New York A Documentary Film_8of8_part 1_The Center of the World (1946-2003)

Culture Express

Watch New York A Documentary Film_8of8_part 1_The Center of the World (1946-2003) - Culture Express on Dailymotion

Transcript

00:00:00For nearly 400 years, ever since the soft September morning in 1609, when Henry Hudson

00:00:20first steered his ship into the shimmering green waters of the Upper Bay, New York's

00:00:25destiny had been inextricably connected to other parts of the globe.

00:00:32Founded by the Dutch as a remote outpost in a worldwide network of trading colonies,

00:00:36it had moved in the course of its first 300 years from the far edge of empire to the very

00:00:41center of the world, rising to greatness as America itself rose to greatness in the course

00:00:48of the 19th century, gathering in money and peoples from around the country and around

00:00:53the world. It had emerged by the dawn of the 20th century as the unofficial capital and

00:00:59supreme laboratory of a new kind of mixed and cosmopolitan culture.

00:01:06In the century to come, reaching higher and projecting farther than any other city on earth,

00:01:12it had become the epicenter of a new kind of global economic order, restlessly pushing

00:01:17itself out across the world, until the skyline of New York had become one of the most powerful

00:01:23and instantly recognizable symbols on the face of the planet.

00:01:29And yet, in ways that would become fully apparent only in hindsight, by the dawn of the 21st century,

00:01:36New York had also emerged as one of the most strangely paradoxical cities on earth. At once

00:01:41bewilderingly diverse and cosmopolitan, and yet, in many ways, surprisingly insular and

00:01:47inward-looking, as if the process of globalization had mainly meant gathering in the world's peoples

00:01:52and riches, without involvement in the world's deep conflicts and divisions.

00:01:59And I think the experience of globalization for Americans, and particularly for New Yorkers,

00:02:08was very lopsided. They thought they could have the benefits of a globalized economy and

00:02:15none of the costs. They thought you could globalize economics, but not politics, not violence. And in a

00:02:23sense that the tools of globalization, skyscrapers, jets, could only be used for benign purposes. The

00:02:32notion that these tools could be used for destruction in the pursuit of extreme ideological objectives,

00:02:39specifically anti-American, anti-global objectives, had dawned, I think, to relatively few people.

00:02:45And so it came as literally a bolt from the blue when it happened.

00:02:49Though it would be fully apparent to most Americans only after the Great Towers had fallen,

00:02:57to a remarkable degree, the paradox of globalization would be seen in retrospect to have come to a

00:03:03mighty culmination in the twin towers of the World Trade Center, whose extraordinary 50-year history had,

00:03:09it turned out, embodied every theme and issue, every tension and value, every paradox and contradiction,

00:03:17of New York's long and complex 400-year march to the center of the world.

00:03:26America is part of everyone's imaginative life, through movies, music, television and the web.

00:03:35Whether you grow up in Bilbao, Beijing or Bombay,

00:03:39everyone has a New York in their heads, even if they have never been there.

00:03:47Which is why the destruction of the Twin Towers had such an impact.

00:03:53Timothy Gordon-Ash, April 9th, 2002.

00:03:56From director Rick Burns.

00:04:06The center of the world on American experience.

00:04:18This area of the world on American experience.

00:04:34The world on American experience.

00:04:37My love for the towers was in my relation with them, not as an overall appreciation,

00:04:52almost in an architectural sense. My love was for their life. They were alive.

00:04:59Not many people know that. The people who build them know that they were vibrating

00:05:03with the passage of a cloud over the sun, a difference of temperature, the wind.

00:05:09And the skeleton was actually making noise. I discovered that.

00:05:14And at times the towers were asleep, hibernating, and at times they wake up and they cry

00:05:19and they almost yell for help. I think I love them from the inside.

00:05:26I didn't find them beautiful and interesting at first sight, but as I get to know them,

00:05:32as I found out that to build those two monoliths, you had to add a group of insane designer,

00:05:40architects, structural engineers, builders, hundreds of them for years. It became something to love.

00:05:49I love their strength and their arrogance somehow. They were so overlooking the skyline of New York.

00:05:58Somehow, anything that is giant and man-made strikes me in an awesome way and calls me.

00:06:08And I cannot see the highest towers being built without wanting to celebrate their birth right there.

00:06:15I cannot see the highest towers being built without wanting to celebrate their birth right there.

00:06:25I cannot see the highest towers being built without wanting to celebrate their birth right there.

00:06:33For nearly 30 years, they stood at the foot of Lower Manhattan,

00:06:52two of the tallest and most instantly recognizable structures on Earth,

00:06:56rising at the heart of the most ravishing and well-known skyline in the world,

00:07:00the mightiest and most ambivalent monuments of their age.

00:07:04And, in the end, the most tragic.

00:07:09Conceived in the giddy aftermath of World War II,

00:07:12and rising as America itself rose to global power in the decades following the war,

00:07:17they were destined to become the real and symbolic epicenter of an economic system

00:07:22that would come to dominate much of the face of the planet.

00:07:27More than any other structures of the age,

00:07:29they would be intimately bound up from start to finish,

00:07:32with the awesome forces reshaping New York in the second half of the 20th century.

00:07:37And with the even greater forces propelling America itself relentlessly upward,

00:07:42and ever outward, across an increasingly complex and interconnected globe.

00:07:46There was a real magnetic pull that these buildings had around the world.

00:07:55And certainly, they were a very convenient symbol for those who would want to destroy us,

00:08:02of capitalism, of the American system,

00:08:05of the 20th century,

00:08:08of modernity,

00:08:09of all of those things.

00:08:12And more than any symbol in America,

00:08:16they said to the world,

00:08:18not just,

00:08:20this is America,

00:08:21but,

00:08:22this is a modern place.

00:08:24This is a place of the 20th century.

00:08:26And that made them,

00:08:28I think,

00:08:28a very potent target in a whole different way.

00:08:31The event was not a strike just at New York.

00:08:37It was at the heart of New York.

00:08:39It was the place that was the womb of this city.

00:08:43It's where this city was born,

00:08:45that bunch of acres at the tip of Manhattan.

00:08:49That thing holds all our history,

00:08:51everything down there.

00:08:54There's a kind of template that was cut geographically by the Dutch and the English

00:08:59that still exists to this day.

00:09:02And it was the city that made all the rest of the city possible.

00:09:07The genius that accumulated, impacted, and collided in those streets,

00:09:12that handful of streets below Chambers Street,

00:09:14was the city that created the imagination to first go up,

00:09:18to make a vertical city out of a horizontal city.

00:09:22So that when they hit that,

00:09:24they hit where our civilization began.

00:09:27Civilization comes from the same root as a civic and a city.

00:09:34It's a thing that happens in cities.

00:09:37And they came smashing into it,

00:09:41vandalizing it.

00:09:42Like almost all great skyscrapers,

00:09:47it was fated to be a structure at once of its time,

00:09:50and yet, partly for that reason,

00:09:52poignantly out of time, too.

00:09:55Rising at the very end of a great building boom,

00:09:57on the cusp of great change.

00:10:01Raised into the sky during one of the most tumultuous

00:10:03and complex periods in the city's history,

00:10:05by a unique combination of pride, ambition, audacity, greed,

00:10:11idealism, ingenuity, and folly.

00:10:14The colossal towers were, in many ways, the last of their kind,

00:10:18and a mighty culmination.

00:10:20The stunning climax of more than 70 years of building tall

00:10:23on the island of Manhattan,

00:10:24and the last and most controversial

00:10:27of the massive urban renewal projects

00:10:29that would transform New York during the post-war period.

00:10:33The effort it would take just to get them off the ground,

00:10:36to say nothing of raising the two largest structures in the world,

00:10:39more than a quarter of a mile into the sky,

00:10:42from the tangled streets

00:10:43of the most densely concentrated business district on earth,

00:10:46would require the greatest convergence

00:10:48of public and private power the city had ever seen,

00:10:51and embroil their builders

00:10:53in every conflict and tension of the age.

00:10:57I think you should think of the Twin Towers

00:10:59as, in one sense, the moonshot

00:11:02of structural engineering

00:11:04and skyscraper construction.

00:11:07They were unprecedented in the same way

00:11:09that the NASA program, the Apollo program, was,

00:11:12in virtually the same era,

00:11:13and they had similar ambitions.

00:11:16Just in terms of quantity, they were the biggest.

00:11:19They were 10 million square feet of space.

00:11:22Nothing had come remotely close to that number

00:11:24in terms of the amount of real estate in one complex.

00:11:28They were the tallest.

00:11:30They were going to have to resist

00:11:31the forces of the wind and gravity

00:11:33in a way that was of a magnitude far greater

00:11:37than anything that had been done before.

00:11:39I mean, you often see projects

00:11:41that are audacious on a technical level,

00:11:44on a political level, on a human level.

00:11:46This project was audacious on all those levels.

00:11:49It was sort of a multidimensional exercise

00:11:52in hubris, you might say.

00:11:55In some ways, I think they overreached.

00:11:58But that's the nature of the game

00:11:59when you're talking about audacity and hubris.

00:12:03And in that sense, you just have to say,

00:12:06these things were wonders of the world,

00:12:08and we shall not see their life again.

00:12:10In the end, the extraordinary 50-year saga

00:12:15of the World Trade Center,

00:12:17when and why it was built,

00:12:19how and where it went up,

00:12:20what its great towers stood for,

00:12:22and how and why they fell,

00:12:24would tell more than most people had ever imagined

00:12:26about the city and country that was their home.

00:12:30Embodying along the way

00:12:31the highest hopes and deepest contradictions

00:12:33of New York's century-long push into the sky,

00:12:36and of America's astonishing 50-year expansion

00:12:40around the globe.

00:12:43Well, ironically,

00:12:45as important as the World Trade Center was

00:12:47for those 30 years that it existed,

00:12:50or almost 30 years,

00:12:51massive building,

00:12:5450,000 people in it working,

00:12:56in some ways,

00:12:57it's more important to history now that it's gone.

00:13:00It was significant,

00:13:03but it's a world event in its absence.

00:13:07The interest, the focus of the world,

00:13:10and there may be wars that will happen from it.

00:13:12Millions and hundreds of millions of people

00:13:14around the world are changing the way they live

00:13:16because of what happened at the World Trade Center.

00:13:21The city lost so much.

00:13:22I think the experience

00:13:26that so many people had

00:13:28of watching either on the television

00:13:30or in the flesh

00:13:32has caused so much pain

00:13:35in the city of New York.

00:13:39Everyone knows somebody who died.

00:13:43Everyone does.

00:13:45And from all walks of life,

00:13:48poor people and rich people,

00:13:50executives and office boys,

00:13:52all walks of life.

00:13:56And that's what it lost.

00:14:00We know what they stood for.

00:14:02We know that they stood for something

00:14:03that made them vulnerable

00:14:05to the most horrible fate.

00:14:07And certainly they were a symbol

00:14:09of something dreadful to the people

00:14:11who blew them up.

00:14:13But New Yorkers found it a symbol

00:14:16of New York, the New York they love.

00:14:19And I think that has made this

00:14:21this terrible catastrophe

00:14:24even worse to bear.

00:14:25From start to finish,

00:14:49the story of the World Trade Center

00:14:50would be an extraordinary parable

00:14:52of American power,

00:14:54a parable of the forces reshaping New York

00:14:56in the post-war period

00:14:57and of those reshaping the globe.

00:15:00It wasn't about consensus back in those days.

00:15:04It was about a very powerful agency

00:15:06knowing how to get its way,

00:15:08busting through all obstacles,

00:15:09all objections no matter how valid.

00:15:12And that's just the way it worked.

00:15:14It's just the way things got done back then.

00:15:17It's the end of the era of great building in a way.

00:15:20It's still a time when even

00:15:22in a complicated municipality like New York,

00:15:24you can pull off a project like that

00:15:26and you can do it the way you want to do it.

00:15:28This was the last great project,

00:15:31I think, of that scale for New York City.

00:15:33And, you know, nothing's happened like it since

00:15:34and probably won't again.

00:15:37It just is a different era

00:15:38in which the public participates much more

00:15:40in choosing the fate of New York

00:15:42and not just a small group of men

00:15:43in a back room that are deciding

00:15:45that they want to do something.

00:15:46The idea was born in the triumphant months

00:15:51following the end of World War II

00:15:53as a new global order based on free and open trade

00:15:56began to emerge from the chaos of war

00:15:58and as New York itself emerged for the first time

00:16:02as the undisputed capital of the world.

00:16:06Well, 1945 was the end

00:16:08of a period of commercial catastrophe,

00:16:11a period in which trade

00:16:13between the great economies of the world

00:16:15had all but collapsed.

00:16:17And the lesson that American policymakers

00:16:19drew from the disasters

00:16:21of the 1930s and 1940s

00:16:23was very straightforward.

