01x07 - The Smithsonian and the Presidency

[bunniefuu]

Wow! That Washington
Monument is really high!

Hey, the White House really is white!

Gee, the Lincoln Memorial is beautiful!

The Smithsonian Institution

is the largest group of museums

and research facilities and art
galleries in the whole world!

Wow! This Air and Space Museum is great!

Look how strange some
of those planes look!

Wow! Look what's hanging up over there!

That's the actual plane that
the Wright Brothers built

and flew at Kitty Hawk in 1903.

The world's first such flight!

Just 15 years after that,

there were great air battles
fought in World w*r I.

See up there?

I think Snoopy is a little upset

to see one of those planes
flown by the Red Baron.

This is a plane called
the Spirit of St. Louis.

Charles Lindbergh,
a 25-year-old pilot,

flew this plane all by himself in


He flew non-stop for


It was the first ever solo flight
across the Atlantic Ocean.

This is the space capsule from
the Apollo 10 flight in 1969.

Wow! Look at that small
space they had to fit in!

The astronauts flew just


It was a dress rehearsal for the
moon landing on the next flight.

That's funny.

What's funny, big brother?

It says here that on
this Apollo 10 mission

that the Lunar Module
was called Snoopy

and the Command Module
was called Charlie Brown.

That's the strangest coincidence
I've ever heard of!

The art galleries in the Smithsonian

have some of the greatest
paintings in American history.

This is a very famous painting of
President George Washington

by Gilbert Stuart.

Did he paint by numbers?

No, he didn't paint by numbers.

These paintings are
worth millions of dollars!

Isn't he the cutest thing?

He knows everything!

And here's a painting of Martha
Washington, the President's wife.

You can't fool me.

I don't care what Linus says.

All these guys paint by numbers.

Hey! This Museum of Natural
History is the greatest!

Hey, Lucy!

We finally found something
with a bigger mouth than yours!

Just kidding!
Just a little museum humor.

This Bengal tiger was one
of the largest in the world.

It weighed 850 pounds.

He's beautiful!

This is an African bush elephant.

He weighed about 8 tons.

Here's the room where they recreated
the bone structure of dinosaurs.

I wrote about dinosaurs in school.

I did a report on the bronchitis.

He coughed a lot.

Now we're inside the
Museum of American History.

They have over 17 million objects
connected with our country's history.

Seventeen million?!

These are the gowns
worn by all the First Ladies

at the Presidential Inaugurations.

This automobile was built by the
Durier Brothers back in 1894.

Look! There's even an exhibit
about cartoon art and comic strips.

Why is that picture of us up
there on the wall, Charlie Brown?

I haven't got the
slightest idea, Lucy.

This exhibit celebrates the 200th
anniversary of the presidency.

What do you mean?

George Washington, our first president,
was inaugurated 200 years ago in 1789.

So they have things here that
belong to many of the presidents.

This was one of General
Washington's uniforms.

Look at this, Chuck.

This is the ink well and pen

that President Abraham Lincoln used
to sign the Emancipation Proclamation.

He did that in January 1863.

President Lincoln proclaimed that
all sl*ves were now free men.

And this is a copy of President
Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.

What was that about?

In July of 1863,

the North and the South

fought the biggest and
bloodiest battle of the Civil w*r.

The battle was fought at Gettysburg,
Pennsylvania by over 170,000 men.

In just three days,

more than 20,000 men died

and another 30,000 were wounded.

A lot of people believe that
the Battle of Gettysburg

was the turning point
of the entire Civil w*r

in favor of the Union side,
the North.

Four months later,
in November 1863,

a national cemetery was to
be dedicated in Gettysburg

to the thousands of
men who died there.

President Lincoln was invited to
say a few words at the dedication.

President Lincoln decided to ride a
train from Baltimore to Gettysburg,

a distance of 120 miles.

The B&O Railroad put together
a special train of just four cars

and made up the last
car for the president.

Samuel, it'll be a few minutes
before the train leaves.

