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WILLIAM SHATNER:
A missing brain

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that could unravel America’s
most infamous assassination.

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A deceased president roaming
the halls of the White House.

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And an alleged meeting

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between the leader
of the free world

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and visitors from outer space.

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The men who have had the honor

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of being the president
of the United States

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are celebrated
as esteemed leaders,

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their names immortalized
in the annals of history.

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But what’s less commonly known

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is that there
are many bizarre tales

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involving U.S. Presidents.

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Strange stories
that encompass everything

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from the unusual circumstances
of their death

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to matters of national security
and even...

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encounters with
extraterrestrial life.

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Could the truth behind
these astonishing accounts

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re-write America’s past,
and perhaps re-shape its future?

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Well, that is what
we’ll try and find out.

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♪ ♪

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SHATNER:
A crowd of excited
well-wishers gathers

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to greet
President John F. Kennedy

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and First Lady
Jacqueline Kennedy

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as they step off
of Air Force One.

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The Kennedys join
Texas governor John Connally

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and his wife, Nellie, in
a waiting convertible limousine

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and ride in a motorcade
through the heart of the city,

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surrounded by
cheering onlookers.

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LEE MANDEL:
There were roughly
150,000 to 200,000 people

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waiting in the crowds,

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and Governor Connally’s
wife said,

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"Mr. President, you can’t say
that Texas doesn’t love you."

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And he said,
"No, you certainly can’t."

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And those were the last words
he ever spoke.

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SHATNER:
As the motorcade drives
through the downtown district,

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three gunshots are fired
in quick succession.

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And two bullets strike
President Kennedy

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in the throat and head,
critically wounding him.

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By the time that first agent
reached the president,

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it was already almost too late.

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The president
had been shot twice,

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and it was the immediate call
to go right to the hospital.

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SHATNER:
President Kennedy was swiftly

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taken to
Parkland Memorial Hospital,

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arriving just six minutes
after being shot.

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WILLIAM MADSEN LAW:
They put him on a gurney.
They take him

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and they wheel him
into Trauma Room 1.

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After President Kennedy’s
brought in,

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they did these
lifesaving procedures,

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but I think, basically,
they knew he was gone,

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and then he’s
pronounced dead at 1:00.

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SHATNER:
News that President Kennedy
had been assassinated

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instantly spread
throughout the country.

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But while Americans were
experiencing

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both shock and grief,

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a series of strange occurrences

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was unfolding back
at Parkland Hospital in Dallas

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that would ultimately lead
many people to wonder

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if there was
a government conspiracy

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to cover up the truth
about JFK’s assassination.

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LAW:
After President Kennedy
was dead,

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there was a problem in the fact

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that the Secret Service came in,

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and they wanted
to take the body.

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Now, by law in Texas,

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the, uh, coroner,

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Dr. Earl Rose, said,
"You’re not taking him.

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"I have jurisdiction here.

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He has to stay here
and have an autopsy done."

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One of the Secret Service said,
"You’re either gonna

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get out of our way,
or we’re gonna run over you."

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The Secret Service
was saying, "Yes,

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we are taking the body
back to Washington D.C."

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However, this is a homicide
investigation locally,

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by the Dallas Police Department,
the D.A.’s office.

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The medical examiner has a duty
not to release that body.

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Eventually, Vice President
Johnson got involved,

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and the body was released.

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SHATNER:
President Kennedy’s body
was flown from Dallas

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to Washington, D.C.,

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and then taken to Bethesda
Naval Hospital in Maryland.

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But why was the Secret Service
so determined

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to move JFK’s remains
halfway across the country?

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Perhaps the answer lies
in examining the bizarre events

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that transpired during
the president’s autopsy,

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which took place
late in the evening

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following his assassination.

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LAW:
There was a full autopsy done
at Bethesda, Maryland.

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And the two doctors were
James Humes and James Boswell.

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However, they were not
board-certified pathologists.

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Instead, they were
pure military guys,

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who would follow orders.

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In essence,
this may be the heart

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of the mystery of whether
there was conspiracy or not.

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SHATNER:
Even more questionable

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than the presence
of military doctors

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is the fact that,
during this autopsy,

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President Kennedy’s brain

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was actually removed
from his head

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and placed in a collection
of evidence labeled simply

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"item number nine."

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Item number nine was
a stainless steel bucket

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that was about
seven inches high,

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eight and a half inches
in diameter,

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that contained
President Kennedy’s brain.

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Also in item number nine
were several autopsy slides,

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tissue slides,
and also several boxes

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of paraffin tissue samples.

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And so, there’s something
very unusual about the way

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the whole thing was handled.

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SHATNER:
Three days after the autopsy,

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on November 25, 1963,

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President John F. Kennedy
was laid to rest

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at Arlington National Cemetery.

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However, not all
of his remains were buried

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because,
for some strange reason,

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JFK’s brain was still locked
inside a steel bucket.

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And, as it turns out,
over the next few years,

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the president’s brain

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would be moved
to multiple locations

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in and around Washington D.C.

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MANDEL:
Dr. George Burkley, who was
the White House physician,

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requested the brain
be delivered to him

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immediately
after the first autopsy.

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And the brain was sent
from Bethesda

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to the White House,
where it was stored

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at the old executive
office building.

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And it stayed there
until April of 1965,

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when Senator Robert Kennedy

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requested that
his brother’s brain

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and all the autopsy materials
that were at the White House

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be brought
to the National Archives

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and given to Evelyn Lincoln.

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Evelyn Lincoln was President
Kennedy’s personal secretary.

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And she wasn’t an employee
of the National Archives,

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but she was working there,

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getting his papers ready,
things like that.

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And she put it,
the next day, in a footlocker

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in the National Archives
and locked it up.

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SHATNER:
The idea of JFK’s brain

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sitting in
an ordinary footlocker

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in the National Archives

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is surreal, to say the least.

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But what’s even more bizarre
is that, on Halloween Day,

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October 31, 1966,

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President Kennedy’s brain
simply disappeared.

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They opened the footlocker,
and, lo and behold,

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none of the items from
item number nine were there.

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The brain was gone.

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No one knows
what happened to it.

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It was never seen again.

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The popular story is,
is that Robert Kennedy

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took the brain
and all that stuff because

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he didn’t want it
to be a sideshow.

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If Robert Kennedy did
steal the brain

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and took the slides and tissues
and that sort of thing,

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he muddied the waters,

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and that’s why we have
all these mysteries.

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SHATNER:
Did Robert Kennedy steal
his late brother’s brain

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in order to keep it
out of the public eye?

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Perhaps.

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But others are convinced

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that the disappearance
of JFK’s brain

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is connected to the much larger
mystery surrounding his murder,

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which remains the most
infamous assassination

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in American history.

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MARTIN K. A. MORGAN:
Six decades out from
the great tragedy that unfolded

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in Dallas in November 1963,

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we are no closer
to having a sharp picture

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of what happened
to our president.

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If we had the brain,
there would be small particles

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from whatever bullet
struck him in the head.

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Those particles
could be analyzed.

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But we don’t have that brain.

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So we’re left
with question marks.

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And when you combine the fact
that the Secret Service

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illegally takes possession
of the presidential body,

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violating the laws
of the state of Texas,

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with the fact that
the president’s brain

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later disappears,

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it’s very difficult not to be
suspicious, now isn’t it?

