American Experience | PBS

When Arctic explorer Robert Peary returned from Greenland in 1897, he brought with him five Eskimos, causing a sensation. Within months, however, four of the Eskimos had died, leaving a seven-year-old boy named Minik alone in a foreign land. http://www.pbs.org/amex/minik Voices: Ira Jacknis, anthropologist Bruce Henderson, author David Hurst Thomas, curator, American Museum of Natural History Miles Neff, podcast narration Produced by: Ravi Jain Director of New Media: Maria Daniels Major funding for AMERICAN EXPERIENCE is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Major corporate funding is provided by Liberty Mutual. Additional funding is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by public television viewers.

In the tumultuous presidential election year 1968, an unpopular war and the decision of Lyndon Johnson not to seek another term led to a wide-open race, dramatic shifts in the attitudes of American voters, and the ultimate election of Richard Nixon to the nation's highest office. Georgetown University historian Michael Kazin discusses the theory of "critical elections" and considers whether the 2008 election will be one. http://www.pbs.org/amex/presidents Voices: Lyndon Johnson, President Michael Kazin, historian Richard Nixon, President Hubert Humphrey, Vice-President Miles Neff, podcast narration Produced by: Ravi Jain Director of New Media: Maria Daniels American Experience is produced by WGBH Boston. Major funding for American Experience is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Major corporate funding is provided by Liberty Mutual. Additional funding is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by public television viewers.

In the 1930s, Joe Louis crossed boxing's color line to become an American hero. He was the first heavyweight contender since the controversial Jack Johnson held the title in the early part of the century. In his quest to win the heavyweight championship, Louis entered the ring against Hitler's favorite boxer, Max Schmeling. His success would make him the most famous and influential black person in America. http://www.pbs.org/amex/fight Voices: Jeffrey Sammons, historian Don Majeski, boxing promoter Jack Newfield, writer Leon Litwack, historian Vernon Jarrett, writer Miles Neff, podcast narration Produced by: Ravi Jain Director of New Media: Maria Daniels American Experience is produced by WGBH Boston. Major funding for American Experience is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Major corporate funding is provided by Liberty Mutual. Additional funding is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by public television viewers.

As the American frontier was disappearing, William Cody transformed himself into a master showman, creating and starring in a world-famous traveling show that brought the "real" Wild West to life. Part circus, part history, Buffalo Bill's Wild West toured for three decades, playing to enthusiastic crowds across the United States and Europe. http://www.pbs.org/amex/cody Voices: Paul Fees, historian Charles Scoggin, writer Louis Warren, biographer Bobby Bridger, writer Patricia Nelson Limerick, historian Juti Winchester, historian L.G. Moses, historian Miles Neff, podcast narration Produced by: Ravi Jain Director of New Media: Maria Daniels American Experience is produced by WGBH Boston. Major funding for American Experience is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Major corporate funding is provided by Liberty Mutual. Additional funding is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by public television viewers.

The legendary trapper, scout and soldier was fluent in Spanish and five Indian languages. He twice married Native American women, yet led a brutal war against the Navajo. When the West was a mystery to most Americans, Kit Carson mastered it, and his expertise made him famous. Eventually, by helping to spur a migration that would change the West forever, he unwittingly became an agent in the destruction of the life he loved. http://www.pbs.org/amex/carson Voices: Paul Hutton, historian Sally Denton, writer Hampton Sides, author N. Scott Momaday, poet David Roberts, writer Dayton Duncan, writer John M. Carson, great-grandson of Kit Carson Miles Neff, podcast narration Produced by: Ravi Jain Director of New Media: Maria Daniels American Experience is produced by WGBH Boston. Major funding for American Experience is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Major corporate funding is provided by Liberty Mutual. Additional funding is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by public television viewers.

