For twelve days in September 1959, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev traveled the United States from coast to coast, creating a media circus as hundreds of reporters followed his every move. Americans were fascinated by the communist leader and the trip served to ease Cold War tensions -- if only for a short time. "Cold War Roadshow" premieres November 18, 2014 on American Experience PBS.

In 1959, Nikita Khrushchev became the first Soviet premier to visit the United States. Both Khrushchev and President Dwight Eisenhower hoped the visit would ease Cold War tensions between their two nations. "Cold War Roadshow" premieres November 18, 2014 on American Experience PBS.

During his trip to America in 1959, Nikita Khrushchev stopped by 20th Century Fox studios in Los Angeles to mingle with some of Hollywood's biggest stars. While there, he ranted about his canceled trip to Disneyland, met Marilyn Monroe, and watched the filming of a scene from "Can-Can." "Cold War Roadshow" premieres November 18, 2014 on American Experience PBS.

On his 1959 visit to the US, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev requests to mingle with the common people. "Cold War Roadshow" premieres November 18 on American Experience PBS.

Arriving in New York City in 1959, a hotbed of American capitalism, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev did not face a warm welcome.

Sergei Khrushchev documented his father's 1959 American visit from behind the lens of his camera. In this soundless video clip, we see Khrushchev and his advisors and family on his plane to America. See more in our video gallery on the "Cold War Roadshow" website.

Sergei Khrushchev documented his father's 1959 American visit from behind the lens of his camera. This silent film clip shows the towns and landscape as their train passes through en route to New York. Sergei later remarked, “It was some shock because when I look from the window from the train I found…that Americans mostly live like any other people.”

Sergei Khrushchev documented his father's 1959 American visit from behind the lens of his camera. In this silent film clip, the Soviet premier visits the Agricultural Experiment Station in Beltsville, Maryland, where he was unimpressed with the small turkeys. “In Russia,” he says, “we try to make our turkeys bigger and bigger.” The press was out in full force that day as well.

Sergei Khrushchev documented his father's 1959 American visit from behind the lens of his camera. This silent clip provides a first-person view of what it was like to ride in Khrushchev’s motorcade.

In this silent film clip, Sergei Khrushchev collects butterflies during his 1959 trip to the US with his father Nikita. Sergei explained, “The secret service came to me and told, ‘We will accompany you.’ And they brought me to the outskirts of DC... So I run around. I came there with my butterfly net and all other equipment trying to find some place and time to catch American butterflies."

In 1910, a wildfire burned an area the size of Connecticut and killed at least 78 firefighters in just 36 hours. How have policies and resources around wildfire fighting changed in the century since the Big Burn?

The crowdfunding campaign will support community engagement and the creation of additional digital content around Rory Kennedy's "Last Days in Vietnam." The "First Days Story Project" will enable American Experience to collect stories from nearly 200 people in six cities across the U.S., answering one of the major questions raised by the film — What happened to those who fled?

Inspired by the work of Medgar Evers, Dorie Ladner has dedicated much of her life to the work of the civil rights movement. Deeply affected by the murder of Evers as well as the four little girls killed in the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, Ladner welcomed the help and the attention that Freedom Summer volunteers brought to Mississippi in 1964.

In 1964 Daisy Harris Wade not only took to the picket lines to protest the exclusion of blacks from the voting rolls, she also opened her home to volunteers who came to Mississippi that summer. Born and raised in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and the mother of two young sons, Wade was determined to secure the right to vote not only for herself, but for generations to come. "Freedom Summer" June 24

Upon arrival at Antioch University in 1957, Mark Levy quickly became involved in the civil rights movement, and later at Queens College he met Freedom Summer organizers, who recruited Levy and his wife to head up one of the Freedom Schools in Meridian, MS. Levy's photos of that summer seeded a large collection at Queens College, where he is also committed to sharing the story of Freedom Summer.

Herbert Randall was a 28-year-old professional photographer when he recruited to go to Hattiesburg, MS to document Freedom Summer. He saw firsthand the danger the Freedom Summer volunteers were in, and felt compelled to share those images with the world. His work is chronicled in a book called "Faces of Freedom Summer". He says there will always be a need for the struggle to be documented.

Having worked to integrate lunch counters and the public library, Roscoe Jones stood ready to go to work when Freedom Summer volunteers arrived in Meridian, MS. He was at the office for the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO), when word arrived that Cheney, Goodman, and Schwerner had gone missing. Today, he hopes to preserve buildings in Meridian that tell the story of the movement.

The first black woman to earn a masters degree in library science from the University of Mississippi, Anita Walton Moore went on to become the head librarian at Rust College, the oldest Historically Black College in Mississippi. There, she has worked to preserve books and documents from 1964's Freedom Summer. "Freedom Summer" premieres June 24, 2014 on American Experience.

John Howell is the publisher of the "The Panolian," the local paper of Panola County, MS. His father was the publisher during Freedom Summer in 1964. Howell reflects on the little coverage given to the events of the civil rights movement, and the publishing of names of those who registered to vote. He also talks about the evolution of the paper and his own views. Freedom Summer premieres June 24.

Julius Lester was teaching guitar and performing as a folk singer in New York City when he decided to go to Mississippi during Freedom Summer. Lester tells of his role in energizing the people gathered at those meetings and setting the stage for the organizers who called the crowds to action. He also reflects on the ever-present danger for participants in Freedom Summer.