Special Features
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Timeline
The Life of Annie Oakley
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General Article
Jesse James' Bank Robberies
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Bonus Video
River Dawn
Billy the Kid
The boy behind the myth, who in just a few short years transformed himself from a skinny orphan to the most feared man in the West and an enduring icon. Part of The Wild West collection.
Custer's Last Stand
The Last Stand, the final act of General George Custer's larger-than-life career, played out on a grand stage with a spellbound public engrossed in the drama. Part of the Wild West collection.
Clinton
A president who rose from a broken childhood in Arkansas to become one of the most successful politicians in modern American history. Part of the award-winning Presidents collection.
Then & Now
The Pardoning of Billy the Kid
"I have the authority to exempt you from prosecution," Wallace wrote in a letter in 1878 to Billy the Kid, "if you will testify to what you know." The following month, the Kid appeared in front of a Lincoln grand jury; his testimony helped law enforcement charge 50 more men with murder and other crimes related to the Lincoln County War.
Yet following the trial, McCarty's petitions to Wallace went unanswered. When the local district attorney refused to drop the charges against the Kid, he fled Lincoln County. "I don't think Lew Wallace gave a damn about Billy the Kid," says writer Michael Wallis in the film.
More than a century later, Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico announced his intention to research a potential pardon for Billy the Kid, causing a major controversy.
My American Experience
Who is Your Western Hero?
Who is your western hero? The legend of the Wild West has been played out in American Popular culture since the start of westward expansion. From Billy the Kid to Wyatt Earp, and George Custer to Geronimo, the real-life people who helped tame the west would shape the western heroes celebrated in film and television for decades. Share your real or fictional western hero below.
Series Blog
Choose Your Favorite Clinton Interview
Are you getting excited for our upcoming documentary on Clinton? AMERICAN EXPERIENCE certainly is.
Director Barak Goodman's team got remarkable access to some of the people who knew Clinton best, from people who knew him in Arkansas to people who were with him in the White House. These are the people who saw him rise and fall and rise again. Goodman talked to people from both sides of the story - his supporters and detractors. The list includes people like Kofi Annan, Dee Dee Myers, and Ken Starr, and journalists Jonathan Alter, Christiane Amanpour, and James Carville.
The AMERICAN EXPERIENCE web team wants to make some of the transcripts of these original interviews available to you. But whom should we choose? We thought we would let you decide whose interview transcript you would like to read!
