Acrobatic workmen called high scalers prepared the canyon walls for each blast. Suspended on ropes, they drilled holes in the rock and loaded them with dynamite. After each explosion, these daredevils swarmed over the cliffs, prying loose rock and learing the walls of debris. In november 1932, the Colorado River was diverted. Under control for the first time in its history, the river flowed around and past the site. Men in trucks dumped earth and embankment across the canyon below the tunnel openings, forcing the river from its ageold bend through the huge diversion tubes. A second sandert rock dam was thrown across the river downstream, keeping water from backing into the foundation area. Isolated and protected from the river by the two dams, the site as pumped dry. Men and machines dug below the river level to reach bedrock for the dams foundation, excavating over two million cubic yards of earth, rock, and sand. As cleanup exposed the ancient bed of the Colorado River, geologists read the history of what happened ages ago. Workmen cleaned and prepared bedrock surfaces to receive the first concrete, assuring utmost stability for hoover dams foundation. From the mixing plants, concrete was dispatched to all points of construction. Nine anchored ariel cableways spanning the canyon from rim to rim lowered the concrete into the forms and handled other supplies and equipment as well. As the first bucket of concrete settled into its foundation on june 6, 1933, hoover dam began its rise from the depths of black canyon. Hoover dam has pointed the way to the fullest utilization of the Colorado Rivers resources, truly a modern Civil Engineering wonder. This labor day, on the cspan networks, on cspan at 5 30 eastern, an Education Department summit on bullying in schools. At 8 00, bill nye the science guy and Creation Museum founder ken ham debate evolution o. Cspan2s book tv, at 7 00 eastern, congressman James Clyburn talks about his life from his youth in the jim crow south to his leadership position in the house of representatives. At 8 30, author sylvia on her book, price of fame about playwright, diplomat and Congress Woman clare boothe luce. And at 10 00 a. M. , Michael Lewis discusses the hidden world of highfrequency stock trading. On cspan3s American History tv, at 7 15 p. M. Eastern time, american artifacts looks at declassified documents related to the 1964 gulf of tonkin incident that led to the escalation of the vietnam war. At 8 00 p. M. , president Warren Hardings newly released love letters. At 9 45, the life of nobel prizewinning economist milton friedman. Find our Television Schedule at cspan. Org and let us know what you think about the programs youre watching. Call us at 2026263400. On twitter, use the hash tag, c123. Email us at comments cspan. Org. Join the cspan conversation, like us on facebook, follow us n twitter. Youre looking at footage released by the kennedy line threar summer of president kennedy vacationing at his family home in hyannis port, massachusetts. Were joined here on American History tv by the author of away from the white house president ial escapes, retreats, and vacations. You covered the white house and washington for many years. Is a president ever really away from his job . Never, never really. They certainly try, and i have since the first president , george washington, broke off from his desk in philadelphia, and when the coach and four horses went home to mount vernon. They havent. President kennedys speech counsel said cial well, many president s have said tchash a president s office is forever the president may be, because unlike congress or the supreme court, the presidency never adjourns. What role does politics play in president ial vacations, president ial getaways . Im not sure what. I think the need to get away is probably predominant, as we have seen in recent presidencies. If you have your own home, you tend to go to it. Otherwise like president obama, you go to a plate that interests you, and you robably, because of security concerns, have to get a rented property. Does the public understand that the president needs to get away from the pressures of the job, or is it just the press that keeps focusing on what the president is doing on vacation and whats happening in washington and elsewhere around the world . I think both. I think the press reacts to what the public thinks and vice versa. Certainly perception is a lot. The optics of the situation, like george w. H. Bush vacationed at kennebunkport while Saddam Hussein and iraq had invaded kuwait. Bush said, vowed, that he would not be tied down to a dictators schedule, that he would go on with his own very active vacation, and for 25 days, thats exactly what he did. As we do this interview, the end of august, and president obama coming off his vacation, he was criticized by a number in the press and elsewhere about the number of rounds of golf he played. In your book, you write that president kennedy, you call president kennedy a stealth golfer. What did you mean by that . He was a stealth golfer that e he was fully aware president eisenhower had