the tower board's conclusions. now what should happen when you make a mistake is this. you take your knocks, you learn your lessons, and then you move on. that's the healthiest way to deal with a problem. this in no way diminishes the importance of the other continuing investigations, but the business of our country and our people must proceed. i've gotten this message from republicans and democrats in congress, from allies around the world, and if we're getting signals right, even from the soviets, and of course, i heard the message from you, the american people. you know, the time you reach my age, you've made plenty of mistakes. if you lived your life properly, you learned. you put things in perspective, pull your energies together, you change, you go forward. my fellow americans, i have a great deal i want to accomplish with you and for you over the

next two years, and the lord willing, that's exactly what i intend to do. good night, and god bless you. >> for more information about this address and to read excerpts of the tower commission report, visit our website at cspan.org/history. and to watch more video on the iran-contra affair, including congressional hearings from 1987, go to our video library, cspanvideo.org. with politics and public affairs programming all week, and on the weekend, telling the american story on american history tv. get our schedules, see past programs at our websites. and join in the conversation on social media sites. in shreveport, it is mostly cloudy, 37 dreers, 38 at

barksdale, 38 in men den. >> it is shreveport weekend, hosted by our comcast cable partners. in the next hour, we visit louisiana's third largest city to explore connections to the past and connection to the area today. >> this base was there when the president of the united states, commander in chief, needed it. things took on a whole new degree of importance and life and death tone that day. >> at the top of the hour, a visit to barksdale air force base where we learn about the events of 9/11 as they unfolded at the place president bush was taken immediately after being told of the attacks on new york and washington. while there, we'lexplore history and current day operations of the b-52 bomber at the base where one of the largest collections of these

aircraft operates from. then about 30 minutes in, we travel across town to the louisiana state museum to see a unique collection of autographs signed by some of our nation's founders and statesmen. >> my favorite is this one signed by john hancock. the one at the national archives is faded and rather difficult to see, whereas this one is in nice, bright signature, easily recognizable as john hancock. >> to round out the hour, a look at medical practices during the civil war as we visit the pioneer heritage center. >> we have our amputation kit. it consists of scalpel, bone saw, the big pliers that have the cutting edge to remove things like appendages like fingers. >> all these stories and more as american history tv in conjunction with comcast cable partners travels to

>> freedom itself was attacked by a faceless coward and freedom will be defended. i want to reassure the american people that the full resources of the american government are work to go assist local authorities to save lives and to help the victims of these attacks. >> i was at home asleep when we got the phone call, and an editor of mine said that i needed to head to barksdale because a plane crashed into the world trade center, they thought it might be an attack on the country. >> i had heard on the radio that i had turned out of my office that an airplane had apparently hit one of the world trade centers. i had originally thought perhaps it was the first one was just a

terrible accident sort of like the b-25 bomber that hit the empire state building in 1945. that was sort of the first thing that hit my mind. after the second airplane hit, i realized this clearly was not an accident, it was a deliberate action. >> the president was addressing a class of school children in florida at the time of the attacks. an aide came over, told him what had happened. he maintained his composure and waited, he didn't want to alarm the children. and he waited until their visit was done, and then they immediately snapped into action. and i think he was originally planning on going back to washington. then they heard another aircraft was possibly headed that way, my understanding was at that time they decided to come to the closest secure, safe location, which was barksdale. >> the base that morning was already on alert because the base was involved in an exercise that was a preplanned exercise going on for several days

anyway. so the base, there was already a high level of security. the air, crew members were on alert. everybody was at their duty stations, due to a prearranged exercise. i remember it being a feeling of, you know, disbelief myself, that what i was seeing on tv was actually happening. and everyone quickly transitioned from this exercise the base was in into the real world handling of the events that were unfolding. >> barksdale is a bomber basin northwest louisiana. it is about 22,000 acres. barksdale opened its gates in early february, 1933. started out as an army airfield. at the time it opened, was called the world's largest airport. on september 11, the role of this base was essentially the same as it is today. it was the largest assembly of b-52 aircraft in the world, and

