experience history as it unfolds with live coverage this month as republicans take control of both chambers of congress and new chapter begins with swearing in of the 47th president of the united states. monday live from the house chamber witness kamala harris preside over the certification of the electorial college vote where the historic session will officially confirm donald trump as winner of the 2024 presidential election and on january 20, tune in for our live all day coverage of the presidential inauguration as donald trump takes the oath of office becoming the 47th president of the united states. stay with c-span this month for comprehensive, live, unfiltered coverage of the 119th congress and presidential inauguration. c-span, democracy unfiltered. weekends on c-span 2 are an intellectual feast.

every saturday, documenting america's story. on sunday, booktv brings the latest in nonfiction books and authors. funding for c-span 2 comes from these television companies and more including comcast. >> you think this is just a community center? it's way more. >> comcast partnering with 1,000 community centers so students from low income families can get tools they need to be ready for anything. comcast, along with these television companies support c- span 2 as a public service. my name is christine. i am exhibit curator at the capitol visitor center inside the u.s. capitol. we are here in the congressional investigations exhibit in exhibition hall and this exhibit that speaks to how and why congress does one of its most important jobs. the constitution gives congress

the power to legislate but in order to do that, congress needs information on what topics it can legislate on, what needs to be legislated about. congress gets that information through investigations. at any given time, congress can be investigating for example if a law is being implemented as it was intended to or the cause of a disaster. it gathers information and uses that information to create new law. one of our goals for this exhibit was for americans to be able to get a better understanding of the things that happen here in the capitol, things done by their representatives in congress. so because investigations are one of those things that congress does so regularly, we wanted to highlight that. and we wanted to show

historical examples of congress investigating so that visitors can use that example to better understand what's going on right here in this building in the capitol. so there are four main reasons why congress investigates. one is fact finding. investigations can reveal the facts of things that happen and clarify what happened and why. another reason is oversight. congressional investigations can reveal waste, fraud, or corruption in government and can hold officials and agencies accountable to the american people. legislation is another reason why congress investigates. investigations can provide information about new laws that can be made to benefit the american people. sometimes they also provide information about revising

existing laws as well. a fourth reason why congress investigates is to influence opinions. investigations can bring national attention to a subject and that can raise voter support for an issue and can get more support for a member's or party's preferred policy. constitution does not state that congress has power to investigate. but supreme court has rules that investigation is essential to congress' ability to legislate, a power that is in the constitution. one of our goals for this exhibit is for americans to better understand what happens here in the capitol building. most investigations can follow a pattern of steps. and recognizing that pattern in

these historical examples can help visitors see what's going on today. the steps of an investigation tend to repeat in most investigations. the first step is that something happens that causes congress to want to get more information. it can be a disaster. it can be an event. it can just be a growing awareness of a problem. but whatever that spark is, congress decides there is a reason it needs to investigate. after that happens, then there is another step. authorization to investigate. committees can investigate anything that's within their jurisdiction. but sometimes congress decides to authorize a special committee or commission to take a closer look at a specific topic. the next step is hearings. this is the step that many americans may be most familiar

with. this is what a lot of americans will see on tv or on the news. hearings are those usually public events where congress gets to hear from witnesses and from experts who know about the things that happened or who know about the problems that need to be resolved. hearings is where our congress gather that information that they can then use. step four is a report. most investigations and in a published report that is used by congress and american public to better understand what the information was that congress gathered during the investigation. the report can layout what was discovered and usually also includes conclusions or recommendations about what congress should do next after the investigation. the last step is legislation. not every investigation ends in legislation. but most of them do. the legislation is when

congress acts on those recommendations or acts on the findings of the investigation to solve a problem or to change the law to better address a situation. congress' first ever congressional investigation happened in the late 1700s. and it resulted from a military defeat. congress wanted to know why the military had been defeated so badly by a group of native american tribal nations. so it asked the secretary of war for papers about the defeat. secretary of war knox didn't know exactly how to respond. at this early stage in the american republic, congress and executive branch were figuring out what separation of power means. secretary knox went to president george washington and

asked how he should respond to congress' request for papers. president washington considered the question and decided that there was going to be times where the executive branch should not share information with either congress or the courts. the reason for that is because the executive branch, the president, has a need sometimes for private counsel from his advisers. the president needs to be able to receive candid advice and know that that advice will remain private. so washington decided that that was a situation that will probably be occurring in the future. and he recognized that as an important aspect of the situation. however, hedetermined in this particular case that he could turn over the papers requested to congress and he did so.

