american history tv. after the break, we will be back with louisiana state university history professor on civil war violence. for the next 10 minutes our c-span cities tour takes you on the road to feature the history of an american city. right now i'm standing in windsor ontario canada. at the city of detroit continues. the border crossing between canada and the united states, one of the busiest in the country. >> the length of that is city of detroit and the city of windsor is a link of two cities and two nations. canada and america are the two biggest trading partners in the world. -- $16 billion in

trade a year for both countries. 150,000 jobs rely on this network of transportation and international trade. tremendously important part of our history and has been since pre-civil war. during prohibition detroit is responsible for ringing in 75% of illegal alcohol brought into ofs country with a 14 years prohibition. that comes from our neighbors to the south and windsor, canada. the city we now think of as the motor city was cigar capital of america. we were not only transporting in raw materials but out the finished. there were days in the 1860's where you had 7000 to 10,000 railroad cars waiting to be transported that could not get across the river because they they come into

would come into detroit by train war.ave to wait we needed infrastructure that could supply taking from canada and giving to detroit and vice versa. that means building a tunnel and later the bridge. forave two tunnels, one is train transport, completed in 1910, it took four years to build at a cost of $8.5 million. in 1930 on november 1, president hoover presses a button that rings a bell simultaneously here in detroit and across the river

in windsor that opens the detroit windsor tunnel. just shy of a mile, the first underwater nation connecting tunnel in the world. today it has been operating seamlessly since that time. a $50 million renovation in the 1990's but it sees almost 10,000 cars a day. the detroit windsor tunnel transports mainly people. 98% cars, 2% trucks. the railroad tunnel transport only freight. you name it if it is made in america it goes through that tunnel pending it is not a hazardous or explosive material. in 1922, the detroit river was the busiest freshwater shipping channel in the world and it still is today. through our train tunnel and through the ambassador bridge, things are transported throughout the entire world. map show on a freighter

everywhere that michigan products and detroit products have made it around the world and short of antarctica there is not a continent we don't touch. the ambassador bridge was completed on november 15, 1929. when it opens, it is the longest suspension bridge in the world and it holds that record for just about four months for it is taken. when the abbasid or bridge is completed, it's known for its height at 152 feet. it allows shipments of freighter traffic to travel below it as opposed to a drawbridge which would stop river traffic and commuter traffic every time it had to open or close. the bridge itself is completed by one man, not municipally owned. he builds the bridge as an economic driver and from its earliest inception it is a toll bridge. today it is owned by an individual who charges five dollars a car to travel from canada to detroit or detroit to

canada. traveling across the abbasid or bridge is nearly 10,000 cars a day plus another 2000 semitruck's. the main transport for semi trucks leaving america and going into canada through michigan. we see everything on those trucks. from gerber baby food through kellogg's cereal made in michigan. anything and everything that has to be traded. as the two biggest international trading partners in the world you can imagine the depth and scope of what is traveling the bridge. in 1929, when the detroit windsor ambassador bridge opens and again in 1930 when the heraldedens, they are as engineering marvels. great engineering feats of the world and put detroit on the map not only architecturally but through heralded as engineering prosperity, beine to bring in the tobacco that makes our cigar manufacturing flourish at the turn-of-the-century, bringing in stovew iron to make our industry and later automotive

industry flourish. when the bridge opens in 1930 we are at the height of prohibition. it quickly gets the named the detroit windsor funnel because of the illegal alcohol smuggled through it. it is tied to who we are not only as a city but as an industrial hub. we have to have these methods of transport or we would be stuck going back to post-civil war fairies which screwed up the entire industrial transport of north america holding products over here in detroit for sometimes as much as a year and causing great spikes in the value of products like rain when the holdups would occur because of the river freezing. the impact of opening three transit routes between two countries is monumental to the city of detroit's growth. x -- we with the siou become a transit hub for the entire country as a national transit hub it plays into our role during world war ii as the

arsenal of democracy, building and shipping out the material that supports the allied forces for the war and the years .revious we are able to become a hub of industry and today we are known as the motor city and we could not be without access to these shipping channels. really vital to the industry and prosperity of the region not just detroit as a city or windsor as a city. when you talk about the legalities of an international border crossing whichever international border crossing it is, it is right with issues and

concerns -- it is rife with issues and they are border protected by border security. we also have coast guard stations on the detroit river that monitor traffic coming across making sure what is wrought into the city is legal. it is tireless work. enforcement across multiple agencies. it includes the dnr on belle isle. island park in the middle of the detroit river. border security, border crossing . michigan state police and detroit police, all who work in conjunction to make sure what is traveling across the river and into our city is safe. nearly 100 years, the ambassador bridge, coupled with our tunnels, the train tunnel and civilian tunnel under the detroit river, have been a huge part of commerce for the region.

as detroit continues to grow, we are building a new bridge span called the gordie howe international bridge crossing and fall just north of where the current ambassador bridge rise is. as we travel through the next 100 years detroit's influence will be made in its production and manufacturing and coupled with that is the transport of those finished goods and raw materials in and out of the city. the chance of creating another manufacturing marble like the largest span or longest span in the world, those titles cannot be made in detroit because the river is not long enough but the idea that we were the first to build a bridge like that speaks to the idea that one day we will create more innovation and invention with our modern-day bridges. >> our cities tour staff recently traveled to detroit, michigan to learn about its rich

history. , visitore video c-span.org/cities tour. you're watching american history tv, all weekend, every weekend on c-span 3. this weekend on the presidency. for it -- for the entire military career up until 1945, --seemed to not be bothered at least he did not write anything that suggested to me that he was bothered by andegation in the military segregation in american society. 1945 held say in

changed his mind. we were running out of men. first, the germans ran out of men than the british ran out of men and now america was running out of combat soldiers. so he decided to give african-americans the first opportunity to engage in combat equally and that was a turning point in his life. when he returned to washington, he was more vigorous about civil and heas chief of staff worked with lyndon johnson to get a weak form of the civil rights law that could get through congress. a weak form of the civil rights act in the 1950's. >> learn more about dwight d. eisenhower's leadership skills this sunday at 8:00 p.m. and midnight eastern on the presidency. you're watching american history tv.

>> a small network with an unusual name rolled out a big idea. let viewers make up their own minds. c-span opened the doors to washington policymaking for all to see, bringing unfiltered content from congress and beyond. a lot has changed in 40 years but that big idea is more relevant than ever. c-span is your unfiltered view of government. brought to you as a public service by your cable or satellite provider. >> we are back live at gettysburg college in pennsylvania for the civil war institute annual summer conference. violence in the civil war. this is live coverage on c-span3 's american history tv.