that he is honored this way. mark the 75th anniversary of the attack on pearl harbor, the national service in the lesnar beat will host a ceremony wednesday in hawaii. at the world war ii memorial in washington dc, senator john mccain is the keynote speaker. c-span cameras will be there and you can watch the ceremonies here on american history tv on saturday, december 10 beginning a.m. eastern. american history tv, only on c-span3. all weekend american history tv is featuring tempe, arizona. recently visited the city showcasing its history. it is home to arizona state established in 1885.ed learn more about tempe all weekend here on american history tv.

>> this is the historic niels petersen house in tempe, arizona. it was built in 1892. it is a victorian-style house. it was a farmhouse when it was first built, built by an immigrant farmer. at that time, it was considered one of the most elegant homes in the salt river valley. niels peterson, who the house was named after, was born in 1845 in denmark. he was the youngest of six siblings. which means he was not able to inherit any of his family's land. he had to go off on his own to establish a life for himself. he had opportunities in the united states, particularly in the west. at that time there was the homestead act, which was a lot that allowed people to come out west and get 160 acres and start their own farms. if you are a u.s. citizen. so, that was a big incentive for

him to come west and become a u.s. citizen. he started his farming operation here, which he was not allowed to do back in his native denmark. he came here very early on. here in tempe, a small number of farmers were starting to show interest in this area right around the year 1870. he was amongst that group that came here and started to figure out how to farm productively here in the salt river valley. over the years, he was able to grow his farming empire. acquire more land, acquire more business opportunities. by the year 1892, he was a very prominent businessman, entrepreneur here in tempe. that was the year he built this house. not a typical farmhouse for our territorial arizona. this is the type of house that you would build if you really made it.

it was a showpiece. when this house was built, people took notice. there were articles in the paper calling it the most elegant home and a salt river valley. saying it was very special. the house gave a lot of hope to local farmers, because if somebody can farm here in the desert and through hard work acquire the wealth it took to build a house like this, then that is something they could maybe aspire to as well. early on, the town was just getting started. so it really needed to establish its institutions. a lot of the early settlers, especially those that became well-off, they stepped up to help establish the local banks and establish the local churches , the local mercantile businesses downtown. he was very issue mental and supporting education in town. he gave money to the local schools. he was on the board of at least one of the banks in town. he had his own business. there was a peterson business in

downtown tempe. he paved the way for a number of other young danish farmers to come here to the arizona territory. what they would do is they would work on his farm to pay back the passage to get here. and then once those debts were paid, they were able to go off and often establish their own farms or businesses here. if you look at the census records of tempe, there are a lot of danish names listed. that is because of peterson. he was a hub and an anchor for other immigrants who came over. niels peterson is an important figure in early tempe. having the house here makes it really special, because people can come in and walk through the rooms where he lived, and go out on the porch and visualize what rural tempe would've been light. -- been like.

looking off in the distance and picturing rolling fields of alfalfa and picturing cattle grazing. so different than what it is today. i feel very lucky that we still have this home as a tangible tie, a direct tie to tempe's early days. to tempe's agricultural roots. really a reminder of where we came, both from as an agricultural town and with peterson being a danish immigrant, this house is a great symbol of tempe's diversity. showing that people came from a lot of different places because there were opportunities here, and they were able to establish themselves here. niels and susanna peterson, they never had children of their home -- of their own to inherit the house. when they passed away in the 1920's, the closest relative to inherit the house was a man named edwin decker. he traveled around the west as a ministry. he ended up inheriting the house. he moved here with his wife.

the two of them remodeled the house pretty genetically. they updated it and changed it to a 1930's style. they also kept the farm going as well. the last crop was harvested in the 1960's. the house was surrounded by a housing subdivision starting in the mid-1960's. the streets were paved and very rapidly this house transformed from a rural house to a house that was in the middle of the city. this house is unique i think because when this farm was finely subdivided in the 1960's, they left the house. so, the hundreds of acres about fields thatalfalfa were here, they were subdivided, houses were built, industrial complexes were built. but the house remained. today, we have this the victorian farmhouse that stands in the middle of all of the modern development. out of context, in some ways, but in other ways it really

shows how the town grew. it is a symbol of how tempe had agricultural roots, but as people started moving here and as the population started exploding, particularly after world war ii, those farms really all filled in and it became a urban place. when visitors come to the peterson house, my hope is that they will enjoy this beautiful victorian house. they will enjoy the architecture and be able to imagine what it may have been like living in territorial arizona, and understand what it takes to come out to the middle of the desert and start from scratch and be able to create a good life, and the able to prosper here. i hope this is a tangible moment to the past. i hope it is a symbol of tempe's diversity. and i hope that it remains in the future of -- and tempians will continue to be proud of this big red house.

announcer: learn more about tempe and other stops on the city tour at c-span.org/c itiestour. you're watching american history tv. announcer: monday night on the communicators -- >> a great measure of how fast things change. just figuring out cell phones and email, it might be around the time when they are not going to be as important in our daily lives. delay and itilt-in is hard to keep up with the latest shift. georgetown university professor on how prosecutors, lawyers and judges lack understanding of technology and is working up result the problem. he is interviewed by a cyber and surveillance policy reporter at reuters.

is a lot of computer scientists think they are better at it than they really are. i wonder if that is something we can do to use to appeal to people to help the government out. announcer: watch the communicators monday night at 8:00 eastern on c-span2. eleanor roosevelt: good evening, ladies and gentlemen. i'm speaking to you tonight at a very serious moment in our history. the cabinet is convening and the leaders of congress are meeting with the president. and army department and navy officials have been meeting with the president all afternoon. in fact, the japanese ambassador was talking to the president at the very time that japan's airships were bombing our citizens in hawaii and the philippines and sinking one of our transports loaded with lumber on its way to hawaii. by tomorrow morning, the members of congress will be ready for

action. people,eantime, we, the are already prepared for action. for months now, the knowledge that something of this kind might happen has been hanging over our heads. and yet, it seemed impossible to believe, impossible to drop the everyday things of life and feel there was only one thing which was important -- preparation to meet an enemy no matter where he strikes. that is all over now, and there is no more uncertainty. we know what we have to face and we know that we are ready to face it. worduld like to say just a to the women in the country tonight. on ae a boy at sea destroyer. for all i know he is on his way to the pacific. two of my children are on coast cities in the pacific. many of you all over this country have boys and the services who will now be called upon to go into action.

in have friends and families what has suddenly become a danger zone. you cannot escape anxiety, you cannot escape the clutches of fear at your heart. and yet i hope that the certainty of what we have to be will make you rise above these fears. we must go about our daily business more determined than ever to do the ordinary things as well as we can. and when we find a way to do anything more in our communities to help others, to build morale, to give a feeling of security, we must do it. whatever is asked of us, i am sure we can push it. we are the free and unconquerable people of the united states of america. to the young people of the nation, i will speak the word tonight. you are going to have a great opportunity. ande will be high moments

your strengths and abilities will be tested. i have faith in you. i feel as though i was standing upon a rock now with the go back to the program which we had arranged for tonight. >> american history tv is marking the 75th anniversary of the japanese attack on pearl harbor throughout this weekend and next. saturday, december 10, beginning at 11:00 a.m. eastern will be live to take your calls and tweets for ian toll. next saturday here on american history tv. roosevelt: yesterday, december 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy.