if you have a chance to meet john lewis you are meeting a hero. he went to that day now known as bloody sunday where captured newspaper photos prove to be a catalyst. america woke up to the ugly face of segregation in the congress passed the voting rights act within months, said the constitution guarantees of equal access to a political process regardless of race would not be undermined by discriminatory practices. there was a big battle to get that through, but three years ago republicans and democrats in the senate and the house came together. we reauthorize this. we did this after 20 hearings in the house. we had an overwhelming vote, president george w. bush had a major signing ceremony on it. now we have to worry whether the supreme court is going to undermine that. i said to john lewis when we were walking out after that signing, i said isn't this wonderful we have kept this? he says it is wonderful not just for african americans, it is wonderful for poor white people, it is wonderful for hispanics, for all those people that the power struct

but i said to john lewis when we were walking out after that signing, i said, john, isn't it wonderful that we have kept this and he said, you know, patrick, it is wonderful not just for african-americans, it is wonderful for poor whites, it is wonderful for hispanics, it is wonderful for all those people that the power structure might want to keep from voting. so when we consider judge sotomayor nomination this summer, i think what two enormous impact justices have on our freedoms and values. and whether you are from the south bronx by the south side of chicago or a south bronx, the american dream inspires all of us. her life story is a the american dream and instead of having this division in the senate we should deny all hundred senators because only 101 people given a voice in the appointment and the seating of a supreme court justice. first and foremost the president to make the nominations and 100 senators who have to sit in place of 300 million americans. we should come together. remember what their vermont marble over this entrance to the supreme court says chemical justice und

i said to john lewis after we were walking out, i said, it is wonderful that we have this. he said it is wonderful not just for african-americans, but hispanics and poor whites and all of the people that the power structure may want to keep from voting. when they consider the nomination this summer, think about the impact that justices have over freedom and value. from the south side of chicago or south burlington, the american dream inspires everyone. her life story is the american dream. we should unite all 100 centers. only 100 people can voice the appointment and the seating of a supreme court justice, first is the president who makes the nomination and the senators, we should come together. remember what the vermont marble over the supreme court says, equal justice under law. we should confirm her, and we should guarantee equal justice under the law. thank you very much. [applause] i will do some questions. are there any questions? you are the professor, you tell me. >> thank you for that wonderful speech, and thank you for honoring us by coming here. the dean is wanti

senator john lewis was walking out after the signing. a search, isn't this wonderful we have kept this gunman who -- i said, isn't this wonderful we have kept this? i said, it is wonderful not only for african-americans. it is wonderful for poor whites. it is whether foreign hispanics triggered it is wonderful for retreat is wonderful for hispanics. it is wonderful for all those people might keep from voting. think what the enormous impact justices have on our freedoms and values, and whether you are from the south bronx for the south side of chicago or south burlington, vt., the american dream inspires all of us syrian your life story is -- inspires all of us. her life story is the american dream. we should unite all senators because of the 101 people that have a voice in the appointment and seating of the supreme court justice -- first and foremost, the president who makes the nomination and 100 senators who have to sit in place of 300 million americans -- we should come together. remember what the vermont marble over the entrance to t

whites voted for john lewis, well, was that an unacceptablely racially pol polarized election? no. and it seems to me a lot of our problems in these cases at least go back to that very muddled and indeed pernicious definition of what a racial block voting is all about, and it is absolutely central in so many many of the outcomes of these cases. i guess this is the last thing i'll say. mike at the end said, well, there are a lot of things i could say but this is the last thing i want to say, i want to open it up to the audience, said, well you want judges to make all these basic decisions about nature of representative government and american democracy and a place with minorities in it. no, i don't. and i also don't want the justice department, attorneys, paralegals, and sometimes kids out of college who are reviewing this stuff, and in effect, making decisions when, i mean, the justice department in fact often knows very little about the places they are trying to assess in terms of the racial -- of race and politics, in them, and i will never forget, i mean i started -- my inte

i want to thank my lead co-sponsor of the civil rights oral history project, congressman john lewis, a civil rights hero, for all of his help in generating support for this program. all i'm going to say is that, i thank everyone working together to make sure that this amendment comes through. what has happened was it has passed in the house before and money had been appropriated for it, but unfortunately by a technical change, there was a delay until the year 2011. when we have so many people around this country that are advancing in age, but they have the history of the civil rights movement, obviously in the last few years, we have seen some of the great civil rights leaders unfortunately die, but it's also those the housewives, the ordinary citizens who also made a difference. with that, i thank everybody for that. and with that, i yield to chairwoman wasserman schultz. ms. wasserman schultz: i thank the gentlelady for yielding and for your very appropriate amendment. it is really wonderful to see the progress that has been made on the civil rights oral history project. we did hav

