1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,000 Celebrating the Power of Possibility. 2 00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:29,000 I'm Dr. Warren Docter and I believe anything is possible. 3 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:39,000 Welcome to Anything is Possible. My name is Hallerin Hilton-Hill. 4 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:45,000 You know, I love having great conversations with great people whose lives prove that anything is possible. 5 00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:51,000 And my guest today is Dr. Warren Docter. Your official title is? 6 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:58,000 Dr. Warren Docter. Although recently I was made Colonel aide-de-camp in the state for my work on the 250. 7 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:01,000 So technically I'm Colonel Dr. Docter. 8 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:10,000 And for me you're one of the most important people in our community because of where you work and what you do, which is? 9 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:14,000 Well, so I'm the president of the East Tennessee Historical Society. 10 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:22,000 We work in all 35 counties of East Tennessee and we run the museum downtown in downtown Knoxville right across from the Tennessee Theater. 11 00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:26,000 I have so enjoyed getting to know you through the years. 12 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:32,000 I didn't realize how much a fan of history I was until much later in my life. 13 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:39,000 And you've, you know, you've been on my radio show a few times and just getting to know you has been great. 14 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:48,000 How does a precocious young man like yourself find himself in this field? 15 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:58,000 I, so I always, I've always loved history and, you know, my mother was a teacher up in Granger County and, you know, my dad was very interested in history. 16 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:01,000 And he was in Blount County and I kind of went back and forth between the two. 17 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:06,000 It was very important at my dad's dinner table to be able to answer historical questions. 18 00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:10,000 So at a very early age, I was kind of set up for lots of reading and that kind of stuff. 19 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:14,000 But it was really my grandfather who got me interested. 20 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:16,000 He started taking me to historical sites. 21 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:18,000 We went around Knoxville. 22 00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:19,000 What was his name? 23 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:21,000 His name was Albert Dr. Junior. 24 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:23,000 And so my name is Albert Warren Doctor. 25 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:25,000 I'm named for him. 26 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:28,000 And he and I had a fantastic relationship. 27 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:35,000 And he took me to various historical sites, first around Knoxville, you know, Ramsey House and the other places, then sort of further afield. 28 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:39,000 And we started going to Revolutionary War sites and then it's Civil War sites. 29 00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:44,000 And we continued to travel and there was a fantastic relationship that I had with my grandfather. 30 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:46,000 Now, did he have a formal approach to this? 31 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:50,000 Like he said, there are 20 things that I want my grandson to know. 32 00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:52,000 Or was it more organic? 33 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:54,000 I think it was organic. 34 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:58,000 And when you went to these places, what was the conversation like? 35 00:02:58,000 --> 00:02:59,000 What was he teaching you? 36 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:01,000 What was he telling you? 37 00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:02,000 What was he showing you? 38 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:11,000 One of the things he made very important to me about history is that, you know, people look at history or can look at history like it's just dates and things happening. 39 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:14,000 He made the stories come alive for me. 40 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:21,000 So when we went to Gettysburg, you know, I was excited because I was a kid and I ran up and I had my picture made with like every cannon. 41 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:26,000 But he would tell me what happened and about the different people that were there and those kinds of things. 42 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:29,000 And we would do that at sort of every kind of site we went to. 43 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:32,000 But it was totally organic and we just had a good time of it. 44 00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:38,000 And then when we were in the car driving away, we would kind of talk about it like what did we learn? 45 00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:40,000 And, you know, what do we think about this? 46 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:42,000 You know, he was never bashful about anything. 47 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:49,000 So he would go up and talk to all the kind of tour people or anybody who was working just to kind of get a better idea about what was going on. 48 00:03:49,000 --> 00:04:05,000 Do you think it started out as a love for history or as little kids, we like being liked, one, we like connecting with somebody that seems to want to pay attention to us? 49 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:14,000 Were you gravitating toward the feeling of acceptance and love and history was the context in which that happened? 