See if you can hail a couple
of those newspaper boys.

You there. And you.

- Me?
- Me?

Yes, both of you. Please come here.

Isn't that the president?

Don't be shy.
Come on, hop up here.

I believe I have a customer for you.

I'd like you to meet the
President of the United States.

Well now, what newspapers
might you two be selling?

I have the Washington
paper, Mr. President.

And I have the Baltimore paper, sir.

Well, I'll just buy one
from each of you.

- Yes, sir.
- Thank you, Mr. President.

You both look about the
same age as my son, Ted.

I hated to leave him today.
He's quite ill.

We're sorry to hear that, sir.

In fact, he's so ill that his mother
begged me to stay home with him.

But unfortunately, this journey
to Gettysburg is something I

just must do.

Excuse me, sir, but would
it be proper for me to ask

why you're going to Gettysburg?

Well, young man, a few months
ago many brave men died there.

We're going to dedicate a
national cemetery in their honor.

Will you be making a speech?

Well, son, the main
speaker is a great orator

by the name of Mr. Edward Everett.

I guess there are a few folks
who hope I still won't come.

I assume they're afraid that any
speech by me might be too political.

And I imagine, Samuel, that a few are
afraid I might tell some bad jokes.

Yes, Mr. President?

In fact, they didn't invite
me until just two weeks ago.

Kind of an afterthought, perhaps.

So I guess I'll just say
a few words tomorrow

after Mr. Everett is finished.

Is it hard to write a speech, sir?

Well, son, some speeches
come easier than others.

But this one's been difficult.

I just started it a few days ago
and I'm still trying to get it right.

Is it hard being president, sir?

Oh, we have our good
days and our bad days.

Probably just as you two boys
do have selling your newspapers.

Do you do you know what this
w*r is all about, young man?

I believe so, sir.

It's about preserving our country.

About preserving democracy.
Isn't it, sir?

Well, that's very simply put, son.

But most accurate.

Democracy is a very fragile thing.

We're doing our best to keep it alive.

I pray that the w*r will soon be over.

That you two will not someday
have to be part of it.

Yes, sir.

The train is about to leave, sir.

Well, gentlemen, thank you
for these newspapers and

thank you for this conversation.

Thank you, Mr. President.

It was a great honor, Mr. President.

Good luck with your speech, sir.

Thank you.

I think I'll really
need that tomorrow.

During the all-day train ride,
President Lincoln visited the other cars.

Listening to the Marine Corps Band,

trading jokes with the
newspaper reporters,

consulting with his advisors,

including his Secretary of State Seward.

But most of his time and his thoughts
were focused on his speech.

The week before, he had gone to a
photography studio in Washington.

He had looked at photographs
of the death and destruction

at the Battle of Gettysburg.

He was deeply moved
by these terrible scenes.

He stared at the speech he
had begun a few days before.

It was very important
to President Lincoln

that he choose the right words,

with the right order,
with the right rhythm.

He had decided that he would
not mention a single name,

nor would he describe the battle itself.

He debated whether or not he
would use the words, under God.

He decided that he would talk
about larger issues than just the w*r.

That he would be speaking to the
north and to the south as well.

He thought of the
words of Patrick Henry,

of Daniel Webster, of Henry Clay.

And he thought deeply
about the scriptures.

That night, he stayed in a
private home in Gettysburg.

He continued working on
his speech until midnight.

As he finally went to bed,

he was worried that his
speech might be a failure.

On the next day, November 19th,

well over 15,000 people
had come to Gettysburg.

President Lincoln rode to the
speaker stand on a horse.

As usual, his long legs dangled
close to the ground.

Edward Everett, the main speaker,
spoke for two hours.

Many in the audience
had started to drift away.

Finally, it was President
Lincoln's turn to speak.

The president, waiting for
the applause to die down,

looked out over the
thousands of faces.

He then started his 270-word speech

that would just take
two minutes to deliver.

