1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,760 Speaker 1: Hey, they're history fans. We're taking the day off, but 2 00:00:02,840 --> 00:00:05,760 Speaker 1: don't worry, We've got plenty of classic shows to tide 3 00:00:05,800 --> 00:00:09,559 Speaker 1: you over. Please enjoy these flashback episodes from the TDI 4 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:10,799 Speaker 1: HC Vault. 5 00:00:15,560 --> 00:00:18,120 Speaker 2: Hi, and welcome to this day in history class. It 6 00:00:18,160 --> 00:00:22,120 Speaker 2: is July fourth. Poet Walt Whitman published his book Leaves 7 00:00:22,160 --> 00:00:24,119 Speaker 2: of Grass for the first time on this day in 8 00:00:24,200 --> 00:00:27,479 Speaker 2: eighteen fifty five. Sometimes people will quibble with the fact 9 00:00:27,520 --> 00:00:30,040 Speaker 2: that probably you couldn't go into the store on July 10 00:00:30,120 --> 00:00:33,520 Speaker 2: fourth to buy it because it was Independence Day and 11 00:00:33,600 --> 00:00:36,760 Speaker 2: it would store wouldn't have been open, but it's generally 12 00:00:36,800 --> 00:00:39,320 Speaker 2: recognized the July fourth was the day that this book 13 00:00:39,440 --> 00:00:41,839 Speaker 2: came out for the first time. So Walt Whitman was 14 00:00:41,880 --> 00:00:44,519 Speaker 2: born on May thirty first of eighteen nineteen. He was 15 00:00:44,640 --> 00:00:47,159 Speaker 2: from a very proud and patriotic family. All of his 16 00:00:47,200 --> 00:00:51,360 Speaker 2: siblings were named after their ancestors or after the nation's founders, 17 00:00:51,760 --> 00:00:53,720 Speaker 2: and they lived in places that are boroughs of New 18 00:00:53,800 --> 00:00:55,840 Speaker 2: York City today, but at the time they were their 19 00:00:55,840 --> 00:01:00,160 Speaker 2: own separate communities, so places like Brooklyn and communities are 20 00:01:00,200 --> 00:01:02,920 Speaker 2: in central and eastern Long Island. Walt Whitman went to 21 00:01:02,960 --> 00:01:05,520 Speaker 2: public schools for about six years, but for the most 22 00:01:05,560 --> 00:01:08,919 Speaker 2: part he was self educated, and before he published Leaves 23 00:01:08,920 --> 00:01:12,839 Speaker 2: of Grass, he worked in several other fields, especially journalism 24 00:01:12,880 --> 00:01:17,240 Speaker 2: and teaching. He also wrote some fiction. So in eighteen 25 00:01:17,360 --> 00:01:21,360 Speaker 2: forty four, Ralph Waldo Emerson published an essay called The Poet, 26 00:01:21,880 --> 00:01:25,680 Speaker 2: in which he meditated on what poetry is and what 27 00:01:25,720 --> 00:01:28,640 Speaker 2: a poet's place should be in society. Here's the thing 28 00:01:28,640 --> 00:01:31,319 Speaker 2: that he wrote in there, quote, America is a poem 29 00:01:31,560 --> 00:01:35,640 Speaker 2: in our eyes. It's ample geography, dazzles the imagination, and 30 00:01:35,680 --> 00:01:39,039 Speaker 2: it will not wait long for meters. He was basically 31 00:01:39,080 --> 00:01:42,000 Speaker 2: calling for the United States to have its own poet, 32 00:01:42,200 --> 00:01:46,560 Speaker 2: to record, to reflect, and to shape upon the young 33 00:01:46,720 --> 00:01:50,920 Speaker 2: nation's consciousness. He thought the nation needed a poet. So 34 00:01:50,960 --> 00:01:56,160 Speaker 2: it's really not completely clear whether this essay affected Walt 35 00:01:56,200 --> 00:01:59,680 Speaker 2: Whitman's decision to be a poet. There are critics who 36 00:01:59,760 --> 00:02:03,560 Speaker 2: argue that it definitely did, not one hundred percent certain, 37 00:02:03,840 --> 00:02:08,760 Speaker 2: but regardless, what he went and did is basically exactly 38 00:02:08,960 --> 00:02:12,600 Speaker 2: what Emerson said needed to happen. He went out and 39 00:02:12,639 --> 00:02:18,040 Speaker 2: he wrote the book that Emerson said the nation was lacking. So, 40 00:02:18,480 --> 00:02:21,160 Speaker 2: while Whitman printed the first edition of Leaves of Grass 41 00:02:21,200 --> 00:02:24,200 Speaker 2: at his own expense, seven hundred and ninety five copies. 