Metric Mini Doc Part 1 A-Roll

Footage on the history of the metric system in American education and society. This segment focuses on Western developments of customary and metric systems for weights and measurements, noting the initial push for metric after Sputnik and then after the Congressional Metric Conversion Act of 1975. Interviews clips show how Americans on the street and academics react to the introduction of metric. Other clips track the historical development through museum displays of early weights and measures, portraits of American politicians like George Washington, Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson who standardized the customary system, and footage from the Sputnik launch. Some footage is silent.

This mini documentary is dated February 1977.