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SHATNER:
As part of
a 12-day tour of Asia,

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President Donald Trump lands
in the Chinese capital.

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He is greeted
by government authorities

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and boards a secure limousine

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and a U.S. military aide
follows closely behind

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carrying a mysterious
black briefcase.

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Later that day, President Trump

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travels to a state
legislative building,

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where he meets with
Chinese President Xi Jinping.

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His aide continues
to follow close at hand,

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with the briefcase in tow,

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but is then confronted
by security.

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A scuffle breaks out
between the Secret Service

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and Chinese soldiers,

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because the briefcase
in question

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happens to be
the nuclear football.

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The nuclear football
is a briefcase that carries

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information and materials
that are associated

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with reacting
to a nuclear strike

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or authorizing a nuclear strike.

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And whenever
the president is traveling,

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he will be accompanied
by a military officer

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that’s carrying what’s called
"the football."

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And so, when President Trump

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is in China, and this

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military member
of his staff is stopped,

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a Secret Service agent
ultimately grabs

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one of the Chinese
security agents,

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throws him to the floor,

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because it is
absolutely critical

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that the president cannot be
separated from the football.

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SHATNER:
The nuclear football
is one of the world’s

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most mysterious objects.

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For decades,
people have wondered

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what exactly is this
so-called football?

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And how does a seemingly
ordinary briefcase

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allow the president to launch
America’s nuclear arsenal

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at any time?

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PETER FEAVER:
The nuclear football
is a critical part

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of the command and control
of the military.

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The official name is the
president’s emergency satchel.

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It’s a briefcase.

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But everybody inside
the White House

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would refer to it
as "the football."

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Part of the mystique is just
the fact that it’s a visible,

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tangible sign
of this awesome power

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that the President
of the United States has

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to make a decision
to execute a nuclear strike.

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WACKROW:
When it comes
to the nuclear football,

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everybody, including
our foreign adversaries,

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are very keenly aware

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of what it is,

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and they want to know
how it works.

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However, you need to have secret
compartmentalized clearance

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that’s beyond top secret
to really fully understand

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what’s within
the nuclear football.

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SHATNER:
What is contained

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within this highly classified
black briefcase?

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00:13:01,531 --> 00:13:04,951
It’s a mystery that dates back
to when the nuclear football

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was created,
more than 60 years ago.

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American spy planes discover
that the Soviet Union

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has installed
nuclear missiles in Cuba,

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just 90 miles
from the coast of Florida.

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President John F. Kennedy
guides the United States

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through the ensuing
military standoff,

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which becomes known as
the Cuban Missile Crisis.

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After 13 days
of tense negotiations,

250
00:13:34,355 --> 00:13:38,225
the two superpowers reach
a diplomatic compromise,

251
00:13:38,359 --> 00:13:43,029
narrowly averting
an all-out nuclear war.

252
00:13:43,156 --> 00:13:45,366
FEAVER:
It’s clear that
President Kennedy

253
00:13:45,533 --> 00:13:48,543
was sobered
by the kind of decision

254
00:13:48,703 --> 00:13:52,373
that he was facing
in the Cuban Missile Crisis.

255
00:13:52,540 --> 00:13:55,920
And the president
and his team realized

256
00:13:56,085 --> 00:13:58,665
that they needed
a robust capacity

257
00:13:58,755 --> 00:14:01,225
that would allow
the president to talk

258
00:14:01,382 --> 00:14:04,342
to the armed forces at any time.

259
00:14:04,385 --> 00:14:07,885
That’s when
the nuclear football apparatus,

260
00:14:08,014 --> 00:14:11,184
and particularly linking
the president to that,

261
00:14:11,225 --> 00:14:13,185
was advanced significantly.

262
00:14:14,354 --> 00:14:15,734
SHATNER:
Although the nuclear football

263
00:14:15,897 --> 00:14:18,727
has been shrouded
in secrecy for decades,

264
00:14:18,900 --> 00:14:21,940
there are a select few
who possess intimate knowledge

265
00:14:22,070 --> 00:14:23,700
of its contents.

266
00:14:23,780 --> 00:14:26,070
They are known as
the president’s military aides,

267
00:14:26,199 --> 00:14:27,869
and they are responsible

268
00:14:27,950 --> 00:14:30,120
for keeping the football close
to the commander-in-chief

269
00:14:30,286 --> 00:14:31,576
at all times.

270
00:14:31,746 --> 00:14:34,916
One former presidential
military aide

271
00:14:35,041 --> 00:14:38,591
is retired U.S. Marine
Peter Metzger.

272
00:14:38,753 --> 00:14:41,263
I was the U.S. Marine
military aide

273
00:14:41,381 --> 00:14:42,381
to the President
of the United States,

274
00:14:42,423 --> 00:14:43,763
in this case, President Reagan.

275
00:14:45,301 --> 00:14:48,051
Wherever the president went,
I was trained to know

276
00:14:48,137 --> 00:14:49,927
what to do in the event

277
00:14:50,056 --> 00:14:53,096
the president had to exercise
his constitutional authority.

278
00:14:54,268 --> 00:14:55,938
SHATNER:
As a matter
of national security,

279
00:14:56,104 --> 00:14:58,814
the military aides who have
been privy to the secrets

280
00:14:58,940 --> 00:15:02,280
of the nuclear football
remain tight-lipped.

281
00:15:02,443 --> 00:15:04,153
However, over the years,

282
00:15:04,278 --> 00:15:07,738
some clues regarding
the contents of the football

283
00:15:07,824 --> 00:15:09,784
have been revealed.

284
00:15:09,909 --> 00:15:11,789
Inside the briefcase is

285
00:15:11,911 --> 00:15:13,621
a series of notebooks,
effectively.

286
00:15:13,746 --> 00:15:18,626
Think of them as notebooks
that contain a list of options

287
00:15:18,668 --> 00:15:22,338
that the president can
choose from that would be passed

288
00:15:22,463 --> 00:15:25,633
through the chain of command
down to the operating forces

289
00:15:25,800 --> 00:15:27,640
that would carry out
the command.

290
00:15:27,802 --> 00:15:29,852
I really can’t describe,

291
00:15:29,971 --> 00:15:32,851
of course, in great detail
what the options are,

292
00:15:32,974 --> 00:15:37,524
but they would be a range
from limited strikes

293
00:15:37,687 --> 00:15:40,687
all the way to,
perhaps, the full use

294
00:15:40,815 --> 00:15:42,985
of the nuclear arsenal.

295
00:15:47,822 --> 00:15:51,372
SHATNER:
As a safeguard,
the "menu" of nuclear options

296
00:15:51,492 --> 00:15:55,002
can only be unlocked
by using a special set of codes

297
00:15:55,163 --> 00:15:57,623
that are printed
on a small card

298
00:15:57,665 --> 00:16:00,375
that is referred to
as the "biscuit."

299
00:16:01,502 --> 00:16:05,512
FEAVER:
The biscuit is a card,
almost like credit card size,

300
00:16:05,548 --> 00:16:08,218
that the president carries
on the president’s person.

301
00:16:08,342 --> 00:16:12,472
And this combines
with the information

302
00:16:12,555 --> 00:16:15,225
in the nuclear football
to authenticate that

303
00:16:15,349 --> 00:16:17,479
this is the President
of the United States

304
00:16:17,560 --> 00:16:20,350
who is making these decisions.

