[applause] [cheering] narrator that game was not won by the man who made that touchdown, it was by a team. And every man had a share in winning it. Now were playing another kind of a game now, only this one is not for fun. It is for keeps. [gunfire] narrator this game will not be won by any single player. It will be won by a team, a team called the united nations. The ball will be carried by the men in the backfield, the tough little guy from china, big joe russia, john britain, and the guy called yank. The four greatest backs in the world. So lets take a look at the men who carry the ball with us. Who are they . How do they live . What makes them tick . We will start with the one that is toughest to understand, the one we know just enough about to confuse us, john britain. Here is where he lives, a Little Island no larger than idaho. Half a Million People live in idaho. 96 times that many live in Great Britain. The nazis and the japs complain about living space, but there are more people on a Square Island of britain then germany or japan or italy, more people anywhere on earth then except on the new york subway. That is a clue that explains a lot about john britain. We built front porches on our houses because we do not want to miss the chance to see our neighbors. But Great Britain hides himself in a little box and plants i hedge around that to make sure he doesnt. Living that close to neighbors, privacy is part of the pursuit of happiness. And in the sardine can call the britain, they learn to get on with neighbors. They have to, he is too damn close. That is why they have so little time. Believe it or not, even in war times, the british officer does not carry a gun. Nor does the professional crook. And in 1926, when the world heard about this stoppage of work in britain, transportation, the whole length of the country was paralyzed by a general strike. It was still more surprised to learn next day that the strikers were playing football with the cops. You can only understand if you live in a sardine can. The second clue of this guy on our team, no part of britain is more than 100 miles from the sea. Every day for hundreds of years, years of peace and years of war, john britain has seen ships sail from his island to the seven seas. That means, whenever he wants to bust out of the sardine can, it is the sea that gets him. He has been busting out for hundreds of years. And that led to australia, south africa, new zealand, canada, and for that matter, the United States of america. Narrator how did john britain get on our team . Remember 1938 . The yankees won the pennant, the wrong way corrigan, last trains ran on the 6th avenue l, well, john britain got excited about the same sort of things. But as he would say, he had his job. His kids, getting his exercise on his day off, playing football [applause] narrator only 300 miles away, people were cheering another kind of event. [shouting] narrator and in london and every other british city in town, they were reading about what was going on in europe and, they got sore about it. But they were well determined to keep it none of their business. Then, this looks bad. The czechs had an agreement with france, and france had one with Great Britain. This might mean war, even though everybody was anxious to avoid it. They had been through one war, perhaps been wounded. Hundreds of thousands of brothers and friends had been killed. There was nothing beautiful to them about war, and they had no desire for another. The last effort to preserve peace, the Prime Minister today flew to munich. Narrator all is well. Britain, france, italy and germany were signing a pact, in which the germans agreed they had no further territorial claims to make. It would be peace in our time. But it turned out to be a strange sort of peace. Hitlers first move was to break the pact he had signed. Wishful thinking was done. Now they knew that something had to be done about germany. They approved the conscription act, the first piece in british history, just like in American History. Narrator the british had put their cards on the table. They had said to hitler if you go into poland, we will fight. Narrator hitler smiled. Like other conquerors of britain, the spain, napoleon, kaiser wilhelm, he thought he understood the british. He did not. [explosion] narrator the sleeping lions again to wake up. They were terrible for the First Six Months of the war. He snapped and growled. But he dropped more leaflets and bombs. He hoped that common sense would return to the german people, and that they would throw out hitlers and the german warlords. Instead at dawn this morning, the german armies without warning invaded the neutral countries of luxembourg and belgium. The king of the belgians to date surrendered his armies of more than half a million men. The french chief of state has asked for armistice. Narrator britain was alone. Czechoslovakia occupied, poland defeated, denmark gone, norway gone, holland, belgium, france gone. Only britain now. Britain was alone. Hitler considered the war over. Everybody considered the war over except the british. On the 11th hour, the lion was finally roused. We will defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on beaches, in fields, in streets and on the hills, we shall never surrender. [siren] narrator for a year, they took everything that the nazis could throw at them. For one solid year from june 1940 until 1941, they were the only major power fighting the greatest war machine in the world. [explosion] [sirens] narrator they took body blow after body blow, solid punches before they even had their guard up. All they did was take it on the chin and hang on to the ropes. They never went down. And while they buried their dead, they prepared grimly and finally for the day when they could strike back. There were no victories, just defeat after defeat. Some heroic like the