target people that is why you need to stop it. thank you peter. i know we're right at the top of the hour. i want peter. i wish we had the rest of the afternoon to spend with you. thank you for being willing to share all that. you've said it's been profound. what a remarkable story you are sharing with us and important lessons for everyone. american history tv is on social media follow us at c-spanhistory. the c-span cities tour travels the country exploring the american story since 2011. we've been to more than 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 city's tour visits. in 1935 two army captains named anderson and stevens sailed off from the south dakota plains to a record-breaking 72,000 feet. we're really lucky in rapid

city. we have some interesting history that goes beyond just the culture of the area within the journey museum and learning center. we're talking about the stratobowl and the stratosphere flights in sending man up above the stratosphere. essentially rapid city area is the home of the first space flight. so the what the national geographic in the us army air corps did was they decided to work together to make this happen and they they wanted to find a natural shape. to rest the balloon in the gondola in and so they were looking for a bowl area not only to like spread out the balloon when it was on the ground, but it also that natural bowl shape protects the gondola. the first couple thousand feet as it goes up, and so they scoured all of north america for a place and 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 and 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 and so there were three men on that first flight. it was a captain orville anderson major william kepner and captain albert stevens. and what happened was a they got into the gondola and they went up and they hit about 60,000 feet and they think that the friction between the metal and the canvas of the balloon ignited the hydrogen that was inside the balloon and the balloon failed it. bust up completely and they fell into a free fall. they started exiting the gondola, you know, they had parachutes first man. got out just find the second man

got stuck in the gondola itself. and so the first man and we don't know 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 and then major kepner we do know was actually last he ended up getting out of the gondola at about 500 feet above the ground. so the second flight happened in 1935. they the national geographic and the us army air corps. they did change how the balloon was created. so 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 men two of the men came back. that was orville anderson and albert stevens, they did both come back for this second flight and they hit a height of 72,395 feet. they took measurements about the

stratosphere and about cosmic radiation and about, you know, 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 a you know given medals by fdr and and it was just the success and all around success. but what makes it even better for rapid city is that it happened in the black hills. it was it was here. it was local and so it was just a great community involved. piece of history 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-span 3. american history tv on c-span 3

every weekend documenting america's story funding comes from these television companies and more including comcast. are you think this is just a community center? no, it's way more than that comcast is partnering with 1,000 community centers to create wi-fi enabled lift zones. so students from low-income families can get the tools. they need to be ready for anything. comcast along with these television companies supports american history tv on c-span 3 as a public service. next on the presidency the national archives foundation's patrick madden talks with warren finch director of the george h.w. bush presidential librarian museum in college station, texas, mr. finch describes the complex in its new face since the deaths of george and barbara bush. we see old film of the bush honeymoon hear about mrs. bush's family scrapbooks discover,

which oval office desk drawer held mr. bush's yale baseball glove and learn the story behind his funeral train. and then in an hour we hear why dolly madison lucy hayes and betty ford are not easily categorized first ladies the national archives foundation hosted both of these events and provided the video. i want to introduce our speaker today warren finch. he's the director of the bush library and college station. he's enjoyed a long history with the institution first working on the library project team in 1993, and then becoming a member of the library staff when it opened in 1997. he had several positions and ascendant eventually to the directorship in 2004. he is really an archivist through and through having served at the national archives here in dc for the office the presidential libraries and presidential materials and he hails from mobile, alabama warren are you with us? i am