00:16:25The United States must commit itself

00:16:28to the creation of a global free trade order

00:16:31which would ensure the prosperity

00:16:34of the United States

00:16:35but also rapid economic growth

00:16:37in the economies of America's principal allies.

00:16:41See, after the Second World War,

00:16:43you have a creation of trade,

00:16:45monetary, diplomatic, and military institutions

00:16:48all fundamentally designed to maintain

00:16:51an open, free-trading world economy.

00:16:53In the fall of 1946,

00:16:58as delegates to the brand-new United Nations settled

00:17:01on a site in Midtown for their new home,

00:17:03leaders in New York first proposed building an immense new complex

00:17:07in the heart of Lower Manhattan,

00:17:08a world trade center that would exploit the anticipated post-war explosion

00:17:13in international trade

00:17:15and to affirm New York's newfound preeminence

00:17:17within a vast and growing global empire.

00:17:20And the idea was to have a trade mart here

00:17:24that by setting up big exhibit centers

00:17:27and inviting people from around the world

00:17:30to come and see their goods and their wares

00:17:31would further the interest of a growing world trade.

00:17:35And with that in mind,

00:17:36the state legislature signed to Winthrop Aldrich,

00:17:40the head of Chase Bank,

00:17:41a world trade center organization.

00:17:44Ultimately, the idea of a complex of buildings

00:17:46that they would call the World Trade Center got thrown out

00:17:49because the port interests were still of such clout at that time

00:17:52that they were able to say,

00:17:54if you're going to spend money, you're going to build new piers.

00:17:57But by the time David Rockefeller rises

00:17:59and replaces his uncle, Winthrop Aldrich,

00:18:02as the chief executive at Chase,

00:18:04it's a different place, New York,

00:18:06and the port is already on its way out,

00:18:08and something needs to happen in Lower Manhattan

00:18:09if it's going to regain the status that it once held

00:18:12as the world's financial center and that it was losing.

00:18:16It would take more than a decade

00:18:19for the idea of the World Trade Center

00:18:21to begin to get off the ground

00:18:22and four decades more

00:18:24to fulfill the lofty promise of its name.

00:18:28When it did begin to take hold, however,

00:18:30in the late 1950s,

00:18:32it would be set in motion to a remarkable degree

00:18:35by just two men,

00:18:37sons and brothers of one of the most powerful

00:18:39family dynasties on earth,

00:18:41who would seize upon the idea

00:18:43not only as a glorious symbol of world trade,

00:18:45but as the centerpiece

00:18:47of one of the most controversial

00:18:48and daring real estate gambles

00:18:50in the history of New York City,

00:18:52the effort to save Lower Manhattan,

00:18:54which less than 10 years after the end of the war

00:18:57had been sent spiraling into a period of steep decline,

00:19:00not only by the waning of the port,

00:19:03but by an alarming exodus

00:19:04of businesses to the middle of the island.

00:19:06Lower Manhattan, which I'll describe

00:19:11as the two square miles

00:19:12from Chambers Street down to the Battery,

00:19:15was dying.

00:19:18Companies were moving out

00:19:19either to mid-Manhattan

00:19:20or really out of New York City.

00:19:23The only new building built since World War II

00:19:25was the Chase Manhattan Building,

00:19:28and David Rockefeller was then the chairman

00:19:30of the Chase Manhattan Bank.

00:19:31And so David had an idea.

00:19:35Why not create,

00:19:38using the port-a-thrive New York and New Jersey,

00:19:41a World Trade Center, whatever that was?

00:19:44There are different opinions

00:19:46about the role and the motivations

00:19:48of the Rockefellers in Lower Manhattan,

00:19:51but certainly no one deserves more credit

00:19:54or blame than the brothers Rockefeller,

00:19:57David and Nelson,

00:19:58for the changes that came about

00:20:00in downtown in the 1960s.

00:20:03The flagship headquarters

00:20:04of Chase Manhattan Bank

00:20:05had always been downtown

00:20:07since the 18th century.

00:20:10And, of course, David Rockefeller

00:20:11as the head of the Chase Manhattan Bank

00:20:13had tremendous interests

00:20:15in keeping the financial district secure.

00:20:20I think one of the fascinating things

00:20:21about the Rockefellers as a family

00:20:23is that they're monopoly capitalists,

00:20:26and that gives them a certain attitude

00:20:29towards planning.

00:20:31The Rockefellers thought big.

00:20:33When they built Rockefeller Center,

00:20:34they didn't build one skyscraper,

00:20:36they built a constellation of skyscrapers.

00:20:38They were into centers, you know?

00:20:39They were into thinking of long-term plans.

00:20:43So they applied that mentality everywhere.

00:20:47And the same attitude is transferred

00:20:50when the next generation comes online.

00:20:53And here, David is a particularly interesting figure.

00:20:57David's got big plans.

00:20:59David wants to expand one of the family banks,

00:21:02Chase Bank,

00:21:03which worked with big companies

00:21:05and financed the movement of trade goods

00:21:07around the world.

00:21:08And David wants to expand this

00:21:11and then go beyond the old national boundaries

00:21:14and sort of start thinking internationally.

00:21:17But he's got a short-term problem.

00:21:19He merges with the Bank of Manhattan Company.

00:21:22He's got Chase Manhattan.

00:21:23He buys up lots of other little banks.

00:21:25They're scattered all over the downtown area.

00:21:27He wants to, in fact,

00:21:28bring them together and consolidate.

00:21:30But it's in the middle of this kind of sucking sound

00:21:33with all of these businesses being drawn up

00:21:35to where the real action is up in Midtown.

00:21:37The question is,

00:21:38are they going to make a stand?

00:21:40Are they going to try to, in fact,

00:21:41save Lower Manhattan as the financial center?

00:21:45Everybody knows Chase Bank

00:21:47may be the most powerful bank in the world.

00:21:50David Rockefeller might be

00:21:51the second most powerful person in the United States

00:21:53after the president.

00:21:55They're putting their bets in Lower Manhattan,

00:21:57saying Lower Manhattan either has to be revitalized

00:22:00and rejuvenated,

00:22:01or it's going to enter into a period of terminal decline.

00:22:08In 1955,

00:22:09declaring Lower Manhattan

00:22:11to be the heart pump of the capital blood

00:22:13that sustains the free world,

00:22:15David leapt into the fray.

00:22:17That November,

00:22:19he stunned Wall Street by announcing

00:22:20that Chase would build

00:22:21a gleaming new 60-story headquarters

00:22:23just one block north of the Stock Exchange,

00:22:25the first tall tower to go up in the area

00:22:27since before the Depression.

00:22:31Six months later,

00:22:32convinced in private meetings

00:22:33that even that bold gesture

00:22:35would not be enough

00:22:35to save the financial district,

00:22:37he assembled a powerful coalition

00:22:39of business and real estate leaders

00:22:40called the Downtown Lower Manhattan Association

00:22:43and urged them to develop

00:22:45an even more ambitious plan

00:22:46before it was too late.

00:22:47You need bold visions,

00:22:49you need bold action.

00:22:51You can't take small, little piecemeal things.

00:22:53That's not the way they operate.

00:22:54Rockefeller Center is not a small, piecemeal action.

00:22:57You have to make a profound impact

00:22:59on the environment

00:23:00and to do it spatially

00:23:01and to do it in terms of the structure of the economy.

00:23:05And it's got to be big scale.

00:23:06It's got to be blazing.

00:23:07Otherwise, it doesn't do the trick.

00:23:09In the fall of 1958,

00:23:12the Rockefeller-sponsored group

00:23:14published its recommendations

00:23:15in a stunning 80-page report.

00:23:18A master plan for the salvation of Lower Manhattan

00:23:20and one of the most radical

00:23:22and sweeping urban redevelopment projects ever conceived.

00:23:25It called for the complete transformation

00:23:27of the entire downtown area

00:23:29and for the eradication of industries

00:23:31that had defined Lower Manhattan for centuries.

00:23:35They've been talking about getting rid of the piers

00:23:37and getting rid of the port

00:23:38and getting rid of the marketplace for a long time.

00:23:40All that had gone into abeyance

00:23:41during the Depression and the war.

00:23:43Now it's back on the table

00:23:44and David, with his own penchant for planning,

00:23:47is in fact entranced by this.

00:23:50The downtown Manhattan area

00:23:52is one of the most valuable

00:23:53and uniquely situated pieces of real estate

00:23:56in the entire world.

00:23:58The central core area of towering skyscrapers

00:24:02is surrounded by acres of marginal buildings,

00:24:05the majority of which are more than a century old

00:24:08and only partly occupied.

00:24:12So, what do they want?

00:24:13They want a variety of things.

00:24:15First of all, they want to go on the attack

00:24:16against contending uses that are down there.

00:24:19Because, from his perspective, we're ringed in.

00:24:23We're surrounded by what he's now defining

00:24:25not as important, viable manufacturing

00:24:27and commerce in port industries,

00:24:30but as ancient, antediluvian, outmoded,

00:24:34dirty, dilapidated, you know, scuzzy.

00:24:36They're a drag.

00:24:38We want to get rid of them.

00:24:39We want to, in fact, expand the financial core

00:24:42and have it take over all of Lower Manhattan.

00:24:44Get rid of these competing uses.

00:24:46That's the only way we'll be safe and secure.

00:24:48Make it a center, you know?

00:24:49Make it a grand center.

00:24:52Under David's plan,

00:24:54virtually no aspect of the old port district

00:24:56would remain unchanged.

00:24:58The fringe of aging finger piers

00:24:59that had lined the edge of the island for a century

00:25:01would be demolished

00:25:03to make way for new residential

00:25:04and recreational development.

00:25:07The ancient narrow streets,

00:25:09first laid down by the Dutch and the English,

00:25:11would be widened

00:25:12to accommodate the flow of modern traffic.

00:25:15Hundreds of blocks along the East and Hudson Rivers

00:25:18would be wiped clean and consolidated

00:25:20to make way for gleaming new office buildings

00:25:23that would house the vastly expanded white-collar services

00:25:26the new global economy required.

00:25:30At the center of it all,

00:25:32the anchor and emblem

00:25:33of the entire 560-block redevelopment program,

00:25:36would rise an updated version of the idea

00:25:38first floated by David Rockefeller's uncle

00:25:4015 years earlier.

00:25:42An idea that in the months and years to come

00:25:44would become David's most burning ambition,

00:25:47the World Trade Center.

00:25:49I think that David Rockefeller was masterful

00:25:52in his introduction of the World Trade Center idea.

00:25:56And that idea was considered brilliant.

00:25:58He was called the billion-dollar planner

00:26:00by the New York Times.

00:26:01Mayor Wagner said it was wonderful.

00:26:03He, as all Rockefellers,

00:26:05knew how to build a power base

00:26:07and how to create momentum

00:26:08even before you release the idea to the public.

00:26:11And he did that.

00:26:12And so I think although he only really proposed it,

00:26:15the fact that he proposed it

00:26:17really is why the World Trade Center was built.

00:26:22Rising from a site

00:26:23originally located not on the west side of Manhattan,

00:26:26but on the east

00:26:26and dominated in the original drawings

00:26:29by a single 60-story tower.

00:26:31The sprawling 13-acre complex would,

00:26:34like Rockefeller Center

00:26:35and the United Nations before it,

00:26:37be an example of what David called

00:26:38catalytic bigness,

00:26:40a project whose sheer size and impact

00:26:43would be large enough

00:26:44to provide the stimulus

00:26:45for further redevelopment.

00:26:46That very scale, of course,

00:26:49as David had known from the start,

00:26:51also placed it far beyond the reach

00:26:53of even the most ambitious of private developers,

00:26:56none of whom had the power or resources

00:26:58to take on so vast a project.

00:27:00How are you going to do this?

00:27:02Well, the fact of the matter is

00:27:04you have to bring in the state

00:27:05because another thing

00:27:07that Rockefellers are accustomed to doing

00:27:10is for all the talk about the free market

00:27:12and getting government off our back

00:27:14that characterizes some small businessmen

00:27:16that big people, in fact, understand

00:27:18that subsidies and government support

00:27:20are really a crucial part of the story.

00:27:23So he needs a partner

00:27:24that is, in fact, a heavyweight,

00:27:27and he puts together a concerted program

00:27:29to bring in the one agency

00:27:34which might be able to commit public monies

00:27:36and to have the power of eminent domain

00:27:39that could clear away competing uses

00:27:41and provide the funds to construct new uses

00:27:45that are compatible with this office vision,

00:27:47and that's the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

00:27:51For much of the 20th century,

00:27:53the ebb and flow of people and things

00:27:55in and out of the Port of New York

00:27:56had been shaped and controlled

00:27:58by an immensely powerful

00:27:59but relatively little-known bi-state agency

00:28:02called the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey,

00:28:05which in its 40-year history

00:28:07had built or expanded every bridge and tunnel

00:28:09along the Hudson River,

00:28:11every airport in the metropolitan region,

00:28:14the massive new bus terminal

00:28:16on the west side of Manhattan,

00:28:17and the world's first cargo container ports

00:28:19on the New Jersey side of the harbor.

