Speaker 1: The Quest for the North Pole is a production of
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio and Mental Floss. On most days of
Speaker 1: the year. In the early nineteen hundreds, Battle Harbor on
Speaker 1: Labrador's Rugged Coast is pretty quiet. The busiest this cod
Speaker 1: fishing station gets is when a big catch of fish
Speaker 1: comes in and the air buzzes with excitement and activity.
Speaker 1: Is the hall as broad Ashore. But in September nine,
Speaker 1: a buzz of a different kind fills the salty air.
Speaker 1: The tiny village population three hundred finds itself at the
Speaker 1: center of a media frenzy it hasn't seen before or since.
Speaker 1: Against a backdrop of fishing boats bobbing expectantly in the harbor,
Speaker 1: dozens of reporters wearing hats and long thick coats to
Speaker 1: guard against the chill, have descended on the wooden dock
Speaker 1: waiting for a press conference with Robert E. Peary. These
Speaker 1: men have one goal to get the scoop from Perry
Speaker 1: on the historic first conquest of the North Pole, and
Speaker 1: they want to know if Perry believes another explorer, Frederick A. Cook,
Speaker 1: has beaten him to it. Perry's assistant, Donald Baxter McMillan
Speaker 1: later sums up what so many are thinking geographers, scientists,
Speaker 1: students of Arctic literature. All had questioned the possibility of
Speaker 1: ever reaching the pole, And two men within five days
Speaker 1: of each other, we're claiming to have done that very thing.
Speaker 1: Was this a practical joke? For Peary, the situation is
Speaker 1: deadly serious, though he tries not to show it. A
Speaker 1: few weeks earlier, while still in Greenland, he had learned
Speaker 1: that Cook was claiming he'd reached the North Pole on
Speaker 1: April twe almost a full year before Peery himself reached it.
Speaker 1: By coincidence, Cook had arrived in the Shetland Islands and
Speaker 1: sent word of his conquest to newspapers only about a
Speaker 1: week earlier, on September one, five days before Perry made
Speaker 1: his announcement from the telegraph office in Indian Harbor, Labrador.
Speaker 1: As Peri's controversial news bounces from one tiny telegraph office
Speaker 1: to another before finally reaching newspapers, it begins to seem
Speaker 1: like Cook has stolen not just Peri's thunder. His claim
Speaker 1: of being first to the poll threatens to nullify Perry's
Speaker 1: entire Arctic career and his shot at fame. But in
Speaker 1: front of the media, Peery appears confident in his success.
Speaker 1: A reporter asks how he felt upon reaching the top
Speaker 1: of the world. Pierry stands up, shoulders back, and in
Speaker 1: a steady voice, answers, can't you imagine how a man
Speaker 1: feels after spending twenty three years of the best years
Speaker 1: of his life, who had given parts of his body
Speaker 1: the body God gave him, and accomplishing his ambition when
Speaker 1: he attains it. The room falls silent. Meanwhile, Battle Harbor's
Speaker 1: telegraph operator is overwhelmed with messages from news organizations, all
Speaker 1: demanding Peri's comment on Cook. Perry is determined to fight
Speaker 1: for his honor. To the New York Times, which paid
Speaker 1: four thousand dollars for his story, Peery writes, do not
Speaker 1: trouble about cook story or attempt to explain any discrepancies
Speaker 1: in his statements. The affair will settle itself. He has
Speaker 1: not been at the poll on April one, or at
Speaker 1: any other time. He has simply handed the public a
Speaker 1: gold brick. The next day, the New York Times publishes
Speaker 1: a front page article presenting both explorers stories and Peri,
Speaker 1: accusing Cook of giving the public a bait and switch.
Speaker 1: By the time the Roosevelt reaches Sydney, Nova Scotia. The
Speaker 1: Cook Pery controversy is the leading topic of the day,
Speaker 1: McMillan wrote. Later, newspaper readers received thousands of postcards in
Speaker 1: the mail asking them are you for Cook or Perry.
Speaker 1: Reporters found each of the explorers for proof of his claim,
Speaker 1: while newspapers fanned the controversy. Though they couldn't have foreseen
Speaker 1: this turn of events, Peery and Cook are now locked
Speaker 1: in a fierce battle for the title of first man
Speaker 1: at the North Pole. When they returned to the United
Speaker 1: States after their Arctic adventures, they trade insults in the
Speaker 1: press and muster their influential supporters to argue their cases.
Speaker 1: Other explorers and scientists scrutinize their records and choose sides.
Speaker 1: In this episode, we'll see why everyone was asking not
Speaker 1: just who reached the pole first, but whether either of
Speaker 1: them had reached it at all. From Mental Floss and
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio, this is the Quest for the North Pole.
Speaker 1: I'm your host, Cat Long, Science editor at Mental Loss
Speaker 1: and this is episode seven. A gold brick. September nine
Speaker 1: wasn't the first time Frederick A. Cook and Robert E.
Speaker 1: Peary had cross paths. Born in tiny Hortonville, New York.
Speaker 1: In eighteen sixty five, Cook moved from his hometown near
Speaker 1: the Delaware River to New York City to attend medical school.
Speaker 1: He supported his studies with a milk delivery business he
Speaker 1: ran with his brother Theodore. Around eighteen ninety, he opened
Speaker 1: his own medical practice, but he didn't have many patients.
Speaker 1: When he read in the New York Herald the Robert
Speaker 1: Peery was planning an expedition to northern Greenland for the
Speaker 1: summer of eight he to offer his services. Peery hired
Speaker 1: him as a surgeon on the trip. Cook was charismatic, amiable,
Speaker 1: and a good doctor, but neither Peery nor his senior assistant,
Speaker 1: Matthew Henson, were impressed with his wilderness skills. He was,
Speaker 1: to put it bluntly, a hot mess, according to Henson's
Speaker 1: biographer Bradley Robinson. On a hunt, Cook scared away the
Speaker 1: reindeer by complaining too loudly. On a different hunt, he
Speaker 1: missed his target and shot a hole through the side
Speaker 1: of a whale boat. When Cook asked to accompany Henson
Speaker 1: on one of his walrus hunts, in which one wrong
Speaker 1: move could mean being stabbed by a tusk, Henson turned
Speaker 1: him down. If dr Cook was to have a gun
Speaker 1: in his hand, Matt preferred not to be nearby, his
Speaker 1: biographer wrote, Following his expedition with Peery, Cook headed all
Speaker 1: the way south, he signed up as a surgeon on
Speaker 1: the Belgian and Arctic Expedition, lasting from eight the first
Speaker 1: of what historians later dubbed the Heroic Age of Antarctic exploration.
Speaker 1: Among his crewmates was the Norwegian explorer Roald Amondson, who
Speaker 1: later became the first European to sail the entire Northwest
Speaker 1: Passage and the first person to stand at the South Pole.
Speaker 1: Though he failed to win over Pierry in Henson, Cook's
Speaker 1: reputation as a bold adventurer was growing. In three he
Speaker 1: attempted to climb Mount McKinley, now called the Nali, which,
Speaker 1: at twenty thousand, three hundred and ten feet in elevation,
Speaker 1: is North America's highest mountain. While he had to settle
Speaker 1: for circumnavigating its base, Cook gave lectures to mountaineering clubs
Speaker 1: upon his return to New York and impressed the right
Speaker 1: people like Robert Pierry. Cook soon gathered around him a
Speaker 1: coterie of well connected comrades to support his adventures. The
Speaker 1: Cook's group was more democratic and focused on research then
Speaker 1: the Periarctic Club, which existed to fundraise. Cook's group, called
Speaker 1: the Explorers Club, included fellow explorer and author Henry Collins Walsh,
Speaker 1: Adolphus Greeley and David Brainerd of the notorious eighty one
Speaker 1: Greeley Expedition, and Frank Chapman, then the Associate Curator of
Speaker 1: Birds and Mammals at the American Museum of Natural History.
