1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,680 Speaker 1: Hey, y'all were rerunning two episodes today, which means that 2 00:00:02,720 --> 00:00:06,320 Speaker 1: you'll hear two hosts me and Tracy V. Wilson enjoy 3 00:00:06,400 --> 00:00:13,840 Speaker 1: the show. Hi, and welcome to this day in history class, 4 00:00:13,880 --> 00:00:17,560 Speaker 1: it is July four. Poet Walt Whitman published his book 5 00:00:17,640 --> 00:00:19,880 Speaker 1: Leaves of Grass for the first time on this day 6 00:00:19,920 --> 00:00:23,079 Speaker 1: in eighteen fifty five. Sometimes people will quibble with the 7 00:00:23,120 --> 00:00:25,520 Speaker 1: fact that probably you couldn't go into the store on 8 00:00:25,640 --> 00:00:29,040 Speaker 1: July four to buy it because it was Independence Day 9 00:00:29,160 --> 00:00:32,120 Speaker 1: and it would store wouldn't have been open, but it's 10 00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:34,879 Speaker 1: generally recognized the July four was the day that this 11 00:00:34,920 --> 00:00:37,479 Speaker 1: book came out for the first time. So all. Whitman 12 00:00:37,600 --> 00:00:40,360 Speaker 1: was born on May thirty one, eighteen nineteen. He was 13 00:00:40,520 --> 00:00:42,960 Speaker 1: from a very proud and patriotic family. All of his 14 00:00:43,080 --> 00:00:47,240 Speaker 1: siblings were named after their ancestors or after the nation's founders, 15 00:00:47,640 --> 00:00:49,599 Speaker 1: and they lived in places that are boroughs of New 16 00:00:49,680 --> 00:00:51,680 Speaker 1: York City today, but at the time they were their 17 00:00:51,720 --> 00:00:55,880 Speaker 1: own separate communities, so places like Brooklyn and communities that 18 00:00:55,880 --> 00:00:58,680 Speaker 1: are in central and eastern Long Island. Walt Whitman went 19 00:00:58,720 --> 00:01:01,080 Speaker 1: to public schools for about six years, but for the 20 00:01:01,120 --> 00:01:04,400 Speaker 1: most part he was self educated, and before he published 21 00:01:04,480 --> 00:01:08,000 Speaker 1: Leaves of Grass, he worked in several other fields, especially 22 00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:12,600 Speaker 1: journalism and teaching. He also wrote some fiction. So in 23 00:01:12,680 --> 00:01:16,679 Speaker 1: eighteen forty four, Ralph Waldo Emerson published an essay called 24 00:01:16,760 --> 00:01:20,520 Speaker 1: The Poet, in which he meditated on what poetry is 25 00:01:21,120 --> 00:01:24,280 Speaker 1: and what a poet's place should be in society. Here's 26 00:01:24,280 --> 00:01:26,480 Speaker 1: the thing that he wrote in their quote, America is 27 00:01:26,520 --> 00:01:31,200 Speaker 1: a poem in our eyes. It's ample geography, dazzles the imagination, 28 00:01:31,400 --> 00:01:34,400 Speaker 1: and it will not wait long for meters. He was 29 00:01:34,480 --> 00:01:37,480 Speaker 1: basically calling for the United States to have its own 30 00:01:37,520 --> 00:01:42,000 Speaker 1: poet to record, to reflect, and to shape upon the 31 00:01:42,160 --> 00:01:45,920 Speaker 1: young nation's consciousness. He thought the nation needed a poet. 32 00:01:46,640 --> 00:01:51,720 Speaker 1: So it's really not completely clear whether this essay affected 33 00:01:51,760 --> 00:01:55,400 Speaker 1: Walt Whitman's decision to be a poet. There are critics 34 00:01:55,440 --> 00:02:01,000 Speaker 1: who argue that it definitely did not a certain but regardless, 35 00:02:02,160 --> 00:02:05,680 Speaker 1: what he went and did is basically exactly what Emerson 36 00:02:05,840 --> 00:02:09,040 Speaker 1: said needed to happen. He went out and he wrote 37 00:02:09,120 --> 00:02:14,040 Speaker 1: the book that