tv Reel America The Inheritance - 1964 CSPAN September 22, 2018 8:00am-9:01am EDT
8:00 am
>> every weekend beginning ,aturday at 8:00 a.m. eastern we bring you 48 hours of unique programming exploring our nation's past. is only onstory tv c-span3 tv. inheritance" a movie to celebrate the 50th anniversary founding. narrated by robert ryan and including a number of songs by folk singers founding. -- documenting conflicts and advances for textile workers from ellis island to the civil rights new management -- movement.
8:03 am
yesterday and there is no -- without pain. 1901, 16 years old coming to america with five words of english. revich.oo is impossible, this language. >> in the old country, i worked like an animal and even before my children are born, the market is on them, animal. before god, i swear my children will not live as i have lived. freedom doesn't come like a
8:04 am
bird on the wing doesn't come down like summer rain freedom, freedom is a hard won thing you have to work for it, fight for it, every day and night for it every generation got to win it again ♪ >> ♪ pass it on to your children mother. pass it on to your children brother fight for it, day and night for it children it on to your which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] --♪ no arrivals scheduled -- all of arrivals scheduled for examination must present themselves with their documents. >> name?
8:05 am
place of birth? >> odesza. >> how much money you got? today got 5000 to process so let's keep these lines moving. keep an eye out for tb. we are getting a lot of it lately. >> name? >> please, god, let nothing go wrong. let them not notice the baby's runny nose. let them take us into america. ♪ >> y d keep asking me what is going to be like?
8:06 am
8:07 am
--one-family vanderbilt has not to mention a 60 room shack in north carolina. i read in the papers to take care of the grounds they spend more than the department of agriculture, so let it be a lesson, save your money. >> official navy yard housing survey, 1905. >> we find it difficult to convey conditions in the new immigrant neighborhoods. darkness, dampness, dirt, dirt,
8:08 am
discomfort, and disease. diphtheria and death. [baby cries] >> mulberry street. 17 of us in four rooms. uncle antonio from naples and aunt bianca and the kid sleep in the parlor. if i ever get a boyfriend, where can we hold hands? in the park, with the pigeons. >> my dear, there are certain rules of etiquette one simply does not question. a lady does not show her ankle or raise her voice. if unmarried, a girl must be accompanied by a chaperone. a male relative would be quite satisfactory. naturally, the best and safest thing to do is stay at home and help mother about the house. >> 12 hours a day. mama makes $.50. i make a dime.
8:09 am
louis makes a nickel. [whirring] [train whistle] >> ♪ laying down tracks for the westbound train digging up -- stacking up timber maine state of digging up coal in the west virginia hills hammering steel immigrants from austria and italy immigrants from riga on the baltic sea slow backs, swedes, irishmen from limerick, english men from leeds six day a week, a 12-hour day, and it is welcome, boys, to the usa a dollar a day for a factory hand, and it is welcome, ladies, to the promised land ♪ [guitar music]
8:10 am
narrator: immigrants and the sons of immigrants, putting down roots, hanging on, stubborn as a tree that pushes its way up through the rock. acrobats and clowns, rascals and lovers, builders and dreamers, leaving their signature on the cities. budapest, columbia and county court they came, and finding no miracles they made their own. a miracle of friendship, the miracle of laughter, the miracle of the generations, the miracle of learning.
8:11 am
>> listen, do you want to hear the president? george washington, john adams, thomas jefferson. >> professor genius, what else did you learn? >> daniel webster, a quote. "justice is the great interest of man on earth." >> from your mouth to god's ears. >> i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. narrator: golden america. half dream and half nightmare. >> ♪ when i die, don't bury me at all hang me up in the pool-room hall place the bobbin in my hand so i can keep on working in the promised land i got the blues i got the blues
8:12 am
i got the windmill cotton mill blues lordy, lordy, got to work like hell ♪ narrator: two million children in the mills and the mines, 6 million grown-ups unemployed. >> why hire a man for one dollar when you can hire a kid for a dime? >> i was taught in my youth that it was the height of vulgarity to discuss money. >> a professor in chicago came up with a few statistics. >> an american family cannot adequately survive unless $900 a year. the average working man earns about $400.