00:28:23In the years to come,

00:28:24under the leadership of its shrewd,

00:28:26publicity-shy director, Austin Tobin,

00:28:28the authority would invest its power,

00:28:31prestige, and immense institutional pride

00:28:33in the ambitious project

00:28:34David Rockefeller had initiated

00:28:36and soon find itself embroiled

00:28:38in the most challenging,

00:28:40controversial,

00:28:41and poignantly star-crossed project

00:28:42of its entire history.

00:28:46Of course, the Port Authority

00:28:47is a very strange organization.

00:28:49It's a hybrid.

00:28:50It's half private, half public,

00:28:52and in the way it operates,

00:28:53in the way it thinks,

00:28:54it's enormously powerful.

00:28:55It has, you know,

00:28:56to overstate it somewhat,

00:28:58its own army.

00:28:59It has the Port Authority Police Department.

00:29:00It has public authority.

00:29:03It is also, has been very wealthy.

00:29:06The Port Authority was run by Austin Tobin,

00:29:10who was a builder and planner

00:29:13who I think actually was better than Robert Moses

00:29:16at getting his will.

00:29:20He wasn't as famous as Moses

00:29:21because he operated a little more under the radar.

00:29:25Moses was too passionate about being in front of people

00:29:29and having fights with them

00:29:30and therefore he lost from time to time.

00:29:33Tobin just very quietly behind the scenes

00:29:35manipulated and maneuvered

00:29:37and got things done

00:29:38and got everything he ever wanted.

00:29:40He identified absolutely

00:29:42with the Port of New York Authority.

00:29:45He'd started off basically as a legal clerk

00:29:48back in the 1920s.

00:29:50He'd grown up with this agency.

00:29:51I think he saw the World Trade Center

00:29:54as the apotheosis of his career.

00:29:56And he saw it as something

00:29:58that could represent what he believed

00:30:00was the greatness of the Port Authority.

00:30:03The trouble is,

00:30:04is that the mandate for the Port Authority is trade.

00:30:08It's to further international trade

00:30:10in the harbor of New York City.

00:30:12And what David wants them to do really

00:30:14is to get into office building

00:30:16and to make this a financial and real estate center.

00:30:19The Port Authority was never founded

00:30:22to go into the real estate business.

00:30:24But it's the most profitable business in New York.

00:30:26And they saw great profits

00:30:27and ways of supporting their projects,

00:30:30which up to a certain point you could understand,

00:30:33although I think they should have not gone

00:30:34into the real estate business to begin with.

00:30:39The questionable fit

00:30:40between the Port Authority's mandate

00:30:42and David Rockefeller's plan

00:30:44would haunt the project for years to come.

00:30:46As fate would have it, however,

00:30:50David Rockefeller himself

00:30:51would soon be in a position

00:30:52to overcome any initial opposition

00:30:54to its involvement,

00:30:55at least within the agency itself.

00:30:59On January 1st, 1959,

00:31:01his older brother Nelson

00:31:02was sworn in as governor of New York State

00:31:05and almost immediately

00:31:06began filling the Port Authority's board

00:31:08with his own appointees,

00:31:11senior Wall Street executives

00:31:12who could be counted on

00:31:13to share his brother's vision

00:31:14of lower Manhattan's white-collar future.

00:31:18Nelson Rockefeller, of course,

00:31:20was hugely important

00:31:21in the Port Authority

00:31:23becoming the client

00:31:25and the patron

00:31:26of the World Trade Center.

00:31:28One needed the endorsement

00:31:30of both states,

00:31:31but, of course,

00:31:32New York was the most powerful

00:31:34of the partners

00:31:35of the bi-state agency.

00:31:36Nelson Rockefeller was a great

00:31:40and passionate builder.

00:31:42His greatest legacy

00:31:43was building stuff

00:31:45all over the place

00:31:46in Albany and elsewhere.

00:31:49And he latched onto the Trade Center

00:31:51as a great project.

00:31:53It was felt that the Port Authority

00:31:56was the agency

00:31:56with the wherewithal

00:31:58to actually get it built,

00:31:59both because it had experience

00:32:01in building large

00:32:03and complicated projects

00:32:04and because it had

00:32:06enormous bonding power

00:32:08and could finance this project

00:32:10without anything showing up

00:32:12on the state budget.

00:32:13So it made it a real win-win

00:32:16for Rockefeller.

00:32:17In the spring of 1960,

00:32:20as questions about the propriety

00:32:21of the Port Authority's involvement

00:32:22began to fade away,

00:32:24Austin Tobin,

00:32:25at David Rockefeller's request,

00:32:27instructed his staff

00:32:28to prepare preliminary drawings

00:32:29for a 5 million-square-foot complex

00:32:32along the East River.

00:32:34Using the immense reserves

00:32:36of public and private power

00:32:37at their command,

00:32:38the Rockefeller brothers

00:32:39had managed to make

00:32:40a half-billion-dollar

00:32:41real estate gamble

00:32:42seem not only plausible,

00:32:44but inevitable.

00:32:46There was a big fallacy, though,

00:32:48in this whole project.

00:32:50The real problem

00:32:50with Lower Manhattan

00:32:51was not that it didn't have

00:32:54enough office space.

00:32:55The problem was that

00:32:57it was hard to get to,

00:32:58particularly from the suburbs

00:33:00where a lot of business executives

00:33:01and bankers lived.

00:33:03And it was not a particularly appealing

00:33:05neighborhood in a general way

00:33:07in that there were

00:33:08no places to eat,

00:33:10few places to shop,

00:33:12no cultural facilities

00:33:13to speak of,

00:33:14no places to live.

00:33:16All the things that make

00:33:18a neighborhood interesting

00:33:20and varied and meaningful

00:33:22as a part of a city

00:33:23weren't there.

00:33:25And so the World Trade Center

00:33:27violated the first law

00:33:29law of economics, really.

00:33:30It added to the supply

00:33:32of what there was already

00:33:34too much of,

00:33:35which was office space,

00:33:36without, in fact,

00:33:38doing anything

00:33:38to change the demand.

00:33:40So it was wrong

00:33:42from its conception.

00:33:44But nobody quite got that.

00:33:47To me, it was a sense of

00:34:02building, creating something

00:34:04that's almost at the limit

00:34:06of what human beings

00:34:07can create, you know?

00:34:09I like that raw power.

00:34:11I like that sort of feeling

00:34:13that they were our Godzilla,

00:34:15you know,

00:34:15that they stood up there,

00:34:17that they say,

00:34:19so what, you know?

00:34:20We're ugly, so what, you know?

00:34:23And they weren't, you know,

00:34:24because they were one thing

00:34:25one minute,

00:34:26and they were another thing

00:34:27the other minute, you know?

00:34:28So you couldn't pass

00:34:29a judgment on them.

00:34:32You know, those would

00:34:32condemn them

00:34:34on an aesthetic basis,

00:34:36you know,

00:34:36with absolutely wrong,

00:34:38because it depended so much

00:34:39on how close you were,

00:34:41how far you were from them.

00:34:43Whether you saw them

00:34:44in the late afternoon,

00:34:46whether you saw them

00:34:47in the morning,

00:34:48whether you saw them in winter,

00:34:49whether you saw them in summer.

00:34:53So there was always

00:34:54a different feeling about them.

00:34:58I think at some deeper level,

00:35:02there was the connection

00:35:03of the water to the sky,

00:35:07and not very strong

00:35:09in mythology and all of this,

00:35:11but I think that played

00:35:13a very important role.

00:35:16Here, here you saw that

00:35:19somehow we were connected

00:35:21to something not just larger

00:35:24than New York,

00:35:25but larger than the earth itself,

00:35:27you know?

00:35:28The original Trade Center

00:35:43was to be on the East River

00:35:44where the South Street Seaport

00:35:46is below the Brooklyn Bridge,

00:35:48and it moved to the west side

00:35:51for a very funny reason.

00:35:53The Port Authority

00:35:54is controlled by the governors

00:35:56of New York and New Jersey.

00:35:57So Nelson Rockefeller,

00:35:59on his own,

00:36:00could not simply decree

00:36:02that the Port Authority

00:36:03would build it.

00:36:04The governor of New Jersey

00:36:05had to go along.

00:36:07The governor of New Jersey,

00:36:08understandably enough,

00:36:09looked at this and said,

00:36:10well, what's in it for me?

00:36:12After all,

00:36:12the Port Authority

00:36:13was a bi-state organization,

00:36:15therefore, half of the benefits

00:36:16ought to come to New Jersey.

00:36:18If you had this

00:36:19World Trade Center

00:36:20over on the other side

00:36:22of Manhattan

00:36:22facing Brooklyn and Europe,

00:36:25it seemed unlikely

00:36:26that that was going

00:36:27to be beneficial

00:36:28to the state of New Jersey.

00:36:31And in fact,

00:36:31it might draw both jobs

00:36:33and people away.

00:36:35So there was a lot

00:36:35of resistance there.

00:36:39Then the governor of New Jersey

00:36:40figured out

00:36:41what was in it for him.

00:36:42There was a commuter railroad,

00:36:44the Hudson Tubes.

00:36:46It was called

00:36:46the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad

00:36:48that ran under the river

00:36:50to a terminal in lower Manhattan.

00:36:52And it was in terrible shape.

00:36:54It was going bankrupt.

00:36:55And there was huge pressure

00:36:57on the state of New Jersey

00:36:58to take it over

00:36:59and bail it out.

00:37:00Well, the governor

00:37:01didn't want the money

00:37:03for that on his budget,

00:37:04particularly,

00:37:05but politically,

00:37:06he had to do something.

00:37:08So he said

00:37:08if the Port Authority

00:37:09would take over the railroad,

00:37:12he would agree

00:37:13to building

00:37:13the World Trade Center.

00:37:15That was acceptable

00:37:17in New Jersey,

00:37:18but in New York,

00:37:19there was some doubt

00:37:20that funds

00:37:22for the Port Authority

00:37:22should be put into

00:37:24helping New Jersey commuters

00:37:25come to New York

00:37:26for jobs.

00:37:27And therefore,

00:37:28Albany refused to agree

00:37:30to approve

00:37:31the takeover

00:37:32of the H&M.

00:37:34New Jersey then

00:37:35dug in its heels

00:37:36and the question was

00:37:38what could possibly be done?

00:37:39And at this point,

00:37:40there seemed to be some doubt

00:37:41that the World Trade Center

00:37:43idea could go forward.

00:37:45Then someone

00:37:46at the Port Authority

00:37:47realized that

00:37:49the Hudson Tubes

00:37:50came with some real estate,

00:37:52came with a big,

00:37:53rather decrepit

00:37:54pair of office buildings

00:37:56in lower Manhattan

00:37:57that had been built

00:37:58over its terminus

00:37:59on Church Street.

00:38:00They were called

00:38:00the Hudson and Manhattan

00:38:01Terminal Buildings.

00:38:03And so the Port Authority

00:38:04looked around

00:38:05at these buildings

00:38:05that were not

00:38:06in very good shape,

00:38:07that they really

00:38:07didn't want to have,

00:38:08and said,

00:38:09why do we have

00:38:10these things here?

00:38:11Why don't we put

00:38:12the Trade Center here

00:38:13now that we have got

00:38:15this real estate

00:38:15rather than on the East River?

00:38:18And that idea

00:38:19was then proposed

00:38:20and it seemed dramatically

00:38:22to meet all sorts

00:38:24of objections.

00:38:26Nelson Rockefeller

00:38:27and the New York state side

00:38:29would get its

00:38:29World Trade Center.

00:38:31It would be built

00:38:31right on top of

00:38:33a major set of

00:38:35subway lines in New York

00:38:36so that folks

00:38:37from all over

00:38:38New York and Brooklyn

00:38:39could get to

00:38:40the World Trade Center.

00:38:41In addition,

00:38:42it would be built

00:38:42right over PATH,

00:38:43which the Port Authority

00:38:44would take over,

00:38:46and that then meant

00:38:47New Jerseyites

00:38:47could get there

00:38:48for jobs

00:38:49or any other kinds

00:38:50of activities.

00:38:51That was then

00:38:52rapidly approved

00:38:53in 1962,

00:38:54both in New Jersey

00:38:55and in New York.

00:38:56And that's how

00:38:57the Trade Center

00:38:58ended up where it was

00:38:59as the result

00:39:00of a political deal.

00:39:03In the winter of 1962,

00:39:05after more than

00:39:06a decade and a half

00:39:06of false starts

00:39:07and delays,

00:39:08the World Trade Center

00:39:09project at last

00:39:10seemed to be

00:39:11getting underway,

00:39:12having finally found

00:39:13a home for itself

00:39:14on the west side

00:39:15of Manhattan.

