The former residence in Richmond, Virginia of Confederate President Jefferson Davis has been restored to look as it did during the Civil War. American History TV visited to learn more about President Davis, his family, and the many political & military leaders who once walked through the front door.

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This second of a two-part look at the wartime home of Confederate States of America President Jefferson Davis features the second floor of the mansion, where Davis spent many hours in his office, and his children played nearby in a large parlor.

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Author and University of Pennsylvania history professor Stephanie McCurry speaks about her book, “Confederate Reckoning: Power and Politics in the Civil War South.” She says the South sowed the seeds of its demise in creating a regime that excluded white women and slaves, who together comprised a majority of the population. 

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Professor Mary DeCredico teaches a history course on the Civil War at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis. In this class, she focuses on early Confederate victories leading up to the year 1863, which is considered by many to be the military peak of the South.

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Historian Peter Carmichael is a specialist on the Civil War and Southern history. He is currently the Director of the Civil War Institute and teaches history at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania. In this week’s class, Professor Carmichael looks at the complexity of the Confederate soldier.

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Saul Cornell discusses his book "A Well-Regulated Militia: The Founding Fathers and the Origins of Gun Control in America."  He explores the opposing sides of the gun control debate, arguing that both base their opinions on a flawed understanding of the second amendment.

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“Operation Gold” was a 1950s project conducted by the CIA and the British Intelligence Service to tap into Soviet communications by tunneling from West Berlin into East Berlin, Germany. Known as “Operation Stopwatch” by the British, the 1,500 foot tunnel was active for eleven months, and netted about 40,000 hours of East German telephone conversations - even though the KGB knew about the tunnel before it was built. Retired CIA officer Lou Mehrer tells the story of the Berlin Tunnel at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library & Museum in West Branch, Iowa.

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Harvard Law School history professor Annette Gordon-Reed is the author of two books exploring the story of Sally Hemings and her family’s ties to Thomas Jefferson. Her 2009 book, “The Hemingses of Monticello,” won a Pulitzer Prize. At the National Council for History Education National Conference in Richmond, Virginia, professor Gordon-Reed discusses teaching about slavery, as well as the research that led to her books.

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These are unedited excerpts from a 1992 conversation with former President Gerald Ford. He remembers Dwight D. Eisenhower from the perspective of the Michigan congressman that he was in the 1950s. Topics include the 1952 election and the GOP’s domestic agenda, McCarthyism, civil rights, and Ike’s legacy for the Republican party. He also discusses the day he took his young sons to visit Eisenhower at his Gettysburg farm, and the impromptu lesson the former World War II general gave the Ford boys on one of this nation’s most storied battles.   

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In this program from our 1999 "American Presidents: Life Portraits" series we focused on Rutherford B. Hayes' life and career. Author Ari Hoogenboom and the director of the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center, Roger Bridges, talked about President Hayes as a lawyer, soldier, and politician during the contested election of 1876 in which Congress appointed Hayes president despite his loss to Samuel Tilden in the national election. The guests also explored the grounds of the Hayes Presidential Center, highlighting the various landmarks there. 

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