this first conversation with president washington and his advisers was the first time that it was discussed, a concept that later became known as executive privilege, that power of the president to withhold certain communications from congress and the court. so in april 1912, just a few days after the sinking of the titanic, the survivors arrived in new york city from the rescue ship. senators from here in washington raced to new york to etthe survivors there. they wanted to find out what happened, why the ship sank? they wanted to find out from the people who could tell them what happened on the ship. so they went directly to new york to meet them to make sure they had the opportunity to hear from witnesses before they gan disperse to their different locations around the world including many who planned to travel back to

england. so the hearings for the titanic investigation started right there in new york city, held in waldorf astoria hotel. the senators wanted to know how this came to happen and then what happened after the sinking. and one of the things that they found out during this investigation was how the rescue ship had heard the distress call of the titanic and raced through dangerous icy waters to reach the titanic. the carpathia was the ship that collected all the people who survived the sinking. the captain was one of the people who testified to congress. congress was so impressed with the bravery he exhibited during this event that they later awarded him a congressional gold medal which you also see

on display here. we also have a map here that shows the north atlantic and where the ice fields were in that time. this was part of the fact finding that the committee did in their investigation to find out what was known about ice in the north atlantic prior to the voyage of the titanic. as a result of the investigation, congress changed regulations about maritime safety and life boat regulations and crew training. it also created the international ice patrol to ensure that the absence of information that the titanic had been faced wouldn't be something that was repeated. it generally raised profile of safety legislation and other such laws subsequently. amidst great depression in the

early 1930s, congress started investigation into why the stock market had crashed in 1929, an event that precipitated beginning of the great depression. congress investigated what happened on wall street and looked into the activities and procedures that banks and financial businesses used on wall street. they found that there was many financial industry insiders who used their power on wall street to accumulate money to themselves sometimes at the expense of their own investors. one of the people that congress, senate called to testify, was charles mitchell. the president of what was then the nation's largest bank, national city, and the subpoena of mitchell is right here. under questioning bank

president mitchell admitted he had acted irresponsiblely with his investors' money. he had sold securities as safe bets when he had not actually vetted them thoroughly to know whether or not. the committee also subpoenaed other wall street titans like for example jpmorgan, jr who admitted under oath he had paid no income taxes for several years and that he had given preferential to public figures. so the great depression had impacted more americans than any other economic event had in american history. those americans were paying close attention to this investigation in the senate about wall street that the investigation and public hearing led to an increase in public support for new legislation that would regulate wall street for the first time. there were several legislative

outcomes from this investigation. one of them was the banking act of 1933 which created the federal deposit insurance corporation, fdic. then another act passed as a result of this was the securities exchange act of 1934, which regulated trade of securities on the stock market. any american who has a retirement account that includes stocks has been affected by the legacy of those laws passed in the aftermath of this investigation. on december 7, 1941, there was a surprise japanese attack on u.s. military base in pearl harbor, hawaii. there were thousands of people who died and many ships and planes that were destroyed. in the aftermath of the attack, americans wanted to know why

america was so unprepared for this attack. after the war ended, congress decided to investigate. it created a joint committee which means members of both house and the senate and that committee looked into what happened before pearl harbor and why they were so unprepared and why the consequences of that attack were so devastating. i wanted to point out this item. this machine is called purple. it is one part of a machine created by the army signals intelligence service that was used to decrypt japanese diplomatic code in the months before and after the attack on pearl harbor. one of the things that was discovered during that investigation was purple. so congress discovered that america had cracked japanese code using purple and was

decrypting japanese diplomatic messages. it was discovered that one of the messages sent hours before the attack pointed towards military action by japan. but the american crew was not able to decrypt it and send that information to the military commanders in hawaii in time for them to act on it before the attacks began. as a result of the information that congress discovered during the investigation, congress passed national security act of 1947. this act did a major reorganization of the military branches and in national intelligence. so it created the first permanent intelligence agency and reorganized military services to be under one department. before the united states entered world war ii, senate

