Museum Secrets (2011–…): Season 3, Episode 19 - Inside the Smithsonian Institute - full transcript

- [Narrator] Washington, D.C.,

a city of power and patriotism,

and at its heart, a complex of museums

with secrets dark and strange.

How to rule the road,

how to take a trip to Mars,

and how to take down a legendary fighter,

secrets hidden in plain sight

inside the Smithsonian Institution.

(ominous music)

(exciting music)



In a nation whose motto
could be the bigger the better,

the Smithsonian Institution
is as big as it gets.

It's comprised of 19 museums and galleries

that host over 30
million visitors every year.

As a single institution, the Smithsonian

is truly a museum of everything,

much of it seen from a
distinctly American point of view,

from pop culture to technology to war.

But the Smithsonian isn't simply

a showcase for the nation's victories,

because in one corner of
the Air and Space Museum,

you will find an American nemesis,

the Japanese Zero fighter plane.

On December 7, 1941, the
Zero was the killing machine



of the infamous attack on Pearl Harbor.

- With great stealth, they maneuvered

this large battle fleet
with four aircraft carriers

close enough to launch a strike.

The Americans weren't expecting it.

(bomb exploding)

- [Narrator] During and after the battle,

squadrons of Zero fighter planes ruled

the skies over the Pacific.

Why were they such a powerful force?

That is our museum's secret.

Our story begins in Houston, Texas,

during the city's annual airshow.

Thousands turn out to see precision flying

and modern war planes,

and to witness historic
reenactments of aerial combat.

A dozen vintage American fighters

will take part in today's events,

as will several U.S. trainers

that have been modified to look like Zeros.

Stand-ins are necessary because so few

Zeros have survived.

But the plane in this
hangar is the real deal.

It is one of the last
operational Zeros in existence.

It's the pride of veteran
pilot, Warren Peach.

- If you look at it just
strictly as an airplane,

it's still one of the prettiest
airplanes ever built.

There isn't a barnacle on it.

It's smooth as glass everywhere.

The riveting is exquisite.

The design is very graceful.

It's a dream come true
to get to get in there

and fly these airplanes.

Somebody sat in this airplane and fought

in World War II, and
I'm sittin' in the same

seat that they sat in,

and I can't help but reflect on the history

and just what's happened in this airplane.

- [Narrator] In the
air, the Zero's fighting

capabilities quickly become apparent.

- It has a great power-to-weight ratio.

It accelerates extremely quick.

The whole thing about
a dogfight was how tight

you could turn and how tight you could loop

and how quick you could get on the tail

of another airplane.

I don't think there's an airplane out there

that could touch a Zero in that realm.

- [Narrator] At the beginning of the war,

in hundreds of dogfights,

the Zero had a 12-to-one kill ratio.

But can this be explained by the Zero's

speed and agility alone?

Aviation Historian, Osamu
Tagaya doesn't think so.

- One of the primary reasons,

was that the quality of the pilots

who flew them was extremely high.

Pilot training in the
Imperial Japanese Navy

was extremely intense.

- [Narrator] By order of the emperor,

trainees were to follow

an ancient code of conduct called Bushido.

(sticks slapping)

Bushido is the way of the samurai,

11th century warriors who excelled

at a martial art called Bujutsu.

(yelling)

Testutake Sugawara is a revered master.

(rhythmic music)

Bushido training like
this helped Zero pilots

develop tactical abilities,

and the inner strength to
remain calm during battle.

When the pilots took their
samurai skills into the air,

they became fliers unlike
any the world had ever seen.

- It's almost spiritual
in the concentration

that they brought to
bear on their profession,

not merely physically being
adept at flying their aircraft,

but to make the aircraft
an extension of themselves.

(plane engine roaring)

It's like the samurai
sword being an extension

of the warrior himself.

- [Narrator] At the Houston Airshow,

a Japanese squadron makes a bombing run

that simulates hits on
American ships at Pearl Harbor.

(bombs exploding)

During the real battle, American
losses were devastating.

Japan was determined to
force America out of the Pacific.

It didn't work.

- We're going to destroy Japan's armies,

Japan's navy, Japan's air forces,

Japan's whole power to wage war.

- [Narrator] Immobilized
America struck back at sea

and in the air, and within a few months,

American fighter pilots believed

they had discovered the Zero's fatal flaw.

