i created gettysburg national military park. i guess that's okay, but somebody else would have done that that's revisionist history doesn't matter if somebody else would have done it the sickles bill did do it. not that he was the only guy during that era, but let's you let's give credit. work credits due and i know we're running short on time here, but just a couple more. throughout the period veterans are coming back. they're coming back to gettysburg and increasing numbers. they are developing. well, we know today is gettysburg national military park and it's during that period that sickles there he is and this is probably about 1888 25th anniversary, but it's during that period that sickles strikes up a relationship with his july 2nd opponent james longstreet. and you know, they spend many years together. they go to many events together time tonight does not allow me to tell all of their drinking stories and that but some of them are pretty good. but sickles and longstreet basically mutually support each other's gettysburg r

of gettysburg, not the campaign. we will talk about the entire campaign not the infantry. i love the infantry but this is the role of cavalry. i mention a number of books on the civil war, these are the map studies and i'm constantly criticized about this one. there is not a lot of cavalry. couldn't fit. came out with this one that specializes, what i'm going to do today, i only have 45 minutes. i will go fast, talk about the multiple roles the cavalry played during the campaign of gettysburg and you will appreciate these guys more than you currently do. these guys are constantly in the saddle. the guys are constantly in motion doing a variety of activities. let's jump into it. you know these two gentlemen. two major generals, the army of the potomac cavalry, jeb stuart, his counterpart have been in command of their army's cavalry for over a year, they are experienced. they know potentially how to run a cavalry. the organization is very different. you see on the union side it is much more sophisticated. you have divi

book on the gettysburg campaign. he's also co-author with wayne motts, the book pickets charge at gettysburg. key and the author of a guy to legendary tax on gettysburg. it's also cohost of the popular battle of gettysburg podcast, free on all platforms. he has written articles for publications, one of the primary content designers in the american battlefields drop, a speaker for civil war round tables, on monumental mysteries, civil war talk radio. he was featured in the july 2013 issue a civil war monitor. i'd now like to present to you, james hessler, who will be presenting his program, neutral ground, sickles, meade, and the gettysburg peach orchard. thank you. [applause] wow >> thank you, tammy, for the introduction. i was going to tell you to not go too far because i don't have -- so we are in good shape. when the crowd. this is really humbling to see people standing in back. i've got these great studio lights shining in my face. but i still recognize a lot of familiar faces here. i hope this is good. [laughs]

trends are coming back to gettysburg in increasing numbers. they're developing what we know today as gettysburg national military park and it's during that period that sickles, there he is, this is probably about 1888, 25th anniversary, it's during that period that sickles strikes up a relationship with his july 2 opponent, james longstreet. and, you know, they spend many years together, they go to many events together. time tonight doesn't allow me to tell all of their drinking stories but some of them are pretty good. but sickles and longstreet basically support each other's gettysburg records for the remainder of their lives. in '92, longstreet summarized it as, quote, i believe it is now conceded that the advance position at the peach orchard saved that battlefield to the union's cause, end quote. longstreet literally went to his grave believing sickles was right. or did he? well, you know, people are kind of skeptical about this, is this too old buddies kind of propping each other up a little bit. longstreet said that by moving forward, s

the trouble starts after the battle of gettysburg 1862. meade at that time performed well but didn't get support from a guy and i'm convinced sort of the fiction between meade and the officers of the third corporeally exists after the battle of fredericksburg. so you have that dynamic going on and after the battle there's a dispute between meade and hooker. let me put it this way. there's a dispute whether or not madee is favored withdrawal back across the river. and they start pulling all the generals. did you want to move forward, that sort of thing. sickles of course supports his buddy hooker. meade says he does not favor a withdrawal, and this gets in the newspapers. there's a little bit of this debate going on which i think is fascinating because, again, this whole idea of advance or retreat after a major battle is something that seems to dog the army of the potomac after almost every campaign. we always act like it's unique to gettysburg and it's not. kind of the seeds are getting planted for the future meade sickles controversy. whe

