he wanted a public trial and congress stalled. he realized i am going to keep losing power while this is hanging over me. so he resigned june 6, 1989 from the speakership, and later in the month, at the end of june, he resigned completely from congress. in his papers, we have the copies, draft, and a final copy of his response to these charges. we also have letters written to him by his constituents in the support of him that he kept. we have photographs -- this is when he made his resignation speech in congress. we have a draft copy with his notes and corrections of the speech -- his final speech that he gave in congress. he begins by saying "for 34 years, i have had the great privilege to be a member of this institution that is more than half of my life, even grateful people of the 12th district of texas 18 times. my colleagues, my greatest honor, you may be certain that i would never purposely or knowingly violate any of its rules. those rules are precious to me. th t house is in fact the chief enforcer of the rules of the hous

congress. it does not know political history, congressional history, rules and procedures. know,y would rather, you transfer their obligation to someone else and not function. host: any response? at think there is a winner a lot of members of congress, especially members elected in this century, have never really seen the institution function. they have not been able to see significant pieces of legislation move through the , the way that large legislation did have for most of the 20th century, so their sense of the pattern of legislation has certainly changed. i do think that means that a sense of what is normal, but since of how congress is supposed to work, is offkilter. it is a problem that affects both parties, but there are younger members, so it is something we have seen more in the republicans that have control of both houses. host: thomas in pennsylvania, a republican. hi, tom. aller: republican senators over a lot -- these shooting of steve scully some of the -- the shooting of steve

jacob stross, a specialist on congress with the crs here at congress. attended the university of maryland, university of florida, taught at frostburg state here in maryland. specializes in lobbying, ethics and congressional communications. they are going to be speaking about -- i was try to figure out how to explain this in a sentence or you came up with interactivity which is actually an expression they came up with. the nexus of evolving trends and the nature of represented a -- of representation and technology. mostly social media. join me in welcoming our speakers today. [applause] >> thanks, chuck. we are happy to be part of this series from the united states capital historical society today and really excited about these lectures concerning congressional capacity. we are happy to welcome you to the library of congress. jacob and i both were here at the library so it's great to be hosting this lecture here today. this research started in 2009 when a few people got together at the congressional research service and sat around and wondered how our me

[applause] >> who knew a book about congress could have such a reaction. i am the owner of politics & prose on behalf of everybody thank you for being here. so part of the story that we are here does involve a chapter in the history of congress told by john lawrence in his new book the class of 74 about that reflects his own journey and what completed the circle for him back in the 1970s he earned a phd in history at berkeley. but instead of pursuing a career he ended up in capitol hill as a staff member in the house of representatives spending 38 years there initially for congressman george miller from california and the final eight years to serve as chief of staff to nancy pelosi. he left the hell a few years ago and he returned to the academic track to the university of california washington center to write a book that draws on his long experience in congress. he arrived on the hill as one of the members of the class of 74 and outlasted nearly all of them have mac. [laughter] he focuses on this group not because he coincided with them but this was a spe

act, congress also does not have unlimited authority. there are things congress might do to contravene the constitution. to the extent you are interpreting congressional action, you interpret to avoid retroactive activity. even the gitmo conflict -- you think, this guy is a bush administration lawyer, he is pro-government. what you find out is, it's not about being pro-or anti-government, what it's about is enforcing the rules as congress has written them and the constitution as the framers understood it to be. when you see there, those cases are ones where he has determined the law can't be applied to these gitmo detainees, because at the time of their conduct, the law was not in place. that is an important thing to see in judge kavanaugh's opinions, which is a recognition of the important role of the branches and of government and constraining individual action but also the importance of civil liberties and their own rights under the law and constitution of the united states. so what you see here is a judge who is a judge's judge. a ju

of congress themselves. from florida she said in her announcement was the realizatioe realization i couldn't keep getting elected. one said the ability to get something done is the question for people that want to serve in public office. one former member noted those in office wants to affect outcome and they want to be legislators not orders. in light oin either they draw aw with the moderate members in congress to illustrate how the service wasn't for those in the middle of the parties became more polarized. i'm going to highlight a few examples of how the party and personal benefits of serving in congress diminished as the parties drifted apart. with respect to the policy privy impact, one moderately interviewed said he would appoint a delegation to the speaker and save say i've got 40 votes in my pocket unless he banned the policy. we are forced to be reckoned with if we didn't go with them they didn't have the majority and we could influence the policy on a daily basis. this is a member that served in t

