can watch archival films on public affairs in their entirety on our weekly series " reel america" saturday at 10:00 p.m. and sunday at 4:00 p.m. eastern, here in american history tv. >> you're watching american history tv. every weekend on c-span3 explore our nation's past. american history tv on c-span3 created by america's cable television companies. we are brought to you by these television companies who provide american history tv to viewers as a public service. >> the c-span cities tour travels the country exploring the american story. since 2011, we have been to 200 communities across the nation. like many americans, our staff is staying close to home due to the coronavirus. next, a look at one of our visits.

>> in 1935, two army captains named anderson and stevens sailed off of the south dakota planes to a record-breaking 72,000 feet. >> we are really lucky in rapid city. we have some interesting history that goes beyond just the culture of the area. in the learning center my we are talking about the stratobowl and the stratosphere flight, and sending man up above the stratosphere. essentially, the rapid city area is the home of the first spaceflight. so what the national geographic and u.s. army air corps did as -- did was they worked with the state to make this happen. they wanted to find a natural shape to rest the balloon and the gondola in. they were looking for a bowl area, not only to spread out the balloon on the ground, but also that natural bowl shape protects the gondola for the first couple of thousand feet as it goes up.

and so, they scoured all of north america for a place. they had a couple of different decisions that they could have made, places they could have chosen. and essentially they chose rapid city because of how kind the people were, because of how welcoming we are. i mean the perfect shape of the , bowl was nice, too, but it did come down to the people of the area. that was the reasoning behind choosing it. the first attempt happened in 1934. so there were three men on the first flight. it was captain orval anderson, major william kepner, and captain albert stevens. and what happened was they got into the gondola and they went up and they hit about 60,000 feet. and they think the friction between the metal and the canvas of the balloon ignited the hydrogen that was inside the balloon. and so, the balloon failed. it busted up completely. and they fell into a freefall.

they started exiting the gondola. you know, they had parachutes. the first man got out fine. the second man got stuck in the gondola itself. the first man -- we don't who was first and who was second and who was third. but the first man got out. he had to kick the second man out of the gondola to get him free. major kepner, who we know was actually last, he got out of the gondola at about 500 feet above the ground. so, the second flight happened in 1935. the national geographic and u.s. army air corps did change how the balloon was created. what they did was they actually used helium instead of hydrogen. and that allowed the balloon to not ignite, which is fabulous for the people in the gondola. two of the men came back, that was orval anderson and albert stevens. they did both come back for the

second flight. and they hit 72,395 feet. they took measurements about the stratosphere and cosmic radiation and anything they could possibly measure they attempted to while they were up in the gondola. and they took an image of the curvature of the earth, which had never been done. they were recognized for their efforts. they were given medals by fdr, and it was just a success, an all-around success. but what makes it even better for rapid city is it happened in the black hills. it was here. it was local. it was just a great community involved piece of history. clicks you can watch this and other programs on the history of communities across the country at c-span.org cities tour.

this is american history tv, only on c-span3. every saturday at 8:00 eastern on american history tv on c-span3, coincided different college classroom and hear about socket -- topics ranging from the american revolution, civil rights, and the u.s. president, to 9/11. >> thank you for your patience and for logging into class. >> with most college cabs is close, watch professors transfer teaching to a virtual setting to engage with their students. >> gorbachev did most of the work to change the soviet union. but reagan met him halfway. reagan encouraged him. he supported him. >> freedom of the press, i should just mentioned, basson originally called it freedom of the use of the press and is indeed the freedom to press and publish things. it is not what we refer to institutionally as the press.

>> every saturday at 8:00 p.m. eastern, lectures history also available as a podcast. find it where you listen to podcasts. >> we are presently in the office of the chief medical examiner for the state of mariner -- of maryland. these are unexplained deaths, which remade in the 1940's between 1943 and 1948. they're made by the mother of forensic science. she is the only woman to make a major contribution to the field of forensic science. what she did was absently revolutionize everything. everything we have come to now in a csi type crime scene investigation, with or in popular culture and television and movies or in real life, is all due to her and what she did

at harvard university. >> they are all based on real cases. she said the facts are true. everything you see depicted actually happens. although not necessarily in the same scene. they are intentionally ambiguous. they are not meant to be solved. that is a point -- the human mind has this drive to solve things, we want an answer. we want to know who did it and all these things. that is totally beside the point. first of all, these are not all homicides. if it were just an answer, homicide, suicide, natural causes, it is not getting the answer. it is that journey getting there. it is not so much to say that this is a suicide or this is a homicide. what makes you think so? when she made these, these were all made, the collection,

between 1943 and 1948, a five-year. . each one of these cost approximately what cost at the time between $3000 and $6,000 each, which translates to between $60,000 and $80,000 in present day money. she spent a fortune to make these. they are extra ordinarily detailed. they are still used today. as they were intended to train homicides actives and so even in the 21st century with all this virtual reality and computer simulation, the still serve a purpose that cannot be done by any other medium. the whole premise is that you are the investigator at -- arriving at the scene. you're given very sketchy information. this is preliminary information. this one is called blue bedroom. it was reported on november 3,

1943. charles logan, an employee in a box factory was discovered dead by his wife, carolyn logan. misses logan gave the following statement. on tuesday night, november 2, 1943, she was alone in the house when charles came home around midnight. he had been drinking and was in a quarrelsome mood. they had an argument. she was finally able to persuade him to go upstairs to bed. she waited downstairs for him to go to sleep before she also went to bed. after about a half hour she heard him moving around and shortly thereafter heard a shot. she ran upstairs and found the situation as it was treated by the model. there you go. she is downstairs. here is the shot. is what she finds. do you buy? -- this is what she finds. do you buy it?

>> american history tv on c-span3. exploring the people and events that tell the american story every weekend. this weekend, we are marking the 75th anniversary of winston churchill's iron curtain speech, regarded as one of the cold war's most iconic speeches. sunday, at 2:00 p.m., reflections on grandparents, winston churchill and harry truman. and at 4:00, real america features an audio recording of winston churchill's entire iron curtain speech accompanied by images and brief motion picture segments. exploring the american story. watch american history tv this weekend on c-span3.

>> this is c-span's new online store at c-span shop.org. to check out the new c-span products. and with the 117th congress in session, we are taking preorders. every c-span shop purchase helps support c-span's nonprofit operations. shop today at c-span shop.org. >> fulton missouri's westminster college invited winston churchill to speak in march of 1940 six, not long after the british prime minister, who guided england through world war ii, was voted out of office. townspeople welcomed churchill and president harry truman with a parade. when he 700 of them gathered in the gym and her churchill declare an iron curtain has descended across the continent. next, we look back 75 years at one of the cold war's most iconic speeches period with timothy riley of america's national churchill museum. he joined us from fulton, missouri.