00:39:17No one, however,

00:39:18had yet said anything

00:39:19about building

00:39:20the tallest buildings

00:39:21in the world.

00:39:33When the World Trade Center

00:39:34was conceived,

00:39:36the intention was not

00:39:38to build the world's

00:39:39tallest buildings.

00:39:39In fact,

00:39:40the preliminary designs

00:39:42on the east side

00:39:42were 60 or 70 stories.

00:39:44The first studies

00:39:46on the west side

00:39:47were that.

00:39:49And then this sort

00:39:50of hubris, I think,

00:39:51took over,

00:39:52and it just kept getting

00:39:53bigger and bigger,

00:39:54and they kept thinking

00:39:56they could do anything,

00:39:57and nobody said no.

00:39:59I think the combination

00:40:01of David Rockefeller's

00:40:03passionate desire

00:40:04to put lower Manhattan

00:40:06back on the map

00:40:07in a central way,

00:40:08in a really important way,

00:40:10the governor,

00:40:11his brother's desire

00:40:12to just build bigger and bigger

00:40:14all the time,

00:40:15anywhere,

00:40:16and the port authority's

00:40:18desire to really be

00:40:21the preeminent,

00:40:22powerful, civic authority

00:40:24in the world,

00:40:25let alone in New York.

00:40:26All those things

00:40:28kind of combined,

00:40:30and as they sort of

00:40:31drifted to the west side site

00:40:33from an original plan

00:40:35on the east side,

00:40:36it kind of drifted

00:40:38into being

00:40:39the world's tallest building.

00:40:46At 6.30 p.m.,

00:40:48on the evening

00:40:48of February 13, 1962,

00:40:51the newly elected

00:40:51governor of New Jersey,

00:40:53Richard Hughes,

00:40:54signed into law

00:40:55the historic Hudson Tube's

00:40:56World Trade Center bill.

00:40:59Three weeks later,

00:41:00Governor Nelson Rockefeller

00:41:01followed suit.

00:41:02But by then,

00:41:03Austin Tobin

00:41:04had already set in motion

00:41:05the elaborate machinery

00:41:06of his 6,000-person agency,

00:41:09creating a new division

00:41:10within the port authority empire

00:41:12called the World Trade Office,

00:41:15then appointing a tireless,

00:41:16unswervingly loyal

00:41:1732-year-old engineer

00:41:19named Guy Tozzoli

00:41:20to oversee every aspect

00:41:21of the massive operation.

00:41:23You can pick the best

00:41:25of the port authority,

00:41:26Tobin told his eager

00:41:27young director,

00:41:28because this is going

00:41:29to be our greatest project.

00:41:32I was given the job

00:41:34in February of 1962

00:41:36to plan,

00:41:37to design,

00:41:38to construct,

00:41:39to operate

00:41:40the World Trade Center

00:41:41of New York.

00:41:42And there was only one thing

00:41:45to achieve

00:41:46what David Rockefeller

00:41:48and Nelson Rockefeller

00:41:49wanted the port authority

00:41:50to do.

00:41:51I recommended to the board

00:41:53you could only do one thing.

00:41:54You had to build

00:41:54what the Reader's Digest

00:41:56called the largest

00:41:57building project

00:41:58since the Egyptian pyramids.

00:42:00There was no other way

00:42:01in this city

00:42:02because this was

00:42:03the greatest city

00:42:04in the world.

00:42:05And it had to be something

00:42:06that people would

00:42:07pay attention to.

00:42:09The second thing

00:42:10we had to consider

00:42:11was it had to be affordable.

00:42:14So when they gave me the job,

00:42:15they said,

00:42:15by the way,

00:42:16it has to be self-supporting.

00:42:17So we're going to capitalize

00:42:18every paper clip

00:42:19that you use.

00:42:20So I had hanging over me

00:42:22like the sword of Damocles

00:42:23and said,

00:42:24you will make this thing work.

00:42:27The risks involved

00:42:28were enormous from the start,

00:42:29as were the challenges,

00:42:31many of which grew

00:42:32from the competing imperatives

00:42:33of the project itself.

00:42:35The same charter

00:42:36that required the complex

00:42:37to turn a profit

00:42:38dramatically restricted

00:42:40the range

00:42:40of its potential tenants,

00:42:42three quarters of whom

00:42:43would have to be

00:42:44directly involved

00:42:44in world trade

00:42:45to satisfy

00:42:46the port authority's mandate.

00:42:49When studies showed

00:42:50that demand for such space

00:42:51would be modest at best,

00:42:53Tobin instructed Tazzoli

00:42:54to increase

00:42:55the building's program anyway,

00:42:56dramatically,

00:42:57to an almost unheard of total

00:42:59of 10 million square feet,

00:43:01nearly five times

00:43:02the floor space

00:43:03of the Empire State Building.

00:43:05They knew

00:43:06that it was going to fail.

00:43:08They were told

00:43:09that this was going to fail,

00:43:11unless it was enormous.

00:43:12They knew that

00:43:13lower Manhattan

00:43:14was not going to come up again

00:43:15unless they did something

00:43:17so bold and outrageous

00:43:18that the people of Midtown

00:43:20couldn't ignore them.

00:43:21And the port authority

00:43:22listened to that

00:43:23and they went with it

00:43:24and they built

00:43:25the biggest buildings

00:43:26in the world

00:43:26because they knew

00:43:27that they had to do that

00:43:28or else it was going

00:43:29to be a lost investment.

00:43:32Austin Tobin's vision

00:43:33of the project

00:43:34had just begun to expand

00:43:35when the port authority's

00:43:37shrewd 42-year-old

00:43:38public relations director

00:43:39distributed a fateful

00:43:41internal memo.

00:43:41It's said that the person

00:43:44who was credited early on

00:43:45in the project

00:43:47for coming up

00:43:47with the idea

00:43:48of the world's tallest building

00:43:49came out of

00:43:50the publicity department

00:43:51that it was a woman

00:43:52named Lee Jaffe

00:43:53who sent him a memo

00:43:55among the men

00:43:56who were in charge

00:43:57of the project

00:43:57saying,

00:43:58well, as long as we're

00:43:58going to make them

00:43:59a hundred stories,

00:44:00why not go that extra

00:44:01few hundred feet

00:44:02and secure their place

00:44:05as the world's tallest?

00:44:07This will be a journey

00:44:08into the cosmic unknown.

00:44:09You know,

00:44:10America has always believed

00:44:11in bigness

00:44:12and I think we particularly

00:44:14believed in it in the 60s

00:44:15when the World Trade Center

00:44:16was conceived.

00:44:18You know,

00:44:18bigger and bigger

00:44:19American things,

00:44:20bigger and bigger doses

00:44:21of American power

00:44:23were going to solve anything.

00:44:24It was the age

00:44:25when all the cars

00:44:26were gargantuan

00:44:27and had fins.

00:44:29It was the age

00:44:29when we were sending troops

00:44:31into Vietnam.

00:44:31The age of going

00:44:33to the moon,

00:44:34exactly.

00:44:37And its architectural

00:44:38equivalent

00:44:39was this notion

00:44:40of bigger and bigger

00:44:42buildings all the time.

00:44:44We've always also

00:44:45romanticized height

00:44:47in a very wonderful way

00:44:48in New York.

00:44:49I mean,

00:44:49that's very much

00:44:50part of our DNA

00:44:51is to just build bigger

00:44:53and taller all the time.

00:44:56As word of the authority's

00:44:57vaulting ambitions

00:44:58raced through the corridors

00:44:59of the agency,

00:45:01a kind of fever

00:45:02gripped the members

00:45:03of Austin Tobin's team.

00:45:05And so,

00:45:06the first thing to do

00:45:07was to find

00:45:08the right architect.

00:45:09What I wanted

00:45:10was a great architect.

00:45:11It just had to be

00:45:12the greatest project

00:45:13in the world

00:45:13if it were to succeed.

00:45:15And we interviewed

00:45:16virtually everybody

00:45:18in the world

00:45:19of consequence.

00:45:21And to the teams

00:45:22that I sent out

00:45:24to find out

00:45:25what architects did,

00:45:27the first stipulation

00:45:28I gave them

00:45:29was try to find

00:45:31somebody who you think

00:45:32is young enough

00:45:33to live for 20 years

00:45:36because I was sure

00:45:37that this project

00:45:38as we conceived it

00:45:40would take at least

00:45:4220 years to finish.

00:45:43And it actually

00:45:44took more than that.

00:45:47In the end,

00:45:49passing over

00:45:49the entire stable

00:45:50of elite architects

00:45:51in New York,

00:45:52Tozzoli settled

00:45:53on a relative outsider,

00:45:55a complex,

00:45:5649-year-old Detroit-based

00:45:57architect named

00:45:58Minoru Yamasaki,

00:46:00whose elegantly ornamented

00:46:01structures were then

00:46:02enjoying a kind of vogue

00:46:03and whose design

00:46:04for the World Trade Center

00:46:05would ultimately become

00:46:07one of the most

00:46:08controversial aspects

00:46:09of the entire project.

00:46:11Yamasaki was a very

00:46:12strange choice

00:46:13for the architect

00:46:14of the world's

00:46:16tallest buildings

00:46:16because he had never

00:46:17been a commercial

00:46:19architect,

00:46:20and especially

00:46:20of skyscrapers

00:46:21or of high-rises.

00:46:23His previous buildings

00:46:24had been mid-rises

00:46:26of 20 or so stories.

00:46:28He was not one

00:46:30of those architects

00:46:31who was particularly

00:46:33emphatic about

00:46:34a structural

00:46:35engineering solution.

00:46:37One thinks of

00:46:38his earlier work

00:46:39more in a decorative vein.

00:46:41He was interested

00:46:42in the play of light

00:46:43and shadow

00:46:44on the surface

00:46:44of the building

00:46:45so that his previous

00:46:46buildings seemed

00:46:48almost delicate

00:46:49in scale

00:46:50and wholly

00:46:51out of proportion

00:46:53to the ambition

00:46:55of the commission

00:46:57of the Trade Center.

00:46:59He felt that

00:47:01sort of standard-issue

00:47:02modern architecture

00:47:03was harsh

00:47:04and unwelcoming

00:47:05and cold,

00:47:06and he wanted

00:47:07to make architecture

00:47:08warm,

00:47:09so he kept doing

00:47:10these buildings

00:47:10that were sort of

00:47:11delicate.

00:47:13A lot of his stuff

00:47:13had these funny

00:47:14little gothic arches

00:47:15and it looked kind of

00:47:17cute in a weird way.

00:47:19The Port Authority

00:47:20thought if we're

00:47:20going to build

00:47:21such enormous buildings

00:47:22that if they could

00:47:23hire someone

00:47:24who could combine

00:47:25the productive

00:47:26modern office building

00:47:28with an ornamental touch

00:47:29that that was

00:47:30what they wanted.

00:47:32They also wanted

00:47:32someone who was

00:47:33not so old

00:47:34and established

00:47:34and also set

00:47:36in his ways

00:47:36that they couldn't

00:47:37twist his arm

00:47:38and get him to agree

00:47:39to do what they

00:47:39wanted to do.

00:47:40They wanted someone

00:47:41who was creative

00:47:41but they also wanted

00:47:42someone that was

00:47:42going to listen

00:47:43to Guy Tazzoli

00:47:44and to Austin Tobin

00:47:45and they got that

00:47:46in Minoru Yamasaki.

00:47:47They thought

00:47:48they were actually

00:47:49making kind of

00:47:49a leap to a sort

00:47:51of high art architect.

00:47:53Yamasaki was actually

00:47:54a kind of low end

00:47:56high art architect.

00:47:57He was not one

00:47:58of the more admired ones

00:48:00by architectural

00:48:01historians and critics

00:48:02but he was nonetheless

00:48:03sort of somewhere

00:48:04in the bottom

00:48:05of that group

00:48:06and this was of course

00:48:07for him the opportunity

00:48:08of a lifetime.

00:48:09Minoru Yamasaki

00:48:13is hired in the end

00:48:14of August in 1962

00:48:15and he's given

00:48:17this unnegotiable

00:48:19standard by Guy Tazzoli

00:48:20and Austin Tobin

00:48:21which is that

00:48:22the net square foot

00:48:23of rentable space

00:48:24including offices

00:48:26and retail

00:48:26must be 10 million.

00:48:27It's called the program

00:48:28and it's non-negotiable

00:48:30and he knows

00:48:31that he cannot even

00:48:32have a conversation

00:48:33with Guy about this.

00:48:34It was a terrifying program

00:48:37from the standpoint

00:48:38of size

00:48:39Yamasaki remembered.

00:48:40You just run scared

00:48:41before you get adjusted.

00:48:44For months

00:48:45he searched for the right

00:48:46form for the project

00:48:47working on a scale

00:48:48no architect

00:48:49had ever before

00:48:50confronted

00:48:50struggling to reconcile

00:48:52his own artistic sensibility

00:48:53with the overwhelming

00:48:54size of the program.

