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‐ [Narrator] Previously on
the Titans That Built America,
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as World War I comes to
a close, a new generation
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of titans are on the rise.
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‐ [Man] We're in the age of the machine.
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‐ [Narrator] Three car
makers fight for dominance.
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‐ This is my father Henry Ford.
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‐ [Man] To Pierre du Pont.
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(crowd cheers)
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‐ The Chrysler 70.
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(crowd talks over each other)
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‐ [Narrator] As a battle
rages to take down Ford,
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00:00:31,573 --> 00:00:34,493
he and his son Edsel
have their sights set on
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a new industry.
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‐ We should get into this.
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‐ [Narrator] They go head to head
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with a young upstart who
wants to make his name
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in aviation, William Boeing.
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‐ Very excited to tell you
about Boeing's new plane.
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(camera pops)
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‐ Pull.
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(gunshots fire)
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Hahaha, nothing like it.
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‐ [Narrator] With the warring
twenties and full swing,
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a skyscraper war begins as Chrysler
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looks to own the skyline.
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‐ So why you building the
tallest building in the world?
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‐ So I can look down on GM.
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Ha ha.
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‐ [Narrator] But du Pont
won't be out done and plans
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a building of his own.
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‐ Same height as
Chrysler's, a bit taller than.
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‐ The Empire State building.
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(driving beat begins)
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(seagulls caw)
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‐ [Reporter] Mr. Morgan?
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(reporters chatter)
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(flashbulbs pop)
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Mr. Morgan, what are the best investments
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and what is your opinion on US steel?
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I'll say this, General Motors
stock is very undervalued.
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‐ [Reporter] Mr. Morgan, one more question.
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‐ [Morgan] Thank you.
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‐ Mr. Morgan, one more please
one more question, please.
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‐ Thank you gentlemen.
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‐ [Narrator] By 1929,
Wall Street has become
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the most famous street in America.
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And JP Morgan Jr. is its King.
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‐ There's a saying about JP Morgan Jr.
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And his partners in the
late 1920s, they're called
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Jesus Christ and his 12 apostles
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and so that gives you
some sense of the stature
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of JP Morgan Jr. on Wall Street.
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He says in effect, I think
GM's future looks bright
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and GM stock surges in price
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and then the stock market follows.
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‐ [Narrator] Thanks to
Morgan and his fellow bankers,
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the stock market has climbed
nearly 40% in just one year.
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To investors and even ordinary Americans,
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there's a sense that you can't lose.
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‐ The thing about the roaring
twenties, it was the go go.
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Everybody was optimistic,
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markets were soaring, when it's so easy
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for anybody to go get out a
loan and then go speculate.
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‐ And not just speculation
from professional investors.
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But this was the first time that
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Joe on the street saw
the stock market going up
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and decided I'm going to go
get myself a loan to buy stock.
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And by the way, I'm going to make
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a handsome profit doing it.
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‐ It was like a boom like we've never had.
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There was a belief that
we were in the Emerald City.
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‐ [Radio Announcer] Day by
day we were nearer to the final
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triumph over poverty ever
before in the history of any land.
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‐ [Narrator] One industry in
particular reaps the rewards
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from the soaring economy, automobiles.
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In 1929, American spend a
half billion dollars on new cars.
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‐ The American automobile
industry had a larger economy
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than every country on
earth, with the exception
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of Germany, France, Britain,
maybe the Soviet Union.
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‐ [Narrator] 80% of the entire
us car market is controlled
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by just three companies.
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Du Pont's General Motors has the top spot.
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While Ford is second.
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And then there's Chrysler.
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‐ Okay, fellas, let's take a look.
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‐ [Narrator] In the eight
years since he left GM,
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he's grown his company
into the number three
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automaker in America but he's
determined to be number one.
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‐ Let me show you this.
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‐ [Narrator] And in order to do that,
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he's going to take things to another level
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by raising the competition to new heights.
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‐ You see here, this
stretches up to the third floor.
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I want it to feel like
you're stepping through
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the doorway into a city.
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‐ [Narrator] He's recently
started construction on a tower,
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that he plans to make
the tallest in the world.
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He calls it the Chrysler building.
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‐ Business entrepreneurs
at the top of game.
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It's about personal
dynamics and relationships
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that they have with their
colleagues and their peers
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and their rivals and
they want to beat them.
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And whether it's a business
or whether it's my house
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is bigger or my building
is bigger, that's the game.
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And that's how it's all scored.
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‐ [Narrator] The skyscraper's construction
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is a monumental feat, 30,000 tons of steel
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and more than 3 million
bricks will be needed.
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In a building this size,
every single detail matters.
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‐ One of the key innovations
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in the Chrysler building was
the world's fastest elevators.
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And the building had the
longest continuous elevator shaft
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in the world at the time.
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‐ [Narrator] But Chrysler
doesn't just want his tower
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to be the tallest, it also
must be the most beautiful.
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‐ Every entrepreneur knows what their,
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their special sauce is, what
their, their greatest skill is.
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With Chrysler, his was
beauty and precision.
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This is Nirosta stainless
steel, it's German.
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‐ Walter Chrysler, whatever he did,
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he was going to be the best at it.
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‐ All right.
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‐ He was going to build the
most beautiful skyscraper.
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It was going to be the tallest.
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It was going to be the talk of the world.
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(dramatic orchestral music swells)
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‐ [Newsreel Announcer]
High above street level,
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about 1,000 feet high in the air
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on the Chrysler building
looking over Lexington Avenue.
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‐ [Narrator] As it nears completion
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in the summer of 1929,
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Chrysler wants to make
sure the world takes notice.
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‐ Mr. Chrysler.
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‐ [Narrator] So he hires one
of America's top photographers
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to document the building.
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‐ Let me show you what I have going on.
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‐ Yeah, let's see it.
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‐ Margaret Bourke‐White
is an amazing photographer
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who is known for her photos of factories
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and city life and architecture.
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And one of the reasons that she stands out
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is that she's willing to go places
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that no one else will
just for that perfect shot.
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‐ [Narrator] Dangling high above Manhattan,
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Bourke‐White captures the spectacle
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of Chrysler's building.
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(dramatic music)
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Her death defying photos help make Chrysler
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and his building the
biggest news of the year.
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But Chrysler has competition.
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Less than 10 blocks away,
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du Pont has grand plans
for a skyscraper of his own.
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The Empire State Building.
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They've demolished the
old Waldorf Astoria hotel
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and have raised over $40
million for the construction
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of the building, over a
half billion in today's dollars.
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But now with Chrysler so far
ahead, some are questioning
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whether the project is
worth the investment.
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‐ What do you think we should do?
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‐ We're going to build.
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(energetic strings begin)
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‐ [Narrator] du Pont has
no interest in standing down.
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He's going to continue
until he beats Chrysler.
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So he keeps pushing the architects
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to make the building taller.
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‐ They'll be coming from a factory
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in Pittsburgh and they'll
be ordering 250,000 tons.
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‐ There was sort of a personal
rivalry among architects.
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So you have developers
who have these big egos,
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who are trying to outdo each other.
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You have the architects who are also sort
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of part of this game.
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‐ [Narrator] The newspapers
begin referring to it
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as the skyscraper race.
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‐ It's often impossible to keep your plans
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to add height secret because
you have to file these plans
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with the buildings department.
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‐ [Narrator] But now with
competition heating up
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and construction nearly complete,
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Chrysler is starting to worry.
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He wants to make sure
when all is said and done,
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there's no question
whose building is tallest.
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‐ So he went to his architect and he says
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you will go back to the drawing board
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and you add extra height,
you figure out some way
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that we can make our building even taller.
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(car honks)
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‐ [Narrator] For months,
Chrysler's team has been working
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on a secret project.
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Tomorrow he plans
to unveil it to the world.
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‐ Let's go, let's go.
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Let's go.
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Hold on, hold on.
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‐ [Narrator] Within the
crown of the building,
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hidden from view, Chrysler's
team has constructed
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a massive steel spike.
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‐ We need the beams over
there, all the points stack left.
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‐ Hold on, hold on, hold on,
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‐ Okay, we're going up, we're going up!
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Steady, steady, steady!
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(triumphant music)
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Hold on, hold on.
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‐ [Narrator] Now, in the dark of night,
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the team raises the metal structure
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through the top of the building.
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(sweeping music)
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(workers talk indistinctly)
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(phone rings)
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‐ Hello?
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‐ [Narrator] With the
first rays of the dawn,
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Chrysler's steel spire can
be seen piercing the sky.
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Overnight, Chrysler has
added nearly 200 feet
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to his building, surpassing
even the Eiffel Tower.
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The Chrysler Building is indisputably
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the tallest structure that
humans have ever created.
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(crowd cheers)
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‐ Great job boys, great job.
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‐ Chrysler was more than willing to spend
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a significant amount of
money to have his building
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00:13:00,280 --> 00:13:03,992
express his sort of modern
architectural view of the world
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00:13:04,075 --> 00:13:07,495
and to reflect his power and his success.
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‐ [Narrator] It's a huge
moment for the titan.
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‐ It's the flapper buildings,
it's jazz as an edifice.
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It is all the audacity all
the bombast of the 1920s
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captured in concrete and steel.
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‐ Look at it, that's history right there.
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‐ It was so sexy and so
new looking and so fresh
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and so striking that if my
building looks like this, well
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certainly the cars have gotta
be something pretty special.
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So it was the biggest billboard
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for a brand that was ever built.
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‐ [Radio Announcer] The
Chrysler building at 42nd street
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and Lexington is the
tallest structure in the world.
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It's gigantic tower dominates the city
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and it can be seen from nearly everywhere.
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00:14:01,341 --> 00:14:04,010
From it the views of
Manhattan's are sublime,
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it's silver spire flashing in the sun,
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00:14:07,180 --> 00:14:10,099
a monument of wealth and social prestige.
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But New York is not only steel and stone.
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It is people too, millions
of beating hearts,
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00:14:18,191 --> 00:14:22,320
lights and shadows, tears
and laughter, work and play,
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night and day and so it moves
from the memories of yesterday
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00:14:28,242 --> 00:14:30,036
into the promise of tomorrow.
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‐ [Narrator] Less than 24 hours
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00:14:44,384 --> 00:14:47,428
after Walter Chrysler
tops out his building,
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00:14:47,512 --> 00:14:51,182
the U. S. Stock Market
is taking a nose dive.
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00:14:52,350 --> 00:14:54,977
‐ In the year before the
Stock Market crash in 1929,
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00:14:55,061 --> 00:14:57,230
fortunes are being made all over the place.
249
00:14:57,355 --> 00:14:59,941
And there's this belief,
this optimism that the bull
250
00:15:00,024 --> 00:15:01,943
market will never end.
251
00:15:02,026 --> 00:15:03,736
No one could have foreseen
252
00:15:03,861 --> 00:15:06,322
what was coming in October of 1920.
253
00:15:07,532 --> 00:15:10,993
‐ [Narrator] In an instant,
the roaring twenties are over.
254
00:15:12,745 --> 00:15:15,456
And the fortunes of the Titans
255
00:15:16,541 --> 00:15:19,127
and the entire country
256
00:15:19,627 --> 00:15:21,003
will never be the same.
257
00:15:30,763 --> 00:15:33,724
(dark forboding music)
258
00:15:33,850 --> 00:15:34,850
(bells ringing)
259
00:15:34,892 --> 00:15:36,161
‐ What's the position on standard oil?
260
00:15:36,185 --> 00:15:38,521
‐ Standard oil is down by 14% and dropping.
261
00:15:38,646 --> 00:15:39,814
U.S. steel down by 200.
262
00:15:39,939 --> 00:15:41,139
‐ Sell down all the stock yet?
263
00:15:41,190 --> 00:15:43,151
Hold the position on standard oil.
264
00:15:45,236 --> 00:15:47,321
‐ [Narrator] In just three days,
265
00:15:47,405 --> 00:15:50,616
the stock market loses
almost half its value.
266
00:15:56,747 --> 00:15:58,875
After a decade of reckless spending,
267
00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:01,544
investors suddenly start to get nervous
268
00:16:01,669 --> 00:16:05,923
and begin offloading
shares by the tens of millions.
269
00:16:07,049 --> 00:16:09,802
It's the biggest sell off in history.
270
00:16:09,927 --> 00:16:11,471
‐ Traders know what that feels like
271
00:16:11,596 --> 00:16:12,722
and they know what it means.
272
00:16:12,847 --> 00:16:14,474
It starts to feed on itself
273
00:16:14,557 --> 00:16:17,643
and it, and the momentum
just picks up so rapidly.
274
00:16:18,519 --> 00:16:21,606
And so, when the market
started selling off in 1929,
275
00:16:21,689 --> 00:16:23,357
it snowballed.
276
00:16:26,277 --> 00:16:29,489
‐ If you're a stock broker
looking up at a board
277
00:16:29,572 --> 00:16:34,619
in 1929 and just watching
the numbers tick down minute
278
00:16:34,702 --> 00:16:39,123
by minute by minute,
it'll make your heart stop.
279
00:16:40,458 --> 00:16:41,977
I think that there were people who just
280
00:16:42,001 --> 00:16:45,213
couldn't even fathom
what they were looking at.
281
00:16:54,305 --> 00:16:58,518
‐ JP Morgan is watching his
world crumble before his eyes
282
00:17:00,353 --> 00:17:03,648
but he knows if anyone
can pull the country out
283
00:17:03,773 --> 00:17:06,400
of the crisis, it's him.
284
00:17:08,653 --> 00:17:10,321
(crowd talks over each other)
285
00:17:10,446 --> 00:17:12,281
‐ [Reporter] Mr. Morgan, what's happening?
286
00:17:13,533 --> 00:17:15,660
Has the stock market stopped falling?
287
00:17:19,372 --> 00:17:23,251
‐ The worst is over,
everything's going to be okay.
288
00:17:23,334 --> 00:17:24,374
‐ [Reporter] Are you sure?
289
00:17:24,460 --> 00:17:27,129
‐ Trust me, everything's going to be fine.
290
00:17:32,009 --> 00:17:34,178
‐ JP Morgan says, things are fine.
