Transcripts For CSPAN Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20240622

Wake up with the sheriff knocking at the door. Court cases have played a part in popular movies. Listen to cspan radio at 90. 1 fm in the washington dc area. Online at cspan. Org. Download our cspan radio app. Herhe cspan cities to visits literary and Historic Sites across the nation every other weekend on cspan2s book tv and cspan3s American History tv. This month with congress on its summer resource summer recess, the city tour is on pan each day at 6 00 a. M. P. M. Eastern. Welcome to austin on American History tv. With help from our car mourner Time Warner Cable partners, we will explore the city of the capital of texas. Austin is referred to as the live music capital of the world because of the venues in the city. It has a population just under one million. Ofe a behind the scenes tour the president ial suite at the Lyndon Johnson president ial library and museum. Didsuite looks just as it with the former president roamed its halls. The space is really a living, breathing artifact. It has not changed at all since president johnson died in january 1973. Later, visit the texas State Capitol, the only state capital that can boast it is taller than the United States capitol in washington. The capital has a commanding presence here in austin. It has a beautiful renaissance revival style beautiful granite. It is easy to see from almost any Vantage Point in downtown austin. We begin the art with a visit to the bullock air force is to learn about the women pilots and their contributions during world war ii. The bullock state Texas History museum is texas official state History Museum. We were opened in 2001. We are charged with telling the story of texas. We have three floors of exhibition space where we artifacts0 original that tell the story of texas. We also had temporary exhibitions, including fly girls, which is what we are standing in right now, and two theaters that show films regularly. This is texas, cradle of our army push air force. Buses and out of those buses step girls. Womens air force Service Pilots. Exhibition isls very special to us. It is an exhibition that we and toon veterans day tell the story of these world war ii female pilots. We thought it was an important texas story, but also in important story that connect texas with the nation. When world war ii broke out in 19381939, one of the women pilots of america, her name was Jacqueline Cochran, she was a business owner, entrepreneur, and fearless pilot. She approached president Franklin Roosevelt and her slaty Eleanor Roosevelt with the idea using women to fly womens using women to fly. Women using the air force should they be needed. In 1941 pearl harbor was attacked by japan. Men immediately enlisted and were sent off to the european and pacific front of america. Experiencingca was a severe shortage of male combat pilots over africa. So we go back to the jack idea of women flying aircraft. They took her up on her offer and the air force Service Pilot was formed. When i got out of high school i started taking flying lessons. Theas the best kind, where instructor sits in the front and the student in the back. One day when i had had my hours of flying he told me to pull over on the tarmac when i landed and he started getting out of the airplane and he told me it was time for me to take it around by myself. He closed the door and i took off. He said watch me from the ground and ill let you know when i go around the rent around again. When i came in for the landing, i made a smooth landing so he told me to take off again. When i took off that time, when i got up to about 500 feet where i was supposed to level off, when i started to push forward on the stick, a came off in my thisand i thought, he did on purpose to see if i would make a good pilot. But then i realized i was about to crash, so i did not have any power. So i grabbed my seatbelt and i left the throttle wide open and i moved across the front seat and i started pushing forward on which lowers the nose of the airplane. I held onto their until i knew i had enough speed that i wouldnt crash. So then i climbed over into the front seat and i made a fairly smooth landing, so i started to taxi over where he was. Enough, hegot close turned around and started walking away. I stopped and sat there. He turned around, came back, got an airplane, went in the back seat, and i wasnt there. He said, what were you doing in the front seat . , just pointed to the stick which is the stick you fly the airplane with. It was on the floor board. When he saw that, he said now you know you have the right stuff to be a pilot. And that was before john glenn had the right stuff. That is how i learned to fly. The day after 21 i apply for the program and eventually i got a letter from jacqueline, which i still have, saying i had been accepted. So i went on a train from ,lorida to creek water, texas and went into flight training. We had male instructors and Army Air Force check pilots, but we were there. I was there for seven months learned to fly military aircraft. Goclass was first class directly to 86s, which was a 660horsepower aircraft for crosscountry flying. Then we went to instruments. I was there for seven months. Once i finished all the training and passed all of the air force flight instructors, they would give us our check flight and then i graduated. The