in a pod alike, can you? >> this program was recorded in the ann arbor television studios of the university of michigan. ♪ >> american history tv on c-span3 -- every weekend, documenting america's story. funding for american history tv comes from these companies, who support c-span3 as a public service. the c-span cities tour travels

the country, exploring the american story. since 2011, we have been to more than 200 communities across the nation. like many americans, our staff is staying close to home due to the coronavirus. next, look at one of our cities tour 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 pretty modest town. reno started out as a crossroads and a railroad stop. in 1905, when the first big divorce came, that got international attention. the media really started to focus on reno for that reason. that was the kind of publicity that they didn't have to try to get. people were just fascinated by this little western town where all of these cosmopolitan people were coming and getting divorces. so that was really the beginning of a kind of tourist trade for

reno. the state of nevada legalized gambling in 1931, and it had been, some forms of gambling had been on the books before that, but that's when they absolutely said, gambling is legal. we mean it and you can open clubs and casinos and get licensed. that then became the heart of the tourist industry here, really through the 1970's, 19 80's, until recently, when it started to diversify a bit more. it was the combination of being the divorce capital the world and being in this place where wide-open gambling was possible that made reno and international tourist destination. reno's fame as a divorce center was sort of inadvertent. nevada had a couple laws on the books that actually made it very easy and quick to get divorces here, but it was not intentional. nevada had a lot of transient type of people coming through,

working for the mining or the railroads, and you wanted them to become a resident as fast as possible. at the same time, they had a lot of grounds for divorce. there was no irreconcilable differences at that time in 19th century. you had to sue on the grounds of something to get a divorce, and a lot of states had few grounds. new york state only had adultery, that was the only ground you could sue for divorce. nevada had seven grounds for divorce, including adultery but also things like cruelty and desertion and lack of support, so it offered more possibilities for people to comment sue on the grounds of divorce, and it only took six months, which was unbelievably short. well, the first really celebrated case of a reno divorce happened in 1905. a woman named laura corey arrived, and she was the wife of the president of u.s. steel. at first she denied that she was here for a divorce, but then it became clear that she was.

she was a wealthy socialite. after she came here for her divorce, a lot of other wealthy people from eastern states began to come here for a divorce too. they came to reno because it was the largest city in the state. it was on the railroad, which is how most people got here. divorce was an incredible economic boon to the state of nevada, because people had to find a place to stay, which could be anywhere from a rented room to luxurious hotels to guest ranches springing up all over the place, where the well-to-do would go if they wanted to get a divorce in private. they needed to have clothes, go out and eats, be able to buy things. economically, divorce was incredibly lucrative for the state of nevada and reno in particular. legislators tried to pursue a shorter residency period, to make the time you had to live here to get a divorce shorter and shorter. they reduce the amount of time from six months to three months, and then they reduced it to six weeks, with the fastest divorce

that ever happened anywhere. that's when it really began to pick up. we had an enormous number of people coming from all over the country. it was a who's who, name a famous family and someone here got divorced in reno. vanderbilts, the roosevelts, the rockefellers, a lot of celebrities, actresses like carole lombard, rita haworth, a lot of writers got divorced here. it was something where people from every walk of life, from the most famous to people who really needed to get a divorce and get out of their marriage came here. the process for divorce was very formal. they took it very seriously here, because they knew people were counting on this divorce being final and being recognized . the process was very straightforward. someone would arrive and they would meet with their attorney right away. they would have to hire an attorney. a spouse who did not come would

have to have an attorney and their stead appearing on their behalf. the person who was establishing residency would then have to stay in a place where a witness could testify that they had seen them every single day of that residency period, that they had not left the state and had been here the whole duration. when that was up, which was at its fastest at six weeks, they would come to the courthouse, this courtroom we are in, stand in front of a judge and their witness would testify. they would explain the reasons they are getting a divorce, then they would hit the gavel and they would have their divorce and be off. the divorce industry is such 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 and other places, was something that was really an important contribution to american culture.

a lot of other states started to loosen their divorce laws, understanding that women's rights was demanding. that there be more ways for women to get out of marriages that weren't healthy for them. that's an important cultural role that reno played. the divorce industry also influenced the landscape of reno so much that 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/citiestour. this is american history tv, only on c-span3. >> sunday, smithsonian secretary and lonnie bunch and documentary filmmaker ken burns discussed

the complex challenge of telling america's story. here is a preview. >> america has certain creation myths. it's important to keep those myths as our northstar. let us be that mourn perfect union, but also recognize that we have a long way to get there and in order to get there, we've got to understand history. you've got to understand the complexity and the dark moments. only by understanding those dark moments do you really understand the resiliency and strength of the people. >> i agree. i think the great anxiety in all of this is to not have a soviets set, where you throw out everything and select a new history as though nothing ever existed. i understand while people could feel anxious about that, i don't think that's going on and i don't think it's going to go on. i think more is the reactionary thing, that this is a legitimate part. it was not about slavery, states rights or nullification or --

it's not. it's all about slavery. if you look at the south carolina articles of secession, they do not mention states rights, they do not mention nullification, they do not mention the other raging congressional and constitutional issues of the day. they mention slavery a lot, and that's what worried them. that they were going to take away what turned out to be their most valuable property, the human beings they owned in a country that had proclaimed five years before that all men were created equal. we've got to be able to contain -- by the way, the guy who wrote that sentence owns more than 200 human beings. we are not talking about throwing out the jefferson memorial are tearing down monticello, we are not talking about removing mount vernon, an obvious plantation, or removing monticello, a disguised plantation, but a plantation nonetheless, characterized by some classical who hot -- and

beautiful, but we've got to do the pruning. i'm not suggesting going into gettysburg and lopping off the statues of robert e lee. the battlefield there. there is an appropriate place. nothing will be lost in this story unless we have the kind of horrific, wholesale soviet style cleansing of the system. we are not about that. americans are strong enough to figure out how to tolerate the good and the bad. 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 h