who are extremely demoralized and discouraged about the future. they feel themselves helpless. they feel they re powerless. they re cynical about politicians, which, of course, just strengthens politicians vulnerability to powerful corporate and other lobbyists in washington, d.c. when i lost a lot of friends in traffic accidents as a young man, i looked into how they could have been saved. and they could have been saved by seatbelts and they could have been saved by a whole series of engineering devices that we now take for granted in our cars: collapsing steering columns, better brakes, better tires, head restraints, padded dash panels. all of these and more were developed by engineers a long, long time ago, but they weren t applied because the companies, as some those of you who are a little older remember the companies were selling style and horsepower. they weren t selling engineering integrity, and as a result, hundreds of thousands of people were killed, and million
who are extremely demoralized and discouraged about the future. they feel themselves helpless. they feel they re powerless. they re cynical about politicians, which, of course, just strengthens politicians vulnerability to powerful corporate and other lobbyists in washington, d.c. when i lost a lot of friends in traffic accidents as a young man, i looked into how they could have been saved. and they could have been saved by seatbelts and they could have been saved by a whole series of engineering devices that we now take for granted in our cars: collapsing steering columns, better brakes, better tires, head restraints, padded dash panels. all of these and more were developed by engineers a long, long time ago, but they weren t applied because the companies, as some those of you who are a little older remember the companies were selling style and horsepower. they weren t selling engineering integrity, and as a result, hundreds of thousands of people were killed, and millions
discusses woodrow wilson and the treaty of her sigh treaty of her sitversaille. prof. memeekin: thank you for coming. i believe we left off at the negotiations of lenin and trotsky. you will recall the western allies did not come to these negotiations because they viewed lenin as a german puppet government. the negotiations were dragging on. to some extent, this was beginning to annoy wilson that this was taking so long. the bolshevik had come into possession of a secret treaty pertaining to the partition of the ottoman empire. we have to peel back and understand the role of the united states in the war and postwar settlement. an enigmatic role to say the least because the united states did not enter the war in 1914, nor when the united states entered the war did it do so with a clear sort of territorial war aims that most of the other neutral powers did. essentially bargaining their belligerence in exchange for territorial gains, the italians coming into the war 1915 becau
historical society. it is my pleasure to introduce our distinguished guests, richard white, also professor of history at stanford university and codirector for the american west. and the author of the new book railroaded: transcontinental and the makings of modern america. he has been at stanford since 19 98. he gives he taught at the university of utah and university of washington, where he took his phd. richard white is widely regarded as the leading scholar in three distinct but related fields, the history of the american west environmental history, and native american history. he has been the recipient of the macarthur genius award and author of several notable works including the title it s your misfortune, none of my own. a general sweeping comprehensive history of the american west. a book entitled the middle ground indian empires that are in the great lakes region. also published in 1991. one of my favorites, the organic machine, the remaking of the colombian river.
mexico month author richard white presents a history of the transcontinental railroad. you draws mexico, next author richard white presented history of the transcontinental railroad. welcome to the meeting of the commonwealth club. you can find us on the internet. i am david kennedy, professor of history emeritus and codirector of the center for the american west at stanford university and your moderator for this program. this program is being presented with the california historical society. it is now my pleasure to introduce our distinguished guests, richard white, also a professor of history at stanford university and co-director at the bill lane center for the american west with me and the author of the new book railroaded: the transcontinentals and the making of modern america. richard is got to be more precise, the margaret byrne professor of history at stanford or he has been since 1998. he previously taught at the university of utah and the university of was