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Transcripts For CSPAN3 American Aid In Post-World War I Europe 1919-1924 20240713

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Modern european and world history. A native of kansas city, missouri, proctor holds degrees in journalism and history from the university of missouri and a phd from rutgers university. Thet publications include secret diary of mary thorpe, 2017s gender and the great war, and 2017s world war i a short history. Book. S a spectacular i consistently get asked questions if theres a short brooke book great for teaching at an introductory point. If you have not seen her short history on world war i, that is a nice entry point. Also clearly, she was very busy and 2017. On as presently working study of American Humanitarian aid in the u. S. From 1914 to 1924, which you will be hearing about more in a few seconds. Ladies and gentlemen, please help me welcoming dr. Tammy proctor. [applause] dr. Proctor to test this out, is it working . Yes . Ok. Good. We are good. For that to lora nice introduction and to camille for all the work she did. Its great to come to kansas city. It is my hometown. Its always wonderful to be here. I would also like to thank dr. Kuhn for setting up my talk by mentioning famine relief. I will be talking about that a little bit today. So i picked kind of a provocative title, the myth of isolation. I did so partly because when i teach undergraduates about the first four world war, i usually start class by asking what do you know . War . Do you know about the i suspect if i throw this out to you, you can guess some of the things they know. Trenches. Poison gas. Aerial warfare. They like that. And when i ask about the United States, they know Woodrow Wilson and isolation. Encapsulatesy much the story a lot of undergraduates know when they arrive at college about the First World War. What i would like to argue today is that rather than the idea that the United States completely turned its back on europe in 1919, that it is a more complicated story. I argued that americans engaged with europe not just financially and materially, but also in terms of cultural imagination. Using both public funds and private charitable money, the United States intervened in ,urope to provide food clothing, fuel, disease prevention, and other important resources. In more than a dozen states in 1924. From 1919 to actually, i will go a little later than 1924 as well. Americans undertook major programs in rebuilding the devastated areas and in saving Cultural Heritage properties also. Talk about three different examples today. The first is war relief and food aid. The second is physical preconstruction of europe reconstruction of europe and the third is cultural reconstruction of europe. This outpouring of u. S. Relief and Development Helped provide a measure of stability. It created a precedent for what happened after world war ii. In the q and a if you are interested, i can talk about the personnel involved in world war i that go on to be heavily iiolved in world war and u. S. Development aid. It also forged a cultural connection between europe and the u. S. That continues today. 1919 was a busy time in europes cities. While Woodrow Wilson and his advisers met in paris with other World Leaders in spring of 1919 to determine the provost world political future of europe, the populations of several European Countries faced crippling food shortages. Over theep concern possibility of revolutionary activity in post world societies postwar societies devastated by war, wilson appointed herbert aover in 1918 to be kind of food czar for europe. Part of the reason is hoover had run an American Food program in 1918,m from 1914 to feeding roughly 9 million belgians and also inhabitants of northern france in the occupied zone. Hoover had also led the united straits United States Food Administration from the world time wartime period from 1917 to 1918. Chose hoover to create the American Relief administration. This is hoover. These are some of the men who were involved in the belgian relief. The establishment of the postwar program. American personnel traveled to europe. They served as supervisors and managers. There helped with the work of distribution. This. N kind of imagine while wilson and his team are in paris negotiating the peace treaty there, hoover and his team are in brussels negotiating other types of bilateral and multilateral agreements to get food into europe. The agreement in brussels is signed in march of 1919, and of course, as you know, the paris peace treaty takes longer. They are kind of parallel developments as a way to think of it. One of the big issues was the fact that the blockade was still in place, which was mentioned as well. Germany had to agree to hand over their merchant fleet as well as funds in order to get food, allied food. American Louis Strauss noted at the meeting there was not a single word uttered in sentiment, no recrimination, no appeals, no references to humanity, civilization, women or children. It was a business transaction. This is the description of the meeting with germany. For the public, however, this isnt going to really cut it. That this food might be going to feed former enemies in europe had to be sold to the American Public. Hoover started laying out the publicity for this pretty early. Was published in newspapers across