tv Willard- Dempsey Fight CSPAN April 12, 2020 9:49am-9:56am EDT
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alike in wartime and in peace. ♪ announcer: this is american history tv on c-span3. each weekend, we feature 48 hours of programs exploring our nation's past. announcer: our c-span's city tour features the history of cities across the country. here is the recent program. narrator: the reigning heavyweight champion, jess willard, defending his title against jack dempsey. it was a hot independence day at the toledo arena.
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110 degrees. >> we are standing across from bayview park and bayview's the july 4,osting 1919 world championship heavyweight fight between jack dempsey and jess willard. it was difficult to find a place to hold this fight. in 1919, boxing had an awkward reputation for a death in the ring recently, gambling, and organized crime that was involved. but toledo made an offer and it was decided to host the fight here. both fighters came to town months before and trained. seat woodenn 80,000 stadium made of michigan pine and right next to it is a replica of a stadium with the same design that was built for the july 4, 2019 centennial
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celebration of the fight. the day of the fight was extremely hot and the pine began to bleach. the newspaper boys were making a fortune for people to sit on. a lot of straw hats, you see people of towels over the back of their next, really warm. dempsey who was by far the underdog just basically pummels willard in one of the most violent three rounds of boxing you will see. willard did not answer until the fourth round. he went down multiple times in the first round. there was a lot of money gambled for the fight. some of that was bet on a first round knockout so dense he was doing his best. there was a questionable bell at the end of the first round nobody heard. willard was able to make it to the second round and continue getting a beating. one of the most interesting things was jimmy breslin wrote
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"the roaring 20's were born in toledo ohio july 4, 1919 at this fight." the people that came to this fight -- the list is incredible. toledo at the time was really centrally located within the railroad system. it was easy for people to get here and plenty of hotels, and 80,000 seat arena, it was the perfect venue for the biggest fight of the century. announcer: you can watch this and other programs on the history of communities across the country as c-span.org/city tour. this is american history tv only on c-span3. announcer: sunday on reel america, fdr and world war ii. -- athousand a program 2008 program that focuses on fdr's involvement with wartime
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issues. here's a preview. ♪ we are now in this war. we are all in it, all the way. woman, ande man, child. the most tremendous undertaking of our american history. we must share together the bad news and the goodness, the defeats and victories, the changing of war. narrator: to fight a global war, the united states needed to mobilize the entire population. the government turned to ordinary citizens and leaders of large corporations to help lead the mobilization effort. the response was astounding. american wartime production produced more than 299,000
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ps, 1000, 36,000 jee naval vessels, and 40 billion bullets. by 1945, the united states was producing 60% of all allied munitions and 40% of the world weapons. the public was asked to conserve goods from gasoline to sugar. civilians drove less, hate less meat, and often drink less coffee. drives torganized salvage rubber and metal while parents joint civil defense unit, planted victory gardens, and purchased billions of dollars worth of war bonds. millions began paying federal taxes for the first time and to control inflation, the government put limits on wages, prices, and rent. the president and misses roosevelt were at the front of this effort.
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they set priorities and focusing attention on the goals of total victory. they purchased war bonds, had blackout shades hung on the windows, and committed the warehouse to wartime rationing. therefore sons all served in the military. announcer: watch the full program the sunday at 4 p.m. eastern on american history tv. next, author jonathan white talks about how abraham lincoln interacted with african-americans he met during his time in office. he explains how lincoln's willingness to have african-american guests at the white house and shake their hands was considered very liberal, even radical, at the time. this talk was part of a symposium held at the library of virginia in richmond. >> our next speaker is john white. he is an associate professor of american studies at christopher newport university.
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