Dr. Spock's lecture tonight about the Ambassador Cassius Clay: American Lion and Russian Bear was rather informative and enjoyable. She did a job well-done! The lecture was really interesting. I honestly had known very little about Clay before this. Afterwards, I felt like I grew a few more "wrinkles in the gray matter". I thought the entire lecture was done really well, and I had learned so much. One minor thing that really stood out to me was the Alaska ordeal.
I knew that Alaska had once been property of Russia, but I had no idea about anything else past that. People in America and surrounding nations had actually bought the shipped Alaskan ice for the longest time. Furthermore, the negotiations between the diplomats of Alaska and Russia, that excluded Cassius Clay was pretty cool. Regardless of what people think about Cassius Clay, he really did have a lot for Russia, and for his home country. Clay was really hurt by the fact that no one actually told him about Russia selling Alaska off to American during the Polk Administration, which I guess goes with the Manifest Destiny philosophy. He really held Russia close to his heart because he loved the architecture, and "fine Russian ladies" (which I found hilariously odd).
In all, Cassius Clay was quite interesting, and I'm happy that Dr. Spock gave a lecture on him. She did a splendid job! I found his love for Alaska, American, and Russia similar to my own. Clay was a very neat character, and Dr. Spock inspired me to learn more about him!
I greatly enjoyed this lecture on Cassius Clay. I thought that Dr. Spock did an excellently job on the lecture. One thing that I wished she focused a little more on is his strong stance on anti-slavery. After this lecture I decided to do some more research on Clay, and I discovered that Clay was from one of the most prominent landowners and slaveholding families in Kentucky. When he was at Yale, he heard the abolitionist Garrison speak,and this is what inspired him to become a part of the anti-slavery movement. Another interesting thing that I found was after witnessing the emancipation reform in Russia, he talked to President Lincoln about doing the same thing and eventually Lincoln wrote the Emancipation Proclomation. Clay was a big influence behind a lot of things that happened during the Civil War.
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