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These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated: 1 00:00:04,448 --> 00:00:09,517 Soaring structures built to stand the test of time. 2 00:00:09,586 --> 00:00:15,482 And gigantic stone obelisks that reveal mysterious agendas. 3 00:00:19,103 --> 00:00:23,862 For millions of people, monuments like Mount Rushmore, 4 00:00:23,931 --> 00:00:26,172 the Washington Monument, 5 00:00:26,206 --> 00:00:28,482 and the Empire State Building represent 6 00:00:28,517 --> 00:00:31,310 the engineering triumphs of a great nation. 7 00:00:31,379 --> 00:00:33,862 But what is it about America's monuments 8 00:00:33,896 --> 00:00:37,034 that continue to fascinate and inspire us 9 00:00:37,068 --> 00:00:41,310 decades or even centuries after their creation? 10 00:00:41,344 --> 00:00:46,137 And could their facades be concealing hidden meanings 11 00:00:46,206 --> 00:00:50,206 or even secret purposes? 12 00:00:51,965 --> 00:00:54,482 Well, that is what we'll try and find out. 13 00:00:55,862 --> 00:00:58,034 ♪ 14 00:01:14,517 --> 00:01:17,655 Here in the Black Hills, nearly 6,000 feet above sea level, 15 00:01:17,689 --> 00:01:20,758 four colossal granite faces 16 00:01:20,793 --> 00:01:23,758 look over the majestic landscape. 17 00:01:23,827 --> 00:01:25,724 Their names? 18 00:01:25,758 --> 00:01:29,206 George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, 19 00:01:29,241 --> 00:01:32,827 Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. 20 00:01:32,862 --> 00:01:37,758 Four iconic representations of America's dramatic past. 21 00:01:39,655 --> 00:01:41,206 TONY PERROTTET: Mount Rushmore is an extraordinary vision 22 00:01:41,275 --> 00:01:42,206 when you first see it. 23 00:01:42,275 --> 00:01:44,034 It's very impressive. 24 00:01:44,103 --> 00:01:45,896 It's closer in spirit to an ancient monument. 25 00:01:45,931 --> 00:01:47,241 It's like one of the, you know, 26 00:01:47,275 --> 00:01:48,862 the wonders of the ancient world. 27 00:01:48,896 --> 00:01:52,689 SHATNER: Today, more than two million people visit each year 28 00:01:52,724 --> 00:01:57,689 to gaze in awe at these silent stone sentinels. 29 00:01:57,724 --> 00:02:01,724 But was Mount Rushmore built merely to allow Americans 30 00:02:01,758 --> 00:02:03,862 to celebrate their history? 31 00:02:03,896 --> 00:02:07,793 Or is it possible that it had another, 32 00:02:07,827 --> 00:02:10,724 even more profound purpose? 33 00:02:10,758 --> 00:02:14,793 Doane Robinson was the state historian of South Dakota 34 00:02:14,827 --> 00:02:16,896 in the early 1900s. 35 00:02:16,965 --> 00:02:19,965 He was the original person to have an idea 36 00:02:20,034 --> 00:02:24,000 of bringing tourists to his great state of South Dakota. 37 00:02:24,068 --> 00:02:27,379 PERROTTET: His idea was to create these folkloric sort of characters 38 00:02:27,413 --> 00:02:29,793 carving from the Black Hills. 39 00:02:29,827 --> 00:02:33,241 This sort of shaping of the, of the, of the very landscape. 40 00:02:33,275 --> 00:02:35,172 It-it seems a very American thing. 41 00:02:36,379 --> 00:02:38,758 SHATNER: Doane Robinson envisioned his monument 42 00:02:38,793 --> 00:02:41,517 to depict the heroes of the American West, 43 00:02:41,551 --> 00:02:46,517 such as Lewis and Clark, Sacagawea, Buffalo Bill Cody, 44 00:02:46,551 --> 00:02:48,827 and Chief Red Cloud. 45 00:02:50,551 --> 00:02:55,172 BRACEWELL: Doane Robinson's original idea was to bring a sculptor, 46 00:02:55,206 --> 00:02:58,137 a stone sculptor, to South Dakota to do the job. 47 00:02:58,172 --> 00:03:01,172 He asked several sculptors in the United States 48 00:03:01,206 --> 00:03:02,724 that were unavailable, 49 00:03:02,793 --> 00:03:06,206 and he read a newspaper article about the work 50 00:03:06,275 --> 00:03:08,724 that Gutzon Borglum was doing down in Stone Mountain, 51 00:03:08,793 --> 00:03:11,586 and got the idea that he would be available 52 00:03:11,620 --> 00:03:15,620 to do this kind of massive sculpture in South Dakota. 53 00:03:15,689 --> 00:03:18,517 PERROTTET: Gutzon Borglum was the first American sculptor 54 00:03:18,551 --> 00:03:21,034 to have a piece of work bought by the Metropolitan Museum 55 00:03:21,068 --> 00:03:22,275 while he was still alive. 56 00:03:22,310 --> 00:03:24,620 He'd gone and studied in Paris with Rodin. 57 00:03:24,655 --> 00:03:27,344 So he had quite an impressive career 58 00:03:27,379 --> 00:03:29,655 by the time he was contacted by Doane 59 00:03:29,724 --> 00:03:31,413 to go to South Dakota. 60 00:03:31,448 --> 00:03:34,551 ROBIN BORGLUM-CARTER: Gutzon was a second-generation American, 61 00:03:34,620 --> 00:03:37,172 and love for America was instilled into him 62 00:03:37,206 --> 00:03:38,689 in the beginning. 63 00:03:38,724 --> 00:03:41,620 His father was from Denmark and was a Mormon missionary, 64 00:03:41,655 --> 00:03:43,965 and had waited ten years to get to the United States. 65 00:03:44,034 --> 00:03:46,758 So he had an appreciation for American art 66 00:03:46,793 --> 00:03:48,344 and everything American. 67 00:03:49,724 --> 00:03:52,103 SHATNER: Gutzon Borglum rejected Doane Robinson's plan 68 00:03:52,172 --> 00:03:54,034 to carve depictions of Native Americans 69 00:03:54,103 --> 00:03:56,000 and regional folk heroes. 70 00:03:56,034 --> 00:03:58,551 As far as he was concerned, 71 00:03:58,586 --> 00:04:02,896 his masterpiece required figures of a more national stature. 72 00:04:04,689 --> 00:04:07,275 PERROTTET: He was really looking for something incredibly grand, 73 00:04:07,310 --> 00:04:10,172 incredibly splendid, something for the ages, 74 00:04:10,206 --> 00:04:12,379 so that his name would ring down through history. 75 00:04:12,448 --> 00:04:15,827 So he came up with the idea of using the presidents. 76 00:04:15,896 --> 00:04:19,034 SHATNER: But why would such an accomplished artist 77 00:04:19,068 --> 00:04:22,137 risk his reputation to pursue an engineering feat 78 00:04:22,172 --> 00:04:23,482 that other sculptors had deemed 79 00:04:23,517 --> 00:04:26,862 not only difficult but impossible? 80 00:04:26,896 --> 00:04:30,206 BORGLUM-CARTER: I think he had convinced himself that he could carve mountains, 81 00:04:30,275 --> 00:04:31,137 and he wanted to prove to everybody 82 00:04:31,206 --> 00:04:32,517 that this could be done. 83 00:04:32,586 --> 00:04:36,931 He had one dream, and that was to create something 84 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:40,931 on a monumental scale that would show everybody one man's 85 00:04:40,965 --> 00:04:42,413 love for his country. 86 00:04:42,448 --> 00:04:44,206 It just became an obsession. 87 00:04:45,448 --> 00:04:47,517 SHATNER: To realize this tribute to America, 88 00:04:47,551 --> 00:04:50,862 Borglum employed a small army of highly skilled artisans 89 00:04:50,896 --> 00:04:53,172 to ensure that the beauty of Mount Rushmore 90 00:04:53,206 --> 00:04:55,724 was equal to its enormity. 91 00:04:55,758 --> 00:05:00,586 People like Italian immigrant Luigi Del Bianco. 92 00:05:00,620 --> 00:05:03,137 LOU DEL BIANCO: Before Mount Rushmore was even carved, 93 00:05:03,206 --> 00:05:05,551 two years were spent clearing trees. 94 00:05:05,586 --> 00:05:07,758 They had to create roads. 95 00:05:07,793 --> 00:05:12,000 They had to run 20 miles of electrical cable 96 00:05:12,068 --> 00:05:14,137 from Mount Rushmore to Rapid City 97 00:05:14,172 --> 00:05:16,620 so the pneumatic drills could be powered, 98 00:05:16,655 --> 00:05:18,344 or any other kind of, uh, necessities. 