- They didn't have armor plate,

they didn't have self-sealing fuel tanks.

I think the Zero went in with no intention

of ever being shot at, only
shooting at other people.

It was a sword, not a shield.

- [Narrator] The Bushido code offered

Zero pilots no protection

from 50 caliber bullets fired from behind.

(crashing)

(explosion)

Once Japan lost air supremacy,

its leaders ordered pilots on
suicidal kamikaze missions.

It was the Bushido code
that made them obey.

(plane whirring) (explosion)

But it was not enough to
change the course of history.

The U.S. may have one the Pacific War,

but many Americans who
faced the Zero in battle

have not forgotten, or forgiven.

- I've had vets that came
and saw the airplane

and that have said the last time

they saw one was right before

it hit a ship they were on,

and I'd just as soon see that one burn.

And I've had that comment a few times

where people felt the
airplane shouldn't exist,

it should be destroyed.

- [Narrator] And perhaps that's why

the annual Houston
Airshow features a dogfight

where a Zero mounts a sneak attack,

but the American
fighter turns the tables...

And its nemesis goes down in smoke.

Next on Museum Secrets,
a heroic homing pigeon.

(gunshots)

(exciting music)

The Smithsonian's National
Museum of American History

is a massive complex
in downtown Washington,

and like any urban edifice,
it has its share of pigeons.

(pigeons cooing)

At the museum, pigeons
are part of the scenery,

not part of history.

And that makes this
preserved specimen unique.

His name is Cher Ami,
French for dear friend.

- Cher Ami was one of eight
pigeons that was assigned

to Major Charles
Whittlesey's 1st Battalion.

- [Narrator] The 1st was a battalion

of the U.S. Army in World War I.

During this conflict,
American soldiers used

message capsules attached to homing pigeons

to communicate with headquarters.

And in October of 1918, the 1st Battalion

needed desperately to communicate

(explosions)

- [Kathleen] The 1st Battalion

was surrounded by the Germans.

They were cut off from
the rest of the 77th Division.

- [Narrator] And worse,
as American artillery

pounded German positions,
they also hit their own men

of the 1st Battalion.

Over two days, this friendly
fire killed over 300 men.

- They needed to send a message

to have the Americans stop shelling them.

- [Narrator] They typed a
message that ended with,

"For Heaven's sake stop it,"

and attached it to the battalion's

last surviving pigeon, Cher Ami.

- He was pretty much a sitting duck,

because German snipers
had discovered he was there.

(gunshots)

- [Narrator] Cher Ami was hit,

but then somehow, he
found the will to rise again.

He disappeared into the smoke

as he headed for home
behind the American lines.

What compelled this
pigeon to brave the bullets?

And how does any
pigeon find their way home?

Those are our museum secrets.

Our investigation begins
in a backyard pigeon coop

in Washington D.C. (whistling)

- Everything we do, 365 days a year,

is done to make sure that our birds

are healthy and fit.

Their diet is as controlled
as any prize fighter.

(whistling)

- [Narrator] Drew Lesofski is the president

of a local pigeon fanciers club.

- Homing pigeons have
been bred for millennia

to come from great distances,
and they're bred for stamina.

Their heart is different, they
have more advanced lungs,

their eyesight tends to be better.

Through that, they're
just completely different.

- [Narrator] Club member, John Celia,

augments their inbred
abilities with training.

- As we progress every week,

we go a little further
and a little further,

the birds get fitter,
they eventually put on

enough stamina where they
can fly the longer distances.

- [Narrator] Today, John
will release his pigeons

25 miles from home.

On this clear day, they will have

familiar landmarks to guide them.

But when Cher Ami
set off for the U.S. lines,

the fog of war made
landmarks impossible to see,

and yet, he headed in the right direction.

How is this possible?

For decades, scientists have theorized

that pigeons get their bearings

from the earth's magnetic field.

- We believe that it's a
GPS in the bird's brain.

The bird would form a map

of magnetic space, and
this map can be used,

then, to tell the bird's position,

and his directional heading.

- [Narrator] Today, neuroscientists

at Baylor College of
Medicine are testing the theory

with the help of a pigeon in a box,

surrounded by electromagnetic coils

that simulate the earth's magnetic field.

To eliminate external stimuli,

the lab is made completely dark.

- Let's present the earth's magnetic field

in the XY plane. - Okay, great.

