LIVING HISTORY

[Music] the year is 1930 in new york harbor an escorting armada of honor clusters about a battered weather beaten bark home from an historic exploration of the antarctic rear admiral richard e byrd is in command first man to conquer the north and south poles by air millions of new yorkers turned out in a thrilling tribute to the daring explorer whose achievements had won the admiration and acclaim of the entire world 23 years after he rode in triumph of broadway admiral byrd speaks to the students of america greetings to you my young friends i am glad for this chance to tell you something about the top of the world and perhaps about something about the bottom of the world too the north polar sea is surrounded by frozen continents the antarctic continent is surrounded by frozen seas the south the bottom of the world considerably colder than the top of the world the south is as cold as people think the north is why did we explore why did we go to the top of the world as long as it remains anything unknown on the face of this earth we live on man is going to go after it to try to find out what it is to attempt to conquer it and to learn how to live in it little did i think when we flew to the north pole in 1926 this area the contiguous islands and waters to our flight to the pole would become one of the most important strategic areas on the face of the earth below is the actual north pole the top of the world the plane returns after anxious hours to the expedition's base at spitzbergen in 16 hours the flight had accomplished what perry's heroic sled journey had taken more than a year to do [Applause] admiral byrd and pilot floyd bennett had blazed an aerial trail across the arctic i myself think we have a good chance to avoid war but if we unfortunately god forbid do have a war much of it will be fought across the top of the world across the pole it is very important that we get prepared to fight in the bitter coal and to utilize mechanized units there and to have bases near the pole because it's a close it has strategic position with reference to our potential enemy as the world continues to shrink with an ever increasing acceleration the northern areas will become important for human habitation it's becoming warmer up there i believe myself the whole world is becoming warmer now why is the south pole important why do we go down there it is because the bottom of the world is an untouched reservoir of natural resources southward hole the start of one or admiral bird's six expeditions to study the weird wonders of the amazing antarctic later bird charts the course as the ship her masts outlined against a scarred ice wall nears the end of a 14 000 mile journey the sea is strewn with loose broken ice but the sturdy ship crunches steadily on to her improvised birth against the ice barrier [Music] ashore in antarctica the white continent soon scouts are searching for the snow smothered site of earlier camps proudly old glory has run up to fly again over little america the local inhabitants look on blocks of snow melted down in subsurface vats provide water for the camp it's a tedious process two gallons of snow yield barely two quarts of water the friendly penguin is among the most hardy and primitive of birds of all the animals who roamed the once tropical antarctic continent he alone has survived a little supervisor in full dress lured over a lifeless wasteland slumbering still in the ice age that gripped the northern hemisphere thirty thousand years ago [Music] this is little america the southernmost city in the world by air man has explored vast chunks of the antarctic six million square miles admiral byrd returns from a scouting flight with only minutes to spare a savage blizzard is about to strike whirling up from the pole as all storms here do it brings ice edge snow lashed by fierce winds in their shelter below members of the expedition study photographs taken on bird's flight above the storm reaches full fury [Applause] [Music] a navigation class underground learns more of the world's coldest windiest continent where temperatures reach 90 below and winds 200 miles an hour preserving food in storage lockers is no problem here many experts envision the antarctic as a huge deep freeze cabinet surplus food could conceivably be stored with assurance that it would be there hundreds of years later meat freezes so hard that it must be chopped with an axe the fury of the storm is spent the men can now reclaim the frozen world above except for a thick fresh frosting of snow there is no change crews soon are at work digging out a tractor is freed from its cocoon of snow man and machines have conquered the antarctic wastes dog sleds carrying vital information collected on the expedition and their drivers abandoned little america and returned to the ships now being loaded those long time friends of the bird expeditions the penguins say goodbye the natural resources of the antarctic must be left behind coal oil uranium and penguins ahead the long voyage home i think it's important for us to explore that area important for the human race to find out what's there that is why when this crisis is over we expect to go back perhaps uh some of you students who are hearing this talk may volunteer to go back with us we'll be glad to have you some of us may answer this call to adventure and journey with admiral byrd back to the poles truly the ends of the earth