291
00:17:34,303 --> 00:17:36,305
Everybody goes back and buys.
292
00:17:39,308 --> 00:17:41,018
‐ U. S. Steel up to one seven.
293
00:17:42,728 --> 00:17:43,728
‐ Good.
294
00:17:44,814 --> 00:17:47,483
‐ [Narrator] By the power
of his word alone, JP Morgan
295
00:17:47,567 --> 00:17:50,361
turns around the stock
market and makes sure
296
00:17:50,444 --> 00:17:54,323
that he buys at the lowest
point to make a huge profit.
297
00:17:56,867 --> 00:17:59,704
Most people think the
Great Depression began right
298
00:17:59,829 --> 00:18:01,998
after the stock market crash.
299
00:18:02,123 --> 00:18:04,250
‐ Though the crash of
29 is considered the start
300
00:18:04,375 --> 00:18:07,128
of the Great Depression,
in fact, it took another couple
301
00:18:07,211 --> 00:18:08,963
of years before the full depth
302
00:18:09,005 --> 00:18:11,299
of this depression hit the American public.
303
00:18:12,883 --> 00:18:15,761
‐ So in the world of the
stock market, there's this thing
304
00:18:15,845 --> 00:18:18,222
called a V‐shaped recovery.
305
00:18:18,347 --> 00:18:21,976
You just go down real quick
and come back real quick.
306
00:18:22,101 --> 00:18:24,395
So in the brief aftermath of the crash
307
00:18:24,478 --> 00:18:27,940
there actually was a
little V and at the time,
308
00:18:28,024 --> 00:18:29,483
they thought it was a big V.
309
00:18:33,446 --> 00:18:35,323
‐ [Narrator] With the crash seemingly over,
310
00:18:35,448 --> 00:18:38,200
du Pont decides he's
still going to beat Chrysler
311
00:18:38,326 --> 00:18:40,661
with the tallest building in the world,
312
00:18:40,786 --> 00:18:42,371
the Empire State building.
313
00:18:44,040 --> 00:18:46,125
‐ In the fall of 1929
314
00:18:46,208 --> 00:18:50,504
Raskob and du Pont,
they're crunching the numbers.
315
00:18:52,006 --> 00:18:53,299
From du Pont's point of view,
316
00:18:53,382 --> 00:18:55,760
it made perfect sense to go forward.
317
00:18:55,843 --> 00:18:57,723
There was every reason
to believe at that point
318
00:18:57,845 --> 00:19:00,640
that their project would
be economically successful.
319
00:19:02,850 --> 00:19:07,104
‐ But Chrysler's new spire
has complicated du Pont's plan.
320
00:19:08,522 --> 00:19:12,276
So his architects add
floors to increase the height.
321
00:19:13,569 --> 00:19:15,488
‐ [du Pont] It will be taller.
322
00:19:15,529 --> 00:19:18,074
‐ [Builder] Yes, 1,054 feet.
323
00:19:18,199 --> 00:19:19,992
‐ [du Pont] And the Chrysler building?
324
00:19:20,076 --> 00:19:21,535
‐ [Builder] 1,050 feet.
325
00:19:23,454 --> 00:19:25,289
‐ So we'll be four feet taller?
326
00:19:28,501 --> 00:19:29,501
‐ Yes.
327
00:19:31,379 --> 00:19:34,048
‐ The original plans for
the Empire State building
328
00:19:34,131 --> 00:19:36,467
was just to have a flat top
329
00:19:36,592 --> 00:19:41,055
at a height that was greater
than a Chrysler's building.
330
00:19:41,180 --> 00:19:42,180
‐ Four feet.
331
00:19:44,266 --> 00:19:45,906
Chrysler gets to stick an umbrella on top
332
00:19:45,935 --> 00:19:47,144
and say he's taller.
333
00:19:49,397 --> 00:19:51,816
‐ But evidently that wasn't enough comfort.
334
00:19:51,941 --> 00:19:54,652
It wasn't enough room to
be sure that they were going
335
00:19:54,777 --> 00:19:56,487
to have the world's tallest building.
336
00:19:56,612 --> 00:19:59,573
So in December of 1929, they
announced that they have come
337
00:19:59,699 --> 00:20:04,870
up with this plan to erect
a 250 foot high structure
338
00:20:06,038 --> 00:20:09,291
which is mostly decorative,
so that is a statement.
339
00:20:09,375 --> 00:20:12,128
Du Pont wanted to
literally and figuratively
340
00:20:12,211 --> 00:20:14,880
put Walter Chrysler's
building in the shade.
341
00:20:17,425 --> 00:20:19,635
‐ [Narrator] To create a
building of this magnitude,
342
00:20:19,719 --> 00:20:23,723
du Pont oversees the most
ambitious construction project
343
00:20:23,848 --> 00:20:24,849
in American history.
344
00:20:26,600 --> 00:20:31,897
Every day, 57,000 tons of
steel arrive from Pittsburgh.
345
00:20:32,773 --> 00:20:35,693
‐ All the materials,
all the steel and stone
346
00:20:35,818 --> 00:20:39,071
and the piping, everything needed to arrive
347
00:20:39,196 --> 00:20:42,032
at the site just in time
348
00:20:42,116 --> 00:20:44,368
for when it was to be put in place.
349
00:20:46,412 --> 00:20:49,665
And legend has it that the
steel was still warm to touch.
350
00:20:53,169 --> 00:20:55,463
‐ [Narrator] A new floor is added each day,
351
00:20:56,672 --> 00:21:00,509
thanks in part to the talents
of a new group of workers.
352
00:21:04,555 --> 00:21:07,224
‐ Native American ironworkers
from the Mohawk tribe
353
00:21:07,349 --> 00:21:09,310
actually play a role in the construction
354
00:21:09,435 --> 00:21:10,853
of the Empire State building.
355
00:21:10,978 --> 00:21:13,856
They're sought after ironworkers
because they're recognized
356
00:21:13,981 --> 00:21:17,651
as masters of the craft
and for being fearless
357
00:21:17,777 --> 00:21:19,361
because of their ability to work
358
00:21:19,487 --> 00:21:21,280
hundreds of feet in the air.
359
00:21:25,159 --> 00:21:28,662
‐ [Narrator] The Empire State
building is a true Colossus.
360
00:21:28,788 --> 00:21:31,332
Three times wider than
the Chrysler building
361
00:21:32,208 --> 00:21:33,602
and the first building in the world
362
00:21:33,626 --> 00:21:35,795
to have more than 100 floors.
363
00:21:44,720 --> 00:21:47,306
For Chrysler, it's a disaster.
364
00:21:48,599 --> 00:21:50,976
His enemy's building is overtaking him
365
00:21:51,101 --> 00:21:52,436
right before his eyes.
366
00:21:53,354 --> 00:21:55,981
Chrysler decides his only move
367
00:21:56,106 --> 00:21:58,609
is to try to stop the construction.
368
00:22:02,321 --> 00:22:04,865
Chrysler launches a smear campaign.
369
00:22:04,990 --> 00:22:05,991
‐ Form take two.
370
00:22:07,201 --> 00:22:08,428
‐ [Narrator] To make people doubt
371
00:22:08,452 --> 00:22:11,038
that the Empire State
building is structurally sound.
372
00:22:11,997 --> 00:22:13,666
‐ And action.
373
00:22:14,208 --> 00:22:17,378
‐ Do you think it's possible
to build anything taller
374
00:22:17,461 --> 00:22:18,963
than the Chrysler building?
375
00:22:20,130 --> 00:22:21,590
‐ No I do not.
376
00:22:22,883 --> 00:22:26,011
‐ Skyscrapers must have
seemed strange to people
377
00:22:26,136 --> 00:22:27,388
as electricity once had.
378
00:22:27,513 --> 00:22:29,849
They saw these massive buildings arising
379
00:22:29,974 --> 00:22:30,850
out of the landscape
380
00:22:30,975 --> 00:22:33,102
and many wondered if they'd topple over.
381
00:22:34,019 --> 00:22:37,189
‐ A tall structure has
the potential to develop
382
00:22:38,357 --> 00:22:42,820
stress fractures that could
lead to catastrophic failure.
383
00:22:42,903 --> 00:22:47,658
‐ So you're saying the
Chrysler building will be the tallest
384
00:22:47,741 --> 00:22:49,743
building for the foreseeable future?
385
00:22:50,995 --> 00:22:53,205
‐ [Narrator] du Pont knows this is just
386
00:22:53,330 --> 00:22:54,790
Chrysler being Chrysler.
387
00:22:55,749 --> 00:22:57,751
Construction continues without delay.
388
00:22:58,794 --> 00:23:01,547
The sooner he can top out his skyscraper,
389
00:23:01,630 --> 00:23:05,050
the sooner he can claim
victory over Walter Chrysler.
390
00:23:07,678 --> 00:23:12,641
But as it nears completion,
Chrysler takes one last swing
391
00:23:14,101 --> 00:23:18,939
saying the tower shouldn't
count, since it's decorative.
392
00:23:20,858 --> 00:23:23,485
Coming from the person
who pushed a metal spire up
393
00:23:23,611 --> 00:23:25,195
to make his building taller.
394
00:23:27,615 --> 00:23:32,411
Du Pont responds by taking a
page out of Chrysler's playbook.
395
00:23:36,123 --> 00:23:39,043
He tells the press that
the tower is far more
396
00:23:39,168 --> 00:23:40,169
than just decorative.
397
00:23:44,757 --> 00:23:48,677
It's a docking station for airships,
398
00:23:52,181 --> 00:23:55,643
and he can prove it.
399
00:23:55,726 --> 00:23:59,229
‐ They announce a plan
to erect a mooring mast
400
00:23:59,313 --> 00:24:01,440
where airships could anchor.
401
00:24:01,523 --> 00:24:03,817
The passengers would then exit the air ship
402
00:24:03,943 --> 00:24:06,487
and then they would go down the elevator.
403
00:24:06,570 --> 00:24:08,739
But these things are utter fiction.
404
00:24:09,740 --> 00:24:12,451
‐ [Narrator] In fact,
no airship ever docked
405
00:24:12,534 --> 00:24:14,411
with du Pont's tower.
406
00:24:14,536 --> 00:24:15,829
The photograph he distributed
407
00:24:15,913 --> 00:24:20,459
to the newspapers was a
fake created by a specialist
408
00:24:20,542 --> 00:24:23,003
a half century before Photoshop.
409
00:24:24,630 --> 00:24:27,132
‐ They knew at the time that
the mooring mast would never
410
00:24:27,257 --> 00:24:30,678
be able to moor air ships.
411
00:24:30,761 --> 00:24:35,891
The truth is when you're
1,250 feet in the air,
412
00:24:36,892 --> 00:24:39,478
the forces of wind are incredible.
413
00:24:39,561 --> 00:24:43,482
There did not exist a
captain who was willing
414
00:24:43,565 --> 00:24:46,819
to dock at the top of the
Empire State building.
415
00:24:46,902 --> 00:24:50,197
The mooring mast, if anything,
was a kind of exclamation point,
416
00:24:50,322 --> 00:24:52,491
a way to say this race is over,
417
00:24:52,616 --> 00:24:54,827
there's no way you can beat us now.
418
00:25:02,334 --> 00:25:05,671
‐ [Narrator] The Empire
State building officially opens.
419
00:25:06,588 --> 00:25:09,091
In just two years, the New York skyline
420
00:25:09,174 --> 00:25:14,555
has been permanently altered
thanks to competing egos.
421
00:25:17,766 --> 00:25:20,769
And Pierre du Pont can now say he built
422
00:25:20,853 --> 00:25:23,981
the tallest structure on earth,
423
00:25:25,566 --> 00:25:28,569
but it quickly turns into a hollow victory.
424
00:25:29,361 --> 00:25:31,822
Nobody is leasing office space.
425
00:25:31,947 --> 00:25:35,868
The Empire State
building is virtually empty.
426
00:25:35,993 --> 00:25:39,371
‐ There's a bit of a myth
about what really happened
427
00:25:39,496 --> 00:25:42,249
in terms of the timing
around the Great Depression.
428
00:25:43,792 --> 00:25:46,628
It looked after 1929,
that things might be okay,
429
00:25:46,712 --> 00:25:49,631
but just for a moment,
the V shaped recovery,
430
00:25:49,757 --> 00:25:52,134
you could call it just like a check mark
431
00:25:52,259 --> 00:25:54,845
before a real swoon.
432
00:25:58,265 --> 00:26:02,269
‐ [Narrator] By 1931, the
Great Depression has arrived.
433
00:26:03,228 --> 00:26:07,107
And this time not even
JP Morgan can stop it.
434
00:26:14,698 --> 00:26:15,866
(forboding music)
435
00:26:15,991 --> 00:26:18,452
‐ House and property is
estimated at $7.3 million,
436
00:26:19,536 --> 00:26:21,997
commercial properties,
including the Manhattan office
437
00:26:22,122 --> 00:26:26,460
hold value at $12.6
million, liquid cash holdings
438
00:26:26,543 --> 00:26:29,797
are approximately 256 million and change.
439
00:26:29,880 --> 00:26:32,007
‐ As the Great Depression takes hold,
440
00:26:32,091 --> 00:26:36,428
the house of Morgan is cut in size by half.
441
00:26:36,512 --> 00:26:38,097
‐ Furniture vehicles,
442
00:26:38,180 --> 00:26:40,474
non‐commercial ancillary properties.
443
00:26:40,557 --> 00:26:42,643
‐ For God's sake, get to the point.
444
00:26:44,019 --> 00:26:49,191
‐ Overall assets down by 400 million.
445
00:26:51,193 --> 00:26:54,655
‐ So it is dramatically affected.
446
00:26:54,780 --> 00:26:56,990
‐ [Narrator] The stock market loses 90%
447
00:26:57,116 --> 00:27:01,495
of its value and America faces
another unforeseen disaster.
448
00:27:01,578 --> 00:27:03,997
The nation's banks begin to fail.