50 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:17,000 And you went back to that because it made you feel that. Does that make sense? 51 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:19,000 Absolutely. No, and that's a fantastic question. 52 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:25,000 And I don't know, I can't tell you which one it was because of that connection. 53 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:31,000 And that's one of the things even to this day, my dad and I will sit down and our conversation will be largely about history. 54 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:38,000 We'll be talking about whatever is going on in the Middle East and what that had to do with the Ottoman Empire 400 years ago or something. 55 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:45,000 So a lot of my conversations with both my parents is really around sort of things that we're interested in. 56 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:52,000 But I think that feeling of love and acceptance and interest, genuine interest, particularly that I got from my grandfather at that age, 57 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:59,000 really just made me think, wow, this guy's listening to what I'm saying and is interested in my ideas. 58 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:02,000 And it kind of grew from that. So I think it's both things, really. 59 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:12,000 I can't even place a value on the people that take interest in us and take interest in our interest. Right? 60 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:16,000 Oh, that's absolutely it. I mean, I had fantastic teachers growing up. 61 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:21,000 And one in particular I had her name was Miss Laura White. She's still out of Knoxville. 62 00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:27,000 And she got me really interested in world history because I was very focused on American history and Civil War history. 63 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:32,000 And then I started learning about things abroad. And of course, eventually I even went abroad. 64 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:38,000 And that really all kind of started with Laura White and her taking an interest in my interest about reading, I don't know, 65 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:43,000 classic stuff about Greek and Greece and Roman and Roman history, that kind of thing. 66 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:49,000 So mama's from Granger County. I think you said dad was from Blount County. Blount County. 67 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:55,000 A whole lot of history in those two places. Oh, yeah. And so you're growing up, you're going along. 68 00:05:55,000 --> 00:06:00,000 Take me through your educational journey. So, you know, I went to high school in Granger County 69 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:04,000 and I actually started university while I was still in high school. 70 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:09,000 This is back in the days before there was advanced placement. And, you know, I was kind of a rowdy kid. 71 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:16,000 And I think there was a meeting. Yes, I was. Yeah. I think I was probably a difficult child because I was very precocious. 72 00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:21,000 And so we went throwing all those tomatoes. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. 73 00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:28,000 I was finding mischief to get into. And I think there was a meeting probably between mom and the principal at the time, 74 00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:34,000 and maybe even Miss White, who all got together thought we've got to figure out what to do with Warren or he's going to be a real problem. 75 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:40,000 And so I started taking night classes at Walter State and it was in world history. Wow. 76 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:46,000 Western Civ. I did all my Western Civ stuff at Walter State. And I just loved it. Man, I read the books. 77 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:54,000 You know, I loved the stories. And so I had completed by the time I started at UT to do my undergraduate, 78 00:06:54,000 --> 00:07:01,000 I had done a whole semester worth of work in history and other sorts of things. 79 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:06,000 And so that really freed me up to really get in there and do different things with history and that kind of stuff. 80 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:11,000 So, you know, that was a huge opportunity for me as a high school student and really, like I said, 81 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:16,000 my educational journey beyond high school started at Walter State, which is amazing. 82 00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:24,000 Possibility powered by Covenant Health, Home Federal, and the Knoxville News Sentinel. 83 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:38,000 So you go on to the University of Tennessee. What happens? 84 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:42,000 I was very interested in European history. I had fantastic professors. 85 00:07:42,000 --> 00:07:50,000 So I did a double major in history and political science. And I had fantastic professors on both sides. 86 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:55,000 My supervisor, he's still at UT, Dr. Lula Vicious. He's still there in German history, especially. 87 00:07:55,000 --> 00:07:59,000 And then I also had Dr. Paul Pickney, who did British history. 88 00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:03,000 He got me really interested in Britain and Winston Churchill in particular. 89 00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:10,000 We did a class on World War II and I did the World War II classes and I sort of became kind of obsessed with the Second World War 90 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:16,000 and all the things that led up to it, the kind of 19th century into the 20th century. I just loved the time period. 91 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:20,000 And then all the sort of political ideas that were going on. 92 00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:25,000 And Dr. Michael Fitzgerald was my supervisor in political science. 