42 00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:26,320 Speaker 2: That was all that he could afford. And this book 43 00:02:26,320 --> 00:02:30,240 Speaker 2: contained twelve poems. None of them had titles. They were 44 00:02:30,400 --> 00:02:33,880 Speaker 2: very different form most poetry at the time. They were 45 00:02:33,960 --> 00:02:36,800 Speaker 2: all over the place in terms of their length, and 46 00:02:36,880 --> 00:02:40,639 Speaker 2: they didn't fit into conventional structures or rhyming patterns at all. 47 00:02:41,639 --> 00:02:44,520 Speaker 2: The lines themselves, like the written lines on the page, 48 00:02:44,560 --> 00:02:47,400 Speaker 2: they were also all over the place. They were very 49 00:02:47,440 --> 00:02:49,839 Speaker 2: different from one another in terms of how long they were, 50 00:02:49,919 --> 00:02:52,040 Speaker 2: and they were so long that he actually printed it 51 00:02:52,080 --> 00:02:54,560 Speaker 2: on very wide paper so that he wouldn't have to 52 00:02:54,560 --> 00:02:57,320 Speaker 2: break the lines. He could print the whole thing out 53 00:02:57,360 --> 00:03:01,000 Speaker 2: on this very wide page. The tone of these poems 54 00:03:01,120 --> 00:03:06,080 Speaker 2: is relentlessly optimistic, and underlying the whole thing is this 55 00:03:06,200 --> 00:03:10,480 Speaker 2: focus on the promise of what American democracy had the 56 00:03:10,480 --> 00:03:13,200 Speaker 2: potential to be. So he sent a lot of copies 57 00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:15,679 Speaker 2: of this book to lots of other poets. No one 58 00:03:15,800 --> 00:03:20,920 Speaker 2: really cared, except for Ralph Waldo Emerson, whose letter that 59 00:03:20,960 --> 00:03:24,080 Speaker 2: he wrote a response began quote, I greet you at 60 00:03:24,120 --> 00:03:28,480 Speaker 2: the beginning of a great career. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the fact 61 00:03:28,480 --> 00:03:31,000 Speaker 2: that Walt Whitman had written exactly the kind of book 62 00:03:31,320 --> 00:03:34,320 Speaker 2: that Ralph waldo Emerson said needed to be written, meant 63 00:03:34,360 --> 00:03:38,480 Speaker 2: that Ralph waldo Emerson liked it a lot. Leaves of 64 00:03:38,520 --> 00:03:41,280 Speaker 2: Grass wasn't the only thing that Walt Whitman worked on 65 00:03:41,360 --> 00:03:43,280 Speaker 2: for the rest of his career, but he did work 66 00:03:43,320 --> 00:03:47,920 Speaker 2: on it a lot. He kept releasing multiple new editions 67 00:03:47,960 --> 00:03:50,560 Speaker 2: of the book that would have new poems and revisions 68 00:03:50,600 --> 00:03:53,640 Speaker 2: of the old one. The eighteen fifty six edition was 69 00:03:53,680 --> 00:03:56,480 Speaker 2: on smaller paper. The idea was that you could just 70 00:03:56,480 --> 00:03:58,720 Speaker 2: carry it in your pocket, and he put the word 71 00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:02,840 Speaker 2: poem in the titles of all the poems, maybe because 72 00:04:02,840 --> 00:04:04,800 Speaker 2: of all the criticism that he had gotten after the 73 00:04:04,840 --> 00:04:07,240 Speaker 2: first edition that these things that he had written were 74 00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:11,240 Speaker 2: not even poetry. The