But which would
eventually be considered

one of the greatest
speeches of all time.

Four score and seven years ago,

our fathers brought forth on
this continent a new nation.

Conceived in liberty and
dedicated to the proposition

that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged
in a great civil w*r,

testing whether that nation or any
nation so conceived and so dedicated

can long endure.

We are met on a great
b*ttlefield of that w*r.

We have come to dedicate
a portion of that field

as a final resting place for
those who here gave their lives

that that nation might live.

It is altogether fitting and
proper that we should do this.

But in a larger sense,
we cannot dedicate,

we cannot consecrate,
we cannot hallow this ground.

The brave men living and
dead who struggled here

have consecrated it far above
our poor power to add or detract.

The world will little note,
nor long remember what we say here.

But it can never forget
what they did here.

It is for us, the living rather,

to be dedicated here to the unfinished
work which they who fought here

have thus far so nobly advanced.

It is rather for us to be here dedicated
to the great task remaining before us.

That from these honored dead,

we take increased
devotion to that cause

for which they gave the last
full measure of devotion.

That we here highly resolve that
these dead shall not have died in vain.

That this nation under God shall
have a new birth of freedom.

And that government of the people,
by the people, for the people

shall not perish from this earth.

President Lincoln thought
his speech was a failure

and so did many of the
reporters who were there.

But now it's considered one of
the greatest speeches ever given.

Come on, Charlie Brown.

Let's see what other
presidents are here.

This outfit belonged to
President Theodore Roosevelt.

He was one of the most popular
and dynamic presidents we ever had.

Each of our presidents has had
his own set of goals for the nation.

In 1901, when Theodore
Roosevelt became president

after the death of
President William McKinley,

one of his major goals,
unlike any president before him,

was the national conservation
of lands and of wildlife.

President Roosevelt communicated with
conservationists all across the country,

especially with John
Muir in California.

John Muir was considered by many

to be the father of the
National Park Movement.

He had spent a considerable time
in his beloved Yosemite Valley.

He had been instrumental
in the creation of Yosemite

as a national park in 1890.

Two years later,
he founded the Sierra Club.

In 1903, President Roosevelt
was coming to California

to meet with John Muir at Yosemite.

It was to be a three-day
private camping trip

with only two rangers and a cook.

Ah, what a glorious sight, John.

The way the moonlight
bounces off that mountain.

You know, Mr. President,

I've been coming to this valley
for nearly 35 years now.

And each visit is more
inspiring than the last.

Well, I just can't get over these
redwoods, these sequoias.

I had no idea of their size,
their power, their beauty.

Oh, this valley is like an immense hall
or a temple that's lighted from above.

But no temple made
with hands, Mr. President,

can compare with Yosemite.

I envy you, John.

I can only live on the
edge of this stream,

but you can live it every day.

I once wrote that nature had gathered
her choicest treasures here.

We've got to protect
these places, John.

Somehow I have to get it through
the heads of those congressmen.

We're not building this
country of ours for a day.

It's to last through the ages,
like these sequoias here.

Mr. President, if people
know about a special place,

they'll want to protect it.

The wrongs done to trees are done in
the darkness of ignorance and unbelief.

Over the next seven years,

President Theodore Roosevelt
did what he had promised.

He would set aside 132 million
acres of natural forest land.

He established 53 wildlife preserves.

He established 16 national monuments
and five new national parks.

He signed a law which put
John Muir's beloved Yosemite

under federal protection.

President Roosevelt would often say

that those three days and nights
with John Muir at Yosemite

had been one of his guiding lights.

This is President Franklin
Delano Roosevelt.

He was president from 1933 to 1945.

He was a cousin of President
Theodore Roosevelt.

Franklin Roosevelt became president

when the United States was near
collapse from the Great Depression.

By the way, what was the Depression?

The Depression happened when the
economy went bad in the United States.

There was a great stock
market crash in 1929.

Stocks and companies
lost all of their value.

People lost millions
and millions of dollars.