Speaker 1: In nineteen o six, accompanied by members of the Explorers Club,
Speaker 1: Cooke returned to Alaska. This time he claimed to have
Speaker 1: made the first ascent of Denali, but this may have
Speaker 1: been a case of Cook's daring ambition overshadowing his skills.
Speaker 1: Members of his own climbing team later said that they
Speaker 1: didn't get anywhere near the top, and the photographic evidence
Speaker 1: Cook revealed from the expedition wasn't sufficient to decide the case.
Speaker 1: But it didn't matter. Cooke had earned the public's recognition.
Speaker 1: With his new status as an audacious outdoor hero, he
Speaker 1: set his sights on the North Pole. A Florida casino
Speaker 1: magnate named John R. Bradley agreed to give Cook ten
Speaker 1: thousand dollars, which would be roughly two dred and eighty
Speaker 1: one thousand today to organize a big game hunting trip
Speaker 1: to Greenland, which Cook would use as a starting point
Speaker 1: for a push to the Pole. The expedition just Cook
Speaker 1: at eleven crew members aboard a former fishing schooner named
Speaker 1: for Bradley, who would join them in Newfoundland, departed from Gloucester, Massachusetts,
Speaker 1: on July three. Unlike Robert Pierry's departure, complete with boat
Speaker 1: parades and thousands of cheering fans, hardly anyone noticed Cook leaving.
Speaker 1: An Arctic expedition had been born without the usual clamor.
Speaker 1: Cook wrote in My Attainment of the Poll is account
Speaker 1: that argues his case and takes numerous swipes at Perry.
Speaker 1: Prepared in one month and financed by a sportsman whose
Speaker 1: only mission was to hunt game animals in North No
Speaker 1: press campaign heralded our project. No government aid had been asked,
Speaker 1: nor had large contributions been sought from private individuals to
Speaker 1: purchase luxuries for a pullman jaunt of a large party.
Speaker 1: Pollward here was nonsense, and Perry's idea of a pare
Speaker 1: down expedition taken to the extreme. Cook wrote that he
Speaker 1: wasn't even sure he'd actually try for the pole until
Speaker 1: he got to Greenland, but just in case, he brought
Speaker 1: a long wood for sledges, appropriate clothing, and one thousand
Speaker 1: pounds of pemmican manufactured by Armoring Company of Chicago. One
Speaker 1: resource he didn't bring was a trusted companion like Matthew
Speaker 1: Henson who could accompany him to the poll. Basically, he
Speaker 1: was just gonna wing it. They initially followed the American
Speaker 1: route to Cape York in northwest Greenland. They paused at
Speaker 1: inuite villages along the Greenland coast to hunt Walrus's seals
Speaker 1: and ducks. But while Bradley was mainly interested in the game,
Speaker 1: Cook's dreams of making history took shape as the little
Speaker 1: schooner pulled into a harbor at Anoatok, the northernmost village
Speaker 1: in Greenland. Normally there were hardly more than a couple
Speaker 1: of tents constituting the village, but now a large group
Speaker 1: of families had gathered to initiate the winter bear hunt.
Speaker 1: It came strongly to me that this was the spot
Speaker 1: to make the base for a polar dash. Here were
Speaker 1: Eskimo helpers, strong, hefty natives from whom I could select
Speaker 1: the best to accompany me, Cook wrote, with a definite
Speaker 1: air of entitlement. Here, by a fortunate chance, were the
Speaker 1: best dog teams. Here were plenty of furs for clothing,
Speaker 1: and here was unlimited food. These supplies, combined with supplies
Speaker 1: on the schooner, would give all that was needed for
Speaker 1: the campaign. Nothing could have been more ideal. When Cook
Speaker 1: informed Bradley of his plans, the two men parted ways.
Speaker 1: Bradley left Cook with supplies from the ship and one
Speaker 1: of the ship's crew, a German assistant named Rudolph Franca.
Speaker 1: Cook obtained the rest of his equipment with the help
Speaker 1: of the Innuit. He instructed them in making sledges out
Speaker 1: of the tough hickory planks he brought on the Bradley,
Speaker 1: and they hunted an astounding number of animals for winter
Speaker 1: provisions and for the pole journey in spring. From August
Speaker 1: seven to May nine. According to Cook, they captured two thousand,
Speaker 1: four hundred and twenty two birds, three hundred and eleven
Speaker 1: Arctic hares, three hundred and twenty foxes, thirty six reindeer,
Speaker 1: twenty two polar bears, fifty two seals, seventy three walruses,
Speaker 1: twenty one nar Walls, three Belugas, and two hundred and
Speaker 1: six Muskoks. Cook, Franca and nine Inuit assistants departed a
Speaker 1: Noah Talk on February. They drove a convoy of eleven
Speaker 1: dog sleds, weighed down with six thousand pounds of equipment
Speaker 1: and provisions. Instead of heading north through Kane Basin and
Speaker 1: up Kennedy Channel towards Cape Sheridan, as naires and period
Speaker 1: had done, Cook traveled west, crossing Smith's Sound to Ellesmere Island.
Speaker 1: His rationale was that he could replenish the food supply
Speaker 1: for his party and dogs by hunting game in the
Speaker 1: valleys west of Ellesmere, which Auto spare Drop had mapped
Speaker 1: in his extensive explorations at the end of the nineteenth century.
Speaker 1: They could also lay caches of supplies for Cooke's return journey.
Speaker 1: The party continued across the island towards Greeley Fiord, which
Speaker 1: connected with the head of Nonsen Sound. The sounds other
Speaker 1: end met the Arctic Ocean at Cape Thomas Hubbard, a
Speaker 1: few hundred miles west from Cape Sheridan along the coast
Speaker 1: of Ellesmere Island. There, Cook decided to split up the
Speaker 1: party and make a break for the pole. He chose
Speaker 1: two young Inuit, it took a shoe and a ella,
Speaker 1: and paired down his gear to only the barest minimum
Speaker 1: of food, shelter, clothing, and navigational equipment to sustain them
Speaker 1: for eighty days. They left land on March eighteenth, with
Speaker 1: a journey of five hundred miles ahead of them. Unlike Peery,
Speaker 1: Cook didn't send advance parties ahead of his own sledge
Speaker 1: to build igloos and lay down supplies at the end
Speaker 1: of each march. The three men had to build shelter
Speaker 1: and tend to their gear and dogs. Yet they clocked
Speaker 1: one hundred miles and crossed the Big Lead, the treacherous
Speaker 1: expanse of water and shifting ice that had held Perry
Speaker 1: up for nearly a week, in just five days. Cook
Speaker 1: spurred on his Inuit companions by fudging their position. Both
Speaker 1: a wella and ittook a shoe were sure of a
Speaker 1: constant nearness to land. Cook wrote, because of the native
Speaker 1: panic out of its reassuring site, I encouraged this daily
Speaker 1: chance of s being new Land, as I did concerning
Speaker 1: every other possible sign of land further northward. I knew
Speaker 1: that only by encouraging a delusion of nearness to land
Speaker 1: could I urge them ever farther in the face of
Speaker 1: the hardships that must inevitably come. Cook may have thought
Speaker 1: he was fooling them, But the new Weeks surely new land.