the third phase obviously is the battle of gettysburg. we're going to talk quickly about five different actions here. want you to think what are those five. don't tell me but see if you could figure out what those five were. most people are only going to come up with four. and the retreat. okay. and the retreat is fascinating. how does lee get those wagons back to virginia and how does the union army try to prevent the wagons from getting to virginia. so those are the things that we're going to talk about today. okay. here we go. now hopefully, could you all see the map? way back there. okay. i'm going to try to use my pointer, too. the army as you know we're talking about after chancellorsville, they're on either side of the rappahannock river and the beginning of june 1863. and pleasanton has been tasked by booker to determine where lee is moving. okay. and what is happening. now, their worried about stewart, jeb stewart is right here around brandy station. there is going to be a recognition to find out where the heck is stewart because

gettysburg. which in 1863 isn't exactly the best place to go if you're trying to avoid the civil war. >> lucky. >> so lucky. >> lucky luther. >> lucky, really. so he's a guy that really can't avoid the sense of duty, the sense of patriotism. and so as the confederate army, the army in northern virginia, is crossing the mason-dixon line, entering pennsylvania, he's going to offer his services to the governor of pennsylvania and he is going to receive a commission in the 26th pennsylvania emergency militia, specifically in company "a" of the 26th. and one of the reasons why this is so cool is company "a" is made up of students from gettysburg college, what was the pennsylvania college, now gettysburg college, and the lutheran theological seminary in gettysburg. here you have a 22-year-old officer who has seen some experience, he's been horribly wounded in battle. >> he has one functional arm. >> he has one functional arm. he's literally going into battle with his arm into a sling almost a year afte

gettysburg. but for right now, in 1861, it's literally the biggest thing he's happened since manassas. so it does make a big difference, it makes an impact on the lives of people here in loud loudoun. there is a funeral procession, a band plays, and in jackson another parade takes his body home to his wife and children. his death also leaves his family in a tight spot. erasmus was the youngest of the sons of the family, didn't have a lot of resources. so there isn't even a headstone on his grave for about 50 years after he dies. but that doesn't mean that he was forgotten. because in fact, virginia miller kept carrying him in her memory. and she wasn't the only one either. there are some interesting little pieces as we go forward in the war that make one think that his memory stayed alive. for example, in 1864, there was a william henry luce who was imprisoned on johnson island. and he wrote to a friend of his, someone he knew, talking about his old friends. so william henry luce at that time was

was the pennsylvania college not gettysburg college and the lutheran theological seminary in gettysburg. i have a 22-year-old officer. >> is one of functional arm frequencies literally leading a bunch of students who have never heard a shot fired in anger. what could go wrong? >> despite this, despite this he and the 26th pennsylvania 1863 and they're going to take up a position on marsh creek along cashtown north of gettysburg pennsylvania to face lee's keep looking out, looking to the west seeing a long column of guys clad in gray and butternut marching to you. they will be escorted by a battalion of the confederate calvary as they advanced to the pennsylvania countryside. in one of those weird twist of fate weird luck has a weird way of popping up in life and who's in the calvary show? none other than a large white. with two men representing loudoun county. one allowed and borne one but adopted to loudoun county. opposite sides of the battlefield. on luckily for luther slater i say what can be good and what can be bad. now you're turning it around your giving me a hard time for an. >

is made up of students from gettysburg college, what was the pennsylvania college, now gettysburg college and the lujan theological seminary in gettysburg. so you have a 22-year-old officer who has seen some experience, he's been horribly wounded in battle. >> he has one functional arm. >> yeah, he's literally going into battle with his arm in a sling almost a year after his wounding. leading a bunch of students who have never heard a shot fired in anger. and -- >> what could go wrong? >> what could go wrong? >> despite this, despite this he and the 26th pennsylvania are going to march out on the morning of june 26th, 1863, and they're going to take up a position on marsh creek along the cashtown pike west of gettysburg, pennsylvania, to face lee's battle hardened veterans of the army of northern virginia. so i can't even imagine what is going through this guy's mind that morning as you look out, looking to the west, you're seeing a long column of guys clad in gray and butternut and marching towards you. what slater had -- did not know is these were men of the corp, hardened veterans and

