>> you could be featured during our next live program. join the conversation on facebook at facebook.com/cspanhistory. and onsp facebook.com/cspanhistory. next on american history tv, we look back 40 years to 1988 when president ronald reagan and soviet leader mikhail gorbachev delivered new year's delay messages. three weeks earlier, the two leaders signed the ifn treaty to eliminate intermediate range nuclear missiles. president reagan addressed the soviet people from the white house and general secretary gorbachev addressed the american people from the kremlin. this is about ten minutes. >> good evening. this is ronald reagan, president of the united states. i'm speaking to you, the peoples of the soviet union, on the occasion of the new year. i know that in the soviet union as it is all around the world this is a season of hope and expectation. a time for family to gather, a

time for prayer, a time to think about peace. that's true in america too. at this time of year, americans travel across the country in their cars or by airplane to be together with their families. many americans of course came to the united states from other countries. and at this time of year, they look forward to hosting friends and family from their homelands. most of us celebrate christmas or hanukkah and as part of those celebrations, we go to church or synagogue, then gather around the family dinner table. after giving thanks for our blessings, we share a traditional holiday meal of goose, turkey, or roast beef and exchange gifts. on new year's eve, we gather again. and like you, we raise our glasses in a toast to the year to come. for the hopes for ourselves, for our families and yes, for our nation and the world. this year, future of the nation and the world is particularly on

our minds. we are thinking of our nation because of the year ahead. we americans will choose our next president. every adult citizen has a role to play in the making of this decision. we will listen to what the candidates say. we will debate their views and our own. and in november, we will vote. i will still be president next january. but soon after that, the man or woman leading our country will be the one the american people pick this coming novel. as i've said, we americans will also be thinking about the feud are of the world this year. for the same reasons that you will be thinking of it too. in a few months, general secretary gorbachev and i hope to meet once again. this time in moscow. last month in washington we signed the intermediate nuclear forces treaty. in which we agreed to eliminate an entire class of u.s. and soviet nuclear weapons.

it was a history making step towards reducing the nuclear arms of both sides. but it was just a beginning. now in geneva, soviet and american representatives are discussing a 50% reduction in strategic nuclear weapons. perhaps we can have a treaty ready to sign by our meeting in spring. the world prays that we will. we on the american side are determined to try. you see, we have a vision of a world safe from the threat of nuclear war. and, indeed, all war. such a world would have far fewer missiles and other weapons. today, both america and the soviet union have an opportunity to develop a defensive shield against ballistic missiles. a defensive shield that will threaten no one. for the sake of a safer peace, i am committed to pursuing the possibility that technology offers. the general secretary and i also anticipate continuing our talks about other issues of deep concern to our peoples. for example, the expansion of

contact between our peoples and more information flowing across our borders. expanding contacts and information will require decisions about life at home that will have an impact on relations abroad. this is also true in the area of human rights. as you know, we americans are concerned about human rights, including freedoms of speech, press, worship and travel. we will never forget that a wise man has said that violence does not live alone and is not capable of living alone. it is necessarily interwoven with falsehood. silence is a form of falsehood. we will always speak out on behalf of human dignity. we americans are also concerned, as i know you are, about senseless conflicts in a number of regions. in some instances, regimes backed by foreign military power are oppressing their own peoples, giving rise to popular

resistance and the spread of fighting beyond their borders. too many mothers, including soviet mothers, have wept over the graves of their fallen sons. true peace means not only preventing a big war but ending smaller ones as well. this is why we support efforts to find just negotiated solutions acceptable to the peoples who are suffering in regional wars. there is no such thing as inevitability in history. we can choose to make the world safer and freer if we have courage. but then courage is something neither of our peoples have ever lacked. we have been allies in a terrible war. a war in which the soviet peoples gave the ages and enduring testament to courage. let us consecrate this year to showing not courage for war but courage for peace.