93 00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:29,000 And these people all saw my interest and fed me. 94 00:08:29,000 --> 00:08:33,000 And so in a way I think that I'm standing on the shoulders of giants. 95 00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:37,000 And I went through, I was magna cum laude when I graduated. 96 00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:40,000 And I also was working for my dad's sign company. 97 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:46,000 So all my summers and any free time I had to work to make money to kind of pay for all this, I did. 98 00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:51,000 But I came out of it and I just loved history and I loved it so much. 99 00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:58,000 And I'd studied Britain so much I thought, well, I need to go to Britain if I really want to continue learning about Britain in Britain. 100 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:04,000 And so I worked for my dad's company for a couple of years and then I'd saved up enough money. 101 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:09,000 And we, I went over to the University of Nottingham, you know, like the sheriff. 102 00:09:09,000 --> 00:09:16,000 And that was a lot of fun. And there I made, you know, friends I'm still friends with today. 103 00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:19,000 I mean, it was a real good group of people I was with there. 104 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:24,000 My supervisor there is a guy named Chris Wrigley. He encouraged me to come back for a Ph.D. 105 00:09:24,000 --> 00:09:30,000 So I took some time out after I completed my master's, saved up some money and I got a really good scholarship. 106 00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:34,000 So that the University of Nottingham thought I was a very good student and supported me. 107 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:39,000 So I like to tell people that I was studying at Her Majesty's pleasure. 108 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:46,000 And I went back and I did my Ph.D. working with Chris Wrigley and I did it on sort of British imperial spaces, colonial spaces. 109 00:09:46,000 --> 00:09:53,000 And I looked a lot at Winston Churchill and the role that Winston Churchill played in British roles in the Middle East. 110 00:09:53,000 --> 00:10:00,000 And in India and Africa and elsewhere. And I had a fantastic time there. 111 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:07,000 You should see the way your face lights up when you talk about history. I can tell it's your love and passion. 112 00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:11,000 Along this journey, were you discovering your own personal history? 113 00:10:11,000 --> 00:10:17,000 Oh, yeah. I mean, this is something my mother's always got me very interested in is genealogy. 114 00:10:17,000 --> 00:10:27,000 And her, so my grandfather, he was also a genealogist. But my grand, on my mom's side, her maiden name is McCurry. 115 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:30,000 And so there's this sort of Scotch-Irish connection. 116 00:10:30,000 --> 00:10:34,000 So when I went to Britain, that was one of the things I was very interested in exploring. 117 00:10:34,000 --> 00:10:45,000 And we were able to trace some of my ancestors back when I became president here, all the way back to Lancaster in Britain in the sort of 1600s. 118 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:50,000 And then obviously the Scottish connection as well, because I have connections in Greene County. 119 00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:54,000 And that's where the McCurries were. There was a family called Bab there as well. 120 00:10:54,000 --> 00:11:00,000 But I got really interested in the kind of English genealogy because the documents are there and it's much easier to trace back. 121 00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:12,000 Whereas on the German side of my family, which is where the doctor comes from, my grandfather moved, Albert Doctor, moved from Albany, New York just before the Second World War. 122 00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:18,000 He came down to go to Maryville College. And he wound up settling here. 123 00:11:18,000 --> 00:11:25,000 But so the German kind of side of my family was all in New York. And they had come over, of course, from Alsace-Lorraine in that part of Germany. 124 00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:34,000 And they had originally moved from that part of Germany from the kind of deeper German, like Prussian area of Germany, kind of further east. 125 00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:37,000 And that's kind of when it's more difficult. I mean, these are all- 126 00:11:37,000 --> 00:11:38,000 To get the records, right. 127 00:11:38,000 --> 00:11:40,000 Exactly. But in Britain, the records are there. 128 00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:49,000 Talk about the importance of preserving history and how important the history of this region is and the work that you do. 129 00:11:49,000 --> 00:11:53,000 Well, first of all, I mean, preserving history is at the center of what we do. 130 00:11:53,000 --> 00:12:00,000 Not just preserving it, you know, in terms of the objects, but also the documents so that we can tell the stories, which is really what this is about, 131 00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:06,000 to raise awareness so that people understand how important the history of East Tennessee really is. 132 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:12,000 And I give a lot of talks about the history of East Tennessee. The history of East Tennessee is so unique and so special. 133 00:12:12,000 --> 00:12:15,000 It ignites a kind of curious fire in me. 134 00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:23,000 I mean, when you think about all the different people that have lived in East Tennessee, the Cherokee, the Uchi, the Shawnee, the Creeks, 135 00:12:23,000 --> 00:12:26,000 and that's just the native indigenous tribes, right? 136 00:12:26,000 --> 00:12:34,000 There's also the Spanish Empire came here, the French Empire, the British Empire, all vying for control of this region, 137 00:12:34,000 --> 00:12:38,000 all trying to understand how to get through the Appalachian Mountains. 138 00:12:38,000 --> 00:12:45,000 You know, and by the time you get to the 1750s, the British had built Fort Loudon to try to control the area. 139 00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:53,000 And how that, I mean, when you think about the states and the development of the United States, the first frontier is East Tennessee. 