i see this all the time at the battle of gettysburg. on that battlefield, the majority of the more than 1000 monuments and markers, they remember the union regiments and units that fought there. and there are some peculiar union monuments. there is a monument to the 42nd new york, very close to the angle on cemetery ridge. the 42nd new york shows an indian chief in a tp, and you are thinking, wait, have they got the wrong war? and the answer is no. this is the new tammany regiment raised by hall and of course the symbol of tammany's chief and you've got a monument there and people say, okay, 42nd new york. when that was put up the dedications come out for that. and they preach the justice and righteousness of the union cause. and the people who directed that monument where the event runs of the regiment. and they said, yes, that's right, we were in the right and it was a moral cause and it was marvelous and wonderful and it's a memorial to our troop. all right, that generation dies off. followed by another. then their grandchildren of t

i see this all the time on the battle of gettysburg. on that battlefield the majority of the more than 1,000 monuments and markers remember the union regiments and units that fought there. and there are some, there are some peculiar union monuments. there's a monument to the 42nd of new york very close to the angle on cemetery ridge -- [laughter] that that shows an indian chief and a tepee. you're thinking, wait a minute, they've got the wrong war? the answer is no, this was the tamany regiment raised by tammy hall and, of course, the symbol is chief tamany. people look at it and they say 42nd of new york. when that was put up, the dedication ceremonies preached the justice and righteousness of the unionon cause and of people who weree there saying, yes, that's right. we were in the right, it was a moral cause, it was marvelous and wonderful, and we embraced it.ca it's a memorial to our troops. all right. that generation dies off. another generation, they come to gettysburg, they look at that monument and they say that's a monument to t

. >> a better book on gettysburg, what the world desperately needs. [laughter] but of course like everyone, you feel like you're doing this from a different angle and i think that william. and three confederates and - and the idea is that obviously highly biographical and a pickup on july 1st and rather it starts at the end of the campaign. and when we think about the operations we included stories of the rank and file you see the lives almost at that very moment, the point of contact. and rather of course the things that the men carried with him, and the long personal stories that they had and carried throughout the campaign rated so the idea is that these individuals will provide through which we can see broader issues at work and so many of these are cultural and social things and not deeply interested in and i think that throughout the campaign studies in a way that i will be doing the things that will does predict not going to do any evaluations, all of which i think are extraordinarily important and i think that this book will do people may be n

it was a close run thing at gettysburg. it's also true about gettysburg. he came very very close to success. it was not a rash decision and it was not an unprincipled and thoughtless decision. it almost worked and i have say this bluntly i for one and grateful that it did not because the consequence of that if we had been successful at gettysburg oh my goodness the army of the potomac having been beaten on so many fields so many times could very likely have gone to pieces. lee had a full and open field in front of him. there would have been a demand for peace negotiations. alexander stevens the vice president of the confederacy was on the boat in the chesapeake day waiting to come to washington and what would he have said the abraham lincoln if he had and we would have had a balkanized north america. if the north and the south divided do you think it would have stopped there? no. there would have been a civic confederacy and we would have had in north america almost a repeat of always on the balkans in the 1990s and then, and then what would have been avai

i see this all the time on the battle of gettysburg. on that battlefield the majority of the more than 1000 monuments and markers remember the union regiments and units that fought there there are some acutely or union monuments. there's a monument to the 42nd new york very close to the angle on cemetery ridge and the monument to the 42nd new york shows an indian chief in a tv at your thinking wait a minute, did they get the wrong war and the answer is no. this was the tammany regiment raised by tammany hall and of course the symbol of tammany hall is chief tammany so you've got a monument anthere and people look at it and they say 42nd new york. the dedication ceremonies for that preached the justice and righteousness of the union cause and the people who directed that monuments were the veterans of the regiments and they were there saying yes, we were in the right. it was a moral cause. it was marvelous and wonderful and we embrace it. it's a monument to our troops . followed by the grandchildren of those soldiers. they come to gettys

i see this all the time in the battle of gettysburg. on that battlefield the majority of the more than 1,000 monuments and markers remember the union regiments and units that fought there. there are some peculiar union monuments. there's a monument to the 42nd new york very close to the angle on cemetery ridge. the monument to the 42nd new york shows an indian chief and a tepee. wait a minute. did they get the wrong war? the answer is no. this was the regiment of taminy hall. you have a monument there. when that was put up, the dedication ceremonies for that preached the justice and righteousness of the union cause. the people who erected that monument were the veterans of the regiment. it was a moral cause. we embraced it. it's a memorial to our truth. that generation dies off. followed by another generation. grandchildren of those soldiers. they look at that monument and they say, that's a monument to the 42nd new york. my grandfather fought in the 42nd new york. they don't have quite the fizz about things that the original soldiers d