Emerson said the nation was lacking. So 38 00:02:14,320 --> 00:02:17,040 Speaker 1: what Whitman printed the first edition of Leaves of Grass 39 00:02:17,040 --> 00:02:20,200 Speaker 1: at his own expense, seven and ninety five copies. That 40 00:02:20,320 --> 00:02:22,600 Speaker 1: was all that he could afford. And this book contains 41 00:02:22,639 --> 00:02:26,640 Speaker 1: twelve poems, none of them had titles. They were very 42 00:02:26,720 --> 00:02:30,280 Speaker 1: different from most poetry at the time. They were all 43 00:02:30,320 --> 00:02:32,840 Speaker 1: over the place in terms of their length, and they 44 00:02:32,880 --> 00:02:36,519 Speaker 1: didn't fit into conventional structures or rhyming patterns at all. 45 00:02:37,480 --> 00:02:40,360 Speaker 1: The lines themselves, like the written lines on the page, 46 00:02:40,400 --> 00:02:43,200 Speaker 1: they were also all over the place. They were very 47 00:02:43,280 --> 00:02:45,320 Speaker 1: different and from one another in terms of how long 48 00:02:45,360 --> 00:02:47,440 Speaker 1: they were, and they were so long that he actually 49 00:02:47,440 --> 00:02:50,160 Speaker 1: printed it on very wide paper so that he wouldn't 50 00:02:50,160 --> 00:02:52,680 Speaker 1: have to break the lines. He could print the whole 51 00:02:52,720 --> 00:02:55,960 Speaker 1: thing out on this very wide page. The tone of 52 00:02:56,000 --> 00:03:01,079 Speaker 1: these poems is relentlessly optimistic, and under line the whole 53 00:03:01,160 --> 00:03:05,119 Speaker 1: thing is this focus on the promise of what American 54 00:03:05,200 --> 00:03:08,239 Speaker 1: democracy had the potential to be. So he sent a 55 00:03:08,320 --> 00:03:10,960 Speaker 1: lot of copies of this book to lots of other poets. 56 00:03:11,160 --> 00:03:16,040 Speaker 1: No one really cared, except for Ralph Waldo Emerson, whose 57 00:03:16,200 --> 00:03:19,560 Speaker 1: letter that he wrote in response began quote, I greet 58 00:03:19,600 --> 00:03:23,960 Speaker 1: you at the beginning of a great career. Perhaps unsurprisingly, 59 00:03:24,040 --> 00:03:26,359 Speaker 1: the fact that Walt Whitman had written exactly the kind 60 00:03:26,360 --> 00:03:29,280 Speaker 1: of book that Ralph Waldo Emerson said needed to be 61 00:03:29,320 --> 00:03:33,240 Speaker 1: written meant that Ralph Waldo Emerson liked it a lot. 62 00:03:33,919 --> 00:03:36,680 Speaker 1: Leaves of Grass wasn't the only thing that Walt Whitman 63 00:03:36,760 --> 00:03:38,520 Speaker 1: worked on for the rest of his career, but he 64 00:03:38,560 --> 00:03:42,880 Speaker 1: did work on it a lot. He kept releasing multiple 65 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:45,800 Speaker 1: new editions of the book that would have new poems 66 00:03:45,840 --> 00:03:48,800 Speaker 1: and revisions of the old one. The eighteen fifty six 67 00:03:48,960 --> 00:03:52,000 Speaker 1: edition was on smaller paper. The idea was that you 68 00:03:52,040 --> 00:03:54,160 Speaker 1: could just carry it in your pocket, and he put 69 00:03:54,200 --> 00:03:57,400 Speaker 1: the word poem in the titles of all the poems, 70 00:03:57,880 --> 00:04:00,320 Speaker 1: maybe because of all the criticism that he had gotten 71 00:04:00,360 --> 00:04:02,600 Speaker 1: after the first edition that these things that he had 72 00:04:02,600 --> 00:04:06,280 Speaker 1: written were not even poetry. The eighteen sixty edition was 73 00:04:06,440 --> 00:04:11,120 Speaker 1: even more controversial because it included Children of Adam, which 74 00:04:11,200 --> 00:04:15,240 Speaker 1: was a celebration of the body and of sexual relationships 75 00:04:15,280 --> 00:04:18,240 Speaker 1: between women