Brinkley. We are excited to have you at this event. Part of the Purdue University forum series. I am a sophomore in aeronautical and astronautical engineering and im a member of the perdue institute for civic communication. Or picc. Im a senior double major in Political Science and economics and im a student assistant to the executive director of the picc. This forum demonstrates the ssential links between the humanities and engineering. Going to the moon requires more than just science, as do solutions to most challenges facing our world. I have not worked on projects as exciting as the moonshot yet, but i have worked on robotics teams. People like me on the engineering side thought we were the lifeblood of the team because without the robots, we would not have been a robotics team. The humanities side, writers, artists, speakers, thought they were the lifeblood because without the community support, there would be no team in all. Both perspectives were right and they were wrong. Engineering and humanities are opposite sides of the same quation. Technology is most valuable when it integrates human needs and esires, understands the impact on society, employs effective communication, and recognizes the human efforts that made it ossible. As a student in humanities, i have had similar experiences. Students view situations through their respective lenses. Working for solutions on diverse teams. Hey have given us innovative classes, leadership and networking opportunities. And forums, like this one. It is our platform for making the most of communication skills we need to succeed. I cannot fully express the extent to which the Close Relationships i have built this institute have helped me grow both professionally and personally. Students are giving access to industry leaders, journalists and analysts and other great communicators, and now, the founder and executive director good evening, everyone. Lets hear it again for hem. We have them write their speeches and deliver them. We have them produce forums like this. They come on experiential learning classes. We take students to washington dc. We spent two weeks there. E send them for summerlong internships in partnership with our friends at engineering. This year, we will have 10 engineers going to washington dc, taking a class, and working in a meaningful internship xperience. That is real learning. It is real world application of what our students have learned in the classrooms here at purdue. It will help them have a leg up when they go out to use the degree that they worked so hard o achieve. So if you are not a member of pic c and you are an undergraduate student, we are University Wide and why have you not come by . We want the doers of purdue to be part of pic c. That means we will test your abilities. If youre not comfortable writing a press release, guess what im going to ask you to do . If youre not comfortable speaking, guess what i will ask you to do . I will ask you to come up with thoughtful questions for our guests, like Doug Brinkley tonight. We will make sure that you have the best learning experiences ever learning from the people at cspan and washington dc. Last year we went to the white house and met with members of the National Security staff. We met with speaker john boehner, we met with both indiana senators and we met with top officials. Just to name a few of the things e did. So go to our website, it is on your brochure that i hope you picked up on your way in. And give us, send us an email, give us a call. We would love to welcome you on board. Did i mention that we give out tens of thousands of dollars in scholarship money next to our generous donors, including the daniels fund which has made the pic c possible. Would like to introduce to the person who will be introducing our president , the dean of our college of engineering, leah amieson. Thank you, carolyn. Before i say a few words about the connection between Neil Armstrong and perdue, i am going to echo what carolyn said about his incredible partnership between pic c and engineering. Articulated by carolyn, articulated by the students in their introduction. He partnership between the liberal arts, between communication and engineering is probably the most promising hope we have for changing the world. I am very grateful to be able to be a partner and be part of this this evening. Im survey going to say a few words about the connection between Neil Armstrong and perdue. Simplest description, purdues ost famous alum, bar none. Certainly, the iconic image of his first step on the moon has come to represent the dreams and aspirations of a nation and overtime of the world. Perdue, i believe, is much more ersonal. Images of, and remembrances and memories of Neil Armstrong resenting to purdue president a flag that he carried with him on his gemini eight mission. Blueprints on our campus outside the Neil Armstrong hall of engineering for children to take their own giant leaps. Cast from the astronauts boots that are preserved in the smithsonian. Our own purdue images that include Neil Armstrong waving the perdue flag, beating the worlds biggest drum, and literally thousands and thousands of students, faculty staff, visitors, own the memorable images, with the statue of Neil Armstrong as a student. It is more personal i find, as i travel around the world and meet people from purdue, graduate student alums who talk about being a teaching assistant and having meal in class and always noting that he was a really good student. Ecently, a purdue alumna who grew up in ohio who met Neil Armstrong at a local outreach event, she was a High School Student thinking about college and relating that he was the one who convinced her that she should not stay in ohio, but she should come to perdue, study aeronautics and