Transcripts For CSPAN3 American History TV In Corpus Christi Texas 20150208

History tv, the programs that tell our nations story. Visiting battlefields and key events, american artifacts touring museums and historic sites. History bookshelf with the best known American History writers. The presidency, looking at the policies of our nations commanders in chief and top College Professors delving into americas past. And real america featuring films from the 1930s through the 1970s. Cspan 3 created by the cable tv industry and funded your local cable or satellite provider. Welcome to Corpus Christi on American History tv. Just hours from the mexican border, it sits on the gulf of mexico and is home to the fifthlargest port in the u. S. From help with help from our Time Warner Cable partners, we will look at the southern texas city. Coming up, here about Hector P Garcia and how the doctor and war veteran became one of the most important figures in mexican American History. He is probably best known as the founder of the american g. I. Forum. It was created to assist mexican and American Veterans in their struggle to return to normal life after their war service. Later, come aboard the uss lexington and, a world war ii Aircraft Carrier. It has made its home here. The japanese proved how strong and how important Aircraft Carriers could be. We took that and even all the during the course of world war ii. Now Aircraft Carriers are the centerpiece of our seapower. The first, we visit Naval Air Station Corpus Christi. This Training Facility opened before america entered the second world war. By the mid19 the mid1940s, it was the only one of its kind in the world. The naval station corporis Corpus Christi has a tremendous history that dates back even before 1941 when it was commissioned. In 1938, the navy did an investigation on the best suitable location for a Naval Air Station. When the authorization came from congress to establish a Naval Air Station, there were 12 in all, including Corpus Christi. This was the biggest and the best, and it remains over these 75 years so vitally, critically important in the defense of the United States. Paris, undefended, fell like a ripe plumb into the basket of conquest. World war ii having already begun, it just made clear the urgency of getting a Naval Air Station. The funding was authorized to be 24 million. By the time they finished, it was well over 100 million. It grew bigger and bigger, and thus the need for additional auxiliary fields. Eventually there would be five of them for the primary or intermediate or advanced training, instrument training. Eventually this became the largest Naval Air Station not just in the United States, but in the world. By the time of the dedication in march of 1941, the main station was 70 completed by that time. They already were bringing and cadets also at that time for the training. Even after they had airplanes, they had cadets doing the Ground School training. The very first cadet graduates november 1, 1941, and then we had just about a month later until the attack at pearl harbor. Everything would be changed. The very fact that so much had been done in preparation for a war that that again, the timing of the base and the coming of the war was an incredible part of the story. The initial requirements were very rigorous, requiring two years of college before they would accept the cadet training, and by 1942, it was only required to be a high school graduate. Imagine 1943, 18yearold George H Walker bush became one of the men to receive their wings at 18 years of age, they say perhaps the youngest of any cadets during world war ii to actually be commissioned. There were so many others, for example, 1944 there was john glenn, and among the most advanced of the graduates they would be marine aviators. Everybody knows about bob barker. He became a radio and tv host, the price is right. He received his wings here in 1944. Other things and more that you would expect from a top grade Naval Air Station, that describes the Naval Air Station Corpus Christi. It was a scene with the photographs at all, showing cadets. We were on the map, Corpus Christi, which had been kind of downtown earlier now becomes the place for Naval Aviation. After the war, thats kind of a sad story, with such a rapid demobilization and the layoffs. There was a brief period when the base was virtually closed, and then finally reopened with the cold war, especially with vietnam and the helicopter repair work that was so critical for that conflict and all that was conducted here. Ever since the 1960s and earlier in korea, the space has remained critically important for the national defense. This building is the Headquarters Building for the Naval Air Station Corpus Christi. It is so named as building two because building one is the building that houses the commander of naval air training here on the base. Sinatra is a command that does all of Naval Aviation training here in Corpus Christi and also in the pensacola area. Theres a lot of other bases kingsville, meridian, Whiting Field, and sinatra runs Naval Aviation training for all those bases. They are headquartered here. They are our primary tenants. The purpose of the space is Naval Aviation training. Upon commissioning