best in congress. these offices recognize the best assets in their office good on the elevator every day at 6:00 o'clock or more likely eight or 9:00 o'clock. they cultivate professional development for people that work bucks policies resulting in greater employee retention and workplace environment that values people as staff in human beings. finals members and staff, as a student, please stand. [inaudible] please, rice. [applause] to present to the winners of the democracy award for life in congress please welcome to the stage margo, sheet chief extraordinary [inaudible] [applause] >> thank you, brad. it's a great honor for me to be here today. on behalf of the society for human resources management, also known as [inaudible]. sherman is the world's largest hr professional society representing more than 285,000 members and more than 165 countries. for 70 years sean has served the needs as hr profession with resources, advocacy and education while elevating the profession globally. we impact the lives

we know congress is not held in high esteem but the congress we see and you see, the real congress, is made up of amazing dedicated public servants . cmf we can shine a light on these members and offices if only for a brief moment at that time of year when we celebrate democracy and perhaps in many a small way we can chip away at some of the citizens and in our nation. these are the goals of the democracy award and let me explain the history of how they were created and how the finalists and winners were selected. some may recall the congressional management foundation had a history with awards on improving best practices. cmf in 2002 created the gold mouse awards for the best website on capitol hill. this program had a dramatic impact on the institution. we graded all the websites and gave those grades to congressional offices. in the first year of the program, the total websites that got an a or b were only 10 percent but after the first report was published and we did hundreds of training sessions with congressional offices, the percentage of offices that got an a or b using the sam

>> the library of congress started from the congress. they have 100% of a role in terms of making sure we not only serve members of congress and congressional research. i call them the special forces. they give object if information and research to undergird the legislative process. congress make sure and i mentioned my visit throughout the country that people know about the history projects for instance, oral histories and communities and the books program where we make sure those books are available to libraries and schools. they are also very concerned that we make sure the library of congress is -- . >> do you feel supported by the current congress and do they have an interest in the national look festival? >> members of congress i think people would be very pleased to know are eager and they are very interested in making sure that their constituents are aware of library services. this congress in previous congresses have been very involved and are very interested i think in touching history and knowing there's a place in history. >>

it was a special section -- session of congress. by woodrow wilson when he asked for a declaration of war with germany. it was a momentous time. >> that was the impetus, how did you decide that you wanted to interview former congresswoman? we thought it was the best way to look at the changes in the role of women in congress. we've been doing this since 2004. what better way to learn about women than the people who served. we interviewed staff as well. some of the stories that we learned have been wonderful to learn more about. >> yes, to date we have done about 40 interviews, 30 of which are published on our website. and roughly 25 are former women members. so it is a unique snapshot. and the span of service goes back to the mid-1960's, and all the way up through 2010. it is the real range. >> in terms of the backgrounds, what range do these women represent? >> very different. they are from the different political parties. different ages. we have interviewed women that came to congress when they were younger and they had children.

congress is broken. i think when you see the bipartisanship that is on the appropriations committee which i don't think a lot of people really take notice of. really is a lot of working across the aisle and a lot of trust. i think members themselves will take notice of what the appropriations committee is working on and how much bipartisanship and i think that might spread out. host: south carolina is next. ben. republicans are good morning. caller: good morning. i'm enjoying his comments and putting down his thing about if a couple can't balance a budget over the kitchen table and how can we expect 300 or 400 guys in congress to get together. that's really a good one. i just -- i don't know why. we do need to do something to force them to balance the budget. like maybe if they don't balance it by a certain date than their pay gets cut 10%. and that they don't balance by another date, 10 more percent. something that would force them. what do you think? guest: it is something that has come up many times.