majola headquarters of the 8th air force and 2nd bomb wing. >> as i heard this story through our wing commander at the time, brigadier general yer curtis bedkey, the base was in exercise mode already. we had a command post already a activated and the general was there. as he later reported, when air force one approached the base, requested clearance to land and clear the air space, he asked what is your estimated time of arrival. and right about that time, the people that were on the flight line radio in and said it appears air force one is on final approach. so it was very quickly from the moment air force one announced they wanted to land until they were on the ground. i remember looking out the window of the headquarters building and seeing the blue and white aircraft coming into onto the base, and at that point we

quickly realized the president was going to be our guest for awhile. >> i know when i got here, they were already in full lockdown of base, only letting essential personnel on. and media were not considered essential, we were kept off the base. next thing we knew, we looked at a monitor in the channel 12 van which i was hanging around at the time, next thing we saw was the president speaking in front of this podium with barksdale air force base under it. that's how we found out about it, that the president was here. >> we have taken all appropriate security precautions to protect the american people. our military at home and around the world is on high alert status, and we have taken the necessary security precautions.

we have been in touch with members of congress and with world leaders to assure them that we will do whatever is necessary to protect america. >> when air force one came in, it was under escort by two f-16 fighters that were scrambled from ellington field outsid houston, texas, to meet air force one over the florida panhandle. and they were carrying live munitions and were assigned escort duties. it was interesting that the organization they were from was the 149th fighter wing, that was president bush's old outfit when he was in the texas air national guard. one of the f-16s landed to refuel, the other assumed combat air patrol over the city. you knew when you looked up, saw that f-16 on that slow waiter,

all around the bossier area, and it was armed, clearly had orders to shoot down any suspicious aircraft, and as soon as they fueled the other one up, the next one took position over the city. and they stayed over the city until air force one left, and then both continued the escort mission to the air force base. it was the knowledge, we see f-16s and military aircraft all the time in this region, but to know that one was on an actual combat air patrol over an american city, it really drove it home that this was anything but a normal day. >> i don't believe there was a time in its history that this base was as important in the life of this nation as it was that day. in all of its 68 years, this base was there when the president of the united states,

commander in chief, needed it. it was a safe place to be in case we were attacked again, in case something worse came down the road. this was a central point. and within 24 hours, aircraft from this base were planning missions, deciding where they would head out, go out, begin what we now know as the global war on terror. >> there really was no sense of wow, we participated in history today, and you know, we'll take a moment to reflect on that, because there really wasn't any time. we simply moved from exercise to real world mode in the blink of an eye. >> by end of the day, everybody was doing their job 110, 120%. whereas at the start of the day, they were doing their job 98 to 100%. things took on a whole new degree of importance and life and death tone that day because you saw people jumping out of buildings, you saw the two

largest buildings in the world come crashing down in the heart of what was supposedly a safe and prosperous american city. >> barksdale air force basis home to the 8th bomber wing which flies the b-52 bomber. since the b-52's introduction here in 1958, the base has housed one of the largest fleets of this aircraft in the u.s. military. >> you know when a b-52 enters a conflict, the decision makers, america's leadership, they're serious. it just got serious if the b-52 entered the conflict because b-52 says massive air power. it was the first nuclear bomber. it was designed basically in the cold war era to project global power and long range strength to our enemies during that era. that graduated over the years. this weapon system has been

modernized and upgraded over the years to continue with the fights that currently meet us today. this is the b-52 h, conventional and nuclear bomber. has a wing span of 185 feet. max gross weight of this jet, 488,000 pounds, fully loaded, that's with weapons and fuel. we carry up to ten different munitions on this particular jet, ranging from unguided weapons. gravity weapons, free fallout of the bomb bay, to guided weapons, your gps guided weapons. and we also carry air launch cruise missiles, so a whole bunch of modern weaponry goes on this jet. eight engines. each engine capable of producing probably 17,000 pounds of thrust a piece. that's kind of an abnormal design. most aircraft don't have engines hanging off like this as you

see. it effects a little the flying characteristics of the jet in terms of when you push the power up, the jets have a tendency to raise its nose. this is the bomb bay. 488,000 pound gross weight. as we add weapons, it reduces the amount of fuel we can carry. we can carry up to 50,000 pounds of weapons in the bomb bay. these arembacks. this is where the weapons actually attach. typically in this configure agency, we are carrying gravi weapons. but can carry depending on the weapon 27 internal gravity weapon. if the nuclear mission is required or conventional mission, we have the conventional air launch cruise missiles or the nuclear cruise missiles that will take these cluster racks out, and we put in

