Starman

The Civilian Conservation Corps

American Experience celebrates the 75th anniversary of the Civilian Conservation Corps. Founded by Roosevelt during the Great Depression, the CCC put over 3 million men to work improving the countries infrastructure and national parks.

Farewell, Good Brothers

Through contemporary interviews with the few remaining pioneers of the original Flying Saucer Movement of the early 1900s, this film examines the role of contactees in creating much of contemporary UFO mythology. With its emphasis on the political and religious motivations of these people, Farewell Good Brother is a startling and humorous parable of what it is to believe in the unbelievable.

Chasing the Moon

An unprecedented look at the decade-long odyssey to land a man on the moon. This documentary pulls back the curtain on the familiar narrative of the moonshot, revealing a fascinating stew of scientific innovation, political calculation, media spectacle, visionary impulses and personal drama.

Radio Bikini

Robert Stone’s Academy Award–nominated documentary reconstructs the 1946 Operation Crossroads nuclear tests at Bikini Atoll. Built largely from previously unseen U.S. government archival footage and eyewitness accounts, the film recounts the relocation of the Bikini Islanders and the experiences of American sailors who were exposed to radioactive fallout during the experiments. The documentary later aired as part of the PBS series American Experience.

World War Three

This mock documentary uses archival footage, interviews and reports taken out of context and staged interviews to highlight a possible escalation into a nuclear war. In this feature, tension in East Germany, and an uprising triggered by a visit by Gorbachev sees a successful military coup taking place in the USSR. Western actions against brutal crack-downs on civilians involved increases tension between the sides, finally resulting in nuclear war.

JFK: The Lost Bullet

JFK: The Lost Bullet is a documentary by National Geographic that tries to answer the question: "Who killed John F Kennedy?" It re-evaluates the famous Zapruder film that shows the murder of JFK and states that Zapruder stopped filming and missed the first shot fired which changes the timeline of the bullets fired making it possible that Lee Harvey Oswald could have fired three shots. It argues that the magic bullet that hit JFK and Governor John Connally was in fact possible. The documentary also features other home movies taken on the day.

Pandora's Promise

The atomic bomb, the specter of a global nuclear holocaust, and disasters like Fukushima have made nuclear energy synonymous with the darkest nightmares of the modern world. But what if everyone has nuclear power wrong? What if people knew that there are reactors that are self-sustaining and fully controllable and ones that require no waste disposal? What if nuclear power is the only energy source that has the ability to stop climate change?

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.

Guerrilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst

A documentary on the curious American domestic terrorist group, infamous for the 1974 kidnapping of Patty Hearst.

Earth Days

The story of our growing awareness and understanding of the environmental crisis and emergence, during the 1960s and '70s, of popular movement to confront it.

Oswald's Ghost

The assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas on November 22, 1963 left a psychic wound on America that is with us still today. Few Americans then or now accept that a lone, inconsequential gunman could bring down a president and alter history. In that breach, a culture of conspiracy has arisen that points to sinister forces at work in the shadows. Drawing upon rarely seen archival footage and interviews with key participants, Oswald's Ghost takes a fresh look at Kennedy's assassination, the public's reaction to the tragedy, and the government investigations that instead of calming fears lead to a widespread loss of trust in the institutions that govern our society.

Cold War Roadshow

Cold War Roadshow tells the story of one of the most bizarre episodes in the annals of modern history — the unprecedented barnstorming across America in the fall of 1959 by Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, the world leader of communism and America’s arch nemesis. At the very height of the Cold War, with American schoolchildren practicing duck-and-cover drills, the man who Americans feared could incinerate them in a rain of hydrogen bombs arrived in Washington, D.C. at the invitation of President Eisenhower. For both men, the visit was an opportunity to halt the escalating threats of the Cold War and chart a new course toward peaceful coexistence. For the American press, it was the media blockbuster story of the year.