the country in december of 1918. I took this one from the columbia, missouri paper. Notice here that americans are being reminded that they need to pledge to help with the effort. It shows some of the countries that have famine conditions, shortages, and places that were already receiving aid. It was used to educate public about problems. And it was called, and every newspaper, the hunger map to emphasize the starvation. Image ran in the columbia paper on Christmas Day trying to emphasize the need for sympathy. To supplement earlier efforts, hoover released a memo in 1919 explaining why aid. I want to read a little excerpt from it, because i think it gets at how he was trying to sell this to the u. S. Population. Why we are feeding germany. From the point of view of my western upbringing, i would say it once because we do not kick a man in the stomach after we have licked him. From the point of view of a governor, i would say its because famine breeds anarchy. Anarchy is infectious. From the point of view of the humanitarian, i would say we have not been fighting with women and children and we are not beginning now. Taking it by and large, our face forward, not backward on history. You can see how he strength to sell the case for American Intervention in europe. The idea that u. S. Security and world peace depended on caring for victims of the war and on helping all nations of europe to recover is one that hoover returned to again and again. Food relief relied on the goodwill and donations of ordinary americans. Lived inrican troops europe to provide substance, officials urged the American Public to embrace this role as protector. Shortterm,s a limited release project became a larger experiment in the exportation of American Values most of europe by the 1920s. I want to give just one example of this. That is austria. The 12th of november 1918, after the collapse of the habsburg empire, the provisional assembly created the republic of austria with a capital in vienna. About thisoblematic is many of the agricultural lands were in hungary, not in the newly formed austria. They were kind of facing difficulties in that way. They had already had severe starvation conditions in 1918. Of nearly 16. 5 Million People faced other challenges including political instability, serious unemployment, a large refugee population, and lack of housing. But the real problem was shortage of food and shortage of fuel. This had taken a big toll. After that, the allied blockade, which is continuing, exacerbated of extended the misery wartime. Citizens waited hours in food cues and sometimes spent the night sleeping in order to hold their place in line. One historian out of austria has documented what was called the hunger catastrophe in austrian history. Rationed27 goods were and many of them were not available, even after people had waited in cues. Vienna,y residents in eating have become a mathematical exercise in consuming any available calories, no matter how disagreeable their source. Of particular concern both in austria and increasingly among the International Community was the plight of children and young people. They were particularly hardhit by lack of calories. These are some of the photos used to document some conditions. These are children with rickets caused from nutritional deficiency. Many of the kids were the ones waiting in line overnight. Their parents would send them out to hold their place. They would take turns. They are very much involved in the fight get food. Childrens mortality rates nearly doubled for teenagers. This was a serious condition, especially for children. Thousands were baking begging in. Vagrancys were high. The story about children began appearing in the International Press partly because of the efforts of two women who eventually founded the save the children fund, which i think probably most people have heard of. It is still operating today. These are british women. Was the children, which created in 1919 to deal with this particular catastrophe, along with american quakers, endeavor to feed nursing mothers and children under five years old in vienna. Quakers were already in place and some of the british organizations. Release agencies also began adopting children. Toricans could send money feed a child for a year. This was an innovative thing at the time. They had Clothing Stores for unemployed people. Program, they imported cows from holland to get milk to the children. The bed merrick and American Relief administration focused on school aged children. They set up massive kitchens and schools to feed children a hot meal per day, usually something that involved milk and cocoa. Theres a lot of chocolate involved in this. Is they would survey the children first. There are a lot of photographs and measuring. They would determine an exact calorie and create the food to meet those caloric needs. Quakers are feeding the young children. The American Relief administration are feeding schoolaged children. Adults were not so lucky. Many efforts did not focus on adults. Part of what needed to happen to feed these children as they needed to come up with fundraising from other nations of the world. There was a big press campaign in the United States to get people to support this. Money. Othing, send some towns in the midwest actually put together food from their community and shipped it. Theres a lot of generosity emerging from