beaches of dunkirk, or like the hills of greece, where british soldiers landed to keep their place of honor with the greek people. Landed knowing that they were facing overwhelming odds, but some less glorious. Hong kong, singapore, and burma. But through all of these long months, the british people were thinking and planning and working, only for the day when they themselves could take the offensive. And that day came. [airplane motors] [gunfire] narrator it was the british that made the germans realize that war could be brought to german soil too. Day after day, night after night. [explosion] narrator the offensive continued in greater and greater strength. Thats in the air, and on the ground, 1500 miles away in north africa. [explosion] [cannon fire] narrator 1700 miles in 122 days. 1700 miles of sand, and wind, and enemies. Whats more, the people of britain heard their church bells ring. [bells ringing] narrator more than three years earlier, they had been warned that this would be the signal of invasion. But long since the nightmare of the threat of invasion had passed, now the bells rang out in the song of thanksgiving, the song of victory. [bells ringing] narrator now there is the plain and simple truth about Great Britain, but those on the axis team know that the only chance of winning is to spin our team up. So his team plays a game in which they have had a lot of practice, a game called divide and conquer. Men like these tell the british we are not taking the war seriously. They tell the russians we are letting them down. They tell the british the russians will sell them out. They tell us it is ridiculous for the warmonger roosevelt to tell the American People that they have anything in common with the british. On the contrary, they are different in every respect. Narrator well, there are differences, that is true. For instance, we drive on the right side of the road. But in britain we go for baseball. [applause] narrator they have another number called cricket. [applause] narrator and anyone who ever drank coffee over there knows why there will always be an england. Is your coffee alright, sir . Give us a glass of half an hour. Blimey, you would think of the poor old mill. He gets his watch. And then tchaikovskys smaller piano seller retirement. I do they always mush so much with corn in their mouth . You cannot understand a word they say. Narrator yes, there are differences, but there are a few things britain and america have in common. And these are the important things in life. A little thing called a free representative government, we call it congress. They call it parliament. A little thing called freedom of speech. In the next war, you dont have to go to it. They will bring the war to you. The trenches are just outside. This meeting is called under the American Workers body. An organization dedicated to the organizing of the working class of america. Narrator freedom of the press, freedom of religion. They may not be important to hitler, but all of these things are the common heritage of john john q. Public and Great Britain. Several hundred years ago, our ancestors fought for the magna carta. No one will be denied or delayed write or justice. Narrator 300 years ago the petition for rights. No man should be compelled to yield any tax without act of parliament. Narrator these came to our country with the earliest settlers, and from them developed. Congress will make new laws in respect of religion, where abridging the freedom of speech or the press or the right of the people to peaceably assemble. Narrator we make gags about the accent, but we speak the same language of freedom. Even when we wrote the declaration, we were at each others throats. We were free to say you cannot but respect to their cause and wish to make it your own. Narrator and alongside his great naval hero, john britain and his naval hero nelson, john britain has put george washington. And in parliament square, Abraham Lincoln. Of course, hitler does not like this kind of talk. His job is to sell the british that we are a nation of money grubbers and gangsters. While in the next studio, he is telling us the idea that the british are dopes. That john q public and john britain are entirely different. All right, hitler, where of these miners . Wales or West Virginia . These farmers, devonshire or wisconsin . These steelworkers, sheffield or pittsburgh . These children, american or british . They live in lands which share the same hope, the same ideals, and unlike the poor children of germany, in lands where the truth is free. Narrator but lets not kid ourselves, Great Britain is not the United States. And the United States is not britain. For instance, we do not go for this kind of thing. They do. But there is no mystery about that. Remember our grandmothers house . It was oldfashioned and out of date, passed down by generations, and filled with relics even grandmother could not understand. Well, john britain has been living in his house for a long time. That is why to us that live in the modern house that we built ourselves to suit ourselves, in Great Britain, there are traditions, like the king for instance. The present king road to the same coronation in the same coach to the same church that his ancestors did. But the job he took on is very different from theirs. There are some changes made, for the british king can no longer make laws or impose taxes or interfere with the government. He and his family work as hard as any other citizen, doing the job people expect of them, he is a servant of the people and and not its ruler. When an american is arrested and brought to trial, the bailiff calls his case. The people versus john doe. Narrator but if such a case were called in britain the king versus john doe. Narrator it means the same thing. Today, the king is a symbol of the people. The british are great fans of buckingham palace, but when