305
00:16:21,481 --> 00:16:24,151
SHATNER:
The nuclear football
and the biscuit combined

306
00:16:24,233 --> 00:16:27,993
allow the president to unleash
America’s nuclear arsenal

307
00:16:28,070 --> 00:16:30,700
from anywhere in the world.

308
00:16:30,823 --> 00:16:34,033
And it begs the question,
what would happen

309
00:16:34,160 --> 00:16:37,710
if the president
accidentally lost the biscuit?

310
00:16:37,830 --> 00:16:40,580
The presidential biscuit’s been
misplaced a couple of times.

311
00:16:40,708 --> 00:16:43,998
In March 1981,
when President Reagan

312
00:16:44,170 --> 00:16:45,880
had only been in office
for a couple of months,

313
00:16:46,047 --> 00:16:48,547
he was shot by
a would-be assassin.

314
00:16:50,176 --> 00:16:52,546
He was spirited off
to a hospital.

315
00:16:52,678 --> 00:16:54,508
When he reached the hospital,

316
00:16:54,597 --> 00:16:56,347
the attending
physicians and nurses

317
00:16:56,432 --> 00:16:58,062
cut him out of his suit.

318
00:16:58,184 --> 00:17:00,564
And as a part of cutting him
out of his suit,

319
00:17:00,728 --> 00:17:02,938
pieces of suit were thrown off
into the corner,

320
00:17:03,064 --> 00:17:05,774
and that included
the presidential biscuit.

321
00:17:05,900 --> 00:17:08,240
Which, when you think
about it, is terrifying.

322
00:17:09,612 --> 00:17:12,202
Luckily, the FBI
ended up in custody

323
00:17:12,281 --> 00:17:15,621
of the presidential biscuit,
and nothing negative came of it.

324
00:17:17,745 --> 00:17:20,365
SHATNER:
Despite some concerning
close calls

325
00:17:20,456 --> 00:17:22,286
and a few tantalizing hints,

326
00:17:22,416 --> 00:17:25,286
ultimately,
the full details regarding

327
00:17:25,419 --> 00:17:27,879
the president’s
nuclear football will remain

328
00:17:28,047 --> 00:17:30,417
a closely guarded
government secret.

329
00:17:31,425 --> 00:17:33,925
METZGER:
As the mil aide
carrying the football,

330
00:17:34,053 --> 00:17:37,433
every time I touched it,
I felt, "This is for keeps.

331
00:17:37,598 --> 00:17:39,558
Whatever’s gonna happen,
this is the real deal."

332
00:17:39,642 --> 00:17:42,102
In terms of the football itself,

333
00:17:42,144 --> 00:17:43,774
the systems that
are there to protect it

334
00:17:43,896 --> 00:17:47,106
are really, really good
and are highly classified.

335
00:17:47,275 --> 00:17:48,655
Period.

336
00:17:50,611 --> 00:17:53,991
It’s easy to see why the secrets
of the nuclear football

337
00:17:54,115 --> 00:17:57,585
have never been revealed,
and, hopefully, they never will.

338
00:17:57,660 --> 00:18:00,120
But there’s another
presidential mystery

339
00:18:00,288 --> 00:18:02,578
that many historians
are eager to solve.

340
00:18:02,623 --> 00:18:05,793
It involves the
surprisingly gruesome death

341
00:18:05,918 --> 00:18:08,418
of President George Washington.

342
00:18:17,388 --> 00:18:20,178
SHATNER:
After serving two terms
as America’s first president,

343
00:18:20,308 --> 00:18:25,148
66-year-old George Washington
has retired from public office,

344
00:18:25,229 --> 00:18:29,649
hoping to find tranquility
in his golden years.

345
00:18:30,651 --> 00:18:34,201
Washington immerses himself
in the daily management

346
00:18:34,322 --> 00:18:38,992
of his expansive 8,000-acre
estate at Mount Vernon.

347
00:18:39,160 --> 00:18:40,870
But, as it turns out,

348
00:18:40,995 --> 00:18:43,665
the former president’s
peaceful retirement

349
00:18:43,706 --> 00:18:46,076
doesn’t last long.

350
00:18:47,043 --> 00:18:50,173
JEREMY RAY:
On December 12, 1799,

351
00:18:50,338 --> 00:18:53,508
Washington starts his day
like he would almost any other.

352
00:18:53,549 --> 00:18:57,049
He goes out and inspects
all of the outlying farms.

353
00:18:57,178 --> 00:19:00,348
While he’s out,
a rainstorm starts.

354
00:19:01,932 --> 00:19:03,432
Turns into sleet,

355
00:19:03,559 --> 00:19:05,389
into snow.

356
00:19:05,519 --> 00:19:07,019
When he returns that evening,

357
00:19:07,104 --> 00:19:08,864
his outer coat
is pretty much soaked.

358
00:19:08,939 --> 00:19:11,899
He’s advised by his secretary
to change his clothes.

359
00:19:12,026 --> 00:19:13,856
Washington actually says,
"No, I’m fine."

360
00:19:14,945 --> 00:19:17,565
He knows he’s running late,
and he has guests there.

361
00:19:17,698 --> 00:19:19,868
He doesn’t want to keep them
waiting for dinner.

362
00:19:19,950 --> 00:19:22,240
So, instead of
changing out his clothes,

363
00:19:22,411 --> 00:19:24,541
he goes and has a seat,
and he eats.

364
00:19:25,456 --> 00:19:27,366
SHATNER:
After entertaining his guests,

365
00:19:27,458 --> 00:19:29,628
Washington retires
for the evening,

366
00:19:29,710 --> 00:19:31,920
but is awakened
in the middle of the night

367
00:19:32,046 --> 00:19:34,456
with a violent and
mysterious throat illness.

368
00:19:34,548 --> 00:19:35,798
(coughing)

369
00:19:35,925 --> 00:19:38,145
Around 3:00 or 4:00
in the morning,

370
00:19:38,260 --> 00:19:40,100
Washington awakes.

371
00:19:40,221 --> 00:19:42,311
He’s coughing. He’s shivering.

372
00:19:42,431 --> 00:19:46,391
Martha Washington insists
on getting someone

373
00:19:46,477 --> 00:19:48,147
to come help them.

374
00:19:48,229 --> 00:19:51,939
But the worst thing someone
could do to a sick person

375
00:19:52,066 --> 00:19:54,986
in the 18th century
was call a doctor.

376
00:19:55,069 --> 00:19:57,239
They knew next to nothing,
and so,

377
00:19:57,321 --> 00:20:00,241
it never, ever
improved the situation

378
00:20:00,408 --> 00:20:02,408
and killed many people.

379
00:20:03,744 --> 00:20:06,964
SHATNER:
When doctors arrived at
Washington’s Mount Vernon home,

380
00:20:07,081 --> 00:20:09,751
they performed
strange treatments

381
00:20:09,834 --> 00:20:12,594
to battle his unknown illness.

382
00:20:13,587 --> 00:20:17,417
Treatments that,
by today’s standards,

383
00:20:17,508 --> 00:20:19,678
sound like torture.