from numerous sources, student aviators will initially go through pensacola for some Ground School training, and then they will either go to pensacola or Whiting Field for primary training, or come down here to Corpus Christi for primary training. The primary training is where they learn how to fly. This is the initial point where they are getting into an aircraft and learning their craft for the first time. Upon conclusion of the primary training, they will then based on their grades and needs of the navy, determination will be made on where they will go next. Will they do jet training, maritime training, multiengine training, or helicopter training. Those are the three courses. Here at Corpus Christi, we train the Training Wing does training for roughly about 450 students are graduated each year. Theres about 900 at any one time that are here. Of that time, during the year you will have 400 or so that will go through primary training. Theres about the same number to go to the maritime training. The change in training over the years from over the history of the life of this air station is not a lot of change, except for the technology. We have more advanced aircraft. There are faster, more maneuverable. The avionics are more advanced. The techniques have been honed over the years to be more efficient. The Safety Record is by and large much, much more improved. It was not uncommon in the 40s and 50s to have mishaps on a routine basis here. It was just part of the training. It was chalked up to thats kind of what happens. Naval aviation took a quick turn as years went by to figure out how to make things better and safer and more efficient. I would say the number of trainees that we have now compared to the early history of the space, it definitely makes a difference that when this base started, 1941, were looking at world war two. Even with afghanistan and iraq and as things have gone on here lately, this country even then was not in the scale of a conflict as world war ii in the amount of ships, in the amount of aircraft needed to conduct such a conflict. Not as many pilots are needed. Technology makes the weapons the Weapons Systems of the aircraft themselves. Everything is more advanced. You can do more with less. You need less battle groups, less aircraft, less pilots in order to do not just the same mission, but even more and more advanced missions. We dont need as many students here doing the training as you would back in the 1940s or 1950s. The Community Support here is second to none. Ive been in the navy for 23 years and been based in a lot of places, and there is no where else i have been that provides better support for the military than the city of Corpus Christi. In 2016, we will be celebrating our 75th anniversary, and that is something that kind of synergy between the military and the community here is something that really makes all of this work so well. All weekend, American History tv is featuring Corpus Christi, texas. It started out as a small trading post in the mid19th century and has warmed into a not a modern city. Cspan city tour staff recently visited different sites. Learn more about Corpus Christi all weekend here on American History tv. Born in mexico, dr. Hector p. Garcia called Corpus Christie home. After serving in the u. S. Army in world war ii, he founded the American Gi Forum and became an advocate for Mexican Americans rights. We visited the mary and jeff l library in Corpus Christi to learn more about dr. Garcias work. We have a variety of materials illustrating different phases of his life and career. He is best known as the founder of the American Gi Forum. That was established in 18 48th, in april 1948, not too long after his return from his service in world war ii. It was created to assist mexicanAmerican Veterans in their struggle to return to normal life after their war service. He is recorded as having said that he felt especially suited to do that work because he had compassion for others as a physician. He had military training and service, which made him understand how to organize things. He also said that it lends itself to creating a National Organization which started here in Corpus Christi because the people he was trying to help were military. They were accustomed to being grouped and organized in that fashion. The American Gi Forum grew rapidly. In addition to wanting to help his fellow returning veterans, he became aware of the impoverished conditions in which mexicanamericans were living. M particular there was the issue , of the labor camp, where migrant farmworkers were being held. These are photographs that illustrate the conditions. He was appalled that people in the United States living in those conditions. He set out to help. The American Gi Forum became active early in its history to try to help these people. They tried to raise consciousness about the conditions in which these Migrant Workers from mexico were living on u. S. Soil. These items represent a case the case of private felix longoria, which was an incident that occurred early in the history of the American Gi Forum, and dr. Garcia was very instrumental in publicizing. The private served the United States during world war ii and was killed by a japanese sniper towards the end