Transcripts For CSPAN3 Statue Of Liberty National Monument 20161231

Behind the gift from france which was unveiled october 28, 1886 after 21 years of planning fundraising and , construction. Chris mullen welcome to the statue of Liberty National monument. I am chris mullen. I am from jacksonville, florida. Folks, i have a great job. I have been working with the National Park Service Since 1989 and i have been all over the United States. I got my start in alaska at the klondike park and a few summers out there. Then i went to jacksonville where i worked in a small park on the banks of the st. Johns river for Caroline National memorial and i went to the outer banks of North Carolina and worked at our nations First National seashore, Cape Hatteras national seashore. And then i moved north to new york city and i have been working here at the statue of liberty and ellis island for seven years now. I have a great job. We want to protect these special places not only for today. We want to leave them unimpaired for future generations. That is our goal. Here we are at the statue of liberty, our nations most famous national monument. A gift from the people of france. Given to us, the people of the United States in 1886. To commemorate our friendship, to commemorate our democracy. You folks know that the statue has become much more than a gift of friendship. Today, she is the most recognized symbol in the world. Freedom, hope, liberty, change. The idea of what the statue represents it grows, it evolves, it changes. Folks you are a big part of what , she has become today. She is all over the place. You have seen her on tv and in the movies. When you look up to this wonderful work of art and see her in person, that is what it is all about. She is still aweinspiring. We are going to head around the corner to talk about the three gentlemen from france who were the most influential in giving us this wonderful gift. Klutz all right, folks. All right, folks. We are now heading behind the statue to our Sculpture Garden paying tribute not only to the people who have donated money for the restoration of the statue and ellis island but for these three gentlemen auguste bartholdi, gustave eiffel, and edouard rene de laboulaye. In the summer of 1865 at the end of the civil war, the United States just survived its first major test of its own democracy. Believe it or not, they are very excited about this in france. They are yearning for their own democracy. There is a gentleman who is fascinated with american politics. He is writing textbooks on american history. And he is a leader of this movement. He hosts a dinner in the summer of 1865 and he proposes an idea let us give the people of the United States a gift from us, the people of france to commemorate our friendship, to commemorate their democracy. Luckily for him, there is a young sculptor at this dinner. He is already wellknown in france for building large monuments but he is a dreamer. He wants to do something really, really big. Something to be remembered for. He had been to egypt and had seen the pyramids and had done research on the colossus of rhodes, one of the seven wonders of the world. He was hired to do a similar project at the mouth of the suez canal but it never came to fruition but he already had an idea of a Woman Holding a torch torch representing enlightenment for the entire world. This was going to take some time. No computers and no cell phones in 1865. He is finally able to make his first visit to the United States in the early 1870s. He enters the mouth of the new york harbor and he sees this abandoned island with fort wood build for the war of 1812. There was not a lot going on on the island at the time but it was a busy day in the harbor. He had a vision of a statue on top of a pedestal where it could be viewed for miles around. It was a vision that never left him. He continued on his trip. He continued to scout for locations. He is here to drum up support and raise funds. He is in washington, d. C. And is meeting with the president , ulysses s. Grant. He is in philadelphia and boston. He takes a hard look at philadelphia and boston because that is where they thought the statue of liberty was going to be placed. He is meeting with local politicians and artists. He is able to drum up enough support and they form a unit called the francoamerican union. The people of france would raise the funds to construct the statue. The people in the United States would raise the funds to construct the pedestal. One night in his hotel, he made his final drawing. The title of the drawing was liberty enlightening the world. That is the main point i want to make about augusta bartleby. He always had a grasp of the Bigger Picture. Yes, this is a gift from france to the United States but it is he that wants to build a monument of democracy for the entire world. All of that Energy Transfers from the armature bars through the framework all the way to the top of the pedestal and then the statue of liberty is literally tied down into place. There are 16 metal tension rods which tie her down and hold her into place. That Energy Continues through the pedestal all away down the 65 feet of bedrock. 