it's wonderful to be here with everybody on the anniversary of the battle of gettysburg. over telling eric story here and a little bit. some food for thought as we get started, i would like all of you to think about what is friendship? who is your best friend and why are they your best friend? interestingly enough these are some of the key themes that emerged as were trying to explore the larger than life historical figure in the winners. i think an analogy here in gettysburg on july 2 is we should think of dick winters as a joshua chamberlain of world war ii. they can look at personalities, backgrounds, education, upbringing. these were two young men who were born of pacifist families. they had hard work and diligent attitude instilled in them as young men. they believed they could move through life promote themselves through life of higher education. neither of them had formal military education. and yet despite all of that they come to be some of the best-known officers and the iconic clashes of their generation. why is this so? popular culture has something to do with

we don't have time to get into gettysburg. let's focus specifically on that third day when the battle was truly lost. it arrived and i'm sure a lot of people in this audience have been to gettys burg. you really see the exact expanse it was expected to cover. it'll really pretty breathtaking when up there. long street says this is crazy. 15,000 men could not take this position. he does it any way. can you talk about what was he thinking in that battle. what was his strategic decisions. what figured into that moment in the war. >> a lot of people ask this question. they are at the angle looking out towards seminary ridge and the virginia monument. they say what could he have been thinking. you're going to send soldiers across that open area and they will get slaughtered. what was the result. the result was defeat. people think what could lee have possible been thinking. maybe there was something that was in thiz thinking. people suggested lee was suffering health problems and that effects his clarity, those decision making proc

less than 5 months after union army won the battle of gettysburg there was a dedication ceremony for soldiers killed during the battle, a man named edward everett was feature speaker, he spoke for two hours, no one recalled what he said, abraham lincoln spoke for a few moments. less than 300 words. 10 sentences. that is all-time it took for him to capture essence of the moment, and soul of the country. if we needed a reminder that leadership can be modest, and leaders can be humble. this is this speech, can we imagine a modern political leader showing off anywhere and not expecting to be the center of attention? and adoration and keynote speaker. not really modestez of where, when and how long lincoln spoke but modesty of what we wrote and said and believed. lincoln said, the world will little note or long remember what we say here. but it can never forget what they did here. deflecting praise. those are rare traits in modern day leaders, we're not likely to remember what any modern political leaders said 158 years after they said it lincoln described our nation as conceived in liber

each of our veterans is a link in a proud chain that has stood for the defense of our country, from gettysburg to iwo jima. each understood the price of freedom and shouldered that burden on our behalf. our veterans represent the best of america. you are the spine of america. all of us owe you. on veterans day, and every day we honor that great that and recommit ourselves to giving our sacred obligation as a nation, we honor what you have done. we have many obligations. i would have gotten in trouble when i was a young senator for saying we only have one truly sacred obligation -- to properly prepare and equip those we send into harm's way and care for the and their families while they are deployed and when they return home. this is a lifetime sacred commitment. it never expires. for me, for joe, for the entire family, it is personal. when both -- beau was deployed to iraq, after spending six months in kosovo trying to set up a criminal justice system, eight got a call from him one day. he said, dead, what are you doing friday? he said, i would like you to pin my bars on. someone has got to fi

i think about that gettysburg address and i was asked to give the gettysburg address many years ago and i tried to set out whatever i had to say in 271 words. i think i did a fair job, but i would give myself a passing grade at best but it was a complete shock to my audience when i stopped at 271 words and lincoln said that a speech doesn't need to be eternal to be immortal. in our lives as public servants, we are called on to speak very often and i'm reminded of the impact lincoln had to capture the moment, to give people hope and to craft phrases which endure to this day as some of the most masterful use of the english language. i hope tomorrow we can take a moment to recall our childhood education when we're taught the gettysburg address to recite what we can of it and to believe even in these dark times that we face they were even darker when they were delivered and this nation endured. mr. president, i yield the floor. i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: thank you. the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. reed: mr. president. the presiding officer: the sena