we owe this to mankind. we owe it to our children and their children and generations to come. happy new year, thank you and god bless you. >> translator: ladies and gentlemen, friends. as we celebrate the new year, i am glad to address the citizens of the united states of america and to convey to you seasons greetings and best wishes from all soviet people. the first of january is the day when we take stock of the past year and try to look ahead into the coming year. the past year, 1987, ended with an event which can be regarded as a good omen. in washington, president reagan and i signed the treaty on the elimination of intermediate and

shorter range missiles. that treaty marks the first step along the path of reducing nuclear arms and that is its enduring value. but the treaty also has another merit. it has brought our two peoples closer together. we are entering the new year with a hope for continued progress. progress towards a safe world. we are ready to continue fruitfully the negotiations on reducing strategic arms with a view to signing a treaty to that effect, even in the first half of this year. we would like without delay to address the problem of cutting back drastically conventional forces and arms in europe. we are ready for interaction in resolving other problems including regional ones. i think it can be said that one of the features of the past year

was the growing mutual interest our two peoples took in each other. contacts between soviet and america's young people, war veterans, scientists, teachers, astronauts, businessmen and cultural leaders have expanded greatly. like thousands of strands, those contacts are beginning to weave into what i would call a tangible fabric of trust and growing mutual understanding. it is the duty of soviet and american political leaders to keep in mind the sentiment of the people in their countries and to reflect their will in political decisions. the soviet people are getting down to work in the new year with an awareness of their great responsibility for the present and for the future. there will be profound changes

in our country. along the lines of radical economic reform. and the final only six all this will let us move on to a broad avenue of accelerated development. we know that you americans have quite a few problems too. in grappling with those problems, however, i feel that both you and we must remember what is truly crucial. human life is equally priceless. whether in the soviet union, the united states or in any other country it so let us spare no effort to affirm peace on earth. ladies and gentlemen, during the official departure ceremony in washington, i said with regret that on that visit i had had

little chance to see america. i feel, however, that i did understand what is most important about the mesh people and that is their enormous stock of good will. let me assure you that soviet people, too, have an equally great stock of good will. putting it to full use is the most noble and responsible task of government and political leaders. in our two countries. if they could only do that what is but a dream today would come true. a lasting peace, an end to the arms race, wider ranging trade, cooperation in combating hunger, disease and environmental problems and progress in ensuring human rights and resolving other humanitarian

issues. may the coming year of 1988 become an important milestone as we move down that road. in concluding, this new year address to the people of the united states of america, i wish peace, happiness and joy to every american family. a happy new year to all of you. >> you're watching american history tv. 48 hours of programming on american history every weekend on c-span 3. tonight on the communicator, a look at the internet. broadband expansion and 5-g with u.s. telecom president and ceo jonathan spalter. he's interviewed by the senior

tech and telecom reporter for bloomberg law. >> mentioned that the groups you represent, the companies you represent, have a lot of work to do. can you talk a little bit about that? we hear a lot about 5-g networks. ultrafast, ultradense wireless broadband net works. can you talk about how we get to that stage? >> sure. the essential ingredient, indispensable ingredient with moving forward with ex-stand morgue broadband to americans but also ensuring our global competitiveness is this wonderful technology called broadband. our companies are committed to continue to make the investments, to provide the fiber, the resources, the infrastructure, the networks, to get more broadband connectivity to americans. it takes the right amount of investment. but it also takes the right types of smart 21st century forward looking policy frameworks that can actually

accelerate and advance and incent the investment required for us to move forward. >> watch the communicators tonight on c-span 2. this past year marked the centennial of u.s. entry into world war i. this monday on american history tv, we'll show highlights of our coverage from the national world war 1 museum and memorial in kansas city, missouri. here's a preview. >> i'm the president and ceo here at the national world war i museum and memorial. really this memorial and museum is such a striking image on the kansas city skyline. what a great story goes with that. it was in 1919, soon after the november 1918 armistice that a group of business leaders gathered and said let's do something to honor the war dead of kansas city and create a

tribute for peace. and so what you see behind me is the outcome of that. the fund-raising campaign that lasted only two weeks that raised more than $2.5 million. equivalent today of about $40 million. and then the people gathering here on this site in 1921. about 100,000 people in a city of about 250,000. and then the remarkable memorial being constructed and opening with president calvin coolidge in 1926 and again the people of the community gathering here. at that time about 150,000 people. said to be the largest crowd that the president or a president of the united states had spoken to up until that time. such was the -- i think the outpouring of honor for those who had served in world war i. and also a yearning for peace and a different sort of future

than the most recent past. >> watch highlights from national world war i museum and memorial on monday at 8 p.m. eastern. you're watching american history tv. only on c-span 3. >> 50 years ago on july 23rd, 1967, detroit erupted in five days of rioting and violence. fuelled by long-simmering racial tensions. wxyz tv was there to record the events as they unfolded. up next on american history tv's reel america, courtesy of the archives of michigan, a half hour wxyz documentary showing the events of that week. some viewers may find portions of this program disturbing.