army sent me to air base in mississippi. It was a basic school for cadets and my job was to test their airplanes once they have had crack ups. They would repair them, but they had a flight tester before they would fly them. My job was to be a test pilot. The air force base in florida and went to be 26 training b26 training. When i finish, they kept me as a b26 target pilot. What that meant is i go of with a crew of four and flight over the gulf in a pattern. Would fly by with her young gunners and they would fire live ammunition with colorcoded bullets at the target. A couple of times they hit the tale of my airplane, but luckily god was on my side, i landed safely. That was what i did until we were disbanded in december of 1944, when they had enough male pilots to do those jobs. These women were coming from all across the country experiencing conditions they had never experienced before. They were room in barracks that had two bays, and six women to a bay. Here women to a not a lot of room. Not very glamorous. Same kind of conditions that male pilots were being trained in. Training,n months of 560 hours of ground school, 210 hours of flying training, the women graduated. Why they that is wanted those wings. That is why they were doing this. The first class that graduated did not have a standard flying uniform. The women had to purchase their own uniform at first, which was a pair of khakis they called pants, a white but not blouse, and in the wintertime they would wear their a white button up blouse, and in the wintertime they would wear their jacket as well. That was their unofficial uniform. Once we checked in we were to a after we listened speech by Jacqueline Cochran, who was the one who had gotten this group together, she was there when i arrived at the field along with my other classmates. When she told us what was expected of us, we were sent down to get our flying gear. We got down to the place where the flying gear, it was all larger. Toas only 52 and i had eoll up the pant legs and hik up the suit with my belt in order to be able to wear it, but that is what we wore while flying. Someone in new york had assigned as a new uniform and a general told ms. Cochran that he wanted it in blue and this was before the air force started wearing blue. At that time they were wearing an. En and t our uniforms were santee blue and they were made by neiman marcus, and their seamstresses fitted us those uniforms, which is what i am wearing today. They also designed the santee argo blue. The womens were the first to wear that jacket. Once they graduated, the women earned their silver wings. They were placed at 120 basis across the country. During this time, 38 Women Air Force Service Pilots were killed while serving their country. Some in training, some later on when they were stationed at a base across the country. Wendy wassmen was started when the wasp was started that they were in such need for pilots they did not have time to militarize them. As civilian pilots they were not getting compensated. They did not have that status. So when they died, they had to figure out their own way to pay for the women to be sent home, to pay for their burial, to pay for their coffin. They did not get a flag on their coffin or casket and the families were not allowed to what a gold star in their window to indicate they were a family that had lost someone during the war. A lot of times classmates and family raise the money themselves for a woman to go home and be buried. Of the 25,000 women who apply , over 1800 were 1102ted to from there, went on to become air force Service Pilots. General arnold went to Congress Asking for the marital relation asking for the militarization of these women. Andad superiority in europe men were starting to come home. From what had been this really patriotic and courageous thing being done for their country, it became you are taking jobs away from men who are coming home from war. You have to give it back. The men who are at home, the flight instructors at home were worried their jobs would disappear and they did not want that. They launched a campaign against these women. By the time that general arnold was before Congress Asking for motorization, the spirit across the country was completely different. The morale was completely different than it had been two years prior. The president decided Jacqueline Cochran would compile a report to prove all the accomplishments that the women had done. That report told that the women had flown over 60 million miles for their country during their service and that all of their statistics, all of their numbers were comparable to that of men. They were on par with men. Orderedmale congress the deactivation of the wasp. December 1944, the last class of wasp graduated in on december 20, they were disbanded little thanks, no pay, and they had to pay for their own way home. After that their records were sealed, stamp classified, and put away into the archives. Historians of world war ii had no access to these records and ultimately these women were left out of our history books, our textbooks, and left out of the american knowledge of outlook history. For 33 years that was the case. In 1976, congress or i should say the air force said they were going to allow, for the first time in americas history they were going to allow women to fly military aircraft, which was not true. 30 years prior you