created the special committee to investigate national defense program. this committee was created to over see billions of dollars in appropriations that congress had just made for war preparation. this committee was led by senator harry truman of missouri and it investigated reports of fraud and inefficiency in war preparation. the committee uncovered numerous instances of corruption, mismanagement, profiteering. it set a standard for congressional oversight operations and was widely praised for effective work saving billions of dollars in taxpayeron. it also made senator truman a national figure. truman committee's investigations ranged far and wide sometimes even including household goods like this umbrella that you see in the case. the tag on the umbrella there marked by the committee said it was an illustration of waste and material and manpower

because of its shoddy construction and didn't last very long. in war time, even a regular consumer goods were considered to be critical war time commodities. the truman committee also requested tips from the american public which he received many of. there are many, many letters that he received where individual americans were pointing out things they had witnessed of waste, fraud, or abuse. we have one letter here from somebody, from a citizen to truman thanking him for his actions churching the fraud. he was many who wrote in to express either tips or their support. the conclusion of this investigation after saving billions of dollars of taxpayer money, the senate decided that the truman committee had been so effective at saving money

and identifying fraud that they decided to make the committee permanent. and they created permanent subcommittee on investigations, psi. even today, psi is still investigating for accountability of government and to uncover waste and fraud. this photograph is of heart mountain relocation center near cody, wyoming. it was one of ten japanese american incarceration camps built in remote areas of the american west during world war ii. future congressman norman mineta was incarcerated with his family there at heart mountain for several years during the war. the story behind heart mountain and other incarceration camps began after congress declared war against japan in 1941 which was the start of american involvement in world war ii.

subsequent to that, the u.s. government forcibly moved and relocated approximately 120,000u.s. residents of japanese descent. about two thirds of whom were american citizens. president frank lynn roosevelt who issued the executive order for the incarceration claimed it was necessary to protect the company from espionage and sabotage. it wasn't though until decades after the war in 1980 that congress decided to investigate. at that time there was a number of asian american and pacific islander members of congress including representative norman mineta from california who led the effort to document the harms that had been caused by incarceration and to take action to rectify that. this commission, commission on

war time relocation and intournament of civilians congress created put out a two part report. this is the report right here in the case. e report concluded there was no evidence of threats for any military need for the incarceration. it also found that the detentions resulted from, quote, race prejudice, war time hysteria, failure of political leadership, unquote. the commission recommended official government apology and also restitution payments to the survivors of the camps, many of whom had lost their homes or businesses when forcibly relocated to the incarceration camp. with efficacy of many asian american members of congress including norman maneta, congress eventually passed civil liberties act of 1988. this act did issue official

government apology to the incarceration and authorized restitution payments to the survivors. this letter right here is a letter written by president george hw bush to one of the survivors of the incarceration camp. the letter is a letter of apology and also included a payment. the objects in this case related to investigations into domestic communism in early 1950s done by senator joseph mccarthy of wisconsin. this is the period of the early cold war when there was an intense of domestic communists. there was a number of members of congress who were attempting to influence public opinion to be against domestic communists holding positions of influence in the united states government

and in the country as a whole. senator joseph mccarthy had given a speech claiming there were 205 knowcommunists in the department of state. a later senate investigat found that the allegations were false. mccarthy had a lot of public support and continued his investigation. one of the objects i want to call out is this item here. this is a speech delivered by one of mccarthy's fellow senators. this is from senator margaret chase smith of maine. smith was one of the only republicans, one of the first republicans to speak up about mccarthy's investigation. she did because she was concerned about the way mccarthy had been using abusing tactics an unsubstantiated

allegations. the allegations mccarthy was making could end up in ruined lives and ruined careers. >> senator i think i never really gauge yoor your recklessness. >> margaret chase smith decided to speak up about mccarthy's tactics. she gave this speech on the floor of the senate. in the speech, she decide tactics an condemned climate of fear, bigotry, smear, end quote, mccarthy created. there were a few cases of fellow republicans joined her condemnation of mccarthy at that time. mccarthy's investigations continued and later the army mccarthy hearings were televised. and it was these televised hearings where americans got to

see mccarthy's abusive tactics and unsubstantiated allegations for the first time. this changed public opinion and in the view point of mcart eye and within a few months of the hearing, the senate had voted to censure mccarthy for conduct unbecoming a senator. in the early 1950s there was increasing number of media reports focused on organized crime. there was increase in americans who were concerned that this crime was becoming a serious problem and nothing was being done about it. a senator of tennessee decided to look into this and created a committee in the senate to investigate organized crime in the mob. part of his investigation involved going to different cities around the country.

