American Experience - Season 13

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Episodes

The Rockefellers: Part 1

Season 13Episode 160 min

The Rockefellers: Part 1

A dramatic two-part profile of the Rockefellers, a family whose name is synonymous with wealth, begins. Part 1 traces how John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937) struck oil (figuratively) in the 1860s and parlayed it into a corporate behemoth that the Supreme Court had to break up in 1911. It also examines how he and his son John D. Jr. (1874-1960) lived with that money -- and the hatred it engendered. The family's strategy: philanthropy. David Ogden Stiers narrates.

The Rockefellers: Part 2

Season 13Episode 260 min

The Rockefellers: Part 2

The conclusion of a profile of the Rockefellers explores how John D. Jr. accomplished "the seemingly impossible task of redeeming the family name," says narrator David Ogden Stiers. "Junior" (1874-1960) did that by giving away $500 million, much of it while his father (1839-1937) enjoyed a vigorous retirement. The show also charts the fortunes of the next generation of Rockefellers, chiefly second son Nelson, the long-time New York governor. Many of their children rebelled. "The real problem," says Steven Rockefeller, "is the integration of power and goodness."

Secrets of a Master Builder

Season 13Episode 360 min

Secrets of a Master Builder

Charting the life on the Mississippi of James B. Eads (1820-1887), "one of the greatest engineering geniuses of all time," says narrator David McCullough. Eads designed, built and financed ironclad river gunships in the Civil War (helping the Union win it, some say), the first steel bridge over the Mississippi, and sandbar-busting jetties at the mouth of the Mississippi that helped ensure the economic viability of New Orleans and the river itself.

Return with Honor

Season 13Episode 460 min

Return with Honor

Vietnam POWs recall their ordeals -- at times with great poignancy -- in a first-person history that supplements the comments with North Vietnamese war footage. As the veterans describe it here, their mission was simple, but not easy. "We were determined to return to the U.S. with honor," is the way that Air Force major Fred Cherry puts it. "We were not going to collaborate with the enemy. And we were going to look out for each other." Tom Hanks introduces the film.

Streamliners: America's Last Trains

Season 13Episode 560 min

Streamliners: America's Last Trains

Recalling the stainless steel trains that crisscrossed the country in high style (and at speeds of greater than 100 mph) during the 1930s and '40s. The streamliners -- most notably the Union Pacific's "Little Zip" and the Burlington Railroad's Zephyr -- increased railroad ridership (and profits) dramatically, led to a sleek-is-chic design revolution and even offered a measure of psychological uplift during the Depression.

Marcus Garvey: Look for Me in the Whirlwind

Season 13Episode 660 min

Marcus Garvey: Look for Me in the Whirlwind

Recalling racial-pride advocate Marcus Garvey (1887-1940), whose grand (some said grandiose) vision included an Africa run by Africans. Garvey's Harlem-based United Negro Improvement Association was more than just a civil-rights group -- it was a business and publishing empire. But it wasn't a well-run one, and his story doesn't have a happy ending (due, in part, to a young Justice Department lawyer named J. Edgar Hoover). Still, says narrator Carl Lumbly, Garvey "changed forever the way black Americans looked at themselves and the world.

Abraham and Mary Lincoln: A House Divided - Ambition

Season 13Episode 760 min

Abraham and Mary Lincoln: A House Divided - Ambition

Part 1 and 2 of a six-part chronicle of the Abraham Lincoln-Mary Todd relationship begins with their childhoods and courtship. He, of course, was born into poverty; she, however, grew up in luxury, the daughter of a Kentucky banker and slave owner. (Several of her brothers would die fighting for the South in the Civil War.) While he was something of a rube when they met, she was the opposite, polished and refined. Yet they shared something in common: a love of politics. The marriage of Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln proves to be a tempestuous affair accented by her temper, his depression and their political ambitions. Included: his elections to the U.S. House of Representatives and, later, the presidency.

Abraham and Mary Lincoln: A House Divided - We are Elected

Season 13Episode 860 min

Abraham and Mary Lincoln: A House Divided - We are Elected

When the Lincolns arrive in Washington, D.C., in 1861, the president-elect is deemed untested and is mistrusted; Mary, meanwhile, is suspected of being a Confederate sympathizer due to being the daughter of a Southern slave owner. As Abraham deals with the national tragedy of the Civil War, the couple also face a tragedy much closer to home: the 1862 death of their son Willie. The aftermath of son Willie's death finds Mary turning to spiritualists for comfort and, perhaps, slipping from sanity. President Lincoln, however, has another matter larger than his own grief that demands attention---the war. Included: the step he took that changed the nature of the conflict, the Emancipation Proclamation, which he issued on Jan. 1, 1863.

Abraham and Mary Lincoln: A House Divided - Shattered

Season 13Episode 960 min

Abraham and Mary Lincoln: A House Divided - Shattered

The third part recalls 1863, when opposition to the Civil War spread among Northerners: some see the high level of casualties as unacceptable, while others resent fighting to free black slaves. Abraham Lincoln, understandably, becomes anxious. Mary Todd Lincoln, meanwhile, copes by spending money compulsively, and falls into debt as a result. Conclusion. The final 16 months of the Civil War are charted, including the battle at Gettysburg and Abraham Lincoln's battlefield dedication and, just days after the South's surrender at Appomattox, his assassination. Included: Abraham's dedication to bringing the South into the Union; Mary's private wish for revenge.

Abraham and Mary Lincoln: A House Divided - The Dearest of All Things

Season 13Episode 1060 min

Abraham and Mary Lincoln: A House Divided - The Dearest of All Things

Abraham and Mary Lincoln: A House Divided - The Frightful War

Season 13Episode 1160 min

Abraham and Mary Lincoln: A House Divided - The Frightful War

Abraham and Mary Lincoln: A House Divided - Blind with Weeping

Season 13Episode 1260 min

Abraham and Mary Lincoln: A House Divided - Blind with Weeping

Scottsboro: An American Tragedy

Season 13Episode 1360 min

Scottsboro: An American Tragedy

Season 13Episode 1460 min

Fatal Flood

In the spring of 1927, after weeks of incessant rains, the Mississippi River went on a rampage from Cairo, Illinois, to New Orleans, inundating hundreds of towns, killing as many as a thousand people, and leaving a million homeless. In Greenville, Mississippi, efforts to contain the river pitted the majority black population against an aristocratic plantation family, the Percys, and the Percys against themselves. A dramatic story of greed, power, and race during one of America's greatest natural disasters.

Season 13Episode 1560 min

Stephen Foster

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