99 00:05:18,379 --> 00:05:20,517 SHATNER: To get from the staging area 100 00:05:20,586 --> 00:05:22,068 to the top of the mountain, 101 00:05:22,103 --> 00:05:25,724 the men had to climb 700 steps, 102 00:05:25,758 --> 00:05:29,793 which is like climbing halfway up the Empire State Building. 103 00:05:29,827 --> 00:05:33,862 And they had to bring heavy equipment along with them. 104 00:05:33,931 --> 00:05:37,862 So, this is a pneumatic drill, and it probably weighs about-- 105 00:05:37,896 --> 00:05:39,862 I'm gonna say it weighs about 25 pounds. 106 00:05:39,896 --> 00:05:43,551 The larger drills were probably 45 pounds. 107 00:05:43,586 --> 00:05:46,965 And these guys had to use these, like, up to 12 hours a day. 108 00:05:48,724 --> 00:05:51,689 SHATNER: After 15 years, 400 men, 109 00:05:51,758 --> 00:05:54,620 more than 20,000 pounds of dynamite, 110 00:05:54,655 --> 00:05:58,586 and the removal of 450,000 tons of rock, 111 00:05:58,620 --> 00:06:01,137 the work intended to represent 112 00:06:01,172 --> 00:06:05,931 "the triumph of modern society and democracy" was complete. 113 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:09,000 But there is another feature of Mount Rushmore's 114 00:06:09,034 --> 00:06:12,551 original design that has forced many historians 115 00:06:12,586 --> 00:06:15,758 to debate and ponder Gutzon Borglum's 116 00:06:15,793 --> 00:06:19,724 profound reason for creating the monument. 117 00:06:19,758 --> 00:06:21,620 There's a valley right behind the memorial, 118 00:06:21,689 --> 00:06:23,448 and on the other side of the valley, 119 00:06:23,482 --> 00:06:28,724 he had plans of carving a sort of cave into the mountain. 120 00:06:28,793 --> 00:06:30,965 BORGLUM-CARTER: Some of the drawings were that there would be 121 00:06:31,034 --> 00:06:34,172 a 12-foot entrance, and then there'd be a big room inside, 122 00:06:34,206 --> 00:06:35,862 and then he kind of enlarged that 123 00:06:35,896 --> 00:06:38,103 to a second big room, and then there was even talk 124 00:06:38,172 --> 00:06:40,689 of rooms underneath it. 125 00:06:40,724 --> 00:06:42,931 It was going to be something quite monumental-- 126 00:06:42,965 --> 00:06:44,793 pharaonic in scale, really. 127 00:06:44,827 --> 00:06:47,620 And the centerpiece of it was this Hall of Records, 128 00:06:47,655 --> 00:06:50,172 which would recount in very grandiose terms 129 00:06:50,241 --> 00:06:53,344 the first 150 years of American history. 130 00:06:55,551 --> 00:06:57,793 SHATNER: According to surviving documents, 131 00:06:57,827 --> 00:07:02,620 Borglum's Hall of Records was to be an 80-by-120-foot chamber 132 00:07:02,655 --> 00:07:05,034 deep within the granite mountain. 133 00:07:05,068 --> 00:07:08,793 Not unlike a similar chamber believed to be located 134 00:07:08,827 --> 00:07:11,034 beneath the paws of the Sphinx in Egypt. 135 00:07:12,551 --> 00:07:16,103 Inside, Borglum imagined the busts of important 136 00:07:16,137 --> 00:07:20,000 American leaders and innovators would be put on display 137 00:07:20,034 --> 00:07:22,965 along with the United States' most sacred documents, 138 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:26,206 including the original Declaration of Independence 139 00:07:26,241 --> 00:07:29,034 and United States Constitution. 140 00:07:29,103 --> 00:07:32,068 But while only a small fraction of the Hall of Records 141 00:07:32,103 --> 00:07:33,620 was ever built, 142 00:07:33,655 --> 00:07:37,034 one has to wonder, why did Borglum think 143 00:07:37,068 --> 00:07:40,965 such a remotely located archive was necessary? 144 00:07:42,172 --> 00:07:44,206 BRACEWELL: Gutzon Borglum had always believed 145 00:07:44,241 --> 00:07:47,275 that you couldn't leave this for future generations 146 00:07:47,310 --> 00:07:49,793 and civilizations without explaining 147 00:07:49,827 --> 00:07:51,862 what the meaning was and the message was 148 00:07:51,896 --> 00:07:53,862 of the mountain-- a massive sculpture 149 00:07:53,896 --> 00:07:57,034 as a memorial to the United States. 150 00:07:57,068 --> 00:08:00,448 SHATNER: Gutzon Borglum once lamented that 151 00:08:00,517 --> 00:08:04,965 each succeeding civilization forgets its predecessor. 152 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:08,758 "Civilizations," he said, "are ghouls." 153 00:08:11,103 --> 00:08:14,482 Is it possible that he foresaw the eventual criticism 154 00:08:14,517 --> 00:08:17,965 that his work, along with his previous associations 155 00:08:18,000 --> 00:08:21,103 with white supremacist groups like the Ku Klux Klan, 156 00:08:21,137 --> 00:08:22,827 would eventually receive? 157 00:08:26,413 --> 00:08:29,655 BORGLUM-CARTER: Well, the Stone Mountain project is kind of complicated. 158 00:08:29,724 --> 00:08:32,482 What it always comes back to is the Ku Klux Klan. 159 00:08:32,517 --> 00:08:34,689 And certainly Gutzon knew when he went down there 160 00:08:34,724 --> 00:08:36,896 that the Klan met at Stone Mountain. 161 00:08:36,965 --> 00:08:41,413 And he knew that the backers were sympathizers. 162 00:08:41,448 --> 00:08:44,413 PERROTTET: He fell in with a bad crowd as the Klan was reviving 163 00:08:44,448 --> 00:08:46,965 in the early '20s, and especially in Georgia. 164 00:08:47,034 --> 00:08:48,758 It was very bad judgment. 165 00:08:48,793 --> 00:08:51,862 And what happened in the end is he fell out with the Klan. 166 00:08:51,896 --> 00:08:53,827 He fell out with all the people who were funding him. 167 00:08:53,862 --> 00:08:56,103 And he just threw the whole thing aside. 168 00:08:56,137 --> 00:09:00,482 SHATNER: Perhaps Borglum believed that by enshrining the nation's 169 00:09:00,517 --> 00:09:03,655 founding documents in a stone vault, 170 00:09:03,689 --> 00:09:07,413 he could protect not only his greatest work of art 171 00:09:07,448 --> 00:09:09,206 but his own reputation. 172 00:09:10,724 --> 00:09:13,689 Unfortunately, we may never know the truth. 173 00:09:13,724 --> 00:09:17,034 Gutzon Borglum passed away in 1941, 174 00:09:17,103 --> 00:09:20,103 before his original design for Mount Rushmore 175 00:09:20,172 --> 00:09:23,000 and the Hall of Records could be completed. 176 00:09:23,034 --> 00:09:26,137 It's a story similar 177 00:09:26,172 --> 00:09:29,655 to the true purpose behind another famous U.S. monument 178 00:09:29,689 --> 00:09:33,379 not only associated with dead American presidents 179 00:09:33,448 --> 00:09:36,068 but with those who lived there. 180 00:09:46,620 --> 00:09:49,758 MARK KETCHUM: Two crowds came together in the middle of the bridgeSHATNER: While staying at a temporary residence 181 00:09:49,793 --> 00:09:53,586 known as the President's House on 190 High Street, 182 00:09:53,620 --> 00:09:56,000 George Washington meets with the commissioners 183 00:09:56,034 --> 00:09:58,827 of the newly established District of Columbia 184 00:09:58,862 --> 00:10:01,103 to announce the winner of an important 185 00:10:01,137 --> 00:10:02,793 architectural design contest. 186 00:10:02,862 --> 00:10:07,068 The chosen plan by Irish architect James Hoban 187 00:10:07,103 --> 00:10:10,655 was selected from dozens of submissions, 188 00:10:10,689 --> 00:10:13,448 all vying to design what was to be 189 00:10:13,517 --> 00:10:15,551 the president's permanent home. 190 00:10:17,068 --> 00:10:19,137 WILLIAM SEALE: George Washington liked architecture. 191 00:10:19,172 --> 00:10:22,137 He was very interested in houses, symbolism. 