been blistered for the amount of time he spent on the golf course. Eisenhower was an innes incident golfer. E really, really loved it. And because of him, thousands of americans took up the game, but kennedy kept that game out of public sight, even though those who knew him knew he was a quite able golfer with a natural swing and a powerful, ut somewhat erratic drive. And he plays both as candidate and president elect, but photographers are mosted guarded from the course. As president he played also, but a bad back curtailed his play. In looking at the video, the film of the kennedy vacation on hyannis port with the Kennedy Compound there at hyannis port, you see moments like a summer camp, compared to what other president s have done on their vacations, what sort of activities did john f. Kennedy j. F. K. Do . Time magazine said not since the days of Theodore Roosevelt has the nation witnessed what the magazine called such a heartpounding, muscleaching, round of vacation activities. And in hyannis port, which was besieged by hordes of curious tourists, the president , his children, his nephews, his nieces, scrambled on the lawn, splashed in the water, and at times when i wrote about it, i thought it resembled sort of a miniature olympics. Time described it this way, since sitting down is somehow considered bad form, touch football tells of the socalled rest periods between tennis, wimming, water seeing, sailing and dragging, and described dragging as an attempt to avoid drowning while clinging to a life preserver being towed by the president s sooner. You talked about what Time Magazine says, look magazine put a picture of the magazine on his cover of a president on a big golf cart loaded down with kids, nieces, nephews, and a couple of his kids as well, what did this image say about president kennedy . It certainly says it was certainly appealing. It was an image that played all over the country. Theres one in this book which probably a dozen or more laughing children clinging to the golf cart as it spun around the lawns of the Kennedy Compound. The owner of a local candy store said it didnt take 15 minutes after his helicopter landed for kennedy to appear off and on the golf cart with a band of children for chocolates and lollipops. Before we wrap up, can you give us a couple of your notable, quick look at some of the notable other president ial vacations you write about . There have been many. Washington, of course, set the president ial standard, and the standard being that the job follows the president wherever he goes. In washingtons case, that meant supervise of the building of a new capital city, one that is named for him. There are many others, and you can think of images, kennedy sailing, eisenhower golfing, jerry ford skiing, jimmy cart other a softball field jimmy carter on a softball field, any number of things, prellses fishing, early 20th century president s like coolidge and hoover, fishing in threepiece suits. Are there any of those images that are in any way controversial . You write in the book about Teddy Roosevelt liking to chop down trees on his property, just to hear the tree fall. And we, of course, knew George George george was always clearing brush out at his ranch. Outside of golf, those sorts of activities, have president s been criticized by the activities they pursue on their vacations . Sure, and sometimes with a little bit of tongue in cheek. President Theodore Roosevelt, ho won the Nobel Peace Prize in the summer of 1905 for monitoring the end of the japanese war while on vacation, got a newspaper scolding from the New York Times. The reason, he needed a break. The break appeared on the waters of oyster bay, and it was an early u. S. Navy submarine, appropriately enough, called the plunger. Roosevelt went down on it for 55 minutes. And the New York Times said he had needlessly risked the valuable life in a collapsible and other dangerous device. The book is away from the white house. Weve been speaking with larry knutson, the author. Thanks for being with us here on American History tv. Thank you. Sunday night on American History tv, well hear about senator sam irvins time, from his former aide and his iv. Dson, judge sam evin early this his character and how the country lawyer relied on his knowledge of the law and personal convictions to guide the Senate Watergate committee. 200 years ago on august 24, 1814, British Forces entered washington, d. C. , and burned the capitol building, the president s house, and most of the federal buildings. Next, steve vogel, author of through the perilous fight six weeks that saved the nation, texas on a river truer of washington. His program is about 90 minutes. Ipad a boat on the potomac for about 30 years. It is a great way to see the city. It is a different city. I think of the potomac is an obstacle on the way you have to cross on your way to d. C. Is the reason the city is where it is. Its one of the most remarkable urban rivers in the country. We are in the middle of the potomac river, right off for washington, maryland
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