- [Narrator] If cells within
the pigeon's brain respond

to changes in magnetism,
the response will be registered

as waveforms on this screen.

(rapid ticking)

- And look, it's modulating in sync

with the earth's magnetic field.

- Yeah, you're right, that's great.

- That's really exciting.

- [Narrator] The fact that they're in sync

proves the pigeon has an internal compass,

and that the brain cells are responding

to the earth's magnetic field.

- Now for the first time,
we are understanding

the processes of how the brain

actually uses that information

for homing for very long distances,

or even short distances.

It is a sixth sense.

- There they are, see 'em?

- [Narrator] This sixth
sense helps John's pigeons

find their way home.

Come on, guys. (whistling)

Come on, come on.

- [Narrator] And allowed
Cher Ami to stay on course.

After an hour over no man's land,

the wounded bird
reached the American lines.

- And when he got there,
his leg had been shot off,

his breast had been shot,
and he had lost an eye,

but he still had the capsule.

- [Narrator] The message he carried

led to the rescue of 200
survivors of the 1st Battalion.

Medics also saved Cher Ami,

who was awarded the
Croix de Guerre for bravery.

But of course, birds don't
take sides in brutal human wars,

so it's strange that
Cher Ami fought so hard

to make it home.

Or maybe not.

- I've had 'em come home from a race

as far as 500 miles
away with buckshot in 'em.

They just got hit by hunters,

and they'd come home,
I'd pull the buckshot out.

Tough birds, and determination,

incentive to get home, is unbelievable.

- [Narrator] And it turns out,

the reason for that
determination is universal.

- We use motivational tools,

such as food, light, territory.

Probably the most successful is to use sex,

it's all about sex, baby.

- [Narrator] No one knows who Cheri Ami had

waiting for him behind American lines,

but since he was lucky enough to survive,

perhaps he was lucky in love, too,

and received a hero's welcome.

(booming)

Next on Museum Secrets,

how to take a trip to Mars.

(exciting music)

(slow music)

The Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum

is home to many icons of space exploration,

including the most powerful
liquid-fueled rocket in history.

- This is the five engine cluster,

or simulation five engine
cluster of a Saturn V,

the business end of the rocket

that took humans to The Moon.

- [Narrator] In 1969,
two American astronauts

walked on the lunar
surface for the first time.

- [Announcer] They've got the flag up now

and you can see the stars and stripes

on the lunar surface.

- [Narrator] But since
the sixth lunar lander

departed in 1972, no human
has visited another world.

Mars is the nearest planet to our own.

To date, only robot probes
have reaches its surface,

but that could change.

- By the mid 2030s, I believe
we can send humans to orbit,

Mars, and return them safely to Earth.

And a landing on Mars will follow,

and I expect to be around to see it.

- [Narrator] But putting a man on The Moon

required a journey of
just 380,000 kilometers.

Mars is hundreds of times further away.

What will it take to put a human footprint

on the red planet?

That is our museum secret.

(upbeat piano music)

Our story begins at the
turn of the 20th century,

when space travel was invented, as fantasy.

In George Melies movie,
"A Trip to the Moon"

space is a tourist destination.

And in H.G. Wells' novel,
"The War of the Worlds"

aliens invade Earth from Mars.

Wells' story inspired a
scientist named Robert Goddard.

- Goddard was really a dreamer.

He became obsessed with the idea of,

how could you develop a technology

to go into space?

(cheerful music)

- [Narrator] Goddard
designed the first rocket

powered by liquid fuel.

He experimented at his Aunt Effie's farm,

without much success. (explosions)

But in 1928, this odd looking design,

known as the Hoopskirt rocket,

finally changed all that.

It took off.

Well, almost.

(explosion)

- Goddard was a much
better tinkerer and scientist

than he was an engineer.

- [Narrator] The neighbors thought so too,

especially after he set
Aunt Effie's farm on fire.

- People were ridiculing him,

but there were also incredible
amounts of enthusiasm.

People wrote to him and said,

"I'm volunteering for
the first trip to The Moon."

- [Narrator] Goddard didn't
live to realize his dreams.

But in the hands of later engineers,

the liquid-fueled rocket would turn out

to be a visionary idea.

- [Announcer] And, liftoff.

- [Narrator] And because
it put humans on the moon,

some scientists believe
liquid fuel has what it takes

to get us to Mars.