they sing god save the king, they are not worrying about his health. Maybe, god bless the british people. And the dukes and earls, people took away the power of the lords. Dukes and earls do not run the country anymore. Today there are only two people who do that, john britain and his wife. They go to the polls just as mr. And mrs. John q. Public do here and elect their representatives to the house of commons. And they fix the taxes and make the laws. And if they want to get rid of their representatives, they can at any time vote them out of existence. But john doesnt want to get rid of them, so he confuses us by keeping dukes and earls in a country where unions have long been accepted as a democratic system, where the labour party controlled by the unions is one of the two great political parties, where longshoremen and Railroad Engineers have been ministers of the time. And for 30 years, they have had Social Security even more extensive than our own. So when you read about the lords, former head of air traffic production, do not think think they got them because of their families. They got them because they were the best man for the jobs, just as the former labor leader and now member of the war cabinet, started as an errand boy that is now the minister of home security, got their important jobs because they were the best men for them. But the things on the surface, differ. But the important part of their lives, they are run the same way, the democratic way, the free way. But this gentleman never bothered about the troops. And when john britain started carrying the war to germany, he tried a new line. To save the British Empire. Narrator ok, lets take a look at that one. Here is the British Empire. Here is where the germans were headed after britain declared war. Does that look like trying to save the empire . Tackling germany when it was headed to poland and russia . With one direction where there were no british possessions . After poland fell, hitler tried to do peace with the british. This was a perfect chance to save the empire. But it wasnt saving the empire that the british were thinking about. His majestys government, in respect of any peace offer by hitler, we are not in any circumstances prepared to negotiate with him at any time of any subject. [applause] narrator and after britain had been on the losing end month after month, it had another chance to save the empire. Even now, hitlers thought john britain would make a deal. We heard the british answer. What kind of people do they think we are . Is it possible they do not realize that we shall never cease to persevere against them until they have been taught a lesson which they and the world will never forget . [applause] narrator and lets take a look at the British Empire. The freedom we fought for in 1776, britain has since freely given to canada, australia, new zealand, south africa. Given to canada, australia, new these are independent nations, with their own parliaments, their own laws, even their own money systems, their own tariffs, which often work to britains disadvantage, their own armies and navies. Narrator britain could not even take them into war if she wanted to. Each one of the British Commonwealth of nations declared war on germany of its own free will. No one ever talks about the British Empire today without mentioning india. And men of goodwill in britain as well as other countries have been outspoken in their demand for indian freedom. For no man who believes in democracy can support the foreign rule of any people. But there are things that many of us do not know about india. For instance, that india pays no taxes to britain, either directly or indirectly. That the indians fix their own tariff laws, frequently to britains disadvantage. Of the council, 11 of the 15 members are indian. And in the courts, 10 of every 11 judges. Furthermore, no indian has ever been conscripted for the service in the army and navy. It was voluntary enlistment that raised the indian army from 170,000 to the outbreak of war to a million and a quarter today. And on the subject of india, listen to the words of field Marshal John Christian smuts. He fought against the british 40 years ago, was defeated in his fight, and still became the leader of one of the British Commonwealth of nations. Prime minister of south africa. India, if she will, can be free in the same way and by the same means as canada, australia, and new zealand. Our today sovereign states. Those people worked out the constitution for themselves. The same course is open to india if the peoples of india will agree about the terms of a free constitution. Freedom is not a thing that can be imposed from without. It can only be created from within. The indians have a responsibility to reconcile the differences that exist in the vast indian population with its hundreds of different languages, religions, and on march the 11th, 1942, the British Government placed itself on record and promised full selfgovernment to india if india will work out a constitution that will satisfy its people after the war is over. But during this war, military leaders agree that allied troops are needed in india as a democratic block keep the nazis and japs from uniting. From there, it provides the basis to get at the japs from burma. In other parts of the empire, democracy stand on guard. If it werent for the british in malta, cyprus, alexandria and they are hanging onto them regardless of the cost. Without the drive to tripoli, there would have been no american landing in north africa. There is another tune the nazis play about the British Empire. The british are sitting back, letting others fight the war for them. Narrator we know that too well. Britain will fight. The troops that thousands of canadians and australians and New Zealanders have gallantly fought and gallantly died in crete, in greece, in libya. But there is something