astronautics, and then stayed in touch with her throughout her College Career and throughout her career at nasa. And my own personal experience of having him greet me with a huge smile and a out, which is something i will never forget. For many of us, part of that special connection absolutely includes Neil Armstrongs pride in being an engineer. He was someone who did not demonstrate pride, rarely like to talk about himself, but he absolutely liked to talk about engineering. Giving credit to the army of ngineers who made space life and the missions possible. He said that some people see the glass is half empty and others as halffull, but an engineer always wonders why the glass is wice as big as it has to e. E talked about engineering and his personal definition of engineering that it is about what can be. It is the single best definition of engineering that i have ever heard. Neil armstrong, more than anyone in memory, gave us an unforgettable image of what can be. The special place that neil has in purdue hearts was never clearer than at the Memorial Service organized wise dude and studios after his passing. For as far as the eye could see, at the corner of stadium and northwestern, people filling that corner surrounding Armstrong Hall to remember him. Students who were far too young to have watched the first step on the moon, faculty and staff, people from the community, all gathered to remember Neil Armstrong. In our own way, to say you belong to the nation, you belong to the world, you belong to history, but in our hearts, you will always the a boilermaker. This connection lives on and is certainly one of the things that make being from purdue for special. Is my honor now to introduce perdues chief boilermaker, resident mitch daniels. [applause] president mitch daniels. Welcome all. It is not a new concern, it is not a new worry that americans know far too little about their history and about our tradition. Every year, someone takes a new, depressing survey of our fellow itizens. In 2012, one showed that only half could name the war in which the battle of the bulge occurred. Fewer than half new groovy American General was at yorktown. Some thought it was grand, some thought it was robert e lee. This was a multiplechoice test. Only one in six new that the phrase of the people, by the people, for the people comes from the declaration of independence. That was a test, by the way. Over half of them thought that, however. I might have said it by way of preface, these are College Graduates on whom i am reporting. Now, a nation, as ours is united, not by ethnicity, not by tribe or religion, but solely united by an idea and by and ideal. A nation that made history, in fact, defy the Human History of domination by kings and tyrants and generals and authoritarians nd created a nation by consent of the governed. F, in that nation, plural this to be unum, we better have great historians. More than that, we need great storytellers. People that need to reach out broadly, to an entire population of people who would be free and elfgoverning. And teach them the history and remind them of their traditions, of things that ought to bring us together, and ought to make us proud. Our speaker tonight has typical midwestern modesty, the same honesty we associate with Neil Armstrong, described himself as a storyteller. As you will know or will have read already, he is a distinguished professor at Rice University. He is the author if i dont miscount of 36 books here he is so prolific that the number must slip out of date on a regular basis. If i can just mention one personal debt that i owe him, his book, wilderness warrior, a magnificent survey of theodore oosevelts life and career and commitments to conservation motivated me in a previous life o work extra hard on that same cause and to get some things started in indiana which have taken us beyond well beyond any where we were before. I would date much of my intensity in the interest of that subject to that wonderful book that he brought us. Across a body of work he has written about history shaping individuals from a from Theodore Roosevelt to henry ford to james forrest. History shaping events like world war ii and unification of europe. History shaping phenomena like the mississippi river, hurricane katrina. If america had one named and historian laureate, our guest tonight would certainly be our choice. Tonight, he is here to talk about a subject of very special interest and pride and reverence to every boilermaker, every friend of this university. It is a topic one might hope could become the subject of book number 37 or 38. In any event, we are about to be treated to the personal reflections about our most esteemed and favored gift of the nation by another real gift to the nation, please welcome dr. Douglas brinkley. [applause] well, thank you very uch. I want to say governor, but im so used to seeing governor, not just president. Governor daniels is someone ive admired for a long time. He is somebody who looks at issues and grabs him by the scruff of the neck and comes up with new ideas. It is truly an honor, governor, for you to introduce me. Also, i want to thank my friend brian lamb and his marvelous school of communication here. Brian is a man of blinding integrity. Anytime i am in his presence i always feel very honored. He is a very special he is very special to me and this is my first time to perdue. My wife and is with me here in the front row. Were going to be searching around, meeting students tomorrow. Im greatly looking forward to my time here. I got involved with Neil Armstrong i suppose because i was a boy growing up in ohio when in a town called perrysburg near toledo just down the road not too far from wapakoneta. I was born in 1960. I was nine years old at the time