what's called a csrl, a rotary launcher. and it attaches to the missiles themselves, kind of like a six shooter, rotate, drop one out, missile away. this jet is designed for heavy metal, weapons, fuel. that's all there is to it. so this is the bomb bay. you'll see above you labeled fuel tanks. pretty much everywhere. the wings are fully loaded with fuel. that's why you see when the b-52s are parked, the wings are hanging low because all of that fuel weight in the wing pulls them to the ground. after landing, a long mission, wings are in the air almost six feet because they don't have as much gas. we can't go in the jet, what you

would see, two levels. on the downstairs, a radar navigator and navigator. their primary responsibility is managing weapons, ensure proper coordinates are in the weapon, really assuring the weapon hits the target. on the upper level is where you have the pilot and the co-pilot. you can see the cockpit here. relatively small compared to overall size of the jet. most expect a cockpit to be bigger. not a whole lot of room there. five crew members is the standard crew complement, up to ten, overall, not a lot of room. pilot here, co-pilot on the other side, and the back actually facing backwards is where the electronic warfare officer section is. it is an older weapon system, but like we said, it gets the job done. still very capable aircraft. all the money that goes into

this aircraft is spent on modernization of the weapon system, so we talked about all the different kinds of weapons it has, modern weaponry, and that's what keeps it able to accomplish the objectives, any commander intent out there. >> last production was delivered in north dakota 26th of october, 1962, and it still provides the air power and dominance that united states air force needs today. it is considered icon of american air power. b-52 has been around many years, has been in many conflicts, range back from vietnam, kosovo, first desert storm, to afghanistan, even to the second fight over in iraq. so it has been around many years, and believe me, our allies love us for that, the capability that the weapons system brings as well as the enemy fears us, and gives them that second thought, if diplomacy should breakdown that the b-52s could be on their way.

all weekend long, american history tv joins our comcast cable partners in shreveport, louisiana, to show case its history and lit rather culture. shreveport founded in 1836 has a population of about 200,000 people, and is located about 250 miles northwest of baton rouge. you're watching american history tv on cspan3. we are standing in oakland cemetery, which was the original city cemetery that dates back to 1847, and it was the primary city cemetery until about 1895 or so. one of the reasons 1873 is so important to this region and to this city is that the great yellow fever epidemic decimated

the city and really changed the course of north louisiana and this city in week quarter of the population of the city, inside the city limits. 800 to 1,000 people are in this cemetery. if you pan over and look at the top of that hill, that's the yellow fever mound. common trench with 824 people confirmed in it. then there are other folks who died and were either moved or put in here. killed almost all the doctors, all the nurses, killed many, many prominent people in this city, and it was devastating. the city was quarantined by railroad and by river. nothing was allowed to come in go raised, large

amounts from new york, washington, from new orleans, from chicago, and it was a national event. now reconstruction is going to last another four years. ut in shreveport and northwest in a way because reconstruction ends, the army leaves to save itself. so redemption as it was called begins here. in this space, and local rule returns at that time. on the negative side, shreveport was thought to be an unhealthy place, and its growth was stunted for many, many decades. it ends up returning.

but it's going to take awhile. this is the monument and grave of the united states army corps of engineers engineer eugene woodruff. graduated near the top of his class, allowed by their rules to become an engineer. he is sent here with a detachment, during reconstruction, in 1872, to clear the great log jam, the great raft, and his brother w his second in command. detachment. he completed the work that henry shreve began. they had to do hurricane lee and work to get ridjam. this was the first time this was used in this project. in 1873, in august, while

they're working and close to finishing the raft, knocking it up, tearing it up, whatever they needed to do, yellow fever broke out in shreveport. and the army ordered this attachment out. eugene said these people need help, i am sending my men, i am saving my brother george, and i am staying to help. eugene stayed. he and five catholic priests acted as doctors because most of the doctors were dead. and eugene faithfully served. thought that he was going to be okay. felt okay. stayed with the same folks who are in this plot, the ellsners, and he comes down with it very

