Kate good evening and welcome to hillwood estate, museum and gardens. I know many of you know already, but in case we have not met, my name is kate markert, and i am the executive director here. I want to thank you in joining us tonight as we welcome back douglas smith, longtime friend of hillwood and author of the book the russian job the forgotten story of how america saved the soviet union from ruin. You may have noticed that the theater looks just a little bit different tonight. I am very pleased to welcome cspan. While this is their very first time in hillwood, it is not the first time that our lectures are accessible to folks at home. Many of our fantastic programs are available on the Hillwood Museum youtube channel, so check that out in case you missed something or want to see something again. Before we continue, i know you know what i am going to say next please be sure that you have silenced anything that chirps or barks or beeps. You may know that hillwoods founder, marjorie
This event. Dr. Smith dir. Markert good evening and welcome. I know many of you know already, but in case we have not met, my markert and i am the executive director here. Smith,ome back douglas longtime friend of hillwood and author of the book, the russian job. You may have noticed that the theater looks a little different tonight. I am very pleased to welcome cspan. While this is their very first time at hillwood, it is not the first time our lectures are accessible to folks at home. Many of our fantastic programs are available on the Hillwood Museum Youtube Channel so check that out in case you missed something or want to see something again. Before we continue, i know you know what i am going to say next. Make sure you have silenced anything that chirps, barks, or beeps. You may know that marjorie post again her russian collection began her russian collection while she was posted to moscow in 1937 and 1938. She was dedicated to building the most comprehensive collection of buildin
Let me just tell you that its a great pleasure to be invited here and part of this event. It is a distinct pleasure to be surrounded by so many hoovers. Ive never seen so many hoover s in one place. It looks like we are complete. We start this segment in the summer of 1921 and in that summer, soviet russia is the scene of a catastrophic famine, as george nash mentioned earlier, and millions are threatened with starvation and disease, most of them, as you will see any moment ill have a map up, situated in and beyond the vulgar river valley. The soviet government is unable to cope with the disaster on its own, so it is forced to allow an appeal to go out for and assistance and in that day, there is only one man on the planet in a position to answer that call, and that is the man that you see year, Herbert Hoover. As chairman of the American Relief administration, the ara. As george nash told us, the ara is a private relief organization, Relief Agency but i would say for this part of the
This program was part of the 2019 National World war i museum and memorial symposium. Lora next, talking a little bit about stuff going on in russia. Again, i feel like everything is relevant in the world today that connects back to world war i. Our next speaker is james carl nelson. He is the author of four books about the American Experience in world war i. The remains of company d, five lieutenants, i will hold. He is the winner of the colonel Joseph Alexander award for biography from the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation and the polar bear expedition the heroes of americas forgotten invasion of russia, 1918 to 1919, which you will be learning more about in his lecture today. A graduate in journalism from the university of minnesota, nelson has worked as a staff writer for the miami herald and has covered some of the last three decades major stories, so he can expand even further on that concept. He is an active member of the western Front Association and currently lives in eden prai
Learning more about in his lecture today. A graduate in journalism from the university of minnesota, nelson has worked as a staff writer for the miami herald and has covered some of the last three decades major stories, so he can expand even further on that concept. He is an active member of the western Front Association and currently lives in eden prairie, minnesota, where he is working on his fifth book of world war i nonfiction. Ladies and gentlemen, if you would please please join me in giving a round of applause for james carl nelson. [applause] james wow. What a warm up. Is this thing on . Oh, good. I have my swag here. Thanks for coming. Im going to talk about the polar bears. Thats a lonely photo, isnt it . In theme with the 1919 piece, i am going to start off with a story of a guy named kerry mead. He was a lieutenant, commander of the fourth platoon, company a, 339th infantry regiment. The morning of january 19, 1919, he and his men were stationed on a river 250 miles south o