of Neil Armstrongs going to the moon. That was everything for me. Some people talk about remembering vietnam war. Either member that and remember watergate, but just what that meant when the hometown boy from ohio and from Purdue University went that far to the moon. It broke the shackles of earth or the first time. Imagine how excited i was when i got a chance to interview Neil Armstrong. It happened at a very odd time in american history. Just days after 9 11 happened in september 2001, i was in new orleans. Nasa had asked me to do an oral history. I wont get into all the details about that, but i was going to get to do an oral history of Neil Armstrong buried he turned 70 and said he would do one for nasa. They wanted somebody like myself who had some enthusiasm for the topic to come down to Johnson Space center and interview him n houston. Well all airports were canceled. Everything was shut. I figured there goes my interview. I finally get the reluctant hero, that is Neil Armstrongs nickname, the reluctant hero. Even his family calls him a reluctant hero. He doesnt like talking to the press. Now on 9 11, this is a washout. No, he said i dont cancel things. He flew his own way from cincinnati to houston. It was an oldfashioned lesson in carryon. And i have to prewarn you here. There are many great aeronautical engineers in the audience are associated with Purdue University. I am not that. I almost embarrass myself on it for started talking and nterviewing mr. Armstrong, because at one point, i remember it is in the transcript to prove it, i did a real humanitys question. I said, mr. Armstrong, do you ever just get out there and stand and look up at the moon and say, my gosh, i was there . No, i dont. [laughter] and that was it. And it wasnt that he didnt like me, he just didnt process like that. In fact, not only is he a boilermaker, but he was most proud of being an engineer. He thought engineers got short shrift in american history. One of the quotes he said that i like a great deal is, i am and ever will be a white sox pocket protector nerdy engineer. I take substantial pride in the compliments of my profession. Science is about what is. Engineering is about what can be. My lecture today is about what can be when an engineer puts his mind to something. You all know people here who knew Neil Armstrong slightly. He never really liked the idea of the celebrity hero articularly. The thought of leaving having a lecture on his life and his biography, he would be a little allergic to the concept. He has a great authorized biographer, james hansen, who did a book in 2000 five. In 2005. I recommend it all to you. I was lucky enough to review the New York Times when it came out. It is terrific, and has some of the more detailed information about his life. If my talk spurs you on to read one book, that is one i recommend. I mention Neil Armstrongs flying down to houston for his oral history interview. It reminded me in some ways i had done my homework at the time getting prepared to interview him, when in 1947 when he was only 16 years old, he left the town to wapakoneta and came here to west lafayette. Most kids would have the parents take them. Heres just coming to do his paperwork to enroll, but at age 16 flew here from ohio, a couple hundred miles. He landed here, fill out his papers, and went back to his town, wapakoneta. How many kids at that age could do that, and particularly in 1947, that was already so ccomplished at flight. He had got. Gotten his pilots license before he got his drivers license. He was born august 5, 1930. Stephen armstrong, his father, for the most part work for the state of ohio as an auditor. This meant that he had to move around constantly. His father was very stern. The famous saying was, straighten up, to his children. A loving father. But tough. His mother viola louise angle before she became viola armstrong, she was a very devout christian and always talked about gods faith and her belief n the bible. As any child, those were the two seminal influences on him. What i said that they moved around a lot, wapakoneta gets the credit for Neil Armstrong. And of course today, the museum is there. I recommend you go. I just wanted to name to some of the moves, 16 moves in 14 years. Heres a list of his ohio odyssey towns. Lisbon 1930, war in 1930, ruffino 1931, Shaker Heights 1932, cleveland avenue Cleveland Heights 1932, war in 1933, jefferson 1934, war in 1930 six, malta 1937, st. Mary 1938, Upper Sandusky 1941, all wapakoneta, 1944, where he graduated from high school. All in the state that likes to boast first in aviation. His love of being a pilot was not that unusual for that era. Here at purdue were i will mention in a second, i dont know if a lot of people realize, but a man named cliff turpin in 1908 helped the Wright Brothers redesigned their engine and their controls, not early, from Purdue University. The Wright Brothers were great heroes to any kid growing up in ohio because of their famous bicycle shop near dayton. It celebrates aviation as much s you do here at purdue. 6 years old, Neil Armstrong goes on his first flight. He goes up in a ford try motor, the tin goose. It obviously had a big impression on him or at least it is one of the ones he was willing to talk about as an adult. At that point on, he seemed to be quite hooked about it. Theres a story about his love of aviation. Armstrong has never refuted it. Believe me, he refutes a lot of stories said about him. I feel very bad for him. He had a lot of people say wrong things and he always tried to correct the record. These errors would errors would creep back. Bubbling nothing probably nothing drove him crazy her. He kept having a reoccurring dream. He said i could, by holding my breath, hover over the ground. Nothing much happen