the nazis leave out, something pretty important. Out of every 10 inhabitants of the British Empire, one comes from britain. But of the casualties suffered so far in this war, seven out of 10 were born and raised in britain. One of 10 in population, seven of 10 in casualties. And in the air, of the planes flying with the raf of Great Britain, two out of three are manned by crews from britain and the planes on the overseas fronts, the western sees in africa four out of five are , manned by boys from britain. And then theres a little thing called the british navy. From 1588, it went against the spanish armada, to 1940 when we got to moving on the two ocean navy, the greatest auto fleet in the world, that too is manned almost entirely by men from britain. The Little Island in the atlantic, and island with sea bearings. And the British Royal navy, still the greatest Merchant Navy in the world, despite all hitlers can do. Men from every british town, the snow colts of 10,000 ships, on ice coated decks, in grimy engine rooms, then you have been torpedoed twice, three times. Narrator there is one english sailor has been torpedoed six times and still signed on again. But we never hear about these things because of a curious character whose ways will never be completely understandable to an american. John britain himself. He has an idea that he shouldnt talk about himself and what he does. He calls it bad form. We call it damn silly. He say of a spitfire, oh she is not a bad little kite. But this man the boss of the , german air force, can tell us the spitfire has been the deadliest fighter in the world. And we certainly need an interpreter when this happens. All right, except that he spent two days in the icy waters of the north atlantic after being torpedoed on the way to murmansk. See this man . This man, believe it or not, is the first man who flew the atlantic nonstop. In 1919, eight years before anyone else, he and john elkhart flew nonstop from newfoundland to ireland. As usual, the british let it go at that, and brown went back into of security. There is nothing wrong with john britain that a course in showmanship wouldnt cure. Narrator for a moment imagine that you are not american, but british. You would still be in uniform. In britain, every man between the age of 18 and 41, unless he cannot be replaced at his workbench, is already in uniform. Yearold man, too. Your old man, too. He has had to quit guessing about the last war. They are starting to draft men up to 51. Dependence or no dependence, if you got yourself into this mess, your draft board will say, frightfully sorry old chap, but you are in the army anyway. And your kid sister, if she was a sailor or in the air force or the land army or a ferry pilot or in the fire brigade she is , probably in the army. For they draft unmarried women up to 30. And even if she is married, every woman up to 41 can be drafted to work with war plans. And 8 million workers, men and women, can quit their jobs and enroll without government permission. Britain is 20 miles from german guns and planes. Every body, man or woman, young or old, is in the front lines. Narrator maybe this isnt your idea of britain. The ads were different, and you wonder if they still make bows and arrows at the village forage. The ads kept quiet about industry, just as this one leaves out the aircraft plans in the oil fields. They have the green field you have read about, the client country lanes, but they have the steel mills of sheffield, the pittsburgh of britain. They have the picturesque little villages, the gently flowing streams, the lovely old castles, but they also have the shipyards of the river clyde. Not as modern as henry kaiser, but still one of the greatest in the world. They have the old cathedrals, reminders of her rich tradition. They also have the great industrial cities of birmingham, glasgow, manchester, leeds. They seldom, if ever saw an , american tourist, but they theseritain, even in time, one of the greatest industrial powers in the world. And in wartime, even as late as july 1942, this Little Island no larger than the state of idaho, was making more war goods than we were. Maybe you thought john britain sat there and waited for us to send in planes, and guns, and tanks. He would be grateful for what we did for him. It saved his skin when he was in a tough spot. But today, relief works in more ways than one, for today john britain himself furnishes planes and guns through the same lend lease to us, to russia, and his other allies all over the world. In britain alone, our forces have received free from the british, 1 million and a half tons of food, clothing, and munitions. And 2. 5 million tons of other materials. There is another thing you want to know about britain. If your unit gets sent there, you probably wont be invited out for supper or for a drink. Thats not because the british dont want to entertain you, they have not anything to entertain you with. Britain is mobilized for war, total war. And that means an end to civilian supplies. If you were a britisher, you wouldnt expect your girl to use lipstick. There isnt any except what we bring over as bait. She wouldnt be smartly dressed , for clothes, severely rationed, severely rationed. It is very unlikely she wears stockings, but if she bought a pair of stockings in london, that would be all the clothes she could buy. That is some rationing. We think that our gas rationing is tough, but john britton gets no gap at all. No gas at all. He goes to a pub to buy a bottle of whiskey. The pub keeper laughs in his face. Grain is needed for industrial alcohol. Industrial alcohol is need for munitions. And nearly all the reserve stock of british whiskey is kept for sale to america to pay for the goods britain buys here. So dont forget, besides lend lease, britain buys and pays for vast quantities of goods. And it was the cash purchases that britain made before we entered the war that gave our munitions industry our style and enabled us to build it up in record times. He goes to buy a pack of cigarettes. There probably arent any. But if there are two shillings, please. Narrator thats . 