Speaker 1: When they saw it. They could tell the difference between
Speaker 1: land and some clouds or an expanse of ice. This was,
Speaker 1: after all, their neck of the woods. And what's more,
Speaker 1: Cook believed he did spot a new land mass he
Speaker 1: named Bradley Land between eight four eight five parallels, which
Speaker 1: it turns out didn't exist. Cook's ploy to deceive his
Speaker 1: companions and his apparent willingness to lie about their position,
Speaker 1: would come back to haunt him. The trio pushed on
Speaker 1: as days stretched into the polar spring. In mid April.
Speaker 1: Cook's navigational readings suggested that the pole was near. He wrote,
Speaker 1: climbing the long ladder of latitudes, there was always the
Speaker 1: feeling that each hour's work was bringing us nearer the pole,
Speaker 1: the poll which men had sought for three centuries, and
Speaker 1: which fortune favoring should be mine. On April one, Cook
Speaker 1: believed he had reached his destination. My relief was indescribable.
Speaker 1: He wrote, the prize of an international marathon was ours.
Speaker 1: Pinning the stars and stripes to a tent pole. I
Speaker 1: asserted the achievement in the name of the ninety millions
Speaker 1: of countrymen who swear fealty to that flag. Before he
Speaker 1: could share the news of his feet, Cook and his
Speaker 1: team had to survive the trip home. This proved to
Speaker 1: be more difficult than anything they had encountered so far.
Speaker 1: Drifting ice slowed their progress and diverted them from their
Speaker 1: planned route of return, and they were forced to spend
Speaker 1: the dark pole Older winter of nineteen o eight nineteen
Speaker 1: o nine in a cave on Canada's Devon Island, just
Speaker 1: north of Lancaster Sound. Polar bears stalked them closely. They
Speaker 1: endured storms and ran out of food several times, only
Speaker 1: to be rescued from starvation by the fortunate capture of
Speaker 1: a hare or bird. When Cook it took a shoe
Speaker 1: and Alulla did manage to sledge their way back to
Speaker 1: a Noah Talk. In April nineteen o nine, he ran
Speaker 1: into Harry Whitney, the American big game hunter who had
Speaker 1: come up with perious supply ship the previous year. He
Speaker 1: told Whitney of his claim and desperate journey. After several
Speaker 1: days of rest, Cook and an Inuit companion, departed by dogs,
Speaker 1: led to the Danish outpost of Upernibuk, about seven miles
Speaker 1: to the south, the fastest way of getting back to
Speaker 1: his own civilization and to spread the word of his conquest.
Speaker 1: But an explicable lee, he left the proof of that
Speaker 1: conquest behind. The journey, Cook wrote, involved difficulties and risk,
Speaker 1: the climbing of mountains and glaciers, the crossing of open
Speaker 1: leads of water late in the season when the ice
Speaker 1: is in motion and the snow is falling, and the
Speaker 1: dragging of sledges through slush and water. Mr Whitney, in
Speaker 1: view of these dangers, offered to take care of my instruments,
Speaker 1: notebooks and flag, and to take them south on his ship.
Speaker 1: Cook arrived a new Parentavook on May and remained there
Speaker 1: until he could board a steamer to Copenhagen in late August.
Speaker 1: On the way, he sent a telegram from the Shetland Islands.
Speaker 1: On September one, reached North Pole April one, discovered land
Speaker 1: far north, returned to Copenhagen by steamer Hans Agel. Frederick Cook,
Speaker 1: the new York Tribune splashed Cook's triumph across its front
Speaker 1: page the following morning. For several days, Frederick was the
Speaker 1: uncontested discoverer of the holy Grail of the Arctic. As
Speaker 1: they neared Copenhagen, Cook was mobbed by reporters in Danish
Speaker 1: dignitaries congratulating him on his success. Telegrams and letters poured in.
Speaker 1: European Royalty, British journalists, and US officials met Cook as
Speaker 1: he debarked from the steamer. I became a helpless leaf
Speaker 1: on a whirlwind of excitement, Cook wrote. Then Pieris telegram
Speaker 1: came through. Let's take a break here. We'll be right back.
Speaker 1: On September, the New York Times ran with the headline
Speaker 1: Peery discovers the North Pole after eight trials in twenty
Speaker 1: three years. A week earlier, though the competing New York
Speaker 1: Herald had gone with the North Pole as discovered by
Speaker 1: doctor Frederick A. Cook. The closer Perry's ship, the Roosevelt
Speaker 1: got to New York, the more Peery realized that Cook's
Speaker 1: story wasn't going away. He and Matthew Henson may have
Speaker 1: found Cook's claim ludicrous, but the world at large didn't
Speaker 1: Parry was greeted by crowds at the ports the Roosevelt
Speaker 1: pulled into, but Cook had his own fans. Thousands of
Speaker 1: New York City came out to catch a glimpse of
Speaker 1: the charismatic doctor they believed was the first man to
Speaker 1: set foot at the North Pole. The press couldn't get
Speaker 1: enough of him. He spent hours with reporters, regaling them
Speaker 1: with stories of his polar plate. Newspapers in Pennsylvania, New York,
Speaker 1: and Ohio ran a pole about which explorer people believed
Speaker 1: actually reached the North Pole first. The majority of readers
Speaker 1: had sided with Cook initial. Cook was unfazed by Perry's announcement.
Speaker 1: He was apparently happy to hear that another American had
Speaker 1: reached the North Pole, or perhaps discovered some unknown land
Speaker 1: for the benefit of the United States. There is glory
Speaker 1: enough for all, he told reporters. Peery and his wealthy
Speaker 1: backers felt exactly the opposite way. With his rival's account
Speaker 1: gaining momentum, Peery realized his future, his fame, and his
Speaker 1: legacy were now in jeopardy. He is under assault because
Speaker 1: Frederick Cook has claimed to have reached the Pole a
Speaker 1: year earlier, so Peery is desperate and furious because he
Speaker 1: believes that Frederick Cook, you know, has stolen the glory.
Speaker 1: That's Susan Kaplan, a professor of anthropology and the director
Speaker 1: of the Pierry McMillan Arctic Museum at Bowden College. I
Speaker 1: mean Frederick Cook had been celebrated in Denmark, where he
Speaker 1: had announced that he had gotten to the poll in
Speaker 1: Peery claimed to get there in nine and so you
Speaker 1: know where Peery was ready to come back and just
Speaker 1: be showered with celebration. He came back to this country
Speaker 1: into controversy. So I think that there was a lot
Speaker 1: of anger and turning inwards that he did. As the
Speaker 1: controversy boiled, the Peri Arctic Club challenged Cook's claims and
Speaker 1: hinted that Perry had proof of his life. Late in September,
Speaker 1: Thomas Hubbard, one of the club's officers, sent a letter
Speaker 1: to the press concerning Dr Cook. He said, let him
Speaker 1: submit his records and data to some competent authority, and
Speaker 1: let that authority draw its own conclusions from the notes
Speaker 1: and records. What proof Commander Peery has that Dr Cook
Speaker 1: was not at the poll may be submitted later. The
Speaker 1: New York Times would had paid handsomely for Peri's scoop
Speaker 1: painted him as a trustworthy and accomplished explorer. The Times
Speaker 1: article from September seven contrasted Peri's highly publicized quest for
Speaker 1: the poll with Cook's under the radar expedition and abrupt announcement.
