Transcripts For CSPAN3 Statue Of Liberty National Monument 20161226

Up next, American History tv visited the National Historic landmark to learn the story behind the gift from france which was unveiled october 28, 1886, after 21 years of planning, fundraising, and construction. Chris mullin welcome to the statue of Liberty National monument. I am ranger chris mullin. I am from jacksonville, florida. Folks, i have a great job. I have been working with the National Park Service Since 1989 and i have been all over the United States. I got my start in alaska at the klondike park and a few summers out there. Then i went to jacksonville where i worked in a small park for Caroline National memorial , and i went to the outer banks of North Carolina and worked at our nations First National seashore, Cape Hatteras national seashore. And then i moved north to new york city and i have been working here at the statue of liberty and ellis island for about seven years now. So i have a great job. , we want to protect these special places not only for today. We want to leave them unimpaired for future generations. That is our goal. Here we are at the statue of liberty, our nations most famous national monument. A gift from the people of france. Given to us, the people of the United States, in 1886. To commemorate our friendship, to commemorate our democracy. You folks know that the statue has become much more than a gift of friendship. Today, she is the most recognized symbol in the world. Freedom, hope, liberty, change. The idea of what the statue represents. It grows, it evolves, it changes. Folks, you are a big part of what she has become today. She is all over the place. You have seen her on tv and in the movies. But when you look up to this wonderful work of art and see her in person, that is what it is all about. She is still aweinspiring. We are going to head around the corner. We are going to talk about the three gentlemen from france who were the most influential in giving us this wonderful gift. We are now heading behind the statue to our Sculpture Garden paying tribute not only to the people who have donated money for the restoration of the statue and ellis island but for these three gentlemen auguste bartholdi, Gustave Eiffel, and edouard rene de laboulaye. In the summer of 1865 at the end of the civil war, the United States just survived its first major test of its own democracy. Believe it or not, they are very excited about this in france. They are yearning for their own democracy. There is a gentleman by the name of edouard rene de laboulaye. He is fascinated with american politics. He is writing textbooks on American History. And he is a leader of this movement. He hosts a dinner in the summer of 1865 and he proposes an idea let us give the people of the United States a gift from us, the people of france, to commemorate our friendship, to commemorate their democracy. Luckily for him, there is a young sculptor at this dinner. Auguste bartholdi. He is already wellknown in france for building large monuments but he is a dreamer. He wants to do something really, really big. Something to be remembered for. He had been to egypt and had seen the pyramids and had done research on the colossus of rhodes, one of the seven wonders of the world. He was hired to do a similar construct a similar project at the mouth of the suez canal that never came to fruition but he already had an idea of a Woman Holding a torch representing enlightenment for the entire world. This was going to take some time. No computers and no cell phones in 1865. He is finally able to make his first visit to the United States in the early 1870s. He enters the mouth of the new york harbor and he sees this abandoned island. With fort wood build for the war of 1812. There was not a lot going on on the island that day, but it was a busy day in the harbor. He had a vision of a statue on top of a pedestal where it could be viewed for miles around. It was a vision that never left him. But he continued on his trip. He is here to scout for locations. He is here to drum up support and raise funds. He is in washington, d. C. , meeting with the president , ulysses s. Grant. He is in philadelphia and boston. He takes a hard look at philadelphia and boston because that is where they thought the statue of liberty was going to be placed. He is meeting with local politicians and artists. He is able to drum up enough support and they form a unit the best union they form a union called the francoamerican union. The people of france would raise the funds to construct the statue. The people in the United States would raise the funds to construct the pedestal. One night in his hotel, he made his final drawing. The title of the drawing was liberty enlightening the world. That is the main point i want to make about auguste bartholdi. He always had a grasp of the Bigger Picture. Yes, this is a gift from france to the United States. But it is auguste bartholdi that wants to build a monument of democracy for the entire world. Hold on to that thought. We are going to talk a lot more about auguste bartholdi and how he accomplished this when we get closer to the front of the statue. The third individual, and certainly the most famous, is Gustave Eiffel of the eiffel tower fame. Several years prior to the construction of the eiffel tower, he designed the interior engineering for the