384
00:20:21,429 --> 00:20:25,269
RAY:
This is the private bedchamber
of George and Martha Washington.

385
00:20:25,349 --> 00:20:27,849
In the 18th century,
doctors were working

386
00:20:27,977 --> 00:20:29,267
with the tools and the knowledge

387
00:20:29,353 --> 00:20:31,153
they had available
to them at the time.

388
00:20:32,148 --> 00:20:34,778
The thought process
was that the body

389
00:20:34,942 --> 00:20:38,452
had to remain in balance
with its fluids:

390
00:20:38,612 --> 00:20:43,122
blood, yellow bile,
black bile, and phlegm.

391
00:20:44,118 --> 00:20:47,958
So, all of these pastes are
applied to Washington’s body

392
00:20:48,038 --> 00:20:51,118
to create blisters
so that they can open it up

393
00:20:51,292 --> 00:20:53,542
and that these can ooze out,

394
00:20:53,627 --> 00:20:56,457
so that they can remove
any excess fluids

395
00:20:56,547 --> 00:20:58,797
to try and reduce
the inflammation.

396
00:20:58,883 --> 00:21:02,843
Really, you’re looking
at chemical burns being applied

397
00:21:03,012 --> 00:21:04,972
to his body, uh,
during all this.

398
00:21:05,139 --> 00:21:08,309
SHATNER:
Other treatments included
applying dried beetles

399
00:21:08,392 --> 00:21:10,812
-inside Washington’s throat...
-(man coughing)

400
00:21:10,978 --> 00:21:13,478
...and administering an enema.

401
00:21:15,483 --> 00:21:17,153
But doctors also performed

402
00:21:17,234 --> 00:21:20,074
a gruesome procedure
which involved draining

403
00:21:20,196 --> 00:21:23,316
Washington’s blood
from his body.

404
00:21:25,242 --> 00:21:27,162
RAY:
They were doing this system
of bloodletting to try

405
00:21:27,328 --> 00:21:30,658
and reduce the blood and
reduce the swelling in the body.

406
00:21:30,748 --> 00:21:34,378
George Washington was bled
four times that was recorded.

407
00:21:34,502 --> 00:21:36,502
It is estimated around

408
00:21:36,587 --> 00:21:40,007
about five pints of blood
was removed from him.

409
00:21:40,174 --> 00:21:42,014
So 40% of his total
blood volume.

410
00:21:43,719 --> 00:21:45,509
COE:
What made it far worse

411
00:21:45,596 --> 00:21:50,056
was that Washington kept
insisting on being bled.

412
00:21:50,184 --> 00:21:55,774
And Tobias Lear, his secretary,
taking notes this entire time,

413
00:21:55,898 --> 00:22:00,568
talks about how unnerving
it was for everyone in the room

414
00:22:00,694 --> 00:22:04,704
to see this, to see
Washington clearly fading,

415
00:22:04,865 --> 00:22:09,445
but begging, demanding
that he be bled again.

416
00:22:09,578 --> 00:22:14,368
And it got to the point where
the blood didn’t even rush out.

417
00:22:14,542 --> 00:22:19,802
It sort of slowly crawled out.
He hardly had anything left.

418
00:22:21,090 --> 00:22:25,390
LENGEL:
Washington begins turning
white from loss of blood.

419
00:22:26,554 --> 00:22:31,064
He is deathly, deathly ill.
He knows he doesn’t have long.

420
00:22:31,225 --> 00:22:34,735
And then, finally,
he takes a few more

421
00:22:34,895 --> 00:22:38,565
labored breaths, and he dies.

422
00:22:40,234 --> 00:22:44,824
And it’s almost as if
a wail of anguish

423
00:22:44,947 --> 00:22:47,487
spreads out
across the whole country.

424
00:22:49,910 --> 00:22:53,250
SHATNER:
George Washington’s sudden
and unexpected death

425
00:22:53,414 --> 00:22:56,464
shocked and deeply
saddened the entire nation.

426
00:22:57,459 --> 00:22:59,589
But what was
the mysterious illness

427
00:22:59,628 --> 00:23:02,758
that ultimately sent
Washington to his deathbed?

428
00:23:04,675 --> 00:23:06,935
Because the truth
behind his affliction

429
00:23:07,094 --> 00:23:09,604
is clouded by
incomplete information

430
00:23:09,763 --> 00:23:12,683
and gruesome medical practices,

431
00:23:12,850 --> 00:23:15,600
we may never know
exactly how and why

432
00:23:15,769 --> 00:23:19,439
America’s first president
passed away so suddenly.

433
00:23:21,108 --> 00:23:23,648
But according to
one historical account,

434
00:23:23,777 --> 00:23:27,607
Washington’s spirit
may have lived on.

435
00:23:35,623 --> 00:23:38,963
63 years after
the death of George Washington,

436
00:23:39,126 --> 00:23:42,796
a Union Army regiment battles
Confederate forces

437
00:23:42,963 --> 00:23:45,513
for control
of a key strategic hill

438
00:23:45,633 --> 00:23:48,723
known as Little Round Top.

439
00:23:50,387 --> 00:23:51,967
MORGAN:
The regiment
is under the command

440
00:23:52,056 --> 00:23:54,516
of a man named
Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain.

441
00:23:54,642 --> 00:23:57,232
He could not abandon Union
positions on Little Round Top

442
00:23:57,353 --> 00:23:59,313
because then the Confederacy
would be in a position

443
00:23:59,480 --> 00:24:01,230
to drive the Union
off the field of battle.

444
00:24:01,357 --> 00:24:03,857
Everyone’s wounded
to some extent.

445
00:24:03,984 --> 00:24:06,154
They’re almost
out of ammunition.

446
00:24:06,236 --> 00:24:08,656
And because of that,
he was left with no choice

447
00:24:08,822 --> 00:24:11,662
but to order,
"Fix bayonets and charge."

448
00:24:12,993 --> 00:24:15,163
It’s one of
the most memorable moments

449
00:24:15,329 --> 00:24:17,829
of the entire
American Civil War.

450
00:24:19,041 --> 00:24:21,081
SHATNER:
In his memoirs
about the Civil War,

451
00:24:21,251 --> 00:24:24,501
General Chamberlain wrote
that as the Union soldiers

452
00:24:24,588 --> 00:24:27,168
prepared to launch
their desperate charge...

453
00:24:28,509 --> 00:24:33,179
...they were joined by
an unlikely compatriot.

454
00:24:33,347 --> 00:24:35,017
MORGAN: Chamberlain
and other men,

455
00:24:35,182 --> 00:24:36,182
they would say that they saw

456
00:24:36,266 --> 00:24:38,226
someone wearing
a tri-corner hat.

457
00:24:38,352 --> 00:24:41,902
The type of hat that people
quit wearing around about 1800.

458
00:24:42,272 --> 00:24:44,772
And that that man
was on horseback.

459
00:24:45,859 --> 00:24:47,189
Chamberlain himself
would even say

460
00:24:47,361 --> 00:24:49,031
that it was the spirit
of George Washington

461
00:24:49,071 --> 00:24:51,071
that came back at
this critical moment,

462
00:24:51,198 --> 00:24:53,618
this moment when
the fate of the republic

463
00:24:53,742 --> 00:24:56,372
was held in the balance,

464
00:24:56,537 --> 00:25:00,707
to encourage the men to charge
the enemy rather than retreat.

