Get out of that plane, bailout. That movie and the acclaim for it led to wyler wanting to make a different movie about another kind of bomber called thunderbolt. Filming ofng the extra footage for thunderbolt, a little more footage he wanted to get of the italian coastline, that he experienced this personal tragedy. Plane and hadthe gone deaf in the air. Wyler was shooting in unpressurized cabins. It was freezing cold up in the air. The noise from the engines was eardrum shattering. He finally ultimately lost his hearing. With that, literally overnight, his army service was over in this unexpected way. The completion of thunderbolt became terribly important to him, even though by the time he was recovered enough to finish the movie the war was over and there was no use for this kind of propaganda film anymore about u. S. Military might. That is why you have the anomaly thunderbolt, which was intended for wartime consumption not being shown until 1947. Even then being barely seen. When
That is how this museum came to be located where it is. Beneath where the arch is. In terms of what the museum has to offer, it tells a story of westward expansion during the 19th century. Concentric rings that are almost like ripples in a pond as though you have dropped a stone into the pond and the ripples emanate outward. That is the same thing here starting with our statue of Thomas Jefferson and extending through the 19th century. The first ring is 1800. The last one is 1900. Our Current Museum is not going to be here much longer, and then in the next few years, it will be replaced. Right now, our story gives a pretty good overview of westward expansion. What we want to do is focus on st. Louiss role, specifically. Another shift will be that when this museum was created, it was more telling the story of anglo white males going from the eastern part of the continent to the western part, which is the way that historians have looked at westward expansion. It has been look that in a d
We worked very hard. But we had a better sense of time. In my opinion, the public was better served by that kind of pace than it is today. Havent anyid we more time for questions. I wanted to point out that not only does the public depend on the reporting of people like roger mudd and andy glass, but historians are dependent upon it because this is the first rough draft of history. They were on the firing line writing the story as it happened. Going back and reading some of the stories and your accounts of what was going on, you called the story correctly. As an historian, i am relieved to know i can use your materials to try to recreate a time when i was not here and able to see this. I want to thank you and everyone for coming. I want to thank the staff of the Senate Historical office, betty, kate, mary. They have been the ones organizing things. I hope you have a chance to take a look at the illustrations here as well after the session. Thank you all for coming today. [applause] [ca
The 13, 14,ded in and 15th amendment. It is not because they did not care about rights. It is because it was not their priority. They were therefore other reasons. This has been shrouded in myth. Is unique about the United States constitution is that there are so many different layers. They have their myths about the constitution. Even people who studied a little bit have their myths about it. And people who studied a lot have myths about it. Think about these russian babushka dolls. This is just an outer cover. It is not the real thing. Take it away and then there is a another beautiful one. Wait a minute. There is something more. You keep taking more and more layers away to try to get at the roping. That is what i want to try to do today, you peel away some of the layers of mythology surrounding the constitution. I will do about 40 minutes on that. Maybe you can help me peel away some more. Wanted to talk about the notion that the constitution at the democratic document. If you look
The programs youre watching. Tonight on cspans American History tour going west. First to st. Louis to visit the museum of westward expansion. Then a look at the expedition led by William Clark and mary lewis. And well speak with an author who wrote a book about the lewis and Clark Expedition. After that, first Transcontinental Railroad. After that journeys along the mormon trail, the pony express from the National Historic trails Interpretive Center in casper wyoming. Next a tour of the museum of westward expansion. Our tour guide is a historian with the National Park service. Were in the museum of westward expansion which is the main museum here at Jefferson National memorial. It tells the story of the settlement of the American West during the 19th century. Were actually underground directly below the 630foot stainless steel arch. Originally there were going to be surface buildings that would have housed museums and restaurant complexes and things like that but the National Parks se