192 00:10:23,379 --> 00:10:25,068 And the White House is an iconic symbol 193 00:10:25,103 --> 00:10:28,000 of the presidency all over the world today. 194 00:10:29,310 --> 00:10:32,931 Everything about the White House is George Washington's idea. 195 00:10:32,965 --> 00:10:35,758 It was really his vision for the city, 196 00:10:35,793 --> 00:10:38,103 for the scale of the building, 197 00:10:38,137 --> 00:10:41,586 for the necessity of it being built with stone in a time 198 00:10:41,620 --> 00:10:43,862 when there were no stonecutters in Washington. 199 00:10:46,689 --> 00:10:50,103 SHATNER: Starting construction in 1792, 200 00:10:50,137 --> 00:10:52,655 the President's Palace, as it was then called, 201 00:10:52,724 --> 00:10:55,275 took eight years to complete, at the then cost 202 00:10:55,344 --> 00:10:59,137 of approximately $230,000. 203 00:10:59,172 --> 00:11:03,620 A relatively modest sum, even in those days. 204 00:11:06,793 --> 00:11:08,689 After British troops set fire to the structure 205 00:11:08,724 --> 00:11:10,310 during the War of 1812... 206 00:11:13,689 --> 00:11:16,793 ...numerous renovations and additions expanded 207 00:11:16,827 --> 00:11:20,689 the original two-story building to include colonnades 208 00:11:20,724 --> 00:11:22,931 connecting the East and the West Wings, 209 00:11:22,965 --> 00:11:25,068 as well as the north and south porticos. 210 00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:30,000 According to the official tour, the White House 211 00:11:30,034 --> 00:11:35,000 as we know it today contains a staggering 132 rooms... 212 00:11:36,000 --> 00:11:39,206 ...including 16 family and guest rooms 213 00:11:39,241 --> 00:11:41,620 and 35 bathrooms. 214 00:11:43,172 --> 00:11:47,344 55,000 square feet in all, located on 18 acres 215 00:11:47,379 --> 00:11:52,344 in the heart of one of the busiest cities in the world. 216 00:11:52,379 --> 00:11:56,068 Presidents years ago would entertain everyday people 217 00:11:56,103 --> 00:11:57,689 who could just walk to the White House, 218 00:11:57,724 --> 00:12:00,068 get in and talk to the president. 219 00:12:00,137 --> 00:12:01,862 The White House used to be thought of 220 00:12:01,896 --> 00:12:03,551 as the people's house. 221 00:12:03,586 --> 00:12:05,206 There are very few areas in the White House 222 00:12:05,241 --> 00:12:07,103 that the president can be truly private. 223 00:12:07,137 --> 00:12:11,896 Presidents are living a very abnormal existence. 224 00:12:11,931 --> 00:12:15,586 So you wonder how they get some sense of normalcy, 225 00:12:15,620 --> 00:12:17,758 which you don't get in the White House. 226 00:12:19,448 --> 00:12:20,793 SHATNER: For more than two centuries, 227 00:12:20,862 --> 00:12:23,758 the White House has served as the primary residence 228 00:12:23,827 --> 00:12:26,758 of every president of the United States. 229 00:12:26,793 --> 00:12:31,758 But 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is more than simply the home 230 00:12:31,793 --> 00:12:34,068 of the president and first family. 231 00:12:34,137 --> 00:12:38,068 It is also the headquarters of the executive branch itself. 232 00:12:40,758 --> 00:12:43,000 Which have led many to ask: 233 00:12:43,068 --> 00:12:44,931 is there more about the White House 234 00:12:44,965 --> 00:12:49,344 that we don't know, hiding behind its austere facade? 235 00:12:49,413 --> 00:12:54,034 Experts have long suspected that top secret tunnels exist 236 00:12:54,068 --> 00:12:57,413 beneath the White House, enabling the president to travel 237 00:12:57,448 --> 00:13:00,344 throughout the city entirely unseen. 238 00:13:02,379 --> 00:13:05,827 I was very surprised to learn the quick routes 239 00:13:05,862 --> 00:13:08,689 that needed to be taken in case of an emergency. 240 00:13:09,655 --> 00:13:12,344 And not something that I can discuss, 241 00:13:12,379 --> 00:13:14,482 but there are ways that the president can be moved 242 00:13:14,517 --> 00:13:16,379 from point A to point B very quickly 243 00:13:16,413 --> 00:13:18,000 in an emergency situation. 244 00:13:18,034 --> 00:13:20,517 SHATNER: According to historians, 245 00:13:20,586 --> 00:13:23,000 many of the rumors surrounding such tunnels 246 00:13:23,034 --> 00:13:25,517 and other classified security features 247 00:13:25,551 --> 00:13:28,655 originated during President Harry Truman's administration 248 00:13:28,724 --> 00:13:30,862 in the 1940s, 249 00:13:30,931 --> 00:13:34,344 after numerous structural issues were discovered 250 00:13:34,379 --> 00:13:36,482 throughout the residence. 251 00:13:36,517 --> 00:13:40,517 WHITCOMB: The White House had nicknames like a "public shabby house." 252 00:13:40,551 --> 00:13:43,655 There was lots of derogatory terms about it over the years 253 00:13:43,689 --> 00:13:46,344 because it would fall in and out of disrepair 254 00:13:46,379 --> 00:13:50,000 depending on how popular the president was with Congress. 255 00:13:51,517 --> 00:13:53,103 SEALE: And so, 256 00:13:53,137 --> 00:13:56,793 the White House, by the time President Truman was there, 257 00:13:56,827 --> 00:13:59,551 was like a hamburger someone had sat on. 258 00:13:59,620 --> 00:14:02,241 All the levels were just squashed. 259 00:14:02,275 --> 00:14:05,206 And the corps of engineers had been yelling about this 260 00:14:05,241 --> 00:14:06,551 for a long time. 261 00:14:06,586 --> 00:14:10,310 SHATNER: Between 1949 and 1952, 262 00:14:10,379 --> 00:14:13,689 a drastic renovation was authorized by Congress. 263 00:14:13,724 --> 00:14:16,758 Engineers replaced the wooden subframe 264 00:14:16,793 --> 00:14:19,448 with state-of-the-art steel beams 265 00:14:19,517 --> 00:14:23,241 and rebuilt the inside from scratch using modern materials, 266 00:14:23,275 --> 00:14:28,448 leaving only the iconic sandstone exterior intact. 267 00:14:28,482 --> 00:14:32,103 The White House is a facility that's-- we call it hardened. 268 00:14:32,137 --> 00:14:34,862 A facility that's actually built to withstand 269 00:14:34,896 --> 00:14:37,206 someone shooting a rifle, 270 00:14:37,241 --> 00:14:39,586 someone bringing any kind of explosive, 271 00:14:39,620 --> 00:14:43,310 or any kind of threat to the building. 272 00:14:43,344 --> 00:14:45,965 You want to be able to protect the people inside the building. 273 00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:49,172 SHATNER: As a result, some historians have questioned: 274 00:14:49,206 --> 00:14:52,827 should the modern White House be considered a residence 275 00:14:52,862 --> 00:14:55,000 or a fortress? 276 00:14:56,172 --> 00:14:59,517 RON KESSLER: The White House grounds are protected 277 00:14:59,551 --> 00:15:04,275 by a complete array of sensors that detect heat, motion. 278 00:15:04,344 --> 00:15:08,241 If anything is detected, the Secret Service comes running. 279 00:15:08,310 --> 00:15:10,482 BRAD PATTERSON: It was realized you really needed 280 00:15:10,517 --> 00:15:13,689 some kind of a military facility there in the White House. 281 00:15:13,724 --> 00:15:16,758 And so the Situation Room was established 282 00:15:16,793 --> 00:15:18,793 in the West Wing of the White House. 283 00:15:18,862 --> 00:15:21,068 It has an international top secret, 284 00:15:21,103 --> 00:15:23,482 secure teleconference system 285 00:15:23,517 --> 00:15:28,586 so the president can engage in face-to-face conversations 286 00:15:28,620 --> 00:15:30,931 with other leaders of the world. 