The NAACP and Its Architects

American Experience

History Series / 15 Seasons

American Experience, TV's most-watched history series, brings to life the compelling stories from our past that inform our understanding of the world today.

52m 54s

The Surge of Troops in Iraq

3m 18s

“To sell the surge to the American public, Bush had been forced to take a rare step — admit his mistake.” President Bush than enlisted the assistance of General David Petraeus to lead the surge, a move that later paid off.

The Fighter Pilot

2m 36s

To avoid combat in Vietnam, Bush joined the 147th Texas Air National Guard, along with other sons of wealthy and well-connected Texans. "In his heart of hearts he did not want to go to Vietnam,” said writer Bill Minutaglio, “but he knew damn well that his father's next step had been to join the military and then become a war hero."

Enhanced Interrogation Techniques

4m 55s

The behavior of American soldiers at Abu Ghraib shook President Bush, but, to him, there was no connection with his decision to approve harsh interrogation techniques on Al Qaeda suspects. "It showed the kind of rot that was occurring in Iraq under American occupation,” said journalist Elisabeth Bumiller, “and it showed how far off we had come from American ideals."

Criticism and Hurricane Katrina

6m 11s

During his second term, President Bush was criticized for the federal government’s response to the devastating impact of Hurricane Katrina. “Katrina ends up being a media domestic version of Iraq,” said journalist Ron Suskind.

Financial Crisis

3m 50s

President Bush confronted the most serious financial crisis since the Great Depression. “From the standpoint of an ongoing threat that everybody and government knew that we had to do something about, the financial crisis ... was really scary,” said chief of staff Joshua Bolten.

Trailer | The Man Who Tried to Feed the World

29s

The story of the man who would not only solve India’s famine problem but would go on to lead a “Green Revolution” of worldwide agriculture programs estimated to have saved one billion lives.

Norman Borlaug

1m 4s

An American agricultural scientist from Iowa, Norman Borlaug bred climate agnostic wheat strains that resisted disease. He was dubbed the “Father of the Green Revolution” and in 1970 was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Trailer | The Fight | American Experience

30s

Theirs was a rivalry that would draw in two nations inching closer to war, and take the measure of two men — German Max Schmeling and American Joe Louis, who had been fighting all their lives.

Chapter 1 | The Fight

9m 43s

June 22, 1938. Though the Great Depression rages and war looms, the eyes of the world are on Yankee Stadium in New York where, beneath threatening skies, German Max Schmeling and American Joe Louis are squaring off for the heavyweight championship of the world.

Ruby Ridge promo

30s

Drawing upon eyewitness accounts, including interviews with Weaver’s daughter, Sara, and federal agents involved in the confrontation, Ruby Ridge is a riveting account of the event that helped give rise to the modern American militia movement.

Chapter 1 | The Poison Squad

8m 56s

Dr. Harvey Wiley, determined to banish dangerous substances from dinner tables, took on the powerful food manufacturers and their allies. Wiley embarked upon a series of bold and controversial trials on 12 human subjects who would become known as the “Poison Squad.”

Dr. Harvey Wiley: Father of Pure Food

1m 4s

In 1883, Dr. Harvey Wiley joined the U.S. Department of Agriculture as chief chemist. After two decades, President Theodore Roosevelt signed the Pure Food and Drugs Act in 1906, largely written by Wiley.

McCarthyism: Anatomy of an Investigation

5m 50s

In 1950 Senator Joseph McCarthy declared to Congress that Far East scholar Owen Lattimore was a "top Russian spy." Lattimore tried to clear his name before two congressional committees. He was eventually exonerated but those hearings took a lasting economic and personal toll on the scholar. Here's how they worked.

Langston Hughes on Trial

4m 39s / TV-PG

In 1953, the author Langston Hughes was called before Senator Joseph McCarthy’s Subcommittee on Investigations to answer questions about Communist influences in his writing. The private, closed-door interrogation pitted Hughes against the Subcommittee’s chief counsel, Roy Cohn. We dramatized the actual hearing transcripts of Hughes’s testimony, made public 50 years later.

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