had women doing this all along. The lost decided the wasp decided that was not true, we did it. This is our time to be knowledged and for people to recognize that. A campaign was launched led by Barry Goldwater and general arnolds son. They were finally granted veteran status in 1977, 33 years after they had been disbanded. Four congresswomen, the wasps were awarded the congressional goldman congressional gold medal of honor, which is the highest civilian honor offered by congress. , my colleagues, distinguished guests, our families, and our friends, i am humbled to have been asked to represent the wasps today. Every single one of these ladies deserves to be standing where i am standing. [applause] was passed in record time in 2010, thend largest body of people ever in the u. S. Emancipation hall in the capital. Approximately 200 wasps were Deanie Bishop and parish excepted it on behalf of all of those who had passed and l was givenl meda to this the sony in institution as it was directed by the bill that barack obama had signed. Story of the wasps was they were awarded the congressional gold medal of honor. It is still not a story a lot of people are familiar with. They did not ask for all of this credit. They came to serve their country and get something when america needed them. Had mene at a time and fly overseas in world war ii to help win the war. When it was done, they packed up their bags, they paid for their way home, and left it at that. These women really changed the face of American Military at a time when their country needed them. That is the story we are currently telling at the bullet, texas, History Museum. Texas, History Museum. The curator of the Texas Capital takes us on a tour and talks about the history of the building that houses the state legislature and the governors office. The capital has a commanding presence in austin. It is at the top of the hill. Capitol square is over 22 acres of parklike grounds. It has this beautiful renaissance revival style with sunset red granite. It is easy to see from almost any Vantage Point in downtown austin. We have a round dome, not unlike the nations capitol, topped by the goddess of liberty at the top of the capitol dome. Texans are proud of the fact that the Texas Capitol is actually taller than the national capital. When the first capitol was completed in 1853, it was very small and was not popular. Officials started to make plans for a grander, more fitting State Capitol for texas. They realized they could not afford what they had in mind, and so they were able to set aside acres of land in the panhandle, and trade that so the Texas Capitol could be completed in 1888. It imparts to visitors the story of texas, the story of the land it took to build the capitol, but also about the history of the state of texas, not only as a state, but when it was the republic of texas. To have all the beautiful paintings throughout the building, and our capital tour guides get an opportunity to show the building to all our visitors we have a great opportunity to talk about the capitol and impart all that information to our visitors. When visitors walk into the South Entrance or another, they are originally start to see the grandeur of the architecture. We have such beautiful large spaces that it almost cries to be shown off to the public. We have a beautiful sculpture of sam houston and Stephen F Austin, done by a german artist working in texas, elizabet may. Her statuary is in display at the United States capitol. On either side of the south for your we have a monumental paintings the surrender of santa ana, and then David Crockett both of which are massive in size, to do justice to a story largerthanlife, which is Texas History. The battle of san jacinto was fought on april 1, 1836, 6 weeks after the loss of the alamo. Mexican forces numbered about 1400, and the texians only 900. Because the bridge had been destroyed, they were not able to receive reinforcements or to retreat. During an afternoon siesta, the texas forces attacked and were able to defeat them in less than 20 minutes. In terms of the impact of the battle, texas was able to have its independence from mexico. And of course we celebrate san jacinto day every year in texas. It is a state holiday. Inside the senate, there is a portrait that shows Stephen F Austin in one of the most iconic paintings of his, i think, tenure, painted by an unknown artist, possibly in new orleans. Other paintings would include likenesses of lamarr. He was instrumental in making sure that the capitol remained in austin. He had spent time in austin. At that point in time it was named waterloo. He made sure this was where the capital of texas would remain. We have more recent paintings, including barbara jordan, Lyndon Baines johnson, former president of the United States. The only textile in the capital historical artifact collection is the flag from the battle of san jacinto. It normally hangs on the dais behind the speakers rostrum. We only have it on display when the legislature is in session. It is very fragile, and we try to keep it protected under the red drapery. We usually have a replica hanging in its place. The legislature will gavel in, in january of 2015. We have the original on display. It is one of those, i think, iconic Texas History artifacts that all of our School Children who come to the capitol to learn about Texas History and about