287 00:15:30,965 --> 00:15:33,655 There's the famous picture in the Situation Room 288 00:15:33,689 --> 00:15:36,241 of President Obama and Secretary Clinton 289 00:15:36,310 --> 00:15:41,137 and the staff during the mission that went after Osama bin Laden. 290 00:15:41,206 --> 00:15:44,413 The capability certainly exists, within the Situation Room, 291 00:15:44,448 --> 00:15:46,448 to watch live broadcasts. 292 00:15:49,310 --> 00:15:51,379 SHATNER: As a matter of national security, 293 00:15:51,413 --> 00:15:53,965 the members of the White House staff are under strict orders 294 00:15:54,000 --> 00:15:56,655 not to reveal the full extent 295 00:15:56,724 --> 00:15:59,068 of the building's defense infrastructure. 296 00:16:00,068 --> 00:16:02,241 However, it has been acknowledged 297 00:16:02,275 --> 00:16:04,448 that in addition to the Situation Room, 298 00:16:04,482 --> 00:16:06,758 the White House also contains a bunker-like structure 299 00:16:06,793 --> 00:16:08,586 beneath the East Wing 300 00:16:08,620 --> 00:16:12,206 known as the Presidential Emergency Operations Center, 301 00:16:12,241 --> 00:16:14,379 or PEOC, 302 00:16:14,413 --> 00:16:17,896 to protect the president in case of direct attack. 303 00:16:17,965 --> 00:16:21,517 But could the White House's military capabilities 304 00:16:21,551 --> 00:16:24,551 go even further than that? 305 00:16:24,586 --> 00:16:27,586 Let's just say that, yes, the White House is capable 306 00:16:27,620 --> 00:16:29,931 of thwarting an attack. 307 00:16:29,965 --> 00:16:33,034 For instance, if you remember Frank Corder, 308 00:16:33,103 --> 00:16:36,206 the individual who flew the airplane onto the South Lawn 309 00:16:36,241 --> 00:16:39,068 and that crashed into the White House itself. 310 00:16:39,103 --> 00:16:42,551 SHATNER: On September 12, 1994, 311 00:16:42,586 --> 00:16:45,172 Frank Eugene Corder, a 38-year-old Army veteran 312 00:16:45,206 --> 00:16:47,379 suffering from depression, 313 00:16:47,413 --> 00:16:51,310 flew a small airplane directly at the White House 314 00:16:51,344 --> 00:16:54,103 in what is believed to have been an assassination attempt 315 00:16:54,137 --> 00:16:56,379 on President Bill Clinton. 316 00:16:57,931 --> 00:16:59,724 Although the official record states 317 00:16:59,758 --> 00:17:03,137 that Corder's plane crashed before it reached its target, 318 00:17:03,172 --> 00:17:08,310 many believe it was, in fact, shot down. 319 00:17:08,379 --> 00:17:09,827 BASHAM: People just assumed 320 00:17:09,862 --> 00:17:11,896 that the White House had 321 00:17:11,931 --> 00:17:14,896 all of those defense mechanisms in place, 322 00:17:14,931 --> 00:17:18,034 and when this Cessna flew into the White House, 323 00:17:18,068 --> 00:17:20,896 and fortunately they prevented any penetration 324 00:17:20,965 --> 00:17:23,931 into the interior of the White House itself. 325 00:17:23,965 --> 00:17:29,413 So, I think that demonstrates that-that, that it does exist. 326 00:17:29,482 --> 00:17:32,724 SHATNER: Is the White House a full-fledged battle station, 327 00:17:32,758 --> 00:17:35,000 protected by antiaircraft missiles 328 00:17:35,034 --> 00:17:37,344 and other covert armaments? 329 00:17:37,379 --> 00:17:40,586 And if so, what about the other prominent structures 330 00:17:40,620 --> 00:17:44,103 located in our nation's capital? 331 00:17:44,172 --> 00:17:49,137 May they also be hiding secrets in plain sight? 332 00:17:49,172 --> 00:17:52,000 There are many who believe that the answer lies 333 00:17:52,034 --> 00:17:54,862 just a few yards away within the very heart 334 00:17:54,931 --> 00:17:56,724 of the Capitol dome. 335 00:18:07,896 --> 00:18:10,689 AKRAM ELIAS: George Washington wanted to send that message,stands what is perhaps the single greatest monument 336 00:18:10,724 --> 00:18:12,793 to democracy in the world, 337 00:18:12,827 --> 00:18:16,000 the United States Capitol Building. 338 00:18:17,137 --> 00:18:19,034 The iconic dome at the center is flanked 339 00:18:19,068 --> 00:18:21,344 by two nearly identical wings. 340 00:18:21,379 --> 00:18:23,620 The North, which houses the Senate, 341 00:18:23,689 --> 00:18:27,241 and the South, which houses the House of Representatives. 342 00:18:27,310 --> 00:18:30,413 The vast sandstone-clad structure contains 343 00:18:30,448 --> 00:18:36,241 some 600 rooms and covers approximately four acres. 344 00:18:36,310 --> 00:18:38,896 It's designed to radiate power. 345 00:18:38,931 --> 00:18:41,206 And as one stands here, one can feel themselves 346 00:18:41,241 --> 00:18:43,206 just being lifted up by its presence. 347 00:18:43,241 --> 00:18:46,206 And it was designed to be that way. 348 00:18:46,241 --> 00:18:48,275 SHATNER: As with the White House, 349 00:18:48,310 --> 00:18:52,344 the cornerstone ceremony was presided over by Freemasons. 350 00:18:52,379 --> 00:18:56,862 At 10:00 a.m. on September 18, 1793, 351 00:18:56,896 --> 00:19:00,275 crowds gathered to watch George Washington 352 00:19:00,344 --> 00:19:03,655 carefully anoint a massive stone block 353 00:19:03,689 --> 00:19:06,344 with corn, oil and wine. 354 00:19:06,379 --> 00:19:09,137 He then struck it three times with a gavel 355 00:19:09,172 --> 00:19:11,448 to announce the laying of the cornerstone... 356 00:19:13,448 --> 00:19:15,275 ...for the building intended to become 357 00:19:15,310 --> 00:19:19,172 the heart of America's new democracy. 358 00:19:19,206 --> 00:19:23,068 When Freemasons conduct such a ceremony, 359 00:19:23,103 --> 00:19:25,344 they're basically sending a message 360 00:19:25,379 --> 00:19:29,068 to the people who are going to work out of that edifice 361 00:19:29,103 --> 00:19:34,068 that their main mission is not to rule over people. 362 00:19:34,103 --> 00:19:36,655 George Washington wanted to send that powerful message, 363 00:19:36,689 --> 00:19:41,482 "This is the symbol of this new American republic." 364 00:19:43,379 --> 00:19:46,379 SHATNER: Seven years after construction on the Capitol began, 365 00:19:46,448 --> 00:19:49,517 the United States Congress held its first session 366 00:19:49,551 --> 00:19:51,965 on November 17, 1800. 367 00:19:52,896 --> 00:19:54,344 As the number of states 368 00:19:54,379 --> 00:19:57,724 admitted to the nation grew over the next 50 years, 369 00:19:57,758 --> 00:19:59,379 the design of the original buildings 370 00:19:59,448 --> 00:20:02,206 continued to expand in order to accommodate 371 00:20:02,275 --> 00:20:05,862 the increasing number of legislators in Congress. 372 00:20:05,931 --> 00:20:08,448 But there is one fact about the Capitol dome 373 00:20:08,482 --> 00:20:10,379 that is less well-known, 374 00:20:10,413 --> 00:20:13,551 and it's not about what lies on top of the building 375 00:20:13,620 --> 00:20:16,413 but what lies deep below. 376 00:20:16,448 --> 00:20:18,344 HENRY: Beneath that is what's called 377 00:20:18,379 --> 00:20:20,000 the crypt. 378 00:20:20,034 --> 00:20:22,172 This is fascinating because civic buildings 379 00:20:22,241 --> 00:20:23,586 are not supposed to have crypts. 380 00:20:23,620 --> 00:20:27,275 Churches have crypts. Cemeteries have crypts. 381 00:20:27,310 --> 00:20:30,000 But the U.S. Capitol has a crypt. Why? 382 00:20:30,034 --> 00:20:33,034 SHATNER: A crypt? 383 00:20:33,103 --> 00:20:34,827 According to historians, the crypt 384 00:20:34,896 --> 00:20:36,931 below the Capitol dome's rotunda was intended 385 00:20:36,965 --> 00:20:40,068 to be the burial place for George Washington, 386 00:20:40,103 --> 00:20:43,551 similar to the burial places of English kings 387 00:20:43,586 --> 00:20:46,275 beneath the floors of the British cathedrals. 