nothing very particular, but i would be glad to see you. >> a lincoln, telegraph received. i have a very bad cold and i am anxious to return home. >> all is well as usual, but no particular trouble any way. i put the money in the treasury, i suppose you are glad to learn of this. >> honorable, a lincoln, president of the united states, we reached new york in safety, hope you are well, please send me by well a check for $50. tad says are the goats well. >> this is a lincoln, the check will go to you, tell the boy that father is very well, especially the goats. >> but mary is not well. just after the battle of gueet y

gettysberg, and her eldest son says she is never the same again. then when the tower fathers vit her to say a few words. mary stays home. worrying now about tad, the youngest who is ill with fever, panicked that he might die, lincoln goes anyway, determined to honor the soldier who is lost their lives in the bloodest battle of the war. a photographer on the scene take this is one picture. as the president takes his seat on the platte form at the soldier's cemetery. but the only visual legacy of his oratory, comes from artists conceptions, lincoln's address ends so abruptly, after just 271

words in three minutes, that the cameraman fails to take a picture of his greatest oration, perhaps the greatest oration ever. just before he delivers it, lincoln receives a telegraph at home, clearly aware this is her husband's day, wants his mind clear before it begins. >> the doctor has just left, we hope dear tad is slightly better. >> with a little note will long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. it is for us, the living rather to be dedicated here, to the unfinished work which they who fought here so nobly carried on. it is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us. but from these honored dead, we take increased devotion for that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion,

that we here hardly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain. but this nation, under god shall have a new birth of freedom. and that governments of the people by the people, for the people, shall not perish, from the earth. >> lincoln adroitly engineers his renomination for the presidency the following may, but faces an electorate that has not granted a second term to any president since andrew jackson. the campaign is vicious and lincoln becomes convinced by summer he will lose. but then human victory in atlanta releases the country's grim mood and lincoln wins handily in november. >> if he wins, i can keep him

ignorant of my affairs. >> it has long been a broad question that the liberties of the -- strong enough to maintain it's own existence in greet emergencies. the election was a necessity. we cannot have free government without elections and if the rebellion could force us to forego or postpone a national election, it might fairly claim to have already conquered and ruin us. >> we can afford to be triumphed and cheer feel and i assure you i am -- wang the great distinction conferred upon him will ever remain disinterested in all that concerns himself. >> vickery, preservation of the union and the eradication of slavery under the 13th amendment now seem imminent. in virginia as general grant closes in on general lee,

president lincoln rushes to the front to witness the final scenes. but for mary, it is too late to find personal peace. on one of the rare occasions when she joins her husband with the army, mary arrives late for a military review, battled from a rough ride and shes air husband riding on horse back, writes an eyewitness, mrs. lincoln repeatedly attacked her husband in the presence of others. he bore it as christ might have done, with an expression of pain and sadness that cut one to the heart, but with supreme calmness and dignity. lincoln sends mary back to washington and though she pleads for another chance the president enters the captured confederate capital of richmond in april, with only little tad at his

side. by the time the president agrees to his wife's return, the drama has ebbed, and the war is nearly over. >> notwithstanding our opposite nations our lives have been considerably peaceful. mr. lincoln most probably goes down to the front this week and wishes me to act company him. i gladly seize on any change that will benefit him. >> mrs. lincoln, washington from city point virginia will be glad to see you and your party at the time you name. >> glorious news. >> the war had taken it's toll. not only on the devastated landscape the lincolns now inspect, but on the lincolns themselves, mary has become a bitter, stout matron, unwilling to be seen in public without her elaborate mourning attire.

the president is weary and gaunt. so shockingly thin in his last photographs, one of them with tad, that his wife feels obliged to make excuses for his appearance. >> i take the liberty of enclosing a photograph of my little taddy, although not such a good one of mr. lincoln. >> i am alarmed at my house, i have a tired spot i cannot seem to reach. to lieutenant general grant, if the thing is pretsdsed, i think that we can be -- let the thing be pressed. fellow citizens, i very greatly find that an occasion has occurred that the people cannot restrain themselves. i propose is band perform a particular tune. i have always thought dixie, one of the best songs i have heard.

i insisted yesterday that we fairly captured it and now i request the band to favor me with its presentation. >> how i wish -- having a sense that the unnatural rebellion was near its close and being most of the time away in washington where he endured such conflicts of mind, within the last four years, feeling so encouraged, he freely gave vent to his cheerfulness. he reminded me of his original nature which i had always remembered of him in our own home, free from care and surrounded by those who he was so idolized. the friday he was murdered, i never saw him so supremely cheerful. his manner was even playful. at 3:00 in the afternoon, he drove out with me in the open carriage and starting i asked him if anyone should accompany

us. >> nobody, i prefer to ride by ourselves today. >> he was so gay that i said laughingly, dear husband, you almost startle me with your great cheerfulness. >> we must both be more cheerful of the future. >> our heavenly father has removed my idolized husband from me. my boys are deprived of their counselor and protector, my all, and one so devoted always to me is removed from our site forever. i go hence broken hearted with every home almost in life crushed. time has at length convinced me that the loved and idolized being comes no more and i must patiently await the hour when god's love shall place me by his side again, where there are no more partings and no more tears to shed, for i have become almost blind with weeping. >> but lincoln had left