56 Million Pounds of concrete all the way down to 65 feet of bedrock. Theoretically, if the statue were to tip over, the whole island would have to tip over. That is how solid she has built here into liberty island. We have the proof she has been here 130 years. She has survived numerous storms and most recently, hurricane sandy. The outside of the island was completely destroyed. New walkways and railings and brandnew docs. Ellis island was completely flooded. The statue of liberty herself did fine. A little bit of water in the lobby, that was about it. Folks, what is interesting about gustave eiffel, today, he is known for the eiffel tower and i personally feel he should be just as famous for his Engineering Work here at the statue of liberty. He is amazing. He has had his hand in two of the most famous monuments in the entire world. We are going to head to the front of the statue and we will talk about the sculptor and how he accomplished building this monument of democracy for the entire world. He has a grasp of the Bigger Picture and the way he accomplished this was his use of symbolism. He is a classical trained artist. There is symbolism throughout the statue of liberty. We begin with the torch. Once again, his name for the statue was liberty enlightening the world. The torch represents enlightenment for the entire world. We come down and she is wearing a crown. She is a goddess of liberty. The goddess of libertas. Seven seas and seven continents. Once again, the world. In her left arm is the tablet with a date of july 4, 1776. The signing of our declaration of independence. The start of our democracy. The tablet is in the shape of a keystone and in classical architecture, keystones are at the top of arches. They hold the arches together. This is the designer telling us that it will be democracy that is going to hold the world together. We come down and she is wearing that robe. The roman goddess of libertas. And at the bottom of her feet are shackles. Her right foot is striding forward and she is breaking the shackles. She is leaving the old ways behind and she is striding towards the new ways. This represents liberation. She is moving forward. She is not facing new jersey. She is not facing new york city. She is walking forward and bringing these ideals of freedom, hope, liberty, and change. Walking forward and welcoming the rest of the world. The idea of liberty does not stand still, it moves forward, it changes, it evolves. Here we are in our museum. It gives you the general layout and history and the construction of the statue. For auguste bartholdi, in his mind, what he thought was going to be a big statue when he first visited the United States, he realized that everything was much bigger. Here you get an idea. This is a replica of the foot. Her giant feet. Over here is how they constructed the statue of liberty. He had a workshop in paris. Over 200 craftsmen helped him to construct the statue. They would start with a small, plaster model. They would build this plaster model to actual size. Then they would construct wooden forms as you see in the picture there. Auguste bartholdi at the bottom. He paid fine attention to detail. They would construct wooden forms. They would flip them over. They would lay a thin sheet of copper. And they would hammer out the form of the statue in a special technique. Here they are starting at one side. Here they are building the plaster model bigger. Here is the actual size right here and they were building the actual wooden form. Here are the artist, the craftsmen. They do not build things like this anymore. It took 21 years from idea to reality and they first constructed the crown and the head. And then they had the crown, the head, and the torch, they were constructed by 1876. They were brought here to the United States to raise funds. They went back to paris. The main body of the statue of liberty was constructed from 1881 to 1884. You have got gustave eiffel. The framework inside. They start constructing and adding pieces to where you then get the full statue. She stood in paris for about a year until they broke her down, boxed her up into 214 crates and they shipped her over here to the United States. Made it here to liberty island. They unloaded the crates. They had looked up and they had barely started work on the pedestal. It was Joseph Pulitzer of Pulitzer Prize fame. He came up with the idea. He was the owner of the new york world here in new york city. He said, donate any amount of money and i will print your name in the front page of the newspaper. Money poured in from all over the United States. Elementary school children. They raised money through their classes. And we raised up enough money and we completed the pedestal in 1886. For auguste bartholdi, his job was to construct the statue, but he was also very involved in the construction of the pedestal. Richard morris hunt designed the modernday pedestal that we see today. There were several different designs. He chose Richard Morris hunt. All of the granite came from connecticut. Here is a great depiction of how they put the statue together like a puzzle. This is exactly how they did it. Immigrants were swinging around on rope swings, putting the pieces together. They were carefully labeled. They are riveted together. There are 310 sections that make up the statue of liberty. They vary in sizes. 