40 for a pair of cigarettes. . 12 represents the cost of the cigarettes. The other . 28 is tax paid to the government. Britain is going all out in taxation. Nobody is making any money out of this war. Industry is paying. Excess profits tax is 100 . Labor is paying. The man who earns 33 a week pays 29 income tax. And the rich man, if there are any of them left, pay that income tax of no less than 97. 5 . And then there is the matter food. There are not many fat men nowadays, but john britton is not kicking. He knows that it is helping him to win the war. The british rations are the rations of a free people. They could get food as they did in peacetime from canada, australia, but that would take ships, and the british prefer to use the ships for supplies to russia. Planes from america, troops to the mediterranean. To win the war, every britisher is on short rations and has been on short rations for two years. Everybody except the children. They get four times the eggs that grownups do. They get all the oranges that arrive in britain. And practically all of the extra milk. But john britain is thinking of after the war. Of the new world that his children and ours will inherit. A world where there will not only be freedom of speech and freedom of worship, but also freedom from want and freedom from fear. It is not given to us, to peer into the mysteries of the future. I avow my hopes and days sure in violet that in the days to come, the british and American People will, for their own safety and for the good of all, worked together in majesty, in justice, and in peace. This is what the british are fighting for. They are an old people, a stubborn people, and sometimes they have moved slowly. In three years of blood, and sweat, and tears, john britain has found his sword. Narrator now he is tough, now he is determined, and now he knows where he is launching to where he is marching. To victory and to a new world. He is a good man to have on our team. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2016] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] oncoming up this weekend American History tv on cspan3, the Abraham Lincoln president ial Library Foundation published musings by public figures and ordinary americans celebrating or responding to lincolns gettysburg address. Risk wanting responding to the gettysburg address, reading passages from the book at 8 50 p. M. Eastern. His presence resonates from the words he has written and the documents he left behind for prosperity. He was a simple, deeply complex man, who looked at complex issues plainly and purely. He accepted and spoke the truth. Many believe that Abraham Lincoln transcended residents that had served before him and nce. His story reaches across borders, oceans, races, religions, politics, party lines. At 10 00 p. M. , the march in washington. Theugust 28, 1960 three u. S. Information agency filmed the march on washington or jobs and freedom and produced a documentary for foreign audiences. This marks the 40th anniversary of the nasa viking landing on mars. Historians recently discussed the viking program, which landed the first u. S. Spacecraft on mars in 1976. The weeks surrounding it exciting. Edibly when it landed, it was almost powered up. 2e team programmed in photographs to be taken so they could be delivered quickly that to earth for the press and for nasa to be able to confirm the lander had landed on mars. At 8 00 p. M. Eastern on the presidency, historians look at Harry Trumans leadership, and how he interacted with three politicians. Then Madeleine Albright speaks with historian with a historian about his commitment to Public Service as Vice President and president. This is someone who should have gone to college, graduate school, wanted to. Hisouldnt do it because of familys economic circumstances. One thing he felt strongly of was when he became president , he wanted to help others. One ways was to strengthen the Community College system. For the American History tv schedule go to cspan. Org. Tv,ext on American History talking about the book the First Congress, how james madison, george washington, and a group of extraordinary men invented the government. He reads passages and discusses the men who developed the u. S. Congress and the presidency in the early days of the republic from 1789 to 1791. This was one hour and 20 minutes. 1789. S is new york in we are standing approximately in front of federal hall looking to the east river of new york. Even then, the buildings are four stories to five stories high, it had some of the vessel and teaming qualities for the last 200 years. Federal hall, even though the image i will show looks very austere and classical, it is here. This is another image of new york. Maybe someone in this audience, but i would bet 1 probably not, someone knows this house is standing at the manhattan and of the tunnel. It is not there anymore. This was the house that vice forident john adams rented the 2 sessions the First Congress met in new york. Why am i showing it to you . To convey some sense of how rural manhattan was in 1789. Where New York City Hall is today. If you went beyond city hall, you were out of town. Stood, this building stood approximately 1. 5 miles, maybe twomiles from new york city. When members of the First Congress needed a break, which was often because it was exhausting and these fellows were working to extend his to seven days a week, they went for a walk or a horseback ride in the countryside. In the countryside. That is often the land below house and street. Grannis village Greenwich Village was up there somewhere. That is the new york we are in