Hey, I know all about
that Depression stuff.

My grandfather told me that this
was the biggest internal threat

to the United States
since the Civil w*r.

That's right.

They talked about the
Depression in school.

That was when millions and millions
of people were out of work.

The country needed strong leadership.

The people hoped that President
Roosevelt could be that leader.

What's this?

Let's see.

This was one of the
actual microphones

that President Roosevelt
used to speak over the radio

to the American people to try
to give them hope and courage.

Why didn't he talk
on television, sir?

There was no television
back in 1933.

A lot of people thought that the whole
United States was going to collapse.

Gee, sir, that must have been a
scary time to be growing up here.

Well, my grandfather told me that over


more than one-third of all the
workers in the United States.

He said people were losing
their homes and their farms

because they couldn't
pay the mortgages.

Why are all those
people lined up, sir?

This is March, 1933.

That's a bread line, Marcy.

People lined up for bread or

anything else they could get free
for themselves and their families.

That's terrible, sir.

There were bread lines
all across the country.

Millions of people didn't have
jobs and they didn't have money.

Look how low the prices had fallen

because so many people
had so little money.

Wow! Hamburger or
meatballs? Ten cents.

A beef steak for fifteen cents.

In school, they said many thousands
of people were starving.

They couldn't even
afford these prices.

What are all those people
doing with those apples, sir?

People tried to earn money
any way they could,

even by selling apples one at a time.

But how could they make enough
money just selling apples?

They'd buy a box of seventy-two apples
for two dollars and twenty-five cents.

Then they'd spend ten cents for
bags and ten cents on car fare.

They'd sell them for
four or five cents apiece.

It might take them all day
to sell a whole box of apples.

And if they sold them all,

they'd make a profit of one
dollar and fifteen cents.

All kinds of people sold
apples just to survive.

Ministers, housewives, businessmen.

What are all those
people doing there, sir?

Thousands of people lost their homes.

Thousands more couldn't
even afford rent.

People made homes of
anything they could find.

Cardboard boxes, newspapers,
tin, and even parts of old cars.

It happened all over the country.

Young men despairing of finding work.

Fathers unable to
provide for their families.

Sitting in parks all
day and wondering

if they and their
families would survive.

Millions of people losing their savings
as over five thousand banks closed down.

Families piling all their
possessions onto a single truck.

Moving across the country
looking for work that didn't exist.

Farmers unable to properly
feed and clothe their children,

let alone feed livestock
and raise crops.

By March of 1933, the United
States was in desperate shape.

Many thought that democracy
might not survive.

And this is what President
Roosevelt faced

as he prepared to
take the oath of office.

Hey, look! Look at
what the date is today.

March 4th, 1933.

Hey, Franklin! That's right!
We're here in Washington, D.C. and...

And today's the day that President
Roosevelt gets inaugurated.

But how can we get to the
Capitol Building fast enough?

This is a day of national consecration.

And I am certain that on this day,
my fellow Americans,

expect that on my induction
into the presidency,

I will address them with
a candor and a decision

which the present situation
of our people impels.

This is preeminently the
time to speak the truth,

the whole truth, frankly and boldly.

Nor need we shrink from honestly
facing conditions in our country today.

This great nation will
endure as it has endured.

Will revive and will prosper.

So first of all, let me
assert my firm belief

that the only thing we
have to fear is fear itself.

In just a few weeks, this is what
President Roosevelt has done.

He provided $500
million for the poor.

He put banks under federal control.

He created something called
the Civilian Conservation Corps.

This will give jobs to a quarter of a
million young people in our forests.

He arranged for government credit
for farmers and for homeowners.

He's putting people to work
on dams and roads and bridges.

He started something called
the Tennessee Valley Authority

to bring cheap electricity
to a huge part of the South.

Does President Roosevelt
ever eat or sleep, sir?

My father says the country
desperately needed a leader

and it seems to have found one.

It must take a special kind
of person to be such a leader.

And you never know where
the next one might come from.