LibGuides: American History 1918-1945, Depression & WWII: Media

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America in the 20th Century: The Great Depression (31:00) A part of the series America in the 20th Century. From the collapse of the stock market on October 29, 1929—Black Tuesday—to the many federal initiatives designed to revive the faltering U.S. economy, this program offers an insightful overview of life during the Great Depression. The presidential administrations of Herbert Hoover and FDR; the New Deals and their effects on labor, conservation, and cultural life; the Dust Bowl; and the Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act are discussed.
Goin’ to Chicago (01:09:31) The movement of African-Americans from the rural South to the cities of the North is one of the most momentous yet least heralded sagas of American history. This award-winning documentary tells the story of the mid-century black migration through the testimony of some Mississippi Delta natives who relocated to Chicago during this era.
HBO: The Soul of America (01:16:43) Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Jon Meacham offers compelling insight into our troubled political reality by examining how the country dealt with historical challenges of America’s past. Based on Jon Meacham’s 2018 bestseller, The Soul of America illuminates our present-day's political reality by exploring historical challenges of the past such as the women’s suffrage movement, the incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII, McCarthyism, and the struggle to pass Civil Rights legislation in the 1960s. All were instances in which “our better angels” battled against the forces of hatred and division that are recurring themes in American life. Interweaving archival material and interviews with the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian with insights from journalists, academics, and civil rights activists, the feature documentary focuses on pivotal moments in our history that reflect America’s longstanding struggles with racism, sexism, and xenophobia. Helping us to better understand the parallels between current events and their historical antecedents, The Soul of America ultimately gives hope that the lessons of the past may bring the nation closer to achieving its democratic ideals.
Japanese American Prison Camps on U.S. Soil (02:15) In 1942, at the height of the Second World War, President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorised the incarceration of approximately 110,000 Japanese-Americans in the American West. But was Executive Order 9066 a step too far?
Manhattan Project (43:35) The scientists and engineers who helped build the world's first nuclear weapon reflect on their accomplishments and legacy. The explosion took place, appropriately, in an area of the New Mexico desert called jornada del muerto—the journey of death. At 5:30 AM on July 16, 1945, the first atomic bomb was detonated and a new era began. MODERN MARVELS® draws on government files, archival footage and the memories of many surviving team members to tell the extraordinary story of THE MANHATTAN PROJECT. It's an in-depth portrait of one of the most impressive scientific, engineering and manufacturing projects in human history, made all the more compelling because of its ethical implications. In just 28 months, the United States created a nationwide industry that consumed $30 billion in today's dollars and one-tenth of the nation's electricity, and delivered the deadliest weapon that mankind had ever conceived. Yet when the scientists and dignitaries gathered in that remote desert nearly 60 years ago, few had any real idea of what they had created. Among the people interviewed for this program are General Paul Tibbets, who piloted the Enola Gay over Hiroshima, the past and present directors of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the official Manhattan Project photographer.
A Nation of Scofflaws: Prohibition—A Film by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick (1:50:52) On January 16, 1920, the 18th Amendment to the Constitution goes into effect, making it illegal to manufacture, transport, or sell intoxicating liquor. As millions of law-abiding Americans become lawbreakers overnight, enforcement of the new law is almost impossible.
The New Deal (14:25) In which John Green teaches you about the New Deal, which was president Franklin D. Roosevelt's plan to pull the united States out of the Great Depression of the 1930's. Did it work? Maybe. John will teach you about some of the most effective and some of the best known programs of the New Deal. They weren't always the same thing. John will tell you who supported the New Deal, and who opposed it. He'll also get into how the New Deal changed the relationship between the government and citizens, and will even reveal just how the Depression ended. (hint: it was war spending)
The Presidents: 1913-1945 (45:09) This program focuses on America’s emergence as a global power as it introduces Woodrow Wilson, the country’s leader during World War I; Warren Harding, who watched as scandals rocked his administration; Calvin Coolidge, who ushered the U.S. to a dangerous economic precipice; Herbert Hoover, who watched the nation fall into the Great Depression; and Franklin D. Roosevelt, who led America out of the Depression and through World War II.
The Roaring Twenties (27:38) The 1920s were an age of dramatic social and political change. Women got the right to vote, cut their hair and their skirts; alcohol was outlawed; Babe Ruth was king of the ballpark while Charles Lindbergh ruled the air. The nation's wealth doubled and many American's bought into a new "mass culture." The Roaring Twenties was a decade of startling contrasts in America.
Series: America in the 20th Century This 13-part series documents the history of the United States—and celebrates America’s diversity—from the turn of the 20th century to the 1960s and beyond. Pivotal events unfold and key figures live again through archival video clips and photos, period recordings, full-color maps, and other primary source materials, while striking graphics and engaging narration contextualize the history of yesteryear, making it relevant to 21st-century students. 13-part series, 29-132 minutes each.
Series: A Walk Through the 20th Century with Bill Moyers Countless observers have attempted to make sense of the last century—a time of rampant technological change, wild economic fluctuations, two world wars, two remarkable Roosevelts, and at least two homicidal dictators bent on world domination. Only a few historians and journalists have succeeded in developing a full-fledged portrayal of the period, and no one has woven a tapestry of greater depth and richness than Bill Moyers, the driving force behind this classic 19-part series. Brimming with archival images and footage and derived from exacting research, these programs nevertheless have little to do with the charts and timelines of routine history lessons. Instead, they represent both a shrewd analysis of major events and a poetic chronicle of the century’s human currents. They are Moyers in top form. 19-part series, 52-83 minutes each.
Series: Ken Burns: The Dust Bowl The Dust Bowl chronicles the worst man-made ecological disaster in American history, when a frenzied wheat boom on the southern Plains, followed by a decade-long drought during the 1930s, nearly swept away the breadbasket of the nation. Menacing black blizzards killed farmers' crops and livestock, threatened the lives of their children, and forced thousands of desperate families to pick up and move somewhere else.
Series: The War: A Ken Burns Film In the spring of 1945, as the war in Europe drew to a close, CBS radio correspondent Eric Sevareid told his audience: “Only the soldier really lives the war—the journalist does not.” In that very spirit, The War, a seven-part documentary by renowned filmmaker Ken Burns takes a profoundly personal look at the Second World War and examines the myriad of ways in which it touched the lives of every family in America. Through historic footage and face-to-face interviews, this epic film paints a vivid picture of how the war dramatically altered the lives of ordinary men and women in four American communities: Mobile, Alabama; Sacramento, California; Waterbury, Connecticut; and Luverne, Minnesota. Distributed by PBS Distribution. 7-part series, 78-156 minutes each.
Series: Year by Year: 1929-1967 The series Year by Year examines and explains major events, occurrences, and trends of the 20th century. A&E. 39-part series, 45 minutes each.

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