certainly from the time that gerald ford entered congress, elected to congress in 1948, to the time he passed away in 2006. second of all, as joe mentioned, i have seen a wide variety of material for this. i turned to nearly a dozen other archives, some of them with the assistance of a colleague of mine. alongside government documents, memoirs, magazines, newspapers, journals, secondary works, and at times a good number of interviews with members of congress as well as with steve ford who was wonderful in speaking with me. thirdly, while a lot has been written about president ford, far less has been written about his pre--presidential and post- presidential career. i would like to give some time to his life before and afterward the presidency. is up again, his timing congress,-readers will find that two thirds of it is dedicated to has variety of other roles. readers are going to find references to tv shows, to movies, to books such as the film, the towering inferno, the books the catcher in the rye and the tv programs ozzie and harriet, the simpsons, and yes, of course, saturday night

since what mattered to me, and i think what mattered to all of us in congress, was putting the congress first. sadly, the business model of congress doesn't do that. it's not the people. very good people serve in congress, in my view, in both parties. and very good staff serves in congress in both parties but the problem is that the -- the goal of the business model rather than solving problems is to blame the other side for not solving problems. and as a bipartisan here, i will say both parties play this game and the country loses. if you are bipartisan these days, that means you get a primary challenge. and it's very unfortunate for all of us that that seems to be the model. all of us can change it if we are active. this is the point, and pitch the right messages to the right people in both parties. and i think we're going to learn that. congress also is not, i would say, a learning institution. why is that? because people are too busy. i was visiting a senior member of senate today. he said, thank you for coming up here. i don't have time to learn about the issue. the issue i was tal

we call 30 members of congress. we asked a simple question, have you ever met with a lobbyist representing the chinese government, a chinese or those promoting chinese interests? everyone refused to answer. the outrageous thing is there is no requirement for them to answer. or to be transparent there your representatives paid with your money. yet there is zero requirement for them to disclose what lobbyist their meeting for. here's what they do have to disclose. the personal income, campaign donations, travel expenses, legal expenses, gifts, staff salaries and office expenditures. the required to put down how many coffee cups they buy but not the lobbyists they meet with who are pushing the interest of a hostile form power that steals our technology, spies, names their dictator president for life and has an aim of world domination. china is the number one enemy of the united states. it's outrageous we allow them to undermine our democracy by infiltrating the swamp and manipulating our leaders. we will keep exposing

smock: we study congress. we reach out to people because we believe that the congress and the constitution need to be understood in a public forum. so we do teacher training. we conduct programs like this for the public, and we do research. we published a two-volume study of congressional investigations going back to the very first one in 1792 and bringing it up to the time when the book was done to the most current one in 2007 with the hurricane katrina investigation, looking at all the investigations congress has done over history. we have senator byrd's archive here, and we conduct our own research, and we invite other scholars to come. one scholar in the audience is working on a autobiography of robert c. byrd, using our papers extensively. senator byrd and a lot of other senators and other members of congress have set up centers like this around the country and did so for the purpose -- congress does not provide money for its own members' papers. you have to find resources to do that. the official records

so we are here at the library of congress, our new mission statement at the library of congress. we are happy to be talking about that mission statement, engage, inspire and inform congress and the american people with the universal and enduring source of knowledge and creativity. we hope you are able -- we hope we are able to live up to that. we like this quote from thomas jefferson. there is no subject to which a member of congress may not have occasion to refer. so someone asks why are you studying that we can point to this particular quote. this picture is thomas jefferson's library, the basis for the collections here at the library of congress. they exist one floor above us in thomas jeffersons building. jacob will give us an introduction to the substance of our talk here today. our -- >> we are excited to be able to share our research with you through the capital historical societies summer lecture series. 1973, david mayhew posited members primary, although not only goal, is reelection. this comes with several lines of inquiry. in order for members to be reelected they mus

guest: congress absolutely needs to weigh in. the issue here is not to take all money out of politics. the question is, what should the role of money be? how do we ensure that constituents have a voice and feel like they have a voice? the biggest issue for members of congress as they have approval ratings hovering in the single-digit or very low teens. there an interest among congress to make any changes to these leadership pac;s? saying as i started out guest: that members of congress were saying do you know what is going on with these leadership pacs, so that actually came from conversations with current members of congress >> we take you live now to the heritage foundation for the hearings of judge kavanaugh. has served onh the u.s. court of appeals for the district of columbia since 2005. in that time he has written hundreds of judicial appearance -- judicial opinions. we will be hearing from lawyers and law professors. expecting this to start shortly just waiting for the panel to take seats. you're watching live coverage on

