Sundays in february, American History tv is airing a selection of oral history interviews with former korean war pows recorded by the korean war legacy foundation. First interview is charles ross who soon after enlisting in the army in 1947 became a sergeant in a small unit in south korea. He was captured by the chinese and held as a p. O. W. From 1950 to 1953 today at 10 00 a. M. Eastern time here on American History tv on cspan 3. February is black History Month and the cspan bus is on the road visiting the top historically black colleges and universities to speak with faculty and discuss Public Policy issues and highlight their role in americas education system. This tuesday will be in Fisk University followed by moore House College and Spellman College in atlanta. Historian and author of victoria kastner of William Randolph herself. Her story herself castle about reconstructing the estate in california. The author hosted this event in november of 2000. Now pleased to introduce to you victoria kastner. She has a masters degree with an emphasis with architectural history from california in santa barbara. In her book Hearst Castle, she tells the untold story and the 28 years of a relationship between hearst and architect julia morgan. Victoria chronicles the victorian hill top. The slides tonight are beautiful of it. Not only do we view the hill top but the pools and the astounding collection of fine arts and antiques. Sprinkled throughout her book are stories of the famous parties that are hosted at the Hearst Castle. And with his companion movie star Marian Davies and their celebrated guests which all combine together to bring to life meeshgs most glamorous country home. Please join with me in welcoming victoria kastner. Very glad to be here in americas oldest museums to talk about a uniquely american subject. That is William Randolph hearst and his beloved home. He had more than half a dozen houses, all very large and filled with art. But the one he loved the most was this one. I think its been most known like William Randolph hearst not through Historic Events but through media event. That was orson welles film citizen kane a great film, but not a documentary. I think by the end of the evening youll agree with me that William Randolph hearst called the house formally la questa en kantada. It was a lively house filled with people, companionship, and with a fascinating Art Collection that deals a lot about the past history. Glad to see you all here. Youre civic minded and it will please you to know that all of the royalties for Hearst Castle the biography of a Country House goes to a Nonprofit Organization called the friends of first castle. That raises money for art restoration, and other castle projects. So when he was being formal about it, William Randolph hearst called it the enchanted hill but usually just the ranch at san simian. And actually it was comprised of four large buildings, these cottages as they were known. And then this, the Main Building which in itself has 115 rooms on four major stories and 54,000 square feet of enclosed floor space. Plus a 15,000 square foot basement. It was built between 1919 and 1947 and its been open in a state park since William Randolph hearsts death. And in 1957, his family and his company, the Hearst Corporation gave it to the people of california where its a state park. As a matter of fact, in 42 years, its been seen by 32 million visitors. So its particularly interesting that mine is the first book to be written about the subject in all of that time. This is the photograph of William Randolph hearst who came on a visit in january of 1937 and talked about hearst. Hearst built the house for 28 years and it really was a labor of love for him and his architect, julia morgan, the first woman architect of prominence in america who was 47 at the time this photograph was taken and in her 40s when William Randolph hearst hired her to begin building, she had designed 500 buildings in her career. And youd think this would have occupied all of her time but actually she designed several hundred more structures several hundred structures while sam simian was under way. I think the other way the castle has been known is as a home for glamorous movie star visitors because in complete defiance with convention, William Randolph hearst separated from his wife mill sent Veronica Wilson in 19 well, about 1925 after five sons and 20 years of marriage. Mrs. Hearst while they never divorced lived on the east coast and William Randolph hearst went out west with a hollywood actress who was the hostess on the hill. On the opposite side you can see cary grant on the right leaning against a roman First Century fuminary marker. What hasnt been discussed is William Randolph hearst wasnt just an art collector. He was very different from most of them, someone who made a fortune. He collected art gathering art as a small boy. I began by reading you a mother when he was 26 about his statue. He desperated wanted to buy. Dear mother, why didnt you buy it . It is superb. I have a great notion to buy it myself in fact. The one thing that prevents me is a scarcity of funds as it were. The man wants 8,000 for the blooming thing and that is a little above my head. I have the art fever terribly. Queer, isnt it . I never thought i would get it this way. I never miss a gallery now. I go and wish you were