, a time for prayer, a time to think about peace. That is true in america, too. At this time of year americans , traveled across the country in their cars, by train, or by airplane to be together with their families. Many americans came to the United States from other countries, and at this time of year, they look forward to hosting friends and family from their homelands. Most of us celebrate christmas or hanukkah, and as part of the celebrations, we go to church or synagogue, then gather around the family dinner table. After giving thanks for our blessings, we share a traditional holiday meal of goose, turkey, or roast beef and exchange gifts. On new years eve, we gather again. Like you, we raise our glasses in a toast to the year to come. In hopes for ourselves, for our families, and for our nation and the world. This year, the future of the nation and the world is particularly honor minds. On our minds. We are thinking of our nation because of the year ahead. We americans will choose a next president. Every adult citizen has a role to play in the making of this decision. We will listen to what the candidates say, we will debate their views and our own, and in november, we will vote. Ill still be president next january, but soon after that, the man or woman leading our country will be the one the American People pick this coming november. As ive said, we americans will also be thinking about the future of the world this year. For the same reasons that you will be thinking of it, too. In a few months, general secretary gorbachev and i hope to meet once again, this time in moscow. Last month in washington, we signed the intermediate Nuclear Forces treaty, in which we agreed to eliminate an entire class of u. S. And soviet nuclear weapons. It was a historymaking step toward reducing the nuclear arms of both sides. But it was just a beginning. Now, in geneva, the soviet and american representatives are discussing a 50 reduction in Strategic Nuclear weapons. Perhaps we can have a treaty ready to sign by the spring. The world prays that we will. We, on the american side, are determined to try. You see, we have a vision of the world safe from the threat of nuclear war, and indeed, all war. Such a world with have far fewer missiles and other weapons. Today, both america and the soviet union have an opportunity to develop a defensive shield against ballistic missiles. A defensive shield that will threaten no one. For the sake of a safer pieceac, i am committed to pursuing the possibility that technology offers. The general secretary and i also anticipate continuing our talks about other issues of deep concern to our peoples. For example, the expansion of contact between our peoples and more information flowing across our borders. Expanding contacts and information will require decisions about life at home that will have an impact on relations abroad. This is also true in the area of human rights. As you know, we americans are concerned about human rights, including freedoms of speech, press, worship, and travel. We will never forget that a wise man has said violence does not live alone and is not capable of living alone, it is necessarily interwoven with falsehood. Silence is a form of falsehood. We will always speak out on behalf of human dignity. We americans are also concerned , as i know you are, about senseless conflict in a number of regions. In some instances, regimes backed by Foreign Military power are oppressing their own peoples, giving rise to Popular Resistance and the spread of fighting upon their borders. Too many mothers, including soviet mothers, have wept over the graves of their fallen sons. True peace means not only preventing a big war, but ending smaller ones as well. This is why we support efforts to find just, negotiated solutions acceptable to the peoples who are suffering in regional wars. There is no such thing as inevitability in history. We can choose to make the world safer and freer if we have courage. But then, courage is something neither of our peoples have ever lacked. We have been allies in a terrible war, a war in which the soviet peoples gave the ages and enduring testament to courage. Let us consecrate this year to showing not courage for war, but courage for peace. We owe this to mankind. We owe it to our children and their children and generations to come. Happy new year. Thank you, and god bless you. In apeaking foreignlanguage. Ladies and gentlemen, friends. As we celebrate the new year, i am glad to address the citizens of the United States of america and to convey to you seasons greetings and best wishes from all soviet people. The first of january is a day when we take stock of the past year and try to look ahead into the coming year. The past year, 1987, ended with an event which can be regarded as a good omen. In washington, the president reagan and i signed the treaty on the elimination of intermediate and shorter range missiles. That treaty marks the first step along the path of reducing nuclear arms and that is its enduring value. But the treaty also has another merit. It has brought our two peoples together. We are entering the new year with a hope for continued progress. Progress towards a safer world. We are ready to continue fruitfully the negotiations on reducing