National Archives Welcomes Cokie Roberts and Michael Beschloss on April 20
Press Release · Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Washington, DC

Roberts and Beschloss to discuss Roberts’ new book: Capital Dames

On Monday, April 20, at 7 p.m., the National Archives hosts a special program with journalist Cokie Roberts and historian Michael Beschloss about Roberts’ new book: Capital Dames: The Civil War and the Women of Washington, 1848-1868. A book signing will follow the program. This program is made possible in part by the National Archives Foundation (NAF). Both Roberts and Beschloss are NAF Board Members.

This program is free and open to the public and will be held in the William G. McGowan Theater of the National Archives Museum in Washington, DC, and streamed live via YouTube. Attendees should use the Special Events entrance, located on Constitution Avenue at 7th Street, NW. The building is fully accessible. Metro: Yellow or Green lines, Archives/Navy Memorial station.

In Capital Dames, which will be released on April 14, Roberts uses newspaper articles, government records, and private letters and diaries—many never before published—to bring the war-torn capital into focus through the lives of its formidable women. Roberts chronicles women's increasing independence, their political empowerment, their indispensable role in keeping the Union unified through the war, and in helping heal it once the fighting was done. She concludes that the war not only changed Washington, it also forever changed the place of women.

Cokie Roberts is a political commentator for ABC News, providing analysis for all network news programming. She is also a political commentator for NPR. From 1996-2002 she co-anchored the weekly ABC interview program This Week. In her more than forty years in broadcasting, she has won countless awards, including three Emmys. She has been inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame, and was cited by the American Women in Radio and Television as one of the fifty greatest women in the history of broadcasting.

Michael Beschloss is an award-winning historian of the Presidency and the author of eight books, including the Presidential Courage: Brave Leaders and How They Changed America 1789-1989. His most recent book is Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy. Beschloss writes a weekly sports history column that appears in The New York Times, called HistorySource.

This public program is free to the public, but reservations are recommended. For those without reservations, seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. The doors to the building will open 45 minutes prior to the start of the program.

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For press information contact the National Archives Public Affairs staff at 202-357-5300.

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