American Communities at this time. This is an example of some of the ways they kept track of this. One of the ways americans continue to create additional interest in fundraising, i guess is the best way to put it, is they published expressions of gratitude children were sending for the food they got. This outpouring of thanks reinforced americans and their understanding that the humanitarian work was making a difference. It took on kind of an appearance of a moral imperative. For the american delegates themselves, the people on the ground in europe, the language of the appeals gave them a sense of power. You can see these are beautiful. In the library of congress, there are 5000 childrens letters to Woodrow Wilson. There are also letters to hoover and the Hoover Institution libraries. There are letters like this to all the individual delegates. You can imagine how this was used for publicity purposes. I particularly like this one. This one is from germany. For the delegates on the ground, it gave them a sense of power and importance. Gilchrist stockton, one of the Bureau Chiefs left in vienna, described his role in a letter home to his mother. When i am downhearted, i go out to a kitchen and i see my children eat. I think of them all as mine, every one of the 200,000 underfed little waifs. The presence of the u. S. As a surrogate father really shaped the language of the food aid program. It is americans spots ability to feed, we are taking a paternal, fatherly role. The other message for americans was clear. U. S. Food would make the world safer and demonstrate american goodheartedness and wealth to world. The aid project helped bolster u. S. Governmental claims during and after world war ii. Im sorry, after world war i. Altogether, from 1914 to 1920 four, hoovers organization handled the shipping and distribution of more than 33 Million Metric Tons of aid, which was valued at more than 5 billion. ,his is a big operation multicountries, and the ports that were on the map gives you a sense of the size and logistics of this organization. These organizations did save lives, but they also created a market for surplus food, because the American Economy kind of ramped up to create food for the war effort and they needed a market for it after the war. A lot of american grain went to europe. It helped bolster prices for farmers. It reduced stocks. Hoover himself fervently offeved food aid staved also big revolution and created a positive image of the United States abroad, both of which were major Foreign Policy goals. Efforts,through relief u. S. Citizens built an investment in postwar europe and a sense of mission that i think belies the idea of an isolated American Public. I think the public saw themselves as continuing to have a responsibility in europe, especially for the victims of the war. The second area i want to talk about briefly is physical reconstruction. America played a crucial role during and after the war in rebuilding devastated parts of europe. The project has multiple facets and a multitude of individuals and organizations participated. Some of these are major American Charities like the Rockefeller Foundation, which supported Public Health and educational infrastructure. There were projects for housing, agriculture transport. Some of them are sort of shortlived. Others are longer projects. One of the bestknown was in northern france were more than four years of combat had villages and left millions displaced. If you have been to france, you have probably seen markers. They were destroyed once and rebuilt during the war with americans help, and then destroyed a gun and had to be rebuilt again and destroyed again and had to be rebuilt again. In some cases, its a long relationship with the same village going through waves of rebuilding. Ara, the hoover organization largely led by american men, some of the physical reconstruction projects have a Strong Female presence, especially in leadership roles. The Smith College relief unit which rebuilds villages in northern france, also rockefeller, quakers are involved. One of the most celebrated in the media was an organization which had two names. During the war, it was called the American Fund for french wounded. After it was called the American Committee for devastated france. But it was run by j. P. Morgans annhter, and morgan morgan. These are elite women paying their way for the most part. They began making their way through, helping refugees, and assisting with rebuilding villages and homeless. These are the two leaders. Annie, they were the master hides masterminds behind the project. Helped plus personnel in 127an 60,000 people villages in france using funds that were raised from more than 13,000 american donors by 1924. Not only are there hundreds of personnel and france, but think about the publicity efforts in the United States that led to so many donations. Another organization where the society of friends, or the quakers. War victims Relief Committee began working in 1940. This is a cdf, still. One of the chauffeurs. The quakers started in 1914 and continued their work until 1924. They helped with reconstruction of destroyed homes and villages. They led projects including medical aid, refugee assistance, child resettlement schemes, soup kitchens, and a maternity hospital. They expanded in 1970. There are also methodists and mennonites and other american Conscientious