Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1180196
T he U.S. Capitol Historical Society hosted lunchtime lectures throughout the spring, with topics ranging from artwork in the Capitol to political science studies of House leadership races. The series kicked off with a Women's History Month Lecture that featured former Capitol Fellow Sandra Weber discussing artist Adelaide Johnson and her work sculpting woman suffrage activ- ists. Johnson's portrait monument of Susan B. Anthony, Lucretia Mott, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton currently stands in the Capitol Rotunda. April opened with a presentation from John Brady, president of the board of directors of the Flagship Olym- pia Foundation, replete with details about the USS Olym- pia's construction and history, as well as notes about its role in bringing an unknown WWI soldier from Europe to the U.S.—a journey that ended when the remains lay in state in the Capitol and were buried at Arling- ton Cemetery. USCHS also welcomed back Matthew Green (Catholic University) to offer highlights from his just-published book Choosing the Leader: Leadership Elections in the House of Representatives, co-authored with Douglas Harris. His talk highlighted several of the races that the book examines in detail and ended with audience mem- bers sharing recollections of their involvement as staff members in leadership races. Award-winning historian Brenda Wineapple joined us in May, just after the well-received publication of her new book, The Impeachers: The Trial of Andrew Johnson and the Dream of a Just Nation. She argued that the impeach- ment was an attempt to preserve the Union and erad- icate the effects of slavery; to understand the Johnson impeachment, we must recall the context of the intimi- dation and killing of black people occurring throughout former Confederate states. Without that context, we miss the story and the point. To downgrade this moment of impeachment, to forget why it actually happened—these reasons beyond the Tenure of Office Act—is to ignore that the impeachment was about how to create a fair and free country. C-SPAN recorded several of these lectures, and those talks are now available on c-span.org. Search for "Capitol Historical Society" and the speaker ( John Brady and Matthew Green) to find them in the online archives. All of our history lectures and book talks are free and open to the public; our members and other donations support the programming. If you'd like to donate or become a member, see uschs.org for full membership details or use the envelope included in this issue to send in your donation. To learn more about upcoming USCHS history events, visit uschs.org and check the news releases or cal- endar events for the latest updates. 42 THE CAPITOL DOME society neWs Sandra Weber John Brady Brenda Wineapple BRUCE GUTHRIE Spring Talks from USCHS