statue of liberty. If you look up into the statue, you are going to see what looks like a mini eiffel tower. This serves as a framework and the framework has iron bars that reach out and connect to the skin. The skin is very thin. It is made of copper and it is two pennies put together. Along the skin are armature bars. It is these bars that give the statue the flexibility that she needs. She can move and sway with the wind. She can expand or contract due to the heat or cold. All of the Energy Transfers from the armature bars through the framework to the top of the pedestal. Then the statue of liberty is literally tied down into place. There are 16 metal tension rods. Big, thick rubber bands which literally tie her down and hold her in place. That Energy Continues through the pedestal, all the way down the 65 feet of bedrock. 56 Million Pounds of concrete all the way down to 65 feet of bedrock. This would not happen but theoretically if the statue were to tip over, the whole island would have to tip over. That is how solid she is built into liberty island. Weve got the proof. She has been here for 130 years and has survived numerous storms throughout the years and certainly most recently hurricane sandy. The outside of the island was completely destroyed. New walkways, new railings. New docs. Ellis island was completely flooded. The statue of liberty herself did fine. A little water in the lobby and that was about it. Folks, what is interesting about Gustave Eiffel, today, he is known for the eiffel tower. And i personally feel he should be just as famous for his Engineering Work here at the statue of liberty. Not a lot of people know that. He is amazing. He is had his hand in two of the most famous monuments in the entire world. We are going to head to the front of the statue and we will talk about auguste bartholdi and how he accomplished building this monument of democracy for the entire world. He has a grasp of the Bigger Picture and the major way he accomplished this was his use of symbolism. He is a classical trained artist. There is symbolism throughout the statue of liberty. We begin with the torch. Once again, his name for the statue was liberty enlightening the world. The torch represents enlightenment for the entire world. We come down and she is wearing a crown. She is a goddess of liberty. The goddess of libertas. There are seven raise on the crown. This represents the seven seas and seven continents. Once again, the world. In her left arm is the tablet with the allimportant date of july 4, 1776. The signing of our declaration of independence. The start of our democracy. The tablet is in the shape of a keystone. In classical architecture, keystones are at the top of arches. They hold the arches together. This is auguste bartholdi telling us that it will be democracy that is going to hold the world together. We come down. She is wearing that robe. Once again, the roman goddess of libertas. And at the bottom of her feet are shackles. Her right foot is striding forward and she is breaking the shackles. She is leaving the old ways behind and she is striding towards the new ways. This represents liberation. She is moving forward. She is not facing new jersey. She is not facing new york city. She is walking forward and bringing these ideals of freedom, hope, liberty, and change. Walking forward and welcoming the rest of the world. The idea of liberty does not stand still. It moves forward, it changes, it evolves. Folks here we are in our museum. , it gives you the general layout and history and the construction of the statue. For auguste bartholdi, in his mind, what he thought was going to be a big statue when he first visited the United States, he realized that everything was much bigger. Here you get an idea. This is a replica of the foot. Her giant feet. Over here is how they constructed the statue of liberty. He had a workshop in paris. Over 200 craftsmen helping him to construct the statue. They would start with a small, plaster model. They would build this plaster model to actual size. And then they would construct wooden forms as you see in the picture there. There is auguste bartholdi at the bottom. He paid fine attention to detail. They would construct wooden forms. They would flip them over. They would lay a thin sheet of copper. And they would hammer out the form of the statue in a special technique. Here they are starting at one funds. Here they are building the plaster model bigger. Here is the actual size right here. And they would then begin building the actual wooden form. Here are the artists, the craftsmen. They certainly do not build things like this anymore. It took 21 years from idea to reality and they first constructed the crown and the head. And then they had the crown, the head, and the torch, they were constructed by 1876. They were brought here to the United States to raise funds. They went back to paris. The main body of the statue of liberty was constructed from 1881 to 1884. You have got Gustave Eiffel. The framework inside. They start constructing and adding pieces to where you then get the full statue. In 1884. She stood there in paris for about a year. Until they broke her down, boxed her up into 214 crates and they shipped her over here to the United States. Made it here to liberty island. They unloaded the crates. They had looked up and we had barely started work on the pedestal. It