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Smithsonian

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The Smithsonian's Lonnie Bunch: Learning from history

Lonnie G. Bunch III is enamored of American history. Last June he was named Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, which he calls "part of the glue that holds the country together." Bunch, who oversaw the creation of the National Museum of African-American History and Culture, is in charge of 19 museums, 21 libraries, the National Zoo, 7,000 employees, and a budget of $1.5 billion — and is on a mission that he believes is nothing short of monumental. He talks with CBS News national correspondent Chip Reid about the personal connections he has to some of most precious objects in the Smithsonian's collections.

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When America's politics turn ugly

Historian Jon Grinspan, a curator at the Smithsonian Institution, has studied how intense partisanship in the 19th century was driven by people feeling isolated, their lives unstable, feeding an aggressive, even violent political discourse. He talks with CBS News' John Dickerson about his book, "The Age of Acrimony: How Americans Fought to Fix Their Democracy, 1865-1915," and how our nation's ugly trends in politics have returned, from partisan news to the white supremacists' march in Charlottesville and the January 6 insurrection. (Originally broadcast October 16, 2022.)

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