388 00:20:46,310 --> 00:20:49,275 However, by the time the construction 389 00:20:49,310 --> 00:20:52,275 of the crypt was completed in 1827, 390 00:20:52,310 --> 00:20:55,793 Washington, who strongly rejected any notion 391 00:20:55,827 --> 00:20:57,758 that he should be regarded as a king, 392 00:20:57,793 --> 00:21:02,137 had already been buried at his home in Mount Vernon. 393 00:21:02,206 --> 00:21:05,413 Washington's family, out of respect for his wishes, 394 00:21:05,448 --> 00:21:08,517 now refused to move his body to Washington. 395 00:21:08,551 --> 00:21:12,000 But even though the crypt beneath the Capitol is empty, 396 00:21:12,034 --> 00:21:15,620 George Washington's presence can still be felt 397 00:21:15,655 --> 00:21:18,275 all over the Capitol. 398 00:21:18,310 --> 00:21:20,931 ELIAS: One of the most fascinating parts of the Capitol 399 00:21:20,965 --> 00:21:22,586 is the rotunda, which is at the heart; 400 00:21:22,620 --> 00:21:24,034 it's a circle. 401 00:21:24,068 --> 00:21:28,241 And if you look above, you see a beautiful painting 402 00:21:28,275 --> 00:21:31,517 of the apotheosis of George Washington. 403 00:21:31,551 --> 00:21:34,896 It's an enormous painting that depicts Washington 404 00:21:34,931 --> 00:21:37,896 as you would see a god depicted. 405 00:21:37,931 --> 00:21:41,310 He sits in a setting of clouds 406 00:21:41,344 --> 00:21:46,000 with what look like angels immediately surrounding him. 407 00:21:46,068 --> 00:21:48,034 The apotheosis of George Washington 408 00:21:48,103 --> 00:21:51,827 was completed by Constantino Brumidi in 1865. 409 00:21:51,862 --> 00:21:53,827 The word "apotheosis" is a Greek word 410 00:21:53,896 --> 00:21:56,517 that means to deify; to raise from a man 411 00:21:56,551 --> 00:22:00,482 to a god-man, or to achieve glory. 412 00:22:00,517 --> 00:22:04,206 And when one achieves glory, one glows rays, 413 00:22:04,241 --> 00:22:06,103 just like the gods. 414 00:22:06,137 --> 00:22:08,965 Who's buried in Washington's tomb? 415 00:22:09,034 --> 00:22:10,517 Nobody. 416 00:22:10,551 --> 00:22:12,827 Because he's up on the ceiling. 417 00:22:12,862 --> 00:22:15,275 He's raised himself from the tomb, 418 00:22:15,344 --> 00:22:18,827 gone up through the rotunda and up through the sun gate 419 00:22:18,862 --> 00:22:20,827 that leads to heaven. 420 00:22:20,862 --> 00:22:22,862 He is a deity. 421 00:22:25,137 --> 00:22:28,482 SHATNER: Could The Apotheosis of Washingtonbe a clue 422 00:22:28,517 --> 00:22:31,482 that America's founding fathers actually intended 423 00:22:31,517 --> 00:22:35,586 the United States be built upon not only the laws of man 424 00:22:35,620 --> 00:22:41,034 but also divine forces beyond our understanding? 425 00:22:41,068 --> 00:22:42,896 Perhaps. 426 00:22:42,931 --> 00:22:46,620 But the story of the Capitol Building becomes even stranger 427 00:22:46,655 --> 00:22:51,413 when you consider what stands atop the iconic dome. 428 00:22:51,448 --> 00:22:53,379 The freedom statue on top of the Capitol 429 00:22:53,413 --> 00:22:58,034 is a 19 1/2-foot-tall statue of an Iroquois goddess 430 00:22:58,068 --> 00:23:00,931 who actually is morphing into an eagle. 431 00:23:02,413 --> 00:23:05,344 This is very important because the ancient gods 432 00:23:05,379 --> 00:23:07,344 were portrayed as eagle-headed. 433 00:23:07,379 --> 00:23:10,000 Nimrod was taken into the heavens by eagles. 434 00:23:10,034 --> 00:23:12,000 So was Zeus. 435 00:23:12,034 --> 00:23:17,137 And also with the legends of the Iroquois Native Americans. 436 00:23:18,758 --> 00:23:25,103 The Iroquois creation story of sky woman, uh, is basically: 437 00:23:25,172 --> 00:23:29,241 before Earth really became what it is today, 438 00:23:29,310 --> 00:23:32,241 there were beings that were similar to us 439 00:23:32,275 --> 00:23:34,310 living in the sky. 440 00:23:34,344 --> 00:23:38,137 One day, a young woman, sky woman, became pregnant. 441 00:23:38,206 --> 00:23:42,275 She is to go down to the world below. 442 00:23:42,310 --> 00:23:47,241 And so this extraterrestrial that lived in the sky-- 443 00:23:47,275 --> 00:23:51,413 she comes down and then the human race begins. 444 00:23:54,000 --> 00:23:56,965 SHATNER: An extraterrestrial that came down to Earth 445 00:23:57,000 --> 00:24:00,448 from the sky? 446 00:24:00,482 --> 00:24:03,793 But if so, how did this figure from Iroquois mythology 447 00:24:03,827 --> 00:24:07,206 come to be standing atop America's Capitol Building? 448 00:24:08,793 --> 00:24:11,896 At the debate on the Declaration of Independence, 449 00:24:11,931 --> 00:24:15,689 the Iroquois chiefs were specifically invited. 450 00:24:15,724 --> 00:24:20,655 And over 40 of them came to Philadelphia 451 00:24:20,689 --> 00:24:23,310 in May of 1776. 452 00:24:23,344 --> 00:24:26,551 And they stayed there on through the debating 453 00:24:26,586 --> 00:24:30,620 and passage of the Declaration of Independence. 454 00:24:30,689 --> 00:24:33,862 Their presence was so important because 455 00:24:33,896 --> 00:24:37,344 if half your economy is trading with Native Americans, 456 00:24:37,379 --> 00:24:39,965 then you have to learn about how the community, 457 00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:41,206 their government runs, 458 00:24:41,275 --> 00:24:44,448 you have to learn about the culture. 459 00:24:44,482 --> 00:24:46,862 Benjamin Franklin, in particular, 460 00:24:46,896 --> 00:24:50,206 was deeply interested in the star legends and star lore 461 00:24:50,241 --> 00:24:52,206 of the Iroquois Confederacy. 462 00:24:52,241 --> 00:24:54,793 So when we add all this together, it looks like 463 00:24:54,862 --> 00:24:56,758 the freedom statue is being referenced here 464 00:24:56,793 --> 00:24:58,344 as a star being. 465 00:24:59,620 --> 00:25:02,620 SHATNER: An empty crypt beneath the rotunda. 466 00:25:02,655 --> 00:25:06,551 George Washington portrayed as a god. 467 00:25:06,620 --> 00:25:10,448 And a statue of an Iroquois star goddess. 468 00:25:10,517 --> 00:25:13,517 Might the United States Capitol Building reveal that 469 00:25:13,551 --> 00:25:15,344 America's most important monuments serve 470 00:25:15,379 --> 00:25:18,172 not just an architectural purpose 471 00:25:18,241 --> 00:25:21,034 but also a spiritual one? 472 00:25:21,068 --> 00:25:25,551 Many believe the answer is yes, and suggest that for the proof, 473 00:25:25,586 --> 00:25:29,931 we need only look to one of our most iconic national monuments: 474 00:25:29,965 --> 00:25:35,758 a giant stone obelisk whose history is as fascinating 475 00:25:35,793 --> 00:25:38,620 as the U.S. president for whom it was named. 476 00:25:48,724 --> 00:25:50,655 ELIAS: It is no coincidence that the monumentSHATNER: After an extensive three-year renovation, 477 00:25:50,689 --> 00:25:53,482 including significant security enhancements 478 00:25:53,551 --> 00:25:56,862 to make it nearly invulnerable to terrorist attacks, 479 00:25:56,896 --> 00:26:00,172 the Washington Monument, a towering memorial 480 00:26:00,241 --> 00:26:02,448 dedicated to America's first president, 481 00:26:02,482 --> 00:26:05,931 finally reopens to an eager public. 482 00:26:05,965 --> 00:26:09,758 The Washington Monument is such an important place 483 00:26:09,793 --> 00:26:13,379 in the American narrative because of what it represents. 