but congress didn't make that. clayton.st eva and also for culture and the era up in, thatrew those of us who achieve knew we to achieve in spite of resistance. uh-huh. cases, because of the resistance. okay? whatever you want to call it. so... also, as i indicated earlier, my mother instilled me. in yes. father and mother, they sacrificed for us. i had one brother. they were determined that we were going to college. there was no question. said, i don't want to waste our money and you need to do it. i wasn't an a student by any means, but i did do well. came to congress, so that must have made them very proud. she wasn't living when i came, but when i was elected county commissioner, she was. and she was very proud, you know. yes.as very proud of that, interestingly, as you mature, you begin to realize that there's some reflection of your parents did. early in the school i went to, my age, and also segregation, we didn't have a lunchroom. i think kids carried food from home or wherever. but my mother became the pta

that's what led me to a lot of what i did in congress. i think a lot of it, especially as the interviews went on, women are telling us stories that were very candid. >> powerful. >> yes. >> you have an online exhibit. what do visitors find when they go there? >> they will find full transcripts, so for researchers, try to get something to everyone that is looking to learn more about women in congress. there's also video clips, video interviews and audio clips and biographies. and photographs. some great photographs and also some artifacts and objects. many of which come from the house collection. >> we're still doing interviews, still trying to get more former congresswomen and former senior women staffers to talk with us, so people can expect to find more up on the website as time goes on. >> how many more women do you expect to interview? >> we've done 40 now. we would like to do another ten. another two dozen if we could do it. we really feel like this is a project that is unique and it is something that can really add to the larger dis

they're all ready to native americans in congress both republican men from oklahoma. but the democrats who have been inspired to run say they felt insulted and marginalized by the trump administration paul and supporters want her to help wrest power from the republican controlled congress and stand up to a president who's been accused of sexism and even assaults. thing ok thank you for and i think that the earth needs to start changing to the woman power instead of this. caress of power and. i don't know if there is a mother but she is kind of a mother figure and mother figures are a lot more tender and nurturing and understanding than. the man energy i don't think she is a mother one who once had to feed her daughter using food stamps now she wants to set an example for future generations of women so they don't have to do the same when i think about you know young native women these two beautiful young girls here who maybe in their lifetime will actually see a native woman in the congress whereas you know someone like me there was no one that i could. go to to say ho

should congress do not updated. so here's what happens is congress passes a law without change and have a testimony that says there's a vulnerability. there is a vulnerability. there's been a case out of texas through the city of burning case and would've argued his old evidence of behavior say 40-years-old with long sufficient grounds to create a statute. it had to be timely and relevant. this is seized upon by litigants who are challenging coverage of the voting rights act. they decide who and who is not discriminating and who should and should not have the constitutional guarantee to conduct without interfering. it doesn't sound like it is kosher with other presidents. who gets brought down in texas by a utility district called the north austin municipal utility district number one. this little utility district of conduct that in one precinct wanted to be free from oversight by the justice department. they have asked to be bailed out from coverage. there have been a set of counties that presented evidence in fede

the same thing goes for congress. you know, same thing, same basic principles in life regardless what you do. even in politics, family, or corporate america, that you have to find a way. you find a way to make progress by understanding that you don't do anything by yourself. you make progress indeed if you find the ability to get the strength of each of us. and i think women have that ability to make the case for that. and i think women respond to women, too, whether you are republican or democrat. and they are the matriarch in us suggests that. >> is there anything else that you wanted to add? that's all we have for our questions. >> i'm going to end the sermon on that. i felt like i was preaching, but i apologize for that. but, anyhow, i have great loep for th hope for this institution, so i want them to come to their senses and to be the great institution they are designed to be. and i think women can be part of that bringing that sensitivity and that potential. >> well, we thank you for spending time was. this has

scientists are a rare breed in the us congress. in fact, there's only one phd physicist in the house of representatives. but that might change come november's midterm elections. enraged by what they see as the trump administration's lack of respect for science and denial of climate change, more scientists are running for elected office than ever before. laura trevelyan reports. the administration, it is broken, just like when we wound skin. i have an interest in healing both tissues and our nation. the united states government, they are not making sound policy because they are not using science to make policy. i feel very much lonely and overloaded, as the only scientist in congress. very few of our elected leaders are scientists but, this year, more scientists are running for office than ever before. truth is lacking in the national politics and at the state level, but also i think there is a concern about the support for science in our nation. i believe in climate change. that's like asking me do i believe in gravity, right? it i

i would suggest if you want to do that, congress needs to do that. if you want to come over and start a business, you can do that now. if you are from a country that is qualified for the status, which most countries are, you can do that. that is my two bits on that. ms. vaughan: others have suggested that the way to really open up and move towards a merit-based system would be to remove the caps that are currently in the law that limit the number of visas that can go to citizens of any one country, so-called per country cap, and that is stifling our ability to bring in talent that we need. is that going to solve the problem? dir. cissna: this kind of goes back to the same issue we have talked about twice. if an employer has identified a specific foreign national that they would like to retain forever. someone who maybe works for them on h-1b and they want to get, sponsor them for a green card so that individual can go on working forever for them. i can completely understand how frustrating it would be. first, they have to get them the h-1b and that w

he wanted a public trial, and congress stalled. he realized i am just going to keep losing power while this is hanging over me. fromsigned, june 6, 1989 the speakership, and later in the month, at the end of june, he resigned completely from congress. have copies, awe draft and a final copy of his response to these charges. we also have letters written to him by his constituents in support of him that he kept. photographs.ome this is when he made his resignation speech in congress. and we have a draft copy with of thees and corrections speech, his final speech that he he beginsngress and by saying, for 34 years, i had the great privilege to be a member of this institution. that is more than half my life. evenen grateful old -- and you, myple -- colleagues, my greatest honor. you may be certain that i would never purposely or knowingly violate any of its rules. those rules are precious to me. the speaker of the house is in fact the chief enforcer all of the rules of the house, and of course, he must abide by them, just as we expect

>> guest: well, the library of congress start today serve congress and they have quite a bit of a role in terms of making sure that we not only serve members of congressmen or staff members, congressional research service that is i call them the special forces, any policy area they give objective, information and research to other, really the legislative process and congress makes sure, i mention my visits throughout the country that people know about history project, for instance, oral histories in communities, that the surplus book's program where we make sure that those books are available to libraries and schools. they are also very concerned that we make sure the library of congress serves them but also the communities. >> host: do you feel supported by this current congress and do they have an interest in the national book festival? >> guest: members of congress and i think people will be pleased to know are readers and very interested in making sure that their constituents all wear library services, this congress and previous congresses have been involved and very interested, i

i had traveled all over the world with the congress, and jim and i, and outside the congress. and i never really traveled in the united states. we had a beach house, so that's always where we vacationed. so i traveled all over the united states. i saw places you can't even believe because we have social security all over, and i made more good friends. those two years, i still have them, as very good friends. and then i didn't think al gore would do that well, and so on his political appointment, so i left, and i went and got a job, and it's -- i was right. he didn't win. and so then i stayed as a lobbyist for two years and then i went and headed up a very large nonprofit. but i should not have run for governor. that mistake, i know very well. in fact, i never mention it. i'm sorry you mentioned it. >> i'm sorry i had to ask. >> it was not a good experience. >> there are now 108 women in congress. there's 88 in the house and 20 in the senate. >> you know, 108 is not 20% yet. >> but the question we have, and we've asked this of everyone we talked to so far, is how many women do

goes way without another act of congress. were he to do that come just said that because you'll be tempted by the story that will pursue to write something about jets will zoom back into place. since nafta was negotiated the wto tariff cuts have gone into effect. so almost all of our manufacturing is duty-free with a very few exceptions like trucks have real tariff cutting interviews. 25%. mostly you are really small cars have to .5%. agriculture is the nafta story if you withdraws. so just stick opinion that if you have to cover it, reporting for an agricultural state, agriculture all of it, no one will still be duty-free. big myth. mexico is duty-free for the world on corporate happen at the wto a decade ago but the and im, chicken, gary, of the things that are covering a nafta below those of the things we would make a difference. however, what is in nafta is all of these are the rules. so all of the agreements have claws like this one at the bottom which is that countries shall ensure the conformity of its laws regulations

certainly from the time that gerald ford entered congress, well, he was elected to congress in 1948, to the time he passed away in 2006. second of all, as joe westfall mentioned, i relied on a wide variety of source material for thissing into. of course, the records of the ford library were essential, but i turned as well to nearly a dozen other archives, some with the asis stance of a colleague of mine, dr. alyssa waters, alongside government documents, memoirs, magazines, newspapers, journals, secondary works, and again, at times, dr. waters, a good number of interviews with members of congress as well as with steve ford, who is wonderful in speaking with me. thirdly, while a lot has been written about president ford, far less has been written about his pre-presidential and post-presidential career. and i wanted to give more time to his life before the presidency and afterward. his upbringing, his time in congress, his life as an ex-president. so readers in the book will find that about two-thirds of it is devoted, not for the president, but for ford the upbringing president and th