mine. My longings are not distinct from average, im afraid. So i want some of these fine things and i want you to have some of these fine things and did you know, my beloved mother, there is a way in which you might get them. If instead of buying half a dozen fairly nice things you would wait and buy one fine thing, all would be well. As it is at present, we have things scattered from new york to washington to San Francisco more than a house could hold. Not among them half a dozen things that are superb. The people are heavily taxed. The government is nearly bankrupt and cannot buy up the opportunities itself as it has done and some wealthy american or englishman will soon step in and taking his chances will have a collection almost equal to some of these national galleries. I wish i could be the rich american. I wish you could be. How nice it would be if we could exchange all our alleged pictures for two or three masterpieces such as i have mentioned. In price, they are the same. But in value, how different. I am not going buy anymore trinkets. Then when advanced in years, i will not have had all that i wanted but i will want all that i have which is better. Go thou and do likewise, mama, dear if you dont, youll be mad at yourself the next time you come abroad. What good are more trinkets with all we have. Save your money and wait. A duke of spain is coming with a collection of old masters. Get a maurio or velasquez. Dont get four or five old masters no one heard anything about. Get a maurio and a velasquez if you can. But get at least one good picture and wait again, and reverent son, wrh. He was dispensing advice in his 20s which he had no intention of following later in life, mr. I am not going to buy any trinkets of course became one of the most astonishing art so the question is why. What changes in the letter in 1889 filled with Good Intention and the acquiring of objects. One big thing was changed by the American Congress in 1909. That was the paynealdridge tariff. If something was more than a work of art or more than 100 years in age, you didnt have to pay duty. It was muted because of the first world war, in the end of the war, it was the beginning of the flood gates and the great objects of the magnificent art museums of this city were acquired in the window of opportunity between the world wars. But i think that its more than the advantage of the americans having to buy duties and taxes and december magss of war are causing the europeans especially to sell. It was William Randolph hearsts on background. He was born an only child and i think it was a significant factor in his life. His father was a minor. George hearst came out west. Struck it rich with the come stock silver and the gold and the anaconda copper mines was ap business rival of your great donor, mr. Clark in the anaconda mines at montana. Joshlg haes at 41 married 19yearold phoebe actorson haes. She was from missouri. She came west. Settled with her husband in San Francisco, determined to become an art collector herself. She became one of americas greatest philanthropist, the cofounder of the pta, the builder of free kindergartens, she built the National Cathedral girls school here in washington. William away in 1863 he had an indulged childhood. His father george bought up land to the california coast exactly equi distant between San Francisco and los angeles. This large ranch in san simian. And 1865 california had only been a state for 15 years and he was buying up mexican land grants. This is the valley of the cross. And the slide on the left is san simian bay. When william was a boy, the family would take the steamers down from San Francisco which they would dock at the bay and the family would make a habit to come up to top of the hill to camp on a high prominence, 1600 feet up above the coastal fog. William joked later in life he was so young the first time he made the trek, he only managed it by hanging on the the tail of his pony. There they set up a spot called camp hill. But phoebe had a lot of cultural aspirations and travelled abroad with him. The first time he went to new york, he was 10. Phoebe wrote back to george in the mines, he is picture crazy. He wants to buy everything that he sees. He did at the age of 10 begin collecting. He started collecting me papal medallions cartoons, and that would figure later. He like a lot of rich americans was educated back east. He went to st. Paul and harvard but never got a degree. He was dispelled rustic action t exd as they put it sent home, for as he put it a deficiency in studies and lack of attendance in classes. He was completely unphased by this expulsion. He was a rebel rouser and joked late in life that it takes a good mind to resist education. But William Randolph hearst did get something out of his harvard experience. It was there as a rich mans son that he was given the job of the Business Manager of the harvard lampoon, always a money loser. But under his tutelage, he began to sell advertising after the first whiff of printers ink, he was never the same. He asked the father for a newspaper. Hoping that mining and ranching the Family Businesses would interest him instead. But given the San Francisco examiner when he was 34, third rate moneylosing newspaper which he poured 750,000 into. He changed the masthead to make it the hon monarch of the dailies. He made it successful