James Patterson talked about 1965, a year that he said began with a sense of optimism but that ended with a bitterly divided country and a conservative resurgence that would define later decades. In 1965, President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law, sent additional U.S. troops into Vietnam, and presided over the race riots in major cities. The Bancroft Prize winning historian discussed the significance of events that year with former Howard University History Chair and author of Comfort and Pity Daryl Scott.