Objectors and pacifists who were part of the unit. In 1917, a lot of americans who were Conscientious Objectors decided to work for the quakers. One of the things that was difficult is these areas had a number of refugees. It was kind of a moving population. Lots of displaced people. The quakers were trying to build housing for all of these people. The quaker workers explained, ours is a small, compact, inexpensive unit and composed not of officers, but mostly of workers who will to thedown admirably shirtsleeves tasks that need doing. You can see an example of this. In order to do this, and i find it fascinating, they needed labor. They have the quaker personnel, but they also needed labor on the ground. They turned to german prisoners of four. Hadfrench government prisoners of war until 1920 the quakers burrowed pows bar road pows to work with them. I find it interesting that german pows are rebuilding the villages that their armies destroyed. It is interesting symmetry. Powsians and interned built flat pack furniture that they ship to france for the houses. You have a lot of levels in postwar of what the quakers thought was reconciliation work. Reconstruction work continued. The quakers went to russia and poland afterwards and operated into the 20s. The committees they founded like the American Friends Service Committee Still operates today. These became permanent organizations. Heres a picture of some of the work they did with children in france. Because of time, i wont go into a lot of detail, but i want to mention they are not the only organization that worked. There were a lot of other religious groups that did were relief and food aid in europe. This is an ad for one of the jewish Relief Committees, but the big national Relief Committee in new york was particularly active. Lots of other organizations got involved. This i think its interesting. It can tell you a little bit about the ways they tried to get americans involved and to feel responsible, and to feel like they had a vested interest in europe. To the third area. This is cultural reconstruction. While the rebuilding efforts in devastated zones absorbed a lot of american money and attention, i want to mention the cultural reconstruction that took place. Americans really venerated the relics of europe, whether they , or churches or paintings the scarred battlefields of the conflict. Wealthy americans thought but european historical objects. Yet, americans faced criticism because they were not involved in the league of nations. Some of the of political stances they took in period. War wilson emphasized the special benevolence of americas war aims, but u. S. Action seemed contradictory. Dead renegotiations progressed. Nations feltllied americans were profiteering in the postwar period. As one belgian put it bluntly, they promised Everything Possible but disappear as soon as it gets serious. See Woodrow Wilson. [laughter] thats his statement on this. There is a sense that americans want to take what they can get from europe but they are not willing to give back. This is a real tension in the postwar period. Of concern toe europeans is american expansion, particularly economic expansion setting up markets and trying to also thiscan products idea that americans seem to be promoting with ara and other organizations, that americans were more efficient and organized and scientific. Europeans did not always respond all that well. Contemporaries viewed the u. S. As having a special ability to create a just and peaceful postwar world. They thought were relief and reconstruction could show this. Whoe were some in the u. S. Doubted this or were maybe a little cynical. This is from a Chicago Tribune editorial called who will rebuild europe . Millionaires,can otherwise, have proposed that the United States shall undertake the rebuilding of europe after the war is over. However, americans have regarded europe as an aesthetic experience, not as a living nation, a wrecked fort and dismantled gun will be almost as interesting as a suit of ancient armor. There will be trenches and historic battlefields. The american, if he has any money at all, will be willing to rush to europe. This was written in 1916 before the u. S. Even entered the war. Indeed, a lot of americans rushed to europe. This is part of the tension. Many collectors were trying to acquire european treasures but also trying to protect them because of the threat that the war had posed. I put up a couple that i thought you might find interesting. If youve been to the museum in kansas city, on the left, the cloister, there was acquired in the 1930s and put into the museum in the 1950s. Are incorn tapestries the met in new york city. Rockefeller purchased those in 1923 and moved them to the u. S. You can go into the museum and see it upstairs. This was on tour at the chicago worlds fair in 1933 before installed at the museum 20 years later. These are just a few examples. Im sure all of you have been to museums and libraries and universities and received this cultural artifacts that were moved here and the purse tour in the postwar period. Two particular european icons, both of which had been important propaganda, became the focus. One is a library in belgium. The other is a cathedral in france. I will talk about the library for a few minutes. States, theed library was supposed to showcase american appreciation for european culture