Speaker 1: The next day, the paper fully shifted to team Perry.
Speaker 1: An article revealed that Cook had given a lecture in
Speaker 1: front of the King of Denmark and the Danish Geographical
Speaker 1: Society about killing bears with slingshots and a boat that
Speaker 1: hadn't appeared in previous versions of the story. The Times
Speaker 1: wrote that Cook's lecture proves conclusively that his claim to
Speaker 1: have reached the North Pole belongs to the realm of
Speaker 1: fairy tales. Meanwhile, The New York Herald went all in
Speaker 1: for Cook. It had reportedly paid the enormous sum of
Speaker 1: twenty four thousand dollars for his exclusive that's almost seven
Speaker 1: hundred thousand dollars today. The Herald serialized cook story on
Speaker 1: its front page for two weeks straight and illustrated it
Speaker 1: with his photographs, maps, and flattering portraits of the explorer.
Speaker 1: The National Geographic Society, one of Perry's sources of funding,
Speaker 1: employed a subcommittee to examine the evidence. With so much
Speaker 1: time and money invested in the expedition, they demanded answers.
Speaker 1: Cook's lack of evidence didn't help his case. He had
Speaker 1: left all of the instruments and notebooks he had in
Speaker 1: Greenland with the wealthy hunter Harry Whitney. When Perry's ship,
Speaker 1: the S. S. Roosevelt, returned to Greenland in August nine,
Speaker 1: Whitney asked for a ride home, and, as Henson wrote
Speaker 1: in a diary entry dated August nine, the Commander will
Speaker 1: not permit Mr Whitney to bring any of the doctor
Speaker 1: cook effects aboard the Roosevelt, and they have been left
Speaker 1: in a cash on shore. Cook's case was further weakened
Speaker 1: by it took a shoe and owela that two a
Speaker 1: New Week guides who had traveled with him the previous year.
Speaker 1: When Henson and Donald Baxter McMillan heard about Cook's claim
Speaker 1: of the poll they tracked them down to ask them
Speaker 1: about the expedition. Henson spoke to the guides and innuctitude.
Speaker 1: According to the men, Cook never reached his destination. Henson
Speaker 1: recounted the conversation in his diary. Professor McMillan and I
Speaker 1: have talked to his two boys and have learned there
Speaker 1: is no foundation in fact for such a statement. And
Speaker 1: the captain and others of the expedition have questioned them,
Speaker 1: and if they were out on the ice of the
Speaker 1: Arctic Ocean, it was only for a very short distance,
Speaker 1: not more than twenty or twenty five miles. The boys
Speaker 1: are positive in this statement, and my own boys, utah
Speaker 1: and Quia, have talked to them also and get the
Speaker 1: same replies. It's a fact they had a very hard
Speaker 1: time and were reduced to low limits, but they have
Speaker 1: not been any distance north. Let's paw u to note
Speaker 1: that Utah Uquia and the other Inu Wheat were adults,
Speaker 1: not boys. Henson, despite his interest in a new white culture,
Speaker 1: sometimes referred to the new Wheat as uncivilized. He viewed
Speaker 1: them as less evolved than Americans, though perhaps not as
Speaker 1: condescendingly as Perry did. One difference between the two explorers
Speaker 1: is that Henson believed the Innu Wheat were honest, while
Speaker 1: Perry trusted their honesty mostly when it benefited him. Later,
Speaker 1: Henson told reporters that the two guides never lost sight
Speaker 1: of land, which meant they couldn't have traveled as far
Speaker 1: north as Cook claimed in his account of the expedition,
Speaker 1: published in four McMillan says the same thing. Perhaps surprisingly,
Speaker 1: people accepted Henson's account and the testimony of a touk
Speaker 1: Ashu and a Willa. It was a time when the
Speaker 1: word of a white man always superseded that of a
Speaker 1: black or indigenous man. But Nson's reputation as Perry's loyal
Speaker 1: and honest assistant may have swayed public opinion, and his
Speaker 1: history with the New Wheae people also made his story convincing.
Speaker 1: His good relations with the community were well known, and
Speaker 1: he confirmed with The New York Times that he personally
Speaker 1: knew the two young men Cook took with him up north.
Speaker 1: And maybe Henson's account was taken at face value because
Speaker 1: a white man's reputation rested on it. Plus Cook didn't
Speaker 1: have anyone else to back him up. While discrediting Cook,
Speaker 1: Perry may have thought that his own records and journal
Speaker 1: entries would support his claim of the poll. Unfortunately for him,
Speaker 1: his proof wasn't much stronger. Here's Edward J. Larson, historian
Speaker 1: and author of To the Edges of the Earth nine,
Speaker 1: The Race for the Three Polls and the climax of
Speaker 1: the age of exploration. One of the big problems with
Speaker 1: exploration back then would since you didn't have, you know,
Speaker 1: satellites to tell you where you are, only your accomplishments
Speaker 1: were based on your work, and of course people could
Speaker 1: question your word. And so Amondson and Shackleton and even
Speaker 1: Scott these people, and I could keep naming others. These
Speaker 1: people always brought along independently credible Europeans of cultural status
Speaker 1: and dependability that if they separately calculated the location, you
Speaker 1: could trust him. Terry never had anyone like that. He
Speaker 1: always only had people along who couldn't calculate, who didn't
Speaker 1: have authority. Matthew Henson was an amazing guy, but he
Speaker 1: wasn't scientifically credible in that world. Terry's critics and even
Speaker 1: some of his supporters questioned why he chose Henson over
Speaker 1: Captain Robert Bartlett to accompany him to the poll. Bartlett
Speaker 1: was a skilled navigator, tough and searless, the passic image
Speaker 1: of the hearty explorer destined for greatness. He broke trail
Speaker 1: over hundreds of miles of featureless ice for Pierry's team
Speaker 1: on the North Pole journey. He would have been an
Speaker 1: admirable choice for the Polar Party. But if Perry had
Speaker 1: been concerned that he wouldn't make it to the Pole
Speaker 1: and that his only option was to fudge his evidence,
Speaker 1: Bartlett would have found him out. So Peery may have
Speaker 1: chosen to bring equally tough companions because they wouldn't question
Speaker 1: his calculations. And that's why in the end, all of
Speaker 1: his claims were based on his own words, and that
Speaker 1: word was often doubted. And there may have been another
Speaker 1: more nefarious reason, which will get to in a moment.
Speaker 1: At any rate, even without hard evidence, Pierry held onto
Speaker 1: the public's favor. In a subcommittee of the National Geographic
Speaker 1: Society announced that they had found nothing that contradicted his claim.
Speaker 1: Several members of Congress introduced bills to promote Perry to
Speaker 1: rear admiral and honor his discovery of the North Pole.
Speaker 1: On March third leven, the House passed Senate bill sur
Speaker 1: conforming his promotion, and the next day President Taft signed
Speaker 1: it into law. Perry's story had received the government stamp
Speaker 1: of approval, and it looked as though he could finally
Speaker 1: bask in the blated glory of his accomplishment. But the
Speaker 1: case wasn't closed just yet. There was still a third
Speaker 1: party vying for a piece of the recognition. Perry refused
Speaker 1: to share his own assistant, Matthew Henson, We'll be right back.
