are the great levelers. in this country, all men are created equal. i don't firmly hold onto the alll that our courts are they are supposed to be. that is no ideal to me. they are representative of our people. gentlemen, you have heard all of the evidence given. you have heard the testimony. i would like you to release the defendant to his family. dutye name of god, do your . >> you can watch the entire event sunday at six 1:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. eastern. this is american history artifactsek american

takes years into archives, museums, and historic sites around the country. takes usate historian into their hearts on this office building. hart is the83, newest of the senate office building. >> in the hearts and office building which is a separate building, there are really two has of the same building but they are entirely different. there standing overlooking essential hearing room which is known as hard to 16. this room was specifically designed for television, and we are in one of the television boots overlooking the hearing room. that the dirksen

building was not going to be , they originally thought they would just replicate the dirksen building and build an identical twin on the other side. it wouldn't be sufficient. , the u.s. senate safed triple in size. part of that was a result of vietnam and watergate. the executive branch had provided most of the information that congress needed. once congress felt that they they felttrust them, that they needed their own separate independent staff. also there were a series of legislative reforms in the 1970's that allowed every senator to have at least one staff person on each committee.

that was a big breakthrough. they created a minority staff as well. casesare a number of where projects required hiring large numbers of new staff. room in theas not russell building or the dirksen building to house them up. i came to the senate in 1976 and across the street was a series of apartment houses and old hotels that the senate had taken over. senate committees and staff members were actually working and hotel rooms. these rooms were not designed for heavy office equipment and you could not have a file cabinet with more than two drawers because the floor could not sustain it. they obviously needed a new senateg, so 1976 the authorize the construction of a third senate office building. this building was named in 1976 for senator philip hart of michigan.

ironically, he was one of the senators who had resisted the naming of the russell index and buildings. he felt it was too soon since but senator hart was well-liked. he was known as the conscience of the senate and so while he was still living, this senate voted to name this building wasr senator hart to their opened in 1983. and it was empty for a while. terribleapers had been about writing stories saying it was extravagant. that congress should not be spending so much money on themselves. it was going to be a big welding and had to house a people. it had to be adjusted for the computer age. it was going to be expensive.

it was also going to house last lot -- lots of visitors. it was going to be expensive, it could be used against you when running for office. senators were actually very reluctant to move into the building. happened. one is that the leadership are veiled on a couple of the senior senators. the people who everybody respected. and persuaded them to move into the building. here, he knew that he would give cover to a lot of the junior senators to move in here.

then the sergeant at arms came up with a better plan. he sent eviction notices to those due to move into this one. realizedt here, they that this building worked much better for modern senate staff. floors, can be taken up very quickly, and there are channels that run through that computer wires can be put through. there were no computers when building the russell building or the dirksen building. but by 1983, the computer age had come. they also knocked down all the walls in the building and reconfigured them, literally overnight. so if a centerleft and another was moving in, they could do a quick turnaround for whatever the needs were. also, all of the staff of the senate would be in a two floor suite.

so they would not have to go out the hall or down the hall to visit college. since they would all be in the same area. i have talked to senators who love the russell building and really like you there, but they admitted that the hart building was better. the hart building is also the least of the classical buildings. the russell building is very neoclassical. is sort of building a mirrored image of the neoclassical building. but the hart building is very modern. some people have compared it to a large ice cube tray. it is a very different looking building. moynihan,niel patrick who lived on capitol hill, dislike a lot of the modern architecture that was going on. and during the winter when they

were working on the building, they actually covered it with spring, theyn the took the plastic down. and the senator introduced a resolution asking to put the plastic backup. frankly, people have got used to the building over the years. it is a comfortable building. unlike the russell building that has an open-air courtyard, the hart building has an open air at three him. it is a great space all year round. but it was a desperately empty space. when you first came to this building before, and think of the constructive in the afternoon, it was just a vast, empty space. they knew that they needed something in there to fill that space. was commissioned to

do something specifically for .he space in the heart aetrium and he created a comment that but they hover over the mountains. they refilled the space and created a nice area for all the class pictures. that was constructed in the 1980's extra u.s. senator named nicholas brady from new jersey who raised the money privately for that construction. it is one of the largest pieces of public sculpture in the world. it was the very last piece of work that alexander calder did, because after he came to the

he went home and he died that evening. he never did see the finished sculpture. the hart building has 50 united states senators in here. it has a large number of the staff. terms ofny in committees, they are mostly in the dirksen building, but it has been essential hearing room that is used for very special occasions. or for large-scale hearings or things are really historic nature. so this is a room that would be familiar to people who watch many of the supreme court nominations from ruth bader ginsburg, to elena kagan, they have all taken place in his room. of the current justices, five of them have had their hearings in the hart building. i am humbled to have been nominated for this seat that is now held by justice o'connor.