how to be a good citizen they have an opportunity to see these kind of artifacts up close and personal. The capitol welcomes more than a million visitors every year. We are thankful to be able to show them not only in capital not only is capitol , wonderful historic lashings and interiors, but a number of monuments on the grounds to various causes. For example, on the south grounds, we have four of our most historic monuments. We have the texas rangers, the alamo monument, the confederate monument, and the volunteer firemen monument. In the early 1990s, the capitol underwent a massive restoration, exterior and interior. We were able to return 10 spaces to their turnofthecentury appearance. One of these spaces is the Supreme Court room. When myers completed the capital in 1888, we were able to have all of State Government within these walls. As you can imagine, State Government has grown exponentially since then. At this point, the Supreme Court offices in another adjacent building. But this room gives us an opportunity to talk about the Supreme Court and Judicial Branch of government. Across the way, we have the Appeals Court room. Our tour guides are able to tell the public about that branch of government, and really provide a great deal of information in terms of how texas Government Works today. We are very hopeful that you will have a chance to come visit the Texas Capitol personally. We love to see not only texans walk through our doors, what literally hundreds of thousands of people from not only all 50 states, but from Foreign Countries as well. Come visit us so we can tell you about Texas History, and hopefully we will be able to share our wonderful Texas Capital with you. Cspan cities to her continues with a visit to the president ialn museum in austin, texas. Tour fromr gives us a the 60 from the 60s exhibit. The torch has been passed to a new generation of americans. I have a dream that one day and we shall overcome. [applause] come gather round, people wherever you roam and you have grown and accepted that thing youll be drenched to the bone is your time worth saving . You better start swimming or you will sink like a stone the times, they are achanging here at the lbj gallery we are featuring the 60 from the 60s exhibit. Within the exhibit itself, as the title suggests, we highlight americans who had a great impact on the nation. And are still relevant with the 21st century. Some of these people are bob dylan, president Lyndon Johnson, barbra streisand. We have science. We have the apollo 11 crew. Being the first humans on the face of the moon. We highlight marshall nuremberg, who not only cracked the genetic code back in the 1960s, but also won the nobel prize for his work. Charles schultz, one of my favorite parts of the exhibit. We were lucky enough to get two of his original sunday comics. And a pair of skates that illustrates it was a lifelong amateur hockey fan. That is something we try to do in the exhibit, to find one object or one document that speaks to the accomplishments of each person. The importance of an exhibit like 60 from the 60s is to show how americans 50 years ago completed work that is still relevant in the 21st century. For example, in the early 60s, at t launched the First Communications satellite, which was the precursor to the electronic age we are experiencing now. Satellite communications, cell phone reception, Worldwide Television reception. Internet service. One of the people we are highlighting is the inventor of the worlds first videogame, which began the videogame revolution we have now. His prototype, that was developed in the 1960s, eventually was produced by magnavox, that they turned into the magnavox odyssey, which became the first commercially produced videogame. The magnavox odyssey was the precursor to pong and pacman and all of the video games that are on the market today. One of the many authors we have in the exhibit is a First Edition copy of Rachel Carsons silent spring that was published in the early 1960s. This book brought National Attention to the plight and problems caused by the pesticide ddt, which in turn kicked off the modern environmental movement, which mrs. Johnson, during her time in the white house and afterward, championed this movement when she promoted programs like highway beautification. She started the Lady Bird Johnson center here in austin and other environmentaltype programs. Ladies and gentlemen the , beatles oh, yeah i will tell you something i think you will understand when i say that something i wanna hold your hand music was a very large part of the 1960s. In partnership with the Grammy Museum, we have both the soundtrack for the decade that we highlight within the exhibit the Grammy Museum put together a panel of musical experts to, with some of the most influential songs of the 1960s. The lbj library then posted those songs on our website and allowed the public to vote on which were the most popular songs. Bob dylan, blowing in the wind is occupying the top spot. The answer is blowing in the wind with our Exhibit Program, we hope to give people a better understanding of american street. Through our temporary Exhibit Program especially, where we are looking to give a different perspective on not only the decade of the 1960s, but the entire scope of American History. We continue of the two are lbjlbj tour of the librarytial in the private suite where the