465
00:25:00,791 --> 00:25:02,881
Chamberlain even said that
they saw Confederate soldiers

466
00:25:03,043 --> 00:25:04,923
take shots
at the man on horseback,

467
00:25:05,045 --> 00:25:08,875
and their bullets couldn’t
seem to stop George Washington.

468
00:25:09,049 --> 00:25:11,219
It looked like
they passed right through him.

469
00:25:11,385 --> 00:25:15,935
And ultimately, Union forces
stopped the Confederate invasion

470
00:25:16,056 --> 00:25:17,886
because of
the divine intervention

471
00:25:18,058 --> 00:25:20,768
of George Washington,
back from the grave,

472
00:25:20,894 --> 00:25:23,734
to guide the republic
and save it once again.

473
00:25:25,065 --> 00:25:27,475
LENGEL:
These are extraordinary
circumstances.

474
00:25:28,736 --> 00:25:31,236
Who really knows
what these soldiers saw?

475
00:25:31,321 --> 00:25:33,741
We do know that they felt
something powerful.

476
00:25:33,907 --> 00:25:38,447
And it helped them to do
almost superhuman things.

477
00:25:38,579 --> 00:25:40,749
So something gave them
the strength

478
00:25:40,914 --> 00:25:42,584
to do something extraordinary.

479
00:25:42,666 --> 00:25:46,336
And only they knew
what that was.

480
00:25:48,464 --> 00:25:51,094
While the grim circumstances
of George Washington’s death

481
00:25:51,175 --> 00:25:53,515
and the accounts of his ghost

482
00:25:53,635 --> 00:25:57,345
appearing at the Battle of
Gettysburg are... shocking,

483
00:25:57,431 --> 00:26:00,181
there are many more
bizarre stories

484
00:26:00,267 --> 00:26:02,767
that have been connected
to American presidents,

485
00:26:02,853 --> 00:26:07,153
including some
that reportedly involve

486
00:26:07,274 --> 00:26:09,994
alien encounters.

487
00:26:18,368 --> 00:26:21,908
SHATNER:
High above this remote
oil-drilling outpost...

488
00:26:22,915 --> 00:26:25,675
...the United States Air Force
detects a mysterious,

489
00:26:25,751 --> 00:26:28,961
unidentified flying object
on radar.

490
00:26:29,963 --> 00:26:32,013
A pair of
F-22 Raptor fighter jets

491
00:26:32,174 --> 00:26:35,644
are immediately scrambled
to intercept the UFO,

492
00:26:35,761 --> 00:26:39,471
and the pilots report
seeing a strange,

493
00:26:39,598 --> 00:26:44,768
cylindrical silver object
floating in the sky.

494
00:26:45,854 --> 00:26:48,774
It’s described as
about the size of a car,

495
00:26:48,899 --> 00:26:51,529
just kind of hovering
around 40,000 feet.

496
00:26:51,693 --> 00:26:54,653
It’s deemed a threat
to civilian aircraft,

497
00:26:54,780 --> 00:26:57,820
and so President Joe Biden
orders it to be shot down.

498
00:27:01,036 --> 00:27:02,406
And then the official
statement was,

499
00:27:02,538 --> 00:27:04,408
"We deemed it a threat
to our airspace.

500
00:27:04,540 --> 00:27:05,920
"We take those threats
seriously.

501
00:27:06,041 --> 00:27:08,591
We shot it down.
It’s not a concern anymore."

502
00:27:08,710 --> 00:27:10,130
That’s the end of the story.

503
00:27:11,672 --> 00:27:15,842
BIRNES:
There’s this strange object
hovering over Alaska,

504
00:27:15,968 --> 00:27:21,058
but the government
never revealed what it was.

505
00:27:21,181 --> 00:27:23,481
Was it from China?

506
00:27:23,600 --> 00:27:24,770
Was it from Russia?

507
00:27:24,935 --> 00:27:27,155
Or was it a flying saucer?

508
00:27:28,480 --> 00:27:31,320
SHATNER:
What was the mysterious UFO

509
00:27:31,441 --> 00:27:33,151
that President Biden felt

510
00:27:33,235 --> 00:27:35,325
needed to be shot
out of the sky?

511
00:27:36,655 --> 00:27:38,985
Officially, the White House
claims that the object crashed

512
00:27:39,074 --> 00:27:42,084
into the ocean,
and has not been recovered.

513
00:27:43,078 --> 00:27:45,368
But this is not the first time
a UFO has come

514
00:27:45,497 --> 00:27:47,827
to the attention of
America’s Commander-in-Chief.

515
00:27:49,042 --> 00:27:51,132
And many people are convinced
that U.S. presidents

516
00:27:51,295 --> 00:27:53,055
have been hiding the truth

517
00:27:53,213 --> 00:27:56,303
about extraterrestrial
spacecraft

518
00:27:56,425 --> 00:27:58,515
for more than 70 years.

519
00:28:06,810 --> 00:28:11,820
Air traffic controllers detect
multiple unidentified objects

520
00:28:11,940 --> 00:28:16,110
flying in the sky
over the nation’s capital.

521
00:28:16,195 --> 00:28:21,205
BIRNES:
July 19, 1952,
squadrons of UFOs

522
00:28:21,325 --> 00:28:23,245
flew over the Capitol.

523
00:28:23,368 --> 00:28:25,198
They flew over
the Washington Monument.

524
00:28:25,329 --> 00:28:27,249
They flew over the White House.

525
00:28:28,248 --> 00:28:32,588
Go to The New York Times
and you know what you’ll see?

526
00:28:32,711 --> 00:28:35,551
UFOs flying over the Capitol.
That’s what you’ll see.

527
00:28:35,631 --> 00:28:39,761
Therefore, Harry Truman
was the first president

528
00:28:39,885 --> 00:28:44,225
to actually set American policy
having to do with UFOs.

529
00:28:44,348 --> 00:28:45,808
And here’s what he did.

530
00:28:45,974 --> 00:28:49,564
Immediately, the explanation
for all those UFOs

531
00:28:49,686 --> 00:28:55,016
over Washington D.C. in 1952
was radar anomalies,

532
00:28:55,150 --> 00:28:56,900
temperature inversion.

533
00:28:57,027 --> 00:28:59,447
The pilots weren’t sure
what they were seeing.

534
00:28:59,613 --> 00:29:02,743
And so will the president say
UFOs are among us?

535
00:29:02,866 --> 00:29:04,486
Absolutely not.

536
00:29:04,618 --> 00:29:06,578
SHATNER:
Did the Truman
administration cover up

537
00:29:06,703 --> 00:29:10,833
the truth about alien
spacecraft visiting our planet?

538
00:29:10,958 --> 00:29:13,168
In the 1950s,
many Americans believed that

539
00:29:13,335 --> 00:29:17,555
the government was withholding
important information about UFOs

540
00:29:17,631 --> 00:29:20,181
and in fact, there are
those who claim

541
00:29:20,300 --> 00:29:22,680
that America’s next president

542
00:29:22,803 --> 00:29:26,563
actually met
with extraterrestrials.

543
00:29:31,770 --> 00:29:35,190
President Dwight D. Eisenhower
is on a winter holiday,

544
00:29:35,274 --> 00:29:37,614
when, in the middle
of the night,

545
00:29:37,776 --> 00:29:40,316
he simply disappears.