00:48:58Experimenting with one model

00:48:59after another

00:48:59he toyed with the idea

00:49:01of using 10 smaller structures

00:49:03then one gigantic one

00:49:05but kept coming back

00:49:06to the image

00:49:07of two slender towers

00:49:08one offset from the other

00:49:10a design he hoped

00:49:11would combine

00:49:12the practical requirements

00:49:13of the Port Authority's

00:49:14immense program

00:49:15with the sculptural elegance

00:49:16he admired in the work

00:49:18of his great mentor

00:49:18the German architect

00:49:20Mies van der Roep.

00:49:22So he must have done

00:49:2450 or more

00:49:26different models

00:49:27limited by the

00:49:2916 acre site

00:49:30that we had

00:49:31and finally

00:49:32he sent word back

00:49:34to me

00:49:34it's time for you

00:49:35to come out

00:49:36and I want to show you

00:49:36the one I like the best

00:49:37he had done

00:49:38twin towers

00:49:39and a plaza

00:49:40about the size

00:49:41of Piazza San Marco

00:49:43just a little smaller

00:49:44than that

00:49:45and it had a hotel

00:49:45and it had a customs house

00:49:47and everything around it

00:49:48it was a lovely

00:49:49lovely design

00:49:50so I said to

00:49:51Yama

00:49:52when I saw that

00:49:53I said

00:49:53this is a very fine design

00:49:55but does it meet

00:49:56my program?

00:49:58No he said

00:49:58it's 2 million feet

00:49:59short

00:49:59I said

00:50:00why is that?

00:50:01well he said

00:50:02the towers

00:50:02are 80 floors high

00:50:04he said

00:50:05you can't build

00:50:05a building taller

00:50:06than 80 floors

00:50:07I said

00:50:07why not?