and also to allow the u. S. A place to celebrate the legacy of its soldiers. It was a symbol of the europe of american imagination in many ways. A little background in case you dont know belgian history or the history of 1914. When the war broke out in 1914 , theelgium was invaded german army got to the french city on the 25th of august, had a population of about 40,000 people, and the army kind of went nuts as part of this invasion. They were afraid there might be civilian snipers aiming at them. There were rumors that set off a lot of spontaneous violence. As a result, soldiers panicked and ravaged the town. More thanays time, 200 civilians dead, nearly 1100 buildings torched, and the University Library was a hollow, burnedout shell. In the case of the letter, there were many propaganda accounts that said germans deliberately set the library on fire to destroy this cultural icon. The library had a medieval collection that was destroyed. There were just a few charged remnants off the end. For americans, this became part of the propaganda of the war as an example of european cultural sites that had been targeted and destroyed, and it violated their sense of what civilized warfare should be. 1914, the name of that town had become synonymous with violation of belgian neutrality, german or trying wartime atrocities. Remember at the same time, the u. S. Is also feeding belgian civilians. Theres a lot of investment emotionally and belgium. Of belgian baby days to raise money. Hoover ramped up the media machine. It made sense for the u. S. To make its mark culturally in europe by rebuilding something in belgium. Who had chosen to lead this is Nicholas Murray butler, the president of Columbia University at the time youre at he was later head of the Carnegie Institution responsible for peace. The thing with butler is even though a lot of other nations said we will contribute money, we would like to help tilt the library build the library gun, he wanted it to be an american monument. He turned down money from other countries including britain. His vision was realistic. He wanted the library to be built stone by stone with lots of donations from all over the country. Brochure, in this build this memorial as a perpetual reminder of americas friendship for oppressed people and a fight for democracy. It is to represent all america, men, women, and children everywhere. You can see the overlap with wilsons language. In europe, they welcomed the idea because the americans were going to pump money into the economy to rebuild the library, but they looked at it warily as well. They wanted some say over what this looks like. I think americans saw themselves a caretakers and its not coincidence the First Western civilization course was taught in 1919 at Columbia University. Not taught in europe, it is an american course. You note that it ends with u. S. Power. It is the u. S. Picking up the mantle from europe, especially by the 1950s. It is kind of a picture early earlier cture peculiarly american view. If you like architecture, you may have seen Grand Central station in new york city which he designed. He had ideas about what he wanted it to look like. The bucket that they used to laid the cornerstone had the stars and stripes wrapped around it. Everything seemed to go swimmingly. The problem was they raised 500,000 and they needed one million. They did actually raise a lot of the money through more of the fundraising. They did raise a lot of it from small donations. This is one of the stones on the library today. About every college and school and club that donated money got a stone on the side of the library. , the rising cost of construction meant it was half finished by 1924. A half finished library would not serve American Interest rod, help the donated volumes. Germany was required to provide new stuff to put in the library. All these donations were coming in from germany, and they had to put them somewhere and they did not have a library to put them in. By november 1924, the New York Times was calling the library a promise unfulfilled. , they were reporting that there was an appeal to Herbert Hoover to fix the problem. I think his intervention, which does come, kinds of kind of lays bare the controversies. While the president and the u. S. Congress in the 1920s issued formal political involvement publicly, privately they were intervening all the time. Ambassador u. S. William phillips wrote to the the unhappyf state, situation regarding the library is tending to affect our prestige and belgium. All americans are deeply concerned. Each day aggravates the situation. In short, many agree that the completion is a job that has to be finished. Eventually, they did managed to secure the funds, but they had to do it by basically taking money for the relief and belgium for leftover money. Rockefeller also gives money because he says we cant let the embarrassment stand, even though he had refused earlier to give money. Hoovers personal intervention, rockefellers donation, and a ge gift from the crv led crv led to the completion. The ceremony was held on july 4, 1928. None of the americans responsible for the building went to the ceremony. Hoover,architect, not not butler. It had been such a terrible situation. Actived begun as an national generosity became an exercise in saving the national phase. The library was destroyed again in the Second World War as