr. thomas. he is professor of history at columbia state community in tennessee. he is the author of numerous books, including publication that he is going to speak about today, war, memory and the 1913 gettysburg reunion is published by kent state in 2019. some of you might think that this is a little hyperbole my part, but it is not. in