hostilities as a result of the peace negotiations, the communists have launched a massive new wave of the salts -- of assaults. at a news conference on june 26, the president announced the supreme court chief justice earl warren was retiring. his third and fourth appointments to the high court, the president knew his choices would affect the destiny of the nation long after he himself had left office. america this weekend. this weekend, american history tv is showcasing the history of lubbock, texas, in conjunction with our local cable television partner. to learn more, visit c-span.org/citiestour. we continue with the look at the history of lubbock.

>> it is a huge agricultural area. even though we have over 250,000 proper,n the community not including the surrounding communities, we are called the hub of the area. but it still revolves around agriculture. one thing we have learned is how agriculture does, whether it succeeds or fails, if it has a good year or bad, it affects the rest of the economy in the community. at the heart of everything is a passion for education. in about 2001, a group of civic leaders, some involved in agriculture, some in government, came together and saw a massive collection of agricultural artifacts. tractors, harvesters, cotton related artifacts, and they decided they needed to be on display for the public. we did not have a museum at that point. they established the museum of agriculture with the help of

bayer crop science. >> this used to be big ranges, -- >> this used to be big ranges, like millions of acres. converted tos agriculture since it was more profitable. starting in the 1930's, there was a lot of push to break out into the farmland. this is the last area in the u.s. that grew cotton. this was new cotton growing, compared to other parts of the united states. >> we are the largest cotton-growing area in the world , in one area. 100 miles south of lubbock all the way to the top of the panhandle. we grow 5.5 to 5.6 million bales in this area this year. we are more than half of texas.

about one fourth of the united states, always running from fourth to third. >> cotton began in the northeast, there was some in virginia, the carolinas, georgia. that part of the united states was populated first as part of the reason. cotton was grown, and the invention of the cotton gin in 1793 really escalated the growth of cotton. we have taken the cotton gin from the eli whitney time in 1793. it was hand fired. before that, the individual. about one pound per day was the average they could do. the cotton gin, it would dress 50 pounds per day. they thought they were really doing a big one. we had five different time

periods of progression of equipment of the cotton gin, going from hand turned, - waterpowered, internal combustion and electrical powered. and the modern generators are all electrical powered. con gin, the machine will do our final phasecon gin, the -- we justl do, expanded on the efficiency and speed. it's a pretty neat exhibit here, timesning the different of the equipment. in my lifetime, we transitioned .rom hand harvesting cotton it is hard to imagine we used to plus bales oflion cotton bought in the u.s.. we've transitioned from that to

the one row parts -- built in the 30's, in 31. in transition to some of the earlier machines, the tractor mounting harvester, john deere in the background. trying to show the different how harvest has transitioned from hand harvest to the modern-day machine we had in the other building. to 1000 -- up up to what 1000 people will harvest and one day, the machine can do itself. ,e are also trying to show off somebody that knows nothing about cotton and feel like they can leave here feeling like they've got knowledge. we had a display case with samples of cotton grades. cotton is all graded by the usda, and unbiased party.

it is all by the same standard across the u.s.. there's four grading offices. here. 150 miles from there is only -- probably seven or eight in the whole nation now. cotton-based this common factors, the amount of trash, length and color of fibers. we get a lot of rain, and the harvest might discolor it. -- is graded morning evening moisture, but cotton has got so many factors. we have a bale of cotton grown on my farm. we show the grade and explain the different factors that make

up the grade. so, when you put eight combinations of factors, you end up with a lot of different combinations in the final grade. cotton has been good to our life. we owned and operated a cotton gin, and after teaching agriculture in high school for 11 years, got into managing a cotton gin, and later buying shares of it and then owning 100% of it. we owned a small gin, 1600 bales the first year, to 116,000 in 2007. we had 85,500 bale average in 2010. and a lot of growth. but the county i was in gave me some scope. we had 34 operating gins when i went in, today there are six in that county.

those six are probably doing more than the 34 used to. the gin is at a new level, the equipment is better with modern technology. you can pull up your phone and watch it run, all of that. talking about the good old days, but some of that .asn't as good as you deserve modern-day agriculture is very exciting. improvemento much and cotton in the last 20 years. it is phenomenal what has happened. a lot of that has started and love it, texas. >> education is key to us. you would think, once you get out of the main part of -- you see cotton and crops everywhere you go. john deere dealerships, case

tractors. but what we've noticed is with a lot of our field trip groups, those kids it's still don't really make that what they are seeing in those fields, that equipment helps grow the food ae eat, the clothes they wear. milk does not just magically appear on a grocery sure any denim appears in thin air. yarn, the cotton, the denim. and a big deal. i think that for me, it is about the story and the people to hide it that make it such a phenomenal industry to be involved in. those people work hard every day. they don't necessarily work eight to five, they work until the work is done. so they have a lot of factors that other industries don't deal with, that depend on whether we desperately need rain right now. your input costs,

you have to depend on the government to make right decisions on programming and the farm bill to help you support, so you can come out and hopefully make a little more than it cost for you to grow the cost -- to grow the crops. i think some people will read that it is all big agriculture, big corporate farms. that's not true in our area. there might be multiple families involved in the operation, but there's still families. i would say there's no more following. our cities tour staff recently traveled to lubbock, texas, to learn about its rich history. you are watching american history tv, all weekend, every weekend, on c-span 3. monday night >> on the

communicators, stanford professor jeremy balin's and , experiences book on-demand, about virtual reality technology and its potential for the future. is donehen the our well, the front of your brain can be famous. the part that is not real. at the back of the brain is terrified, the part that keeps you alive. whenever we bring children on a ceo, we want to establish that the our feels real. because if you are unwilling to take a step on that plank, once i've sold you on this idea that the art is so real you are not even willing to step on a fake conversation. can you use vr to change attitudes about climate change, racism, hard topics you have to experience to understand? announcer 1: watch "the communicators monday night --

communicators" monday night at 8:00 eastern. announcer 2: dwight pitcaithley is a former national park service chief historian and editor of "the u.s. constitution and secession." next, he offers an analysis of the 67 constitutional amendments considered by congress right before the outbreak of the civil war that sought to address the secession crisis. the ulysses s. grant national historic site in st. louis hosted this one-hour talk. nick: so too into drew's dr. dwight pitcaithley, dr. worked in the national park service for 30 years. for the last few years he was the chief historian of the entire national park service. so he is kind of a rock star for us. [laughter] so since he retired, dr. pitcaithley teaches at new mexico state unirs