[laughter] >> hi, i'm with the thaddeus stevens society. i appreciate your enthusiasm in this lecture. and i noticed early on you had a picture of a great commoner with darth vader. can you expand upon that image and talk about what i see as a propaganda effort against him up through the 1960's and whether or not you think there is hope for resurrecting him as one of our great heroes? >> that is a very good question. and, in fact, you all know that the street down there is named after thaddeus stevens. >> he also helped to found this college. >> he also helped to found this college. the only great person to ever come out of lancaster pennsylvania in the 19th century , -- i might add that as were james buchanan also lived. as i have said often in my class, james buchanan declare that if he came back in another life, he would like to come back as a frog sitting by a quiet mill pond where nothing happened, which shows he doesn't understand trans migration. you have to be good in this life to come back as a higher form of being. sorry, i had to

and in fact you all know, of course, that stevens street down there is named after thaddeus stevens. >> he also helped found this college too. >> who also helped found this college. the only great person ever to come out of lancaster, pennsylvania, in the 19th century, i might add that's where james buchanan also lived, it could be said. as i have said often about james buchanan to my class, he declared if he came back in another life he would like to come back as a frog sitting in a quiet mill pond where nothing happens. where nothing happened, which shows he doesn't understand transmigration because you have to be good in this life to come back as a higher form of being. sorry i had to insult him somewhere. out there, thaddeus stevens, you'll notice i brought him in twice. the first time with darth vader. the second time as the knight fighting the dragon out there. the good guys, the bad guys. i take the good guys vision of him. thaddeus stevens because of his belief in equality, because of having a non-white housekeeper, lydia smith, who was reputed to be his mistress by democrati

and in fact you all know, of course, that stevens street down there is named after thaddeus stevens. >> he also helped found this college too. >> who also helped found this college. the only great person ever to come out of lancaster, pennsylvania, in the 19th century, i might add that's where james that's where james bucanon also lived. he had declared that if he came back in another life, he would like to come back as a frog sitting in a quiet mill pond by where nothing happened, which shows he doesn't understand transmigration because you have to be good in this life to come back as a higher form of being. sorry i had to insult him somewhere. out there, thaddeus stevens, you'll notice i brought him in twice. the first time with darth vader. the second time as the knight fighting the dragon out there. the good guys, the bad guys. i thiake the good guys vision o him. thaddeus stevens because of his belief in equality, because of having a non-white housekeeper, lydia smith, who was reputed to be his mistress by democratic slanderers and the like, was seen as the epitome of evil, all

thaddeus stevens. you'll notice i brought him in twice, first as darth vader and the second as the knight fighting the dragon. the good guy and bad guy view of him. thaddeus stevens because of his belief in equality and because of having a non-whitehousekeeper lydia smith who was reputed to be his mistress by democratic slanderers and the like was seen as the epitome of evil all the way up through the dunning school and beyond, a vicious, ferocious, fanatic fueled with hatred and resentment. let me tell you several basic facts. thaddeus stevens well before slavery became an issue on which pennsylvanians cares at all, at least in terms of the slave, was defending fugitive slaves and taking no fee. if i'm mott mistaken in the 1838 constitutional convention when pennsylvania decided to take the right of voting away from blacks who until then had that right, there was only one member who refused to sign that constitution and that was thaddeus stevens. the father of the public school system of pennsylvania,

thaddeus stevens. you'll notice i brought him in twice, first as darth vader and the second as the knight fighting the dragon. the good guy and bad guy view of him. i take the good guy view of him. thaddeus stevens because of his belief in equality and because of having a non-whitehousekeeper lydia smith who was reputed to be his mistress by democratic slanderers and the like was seen as the epitome of evil all the way up through the dunning school and beyond, a vicious, ferocious, fanatic fueled with hatred and resentment. let me tell you several basic facts. thaddeus stevens well before slavery became an issue on which pennsylvanians cares at all, at least in terms of the slave, was defending fugitive slaves and taking no fee. if i'm mott mistaken in the 1838 constitutional convention when pennsylvania decided to take the right of voting away from blacks who until then had that right, there was only one member who refused to sign that constitution and that was thaddeus stevens. the father of the publ

thaddeus stevens. you'll notice i brought him in twice, first as darth vader and the second as the knight fighting the dragon. the good guy and bad guy view of him. i take the good guy view of him. thaddeus stevens because of his belief in equality and because of having a non-whitehousekeeper lydia smith who was reputed to be his mistress by democratic slanderers and the like was seen as the epitome of evil all the way up through the dunning school and beyond, a vicious, ferocious, fanatic fueled with hatred and resentment. let me tell you several basic facts. thaddeus stevens well before