Speaker 1: As newspapers pitted Cook against Pie, Henson was largely left
Speaker 1: out of the narrative. Reporters described him as Pierrie's valet,
Speaker 1: and the public mistakenly assumed him to be a servant
Speaker 1: with a small to non existent part in conquering the poll.
Speaker 1: When books and newspapers incorrectly described Henson as his quote
Speaker 1: colored valet instead of his senior assistant, Perry made no
Speaker 1: effort to correct them. In reality, Henson had played a
Speaker 1: monumental role. He was Pieri's second in command, serving as
Speaker 1: a crucial conduit between the Inwhite and the rest of
Speaker 1: the team. He was also the only non in New
Speaker 1: White explorer to accompany Peery all the way to the
Speaker 1: North Pole. According to some accounts, Henson may have actually
Speaker 1: arrived at the poll before Pery after overshooting the journey,
Speaker 1: but getting the public to consider a black man reaching
Speaker 1: that milestone in an arrow, and scientists doubted black people's
Speaker 1: ability to withstand cold temperatures was unlikely justifying his presence
Speaker 1: in the Polar Party was hard enough. From the moment
Speaker 1: Perry announced his discovery of the poll, his decision to
Speaker 1: bring Henson along was scrutinized. We mentioned earlier that Perry
Speaker 1: might have had his reasons to avoid taking a skilled
Speaker 1: navigator with him to the poll. Now the racist public
Speaker 1: couldn't understand why he would choose a black man to
Speaker 1: accompany him on the final leg of his journey instead
Speaker 1: of any one of the five white men who were available.
Speaker 1: In their eyes, not having another white man at the
Speaker 1: poll to back up his story tarnished his credibility. Some
Speaker 1: relied on common racist stereotypes to rationalize the choice. They
Speaker 1: viewed Perry's own description of his party as loyal and
Speaker 1: responsive to my will as the fingers of my bright hand,
Speaker 1: as evidence that Henson was except only submissive to his commander.
Speaker 1: Perry addressed this question in his book The North Pole,
Speaker 1: Its Discovery in nineteen o nine under the auspices of
Speaker 1: the Perio Arctic Club. He started by praising his assistant
Speaker 1: for his experience and mastery of the elements. At this time,
Speaker 1: it may be appropriate to say a word regarding my
Speaker 1: reasons for selecting Henson as my fellow traveler to the
Speaker 1: pole itself. Perry wrote in this selection, I acted exactly
Speaker 1: as I have done on all my expeditions for the
Speaker 1: last fifteen years. He has, in those years always been
Speaker 1: with me at my point farthest north. Moreover, Hanson was
Speaker 1: the best man I had with me for this kind
Speaker 1: of work, with the exception of the Eskimos, who, with
Speaker 1: their racial inheritance of ice technique and their ability to
Speaker 1: handle sledges and dogs, were more necessary to me as
Speaker 1: members of my own individual party than any white man
Speaker 1: could have been. But period didn't stop there. Instead of
Speaker 1: dismissing Henson's racist critics, he added fuel to their fire
Speaker 1: and contradicted himself while doing so. He continued. The second
Speaker 1: reason was that while Henson was more useful to me
Speaker 1: than any other member of my expedition, when it came
Speaker 1: to traveling with my last party over the polar ice,
Speaker 1: he would not have been so competent as the white
Speaker 1: members of the expedition in getting himself and his party
Speaker 1: back to the land. If Henson had been sent back
Speaker 1: with one of the supporting parties from a distance far
Speaker 1: out on the ice, and if he had encountered conditions
Speaker 1: similar to those which we had to face on the
Speaker 1: return journey in nineteen o six, he and his party
Speaker 1: would never have reached the land. While faithful to me
Speaker 1: and when with me, more effective in covering distance with
Speaker 1: a sledge than any of the others. He had not
Speaker 1: as a racial inheritance the daring and initiative of Bartlett
Speaker 1: or Marvin mc milon or bore Up. I owed it
Speaker 1: to him not to subject him to dangers and responsibilities
Speaker 1: which he was temperamentally unfit to face. So was Henson
Speaker 1: the best man for this kind of work where someone
Speaker 1: who couldn't be trusted purely because of his race to
Speaker 1: find his way home. If Peery truly believed that Henson
Speaker 1: was less motivated and competent than his white team members,
Speaker 1: then choosing to explore the Arctic with him for nearly
Speaker 1: two decades wouldn't make much sense. Here's what Susan Kaplan
Speaker 1: has to say. I think what we learned in talking
Speaker 1: to the New Weed and in reading some of the
Speaker 1: journals is that Robert Bartlett was a terrible dog sled driver,
Speaker 1: where Matthew Henson was an expert. So there's also the
Speaker 1: factor of skill. What Peery did was he was sort
Speaker 1: of watching how people were forming as they were relaying
Speaker 1: supplies back and forth across the Polar Sea, and in
Speaker 1: the end he picked the most talented inu Wheat. He
Speaker 1: then had them look and pick the strongest dogs from
Speaker 1: all these teams. And if he was going to choose someone,
Speaker 1: it makes sense that he's going to choose Matthew Henson
Speaker 1: because of Matthew Henson's ability to communicate with the in
Speaker 1: New Wheat, their respect of him, and Matthew Henson's traveling abilities,
Speaker 1: which are all characteristics that Bartlett did not have. Donald
Speaker 1: McMillan painted a similar picture of how Perry viewed his
Speaker 1: right hand man, the expedition member who had to turn
Speaker 1: back from the quest early due to frostbite, recalled a
Speaker 1: moment inside the S. S. Roosevelt as Peary was preparing
Speaker 1: to set off on his journey. He carefully weighed the
Speaker 1: value of each man for the dash to the pole.
Speaker 1: A knock on my door, Perry entered and sat down
Speaker 1: on my bunk. He spoke of Bartlett, of Ross Marvin,
Speaker 1: of George Borup, of the surgeon John Goodzell, of the
Speaker 1: part each one was to play in this my last attempt.
Speaker 1: When each man has fed me and my men up
Speaker 1: to a certain point within striking distance of the poll,
Speaker 1: their work is done. They shall be no longer needed.
Speaker 1: Perry sat there thinking for a moment, and then added,
Speaker 1: but Henson is not to return. I can't get along
Speaker 1: without him. I think that here is the greatest compliment
Speaker 1: that Perry has ever paid to any man. Perry knew
Speaker 1: matt Henson's real worth, and so did we from the
Speaker 1: day we joined the ship at the foot of East
Speaker 1: twenty three Street in New York. Matthew Henson went to
Speaker 1: the poll with Peerry because he was a better man
Speaker 1: than any one of us. Many accounts of Henson, including McMillan's,
Speaker 1: described him as friendly, hard working, and kind. Henson certainly
Speaker 1: faced more pressure to be agreeable than his white peers.
Speaker 1: Here's James Edward Mills, a freelance journalist, independent producer, and
Speaker 1: faculty assistant at the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at
Speaker 1: the University of Wisconsin and the author of the adventure
Speaker 1: Gap Changing the Face of the Outdoors. The Innuit people
Speaker 1: described him as Henson the kind one you know, so
Speaker 1: whether he was doing it for show or not. You know,
Speaker 1: people who had no vested interest in allowing him to
Speaker 1: pull the wool over their eyes or the seal bowl
Speaker 1: to make a pun. He didn't pull them a very
Speaker 1: at least he was wildly successful at pulling them if
Speaker 1: it was an act. But I mean, but frankly, I
Speaker 1: don't think that in that situation it would be really hard.