449
00:27:04,081 --> 00:27:06,959
‐ So we all put our deposits
in a bank and we expect
450
00:27:07,084 --> 00:27:09,128
to get that money back with some interest.
451
00:27:09,169 --> 00:27:11,880
But if we all get scared,
then I want to run to the bank
452
00:27:12,005 --> 00:27:15,134
before you do, I want to pull
my money out before you do,
453
00:27:15,217 --> 00:27:17,678
and then everybody
pulls out, that's a bank run,
454
00:27:17,803 --> 00:27:19,221
and the bank collapses.
455
00:27:20,848 --> 00:27:24,768
‐ [Narrator] By the end of
1931, 3,000 banks have closed
456
00:27:24,852 --> 00:27:28,772
and with them, billions
of dollars simply vanish.
457
00:27:30,899 --> 00:27:35,070
‐ To watch your net worth disappear,
458
00:27:35,195 --> 00:27:38,949
in some cases, in a
matter of minutes and hours.
459
00:27:39,700 --> 00:27:40,780
I know they're just numbers
460
00:27:40,826 --> 00:27:43,203
but there's a reality behind that.
461
00:27:43,328 --> 00:27:45,205
And there are so many people who lived
462
00:27:45,330 --> 00:27:48,250
through that period and it changed them,
463
00:27:49,334 --> 00:27:50,334
it changed them forever.
464
00:27:53,005 --> 00:27:55,632
‐ [Reporter] Half the active
manpower of the United States
465
00:27:55,757 --> 00:27:58,719
drifting helplessly in search of work.
466
00:27:59,928 --> 00:28:04,725
Marriages off by 22%,
birth rate down sharply,
467
00:28:04,850 --> 00:28:07,269
suicide rate, 40% higher.
468
00:28:14,943 --> 00:28:17,154
‐ [Narrator] By the beginning of 1932
469
00:28:17,237 --> 00:28:20,866
the world's strongest
economy has ground to a halt.
470
00:28:25,204 --> 00:28:26,747
‐ This becomes the deepest,
471
00:28:26,872 --> 00:28:29,416
longest lasting economic downturn
472
00:28:29,541 --> 00:28:31,043
not just in us history.
473
00:28:31,168 --> 00:28:34,504
It's a global phenomenon
with a devastating impact.
474
00:28:36,548 --> 00:28:39,009
‐ Spending is down across the board.
475
00:28:43,138 --> 00:28:46,808
In New York City, no
one is leasing office space
476
00:28:46,892 --> 00:28:48,435
in du Pont's new tower.
477
00:28:49,811 --> 00:28:52,898
The press is calling it,
the Empty State building.
478
00:28:55,734 --> 00:28:58,528
The news from his car
company is even worse.
479
00:29:00,739 --> 00:29:03,909
GM's sales are down by two thirds
480
00:29:07,371 --> 00:29:10,791
and Walter Chrysler is doing just as badly.
481
00:29:13,335 --> 00:29:16,088
‐ The reality is, if you've lost everything
482
00:29:16,171 --> 00:29:18,382
and you can't even afford to feed yourself
483
00:29:18,507 --> 00:29:20,467
the last thing on your
mind is going to be buying
484
00:29:20,592 --> 00:29:21,927
a new automobile.
485
00:29:32,312 --> 00:29:33,992
‐ [Narrator] Henry Ford initially believes
486
00:29:34,106 --> 00:29:37,359
he's well positioned to
ride out the depression.
487
00:29:38,735 --> 00:29:41,697
‐ Henry Ford, he never trusted Wall Street.
488
00:29:41,822 --> 00:29:44,157
He thought Wall Street was gambling
489
00:29:44,241 --> 00:29:46,910
and that it was to rip off the folks.
490
00:29:47,035 --> 00:29:48,578
‐ All good here, fellas?
491
00:29:48,662 --> 00:29:50,414
‐ So when the Great Depression hit
492
00:29:50,539 --> 00:29:54,710
and every company's
stocks are going downwards,
493
00:29:54,835 --> 00:29:56,461
you're watching Henry Ford say I don't
494
00:29:56,586 --> 00:29:57,838
play the Stock Market.
495
00:30:02,342 --> 00:30:05,178
‐ [Narrator] But before
long, the depression catches
496
00:30:05,304 --> 00:30:06,388
up with him too.
497
00:30:08,307 --> 00:30:13,103
Ford hasn't seen car sales so
low since before World War I.
498
00:30:21,028 --> 00:30:24,156
Ford's airplanes are doing even worse.
499
00:30:24,990 --> 00:30:26,533
‐ [Reporter] Hungry men live in shacks
500
00:30:26,658 --> 00:30:27,844
reaching the braod avenues of...
501
00:30:27,868 --> 00:30:30,412
‐ Two things happened with
Ford aviation at the beginning
502
00:30:30,495 --> 00:30:31,495
of the depression.
503
00:30:32,456 --> 00:30:35,834
One is the demand for
$50,000 airplanes dried up
504
00:30:35,917 --> 00:30:38,587
almost instantly and the
other thing that happened
505
00:30:38,670 --> 00:30:40,380
was there was a number of crashes.
506
00:30:46,303 --> 00:30:47,846
‐ Within the span of a single year,
507
00:30:47,971 --> 00:30:51,475
there were four major
crashes of Ford Tri Motors
508
00:30:51,558 --> 00:30:53,602
that killed over 40 people.
509
00:30:53,685 --> 00:30:57,314
In several cases, everyone
aboard the aircraft died.
510
00:31:03,528 --> 00:31:06,031
(dial tones)
511
00:31:10,827 --> 00:31:12,579
‐ Of course I tried six times.
512
00:31:15,207 --> 00:31:17,167
You're welcome to try them yourself.
513
00:31:19,002 --> 00:31:20,420
No, that's not what I meant.
514
00:31:22,589 --> 00:31:25,175
Look, nobody's flying.
515
00:31:27,427 --> 00:31:28,427
Yeah, I'm doing it.
516
00:31:29,513 --> 00:31:31,264
‐ [Narrator] There's one person Edsel knows
517
00:31:31,348 --> 00:31:35,018
that could convince the
public the Tri Motors are safe,
518
00:31:40,273 --> 00:31:43,610
but Ford's partner in
aviation, Charles Lindbergh
519
00:31:45,862 --> 00:31:48,240
is dealing with a crisis of his own.
520
00:31:52,494 --> 00:31:57,374
In 1932, Lindbergh's 20
month old son is kidnapped.
521
00:31:58,583 --> 00:32:01,795
‐ Everything about Charles
Lindbergh was a big story.
522
00:32:01,878 --> 00:32:04,131
The birth of his baby was a big story.
523
00:32:04,256 --> 00:32:06,842
And then when that child was kidnapped,
524
00:32:06,967 --> 00:32:10,095
it was the biggest story
in the United States.
525
00:32:11,513 --> 00:32:14,975
‐ [Narrator] And then
his child is found dead.
526
00:32:19,521 --> 00:32:22,232
The press refuse to leave him alone.
527
00:32:25,193 --> 00:32:27,237
Lindbergh is devastated.
528
00:32:39,708 --> 00:32:43,753
‐ What if we, we built with the
metal, you know, like boomy.
529
00:32:51,344 --> 00:32:55,223
Dad, wasn't expecting you.
530
00:32:55,974 --> 00:32:57,225
Everything okay?
531
00:32:58,351 --> 00:33:00,145
‐ It's time to cut our losses.
532
00:33:02,939 --> 00:33:04,441
‐ What are you talking about?
533
00:33:05,442 --> 00:33:07,444
‐ I'm shutting Ford Aviation down.
534
00:33:11,031 --> 00:33:13,950
‐ We have orders, it could be huge.
535
00:33:14,034 --> 00:33:18,038
‐ That's it, it's over.
536
00:33:21,583 --> 00:33:24,503
Can I trust you to make this happen?
537
00:33:25,378 --> 00:33:27,422
‐ Sure, Dad,
538
00:33:28,840 --> 00:33:30,300
whatever you want.
539
00:33:31,009 --> 00:33:32,052
‐ Good.
540
00:33:36,681 --> 00:33:40,602
(downhearted music)
541
00:33:43,104 --> 00:33:45,607
‐ Edsel was devastated,
one of his friends said
542
00:33:45,690 --> 00:33:48,068
that they had never seen him so depressed.
543
00:33:49,069 --> 00:33:51,780
Just like that Edsel Ford's whole identity,
544
00:33:51,863 --> 00:33:53,174
his whole future, what he thought
545
00:33:53,198 --> 00:33:55,075
it was going to be was gone.
546
00:34:09,256 --> 00:34:11,150
‐ [Narrator] But while
most titans are struggling
547
00:34:11,174 --> 00:34:15,220
to survive, the Great
Depression, one is thriving.
548
00:34:16,012 --> 00:34:17,222
William Boeing.
549
00:34:19,558 --> 00:34:21,238
‐ Even though there was a depression going
550
00:34:21,351 --> 00:34:23,144
on for the rest of the United States,
551
00:34:23,186 --> 00:34:25,397
there were still
lucrative airmail contracts
552
00:34:25,480 --> 00:34:29,442
from the U S government
and so it was a very good time
553
00:34:29,526 --> 00:34:32,362
especially for Boeing and the early 1930s.
554
00:34:33,613 --> 00:34:35,782
‐ [Narrator] Americans
might not be buying cars
555
00:34:35,865 --> 00:34:40,245
or taking trips but they're
sending more letters than ever.
556
00:34:42,706 --> 00:34:47,252
And Boeing's planes are moving them.
557
00:34:48,086 --> 00:34:51,506
(airplane engine roars)
558
00:34:53,550 --> 00:34:57,262
Boeing now controls most
of the air mail business
559
00:34:57,345 --> 00:34:59,639
but he wants all of it.
560
00:35:00,515 --> 00:35:01,515
‐ Mr. President.
561
00:35:02,809 --> 00:35:05,103
‐ [Narrator] He's come to
Washington to make his case
562
00:35:05,186 --> 00:35:07,564
to the president, Herbert Hoover.
563
00:35:08,690 --> 00:35:11,151
‐ Now you and I both
know there is no oversight.
564
00:35:12,319 --> 00:35:14,696
Do you honestly believe
you're not being bled dry?
565
00:35:15,864 --> 00:35:17,032
I play by rules
566
00:35:17,115 --> 00:35:21,161
but these other guys they're
raking you over the coals.
567
00:35:25,206 --> 00:35:26,124
‐ Mr. Boeing.
568
00:35:26,207 --> 00:35:27,207
‐ Mr. President.
569
00:35:33,506 --> 00:35:36,509
‐ William Boeing convinced
the Hoover administration
570
00:35:36,635 --> 00:35:39,137
that these small independent companies
571
00:35:39,262 --> 00:35:41,681
that had airmail contracts
were actually cheating
572
00:35:41,806 --> 00:35:42,891
the federal government.
573
00:35:42,974 --> 00:35:45,602
Boeing argued, you really
should be trusting, reliable,
574
00:35:45,685 --> 00:35:47,771
dependable, trustworthy companies
575
00:35:47,854 --> 00:35:50,815
like my company with the airmail contracts
576
00:35:50,940 --> 00:35:53,860
and amazingly the Hoover
administration agreed.
577
00:35:55,862 --> 00:35:57,702
‐ [Narrator] The new
routes are worth millions
578
00:35:57,822 --> 00:36:00,575
of dollars for Boeing's growing business.
579
00:36:01,701 --> 00:36:04,412
While the rest of the
industry struggles to survive,
580
00:36:04,537 --> 00:36:07,499
Boeing buys up aviation
companies for pennies
581
00:36:07,582 --> 00:36:11,378
on the dollar and adds them to his empire.
582
00:36:12,504 --> 00:36:16,299
‐ Bill Boeing makes this
incredible vertical business.
583
00:36:16,424 --> 00:36:18,843
Airplanes, engines, propellers.
584
00:36:18,968 --> 00:36:21,513
He has a school to train pilots
585
00:36:21,596 --> 00:36:25,100
and mechanics and even
builds his own airfield.
586
00:36:25,183 --> 00:36:27,769
Everything under one corporation.
587
00:36:28,937 --> 00:36:31,189
‐ Boeing has bought nearly
every airplane company
588
00:36:31,314 --> 00:36:33,400
in the country, combining them
589
00:36:33,483 --> 00:36:36,611
into the largest airline
the world has ever seen.
590
00:36:38,113 --> 00:36:41,741
He calls the new company, United Airlines.
591
00:36:52,252 --> 00:36:56,464
‐ [Narrator] By 1932, William
Boeing has expanded his empire
592
00:36:56,589 --> 00:36:59,384
with his newly formed United airlines.
593
00:37:02,345 --> 00:37:03,638
But for most Americans,
594
00:37:03,722 --> 00:37:06,641
the depression is
taking a devastating toll.
595
00:37:08,685 --> 00:37:10,019
‐ When the stock market crashed,
596
00:37:10,145 --> 00:37:13,231
Herbert Hoover thought
that was just a weird spasm
597
00:37:13,356 --> 00:37:15,442
in the stock market and we would come back
598
00:37:15,525 --> 00:37:17,193
so he didn't do anything.
599
00:37:18,194 --> 00:37:22,490
And meanwhile, people suffered
like you can't even imagine.
600
00:37:22,615 --> 00:37:25,368
People were living in little shanty towns,
601
00:37:25,493 --> 00:37:28,121
they started being called Hoovervilles.
602
00:37:28,204 --> 00:37:31,583
We were in deep dark shape.
603
00:37:41,885 --> 00:37:45,305
‐ Things went from bad to worse so quickly
604
00:37:45,388 --> 00:37:49,142
that American business was in grave peril.
605
00:37:49,225 --> 00:37:50,477
They need consumers.
606
00:37:50,560 --> 00:37:53,396
They need a sound currency.
607
00:37:53,521 --> 00:37:55,523
They need a sound banking system.
608
00:37:55,648 --> 00:37:57,192
They need an overall economy
609
00:37:57,317 --> 00:37:59,819
that's going to function
well on a macro level
610
00:37:59,944 --> 00:38:03,531
if they're going to remain
profitable themselves.