>> many major hearings have taken place here. this is where the 9/11 investigation took place. there have been many celebrities have come to testify here. christopher reeves came to testify for medical purposes. lots of blockbuster hearings in this room. when they can help save thousands of lives, treatment with stem cells have already begun. >> the old-school senators like ted kennedy and others who have been here for a long time, they would hold their hearings over in the russell building. even know this room was available. becauset felt -- watergate had been held there and so many other hearings have been held there, that they were part of that historical trend. this room here in the hart building has created a wholeness

-- whole new historical trend. lots of very prominent witnesses, lots of acrimony often between senators and witnesses. even though this is the newest building, it has already begun to establish a long history and it will continue to serve the united states senate for a very long time. they develop for operation iraqi freedom was even more innovative and transformational. employing an unprecedented combination of precision, speed, and flexibility. space is just below the area that was going to be a gymnasium. the original plans for this building had a gymnasium for the senators. at the time, because the building was seen as so extravagant, they cut the money for the gymnasium and also for the restrooms on the ninth

floor. they were services that were going to be provided. over the years however, it that senators have high stressful jobs. and they need to relax a little. there is a gymnasium. it is probably good for their health and well-being. so they did make an effort to put that gymnasium in. the architect of the capitol said that they already had the money and they could afford to do this. the senate voted to put the gymnasium in. out onted a firestorm the talk radio circuits. and people thought it was a .errible thing that they were going to waste federal money on a gymnasium for senators. so it was blocked. one of the senators who blocked it was a senator from wisconsin who, ironically, was one of the most physically fit members of the senate.

he used to run every day from his home to the senate. he kept in terrific shape for years. here he was blocking the gymnasium for his colleague. part of it was because he was a fiscally frugal person. he is the man who started the golden fleece award, to look at things with a government where a government shouldn't spend. perhaps as our retaliation, the senate chose to close down a small shower room which occupied the dirksen building. which happened to be the room where a senator took a shower after he ran into work every day. part of this was the sense that people are here to work and should not be taking time off to exercise. i think it is actually a shame that the gymnasium was never built. i think members of congress and staff could have been --

benefited greatly from that over the years. as they have in the house of representatives. it is also a shame that the restaurant was never constructed on the ninth. but that created a very nice meeting space up there where countless numbers of conferences and meetings have taken place. soin this building ever goes two ways. even though it is not what it originally was designed for, it finds good use. in fact, demands have come along that we have not anticipated in the building will have to be converted to meet those demands. the hart building an unusually shaped building. one of the reasons for its unusual shape is that it was constructed to preserve the historical building that occupies one of its corners. that is at the corner of constitution avenue, maryland avenue, and 2nd street to it is the nationall find

women's party house. organizationfrage that operated to try to get the and then for many years afterwards, lobbied for the equal rights amendment. the 1970's ar in were out parading for equal rights. the hart building was built specifically not to demolish the women's party building. building the original had been on the site of the supreme court, and that nothing had been demolished to make room for the supreme court. once was enough. the women's party felt they had given their all for the government at this point. movement's suffrage

was a lobbying group who came and protested in the capital and at the white house. and over the years we have had many lobbying groups come through here. we have had protesters of all different types. had codears we have pink protest. >> please clear the room. >> please clear the room. >> everybody wants to make sure that their cause is being heard. the matter isof that the real way that causes are heard are fought for -- through formal hearings. and which witnesses who are both for and against whatever the issue is, come to testify. citizens are invited to testify. these hearings are always open to the public. the public is invited in.

these days you can watch the hearing on the internet. and you can also come in person. there is actually even an occupation that has been developed called line sitting. that is early in the morning you often find students and retirees and others sitting and holding a spot in line. starts,ore the hearing a well just lobbyists will appear and pay them for holding the space, and come in and take one of their spaces because that save them a few hours of waiting. if you go to the russell building, you would see several bronze plaques on the wall indicating where presidents of the united states had her office when they were senators. warren g. harding for instance. kennedy,man, john f. richard nixon.

there are none in the dirksen building, but there is one in the hart building. there is a plaque indicating that barack obama held that office while he was a u.s. senator. the hart building itself became an issue of news in the year 2001. within a month after the events of september 11. a letter was sent to one of the senators that contain a large amount of anthrax. 10:30 this morning, my office opened a suspicious package. we cannot go into details, because this is an ongoing investigation. just as soon as it became clear that there was a suspicious substance in the envelope, we contacted the capitol police and the capitol physician. i will have more to say about our own circumstances in the office after dan nichols of the capitol police and dr. john