Speaker 1: I think, you know, to put on a cheerful face
Speaker 1: that wasn't genuine under those circumstances. Another more sinister factory
Speaker 1: have motivated Perry to bring him to the North Pole
Speaker 1: over his white crew members. Peery was determined to be
Speaker 1: the first person to conquer the poll and honor. He
Speaker 1: didn't plan on sharing with the five other people with him.
Speaker 1: By being the only white man in the party, he
Speaker 1: may have betted on the public viewing him as the
Speaker 1: one true conquering hero. Here's kaplan. He had done all
Speaker 1: the planning, and this was his idea, and so he
Speaker 1: wanted the glory. That's the ego that worked into the story.
Speaker 1: There has been a lot of discussion about the makeup
Speaker 1: of the North Pole team. In the end, it was
Speaker 1: Peery and Hansen and four in New Wheat and all
Speaker 1: the other in New Wheat and Western crew were sent
Speaker 1: back to the base camp after the had done a
Speaker 1: certain number of relays and left cashes of food and
Speaker 1: equipment on the sea ice so that Peery's team could
Speaker 1: use them and not have to carry all those supplies
Speaker 1: with them. And there's been a great deal of discussion
Speaker 1: about why he sent Robert Bartlett, who was captain of
Speaker 1: the Roosevelt, and why he sent Bartlett back, and some
Speaker 1: people feel it's because Bartlett was not an American, he
Speaker 1: was a Newfoundlander, and that Peery did not want a
Speaker 1: white person who was not from the United States at
Speaker 1: the North Pole. Other people feel that perhaps Bartlett would
Speaker 1: know if they weren't at the North Pole, with Peery
Speaker 1: said they were. But there is also that sense that
Speaker 1: Peery wanted to be the lone white Westerner at the pole.
Speaker 1: Contrast that racially tinged hunger for glory with Hinson's possible
Speaker 1: reasons for seeking the poll. Here's James Edward Mills. I
Speaker 1: want to believe that Himston was doing it share adventure
Speaker 1: because it apparently wasn gonna get any credit for it.
Speaker 1: But for Perry, it was all about the credit. That's
Speaker 1: what was motivating him. And I think that that's how
Speaker 1: at least for me personally. You know, I think that
Speaker 1: when you had that as your primary coal you're not
Speaker 1: going to be successful in the greatest scheme of things. Yeah. Sure,
Speaker 1: you might put your flag on the top, you might
Speaker 1: be able to you know, get your picture of the
Speaker 1: paper and so forth, but you start to live with yourself.
Speaker 1: And I think that, um, that to me is a
Speaker 1: failing of a lot of people who do great things
Speaker 1: early in life or at at some point in their lives,
Speaker 1: and they basically spent the rest of their lives living
Speaker 1: up to that. And typically you failed because I mean,
Speaker 1: how do you maintained that for the rest of your life?
Speaker 1: Because we all get old, we all get infirmed. You know,
Speaker 1: I kind of got the impression because I mean, Henson lived,
Speaker 1: you know, almost thirty years longer than Perry did, and
Speaker 1: I want to believe that it was his good attitude
Speaker 1: that made that possible. Perry's lust for fame didn't end
Speaker 1: when he took the poll. Back at home, Perry went
Speaker 1: out of his way to keep Henson and the rest
Speaker 1: of the party out of his spotlight. If any expedition
Speaker 1: members wanted to capitalize on their experiences on the journey.
Speaker 1: They needed to get Perry's approval first, and meanwhile, Henson
Speaker 1: did whatever he could to make a living. Henson had
Speaker 1: taken one and twenty photographs on the expedition, and he
Speaker 1: turned all of them over to Perry as part of
Speaker 1: their partnership agreement. Originally, Perry was supposed to pay for
Speaker 1: any pictures he wanted to feature on his lecture tour
Speaker 1: and give back the rest. While he did return the
Speaker 1: photos he didn't use, he never paid for the ones
Speaker 1: he kept, despite Henson's many letters requesting restitution. Henson also
Speaker 1: requested to in his own lecture tour, but Peery never responded,
Speaker 1: so Henson signed on with an agent and began giving
Speaker 1: talks in northeastern cities. In October nine nine, as he
Speaker 1: was planning his first event, Peery sent a telegram to
Speaker 1: Henson asking him to stop sharing pictures from the expedition.
Speaker 1: His white benefactors already didn't approve of his decision to
Speaker 1: have a black man accompany him to the poll, and
Speaker 1: Pierry wanted the controversy to go away. Keeping Henson out
Speaker 1: of the public eye was one way to make that happen.
Speaker 1: At a lecture in Syracuse, New York, on March tenth,
Speaker 1: Henson revealed to a local reporter that he hadn't heard
Speaker 1: as much as a peep barring the telegram asking him
Speaker 1: not to pursue the lectures from his former commander since
Speaker 1: the Roosevelt had arrived in New York the previous October.
Speaker 1: Henson expressed disappointment at having seemingly been forgotten, but Henson's wife, Lucy,
Speaker 1: who was with her husband at the lecture venue, really
Speaker 1: lit into Perry. She told Syracuse's Post Standard regarding what
Speaker 1: Mr Peerry has done for Matt since they returned from
Speaker 1: the poll, just one word can express that nothing. Mr
Speaker 1: Peerry has dropped Matt entirely, and has held no communication
Speaker 1: with him or done a single thing in recognition of
Speaker 1: his twenty three years of faithful service, to say nothing
Speaker 1: of Matt having saved Mr Peery's life on more than
Speaker 1: one occasion. It seems to me that such treatment is
Speaker 1: not fair, she continued. So far as Mr Peery knows
Speaker 1: or cares for all the interest he's shown, Matt might
Speaker 1: be starving to death. I doubt if Mr Peerry knows
Speaker 1: where Matt is at present, and such quick ingratitude, perhaps
Speaker 1: I should not use so strong a word, even if
Speaker 1: his treatment of Matt does warrant it is pretty hard.
Speaker 1: Probably Mr Peery, who was getting all the glory any
Speaker 1: one man can reasonably hope to get in his lifetime,
Speaker 1: has no time to think of Matt, to who much
Speaker 1: of the success of the expedition was due. With few
Speaker 1: other options, Henson took odd jobs to get by, working
Speaker 1: at the post office and as a handyman in a
Speaker 1: Brooklyn garage. In President William Howard Taft learned of his
Speaker 1: troubles and signed an executive order appointing him as a
Speaker 1: messenger and then as a clerk at the U. S
Speaker 1: Custom Service. For the next twenty three years, he worked
Speaker 1: on the third floor of the Customs House in Lower Manhattan. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: the white members of the North Pole Expedition were showered
Speaker 1: with praise. Perry and the others received awards and were
Speaker 1: honored at ceremonies that Henson couldn't even attend because of
Speaker 1: his race. Donald McMillan, who became Henson's close friend, and
Speaker 1: a few accomplices, allegedly tried to sneak Henson into a
Speaker 1: New York event by disguising him as an Arab dignitary.
