Historians discuss the role of Henry Clay (1777-1852) in American politics. Known as the "Great Compromiser" but also as "The Dictator," he ran five unsuccessful presidential campaigns. Perhaps the most powerful politician of his time, he served as speaker of the House, U.S. senator, and secretary of state. This is the first of our 14-week series called "The Contenders: They Ran & Lost but Changed Political History."

More Info »

This weekend on History Bookshelf, Historians David and Jeanne Heidler discusses their book, “Henry Clay: The Essential American.”

More Info »

200 years ago in 1811, Henry Clay began his first term as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.  He had a prolific political career, not only serving as Speaker, but also serving several terms in the U.S. Senate.  He also served as Secretary of State under President John Quincy Adams from 1825 to 1829.

More Info »

Kentucky State historian James Klotter speaks about Henry Clay at the University of Louisville’s McConnell Center.

More Info »

In this program from our 1999 "American Presidents: Life Portraits" series we focused on James Garfield's life and career. Historians discussed Garfield's military service, his election as president and assassination shortly after his inauguration. Suzanne Miller, the site manager at Garfield's home in Mentor, Ohio, talked about several of the artifacts and documents that Garfield left behind. 

More Info »

C-SPAN’s Local Content Vehicles take American History TV on the road. Throughout the weekend of May 18-20 we feature the history of Columbia, South Carolina.

More Info »

Thousands of colonists rejected the War for American Independence and many fled to the British stronghold of New York City. San Jose State University History Professor Ruma Chopra discusses the situation in the city and the perspective of those who looked upon the British as natural allies in religion, language and blood and thought the violence of rebellion was unnecessary and unlawful.

More Info »

This is a look at President Eisenhower’s views and actions in the area of civil rights, including the desegregation of the armed forces, his appointments of pro-civil rights Supreme Court justices and the dispatching of the 101st Airborne division to assist in the integration of Little Rock High School in Arkansas.  This discussion was part of a conference titled, “Ike Reconsidered: Lessons from the Eisenhower Legacy for the 21st Century,” co-hosted by Hunter College, City University of New York, the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute & the Eisenhower Foundation.

More Info »

American History TV visited San Francisco’s Chinatown to follow historian Charlie Chin as he tells the story of the Chinese in America to a group of college students. This is part one of a three-part series on San Francisco’s Chinatown. This portion of the series was recorded in the Chinese Historical Society of America Museum.
 

More Info »

Metropolitan State University professor Douglas Rossinow teaches a class on the Iran-Contra affair, which took place in the mid-1980s during the Reagan Administration. The Iran-Contra affair stems from Reagan administration officials funding the Contras - who were fighting against the Sandinista regime in Nicaragua - with money from the sale of arms to Iran. The arms were being sold to Iran in the hope of gaining the release of American hostages held in Lebanon - hence the reason the affair is sometimes called as the “arm-for-hostages” scandal. Metropolitan State University is in St. Paul, Minnesota.

More Info »