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Woodrow Wilson

Aired January 6, 2002

President Woodrow Wilson led America during World War I, created the Federal Reserve, and helped create the League of Nations. Part of the award-winning collection The Presidents.

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Stephen Foster was the first great American songwriter. His melodies are so much a part of American history and culture that most people think they're folk tunes. All in all he composed some 200 songs, including "Oh! Susanna" "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair," and "Camptown Races." Though he virtually invented popular music as we recognize it today, Foster's personal life was tragic and contradiction-riddled. His marriage was largely unhappy, he never made much money from his work and he died at the age of 37 a nearly penniless alcoholic on the Bowery in New York.

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Marcus Garvey: Look for Me in the Whirlwind

Aired February 12, 2001

He was both a visionary and a manipulator, a brilliant orator and a pompous autocrat. In just ten years following his emigration to the United States as a laborer in 1917, Marcus Garvey rose to lead the largest black organization in history, was taken to prison in handcuffs, and was eventually deported. Marcus Garvey is the dramatic story of the rise and fall of an African American leader who influenced politics and culture around the world.

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The Rockefellers

Aired October 16, 2000

Head of the most powerful family in America, billionaire John D. Rockefeller's vast philanthropy changed his family's reputation.

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The Wizard of Photography

Aired May 22, 2000

With his introduction of the popular Kodak and Brownie camera systems, George Eastman revolutionized the photographic industry, transforming a complex, expensive technology used by a small professional elite into one that anyone could use. A brilliant innovator and entrepreneur, Eastman changed the way people viewed time and the world around them -- and even themselves. Produced by James A. DeVinney.

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Joe Dimaggio: The Hero's Life

Aired May 8, 2000

He was one of the greatest sports heroes ever — and one of the most unlikely. Raised in a poor Italian fishing community in San Francisco, Joe DiMaggio joined the New York Yankees in 1936 and quickly rose to become the star of baseball's golden age.

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George Wallace: Settin' the Woods on Fire

Aired April 23, 2000

Four times governor of Alabama, four times a candidate for president, he was feared as a racist demagogue and admired as a politician who spoke his mind. A lightning rod for controversy, Wallace both reflected and provoked tensions in American society over more than four decades. This film traces the rise of the firebrand politician from his roots in rural Alabama to the assassination attempt that suddenly transformed him.

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The Duel

Aired February 14, 2000

The most famous duel in American history climaxed a longstanding conflict between two of the most important men in the country. The conflict between Alexander Hamilton, an architect of the Constitution and designer of American capitalism, and Aaron Burr, vice president of the United States and the first modern politician.

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MacArthur

Aired May 17, 1999

No soldier in modern history has been more admired — or more reviled. Douglas MacArthur, liberator of the Philippines, shogun of occupied Japan, mastermind of the Inchon invasion, was an admired national hero when he was suddenly relieved of his command. A portrait of a complex, imposing and fascinating American general.

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Hoover Dam

Aired January 18, 1999

During the Great Depression, Americans built the Hoover Dam, overcoming technical challenges to erect one of the greatest engineering works in history.

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Reagan

Aired October 3, 2024 | 3 hrs 46 min

A passionate ideologue who preached a simple gospel of lower taxes, less government, and anti-communism, Ronald Reagan left the White House one of the most popular presidents of the 20th century — and one of the most controversial.

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Truman

Aired October 5, 1997 | 4 hrs 11 min

An unknown politician from Missouri who suddenly found himself president, Harry Truman was the least prepared of all the men who had held the highest office, but he would prove to be a surprise — the unlikely rise of a gritty American original.

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