Speaker 1: While white society and Peary himself failed to recognize or
Speaker 1: honor Henson's achievements, the African American community hailed him as
Speaker 1: a hero. Upon his return from the Arctic, black leaders
Speaker 1: held a glamorous dinner in his honor at Tuxedo Hall
Speaker 1: in Midtown Manhattan. More than two hundred people attended. Peary
Speaker 1: sent a congratulatory telegram from Maine. Henson was given a
Speaker 1: diamond studded gold Tiffany watch inscribed with the initials M. A. H.
Speaker 1: Nineteen o nine. The guests enjoyed a sumptuous dinner including
Speaker 1: blue point oysters, kennebec salmon, tenderloin of beef, numerous side dishes,
Speaker 1: and sorbet allah Henson. Speeches were made celebrating his achievement.
Speaker 1: The dinner's host, the powerful federal official Charles w Anderson, announced,
Speaker 1: whatever may be said in the controversy as to which
Speaker 1: white man discovered the pole, there is not a shadow
Speaker 1: of a doubt as to which black man got there.
Speaker 1: When it was his turn to speak, Henson reflected on
Speaker 1: the criticisms he faced before his journey. When I went
Speaker 1: to Greenland, they said I never would come back. They
Speaker 1: told me I couldn't stand the cold, that no black
Speaker 1: man could. I said I was willing to die if
Speaker 1: necessary to show them I survived, all right, And here
Speaker 1: I am. Here's Susan Kaplan. The irony here is that
Speaker 1: once the North Pole crew returned to Canada and then
Speaker 1: the United States, the racism in this country was such
Speaker 1: that Matthew Henson did not get the recognition that he
Speaker 1: absolutely deserved. And Peery can be faulted in that he
Speaker 1: did not insist that Matthew Henson got that recognition. So
Speaker 1: they had an interesting relationship. I can't say that they
Speaker 1: had a warm relationship, at least not from anything that
Speaker 1: we've been able to discover. You know, they were not
Speaker 1: best friends, but certainly Peery did resuspect him and rely
Speaker 1: on him. Their relationship remained frozen, pardon the pun, until
Speaker 1: Peery's death on February at age sixty four. In the
Speaker 1: days that followed, the New York Times ran several stories
Speaker 1: dedicated to his life and legacy. There was an outpouring
Speaker 1: of adulation from his peers, including polar explorers Ernest Shackleton
Speaker 1: and Villamour Stephenson. Stephenson said Peery was easily the foremost
Speaker 1: of all polar explorers, both north and south. President Waldrow
Speaker 1: Wilson also expressed his admiration in a condolence telegram to
Speaker 1: Peery's widow, Josephine. He wrote, Mrs Wilson joins me and
Speaker 1: extending our warmest sympathy to you and your children, and
Speaker 1: the death of your distinguished husband made the memory of
Speaker 1: his intrepid and indefatigable efforts and cause of science do
Speaker 1: much to assuade your grief. Peary was given a hero's
Speaker 1: burial at Arlington National Cemetery with a level of grandeur
Speaker 1: The Times called unusual. His casket, draped with the American
Speaker 1: flag that flew at the North Pole, was sent off
Speaker 1: by a naval firing squad and bugler. Honorary pall bearers
Speaker 1: included the US Vice President, the Chief Justice of the
Speaker 1: Supreme Court, the French ambassador to the US, Villamour Stephenson,
Speaker 1: Alexander Graham Bell, and North Pole expedition members Donald McMillan
Speaker 1: and Robert Bartlett. Notably, Henson was not among them, or
Speaker 1: at least not mentioned in the many news reports. Peary's
Speaker 1: legacy had been encoded in United States history. After his death,
Speaker 1: newspapers and the white public forgot about Henson, but his
Speaker 1: African American supporters never did. Henson retired from his customs
Speaker 1: house job in nineteen thirty six on a clerk's pension
Speaker 1: of eighty seven dollars and twenty seven cents a month.
Speaker 1: Adjusted for inflation, that would be worth roughly one thousand,
Speaker 1: five hundred fifty dollars a month or eighteen thousand, six
Speaker 1: hundred dollars a year today. African American leaders petitioned Congress
Speaker 1: multiple times to recognize Henson's polar accomplishments with an appropriate pension. Characteristically,
Speaker 1: Henson responded to their efforts by saying, I could use
Speaker 1: the money. I think that I deserve it, but I
Speaker 1: will never ask the government nor anybody else for anything.
Speaker 1: I have worked sixty of the seventy years of my life,
Speaker 1: so I guess I can make out on the eight
Speaker 1: seven twenty seven a month pension I've earned. Here. After
Speaker 1: several bills were introduced and killed in committee, lawmakers presented
Speaker 1: House Resolution one to three eight eight, which would have
Speaker 1: secured Henson a gold medal and a pension. The black
Speaker 1: leaders who argued for the legislation, pointed out that Peery
Speaker 1: had received numerous awards and a generous pension, and if
Speaker 1: Henson had been white, he would have already been recognized.
Speaker 1: The bill was approved by the House, but didn't make
Speaker 1: it past the Senate. As black run newspapers and magazines
Speaker 1: covered him. In the decades following the North Pole trip,
Speaker 1: his public profile grew. In seven, Henson did receive one
Speaker 1: long overdue honor. The Explorers Club elected him to be
Speaker 1: their first African American life member. Two years later, the
Speaker 1: club extended honorary membership to another integral but overlooked member
Speaker 1: of the North Pole Journey, Utah Perry's long time lead
Speaker 1: guide and driver in Greenland. In Congress established the Peery
Speaker 1: Polar Expedition and Medal to commemorate the expedition of nineteen
Speaker 1: o eight to nineteen o nine. According to citations accompanying
Speaker 1: the medal, it recognized outstanding service to the Government of
Speaker 1: the United States in the field of science and for
Speaker 1: the cause of polar exploration and exceptional fortitude, superb seamanship,
Speaker 1: and fearless determination on the important and difficult mission of
Speaker 1: Perie's five main Western expedition members Donald McMillan, Robert Bartlett,
Speaker 1: and Henson were still alive. Ross Marvin had drowned during
Speaker 1: the expedition and George Borup had drowned in a boating
Speaker 1: accident in nineteen twelve, but only McMillan and Bartlett received
Speaker 1: their medals in an event in May aboard Bartlett's schooner,
Speaker 1: the F. E. M. Morrissey, since renamed the Ernestina, at
Speaker 1: the Boston Army Base. At the ceremony, McMillan said, I
Speaker 1: guess Matt will receive his medal by mail. Actually, the
Speaker 1: Navy invited Henson to its downtown New York office, where
Speaker 1: a captain read a citation and bestowed the medal. Hardly
Speaker 1: the grand reception that the other explorers received, but at
Speaker 1: least he didn't receive it in the mail. McMillan showed
Speaker 1: up again to lobby the Geographic Society of Chicago to
Speaker 1: recognize Henson for his polar contributions. He was joined in
Speaker 1: the effort by Eugene F. McDonald Jr. The leader of
Speaker 1: the Zenith Corporation and an admirer of Henson's. Society honored
Speaker 1: the explorer with its gold medal. Henson considered it his
Speaker 1: most prize possession. To historically black universities, Morgan State in
Speaker 1: Baltimore and Howard University in Washington, d C awarded Henson
Speaker 1: honorary master's degrees. He also donated the snowshoes, parka and
Speaker 1: sealskin boots he wore on the North Pole journey to
Speaker 1: Dillard University, historically black college in New Orleans. The school
Speaker 1: showed its gratitude by renaming a hall after him. Here's
Speaker 1: Susan Kaplan. Certainly, the other crew members were very concerned
Speaker 1: that Matthew Henson was not getting the recognition he deserved,
Speaker 1: and many years later a number of them lobby various
Speaker 1: geographical societies, and Matthew Henson is while he's still alive,
Speaker 1: is awarded many of the medals that the other crew
Speaker 1: members had been given that had been denied him. At
Speaker 1: long last, Henson's contributions were recognized by the highest office
Speaker 1: in the country, President Dwight Eisenhower invited him to the
Speaker 1: White House in April in honor of the forty five
Speaker 1: anniversary of the North Pole Expedition. An ap photographer was
Speaker 1: the are to document the meeting, and an image of
Speaker 1: Henson and the President, pointing out the north pole on
Speaker 1: a globe was seen in newspapers across the country. In
Speaker 1: nineteen fifty four, at age eight, Henson celebrated his exploring
Speaker 1: days with one last party. He was among the guests
Speaker 1: of honor at the Explorers Club's fiftieth anniversary dinner and
Speaker 1: the Grand ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria in New York.
