Skyscraper, Bulb Light, Automobile, Airplane, Aircraft Carrier, Rocket, Computer, Space Shuttle,
Nuclear, Satellite...
The inventions is booming and 20th of the world is totally different from the previous era.
Capitalism, Socialism, Communism...
WWII, Korea War, Vietnam War...
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7.Cities
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Rising into the sky. A bold new urban landscape.
Maybe America's greatest invention : The modern vertical city. " Steel & Bond "
Hot Dogs, Jazz, Elevator, Skyscraper. This is the story of the greatest innovation of all.
1885.
New York city has the big problem. A magnificent gift, but with some assembly required.
it's been donated by the people of France to celebrate the centenary of the Declaration
of Independence.
Built in Paris, broke down into 350 massive pieces. The cost of reassembling it would be
astronomical, money New York did not have. At least 6 other cities are jockeying to give it.
" Joseph Pulitzer " tenacious newspaper magnate, immigrant, self-made man.
It would be irrevocable disgrace to New York City and American republic. Need to raise money.
Donation flood in from all across the country, rich and poor, West and East. Pennies and nickles.
The pedestal would be the biggest concrete in the world.
The Statue of Liberty designed Gustave Eiffel who will build the famous Eiffel Tower.
300 pieces of copper shell to the framework.
** The structure of the Statue of Liberty that is the " Structural Steel ".
Structural steel would be used on the skyscraper.
** The framework of the Statue of Liberty : Copper shell =
Structural Steel of the Skyscraper : Outer Glasses
It takes 25 years for Liberty to acidize and turn green.
The statue's official name is : Liberty Enlightening the World.
At first, the symbol of the alliance and friendships between France and 13 colonies in the
America Revolution. it will come to represent much more. At the entries to New York Harbor,
the Statue of Liberty becomes a beacon to the world.
Later, a poem by " Emma :Lazarus " in her base, celebrates America as a land of refugees.
Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, yearning to breath free.
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, the tempest-tost to me.
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.
Imagine that those who come all the way to this strange place with nothing.
Forget your customs and ideas. Select the goal and pursue it with all your might.
1880 ~ 1930.
Nearly 24 million new immigrants arrive in the US.
1872
" Andrew Carnegie " 1.6m Scottish immigrant iron millionaire.
Blast hot air through molten iron. Carbon impurities burn off. First time, it can be produced
quickly and inexpensively. If Carnegie can use the " Bessemer Process " to mass produce,
he will own the future.
Build the steel factory in Pittsburgh. But disaster come, the catastrophic stock-market collapse.
The economy is in free fall. he has to borrow even more money and barely scrapes through.
August 1875.
Against all odds. The giant furnaces are ready for the test. Steel production is phenomenally
dangerous. If it works, it would make Carnegie one of the riches men in the world.
Carnegie is the first ever to mass-production steel. Prices plummet by over 80%.
Pittsburgh transforms a sleepy town to the industrial heart of the nation.
The steel frame means the outside can be hung in the sections like the suit of the clothe.
Now the walls don't take the weight, the steel does.
Inside, the other breakthrough that lets towers in the clouds. " The Elevators "
1890
But for many, living in the shadow of these new towers will prove even harder than building them.
Crime and poverty are rife on the streets.
Three degree: Persuasion, Intimidation, Pain.
" Rogues gallery ", " Mug Shot "
" Jacob A.Riis "
But crime isn't the only problem plaguing urban streets. In many cities, slums are reach epidemic
proportions. Multiple families crammed into the small room. Human pours into the street, alley
and open courtyards.
He took the pictures with slums that showed filthy and desperation on their doorstep. The all
prosperity didn't trickle down all the way to the bottom, there were some deplorable living
conditions.
1895
Major cities are drowning in filth. " Colonel George Waring "
The legendary sewer engineer. Apostle of Cleanliness. He's the head of New York's Danitation
Department. The cities stink with the emanations of putrefying organic matter.
1905
Every large city in the nation has sewers.
The battle against filth, crime, and poverty had begun.
1879
" Thomas Edison " ====== " Light Bulb"
Inventor, entrepreneur, showman.
If he can get the filament to burn slowly in the vacuum.
A piece of carbonized of cardboard burns for 300 hours.
** Thomas Edison
" Alternative Current " V.S " Direct Current "
** " Karl Benz " Germany
The " Internal Combustion Engine " was invented.
The would would enter the era of the invention.
But packing so many people into tall buildings is a disaster waiting to happen. The United States
is hurtling into the modern age.
March 25, 1911.
New York City .Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire.
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8.Boom
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" Hamill Brothers " . " Spidletop "
The dawn of 20th century, cities explode outwards. Booze fuels criminals underworld.
Millions head north to escape poverty. Violence erupts.
1900
The dawn of the greatest consumer boom the world has ever seen.
But none of it will happen without the discovery of the oil beneath the Texas dirt.
The petroleum will power the 20th century and build the modern world. " Black Gold "
Until the late 1850s.
Oil had been really annoyance to most people. And people would dig water well, and if they
happen to strike oil by accident, they'd curse their bad luck. But with the development of railroads and with the Industrial Revolution, for the first time, people began seeking oil.
Coal still dominates industries, powering trains and factories. But it's dirty and less efficient.
With mud holding up the walls of the bore hole. Curt's innovation is still in use today, only now the rig use synthetic compounds.
January 10, 1901.
Now, the frothy oil was stirring up. And then it came up with such momentum that it just shut up.
Around the turn of the century, millions of Americans live their entire lives within 50 miles of
their home. Gasoline makes US mobile in ways never though before possible. One man grabbed the opportunity and changed the face of the nation.
