Films: 1971 - 1980
Browse the entire American Experience series featuring over 250 films. Watch full films online, download teacher’s guides, go behind the scenes, and learn more about your favorite films.
The Alaska Pipeline
Native Alaskans, oil company representatives, environmentalists, politicians, and others tell the story of the 800-mile pipeline.
The Amish : 2 hrs
Their intense faith and strict adherence to 300-year-old traditions have by turn captivated and repelled, awed and irritated, inspired and confused America.
The Boy in the Bubble
The unusual life of David Vetter, who lived permanently inside a germ-free environment due to severe combined immunodeficiency.
A Brilliant Madness
Mathematician and paranoid schizophrenic John Nash's work became a foundation of modern economic theory.
Eyes on the Prize
This acclaimed 14-hour series covers all of the major events of the civil rights movement from 1954-1985, tracing African Americans' struggle for equality and justice.
The Fall of Saigon
Ten years after American troops arrived in South Vietnam, communists seized Saigon in an attack that brought the war to a startling conclusion.
Fidel Castro
Cuba's Communist leader defied the odds, surviving his Soviet benefactors, the wrath of U.S. presidents, two diplomatic crises and assassination attempts.
George Wallace: Settin' the Woods on Fire
The Alabama governor and presidential candidate promised segregation forever.
God in America : 6 hrs
For the first time on television, God in America will explore the historical role of religion in the public life of the United States.
Guerrilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst
The bizarre saga of the Symbionese Liberation Army and Patty Hearst's kidnapping and conversion to her captors' cause.
Hijacked
In September 1970, militants from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine hijacked five commercial airplanes.
Jimmy Carter : 2 hrs
A peanut farmer who rose to become America's 39th president. Part of the award-winning Presidents collection.
Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple : 90 mins
In 1978 over 900 people led by Rev. Jim Jones died in the largest mass murder-suicide in history, at Jonestown, Guyana.
Las Vegas: An Unconventional History
Originally settled as a mail stop, Las Vegas changed from an Old West vacation town, to a mafia haven, to the "Atomic City" and "Sin City."
Meltdown at Three Mile Island
Equipment failure, human error and bad luck led to the country's worst nuclear accident in 1979.
Miss America
The country's oldest beauty contest has become a battleground and a barometer for the position of women in society.
The Mormons : 2 hrs
From Joseph Smith's discovery of gold tablets to persecution, migration, and settlement in Utah, the film explores the history of the most American of religions.
New York: A Documentary Film
The history of New York City and the people and forces that have shaped it over the past 400 years is told in a seven-part 14.5-hour series.
New York: The Center of the World
Postwar New York City and the global economic order told through the story of the World Trade Center.
Nixon's China Game
President Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger initiated a secret diplomatic breakthrough with Mao Tse-tung that shocked and changed the world.
Reagan : 270 mins
The life of the president who saw himself as the heroic defender of the "shining city on a hill." Part of the award-winning Presidents collection.
Test Tube Babies : 1 hr
The effort of pioneering researchers to conceive babies through in vitro fertilization.
Vietnam: A Television History
This 11-hour series analyzes the costs and consequences of the war that changed a generation and continues to color American thinking today.
War Letters : 1 hr
From the Revolutionary War to Operation Desert Storm - newly discovered letters read by celebrity actors tell of courage, longing, and sacrifice.
