weekend, every weekend, on c-span 3. like n the conversation, s on facebook on c-span history. this year, c-span is touring ities across the country, exploring american history. up next, a look at the recent visit to des moines, iowa. you're watching american history tv, all weekend, every weekend on c-span 3. >> we are at the henry a. center 50 ntry life miles south and west of des moines. he wallace centers of iowa consist of two location, both honoring the three generations of wallaces. german hillhouse in in des moines, and this 40-acre henry a. wallace country life center.

henry a. and c and uncle henry always involved in food. o our work does not revolve around a museum. around revolves communities and programming and initiatives.lity so on the farm, we raised fruits vegetables. in our se the produce restaurant and we go to farmer's markets. henry a. wallace is probably the known of the three wallaces.s of he went on to be editor of the wallace magazine. e was asked by franklin roosevelt to serve as u.s. secretary of agriculture which from 1933 eight years to 1941. n 1941 to 1945, he was

roosevelt's vice president. and he was founder of pioneer hybrid international, which is dupont pioneer. he was a progressive party in idate for the presidency 1948. and throughout his life, he was humanitarian.d the wallaces of iowa consist of wallaces.rations of the patriarch was known as fondly as uncle henry. and he worked in winterset, iowa about 18 miles east of this farm. the founder of wallace's farmer magazine. rural was champion for america. and his son, henry c. whales was secretary of agriculture woodrow wilson 1921 to 1924.

died in years, he office. henry c.'s son was born on this 1988.in i told you about henry a. wallace. significant. he lived here until he was 4 years old. claim him. but all three generations were concerned about rural prosperity and how they could help people better understand farming and it was important that people were close to the soil. was taking a ce ark in the park in des moines and western union came up with a telegram and it was franklin oosevelt asking him to be the secretary of agriculture. he came in to that position in an3 when farm prices were at land and soilwhen had eroded from places that

should never have been plowed. so there were many, many deal ms that he had to with. so as u.s. secretary of he's known for the agricultural adjustment act, time that e first farmers were asked not to produce. kept ept producing and so prices were going down, down. so they needed to do things in would -- place that there would be a need then for the product. first, people couldn't believe what he was proposing for that. and when prices went up, they listen to him. people still refer to him today as the genius secretary of agriculture. he led farmers through that horrible time when some of them to turn next.ere

they didn't have any money. their farms were being lost of pricing being so low. he was the hero as u.s. agriculture. 1940, president roosevelt asked henry a. wallace to be his henry a. dent and so wallace agreed. at that time in convention, they had to vote on who was going to be the presidential candidate viceho was going to be the presidential candidate. 1940 was on the ticket in and they won as a team in 1941, oath of office as u.s. vice president. years . wallace had four as a vice president. nd during that time, he did more than any other vice president had done up until that

time. he served as president liaison to the manhattan project. development of weaponry.ergy for irst he was intrigued by the whole notion of nuclear energy. ut when he saw what was being developed, he -- he stood up and cannot be usedis against other human beingings. so he made points such as that and he wasn't afraid to make of statements and to began to be , he other people and he became less popular through years. another thing relating to the

war that henry a. wallace did winding down, was he became vocal that the united to an should not get in adversarial position with the soviet union. and because people were -- there people talking about that russia was going to e the next entity that the united states needed to be fearful of. nd because of that, that was a downfall for henry a. wallace. nd we know what happened after that, the united states did get into a long, cold war with the soviet union. so things probably would have been a lot different if people to him.ve listened ut that was the demise of his political career concerning the vice presidency of the united states.

he agreed to do that for the 1949 election. out of washington, d.c., he felt he was freer to ay things that he felt were important to the country. he was not afraid to go into the south. in fact, he was the first do idential candidate to his, to go into the south and oppose the jim you laws and talked about equal pay for equal work. he talked about that it was right to have the lunch program schools. so he talked about things that the thinking of majority of the people in

the united states. votes.knot get many he lived out his life in the york. of new he acquired lou gehrig's disease. a testament of what he had his whole life. he ound out the diagnosis, called the centers for disease ontrol and said you can use me to figure out this horrible disease. you can take tissue samples, do hatever you need to do, that was the scientist in him. nd he lived about -- less than two years after the diagnosis died, few months before he when he could still speak, he a reporter what do you think is the greatest the -- problem facing

united states? and he said people moving away from the land. because it's happening, soon there will be problems with the with the environment, and with the communities. c-span's localre content vehicles are going next c-span.org/local content. you're watching american history tv. weekend, on every c-span 3. history eek, american tv's "reel america" brings help to tells that the story of the 20th century. station says ound nestled in the mountains at maine, a signal is sent to a satellite, an historic feat future.ld shape man's it's the telestar, 170 pounds of

electronic equipment eceives signals, magnetizes them $10 billion times and rebroadcast them back to earth, data, can allputer e handled by the orbiting device. the sapphire-coated corzo lar are vated by the rays of the sun. to a hurtles through space high of 3500 miles. on telestar is set aloft cape canaveral atop of a rocket and joint industry government effort. the space administration team andles the launching for at&t and a $450 million phone call for the telephone company. future plans call for the rbiting of 20 to 25 satellites

like the telestar. when one passes out of range, be coming in to position. presently, along with the ground station in maine, there's a transmitter in great britain at cornwall. and in france on the coast of brittany. is launched, ar the french rush to complete their installation to receive a signal that night. now the rocket climbs far into the atmosphere and the telestar and orbit separate the earth each 2 1/2 hours. starting with the sixth orbit the ninth, the telestar is in range above the u.s. and european stations and are received clearly in france with somewhat lesser this firstbritain on test. the signals are beamed from the 18-story dome that houses the supersensitive horn weighing nearly 400 tons. antenna so delicately tuned that it picks up a whisper of

amplifies it and again rebroadcast over cables or the air. now comes the historic moment, a significance d in with the first message set in the telegraph. this is the first picture to outer space and received back on earth. scenes of the dome and andover flash across the screen milestone ks another in this age of scientific miracles, so proudly it waves. what does the future hold? scientists see that it will be continuous. of the earth can be in photographic contact, bring cation that could better understanding among men.

>> a lawyer who argued more than 100 cases before the supreme was , francis scott key originally opposed to declaring war against england in 1812. "american history tv," leepson, the author of what so proudly we hailed request: francis scott key, the life." the national archives hosted this event. [ captioning performed by the national captioning institute ] captioning coppery right national cable satellite corp., 2014 ]