546
00:29:40,445 --> 00:29:42,565
When you’re president
of the United States,

547
00:29:42,698 --> 00:29:45,158
we should know
where you are at all times.

548
00:29:45,284 --> 00:29:48,334
But this one evening,
in February of 1954,

549
00:29:48,495 --> 00:29:50,455
Eisenhower just goes missing.

550
00:29:51,498 --> 00:29:53,708
To the point
where the Associated Press

551
00:29:53,792 --> 00:29:55,882
put out a wire saying he died.

552
00:29:56,003 --> 00:29:57,343
He died in the middle
of the night.

553
00:29:58,797 --> 00:30:00,797
And then two minutes later,
they retracted it

554
00:30:00,924 --> 00:30:02,384
and said, "No, our mistake."

555
00:30:02,509 --> 00:30:05,889
And the next morning,
he shows up at church.

556
00:30:06,054 --> 00:30:09,394
So, something happened in
the middle of that night

557
00:30:09,516 --> 00:30:11,886
that is obviously off the books,

558
00:30:12,019 --> 00:30:14,349
unexplained and really strange.

559
00:30:15,605 --> 00:30:17,395
SHATNER:
Where was President Eisenhower

560
00:30:17,524 --> 00:30:19,904
during the time
that he disappeared?

561
00:30:20,027 --> 00:30:22,527
Well, according
to numerous accounts

562
00:30:22,696 --> 00:30:24,776
that surfaced
after the incident,

563
00:30:24,906 --> 00:30:29,986
Eisenhower allegedly attended
a most unusual meeting.

564
00:30:30,120 --> 00:30:34,540
There’s a story
that on February 20, 1954,

565
00:30:34,666 --> 00:30:37,336
President Eisenhower had

566
00:30:37,461 --> 00:30:39,711
a meeting
with extraterrestrials.

567
00:30:40,797 --> 00:30:43,377
This took place at an airbase.

568
00:30:43,508 --> 00:30:46,638
Eisenhower was
presumably asked

569
00:30:46,762 --> 00:30:50,562
to renounce and give up
nuclear weapons.

570
00:30:51,683 --> 00:30:55,853
And in exchange,
the extraterrestrials would give

571
00:30:55,979 --> 00:30:59,439
the U.S. technology
which would change the world.

572
00:30:59,566 --> 00:31:03,816
The story is that Eisenhower
turned down this deal

573
00:31:03,945 --> 00:31:05,985
because he couldn’t be sure that

574
00:31:06,073 --> 00:31:07,823
the Soviets would do
the same thing.

575
00:31:07,949 --> 00:31:10,539
SHATNER:
Did President Eisenhower

576
00:31:10,660 --> 00:31:13,200
really meet
with extraterrestrials?

577
00:31:13,330 --> 00:31:16,420
Well, if he did, the government
successfully covered up

578
00:31:16,541 --> 00:31:18,331
any definitive evidence.

579
00:31:18,460 --> 00:31:20,750
But in recent years,

580
00:31:20,879 --> 00:31:23,589
it’s become harder
to keep secrets about UFOs,

581
00:31:23,673 --> 00:31:26,553
because multiple
government organizations

582
00:31:26,635 --> 00:31:29,015
have been actively investigating

583
00:31:29,137 --> 00:31:31,757
this mysterious phenomenon.

584
00:31:31,890 --> 00:31:36,640
There have been
several recent hearings

585
00:31:36,770 --> 00:31:41,520
on UFOs, both in Congress
and with NASA.

586
00:31:41,650 --> 00:31:43,900
And so what we’ve seen

587
00:31:44,027 --> 00:31:47,487
is this subject
increasingly moving

588
00:31:47,656 --> 00:31:50,826
out of the fringe
and into the mainstream.

589
00:31:50,951 --> 00:31:52,291
Which makes me wonder,

590
00:31:52,452 --> 00:31:53,832
what is it they’re not
telling us?

591
00:31:53,912 --> 00:31:57,082
The president,
particularly in his capacity

592
00:31:57,207 --> 00:32:00,787
as Commander-in-Chief,
can make that call.

593
00:32:00,919 --> 00:32:04,049
And maybe we will see it
one day soon.

594
00:32:04,214 --> 00:32:06,304
"My fellow Americans,
people of the world,

595
00:32:06,425 --> 00:32:08,805
we are not alone."

596
00:32:11,471 --> 00:32:14,061
If American presidents know

597
00:32:14,182 --> 00:32:16,562
that aliens are visiting Earth,

598
00:32:16,685 --> 00:32:19,065
then they certainly
haven’t shared that information

599
00:32:19,187 --> 00:32:20,647
with the public.

600
00:32:20,814 --> 00:32:23,824
And the same can be said
about another secret

601
00:32:23,942 --> 00:32:25,862
that’s known
only to a select few.

602
00:32:25,986 --> 00:32:29,566
It’s the unsettling possibility

603
00:32:29,698 --> 00:32:33,238
that the White House is cursed.

604
00:32:42,252 --> 00:32:45,092
SHATNER:
After five years
of harrowing conflict,

605
00:32:45,255 --> 00:32:48,095
Confederate
General Robert E. Lee

606
00:32:48,258 --> 00:32:53,298
surrenders to Union
General Ulysses S. Grant,

607
00:32:53,430 --> 00:32:56,180
finally ending the Civil War.

608
00:32:58,018 --> 00:33:02,188
Just five days later,
in Washington D.C.,

609
00:33:02,314 --> 00:33:06,154
President Abraham Lincoln
and his wife, Mary Todd,

610
00:33:06,193 --> 00:33:09,863
enjoy a performance
at Ford’s Theatre.

611
00:33:11,781 --> 00:33:13,661
Abraham Lincoln goes
to Ford’s Theatre

612
00:33:13,783 --> 00:33:15,543
that fateful evening.

613
00:33:15,660 --> 00:33:18,040
As he’s engrossed in the play,

614
00:33:18,163 --> 00:33:20,463
there’s that terrible shot

615
00:33:20,540 --> 00:33:23,170
that echoes through the theater.

616
00:33:23,293 --> 00:33:25,133
(gunshot)

617
00:33:25,295 --> 00:33:28,675
The back of Lincoln’s head
is blown to pieces.

618
00:33:28,715 --> 00:33:33,545
This was a horrifying, traumatic
moment for the entire nation.

619
00:33:33,637 --> 00:33:35,807
The assassination of a president

620
00:33:35,889 --> 00:33:37,639
really at his moment
of greatest triumph.

621
00:33:37,724 --> 00:33:41,564
SHATNER:
After President Lincoln’s
assassination,

622
00:33:41,728 --> 00:33:44,188
the country went into
a period of profound mourning

623
00:33:44,314 --> 00:33:46,654
that lasted for several months.

624
00:33:46,816 --> 00:33:49,026
And in a surreal twist,

625
00:33:49,152 --> 00:33:51,902
some even claimed
that Lincoln’s murder

626
00:33:52,072 --> 00:33:55,032
cast a dark, supernatural shadow

627
00:33:55,075 --> 00:33:57,745
on the White House.

