Soaring structures built to stand the test of time.
And gigantic stone obelisks that reveal mysterious agendas.
For millions of people, monuments like mount rushmore,
the washington monument,
and the empire state building represent
the engineering triumphs of a great nation.
But what is it about america's monuments
that continue to fascinate and inspire us
decades or even centuries after their creation?
And could their facades be concealing hidden meanings
or even secret purposes?
Well, that is what we'll try and find out.
♪ ♪
here in the black hills, nearly 6,000 feet above sea level,
four colossal granite faces
look over the majestic landscape.
Their names?
George washington, thomas jefferson,
theodore roosevelt and abraham lincoln.
Four iconic representations of america's dramatic past.
Tony perrottet: Mount rushmore is an extraordinary vision
when you first see it.
It's very impressive.
It's closer in spirit to an ancient monument.
It's like one of the, you know,
the wonders of the ancient world.
Shatner: Today, more than two million people visit each year
to gaze in awe at these silent stone sentinels.
But was mount rushmore built merely to allow americans
to celebrate their history?
Or is it possible that it had another,
even more profound purpose?
Doane robinson was the state historian of south dakota
in the early 1900s.
He was the original person to have an idea
of bringing tourists to his great state of south dakota.
Perrottet: His idea was to create these folkloric sort of characters
carving from the black hills.
This sort of shaping of the, of the, of the very landscape.
It-it seems a very american thing.
Shatner: Doane robinson envisioned his monument
to depict the heroes of the american west,
such as lewis and clark, sacagawea, buffalo bill cody,
and chief red cloud.
Bracewell: Doane robinson's original idea was to bring a sculptor,
a stone sculptor, to south dakota to do the job.
He asked several sculptors in the united states
that were unavailable,
and he read a newspaper article about the work
that gutzon borglum was doing down in stone mountain,
and got the idea that he would be available
to do this kind of massive sculpture in south dakota.
Perrottet: Gutzon borglum was the first american sculptor
to have a piece of work bought by the metropolitan museum
while he was still alive.
He'd gone and studied in paris with rodin.
So he had quite an impressive career
by the time he was contacted by doane
to go to south dakota.
Robin borglum-carter: Gutzon was a second-generation american,
and love for america was instilled into him
in the beginning.
His father was from denmark and was a mormon missionary,
and had waited ten years to get to the united states.
So he had an appreciation for american art
and everything american.
Shatner: Gutzon borglum rejected doane robinson's plan
to carve depictions of native americans
and regional folk heroes.
As far as he was concerned,
his masterpiece required figures of a more national stature.
Perrottet: He was really looking for something incredibly grand,
incredibly splendid, something for the ages,
so that his name would ring down through history.
So he came up with the idea of using the presidents.
Shatner: But why would such an accomplished artist
risk his reputation to pursue an engineering feat
that other sculptors had deemed
not only difficult but impossible?
Borglum-carter: I think he had convinced himself that he could carve mountains,
and he wanted to prove to everybody
that this could be done.
He had one dream, and that was to create something
on a monumental scale that would show everybody one man's
love for his country.
It just became an obsession.
Shatner: To realize this tribute to america,
borglum employed a small army of highly skilled artisans
to ensure that the beauty of mount rushmore
was equal to its enormity.
People like italian immigrant luigi del bianco.
Lou del bianco: Before mount rushmore was even carved,
two years were spent clearing trees.
They had to create roads.
They had to run 20 miles of electrical cable
from mount rushmore to rapid city
so the pneumatic drills could be powered,
or any other kind of, uh, necessities.
Shatner: To get from the staging area
to the top of the mountain,
the men had to climb 700 steps,
which is like climbing halfway up the empire state building.
And they had to bring heavy equipment along with them.
So, this is a pneumatic drill, and it probably weighs about--
I'm gonna say it weighs about 25 pounds.
The larger drills were probably 45 pounds.
And these guys had to use these, like, up to 12 hours a day.
Shatner: After 15 years, 400 men,
more than 20,000 pounds of dynamite,
and the removal of 450,000 tons of rock,
the work intended to represent
"the triumph of modern society and democracy" was complete.
But there is another feature of mount rushmore's
original design that has forced many historians
to debate and ponder gutzon borglum's
profound reason for creating the monument.
There's a valley right behind the memorial,
and on the other side of the valley,
he had plans of carving a sort of cave into the mountain.
Borglum-carter: Some of the drawings were that there would be
a 12-foot entrance, and then there'd be a big room inside,
and then he kind of enlarged that
to a second big room, and then there was even talk
of rooms underneath it.