But this man doesn't think so.

Franklin Chang Diaz is a physicist

who became an astronaut in 1980.

A veteran of seven space shuttle missions,

he became head of NASA's
advanced propulsion program,

and today he runs his own private lab.

- Looks like.

The problem with the
kind of conventional rockets

we use today is that they're too slow

and they take too much fuel.

- [Narrator] Liquid-fueled rockets

cannot carry enough propellant
for continuous acceleration

over a long distance.

So, after reaching their
maximum speed, they coast.

- Typically today, if you wanna go to Mars,

it takes you eight months to get there.

- [Narrator] For a human mission,

eight months might be too long.

- There is, of course,
the psychological issues

of living in a small confined space

under weightless conditions.

Also, you're moving
through interplanetary space,

you're no longer protected
by the natural shield

of the earth magnetic field.

You're being radiated by cosmic radiation

and also energetic particles
from the sun the entire time.

So, in order to get to Mars,

we need a better propulsion system.

- [Narrator] And that's why
Chang Diaz invented this.

He calls it a Variable Specific Impulse

Magnetoplasma Rocket.

Instead of using liquid fuel,

a powerful electromagnet
propels a small amount

of plasma out of the nozzle,
generating high-speed thrust.

- It is what we call the Model T.

It is the first unit that we think

will actually fly in space.

- [Narrator] He calculates
that a plasma engine

could provide the continuous acceleration

required to reach Mars in just 39 days.

Some scientists ridicule this notion.

Plasma engine technology is complex,

and is untested in space.

But there was a time when
Goddard's liquid-fueled rocket

was ridiculed, too.

- Robert Goddard has
always been one of my heroes,

who was able to see the future.

It was amazing how many times he failed,

and he just didn't give up.

Part of the message here, is
that persistence is necessary.

You have to, little by little,

demonstrate the capabilities.

You just have to stay with it.

- [Narrator] Chang Diaz
hopes to demonstrate

his plasma engine in space

by tethering it to the
International Space Station.

If it performs well,

NASA scientists may
embrace plasma after all.

It may be the best technology

to put a human footprint on Mars.

Chang Diaz just needs to
prove it's got the right stuff.

(engine roaring)

Up next...

The secret of a badass American icon.

(exciting music)

Inside the Smithsonian, one can discover

many American originals,

from the Space Shuttle to Kermit The Frog.

And in a storage area of the
museum not open to the public

is another American original.

The first generation of a legendary brand.

The name on the side
isn't a mistake, or a joke.

This is a Harley.

- It only has five horsepower though,

and only a 35 cubic inch motorcycle,

quite small by today's standards,

but it was enough to get around

in the teens and '20s when it was in use.

- Soon this 90 pound weakling

grew into a 900 pound American icon.

It's loud and proud. (engine revving)

With its own distinctive rumble.

It has become a symbol of freedom,

with an outlaw attitude.

How did the Harley achieve such a mystique?

That is our museum secret.

(rock music)

Smithsonian Curator, Paul Johnston begins

the investigation with a road trip.

He's heading for a laboratory
where he hopes to discover

one of the keys to the Harley's mystique,

its trademark sound.

He's not a Harley owner, but he's ridden

many brands of motorbikes over the years,

so he's a good test subject.

- Hi, nice to meet you, I'm Aduche.

- Hi, Aduche.

- Have a seat, make yourself comfortable.

- [Narrator] Paul will listen

to recordings of various motorcycles.

- [Aduche] You feel comfortable?

- [Paul] Mm-hmm.

- [Patrick] We're gonna hook you up

to monitor a couple different responses.

- [Narrator] Dr. Patrick
Mahoney and his assistant

wire him for EEG, heart
rate, body temperature,

and sweat response.

- Okay, we can get ready to begin.

(engine roaring)

- [Narrator] Paul hears
a Harley at 80 decibels.

There's no detectable spike on the monitor.

But when he's given a sound

that is similar to his own motorcycle

he has a clear physiological response.

- It was as if he was riding.

He had a very kinda, intuitive sense

of what the rider was doing.

- [Narrator] If sound alone
can take Paul back on the road,

it means the motorbike
riding experience is powerful.

But it doesn't tell us anything
about the Harley's mystique.

Perhaps you have to own one to understand.

- Just knowing you've got American classic,

true American bike.