president and lady bird relaxed. Private, i mean that. This is not part of the tour that is open to the public every it has never been opened. What you are seeing is because of cspans special access. Vips come through, as they did in Lyndon Johnsons day, but it is not available on a regular basis. It is really a living, breathing artifacts. It has not changed at all since president johnson died in january of 1973. There is a document in the byner of this room signed Lady Johnston telling predecessors that nothing in this room can change. This is as president johnson would have seen it in his day. Theyre have been a number of luminaries in this room seven president s, six first ladies, the queen of england, prince philip, prince charles, Princess Diana have all been in this room. It looks exactly as we see it now. Lbjes a famous interview did with all the contrite with Walter Cronkite the early 1970s and Walter Cronkite was on that couch and you see their what you see right now. The president was alive for about a year and a half when this library was built. It was inaugurated in may of 1971. He died in 1973. He had a limited time during which he was a part of this librarys light. It was an important time. Lady bird johnson made it in important part of her life until she died in 2007. This library is just a much about Lady Bird Johnson and her touch as well as her husbands. There are some wonderful artifacts the johnsons collected while they were in the white house. Some come from heads of state. Others come from heads of state others come from friends of to them inwere given the statehouse or white house. One such item is a painting by diego rivera, one of 15 cubist paintings diego rivera did during the course of his career. It was given to president johnson from the president of mexico during a state visit their during the course of johnsons presidency. There is another painting on the thet by charles russ, famous painter of western themes. This was a painting that hung at the lbj ranch that the johnsons subsequently gave to the library. In this case, there were many gifts given to the johnsons, by friends and in some cases by heads of state, including a wonderful solid gold representation of the moon where there is a diamond where the sea of tranquility is located. The sea of tranquility is of course where Neil Armstrong and buzz aldrin first landed on the moon. Course,t johnson, of was very active in the space program. Actions occurred after he left the oval office. It was very much part of his efforts that we made it to the moon. This is a small, private office set up for president johnson. It was meant to model the privates office in the oval office. Replicathat door is the of the johnson oval office. This was a small study that he used on occasion. It includes a very long couch. Very long because johnson often took naps. It ended up being horizontal working sessions more than a chance to slumber, but it is long to accommodate his 63 frame. When we had the civil rights summits, president carter took a nap on this as well. At least two former president s have slept on this couch. This is a small desk that president johnson used in this private office. He spent a great deal of his time here when he worked as president. A lot of the work of his presidency was done on this desk. Was a majorhnson consumer of the news. He monitored it very carefully. Were three Television Sets set up so that he could see simultaneously all three major news broadcasts. There is a remote control, a primitive remote control, that allows him to isolate sound onto the sets so that he could hear the sound on one of them. This is at a time when there were only three broadcast networks. Cbs, abc, and nbc. It was far easier to monitor the news that it was today. Pbs was a Fourth Network introduced by Lyndon Johnson through legislation that he signed in 1967, creating not only pbs but also National Public radio. Sinceeek has not changed asthis suite as not changed president johnson died in 1973. The robe i would show you in what is the bathroom is illustrative nap. You can see that the neon green anyone who is over 45 years of age will recognize that it was probably the same color of the rug in their den. This was a popular color at the time and we have not changed things in the suite. If we could, thats the one thing i would want. I would like to have a near as architectural requirements would permit. It doesnt need to be 18 high or 14 or 38 feet long it might have a card on the door that says it is not an exact replica, but it gives an impression that heres where the president works. They all want to see that. That is what they want to come to see. Here we are in lbjs oval office. Most of the president ial libraries have oval office replicas. This is distinct for two reasons. It is slightly smaller than the actual oval office. It is 7 8 scale. The reason it is smaller is because it was added as an afterthought. President johnson wanted visitors in the library to see where the president worked. We did not have a large enough space to accommodate the oval office. It is slightly smaller. Another thing that makes it unique is that this was the actual future in Lyndon Johnsons white house, including his desk. This is not the resolute desk that we all associate with the president , the dust that president obama currently uses and many of us recognizing the photo of john