484 00:26:14,724 --> 00:26:17,827 It represents George Washington himself 485 00:26:17,862 --> 00:26:22,379 and his important position in the building of our nation. 486 00:26:22,413 --> 00:26:25,103 It is a ray of light descending from the heavens, 487 00:26:25,137 --> 00:26:26,482 or inspiration itself, 488 00:26:26,517 --> 00:26:28,758 just as he was that to the young nation. 489 00:26:31,137 --> 00:26:33,068 SHATNER: First unveiled in 1884, 490 00:26:33,137 --> 00:26:36,517 and standing 555 feet tall, 491 00:26:36,586 --> 00:26:38,517 the Washington Monument is not only 492 00:26:38,586 --> 00:26:40,758 the tallest structure in Washington, D.C., 493 00:26:40,793 --> 00:26:45,241 but the tallest stone structure in the world. 494 00:26:45,310 --> 00:26:47,620 It is a feat made even more incredible 495 00:26:47,655 --> 00:26:51,724 by the fact that the 36,491 blocks 496 00:26:51,758 --> 00:26:54,206 of marbled granite and bluestone gneiss 497 00:26:54,241 --> 00:26:56,344 that comprise the Washington Monument 498 00:26:56,379 --> 00:26:59,413 are only held together by gravity and friction, 499 00:26:59,448 --> 00:27:02,896 without any mortar whatsoever. 500 00:27:02,931 --> 00:27:05,310 Most people look at the Washington Monument 501 00:27:05,344 --> 00:27:08,310 and they see a huge obelisk, 502 00:27:08,344 --> 00:27:10,655 but I doubt that very many people at all 503 00:27:10,689 --> 00:27:14,068 know every stone in the monument is unique. 504 00:27:14,103 --> 00:27:16,379 Every stone has its own story, 505 00:27:16,448 --> 00:27:18,586 and they all have secrets. 506 00:27:19,724 --> 00:27:22,689 SHATNER: Secrets? In the stones? 507 00:27:22,724 --> 00:27:25,517 Most who visit the Washington Monument 508 00:27:25,551 --> 00:27:28,275 immediately notice a slight variation 509 00:27:28,310 --> 00:27:30,413 in the color of the stone facade, 510 00:27:30,448 --> 00:27:33,793 indicating the towering spire likely underwent 511 00:27:33,827 --> 00:27:37,137 a troubled period during its construction. 512 00:27:37,172 --> 00:27:41,206 The monument's origins date back to 1833, 513 00:27:41,241 --> 00:27:43,241 when a group of citizens called 514 00:27:43,275 --> 00:27:46,068 the Washington National Monument Society 515 00:27:46,103 --> 00:27:47,689 took charge of the project 516 00:27:47,724 --> 00:27:51,896 and selected a design by architect Robert Mills. 517 00:27:51,931 --> 00:27:55,344 BERGER: Robert Mills' original design for a Washington monument 518 00:27:55,379 --> 00:27:58,448 was that of a 600-foot shaft, 519 00:27:58,517 --> 00:28:01,827 a obelisk with a much flatter pyramidion 520 00:28:01,896 --> 00:28:04,068 than that which now bedecks the Washington Monument 521 00:28:04,103 --> 00:28:05,965 we all know. 522 00:28:06,000 --> 00:28:07,965 And it would have a colonnade surrounding 523 00:28:08,034 --> 00:28:11,724 the Washington Monument's central shaft of statuary 524 00:28:11,758 --> 00:28:15,137 of the founding fathers that supported George Washington 525 00:28:15,172 --> 00:28:17,172 in the building of the nation. 526 00:28:17,206 --> 00:28:19,965 SHATNER: ON July 4, 1848, 527 00:28:20,000 --> 00:28:22,275 thousands of people gathered on the hillside 528 00:28:22,344 --> 00:28:24,620 just south of the White House to commemorate 529 00:28:24,655 --> 00:28:27,482 the long-awaited start of construction 530 00:28:27,551 --> 00:28:29,448 on the Washington Monument. 531 00:28:29,482 --> 00:28:32,413 What they witnessed wasn't merely the laying 532 00:28:32,448 --> 00:28:34,620 of the ceremonial cornerstone 533 00:28:34,655 --> 00:28:38,379 but an elaborate Freemason ritual. 534 00:28:38,413 --> 00:28:40,758 BERGER: The Freemasons were very instrumental 535 00:28:40,827 --> 00:28:42,241 in the building of the Washington Monument 536 00:28:42,310 --> 00:28:43,896 because, of course, the subject matter 537 00:28:43,931 --> 00:28:46,482 that the monument honors-- George Washington himself-- 538 00:28:46,517 --> 00:28:49,758 being a very prominent Freemason. 539 00:28:49,793 --> 00:28:54,241 They wore George Washington's sash. 540 00:28:54,275 --> 00:28:56,965 They wore his apron. 541 00:28:57,000 --> 00:29:00,068 - And they had his gavel. - [gavel bangs] 542 00:29:00,137 --> 00:29:05,448 You were identifying with the father of our country. 543 00:29:05,517 --> 00:29:06,827 And then, of course, a few years later, 544 00:29:06,862 --> 00:29:08,896 the Civil War intervened, and that led to 545 00:29:08,931 --> 00:29:11,241 enormous delays in constructing the monument. 546 00:29:11,310 --> 00:29:13,551 After a lot of delay, 547 00:29:13,620 --> 00:29:15,586 the construction of the Washington Monument 548 00:29:15,620 --> 00:29:17,551 is jump-started again. 549 00:29:18,620 --> 00:29:20,310 SHATNER: When construction resumes, 550 00:29:20,379 --> 00:29:22,068 the stones used to complete the monument 551 00:29:22,103 --> 00:29:23,758 came from a different quarry. 552 00:29:23,827 --> 00:29:26,551 This explains why there is a visible difference 553 00:29:26,586 --> 00:29:28,793 in the color of the stones today. 554 00:29:28,827 --> 00:29:32,137 Also different is the final design. 555 00:29:32,206 --> 00:29:35,172 Mills's grandiose vision for the Washington Monument 556 00:29:35,206 --> 00:29:36,827 was replaced by a simpler 557 00:29:36,896 --> 00:29:39,758 and perhaps even more striking design-- 558 00:29:39,793 --> 00:29:43,758 a single, towering obelisk. 559 00:29:43,827 --> 00:29:46,379 But what could have inspired the use of a symbol 560 00:29:46,413 --> 00:29:51,034 from ancient Egypt to honor the most venerated 561 00:29:51,068 --> 00:29:53,586 of American presidents? 562 00:29:53,620 --> 00:29:57,068 ELIAS: It is no coincidence that obelisks are used 563 00:29:57,103 --> 00:29:59,793 as symbols in the rituals of freemasonry. 564 00:29:59,862 --> 00:30:02,344 The Egyptians were great builders. 565 00:30:02,413 --> 00:30:04,379 And here, we're not talking anymore only about 566 00:30:04,413 --> 00:30:05,896 building structures, physical structures. 567 00:30:05,931 --> 00:30:08,827 We're talking about creating, also, a link 568 00:30:08,862 --> 00:30:11,620 between the physical Earth, where we live, 569 00:30:11,689 --> 00:30:15,034 and what is happening in the universe around us. 570 00:30:15,103 --> 00:30:19,310 The language of freemasonry is a language of symbols. 571 00:30:19,379 --> 00:30:21,000 And there is a fundamental reason for that. 572 00:30:21,034 --> 00:30:25,689 By using a language of symbols, you can talk about ideas 573 00:30:25,758 --> 00:30:30,275 that free the mind with some form of safety. 574 00:30:30,344 --> 00:30:33,482 HIERONIMUS: There are important symbols 575 00:30:33,517 --> 00:30:36,103 within the Washington Monument. 576 00:30:36,137 --> 00:30:38,413 When you get in the elevator and you go up, 577 00:30:38,482 --> 00:30:41,379 above one of the elevator doors 578 00:30:41,413 --> 00:30:46,172 is a winged disc with a six-pointed star 579 00:30:46,241 --> 00:30:49,000 in that disc. 580 00:30:49,068 --> 00:30:52,931 That winged disc goes back to Egyptian mythologies 581 00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:57,586 and indicated elevation of consciousness. 582 00:30:57,620 --> 00:30:59,793 We're getting in this elevator, moving into 583 00:30:59,862 --> 00:31:03,000 the higher spiritual dimensions, 584 00:31:03,034 --> 00:31:05,655 with the six-pointed star in the middle! 