Once you get American
in ya with the Harleys,

I guess it's just in your blood then.

- [Narrator] Harleys
became American classics

when they served their country in war,

including the desert
campaign of World war II.

After the war, Harley production was part

of the made in the U.S.A. industrial boom.

The boom has faded, but Harley didn't.

So, for some, choosing to
ride a Harley is a patriotic act.

For others, it's a power trip.

- I wanted the big bike.

I wanted to be the five foot seven,

125 pound woman on the big bike.

I kinda wanted to be a renegade.

- [Narrator] But renegades reject society.

How did an icon of American life

become a symbol of the outsider?

- Probably the best
thing that ever happened

to Harley-Davidson was when
the movie "Easy Rider" came out.

- Oh, they're not scared of you,

they scared of what you represent to 'em.

What you represent to them is freedom.

- Me and three friends
at a drive-in theater,

saw "Easy Rider" and that was it for us.

We had to have choppers, we
had to have Harley-Davidsons.

It was cool.

- [Narrator] But the Harley's mystique

goes beyond cool.

It's cool with a raised middle finger.

- I think that there is a
certain bad boy image

associated with motorcycles,

and particularly Harley-Davidsons.

And I mean, you can see accountants,

and physicians, and dentists on weekends

all driving around like tough guys.

- [Narrator] The tough guy
part of the Harley's mystique

seems to come from its popularity

among violent gang
members, and stone-cold killers.

Or maybe not.

- In 1947, Life Magazine
in its 4th of July issue

published an article on a
motorcycle rally out in Hollister.

There's a picture of a motorcyclist

sprawled out on his motorcycle,

leaning backward on the
seat as though he was drunk,

surrounded by empty beer bottles.

- [Narrator] It was presented

as the aftermath of a
biker riot, but in fact,

the photograph was completely
staged to sell magazines.

- It frightened the
American public a little bit,

because it looked sort of, out of control.

- [Narrator] Hollywood
dramatized the mythical riot

in "The Wild One" starring Marlon Brando.

- 10 guys like that give people the idea

everybody drives a motorcycle is crazy.

(men yelling)

- And ever since that day,

people have considered
motorcycles and bad behavior

to go along together,
and it's still an image

that motorcycles are living down today.

(engine roaring)

- [Narrator] Most riders don't know

that part of the Harley's mystique

was created in Hollywood,

and if they did, they
probably wouldn't care.

- There's something about
the mystique of a Harley

compared to another bike.

There's a lot of new bikes out there

that look just like these,
they're not the same.

- The freedom, that's like a dog

hanging its head out the window.

So, best move.

- [Narrator] On the open road,

the origins of a myth don't matter.

These bikers just want to enjoy the ride.

Next on Museum Secrets, (gunshot)

how to make an amputee whole again.

(exciting music)

Inside the Smithsonian's
Museum of American History

The Price of Freedom exhibition

examines how wars have
transformed American society.

From present day back to
the War of Independence.

But perhaps no war remade
the nation more profoundly

than the Civil War, when
600,000 Americans died.

When the war began, the
canon was the deadliest weapon,

(canon booming)

but it was soon eclipsed by a
newly-designed rifled musket.

- These muskets have a much longer range

than their predecessors, but
they're just as quick to load,

and they tend to deliver their
bullets at a higher velocity.

(gunshot)

- [Narrator] No battle in American history

was bloodier than Antietam,

fought just a hundred
kilometers from the museum.

On September 17th, 1862, 70,000 riflemen

turned this farmer's
field into a killing zone.

- Just to give you one
image from the battle,

there was a corn field
like the one behind me

that was mowed down by
bullets to the very ground.

- [Narrator] By day's end
there were nearly 4,000 dead,

and over 20,000 casualties in total.

- I don't think anyone could've calculated

how effective these new weapons were,

and bones being hit by these weapons

don't simply break, they shatter.

(gunshot)

- [Narrator] How do you make
shattered bodies whole again?

That is our museum secret.

Our investigation begins in a part

of the Smithsonian not open to the public.

- This is a instrument set,

a field set from the era,

with amputation knives,
typical of the period.

- [Narrator] When limbs
were shattered and infected

they had to be cut off.

- [Katherine] Amputation was brutal, fast.

It usually had four people,

one to administer the chloroform,

one to hold the artery,

and then someone to support the limb.