eighteen sixty edition was even more 75 00:04:11,360 --> 00:04:15,480 Speaker 2: controversial because it included Children of Adam, which was a 76 00:04:15,520 --> 00:04:19,960 Speaker 2: celebration of the body and of sexual relationships between women 77 00:04:20,080 --> 00:04:22,800 Speaker 2: and men, and it also included another group of poems 78 00:04:22,839 --> 00:04:27,040 Speaker 2: called the Calamus Cluster and that celebrated love between men. 79 00:04:27,720 --> 00:04:30,080 Speaker 2: This got the book banned in a lot of places, 80 00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:33,360 Speaker 2: but it was really this edition that started to sell 81 00:04:33,520 --> 00:04:36,640 Speaker 2: pretty well, maybe in part because of all that controversy 82 00:04:36,720 --> 00:04:40,760 Speaker 2: about its contents. The American Civil War really affected Walt 83 00:04:40,760 --> 00:04:45,479 Speaker 2: Whitman's book. He had been so optimistic in his poetry 84 00:04:45,560 --> 00:04:49,200 Speaker 2: about what America could be, and the nation was literally 85 00:04:49,240 --> 00:04:52,120 Speaker 2: tearing itself apart over the issue of whether it was 86 00:04:52,160 --> 00:04:55,839 Speaker 2: okay to own human beings as property. He couldn't keep 87 00:04:55,839 --> 00:05:00,560 Speaker 2: writing relentlessly optimistic poetry in that kind of environment. The 88 00:05:00,600 --> 00:05:03,720 Speaker 2: eighteen sixty seven edition of Leaves of Grass included some 89 00:05:03,760 --> 00:05:06,640 Speaker 2: of his wartime poetry in the form of Drum Taps 90 00:05:06,680 --> 00:05:09,920 Speaker 2: and Sequel to Drum Taps, But this edition came out 91 00:05:09,960 --> 00:05:12,320 Speaker 2: in a lot of different versions, and some of those 92 00:05:12,320 --> 00:05:16,080 Speaker 2: poems were in there, and sometimes the edition would not 93 00:05:16,200 --> 00:05:19,720 Speaker 2: have those poems. The whole thing was very haphazard and 94 00:05:19,880 --> 00:05:22,600 Speaker 2: full of errors. It was really almost like he had 95 00:05:22,640 --> 00:05:25,120 Speaker 2: ripped up his own work the way the country had 96 00:05:25,120 --> 00:05:27,800 Speaker 2: torn itself up, and then tried to stick it back together. 97 00:05:28,440 --> 00:05:31,000 Speaker 2: Whitman spent the last years of his life in Camden, 98 00:05:31,160 --> 00:05:33,440 Speaker 2: New Jersey, where he died on March twenty sixth of 99 00:05:33,480 --> 00:05:36,120 Speaker 2: eighteen ninety two at the age of seventy two, and 100 00:05:36,160 --> 00:05:39,400 Speaker 2: today he's remembered as one of the nation's most influential 101 00:05:39,480 --> 00:05:43,040 Speaker 2: and groundbreaking poets. You can learn more about Walt Whitman 102 00:05:43,120 --> 00:05:46,279 Speaker 2: and his work in the April seventeenth, twenty seventeen episode 103 00:05:46,279 --> 00:05:48,960 Speaker 2: of Stuff You Miss in History Class. You can subscribe 104 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:52,560 Speaker 2: to This Day in History Class on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, 105 00:05:52,640 --> 00:06:01,560 Speaker 2: and wherever else do you get your podcasts. 106 00:06:02,080 --> 00:06:06,080 Speaker 3: Greetings everyone, welcome to this Day in History class, where 107 00:06:06,120 --> 00:06:15,800 Speaker 3: we learn a smidgeon of history every day. The day 108 00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:20,599 Speaker 3: was July fourth, nineteen ninety seven. The National Aeronautics in 109 00:06:20,640 --> 00:06:24,960 Speaker 3: Space Administration, better known as NASA, landed the Mars Pathfinder 110 00:06:25,040 --> 00:06:30,520 Speaker 3: on Mars's Airis Vallis. Its robotic rover, named Sojourner, became 111 00:06:30,560 --> 00:06:33,760 Speaker 3: the first wheeled vehicle to explore the surface of another planet. 