Area of california you are in and it all starts with my grandmothers pie is better than your grandmothers or my dads horse cannot run your horse, started with his competition and people get together especially after harvest. The number one ag producing townie in the world. The fair has always been after harvest town time. People country congregate after the harvest. Once we gather together and talked about what was going on after harvest time, then people Start Talking about i did Something Different this year, i fertilized different, i started quicker this year than last year. That evolved into the education process, when you gather the people together, usually one time a year you try to educate them at the same time. We are in the big fresno fair museum. This is a museum we started four years ago and we have probably 4000 pieces of memorabilia in this building alone and a lot of those pieces are held together glue. Was aker of this glue historian who took millions of pictures of the San Joaquin Valley to tell the story of agriculture and we were very fortunate and blessed to have a Close Association with the popl; laval association and we were able to acquire the first apple bit first ever video of the big fresno fair at the other end of the museum. Laval played a big part of telling the story. Horse racing is big and always has been big. Back in 1984 we were match racing two horses against each other and then another two horses would raise and whoever the winners were would run against each other. Match racing started in 1980 1884 1884. Now we have 810 horses for race. That is how it started back in time. In fresno, the auto racing industry has been huge, going back to the early 1900s. 1920s, the fresno fair was known to have the fastest track in the world and the unique thing about the track was it was all made out of wood. From the ground to the top of turn 2 and from the ground to the top in turn 3 and 4 was 64 feet. The cars back in the early 20s were doing 115120 Miles Per Hour and the track was not very safe at that time because of the high speed, so they would go off the track 60 feet off the ground on andleather skullcap goggles and we lost a number of racers at this track. It caught fire in the late 1920s and the fair board looked at the cost it would take to rebuild that facility and the decision was made to take it down, recycle the wood, and make a lot of the original buildings. Back in the mid20s in its heyday, thanks to richfield oil, they would have a particle field here on a monthly barney holt field here on a monthly basis. Group drew big crowds that is why they have the best shoes of the country here racing because of the reputation of having the fastest track in the world and it was all would. As far as the education process of the visitors, even though we were the number one agriculture county in the world when we have enough water, it is imperative the Younger Generation understands where their food comes from. The concept of all of the schoolkids that we have come through here on an annual basis is that all of their food comes from the local minimart. That is where they envision things come from or that is where they envision things are produced. We try to tell the story that it doesnt come from the minimart, it starts on the farm or ranch. It starts with cows and milk and beef and swine and chicken and explain to them what the process is. I have had the unique opportunity because of being a past president to travel throughout the United States and look at a lot of agricultural builders. None of them comes close to our ag building. When you have a fair that sits in the middle of the number one ag producing county in the world and the breadbasket of the world, the ag building better be good. Competeies come in and against each other to try and make sure that that ag buildings number one. It better be good here because that is a reflection upon us. Announcer this weekend, we are featuring the history of fresno, california together with our Comcast Cable partners. Learn more about fresno and other stops on our cities tour citiestour. N. Org you are watching American History tv all weekend every weekend on cspan 3. You are watching American History tv all weekend every weekend on cspan 3. Like us on facebook at cspan history. Spoke in blumenthal gettysburg pennsylvania about the Political Forces that shaped the 16th president s view on slavery. He is also the author of selfmade man, the political life of abraham lincoln. We will here in this hourlong talk about how lincoln crafted and refined his public opposition to slavery and how his two end it fueled his political aspirations. [applause] Sidney Blumenthal well, thank you very much for those kind and generous words. I have been delighted to spend a number of years in the 19th century and im looking forward to spending more of them there. [laughter] [applause] i am deeply honored for this invitation to address the Lincoln Forum and i thank chief