like gettysburg, we truly have a battlefield setting off the course of north carolina. those naval battlefields or where to world war's came home to america. the ship breaks are -- their grave sites, they are they are -- there so much more. one of the things i like to point out about these shipwrecks is that, obviously, the history is amazing. the gravity of how these vessels are lots his touch hard. we want to tell these stories, we want to honor our veterans. we also look at it as a transition from weapons to war to an oasis of life, they become habitats for marine life, i like to think as an archaeologist and historian, everybody wants to focus on history but we know that that is not true. some people love diving on shipwrecks just to see marine life. these marine marine, you boats, these submarine vessels, these merchant ships on the sea floor are beautiful homes for all sorts of marine life. we all know that when we go out to find shipwrecks, the fishermen obviously know where these ships are, they are often the first ones to know. many years before we do. this is

i'm here to talk about dan welch, a very long time ranger at gettysburg national military park, where i had the pleasure of meeting and working with him for a couple of years. he is also the co-author of the ecw on the gettysburg campaign, coming out immediately on ohio and -- and an anniversary series that has just come out. and so, with not too much else to say, i want to introduce dan welch who is here to talk about, the man we love to hate, john hope. so here is dan welch, the man with too many labs are not enough free time. [applause]. what good evening everyone. one thing i've not shared with you is my love of the southern rock band lynyrd skynyrd. -- i've heard from some of their former managers in crew. and one of the things that i've heard is that as was lynyrd skynyrd getting popular and their fame was rising, a lot of their acts that they would open for talks, they would say, don't let them open with free bird, we can't top that. and so now i know exactly the situation that they were in, trying to follow gary gallagher. but i want to thank my colleagues and all the members

in the historiography and his role in the preservation and he's i've said at the outset if you love gettysburg as much as we do, i think it's important to understand all of the phases of dance sickles his career love him or not hate him or not. love to hate him or hate to love them. so all right with that. i think we're almost out of time. i'm seeing the q in the back of the room. thank you and thanks. at he spent history for more of this date in history post. >> hi, buddy. i am john tracy, a newer member of emerging civil war no small part of the recruitment efforts of the present i am introducing here is dan welch, a very long time seasonal ranger at military park where i have the absolute pleasure of meeting and working with him for a couple of years. he's also co-author of last road north, the book on the gettysburg campaign, co-author of immediately coming up book on ohio and introduce paintballs who's here to talk about the man we love to hate, john pope so here is dan welch, a man with too many class and not enough free time. [laughter] [applause] >> good evening, everyone. one of the t

i'm here to talk about dan welch who is a very long time seasonal ranger at gettysburg military park where i had the pleasure of meeting and working with him for a couple of years. also the co-author of "last road north" on the gettysburg campaign, co-author of an immediately coming out book on ohio and antietam and also the co-editor of a new series coming out. and so with no too much else to say, i want to introduce dan welch who is here to talk about the man we love to hate, john pope. here is dan welch, the man with too many laughs and not enough free time. [ applause ] >> well, good evening, everyone. one of the things i've not shared with a lot of you is my absolute love of the southern rock band lynyrd skynyrd. [ applause ] i've been very fortunate over the last several years to meet some of the plane crash survivors. i've visited all the graves of those that perished in october 1977. i've heard some wonderful stories from some of their former managers and crew. and one of the stories i heard was, as lynyrd skynyrd was getting very popular as the '70s were wearing on and their

lincoln was wrong in the first sentence of the gettysburg address, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, they brought together sovereign state much like the confederacy of 1861, a league of nation. it's really the constitution you are asking about, how long dohi the founders think the constitution would last? jefferson battleship last no more than ten years, every ten years it should be redone. every generation needed to rethink it, every generation needed to be sovereign. of course that could affect a recipe for anarchy in madison was not happy with it. madison himself was asked in 1829, how long will it last? is no man by then and he says if we are lucky, 100 years so that would have meant 1929 so the question is right to think the founders would be stunned we still have the same documentaf they drafted. obviously it was amended and they thought we would have had at least one or two or three major revisions and i'm showing my own personal bias but for example, they be absolutely stunned to believe we still have the electoral college was never none of them really