611
00:38:03,615 --> 00:38:06,159
‐ [Narrator] du Pont
has closed GM factories
612
00:38:06,284 --> 00:38:09,120
and laid off workers and still,
613
00:38:09,204 --> 00:38:10,622
he's losing millions.
614
00:38:11,748 --> 00:38:13,500
(thunder claps)
615
00:38:17,462 --> 00:38:20,799
In New York, Wall Street is a ghost town
616
00:38:20,840 --> 00:38:23,593
and J. P Morgan is bleeding money.
617
00:38:24,511 --> 00:38:27,388
‐ By 1932, as the depression tightens
618
00:38:27,472 --> 00:38:30,308
and deepens as millions
of more Americans go
619
00:38:30,350 --> 00:38:32,018
on the unemployment roles,
620
00:38:33,019 --> 00:38:34,646
as the savagery
621
00:38:34,771 --> 00:38:38,149
of the great depression
becomes more apparent,
622
00:38:38,274 --> 00:38:40,026
J.P Morgan Jr. And the house of Morgan,
623
00:38:40,109 --> 00:38:43,029
they begin to doubt Hoover.
624
00:38:48,326 --> 00:38:49,994
‐ Many American business leaders
625
00:38:50,036 --> 00:38:52,205
thought that Herbert Hoover's
administration handled
626
00:38:52,330 --> 00:38:53,498
it so poorly.
627
00:38:54,207 --> 00:38:55,792
They needed decisive action.
628
00:38:58,753 --> 00:39:00,505
‐ [Narrator] Morgan and du Pont decide
629
00:39:00,630 --> 00:39:03,049
the time has come for a change.
630
00:39:04,592 --> 00:39:06,135
With an election coming,
631
00:39:06,219 --> 00:39:07,303
they make it their mission
632
00:39:07,428 --> 00:39:09,764
to get President Hoover
kicked out of office.
633
00:39:10,849 --> 00:39:13,726
They found their
candidate, an elite like them,
634
00:39:13,852 --> 00:39:16,437
from one of the most
respected political families
635
00:39:16,521 --> 00:39:17,522
in America.
636
00:39:27,782 --> 00:39:28,782
‐ Governor.
637
00:39:28,867 --> 00:39:31,160
‐ [Narrator] Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
638
00:39:31,286 --> 00:39:33,496
‐ Mr. Morgan, my friend, Pierre du Pont
639
00:39:33,621 --> 00:39:34,497
‐ Good to meet you, sir.
640
00:39:34,622 --> 00:39:36,541
‐ Good to meet you.
641
00:39:36,666 --> 00:39:40,128
‐ Franklin Roosevelt
was a aristocratic child,
642
00:39:40,253 --> 00:39:42,714
a patrician, born on the Hudson river,
643
00:39:42,839 --> 00:39:46,342
lived there, went to prep
school, went to Harvard.
644
00:39:46,467 --> 00:39:50,972
‐ He was very much in the
upper‐class in New York.
645
00:39:51,055 --> 00:39:54,225
He could really communicate extremely well
646
00:39:54,350 --> 00:39:56,728
with people from all classes,
647
00:39:56,811 --> 00:39:59,647
all religions, all races, et cetera.
648
00:39:59,731 --> 00:40:01,983
‐ [Narrator] Although he
conceals it from the public,
649
00:40:02,066 --> 00:40:05,862
FDR has lived with
polio since the age of 39.
650
00:40:07,572 --> 00:40:09,412
‐ He didn't do anything
to bring on his polio.
651
00:40:09,532 --> 00:40:10,676
Now for the rest of his life,
652
00:40:10,700 --> 00:40:12,660
he couldn't walk again unaided.
653
00:40:12,785 --> 00:40:15,163
And the essence of the great depression
654
00:40:15,246 --> 00:40:16,446
for millions of Americans was,
655
00:40:16,497 --> 00:40:20,084
"I didn't do anything wrong,
but the sky fell in upon me."
656
00:40:20,168 --> 00:40:23,963
And Roosevelt was able to
connect with those people.
657
00:40:28,384 --> 00:40:30,887
‐ Mr. Harrison's office please.
658
00:40:31,012 --> 00:40:32,096
‐ Well, wake him up.
659
00:40:33,222 --> 00:40:35,326
‐ [Narrator] Morgan and
du Pont throw their influence
660
00:40:35,350 --> 00:40:37,727
and their money behind FDR.
661
00:40:38,811 --> 00:40:40,813
‐ Let's talk about the Roosevelt campaign.
662
00:40:40,939 --> 00:40:42,958
‐ Yes, I want to talk to you
about the Roosevelt campaign.
663
00:40:42,982 --> 00:40:45,068
‐ We're very excited about Roosevelt.
664
00:40:45,193 --> 00:40:46,736
I think he's all right.
665
00:40:47,820 --> 00:40:49,489
‐ du Pont and the house of Morgan,
666
00:40:49,572 --> 00:40:52,158
and turning their attention
away from Herbert Hoover
667
00:40:52,283 --> 00:40:53,701
and embracing FDR,
668
00:40:53,826 --> 00:40:55,787
supporting FDR with their money.
669
00:40:55,870 --> 00:40:58,665
This really was an example
of an early super pack.
670
00:41:05,505 --> 00:41:06,774
‐ [Narrator] On the campaign trail,
671
00:41:06,798 --> 00:41:09,717
FDR is greeted by huge crowds.
672
00:41:09,842 --> 00:41:12,470
He blames Hoover for the nation's misery
673
00:41:12,595 --> 00:41:16,099
and positions himself as
the candidate of change,
674
00:41:16,182 --> 00:41:19,143
promising desperate Americans a new deal.
675
00:41:20,353 --> 00:41:23,189
‐ He was very fuzzy on what
the new deal was going to be.
676
00:41:23,314 --> 00:41:26,067
He simply promised that the
government would be more active
677
00:41:26,192 --> 00:41:27,652
and be more helpful,
678
00:41:28,569 --> 00:41:30,697
but it wasn't clear what that meant.
679
00:41:30,822 --> 00:41:33,324
All they knew was it
sounded a whole lot better
680
00:41:33,449 --> 00:41:35,618
than be very quiet
681
00:41:35,702 --> 00:41:38,705
and seemingly too little
too late ideas of Herbert.
682
00:41:39,664 --> 00:41:40,748
‐ I am confident.
683
00:41:40,873 --> 00:41:43,376
‐ He was a great politician, FDR
684
00:41:43,501 --> 00:41:46,129
and he was able to
appeal to the unemployed,
685
00:41:46,212 --> 00:41:47,212
the working people,
686
00:41:47,255 --> 00:41:51,050
without startling the
rich industrial titans.
687
00:41:52,218 --> 00:41:53,258
‐ Well we'll wait and see.
688
00:41:55,596 --> 00:41:58,683
‐ [Narrator] FDR wins
the election in a landslide.
689
00:41:59,350 --> 00:42:01,561
(cheering and applause)
690
00:42:02,687 --> 00:42:06,315
His inaugural address
brings hope to millions.
691
00:42:06,399 --> 00:42:11,112
‐ [FDR] So first of all, let
me assert my firm belief
692
00:42:12,447 --> 00:42:16,117
that the only thing we have to fear is
693
00:42:16,367 --> 00:42:18,119
fear itself.
694
00:42:18,202 --> 00:42:21,122
(pplause and cheering)
695
00:42:23,458 --> 00:42:24,709
‐ Good morning sir.
696
00:42:25,918 --> 00:42:28,463
‐ [FDR] And there must be an
end to a conduct in banking and
697
00:42:28,546 --> 00:42:33,551
in business which too often
has given to a sacred trust
698
00:42:33,676 --> 00:42:36,929
the likeness of callous
and selfish wrongdoing.
699
00:42:37,013 --> 00:42:39,640
‐ The speech is one of
the great political speeches
700
00:42:39,766 --> 00:42:41,267
of the 20th century.
701
00:42:41,350 --> 00:42:45,980
‐ [FDR] Practices of the
unscrupulous money changers
702
00:42:46,981 --> 00:42:50,234
stand indicted in the
court of public opinion.
703
00:42:50,359 --> 00:42:52,278
‐ And the Morgan bankers,
704
00:42:52,361 --> 00:42:54,072
they're expecting that their voice
705
00:42:54,197 --> 00:42:55,865
will be listened to in the White House
706
00:42:55,990 --> 00:43:00,328
as it has been more or less since 1918,
707
00:43:00,453 --> 00:43:02,538
incorrectly as it transpired.
708
00:43:02,872 --> 00:43:04,016
‐ [FDR] They have resorted...
709
00:43:04,040 --> 00:43:05,166
‐ [Narrator] In the speech,
710
00:43:05,291 --> 00:43:07,835
Roosevelt says the first
thing he's going to do
711
00:43:08,628 --> 00:43:10,546
is go after the bankers.
712
00:43:10,671 --> 00:43:13,132
‐ [FDR] This nation is asking for action
713
00:43:14,383 --> 00:43:15,802
and action now.
714
00:43:15,927 --> 00:43:19,722
‐ [Narrator] And within two
weeks, FDR turns on Morgan
715
00:43:20,515 --> 00:43:21,849
and comes for him.
716
00:43:22,183 --> 00:43:25,186
(dramatic music)
717
00:43:32,527 --> 00:43:37,323
(ominous music)
718
00:43:38,366 --> 00:43:41,494
‐ [Narrator] J. P Morgan Jr.
Helped put Franklin Roosevelt
719
00:43:41,619 --> 00:43:44,622
into office but now,
720
00:43:44,705 --> 00:43:46,958
the President is coming after him.
721
00:43:47,041 --> 00:43:48,041
‐ How many?
722
00:44:00,138 --> 00:44:01,764
The hell is this?
723
00:44:01,848 --> 00:44:03,888
‐ [Narrator] To pull America
out of the depression,
724
00:44:03,975 --> 00:44:07,812
FDR is targeting the people
he thinks caused the crash.
725
00:44:08,521 --> 00:44:09,521
Bankers.
726
00:44:11,732 --> 00:44:13,651
‐ Roosevelt needed an enemy
727
00:44:13,734 --> 00:44:16,237
in order to justify the
major changes he knew
728
00:44:16,362 --> 00:44:18,948
he would have to undertake
to get the economy moving
729
00:44:19,031 --> 00:44:21,200
and he was a good enough politician to know
730
00:44:21,325 --> 00:44:24,370
that you had to find an enemy
that many people would hate.
731
00:44:25,788 --> 00:44:28,708
‐ And J. P Morgan was an obvious person.
732
00:44:28,833 --> 00:44:31,085
His name was synonymous with Wall Street.
733
00:44:32,170 --> 00:44:35,298
So, just like today, if you're
upset with big business
734
00:44:35,423 --> 00:44:38,342
you call Jeff Bezos to
testify before Congress
735
00:44:38,467 --> 00:44:39,343
and Mark Zuckerberg.
736
00:44:39,468 --> 00:44:41,220
Well, J. P Morgan was that guy.
737
00:44:47,602 --> 00:44:51,397
‐ [Narrator] Now, FDR intends
to create a public spectacle
738
00:44:53,733 --> 00:44:56,068
to ensure that J. P Morgan becomes
739
00:44:56,194 --> 00:44:59,030
the face of the stock market crash.
740
00:45:03,034 --> 00:45:07,538
Roosevelt taps a tough New
York lawyer, Ferdinand Pecora,
741
00:45:07,663 --> 00:45:09,916
to call Morgan before Congress.
742
00:45:12,835 --> 00:45:15,963
(press clamoring)
743
00:45:32,063 --> 00:45:33,290
‐ The hearings as it turned out,
744
00:45:33,314 --> 00:45:37,318
were the subject of extraordinary interest.
745
00:45:38,444 --> 00:45:39,444
‐ [Pecora] Mr. Morgan.
746
00:45:41,906 --> 00:45:44,158
Thank you very much for joining us today.
747
00:45:45,576 --> 00:45:47,245
‐ It was late May early June,
748
00:45:47,370 --> 00:45:50,248
and it was unusually hot in Washington DC
749
00:45:50,373 --> 00:45:53,167
and there was no air
conditioning in those days.
750
00:45:56,295 --> 00:45:59,173
It was Torrid in every sense of the word.
751
00:46:00,341 --> 00:46:03,844
‐ You know what, proportion
of your total business
752
00:46:03,928 --> 00:46:07,473
and total profits rise
from your transactions
753
00:46:07,598 --> 00:46:09,725
on the stock exchange?
754
00:46:09,809 --> 00:46:10,869
‐ I wouldn't know off hand,
755
00:46:10,893 --> 00:46:15,898
it would take a long time to find out.
756
00:46:16,023 --> 00:46:17,918
‐ What was the reason
for not keeping any minutes
757
00:46:17,942 --> 00:46:20,987
or other written record of the proceedings?
758
00:46:21,112 --> 00:46:23,823
‐ Well, for reasons of convenience.
759
00:46:23,906 --> 00:46:25,574
Take a man's time to write them up
760
00:46:25,700 --> 00:46:29,078
and they'd be of no use to you.
761
00:46:38,254 --> 00:46:41,340
‐ Did you manipulate the
stock market for your own gains?
762
00:46:52,643 --> 00:46:53,643
Yes?
763
00:46:54,854 --> 00:46:56,063
‐ Yes, no.
764
00:46:56,188 --> 00:46:58,399
‐ Mr. Morgan, please answer the question.
765
00:46:59,942 --> 00:47:01,402
Yes or no?
766
00:47:13,372 --> 00:47:15,416
‐ [Narrator] The hearings
accomplish exactly
767
00:47:15,541 --> 00:47:16,876
what FDR wanted.
768
00:47:19,170 --> 00:47:22,465
Millions of Americans now
believe that J. P Morgan
769
00:47:22,548 --> 00:47:27,386
and his Wall Street
elites led the nation to ruin.
770
00:47:30,014 --> 00:47:33,976
‐ FDR was not going to coddle the rich.
771
00:47:34,060 --> 00:47:36,812
He genuinely believed that
the concentration of power
772
00:47:36,937 --> 00:47:39,565
in a few hands was bad for our country.