and men, and it also included another group 76 00:04:18,240 --> 00:04:22,120 Speaker 1: of poems called the Calamus Cluster and that celebrated love 77 00:04:22,200 --> 00:04:25,240 Speaker 1: between men. This got the book banned in a lot 78 00:04:25,279 --> 00:04:28,680 Speaker 1: of places, but it was really this edition that started 79 00:04:28,680 --> 00:04:31,560 Speaker 1: to sell pretty well, maybe in part because of all 80 00:04:31,600 --> 00:04:35,720 Speaker 1: that controversy about its contents. The American Civil War really 81 00:04:35,760 --> 00:04:40,560 Speaker 1: affected Walt Whitman's book. He had been so optimistic in 82 00:04:40,680 --> 00:04:44,120 Speaker 1: his poetry about what America could be, and the nation 83 00:04:44,400 --> 00:04:47,720 Speaker 1: was literally tearing itself apart over the issue of whether 84 00:04:47,760 --> 00:04:51,040 Speaker 1: it was okay to own human beings this property. He 85 00:04:51,120 --> 00:04:55,520 Speaker 1: couldn't keep writing relentlessly optimistic poetry in that kind of environment. 86 00:04:56,160 --> 00:04:59,440 Speaker 1: The eighteen sixty seven edition of Leaves of Grass included 87 00:04:59,480 --> 00:05:01,960 Speaker 1: some of his wartime poetry in the form of Drum 88 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:05,600 Speaker 1: Taps and Sequel to Drum Taps. But this edition came 89 00:05:05,600 --> 00:05:07,919 Speaker 1: out in a lot of different versions, and some of 90 00:05:07,920 --> 00:05:11,800 Speaker 1: those poems were in there, and sometimes the edition would 91 00:05:11,839 --> 00:05:15,240 Speaker 1: not have those poems. The whole thing was very haphazard 92 00:05:15,480 --> 00:05:18,240 Speaker 1: and full of airs. It was really almost like he 93 00:05:18,279 --> 00:05:20,760 Speaker 1: had ripped up his own work the way the country 94 00:05:20,800 --> 00:05:23,080 Speaker 1: had torn itself up, and then tried to stick it 95 00:05:23,120 --> 00:05:26,279 Speaker 1: back together. Whitman spent the last years of his life 96 00:05:26,279 --> 00:05:30,120 Speaker 1: in Camden, New Jersey, where he died on March two 97 00:05:30,200 --> 00:05:33,080 Speaker 1: at the age of seventy two, and today he's remembered 98 00:05:33,120 --> 00:05:36,760 Speaker 1: as one of the nation's most influential and groundbreaking poets. 99 00:05:37,360 --> 00:05:39,560 Speaker 1: You can learn more about Walt Whitman and his work 100 00:05:39,680 --> 00:05:43,479 Speaker 1: in the April seventeen episode of Stuffy Miss In History class. 101 00:05:43,920 --> 00:05:46,240 Speaker 1: You can subscribe to This Day in History class on 102 00:05:46,279 --> 00:05:51,320 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and wherever else you get your podcasts. Tomorrow, 103 00:05:51,440 --> 00:06:03,120 Speaker 1: we'll be visiting a factory full of phosphorus. Greetings everyone, 104 00:06:03,600 --> 00:06:06,599 Speaker 1: welcome to this Day in History class, where we learn 105 00:06:06,720 --> 00:06:16,800 Speaker 1: a smidgen of history every day. The day was July four. 106 00:06:19,360 --> 00:06:23,080 Speaker 1: The National Aeronautics in Space Administration, better known as NASA, 107 00:06:23,560 --> 00:06:28,719 Speaker 1: landed the Mars Pathfinder on Mars's aries Valis. It's robotic rover, 108 00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:32,360 Speaker 1: named so Journer, became the first wheeled vehicle to explore 109 00:06:32,400 --> 00:06:36,680 Speaker 1: the surface of another planet. Part of Pathfinders purpose was 110 00:06:36,720 --> 00:06:39,720 Speaker 1: to prove that spacecraft could be cheaper, faster, and better. 