It was going to be something quite monumental--
pharaonic in scale, really.
And the centerpiece of it was this hall of records,
which would recount in very grandiose terms
the first 150 years of american history.
Shatner: According to surviving documents,
borglum's hall of records was to be an 80-by-120-foot chamber
deep within the granite mountain.
Not unlike a similar chamber believed to be located
beneath the paws of the sphinx in egypt.
Inside, borglum imagined the busts of important
american leaders and innovators would be put on display
along with the united states' most sacred documents,
including the original declaration of independence
and united states constitution.
But while only a small fraction of the hall of records
was ever built,
one has to wonder, why did borglum think
such a remotely located archive was necessary?
Bracewell: Gutzon borglum had always believed
that you couldn't leave this for future generations
and civilizations without explaining
what the meaning was and the message was
of the mountain-- a massive sculpture
as a memorial to the united states.
Shatner: Gutzon borglum once lamented that
each succeeding civilization forgets its predecessor.
"civilizations," he said, "are ghouls."
is it possible that he foresaw the eventual criticism
that his work, along with his previous associations
with white supremacist groups like the ku klux klan,
would eventually receive?
Borglum-carter: Well, the stone mountain project is kind of complicated.
What it always comes back to is the ku klux klan.
And certainly gutzon knew when he went down there
that the klan met at stone mountain.
And he knew that the backers were sympathizers.
Perrottet: He fell in with a bad crowd as the klan was reviving
in the early '20s, and especially in georgia.
It was very bad judgment.
And what happened in the end is he fell out with the klan.
He fell out with all the people who were funding him.
And he just threw the whole thing aside.
Shatner: Perhaps borglum believed that by enshrining the nation's
founding documents in a stone vault,
he could protect not only his greatest work of art
but his own reputation.
Unfortunately, we may never know the truth.
Gutzon borglum passed away in 1941,
before his original design for mount rushmore
and the hall of records could be completed.
It's a story similar
to the true purpose behind another famous u.S. Monument
not only associated with dead american presidents
but with those who lived there.
Marshatner:M: Two while staying atther in a temporary residencedge
known as the president's house on 190 high street,
george washington meets with the commissioners
of the newly established district of columbia
to announce the winner of an important
architectural design contest.
The chosen plan by irish architect james hoban
was selected from dozens of submissions,
all vying to design what was to be
the president's permanent home.
William seale: George washington liked architecture.
He was very interested in houses, symbolism.
And the white house is an iconic symbol
of the presidency all over the world today.
Everything about the white house is george washington's idea.
It was really his vision for the city,
for the scale of the building,
for the necessity of it being built with stone in a time
when there were no stonecutters in washington.
Shatner: Starting construction in 1792,
the president's palace, as it was then called,
took eight years to complete, at the then cost
of approximately $230,000.
A relatively modest sum, even in those days.
After british troops set fire to the structure
during the war of 1812...
...Numerous renovations and additions expanded
the original two-story building to include colonnades
connecting the east and the west wings,
as well as the north and south porticos.
According to the official tour, the white house
as we know it today contains a staggering 132 rooms...
...Including 16 family and guest rooms
and 35 bathrooms.
55,000 square feet in all, located on 18 acres
in the heart of one of the busiest cities in the world.
Presidents years ago would entertain everyday people
who could just walk to the white house,
get in and talk to the president.
The white house used to be thought of
as the people's house.
There are very few areas in the white house
that the president can be truly private.
Presidents are living a very abnormal existence.
So you wonder how they get some sense of normalcy,
which you don't get in the white house.
Shatner: For more than two centuries,
the white house has served as the primary residence
of every president of the united states.
But 1600 pennsylvania avenue is more than simply the home
of the president and first family.
It is also the headquarters of the executive branch itself.
Which have led many to ask:
Is there more about the white house
that we don't know, hiding behind its austere facade?
Experts have long suspected that top secret tunnels exist
beneath the white house, enabling the president to travel
throughout the city entirely unseen.
I was very surprised to learn the quick routes
that needed to be taken in case of an emergency.
And not something that I can discuss,
but there are ways that the president can be moved
from point a to point b very quickly
in an emergency situation.
Shatner: According to historians,
many of the rumors surrounding such tunnels
and other classified security features
originated during president harry truman's administration
in the 1940s,
after numerous structural issues were discovered
throughout the residence.