8:13 am
>> when they union inspiration through the workers blood show run the force on earth is weaker than the people's strengths of one only union makes us strong solidarity forever forever y ♪ narrator: the garment workers of new york, keeping alive a tradition going back to the philadelphia printers who formed a union before washington was president. immigrants and the sons of immigrants, carrying on the heritage of the boston carpenters who fought for the 10 hour day while missouri was still indian territory. >> ♪ we are coming, union men we are side-by-side, we will battle onward victory will come ♪
8:14 am
>> as spokesman for the mine owners, i sure you the rights you thereyou rights and interests of the laboring man will be cared for not by the labor agitator but by the christian man who by god's wisdom has been given control of the property interests of this country. >> ♪ freedom doesn't come like the bird on the wing doesn't come down like the summer rain freedom, freedom, is a hard-won thing you have to work for it, fight for it, day and night for it and every generation has got to win it again pass it on to your children, mother pass it on to your children, brother ♪ >> i came to chicago green off the boat, 1910. got myself a job in a men's
8:15 am
clothing shop. the machine, shaking in your boots, scared of being fired for talking, sneezing, looking at the foreman cross-eyed. >> a busy season, get up before dawn, come home in the dark, the children's faces you don't look on except when they are sleeping. and in the slack season, you can speed up. you can go crazy with the speed up, turning out more, more, more for the same money. [sewing machine] >> just like this, all of a sudden, the foreman announces
8:16 am
they are cutting the piece rate for seaming pants. >> you have a wife and kids to support. you keep your mouth shut. >> lucy, are you going to sit there and take it? not me. i not taking it. i'm walking out. ♪ >> sure, it's all right for them, a handful of girls. i've got kids to feed. >> i warned her. walk out, and you are blacklisted, finished in chicago. >> why doesn't the union do something? >> the so-called union is strictly for the cutters, the aristocrats. they are not interested in greenhorns. >> what am i doing in here taking over their work? i ought to be out there with them. >> what do we do? >> i don't know what you're going to do. i know what i'm going to do. out. i am walking out.
8:17 am
♪ >> do you hear? did you hear the latest? >> three dollars an hour. six more shops. >> 18,000. >> 35,000. >> you hear? $40,000. ♪ >> i heard rumor the union is looking to make a deal under the table and sell us down the river. [crowd noise] >> ♪ i am as mild-mannered a girl as i can be i have never done them harm that i can see banl on may they float on a and they throw me in the can
8:18 am
they go wild, simply wild, over me ♪ >> men with empty stomachs, four months out on the freezing street, four months standing together, standing solid. >> i see charlie out there walking in the line. up comes a foreman who gives him a punch and yells, "go home, troublemaker." so charlie says, "i got my rights." rights, they gave him. a bullet in the head, they gave him. ♪ >> how do you do, sir?
8:19 am
my name is jane adams. i'm a social worker. i wonder, mr. sharpener, how long has it been since you have seen with your own eyes the conditions under which these people work for you? >> so i went to my factory and i looked, and then i wasn't surprised that they went on strike. i was only surprised they waited so long. >> schaffner is going to arbitrate grievances and wage demands. >> what does hellmann say? >> all we want is to be treated as human beings, not machines. arbitration is the first step. >> all right, so they got arbitration. they got a little security. >> it still leaves the rest of us right back where we started. >> you think this is the end? take it from me, this is only the beginning. ♪ narrator: something in the wind,
8:20 am
blowing east in chicago, a restless murmur running through the shops, something being born, a beginning. a hope. new york, 1912, heart of the men's clothing market. 60,000 vest makers, buttonhole makers, pressers and pants makers cutters, tailors, slapped , in jail by the police, bailed out by a tough little labor lawyer named laguardia. >> did you hear? we got a settlement. a 53 hour week. present they gave us. ice in the winter. >> listen, whatever you presentu have to fight for it. if i am wrong, if my information is mistaken, please correct me, which i will appreciate. thank you. ♪ ♪ narrator: something in the wind,
8:21 am
something struggling to be born. baltimore, strike and sellout. rochester, sellout and heartbreak. ♪ [crowd noise] >> the union is having a convention, nashville, tennessee. >> why nashville? >> because the locals are in new york, chicago, baltimore, that's the reason. we have got complaints so they are making it tough for us to get out there. >> so why nashville? why not alaska? [train sounds] narrator: beg, borrow, scrape together the money for train fare. >> nashville, all out for nashville. >> new york, boston, rochester, cincinnati, philadelphia,
8:22 am
