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home due to the coronavirus. next, a look at one of our visits. >> divorce is really the thing that put reno on the map first. it had been known for being a railroad junction. it was a modest town. reno started out as a crossroads and a railroad stop. in 1905, when the first big divorce came, that got international attention. so the media started to focus on reno for that reason. that was the kind of publicity that they did not have to try to get. people were fascinated by this little, western town where all of these cosmopolitan people were coming and getting divorces. that was really the beginning of a kind of tourist trade for reno. the state of nevada legalized gambling in 1931. some forms of band -- of

gambling had been on the books before that. that is when they said gambling is legal. we mean it. you can open clubs and casinos. that, then, became the heart of the tourist industry through the 1970's and the 1980's until just recently. it was the combination of being the divorce capital of the world and this place where gambling was possible that made reno an international destination. reno's fame as a divorced center was inadvertent. nevada had laws that made it easy and quick to get divorces. but it was not intentional. nevada had a lot of transient people coming through. they were working in mining or for the railroad. you wanted them to be able to become a resident as fast as possible and at the same time, nevada had a lot of grounds for

divorce. there was no irreconcilable differences at that time. you had to sue on the grounds of something to get a divorce. a lot of states had very few rounds. new york only had adultery. it was the only ground you could sue for divorce. nevada had seven. they included adultery, but also cruelty, desertion, lack of support. it offered possibilities for people to come and sue on the grounds of divorce. it only took six months, which was short. the first celebrated case happened in 1905. a woman arrived and she was the wife of the president of u.s. steel. at first, she denied that she was here for divorce, but it became clear that she was. she was a wealthy socialite. after she came here, a lot of other wealthy people from other states began to come here and they came because it was the

largest city in the state. it was on the railroad. divorce was an incredible economic boon to the state because people had to find a place to stay from a rented room to a luxurious hotel or even a guest ranch where the well-to-do would go if they wanted to get a divorce in private. they needed to have clothes, they needed to go out and eat, they needed to buy things. economically divorce was lucrative for the state of nevada. legislators started to make that time you had to live here to get a divorce shorter and shorter. they were successful. they reduced the length of time and in 1931, they reduced it to six weeks, the fastest divorce anywhere. after that, that is when it began to pick up. we had people from all over the country. it was a who's who, name a

famous family. the vanderbilts. the roosevelts, the rockefellers. a lot of celebrities, actresses, rita haworth. a lot of writers got divorced here. it was something where people from every walk of life from the most famous to the people who needed to get out of their marriage came here. the process was formal. they took it seriously. they knew that people were counting on this divorce being final and recognized in other states. the process was straightforward. someone would arrive and meet with their attorney. they would have to hire an attorney. a spouse who did not come would have an attorney in their stead. the person who was staying and establishing residency would have to stay in a place where a witness could testify they had

seen them every day of that residency period, that they had not left the state. and then when that was up, which at its fastest was six weeks, they would come to the courthouse, often this court room that we are in, and stand in front of a judge and the witness would testify and explain the reasons they were getting divorced and then they would have their divorce. they would be off. the divorce industry is a unique part of reno's heritage. having the ability for people to come and get divorced at a time early in the 20th century when it wasn't as easy in other places was something that was an important contribution to american culture. a lot of other states started to loosen their divorce laws, understanding that women's rights was demanding there be

more ways for women to get out of marriages that were not healthy for them. that is an important cultural role reno played. the divorce industry also influenced the landscape. we owe a lot of what is here to that very unexpected and unique trade. >> 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. ♪ >> you are watching american history tv, every weekend on c-span3, explore our past. american history tv on c-span3, created by cable television companies. today, we are brought to you by these companies, who provide

american history tv to viewers as a public service. ♪ >> from thomas jefferson's books to saturday night live's parody of joe biden, tevi troy talks about how pop culture influences presidents. here is a preview. >> saturday night live is a mixed bag for presidents. it came out during the ford administration and ford had his propensity to stumble, even though he was perhaps the best athlete ever to be president and he was drafted by the nfl. but ford was relentlessly mocked for his clumsiness and they asked him to go on city nightlife -- to go on saturday night live. his press secretary was a funny guy and agreed to go on the show

and one of the writers said that she intentionally made the skits as blotchy as possible because she knew the president would be watching. i think the presidential impression, impersonations have helped shape how we think about presidents. phil hartman as ronald reagan, he plays ronald reagan as this befuddled guy, not knowing what is going on. the second the public leaves, he becomes this hardcharging business leader doing complex math and converting currencies and speaking foreign languages and telling everyone -- being barred and in charge. i thought that was a great depiction of reagan. sometimes, snl does not know what to do with candidates, for example, with obama, they did not want to make fun of him too much, so they got a guiding

philosophy for how to mock him. we saw a recent piece in the washington post about how jim carrey's joe biden impersonation does not really sell as funny because he cannot figure out what to make fun of joe biden and he plays joe biden as this could decent -- clint eastwood-like cowboy. if it is not true to the person, that is not going to work. i will say, perhaps the best impersonation on a technical level was dana harvey of george h w bush. when george h to be a bush lost his reelection, as a gift to the staff, invites harvey to come to the party and to his impersonation, a nice farewell for the staff, but also showing that he was a good sport about it. >> learn more about presidents and pop culture on the presidency sunday at 8:00 eastern, 5:00 pacific on american history tv.

>> and all of our programs are archives on our website c-span.org/history where you can also find our schedule of upcoming programs. on march 30th 1981 a would-be assassin fired six shots at president ronald reagan outside the washington hilton hotel two miles from the white house. washington post reporter del wilber author of rawhide down the near assassination of ronald reagan met us on the sidewalk with a shooting took place to tell his story of that day. ronald reagan was leaving this hotel after delivering a speech the afl-cio reagan a longtime union man himself over again. it's kind of excited to give this speech. he actually rewrote it by hand.