628
00:33:57,869 --> 00:33:59,579
LENGEL:
After his assassination,

629
00:33:59,704 --> 00:34:03,754
it’s really only
a short step from there

630
00:34:03,833 --> 00:34:06,173
to people seeing
Abraham Lincoln’s ghost

631
00:34:06,336 --> 00:34:07,496
in the White House.

632
00:34:08,838 --> 00:34:11,218
Apparently, Lincoln’s ghost

633
00:34:11,341 --> 00:34:15,761
scared the dickens out of
the entire White House staff.

634
00:34:15,887 --> 00:34:18,257
And then Mary Todd Lincoln,

635
00:34:18,431 --> 00:34:21,431
like many people at the time,
in the mid-19th century,

636
00:34:21,601 --> 00:34:23,391
was very interested
in spiritualism.

637
00:34:23,937 --> 00:34:26,517
And there is a photograph of her

638
00:34:26,606 --> 00:34:30,606
showing a figure that appears
to be Abraham Lincoln.

639
00:34:31,945 --> 00:34:34,115
President Lincoln
just kind of emerges

640
00:34:34,281 --> 00:34:37,121
out of the background
in this photograph.

641
00:34:37,284 --> 00:34:38,954
It’s really quite creepy.

642
00:34:39,035 --> 00:34:42,115
Now, where the Lincoln ghost
came from, we don’t know.

643
00:34:42,247 --> 00:34:45,877
But, there’s such
a elemental power

644
00:34:45,959 --> 00:34:48,459
to the Lincoln apparition

645
00:34:48,587 --> 00:34:50,957
that the White House becomes

646
00:34:51,131 --> 00:34:54,091
kind of a...
a tragic epicenter

647
00:34:54,259 --> 00:34:56,589
of all the nation’s suffering.

648
00:34:57,762 --> 00:35:00,472
SHATNER:
What are we to make
of the bizarre sightings

649
00:35:00,557 --> 00:35:03,227
of Abraham Lincoln’s ghost
in the White House

650
00:35:03,310 --> 00:35:06,230
in the years
immediately after his death?

651
00:35:06,313 --> 00:35:08,563
Were these incredible reports

652
00:35:08,648 --> 00:35:10,938
merely hallucinations,
fueled by grief?

653
00:35:11,901 --> 00:35:13,491
Perhaps.

654
00:35:13,612 --> 00:35:15,452
But curiously...

655
00:35:16,656 --> 00:35:18,656
...over the years,
the apparitions

656
00:35:18,825 --> 00:35:20,825
of not just Abraham Lincoln

657
00:35:20,994 --> 00:35:23,914
but numerous former presidents
have been seen

658
00:35:23,997 --> 00:35:27,747
roaming the halls
of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

659
00:35:27,834 --> 00:35:30,674
Witnesses have claimed
to see Thomas Jefferson

660
00:35:30,754 --> 00:35:33,424
playing the violin
in the Yellow Oval Room.

661
00:35:34,799 --> 00:35:38,339
Andrew Jackson laughing
in the Rose Room.

662
00:35:39,512 --> 00:35:42,852
And William Henry Harrison
fumbling around the attic.

663
00:35:44,017 --> 00:35:47,017
So, as crazy as it may sound,

664
00:35:47,187 --> 00:35:50,437
is it possible
that the White House

665
00:35:50,523 --> 00:35:52,363
is the final resting place
for the souls

666
00:35:52,525 --> 00:35:54,315
of American presidents?

667
00:36:01,284 --> 00:36:04,664
President Harry Truman lies
fast asleep in his bed.

668
00:36:06,122 --> 00:36:09,382
BELANGER:
In a letter to his wife Bess,
President Truman writes,

669
00:36:09,501 --> 00:36:11,001
"At 4:00, I was awakened

670
00:36:11,127 --> 00:36:13,457
by three distinct knocks
on my bedroom door."

671
00:36:13,546 --> 00:36:15,796
(knocking)

672
00:36:15,882 --> 00:36:18,472
"I jumped up
and put on my bathrobe,

673
00:36:18,551 --> 00:36:20,471
"opened the door,
and no one there.

674
00:36:20,553 --> 00:36:22,393
"Went out and looked
up and down the hall,

675
00:36:22,514 --> 00:36:24,894
"looked into your room,
still no one there.

676
00:36:25,058 --> 00:36:28,348
The damn place is haunted,
sure as shootin’."

677
00:36:31,731 --> 00:36:35,401
LENGEL:
Harry Truman is really
unsettled by this experience,

678
00:36:35,527 --> 00:36:39,987
and it was Truman
who decided enough is enough

679
00:36:40,073 --> 00:36:44,373
and he’s gonna get rid
of the entire interior

680
00:36:44,536 --> 00:36:45,826
of the White House.

681
00:36:45,912 --> 00:36:49,082
He tears it all out.

682
00:36:49,249 --> 00:36:50,879
And maybe he imagined
in some way

683
00:36:51,000 --> 00:36:52,670
that he was gonna get rid
of the ghosts that way,

684
00:36:52,752 --> 00:36:54,002
but, uh, it didn’t work.

685
00:36:54,087 --> 00:36:56,877
BELANGER:
During the reconstruction,

686
00:36:57,006 --> 00:36:58,876
official White House
photographer Abbie Rowe

687
00:36:59,008 --> 00:37:00,178
clicks this picture.

688
00:37:00,260 --> 00:37:02,350
And if you look way back

689
00:37:02,429 --> 00:37:04,889
in the lower right-hand corner,

690
00:37:05,056 --> 00:37:08,266
there’s this figure
that’s almost see-through.

691
00:37:09,686 --> 00:37:11,556
And you might say,
"Well, come on, it’s 1950.

692
00:37:11,688 --> 00:37:13,938
It’s an old camera,
old technology."

693
00:37:14,107 --> 00:37:16,187
But if you look just
a little bit to the left

694
00:37:16,276 --> 00:37:18,106
of that semi-see-through figure,

695
00:37:18,194 --> 00:37:19,904
you’ll see
three men standing there.

696
00:37:20,029 --> 00:37:21,779
And you can make out
their hat, their tie,

697
00:37:21,948 --> 00:37:23,448
their clothes, and so on.

698
00:37:23,616 --> 00:37:26,116
And they’re just as far away.

699
00:37:26,244 --> 00:37:28,914
And so people point
to this photo and suggest

700
00:37:28,955 --> 00:37:31,785
this may be a documented ghost
photo inside the White House.

701
00:37:32,792 --> 00:37:34,632
SHATNER:
Is the alleged apparition
in the photo

702
00:37:34,753 --> 00:37:36,383
merely a double exposure,

703
00:37:36,463 --> 00:37:38,883
or a trick of light?

704
00:37:39,883 --> 00:37:42,473
Or could it be
definitive evidence

705
00:37:42,594 --> 00:37:46,644
that supernatural spirits
haunt the White House?

706
00:37:46,765 --> 00:37:51,395
For now, all we can say for sure
is that it’s unnerving

707
00:37:51,478 --> 00:37:54,478
to think that the president’s
residence might be haunted.

708
00:37:54,647 --> 00:37:57,147
But there’s another
potential scenario

709
00:37:57,233 --> 00:37:59,993
that is even more concerning.

