Hello and welcome to the History Hour podcast from the BBC World Service with me Max Pearson,

the past brought to life by those who were there.

This week the moment when America's trade unions came up against a president with a point to prove.

Not for 35 years as an American president acted so rough and tough.

President Reagan is clearly determined to smash the strike by the air traffic controllers

with all the legal muscle at his command.

Also we're in Lebanon for the birth of the Middle East's oldest arts festival. Festival.

Valbeck is the biggest Roman temple in the world and according to many of the main orchestra orchestra it's the best acoustic in the world. And we take lunch with the reclusive author of The Catcher in the Rye.

As I remember the lunch was $11.77 and he recommended the parmesan soup. He'd had it yesterday which tells me that he had been scoping out the situation.

That's all to come.

But first we're going to begin in America

and a prime example of an issue which has blighted the USA for decades.

It was back in August 1966 that the nation was shocked by its first mass shooting on a university campus.

Sadly, since then, this kind of violence has been repeated at schools and universities all too often.

But that first incident took place at the University of Texas in the state capital Austin.

Elizabeth Davis has been speaking to a local police officer, Ray Martinez.

He was off duty at home when he first heard

that there was something going on at the university.

I was listening to the 12 o'clock news

when bulletin was handed to the anchor.

He informed the public that there was a person on top of the University of Texas Tower

shooting and that there were some unconfirmed reports that

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