C-SPAN2 airs Lawrence group’s tour of presidential sites

A Lawrence group’s tour of presidential sites led by the former director of Kansas University’s Dole Institute of Politics will be broadcast over five nights this week on C-SPAN2.

In October, more than 30 members of the New Generation Society of Lawrence traveled to the New England and New York area with Richard Norton Smith for the tour. Among the sites they visited were the homes of Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin Roosevelt and various graves.

“You can’t say enough about the expertise of Richard Norton Smith,” said Lew Phillips, one of those who went on the tour, which lasted about 10 days. “What a dimension he added to the trip.”

Smith has since left the Dole Institute to direct the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Ill.

A C-SPAN camera crew traveled with the tour group and was especially interested in Smith’s commentary about the sites, Phillips said.

“We tried to stay out of their way and let them do their job but I’m sure a large portion of our people will show up in the video,” Phillips said.

The tour took place at the time New England fall foliage was changing colors, which Phillips considered a bonus.

“We had the opportunity and the insight into a portion of history we otherwise wouldn’t have had,” Phillips said.

C-SPAN2 will broadcast a Lawrence group’s tour of presidential sites at 7 p.m. every day this week. C-SPAN2 is on Sunflower Broadband Channel 28.¢ Today: Theodore Roosevelt’s home of Sagamore Hill in Oyster Bay, N.Y., and a trip to his grave site nearby.¢ Tuesday: Franklin Roosevelt’s home of Springwood in Hyde Park, N.Y.¢ Wednesday: Presidential grave sites, including Grant’s Tomb in New York City; Chester Arthur’s grave site in Albany, N.Y.; and Franklin Pierce’s grave site in Concord, N.H.¢ Thursday: John Adams and John Quincy Adams, Adams National Historical Park, in Quincy, Mass.¢ Friday: Calvin Coolidge’s birthplace, family home, summer White House and burial site in Plymouth Notch, Vt.