[laughter] >> hi, i'm with the thaddeus stevens society. i appreciate your enthusiasm in this lecture. i noticed early on you had a picture of a great commoner with -- can you expand upon that image and talk about what i see as a propaganda effort against him up through the 1960's and whether or not you think there is hope for resurrecting him as one of our great heroes? >> that is a very good question. the streetw that down there is named after thaddeus stevens. >> he also helped to found this college. >> the only great person to ever come out of lancaster pennsylvania in the 19th century -- i might add that as were james buchanan also lived. as i've said awesome -- often in my class, james buchanan declare that if he came back in another life, he would like to come back as a frog sitting by a quiet mill pond where nothing happened, which shows he doesn't understand migration. in this lifee good to come back as a higher form of being. sorry, i had to insult him somewhere. stevens, you'll notice i brought him him twice, the first time with

he first was elected to congress by taking on the dowdy thaddeus stevens who everybody was afraid of and contradicting him and i don't know exactly what his relationship with sumner was but blaine was not a radical republican. he wasn't -- he was a moderate in that regard he still wanted to build the republican party in the south and that's why he was so strongly for suffrage for the freed slaves and that part of reconstruction but he was not for tremendous punishment for the south that some of the radicals were. >> our callers are here for our three guests as we talk about the life and times of james g. blaine, unsuccessful nominee for in the the 1884 election and grover cleveland was the successful candidate but we believe he had an outside influence -- outsized influence on american history and we're learning more about that tonight. woodland hills, california, you are on the air. hello, eric. >> caller: hello, how are you? continuing on about james g. blaine's personalty, i was wondering, he's certainly a larger-than-life character. do you see him embodied in any current politici

these were radicals in the house like thaddeus stevens who was chairman of the house ways and means committee and a very powerful leader. also people like henry winter-davis, elihu washburne. in the senate, people like charles sumner and benjamin wade. and they really drove the agenda and pushed the lincoln administration to not only prosecute the war more vigorously but also to have a reconstruction after the war that was one that was not so lenient toward southern states and was going to ensure that political rights were extended to african-americans. >> well, so the war ends in 1865, but how do you get from 1865 to the first african-american members of congress? because it's not -- doesn't happen right that day. >> doesn't happen right away, but the -- the role of radicals, if anything, becomes even more assertive after the end of the war. after lincoln's assassinated president johnson takes over and has an even more lenient view than lincoln of how the southern states are going to be readmitted and he's pushed constantly by the radical republicans. and in a very short period of time, roug

these were radicals in the house like thaddeus stevens who was chairman of the ways & means chairman of the ways and means committee and a very powerful leader. also people like henry winter-davis, elihu washburne. in the senate, people like charles sumner and benjamin wade. and they really drove the agenda and pushed the lincoln administration to not only prosecute the war more vigorously but also to have a reconstruction after the war that was one that was not so lenient toward southern states and was going to ensure that political rights were extended to african-americans. >> well, so the war ends in 1865, but how do you get from 1865 to the first african-american members of congress? because it's not -- doesn't happen right that day. >> doesn't happen right away, but the -- the role of radicals, if anything, becomes even more assertive after the end of the war. after lincoln's assassinated president johnson takes over and has an even more lenient view than lincoln of how the southern states are going to be readmitted and he's pushed constantly by the radical republicans. and in a

i'm curious about blaine's relation with thaddeus stevens and charles sumner, both radical republicans before and during and after the civil war. the relation with sumner might be particularly interesting since sumner was chair. senate foreign relations committee. >> thanks so much. is that something you can take us through? >> well, i can take a shot, particularly thaldus stevens because blaine made a name for himself when he was first elected to congress by taking on the doughty thaddeus stevens who everybody was afraid of and contradicting him. and i don't know exactly what his relationship with sumner was, but blaine was not a radical republican. he wasn't. he was a moderate in that regard. he still wanted to build the republican party in the south and that's why he was so strongly for suffrage for the -- for the -- for the slaves and for that part of reconstruction, but he was not for, you know, tremendous punishment for the south that some of the radicals were. >> our callers are here for our three guests as we talk about the life and times of james g. blaine. unsuccessful nomine

was elected to congress by taking on the the dowdy thaddeus stevens who everybody was afraid of. and contradicting him. i don't know exactly what his relationship with sumner was but blaine was not a radical republican. he was a moderate in that regard. he still wanted to build the republican party in the south. and that's why he was so strongly for suffrage for the -- for the freed slaves. and -- and for that part of reconstruction. but he was not for, you know, tremendous punishment for the south some of the radicals were. >> our callers are here for our three guests as we talk about the life and times of james g. blaine. unsuccessful nominee for president in the 1884 election. grover cleveland was the successful candidate. but we believe that he had an outside influence -- outside influence on american history. we are learning more about that tonight. wood land hills, california. you are on the air. >> caller: yes. hi. >> hello, eric. >> caller: hello. how are you? continuing on about the -- james g. blaine's personality, i was wondering certainly is larger than life character

i'm curious about blaine's relation with thaddeus stevens and charles sumner, both radical republicans before and during and after the civil war. the relationship with sumner might be particularly interesting since sumner was chair of the senate foreign relations committee. >> thanks very much. >> is that something you can take? >> well, i could tell -- particularly thaddeus stephens, blaine made a name for himself when he first was elected to congress by taking on the thadeous stephens who everybody was afraid of. and contradicting him. i don't know exactly what his relationship was with sumner was but blaine was not a radical republican. he was a moderate in that regard. he still wanted to build the republican party in the south. and that's why he was so strongly for suffrage for the -- for the freed slaves. and -- and for that part of reconstruction. but he was not for, you know, tremendous punishment for the south some of the radicals were. >> our callers are here for our three guests as we talk about the life and times of james g. blaine. unsuccessful nominee for president in the