he went to 14 cities and interviewed law enforcement officers, politicians, to find out what the state of organized crime was in their areas. they ofn put suspected mobsters and gamblers on the stand as well and these hearings which were televised captivated the nation. >> prime hearing's biggest sensation from frank costello, reputed king of the under word, provides a startling bit of dramatic reality. >> an awful lot of respect, i am not going to answer another question. i am going to walk out. >> just a minute. with use every resource to see he is brought to contempt and is arrested by united states senate. >> so many people were interested in watching the televised hearings that some of them were shown in movie theaters where people who

didn't have televisions at home could go and watch these hearings. americans tuned into the hearings in incredible numbers. one report was there were more americans watching the committee hearings than watched the world series. the committee's immediate legislative accomplishments were somewhat modest but the senator became a nationally known figure and headopted as a trademark a cap that evokes another well known tennesseean boone and he wore this which you see to many events. it made him instantly recognizable to the public who knew about his investigations into the mob. the investigation into organized crime was one of

those instances where there wasn't a huge legislative output from the investigation but it did have a really big impact on public opinion. and the public wanted more law enforcement after hearing about what was actually happening in the world of organized crime. one of the reasons why this exhibit is here right now on congressional investigations is because it is the 50th anniversary of watergate, one of the most important and consequential oversight investigations that congress has done. the watergate scandal began with a crime, a break in, at the watergate complex in washington, dc in june of 1972. five people associated with president richard nixon's reelection campaign. it evolved into a battle

between congress and the president over access to tape recordings that contained evidence about the crime and the cover up. it concluded with the resignation of president nixon under threat of impeachment. so i wanted to point out several documents in this case. one is the security log right here from the watergate complex. in this security log, you see the date of june 17, 1972, which was the date of the break in at the watergate hotel. the log has a note written by the security guard from the watergate frank will who made a note in the log that he had seen a piece of tape on a door that prevented the door from latching and made the door accessible from the outside. first he removed the piece of tape but later the same night as he was continuing rounds, he found another piece of tape on the door. that tipped him off that something was happening and there might be intruders in the

building. he called the police and when the police arrived, they found the five burglars inside the democratic national committee headquarters inside the watergate complex. and they were arrested. this log, this security log marks the very beginning of the watergate scandal, the event that triggered all the other events that followed. another item i wanted to talk about was the tape recorder right here of the after the watergate break in happened, there was some investigative reporting indicated that president nixon might have been aware of it and might have been involved in the break in. so the senate created a special committee to look into it. the special committee to investigate presidential campaign activities better known as the watergate committee. one of the most important facts

that the committee uncovered as part of their investigation was that president nixon had installed a secret tape recording system in the white house and in other locations to record the conversations he had with his advisers. as soon as the senate and watergate committee discovered the existence of the recordings, they wanted to hear them to know if they contaid evidence that the president himself was personally involved in the crime. that's when the senate issued the subpoena right here you see on the back of the wall there, the first ever congressional subpoena of a sitting president. this is the subpoena for the tape recordings but they also subpoenaed other documents as well. president richard nixon decided to not comply with the subpoena citing executive privilege. executive privilege is a power claimed biments to withhold

certain communications from congress in the courts. the idea behind executive privilege is that the president needs to be able to receive candid advice from advisers and know that the conversations will remain private. so the president's refusal to comply with the subpoena set off a constitutional crisis between congress and the president. subsequently the house judiciary committee in may 1974 began hearings on whether or not president nixon should be impeached for his involvement in the watergate break in and cover up. they also issued subpoenas to the president and he declined to comply with those as well again citing executive privilege. a couple months later, houses judiciary commit' did vote it adopt three articles of impeachment from the president and just less than two weeks

later, president nixon facing sure impeachment and conviction in the senate decided to resign. his resignation letter is also in the case on the back wall. there was a substantial legislative legacy from this investigation. there was a number of -- the investigation revealed a number of problems that had been exploited by nixon administration and there was a number of need for new legislation. some of the laws that passed in the aftermath of watergate include privacy act of 1974, freedom of information act of 1978, foreign intelligence surveillance act of 1978 as well. there was also further investigations that came out of watergate as well. this turned out to be one of