773
00:47:42,526 --> 00:47:44,087
‐ [Narrator] But Roosevelt is doing more
774
00:47:44,111 --> 00:47:46,906
than just pinning the crash on J. P Morgan.
775
00:47:47,740 --> 00:47:50,034
He's drawing a line in the sand
776
00:47:51,285 --> 00:47:54,914
between the rich elites
and the rest of the country.
777
00:47:56,040 --> 00:47:58,334
‐ He picked his enemies carefully
778
00:47:58,417 --> 00:48:01,379
and he cast them as these dinosaurs
779
00:48:01,504 --> 00:48:04,715
who have only their own
moneyed interests at heart
780
00:48:04,840 --> 00:48:07,259
and we need to get them out of the way,
781
00:48:07,343 --> 00:48:09,136
so that the American people could live up
782
00:48:09,261 --> 00:48:10,471
to the American dream.
783
00:48:11,806 --> 00:48:15,726
‐ [Narrator] To prove once
and for all which side he's on,
784
00:48:15,851 --> 00:48:18,896
FDR is going to take down another titan
785
00:48:19,021 --> 00:48:21,065
who got him elected.
786
00:48:23,859 --> 00:48:25,069
Pierre du Pont
787
00:48:28,697 --> 00:48:31,325
And to do it, FDR will capitalize
788
00:48:31,450 --> 00:48:34,495
on a best‐selling book about world war one.
789
00:48:36,372 --> 00:48:38,052
‐ The idea behind the "Merchants of Death"
790
00:48:38,165 --> 00:48:40,167
was that if the United States government
791
00:48:40,292 --> 00:48:42,837
and the American people were dragged into
792
00:48:42,920 --> 00:48:44,880
or duped into war
793
00:48:45,005 --> 00:48:47,633
by bankers, by industrialists,
794
00:48:47,716 --> 00:48:50,219
by people who are going to profit from war.
795
00:48:51,846 --> 00:48:53,848
And one of the chief villains
796
00:48:53,973 --> 00:48:56,976
that they arrive at is du Pont.
797
00:49:00,896 --> 00:49:02,815
Pierre du Pont and the du Pont company
798
00:49:02,898 --> 00:49:05,359
were deeply offended by this.
799
00:49:05,484 --> 00:49:07,987
They really genuinely did not see
800
00:49:08,112 --> 00:49:10,990
that they had done anything criminal.
801
00:49:12,408 --> 00:49:14,493
‐ [Narrator] du Pont soon finds himself
802
00:49:14,618 --> 00:49:17,246
the subject of a congressional inquiry.
803
00:49:23,085 --> 00:49:25,296
‐ You charged the government $100 million
804
00:49:25,379 --> 00:49:27,173
to build your smokeless powder piles
805
00:49:27,298 --> 00:49:30,050
and then another 200
million in operating expense.
806
00:49:30,176 --> 00:49:31,969
The du Pont company pocketed at a profit
807
00:49:32,094 --> 00:49:33,304
of nearly $50 million.
808
00:49:33,429 --> 00:49:36,640
While thousands of soldiers
were sent to their deaths.
809
00:49:36,724 --> 00:49:39,393
(clock ticking)
810
00:49:49,945 --> 00:49:52,239
You are quite simply a war profiteer
811
00:49:52,323 --> 00:49:55,868
but now, operating not in
accordance with the interests...
812
00:49:55,993 --> 00:49:57,161
‐ [Brand] For du Pont,
813
00:49:58,370 --> 00:50:02,708
everything he's trying to
leave behind resurfaces.
814
00:50:04,293 --> 00:50:06,962
‐ du Pont and the du
Pont company get the label
815
00:50:07,087 --> 00:50:09,131
of being the "Merchant of Death"
816
00:50:09,256 --> 00:50:10,549
which is catchy
817
00:50:11,509 --> 00:50:12,718
and horrific.
818
00:50:50,506 --> 00:50:55,469
‐ Franklin Roosevelt was
a very, very gifted politician.
819
00:50:57,096 --> 00:51:00,224
And he saw this as a real opportunity
820
00:51:01,016 --> 00:51:03,477
to appeal to American voters.
821
00:51:05,271 --> 00:51:08,107
If du Pont was vilified in the process,
822
00:51:10,776 --> 00:51:12,361
that's the price of politics.
823
00:51:14,029 --> 00:51:15,669
‐ [FDR] This Nation is asking for action,
824
00:51:17,074 --> 00:51:18,784
and action now.
825
00:51:18,867 --> 00:51:20,786
(applause)
826
00:51:21,996 --> 00:51:22,996
‐ [Narrator] For du Pont,
827
00:51:23,038 --> 00:51:24,957
his family name and reputation
828
00:51:25,040 --> 00:51:26,792
have been dragged through the mud.
829
00:51:28,002 --> 00:51:32,214
But for Morgan, his entire
empire is being threatened.
830
00:51:37,052 --> 00:51:40,055
Congress passes a law that sets new rules
831
00:51:40,139 --> 00:51:42,266
for how Morgan can operate.
832
00:51:49,315 --> 00:51:52,234
His banking empire will be broken up.
833
00:52:00,868 --> 00:52:02,494
‐ You have these titans
834
00:52:02,620 --> 00:52:05,164
who are used to calling all the shots.
835
00:52:05,247 --> 00:52:07,958
Who are used to having things go their way.
836
00:52:08,792 --> 00:52:11,629
They didn't like government interference.
837
00:52:13,130 --> 00:52:14,690
‐ [Narrator] Unable to conduct business
838
00:52:14,798 --> 00:52:16,967
how he wants in America,
839
00:52:17,092 --> 00:52:18,761
Morgan turns his focus
840
00:52:18,844 --> 00:52:21,430
to an area FDR can't touch,
841
00:52:22,681 --> 00:52:24,600
outside of the U. S.
842
00:52:25,559 --> 00:52:27,978
‐ J. P Morgan Jr.
Loaned millions of dollars
843
00:52:28,062 --> 00:52:31,982
to various countries to
finance all kinds of regimes.
844
00:52:32,024 --> 00:52:33,984
It was financing the British Empire.
845
00:52:34,109 --> 00:52:36,362
It was financing the French Republic
846
00:52:36,487 --> 00:52:40,324
and it was financing
Japan and Germany as well.
847
00:52:48,374 --> 00:52:50,959
‐ But Germany now has a new leader.
848
00:52:54,088 --> 00:52:55,088
Adolf Hitler.
849
00:52:58,967 --> 00:53:00,511
Loaning them money is a decision
850
00:53:00,636 --> 00:53:02,971
that Morgan will come to regret.
851
00:53:15,192 --> 00:53:17,736
(ominous music)
852
00:53:19,571 --> 00:53:22,324
‐ [Narrator] After cracking
down on Morgan and du Pont,
853
00:53:22,366 --> 00:53:25,911
FDR turns to phase
two of his recovery plan.
854
00:53:27,788 --> 00:53:29,915
Getting the country back to work.
855
00:53:33,085 --> 00:53:34,628
‐ President Roosevelt told the nation
856
00:53:34,712 --> 00:53:36,380
that the project would set an example
857
00:53:36,505 --> 00:53:39,341
of funding for all the generations to come.
858
00:53:41,218 --> 00:53:43,137
‐ Roads and trails are
being made safe and easy
859
00:53:43,220 --> 00:53:44,263
for motor cars.
860
00:53:45,222 --> 00:53:47,641
‐ Democracy had stepped on the gas.
861
00:53:49,351 --> 00:53:53,897
‐ FDR went in fast mode
with his new deal programs
862
00:53:53,981 --> 00:53:55,274
where you would build bridges
863
00:53:55,357 --> 00:53:57,609
and roads and infrastructure
864
00:53:57,693 --> 00:54:02,156
to constantly put some form
of funding into middle‐class
865
00:54:02,281 --> 00:54:05,284
poor and unemployed people's hands.
866
00:54:07,286 --> 00:54:10,748
‐ [Narrator] FDR chooses
one project to be the centerpiece
867
00:54:10,873 --> 00:54:11,873
of his new deal.
868
00:54:15,294 --> 00:54:17,880
It will require a massive workforce
869
00:54:17,963 --> 00:54:20,549
and four million cubic yards of concrete.
870
00:54:21,592 --> 00:54:23,761
A project this big would be a perfect fit
871
00:54:23,844 --> 00:54:27,055
for industrial type means
like Ford or du Pont,
872
00:54:28,932 --> 00:54:30,684
but FDR doesn't trust them.
873
00:54:34,730 --> 00:54:37,065
So he gives it to an unknown.
874
00:54:38,442 --> 00:54:40,986
His name is Henry Kaiser.
875
00:54:43,489 --> 00:54:45,240
‐ Henry Kaiser starts out at the bottom
876
00:54:45,365 --> 00:54:47,326
of the construction industry.
877
00:54:47,409 --> 00:54:48,470
He's the son of immigrants.
878
00:54:48,494 --> 00:54:49,745
He comes from humble origins.
879
00:54:49,828 --> 00:54:52,873
He doesn't go to Ivy league schools.
880
00:54:55,667 --> 00:54:58,086
But the one thing he
learns early on is that,
881
00:54:58,170 --> 00:55:00,297
he was always willing to work harder
882
00:55:00,339 --> 00:55:02,132
and longer than anyone else.
883
00:55:02,216 --> 00:55:04,277
‐ [Kaiser] We need to know if
we can get those foundations in..
884
00:55:04,301 --> 00:55:05,385
‐ [Narrator] One day,
885
00:55:05,469 --> 00:55:07,109
he'll have so many people working for him
886
00:55:08,180 --> 00:55:09,723
that he starts a healthcare company
887
00:55:09,848 --> 00:55:11,141
for his workers.
888
00:55:11,225 --> 00:55:12,559
Kaiser Permanente.
889
00:55:13,769 --> 00:55:16,396
‐ All of this here, all of
this is gonna have to...
890
00:55:16,480 --> 00:55:18,857
‐ [Narrator] But right now, he's a nobody.
891
00:55:25,614 --> 00:55:28,826
Now Kaiser has been
given the job of his life.
892
00:55:30,369 --> 00:55:33,497
Far out West in the hot barren desert.
893
00:55:34,414 --> 00:55:36,917
Kaiser's project is already underway.
894
00:55:42,297 --> 00:55:43,507
If completed,
895
00:55:43,632 --> 00:55:46,051
it will be the most
ambitious engineering project
896
00:55:46,134 --> 00:55:47,719
America has ever built.
897
00:56:00,065 --> 00:56:01,065
The Hoover dam.
898
00:56:09,449 --> 00:56:12,661
Initial construction began
under Herbert Hoover.
899
00:56:12,744 --> 00:56:15,664
Blasting enormous
tunnels through solid rock
900
00:56:15,747 --> 00:56:17,916
to divert the Colorado river.
901
00:56:18,876 --> 00:56:21,044
Now more than two years into the project,
902
00:56:21,837 --> 00:56:23,922
the river bed is dry and ready
903
00:56:24,840 --> 00:56:27,509
but the dam itself hasn't been started.
904
00:56:29,177 --> 00:56:30,345
The press is calling it,
905
00:56:30,470 --> 00:56:33,140
"The $50 million hole in the ground."
906
00:56:39,897 --> 00:56:42,816
‐ It was an unimaginably
hostile environment.
907
00:56:47,195 --> 00:56:49,072
Desert heat of dust.
908
00:56:54,494 --> 00:56:55,579
‐ Where's my engineer?
909
00:56:56,914 --> 00:57:00,667
‐ Men who worked on it said
that conditions were harsher
910
00:57:00,709 --> 00:57:02,920
than anything they had ever experienced.
911
00:57:05,839 --> 00:57:09,259
‐ [Narrator] But Kaiser has
run into a serious problem.
912
00:57:09,343 --> 00:57:11,637
Constructing the largest dam in the world,
913
00:57:11,678 --> 00:57:15,140
requires a massive amount of concrete.
914
00:57:15,265 --> 00:57:17,643
‐ 120, this is way too hot.
915
00:57:17,768 --> 00:57:19,770
Enough to pave a two lane highway
916
00:57:19,853 --> 00:57:22,564
from San Francisco to New York.
917
00:57:23,482 --> 00:57:25,025
‐ What's it at?
918
00:57:25,150 --> 00:57:27,319
‐ 120 after 72 hours.
919
00:57:27,402 --> 00:57:28,402
It's not enough.
920
00:57:31,531 --> 00:57:32,908
What do you think we should do?
921
00:57:33,033 --> 00:57:34,534
‐ I need you to monitor this closely
922
00:57:34,618 --> 00:57:36,828
and let me know as
soon as anything changes.
923
00:57:36,912 --> 00:57:38,872
You can take the temperature down.
924
00:57:41,166 --> 00:57:43,460
‐ [Narrator] Pouring this
much concrete can result
925
00:57:43,543 --> 00:57:45,253
in a very dangerous outcome.
926
00:57:47,339 --> 00:57:48,339
Cracking.
927
00:57:49,216 --> 00:57:51,468
‐ Concrete emits heat as it cures
928
00:57:51,551 --> 00:57:53,387
and if it's not cooled properly,
929
00:57:53,512 --> 00:57:55,472
you'll get cracks in the concrete
930
00:57:55,555 --> 00:57:58,141
and the entire structure
will be much weaker
931
00:57:58,225 --> 00:58:00,018
and in fact, it might fail.
932
00:58:02,229 --> 00:58:04,856
There was so much concrete
going into Hoover dam,
933
00:58:04,982 --> 00:58:07,317
experts estimated that it would take more
934
00:58:07,401 --> 00:58:09,277
than a century to fully cool down.
935
00:58:14,199 --> 00:58:15,617
In 1928,
936
00:58:16,785 --> 00:58:20,163
just a couple of years before
Hoover dam project began,
937
00:58:20,205 --> 00:58:23,834
the St. Francis dam
in California had failed.
938
00:58:23,959 --> 00:58:28,672
The reservoir behind St.