111 00:06:40,279 --> 00:06:43,159 Speaker 1: The mission would demonstrate the technology that was necessary to 112 00:06:43,160 --> 00:06:46,200 Speaker 1: get a lander and robotic rover to the surface of 113 00:06:46,200 --> 00:06:49,960 Speaker 1: Mars on a lower budget. The lander cost one and 114 00:06:49,960 --> 00:06:52,800 Speaker 1: fifty million dollars to develop and build, while the rover 115 00:06:52,920 --> 00:06:57,200 Speaker 1: cost about twenty five million dollars including launch and operations. 116 00:06:57,480 --> 00:07:01,480 Speaker 1: The Mars Pathfinder mission cost two d sixty five million dollars. 117 00:07:02,520 --> 00:07:05,160 Speaker 1: The Mars Pathfinder mission will be the first time at 118 00:07:05,160 --> 00:07:08,359 Speaker 1: spacecraft landed on the planet in more than two decades. 119 00:07:09,440 --> 00:07:12,360 Speaker 1: The previous time was in nineteen seventy six, when Viking 120 00:07:12,400 --> 00:07:16,000 Speaker 1: one and Viking two made it to Mars. Landing was 121 00:07:16,040 --> 00:07:19,640 Speaker 1: a difficult tash for spacecraft. In fact, many landers at 122 00:07:19,640 --> 00:07:22,760 Speaker 1: the Soviet Union, Russia, and United States sent to Mars 123 00:07:22,800 --> 00:07:27,960 Speaker 1: were lost or destroyed. Mars Pathfinder was launched on December four, nineteen. 124 00:07:29,160 --> 00:07:31,679 Speaker 1: The robotic spacecraft was made up of an eight hundred 125 00:07:31,720 --> 00:07:35,320 Speaker 1: and sixteen pound or three hundred and seventy k lander 126 00:07:35,680 --> 00:07:39,680 Speaker 1: officially called the Carl Sagan Memorial Station, and the twenty 127 00:07:39,720 --> 00:07:43,440 Speaker 1: three pound rovers to Journer. The rover was named after 128 00:07:43,480 --> 00:07:47,520 Speaker 1: Sojourner Truth, an abolitionist and activists in the nineteenth century. 129 00:07:48,160 --> 00:07:53,760 Speaker 1: On July fourth, ninete, Mars Pathfinder entered the thin Martian atmosphere, 130 00:07:54,160 --> 00:07:57,800 Speaker 1: taking atmospheric measurements. As it descended towards the surface of 131 00:07:57,800 --> 00:08:01,840 Speaker 1: the planet, a heat shield slowed the space craft down. 132 00:08:02,200 --> 00:08:05,520 Speaker 1: Then a parachute was deployed, slowing the craft descent through 133 00:08:05,520 --> 00:08:09,440 Speaker 1: the atmosphere. It then released its heat shield and the 134 00:08:09,520 --> 00:08:12,440 Speaker 1: landers separated and lowered from the back shell on a tether. 135 00:08:13,600 --> 00:08:17,120 Speaker 1: Air bags inflated about ten seconds before landing, forming a 136 00:08:17,160 --> 00:08:21,520 Speaker 1: protective shield around the lander. Three solid rockets fired to 137 00:08:21,600 --> 00:08:24,520 Speaker 1: slow the descent even more, the tether was cut and 138 00:08:24,560 --> 00:08:28,360 Speaker 1: the lander dropped to the surface. It bounced more than 139 00:08:28,360 --> 00:08:30,960 Speaker 1: a dozen times before it rolled and stopped two and 140 00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:35,200 Speaker 1: a half minutes after landing Mars. Pathfinder had landed on 141 00:08:35,240 --> 00:08:38,320 Speaker 1: the surface of the red planet in a floodplane in 142 00:08:38,360 --> 00:08:42,480 Speaker 1: the northern hemisphere called Aries Vallas, chosen for its safety 143 00:08:42,559 --> 00:08:45,280 Speaker 1: and the variety of rocks present there that sword Journer 144 00:08:45,360 --> 00:08:48,960 Speaker 1: could analyze. It made it to Mars surface less than 145 00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:52,440 Speaker 1: a second from its projected landing time. The whole process 146 00:08:52,440 --> 00:08:57,400 Speaker 1: of entry, descent, and landing lasted about four minutes. After landing, 147 00:08:57,400 --> 00:09:01,080 Speaker 1: the air bags deflated and Pathfinder opened its solar panels. 