American Experience | PBS

Former Commissioner of Major League Baseball Fay Vincent talks about one of the greatest sports heroes ever. Joe DiMaggio joined the New York Yankees in 1936 and quickly rose to become the star of baseball's golden age. He was graceful, elegant, and inspiring; his 56-game hitting streak electrified the nation. http://www.pbs.org/amex/dimaggio Voices: Maury Allen, biographer Frank "Spec" Shea, New York Yankee pitcher, 1946-1951 Fay Vincent, Commissioner of Major League Baseball, 1989-1992 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 summer of 1967, thousands of young people from across the country flocked to San Francisco's Haight Ashbury district to join in the hippie experience, only to discover that what they had come for was already disappearing. Now in their fifties and sixties, a few people who were in San Francisco's Haight Ashbury district in the summer of 1967 look back at how the Summer of Love affected their lives. http://www.pbs.org/amex/love Voices: Mary Kaspar, 1967: hippie; later: artisan Sandi Stein, 1967: hippie; later: Ph.D. Phil Morningstar, 1967 and later: hippie Claudia King Yunker, 1967: hippie and civil rights activist; later: community organizer Charles Perry, 1967: hippie; later: author, The Haight Ashbury: A History Joel Selvin, author, The Summer of Love, music critic 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 tape recordings from the 1970s, Jim Jones describes his church, the Peoples Temple. Jones refers to historical events like the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr., John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Malcolm X, and shares his views on "revolutionary suicide." http://www.pbs.org/amex/jonestown ---- This podcast offers excerpts from the following audio tapes, recovered by the FBI after the Peoples Temple mass suicide/murder at Jonestown, Guyana, on November 18, 1978: Tape Q 1059-1, San Francisco, Spring 1973 Tape Q 953, Los Angeles, May 1974 Tape Q 384, Jonestown, October 1978 Tape Q 833, Jonestown, March 1978 Source tapes courtesy of the Alternative Considerations of Jonestown & Peoples Temple Web site. http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/ For more information on the historical topics Jones mentions, visit these American Experience Web pages: Martin Luther King, Jr. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/mlk/ John F. Kennedy http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/kennedys/ Robert Kennedy http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/rfk/ Malcolm X http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/malcolmx/ W.E.B. DuBois http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/garvey/peopleevents/p_dubois.html Voices: Jim Jones, preacher 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.

Filmmaker Stephen Ives details the challenges of making a documentary about New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Amidst shattered lives, Ives and his production team found enduring elements of the city's vibrant culture. http://www.pbs.org/amex/neworleans Voices: Stephen Ives, filmmaker Miles Neff, narrator Produced and Edited by: Glenn Fukushima 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 early 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt received an alarming intelligence report: Germany and Japan were developing biological weapons for potential offensive use. In response, the U.S. and its allies rushed to develop their own germ warfare program, enlisting some of America's most promising scientists in the effort. Filmmakers John Rubin and James Donald discuss the research and production behind the film The Living Weapon. http://www.pbs.org/amex/weapon Voices: John Rubin, producer, writer, director James Donald, co-producer 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.

On June 24, 1948, the Soviet Union blocked railroad and street access to West Berlin, starving the population and choking commerce. The subsequent allied airlift of supplies into Berlin was the first battle of the Cold War and the largest humanitarian campaign the world had ever seen. Edwin Gere, author of The Unheralded Men and Women of the Berlin Blockade and Airlift, describes his experiences as a pilot during the Berlin airlift. http://www.pbs.org/amex/airlift Voices: Edwin Gere, veteran pilot Miles Neff, podcast narration Produced by: Nancy Farrell and 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.

Randall MacLowry explains how the Gold Rush was a way for people to get rich quick -- a way to reinvent themselves. He chose to include stories from a diverse group of individuals to help tell the history of the Gold Rush, and he touches upon the desperation and violence that affected those in mining camps and towns. http://www.pbs.org/amex/goldrush/ Voices: Randall MacLowry, filmmaker Miles Neff, narrator Produced and edited by: Vanessa Ruiz and 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.

Three physicians discuss the past and future of yellow fever, a disease that terrorized the United States for more than two hundred years, killing an estimated 100,000 in the nineteenth century alone. The discussion covers the science of transmission, the possibility of a new outbreak, and the use of yellow fever as a biological weapon. http://www.pbs.org/amex/fever/ Voices: Margaret Humphreys, MD Thomas Monath, MD John R. Pierce, MD Miles Neff, podcast narration Produced by: Glenn Fukushima and Jack Cheng 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.

Produced by Blackside, Eyes on the Prize tells the definitive story of the civil rights era from the point of view of the ordinary men and women whose extraordinary actions launched a movement that changed the fabric of American life, and embodied a struggle whose reverberations continue to be felt today. Judi Hampton, president of Blackside and sister of the late Henry Hampton, the creator of Eyes on the Prize, speaks with series senior producer Judith Vecchione about the landmark series. http://www.pbs.org/amex/eyesontheprize/ Voices: Bernice Johnson Reagon, Theme Music Judi Hampton, President, Blackside Judith Vecchione, Eyes on the Prize Series Senior Producer Frederick Leonard, Freedom Rider Miles Neff, podcast narration Produced by: Glenn Fukushima and 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.

Carol Willis, director of the Skyscraper Museum in New York City, reflects on the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, the rise of the World Trade Center, urban development in the Seventies and now, and plans for Ground Zero. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/newyork/ Voices: Carol Willis, Director of the Skyscraper Museum Miles Neff, podcast narration Produced by: Benjamen Walker 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.

Stephen Ives explains why New Orleans is such an important part of American History. He recounts the obstacles he faced and the inspirational people he met during production. http://www.pbs.org/amex/neworleans Voices: John Biguenet, writer Stephen Ives, filmmaker Leah Chase, owner of Dooky Chase Restaurant Miles Neff, narrator Produced: Vanessa Ezersky 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.

Rising more than 700 feet above the raging waters of the Colorado River, it was called one of the greatest engineering works in history. Tour guide Joni MacLaine takes listeners on a virtual road trip to Hoover Dam. http://www.pbs.org/amex/hoover Voices: Joni MacLaine, tour guide Richard Guy Wilson, architectural historian Blaine Hamman, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Winthrop A. Davis, photographer Miles Neff, narration 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.

High on a granite cliff in South Dakota's Black Hills tower the huge carved faces of four American presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt. Meet the daring workers and the temperamental artist who created the world's largest piece of sculpture, Mount Rushmore. http://www.pbs.org/amex/rushmore Voices: Glenn Bradford Gutzon Borglum Rex Allen Smith Nick Clifford Miles Neff, narrator Brian Keane, composer Produced by: Glenn Fukushima 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.

Aaron Beebe, curator at the Coney Island Museum, discusses the history of one of America's favorite amusement parks. http://www.pbs.org/amex/coney Voices: Richard Snow, Editor, American Heritage Aaron Beebe, Curator, Coney Island Museum Frederick Fried, Archivist Miles Neff, narrator Produced by: Vanessa Ezersky 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 July 4, 1826, a day when America was celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, founding fathers Thomas Jefferson and John Adams passed away within hours of each other. Historians comment on this remarkable coincidence. http://www.pbs.org/amex/adams Voices: David McCullough, historian Joseph Ellis, historian Miles Neff, narration Produced by: Greg Shea 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.