710
00:38:00,153 --> 00:38:02,953
It’s the possibility
that someone

711
00:38:03,072 --> 00:38:04,912
other than the president

712
00:38:04,991 --> 00:38:07,621
could be secretly
running the country.

713
00:38:15,001 --> 00:38:19,551
SHATNER:
After leading the country
to victory in World War I,

714
00:38:19,672 --> 00:38:22,882
President Woodrow Wilson embarks
on a grand speaking tour

715
00:38:23,009 --> 00:38:25,009
across the United States

716
00:38:25,178 --> 00:38:27,558
to encourage America to join

717
00:38:27,680 --> 00:38:30,520
the newly-formed
League of Nations.

718
00:38:30,683 --> 00:38:35,233
Wilson travels more than
8,000 miles in just 22 days.

719
00:38:35,355 --> 00:38:38,195
And the grueling journey
takes a toll

720
00:38:38,316 --> 00:38:40,316
on the president’s health.

721
00:38:41,319 --> 00:38:45,409
Upon his return to
the White House on October 2,

722
00:38:45,532 --> 00:38:48,412
Wilson suffers
a devastating stroke

723
00:38:48,576 --> 00:38:51,036
and collapses
on his bedroom floor.

724
00:38:52,038 --> 00:38:54,168
LENGEL:
Woodrow Wilson
experiences a series

725
00:38:54,249 --> 00:38:57,079
really debilitating strokes.

726
00:38:57,210 --> 00:38:59,000
He recovers partially,

727
00:38:59,087 --> 00:39:01,707
but he’s still unable
to communicate clearly.

728
00:39:01,881 --> 00:39:04,011
He’s unable
to make any decisions.

729
00:39:04,092 --> 00:39:07,552
He’s unable to carry out
the functions of government.

730
00:39:07,595 --> 00:39:09,055
And he’s hidden from view.

731
00:39:09,222 --> 00:39:12,222
He’s hidden in a back room
in the White House

732
00:39:12,350 --> 00:39:15,730
behind curtains so that people
can’t really see him.

733
00:39:15,854 --> 00:39:19,074
SHATNER:
With President Wilson
incapacitated,

734
00:39:19,190 --> 00:39:21,400
you would think
that the vice president

735
00:39:21,568 --> 00:39:24,448
and the cabinet would assume
control of the country.

736
00:39:24,571 --> 00:39:28,741
But remarkably, it was
the First Lady, Edith Wilson,

737
00:39:28,908 --> 00:39:32,238
who stepped in
to fill the void.

738
00:39:32,412 --> 00:39:33,792
LENGEL:
Edith Wilson takes over.

739
00:39:33,913 --> 00:39:36,293
She becomes the gatekeeper.

740
00:39:36,457 --> 00:39:39,247
So, they have to go
to Edith and say,

741
00:39:39,419 --> 00:39:40,919
"What does the President want?"

742
00:39:41,087 --> 00:39:44,417
And she says, "Well, let me
tell you what he wants."

743
00:39:44,549 --> 00:39:46,259
But it’s really
what Edith wants.

744
00:39:46,384 --> 00:39:49,304
And it’s a frightening situation

745
00:39:49,429 --> 00:39:51,559
because she is intelligent,

746
00:39:51,598 --> 00:39:53,598
but she doesn’t know anything
about national affairs.

747
00:39:53,766 --> 00:39:56,266
She doesn’t know anything
about international affairs.

748
00:39:56,436 --> 00:40:00,766
But nevertheless, she’s
a very strong-minded woman.

749
00:40:00,940 --> 00:40:03,570
And Wilson’s cabinet
is too afraid

750
00:40:03,651 --> 00:40:05,571
to do anything about it.

751
00:40:06,988 --> 00:40:09,908
Edith Wilson is proxy president

752
00:40:09,991 --> 00:40:12,831
for the remainder
of Wilson’s second term.

753
00:40:12,952 --> 00:40:15,292
But this is being hidden
from the public.

754
00:40:15,455 --> 00:40:16,965
It’s a dangerous situation,

755
00:40:16,998 --> 00:40:19,128
but we only realized
how dangerous

756
00:40:19,292 --> 00:40:22,002
after Wilson left office.

757
00:40:22,128 --> 00:40:25,128
SHATNER:
While the thought
of a proxy president

758
00:40:25,298 --> 00:40:27,298
is obviously concerning,

759
00:40:27,425 --> 00:40:31,135
the truth is that when it comes
to the many strange tales

760
00:40:31,304 --> 00:40:32,854
involving U.S. presidents,

761
00:40:32,972 --> 00:40:36,102
we may never know
the full story.

762
00:40:36,184 --> 00:40:37,984
BELANGER: When you hear
about these stories,

763
00:40:38,144 --> 00:40:39,944
about past presidents

764
00:40:40,021 --> 00:40:41,941
that are obviously
off the books,

765
00:40:42,023 --> 00:40:45,283
unexplained and really strange,
we connect to it.

766
00:40:45,360 --> 00:40:48,490
Because when you’re president
of the United States,

767
00:40:48,613 --> 00:40:50,613
you are privy
to a lot of information

768
00:40:50,782 --> 00:40:52,202
that affects a lot of people--

769
00:40:52,325 --> 00:40:54,295
all the events,
all the decisions

770
00:40:54,369 --> 00:40:56,829
that have literally shaped
our nation, shaped our world,

771
00:40:56,996 --> 00:40:59,496
shaped who we are,
and on and on.

772
00:40:59,666 --> 00:41:01,826
We don’t like
our presidents saying,

773
00:41:01,960 --> 00:41:04,550
"I don’t know if I can trust
you with this information,

774
00:41:04,671 --> 00:41:06,341
and we don’t have
all the answers yet."

775
00:41:06,506 --> 00:41:09,466
LENGEL:
The United States presidency

776
00:41:09,550 --> 00:41:12,340
has so many legends

777
00:41:12,470 --> 00:41:14,850
and stories associated with it

778
00:41:15,014 --> 00:41:18,524
in its 225-year history,

779
00:41:18,685 --> 00:41:21,025
and these are important stories.

780
00:41:21,145 --> 00:41:22,645
Whether you believe them or not,

781
00:41:22,730 --> 00:41:26,320
they expose the beating heart
of the country.

782
00:41:26,401 --> 00:41:30,571
They’re symbolic
of our history as a nation.

783
00:41:30,738 --> 00:41:32,488
And that’s one of the reasons

784
00:41:32,573 --> 00:41:34,073
we really need
to listen to them.

785
00:41:34,200 --> 00:41:36,870
Even though the president
of the United States

786
00:41:36,995 --> 00:41:38,755
is perhaps the most public
figure on Earth,

787
00:41:38,871 --> 00:41:41,751
it’s surprising
how many strange stories

788
00:41:41,874 --> 00:41:44,544
lie hidden in the history
of the Oval Office.

789
00:41:44,711 --> 00:41:48,171
Could there be
even more bizarre tales

790
00:41:48,339 --> 00:41:50,839
that may one day be revealed?

791
00:41:50,925 --> 00:41:52,675
Or are there some events

792
00:41:52,760 --> 00:41:55,550
that are just too incredible
to be shared

793
00:41:55,722 --> 00:41:58,432
and should remain...

794
00:41:58,558 --> 00:42:00,098
unexplained?

795
00:42:00,226 --> 00:42:02,686
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