ted kennedy is one, john lewis is another. and so is the man i am privileged to introduce this morning, senator patrick leahy of vermont. [applause] now as of the son of irish and italian parents in vermont, a state where his father was used to see signs like -- no irish need apply, or no catholic supply -- and during a less progressive era, i suspect bags packed leahy understands what it means to sometimes feel like an outsider in the land of their birth. i believe that as a major reason why senator leahy speaks out so loudly against injustice, whether it takes place inside or outside of our country. is probably the trade i most admire of him. you can occasionally see it in his eyes as he thunders against the denial of an important symbol right war when he speaks of the dangers of trampling on checks and balances or civil liberties in the name of national security. and with the kind of criticism he has earned over the years from people like dick cheney. [laughter] including some nine bridges that i won't repeat here. it is ob

john lewis is another, and so is the man i am privileged to introduce this morning, senator patrick leahy of vermont. [applause] a is the son of irish and italian parents in vermont, a state where his parents once used to see signs like "no irish need apply" or "no catholics need apply," during a less oppressive era, i suspect patrick leahy knows what it feels like to sometimes feel like an outsider in the land of your birth. i believe it is a major reason why he speaks out so loudly against injustice, whether it takes place inside or outside our country. it is probably the trait nanaimo's did mire. -- the trade i most admire. you can occasionally see it in his eyes as you see hihim speakf the dangers of checks and balances for civil liberties in the name of national security, and with the kind of criticism he has turned over the years from people like dick cheney, including some language i will not repeat here, it is obvious he has been remarkably effective. even with senator leahy himself want of being a target of terrorism during the wave of anthrax attacks of 2001, leading to his bein

one for me is congressman john lewis, that i've been woshing with for some period of time to get the african-american museum of history and culture to be a reality on the mall. the design is s. has now been picked. the location lab picked. it will be at the base area of the washington monument what i like about it is it is going to show the difficulty and tragedy and also going to show the promise and the future. so it moves through the whole piece of it. this resolution will be a part of it, of how a nation deals with such enormous problem as this. and john has been a very courageous, long-standing advocate in the mode of what john quincy adams was for years in fighting against slavery. he has been dedicated to this. i remember first going over to his office and him showing me a book of pictures that were on lynchings that had taken place. it was just such a tragic set of pictures that you look at that happened in the early part of the 19th -- the 1900's in my state and many other states around the country. and i am very appreciative of him. and then people that recently passed away

john hart of trenton, new jersey returned home to see his dying wife. but soldiers rode after him and escaped into the woods. the soldiers ruined his farm. hart, 65, hid in the woods as he was hunted. when he made it home, he found that his wife had been buried and his 13 children had disappeared. he never saw any of them again. judge richard stockman, another new jersey signer, had rushed back to his estate in an effort to evacuate his wife and children. the family found receive puge with friends. judge stockman was found in the middle of the night and arrested and put in jail. congress arranged for his parole. when he returned home to find his estate looted, he did not see the triumph. john morton was a british sympathizer, but once he came to sign the declaration of independence, he changed his mind and came out strongly for independence. most of his neighbors, however, in pennsylvania and his relatives, were british sympathizers and ostracized him. when he died one year later after signing the declaration of independence, his last words to his torme

all i can tell you is that on the 21st we had to conference calls which i participated in and john dugan participated in and we provided him. >> okay. the mail we receive from jeffrey lacquer, federal reserve bank of richmond, that indicates that in fact they felt there was pressure related to the mac. how do you explain that? is that just another independent person that misunderstood? >> well, i don't recall the details of that conversation but i would like to make two points first, as i said -- >> let me give you the details to make accurate. per quote, just had a long talk with ben, the parentheses, bernanke, says they think the mac threat is irrelevant because it's not credible. also intends to make it even more clear that if they play that card they need assistance, management is gone. now, is he misunderstanding with the conversation he has with you in those quotations? >> i don't recollect everything said in the conversation. i would like to make again, two points if i may. >> do you believe that he is incorrect according to your recollection? because he's saying in a nutshell you