Whitcomb: The white house had nicknames like a "public shabby house."
there was lots of derogatory terms about it over the years
because it would fall in and out of disrepair
depending on how popular the president was with congress.
Seale: And so,
the white house, by the time president truman was there,
was like a hamburger someone had sat on.
All the levels were just squashed.
And the corps of engineers had been yelling about this
for a long time.
Shatner: Between 1949 and 1952,
a drastic renovation was authorized by congress.
Engineers replaced the wooden subframe
with state-of-the-art steel beams
and rebuilt the inside from scratch using modern materials,
leaving only the iconic sandstone exterior intact.
The white house is a facility that's-- we call it hardened.
A facility that's actually built to withstand
someone shooting a rifle,
someone bringing any kind of explosive,
or any kind of threat to the building.
You want to be able to protect the people inside the building.
Shatner: As a result, some historians have questioned:
Should the modern white house be considered a residence
or a fortress?
Ron kessler: The white house grounds are protected
by a complete array of sensors that detect heat, motion.
If anything is detected, the secret service comes running.
Brad patterson: It was realized you really needed
some kind of a military facility there in the white house.
And so the situation room was established
in the west wing of the white house.
It has an international top secret,
secure teleconference system
so the president can engage in face-to-face conversations
with other leaders of the world.
There's the famous picture in the situation room
of president obama and secretary clinton
and the staff during the mission that went after osama bin laden.
The capability certainly exists, within the situation room,
to watch live broadcasts.
Shatner: As a matter of national security,
the members of the white house staff are under strict orders
not to reveal the full extent
of the building's defense infrastructure.
However, it has been acknowledged
that in addition to the situation room,
the white house also contains a bunker-like structure
beneath the east wing
known as the presidential emergency operations center,
or peoc,
to protect the president in case of direct attack.
But could the white house's military capabilities
go even further than that?
Let's just say that, yes, the white house is capable
of thwarting an attack.
For instance, if you remember frank corder,
the individual who flew the airplane onto the south lawn
and that crashed into the white house itself.
Shatner: On September 12, 1994,
frank eugene corder, a 38-year-old army veteran
suffering from depression,
flew a small airplane directly at the white house
in what is believed to have been an assassination attempt
on president bill clinton.
Although the official record states
that corder's plane crashed before it reached its target,
many believe it was, in fact, shot down.
Basham: People just assumed
that the white house had
all of those defense mechanisms in place,
and when this cessna flew into the white house,
and fortunately they prevented any penetration
into the interior of the white house itself.
So, I think that demonstrates that-that, that it does exist.
Shatner: Is the white house a full-fledged battle station,
protected by antiaircraft missiles
and other covert armaments?
And if so, what about the other prominent structures
located in our nation's capital?
May they also be hiding secrets in plain sight?
There are many who believe that the answer lies
just a few yards away within the very heart
of the capitol dome.
Akram elias: Gstands what is perhapsd the single greatest monument
to democracy in the world,
the united states capitol building.
The iconic dome at the center is flanked
by two nearly identical wings.
The north, which houses the senate,
and the south, which houses the house of representatives.
The vast sandstone-clad structure contains
some 600 rooms and covers approximately four acres.
It's designed to radiate power.
And as one stands here, one can feel themselves
just being lifted up by its presence.
And it was designed to be that way.
Shatner: As with the white house,
the cornerstone ceremony was presided over by freemasons.
At 10:00 a.M. On September 18, 1793,
crowds gathered to watch george washington
carefully anoint a massive stone block
with corn, oil and wine.
He then struck it three times with a gavel
to announce the laying of the cornerstone...
...For the building intended to become
the heart of america's new democracy.
When freemasons conduct such a ceremony,
they're basically sending a message
to the people who are going to work out of that edifice
that their main mission is not to rule over people.
George washington wanted to send that powerful message,
"this is the symbol of this new american republic."
shatner: Seven years after construction on the capitol began,
the united states congress held its first session
on November 17, 1800.
As the number of states
admitted to the nation grew over the next 50 years,
the design of the original buildings
continued to expand in order to accommodate
the increasing number of legislators in congress.
But there is one fact about the capitol dome
that is less well-known,
and it's not about what lies on top of the building
but what lies deep below.
Henry: Beneath that is what's called
the crypt.
This is fascinating because civic buildings
are not supposed to have crypts.
Churches have crypts. Cemeteries have crypts.
But the u.S. Capitol has a crypt. Why?
Shatner: A crypt?