of the war. It took three years to get his remains recovered and returned home. His widow arranged to have his funeral conducted by the only funeral home in her hometown of three rivers, texas, near Corpus Christi. They were willing to conduct that funeral, but they were not willing to allow his body to remain in their funeral home overnight. It was for fear of offending the white citizens of the area. She appealed to dr. Garcia, and conducted a Letter Writing Campaign to positions with influence. A response came from lyndon johnson, who had recently been elected senator. This telegram illustrates his commitment to helping the situation. He states his belief that it was wrong for a soldier, a fallen soldier, to be discriminated against after death simply because he was of mexican origin, and assuring the widow that not only would she bear no cost for the funeral, but she had a choice of where he could be laid to rest. He offered burial in the Arlington National cemetery, and that is where private lung coria private lung coria private longoria was laid to rest. This item is a call from dr. Garcia to the local community to protest the injustice. He makes the case that it is unacceptable for an american soldier to be discriminated against after his death solely because he is mexican. He said that it is time for everyone, not just American Gi Forum the, to stand up and protest. This is a first time where a major issue arose that put him into contact with lyndon johnson. That was an ongoing relationship that lasted through his presidency. Dr. Garcia worked to support the vote for the democratic ticket. He was one of the organizers of the fever kennedy club. Of the visava kennedy club. He and other gentleman roamed the country trying to get support for the ticket. You can see a letter from president kennedy thanking him for his work on the ticket. Mexican americans, at least in south texas, worked voting in were not voting in any significant numbers. It cost 1. 75 to vote, and they werent making enough money to be able to afford to do that. Wages were very low, and 1. 75 does not sound like much to us but it was a lot to them. There was a campaign to organize clubs that would support the kennedy ticket. Dr. Garcia and his contemporaries were leading the effort to talk to the populace and get them to understand the importance to vote and to vote democratic. They continue to relationship between dr. Garcia and president kennedy. Once kennedy was in office, dr. Garcia began to feel that there was still no representation of mexicanamericans at the federal level, programs, efforts to better the Mexican American condition. This was at the time that blacks were beginning to achieve some success in gaining civil rights. Dr. Garcia was appointed to several positions by kennedy and by johnson. This tie, which johnson continued throughout the presidency, you can see some correspondence from and to johnson, kennedy, and dr. Garcia on various issues. He worked to try to improve Employment Opportunities for Mexican Americans. That is referred to in that central letter from johnson. President kennedy appointed him to represent the United States on a treaty signing in the west indies. You can see that here, 1961. Later, president johnson appointed him as the United States delegate to the United Nations. The photograph to the left shows him receiving his credentials. It was an extension of his efforts to improve the conditions of what he referred to as our people mexicanamericans in United States in particular. It was a growth of the skills that he had begun to develop and working with others. It was on a global stage instead of a local stage. He always had the welfare of the Mexican American people and impoverished people at heart and what he was doing. That is what he worked for. One of the successes that dr. Garcia experienced during his Diplomatic Service was his address the United Nations in spanish. It was the first time that a representative of the United States of america had addressed the United Nations in a line in a language other than english. It was quiet were received. It was very much appreciated by his latin american colleagues in the body. After the vietnam war, he received hundreds, probably thousands, of letters from returned veterans seeking his support and all sorts of matters, principally in getting their benefits that they had earned as military serving the United States. In his earlier days of his career, dr. Garcia had a contract with the government for which he was paid two dollars per soldier to treat their medical needs because there was no Veterans Administration hospital here. He was the only dr. Serving the Mexican American community. We have three letters here dealing with the vietnam era. We have a letter of appeal for help from one soldier, handwritten, you notice. Another letter from a soldier in 1974. This is a letter to senator benson from dr. Garcia trying to pursue senator bensons assistance and getting some information for this woman who has contacted dr. Garcia. She does not know what has become of her husband. Dr. Garcia was an unusually committed and dedicated individual. He worked his whole life to better the conditions of his fellow man. He was not only a position serving the