Francis emptied in 11 minutes
939
00:58:28,755 --> 00:58:30,882
and then swept toward the coast,
940
00:58:30,966 --> 00:58:34,928
taking people, and
houses, and livestock with it.
941
00:58:38,432 --> 00:58:41,560
450 people lost their lives.
942
00:58:43,228 --> 00:58:46,273
‐ [Narrator] Kaiser needs
to figure out a solution quickly
943
00:58:47,107 --> 00:58:49,693
or he could jeopardize FDRs new deal
944
00:58:52,279 --> 00:58:56,158
and his project will be one
of the most expensive failures
945
00:58:56,241 --> 00:58:57,701
in American history.
946
00:59:05,292 --> 00:59:08,211
(dramatic music)
947
00:59:10,380 --> 00:59:11,798
‐ [Narrator] In the Nevada desert,
948
00:59:12,799 --> 00:59:14,634
the biggest most important project
949
00:59:14,760 --> 00:59:17,721
in FDR's new deal is underway
950
00:59:25,437 --> 00:59:27,230
but Henry Kaiser has a problem.
951
00:59:28,732 --> 00:59:32,402
He needs to find a way to
cool four million cubic yards
952
00:59:32,486 --> 00:59:34,237
of concrete as it hardens
953
00:59:36,531 --> 00:59:38,033
or the Hoover Dam will fail.
954
01:00:07,521 --> 01:00:08,980
‐ Henry Kaiser was someone who said
955
01:00:09,106 --> 01:00:11,817
"Get the job done no matter what it takes."
956
01:00:11,900 --> 01:00:13,860
And a good example of that is the challenge
957
01:00:13,944 --> 01:00:15,171
they have when they have to figure out
958
01:00:15,195 --> 01:00:17,489
how to cool the concrete
used in the construction
959
01:00:17,531 --> 01:00:18,824
of the Hoover dam.
960
01:00:18,907 --> 01:00:20,593
He and his team figure out they can do this
961
01:00:20,617 --> 01:00:22,786
by cooling it from the inside out.
962
01:00:25,038 --> 01:00:27,541
‐ [Narrator] Kaiser embeds nearly 600 miles
963
01:00:27,666 --> 01:00:29,835
of piping into the concrete
964
01:00:29,918 --> 01:00:33,713
and then pumps chilled
river water through it.
965
01:00:33,797 --> 01:00:37,300
‐ Henry Kaiser built a
whole refrigeration plant
966
01:00:37,384 --> 01:00:40,345
to cool the water that would
be pumped through the dam
967
01:00:40,470 --> 01:00:41,805
to help it cool properly.
968
01:00:43,557 --> 01:00:44,867
‐ [Narrator] With chilled water running
969
01:00:44,891 --> 01:00:46,852
through every section of the dam,
970
01:00:46,977 --> 01:00:50,689
the concrete cools in
a fraction of the time.
971
01:01:01,700 --> 01:01:03,910
‐ I think one of the critical components
972
01:01:03,994 --> 01:01:06,413
to being successful in
business is being decisive
973
01:01:07,414 --> 01:01:08,850
because you're going to
have a lot of naysayers,
974
01:01:08,874 --> 01:01:10,017
so you're going to have to be decisive
975
01:01:10,041 --> 01:01:11,761
and know, "I believe this is going to work.
976
01:01:11,835 --> 01:01:14,087
I'm going to put all my energy behind it."
977
01:01:15,422 --> 01:01:18,925
‐ [Narrator] Over 20,000 people
will work on the Hoover dam
978
01:01:19,968 --> 01:01:22,053
but that's just the tip of the iceberg.
979
01:01:22,971 --> 01:01:26,057
All across America, FDR's new deal programs
980
01:01:26,183 --> 01:01:28,977
are creating millions of well‐paying jobs
981
01:01:30,103 --> 01:01:31,938
and for the first time in years,
982
01:01:32,022 --> 01:01:35,233
people start to feel
optimistic about the future.
983
01:01:37,194 --> 01:01:39,487
‐ Money is circulating
in the hands of people
984
01:01:39,529 --> 01:01:40,697
and the assumption is
985
01:01:40,822 --> 01:01:43,158
that this might actually
stimulate the economy.
986
01:01:59,883 --> 01:02:00,675
‐ Good morning, Mr. Boeing.
987
01:02:00,759 --> 01:02:01,760
‐ Morning.
988
01:02:07,015 --> 01:02:09,517
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming.
989
01:02:10,518 --> 01:02:12,020
You are the first Americans
990
01:02:12,145 --> 01:02:15,232
to witness the future of aviation.
991
01:02:18,026 --> 01:02:19,986
‐ [Narrator] By late 1933,
992
01:02:20,111 --> 01:02:21,905
Boeing rules the skies
993
01:02:22,906 --> 01:02:24,741
and he's even built a passenger plane
994
01:02:24,824 --> 01:02:26,910
like no one's ever seen before.
995
01:02:27,869 --> 01:02:29,955
‐ The Boeing 247 is faster
996
01:02:30,038 --> 01:02:31,998
than any other civilian plane.
997
01:02:32,082 --> 01:02:35,627
Boasting a top speed of
over 200 miles per hour.
998
01:02:35,710 --> 01:02:37,212
You can have breakfast in New York
999
01:02:37,295 --> 01:02:40,048
and be in Los Angeles in
time to catch the sunset.
1000
01:02:41,341 --> 01:02:44,469
‐ The Boeing 247 was a huge step forward
1001
01:02:44,594 --> 01:02:47,097
in aviation both in design,
1002
01:02:47,180 --> 01:02:49,391
as well as aviation technology.
1003
01:02:49,474 --> 01:02:53,561
It's sleek, single wing,
all metal, art deco design.
1004
01:02:53,687 --> 01:02:56,439
It just looks like a modern airplane.
1005
01:02:57,357 --> 01:02:58,793
‐ [Narrator] Boeing is betting that soon
1006
01:02:58,817 --> 01:03:00,485
the public will be flying again
1007
01:03:01,653 --> 01:03:05,323
and he's completely changing
the entire flying experience.
1008
01:03:06,241 --> 01:03:09,160
‐ Bill Boeing's airline hired eight nurses
1009
01:03:09,244 --> 01:03:10,870
to care for the passengers,
1010
01:03:10,996 --> 01:03:12,831
ease their fears and take care of them
1011
01:03:12,914 --> 01:03:15,083
if they're sick during the flight.
1012
01:03:18,628 --> 01:03:22,090
These were the first flight
attendants in the world.
1013
01:03:23,133 --> 01:03:25,135
‐ Smile for the camera's ladies.
1014
01:03:25,260 --> 01:03:26,678
‐ [Narrator] With his new plane
1015
01:03:26,803 --> 01:03:29,639
and growing control of the skies,
1016
01:03:29,764 --> 01:03:31,933
who could possibly stop him now?
1017
01:03:36,855 --> 01:03:38,106
Just one man.
1018
01:03:38,940 --> 01:03:39,983
The President.
1019
01:03:42,694 --> 01:03:46,948
He believes the government
should be in charge of mail,
1020
01:03:47,032 --> 01:03:48,032
not Boeing.
1021
01:03:49,159 --> 01:03:52,537
A scandal gives FDR his opening.
1022
01:03:55,707 --> 01:03:57,375
‐ Mr. Boeing, Mr. President.
1023
01:03:58,543 --> 01:04:02,630
‐ The air mail scandal was
a disaster for William Boeing.
1024
01:04:02,714 --> 01:04:04,132
It really took the shine off
1025
01:04:04,257 --> 01:04:07,218
of his company's reputation
because newspapers across
1026
01:04:07,344 --> 01:04:09,804
the country were running front page stories
1027
01:04:09,929 --> 01:04:12,307
about corruption, and bribery, and graft,
1028
01:04:12,390 --> 01:04:16,227
and suddenly William
Boeing's entire aviation empire
1029
01:04:16,311 --> 01:04:18,897
is now under the scrutiny of the public.
1030
01:04:24,361 --> 01:04:27,447
‐ FDR believed that there
was an unfair advantage given
1031
01:04:27,530 --> 01:04:30,325
to these large corporate
titans to make profits
1032
01:04:30,450 --> 01:04:32,619
at the expense of the American people.
1033
01:04:33,703 --> 01:04:36,831
And so the charges of
monopoly really drove Roosevelt
1034
01:04:36,915 --> 01:04:37,999
to act.
1035
01:04:45,673 --> 01:04:46,673
‐ William Boeing?
1036
01:04:47,509 --> 01:04:48,509
‐ Yes?
1037
01:04:51,846 --> 01:04:52,972
What's this?
1038
01:04:58,311 --> 01:04:59,938
‐ [Narrator] FDR terminates all
1039
01:05:00,021 --> 01:05:02,565
of Boeing's air mail contracts.
1040
01:05:02,649 --> 01:05:06,611
(dramatic music)
1041
01:05:17,205 --> 01:05:20,125
‐ [Narrator] In the wake of
a scandal, FDR takes away
1042
01:05:20,208 --> 01:05:23,753
all of William Boeing's air mail contracts.
1043
01:05:23,837 --> 01:05:26,423
For Boeing, it's a catastrophe.
1044
01:05:26,506 --> 01:05:29,217
(dramatic music)
1045
01:05:31,302 --> 01:05:33,513
‐ William Boeing was
counting on that revenue
1046
01:05:33,596 --> 01:05:37,016
and income to continue to
invest in and expand his business.
1047
01:05:37,100 --> 01:05:40,645
So without those airmail
contracts, he has now lost one
1048
01:05:40,728 --> 01:05:45,567
of the only sources of
guaranteed income in the 1930s.
1049
01:05:45,692 --> 01:05:48,403
(dramatic music)
1050
01:05:53,283 --> 01:05:55,160
‐ [Narrator] Roosevelt
believes that just like
1051
01:05:55,243 --> 01:05:57,912
with the Hoover Dam, airmail is best left
1052
01:05:58,037 --> 01:06:00,165
in the trusted hands of the government.
1053
01:06:01,708 --> 01:06:04,043
‐ There had been corruption
and bribery involved.
1054
01:06:04,169 --> 01:06:08,631
And so President Roosevelt
decided the U. S. Army Air Corps,
1055
01:06:08,673 --> 01:06:12,135
the early American Air
Force, would deliver the mail.
1056
01:06:13,428 --> 01:06:15,597
‐ The Army Air Corps now have to pick up
1057
01:06:15,680 --> 01:06:18,808
for these very experienced
pilots who had been
1058
01:06:18,892 --> 01:06:20,059
flying every day
1059
01:06:20,143 --> 01:06:23,354
over well‐proven routes
and scheduled airlines.
1060
01:06:23,480 --> 01:06:27,025
They now have to pick it
up and carry that forward.
1061
01:06:28,693 --> 01:06:30,904
‐ [Narrator] The army realizes immediately
1062
01:06:31,029 --> 01:06:33,990
just how unprepared they are for the job.
1063
01:06:34,073 --> 01:06:37,076
Their planes are leftovers from World War I
1064
01:06:37,202 --> 01:06:40,246
and most of the pilots are inexperienced.
1065
01:06:40,371 --> 01:06:41,531
‐ They don't have the planes.
1066
01:06:41,623 --> 01:06:43,500
They don't have the
infrastructure in terms of
1067
01:06:43,541 --> 01:06:45,960
flying day and night around the clock
1068
01:06:46,002 --> 01:06:49,047
in all types of weather operations
1069
01:06:50,340 --> 01:06:52,800
‐ [Narrator] For the young
pilots flying old planes,
1070
01:06:52,884 --> 01:06:55,136
it's a disaster waiting to happen.
1071
01:06:55,261 --> 01:06:58,181
(ominous music)
1072
01:06:59,432 --> 01:07:03,061
‐ In a span of six weeks,
you have more than 60 crashes
1073
01:07:03,144 --> 01:07:05,730
killing many young airmail pilots.
1074
01:07:08,191 --> 01:07:11,069
It was a public relations
nightmare for FDR.
1075
01:07:12,612 --> 01:07:15,198
(somber music)
1076
01:07:17,242 --> 01:07:19,994
‐ [Narrator] Roosevelt
realizes he has no choice.
1077
01:07:20,036 --> 01:07:24,123
He reverses his decision
and gives the airmail business
1078
01:07:24,207 --> 01:07:26,209
back to private industry.
1079
01:07:29,337 --> 01:07:32,006
‐ It was a big humiliation for Roosevelt.
1080
01:07:32,131 --> 01:07:35,093
He had just been elected a year before
1081
01:07:35,176 --> 01:07:37,470
and he was flying high.
1082
01:07:37,554 --> 01:07:40,306
He was very popular
because of the New Deal.
1083
01:07:40,348 --> 01:07:43,351
And this was his first
real political defeat.
1084
01:07:46,229 --> 01:07:48,856
‐ [Narrator] But when
FDR does give air mail back,
1085
01:07:48,940 --> 01:07:50,358
there's a huge catch.
1086
01:07:51,568 --> 01:07:53,820
The government will no
longer permit companies to
1087
01:07:53,945 --> 01:07:56,906
both build planes and fly them.
1088
01:07:56,990 --> 01:07:59,909
Boeing's empire is broken up
1089
01:07:59,993 --> 01:08:02,120
but the president doesn't stop there.
1090
01:08:03,162 --> 01:08:05,540
As punishment for creating a monopoly,
1091
01:08:05,623 --> 01:08:08,251
FDR specifically bans William Boeing
1092
01:08:08,334 --> 01:08:13,047
for life from ever flying air mail again.
1093
01:08:13,131 --> 01:08:16,259
(plane engine whirs)
1094
01:08:17,343 --> 01:08:20,263
It's a staggering blow
to the aviation titan.
1095
01:08:21,472 --> 01:08:25,393
‐ Bill Boeing was very angry, disappointed
1096
01:08:26,269 --> 01:08:29,272
to be attacked by the government
1097
01:08:29,355 --> 01:08:32,817
and be accused of being a criminal.
1098
01:08:32,859 --> 01:08:36,237
It crushed him.