f. Kennedy junior popping out of his fathers desk. That desk is used by most present. Johnson, because he wanted to take his furniture back the library, opted to use the desk used as a center used as Senate Majority leader. He used it as Vice President and sent it to the oval office. That is his chair. That is his telephone. This is his suite of furniture, including the rocking chair where he sat in on meetings. You will recognize that as being similar to the rocking chairs john f. Kennedy used when he was president. It was done by the same manufacturer. Every president gets to choose the portrait that he wants to grace his oval office. In president johnsons case, he chose george washington, andrew jackson, and his hero, Franklin Roosevelt. He was very much a project of the new deal and was a protege in respects of frank and roosevelt, who saw great potential. When johnson became president it was his hope that he would finish the new deal. He would finish with his Great Society what president roosevelt started with the new deal. One of the things that fdr left unaddressed in his presidency was civil rights. I think that ultimately president johnson will be remembered as the civil rights president , for having signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 19 for which rolled back jim crow and separate but equal laws in the south. Gave americas unimpeded access to the ballot box in 1968. That allowed for fair housing for all americans. Civils a triumvirate of rights legislation and the legacy of johnson. We had now to the texas state History Museum to hear about the la belle. Well, the story, we are telling at the bullock texas state History Museum is an incredible story of european attempt to colonize the northern gulf of mexico. We think we have a great story to tell a story that changed , texas and americas history. Lle. Thinking of la be does thinking of la belle doom the french effort to colonize texas . La salle discovered the mouth of the Mississippi River. Claimed all the lands for france. Got a commission from louis the 14th two, back and build a colony at the Mississippi River mouth. He got the slides together and came back in 1684, and landed at the texas coast thinking he was at the mouth of Mississippi River. He thought texas was part of the mouth of the Mississippi River. And was insistent somewhere in that area he would find his river to build his colony. His problem was was that he had a map that he used at the time that he and his mapmaker put together that was dramatically wrong. It showed the Mississippi River flowing through north america coming down to the content and veering to the west and linking up the Rio Grande River and into texas at the western end of the gulf of mexico. That map is what really got la salle off course. He offloaded the ships. Trying to get the supplies off lost a big supply ship. He was down to two ships. La belle and la jolie. La jolie had orders to take the colonists and supplies and offload them and sail back to france. That ship did that. In 1865, la salle was down to a single ship, la belle, in his colony as a lifeline if he needed to sail somewhere to get help. As time went on, he looked for the banks of the Mississippi River. He could not find it. He finally decided in late 1865, he would load everything he had left on la belle. He would sail it as far as he could to the northeast and then he would go overland, find the river, come back and get his ship. People la belle with 29 loaded with cargo saying i will be gone 10 days. Stay there, dont move. Two months later the people on board that ship went out of the water and things got so bad that the captain of the ship decided he would violate la salles orders. Pull a banker, sail back around to where other french people were at the other end of the bay, and when he did that, one of the most notorious cold fronts blew through texas in february 1686 and la belle wrecked on the southern shore of Matagorda Bay. The ship was discovered in 1995. The Texas Historical commission decided at that point to build a doublerimmed coffer dam around the entire wreck. Matagorda bay is very difficult to dive in. There is not much visibility. With this cofferdam all of the , water can be pumped out and it could be a moist dig. It took about two years just looking at the ship itself to clean all the services of the timber. Then a rough reconstruction had to take place, so you knew everything would fit that together. The whole conservation process lasted from approximately 2003 to about 2014. The la belle is currently being reconstructed here at the state History Museum in texas, austin, texas. Portions of what you see now are our progress in putting back the frames and longitudinal section of the vessel itself. The keel is the base. Then we have floors that make frame sets. When we finish putting all of this together, it will actually, the spaces in between the gray carbon fiber laminates will be filled. It will essentially be a solid bowl of timber. How did we find la belle . We knew it was out there because the presence of the french in this part of the new world caused great alarm to spain. Spain said they control the northern gulf of mexico and what today is texas but they had , nobody up here. So, when the french came in, spain heard about that and said that if we are going to stop the french king, we need to send people up there to find la salle and stop that colony. 