laid the cornerstone of the u.s. capitol building, turning a ceremony that included corn, oil, and wine. american history tv this weekend on c-span3. >> a wahoo's north shore is known for its big beaches, waves and surfing area a rich part -- hahu's north shore is known for its beaches, big waves and surfing. in makes of 21% of the state's economy. up next, we continue our special look at hawaii with a visit to what meyer valley -- to waimea valley. valley is considered a sacred valley.

it has a 700 year plus presence. a high priest once presided over this valley. this is an area where he would whoever was the king, gain -- ruling clean, high chieftain of the island. he was one of the most trusted advisors of the island. you would have needed the commoners to work the land, the fisherman, the farmers, the feather gatherers, the healers, everyone who would have been a part of our basic land division that runs from the mountains to the sea was in this land division. everything would have been -- in order to be self-sustaining,

everything would have provided r naturally or farmed here. call thehat we would living site. this is the homestead. this would have been for a family of high rank. it is believed to have been the highof the last true oahu priest on the island of oahu. every structure had its own function. how we have our homes today under one roof, rooms are dedicated for different functions like the kitchen for cooking, the living room for relaxing, the bedroom for sleeping. homestead aian cluster of structures, each with separate for a different function. it was not all under one roof. it was in a different structure. we have the sleeping house, the forn's eating house, an emu

the men's food to be cooked, the men's eating house in the distance that you can't see. beating house where everyday. was made that he was is dedicated to the farmer. that is where he would take his , where hed shade would rest. the work started before the sun came up. when the sun was overhead and quite hot, they came in to rest for a few hours and then finished off the day. that is what you are looking at in waimea valley. >> we have a little over 5000

plants from all over the world, similar tropical and subtropical climates. a good number of those plants are labeled by our botanical team. they come in three colors. the color of the label tell you something. they come in green, red and blue. the green tells you there is probably no threat to that plant. it could possibly be found in other parts of the world. red tells you they are rare or endangered. blue gives you additional information via cultural or scientific. this is the hibiscus hybridization collection. it has long since been thought that between florida and california they were the producers of the most variety of hibiscus. in actuality it was hawaii that produced the most variety.

these are some of the heirloom varieties that were hybridized to reduce -- produce over 300 varieties not found worldwide. a lot of those are native hawaiian, of which we have them in the valley. there are only two varieties that have a scent. veryan smell these scents early in the morning before the sun comes up or after the sun goes down. after the sun goes down it literally dissipates. both are native hawaiian varieties. this is a nice walk-through here. this sign tells you the story of the hibiscus hybridization and gives you information on the different varieties found. mala, or a garden. is -- this plant creates

food for the hawaiian people, and that is poy. -- akin to i can mashed potatoes, but a very smooth consistency. thickness. the same this plant is part of our creation story of how we came to be. boiled,e root that is they or steamed -- baked or steamed. then it is mast with water. -- it is mashed with water. you could feed maybe four people onto good-sized callo. the same amount, if you pounded it with fee twice as many

people. the hawaiians were the only one in the pacific to make pay. make poythat make -- out of callo. you can nothing in poy get allergic to. the first solid foods we eat as babies beyond breast milk. we send it to relatives wherever they are in the world when they have babies. during world war ii our troops in europe, tins were sent over to them. by the time he got there it was sour. hawaii the troops from learned to eat sour poy. it is an acquired taste, but poy ase know poy -- sour

great benefit for introducing probiotics into the system. we need the leaves. lethe -- we eat the stem. part of it is cut off at the stem, dried off and that is played back in the ground and grown again. garden, buty land mainly we have wetlands. much like rice patties. you can see in this garden all the signs are red. there were once over 300 different varieties of callo grown throughout the state authority, the islands. many 100re are varieties. here in waimea we grow close to 72 varieties.

it's an important plan for us. -- plant for us. one of our creation stories is we come from this plant. we are part of the earth just like this plant is. welcome to the waterfall. waterfall has two names. neither of which is waimea. when it is like this is free flowing and purging. when there is not much water due it isk of rainfall, called -- which means trickling water. water in hawaiian culture is one of our natural resources that is always to be protected in conserved. in the language, wai is the word

for freshwater. saltwater.word for life.ater is water of without water you have no life. for hawaiians the usage of water, the protection of water is very important. , -- wai wai,via freshwater twice, is armored for wealth. the amount of water you had access to. wai needs freshwater that cuts through land, and that's armored for streaming. it also means law. there are so many laws that surrounded or have to do or associated with the protection

of freshwater. freshwater, meeting this resource. if you do not have it, you do not have life. from the stream it runs from, they set up along the way to do different things. stream a place along the to take a bath. a place to wash your clothes. gather water for the garden. this dream -- the water from the stream ran through the little stream outlet that ran to your gardens and went right back into the stream. if brought the nutrients in the garden into the stream which fed the fish and other animals that live in the stream system. people, i guess

i was taught that we live in a state of emergency. how we are today and move in 38, we not only think of today but we are doing this thinking of our grandchildren and great-grandchildren. water, we are the on a conservation land easement. everything in waimea valley is protected in perpetuity from any further development. the protection of the water goes along with that. so, we like that our visitors and guests are able to enjoy it, but also for them to understand how important water is to us and we should never take it for granted. if this were in the time of our , this would probably not be a swimming hole. this would be a place that would've been off-limits to that, but everything would have

been done in the stream. did this is where your drinking water was gathered, you would not find anybody in the water and that is how precious water is to us. there are stories of the waters here being healing. warriors sat in the stream they came from this waterfall in order to heal their wounds. in a nutshell water is very, very important to hawaiians. we hopeo waimea valley, you learn about how precious our water is to us. due to the disconnection we suffered as a people, to become american, to become british, we really been separated from cultural practices and therefore ourselves. but we are doing in cultural practice in places like waimea is helping us to remember.

it is helping us to plug back in. it's important for us as a likens an indigenous people to know who we are and know our place. >> our cities tour staff recently traveled to hawaii to learn about its rich history. learn more about hawaii and other stops in our tour at c-span.org/cities tour. you are watching american history tv, all weekend, every weekend on c-span3. >> this weekend on the presidency, a historian and said have a fashion choices of pat nixon and betty ford reflected the politics and culture of their times. here is a preview. perhaps her most iconic piece of clothing was the red coat, the red overcoats she wore to china while accompanying the president on his historic

1972 visit to china. this took place the very same year that american households have that point ahd more color tv's than black and white. 1972. when theame at a time technology of film was giving way to video. immediateas a more ability to transmit footage, live footage. it was not just americans, but people all over the world who were watching the footage in the video that was coming back each day from china with pat nixon in her bright red coat.

onlyave to remember not was it a eye-popping color, but at the time all chinese citizens, male and female were expected address uniformly in either drab green or dark blue. travelingf the men with her husband's official entourage, being in black or dark navy or other dark colors, pat nixon really was the bright spot of the several-day visit to china. >> watch more on the fashion of thisixon and betty ford sunday at 8:00 p.m. and midnight eastern on the presidency, only on american history tv. next, a panel of scholars and

authors look at the vietnam war from the american, north and south vietnamese perspectives. topics include south vietnamese nationalism, why american intervention failed, and how the north vietnamese accomplished their goal of reunifying the country. this discussion was part of a day-long symposium on the vietnam war posted by the national archives in washington, d.c. >>, good morning ladies and gentlemen. how are you today? allould like to thank you l because of the storm into the c.- into d., i figure this morning at 8:00. the second person i want to thank is miss jackie brown. i could not believe we had a big crowd today and everybody is here. i am hed