112 00:06:34,960 --> 00:06:38,040 Speaker 3: Part of Pathfinder's purpose was to prove that spacecraft could 113 00:06:38,080 --> 00:06:41,479 Speaker 3: be cheaper, faster, and better. The mission would demonstrate the 114 00:06:41,520 --> 00:06:44,920 Speaker 3: technology that was necessary to get a lander and robotic 115 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:47,359 Speaker 3: rover to the surface of Mars on a lower budget. 116 00:06:48,320 --> 00:06:51,000 Speaker 3: The lander cost one hundred and fifty million dollars to 117 00:06:51,040 --> 00:06:53,960 Speaker 3: develop and build, while the rover cost about twenty five 118 00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:58,960 Speaker 3: million dollars including launch and operations. The Mars Pathfinder mission 119 00:06:59,040 --> 00:07:03,520 Speaker 3: cost two hundred sixty five million dollars. The Mars Pathfinder 120 00:07:03,560 --> 00:07:06,200 Speaker 3: Mission would be the first time as spacecraft landed on 121 00:07:06,240 --> 00:07:10,160 Speaker 3: the planet in more than two decades. The previous time 122 00:07:10,200 --> 00:07:13,080 Speaker 3: was in nineteen seventy six, when Viking one and Viking 123 00:07:13,120 --> 00:07:16,920 Speaker 3: two made it to Mars. Landing was a difficult tash 124 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:20,960 Speaker 3: for spacecraft. In fact, many landers at the Soviet Union, Russia, 125 00:07:21,040 --> 00:07:24,080 Speaker 3: and United States sent to Mars were lost or destroyed. 126 00:07:25,200 --> 00:07:28,600 Speaker 3: Mars Pathfinder was launched on December fourth, nineteen ninety six. 127 00:07:29,080 --> 00:07:31,640 Speaker 3: The robotic spacecraft was made up of an eight hundred 128 00:07:31,640 --> 00:07:35,280 Speaker 3: and sixteen pound or three hundred and seventy kilogram lander 129 00:07:35,640 --> 00:07:39,600 Speaker 3: officially called the Carl Sagan Memorial Station, and the twenty 130 00:07:39,640 --> 00:07:44,360 Speaker 3: three pound rovers Sojourner. The rover was named after Sojourner Truth, 131 00:07:44,600 --> 00:07:49,000 Speaker 3: an abolitionist and activist in the nineteenth century. On July fourth, 132 00:07:49,080 --> 00:07:53,800 Speaker 3: nineteen ninety seven, Mars Pathfinder entered the thin Martian atmosphere, 133 00:07:54,120 --> 00:07:57,720 Speaker 3: taking atmospheric measurements. As it descended toward the surface of 134 00:07:57,760 --> 00:08:02,360 Speaker 3: the planet, a heat shoe slowed the spacecraft down, then 135 00:08:02,440 --> 00:08:06,280 Speaker 3: a parachute was deployed, slowing the craft's descent through the atmosphere. 136 00:08:07,360 --> 00:08:10,480 Speaker 3: It then released its heat shield and the landers separated 137 00:08:10,520 --> 00:08:13,760 Speaker 3: and lowered from the back shell on a tether. Air 138 00:08:13,800 --> 00:08:17,600 Speaker 3: Bags inflated about ten seconds before landing, forming a protective 139 00:08:17,600 --> 00:08:21,800 Speaker 3: shield around the lander. Three solid rockets fired to slow 140 00:08:21,840 --> 00:08:24,600 Speaker 3: the descent even more. The tether was cut and the 141 00:08:24,680 --> 00:08:28,400 Speaker 3: lander dropped to the surface. It bounced more than a 142 00:08:28,440 --> 00:08:31,000 Speaker 3: dozen times before it rolled and stopped two and a 143 00:08:31,040 --> 00:08:35,280 Speaker 3: half minutes after landing Mars. Pathfinder had landed on the 144 00:08:35,320 --> 00:08:38,400 Speaker 3: surface of the red planet in a floodplane in the 145 00:08:38,440 --> 00:08:42,600 Speaker 3: northern hemisphere called aries Valis, chosen for its safety and 146 00:08:42,640 --> 00:08:47,079 Speaker 3: the variety of rocks present there that Soorjourner could analyze. 