00:50:09well he said

00:50:09because

00:50:10the configuration

00:50:11the elevators

00:50:12take too much space

00:50:13and that's why

00:50:13no one has ever

00:50:14done that

00:50:15and I remember

00:50:17saying to him

00:50:17you know Yama

00:50:18President Kennedy

00:50:20is going to put

00:50:20a man on the moon

00:50:21you're going to

00:50:22figure out a way

00:50:23for me to build

00:50:24the world's tallest

00:50:25buildings

00:50:25because that'll

00:50:26get us the other

00:50:272 million feet

00:50:28of space

00:50:28we'll just make

00:50:29those towers higher

00:50:30I'm sure

00:50:31Guy Tazzoli

00:50:32said 90's not

00:50:33high enough

00:50:34100's not high

00:50:35enough

00:50:35how about more space

00:50:36and I think

00:50:37he may not admit it

00:50:38but my guess is

00:50:39he was cognizant

00:50:40of the fact

00:50:41that the Trade Center

00:50:42was going to become

00:50:43a real image

00:50:44of New York City

00:50:45and he had high

00:50:46aspirations that

00:50:47that be the case

00:50:48in fact

00:50:48Yamasaki continued

00:50:49to resist

00:50:50going up to 110 stories

00:50:52and he ultimately

00:50:53accepted and embraced

00:50:55the towers at their height

00:50:56and began you know

00:50:57to become the most

00:50:58famous architect

00:50:59of his generation

00:51:00briefly

00:51:00and was on the cover

00:51:02of Time magazine

00:51:02because he was building

00:51:04the two tallest towers

00:51:05but he was never

00:51:07entirely comfortable

00:51:07I don't think

00:51:08with the height

00:51:09that the towers reached

00:51:09despite strong misgivings

00:51:13that the sheer size

00:51:14Tazzoli was demanding

00:51:15would compromise

00:51:16the aesthetic impact

00:51:17of his towers

00:51:18Yamasaki eventually

00:51:19gave in

00:51:20and after huddling

00:51:22with his chief engineers

00:51:23finally agreed

00:51:24that the elevator problem

00:51:25could be solved

00:51:26and increased the height

00:51:27of the two structures

00:51:29on January 18th

00:51:321964

00:51:32when the final design

00:51:34was presented

00:51:35to the public

00:51:35at a press conference

00:51:36at the New York Hilton

00:51:37the officials

00:51:38and reporters

00:51:39assembled for the occasion

00:51:40were stunned

00:51:41Yamasaki's dramatically

00:51:43revised program

00:51:44called for two

00:51:45identical towers

00:51:46each 110 stories tall

00:51:48a full 100 feet

00:51:50higher than the Empire

00:51:51State Building

00:51:52with every floor

00:51:54over an acre in size

00:51:55each tower alone

00:51:56contained twice

00:51:57the floor space

00:51:58of Al Smith's

00:51:59Depression-era landmark

00:52:00even Nelson Rockefeller

00:52:03was astounded

00:52:04by the plan

00:52:04gleefully confiding

00:52:06to a senior aide

00:52:07my God

00:52:08these towers

00:52:09will make David's building

00:52:10look like an outhouse

00:52:11an editorial

00:52:14in the New York Times

00:52:15that ran the next day

00:52:16took a more sober view

00:52:18their impact on New York

00:52:20for better or for worse

00:52:21economically and architecturally

00:52:23is bound to be enormous

00:52:25so the Twin Towers

00:52:29started as one tower

00:52:31they became Twin Towers

00:52:32they kept getting bigger

00:52:34and bigger

00:52:34and they really

00:52:35became an eco trip

00:52:36suddenly it became possible

00:52:39for the Port Authority

00:52:40to build

00:52:41the tallest buildings

00:52:42in the world

00:52:43which is the most ephemeral

00:52:45of all titles

00:52:46it's taken away from you

00:52:48very quickly

00:52:49and always will be

00:52:50but there is something

00:52:52that is inside

00:52:54of human beings

00:52:56that wants to reach

00:52:58for the skies

00:52:59and I'd like to think

00:53:01that it was that romantic

00:53:02and that spiritual

00:53:04and that symbolic

00:53:05in many ways

00:53:08the release of Yamasaki's

00:53:09staggering model

00:53:10marked a crucial turning point

00:53:12in the story

00:53:12of the World Trade Center

00:53:13within days

00:53:15of the press conference

00:53:16at the New York Hilton

00:53:17a storm of protest

00:53:18had begun to break

00:53:19over the offices

00:53:20of the Port Authority

00:53:21bringing to a climax

00:53:23tensions and conflicts

00:53:24that had been building

00:53:25for years

00:53:25and threatening

00:53:26to halt the mammoth project

00:53:28before it had even

00:53:29gotten off the ground

00:53:30I started out

00:53:40not liking

00:53:41the World Trade Center

00:53:42because the World Trade Center

00:53:43was the Conrad Veidt

00:53:45of buildings

00:53:45Conrad Veidt

00:53:47was the man

00:53:48you love to hate

00:53:49the World Trade Center

00:53:50were the buildings

00:53:51you love to hate

00:53:52I was very much

00:53:55around when the

00:53:57process of the clearing

00:53:58of the site

00:53:58and the protests

00:53:59about the destruction

00:54:01of that kind of funky

00:54:02agglomeration

00:54:03of street patterns

00:54:04and activities

00:54:06around it were there

00:54:07I resented

00:54:09its massive dumbness

00:54:11its huge size

00:54:13it's the fact

00:54:14that it tipped

00:54:16the balance

00:54:16of the skyline

00:54:17to the west

00:54:18in an unnatural way

00:54:19if you can call

00:54:20something like

00:54:20a man-made skyline

00:54:21of Manhattan natural

00:54:23For two full years

00:54:26as the towers

00:54:27spiraled higher

00:54:27in Yamasaki's mind

00:54:28and as the ambitions

00:54:29of the port authority

00:54:30vaulted upward

00:54:31a bitter war

00:54:32had been raging

00:54:33on the streets

00:54:34down below

00:54:34for the body

00:54:35and soul

00:54:36of lower Manhattan

00:54:36The Trade Center

00:54:39was realized

00:54:40at a time

00:54:40when there was

00:54:41what could be described

00:54:42as a paradigm shift

00:54:43about architecture

00:54:45and urban development

00:54:46preservation

00:54:47was a growing sentiment

00:54:50among a wide number

00:54:52of people

00:54:52in New York

00:54:53and other places

00:54:54at this time

00:54:54remember the Pennsylvania

00:54:56station protest

00:54:57was 63

00:54:58the destruction 66

00:54:59it's just those years

00:55:01the Trade Center

00:55:02is being hatched

00:55:03and developed

00:55:04so you have

00:55:05these two models

00:55:06of urbanism

00:55:07or urban growth

00:55:09coming head to head

00:55:10in the trades

00:55:11at the Trade Center

00:55:12site

00:55:12so people were

00:55:13very much divided

00:55:15as to whether

00:55:16this project

00:55:17should even happen

00:55:18there was great argument

00:55:19about it at the time

00:55:20people said

00:55:21this is not the business

00:55:22of the port authority

00:55:23the port authority

00:55:24should be talking

00:55:25about the port

00:55:25if we're losing

00:55:26the ocean liners

00:55:27what are we going

00:55:27to put there

00:55:28and it was a valid argument

00:55:30I thought

00:55:31the opposition

00:55:33came from

00:55:34a lot of different

00:55:35directions

00:55:36there were many people

00:55:38within the New York

00:55:39real estate industry

00:55:40who were opposed

00:55:41to the World Trade Center's

00:55:4310 million square feet

00:55:44of new office space

00:55:46flooding the market

00:55:46because they legitimately

00:55:48feared

00:55:48that that space

00:55:50would throw out of whack

00:55:51the whole commercial

00:55:53private market

00:55:54in real estate

00:55:55in New York

00:55:55when word is clear

00:55:57that the port authority

00:55:58is going to subsidize

00:56:00this enormous

00:56:01trade complex

00:56:02which is now

00:56:03only very marginally

00:56:04has anything to do

00:56:05with the port

00:56:06because in fact

00:56:06they're moving the port

00:56:07you know

00:56:08so the old rationale

00:56:09is crumbling

00:56:09you get a complex

00:56:11of interest

00:56:11particularly

00:56:12the people who own

00:56:13the Empire State Building

00:56:15who say

00:56:16wait a minute

00:56:17foul ball

00:56:18you're in fact

00:56:20using government

00:56:21public dollars

00:56:22to underwrite

00:56:23a massive new

00:56:25complex of office space

00:56:26what's going to happen

00:56:27to the rental market

00:56:28it's going to not only

00:56:29destroy downtown

00:56:30because you're going to

00:56:30build far more office space

00:56:31than you actually need

00:56:32that's going to mess up

00:56:33my property up here

00:56:34in the Empire State Building

00:56:35so they bring suits

00:56:36and they try to stop it

00:56:37the main objection

00:56:39to this project

00:56:40came from the people

00:56:42who own the Empire State Building

00:56:44Harry Helmsley

00:56:45and Larry Wheaton

00:56:46and when they heard

00:56:48the announcement

00:56:49of our plan

00:56:50which was in 1964

00:56:52they formed a committee

00:56:54for a reasonable

00:56:55World Trade Center

00:56:56and they gave them

00:56:58a budget of

00:56:59$500,000

00:57:00to prevent

00:57:01the construction

00:57:02of the World Trade Center

00:57:03so I went and met

00:57:05Mr. Helmsley one day

00:57:06he said

00:57:07Harry

00:57:08I knew him

00:57:08he said

00:57:09Harry

00:57:09could you tell me

00:57:10what is a reasonable

00:57:11World Trade Center

00:57:12and he said

00:57:13yes

00:57:14I said

00:57:14what's that

00:57:15he said

00:57:15100 floors high

00:57:16and I said

00:57:18well

00:57:18your Empire State Building

00:57:20is 102

00:57:20and I said

00:57:22I'm sorry

00:57:23but I think 110

00:57:23is a better number

00:57:25for more than

00:57:27half a decade

00:57:27the controversy

00:57:28raged on

00:57:29in and out of court

00:57:30as the Port Authority

00:57:31battled one opponent

00:57:32after another

00:57:33including at one point

00:57:35the city itself

00:57:36which stood to lose

00:57:37millions in property taxes

00:57:39as a result of the project

00:57:40and television broadcasters

00:57:42who feared

00:57:43the massive towers

00:57:44would block reception

00:57:45of their signals

00:57:46my mother

00:57:48who loved television

00:57:50she said

00:57:51you know

00:57:51you're my son

00:57:52and I love you

00:57:53very much

00:57:54but I must tell you

00:57:55if you're gonna

00:57:56hurt television

00:57:57reception

00:57:58in this area

00:57:58you better stop

00:57:59that project

00:58:00of yours right now

00:58:01and I knew

00:58:02I had vague problems

00:58:03in any case

00:58:05we did

00:58:06we actually

00:58:06negotiated a deal

00:58:08with the television people

00:58:09and they moved down

00:58:10to our place

00:58:11and

00:58:12it all worked out

00:58:13in the end

00:58:17the most tenacious

00:58:18bitter and heartbreaking

00:58:19resistance

00:58:20to the World Trade Center

00:58:21would come from

00:58:22the hundreds

00:58:22of small businessmen

00:58:23whose shops

00:58:24and storefronts

00:58:25lined the ancient

00:58:26cobbled thoroughfares

00:58:27of Radio Row

00:58:28and whose entire

00:58:29way of life

00:58:30was threatened

00:58:30with extinction

00:58:31by the massive

00:58:32sixteen acre complex

00:58:33I really felt

00:58:36the assault

00:58:37on Cortland Street

00:58:38because you slowly

00:58:40began to look

00:58:40at the plans

00:58:41as they emerged

00:58:42and you find out

00:58:43there's not gonna be

00:58:44a Cortland Street

00:58:44they're gonna have

00:58:46a sign that says

00:58:47Cortland Street

00:58:48and after that

00:58:48it'll be nothing

00:58:49but concrete

00:58:50and a plaza

00:58:51into which nobody

00:58:52ever stepped

00:58:53well that was the

00:58:54urban renewal formula

00:58:56of the 60s

00:58:57that was so disastrous

00:58:58in cities across

00:58:59the country

00:58:59the idea of

00:59:01clearing out

00:59:02supposedly getting

00:59:04rid of blight

00:59:04which unfortunately

00:59:06was a synonym

00:59:06for history

00:59:07and for small business

00:59:09and then to substitute

00:59:11these super blocks

00:59:12with huge buildings

00:59:13the real estate community

00:59:16had an expression

00:59:17ripe for redevelopment

00:59:19you cut off

00:59:20you closed

00:59:21oh there's an official

00:59:22word for that too

00:59:23you demapped

00:59:24wonderful old streets

00:59:25with small buildings

00:59:26that gave you

00:59:27the history

00:59:28and the flavor

00:59:28and the continuity

00:59:29of the city

00:59:29and you put them

00:59:31together for a super block

00:59:32for the world trade center

00:59:3514 historic streets

00:59:37became two super blocks

00:59:39if you're a planner

00:59:41and you look at the map

00:59:42or you're in an airplane

00:59:44you look down at the city

00:59:45you see this area

00:59:46four story buildings

00:59:47slightly tumbled down

00:59:49in appearance

00:59:50what would appear

00:59:51to be marginal retail uses

00:59:53electronic shops

00:59:54and so forth

00:59:55so in the mentality

00:59:57of post-world war 2

00:59:59redevelopment

01:00:00this was a soft area

01:00:02an easy kill

01:00:03hardly anybody to relocate

01:00:05no institutions to relocate

01:00:07and nobody living there

01:00:09to speak of

01:00:10so there it was

01:00:11quick

01:00:12one, two, three

01:00:13do it

01:00:14but by the time

01:00:16the site began to be

01:00:18really getting ready

01:00:19for clearance

01:00:19people saying

01:00:20you're tearing out

01:00:21this living vital part

01:00:23of the city

01:00:23no sooner had the boundaries

01:00:28of the new west side location

01:00:29been announced

01:00:30than store owners

01:00:31and merchants in the area

01:00:32had begun mounting

01:00:33fierce resistance

01:00:34to the port authorities plans

01:00:36are over 1,000 businessmen

01:00:39in this area

01:00:4013 square blocks

01:00:41of lower Manhattan

01:00:42we will fight this

01:00:44with all the strength

01:00:45that we have

01:00:46in order to preserve

01:00:47free enterprise

01:00:48in Manhattan

01:00:49we also feel very reluctant

01:00:52about our city

01:00:52giving up 13 square blocks

01:00:54to the port authority

01:00:55we have here

01:00:56a 13 block area

01:00:57a thriving business area

01:00:58that will be taken away

01:01:00from the city of New York

01:01:00forever and for all time

01:01:02an area in which

01:01:03the people who are

01:01:04the elected people

01:01:05and should have what to say

01:01:06will have no say ever again

01:01:08in this particular area

01:01:09leading the fight

01:01:12was a pugnacious

01:01:13self-made electronic shop owner

01:01:14named Oscar Nadel

01:01:15known as the king

01:01:17of Cortland Street

01:01:18who was determined

01:01:19to do everything he could

01:01:20to keep the port authority

01:01:21from taking away his business

01:01:23last time that I might say this

01:01:25with respect to the port authority

01:01:26stay out of private enterprise

01:01:28you were told to build bridges

01:01:29and tunnels

01:01:30and airports

01:01:30build them

01:01:31stay in your business

01:01:33and we'll stay in ours

01:01:34an Oscar devised

01:01:36a series of spectacular protests

01:01:38probably the most memorable

01:01:39in a way

01:01:39was when he had people

01:01:41parade him down the street

01:01:42in a coffin

01:01:43with a sign that said

01:01:45here lies Mr. Small

01:01:46businessman

01:01:47don't let the port authority

01:01:48bury him

01:01:49well believe me

01:01:51he got some press

01:01:52as the furor

01:01:54over Radio Row

01:01:55came to a climax

01:01:56protests against

01:01:57large scale

01:01:58redevelopment projects

01:01:59of all kinds

01:02:00were gathering momentum

01:02:01across the city

01:02:02just ten blocks

01:02:04to the north

01:02:05opponents of Robert Moses

01:02:06would soon score

01:02:07a stunning triumph

01:02:08in their fight

01:02:09to stop the lower

01:02:10Manhattan expressway

01:02:11in the end however

