It built the thing that destroyed itself, the car. We built the car to leave the city, so isnt that ironic . Just 40the richest years ago. We were the richest city, and now we are the poorest, and now you cannot buy a cadillac in the town settled by cadillac. So what happened to detroit happened. I am more interested in what is going to happen and if i can make it better for all of our kids, and im interested in that. There used to be so much money here. They talk about the saturday night drives up and down woodward, and you got a new car every other year, and there were so many jobs that you could go across the streets to the other supplier i get another job until your boss to screw it. We were rocking. We had the greatest schools and graduates, so we did not take advantage of it because cars were our life and then things changed. After the oil, people did not want the cars. The cars were made poorly, right . The japanese and foreign car started catching us. Factories started moving o
There are lingering questions about how far detroit has come in a half century in addressing the issues that led to the rioting. We are here at the Detroit Free Press where it won a Pulitzer Prize for its 1967 riot coverage. Were joined by Heather Ann Thompson and Detroit Free Press page editor steve henderson. Well be live for the next two hours taking your calls, tweets and facebook posts. Can we start with the definitions in the sense that the events that took place 50 years ago described as a riot. I would say its absolutely not a riot. Because that term connotes chaos and it suggests that everyone just showed up and destroyed the city for no reason. It also suggested how we should understand what happened and what the impact of it was. We prefer to think about it like a rebellion. Because all of the energy and anger and activism that went into that moment had long been predicted. People had been begging for some remedy, for the housing discrimination. The Police Brutality. The eco
Was sent back into the white house where the fbi and secret service conducted a thorough investigation of the vehicle, took many photographs, documented what they needed to for evidentiary purposes. After that the car was sent back to its modifiers in cincinnati. To be completely rebuilt as an armored vehicle. And people are always astounded to think that this car was put back into service after the assassination. You would assume either that it was destroyed or perhaps locked away in a warehouse somewhere. But no, the simple fact is the president needed to have a vehicle. President johnson at this point. There simply wasnt time to go back to the drawing board and build something from scratch. The most expeditious thing to do was rebuild this car. You can watch this and other American History programs on our website where all our video is archived. Cspan. Org history. In july 1967, five days of rioting erupted in detroit, sparked by a police raid on an illegal bar and fueled by longsim
Earlier today, American History tv was live from detroit to look back 50 years. Our guests joined us at a Detroit Free Press room to talk about what happened and why and to answer viewer questions. This is about two hours. You are watching American History tv on cspan3. 50 years ago today, riots erupted in the city of detroit, michigan, sparked by a police raid on an illegal bar known locally as a blind pig. Five days later, 43 people are dead and 7000 have been arrested. President lyndon b. Johnson sent 5000 federal troops. Property damage was estimated at more than 30 million. The affected areas still bear the scars of the riots today. Green spaces mark where a thriving commercial district once stood. There are lingering questions about how far detroit has come addressing the issues that led to the rioting. We are here with the Detroit Free Press. And we are joined by professor Heather Ann Thompson a detroit editor. Ss we will be live for the next two hours taking your calls, tweets,