baltimore or late with their dues and they will not be seated. >> we were all on strike, we didn't eat, how can we pay dues? >> the right to speak. >> baltimore is still out on strike. >> brother in the balcony is out of order. >> that the brother in the balcony be heard. >> the delegate from chicago is out of order. >> listen, we just came in from nashville. chicago just walked out of the convention. >> yes, and new york and baltimore. >> boston, philadelphia, and cincinnati. >> 75% of the membership walked out. >> holding their own convention. >> we are setting up our own union. ♪
8:23 am
>> it will be an outlaw outfit, will not even be in the af of l. you are out of your mind, staking your hand on a wild gamble. narrator: in the month of december in 1914, they gathered at webster hall, and they took the gamble. >> it was our dream to give security to our members, security was within the framework of individual liberty and freedom. lincoln said a nation cannot exist half slave and half free. neither can a man. we cannot exist free politically but slaves industrially. >> dear brother. we just formed and organized facility in milwaukee. makers, twoutton polls, a swede, and they hung gary and. narrator: starting with nothing, with empty pockets and a barrel
8:24 am
of hope, organizing new york and chicago, wisconsin and new jersey, baltimore and boston, kentucky, missouri, ohio, montreal, toronto, pennsylvania. >> dear brother hillman, maybe you can come to our assistance. we had a little strike down here in philadelphia. our business agent got thrown in jail. i haven't got to buy postage stamps, much less pay the fine. worst comes to worst don't , worry. i will hock my overcoat. >> i am a boss, so don't quote me. to tell you the god's truth, the union is the best thing that ever happened in this industry. we've got arbitration, come together like human beings, set standards, set rates in a civilized manner, do you know what i mean? since we went union, we have never had a strike.
8:25 am
8:26 am
narrator: immigrants and the sons of immigrants, fishermen from nantucket, factory hands from the lower east side, farm boys from arkansas. >> ♪ goodbye, ma goodbye, pa goodbye mule with the old he -- i do not know what war is about but will soon sure find out ♪ [explosions] >> ♪ i may not know what the war is about, but i bet by gosh i will soon find out oh, my darling, don't you fear i'll bring you a gun for a
8:27 am
souvenir ♪ ♪ narrator: u.s. army, dead and missing, 130,500. wounded, 234,300. u.s. steel, profits $2 billion. in the backwash of war, depression and a rising hysteria. in a single year, 61 murders by lynching. revolution in russia, touching off panic at home. victims of the palmer raids, their houses ransacked without
8:28 am
search warrants. 3000 foreign-born arrested, denied lawyers, held without charges for three months. in pittsburgh and gary, indiana, it was the 12-hour day, take it or leave it, and you had better take it if you know what is good for you. >> ♪ tell me what is a vigilante man what is a vigilante man does he carry a club and a gun in his hand? would he beat your brother and sister down? ♪ >> amalgamated clothing workers of america of the af of l, and closed find our contribution of $100,000 for the relief of the steel strikers. we know it's only the beginning of one of the greatest attacks ever directed at american labor. narrator: 1920.
8:29 am
>> in six short years, we have built ourselves one of the strongest unions in the country. in new york, a 44-hour week and a working machinery of arbitration. >> well, the employers decided it was time to erect a union. open up the sweatshops and turn back the clocks. they offered us a contract and we turned them down. >> lockout. >> they get an injunction and starve us out. >> the judge just came back into the courtroom. he's getting ready to read the decision. >> what happens if they get the injunction? >> we get thrown in the clinker. -- clink for picketing, that is
8:30 am
what happens. >> hear ye, hear ye, the supreme court of the state of new york is now in session. the honorable judge presiding. >> the court must stand at all times as the representative of capital, as captains of industry. injunction granted. >> employers that succeed in getting injunctions succeed in getting nothing else. let them go ahead. >> sit tight and hang on. museum,ack the starvation, slums, crime, everything that is rotten and inhuman. your organization must ask great circum--- sacrifices. walk rather than spending a nickel on car fair. we will take care that there is
8:31 am
not a single house without bread. , butll not give you meet your brothers and sisters will not let you starve. >> starting in the sweatshop at the age of 11, somehow i never got time to go to harvard. so at the age of 47, i am in lockup college. american history, public speaking, labor history, even art classes. --♪ >> we volunteered to go out there and arrange the entertainment. i don't believe the world has such children anywhere, as the eastside children. they took our modest program and transformed it with their magic. i sat there thinking, what if the business of society were making children like this instead of profits? and we hung on, hung on for six long months, and we won.