this is an important function of congress. democrats need to understand that. 2007, everyone thought the democrats would come back into office and start impeaching bush administration officials. yes, they did hold oversight hearings on hurricane katrina. as a louisiana native that was very important but started to get down to the business of raising wages and improving people's lives. infrastructure reform. we have so many issues not addressed because everybody is paying attention to the next tweet of the president of the united states. >> fairly put, donna brazile and jason johnson. thank you. >>> next, i will be joined by a former aide to three republican presidents warning everything trump touches rots. ts warning e trump touches rots it's kind of like playing your own version of best ball. because here, you can choose any car in the aisle, even if it's a better car class than the one you reserved. so no matter what, you're guaranteed to have a perfect drive. [laughter] (vo) go national. go like a pro. see what i did there?

i spent the last 10 years in public service as a member of congress. i've also spent and he is volunteering to give back to my community. where there was a member of the federal reserve bank, small business advisory council, member of the board of trustees of kenmore mercy hospital by longtime mentor to small businesses at the center for entrepreneurial leadership at suny uv. the public knows my dedication to western new york. because my focus is to defeat the charges in court, after today i will not address any issues related to innate in no therapeutics. as they fight to clear my name and the rest assured i will work hard for the people and constituents of the 27 congressional districts of new york and i will remain on the ballot running for reelection this november. thank you very much and have a great night. [inaudible conversations] >> congressmen, i should be able to ask questions. congressman -- [inaudible conversations] >> what must that sound like? >> what we are hearing are the cries of children, immigrant children who had just spent separate

and the more i think, you know, that we get people hike that in congress, the -- like that in congress, the better off we'd be, people that don't have a natural self-interest. i've told people i'm not going to lobby. when i'm finished being governor, i've taken a pledge, i'm not going to become a lobbyist. i'm not sure what i'm going to do, you know? i may work for a foundation or for a university or whatever, but i'm not going to lobby, because i think there shouldn't be such a clear self-interest. now, getting back to the real question, how would you deal with the congress that we have now, again, listen harder. i would take the time and the effort to go out and meet them on their own ground. i'd try to meet them outside of washington, figure out who the leaders are and hear what their real issues are because i think in almost every case people are better than what the media paints a picture of. and i'm sure that's true of congress as well, that if you get to know them, you'll be able to find ways that we have common ground and more common ground than we know. but let me just finish.

, the first woman ever elected to congress. to start off today, what you were young, did you have any role models? ip. myrick: when i was young, never thought about politics. it was not something from the standpoint of what you are talking about now. werdad are the only people i looked up to but i had no political aspirations. i was not involved in any wiping hostay. host: what did you think you would be when you grew up? rep. myrick: i thought i would be a teacher. i started out to do that. i went to college for a year, me then my mom and dad sat down because a three younger brothers and they said we cannot afford to send you to school. it's more important your brothers get the education because you will grow up and get married. and at that time, many years ago, you did not really have the advantages you have today. andou could get grants scholarships and i went to a small country school small town, you do not have the counseling you have today to say anyone can do it. so i ended up going to work for an army depot in the town

she said that was her inspiration for going into congress. women were telling stories that were very candid. >> powerful. >> yes. >> you have an on-line site. what do visitors find when they go there? >> they will find full transcripts that we give to everyone looking to find out more about women in congress. there are video clips, abstracts and biographies, and photographs. also artifacts and objects, many of which come from the house collection. >> we're still doing interviews. we're still trying to get more former congresswomen and former senior staffers to talk with us, so people can expect to see more on the website as time goes on. >> how many women do you expect to interview? >> we've done 40 now. we'd like to do another 10, another two dozen if we could do it. we really feel like this is a project that's unique, and it's something that can really add to the larger discussion about women's contribution to politics. >> and you've expanded the interview poll now to staffers, women staffers? >> yes. when we first started the oral history