147 00:08:47,160 --> 00:08:49,400 Speaker 3: It made it to Mars surface less than a second 148 00:08:49,400 --> 00:08:53,360 Speaker 3: from its projected landing time. The whole process of entry, descent, 149 00:08:53,440 --> 00:08:57,680 Speaker 3: and landing lasted about four minutes. After landing, the air 150 00:08:57,679 --> 00:09:02,640 Speaker 3: bags deflated and Pathfinder opened its solar panels. The lander 151 00:09:02,800 --> 00:09:05,640 Speaker 3: sent back data it had collected during entry and landing, 152 00:09:05,920 --> 00:09:09,760 Speaker 3: and it sent images that it took of the landing area. 153 00:09:09,760 --> 00:09:12,840 Speaker 3: Sojourner was soon released from the lander down a ramp. 154 00:09:13,400 --> 00:09:16,720 Speaker 3: Sojourner had two black and white cameras to navigate, one 155 00:09:16,840 --> 00:09:21,080 Speaker 3: color camera, and an alpha proton expert spectrometer for analyzing 156 00:09:21,160 --> 00:09:24,920 Speaker 3: rocks and soil. Its top speed was about two feet 157 00:09:24,960 --> 00:09:29,480 Speaker 3: per minute. The rover analyzed the composition of nearby rocks, 158 00:09:29,760 --> 00:09:35,400 Speaker 3: which scientists named Barnacle, Bill, Yogi, and Scooby Doo. NASA 159 00:09:35,440 --> 00:09:37,640 Speaker 3: said that the data it gathered could be evidence of 160 00:09:37,679 --> 00:09:42,200 Speaker 3: a more water rich Mars. The lander relayed information from 161 00:09:42,200 --> 00:09:44,800 Speaker 3: the rover to Earth and took pictures of the sky 162 00:09:44,920 --> 00:09:48,559 Speaker 3: and its surroundings. It also tested the magnetic properties of 163 00:09:48,640 --> 00:09:53,320 Speaker 3: dust on the planet. Sojourner was designed to last seven days, 164 00:09:53,559 --> 00:09:56,760 Speaker 3: but it ended up staying in operation for eighty four days. 165 00:09:57,080 --> 00:09:59,920 Speaker 3: It traveled about three hundred and thirty feet during the mission. 166 00:10:01,080 --> 00:10:04,000 Speaker 3: The lander was designed to last thirty days, but the 167 00:10:04,040 --> 00:10:08,560 Speaker 3: final data transmission from Pathfinder was received on September twenty seventh, 168 00:10:08,679 --> 00:10:13,120 Speaker 3: nineteen ninety seven. The battery, which had been repeatedly charged 169 00:10:13,120 --> 00:10:17,600 Speaker 3: and discharged, may have failed. The lander and rover sent 170 00:10:17,679 --> 00:10:21,439 Speaker 3: more than seventeen thousand images back to Earth. It also 171 00:10:21,520 --> 00:10:24,720 Speaker 3: provided analysis of the rocks and soil on Mars, and 172 00:10:24,960 --> 00:10:28,680 Speaker 3: data on wind and weather. The technology used in the 173 00:10:28,720 --> 00:10:32,400 Speaker 3: Mars Pathfinder mission was later used with some changes, on 174 00:10:32,440 --> 00:10:36,000 Speaker 3: the Mars Exploration Rover mission, which began in two thousand 175 00:10:36,000 --> 00:10:39,920 Speaker 3: and three. I'm Eve Chefcote, and hopefully you know a 176 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:44,080 Speaker 3: little more about history today than you did yesterday. You 177 00:10:44,080 --> 00:10:47,119 Speaker 3: can subscribe to This Day in History class on Apple Podcasts, 178 00:10:47,440 --> 00:10:51,280 Speaker 3: the iHeartRadio app, or wherever you get your podcasts. Tune 179 00:10:51,280 --> 00:11:00,679 Speaker 3: in tomorrow for another Day in History.