community. A physician serving the community. He was a diplomat. He was the founder of the American Gi Forum. He was the recipient of the medal of freedom. You can see him wearing it in this picture. You can also see him wearing his stethoscope. This was taken in his medical clinic, which remained open until shortly before his death. He balanced all those things in his life, service to local community, service to the greater good. This extra special to us because it shows all those facets of this man in one shot. You can see elements representing all of those pillars of his effort in his life, and also i like it because the expression on his face. You see such intensity, it encapsulates everything he did in his commitment to serve. He has faithfully represented our government on numerous occasions overseas and domestically. Dr. Hector garcia is a credit to his family and community and all americans. Through his efforts, based on a deep leaf and traditional american ideals, he has made this a better country. [applause] throughout the weekend, American History tv is featuring Corpus Christi, texas. Together with our Time Warner Cable partners, cspan city tour staff visited many sites glorying Corpus Christis rich history. Learn more always weekend here on American History tv. I christen the lexington. Rocco lexington is what is known as an essex class air carrier. The way the navy sets its class of ships, the name of the first ship in the group sets the class. So the essex was the first Aircraft Carrier built of this type in world war ii. Every ship of the same type afterward becomes an essex class. Modern Nuclear Carriers are known as the nimitz class, because the first ship in the class was the uss nimitz. There were 24 essex class built, 19 in world war ii. They were designed to be the super carriers of the day. The only place the carriers fought was the pacific. The reason is because they had the kind of range they could carry enough bombs, fuel ammunition to travel the vast distances of the pacific. The Atlantic Ocean was mostly summary and war and landbased war, because you could launch airplanes from england to hit the german factories. The pacific, not so. They had to be back the japanese and the islands of the pacific. To beat back the japanese and the islands, you had to take your airplanes with you, to provide Close Air Support for the marines and soldiers ashore, in addition to protecting the other ships in the fleet. Since lexington is not a museum in the sense that we are not funded by an entity, like a state, city, federal government, etc. When you are not funded by that, you have to bring people in the door to pay the bills. And you have to make it interesting to enough people that want to come in the door. Some people just might not be interested in ships, but yet they might be interested in seeing a digital 3d movie related to ships, maybe, related to aircraft. So we have to make angst not only related to lexington, because that is the story we are trying to tell we are trying to tell a story about the navy in the pacific, world war ii. We have to make it interesting for the visitor that might not be as involved in history, so we put other things on board, like maybe some Interactive Games and exhibits. We are in hangar bay one right now. Behind me in hangar bay one, we have what is known as a tbmtbf avenger. The reason it has two names is depending on who built them. This is the type of airplane that president Herbert Walker bush flew during world war ii. Also significant for Corpus Christi, he got his wings at the Naval Air Station Corpus Christi. That is another attachment to Corpus Christi for president Herbert Walker bush. This airplane he flew. And people know that he got shot down during the course of the war. But also, he went down another time due to an oil pressure problem. When he went down that first time, he was rescued and ended up on the lexington for a couple of days, until he could get back to his Aircraft Carrier, the san jacinto. He came on board and spoke at an event we had. He did not remember too much of his time on board the lexington. He says he does remember what he calls sack time, sleeping a lot, on lexington. Not very historical for us, but he did spend a couple of days in world war ii on board lexington. Most visitors that come here, we would like them to come aboard to learn all the history about it. That is not necessarily the case. Many people come on board and go, wow, this is really big. We get people on board that do not care about airplanes. They are engineers. The want to see how the ship ran. They want to go to the engine room. They can go to the engine room. We get some dentists who want to see where people took care of teeth, or nurses who want to see where people were treated after they got injured or were sick. The shipment only has to be combat space, ready to fight the war, but it has to be a hospital, a post office, has to be a restaurant, everything. So it becomes a city at sea. I would say for the most part the airplanes are probably the biggest draw, but after that there are any number of things people are interested in. Behind me is what we call our restoration area. This is where we can bring airplanes in that have then subjected