you may have guessed. And particularly bad was the fact that the highly touted volt an faults to hold vaults to hold these precious books turned out not to be so good in a fire. I should mention when it was rebuilt again, it was rebuilt with national funds, not from American Funds. It was rebuilt in the national style. I would like to conclude here. I dont have time to delve into all the ways americans identified with european culture, but all of you know about novels and films and art. Paris alone has 32,000 permanent american residents in 1923 and the number grew by the end of the decade. What i had been suggesting is although the u. S. Senate may have rejected a formal diplomatic role for the u. S. In the league of nations, they did not isolate themselves from period. N the postwar through its role as lender to the world, banking would be another way we could talk about this. It played a significant part in shaping european economies. It was at the center of ongoing debates. Americans traveled to europe to see for themselves the scarred battlefields and u. S. Cemeteries, for each family made pilgrimages through sponsored programs like the gold star mothers. Hundreds of thousands donated to war relief and reconstruction projects. They visited european cultural exhibits and the u. S. Or toured itself. Americans helped relieve the suffering of wartime populations, and returned creating a proprietary feeling toward european culture. Americans developed a vision of them self as protectors, not just as starving children or democratic volume is values o abroad. The sense was only heightened after the Second World War i the u. S. Intervened again and in a much greater way than european reconstruction. Thanks. [applause] i am happy to take questions, if you have them. I know i have covered a lot here. Go ahead and grab this one right here. And the gentleman, if you can see me back here. Hello. As you know, to this day, the tower flies the American Flag every july 4. That library. When delivery burned, it was just gutted. Of the library survived, all the inscriptions. It is one of the most fantastic First World War monuments in europe in my opinion. Dr. Proctor absolutely. The library today is fantastic if you get a chance to visit. It is funny as an american to go there, because when you think about Herbert Hoover, how people in the u. S. See him and think about his presidency, you go there and the first thing you see is a huge bust of herbert square to the library is named after him. It is just a very different an what of the u. S. Th you might see here in our public buildings. Our next question from dr. John q. I dont know the answer to this, this is a legit question. Is going to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize a number of times, and the initial nomination was to do with this. Can you talk about that process and perhaps why he didnt win . Dr. Proctor actually, several of the people involved in the food aid are nominated. To my knowledge, the only one who wins youngris pate, who was a princeton graduate who work in belgian relief and he worked in poland and the ara. He is the first head of unicef. Fter world war ii heres an example of a lot of the personnel. I have a chart in my book, which is interesting. You look at the men involved from 1914 to 1924, what they end wins thelater, he Nobel Peace Prize and he dies a couple months before that is awarded. I think its partly just the politics of the prize. Hoover was a prickly fellow. [laughter] he wasnt all that diplomatic, lets put it that way. First of all, thank you. Secondly, how is this effort affected by, and how did it affect the great influenza pandemic that was contemporaneous . Dr. Proctor thats a great question. He asked about the influenza epidemic. Im going to give you the short version of this, which is that there are still thousands of people dying from influenza. Many of the workers themselves get sick. If you add the parts of europe they are in where they have had really bad problems with food and fuel, they also have a problem with typhus. Some of the workers actually are killed from typhus. Problems. Acerbate the the other thing the Rockefeller Foundation is working on is tuberculosis, because the rates just escalate at the end of the war because of overcrowding, bad housing, and soap. In some areas, they havent seen soap since 1917. Its really bad. The veryyou for enlightening talk. I learned a lot. I wonder if you could give a few of the destruction of the notre dame cathedral. I wonder if you could talk about the cathedral. Dr. Proctor dr. Proctor actually, i was in europe in april, watching it on tv when notre dame burnt. One of the first references they made in the european news was to the reconstruction of the other. The other was to york minster, which was much later. But rockefeller largely funded the reconstruction of this cathedral in france. Controversy, it wasnt quite in the same way because it was controlled so much by the one federation. I think the foundation. I think the issue with the library as they were trying to make it on american project with all the Little People contributing, whereas rockefeller had a much stronger hand in shaping what that would look like. It is fantastic if you get a chance to see it. Thank you. It was a great talk. I have a question about the german pows that worked with the quakers and others to rebuild