8:32 am
>> we did it. we did it. we hung on and we won. ♪ >> the 1920's. >> a chicken in every pot and a tin lizzie in every garage. >> keep cool with kool-aid. >> cancel the child labor laws. >> ♪ in the white house the other day, what did calvin coolidge say speech,ick kenny made a a famous speech when he told bottom ♪ ty or black believe may, the 1920's isn't all bo, doe dee oh do. it is still a seasonal business.
8:33 am
layoffs, unemployment, behind in the rent. go to the bank for a loan, asking for security. if i had security i would not need alone in the first place. my hands are my security. >> as we come marching, marching, we battle for men for they are women's children and we mother them again. our lives shall not be sweated from birth until life closes. give us bread, and give us roses. narrator: the amalgamated pioneering slum clearance, putting up the first cooperative low-rent houses, founding a bank where working man can get alone -- get a loan out of the security of his labor, setting up the only unemployment insurance program in the nation. and that was also the 1920's. >> up, up, up boys, the sky is the limit. >> at&t, 303.
8:34 am
u.s. steel, 255. >> i love my wife, but who are you kiddin? steel, 313. >> what is wrong with the market? >> u.s. steel, 300. u.s. steel, 152. u.s. steel, 60. guy has cares if this to fall in the sea failing, asth banks long as you've got a kiss that conquers ♪ >> president hoover assured reporters today that the fundamental business of the country is on a sound and prosperous basis. the secretary of the treasury announced, "i can guarantee there is nothing in the situation to be concerned about. "
8:35 am
it's a mighty hard row that these poor hands hold my poor dad traveled a hard, dusty road at the edge of your cities, you will see us and then we come with the dust, and we re gone with the wind ♪ >> fed up with being unemployed, tired of being hungry, 20,000 doughboys went down to washington to demand the veterans bonus that we had coming to us. herbert hoover sicked the army on us, chased us out of the hospital. >> let me tell you, mister, we ain't taking it no more. there's gonna be some changes made! >> california came here to nominate a president. california, 44 votes for roosevelt.
8:36 am
8:37 am
narrator: the new deal, beginning to roll, a running river of social legislation, the ccc and wpa bringing jobs to 9 million unemployed, fair labor laws setting minimum wages and maximum hours. child labor laws passed again. the tva, bringing light to the dark valleys. the social security act, partially inspired by the amalgamated pattern, providing unemployment and old-age insurance. the wagner labor relations act. employees shall have the right to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing. until you have organized and expressed yourself, the politicians will vote for a bill in congress that lengthens the
8:38 am
working hours, that puts in a starvation period and abolishes the prevailing wage. that is what the politicians will do, unless you make your wants and your rights known. and you can't do it unless you organize. -- the workers of this country wants representation, the workers want organization, they want participation, they want protection, they want employment, and they are going to have those things through the leadership and instrumentality of this new labor movement. [applause] >> instead of 1000 craft unions segregating the workers, the cio meant one big union for every major industry. organize the unorganized, furnace man in the steel mills,
8:39 am
deckhands, stokers, boilers aboard the merchant ships , roustabouts and riggers in the oil fields. rubber workers, electrical workers, copper miners, the amalgamated organizing cotton garment workers in pennsylvania, new england and the prairie states, organizing laundry workers, cleaners and dyers, retail clerks, providing the manpower and money to organize a textile workers union. ♪ >> if you want fair wages, then we tell you what to do you have to talk to their workers in the shop with you. you have to build a union and fight for what you want. better building conditions, better working conditions,
8:40 am
it is not so simple and i have got to explain that is why you have to ride on , will all bein waiting until judgment day. if you don't, you will be buried. now you know you are underpaid, but the boss thinks you ain't, you may be down and out but you the -- aien -- eight n't beaten on♪ which side are you which side are you on which side are you on which side are you on ♪ >> we have been down here for five days. what say you, boys?
