One-hundred-and-fifty-years after the outbreak of the Civil War, some still debate whether or not the Civil War could have been avoided.  The Lincoln Forum presented a panel of historians discussing the issue in Gettysburg as the nation reflects on the Civil War Sesquicentennial.

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Shortly after the 1860 election of Abraham Lincoln, southern states began to secede from the Union over the issue of states’ rights and the institution of slavery. The Fort Sumter-Fort Moultrie Historical Trust held a symposium at the Citadel recently to discuss the actions of South Carolina, the first state to secede in December 1860.

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Iver Bernstein discusses the causes and consequences of the New York City Draft Riots of mid-July 1863, that resulted from the federal draft for additional troops to fight in the war. Mr. Bernstein spoke at the U.S. Capitol Historical Society’s 2012 Civil War Symposium.

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Open for business in 1861 and located about six blocks from the capitol building, the United States Government Printing Office still prints the Congressional Record each day that the House and Senate are in session. We visited to learn the history of GPO and to see some of their historic printing jobs, including the "Official Records of the War of the Rebellion," which took twenty years to print, and the twenty-seven volume "Warren Commission Report on the Assassination of President Kennedy."

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Historian and author Craig Symonds talks about the various naval aspects of the war – from technological developments, to the battles themselves; from the Union blockade, to the rivers of the Western Theater. Symonds is history professor emeritus at the U.S. Naval Academy, and the author of “The Civil War at Sea.” He presented this talk at the Smithsonian’s Ripley Center, on the National Mall.

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Guests Charles Evans Jr. and Victor DeNoble discuss the documentary film that chronicles DeNoble’s unexpected discovery of an ingredient in tobacco which, the data revealed, when coupled with nicotine makes cigarettes more addictive. The research and the company’s attempts to keep it private lead to Congressional testimony before a subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The movie details how this public revelation of DeNoble’s findings led journalists, politicians, attorneys and scientists to join forces against the tobacco industry,  which ultimately resulted in the first ever federal regulation of the tobacco industry. Evans discusses how and why he went about making the film, which began when he first watched Dr. DeNoble’s testimony on C-SPAN in 1994. DeNoble talks about growing up in New York, his early work at the Philip Morris Company and what it was like to testify before Congress on such a controversial subject.

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Historians Craig Symonds, James McPherson and Harold Holzer discuss the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg. The three-day battle fought in Pennsylvania from July 1st through 3rd, 1863, was the bloodiest of the war, resulting in an estimated 51 thousand total casualties. This is the first in a two-part series on the battle, hosted by the New-York Historical Society.

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Douglas Brinkley talks about his book, "Cronkite," which chronicles the life of long time CBS Evening News anchorman Walter Cronkite, often referred to as "the most trusted man in America."

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Historians consider several developments in naval technology over the course of the war. They discuss ironclad gunboats, Confederate efforts to break the Union Blockade, and spar torpedo boats. This event was part of a symposium on Technology and the Civil War hosted by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.

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Ted Widmer is the editor of “Listening In: The Secret White House Recordings of John F. Kennedy.” The book contains two audio CDs with 75 minutes of recorded conversations from the oval office, cabinet meetings, telephone calls, and private dictations during Kennedy’s presidency. Mr. Widmer describes how he was approached by the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation to select and introduce and transcribe the recordings. He shares numerous clips throughout the program including a phone call from President Kennedy to Defense department advisors about the best way to board inbound Soviet ships during the Cuban missile crisis. We hear as President Kennedy calls Dwight Eisenhower and Harry Truman seeking advice. Widmer also chose to share the contentious discussions between Kennedy and then Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett as they dealt with the riots over the enrollment of James Meredith as the first black student to attend the University of Mississippi. Widmer also reveals a more light-hearted side to the President in several of the recordings. Widmer reflects upon his academic training at Harvard, as well as his experiences serving both President Bill Clinton, during his presidency, and Hillary Clinton, during her time as Secretary of State.

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