The Civil Rights Act of 1964 sought to dismantle legal and social segregation in the South.

1964 was the year the Beatles came to America, Cassius Clay became Muhammad Ali, and 3 civil rights workers were murdered in Mississippi. It was the year when Berkeley students rose up in protest, African Americans fought back against injustice in Harlem, and Barry Goldwater’s conservative revolution took over the Republican Party. In myriad ways, 1964 was the year when Americans faced choices.

1964 was the year the Beatles came to America, Cassius Clay became Muhammad Ali, and 3 civil rights workers were murdered in Mississippi. It was the year when Berkeley students rose up in protest, African Americans fought back against injustice in Harlem, and Barry Goldwater’s conservative revolution took over the Republican Party. In myriad ways, 1964 was the year when Americans faced choices.

History and forensic science come together in our interactive graphic novel based on the documentary The Poisoner's Handbook. Investigate the cause of death in four historic poisoning cases, and explore toxicology with Alexander Gettler and New York City Medical Examiner Charles Norris in the 1920s.

In the early 20th century, the average American medicine cabinet was a would-be poisoner's treasure chest, with radioactive radium, thallium, and morphine included in everyday products. In New York City in the 1920s, medical examiner Charles Norris and toxicologist Alexander Gettler, turned forensic chemistry into a formidable science and set the standards for the rest of the country.

Check out what's coming up in January 2014 on American Experience. Watch this three-minute video in which our Executive Producer Mark Samels details our new films premiering in January, and read the synopses below. (Our Coming in February video is coming soon!)

We asked people from across the country to send videos of themselves reciting the Gettysburg Address 150 years after Abraham Lincoln delivered the historic speech.

Kennedy is inaugurated President in 1961; "Ask not what your country can do for you..." JFK gives the first live televised press conference by a President.

This new biopic on JFK provides a fresh look at an enigmatic man who has become one of the nation's most beloved and most mourned leaders. Premiering on American Experience PBS November 11 & 12 at 9/8c.

Politics unnerved Jackie Kennedy so she found respite in curating a new culture of elegance in the White House. She set out to honor writers and performers, creating what her dress designer dubbed a "Versailles in Washington."

On a starless night in August 1943, a Japanese destroyer split Kennedy's PT-109 boat in half. The crew had been left for dead, but the future president felt it was his duty to get his men to safety -- and he was going to spare no effort to do so.

Over the course of 13 days in October 1962, President Kennedy avoided war with the Soviet Union through a willingness to proceed with caution -- and a gamble that Premier Nikita Khrushchev was just as horrified at the prospect of nuclear obliteration as Kennedy was. The negotiation would come to be known as the Cuban Missile Crisis and would be one of Kennedy's most lasting legacies.

Kennedy felt buildup of a military arsenal wasn't enough to show the United States would not cower to communism. So he decided to make a stand in a place few Americans at the time had ever heard of: Vietnam.

By the time he came of age, John Fitzgerald Kennedy inhabited a world of special exemption: the family estate in suburban New York, the summer compound in Hyannis Port, the winter retreat in Palm Beach. The story of his family's heroic multi-generational rise from the want of Irish famine might well have been a misty old folktale. The past was not the point in the Kennedy household.

Before that moment, beyond the glamour, behind the charm lies the true story of JFK. Now, see his life as never before in a stunning new portrait from American Experience. Premiering on PBS November 11 & 12 at 9/8c.

This biography provides a fresh look at an enigmatic man who has become one of the nation's most beloved and most mourned leaders. Scheduled for broadcast on the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's assassination, the film re-evaluates JFK's strengths and weaknesses and provides new insights into his private life. Premieres November 11 & 12, 2013 at 9/8c. Check your local listings.

Take a fresh look at an enigmatic man who remains one of the nation’s most beloved and mourned leaders.

Kennedy's personal aides knew about his extramarital activities, as did much of the press.

As soon as he took office, Kennedy became increasingly worried about turning the Cold War into a hot one, resulting in nuclear catastrophe. Nikita Khrushchev continued to aid in the spread of communism around the world and Kennedy wanted to show the American public he would not be bullied by the Soviet premier.

Kennedy believed his first diplomatic meeting with Nikita Khrushchev would be a lesson in compromise. But when it was clear the Soviet premier was unwilling to negotiate over Berlin and more than willing to talk casually about nuclear weapons, Kennedy told him "it's going to be a very cold winter." Kennedy left uneasy.