148 00:09:02,280 --> 00:09:05,120 Speaker 1: The lander sent back data it had collected during entry 149 00:09:05,160 --> 00:09:07,679 Speaker 1: and landing, and it sent images that it took of 150 00:09:07,720 --> 00:09:11,640 Speaker 1: the landing area. So Journer was soon released from the 151 00:09:11,720 --> 00:09:15,000 Speaker 1: lander down a ramp. So Journer had two black and 152 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:18,600 Speaker 1: white cameras to navigate, one color camera, and an alpha 153 00:09:18,640 --> 00:09:23,640 Speaker 1: proton expert spectrometer for analyzing rocks and soil. Its top 154 00:09:23,679 --> 00:09:27,679 Speaker 1: speed was about two ft per minute. The rover analyzed 155 00:09:27,720 --> 00:09:32,960 Speaker 1: the composition of nearby rocks, which scientists named Barnacle, bill, Yogi, 156 00:09:33,120 --> 00:09:36,800 Speaker 1: and Scooby Doo. NASA said that the data it gathered 157 00:09:36,800 --> 00:09:40,520 Speaker 1: could be evidence of a more water rich Mars. The 158 00:09:40,600 --> 00:09:43,920 Speaker 1: lander relayed information from the rover to Earth and took 159 00:09:43,960 --> 00:09:47,360 Speaker 1: pictures of the sky and its surroundings. It also tested 160 00:09:47,400 --> 00:09:51,320 Speaker 1: the magnetic properties of dust on the planet. So Joarner 161 00:09:51,480 --> 00:09:54,360 Speaker 1: was designed to last seven days, but it ended up 162 00:09:54,360 --> 00:09:57,920 Speaker 1: staying in operation for eighty four days. It traveled about 163 00:09:57,920 --> 00:10:01,840 Speaker 1: three and thirty feet during the mission. The lander was 164 00:10:01,920 --> 00:10:05,480 Speaker 1: designed to last thirty days, but the final data transmission 165 00:10:05,480 --> 00:10:11,880 Speaker 1: from Pathfinder was received on September. The battery, which had 166 00:10:11,920 --> 00:10:16,760 Speaker 1: been repeatedly charged and discharged, may have failed. The lander 167 00:10:16,800 --> 00:10:20,559 Speaker 1: and rover sent more than seventeen thousand images back to Earth. 168 00:10:21,040 --> 00:10:24,080 Speaker 1: It also provided analysis of the rocks and soil on 169 00:10:24,240 --> 00:10:28,560 Speaker 1: Mars and data on wind and weather. The technology used 170 00:10:28,559 --> 00:10:32,040 Speaker 1: in the Mars Pathfinder mission was later used with some changes, 171 00:10:32,320 --> 00:10:35,720 Speaker 1: on the Mars Exploration Rover mission, which began in two 172 00:10:35,720 --> 00:10:39,800 Speaker 1: thousand three. I'm Eve Chef Coote, and hopefully you know 173 00:10:39,920 --> 00:10:43,240 Speaker 1: a little more about history today than you did yesterday. 174 00:10:43,960 --> 00:10:46,800 Speaker 1: If there are any upcoming days in history that you'd 175 00:10:46,840 --> 00:10:49,080 Speaker 1: really like me to cover on the show, give us 176 00:10:49,120 --> 00:10:53,440 Speaker 1: a shout. On social media at t d I h 177 00:10:53,640 --> 00:10:57,679 Speaker 1: C podcast You can subscribe to This Day in History 178 00:10:57,720 --> 00:11:01,320 Speaker 1: class on Apple podcasts, the IHR radio app, or wherever 179 00:11:01,360 --> 00:11:04,600 Speaker 1: you get your podcasts. Tune in tomorrow for another Day 180 00:11:04,600 --> 00:11:14,480 Speaker 1: in History. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit 181 00:11:14,520 --> 00:11:17,200 Speaker 1: the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen 182 00:11:17,200 --> 00:11:18,080 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.