Watch Full Films | American Experience | Official Site

The Quiz Show Scandal

Aired January 6, 1992

When CBS premiered "The $64,000 Question" in 1955, the show was more than a hit; it was a national phenomenon. More quiz shows followed. What the audience was to learn, much later, was that many of these shows were fixed. Slowly, painfully, the deceit unravelled. A look at the formative years of television and the scandal's impact on the TV business and a naive America.

More

LBJ

Aired October 7, 1991 | 3 hrs 42 min

LBJ exploited his mastery of the legislative process to shepherd a collection of progressive programs through Congress with astounding success, but his visions of a Great Society were swallowed up in the quagmire of Vietnam.

Part One

Part Two More

LBJ (español)

Aired September 30, 1991 | 3 hrs 42 min

LBJ aprovechó su dominio del proceso legislativo para llevar con asombroso éxito al Congreso una serie de programas progresistas, pero su visión de una Gran Sociedad se hundió en el atolladero de Vietnam.

Primera Parte

Segunda Parte

Coney Island

Aired February 4, 1991

Coney Island is the story of a tiny spit of land at the foot of Brooklyn that at the turn of the century became the most extravagant playground in the country. In scale, in variety, in sheer inventiveness, Coney Island was unlike anything anyone had ever seen, and sooner or later everyone came to see it.

More

The Iron Road

Aired November 26, 1990

In 1862, the Congress passed the first of several Railroad Acts, choosing a route which went from Omaha to Sacramento — much of it an old pioneer trail-- and naming the two companies to be responsible for the construction of the railroad: the Central Pacific, building from the West, and the Union Pacific, building from the East.

More

The Crash of 1929

Aired April 24, 2012

The unbounded optimism of the Jazz Age and the shocking consequences when reality finally hit on October 29th, ultimately leading to the Great Depression.

Trailer More

Nixon

Aired October 15, 1990 | 2 hrs 49 min

The enigmatic nature of the Nixon presidency combined comparatively progressive legislative initiatives with a flagrant abuse of presidential power and the public trust.

Full Film More

Lindbergh

Aired October 1, 1990

At 25, Charles A. Lindbergh — handsome, talented, and brave — arrived in Paris, the first man to fly across the Atlantic. But the struggle to wear the mantle of legend would be a consuming one. Crowds pursued him, reporters invaded his private life. His marriage, travels with his wife and the kidnapping and murder of their first child were all fodder for the front page.

More