americans with hope. just six weeks before, it stood before the new dome of the u.s. capitol, whose construction, war notwithstandi notwithstanding, he pursued to the -- as a sign that the country would go on. this is the very photo that mary treasured in her family album. and here abraham lincoln delivered unforgetably, his second inaugural address. >> with malice for none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as god has given us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds. to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan to do all which may achieve and cherish a

just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations. >> the nation's house was healed. but the family house shattered, draped in mourning. tad dies in 1871. mary is isn't to an asylum by her only surviving son robert. and later dies in a darkened room back in springfield in 1882, comforted in her final years by this so-called spirit photograph, concocted by a charlatan, supposedly showing abram and willie's ghost behind him americans now collect idolized images of their shattered family circle.

composites that had to be stitched together because the lincolns had so rarely been together, much less posed together while they lived. the lincoln family album is finished, closed forever, mary finds solace only from the words inscribed on her wedding band. >> love is eternal. >> as for lincoln, he seems to have known years before he became the last casualty of his war to save and remake america. that his words and images would be enshrined. >> we shall nobly save or meanly lose the last, best hope of earth. we will be remembered in spite of ourselves. we cannot escape history.

>> all day today, american history tv is featuring america's first leedeadies. who do you think was the most influential first lady? you can join the conversation on facebook.com/csp facebook.com/cspan. >> why do we care what the first lady wears? but we look to her clothing for clues about what she's like as a person, about what the administration may be like, both in its style, sit formal, is it ininformal, is it extravagant, is it simple. probably something about her politics or the administration's politics. is it american made, do you proudly say that you only wear american designed and american made clothing.

a lot of first ladies have worn american clothing. >> if you look at the back, eleanor roosevelt had a busy life and she made a point of saying busy women also like to buy their clothes off the rack. but she also stressed thatt y ct shops. so her politics also came into her clothing. >> what is the oldest gown. >> the oldest gown in the collection is actually martha washington's. it's not on display now, it has been displayed for a long time now so it's having a rest now. the oldest dress will be dolly madison's. michelle obama donateds hers personally. mrs. obama came and presented the dress and the jewshoes, but actually donated and she --

>> it's interesting, this is the first time we had the designers donate and mrs. obama had them donate these pieces. so jason wu and jimmy chu and lori rodkin. and mrs. obama came to present the pieces in the museum. >> what goes into deciding which dress to wear? and are they thinking about what influence that will have on her husband's administration. >> i think it's likely going to be more political. we were lucky enough to interview rosiland carter and laura bush, about the dresses that they chose. thinking maybe there was a symbolism and mrs. carter in reality, for sentimental reasons wore a dress again that she had worn when her husband was made governor of georgia.

and mrs. bush, just remembers collaborating with the designer, michael fair cloth and you wanted a pretty party dress. the first lady wants it to be beautiful, she wants it to be comfort, and she wants it to be appropriate. and appropriate is the word when first ladies are dealing with clothes, they want it to be appropriate for the occasion, appropriate for their age and appropriate for the first lady. even when she's not functioning in duty hours, she represents the united states.

>> this is american history tv on cspan3. we're featuring in hours on our nation's first ladies. up next, eleanor roosevelt from 1953. >> this was a 15-minute public affairs program broadcast on cbs from 1951 to 1955. the program discussed news issues of the day and featured guests such as elected officials, foreign dignitaries and other prominent officials. guests were questioned from journalists like cbc, and the tribune. eleanor roosevelt was first lady of the united states from 1933 to 1945 after president franklin

d. roosevelt died, eleanor stayed active in politics and political affairs. in 1953, eleanor roosevelt was interviewed. among the topics covered, the u.n., foreigners' attitudes towards americans and what it means to be a liberal. >> it's time for the longine's telescope, brought to you every monday, wednesday and friday, brought to you by longenes. and wittenour. >> may i introduce our co-editor, edward p. morgan and

bill dobbs, both of the cbs television news guest. with us is one of the most distinguished ladies in america live. mrs. roosevelt. >> i had dinner with man and haze wife in spokane, washington. quite sincerely asked us two questions, do these foreigners hate us as much as they seem to and are they ever going to be grateful for the things that we do for them? now you've just come back from one of your latest trips in the far parts of the world, could you answer those questions? >> i would not say that foreigners hateded us. i would say that many of them were a little suspicious everything they wanted to do,

they had to ask us for our help or some of it would come from the united nations and they liked that better because they were members and they felt they got it by right and there was no one individual nation that they had to depend on. but i would say that it's awful hard to be grateful for something which you felt you would like to be able to do without asking anyone. >> well, mrs. roosevelt, we heard a lot about criticism of american policy and what we have done or tried to do. is this something new? i mean, is this something to do with this administration, the truman administration, or perhaps even your late husband's administration? >> when the war was over and we began to have to help people to