1099
01:08:36,362 --> 01:08:39,574
(somber piano music)
1100
01:08:42,076 --> 01:08:44,287
It was more than he could accept.
1101
01:08:46,247 --> 01:08:48,875
‐ [Narrator] In just two
decades, William Boeing turned
1102
01:08:49,000 --> 01:08:50,668
a small plane‐making business
1103
01:08:50,793 --> 01:08:54,047
into the largest aviation
empire in the world,
1104
01:08:54,130 --> 01:08:57,300
taking out industrial giants along the way.
1105
01:08:57,383 --> 01:09:00,470
Now, while the company
bearing his name will restructure
1106
01:09:00,553 --> 01:09:05,183
and live on, William Boeing
is forced into retirement.
1107
01:09:07,018 --> 01:09:10,438
FDR has taken down another titan.
1108
01:09:13,858 --> 01:09:17,487
After the Boeing scandal,
FDR wants to make sure
1109
01:09:17,570 --> 01:09:20,698
all American businesses play by the rules.
1110
01:09:20,823 --> 01:09:25,536
So he passes a sweeping
new law forcing companies
1111
01:09:25,662 --> 01:09:26,996
to allow unions.
1112
01:09:27,080 --> 01:09:29,374
(ominous music)
1113
01:09:29,499 --> 01:09:31,376
‐ This was an extraordinary moment.
1114
01:09:31,501 --> 01:09:33,961
This shifted the power structure
1115
01:09:34,045 --> 01:09:36,297
of American industry entirely.
1116
01:09:36,381 --> 01:09:39,425
‐ It became clear that
business leaders didn't
1117
01:09:39,509 --> 01:09:42,929
know what workers wanted or workers needed.
1118
01:09:43,012 --> 01:09:44,347
And this was Roosevelt's way
1119
01:09:44,472 --> 01:09:46,516
of trying to show the American public
1120
01:09:46,599 --> 01:09:48,851
that he could maintain capitalism,
1121
01:09:48,935 --> 01:09:50,019
but improve the lives
1122
01:09:50,144 --> 01:09:51,771
of those who were stuck in the system.
1123
01:09:51,854 --> 01:09:54,899
Often in horrible jobs, by
making their jobs better.
1124
01:09:58,236 --> 01:10:00,154
‐ [Narrator] To industrial giants,
1125
01:10:00,196 --> 01:10:03,408
the law is an attack on capitalism.
1126
01:10:03,533 --> 01:10:05,576
‐ It was a huge change.
1127
01:10:05,702 --> 01:10:07,578
Government is going to
tell you to some degree
1128
01:10:07,704 --> 01:10:09,706
how to run your own business.
1129
01:10:09,831 --> 01:10:12,041
People become entrepreneurs
because they don't
1130
01:10:12,166 --> 01:10:13,769
like other people telling them what to do.
1131
01:10:13,793 --> 01:10:15,396
And now all of a sudden,
the government's trying
1132
01:10:15,420 --> 01:10:16,587
to tell them what to do.
1133
01:10:16,671 --> 01:10:18,256
They didn't like it a bit.
1134
01:10:20,383 --> 01:10:23,177
‐ [Narrator] No one hates
it more than Henry Ford.
1135
01:10:23,302 --> 01:10:25,972
‐ Yes, no. I've only just heard.
1136
01:10:26,055 --> 01:10:28,975
My God, this is exactly
what I was trying to avoid.
1137
01:10:29,058 --> 01:10:31,519
No, I'll talk to him, myself.
1138
01:10:34,313 --> 01:10:36,649
‐ What FDR was basically saying was
1139
01:10:36,733 --> 01:10:41,070
yes, you guys have huge
power but that power needs
1140
01:10:41,195 --> 01:10:42,572
to be balanced.
1141
01:10:43,740 --> 01:10:47,285
‐ The early Henry Ford of
the Model T era was seen as
1142
01:10:47,368 --> 01:10:49,412
the ultimate people's person
1143
01:10:49,537 --> 01:10:52,331
because of his $5 a day to workers,
1144
01:10:52,415 --> 01:10:55,418
but he didn't believe
in the union movement.
1145
01:10:55,501 --> 01:10:58,212
And so if you were a union activist working
1146
01:10:58,337 --> 01:11:00,590
in Henry Ford's facility
1147
01:11:00,673 --> 01:11:03,676
you weren't going to
keep your job for very long.
1148
01:11:05,511 --> 01:11:08,306
‐ [Narrator] Ford calls Roosevelt a tyrant
1149
01:11:08,389 --> 01:11:10,850
and says he'll never negotiate with unions.
1150
01:11:14,187 --> 01:11:16,939
‐ Henry Ford felt threatened by FDR.
1151
01:11:17,023 --> 01:11:18,232
The problem for Henry Ford
1152
01:11:18,357 --> 01:11:20,693
and many industrialists at the time was
1153
01:11:20,818 --> 01:11:22,779
that they saw the federal government trying
1154
01:11:22,862 --> 01:11:25,740
to dictate how they ran their businesses.
1155
01:11:26,699 --> 01:11:28,618
And this did not sit well with Henry Ford.
1156
01:11:28,701 --> 01:11:30,495
Nobody was going to tell Henry Ford
1157
01:11:30,578 --> 01:11:32,580
how to run his own business.
1158
01:11:32,663 --> 01:11:35,291
‐ Heads of businesses
never want regulations.
1159
01:11:35,374 --> 01:11:37,335
They never want rules. No one does.
1160
01:11:37,460 --> 01:11:39,921
But at that time in history,
the everyday American
1161
01:11:40,004 --> 01:11:42,465
the everyday worker wanted better rights.
1162
01:11:42,548 --> 01:11:43,734
In the middle of a depression,
1163
01:11:43,758 --> 01:11:47,470
these titans' cries fell on deaf ears
1164
01:11:47,595 --> 01:11:50,056
because they weren't
the most important voice.
1165
01:11:57,021 --> 01:12:00,066
(dramatic music)
1166
01:12:00,942 --> 01:12:02,360
‐ [Narrator] By 1935,
1167
01:12:02,485 --> 01:12:05,530
Franklin Roosevelt is as popular as ever
1168
01:12:06,989 --> 01:12:09,492
and out west, the president celebrates
1169
01:12:09,534 --> 01:12:11,661
a major victory for his New Deal.
1170
01:12:12,912 --> 01:12:15,832
The dedication of the Hoover Dam.
1171
01:12:15,915 --> 01:12:20,795
‐ [FDR] Rising 726 feet
above the bedrock of the river,
1172
01:12:22,964 --> 01:12:26,050
bordering the geography of a whole region,
1173
01:12:27,009 --> 01:12:29,804
we are here to celebrate the completion
1174
01:12:29,929 --> 01:12:32,807
of the greatest dam in the world.
1175
01:12:35,560 --> 01:12:37,937
‐ The Hoover Dam changed the United States
1176
01:12:38,020 --> 01:12:41,357
and brought electricity to
thousands and thousands
1177
01:12:41,482 --> 01:12:42,650
of American families.
1178
01:12:42,733 --> 01:12:45,486
And it put tens of
thousands of people to work
1179
01:12:45,570 --> 01:12:47,363
not just in the building of the dam
1180
01:12:47,488 --> 01:12:49,198
but then in the management of the dam.
1181
01:12:49,323 --> 01:12:52,285
Hoover dam was in some ways
the perfect New Deal project.
1182
01:12:52,368 --> 01:12:55,329
It brought light to people,
it brought hope to people.
1183
01:12:55,454 --> 01:12:57,498
And it also brought confidence.
1184
01:12:57,582 --> 01:12:58,833
We could do new things.
1185
01:12:58,958 --> 01:13:02,962
We could achieve things
again, we could overcome fear.
1186
01:13:03,087 --> 01:13:04,297
(upbeat guitar music)
1187
01:13:04,380 --> 01:13:07,508
‐ [Narrator] Remarkably
absent from the dam's opening
1188
01:13:07,633 --> 01:13:11,637
is the man who built it, Henry Kaiser.
1189
01:13:11,721 --> 01:13:15,600
FDR has already sent him
off to oversee more projects
1190
01:13:15,683 --> 01:13:19,687
like the Oakland Bay bridge
and the Grand Coulee dam.
1191
01:13:19,812 --> 01:13:23,024
Two jobs worth a quarter
billion dollars alone.
1192
01:13:23,941 --> 01:13:26,485
It's a massive investment in America,
1193
01:13:27,820 --> 01:13:32,158
which FDR pays for by
significantly raising taxes
1194
01:13:32,241 --> 01:13:34,493
on America's richest titans.
1195
01:13:35,369 --> 01:13:38,122
(ominous music)
1196
01:13:38,205 --> 01:13:40,333
‐ The Roosevelt administration
needed to find ways to
1197
01:13:40,374 --> 01:13:41,792
fund the New Deal.
1198
01:13:42,793 --> 01:13:44,879
One of those was a wealth tax.
1199
01:13:46,547 --> 01:13:50,259
‐ Roosevelt had the
audacity to raise the wealth tax
1200
01:13:50,343 --> 01:13:52,720
up to as much as 75%.
1201
01:13:52,845 --> 01:13:57,516
And he scared the bejesus
out of industrial titans.
1202
01:14:00,186 --> 01:14:02,897
(flames crackle)
1203
01:14:04,523 --> 01:14:07,193
(ominous music)
1204
01:14:13,699 --> 01:14:15,451
‐ Morgan is so angry with Roosevelt
1205
01:14:15,534 --> 01:14:16,869
that it becomes personal
1206
01:14:16,953 --> 01:14:20,831
and he can't stand to read
or hear anything about FDR.
1207
01:14:30,299 --> 01:14:31,676
‐ [Butler] Wait.
1208
01:14:38,432 --> 01:14:41,644
‐ [Man] In fact, there's a
story that Morgan's servants
1209
01:14:41,727 --> 01:14:45,231
are instructed to cut
out all references to FDR
1210
01:14:45,356 --> 01:14:46,356
in the paper.
1211
01:14:50,778 --> 01:14:51,988
‐ [Butler] Thank you.
1212
01:14:53,197 --> 01:14:56,283
‐ Morgan himself saw
FDR as a class traitor,
1213
01:14:56,367 --> 01:14:59,161
as a charlatan, as a left wing hack
1214
01:14:59,245 --> 01:15:03,249
who betrayed his own class
in order to help the masses.
1215
01:15:04,917 --> 01:15:06,836
This to him was a cardinal sin.
1216
01:15:08,129 --> 01:15:10,840
(ominous music)
1217
01:15:16,679 --> 01:15:19,765
(footsteps click)
1218
01:15:19,849 --> 01:15:21,642
‐ [Narrator] For du Pont, whose reputation
1219
01:15:21,726 --> 01:15:24,812
has already been destroyed by FDR,
1220
01:15:24,854 --> 01:15:27,273
the wealth tax is the last straw.
1221
01:15:29,942 --> 01:15:32,319
He calls on other titans of industry
1222
01:15:32,403 --> 01:15:33,863
to do something about it.
1223
01:15:38,534 --> 01:15:43,497
‐ Gentlemen, we have been vilified
1224
01:15:43,581 --> 01:15:45,291
for all the country's ills.
1225
01:15:47,209 --> 01:15:48,252
We've become pariahs
1226
01:15:51,005 --> 01:15:53,132
and it's all because of this president.
1227
01:15:57,344 --> 01:15:58,888
So,
1228
01:16:02,141 --> 01:16:05,144
we all know what we have to do.
1229
01:16:07,021 --> 01:16:09,982
‐ All of these guys hated FDR.
1230
01:16:10,107 --> 01:16:13,194
He was raising 75% taxes on them.
1231
01:16:13,319 --> 01:16:19,283
He was a fan of labor
unions, and he openly talked
1232
01:16:19,366 --> 01:16:21,869
about how he hated the banks.
1233
01:16:21,994 --> 01:16:23,788
They thought he was a socialist.
1234
01:16:25,581 --> 01:16:26,641
‐ [Narrator] Together, they form
1235
01:16:26,665 --> 01:16:28,751
the American Liberty League.
1236
01:16:28,834 --> 01:16:31,796
It's a bold move with one clear mission.
1237
01:16:31,879 --> 01:16:34,715
Stop FDR from getting reelected.
1238
01:16:34,799 --> 01:16:37,593
‐ Many different industry
leaders, even competitors
1239
01:16:37,676 --> 01:16:39,804
within the auto industry came together
1240
01:16:39,887 --> 01:16:41,927
in the Liberty League
because they shared a concern
1241
01:16:41,972 --> 01:16:43,852
about the way Roosevelt
was using his political
1242
01:16:43,974 --> 01:16:46,811
power to limit what they wanted to do.
1243
01:16:49,146 --> 01:16:51,315
Nothing brings competitors together better
1244
01:16:51,440 --> 01:16:52,691
than a common enemy.
1245
01:16:53,859 --> 01:16:56,403
‐ [Narrator] They back a
candidate to run against FDR,
1246
01:16:56,487 --> 01:16:57,863
Alf Landon.
1247
01:16:57,988 --> 01:17:01,158
They know if elected, Landon
would do what they want.
1248
01:17:01,242 --> 01:17:04,120
So they bankroll his entire campaign.
1249
01:17:05,538 --> 01:17:06,622
‐ Let's drink.
1250
01:17:06,705 --> 01:17:09,416
‐ [Narrator] With du Pont
fronting almost a third of it.
1251
01:17:10,334 --> 01:17:14,004
By election night, they hope it's enough.
1252
01:17:18,175 --> 01:17:21,762
‐ [FDR] This Baseball park is a good place
1253
01:17:21,846 --> 01:17:24,598
to talk about box scores.
1254
01:17:24,682 --> 01:17:27,268
(crowd cheers)
1255
01:17:30,729 --> 01:17:34,692
From where I stand, it looks as if the game
1256
01:17:34,817 --> 01:17:37,611
was pretty well in the bag.
1257
01:17:37,695 --> 01:17:40,322
(crowd cheers)
1258
01:17:41,490 --> 01:17:43,135
‐ [Reporter] President
Roosevelt was cheery as ever
1259
01:17:43,159 --> 01:17:45,369
when he went into the
booth to record his own vote
1260
01:17:45,494 --> 01:17:48,664
and a few hours afterwards,
his optimism was justified.