strategic arms with a view to signing a treaty to that effect, even in the first half of this year. We would like, without delay, to address the problem of cutting back drastically conventional forces and arms in europe. We are ready for interaction in resolving other problems , including regional ones. I think it can be said that one of the features of the past year was the growing mutual interests our two peoples took in each other. Contact between soviet american young people, war veterans, scientists, teachers, astronauts, businessmen and cultural leaders have expanded greatly. Like thousands of strands, those contacts are beginning to weave into what i would call a tangible fabric of trust and growing mutual understanding. It is the duty of soviet and american political leaders to keep in mind these sentiments of the people in their countries and to affect their will in political decisions. The soviet people are getting down to work in the new year with an awareness of their great responsibility for the present and for the future. There will be profound changes in our country, along the lines of continued perestroika, democratization, and radical economic reform. In the final analysis, all of this will move onto a broad avenue of accelerated development. We know that you americans have quite a few problems, too. In grappling with those problems, however i feel you and , me must remember whats truly important. Human life is equally priceless , whether in the soviet union, the United States, or in any other country. So let us spare no effort to a affirm peace on earth. Ladies and gentlemen, during the official departure ceremony in washington, i said with regret that on that visit i had had little chance to see america. I feel, however, that i did understand what is most important about the American People, and that is their enormous stock of goodwill. Let me assure you that soviet people too have an equally great stock of goodwill. Putting it to full use is the most noble and responsible task of government and political leaders in our two countries. If they could only do that, what is but a dream today would come true. A lasting peace, an end to an arms race, wider ranging trade, cooperation combating hunger, disease, and environmental problems, and progress in ensuring human rights and resulting other humanitarian issues. May the coming year of 1988 become an important milestone as we move down that road. In concluding this new year address to the people of the United States of america, i wish peace, happiness, and joy to every american family. A happy new year to all of you. Interested in American History tv . Visit our website, www. Cspan. Org history. You can view our schedule, p view upcoming programs, and watch college lectures, museum tours, archival films, and more. American history tv at www. Cspan. Org history. Where history unfolds daily. In 1979, cspan was created as a Public Service by americas Cable Television companies, and is brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. American history tv is on cspan3 every weekend im a featuring museum to earth, archival films, and programs on the presidency. The civil war, and more. Here is a clip from a recent program. [video clip] it is not the size of a brain that counts, its what it can do. Our three average men are equal. Skins off, their there is no way to tell them apart. Blood,rt, liver, lungs, everything is the same. Everythings the same. Heart, liver, lungs, blood. Blood. Not blood is different. Well, there are four different types of blood. O. B, ab, an patient in room 216 needs a transfusion right away. I will give it to him. Im his brother. Dead s yes, but he wouldnt be if we had been more scientific about it. [whistling] brother or no brother, what he needs his type a, and the right blood donor for him could belong to any race, since the four blood types appear in all races. We are not really so different at all. Like you say, it is just the wait a minute. I have got a question. . Ow come we live like this that wasnt always lik way. At a stage in history when the socalled pew were whites were little better pure white, the darker skin of the near east and africa had flourishing cultures. The great civilization of northern china had begun to develop. All people contributed to civilization. Reaching high levels at different times, and each learning from the experience of the other. But there were certain basic ideas which were common to all branches of the human race. Belief in a supreme being, in the home, and the family. Civilized a person is depends on the surroundings in which he grows up. The differences in the way people behave are not inherited from their ancestry. They come from something called cultural experience or environment. Or environment. Other can watch this and American History programs on our website, where all of our video is archived. Thats cspan. Org history. The B O Railroad Museum in baltimore is called the birthplace of the american railroad. American history tv visited the museum to learn about and industry that began in 1827 with train cars pulled by horses rather than steam engines. My name is dave shackelford. I am the chief curator here at the B O Railroad Museum, the baltimore and ohio. Basically, this is one o