to the elements every several years, so we can redo them. Sometimes, we change the paint schemes on them, depending on if there is something more significant, a story we want to tell. For the most part, just bringing them down here for a tuneup. The atmosphere in Corpus Christi, because of the salt water of the bay, very corrosive. Airplanes, being metal, are subjected to a lot of corrosion, a lot of wind, even sand erosion from some of the beach sand. It is important we keep on a schedule to keep the maintained. Right now, they are working on what is known as the a7 corsair to renovate it. In other two or three weeks, it will be back on the flight deck, and we will bring the next one down. In the 22 years that we have been here, we have become quite an important part of Corpus Christi, including the movie industry. We filmed part of the movie pearl harbor here. We filmed the First Episode of jag here. We just finished filming a big pepsi deal, halftime for the super bowl, a Blake Shelton concert. We have become not only a tourist attraction, we have also attracted the movie industry because if you stand on our flight deck and lookout, use ebay. You see bay. You do not see a lot of buildings. There are certain shots they can do that make it look as if this is a ship at sea. The navy is critical and very important to this nations prosperity. So it is important people understand the role of the navy, understand how we got to where we are, and understand, for us the evolution of the Aircraft Carrier. World war ii essentially saw the first Aircraft Carrier. That was the invention or the operations of the first Aircraft Carrier. The japanese proved how strong and how important Aircraft Carriers could be. We took that and evolved it during the course of world war ii. And now Aircraft Carriers are the centerpiece of our seapower. So it is important we think it is important that people sort of understand that, but put it in context of the history that came before it. All weekend, American History tv is featuring Corpus Christi texas. In Corpus Christi in 1948, dr. Garcia founded the american g. I. Forum, which fought for equal treatment of hispanic veterans. Posted by our Time Warner Cable partners, city tours staff visited Corpus Christi. Padre Island National sea shore is 70 miles of a Barrier Island with beach, bay, coastal prairie. We are located about 25 minutes from the city of Corpus Christi , texas. This island started out by being used by american tribes seasonally. They would come here during nice weather. There was a bounty of fish in the area, a lot of seed plants and they would leave when the weather turned bad in the winter. What happened next was when the spanish era was happening, there was a man born up river named bali, and he became a priest. They called him padre bali, and the island was named after him. He got a spanish landgrant and he got padre island. He split it with his nephew. What they started doing over 200 years ago was cattle ranching. That is how it started out with his name. It actually did very well for him and his nephew. Once he passed away, the land that was his was split between his other relatives. So his nephew and other relatives would have most of the island to ranch on. Eventually they would sell it bit by bit by bit. The island went through many hands. It stayed mostly a cattle ranch. Here i am on a huge prarpey. Over the dunes there is the gulf of mexico. But we have all these great grass lands here. Eventually the land ended up mostly in the hands of a man named patrick dunn. This was in the 1870 when that really got started. The story of patrick dunn is a Pretty Amazing one. He was born in Corpus Christi in 1858. In his teenage years he started being a cowboy. He was working for different cattle ranches, and he loved it. He new it was his way of life. But there was something that was invented and started really taking off in the 1870s that revolutionized cattle ranching in the western United States. That was barbedwire. What you used to have is the open cattle ranches. You would actually have somebody who could get some cattle, have them wandering all over the place and eventually take them to market. But with barbedwire, all the people who actually had land claims would put fences around their land. That almost was the end of the open cattle range. But, there were a few people who really, really loved cattle ranching and who didnt want to stop. They didnt have the huge ranches like we see in southern texas. What they did is they came out to padre island. What made it ideal for cattle ranching, even if you didnt have the barbedwire was that you didnt need a fence for most of it. You had water on moats sides of the island. Patry done came out here, and he was so successful patrick dunn was so successful he ended up owning most of the northern part of padre island. He would have the cowboys out here, and he would have his cattle all over the land. You think about how do you get those cattle to market . So around 1900 and into the teens and 20s, what would happen is he would have these three stations. They are called line camps. What they would do is at certain times of year, they would bring the cattle to the line camps. If you went from sun up to sundown, you