build up again, and we were the ones who had not been bombed and had no homes destroyed, we had difficulty in getting new homes, but we didn't have to carry away acres of rubble of old homes that once existed, and we had our whole production unit intact, and practically no other nation in the world was in that fortunate position. >> so this is history rather than politics? >> this is history rather than politics. there is some envy in it. there is peopley who say they will never be grateful for what we've done, i think there is gratitude. but gratitude is sometimes swamped by the sins of why was this done? was it done in the long run so we could -- we who just freed ourselves from political

domination be dominated to political economics? that's not one natural. the history of most of these countries in asia and in some parts of europe is that people who do things for you expect something in return. >> and i suppose if we do things as we are supposed to and enlighten self-interest that we are not necessarily expected to anticipate gratitude. >> well, of course, it is enlightened self-interest, because getting them back on their feet is necessary for us because we need markets. >> you spoke of the united nations, mrs. roosevelt, and that brings up a most topical point. before we get into the heart of it, let's explore a public reaction to it here. there seems to be a great deal of suspicion among our own people about the united nations and its effectiveness. what is your reaction to that? >> i think that's easily

explained, because we're a very big country and a very strong country. we have not needed any of the programs carried on by the specialized agencies which are the action part of the united nations. we've not needed those programs in our country because we were all right. india has needed to have land cleared of malaria. other nations have needed help to get rid of tuberculosis. there are 1,001 things that less fortunate nations can see have happened and be grateful for from the united nations. we don't happen to be in that category. it matters to us what the united nations does elsewhere because, again, where people are ridden with malaria, they will never buy our goods. >> well, mrs. roosevelt, do you think the united nations, as an

instrument of world political opinion and operation, has lost ground in, say, the last five or six years in this country? >> i think, like everyone else, that we started out expecting that the united nations would solve every difficulty just by being the united nations. we didn't realize that the united nations is all the nations gathered in one place but all the troubles remained, just as they were before. therefore, we had to work to make the united nations work, and we didn't want to work, and we didn't expect to have to do this work. and now we know we have to, which is healthy, i think. >> that brings up another point, mrs. roosevelt. secretary of state dulles has just made an important speech before the american bar association in boston, the

essence of which was that the united nations charter, i think he put it, was a pre-atomic age charter, and, therefore, not flexible to the times, and he recommended that the security council be stripped of the veto and said that in some future assembly in '55, i believe it was, that the united states would consider sponsoring such a move. what do you believe about that? >> it would bring about great change for the united states, because we felt that unless we had the veto, we would never get the charter through congress. and that's just one reason why the veto was put there. of course, the fact the soviets had misused the veto, used it for a great many things that it was not intended for. what it was intended for was to make it possible for a nation, a great nation, to prevent the discussion of domestic affairs which they considered were no

business of anybody else's in the world. whether we now are ready to submit to discussion of our domestic affairs is a question that the people will have to decide. >> aren't we, in effect, or isn't secretary dulles in effect asking for a showdown, though, when he says, all right, let us split the united nations or let people line up on our side or their side with no veto and we carry this by majority vote? do you think that is a possible consequence? >> i would hope that perhaps, just as we trust our people in the united states, we would try to get them to trust the nations. i hope we do nothing, however, so definite that we really hurt the united nations, because i think this is the one hope to eventually building peace, and

to do anything, like making an announcement of policy which you cannot change if you find it is unwise in the future, and today, heaven knows. being met constantly with new reasons and you ought to be able to be flexible. >> mrs. roosevelt, excuse me. speaking as bill downs did a moment ago of lining up on one side or the other, what is your position regarding india and the issue of her representation at the korean peace conference? >> well, last year i was in india and i wrote a book called "india and the waking beast," just trying to explain some problems in that area of the world in a very simple fashion because i could only give impressions. it wasn't a learned treatise. my feeling is when you insist on lining up people, what you do is put our friends with the soviets

if you insist that that's the only place they can sit. i feel it's very unfortunate. >> well, mrs. roosevelt, you have been -- become known as the leader of what is loosely called "the liberal movement" in this country, or what used to be called the liberal movement in this country, and some people call them do-gooders and the rest of it. could you define a liberal for us? i mean, you've been here all along. >> i would feel a liberal was a person who kept an open mind, was willing to meet new questions with new solutions and felt that you could move forward and you didn't have to always look backwards and be afraid of moving forward. >> and that's what this national issues committee is all about? >> the national issues committee is going to try to look at the issues, to put them in simple terms so that the people can

understand them as objectively as possible, and to feel that they can, as the liberals do, move forward. >> this will be a final question, mrs. roosevelt. we've been told by our experts that we may have to live in this world of uncertainty and indecision in this cold war for x number of years to come. what is your recipe for us to face up to it? >> i think a study of our history. certainly the people who settled this country did not have any great security. and it's hard for them to reach that point. it's hard important the young to live in uncertainty. they love to be sure of the future. we have the stamina, particularly if we look at what we came from. >> thank you very much. >> the opinions that you've heard are freely expressed tonight.