- [Narrator] And a surgeon strong enough

to saw quickly through the bone.

(splattering)

During the Civil War, 10,000
died during amputations.

40,000 survived.

- For Civil War veterans,

an empty sleeve,
whether it was shirt sleeve

or a pants leg was a mark of valor.

- [Narrator] The choice
was stoic resignation,

or one of these.

- The prosthetic industry
as we know it today

can probably trace its roots really back

to the American Civil War.

There was an absolute explosion
and a need for these things.

This is really quite a marvel for its day.

We can see an articulated elbow

that allows the arm to
move to different positions.

This hand can actually be removed

and an eating utensil put in its place.

- [Narrator] Over the decades
prosthetics have evolved,

but so have the injuries of war.

(explosion)

- I have met a number of courageous,

intelligent warriors who have lost

two, three, or four limbs,

just because the explosive devices,

unfortunately, are getting better.

- [Narrator] Prosthetics help amputees

accomplish almost anything,

but artificial limbs are still artificial.

- Losing a hand can be devastating.

Not just because loss of function,

but the human hand is
used in social interaction,

and expression of emotion.

- [Narrator] Dr. Lee strives

to make his patients whole again,

using revolutionary new
transplantation surgery.

Not only on soldiers,
but also on civilians,

like Sheila Advento, who
lost her limbs to disease.

- A great deal of me is gone.

And being able to do things on my own

is what I've been used to,

so losing that all of a sudden,

it's almost defeating.

- [Narrator] When Sheila became aware

of Dr. Lee's pioneering work,

she applied to be a transplant candidate.

(machine beeping)

When a match was found,
Sheila was rushed into surgery.

This would be the first female double hand

transplant surgery in U.S. history.

After a marathon procedure
that lasted 12 hours,

Sheila opened her eyes in recovery.

- Immediately when I woke up,

as groggy as I was, I
looked down right away,

and oh wow, they're
right there in front of me.

Right here where you see the lines,

that's where the transplanted area is.

- [Narrator] But when Sheila reached out

to touch the world she felt nothing.

Weeks passed without improvement.

- I went to the bathroom to wash my hands

and all of a sudden I felt something,

and I was astounded by what I felt.

I was playing with my hair

and then all of a sudden I just, felt it.

I was like, okay, wow. (laughs)

I can feel my hair.

- [Narrator] Now she has
sensation but limited function.

- My fingers are very clawed,

my fingers are very tight,
so they have to loosen up.

- A hand transplant
recipient needs to understand

that it requires hard work on their part

to make the hand transplant successful.

- [Narrator] After
countless hours of therapy,

Sheila has reached a new milestone.

- I like to draw in the past,

so my therapists have allowed
me to start drawing again.

And now that I'm able
to do stuff like that again,

I love it. (laughs)

- A hand transplant is
not a life-saving operation,

but it's a life-giving operation.

- [Narrator] As he strives to improve

his technique for the future,

Dr. Lee is mindful of his debt to the past.

- The existence of our specialty

really owes itself to
treatment of war injury.

(explosion) (muffled speaking on radio)

With all the tragedies of war,

they have spurred advances in our field.

- It is one of the many
ways American society

has been transformed while
paying the price of freedom.

Up next... ♪ And the rockets' red glare ♪

The secret of "The Star-Spangled Banner".

♪ The bombs bursting in air ♪ (explosions)

(exciting music)

At the Smithsonian,
one artifact is presented

with the reverence usually reserved

for a religious relic.

- So, what we're doing with this object

is to showcase one of the grandest icons

in American identity.

"The Star-Spangled
Banner" has been the physical

and emotional heart at the
center of this museum here.

- [Narrator] Anyone can visit
the Star-Spangled Banner,

but not everyone can sing it.

Those who fail in front
of an unforgiving crowd,

like comedian, Roseanne
Barr, suffer ridicule and shame.

♪ And the rockets red glare ♪

- It was the going from
being a beloved person

to a despised and hated
person, literally over night.

- [Narrator] But some performers,

like D.C. Washington,

are invited to sing it again and again.

♪ O say does that
star-spangled banner yet wave ♪

- [Narrator] Why is the
American anthem so hard to sing?

And how to great singers do it justice?

♪ O'er the land of the free ♪

Those are our museum secrets

♪ And the home ♪

♪ Of the brave ♪ (crowd cheering)

Our story begins just five
kilometers from the Smithsonian

at Howard University.