flight 93 and "gettysburg rebels",

. >> well we were not a nation and lincoln in the gettysburg address, our fathers brought forth and on this continent a new nation but in the brought together a federation of sovereign states much like the confederacy of 1861. the league of nations and take a bit of almost take to get us to the constitution, is really the constitution that you're asking about and how long did the founders think the constitution would last read and jefferson that should last no more than ten years, every ten years and should be redone in every generation needed to rethink it every generation needs to be sovereign and of course that could have been of recipe for anarchy and is not happy with it. medicine himself was asked the question in 1829, how long will it last. he's no man by then he said if you're really lucky, 100 years so that would've meant 1929 so the question is, the founders would be stunned that we still have the same document that they drafted and obviously with amendments and they would've thought that we would have at least one or two or three major revisions and i'm showing my bias here

each of our veterans is a link in a proud chain that has stood for the defense of our country, from gettysburg to iwo jima. each understood the price of freedom and shouldered that burden on our behalf. our veterans represent the best of america. you are the spine of america. all of us owe you. on veterans day, and every day we honor that great that and recommit ourselves to giving our sacred obligation as a nation, we honor what you have done. we have many obligations. i would have gotten in trouble when i was a young senator for saying we only have one truly sacred obligation -- to properly prepare and equip those we send into harm's way and care for the and their families while they are deployed and when they return home. this is a lifetime sacred commitment. it never expires. for me, for joe, for the entire family, it is personal. when both -- beau was deployed to iraq, after spending six months in kosovo trying to set up a criminal justice system, eight got a call from him one day. he said, dead, what are you doing friday? he said, i would like you to pin my bars on. someone has got to fi

and a beautiful acclamation which i urge you to go back and read and it was just after the battle of gettysburg and there was a time when the war had turned and it looks like a win and lincoln talks about americans coming together as one people celebrating with one voice. it is a lovely image and ones that we could see today. that is right. but after lincoln's death, he did not give up, she was beginning to write the president for the rest of her light in the consonant printed and take a believe and then they all followed suit and then by then the traditions have caught on. >> is a powerful's woman. horrific and when we take questions from the audience we have a couple of questions appear and there is the microphone. >> thank you very much, that was wonderful and he began by talking about yourself as an author. in the book, you talk about the influence that the helipad on what it means to be an author in america and was wondering if you could talk a little bit more about this yes, before hail, being an author was usually a pretty private undertaking and that it was neither self published or you

he's also co-author of last road north, the book on the gettysburg campaign, co-author of immediately coming up book on ohio and introduce paintballs who's here to talk about the man we love to hate, john pope so here is dan welch, a man with too many class and not enough free time. [laughter] [applause] >> good evening, everyone. one of the things i've not shared with a lot of you is my absolute love of the sovereign rock bands leonard skynyrd. [applause] -fortunate to meet some of the plane crash survivors who visited all the graves of those who perished october 1977, i've heard wonderful stories from some of their former managers and group is one of the stories i heard as he was getting popular, 70s wearing on their fame was rising, a lot of acts they would open talk to their manager and say don't let them close with freeburg, who can't top that. this would be from plans like peter and the rolling stones and now i know exactly the situation they were in trying to follow gary gallagher but in all honesty, i want to begin tonight by thinking my colleagues and all the members for thei

in liberty -- which when we're reading it it doesn't seem like that, to that specific audience, the gettysburg address entirely different speech so i think it's you can really see how specifically focussed the whole entire speech was on the audience. just more conservative rather than only conservative evangelicals but incredibly like straightforward and very narrow. >> sure. what did you get from the speech writers? because this is something a lot of you guys are going to be doing. maybe not for a president. but i guarantee you that some of you in the years ahead are going to be doing entrepreneurs, maybe for a politician. maybe for an ad advocacy group. and some of you are going to be writing speeches. so what did you get out o these two chapters? one by a republican, one by a democrat. >> i think in nose cases. -- and especially wants to have their own ideas emphasized in their speeches. it doesn't matter whether you are a democrat or republican. it feels like each politician has a different agenda. but also proof reading is extremely important. >> yes. yes. and again in the case of the --