quickly, very quickly. september 28th he gets it, by september 29th at 9:00 p.m., he's dead. city of shreveport wrote his mother and said we'd like to send his body home. and the telegraph lines were up, and she says no, that's where he wanted to stay. so the ellsnors allow him to be in this lot, and eugene is one of the true heroes not only in reconstruction but in the city of shreveport and in the south as well. >> i am mark farkas. i head up the local vehicle context. the purpose is to collect programming outside of washington, d.c. how do we do it? we staff each one of these with one person, with a small video camera, a laptop editor so they're able to roll, record, produce, edit things from the road. so that's what we're doing with

why do this? i want to get out of washington, d.c. and collect programming for all negotiation. we will descend on three vehicl. one does history programming, historic sites. the other will do book tv programming, bookstores, catching up with authors. the third does community relations events. those are important to us because we work with our cable partners in each of the cities. the last thing that's important to know, all of this not only goes on the air, is archived on the website, and the video library. we are also doing extensive social media, see us on facebook, cable partners on facebook. you'll see four square, location based and tell people where we're going. you'll see us on twitter as well. it is a chance to get out our message not only on air but online and through social media as well. so that's why it's important, we want to get outside of washington, d.c., get into

places we don't normally do programming and make a commitment to getting outside the beltway to produce programming for all the cspan networks. the inevitable end, retribution. lear is clyde barrow and bonnie parker who died as they lived, by the gun. the officers were on the left side of the road, nearest the driver. this explains the fact that bonnie's body had more bullet holes than clydes. any one of these bul to both. after having killed 14 people, most of whom were officers of the law, and having come safely through so many gun battles, it did not seem advisable to fire just one bullet. >> bonnie and clyde were some of the most notorious gangsters of the 1930s crime era in the united states. because their crime story began in texas, east texas and involved louisiana, they're very sort of connected to the 1930s

story of shreveport as well. probably most people associate bonnie and clyde with the very intense two-year period from 1932 to 1934 when they were involved in a string of armed robberies and murders throughout this part of the united states. we think bonnie and clyde actually met initially in 1930 when bonnie parker was working as a waitress in dallas, texas, and soon after that, clyde barrow went to state prison, and so we know they resumed their relationship in 1932 in texas, and their first crime actually took place in hillsborough, texas, not far from shreveport. the shreveport times was regularly reporting their exploits, you know, in the newspaper, and people in this area kept up with it, just like they did the big gangsters of that era of american history. there was also, of course, this was the age of john dillinger, the age of pretty boy floyd.

as a matter of fact, a lot of people don't realize all three of those, bonnie and clyde, john dillinger, pretty boy floyd, all were killed by law enforcement in the same year in 1934, so people were really that story. probably simultaneously horrified, but fascinated by these criminals in the great depression. in early 1934, they were implicated in a prison escape involving a former associate of clyde barrow's in texas, man named raymond hamilton. they helped him escape from prison, in the process shot and killed a prison guard. that's really when the law enforcement began to close around them, was after the murder of the prison guard early in 1934. so it was april of 1934 that clyde barrow we know was in and around shreveport. as a matter of fact, there was a car that was stolen in shreveport, clyde barrow sold a

car -- saw a car here in shreveport. fingerprints showed he was in the area even before he was spotted here. we knew they were in and about the vicinity. just a few days before the ambush took place in louisiana, there was a local cafe here, not too far from where we're standing called the majestic cafe, and on this street somewhere between the and a couple blocks from here barrow was spotted somewhere near the majestic cafe, and someone in the neighborhood phoned the local authorities, and it was because of that report that law enforcement from the region, including the texas rangers, knew they were in the vicinity.

so that's when the nets began to sort of close around bonnie and clyde, and their ambush occurred actually just four days after clyde barrow was spotted here on this street. they were ambushed not far from road. there was actually the ambush laid in place by local law enforcement over in that part of louisiana who knew on good intelligence where they were going to be, what their movements were, and they laid in wait for them on a stretch of road, and as many people know, opened fire on the car that they were riding in, and bonnie and clyde both suffered over 50 separate bullet wounds each in that ambush. the story of bonnie and clyde like the story of john dillinger and others like that from this era really is a part of i think a broader social commentary about america in