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A balloon scrap that may be a missing piece of a secret weapon; a circus program that connects a society woman, FDR and the Boy Scouts; and a letter from Ronald Reagan that links a Navy captain to the development of Camp David.
Japanese Balloon Bomb - The granddaughter of a World War II veteran
from Austin, Texas, has a wartime memento with a note claiming it's
a piece of Japanese balloon that floated across the Pacific Ocean
in 1945. The alleged balloon scrap could be evidence of a unique
weapon in modern warfare: the Japanese balloon bomb. More than
9,000 of these incendiary weapons were launched from Japan during
the war via the jet stream with the intention of causing mass
disruption and forest fires in the American West. The existence and
purpose of the balloon bombs were kept secret from the American
public for security reasons, until a tragic accident forced a
change in policy. The balloon bombs caused the only fatalities on
the U.S. mainland due to enemy action during World War II. HISTORY
DETECTIVES host Tukufu Zuberi travels to Austin, Texas and to the
Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC, to
learn whether this souvenir is a missing piece of a secret weapon.
Society Circus Program - In her school's drama closet, a young
girl from Oregon finds a curious, yellowed circus program that
reads "Official Program of Cobina Wright's Society Circus for the
benefit of the Boy Scout Foundation, Hon. Franklin D. Roosevelt,
President, Season 1933." Who was Cobina Wright and what do the Boy
Scouts, FDR and Cobina's Circus - with its lengthy "who's-who"
celebrity list - have in common? HISTORY DETECTIVES host Gwendolyn
Wright explores New York City's 1930s high society and illuminates
a connection between FDR and the Boy Scouts that inspired one of
the most popular and effective pieces of the president's New Deal
program.
Camp David Letter - Maryland's Camp David has served as a
presidential retreat for more than 60 years and is possibly best
known for the Camp David Accords, the famous Egyptian-Israeli peace
agreements signed there in 1978. A self-styled dumpster diver in
San Francisco has recovered a windfall of memorabilia that reveals
a story of Camp David's beginnings. The salvaged items appear to
have once belonged to a three-generation Navy family headed by John
H. Kevers. Among photos, dog tags and epaulets, one letter in
particular caught the contributor's attention: It's from Ronald
Reagan to Kevers' widow, stating "… Captain John H. Kevers
gave many years of service to Presidents, starting with Franklin D.
Roosevelt … Because of Captain Kevers, we have the enjoyable
facility of Camp David …" In Los Angeles and San Francisco,
HISTORY DETECTIVES host Wes Cowan searches presidential archives
and Navy history to pinpoint Kevers' connection to the secret
mountaintop hideaway that was FDR's "Shangri-La."