was Joseph Pulitzer of Pulitzer Prize fame. He came up with the idea. He was the owner of the new york world here in new york city. He said, donate any amount of money and i will print your name in the front page of the newspaper. Money poured in from all over the United States. Elementary school children. They raised money through their classes. And we raised up enough money , and we completed the pedestal in 1886. For auguste bartholdi, his job was to construct the statue but he was also very involved in the construction of the pedestal. Richard morris hunt designed the modernday pedestal that we see today. There were several different designs. But he chose Richard Morris hunt. All of the granite came from connecticut. Here is a great depiction of how they put the statue together like a puzzle. This is exactly how they did it. Immigrants were swinging around on rope swings, putting the pieces together. They were carefully labeled. They are riveted together. There are 310 sections that make up the statue of liberty. They vary in sizes. It took 21 years from idea to reality. But it finally all came together on october 28, 1886. A huge dedication ceremony is planned and over 10,000 people are invited. However, one gender was not invited. How ironic is that. Women were not invited. The francoamerican union stated that hey, we cannot guarantee their safety. That was a bunch of hogwash. What they were really saying is that they did not want the statue of liberty just to be associated with the womans suffrage movement. A group of women here in new york city are very angry. They rent a boat. They circle the island and they shout in protest how can you build this woman to represent freedom and liberty and we do not even have the right to vote. If she were to come alive and walk down from that pedestal, she would not even be allowed on the island. Our first protest here on the grounds of the statue of liberty on day one, october 28, 1886. It was another 34 years until women were granted the right to vote. The 19th amendment in 1920. Folks, we have had many protests throughout the years. Most of these have been very peaceful. Some of them were not so peaceful. There has always been a security issue here at the statue of liberty, even before 9 11. Folks, i do not know the stories of all of the protests but there is one thing that ties them all together. If you were to stage a protest here or anywhere in the world and you were to build a replica of the statue of liberty which has been done many times of styrofoam, aluminum foil, rocks, and sticks. You do not need to hang banners or shout slogans. People know exactly what you want. You want freedom, liberty, and change. There is a wonderful depiction of the ceremony that took place in 1886. 10,000 people were invited and on the island. Over a Million People were in Lower Manhattan for one of the first tickertape parades. People from all over the world came to witness the statue of liberty being unveiled to the entire world that day. In the very beginning, it was like, wow, there is a colossal new statue from france. Lets go see it. It was amazing. America is growing and getting support from all over the world. It had to make you more proud to do what you were doing, whether you recently emigrated to america. You could tell then america was starting to grow and you were a part of it. As the statue started out as a gift of friendship, today, she has evolved and she is the most recognized symbol in the world. It was during the early 1900s, during the Immigration Movement for the overcrowded boats that , sailed for a couple of weeks at a time. What was the first thing that they saw that told them they had made it to the United States of america . It was of course the statue of liberty. Emma lazarus wrote her sonnet give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. Now that has helped the statue , become an emblem for the pursuit of the american dream. Here is a replica of the statue face. The face is based on that of his mother. For visitors, as they come in, they get to touch and feel and they get a sense of how thin the copper is right behind here. Two pennies put together. Very thin. Built to move and sway due to the winds. And expand or contract due to the heat or cold. We are here inside the lobby of the statue of liberty. We are standing next to the original torch. Lady liberty held this torch for about 100 years. Originally, she was solid copper like the rest of the statue. When we received this wonderful gift, we decided to cut into the torch, add glass plates and light bulbs in an effort to get it to be luminous at night. Unfortunately, we just poked a bunch of holes in it and she leaked water for 100 years. She was never luminous enough. The sculptor, auguste bartholdi, said hey, it is your statue, but please, do not cut into it, do not use lightbulbs, just gild it somehow. We finally listened to him. From 1984 to 1986, scaffolding covered the entire statue. We replaced the armature bars and today they are stainless steel. Lee iacocca led the movement to and raised over 500 million to restore the statue of liberty. A good portion of that money went to the restoration of ellis island. Ellis island opened up in 1990. What is up there today the torch is more like the original design. Is solid copper lined with a thin layer of gold. When the statue was first