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Speaker 1: Welcome back to this Day in History class, where we

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Speaker 1: reveal a new piece of history every day. Today is March.

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Speaker 1: The day was March. Fred mcpheeley Rogers was born in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.

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Speaker 1: He would go on to become a minister, composer, producer,

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Speaker 1: and writer, but Rogers was best known as the soft

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Speaker 1: spoken neighborly host of the children's television show Mr Rogers Neighborhood.

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Speaker 1: His work on the show and as an advocate for

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Speaker 1: educational television would earn him a Presidential Medal of Freedom,

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Speaker 1: a Peabody Award, and a spot in the Television Hall

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Speaker 1: of Fame. Fred's mother, Nancy Rogers, did hospital volunteer work.

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Speaker 1: His father, James, was president of the mcpheelely brick company.

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Speaker 1: Fred liked Latrobe, and he would later base his television

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Speaker 1: Neighborhood on the city. But as a child he was introverted, isolated,

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Speaker 1: and teased for being overweight. His asthma was so severe

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Speaker 1: that he was often stuck inside the house, but by

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Speaker 1: the time he got to high school he was more outgoing.

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Speaker 1: After graduating, he attended Dartmouth College for a bit, then

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Speaker 1: transferred to Rawlins College in winter Park, Florida, where he

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Speaker 1: got his bachelor's degree in music composition in nineteen fifty one.

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Speaker 1: When he graduated, he started working at NBC in New

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Speaker 1: York as an assistant producer, then as a floor director.

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Speaker 1: In nineteen fifty two, he married his wife, Joanne Byrd,

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Speaker 1: and in nineteen fifty three he had it back to

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Speaker 1: Pennsylvania to work as a program developer for the public

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Speaker 1: television station w q E ED in Pittsburgh. It was

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Speaker 1: there that he started producing The Children's Corner, a live,

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Speaker 1: daily hour long program on which he worked as a puppeteer, organist,

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Speaker 1: and composer. The puppet characters that he created for this show,

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Speaker 1: like King Friday, Henrietta, and Daniel the Striped Tiger, would

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Speaker 1: live on in his later work. While at w q E,

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Speaker 1: d Rogers graduated from the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and was

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Speaker 1: ordained as a Presbyterian minister. He also attended the University

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Speaker 1: of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Child Development, where he began

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Speaker 1: working with child psychologist Margaret McFarland, which turned into a

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Speaker 1: lifelong friendship and professional relationship. But his first foray in

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Speaker 1: front of the camera came in nineteen sixty three, when

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Speaker 1: he developed a children's program called Mr Rogers for the

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Speaker 1: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in Toronto and took the helm as host.

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Speaker 1: Rogers took the fifteen minutes show with him when he

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Speaker 1: went back to w q e D in nineteen sixty six,

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Speaker 1: where the show became Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. A couple of

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Speaker 1: years later, National Education Television began distributing the show nationally,

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Speaker 1: and finally, in nineteen seventy it reached its final form

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Speaker 1: as Mr. Rogers Neighborhood on PBS, where it ran for

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Speaker 1: more than nine hundred episodes. The show was pretty simple.

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Speaker 1: It was a half hour children's program aimed at preschool

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Speaker 1: ages that featured Rogers as a kind, warm host. With

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Speaker 1: two main locations, Mr Rogers House and the neighborhood of

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Speaker 1: Make Believe. He would have conversations with viewers, take a

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Speaker 1: field trips, and demonstrate how objects work. The show wasn't

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Speaker 1: as flashy or fast paced as other children's programs began

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Speaker 1: becoming over the years it was on air, and it

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Speaker 1: taught children lessons about fear, anger, death, divorced empathy, and

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Speaker 1: even heavy social issues like war and racism. The show

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Speaker 1: through a huge and enthusiastic fan base before it ended

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Speaker 1: in two thousand one. There were instances behind the scenes

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Speaker 1: where Rogers seemed to lean toward controlling, like the time

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Speaker 1: he wanted a reshoot because popcorn spilled over and could

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Speaker 1: scare the kids watching. But authenticity and honesty were character

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Speaker 1: traits that he spoke highly of. He once told Newsweek,

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Speaker 1: one of the greatest gifts you can give anybody is

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Speaker 1: the gift of your honest self. I also believe that

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Speaker 1: kids can spot a phony a mile away. Rogers was

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Speaker 1: a Republican and a Christian, but he never really talked

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Speaker 1: about his religious or political views on air. However, he

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Speaker 1: was vocal about the value of social and emotional education

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Speaker 1: for kids. He once said the following, anything that we

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Speaker 1: can do to help foster the intellect and spirit and

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Speaker 1: emotional growth of our fellow human beings, that is our job.

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Speaker 1: Those of us who have this particular vision must continue

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Speaker 1: against all odds. Life is for service. So his dedication

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Speaker 1: to children's education extended beyond Mr rogers neighborhood and the

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Speaker 1: television screen. In nineteen sixty nine, he testified before the U. S.

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Speaker 1: Senate Subcommittee on Communications in support of quality children's television

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Speaker 1: and funding for PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

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Speaker 1: After the hearing, PBS did get a lot of additional

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Speaker 1: federal money, and after nine eleven, Rogers put out p S,

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Speaker 1: a s on how parents can talk about tragedies with

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Speaker 1: their children. For a short time, Rogers hosted an interview

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Speaker 1: show for adults on PBS, and he wrote hundreds of

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Speaker 1: songs and wrote many books for children and adults, but

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Speaker 1: the name Mr Rogers is synonymous with children's television. His

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Speaker 1: marriage of personal values with academic and tegrity left a

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Speaker 1: significant impression on educational media and American culture. I'm Eves

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Speaker 1: Jeff Coote and hopefully you know a little more about

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Speaker 1: history today than you did yesterday. And if you're interested

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Speaker 1: in learning more about Fred Rogers life and everything that

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Speaker 1: he was into, you should check out the documentary Won't

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Speaker 1: You Be My Neighbor? That came out in But be

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Speaker 1: prepared because it is a tear jerker and a huge

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Speaker 1: heart warmer. If there's something that I missed in an episode,

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Speaker 1: you can share it with everybody else on Twitter, Instagram

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Speaker 1: or Facebook at t d I HC podcast. Thanks again

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Speaker 1: for listening and I hope you come back tomorrow for

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Speaker 1: more delicious morsels of history.