According to historians, the crypt
below the capitol dome's rotunda was intended
to be the burial place for george washington,
similar to the burial places of english kings
beneath the floors of the british cathedrals.
However, by the time the construction
of the crypt was completed in 1827,
washington, who strongly rejected any notion
that he should be regarded as a king,
had already been buried at his home in mount vernon.
Washington's family, out of respect for his wishes,
now refused to move his body to washington.
But even though the crypt beneath the capitol is empty,
george washington's presence can still be felt
all over the capitol.
Elias: One of the most fascinating parts of the capitol
is the rotunda, which is at the heart;
it's a circle.
And if you look above, you see a beautiful painting
of the apotheosis of george washington.
It's an enormous painting that depicts washington
as you would see a god depicted.
He sits in a setting of clouds
with what look like angels immediately surrounding him.
The apotheosis of george washington
was completed by constantino brumidi in 1865.
The word "apotheosis" is a greek word
that means to deify; to raise from a man
to a god-man, or to achieve glory.
And when one achieves glory, one glows rays,
just like the gods.
Who's buried in washington's tomb?
Nobody.
Because he's up on the ceiling.
He's raised himself from the tomb,
gone up through the rotunda and up through the sun gate
that leads to heaven.
He is a deity.
Shatner: Could the apotheosis of washington be a clue
that america's founding fathers actually intended
the united states be built upon not only the laws of man
but also divine forces beyond our understanding?
Perhaps.
But the story of the capitol building becomes even stranger
when you consider what stands atop the iconic dome.
The freedom statue on top of the capitol
is a 19 1/2-foot-tall statue of an iroquois goddess
who actually is morphing into an eagle.
This is very important because the ancient gods
were portrayed as eagle-headed.
Nimrod was taken into the heavens by eagles.
So was zeus.
And also with the legends of the iroquois native americans.
The iroquois creation story of sky woman, uh, is basically:
Before earth really became what it is today,
there were beings that were similar to us
living in the sky.
One day, a young woman, sky woman, became pregnant.
She is to go down to the world below.
And so this extraterrestrial that lived in the sky--
she comes down and then the human race begins.
Shatner: An extraterrestrial that came down to earth
from the sky?
But if so, how did this figure from iroquois mythology
come to be standing atop america's capitol building?
At the debate on the declaration of independence,
the iroquois chiefs were specifically invited.
And over 40 of them came to philadelphia
in may of 1776.
And they stayed there on through the debating
and passage of the declaration of independence.
Their presence was so important because
if half your economy is trading with native americans,
then you have to learn about how the community,
their government runs,
you have to learn about the culture.
Benjamin franklin, in particular,
was deeply interested in the star legends and star lore
of the iroquois confederacy.
So when we add all this together, it looks like
the freedom statue is being referenced here
as a star being.
Shatner: An empty crypt beneath the rotunda.
George washington portrayed as a god.
And a statue of an iroquois star goddess.
Might the united states capitol building reveal that
america's most important monuments serve
not just an architectural purpose
but also a spiritual one?
Many believe the answer is yes, and suggest that for the proof,
we need only look to one of our most iconic national monuments:
A giant stone obelisk whose history is as fascinating
as the u.S. President for whom it was named.
Shatner: Iafter an extensivee three-year renovation,
including significant security enhancements
to make it nearly invulnerable to terrorist attacks,
the washington monument, a towering memorial
dedicated to america's first president,
finally reopens to an eager public.
The washington monument is such an important place
in the american narrative because of what it represents.
It represents george washington himself
and his important position in the building of our nation.
It is a ray of light descending from the heavens,
or inspiration itself,
just as he was that to the young nation.
Shatner: First unveiled in 1884,
and standing 555 feet tall,
the washington monument is not only
the tallest structure in washington, d.C.,
but the tallest stone structure in the world.
It is a feat made even more incredible
by the fact that the 36,491 blocks
of marbled granite and bluestone gneiss
that comprise the washington monument
are only held together by gravity and friction,
without any mortar whatsoever.
Most people look at the washington monument
and they see a huge obelisk,
but I doubt that very many people at all
know every stone in the monument is unique.
Every stone has its own story,
and they all have secrets.
Shatner: Secrets? In the stones?
Most who visit the washington monument
immediately notice a slight variation
in the color of the stone facade,
indicating the towering spire likely underwent
a troubled period during its construction.
The monument's origins date back to 1833,
when a group of citizens called
the washington national monument society
took charge of the project
and selected a design by architect robert mills.
