very rational to me. i am hoping they will take that away. >> there is a moment in the play where she says very sincerely, what's to become of me? that is a genuine question for mary lincoln in this moment, and i think it is a universal question that we all feel in those moments of intense loss and grief. what is to become of me? where will i go? will i love? so, i feel like those are universal things. >> thanks to both of you, the playwright and the actress of mary lincoln. thank you for your time. >> they discuss the film so most portrayal of events and the role lyndon johnson played.

sunday, just after 9:00 eastern. >> all weekend, american history tv is featuring corpus christi texas. corpus christi started out as a small trading post and has transformed into a small city with the fifth largest seaport in america. the tour staff recently visited many sites showcasing the history of the city. learn more all weekend on american history tv. >> i christen thee lexington. [applause] [crowd cheering] rocco: lexington is what is known as an essex class air

carrier. the way the navy sets its class of ships, the name of the first ship in the group sets the class. so the essex was the first aircraft carrier built of this type in world war ii. every ship of the same type afterward becomes an essex class. even though they have a different name, for instance, modern nuclear carriers are known as the nimitz class, because the first ship in the class was the uss nimitz. there were 24 essex class built, 19 in world war ii. they were designed to be the super carriers of the day. the only place the essex class carriers fought was the pacific. the reason is because they had the kind of range -- they could carry enough bombs, fuel ammunition to travel the vast distances of the pacific. the atlantic ocean was mostly a submarine war and land-based war, because you could launch airplanes from england to hit

the german factories. the pacific, not so. they had to be back -- beat back the japanese and the islands of the pacific. to beat back the japanese and the islands, you had to take your airplanes with you, to provide close air support for the marines and soldiers ashore, in addition to protecting the other ships in the fleet. since lexington is not a museum in the sense that we are not funded by an entity, like a state, city, federal government, etc. -- when you are not funded by that, you have to bring people in the door to pay the bills. and you have to make it interesting to enough people that want to come in the door. some people just might not be interested in ships, but yet they might be interested in seeing a digital 3-d movie related to ships, maybe, related to aircraft. so we have to make things not only related to lexington, because that is the story we are trying to tell -- we are trying

to tell a story about the navy in the pacific, world war ii. we have to make it interesting for the visitor that might not be as involved in history, so we put other things on board, like maybe some interactive games and exhibits. we are in hangar bay one right now. behind me in hangar bay one, we have what is known as a tbm-tbf avenger. why it has to designations, it is who built them. this is the type of airplane that president herbert walker bush flew during world war ii. also significant for corpus christi, he got his wings at the naval air station corpus christi. that is another attachment to corpus christi for president herbert walker bush. this is the airplane he flew. and people know that he got shot down during the course of the war. but also, he went down another time due to an oil pressure problem.

when he went down that first time, he was rescued and ended up on the lexington for a couple of days, until he could get back to his aircraft carrier, the san jacinto. he came on board and spoke at an event we had. he did not remember too much of his time on board the lexington. he says he does remember what he calls sack time, sleeping a lot, on lexington. not very historical for us, but he did spend a couple of days in world war ii on board lexington. most visitors that come here, we would like them to come aboard to learn all the history about it. that is not necessarily the case. many people come on board and go, wow, this is really big. we get people on board that do not care about airplanes. they are engineers. the want to see how the ship ran. they want to go to the engine room. which we have open, so they can go to the engine room. we get some dentists who want to see where people took care of teeth, or nurses who want to see where people were treated after they got injured or were sick.

the shipment only has to be combat space, ready to fight the war, but it has to be a hospital, a post office, has to be a restaurant, everything. so it becomes a city at sea. i would say for the most part the airplanes are probably the biggest draw, but after that there are any number of things people are interested in. behind me is what we call our restoration area. this is where we can bring airplanes in that have then subjected to the elements every several years, so we can redo them. sometimes, we change the paint schemes on them, depending on if there is something more significant, a story we want to tell. for the most part, just bringing them down here for a tuneup. the atmosphere in corpus christi, because of the salt water of the bay, very corrosive. airplanes, being metal, are subjected to a lot of corrosion, a lot of wind, even sand erosion from some of the beach sand.

it is important we keep on a schedule to keep the maintained. right now, they are working on what is known as the a-7 corsair to renovate it. in other two or three weeks, it will be back on the flight deck, and we will bring the next one down. in the 22 years that we have been here, we have become quite an important part of corpus christi, including the movie industry. we filmed part of the movie "pearl harbor" here. we filmed the first episode of

"jag" here. we just finished filming a big pepsi deal, halftime for the super bowl, a blake shelton concert. we have become not only a tourist attraction, we have also attracted the movie industry because if you stand on our flight deck and lookout, use ebay. you do not see a lot of buildings. there are certain shots they can do that make it look as if this is a ship at sea. the navy is critical and very important to this nation's prosperity. so it is important people understand the role of the navy, understand how we got to where we are, and understand, for us the evolution of the aircraft carrier. world war ii essentially saw the first aircraft carrier. that was the invention or the operations of the first aircraft carrier. the japanese proved how strong and how important aircraft carriers could be. we took that and evolved it during the course of world war ii. and now aircraft carriers are the centerpiece of our seapower. so it is important -- we think it is important that people sort of understand that, but put it in context of the history that came before it.

>> throughout the weekend american history tv is featuring corpus christi, texas. our staff recently traveled there to learn more. learn more about corpus christi and other stops at c-span.org/local content. you are watching american history tv, all weekend every weekend on c-span-three. >> each week, american history tv's "american artifacts" visits different cities. the botanic garden was first proposed by george washington. next, a visit to the grounds of the oldest botanic garden. you will learn up more about the history of this plan to museum. >> my name is ari novy. i am the executive director of the united states botanic garden. we are standing on union square, which is the end cap of the

national mall on the east side just before you arrive at the united states capital. it is a fascinating piece of land because it has gone through many transformations in terms of what has been here over the course of the history of washington, d.c., since around 1800. it is important to the botanic garden because the first united states botanic garden was on this piece of land, even though today it is most notably associated with the reflecting pool and memorial to grant. what i would like to do today is present a little bit of the early history of the united states botanic garden, so a couple of the remaining trees that date back to the original botanic garden location, and also talk about the process by it eventually moved across the street from where it is currently, and a little about

a very very famous fountain that originally was placed here by congress and also made its way two blocks south in the 20th century. we are open 355 days a year, 356 on leap years, free of charge. and so we get the only americans from every corner of the country but visitors from all over the world. we aim to delight people in the wonders of plants and put a smile on your face. and then, with that smile, we believe we can educate about some of the wonders and services the plant kingdom provides to human beings.