the most consequential over site investigations that congress has conducted and it set a standard for how congress conducts its oversight of the executive branch. on september 11, 2001, there was a terrorist attack in the united states by the terrorist group al qaeda. as a result of this attack in new york city and washington, almost 3,000 people died. in the aftermath of that, congress created a house and senate investigation into intelligence failures that allowed 9/11 to happen. in addition, congress also created an independent bipartisan legislative commission. the commission on the national commission on terrorist attacks upon the united states. the mission is better known as

the 9/11 commission. the staff of the 9/11 commission made this may many to document the events that happened on 9/11. the map shows paths of the flights of the four hijacked planes. those paths are initially marked as solid lines. at the moments that the planes were hijacked, hijackers turned off the trans ponders that broadcast the plane's location. on the map here that moment is marked by a change in the flight path from a solid line to a dashed line. two of the hijacked planes flew through the twin towers in new york city which caused the flight path from a solid line to a dashed line. two of the hijacked planes flew into the twin towers in new york city, which caused them to subsequently collapse. one of the planes was flown into the pentagon in washington, d.c., and a fourth plane crashed in a field near

shanksville, pennsylvania but the 9/11 commission concluded that the fourth plane's intended target was either the white house, or either the capitol building. one of the outcomes of the 9/11 investigations was the creation of the new cabinet level department, the w department of homeland secuty this chart right he shows, it wacrted while that law was beg considered, and it shows all of the many different sections of the federal government that had a role to play in the nation's national security, and illustrated how spread out those responsibilities were, and how little coordination there was between those different federal government entities. the new department of homeland security was created to bring all of

those different pieces of the national security system all under one person and one leadership. >> i think it is really important for americans to understand what happens here in the capitol, and what our elected representatives due on our behalf. the historical investigations that we have put on display here allow americans to see how this process works, and by seeing how congress has acted, and how congress has investigated in the past, i hope that americans will be able to better understand what is happening today, in current investigations, and that they can use that historical context to know how things are working,

what is actually happening in congress, and why it is important to them. american history tv, saturdays one c-span2, exploring the people and events that tell the american story. this weekend at 4:45 p.m. eastern, house speaker mike johnson commemorates the markita for lafayette's address to congress. then, historian elizabeth reese, towards the sites in alexandria, virginia, that the marquis visited during his 1824 return to america. at 7:00 p.m. eastern, lead up to inauguration day. american history tv looks back at famous inaugural speeches. this weekend, speeches by john kennedy in 1961, lyndon johnson in 1965, and richard nixon in

1969. at 9:30 p.m. eastern on the presidency, author robert shmuel with his book, "mr. churchill and the white house" shares that the reddish prime minister was more than a houseguest during his lengthy visits to the white house during presidencies of raichlen roosevelt and eisenhower. the article draws on letters, government documents, and memoirs to tell the story of winston churchill and the two presidents. exploring the american story, watch american history tv saturdays on c-span2. and find a full schedule on your program guide, or watch online anytime at c-span.org /history. witness democracy unfiltered with c-span. experience history as it unfolds with c-span's live coverage this month. as republicans take control of both

chambers of congress and a new chapter begins with the swearing in of the 47th president of the united states on monday, live from the house chamber, witness vice president kamala harris reside over the certification of the electoral college vote, where this historic session will officially confirm donald trump as the winner of the 2024 presidential election. on january 20th, tune in for a live, all-day coverage of the presidential inauguration as donald trump takes the oath of office, becoming the 47th president of the united states. stay with c-span this month for prancer, live, unfiltered coverage of the 119th congress and the presidential inauguration, c-span, democracy unfiltered. attention middle and high school students across america. it is time to make your voice heard. c-span documentary contest 2025 is here . this is your chance

to create a documentary that can inspire change, raise awareness, and make an impact. your documentary should answer this year's question, your message to the president, what issue is most important to you, or your community? whether you are passionate about politics, the environment, or community stories, student cam is your platform to share your message with the world wi$100,000 in prizes, including a grand prize of $5000. this is your opportunity, not only to make an impact, but be rewarded for your creativity and hard work. interviewer submissions today. scan the code, or visit student camp.org for details on how to enter. the deadline is january 20th, 2025. c-span is your unfiltered view of government. we are funded by these television companies and more. where are you going?

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