8:41 am
[applause] >> ♪ this land is your land this land is my land from california to the new york islands from the redwood forests to the gulf stream waters this and was made for you and me as i went walking that ribbon of highway i saw above me hat golden sky way and saw below me, that golden valley this land is made for you and me this land is your land this land is my land from california to the new york islands from the redwood forest to the
8:42 am
8:43 am
8:44 am
sit down, and rest your feet, ♪ sit down, you've got 'em beat. ♪ sit down! sit down! when they smile and say, "no raise in pay exhibitionit-down when you want the boss to come point across sit-down exhibition point sit-down!-- it-down! ♪ >> we sat down in the auto plants for 44 days and we came up with a union contract. in the men's clothing field, victory. industrywide collective bargaining, bringing order out of chaos. auto organized, cio. steel organized. textile organized. rubber, oil, copper, merchant marine, furniture workers, leather workers, woodworkers. packing house workers glass workers. >> ♪ this land is your land
8:45 am
this land is my land from the new york islands -- from the redwood forest to the new york islands ♪ >> in three years, 5 million americans organized. cio. >> 1938. >> ♪ forget your troubles and just get happy you better take all your cares away sing hallelujah, get ready for the judgment day forget your troubles and just just get happy -- just get happy better chase all your cares away ♪ narrator: berlin. chancellor adolf hitler told reporters today germany had no territorial ambitions.
8:46 am
8:47 am
luxembourg. france. yugoslavia. greece. december 7, 1941. [explosions] pearl harbor. a present from tokyo. ♪ >> in the african hills, on the bleak islands of the pacific, we got the message the days when the united states could sit isolated behind its oceans, were ended forever. the message written in fire that from now on, for better or for worse, it was one world. ran from thene philippines to iwo jima, from
8:48 am
anzio to normandy, from al alamein to stalingrad. ♪ the battle line ran through pittsburgh and detroit, norfolk and san francisco. ♪ and yet, in the midst of war, in the 1942 elections, only a third of americans 80 million eligible voters went to the polls. ♪ franklin roosevelt, the white house, washington, to sidney hillman. "dear sydney, i can think of nothing more important than the continuing political education of the people who do the jobs of this land."
8:49 am
>> it is our duty now to begin to lay the plans and determine the strategy for winning a lasting peace, and the establishment of an american standard of living higher than ever known before. narrator: the man dies, but the dream endures. ♪ >> we have accepted, so to speak, a second bill of rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all, regardless of station, race or creed. the right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation. the right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident and unemployment. and finally, the right to a good education. all of these rights spell security.
8:50 am
♪ narrator: the clock ticks away the inexorable hours. over the horizon, the days vanish like wild birds. the sky announces a new season. pinned up on the drawing board are plans for the destruction of pianos and violins. -- violets. lightning flashes among the constellations, and yet the human spark burns on. thunder rolls above the clouds, and yet the small, persistent voice of man prevails. >> at the age of 83, i looked back to see the changes that had taken place. i remembered that when mr. hillman had just arrived from chicago, i then said to a friend of mine, i says, he looks like a
8:51 am
young fellow, but i would take my hat off to him if you can take a these wolves and make them see the light, and create a business where individuals could make a livelihood and do away with that slavery that existed all through the years. >> i can go back to a time with my pop, may he rest in peace, we worked together and he broke me in. i used to remember when he broke me in, we used to work next to each other. he was a strict man. when he was out a day, just one day, there was no day. and when he had no pay, there was no food in the house. at that time, a boss was able to
8:52 am
walk over to the machine, tear off the cotton, kick you out, and that was it. when things got slow the boss used to go around and cut prices, and we used to work cheaper. you had no standard of conditions. you had no standard of government, no standard of labor. it was a dog eat dog. benefits, we had none. >> today, as long as i stay in the amalgamated, i've got my benefits. i can move to any union shop in the country, new york, ohio, oskaloosa and keep my medical care. keep my pension. >> whoever thought that this trade would have three weeks' vacation? whoever thought we would have legal holidays? whoever thought we would see a business agent who could walk business agent who could walk into a shop and tell the boss, you can't fire this man because he is old, or because he is sick? you've got to keep him. those things you did not see years ago.