21 years from idea to reality, but it finally all came together on october 28, 1886. A huge dedication ceremony is planned and over 10,000 people are invited. However, one gender was not invited. How ironic is that. Women were not invited. The francoamerican union stated that hey, we cannot guarantee their safety. That was a bunch of hogwash. What they were really saying is that they did not want the statue of liberty just to be a associated with the womans suffrage movement. A group of women here in new angry. A group of women here in new york city are very angry. They rent a boat. They circle the island and they shout in protest how can you build this woman to represent freedom and liberty and we do not even have the right to vote. If she were to come alive and walk down from that pedestal, she would not even be allowed on the island. Our first protest here on the grounds of the statue of liberty on day one, october 28, 1886. It was another 34 years until women were granted the right to vote. The 19th amendment in 1920. Folks, we have had many protests throughout the years. Most of these protests have been very peaceful. Some of them were not so peaceful. There has always been a security issue here at the statue of liberty, even before 9 11. I do not know the stories of all of the protests, but there is one thing that ties them all together. If you were to stage a protest here or anywhere in the world and you build a replica of the statue of liberty which has been done many times of styrofoam, aluminum foil, rocks, and sticks. You do not need to hang banners or shout slogans. People know exactly what you want. You want freedom, liberty, and change. There is a wonderful depiction of the ceremony that took place in 1886. 10,000 people were invited and on the island. Over a Million People were in Lower Manhattan for one of the first tickertape parades. People from all over the world came to witness the statue of liberty being unveiled to the entire world that day. In the beginning it was like wow, there is a colossal new statue from france. Let us go see it. For them, it was amazing. America is growing and getting support from all over the world. It had to make you more prouder to do what you are doing whether you have recently immigrated and coming to america. You could tell then america was starting to grow and you were a part of it. As the statue started out as a gift of friendship, today, she has evolved and she is the most recognized symbol in the world. In the early 1900s, during the immigration movement, for the overcrowded boats that sailed for two or weeks at a time. Three what was the first thing that they saw that told them they had made it to the United States of america . Of course, the statue of liberty. Emma lazarus wrote her sonnet give me your tired, give me your poor, give me your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. That has helped the statue become an emblem for the pursuit of the american dream. Here is a replica of the statue face. The face is based on that of his mother. For visitors, as they come in, they get to touch and feel and they get a sense of how thin the copper is right behind here. Two pennies put together. Built to move and sway due to the winds. And to expand or contract due to the heat or cold. We are here inside the lobby of the statue of liberty. We are standing next to the original torch. Lady liberty held this torch for about 100 years. Originally, she was solid copper like the rest of the statue. When we received this wonderful gift, we decided to cut into the torch, add glass plates and light bulbs in an effort to get it to be luminous at night. Unfortunately, we just poked a bunch of holes in it and she leaked water for 100 years. Enough. Never a luminous the sculptor said hey, it is your statue, but please, do not cut into it, do not use lightbulbs, just gild it somehow. So 100 years later we listened to him. We had a complete restoration from 1984 to 1986, scaffolding covered the entire statue. We replaced the armature bars and now they are stainless steel. Lee iacocca led the movement to and raised over 500 million to restore the statue of liberty. A good portion of that money went to the restoration of ellis island. Ellis island opened up in 1990. What is up there today . The torch is more like the original design. Solid copper lined with a thin layer of gold. When the statue was first completed and dedicated, the lighthouse board was in control of the operation in 1886. In 1902, the War Department took over and in 1924, president Calvin Coolidge declared the statue of liberty a national monument. And in 1933, the statue of liberty was added to the National Park Service System to manage and the National Park service has been the managing operation of the statue of liberty since then. I have worked at a lot of different parks. And our job here is easy. Our goal as interpreters is to connect people to the resource. I have worked at replica forts and light houses that we move, but here the statue of liberty in alice, it is easy. Rangers point at things. All you have to do is point at this wonderful work of art and it is an Emotional Experience for a lot of people whether they have a personal connection, family that immigrated through ellis island or Something Like that. People connect to this place very easily. It can be very emotional because