a look at sam ervin's time as chairman of the wear gate committee. at 8:00 on monday love letters written by president harding. all of that coming up this weekend on american history tv here on c-span 3. >>> each week american history tv's reel america brings you archival films that helps tell the story of the 20th century. in an attempt to control the colorado river flooding and provide water to california and arizona the u.s. government began construction on hoover dam in 1931, one of the largest manmade structures in the world when it opened in 1936. the project employed over 21,000 workers and was completed two years ahead of schedule. next, a 1955 department of the interior film about the planning and building of hoover dam. the story of hoover dam explains the engineering feats necessary for construction and promotes economic and recreational benefits provided by the structure. ♪ >> this is the story of hoover dam, one of america's seven modern civil engineering wonders. >> build a dam in the wilderness and the world will beat a path to it. for

every day when sam ervin was running these astonishing hearings and hearing white house officials you know sounding like mafia enforcers you know what did it feel like to realize that our leaders you know who would we place so much faith in were traducing democracy and turned out that there was a really amazing story to tell about that really rich story told them things like letters to the editor there was an amazing article in new york magazine that i write about in nine hundred seventy three in which i reporter gail sheehy who is i went out to do lots of interesting other things went to a bar in queens and she's watching watergate and archie bunker country and she heard people saying well nixon should have had you know ellsberg assassinated and stuff like that and that stuff was really kind of going out on the surface and the pundits really weren't paying too much attention to it so there was a whole social history of watergate to get told by the time i was done telling that well i had you know used up a heck of a lot of pages you know the. there was a idealism in the sixty's and si

. >> tonight on american history tv, we will hear about senator sam ervin's time as chair of the watergate committee from his former aide and his grandson. they recall his character and how his self-proclaimed country lawyer relied on his knowledge of the law and personal convictions to guide the senate watergate committee. the world aime in lot of soldiers have been away from their homes for about three to four years. letters home saying the farm is falling to pieces. we have patrollers in the area that are taking supplies from us. whether you going to come home? so, there is a large problem with desertions. it was not desertions from the standpoint of soldiers not wanting to go into battle. it was just their heartstrings are being pulled by their families neeing them back home. and so, what lee had imposed was a fairly strict set of orders that deserters would be sometimes shot and definitely the punishment, several occurrences of this happening. the morale was so low, about this time, les miserables came out in book form. there were several confederate troops that saw it on the shelf an

. >> sunday night on american history tv, we will hear about senator sam ervin's time as chair of the watergate committee. characterl ervin's and how the self-proclaimed country lawyer or light on his knowledge of the law and personal convictions to guide the senate watergate committee. eastern,ight at 9:45 the economist reflects on the life of milton friedman and his contributions to the study of you can onyx, -- economics, especially his work to reestablish the american economy following world war ii. he also reflects on his personal relationship with friedman and the economist's influence on his own career. only on american history tv on c-span3. >> with live coverage of the house on c-span and the senate wec-span2, on c-span3 complement that coverage by showing you the most relevant congressional hearings and public affairs events. on weekends, c-span3 is home to american history tv with programs that tell our nation's story including the civil war's 150th anniversary, american museums anduring historic sites to reveal what artifacts reveal about america's past. the best-known ame

sunday night we will hear about senator sam ervin's time on the watergate committee.they recall ervin's character and how the self-proclaimed country lawyer relied on his personal con vicks to guide the senate watergate committee. >> this labor day, on the c-span networks, on c-span at 5:30 eastern, an education department summit on bullying in schools. and bill nye the science guy debates creationism. at 7:00 p.m. eastern representative james clyburn talks about growing up in the working in uth to congress. then the author of "price of fame." on c-span 3's american history tv, at 7:15 p.m. eastern time, american artifacts looks at declassified documents related to the 1964 gulf of tonkin incident that led to the escalation of the vietnam war. at 8:00 p.m. president warren ardings -- harding's newly released letters. find our programming at c-span.org and let us know what you think about the programs you are watching. >> join the c-span conversation, like us on facebook, follow us on twitter. >> you are watching american history tv. all weekend, every weekend on c-spa

. >> host: but watergate itself, sam ervin who headed the watergate committee said what it was, an assault on the integrity of the process of nominating presidents and electing them. in other words, that nixon and his people were tampering with everyone's vote in a way. do you a great? >> guest: i agree with that, off, but what has happened over the years the definition of watergate have so expanded from the break-in, the cover-up, the interference and influence of the election process, general nixonian abuse of power. in fact, congress has actually defined it as a result of legislation and regulations that field of the legislation. today watergate has a very, very broad meaning. you and i, and today we will be talking about a very narrow area of that, but it's indicative of the entire events. >> host: so why 39, four years later, because it's 40 years ago that nixon resigned. waiheke jumped again to a total -- waiheke jumped back into a total immersion in that period the tapes for that year, from the time of watergate burglary until their existence, why have you done that. >> guest: if i

>> i think sam ervin and all the witnesses helped the system to work. but the system did not really work in the long run because nixon should have been impeached taskried and brought to for this incredible amount of illegality and cover-up. i mean, you listen to the tapes of richard nixon. bigot, but he a is a liar. >> thank you for your recollections from 40 years ago. next is fred joining us from connecticut. say'm calling and wanted to i wonder how much the loss in 1960 played into richard nixon's mindset. he always believed kennedy st ole in 1960 election. wons wondering if he had the election in 1960, of course you cannot go back and read ifds, but i am wondering this would have ever been in his mind. heust think he had so many, thought he had so many enemies that in 1972 he had to do something to make sure he stopped his enemies. i am just wondering how much the 1960 election loss late into his played into972 -- his actions in 1972. >> one of the questions we will ask john farrell at the top of the hour. fred, do you remember watching? we have bee