11 expeditions came up looking for la salle. Eventually, one of them in 1689 found the remains of the french camp they had set up with all of the colonists gone or dead. And they also, regulus for modernday archaeologists, in Matagorda Bay they found the remains of la belle still sticking above the water, and they made a map. That map shows the bay. Based upon that document, we look for that shipwreck. In 1995, we went out searching for it and we got lucky and we found it. We brought up a beautiful bronze cannon that had french writing on it, and it had the insignia. The insignia of the grand admiral of france gave us confirmation that we found la belle. It turned out we had a treasure trove of historical importance. We had, what i basically call, we found a kit for building a colony in the 17th century new world. I am not aware of those objects existing together like we found them anyplace else in the world. By excavating those objects we have been able to peer into the mind of la salle and understand what he thought he needed to build a successful colony in the new world. La belle was built in 1684 specifically for this project of la salles. It was intended to be a ship kit and come over in a larger hold of a supply ship. Unfortunately, a couple months before they were due to sail, the cargo hold was full and there was no more room for la belle. So hastily, they erected the ship in la rochelle, france, an included her to make a fleet of four ships with the colonists coming over. When i mention the ship kit, you can see the numbers along the keel. Here and here. So, this is, the one and one. That it has been a little bit obliterated. This one is a little clearer. Thats a voneone. And you can see an a carved. Part of thesh , dynamic of this project is that the exhibit designers have placed a 15 foot wide by 55 foot long casing that is going to stand five feet high that the visitor is able to come to museum and will actually walk over the top of la belle. Look down and in the hold. And then from following these frame sets, the ship the ship above will be reconstructed. You will get the feeling you are kind of walking inside what it was and look down and actually see la belle in her context. We have 125s of the best andfacts found on la belle for each artifact, we tell the story of that artifact. Some of my favorites are the glass beads and finger rings and little bells. These are trinkets brought with them to trade with the natives and indian people. He knew he got to the good world the new world and would have to of eventually get Food Supplies and things he would have to ship back to france itself from naked people. He knew the kinds of things that they cherished because hed been doing explorations up in the great lakes and interacted with native people for many years of up there. He brought with him hundreds of thousands of different Little Things to trade with the indians. Now, what is so exciting to me about this is that we have the objects but we also have a journal of the exhibition. And multiple times in there, the author talks about trading glass beads for a deer hide or finger rings for corn or food. So we get an idea of how these things are being used and the exchange rate. If that ship had not gone down in a storm in 1686, our history might well be like new orleans. But presence of la salle and la spain that they needed to get people up here. And the presence of la salle being here led to our wonderful hispanic heritage we have today. We close out the cspan cities tour with the director of the state library and Archive Commission on the struggle for equality of african americans, mexicanamericans, and women in texas. The Texas State Library commission is a state agency founded by the state with a simple but powerful mission, and that is to make sure texans have the information that they need to live in form, productive, and fulfilled lives. Thelso provide an house archives of the state of texas, which is the historical record of the state of texas, going back to the republic of texas days and earlier than that. Today is all see collection of some of the most iconic and Important Documents from our collection. They document our Texas Freedom and the struggle of various groups in texas for freedom, quality [video clip] for freedom, equality, and civil rights. An original portrait of Stephen F Austin, who is considered the father of anglo colonization. We believe this portrait was painted from life before his death. This was an important map researched and compiled by Stephen F Austin. He and his father knew that if texas was to be successful, they would have to have a good map of the area. He worked with tanner Publishing Company in philadelphia to create this map. The earliest one was in 1830. They issued several editions, the last being in 1836. This is an original imprint of that 1936 map. It still has the mexican eagle and the cartouche because at in 1836, even though at the time of the publication it was still a part of mexico. This book was actually a publication of the proceedings of the convention of texas at san felipe de austin. Stephen f austin was the president of this convention, and it was a number of the prominent men who met to draw up a list of grievances that they had with the Mexican Government for a variety of reasons we are not sure about. It was never presented to the Mexican