completed and dedicated, the the lighthouse board was in control of the operation in 1886. In 1902, the War Department took over. And in 1924, president Calvin Coolidge declared the statue of liberty a national monument. And in 1933, the statue of liberty was added to the National Park Service System and the National Park service has been the managing operation of the statue of liberty since then. I have worked at a lot of different parks. And our job here is easy. Our goal as interpreters is to connect to people to the resource. And i have worked at replica forts and lighthouses, but here at the statue of liberty and ellis, it is easy. Rangers point at things. All you have to do is point at this wonderful work of art and it is an Emotional Experience for a lot of people whether they have a personal connection, family that immigrated through ellis island, you know, or Something Like that. People connect to this place very easily. It can be very emotional because it is an amazing experience. During the early 1900s, for those overcrowded boats, when they sailed into the harbor and they saw the statue of liberty for them, she was an emblem for the pursuit of the american dream. They had made it to america. For folks today, they are here, they are either visiting or they live here. You still get that same feel, that emotional she is still aweinspiring. The best way to come is to make reservations in advance. It is a few months in advance for a reservation to go to the crown. Two to three weeks in advance to visit the top of the pedestal. In general, you will make it to Lower Manhattan, go through a screening process, board the boats at new york at battery park and also in new jersey at liberty state park. You will have a great experience of sailing in front of the statue. You can get off and enjoy the statue. When you leave from new york. And when you board the boat from the statue, your next stop will be ellis island which is also an incredible experience. You can spend a good halfday if not a whole day visiting these two Great National monuments. The statue of liberty and ellis. To wrap it all up, for auguste bartholdi, it was his dream to become rich and famous. Unfortunately, neither of those happened for him. But if he were alive today, i think he would be very proud. Because although he is not famous, his work of art certainly is. You can view this and all other american artifacts programs at cspan. Org history. Select and browse recent programs. The schedule is also available on the right side of the page. Week, American History brings youamerica archival films that provide context for todays Public Affairs issues. Narrator the arms embargo is far too great a security to american beasts to permit its surrender without a lastditch fight. Dismayed because the interventionists control most of the avenues of propaganda. Moment in critical the worlds history when the democracies of europe are facing the test of life or death, all americans are of one mind. We want to assist the democracies in whatever way we can with materials and supplies. England is the last and only barrier between the United States and total war. Our aid must not come too late. Therefore, we must give president roosevelt power to set in motion an industrial blitzkrieg that will make it possible for england to blast hitlerism from the face of the earth. Stampedere interventionists and isolationists. The debate grew bigger. Ernest young men take it to the white house, as it peas were in our hands and not in the hands of those who wanted no peace, who worshiped war. Picketedest young men the picketers. Curious organizations mushroomed into being with stones such as these stunts such as these. Into this debate grew the aggressors because they too were permitted to speak in our democracy. They were hitlers uniforms wrapped themselves in the american flag. They preached the doctrine of racial and class hatred because hitler headset america could be conquered from within and master race. Azi [marching music] [speaking german] we let them speak. When occasionally a loan outraged offender wanted to providedwe protection. Later, this speaker was arrested. It was because he had filched money from his deluded followers and he was sent to sing sing to brood upon the strange ways of democracy. Another debate was in progress. Labor and management resorted to strikes and lockouts to settle differences which at times surged into violence. We had taken giant steps along the road to reconciliation, but seems like these convinced the actors they had nothing to fear from america. They knew that our industrial capacity was great. We could never use it to the full, they said. Our plants were there, but they were made idle. America was at war. It had been at war, although few americans realized it, for more ever sincers, september 18, 1931, when japan tour manchuria out of the body of china. While hitler was still brawling in the streets of munich, japan had already begun weaving the pattern of aggression. Next, a panel of historians discuss the influence of american democracy after world war ii in a session called america democracys bastion. Topics include the growth of the federal government, the united nations, and human rights after the war, and relief provided for displaced jewish refugees from poland. This 90minute talk is part of a twoday conference in new year zero,d