1261
01:17:48,747 --> 01:17:51,167
Broadway went mad as
the former president was
1262
01:17:51,250 --> 01:17:52,978
returned again with
the biggest majority ever
1263
01:17:53,002 --> 01:17:54,545
known in American politics.
1264
01:17:54,670 --> 01:17:57,590
(crowd cheers)
1265
01:17:57,673 --> 01:18:00,092
In an election of 42 million votes,
1266
01:18:00,176 --> 01:18:02,219
the president wins the
most overwhelming victory
1267
01:18:02,344 --> 01:18:05,639
in the country's history and
the greatest popular election
1268
01:18:05,723 --> 01:18:07,308
in the history of the world.
1269
01:18:11,854 --> 01:18:14,481
(ominous music)
1270
01:18:15,482 --> 01:18:17,568
‐ [Narrator] FDR has
been reelected president
1271
01:18:17,693 --> 01:18:18,693
in a landslide.
1272
01:18:20,613 --> 01:18:22,948
He carries all but two states.
1273
01:18:23,991 --> 01:18:27,161
The Liberty League's
efforts are for nothing.
1274
01:18:27,244 --> 01:18:29,997
‐ The Liberty league failed
for one very simple reason.
1275
01:18:30,080 --> 01:18:32,333
Roosevelt's policies were working.
1276
01:18:32,458 --> 01:18:35,544
The Liberty League had
a very weak argument.
1277
01:18:35,669 --> 01:18:36,754
What were they defending?
1278
01:18:36,837 --> 01:18:40,299
Going back to Herbert Hoover?
Who would support that?
1279
01:18:41,383 --> 01:18:44,094
‐ [Narrator] FDR's reelection
means four more years
1280
01:18:44,178 --> 01:18:46,513
of fighting with the White House.
1281
01:18:47,681 --> 01:18:52,019
At this point, the titans and
FDR are bitter adversaries.
1282
01:18:53,312 --> 01:18:55,439
But what none of them realize is
1283
01:18:57,816 --> 01:19:01,195
the real enemy is 4,000 miles away.
1284
01:19:02,196 --> 01:19:04,073
He's building up his army and
1285
01:19:04,198 --> 01:19:06,909
is growing more powerful every day.
1286
01:19:12,957 --> 01:19:15,417
(dramatic music)
1287
01:19:16,001 --> 01:19:19,296
(airplane engine hums)
1288
01:19:24,009 --> 01:19:26,178
‐ [Narrator] Since the
devastating loss of his son,
1289
01:19:29,848 --> 01:19:32,059
Charles Lindbergh has been in hiding.
1290
01:19:35,229 --> 01:19:39,233
But now he's back in the
pilot seat, testing a new plane.
1291
01:19:44,989 --> 01:19:45,989
For Hitler.
1292
01:19:51,120 --> 01:19:53,998
‐ Charles Lindbergh
had been living in Europe
1293
01:19:54,081 --> 01:19:56,166
since the early thirties.
1294
01:19:56,250 --> 01:19:58,377
Lindbergh had had it with the press
1295
01:19:58,460 --> 01:20:02,339
after his child was kidnapped and murdered.
1296
01:20:03,549 --> 01:20:05,318
‐ [Narrator] Hitler has
spent the last five years
1297
01:20:05,342 --> 01:20:07,344
building a massive military.
1298
01:20:09,555 --> 01:20:12,641
His Luftwaffe air force is the crown jewel
1299
01:20:14,018 --> 01:20:16,103
and he wants the world to know.
1300
01:20:17,313 --> 01:20:19,898
‐ While living in Europe,
Lindbergh was invited
1301
01:20:20,024 --> 01:20:23,485
to come to Germany by Herman Goehring,
1302
01:20:23,527 --> 01:20:24,653
head of the Luftwaffe.
1303
01:20:26,572 --> 01:20:28,991
‐ [Narrator] Lindbergh is
the first American to see
1304
01:20:29,074 --> 01:20:31,994
the German war machine up close.
1305
01:20:34,872 --> 01:20:38,000
(ominous music)
1306
01:20:38,083 --> 01:20:40,586
‐ This is part of his legacy.
1307
01:20:40,669 --> 01:20:43,589
Charles Lindbergh went
from being an American hero
1308
01:20:43,672 --> 01:20:45,549
to a friend of the Nazis.
1309
01:20:48,010 --> 01:20:50,179
‐ [Narrator] To Hitler, the American hero
1310
01:20:50,304 --> 01:20:54,016
is the perfect pawn to
deliver Germany's message.
1311
01:20:56,268 --> 01:21:00,314
‐ Hitler hopes that Lindbergh
would be incredibly impressed
1312
01:21:00,397 --> 01:21:02,858
with the progress that the Germans had made
1313
01:21:02,983 --> 01:21:05,069
in terms of aircraft production.
1314
01:21:05,194 --> 01:21:07,446
And he proved to be right.
1315
01:21:08,530 --> 01:21:11,325
(dramatic music)
1316
01:21:14,036 --> 01:21:16,747
(cameras click)
1317
01:21:20,417 --> 01:21:22,336
‐ [Narrator] Upon returning to America,
1318
01:21:22,461 --> 01:21:25,172
Lindbergh brings a dire warning.
1319
01:21:26,382 --> 01:21:28,026
‐ The Messerschmidt is
not like any other plane.
1320
01:21:28,050 --> 01:21:29,301
It's in a different league.
1321
01:21:29,385 --> 01:21:31,970
And trust me, I have flown the best.
1322
01:21:32,096 --> 01:21:33,472
‐ What makes it so good?
1323
01:21:35,349 --> 01:21:38,227
‐ It's fast, 380 miles an hour.
1324
01:21:38,310 --> 01:21:40,145
The fastest in the book.
1325
01:21:40,229 --> 01:21:43,065
It can fly higher than any
other plane, 20,000 feet.
1326
01:21:45,067 --> 01:21:46,610
‐ [Man] How many do they have?
1327
01:21:46,693 --> 01:21:50,823
‐ Around 5,000, but they are building more.
1328
01:21:50,906 --> 01:21:51,906
Bombers, too.
1329
01:21:53,283 --> 01:21:57,121
If there was a war, no country in Europe
1330
01:21:57,204 --> 01:21:59,498
would stand a chance against Germany.
1331
01:22:02,626 --> 01:22:06,338
Come to think of it, neither would America.
1332
01:22:11,385 --> 01:22:14,346
‐ Lindbergh was incredibly
impressed by the new bombers,
1333
01:22:14,471 --> 01:22:17,141
the new fighters that
Germany had developed.
1334
01:22:17,182 --> 01:22:20,561
He did exactly what Hitler wanted him to.
1335
01:22:20,644 --> 01:22:23,063
He basically told the rest of the world
1336
01:22:23,188 --> 01:22:25,399
that he thought Germany was invincible.
1337
01:22:27,025 --> 01:22:29,736
‐ [Narrator] By 1937, Hitler's army
1338
01:22:29,862 --> 01:22:31,530
is a half a million strong
1339
01:22:31,655 --> 01:22:36,160
and is on track to quadruple
in size in less than two years.
1340
01:22:36,243 --> 01:22:38,328
And there's more bad news.
1341
01:22:38,454 --> 01:22:41,373
Japan has just invaded China
1342
01:22:41,498 --> 01:22:44,793
and also has built up a huge army.
1343
01:22:45,752 --> 01:22:47,463
‐ Suddenly you have two super power armies
1344
01:22:47,546 --> 01:22:50,424
and it's obvious they're on the March.
1345
01:22:52,968 --> 01:22:55,637
‐ [Reporter] In Tokyo,
there is widespread rejoicing.
1346
01:22:55,721 --> 01:22:59,308
Now, say the Japanese
generals, it is our turn.
1347
01:23:00,934 --> 01:23:04,104
Japan marches in China against...
1348
01:23:04,188 --> 01:23:07,608
‐ [Narrator] FDR
realizes war is inevitable.
1349
01:23:08,775 --> 01:23:12,654
‐ As he saw Japan
going to war against China,
1350
01:23:12,738 --> 01:23:14,406
Roosevelt thought, okay, this is trouble.
1351
01:23:14,531 --> 01:23:17,743
The United States will suffer
1352
01:23:17,868 --> 01:23:21,413
if the Japanese gain control of East Asia.
1353
01:23:21,538 --> 01:23:24,958
As Germany rearmed for war, he saw how
1354
01:23:25,042 --> 01:23:27,920
the United States would
inevitably get involved,
1355
01:23:28,003 --> 01:23:30,339
drawn into a war in Europe.
1356
01:23:31,340 --> 01:23:33,467
‐ [Narrator] But there's a huge problem.
1357
01:23:34,510 --> 01:23:37,054
During the depression,
FDR has been focusing
1358
01:23:37,137 --> 01:23:39,181
on rebuilding America's economy
1359
01:23:39,264 --> 01:23:42,976
and infrastructure and
spent virtually no money
1360
01:23:43,060 --> 01:23:45,312
on its own military.
1361
01:23:45,395 --> 01:23:48,732
‐ America's situation,
as far as being prepared
1362
01:23:48,815 --> 01:23:51,818
for fighting a modern
war, was pretty abysmal.
1363
01:23:51,902 --> 01:23:55,280
We had maybe the 18th
largest military in the world.
1364
01:23:55,364 --> 01:23:57,407
Holland had a bigger military than we did.
1365
01:23:57,533 --> 01:23:59,952
Hungary had a better military than we did.
1366
01:24:01,787 --> 01:24:04,373
‐ [Narrator] FDR knows
he must quickly build up
1367
01:24:04,456 --> 01:24:06,124
America's military.
1368
01:24:06,208 --> 01:24:10,921
Tanks, ships, planes, munitions
1369
01:24:12,381 --> 01:24:15,342
on an industrial scale
never before attempted
1370
01:24:15,467 --> 01:24:16,802
in American history.
1371
01:24:18,512 --> 01:24:19,864
‐ America's going to need to build hundreds
1372
01:24:19,888 --> 01:24:23,559
of factories and hire millions of workers.
1373
01:24:24,518 --> 01:24:26,038
And there are really only a few people
1374
01:24:26,144 --> 01:24:28,272
in the country equipped
in that moment to be able
1375
01:24:28,355 --> 01:24:29,147
to do that.
1376
01:24:29,273 --> 01:24:33,610
Titans like Ford, du Pont, Morgan,
1377
01:24:33,694 --> 01:24:36,196
Chrysler and Boeing.
1378
01:24:36,280 --> 01:24:38,323
‐ I think there's an
irony that Roosevelt has
1379
01:24:38,407 --> 01:24:40,576
to turn to some of the people he vilified,
1380
01:24:40,701 --> 01:24:43,328
but that's how American capitalism works.
1381
01:24:44,371 --> 01:24:48,292
‐ [Narrator] And now
FDR needs these titans,
1382
01:24:48,375 --> 01:24:52,713
the very people he's condemned, to help
1383
01:24:52,838 --> 01:24:54,006
save the world.
1384
01:24:56,842 --> 01:24:59,886
Next time on the Titans That Built America.
1385
01:25:01,388 --> 01:25:02,598
(gun blasts)
1386
01:25:02,681 --> 01:25:03,825
As World War II begins in Europe,
1387
01:25:03,849 --> 01:25:06,143
FDR needs help preparing for battle.
1388
01:25:06,184 --> 01:25:08,604
‐ You're asking me to start
producing munitions again?
1389
01:25:08,687 --> 01:25:10,731
‐ The president is asking, as well.
1390
01:25:11,648 --> 01:25:13,968
‐ The same President who
labeled me the merchant of death.
1391
01:25:14,026 --> 01:25:15,920
‐ [Narrator] After years
of the Great Depression,
1392
01:25:15,944 --> 01:25:18,697
Americans have no
appetite for another crisis.
1393
01:25:18,780 --> 01:25:23,994
‐ You can tell FDR that
Ford makes cars, not planes.
1394
01:25:24,494 --> 01:25:26,038
If he wants planes, you can tell him
1395
01:25:26,121 --> 01:25:27,831
to go to a damn plane maker.
1396
01:25:29,166 --> 01:25:32,169
‐ [Narrator] But a surprise
attack at Pearl Harbor
1397
01:25:32,294 --> 01:25:33,337
(bomb blasts)
1398
01:25:33,462 --> 01:25:35,297
changes everything.
1399
01:25:35,380 --> 01:25:37,174
‐ Sir, please come quickly.
1400
01:25:37,299 --> 01:25:39,801
‐ [Radio] The bombing of
Pearl Harbor by enemy planes...
1401
01:25:39,885 --> 01:25:42,262
‐ [Narrator] It will take
America's industrial might
1402
01:25:42,346 --> 01:25:45,307
to build the greatest war machine on earth
1403
01:25:45,390 --> 01:25:46,767
and the stakes couldn't be higher.
1404
01:25:46,850 --> 01:25:48,644
‐ We're moving as fast as we can.
1405
01:25:48,685 --> 01:25:50,565
Every adjustment means
a delay in the assembly.
1406
01:25:50,646 --> 01:25:52,481
‐ We have a problem with the M‐3.
1407
01:25:52,606 --> 01:25:54,900
They're a complete disaster.
1408
01:25:55,025 --> 01:25:56,151
(dramatic music)
1409
01:25:56,234 --> 01:25:58,654
‐ [Narrator] Now the Titans
must put aside their differences
1410
01:25:58,695 --> 01:26:01,657
with each other and FDR and unite.
1411
01:26:01,740 --> 01:26:03,367
‐ Their goal is to create
1412
01:26:03,492 --> 01:26:07,245
a sustained nuclear chain reaction.
1413
01:26:07,371 --> 01:26:11,416
‐ [Narrator] The fate of the
world rests in their hands.
1414
01:26:11,541 --> 01:26:13,001
‐ It's only a matter of time.
1415
01:26:14,002 --> 01:26:16,713
(dramatic music)
104934
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