In the aftermath of the Watergate Scandal, Americans were ready for change. A relatively unknown southern governor promised honesty and decency in his campaign for the Democratic nomination. A former California governor and actor challenged the incumbant Gerald Ford, forcing the Republican nomination to the convention. Boston University historian Bruce Schulman, author of The Seventies: The Great Shift in American Culture, Society, and Politics, looks back at the 1976 presidential campaign and finds parallels to the 2008 campaign. http://www.pbs.org/amex/presidents Voices: John Farrell, journalist Michael Deaver Bruce Schulman, historian Doug Brinkley, Jimmy Carter biographer Jimmy Carter, President Chip Carter, son of Jimmy Carter Rosalynn Carter, First Lady Jody Powell, press secretary Dan Carter, historian Betty Glad, political scientist Martin Anderson, aide to Ronald Reagan Ronald Reagan, President Miles Neff, podcast narration Produced by: Ravi Jain Director of New Media: Maria Daniels American Experience is produced by WGBH Boston. Major funding for American Experience is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Major corporate funding is provided by Liberty Mutual. Additional funding is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by public television viewers.

Walter J. Freeman was an ambitious neurologist that invented a radical surgery to combat mental illness: the transorbital lobotomy. By the end of his career, Walter Freeman had personally lobotomized more than 2,900 patients in 23 states, including nineteen children under the age of eighteen. A patient of Doctor Freeman and families of lobotomy recipients describe how the procedure changed their lives. http://www.pbs.org/amex/lobotomist Voices: Angelene Forester, daughter of a former patient Howard Dully, former patient Walter Freeman III, son of Walter Freeman Edward Shorter, medical historian Jack El-Hai, writer Janice Jones-Thomson, daughter of a former patient Miles Neff, podcast narration Produced by: Ravi Jain Director of New Media: Maria Daniels American Experience is produced by WGBH Boston. Major funding for American Experience is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Major corporate funding is provided by Liberty Mutual. Additional funding is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by public television viewers.

The assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas on November 22, 1963 left a psychic wound on America that is with us still today. Few Americans then or now accept that a lone, inconsequential gunman could bring down a president and alter history. In that breach, a culture of conspiracy has arisen that points to sinister forces at work in the shadows. Filmmaker Robert Stone discusses his deconstruction of the assassination and how this single event forever changed the face of American culture. http://www.pbs.org/amex/oswald Voices: Robert Dallek, historian Robert Stone, producer, writer, director, Oswald's Ghost Dan Rather, reporter Walter Cronkite, reporter (archival) Edward Jay Epstein, journalist Priscilla Johnson McMillan, historian Norman Mailer, novelist Miles Neff, podcast narration Produced by: Ravi Jain Director of New Media: Maria Daniels American Experience is produced by WGBH Boston. Major funding for American Experience is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Major corporate funding is provided by Liberty Mutual. Additional funding is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by public television viewers.

Executive producer Mark Samels and filmmaker Michael Epstein discuss an upcoming American Experience film on Grand Central Station. Epstein describes his approach in telling the history of the Manhattan landmark. http://www.pbs.org/amex/grandcentral Voices: Paul Goldberger, architecture critic Mark Samels, Executive Producer, American Experience Michael Epstein, Producer/Director, Grand Central Mike Wallace, historian John Belle, architect Prima Soemijantoro Wilson, Grand Central commuter Miles Neff, podcast narration Produced by: Ravi Jain Director of New Media: Maria Daniels American Experience is produced by WGBH Boston. Major funding for American Experience is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Major corporate funding is provided by Liberty Mutual. Additional funding is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by public television viewers.

In 1975, a Vietnamese girl, Hiep, was evacuated to America as part of the U.S. sponsored Operation Babylift, and renamed Heidi. In 1997, after learning she was not an orphan, she returned to Vietnam to meet her birth mother. They discovered that the gulf between them was much larger than either imagined. Aimee Phan, author of a collection of stories that examine the consequences of Operation Babylift, shares her thoughts on the Babylift's legacy and about the AMERICAN EXPERIENCE program that tells Heidi's story, DAUGHTER FROM DANANG. http://www.pbs.org/amex/daughter Voices: President Gerald Ford Heidi Bub Royce Hughes, Girl Scout leader Aimee Phan, author, We Should Never Meet Miles Neff, podcast narration Produced by: Ravi Jain Director of New Media: Maria Daniels Special thanks to DAUGHTER FROM DANANG producers Gail Dolgin and Vicente Franco. American Experience is produced by WGBH Boston. Major funding for American Experience is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Major corporate funding is provided by Liberty Mutual. Additional funding is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and public television viewers.

