American Experience | Official Site

Fly Girls | Primary Source

WASP Official Correspondence

Read the telegram inviting application to WASP training, notification of acceptance into the WASP training program, required qualifications for acceptance into WASP program, letter from Walt Disney with a design for the WASP insignia, and notification from General Hap Arnold of the end of the WASP program.

Fidel Castro | Article

A Moderate in the Cuban Revolution

In October 1959, Huber Matos wrote Castro a letter resigning his command, citing his concern with the growing influence of Communists in Cuba's revolutionary government.

Daughter from Danang | Behind the Scenes

Behind the Scenes With filmmakers

California filmmakers Gail Dolgin and Vicente Franco's lives changed when they met Heidi Bub.

Abraham and Mary Lincoln: A House Divided | Clip

Historian Catherine Clinton

Historian Catherine Clinton discusses medical care in the Civil War.

Film

Citizen Hearst

Explore the life of William Randolph Hearst, the pioneering media mogul and inspiration for Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane. Wielding unprecedented power, Hearst forever transformed the media’s role in American life and politics.

Secrets of a Master Builder | Article

James Buchanan Eads, 1820-1887

Engineer James Eads was born on May 23, 1820, in Lawrenceburg, Indiana.

Film

JFK

Forever enshrined in myth by an assassin's bullet, Kennedy's presidency long defied objective appraisal. Part of the award-winning Presidents collection.

Race for the Superbomb | Article

Atomic Energy Commission

Learn more about the major players and occurrences that led to the development of the Hydrogen bomb. This feature details the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, including its formation, activities and the 1953 Oppenheimer hearings.

Race to the Moon | Article

The Soviet Lunar Program & the Space Race

The Space Race was a technological battle fought by Soviet and American scientists and engineers, and by Soviet cosmonauts and American astronauts.

Film

Victory in the Pacific

The decisions made by leaders and the escalation of bloodletting that finally ended World War II. In this provocative, thorough examination of the final months of the war, American Experience looks at the escalation of bloodletting from the vantage points of both the Japanese and the Americans.

Film

Houdini

In 1912 Harry Houdini was lowered into New York's East River in a crate wrapped in chains. The crowd of spectators gasped; reporters pulled out their stop watches. Houdini was out in less than a minute. The resulting media blitz established him forever as the world's greatest escape artist. On stage, Houdini subjected himself to the Water Torture Cell, being buried alive, and other perils of his own design. Throughout his rise from Hungarian immigrant to international star, Houdini confronted our greatest fears entrapment, pain, death -- and emerged victorious. Produced by Nancy Porter. Mandy Patinkin narrates.

Film

Clearing the Air: The War on Smog

The story of L.A.’s devastating smog problem and the creation of the EPA and the Clean Air Act.

Film

Guerrilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst

In 1974, a militant, fringe political group kidnapped teenage newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst from her Berkeley apartment. In the months that followed, Hearst, the Symbionese Liberation Army (S.L.A.), and their constant, paramilitary audio messages dominated headlines globally.