europe. Did they get paid to do that . Where they forced to do that, or did they volunteer to get out of the pow camps . Dr. Proctor they did not volunteer. [laughter] put it that way. I just wrote an article on this, so i know the answer. The pows who were working for the quakers were paid, but they were not allowed to get their money while they were pows. What the quakers did, and i think this is fascinating and wonderful material for anyone who wants to do a dissertation on this, they sent a team of paye people to germany with packets at photographs of the pows and visited the families. Pay and photosto and stories and collected information about conditions in germany at the same time. These are in the quaker archives in philadelphia. That was sort of a quaker mercy mission. Most of the other pows were not being paid for the reconstruction work. And they were doing really nasty stuff for the french government at the same time. First question, was there any food a to germany aid to germany and austria . I think you did mention austria, but what about germany . They were starving, too. Dr. Proctor thats a great question, and yes, the u. S. Fed germany as well. Here, hoover was concerned about what it would look like for the United States to be feeding enemies. The money was funneled through the American Friends Service organization, the quakers. There is correspondence between hoover and the quakers saying this is what you need to do, but we want you to call this quaker feeding. The picture i showed you, the childrens drawing that said quaker on it, its partly because it was being funneled through the. There was an American Relief administration on the ground in germany, but they were kind of trying to coach the pacifist effort in germany. Raised money from germanamericans to pay for it as a separate advertising campaign. I didnt know that. My family is germanamerican. Dr. Proctor i wonder if they contributed. I dont know. They are all dead now. Dr. Proctor please thank me please help me in thanking dr. Proctor. [applause] this is american cspan3. V on for each weekend, we feature 48 hours of programs exploring our nations past. American history tv is on cspan3 every weekend, featuring museum tours, archival films, and programs on the presidency, the civil war, and more. Here is a clip from a recent program. Start by explaining why november 9, 1989, what was the story of that day that led to the images that people around the world saw on their televisions that night . Its great to be on your show. This was not planned by the east german government. What happened was more and more at this point, revolutions are going on in Eastern Europe and the east germans are fed up. More and more of them, 100,000 of them, in the summer months, were taking refuge in west german embassies in czechoslovakia and hungary. They were trying to leave to go to west germany. They wanted to leave east germany. The country was hemorrhaging. At some point, the leadership decided, we have to let people trouble. Though forget at this point we have to let people travel. Dont forget, if you were under six or over 70 may be, you could travel to the west, but most young adults couldnt travel. They decided they would have a meeting and have new rules allowing east germans to go to west berlin to see what its like. So its late at night on the night of november 9. There is kind of a harried official coming out. He has a piece of paper. He reads it and says soon people will be able to travel to the west without a visa. And Italian Journalist is there, and this is being televised, the Italian Journalist says can you tell us when . In the flat voice, the guy says immediately. So east germans hear this and literally thousands of people left their homes, they saw this on television, some of them in their pajamas, that come with their families and they walked to the wall. The Border Guards are there. They say open the wall, at the border guard doesnt know what to do because he only has instructions about what to do if people are trying to escape, tissue people. But these people to shoot people. Peaceful. Le are very so he called his superior and the superior says, i dont know what to tell you. They keep calling and they keep calling. In the end, the guard himself made the decision. You can read it in his logbook. He just says i will let everyone through. So the west germans are waiting for them because they are watching it on television, too. It really wasnt design. Guard really because one decided im not going to kill these people. Im going to let them go. Announcer watch this and other American History programs on our website, were all our videos archived. Thats cspan. Org history. Next, Hillary Clinton discusses her time as a lawyer on the staff of the House Judiciary Committee during the impeachment inquiry of president Richard Nixon in 1974. Theinterview is from Richard Nixon president ial Library Oral History collection, and was conducted by former Library Director timothy naphtali in july 2018. When she was hired by the lead special council on the judiciary committee. When you graduate in 1973, what did you expect to be doing in 1974 . I expected to work for the childrens defense fund. I had interned for her after y first year, maybe. I wanted to go to work with her, so i moved to cambridge and began working, doing

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