8:53 am
and whoever thought in this trade, that when a man reached 65, he could retire? because never did we think we would see it in this trade. a man used to work until he dropped by the machine. and after he dropped, he had to hope his family would support him. i can remember when a man got sick, he was broke. today, we have got the union hospitalization on x-rays, psychiatric, right down the line. you know, today, i come into a shop and i look around and i see the younger people, girls and boys, and i say to myself, do these people know what we fought for? do they know how hard it was to get the conditions that we have got? do they know what a union actually means? do they know what they have to go through to keep the conditions they have? do they know that they must sacrifice to keep the conditions? they call each other brothers and sisters at a union meeting.
8:54 am
do they know that a union brother and a union sister made sacrifice? >> ♪ if i had a hammer i would hammer in the morning i would hammer in the evening i would harm are all over this land i would hammer out of danger i would hammer out of warning ♪ ♪ >> unity is dignity. the biggest thing we have a show the south through our union is dignity. the thing that is most important down there is dignity, the right to stand up and grieve, the right to know they can take a stand when they are mistreated in the shop. you go into a town that is antiunion, try to make contact as quietly as possible. many times we are refused lodging accommodations, hotels and motels. when we get somewhere, our phone calls are monitored. myself, i have been in front of a plant in a southern community and city officials, police,
8:55 am
sheriff groups chase us away from the plant, taken out of the car rope around my neck, pulled , up on my tiptoes and told, if you ever come back here again, we will kill you. many times a worker will say i'm for you, i'm going to vote for you, i will sign a union card but don't park your car close to know weuse because we have been seen and i might get fired tomorrow. courage but weof are going to sign a union card. but the workers have got courage, a lot of them have. >> ♪ if i had a hammer i would hammer in the morning i would hammer in the evening i would hammer all over this land i'd hammer up freedom i'd hammer out justice i'd hammer out love between my brothers and my sisters, all
8:56 am
over this land ♪ >> as it is, they say we're not ready. that is the first thing you hear. he is not ready for it. how can i give him something he is not ready for? but i am ready. i've been ready. but maybe you don't recognize it. maybe you think i am still a child or something. i am not a child. i have children, and i'm worried about them like you are worried about yours. >> ♪ you got to work for it fight for it, day and night for it and every generation has got to win it all again ♪ sometimes i get thinking if , only i could protect them from all the troubles of the world, discrimination, poverty, war. but the best i can do is let her learn to be strong, to stand up
8:57 am
and fight for a decent life. that's her inheritance. ♪ narrator: the seed is planted and the seed flowers. the roots take hold. a stubborn three forces its way through the rock. immigrants and the sons of immigrants, handing down their inheritance, creating out of their dreams and their anguish and their songs, the face of america. >> ♪ freedom doesn't come like a bird on the wing doesn't come down like the summer rain freedom, freedom is a hard-won thing you have got to work for it, fight for it day and night for it and every generation got to win
8:58 am
8:59 am
take it from me, this is only the beginning. watching american history tv, 48 hours of programming on american history every weekend on c-span3. follow us on twitter for information about our schedule and to keep up with the latest history news. c-span, where history unfolds daily. in 1979, c-span was created as a public service by america's public television. we continue to bring you unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court, and public policy events next on american history tv,
9:00 am
u.s. army command and staff college professor, and the truman presidential library archivist, discuss or astronauts and counterintelligence efforts during the truman administration. topics include the president's response to the soviets retaining nuclear secrets through as you knowledge, mccarthyism and truman's reaction to allegations against accused spies, ethel and julius rosenberg. the harry s, truman presidential library hosted this event. it is just under one hour. >> let's talk about who we have today. i'm excited to have mr. lee lacy, who is a assistant professor at the u.s. commanded at fort leavenworth. he is a graduate at the university of arkansas who received a master from webster university.
133 Views
IN COLLECTIONS
CSPAN3Uploaded by TV Archive on
