LNSmithee's MyC-SPAN

C-SPAN coverage of the California, Montana, New Jersey, South Dakota, and New Mexico presidential primaries and the North Dakota Democratic Caucuses included election results, speeches from candidates, and viewer reaction. Abby Phillip reported by video from the Washington Post newsroom. Other reporters from various states were interviewed by Skype or telephone. A video clip was also shown of House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) earlier that day calling presumptive 2016 Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s comments about a Mexican-American judge the “textbook definition of a racist comment.” An internet video released that day by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s campaign, “History Made,” was also shown.

Mark Barabak spoke by phone about the race between Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) for the party’s nomination.

Shaping San Francisco hosted a forum on human genetic engineering and synthetic biology. Scientists working on glowing plants, hornless cows, and 3-D bio-printers talked about the ethics of altering human embryos, cloning, and gene-altering technology.

Only a couple of days before the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, Quang Pham, his mother, and siblings were driven out of Saigon on a motor scooter by their father, a South Vietnamese pilot helping the American forces during the Vietnam War. Quang’s father stayed behind, was captured by the Viet Cong, and placed in a prisoner-of-war camp for ten years while Quang and the rest of his family fled the country, stopping at the Fort Chaffee refugee camp in Little Rock before eventually settling in California. The author went on to study at UCLA, joined the U.S. Marines as a helicopter pilot and fought in the first Gulf War as well as in Somalia. Mr. Pham tells his story in A Sense of Duty: My Father, My American Journey.

Harvey Schwartz talked about his book, Building the Golden Gate Bridge: A Workers' Oral History. He showed pictures of the laborers and spoke about their testimonies of harsh weather, safety procedures, and work conditions during the Great Depression.

Kermit Roosevelt talked about President Theodore Roosevelt’s evolving vision of the Constitution and the national debate over how to define American democracy. He spoke about moments when these debates shaped national policy, such as during the World War II internment of Japanese Americans.

Panelists talked about the impact of “disruptive” technology on government and politics. “Disruptive” technology is something that displaces an established technology, creating a new market. Entrepreneur Shelly Kapoor Collins moderated.

Founder Rick Prelinger talked about the Prelinger Archives in San Francisco, California, a collection of over 60,000 “ephemeral” (advertising, educational, industrial, and amateur) films. In this second of a two-part look at the Prelinger Archives, founder Rick Prelinger spoke about his project to collect and digitize thousands of home movies . He also talked about some of his favorite industrial films.

Wanda Sabir interviewed Sonja Williams about her book, Word Warrior: Richard Durham, Radio, and Freedom. They talked about the significance of black voices in the press and radio journalism in history and literature.