Hello, everybody. This is Lowell Thomas greeting you from squaw valley in the Tahoe National forest where the eighth winter of Olympic Games are in progress. This is the greatest spectacle in all Winter Sports. The worlds best skiers and skaters have come to this remote valley. Squaw they have come to win if they can, lose if they must, above all take part in do their best. Behind the excitement of the competition, there is another story, the story of planning, of safetyg, of work, and of in the snow. Winterte for the eighth olympics was selected by the Olympic Committee well in advance of the games. Becausea was selected the surrounding mountains contain some of the best ski terrain in america. Most of it is within the Tahoe National forest. A rather tight little valley, named squaw because indian women once rested here whether men foraged in the mountains. It took several years to create an exciting olympic city here, a City Different from any other anywhere. Actual construction was limited to the warmer months because some of the heaviest snowfall in the United States is right here. Plans included a great arena to see 8500 people, two spectator centers to afford great , a village toows house and care for some 800 letses, racecourses, ski and a most unusual parking lot made of sawdust and snow, and it works. Many organizations and individuals cooperated with the Olympic Committee in this enormous venture. These included the state of california, the national ski and meeting its Land Management responsibilities, the United StatesForest Service. Natural forest setting was retained, not only for the sake of beauty but for safety reasons as well. This slope is subject to strong jumper cannot perfect control of himself but not of his environment. The trees are here to protect him. A gust could endanger his life if it were not for the forest wind breaks. Wind and drifting snow are the enemies of the ski left, area are lfitifts in this protected by forest strips. Snow safety, most important words. Men, wearing the Forest Service shield our snow rangers. They are guardians over safety in the snow for spectators and competitors. They have developed a snow safety plan. And an avalanche map for the information of all skiers. Hazard forecasting is the key step in the safety plan. Force. E measures wind these slopes near the top of squaw mountain, so good for skiing, have quite a history of destructive avalanches. Rangers, alert for evidence dangerous conditions, avalanches are not prevented, they are dynamited and skied down when they are still small. Castigated away by skiing across an avalanche trigger point. This is called protective skiing, a tricky procedure to be used only by the most expert. Storms create conditions that require a closer watch by the snow rangers. The work goes on in the stinging wind and driving snow. These men are skilled in the business of snow safety. Behind him live many years of managing i have seen the snow rangers and worked with them. In utah the avalanche control work of the Forest Service started. Every year a corner fills up with snow, turning over the sled like a cresting wave and it must be brought down to be safe. Explosive placed by hand have proved effective. A baby avalanche. A bigger baby. A bigger baby, still. Some of those chunks way around two tons. 75 millimeter recoilless rifles which can be moved about in a hundred and five millimeter rifles are fired at points which cannot be readily reached by the men on skis. Bit by bit the avalanche hazard is blasted away. Three of these big army guns are zeroed in on locations near the top of two peaks. Sights are set so that even in a storm men can be sure they are hitting the targets. Fire when ready while i fall back. When control action is completed , then slopes and racecourses are safe. Thousands of people arrive for the opening of the games. They come over new highways by car and by bus. The compactness of the area will enable the visitors to see what is going on this time. The five rings represent the five major continents, linked together in friendly competition. The flame is run away from the heart of a little norwegian owned by the father of modern skiing. Here from 30 countries are. Ours. F colorful pageantry is the traditional accompaniment to the games. An athlete from the host country has the honor of pronouncing the olympics open. In the name of all competitors, i swear that we will take part in these Olympic Games, respecting and abiding by the rules which govern them in the true spirit of sportsmanship for the glory of sports and country. Our geese fly overhead. The games begin. The downhill course is designed to include a enough bumps and sudden drops to give plenty of interested to this race. The return turns over unexpectedly and gave the girls too much of a challenge, one they did not expect. Many of them lost the race right here. Speeds in the mens downhill often reached 60 miles an hour. The slalom demands more pure technical skill than a nether event. Than any other event. All of our races reactions are rigidly tested. The race is run in two heats through a complicated series of combinations. Anyone willing to climb a mountain and stand in the snow can see the race. Some spectators prefer the cold seats. This is for the birds. The winner must achieve the lowest combined time for the two slalom runs. Crosscountry races are incredibly tough. They run from 18 to 30 miles over the snow on their thin skis. They rarely slow down if they hope to win. A lonely race, even the most seasoned athlete has to have plenty of courage and determination to get across that finish line. The combination of the skills of both the exertion of skiing longdistance princess before a small target with pounding heart and shaky hands. Missed shot as a penalty