and then headed east. He had a lifelong fascination with journalism. He said if i had my life to live over again, i would be the great academic sculptor. And this is bone part at the sphynx. You can see napoleon encountering the sphynx and the shadow of his cavalry officers behind him. These two meet each other. It was Charles Mckim who commissioned this to create this great statue. He was going to give it to the boston library. But they refused. A naked lady in an extreme state of inibrium. It soared in popularity. Several bronzes were made. It was exhibited in chicago in 1893. And on the opposite side, pigmalian and galatalia. A woman whos so beautiful he falls in love with her and the gods take pity on her and bring her to life. A painting on the same subject at the met. This came from the collection of Charles Yerkes the streetcar magnate from whom hearst also bought in 1910, this roman box, this sarcophagus from 230 a. D. Shows apollo athena, and the nine muses. Its carved in a carved by a different hand. Looks much longer and unlike the other daughters of zeus, athena from whom we get the word museum. This was left blank, a block, and carved at a later time as a funirary portrait for the deceased who loved art in life and in death payment one with the muses. The Isabella Stuart gardiner of the west. The university of california. Donate millions to it, funded to the architectural competition for the campus design in 19d 89 89 1899 and befriended many students. There was no Architecture Department in the 1890s. And to fund Julia Morgans architectural obligation, she refused saying your confidence is enough of an inspiration to me. She had been born in well off circumstances. Her family lived in oakland, california. But it was true that Phoebe Hearst remained a patroness of julie morgan. They were introduced by the architect who worked at the university of california and helped phoebe with the competition, a building he designed for her was a rustic structure in the northern part of california which seemed to rise out of a pine forest out of a bah varian hunting lodge. She built it to the 1900s and it burnt to the ground and William Randolph hearst rebuilt wind tomb in the 190s as his own private bavarian refuge used by the family today. Theres Phoebe Hearst with three of her five grandchildren and Veronica Wilson. Phoebe did keep tags on julia morgan and encouraged her to be an applicant when mabeck found out that the greatest school for architects might be willing to accept her as a woman student. She travelled to paris and took the examination as did so Many American architects after Richard Morris hunt, the very first one to study. She didnt pass the first time. And that was a pretty common experience. There was worry and talk that he gender had been failed out that she failed. She did on the third attempt succeed. She came in 14th in the 376 aspirants. She went there. There she learned on the right, learned to use historic precedent and think and design buildings from the inside out. She worked at she worked for an architect. Its much the way she read her own architectural office. She received her certificate, which is something you acquired by the number of medals, first and second prize medals you achieve by the age of 30, beyond the cutoff limit. She received the certificate and was the first woman to achieve that. She went back to the San Francisco bay area. And one of her first commissions was this on the lefthand side at oaklands mills college. It was done in Mission Revival style in steel reinforced concrete in 1904 and survived the 1906 earthquake without cracking which is a marvelous advertisement of Julia Morgans skill. And there was a tremendous amount of work for architects at the fairmont hotel, a brand new building on knob hill demolished in the quake which julia morgan redesigned. The last project that bernhard made back when William Randolph hearst phoebe actorson hearst and julie martin had occasion to work on together, the worlds fair in San Francisco, the panama expedition or the ppi ex. William Randolph Hearst said he had never seen a greater combination of architectural loveliness at that worlds fair in which his mother was the head of the board. She designed the buildings interiors, and bernhard mayb excontraction kks made permanent the pal lace of fine arts, a magnificent rotunda and colonnade in front of a lagoon. On the righthand side, you see arcadia, one of the bronze sculptures from the fair was exhibited the edgard walters in 1915 in which yuchl Randolph Hearst acquired for san simian. Soon after the fair, Phoebe Hearst died. She died in the influenza epidemic that swept not just across america but the entire world after the first world war. In april of 1919, William Randolph hearst found himself the inheriter of the fortune. George hearst died in 1891 and the mining money reverted to phoebe. He found himself the inheriter of a vast cattle ranch in san simian which grew with the Land Acquisitions combined to over a quarter million acres. And one of her employees overheard hearst walk into an office and announce, ms. Morgan, ive grown tired of camping in san simian. No more tents. Im getting a little old for that. Im thinking of building a little something. The same employee said and within a month, they were going on the grand scale. Actually the only scale to which Wi