Berger: Robert mills' original design for a washington monument
was that of a 600-foot shaft,
a obelisk with a much flatter pyramidion
than that which now bedecks the washington monument
we all know.
And it would have a colonnade surrounding
the washington monument's central shaft of statuary
of the founding fathers that supported george washington
in the building of the nation.
Shatner: On July 4, 1848,
thousands of people gathered on the hillside
just south of the white house to commemorate
the long-awaited start of construction
on the washington monument.
What they witnessed wasn't merely the laying
of the ceremonial cornerstone
but an elaborate freemason ritual.
Berger: The freemasons were very instrumental
in the building of the washington monument
because, of course, the subject matter
that the monument honors-- george washington himself--
being a very prominent freemason.
They wore george washington's sash.
They wore his apron.
-And they had his gavel. -(gavel bangs)
you were identifying with the father of our country.
And then, of course, a few years later,
the civil war intervened, and that led to
enormous delays in constructing the monument.
After a lot of delay,
the construction of the washington monument
is jump-started again.
Shatner: When construction resumes,
the stones used to complete the monument
came from a different quarry.
This explains why there is a visible difference
in the color of the stones today.
Also different is the final design.
Mills's grandiose vision for the washington monument
was replaced by a simpler
and perhaps even more striking design--
a single, towering obelisk.
But what could have inspired the use of a symbol
from ancient egypt to honor the most venerated
of american presidents?
Elias: It is no coincidence that obelisks are used
as symbols in the rituals of freemasonry.
The egyptians were great builders.
And here, we're not talking anymore only about
building structures, physical structures.
We're talking about creating, also, a link
between the physical earth, where we live,
and what is happening in the universe around us.
The language of freemasonry is a language of symbols.
And there is a fundamental reason for that.
By using a language of symbols, you can talk about ideas
that free the mind with some form of safety.
Hieronimus: There are important symbols
within the washington monument.
When you get in the elevator and you go up,
above one of the elevator doors
is a winged disc with a six-pointed star
in that disc.
That winged disc goes back to egyptian mythologies
and indicated elevation of consciousness.
We're getting in this elevator, moving into
the higher spiritual dimensions,
with the six-pointed star in the middle!
Berger: The aluminum tip on top of the washington monument
was placed there December 6, 1884
upon the completion of this structure as a crowning act.
Engraved upon it, two words:
"laus deo," or "praise be to god,"
facing to the east.
And as those two words face to the east,
the sun rises but never sets upon those words.
Is the washington monument
a glorious memorial to a great man?
Or is it also a tribute to the role freemasonry played
in the founding of the united states?
There are many who believe that both things are true,
and that the mystery of america's obsession
with tall buildings can best be answered
by examining the story of a building
that, while no longer the world's tallest,
is still one of its most famous,
the empire state building.
Shatner: After four years the eof construction,d
the empire state building's remodeled
102nd floor observatory is finally revealed to the public.
Costing a staggering $165 million,
the renovation also includes a 10,000-square-foot museum
and an all-new observation deck,
offering visitors a 360-degree view from atop the building,
one that has often been called the eighth wonder of the world.
The empire state building,
almost more than any other building, represents new york.
Great look, a great presence.
It's called the "it factor."
people have it, buildings have it,
and the empire state building has the it factor.
Shatner: Designated a national historic landmark in 1986,
many consider the empire state building to be not only
the most recognizable building in new york city
but also the entire world.
Over 20,000 people arrive to work here every day,
taking one of the 73 elevators to offices
located across 103 floors,
nearly 2.7 million square feet of office space in all.
In fact, the 1,454-foot building is so large,
it was even given its own zip code.
Originally designed to be a symbol
of america's indomitable spirit and ingenuity,
until 1972 the empire state building
enjoyed its unique status as the world's tallest building.
The empire state building was scheduled to be a thousand feet.
The chrysler building was 1,046.
So they determined that they would ensure
that they would be the world's tallest building
by adding a 200-foot-high mast atop the building.
You could almost call it the race of the titans.
The idea for the world's tallest tower always gains attention.
And there is a certain kind of status that's given
to any building that's going to break a record,
because it certainly is a signal achievement.
Shatner: As anticipated,
when the empire state building finally opened
on may 1, 1931, its coveted status
as the tallest building in the world
brought it international renown.
But why construct a building to tower
more than a thousand feet above the earth?
If monuments like the capitol building
and the washington monument are meant to symbolize
a connection to something greater than ourselves,
could the empire state building be an attempt
to literally ascend from the earth and touch the heavens?