In October 1967, in a jungle in Vietnam, a Viet Cong ambush nearly wiped out an American battalion, prompting some in power to question whether the war might be unwinnable. Survivors of the Black Lions battalion recall the Vietnam War and reflect on what it was like to return home from battle to a nation divided. http://www.pbs.org/amex/twodays Voices: Ernie Buentiempo, Private, U.S. Army Tom Hinger, Medic, U.S. Army Joe Costello, Private, U.S. Army Mike Troyer, Private, U.S. Army Clark Welch, Commander of Delta Company, U.S. Army Mike Arias, Private, U.S. Army Miles Neff, podcast narration Produced by: Ravi Jain Director of New Media: Maria Daniels American Experience is produced by WGBH Boston. Major funding for American Experience is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Major corporate funding is provided by Liberty Mutual. Additional funding is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by public television viewers.

On October 4, 1957 the Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite, Sputnik. Americans feared the implications of the first man-made satellite orbiting above the Earth. Roger Launius, curator at the National Air and Space Museum, describes Sputnik's impact on the Space Race. http://www.pbs.org/amex/moon Voices: Roger Launius, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution Miles Neff, podcast narration Audio of Sputnik 1 telemetry courtesy of NASA Produced by: Ravi Jain Director of New Media: Maria Daniels American Experience is produced by WGBH Boston. Major funding for American Experience is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Major corporate funding is provided by Liberty Mutual. Additional funding is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by public television viewers.

During World War II, over eleven million American military personnel served abroad. World War II veterans describe the brutal conditions and deadly combat faced on the battlefronts of Europe and the Pacific. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/nuremberg/sfeature/sf_ww2.html Voices: Ed Stewart, Sergeant, 84th Infantry, from the film Battle of the Bulge Robert Body, U.S. Army, from the film Bataan Rescue Roger Rutland, First Sergeant, 106th Infantry, from the film Battle of the Bulge Jerome Connolly, U.S. Army Medic, from the film Victory in the Pacific Al Turnbull, U.S. Navy, from the film Victory in the Pacific Bart Hagerman, Private, 17th Airborne, from the film Battle of the Bulge Edward "Tommie" Thomas, Prisoner of War, from the film Bataan Rescue Unknown American soldier, from the film D-Day George Niland, 6th Marine Division, from the film Victory in the Pacific John Richardson, 6th Ranger Battalion, from the film Bataan Rescue James Hildebrand, U.S. Army, from the film Bataan Rescue Unknown American soldier, from the film D-Day Bob Conroy, Private, 75th Infantry, from the film Battle of the Bulge Miles Neff, podcast narration Produced by: Ravi Jain Director of New Media: Maria Daniels American Experience is produced by WGBH Boston. Major funding for American Experience is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. National corporate funding is provided by Liberty Mutual and The Scotts Company. Additional funding is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and public television viewers.

In the mid nineteenth century Chicago emerged as an industrial metropolis, fueled by a diverse work force. Their organized efforts were emblematic of a growing national labor movement that was marked by century's end with a new national holiday: Labor Day. Historian Dominic Pacyga describes Chicago's prominence in the national labor movement and its reaction to the holiday. http://www.pbs.org/amex/chicago Voices: Nancy Koehn, historian Dominic Pacyga, historian William Cronon, historian Donald L. Miller, author Perry Duis, historian Miles Neff, podcast narration Produced by: Ravi Jain Director of New Media: Maria Daniels American Experience is produced by WGBH Boston. Major funding for American Experience is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. National corporate funding is provided by Liberty Mutual and The Scotts Company. Additional funding is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and public television viewers.

From the day that a 14-year-old Ansel Adams first saw the transcendent beauty of the Yosemite Valley, his life was, in his words, "colored and modulated by the great earth-gesture of the Sierra." Adams helped transform the meaning of wilderness in America; his greatest images of the American West changed forever what Americans thought about their own land. Nature and wilderness photographer Michael Frye describes following in Adams' footsteps, working in Yosemite. http://www.pbs.org/amex/ansel Voices: William Turnage, Ansel Adams Trust Michael Frye, photographer, The Ansel Adams Gallery Andrea Gray Stillman, Editor & Assistant to Ansel Adams Miles Neff, podcast narration Produced by: Ravi Jain Director of New Media: Maria Daniels American Experience is produced by WGBH Boston. Major funding for American Experience is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. National corporate funding is provided by Liberty Mutual and The Scotts Company. Additional funding is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and public television viewers.