isil, our capital physicians be to the contents of the letter itself. , ai'm lieutenant dan nichols spokesman for the united states capitol police. thise senators said morning at approximately 10:30, a letter was received in his office. which contained a powdery substance. there was an exposure when the letter was opened. the following protocol as a staff open letter and contact address please, we also contacted the senate physician's office. the officers responding to the scene isolated the situation and according to operating calls, we conducted field test. the first field test came back as positive for anthrax. in order to confirm that, we did a second field test, and that also came back as positive for anthrax. they hope that it could be contained in a small area, but

after a day or so they began to be concerned that the anthrax could not be contained. so all of the senate staff who work in the building were required to come to this room to have themselves swabbed. test to see if there is any chance they tested positive for anthrax. within three days, everybody was ensured that they were not. no one in this building became ill. although two postal workers died as a result of that incident. incident, that security increased enormously around the capital. the building was actually shut down for three months. very abruptly. d to leave.st hav operated out of this building have to find somewhere to go. republicans and democrats alike shared offices. the senate historical office when over to the senate library

were nine people sat around one desk with one computer and one phone and we operated that way for three months. afterwards we did a series of interviews with people to find out what the experience had been like. what we discovered was that there was an enormous amount of camaraderie that came about because everybody was operating out of these confined areas. rooms.owded people brought in cakes and cookies during the day. there were lots of office parties. afterwards, people felt nostalgic about going back to their offices and losing that sense of community that had existed. sometimes crises bring out the best in people. this was the largest building that was ever decontaminated. a large squad of federal workers, both military and medical facilities came through here to decide how to clean the building. after three month, we were able to finally move back into it. it is been open for a couple

minutes. >> capitol hill is like a little city. it is a city that has its own power plant, it's on subway system, its own banks, it's beauty parlors. that is because it has several thousand people who work here. both in the senate and house. wascapitol building, which opened in 1800, has grown to meet the demands of the people working. smallong ago proved too for all of the things needed here. if you stand on the plaza in front of the capital and you look at the small stand stone middle section of the building on the senate side, that little square box is the original capitol building in 1800. if you stand out on the plaza and look around, all of the building to see, the supreme

court, the library congress, the senate office buildings, they all represent functions that started out in that small sandstone box. and they get the sense of how things have grown. the most recent addition to the capital's exit underground. it is the capitol visitor center. that is also because of the resurrection of nearly 3 million people a year visit the capitol building. touristy watch congress at work and they needed to be able to accommodate these large crowds coming in. but, for all of that, for all of the art, for all of the other historical events, this is really a working, a daily working building, with a large staff of people trying to keep up with issues, and who are trying to answer constituents interests. some of them come to work early in the morning because their states on the east coast. some of them stay and work late at night because their states aren't on the west coast.

there always seems to be a light on in the office building c. it reflects the enormous growth andhe government services, of the demands, but the constituents placed on legislators. that is the whole story of why we now have three senate office buildings and three house office building surrounding united states capitol. this is one of a series of programs with senate historian emirate is don ritchie. on the history of senate office buildings. we also toured the russell and dirksen buildings where many of them most notable congressional hearings to waste. you can watch all of our american artifacts romance in their entirety by visiting our website. c-span.org/history. week our city store

takes you to tuscaloosa alabama. we willcan history tv, learn how the native american culture lived from about the 11th to the 18th century. welcome to mount built ecologically park. it contains the remains of about flattop amounts. this is the largest mound in alabama. this would have been really structure for the highest-ranking clan would have been. originally, scientists thought that the mounds were completely built by one basket load of dirt at a time, recent research indicates that the base of the mound and possibly the size of them were initially built with

blocks, that were then filled in with clay. this would get a lot more stability to the structure as they were building it. we know that periodically after the mound was that, it would be cap over with different colors of clay. so if you sliced into the mound it would resemble a layer cake. watch the 2016 city store today he had a couple of meals and a shovel. i think it is one of the other ironies to be so antigovernment and oh your entire fortune to the government. tonight on q&a.

author talks about her book "the pioneers". is the united states government going to get to build these projects throughout the world. it is the american taxpayers paying for it. american taxpayers should have access to information about their -- the contracts, the amount of money, the worker safety, the political relationships. eastern, ont eight c-span's q&a. the campaign 2016 bus continues its travel to visit when is from mr. student competition. visited a high school in nevada.

our bus and crew then headed to california to meet with student cam winners in that state. and then to a middle school in san diego. congresswoman judy chu joined family members and classmates for their winning documentary on social security called "a sense of security". weekday thisyks t month on c-span, be sure to watch one of the winning entries on 6:50 am eastern before washington journal. >> a military historian

talks about his book, "47 days,. appointed to lead the american expeditionary forces by president wilson in 1917, general pershing fought to victory in the 1918 battle of meuse-argonne. the national archives hosted this hour-long event. our guest speaker this afternoon, who just happens to be celebrating his birthday is mitchell jacob' yockleson. he is a former professor of military history at the united states naval academy, and curry