01:02:14even the rising tide

01:02:15of grassroots activism

01:02:16in New York

01:02:17would prove no match

01:02:19for the power

01:02:19of the port authority

01:02:20or for the extraordinary

01:02:22political skills

01:02:23of its fiercely determined leader

01:02:24Austin Tobin

01:02:25we're talking here

01:02:27about things

01:02:28in the public interest

01:02:29in a free country

01:02:30that concern

01:02:30not a few store owners

01:02:33on a block

01:02:34down in this area

01:02:35but we're concerning

01:02:36something that concerns

01:02:37not tens of thousands

01:02:38or hundreds of thousands

01:02:39of millions of people

01:02:40and their livelihoods

01:02:41in this area

01:02:42and the whole future

01:02:43of this area

01:02:44and its great port

01:02:45which is the foundation

01:02:47of its welfare

01:02:47in the future

01:02:48and those are the issue here

01:02:50and not any phony issue

01:02:51of the port authority

01:02:52wanting to get into

01:02:53the real estate business

01:02:54which is the last thing

01:02:55in the world

01:02:56it has the slightest interest in

01:02:57Austin Tobin

01:02:59wanted to win so bad

01:03:02there's no underestimating

01:03:05that internal fire

01:03:06you can't run an agency

01:03:08like the port authority

01:03:09especially in those times

01:03:10and have the successes

01:03:11that it had

01:03:12and not have that fire inside

01:03:14Austin Tobin

01:03:16wanted it real bad

01:03:18now on the technical side

01:03:20Tobin was just a lot smarter

01:03:22than the people

01:03:22he was playing against

01:03:23if the city was going

01:03:25to make a move

01:03:26he knew who his people

01:03:27in the city council

01:03:27were he could count on

01:03:28in a pinch

01:03:29he knew that if it became

01:03:31a public relations battle

01:03:32that he had Lee Jaffe

01:03:34who had all her ducks

01:03:36in a row with the newspapers

01:03:37and he had the technical guys

01:03:40he could pull out arguments

01:03:42that had the authority

01:03:45no one else had

01:03:46no one else could do this

01:03:47how could the city council

01:03:48counter an argument

01:03:49by his engineering department

01:03:51that this kind of a structure

01:03:52was the way it had to be

01:03:53how could someone

01:03:55come in from

01:03:56you know

01:03:57little Oscar Nadel's

01:03:58protest group

01:03:59and go up against

01:04:00the people

01:04:00who had gone in

01:04:01and just put the second deck

01:04:02on the George Washington Bridge

01:04:04the third tube

01:04:05of the Lincoln Tunnel

01:04:06in the end

01:04:10the port authority

01:04:11prevailed on every front

01:04:12in March 1966

01:04:15the New York State

01:04:16Court of Appeals

01:04:17turned back the last challenge

01:04:19to the legality

01:04:20of its condemnations

01:04:21on the bright windswept morning

01:04:24of March 21st

01:04:251966

01:04:26as opponents of the project

01:04:28looked helplessly on

01:04:30the first red brick structures

01:04:32on Radio Row

01:04:33which had stood since the time

01:04:35of the Civil War

01:04:35began to come down

01:04:37they lose

01:04:40to make a long story short

01:04:42the powers that are assembled

01:04:44in favor of remaking

01:04:45Lower Manhattan Triumph

01:04:46and one by one

01:04:48these competing uses

01:04:49are literally driven

01:04:51into the sea

01:04:52or pushed on

01:04:53somewhere else

01:04:54I remember

01:04:57seeing Cortland Street

01:04:58being shoveled off

01:04:59to become landfill

01:05:00for what became

01:05:01Battery Park City

01:05:02I mean literally

01:05:03bulldozers

01:05:04knocked down the old houses

01:05:05they just tipped them over

01:05:07smashed them over

01:05:08like they were

01:05:09big fists

01:05:10were being leveled

01:05:11from the sky somehow

01:05:12among the many things

01:05:15that were lost

01:05:15on September 11th

01:05:16were the final

01:05:17Polaroid photographs

01:05:18of the houses

01:05:19on Cortland Street

01:05:22with their prices

01:05:24that were labeled

01:05:25on them

01:05:26by the assessors

01:05:27what the owners

01:05:28were going to get paid

01:05:29you know

01:05:299,000

01:05:3012,000

01:05:3118,000

01:05:32whatever it was

01:05:33all those original

01:05:34Polaroids

01:05:35no negatives

01:05:36were lost

01:05:37in one of the buildings

01:05:39on September 11th

01:05:40so that even that

01:05:42even that record

01:05:43of it is gone

01:05:44who's afraid

01:05:48of the big bad buildings

01:05:49everyone

01:05:51because there are

01:05:53so many things

01:05:54about gigantism

01:05:55that we just don't know

01:05:57the gamble

01:06:00of triumph

01:06:01or tragedy

01:06:01at this scale

01:06:02and ultimately

01:06:04it is a gamble

01:06:06demands

01:06:07an extraordinary

01:06:08payoff

01:06:09the trade center towers

01:06:12could be the start

01:06:14of a new skyscraper age

01:06:15or the biggest tombstones

01:06:18in the world

01:06:19Ada Louise Huxtable

01:06:221966

01:06:23I was in a dentist

01:06:34waiting room

01:06:35in Paris

01:06:36with a giant toothache

01:06:39and I was looking at

01:06:41what you usually

01:06:41you know

01:06:42look through

01:06:43those old magazine

01:06:44old newspapers

01:06:45and somehow

01:06:48I fell onto

01:06:50a small article

01:06:51but the picture

01:06:52really

01:06:53called my attention

01:06:54it was the

01:06:55twin towers

01:06:56but in their

01:06:57model form

01:06:58because it was

01:06:591968

01:07:00and they had not yet

01:07:01started to be built

01:07:03and I had not yet

01:07:04started to be a wire walker

01:07:06which is actually

01:07:07the amazing part

01:07:08of the story

01:07:08so how could I

01:07:11fall in love

01:07:12with those two towers

01:07:13the highest towers

01:07:14in the world

01:07:15said the article

01:07:16so presumptuous

01:07:19so arrogant

01:07:20so naive

01:07:21so romantic

01:07:23and it was

01:07:24all of that

01:07:25and I remember

01:07:26I just

01:07:26I had to tear

01:07:27the article

01:07:28and everybody

01:07:28was watching me

01:07:29you know

01:07:29in France

01:07:30everybody's watching

01:07:31each other

01:07:31and it was very quiet

01:07:33and I couldn't

01:07:34rip the page

01:07:34and plus you don't

01:07:35you know

01:07:36you don't steal

01:07:36something

01:07:37so I actually

01:07:39let go

01:07:41a giant sneeze

01:07:42and under the cover

01:07:43of the sneeze

01:07:43I teared the article

01:07:44put it under my shirt

01:07:46and I had to leave

01:07:47and I had to find

01:07:48another dentist

01:07:49but what you know

01:07:51what was it

01:07:52to have a toothache

01:07:54for another week

01:07:54when what I had now

01:07:56in my chest

01:07:59was a dream

01:08:00one of the most

01:08:12poignant of the many

01:08:12ironies surrounding

01:08:13the story of the world

01:08:14trade center

01:08:15was that the extraordinary

01:08:16saga of its physical rise

01:08:18by any measure

01:08:19one of the greatest

01:08:20engineering feats

01:08:21of the age

01:08:22would go largely

01:08:23unnoticed at the time

01:08:24and come to be widely

01:08:25appreciated

01:08:26only after its demise

01:08:28from the very start

01:08:31the challenge of

01:08:32constructing two

01:08:33immense towers

01:08:34not only taller

01:08:35but far larger

01:08:36than any other

01:08:37in the world

01:08:38would force

01:08:39Austin Tobin's team

01:08:40of builders and engineers

01:08:41to reinvent

01:08:42almost every aspect

01:08:43of skyscraper technology

01:08:44and design

01:08:45challenging not only

01:08:47the height

01:08:48but the most basic

01:08:49construction principles

01:08:50of its great rival

01:08:51the Empire State Building

01:08:52and producing along the way

01:08:54one of the greatest works

01:08:56of engineering art

01:08:57ever created

01:08:57the two buildings

01:09:00the two buildings

01:09:00Empire State

01:09:01and World Trade Center

01:09:02were in one way

01:09:03the same

01:09:04in that they

01:09:05were symbolic

01:09:06of the city of New York

01:09:07but inside

01:09:09the inside of the guts

01:09:10of it if you will

01:09:10the structure

01:09:11entirely different

01:09:12entirely different buildings

01:09:14I think the genius

01:09:16of the towers

01:09:17lay in the engineering

01:09:18rather than

01:09:19in the architecture

01:09:20to build the world's

01:09:22tallest buildings

01:09:23in 110 stories

01:09:24took a special

01:09:26kind of genius

01:09:27and that was really

01:09:29Les Robertson

01:09:30and his partners

01:09:31who came up

01:09:33with a way

01:09:34a device

01:09:35a plan

01:09:35in order to realize

01:09:37the architectural simplicity

01:09:39of Yamazaki's concept

01:09:41the tallest building

01:09:43I'd ever worked on

01:09:44was 20 or 22 stories

01:09:46but I had the kind

01:09:49of background

01:09:49that very few

01:09:51structural engineers had

01:09:52I was a pretty good

01:09:53mathematician

01:09:53I knew a lot about

01:09:55the dynamics of structures

01:09:57and even the dynamics

01:09:58of electrical circuits

01:09:59in addition to that

01:10:00I wasn't burdened

01:10:02with the baggage

01:10:03of having done it before

01:10:05I could sort of look

01:10:07at all those ideas

01:10:08and choose from them

01:10:09and develop new ones

01:10:10and make

01:10:11I think a new kind

01:10:13of building

01:10:13something that hadn't

01:10:15been created before

01:10:16they weren't just

01:10:18building the biggest

01:10:19skyscrapers

01:10:20that had ever been

01:10:21put up

01:10:21they were doing it

01:10:23in a way

01:10:23that hadn't really

01:10:25been tried before

01:10:26on anything remotely

01:10:27like that scale

01:10:28engineers use

01:10:29ideas for the most part

01:10:31that had been used

01:10:32before

01:10:32they couldn't do that

01:10:33in the World Trade Center

01:10:34and so you have

01:10:35a cross between

01:10:36an engineer

01:10:38and a research physicist

01:10:40in effect

01:10:41that is being called

01:10:43into play

01:10:43to build these structures

01:10:45on the morning of

01:10:48August 5th 1966

01:10:50work on the World Trade Center

01:10:52finally began

01:10:53the first challenge came

01:10:56with the foundations

01:10:57themselves

01:10:58which would have to

01:10:59descend through 70 feet

01:11:00of waterlogged landfill

01:11:01originally laid down

01:11:02by the English

01:11:03before reaching bedrock

01:11:04to keep the waters

01:11:07of the nearby Hudson

01:11:08at bay

01:11:09Port Authority engineers

01:11:10constructed a gigantic

01:11:11concrete bathtub

01:11:12two blocks wide

01:11:14and four blocks long

01:11:15and seven stories high

01:11:17unearthing in the process

01:11:19along with 1.2 million

01:11:20cubic yards of dirt

01:11:21haunting reminders

01:11:23of the city's

01:11:24long vanished

01:11:24colonial past

01:11:25including ship anchors

01:11:27cannonballs

01:11:28clay pipes

01:11:29and British coins

01:11:30dating back to the reign

01:11:31of King George II

01:11:32the greatest challenge

01:11:35by far however

01:11:36lay in the engineering

01:11:38of the towers themselves

01:11:39from the start

01:11:41it was clear

01:11:42that the Port Authority's

01:11:43demand

01:11:43for vast expanses

01:11:44of infinitely flexible

01:11:45office space

01:11:46and the towering

01:11:48sculptural forms

01:11:48Yamasaki had designed

01:11:50to meet it

01:11:50would require

01:11:51a complete break

01:11:52with the traditional

01:11:53techniques of

01:11:54skyscraper construction

01:11:55stretching back

01:11:56nearly a century

01:11:57the World Trade Center

01:11:59represented a great

01:12:00advance

01:12:01technologically

01:12:02over skyscrapers

01:12:04before its time

01:12:04it represented

01:12:06much more

01:12:06of an advance

01:12:07technologically

01:12:08than architecturally

01:12:09unlike a

01:12:11traditional skyscraper

01:12:12that's supported

01:12:13by a steel

01:12:14or concrete

01:12:15grid work

01:12:15of columns

01:12:16and beams

01:12:17going all the way

01:12:18through the building

01:12:19the Trade Center

01:12:21is supported

01:12:21mainly

01:12:23by its exterior walls

01:12:24which were this

01:12:25very very tight

01:12:26tight mesh

01:12:28of steel

01:12:29so tightly woven

01:12:31that it could support

01:12:33the weight

01:12:33of the building

01:12:34in a way

01:12:36it's sort of like

01:12:36those steel mesh

01:12:38litter baskets

01:12:39that one sees out

01:12:40on the sidewalk

01:12:41that are actually

01:12:41a very strong structure

01:12:42but this is 110 stories worth

01:12:45and square

01:12:46rather than round

01:12:47but the same kind

01:12:48of idea

01:12:48the Trade Center

01:12:52had a different

01:12:52kind of structure

01:12:53it was built

01:12:54more like the wing

01:12:55of an airplane

01:12:56and the wing

01:12:58of the airplane

01:12:59the strength

01:12:59is all on the surface

01:13:01of the wing

01:13:02or the fuselage

01:13:03on both cases

01:13:04all of the interior columns

01:13:07that had been used

01:13:08in the past

01:13:09were a detriment

01:13:10they were harmful

01:13:11to the design

01:13:13because we didn't want

01:13:14those interior columns

01:13:15we wanted that weight

01:13:16out on the outside

01:13:17where it would do

01:13:18some good

01:13:18for this

01:13:20for the stalwartness

01:13:21of the building

01:13:21in resisting

01:13:22these giant loads

01:13:24from the wind

01:13:24only such a design

01:13:28Robertson knew

01:13:29could fulfill

01:13:30the unprecedented

01:13:31practical needs

01:13:31of the building

01:13:32and still counteract

01:13:34the greatest natural

01:13:34stress

01:13:35to the towering

01:13:36sail-like structures

01:13:37the force

01:13:38not of gravity

01:13:39but the wind

01:13:40you know

01:13:41if you put your feet

01:13:42close together

01:13:43and somebody shoves

01:13:43on your shoulder

01:13:44it's easy for you

01:13:46to fall over

01:13:46if you put your feet

01:13:47apart and someone

01:13:48shoves on your shoulder

01:13:49it's easy for you

01:13:50to stand up

01:13:50and the steel

01:13:52on the outside

01:13:53of the towers

01:13:53was like your feet

01:13:55spread apart

01:13:55and the shove

01:13:56was like the gusts

01:13:57of the wind

01:13:58you know

01:13:59in off the Atlantic Ocean

01:14:00if you put the steel

01:14:02out there

01:14:03you could save

01:14:04a lot of money

01:14:04probably 40%

01:14:06in the total amount

01:14:06of steel

01:14:07but it also had

01:14:08other implications

01:14:09for how you would

01:14:10use this building

01:14:11and one of them

01:14:12is that you would

01:14:12have none of these

01:14:13interior columns

01:14:14that hold up

01:14:16the Empire State Building

01:14:17every 20 feet

01:14:18messing up

01:14:19your floor plan

01:14:19so anybody could come in

01:14:21and deal with the floors

01:14:22however they wanted

01:14:23to put up their partitions

01:14:24and it was kind of

01:14:24real estate paradise

01:14:25now in fact

01:14:27it was a design

01:14:28that looked great

01:14:29on paper

01:14:29but when they went

01:14:31out to the wind tunnel

01:14:32in Fort Collins, Colorado

01:14:33before they put

01:14:34the buildings up

01:14:35they found out

01:14:36that the structure

01:14:37when it was really

01:14:38put together

01:14:39at least in miniature form

01:14:41didn't work quite

01:14:42the way they'd expected

01:14:43it just swayed

01:14:45too much

01:14:45beyond anything

01:14:47that would have been

01:14:48remotely reasonable

01:14:48in fact

01:14:50they moved so far

01:14:51that at least

01:14:52one model

01:14:53broke and fell over

01:14:54in the wind

01:14:56now that didn't mean

01:14:57that the real towers

01:14:58would fall over

01:14:59it just meant

01:14:59that they hadn't

01:15:00taken into account

01:15:00the tremendous forces

01:15:01they were going