(whistle blowing)

(upbeat drumming)

The football team is
practicing for a big game,

but no one has been chosen yet

to sing "The Star-Spangled Banner".

Today the school is
holding open auditions...

- Hi, April. - Hi.

- [Narrator] With the
help of D.C. Washington.

- I have not sung in
any professional (laughs)

environment at all.

- This is a great opportunity to learn

and to expand my knowledge and my growth.

- [Narrator] There is a
range of talent in the room,

but everyone has the jitters.

- Stand forth and let's hear.

♪ O ♪

(clears throat) Excuse me.

♪ O say can you see ♪

♪ By the dawn's early light ♪

♪ What so proudly we hailed ♪

♪ At the twilight last gleaming ♪

♪ Whose broad stripes and bright stars ♪

♪ Through the perilous fight ♪

♪ O'er the ramparts we watched ♪

♪ Were so gallantly streaming ♪

- Well, that was very very nice.

Very good.

Who tells Noreeda that she has the gig?

- I do? (laughs)

(laughing) Thank you!

That's great, I'm so excited.

- [D.C.] Congratulations.

- Thank you.

- [D.C.] Congratulations.

- Thank you.

Thank you. - Yeah.

- [Narrator] Noreeda Street
grew up singing in church,

and has experience in front of a crowd,

but she has never performed
"The National Anthem" solo.

♪ By the dawn's early light ♪

- We changed keys.

- [Noreeda] Did we?

- We did. - What was I?

- You went lower.

- That was actually the thing

that I was most nervous about,

was starting it in an awkward key.

'Cause once you get up
there you can't come back.

- Yeah, you're right, you can't go back.

- (laughs) Right.

(laughing)

- [Narrator] A singer who starts too high

will end up way up here.

(glass shattering)

Vocal technique is crucial,

but it's not the most important thing.

- You have to remember
that you're selling this song

to a crowd that buys into all

that "The Star-Spangled Banner" means.

- [Noreeda] Okay.

- [D.C.] You're singing
words that are emblematic

of who you are as an American.

♪ And the rockets' red glare. ♪

- [Narrator] As every
American school kid knows,

the words word written by a patriot

named Francis Scott Key.

During the War of 1812,

he watched the British navy
attack an American fortress

with a barrage of rockets.

And in the rockets' red glare,

he saw something that inspired him.

The flag of his nation was still flying.

♪ That our flag was still there ♪

- Of Washington.

See the charred timber
from The White House.

So, this flag here is the very flag

that Key saw, and this is
the Star-Spangled Banner.

- [Noreeda] This is the actual flag?

- [Jeffrey] This is the actual flag.

- [Noreeda] Are you kidding me?

This is amazing.

- There's a moment of
respect in hushed silence.

It sort of freezes them for a moment,

and that's a truly wonderful thing.

- It's just been a song
to me all this time,

but to actually understand the history

and the story behind it, yeah,

it definitely inspired me.

- [Narrator] But when game day arrives

and Noreeda is due to perform,

she still has a few last minute jitters.

- I'm repeating the words
over and over again.

Of course I know the song,
but I just wanna make sure

that I don't forget the words.

That would be terrible.

- Hang in there, it's gonna be all right.

(laughing)

You're gonna do just fine.

Ladies and gentlemen,

the singing of "The Star-Spangled Banner"

by Noreeda Street.

♪ O say can you see ♪

♪ By the dawn's early light ♪

- The anthem, it's completely intertwined

with the flag itself.

So, in times of happiness, times of sorrow,

times of protest, everything
that we think of as America,

everything we wanted to be,

everything that we don't like about it.

When we see the flag, that's
what we're thinking about.

♪ O'er the land of the free ♪

♪ And the home ♪

♪ Of the ♪

♪ Brave ♪

(crowd cheering)

- [D.C.] Great job, Noreeda.

That was so good.

- [Noreeda] I couldn't
have done it without you.

(D.C. laughs)

- [Narrator] Or without the inspiration

of the Smithsonian's most famous icon.

In this place where
patriotism and power meet,

for every mystery we reveal,

far more must remain unspoken.

Secrets of the questing mind,

and of the restless heart,

hidden in plain sight,

inside the Smithsonian Institution.

(exciting music)