Speaker 1: His old friend Utah was also invited, but he was
Speaker 1: unable to travel due to an illness. The club's annual
Speaker 1: banquet had become one of New York City's premier social events.
Speaker 1: Stephenson described the scene. Tables are bought up a year
Speaker 1: in advance by the friends and admirers of the Exploring Brotherhood.
Speaker 1: They do this for many reasons, not the least of
Speaker 1: which is to see again the old timers, particularly those
Speaker 1: who sit with the speakers of the evening at the
Speaker 1: long table on the rostrum. In nineteen fifty four, one
Speaker 1: those old timers was Matthew Henson. Stephenson wrote, where Matt
Speaker 1: sets among the guests of honor is always one of
Speaker 1: the most popular spots of the rostrum. Some of history's
Speaker 1: most rugged explorers were in attendance at one point, Henson
Speaker 1: shared a lengthy toast in Inuctitute with Peter Frekin, the
Speaker 1: towering Danish polar adventurer. Appropriately, the ice and their Scotch
Speaker 1: highballs had been chipped from the massive T three iceberg,
Speaker 1: where the U S had recently set up an Arctic
Speaker 1: research base and flown to New York just for the event.
Speaker 1: As Frikan finished his toast, he poked a finger into
Speaker 1: a Scotch and flipped out the cubes. I drink it
Speaker 1: without ice, he said. Befriended by his new white partners,
Speaker 1: respected by his fellow explorers, and honored by the black community,
Speaker 1: Matthew Henson left a unique and multifaceted legacy. He died
Speaker 1: on March nine, at age eight of a cerebral hemorrhage
Speaker 1: at St. Clair's Hospital, Manhattan. Compared to the hero's funeral
Speaker 1: pery received, Henson's death was little noticed in white America.
Speaker 1: The black community, however, came out in droves to celebrate
Speaker 1: his life. His funeral was held at the Abyssinian Baptist
Speaker 1: Church in Harlem, of which Henson and his wife Lucy
Speaker 1: were longtime members. According to the Amsterdam News, thousands of
Speaker 1: people attended the Service led by Reverend Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.
Speaker 1: While eulogizing Henson, Powell compared his achievements to those of
Speaker 1: Marco Polo and Ferdinand Magellan. Henson's paul thereers included Peter
Speaker 1: Frekin and other members of the Explorers Club. Lacking money
Speaker 1: for a grand burial, Lucy had him laid to rest
Speaker 1: near her mother in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx. In
Speaker 1: the decades that fall, load henson supporters continued to fight
Speaker 1: for his recognition. His friend and fellow explorer, Herbert Frisbie,
Speaker 1: successfully petitioned the State of Maryland to declare April sixth,
Speaker 1: nineteen fifty nine, the fiftieth anniversary of the North Pole
Speaker 1: Achievement Matthew Alexander Henson Day. In nineteen sixty one, a
Speaker 1: bronze plaque honoring Henson at the Maryland State House became
Speaker 1: the first state sponsored memorial to an African American person
Speaker 1: in Maryland's history. Since then, Maryland has named a state park,
Speaker 1: a hiking trail, and multiple schools after the explorer. Perhaps
Speaker 1: the most poetic justice for Henson arrived forty five years
Speaker 1: after his death. The National Geographic Society awarded Henson the
Speaker 1: Hubbard Medal, its highest honor, for his contributions to geographical knowledge.
Speaker 1: Way back in nineteen o six, Pierry had been the
Speaker 1: Hubbard Medal's inaugural recipient. Back then, President the at Or
Speaker 1: Roosevelt personally gave a speech honoring the explorers farthest north.
Speaker 1: The ceremony honoring Henson and his long ago triumphs wasn't
Speaker 1: as glitzy, but it righted a historic wrong. Even after Peery, Cook,
Speaker 1: and Henson were gone, the argument over who reached the
Speaker 1: North Pole first wasn't settled. A TV docu drama that
Speaker 1: made the case for Cook stirred up the controversy in
Speaker 1: the nineteen eighties and forced Peerie's descendants into the conversation.
Speaker 1: For decades, they had kept his expedition journals at the
Speaker 1: National Archives locked away from curious researchers. In light of
Speaker 1: the attack on Peri's legacy, his family begrudgingly made the
Speaker 1: papers available to the public. The National Geographic Society commissioned
Speaker 1: polar adventurer Wally Herbert to analyze the data, and in
Speaker 1: he concluded in a bombshell National Geographic article that Peery
Speaker 1: likely hadn't made it to the poll. Cook supporters were ecstatic.
Speaker 1: After years it seemed he had finally been vindigated. But
Speaker 1: while the National Geographic report didn't look good for Peery,
Speaker 1: it didn't confirm Cook's alleged achievement. The case had not
Speaker 1: been solved. The National Geographic Society then commissioned nonpartisan experts
Speaker 1: at the Navigation Foundation to analyze the Perry expedition a
Speaker 1: second time in December. They found that Perry's claim was genuine.
Speaker 1: But the popular consensus among polar historians today is that
Speaker 1: Peery came pretty close to the North Pole, definitely closer
Speaker 1: than any other explorer had at the time. Well Cook
Speaker 1: came nowhere near it. Just how close each of them
Speaker 1: were may never be known. It wouldn't be until the
Speaker 1: nineteen sixties that anyone could truly, indisputably claim to have
Speaker 1: the long, hard journey across the ice to stand at
Speaker 1: the North Pole. And that person was about as far
Speaker 1: from the heroic image embodied by Polar conquerors William Edward Perry,
Speaker 1: fritz Off Nonsen, or Robert Peary as can be conceived.
Speaker 1: The Quest for the North Pole is hosted by me
Speaker 1: cat Long. This episode was researched by me and written
Speaker 1: by Michelle Bebcheck, with fact checking by Austin Thompson. The
Speaker 1: executive producers are Aaron McCarthy and Tyler Clang. The supervising
Speaker 1: producer is Dylan Fagan. The show is edited by Dylan Fagan.
Speaker 1: Thanks to our experts Edward Larson, Susan Kaplan, and James
Speaker 1: Edward Mill For transcripts, a glossary, and to learn more
Speaker 1: about this episode, visit Mental flaws dot com slash podcast.
Speaker 1: The Quest for the North Pole is a production of
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