it is an amazing experience. During the early 1900s, for those overcrowded boats, when they sailed into the harbor and they saw the statue of liberty for them, she was an emblem for the pursuit of the american dream. They had made it to america. For folks today, they are here, they are either visiting or they live here. You still get that same feel, that emotional she is still aweinspiring. The best way to come is to make reservations in advance. A few months in advance for a reservation to go to the crown. Two to three weeks in advance to visit the top of the pedestal. In general, you will make it to Lower Manhattan, go through a screening process, board the boats at new york at battery park and also in new jersey at liberty state park. You will have a great experience of sailing in front of the statue. You can get off and enjoy the statue. When you leave from new york. And when you board the boat from the statue, your next stop will be ellis island which is also an incredible experience. You can spend a good halfday if not a whole day visiting these two Great National monuments. The statue of liberty and ellis. For augustel up, bartholdi, it was his dream to become rich and famous. Unfortunately, neither of those happened for him. But if he were alive today, i think he would be very proud. Although he is not famous, his work of art certainly is. C c announcer you can view this and all other american artifact programs at cspan. Org history. Select the american artifacts cap and browse recent programs. The Program Schedule is available on the right side of the page. This Holiday Weekend on cspan, here are some of our featured programs. Today at 7 00 p. M. Eastern, carla hayden, archivist of the United States, david theriault, and david scored and, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution on the preservation of our national treasures. Mr. Smithson wrote that he wanted the institution to be oriented toward what he called the increase and diffusion of knowledge and that is what the smithsonian turned out to be. At 9 00 p. M. , the inaugural womens leadership summit for the next generation of young women at the Ronald Reagan library. Federal Appeals Court judges, both from the bc circuit, and andre davis of the Fourth Circuit discussed the history and impact of the bill of rights, 225 years after ratification. Applying those words to the factual circumstances and suits that confront the country is what is challenging. Announcer author jean epstein, law professor richard epstein, and the cato institutes christopher debate u. S. Involvement in foreign wars. Force is always a just difficult question. If you start with the frame and make it very funny, it turns out over time the use of force will be a calamity than when you do realse forces when the calamity will happen. Beginning at 9 00 p. M. , the Muslim Foreign Affairs convention with remarks by javier becerra, george decay george decay, van jones, george takei. We were trying to highlight the values of the constitution of the United States and values of freedom of speech, freedom of practice of religion, equal dignity, equal protection of law, and due process of law and those values are challenged today. Ouncer www. Cspan. Org watch on cspan and www. Cspan. Org or watch on the free cspan radio app. Tonight on lectures in history, a class on the moonshine wars in appalachia. Bruce stewart explains how journalists shape the National Perception as a violent place. Here is a preview. Bruce moonshine has become a central character in all of these writings and in these northern middleclass people begin to associate moonshine with appalachia. They associate the moonshiner with the appalachia resident. Stories andcolor lines are going to stress these themes. Moonshine is a product of geographical isolation. These moonshiners are uncivilized. They are savage. These moonshiners, by extension these mountain whites come are genetically different, somehow predisposed to commit violence they are savage. What you also see as we get into the mid1880s is that the moonshiner is going to serve as a symbol of what is wrong with appalachia. These coloradoans is going to say the reason why appalachia people live in squalor and ignorant and uneducated is because of geographical isolation. It is because they are savage people. It is because genetically they are predisposed to committing violence. The moonshiner, it up it is what is wrong with him society. Announcer watch the entire program tonight at 8 00 and midnight eastern on lectures in history. American history tv, only on cspan3. Next, a panel of historians discuss the influence of american democracy after world war ii in a session called america democracys bastion. Topics include the growth of americas government during the war and it includes relief , provided for displaced jewish refugees from poland. Ais 90 minute talk is part of multiday conference at the National World War Ii Museum in 1946 years titled zero, triumph and tragedy. Robert citino this session is entitled america democracys bastion. We have three very fine scholars that will give fine presentations. In order from my immediate right, James T Sparrow is an associate professor of history at the university of chicago, the author of the age of Big Government which received an in 2011