01:15:02to be dealing with

01:15:03and so

01:15:05we had to rethink

01:15:06the entire process

01:15:08how much can a building

01:15:10move in the wind

01:15:11how much would they

01:15:12oscillate

01:15:12no one

01:15:14had ever found out

01:15:16no one had ever

01:15:16tried to find out

01:15:18even

01:15:18or even thought

01:15:19there was an issue

01:15:20to find out about

01:15:20not only how much

01:15:23does it move

01:15:23how much can it move

01:15:25and the upshot

01:15:28of it was

01:15:28that Robertson

01:15:30and his collaborator

01:15:31Alan Davenport

01:15:32came up with the idea

01:15:34of basically putting

01:15:34shock absorbers

01:15:35in buildings

01:15:36which had never been

01:15:37done before

01:15:38and you know

01:15:40god darn it

01:15:41it worked

01:15:41they kept these things

01:15:43from swaying

01:15:43beyond the tolerances

01:15:44that they'd set

01:15:45they could resist

01:15:46and 150 mile wind

01:15:49blowing consecutively

01:15:51on one side

01:15:52of the building

01:15:52for 30 minutes

01:15:53and they would not

01:15:54fall down

01:15:55I used to say

01:15:57they move like a snake

01:15:58different from all

01:16:00other buildings

01:16:00in the world

01:16:01the strength to resist

01:16:02the wind

01:16:03is in the outside walls

01:16:04instead of

01:16:05the elevator core

01:16:06which is normal

01:16:07for all other

01:16:08high rise buildings

01:16:09in the world

01:16:09and so

01:16:10these towers

01:16:11were much stronger

01:16:12if you would

01:16:13the really sublime

01:16:16thing about this

01:16:17from the point of view

01:16:17of the port authority

01:16:18is that all this

01:16:19is happening

01:16:19in the background

01:16:20while Austin Tobin

01:16:22is passionately

01:16:22defending these structures

01:16:24against the critics

01:16:25back in New York City

01:16:26who have no idea

01:16:27that any of this

01:16:28is going on

01:16:29in the background

01:16:29all it would have

01:16:31taken probably

01:16:32was for some

01:16:33of the opponents

01:16:33to know

01:16:34what was going on

01:16:34behind the scenes

01:16:35when they're out

01:16:37in Colorado

01:16:38in the wind tunnel

01:16:39and one of the

01:16:40models fell over

01:16:41put that in one

01:16:43New York newspaper

01:16:43and there's no

01:16:44World Trade Center

01:16:45when they're out

01:16:46in Eugene, Oregon

01:16:47testing people

01:16:48in a room

01:16:48and people are

01:16:49getting sick

01:16:50as they go back

01:16:50and forth

01:16:51as the motion

01:16:52of the building

01:16:52is being simulated

01:16:53again put that

01:16:55in one television

01:16:57program

01:16:57in prime time

01:16:58in New York City

01:16:59very hard to see

01:17:00how the World Trade

01:17:01Center was going

01:17:02to be built

01:17:02but the port authority

01:17:04successfully walled

01:17:05off that

01:17:06and other information

01:17:07from the public

01:17:08in the way

01:17:10that shows

01:17:11how good they were

01:17:11how good

01:17:12Austin Tobin was

01:17:13as innovative

01:17:17in their construction

01:17:18as they were

01:17:19in their design

01:17:19the towers

01:17:21were assembled

01:17:21not one column

01:17:22at a time

01:17:23but in immense

01:17:24pre-assembled pieces

01:17:25each three stories

01:17:26tall

01:17:27that dramatically

01:17:28speeded the

01:17:28construction process

01:17:29we had

01:17:31experimented

01:17:32with prefabrication

01:17:33in a few buildings

01:17:34but never

01:17:36even close to the scale

01:17:38that it was done

01:17:39on the World Trade Center

01:17:39huge prefabricated elements

01:17:41constructed all over

01:17:43the United States

01:17:44with materials

01:17:45that came from

01:17:46all over the world

01:17:47and finally assembled

01:17:48into one building

01:17:50in New York City

01:17:50we had

01:17:53steelwork being fabricated

01:17:55in Los Angeles

01:17:55in Dallas

01:17:56in Seattle

01:17:57in Pittsburgh

01:17:58in Virginia

01:17:59and down into Georgia

01:18:01and up into Canada

01:18:02and all of that

01:18:04was coordinated

01:18:06through our offices

01:18:07at the peak of construction

01:18:10more than 800 tons

01:18:12of structural steel

01:18:13were being delivered

01:18:14each day

01:18:14to the massive

01:18:15construction site

01:18:16raised into the sky

01:18:17by four Australian

01:18:18built kangaroo cranes

01:18:19and bolted into place

01:18:21by Austin Tobin's army

01:18:22of 3600 men

01:18:24an extraordinary team

01:18:25of iron workers

01:18:26and construction specialists

01:18:27that included

01:18:28Carl Farillo

01:18:29who had once played

01:18:30right field

01:18:31for the Brooklyn Dodgers

01:18:32and a New Jersey man

01:18:34named George Nelson

01:18:35who 40 years earlier

01:18:36had helped build

01:18:37the Empire State Building

01:18:38and who now shrugged off

01:18:40work on the World Trade Center

01:18:41as just another building

01:18:42the Koch erecting set

01:18:46with the incredible people

01:18:47who ran the job

01:18:48and I still see Mr. Koch

01:18:51from time to time

01:18:53and I remind him

01:18:54not one iron worker

01:18:56was killed

01:18:57in the construction

01:18:58of the World Trade Center

01:18:59and this is what

01:19:01they used to do

01:19:02they'd be up on the steel

01:19:03and they'd look out

01:19:05and they'd say

01:19:06we're all going to be

01:19:06all right today boys

01:19:07Mr. Koch just went to mass

01:19:09there's a little Catholic

01:19:11church down there

01:19:12he went at 8 o'clock

01:19:13every morning

01:19:14and they said

01:19:14that takes care of us

01:19:15for the day

01:19:16and sure enough

01:19:17not a single iron worker done

01:19:19now of course

01:19:21the building lent itself

01:19:22to that

01:19:22because we put steel

01:19:23up on the outside walls

01:19:25so and then

01:19:26you could only fall

01:19:27two or three floors

01:19:28if you ever fell off

01:19:29but that was the way it was

01:19:30before signing off

01:19:37on the design

01:19:38Robertson and his team

01:19:40performed one last

01:19:41unprecedented safety check

01:19:42one of my jobs

01:19:46was to look at

01:19:47all of the possible events

01:19:48that might take place

01:19:50in a high-rise building

01:19:52and of course

01:19:54there had been

01:19:55in New York

01:19:55two incidences

01:19:56of aircraft impact

01:19:57the most famous one

01:19:58of course being

01:19:59on the Empire State Building

01:20:00now we were looking

01:20:02at an aircraft

01:20:03not unlike

01:20:04the Mitchell bomber

01:20:05that ran into

01:20:06the Empire State Building

01:20:06we were looking at

01:20:07an aircraft

01:20:08that was lost

01:20:09in the fog

01:20:09trying to land

01:20:11it was a low-flying

01:20:12slow-flying 707

01:20:13which was the largest

01:20:14aircraft of its time

01:20:15and so we made calculations

01:20:18not anywhere near

01:20:20the level of sophistication

01:20:21we could today

01:20:22but inside of our ability

01:20:24we made calculations

01:20:25of what happened

01:20:26when the airplane goes in

01:20:27and it takes out

01:20:28a huge section

01:20:29of the outside wall

01:20:30of the building

01:20:31and we concluded

01:20:32that it would stand

01:20:33it would suffer

01:20:34but it would stand

01:20:35and the outside wall

01:20:36would have a big hole in it

01:20:37and the building

01:20:39would be in place

01:20:39what we didn't look at

01:20:42is what happens

01:20:44to all that fuel

01:20:45and perhaps

01:20:48we could be faulted

01:20:48for that

01:20:49for not doing so

01:20:50but for whatever reason

01:20:53we didn't look

01:20:54at that question

01:20:55of what would happen

01:20:56to the fuel

01:20:57in the end

01:21:01Robertson and his team

01:21:03did everything they could

01:21:04to protect their building

01:21:05against a 500 year wind

01:21:06the worst conceivable gale

01:21:08to which the building

01:21:09could be subjected

01:21:10in 500 years

01:21:11it was inconceivable

01:21:15at the time

01:21:15that it would also

01:21:16have to be protected

01:21:17against a 500 year

01:21:19plane crash

01:21:19or a 500 year fire

01:21:21I think in effect

01:21:24the towers had

01:21:26an Achilles heel

01:21:26and that was the fire

01:21:28they really didn't know

01:21:30much about fire

01:21:30and they really didn't

01:21:31pay much attention

01:21:32to fire

01:21:33the structure

01:21:35they finally came up

01:21:36with were just as good

01:21:38as the traditional ones

01:21:39in battling the wind

01:21:41and holding up

01:21:43against gravity

01:21:43but they were

01:21:45much lighter

01:21:46the steel was lighter

01:21:47thinner

01:21:47and you know how

01:21:49if you slice up an ice cube

01:21:50and put it in your drink

01:21:51it'll melt faster

01:21:52than if you have a whole ice cube

01:21:53well that's the way

01:21:55of these lighter structures

01:21:56they would heat up faster

01:21:58in a fire

01:21:59the real question is

01:22:02should they have been able

01:22:04to anticipate

01:22:05that this was something

01:22:06that they would have to

01:22:07protect against

01:22:09and I just don't know

01:22:11the answer to the question

01:22:12one of the things

01:22:26that we have to say

01:22:27about the trade center

01:22:28with all due respect

01:22:30to its qualities

01:22:31such as they were

01:22:32is that it was a dinosaur

01:22:34when it went up

01:22:35it represented

01:22:37a way of building

01:22:39that had in fact

01:22:40already begun

01:22:42to be discredited

01:22:42Jane Jacobs' book

01:22:44The Death and Life

01:22:45of Great American Cities

01:22:46which played

01:22:47so large a role

01:22:49in shifting

01:22:49people's viewpoints

01:22:51back toward

01:22:52an appreciation

01:22:52of the street

01:22:53and the real city

01:22:55and the organic nature

01:22:56of cities

01:22:56had already appeared

01:22:58and by the time

01:22:59the trade center

01:23:00was finished

01:23:00in the 70s

01:23:01there were lots

01:23:03of other things

01:23:04to express

01:23:05a sort of

01:23:05shift in attitude

01:23:06so the World Trade Center

01:23:08was an enormous project

01:23:10with a very long

01:23:10gestation period

01:23:11that was sort of

01:23:13out of date

01:23:14by the time

01:23:14it was finished

01:23:16which made it

01:23:16in a way

01:23:17all the sadder

01:23:18and then of course

01:23:19the trade center

01:23:19is finished

01:23:20at a time

01:23:20when the economy

01:23:21is in the toilet

01:23:23I think that's

01:23:24the best way

01:23:24to put it

01:23:25the Vietnam War

01:23:26has ripped

01:23:26the country apart

01:23:27the divisiveness

01:23:29of the young

01:23:30versus the old

01:23:30the haves

01:23:31versus the have-nots

01:23:32have never been

01:23:33greater

01:23:33than perhaps

01:23:35except in the case

01:23:35of the Civil War

01:23:36and there were

01:23:38these two

01:23:38monsters

01:23:39huge

01:23:40undifferentiated

01:23:41buildings

01:23:42arising here

01:23:43and the context

01:23:44around them

01:23:45hadn't even been

01:23:45finished

01:23:46for three long years

01:23:49from 1968

01:23:50to 1971

01:23:51the steel work

01:23:53on the towers

01:23:53continued

01:23:54as the 1960s

01:23:56came and went

01:23:57and the war

01:23:57in Vietnam

01:23:58raged on

01:23:59wreaking havoc

01:24:00with the American

01:24:01economy

01:24:01straining the

01:24:02post-war

01:24:03global order

01:24:03and threatening

01:24:04to tear

01:24:05the nation's

01:24:05social fabric

01:24:06apart

01:24:06in April 1970

01:24:10progress on the

01:24:11towers was slowed

01:24:12when scores

01:24:13of construction

01:24:14workers

01:24:14clashed violently

01:24:15with anti-war

01:24:16demonstrators

01:24:16on the streets

01:24:17of lower Manhattan

01:24:18by then

01:24:20public sentiment

01:24:21about the project

01:24:21and its builders

01:24:22had begun

01:24:23to shift dramatically

01:24:24and even

01:24:25Austin Tone

01:24:25had begun

01:24:26to lose his way

01:24:27as they're building

01:24:30the World Trade Center

01:24:31after he's given

01:24:32everything he had

01:24:33to put it up

01:24:34he's starting

01:24:35to battle

01:24:36with New Jersey

01:24:37Governor Cahill

01:24:37he's losing the battle

01:24:39on mass transit

01:24:40his reputation

01:24:42in the press

01:24:43is taking a dive

01:24:44he's always had

01:24:44very careful control

01:24:45of the press

01:24:46partly through

01:24:47his chief press officer

01:24:49Lee Jaffe

01:24:49through all those years

01:24:50very carefully managed

01:24:52kind of guy

01:24:53someone who didn't have

01:24:54to deal with

01:24:54these little details

01:24:55like legislatures

01:24:56mayors

01:24:57the citizenry

01:24:59of New York City

01:25:01and by the time

01:25:03the towers are finished

01:25:04it's no longer

01:25:06fun for him

01:25:06he's really

01:25:08become embittered

01:25:09as the structures

01:25:11began to dwarf

01:25:12even the highest

01:25:13of the city's

01:25:13old art deco towers

01:25:14the excitement

01:25:15and early optimism

01:25:16about their immense size

01:25:18began to fade away

01:25:19I remember being offended

01:25:21that the title

01:25:22for the tallest building

01:25:23was being taken away

01:25:24from the Empire State Building

01:25:25a building that

01:25:25I liked much more

01:25:27and felt represented

01:25:28the spirit of New York

01:25:30much much better

01:25:31than the World Trade Center

01:25:33and I remember thinking

01:25:34you know

01:25:35this whole thing

01:25:35is a sort of

01:25:37gargantuan piece

01:25:38of banality

01:25:39as always happens

01:25:42in New York

01:25:42buildings come

01:25:44in cycles of boom

01:25:45and bust

01:25:46and generally

01:25:46the tallest buildings

01:25:47come before

01:25:48the break in the cycle

01:25:50before a crash

01:25:50and that was the case

01:25:52with the World Trade Center

01:25:53the fiscal crisis

01:25:54the energy crisis

01:25:56all kinds of crises

01:25:57in New York

01:25:58a social crisis as well

01:25:59befell New York

01:26:01in the mid-1970s

01:26:03and affected

01:26:03the fortunes

01:26:05of the city

01:26:05in many ways

01:26:06beyond the sheer revenues

01:26:09of trade

01:26:10and of business

01:26:11and still the twin towers rose

01:26:18as the city below them

01:26:19sank deeper and deeper

01:26:20into social and economic disarray

01:26:22finally at 11.30 a.m.

01:26:28on the cold foggy morning

01:26:29of Wednesday

01:26:30December 23rd

01:26:311970

01:26:32the final column

01:26:34of the North Tower

01:26:34a 36 foot long

01:26:36four ton piece of steel

01:26:37draped with a large

01:26:39American flag

01:26:40was hoisted into place

01:26:41on the 110th floor

01:26:43to celebrate

01:26:45the momentous occasion

01:26:46workers raised

01:26:47a 30 foot tall

01:26:48Christmas tree

01:26:48on the southeast corner

01:26:50of the building

01:26:50December 1970

01:26:53the reason I remember it

01:26:55is the last piece of steel

01:26:57went up

01:26:57and the next day

01:26:58the first tenant

01:26:58moved into the bottom

01:26:59of the building

01:27:00actually two tenants

01:27:01moved in that day

01:27:02on the 9th

01:27:04and 10th floors

01:27:04seven months later

01:27:08on July 19th

01:27:101971

01:27:10the topping out ceremony

01:27:12was repeated

01:27:13on the South Tower

01:27:14in all

01:27:17a total of

01:27:18192,000 tons

01:27:19of structural steel

01:27:20nearly four times

01:27:22that of the Empire State Building

01:27:23had been raised

01:27:241,360 feet

01:27:26into the sky

01:27:2725 stories taller

01:27:29than the top floor

01:27:30of Al Smith's

01:27:31beloved uptown landmark

01:27:32and 110 feet higher

01:27:34than the tip

01:27:35of its great

01:27:36Art Deco mooring mast

Category

Transcript

Recommended