which when we're reading it it doesn't seem like that, but when you apply it to a specific audience the gettysburg address is an entirely different speech. you can see how focused the speech was on the audience, just more conservative but so incredibly like straightforward and very narrow. >> true. and what did you get from the speechwriters because this is something a lot of you guys are going to be doing maybe not for a president. but i guarantee you some of you in the years ahead are going to be doing internships maybe for a politician, maybe for an advocacy group. and some of you are going to be writing speeches. so what did you get out of these two chapters, one by a republican or a democrat? >> i think in those cases they want their own ideas emphasized in those speeches. it didn't matter whether you're a democrat or republican. it feels like each politician has a different agenda, but also proofreading is extremely important. >> yes. again, in the quote there was a proofreading fail. yeah, and that is a cause of tension in the speech writing process between the policy experts and the people

think the speech is certainly -- and have imagery -- one thing we are waiting about is [inaudible] the gettysburg address as a speech. so i think you can really see how it's in specific focus, its impact on the, audience more conservative, -- evangelicals but it's incredibly straightforward. >> and what did you get from the speech writers? because this is something a lot of you guys are going to be doing, maybe not quite president. but i guarantee you that some of you in the years ahead of you will be doing internships, maybe work for advocacy groups and some of you will be writing speeches. so what do you get out of these two, one by a republican and won by democrat? >> [inaudible] one is their opinion and one has input and [inaudible] but it doesn't matter [inaudible] and each politician has a different agenda. but also proofreading is especially important. [inaudible] >> yes, and in the case of the tocqueville quote, there was [inaudible] -- >> noonan specifically reminded me of language -- [inaudible] and the noonan uses colorful imagery [inaudible] preventing that and didn't want it to be --

receive the medal of honor for his actions in defending the flank of the union army in the battle of gettysburg and repelling numerous confederate charges up little round top, thus helping win the decisive battle of the civil war. i have not researched whether there were too many or not enough such medals given. i know and some research in my book which includes the medal of honor recipients for iraq and afghanistan that at one point it was thought that they were being too stingy, and the secretary of defense and jim mattis asked the services to go back and look at some of the engagements and whether individuals who had won a distinguished service cross, the second most -- highest honor for gallantry, whether those might actually deserve a medal of honor. some were upgraded to a medal of honor. honor. i think that was a good thing. these engagements, if you read these narratives, you will find they are as intense as any combat any generation of american troops have been in, and these were richly deserved recognitions of that. host: jim kittfield, how do these awards compared to other combats? g

proud change of patriots that has stood in the defense of our country from bunker hill to bello woods, gettysburg and iwo jima, the chosin reservoir and each stood the price of freedom and each shouldered that burden on our behalf. the our veterans represent the pest of america. you are the very spine of america, not just the backbone. you're the spine of this country and all of us owe you so on veterans day and every day we honor that great debt and recommit ourselves to keeping our sacred obligation as a nation to honor what you've done. we have many obligations to our children and to our elderly, to those truly in need, but i've gotten in trouble way back when i was a young senator for luis aliceaing we only one true sacred obligation, many obligations but one truly sacred obligation, to properly prepare those and equip those who we send into harm's way and care for them and their families while they are both deployed and when they return home. this is a lifetime sacred commitment. it never expires, and for me and for jill and for the entire biden family it's personal. when beyou a was deploye

so, it is in people's minds even those easier to memorize the gettysburg address. and world war i for a, lot of interesting reasons it sort of began to say, the original american movement and the run up to world war ii by adopting the farewell address. i think fundamentally, it created a missed impression that it's an isolated document and in the madison square garden, we will get to that but -- >> lindsey, can you take us back to the 18th century and some of this language. john, giving us a great way to speak to 24 century. but how this is been red in 96. like you, said there's an election just around the corner. >> yeah, i think as john alluded to at the very beginning this isn't intensely partisan when you think of the challenges that we face today in terms of misinformation and disinformation. when you think of all the things, they hadn't done it before. let's not forget the constitution. so, this government already constitutes a second chance of getting it right. so, one misstep would lead to the nation's -- washington share that fear during the debate that jo