1908 Detroit.
" Henry Ford "
Maverick, visionary, obsessive. A man with a bad reputation. Recently let go by the company,
that soon become " Cadillac " . He launched his third attempt to build cars. But these would
be different.
There are only 8,000 cars in the US, expensive toys for the wealthy like owning a private jet toady. There were dozens and dozens small companies building cars that were essentially play things for the rich. Cars were hand-built essentially.
Now, the history would be changed. It won't change how cars were made, it will change how
everything is made.
1913 Detroit.
The Production Line = The Assembly Line = The Mass Production.
High volume, low cost, product identical.
To be the assembly workers, you did not have a high degree of skill, you don't have to be a
card-carrying mechanist. All you have to do was to learn how to turn the same wrench on the
same nuts 5,000 times a day.
** " Karl Benz " invented " Four Stroke Internal Combustion Engine "
" Henry Ford " made cars cheap to allow everyone to afford.
In WWII, we can understand how powerful " the mass production " is.
M4 Sherman V.S Tiger Tank. Note that number of tanks were built.
** Adams Smith V.S Karl Marx
Division of the Labor.
** April 15, 1942
" Titanic " hit the iceberg at Atlantic Ocean.
Ford Model T
The manual called " How to drive an Automobile ".
Cranking is the essential to start the engine, because there is no " Starter Motor ".
From horses, railroads, and then cars.
Light Bulb and Automobile
LA is the fastest-growing city built " oil, cars , and ,movies " on in the world. But none of this incredible growth has been possible without one other vital ingredient.
Water
1904
LA is running out of water. " Mulholland "
Owens Vally. The Switzerland of California. Build the aqueduct. It sound simple, but the engineering feat is phenomenal.
Finished. Fidelity, unfaltering courage that made the work possible.
But for the Owens Valley, the source of the water is a disaster. The lake is sucked dry,
creating a gigantic wasteland.
Local farmers attempted to blow the aqueduct up, but it is an unwinnable contest.
This is an controversial stuff. There is a lot of backroom politicking, a lot of buying people off,
but it was enormous beneficial.
1914 WWI
Creating massive demand for weapons, cars, and oil.
1915 ~ 1930
" Great Migrations ".
Three generations from the end of slavery, black Southerners are on the move in search of a better life. One and half million head north.
Many head for Ford plant in Detroit. Ford is unique in paying black and white workers the same.
A staggering 5 dollars a day.
But equal pay doesn't mean equal treatment. you can have them some dirty, rough jobs where
there would not the white to complain against them.
But if you tried to mix them in the assembly lines or any place the whites predominated and hung
their coats touching those of whites, you know, you couldn't do that.
Many white worker fear losing jobs to the new black workforce. Resentment is at the boiling point. The denial of white privilege clashing with the ambition of blacks looking for the " Promised Land " inevitably led to an explosion.
July 27th, 1919.
Chicago. There is no official segregation, but it is everywhere.
" Hyde Park " and " Kenwood " :
Whites refuse to sell their houses to blacks. The Negro invasion of the district is the worst calamity that has struck the city. Property owners should be notified to stand together block by block to prevent such invasion.
" John Harris "
Skirmish
Melee
Racial tension is escalating in the city. " Chicago Race Riot " 1919.
Riots erupt in 24 more cities across America. " The Red Summer "
Ghettos expand.
New York : Harlem, Detroit : Paradise Valley, Pittsburgh : The Hill District, Chicago : The South Side.
More Americans live in the urban than rural. Cities become the symbol of decadence and danger. Jazz, Cabaret, Liquor. America has the booze problem.
January16, 1919.
" Prohibition "
** " Boardwalk Empire ", HBO " recommended to understand the " Prohibition ".
"Willie Carter Sharpe ". Rum-Running Queen
Behind her is the convoy of moonshine. Bootleg liquor headed across Virginia county line.
Secret stills are everywhere. Moonshine is flooding across the country.
Even the president has the private wine cellar.
** Bill Masher
It seems so ridiculous, you can legislate morality. You certainly can not stop people from
drink.
Outrunning the cop is the new extreme sport.
An ordinary car souped up for more horsepower. A " Supercharger " rams additional air into
the cylinders.The result is the first " America Muscle Car ", " The Bootleg Turn ".
There is a darker side of bootlegging. The illegal trade is worth tens of billions in today's money.
Gangsters.
New York : Lucky Luciano, Kansas City : Frank " Chee-Chee " DeMayo,
LA : Joseph " Iron-Man " Ardizzone, Detroit : The Licavoli Family, Philadelphia : Harry Rosen,
Boston : Charles " King " Solomon, Chicago : Al Capone (the most notorious gang).
February 14, 1929.
Normally the cop leaves without arrests after a quick payoff.
But today it is not the normal day.
More than the city's cops are on the take. Chicago.
Gangster think it's the routine.
But today it is no shakedown.
Behind them, a group of men arrive. Two carried " Thompson Submachine Guns ".
It is the most notorious slaying in Mob history.
The question is, who is behind the hit ?? The police or Al Capone.
This is what Prohibition has come to.
" Major Calvin Goddard ", " Ballistic Forensics "
Prohibition has been a disaster. It has massively increased the stronghold of organized crime.
It's cost the government billions in lost tax revenue. Gangster like Al Capone have become rich
at America's expense.
But now more than ever, the government needs cash.
1929
The stock-market crash has brought the economy to its knees. The government is broke.
A levy on alcohol is the solution.
December 5, 1933.
Prohibition is abolished.
Killed by the need for cold, hard cash. it's an extraordinary U-turn. The only time in history an
amendment to the Constitution repealed.
The three decades of economy boom, fueled by oil, cars and the rapid growth of
mega-cities are now over.
The country has hard times ahead.
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