Government, but one significant thing about it was that the delegation from their bear, san antonio, and the delegation from goliad in Southeast Texas was not present. Basically, it was the work of white male colonists, so that is rather significant. The hispanics and tejanos were not represented. Those spandex and hollows were not represented the tejanos were not represented. Et on marchion m 1, 1836 at washington, texas. W known as washington on the brazeaus. Three hispanics who signed it. One was a mexican national. Antonios also pose navarro. Their hope was to colonize texas and make it prosperous. This was mainly a dream for white texans. The same promise was not necessarily available to people of other ethnicities. Of african descent, you had basically no rights. This is a fascinating document. Basically a letter of safe passage. A free woman of color who had come before the captain morgan. During the revolution, she was trying to return home to new york and got this letter which would have allowed her free passage. Anawas captured by santa and detained for a while. A myth grew out of this story that somehow she was a woman who had distracted santa ana at the jacinto andan fo theres not much evidence of this but it is a myth that grew out of those events. It may have been the inspiration song, thefamous yellow rose of texas. 1858 ofan imprint from that sheet music, which is mysterious. We dont know who the composer, initials jk, is. The is a treaty with cherokee indians and other tribes. Early 1836. ,t is signed, february 23 at the beginning of the siege of the alamo. Work done by sam houston who had had a close relationship with the cherokees. The significance of this was texans wanted to try to be sure the cherokees and other bands of native americans would be either neutral or on the side of the texan colonists. They did not want them to side with mexico. This had been worked on for months. There was urgency to get it signed. The stipulations of the treaty were not honored. The cherokee did not get their land eventually. The major signatory here for the colonel,as a killed in 1839 any battle in northeast texas. The cherokees had to cross the border into indian territory, now oklahoma. This contains the signatures or marks of indians who participated as well as texans, sam houston and others. After texas gained its independence in 1836, the battle jacinto, there was some belief it would be and next by the u. S. Once it became apparent texas was not going to be quickly annexed, it became about the battle of establishing relationships with other nations. One of the most obvious was with the u. S. Establishes the between the u. S. And texas, an important detail. Burens when martin van was president. This particular document does not contain the actual terms of the boundary treaty. It the you would call document of transmission of that treaty and it includes these beautiful seals. Which includes sealing wax from the u. S. Texas also entered into treaties with other nations. Notably great britain. 1840 andwas from addresses the suppression of the slave trade. It is actually signed by queen victoria. War ande civil reconstruction, texas experienced a new era of immigration, mostly from the u. S. Into texas. This is a broadside railroad map called theanization texas colony association. It was an attempt to colonize the vast lands of texas. In attempt to address many of the issues that should have been corrected by reconstruction, this is the constitution written signed in 1870 six. Texas still operates under this constitution today, even though it has had hundreds of amendments to make changes. We can flip to the signature page of the document which contains all of the original signatures from 1876. Can imagine, these are many of the most prominent men of their day. Addresseddocument some issues of inequality, these problems did not go away with equality, in franchise men. Most notably, even though men of african descent could vote, women were not allowed to vote until well into the 20th century. Texass a memorial to the legislature in 1884 by the undersigned committee of colored men. I guess that is kind of a predecessor of the black caucus. They are asking for redress on several issues pertaining to people of african descent living in texas at the time. Leaflet, entitled aboutapped, was published advance of the upcoming election about whether women would be given the vote. As we know, eventually the 19th amendment was ratified giving all women the right to vote. You can see this document and many more we have previewed by visiting the Texas State Library and archives commission. These items, documents and artifacts will be featured in our upcoming texans struggle for freedom and equality. The cspan cities tour of austin, texas continues tomorrow. We will talk with authors of looks about former Texas Governor and richards. Confederate general stonewall jackson. And a serial killer. That starts tomorrow. Tonight at 8 00 p. M. , a forum about the threat of isis. Here is retired general john allen. General allen isis is losing. When you listen to their tactical communications, they have problems with morale. Burned captain a number of foreign fighters rebelled and were executed by the central government. There was during the time of kobani a moment in the c ampaign whenever but he said we would lose. Mselves. Aled thei they knew that there was only