585 00:31:07,413 --> 00:31:10,827 BERGER: The aluminum tip on top of the Washington Monument 586 00:31:10,862 --> 00:31:14,103 was placed there December 6, 1884 587 00:31:14,172 --> 00:31:17,241 upon the completion of this structure as a crowning act. 588 00:31:17,275 --> 00:31:20,000 Engraved upon it, two words: 589 00:31:20,034 --> 00:31:23,172 "laus Deo," or "Praise be to God," 590 00:31:23,241 --> 00:31:24,793 facing to the east. 591 00:31:24,862 --> 00:31:27,448 And as those two words face to the east, 592 00:31:27,482 --> 00:31:31,517 the sun rises but never sets upon those words. 593 00:31:33,482 --> 00:31:35,448 Is the Washington Monument 594 00:31:35,482 --> 00:31:38,586 a glorious memorial to a great man? 595 00:31:38,655 --> 00:31:42,517 Or is it also a tribute to the role Freemasonry played 596 00:31:42,586 --> 00:31:45,862 in the founding of the United States? 597 00:31:45,896 --> 00:31:49,413 There are many who believe that both things are true, 598 00:31:49,448 --> 00:31:51,448 and that the mystery of America's obsession 599 00:31:51,482 --> 00:31:53,448 with tall buildings can best be answered 600 00:31:53,482 --> 00:31:55,655 by examining the story of a building 601 00:31:55,724 --> 00:31:58,275 that, while no longer the world's tallest, 602 00:31:58,310 --> 00:32:01,344 is still one of its most famous, 603 00:32:01,379 --> 00:32:04,586 the Empire State Building. 604 00:32:12,620 --> 00:32:14,448 DONALD TRUMP: The Empire State BuildSHATNER: After four years of construction, 605 00:32:14,482 --> 00:32:16,310 the Empire State Building's remodeled 606 00:32:16,344 --> 00:32:21,241 102nd floor observatory is finally revealed to the public. 607 00:32:21,310 --> 00:32:25,172 Costing a staggering $165 million, 608 00:32:25,206 --> 00:32:29,344 the renovation also includes a 10,000-square-foot museum 609 00:32:29,413 --> 00:32:32,103 and an all-new observation deck, 610 00:32:32,137 --> 00:32:36,724 offering visitors a 360-degree view from atop the building, 611 00:32:36,793 --> 00:32:41,517 one that has often been called the Eighth Wonder of the World. 612 00:32:42,482 --> 00:32:44,137 The Empire State Building, 613 00:32:44,172 --> 00:32:47,551 almost more than any other building, represents New York. 614 00:32:47,586 --> 00:32:51,448 Great look, a great presence. 615 00:32:51,482 --> 00:32:53,344 It's called the "it factor." 616 00:32:53,413 --> 00:32:56,482 People have it, buildings have it, 617 00:32:56,517 --> 00:32:58,965 and the Empire State Building has the it factor. 618 00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:05,310 SHATNER: Designated a National Historic Landmark in 1986, 619 00:33:05,379 --> 00:33:07,758 many consider the Empire State Building to be not only 620 00:33:07,827 --> 00:33:10,413 the most recognizable building in New York City 621 00:33:10,448 --> 00:33:13,000 but also the entire world. 622 00:33:13,068 --> 00:33:17,103 Over 20,000 people arrive to work here every day, 623 00:33:17,172 --> 00:33:20,241 taking one of the 73 elevators to offices 624 00:33:20,310 --> 00:33:23,896 located across 103 floors, 625 00:33:23,931 --> 00:33:28,689 nearly 2.7 million square feet of office space in all. 626 00:33:28,724 --> 00:33:32,655 In fact, the 1,454-foot building is so large, 627 00:33:32,689 --> 00:33:36,068 it was even given its own zip code. 628 00:33:37,896 --> 00:33:39,965 Originally designed to be a symbol 629 00:33:40,000 --> 00:33:43,724 of America's indomitable spirit and ingenuity, 630 00:33:43,758 --> 00:33:46,068 until 1972 the Empire State Building 631 00:33:46,137 --> 00:33:51,448 enjoyed its unique status as the world's tallest building. 632 00:33:51,482 --> 00:33:54,724 The Empire State Building was scheduled to be a thousand feet. 633 00:33:54,758 --> 00:33:57,827 The Chrysler Building was 1,046. 634 00:33:57,862 --> 00:33:59,724 So they determined that they would ensure 635 00:33:59,758 --> 00:34:03,000 that they would be the world's tallest building 636 00:34:03,034 --> 00:34:08,413 by adding a 200-foot-high mast atop the building. 637 00:34:08,448 --> 00:34:12,344 You could almost call it the race of the titans. 638 00:34:12,379 --> 00:34:16,655 The idea for the world's tallest tower always gains attention. 639 00:34:16,724 --> 00:34:19,793 And there is a certain kind of status that's given 640 00:34:19,827 --> 00:34:22,655 to any building that's going to break a record, 641 00:34:22,689 --> 00:34:24,655 because it certainly is a signal achievement. 642 00:34:25,655 --> 00:34:27,068 SHATNER: As anticipated, 643 00:34:27,137 --> 00:34:28,965 when the Empire State Building finally opened 644 00:34:29,000 --> 00:34:33,448 on May 1, 1931, its coveted status 645 00:34:33,482 --> 00:34:35,275 as the tallest building in the world 646 00:34:35,310 --> 00:34:38,034 brought it international renown. 647 00:34:38,103 --> 00:34:41,758 But why construct a building to tower 648 00:34:41,827 --> 00:34:44,448 more than a thousand feet above the Earth? 649 00:34:44,482 --> 00:34:47,034 If monuments like the Capitol Building 650 00:34:47,068 --> 00:34:49,655 and the Washington Monument are meant to symbolize 651 00:34:49,689 --> 00:34:52,344 a connection to something greater than ourselves, 652 00:34:52,413 --> 00:34:55,206 could the Empire State Building be an attempt 653 00:34:55,241 --> 00:35:00,241 to literally ascend from the Earth and touch the heavens? 654 00:35:01,896 --> 00:35:03,517 WILLIS: The thrill of being at the top 655 00:35:03,551 --> 00:35:05,034 of the Empire State Building 656 00:35:05,068 --> 00:35:08,482 is, is really to-to be above it all. 657 00:35:08,517 --> 00:35:10,241 To look out to the harbor 658 00:35:10,275 --> 00:35:15,724 and have the, the thrill of nearly infinite vision. 659 00:35:15,793 --> 00:35:18,206 There are many historical paradigms 660 00:35:18,241 --> 00:35:21,586 to summarize the achievements through the ages. 661 00:35:21,655 --> 00:35:24,551 For the Romans it might be the Pantheon, 662 00:35:24,586 --> 00:35:27,517 for the Greeks it might be the Parthenon, 663 00:35:27,551 --> 00:35:30,862 but the Empire State Building summarizes the idea 664 00:35:30,896 --> 00:35:35,931 about what America wanted to be in the 20th century. 665 00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:38,275 SHATNER: According to historians, 666 00:35:38,310 --> 00:35:41,379 the romantic notion of being above it all 667 00:35:41,448 --> 00:35:43,379 was taken to the extreme 668 00:35:43,413 --> 00:35:46,482 when the Empire State Building first opened. 669 00:35:47,724 --> 00:35:49,068 WILLIS: The stock market was going up, 670 00:35:49,103 --> 00:35:52,103 real estate investment was rampant. 671 00:35:52,137 --> 00:35:55,172 They needed to have some extra measure of modernity 672 00:35:55,206 --> 00:35:59,896 that signaled that this building not just stood above the rest 673 00:35:59,931 --> 00:36:03,413 but participated in this upper stratum 674 00:36:03,448 --> 00:36:05,310 of the-the world of business. 675 00:36:05,344 --> 00:36:08,862 So they imagined that they would add a docking station 676 00:36:08,931 --> 00:36:12,448 for dirigibles, for the zeppelins. 677 00:36:14,620 --> 00:36:16,896 SHATNER: A dirigible docking station? 678 00:36:16,931 --> 00:36:19,965 Is it possible that the Empire State Building, 679 00:36:20,000 --> 00:36:22,000 hailed as a symbol of America's 680 00:36:22,034 --> 00:36:23,620 can-do attitude and industrial might, 681 00:36:23,655 --> 00:36:28,517 was actually envisioned to be the world's tallest airport? 