140 00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:57,000 You know, the original Wild West is East Tennessee on the other side of the Appalachians. 141 00:12:57,000 --> 00:13:06,000 So the impulse, the American impulse that really drives the 19th century to go westward, that impulse to go westward starts here. 142 00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:07,000 Right here. 143 00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:13,000 Right here. So the entire character, in a way, of this country is wrapped up in East Tennessee. 144 00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:20,000 And you can see it in literal senses with people like Davy Crockett, of course, who goes to the Alamo or Sam Houston. 145 00:13:20,000 --> 00:13:27,000 And then you can see it just again, that kind of impulse for Americans to keep moving and to try to kind of master their space, 146 00:13:27,000 --> 00:13:32,000 sometimes at great cost to themselves and to the native peoples here. 147 00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:39,000 How do you deal with the history of the indigenous peoples of this region? 148 00:13:39,000 --> 00:13:47,000 Because there were people here when settlers came, when James White built his fort. 149 00:13:47,000 --> 00:13:59,000 And this area that we know as Knoxville and this area starts to develop, that land was given to him, but it belonged to people that were here before. 150 00:13:59,000 --> 00:14:04,000 That's right. And that's one of the interesting complex parts about East Tennessee. 151 00:14:04,000 --> 00:14:14,000 So this area in East Tennessee belonged to the Cherokee, not just the Cherokee, parts of it were inhabited by the Uchi, a different native group. 152 00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:20,000 And so what we try to do is to try to tell those stories and highlight those stories and how things, 153 00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:26,000 both for the Cherokee and the Uchi and the other native peoples that were here, still continue to influence things today. 154 00:14:26,000 --> 00:14:29,000 I mean, we work a lot with the Eastern Band of the Cherokee. 155 00:14:29,000 --> 00:14:35,000 What is that like with their historians? How do they tell the story? 156 00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:39,000 Well, and so their view of history is a lot different than the traditional narrative of history. 157 00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:43,000 And what we try to do is to bridge those gaps, right? 158 00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:49,000 For instance, having to understand that this is a group of people whose land was literally sort of slowly taken from them. 159 00:14:49,000 --> 00:14:58,000 And to understand, you know, when we read in history books or up until recently we read in history books about the Treaty of the Holston, we all see that as a great thing. 160 00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:05,000 Well, that is not the Cherokee perspective of that at all, because of course that treaty continually changes and is misshapen. 161 00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:14,000 Or another great example is one of the highlights in the American, you know, as we move towards the 250th and 2026, 162 00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:19,000 one of the great parts of that story is what happened up at Sycamore Shoals, the Watauga Compact, 163 00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:26,000 which is one of the first moments, impulses of being independent of a British crown or British colony. 164 00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:27,000 That happens there. 165 00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:34,000 But that happens as a way because the British crown said you can't buy or sell land in Native American soil, in the Cherokee soil. 166 00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:41,000 And the American colonizers and settlers there were like, well, actually, we're going to do it anyway. 167 00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:45,000 So, I mean, a part of this story is like, wow, we're getting independence from the crown. 168 00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:49,000 But also, wow, we're doing this at the expense of the Cherokee, right? 169 00:15:49,000 --> 00:15:54,000 And so I think just telling the story, understanding the story, not trying to whitewash anything, 170 00:15:54,000 --> 00:15:59,000 but just taking it for what it is and understanding the stories is so important to what we do. 171 00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:05,000 And so it allows a space where we can meet with Native American historians and hear their perspective and say, 172 00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:08,000 hey, that's interesting. You know, let's discuss it. 173 00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:21,000 Every time I've had the opportunity to be at the museum, 174 00:16:21,000 --> 00:16:28,000 the artifacts that you guys have collected and the documents that you have are stunning. 175 00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:34,000 Oh, we have incredible things. I mean, Davy Crockett's rifle is always a crowd pleaser. 176 00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:40,000 But one of my favorite items that we have that actually the Smithsonian was very interested in, 177 00:16:40,000 --> 00:16:48,000 it's such a high quality item, is a string of beads that Atacala Culla took with him to Britain 178 00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:51,000 when he was there as a guest of the crown. 179 00:16:51,000 --> 00:16:56,000 And I mean, the work in this beadwork is extraordinary. 180 00:16:56,000 --> 00:17:03,000 And so things like that, you know, things like the original banner for the group of East Tennessee volunteers 181 00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:08,000 who joined Andrew Jackson and went with John Williams down to the Battle of New Orleans, 182 00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:13,000 you know, things like that that are really tied into Tennessee history and national history are incredible. 183 00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:17,000 One of my favorite letters is the letter that Harry Byrne wrote to his mother, 184 00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:22,000 or she wrote to him rather, saying that he needed to vote for female suffrage. 