in congress. while most republicans tried to look at the mounting evidence against president nixon as favorably as possible, none of them ever tried to say anything like this. >> just remember what you're seeing and what you're reading is not what's happening. >> republicans did not try to deny reality during the investigation of richard nixon and eventually it was a group of republican senators who went to the white house to tell president nixon to his face that he should resign immediately because the house of representatives would definitely vote to impeach him based on the latest evidence and the united states senate would easily reach a two-thirds majority vote to convict and remove president nixon from office in an impeachment trial. and so on this very day 44 years ago, president nixon climbed into the helicopter on the white house lawn and waved good-bye for the final team. richard nixon was able to win the presidency in 1968 because the democratic party broke into open revolt in the unite

congress. the u.s. house of representatives office of the historian conducted this interview, which is about one hour and 45 minutes. >> my name is kathleen johnson and i am with the house historian today. we are in the house recording studio and we are very pleased to be speaking with susan molinari from new york. thank you for coming. >> i am excited to be part of the project. >> the project we are working on is to recognize and celebrate the 100th anniversary of the election of jeannette rankin to congress, the first woman. we have a much of questions we wanted to ask, but when you are young did you have female role models? >> no. i never thought about that question before, but i do not think so. i remember looking at the little autograph book you have when you are little and you ask your grandmother, mother and father to sign it, and it would say, what do you want to be when you grow up. i remember looking back and when i was in second grade it was flight attendant, or -- which we called st

congress has a quite a bit of a roll. times in partnering with the executive in some of the foreign relations areas. judge kavanaugh is focused on those areas. will turn it to jamail. thanks to my panelists for coming to the heritage foundation and for having us. judged like to talk about kavanaugh's record in national security cases. am a so id myself have a hard stop at 1:00. i will keep it very short so we have time for questions. i will stick around as long as i can. you take from judge kavanaugh's cases is a separation of powers. courtea that each of the and branches of government has a important role to play in national security cases. we historically have thought of national security as an area largely in the control of the president. what is interesting about that is when you look at the constitution, there were eight tremendous number of powers assigned to the president and congress. on eight numerical basis alone, congress has more power if you count up the number of times the national security or foreign policy

between the president and congress. he is kind of disowned by his own party in a way, but how have historians understood this period? remember we talked about the civil war and differing interpretations, we talk about slavery and differing interpretations of slavery, and the same is true of reconstruction. historians have interpreted this period in very different ways, and much of this is not in the reading that you've done for today, but it is in the introduction to the book, a short history of reconstruction, and some of it will be new, some of that i add to that. now, the history gravy of reconstruction was defined by what was known as the dunning school named after a columbia university -- put forward by william a. dunning, john burgess, if you want the exact spellings of the names it is in the introduction of the book and a bunch of their students. and they basically said that this was like a terrible period in american history. reconstruction was awful because of vindictive northern radical republicans forcing bla

cathy mcmorris rodgers helps lead the whole republican caucus in congress. at this closed door private fund raiser for congresswoman mcmorris rodgers last week, devin nunes spelled out in quite blunt terms how he views his role in congress when it comes to the russian investigation and how he sees the responsibility of all republicans in congress when it comes to the russia investigation, specifically why he sees it as so important for them to keep their majority so they keep control of congress in the elections this fall. this is just the last clip here, one more piece of tape from this fund-raiser. here we go. >> so therein lies, so it's like your classic catch-22 situation, where we were at a -- this puts us in such a tough spot. if sessions won't unrecuse, mueller won't clear the president, we're the only ones, which is really the danger. that's why i keep -- thank you for saying that, by the way -- we have to keep all these, we have to keep the majority. if we do not keep the majority, all of this goes away. >> we're the only ones, that's the danger. pu

in congress, that is the only place comparable. a lot of talent and a lot of people enthusiastic about being there, and to my surprise, an amazingly high percentage of people who are genuinely there for the right reasons. there's enough of the other side to reinforce all the stereotypes and drama and everything else, but i believe if you took congress and took away the cell phones and cameras and news deploy to diego garcia, a little island in the indian ocean, send up a smoke signal when you solve some problems, we have the talent to solve a lot of stuff, but what happens is you get people who agree on policy, and they say, the politics of this, if we can wait, so what happens is, people put off solving the problem. intellectually, everyone knows the math doesn't work on what we are doing. there are a few people who have convinced themselves that deficits don't matter. there are enough of us who believe math is real. host: you went to school before common core. [laughter] you, i have seen a republican party for a decade much,ashin