Willis: The thrill of being at the top
of the empire state building
is, is really to-to be above it all.
To look out to the harbor
and have the, the thrill of nearly infinite vision.
There are many historical paradigms
to summarize the achievements through the ages.
For the romans it might be the pantheon,
for the greeks it might be the parthenon,
but the empire state building summarizes the idea
about what america wanted to be in the 20th century.
Shatner: According to historians,
the romantic notion of being above it all
was taken to the extreme
when the empire state building first opened.
Willis: The stock market was going up,
real estate investment was rampant.
They needed to have some extra measure of modernity
that signaled that this building not just stood above the rest
but participated in this upper stratum
of the-the world of business.
So they imagined that they would add a docking station
for dirigibles, for the zeppelins.
Shatner: A dirigible docking station?
Is it possible that the empire state building,
hailed as a symbol of america's
can-do attitude and industrial might,
was actually envisioned to be the world's tallest airport?
Tauranac: They said, "we will drag it into the building,
crank it down."
the dirigible can be moored to the top of the mooring mast.
A gangplank can be dropped to the 103rd floor
where there was a platform that ringed to the building.
And the passengers can de-dirigible
down the gangplank 1,250 feet in the air.
It was the looniest building scheme since the tower of babel.
Shatner: The first test
of the empire state building's docking station
was a massive failure.
Although workers managed to pass a mailbag
over from the top of the tower, the tethered airship was rocked
by high winds while attempting to dock.
After the hindenburg disaster in 1937,
the notion of commercial dirigible travel
was abandoned altogether.
A fate that fortunately would not befall
another great american monument,
one that thousands of people travel across every day,
despite the possibility
of catastrophic structural collapse.
In celebration of its 50th anniversary,
hundreds of thousands of people gather
to walk across one of america's greatest monuments,
the golden gate bridge.
Designed by engineer leon moisseiff,
the 887,000-ton bridge measures 1.7 miles across
and is suspended by two main cables,
each 7,659 feet long and over three feet in diameter.
And although more than 100,000 vehicles
commute across the bridge every day,
on this day it begins to groan and sag
under the load of 300,000 people on it at once.
There was a weeklong fiesta.
Schools closed, parades, bands.
It was just everyone in san francisco,
marin county, and the counties to the north
came to celebrate the opening of this bridge.
Two crowds, one from the north and one to the south
came together in the middle of the bridge
with no place to go and it got to be a crush loading.
There were so many people on the bridge
that that vertical curve of the bridge
was flattened, straight out,
deflected something on the order of 20 feet.
The bridge was swarmed with people,
and it was probably the biggest load the bridge has ever seen.
Shatner: As sudden winds cause the bridge to sway,
the pedestrians begin to panic, fearing the span will collapse.
Their fears are heightened by the fact
that a similar leon moisseiff-designed bridge
collapsed in tacoma, washington nearly 50 years earlier.
Moisseiff's ambition was to make bridges
higher, longer and lighter.
But in the case of the tacoma bridge,
he made it too aerodynamic.
(wind blowing)
so the bridge began to move with the winds,
and it set up a process in which the, the bridge collapsed.
Shatner: Fortunately, the golden gate bridge
did not share the fate of the tacoma bridge,
and the massive crowd escaped unscathed,
although authorities no longer permit
mass gatherings on the bridge.
It was a rather frightening moment
with what could have been
the greatest civil engineering disaster
in the history of the human race.
Fortunately, retrofitting that had been recently accomplished
enabled the bridge to go through that difficulty.
Shatner: But if the tacoma bridge suffered
a catastrophic collapse, what made the builders
of the golden gate bridge think they could build
an even longer and more ambitious bridge
and yet not suffer a similar fate?
Particularly when no one at the time
had ever built a suspension bridge anywhere near its size?
Moisseiff's key contribution was the towers.
He took the towers higher and higher
than previously anybody thought could be done.
And that allowed the bridge to spin suspension cables
over a greater distance,
which allowed the golden gate strait to be spanned.
When we look at the success of the golden gate bridge,
the beauty of it suggests to us
the whole sort of mystery of the cosmos,
or creation, of time,
of human enterprise, human ingenuity,
and, really, engineering as a pursuit
of human beings across time.
It's hard to look at america's monuments
and not feel a sense of wonder.
They serve to remind us that while they may last
for centuries, we only serve as their temporary caretakers.
And despite their groundbreaking engineering
and fascinating histories,
there is much about them that is a mystery.
A mystery that guarantees that they will remain
unexplained.
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