could get those cattle to go about 15 mines. So there are three line camps, and they were all 15 miles apart. How were they built . If you look around, there are almost no trees on this island. There is one forest, it is the size of a car and the trees are about this tall. Without any wood to bring a line camp, to build fences, to build a bunk house, to build a place for shelter for the cooking and the eating, what they did was they used drift wood. These line camps were made out of whatever materials they could find from the beach. They came in from shipwrecks and drift wood. Of the three line camps, one still exists today. That is the one behind me. It is located at the north end of the park. What originally happened was the cowboys would take the cattle from one line camp to another, and then eventually they would take them up to the north end of the island where there is now a cause way. The water was so shallow in the bay between the island and the konta nent, they would drive the cows through the water. Eventually things would change so much. After patrick dunn passed away and his son took over, he would get the cowboys to bring the cows to the line camps, and they would load the cows into tracks, old army vehicles, and they would go to the north end of the island and they would take a ferry across the water. So things changed a lot. We had two hundred years of cattle ranching, but after that the land was tired. Eventually in the early 1960s, the park service bought this land, and it became a National Sea Shore. Things really got rolling here in the early 1970s. That is when the last of the contracts for cattle ranching ended on the island. That was the last open cattle ranch in america, right here on this island. We are on the north side of the national see shore. Ed yt of National Parks is preservation and providing for the enjoyment of the people. The first one, yellowstone, it is a place like yeah, lets set this aside. We can preserve it and enjoy it. But as time went on, different types of park units were added for different reasons. What happened is on the east coast as cities started to expand and the population got bigger, people started looking forward in the 340s and say we need places out here that we can have recreation, that we can deimpress. Started in the 1950s, that idea took off, near population areas to have National Sea Shores, where we can conserve the wildlife, the scenery, to protect things. Corpus christi is a city of 300,000 today. What they did is back in the early 1960s is they said lets where we can conserve the wildlife, the scenery, to protect things. Corpus christi is a city of 300,000 today. What they did is back in the early 1960s is they said lets take this area of the island where the cattle ranching is coming to a close, the park service bought the land and created another National Sea Shore unit so there would be a place where everybody could come out fishing, swimming, a place for birds, badgers, raccoons coyotes. So that yt of protecting the National Landscape and a great place to redick erat. Whatever you do, fly a kite, swimming, surfing, kite boarding. All those things you can do in a place like a National Sea Shore. Why the national see shore is important is like knit other National Park unit, it is that in the National Park service there are so many different times of ecosystems in the United States of america. A Barrier Island, and a prairie Barrier Island is a unique place. Think about all the Barrier Islands on the coastal bend, a lot of them have been developed. So to preserve an ecosystem intact, this is what we have tried to do. Since the 1960s, the place has blossomed again. 200 years of anything will have an impact on the land. The land has been able to take a break, to relax and restore itself. Now it is this great natural place. All weekend long, American History tv is featuring Corpus Christi, texas. The Naval Air Station Corpus Christie was launched launched by the end of world war ii. It had over 35,000 aviators. Our Time Warner Cable partners recently traveled to Corpus Christi to learn of its rich history. It was started in 1957 in partnership and cooperation with the city of Corpus Christi. Today, we have even more. Today, we are going to explore corpustoday, we are going to explore Corpus Christi history. He eventually joseph out. They interacted with a lot of folks. They were such timeconsuming tasks that they would actually deconstruct and take these structures with them as they traveled across the coastal bend. They covered it with grasses or deerskin that they hunted and, as most native americans did, they used every piece of what they hunted. Can he saw an opportunity in Corpus Christi because it was known as a place where you could avoid the rush of the city and get anything you needed. He saw the fort as an opportunity. He served on the republic of texas. Time came he petitioned the government. The army camped near the nicest river the nueces river. It was basically the campground for 4000 men. They were all here. They were all here. Afterwards, he came back to Corpus Christi and it was a vibrant city. The first texas state fair happened in 1852. About 20,000 circulars went out throughout the world. He was prepared for anything