682 00:36:30,586 --> 00:36:33,827 TAURANAC: They said, "We will drag it into the building, 683 00:36:33,862 --> 00:36:35,517 crank it down." 684 00:36:35,551 --> 00:36:40,862 The dirigible can be moored to the top of the mooring mast. 685 00:36:40,931 --> 00:36:43,862 A gangplank can be dropped to the 103rd floor 686 00:36:43,896 --> 00:36:48,758 where there was a platform that ringed to the building. 687 00:36:48,793 --> 00:36:53,241 And the passengers can de-dirigible 688 00:36:53,275 --> 00:36:59,724 down the gangplank 1,250 feet in the air. 689 00:36:59,758 --> 00:37:03,448 It was the looniest building scheme since the Tower of Babel. 690 00:37:04,655 --> 00:37:06,068 SHATNER: The first test 691 00:37:06,103 --> 00:37:08,758 of the Empire State Building's docking station 692 00:37:08,827 --> 00:37:10,448 was a massive failure. 693 00:37:10,482 --> 00:37:13,586 Although workers managed to pass a mailbag 694 00:37:13,620 --> 00:37:16,827 over from the top of the tower, the tethered airship was rocked 695 00:37:16,896 --> 00:37:21,275 by high winds while attempting to dock. 696 00:37:21,344 --> 00:37:24,931 After the Hindenburgdisaster in 1937, 697 00:37:24,965 --> 00:37:27,551 the notion of commercial dirigible travel 698 00:37:27,586 --> 00:37:29,965 was abandoned altogether. 699 00:37:30,000 --> 00:37:33,068 A fate that fortunately would not befall 700 00:37:33,137 --> 00:37:35,310 another great American monument, 701 00:37:35,344 --> 00:37:38,103 one that thousands of people travel across every day, 702 00:37:38,137 --> 00:37:40,655 despite the possibility 703 00:37:40,689 --> 00:37:43,000 of catastrophic structural collapse. 704 00:37:53,827 --> 00:37:57,724 In celebration of its 50th anniversary, 705 00:37:57,758 --> 00:37:59,758 hundreds of thousands of people gather 706 00:37:59,793 --> 00:38:03,655 to walk across one of America's greatest monuments, 707 00:38:03,689 --> 00:38:06,620 the Golden Gate Bridge. 708 00:38:06,655 --> 00:38:09,931 Designed by engineer Leon Moisseiff, 709 00:38:09,965 --> 00:38:14,862 the 887,000-ton bridge measures 1.7 miles across 710 00:38:14,896 --> 00:38:16,965 and is suspended by two main cables, 711 00:38:17,034 --> 00:38:23,034 each 7,659 feet long and over three feet in diameter. 712 00:38:23,068 --> 00:38:26,000 And although more than 100,000 vehicles 713 00:38:26,034 --> 00:38:29,000 commute across the bridge every day, 714 00:38:29,034 --> 00:38:33,758 on this day it begins to groan and sag 715 00:38:33,793 --> 00:38:38,827 under the load of 300,000 people on it at once. 716 00:38:39,758 --> 00:38:41,724 There was a weeklong fiesta. 717 00:38:41,758 --> 00:38:45,620 Schools closed, parades, bands. 718 00:38:45,655 --> 00:38:47,827 It was just everyone in San Francisco, 719 00:38:47,862 --> 00:38:49,482 Marin County, and the counties to the north 720 00:38:49,517 --> 00:38:52,586 came to celebrate the opening of this bridge. 721 00:38:52,620 --> 00:38:55,172 Two crowds, one from the north and one to the south 722 00:38:55,206 --> 00:38:57,206 came together in the middle of the bridge 723 00:38:57,241 --> 00:39:00,137 with no place to go and it got to be a crush loading. 724 00:39:00,172 --> 00:39:02,241 There were so many people on the bridge 725 00:39:02,275 --> 00:39:03,724 that that vertical curve of the bridge 726 00:39:03,758 --> 00:39:05,275 was flattened, straight out, 727 00:39:05,310 --> 00:39:08,103 deflected something on the order of 20 feet. 728 00:39:08,172 --> 00:39:09,896 The bridge was swarmed with people, 729 00:39:09,931 --> 00:39:13,206 and it was probably the biggest load the bridge has ever seen. 730 00:39:15,172 --> 00:39:18,620 SHATNER: As sudden winds cause the bridge to sway, 731 00:39:18,655 --> 00:39:22,689 the pedestrians begin to panic, fearing the span will collapse. 732 00:39:22,724 --> 00:39:24,896 Their fears are heightened by the fact 733 00:39:24,931 --> 00:39:28,103 that a similar Leon Moisseiff-designed bridge 734 00:39:28,172 --> 00:39:32,827 collapsed in Tacoma, Washington nearly 50 years earlier. 735 00:39:32,862 --> 00:39:35,482 Moisseiff's ambition was to make bridges 736 00:39:35,517 --> 00:39:39,137 higher, longer and lighter. 737 00:39:39,206 --> 00:39:41,724 But in the case of the Tacoma Bridge, 738 00:39:41,758 --> 00:39:43,827 he made it too aerodynamic. 739 00:39:43,862 --> 00:39:45,448 [wind blowing] 740 00:39:45,517 --> 00:39:49,137 So the bridge began to move with the winds, 741 00:39:49,172 --> 00:39:53,551 and it set up a process in which the, the bridge collapsed. 742 00:40:00,551 --> 00:40:02,827 SHATNER: Fortunately, the Golden Gate Bridge 743 00:40:02,862 --> 00:40:05,103 did not share the fate of the Tacoma Bridge, 744 00:40:05,137 --> 00:40:09,068 and the massive crowd escaped unscathed, 745 00:40:09,103 --> 00:40:11,103 although authorities no longer permit 746 00:40:11,172 --> 00:40:13,931 mass gatherings on the bridge. 747 00:40:13,965 --> 00:40:16,034 It was a rather frightening moment 748 00:40:16,068 --> 00:40:17,793 with what could have been 749 00:40:17,827 --> 00:40:20,827 the greatest civil engineering disaster 750 00:40:20,862 --> 00:40:23,758 in the history of the human race. 751 00:40:23,793 --> 00:40:27,379 Fortunately, retrofitting that had been recently accomplished 752 00:40:27,413 --> 00:40:30,413 enabled the bridge to go through that difficulty. 753 00:40:31,448 --> 00:40:33,517 SHATNER: But if the Tacoma Bridge suffered 754 00:40:33,551 --> 00:40:36,931 a catastrophic collapse, what made the builders 755 00:40:37,000 --> 00:40:38,379 of the Golden Gate Bridge think they could build 756 00:40:38,413 --> 00:40:40,931 an even longer and more ambitious bridge 757 00:40:40,965 --> 00:40:44,931 and yet not suffer a similar fate? 758 00:40:44,965 --> 00:40:47,758 Particularly when no one at the time 759 00:40:47,827 --> 00:40:54,206 had ever built a suspension bridge anywhere near its size? 760 00:40:54,241 --> 00:40:56,827 Moisseiff's key contribution was the towers. 761 00:40:56,862 --> 00:40:59,241 He took the towers higher and higher 762 00:40:59,275 --> 00:41:01,793 than previously anybody thought could be done. 763 00:41:01,827 --> 00:41:05,448 And that allowed the bridge to spin suspension cables 764 00:41:05,482 --> 00:41:07,379 over a greater distance, 765 00:41:07,413 --> 00:41:10,344 which allowed the Golden Gate strait to be spanned. 766 00:41:11,620 --> 00:41:13,896 When we look at the success of the Golden Gate Bridge, 767 00:41:13,965 --> 00:41:16,551 the beauty of it suggests to us 768 00:41:16,586 --> 00:41:18,965 the whole sort of mystery of the cosmos, 769 00:41:19,000 --> 00:41:22,068 or creation, of time, 770 00:41:22,137 --> 00:41:24,758 of human enterprise, human ingenuity, 771 00:41:24,793 --> 00:41:26,724 and, really, engineering as a pursuit 772 00:41:26,758 --> 00:41:29,137 of human beings across time. 773 00:41:31,482 --> 00:41:34,862 It's hard to look at America's monuments 774 00:41:34,896 --> 00:41:37,103 and not feel a sense of wonder. 775 00:41:37,172 --> 00:41:40,241 They serve to remind us that while they may last 776 00:41:40,275 --> 00:41:45,172 for centuries, we only serve as their temporary caretakers. 777 00:41:45,206 --> 00:41:47,827 And despite their groundbreaking engineering 778 00:41:47,862 --> 00:41:50,137 and fascinating histories, 779 00:41:50,172 --> 00:41:53,931 there is much about them that is a mystery. 780 00:41:53,965 --> 00:41:58,275 A mystery that guarantees that they will remain 781 00:41:58,344 --> 00:42:01,172 unexplained. 782 00:42:01,206 --> 00:42:03,689 CAPTIONING PROVIDED BY A+E NETWORKS 64235

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