of two minutes to the time. This the first biathlon ever held in the winter olympics, it may be the last. It has been voted out of the next game. This is hardly a spectator sport heard only race officials are allowed. Not even managers and trainers can follow. Spec taters gather at the speed skating rink. Countries with colder climates have always produced the champions in this court. Change the situation. Pairs. Ters race in they alternate at designated times. Used at the same time by other skaters for warming up. Ice hockey inside the arena, this has been called the fastest game on earth. Extremely popular because of its speed and action. The United States team is causing plenty of unexpected excitement. They were pregame underdogs. Now they have upset all predictions by winning this game with the russians. Earning them the first goldmedal medal ever won by a u. S. Team in hockey. The winning performance of the end of disputed queen of figure skating. The lovely carol. Another contender showing his mastery of acrobatic turns and leaps. The designer of the big jump in hell hill said this is the area that we always seek, but seldom find. The jumpers crouch reduces air resistance, he soars forward looking for a position with the most distance. He keeps his forward lean as long as possible. The jumpers use their hands like rudders. The landing is absorbed with bent knees, one leg ahead for stability. The longest jump doesnt necessarily win. Form as well as distance is scored. Victory ceremonies crown each day with pomp and pageantry. The winner stands highest, second place on his right, third on the left. So the days pass far too quickly and the grand spectacle is over, but at squall valley the facilities and opportunity for wonderful Winter Sports remain, as they do other National Forests throughout this big country of ours. If you want to count them, as of this moment there are 177 Winter Sports areas in some 85 National Forests, a great Training Ground for our american youngsters. I have been to most of them and they are, well, they are indeed magnificent. It is good to realize that these National Forests are ours, ours to use and enjoy. What greater delight than the wonders of americas winter playgrounds. So long. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] an issue that is still resound today. His question is about how many people were fathered by gis, u. S. Gis in vietnam. How were they treated 45 years after the u. S. Departure . You can be featured during your next live program for your join the conversation on facebook at facebook. Com history. And on twitter, at cspan history. On the week communicators, from the consumer show in las vegas, the latest developments in Artificial Intelligence. You can have Artificial Intelligence in something as simple as your music playlist, they are all using technologies to adjust Machine Learning, figure out what movies you like, and what music you like to listen to. Systembe in your email filtering out spam heard that Automated System is not a person, it is a computer algorithm using technology within ai to do that. You can have Artificial Intelligence power and self usesng cars, driving vision and Machine Learning to help a car navigate busy streets. Watch the communicators monday night at 8 00 eastern on cspan2. This weekend on the presidency, an exploration of the presidency formed between Ronald Reagan and george h. W. Bush, and Mikael Gorbachev during the final years of the cold war. The university of Virginia MillerCenter Hosted the conference, looking at the complicated history between u. S. And russian leaders over the past century. Here is a preview. Usually in talking about gorbachev i begin with a thatist famous quote history is but the biography of great men. Immediately we know there is something wrong like that, the word men. We know there were social movements and international conditions, economic circumstances. When i think gorbachev is a classic example of an individual leader who makes a decisive impact on history, and whose biography helps explain that decisive impact. This is because he had the power to have such an impact as the leader of the soviet union, of a regime inan society 1985. It also has something to do with his uniqueness, in the sense that he did not do what other soviet leaders in his pure group would have done peer group would have done. If he had, we can say he was reflecting the values they all shared. We could say that he was reacting to the demands of the situation which they are faced. He acted in his own idiosyncratic way. Watch the entire program on the presidency, sunday at 8 00 p. M. And midnight eastern, here on American History tv. All weekend, every weekend on cspan3. Next weekend, the cspan cities tour takes you to lynchburg, virginia. Our comcast f Comcast Cable partner, we explore the literary scene and export historic sites. Watch beginning at 5 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan2 sunday at 2 00 p. M. On cspan3. Working with our cable affiliates as we explore america. Next on American History tv, vanda krefft discusses her life and legacy of the founder of the fox film corporation. The man who made the movies the meteoric rise and tragic fall of william fox. In this conversation, she argues that foxs contributions to the early Motion Picture industry were largely forgotten after the 1929 stock market crash resulted in a takeover of his company, which later became 20th century fox. The Leon Levy Center for biography hosted this hourlong event. Kai tonight, we have vanda krefft, moderated by our very own associate director of the Leon Levy Center. He is the author of a collection of poems, a memoir, on a wave, about his surfing days, a finalist of the penn award in 2003, also a novelist, the author of wichita