Date: Monday, February 10, 2014
Loca tion: NY NATAS, 1375 Broadway (between 37th and 38th Streets), Suite 2103< /strong>
Reception: 6:0 0-6:30 PM ~ Program: 6:30-8:00 PM
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*Free to NY NATAS Members!
Produced &\; Moderated by Sumner Jules Glimcher.
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&ldquo\;The Panama Canal: \; History and Operation &rdquo\;
The creation of the Panama Canal has been described as perhaps the most significant eng ineering feat of the past several hundred years. \; Very early in its history, an exploratory trip by several US naval vessels was instituted by President Ulysses S. Grant. \; He sent ships to explore the possibili ty of a canal somewhere in Central America to connect the Atlantic Ocean w ith the Pacific. \; Later, in 1880, the French engineer, Ferdinand de Lessups, who had built the Suez Canal, at age 60, when most people retired , decided to build a canal connecting the two oceans. \; He raised mil lions of French francs and created a corporation to achieve this feat.&nbs p\; After the loss of 22,000 men due to illness, mostly Malaria and Yellow Fever, he abandoned his dream. \; The enormous financial loss almost bankrupted the French Empire. \; When Teddy Roosevelt became President after the assassination of William McKinley, this larger than life figure once again took up the challenge. \; The first item on his agenda was to eradicate the two diseases, which had rendered the French effort such a massive defeat. \; Teddy sent Surgeon General William Gorgas south.& nbsp\; Gorgas had thought that the tiny mosquito was the carrier of both Y ellow Fever and Malaria, and screened all the windows in the dwellings and offices of the existing buildings, and covered all the standing water wit h oil, and within three months, both diseases had disappeared. \; Then the digging began and the story of its construction, amply documented by the staff photographers dispatched by TR, told the story of this massive e ngineering feat. \; From 1904 to 1914 this effort dominated world hist ory. \; Since most world trade travels by ship, the Canal shortened th e trip from Asia to the American east coast and Europe. \; The Canal b ecame central to world trade. \; Now, after the construction of \; supertankers and enormous vessels, the Canal is being rebuilt with locks twice the length and width of the earlier locks. \; This documentary t ells the entire story of its construction and how it works.
Sumner Jules G limcher, whose entire career has been in media, began as a Page a t NBC, where six years provided his background in radio and television.&nb sp\; Later working at Radio Free Europe, he began his knowledge of interna tional broadcasting, which he used as Manager of Foreign News at WOR and R KO General. \; He later worked for PBS, and taught at Harvard, his alm a mater, Columbia and NYU. \; He has been a consultant to the Presiden t of Harvard, the United Nations, and, for more than twenty years, the Con sulate General of Japan. \; Now retired he has brought &ldquo\;Meet Th e Filmmaker&rdquo\; to NATAS for the past several years.
Space is \; l
imited. \; You \; must \; RSVP \; to \; info@nyemmys.org to reserve a seat. Please write &ldqu
o\;Panama Canal&rdquo\; in the Subject Box.