185 00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:30,000 The suffrage movement finds its crescendo in what happened here in East Tennessee. 186 00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:36,000 That's right. I mean, it's really incredible because she wrote to him and he cast the kind of deciding vote. 187 00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:41,000 And I just loved that in the letter, she said, now you be a good boy and you vote for this. 188 00:17:41,000 --> 00:17:46,000 And he did. And it's remarkable because she was exercising power as a mother, 189 00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:50,000 of course, which she had no political power, to get him to vote the correct way. 190 00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:55,000 And of course, this sets up the dominoes for the whole nation to adopt female suffrage. 191 00:17:55,000 --> 00:18:00,000 And that happens here in East Tennessee. And that's one of the things I like to showcase as the director, 192 00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:05,000 because, you know, I lived in Britain for 12 years, is that our history, you know, a lot of people think, 193 00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:11,000 oh, it's just East Tennessee. Our history is global history. You know, what happened here changed nations. 194 00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:18,000 You know, for instance, female suffrage, Oak Ridge. I mean, that didn't just change nations, that changed the whole world. 195 00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:23,000 The entire world. I mean, and once it happened, I mean, nothing can undo the work that's been done here. 196 00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:30,000 And this, or TVA, think of all the work that went into TVA. Just that history by itself. By itself. 197 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:38,000 To look at a part of the United States of America that needed rural electrification 198 00:18:38,000 --> 00:18:46,000 and to triple down on it and make it happen, but then people had to lose land. 199 00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:52,000 It's the same thing. Exactly. It's that enormously complex. Of people and land and all of that. 200 00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:58,000 That's it. And that's what's so special. I mean, again, it's so unique in East Tennessee that that kind of interesting thing, 201 00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:06,000 going all the way back to the Spanish showing up here, people, land, water, you know, how are all these things decided? 202 00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:11,000 A lot of the things get decided for the whole country start here. Wow. 203 00:19:11,000 --> 00:19:22,000 The thing that I want to commend you for is history is spelled H-I-S-T-O-R-Y. The story part. 204 00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:32,000 I think that's the brilliance of Ken Burns, the filmmaker. He and his writers take these big historical ideas, 205 00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:38,000 but they put them in very human terms by telling you the story of people. 206 00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:44,000 And it seems like that's what your grandfather did, too. This was a real person. This is a real place. 207 00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:53,000 This is a real event that had real impact on human beings. And history is just vital to all of that. 208 00:19:53,000 --> 00:19:59,000 It absolutely is to understand and try to understand the motivations of people, you know, like you say, real people, 209 00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:06,000 and to go to the spot and see where it happened and to put yourself into someone's shoes and say, you know, 210 00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:12,000 this has to happen, you know, whether it's thinking about, you know, John Sevier and the Treaty of the Holston, 211 00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:19,000 or it's thinking about all the stuff that had to happen in the 20th century to establish the parks in East Tennessee. 212 00:20:19,000 --> 00:20:24,000 You know, a lot of the fundraising took place in Oxford. A lot of political wheeling and dealing had to happen 213 00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:31,000 in order to get the Roosevelt administration down here to make this a reality. You know, gifts from Rockefellers. 214 00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:38,000 I mean, this is a huge project to make this real. But to go up there and to see where FDR spoke in the park, 215 00:20:38,000 --> 00:20:43,000 I'm sure you've been up there, you know, if you go over Newfound Gap and you see, or not Newfound Gap, 216 00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:48,000 but, you know, like once you leave Gatlinburg and you go over towards Cherokee to go up there and see where he spoke. 217 00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:53,000 And we have the video of that in the museum and the recording of it. 218 00:20:53,000 --> 00:21:00,000 To hear him speak about this gift, about how important just the Appalachian Mountains are, it's incredible. 219 00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:06,000 And so that's one of the things I want people in East Tennessee to know and to be more aware of and to cherish 220 00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:13,000 is that our history is so vital. It's so important. And I just love sharing it. I just love sharing these stories. 221 00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:19,000 Well, thank you for being a person that has a passion for that and for doing that in our community 222 00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:25,000 and keeping those stories alive. And also, when we know our history, we also know what's possible. 223 00:21:25,000 --> 00:21:31,000 So thank you for doing that. I love calling you Dr. Doctor. Dr. Doctor, thank you for being on anything as possible. 224 00:21:31,000 --> 00:21:37,000 Thank you for having me. This has been great. And I've told you before, I don't know if you want to cut this or keep this in, but 225 00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:44,000 Let's keep it. My grandfather loved your show and he, a goal for him for me was to be on your show. 226 00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:56,000 So being here is very special for me and I really appreciate that. I can't thank you enough. Thank you.