John Wayne was 62 years old when he tried to portray a fit Vietnam War Green Beret colonel, but the obvious age gap isn't the only head scratcher in this film. Released in 1968, the film was Lyndon B. Johnson-approved attempt to shift American...
Today
Clarence Dillon: The Roaring 20s Wall Street Baron Who Wrote the Rules for Corporate Takeovers, Junk Bonds, and Bankruptcy
<p>J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and Charles E. Mitchell are names that come to mind when thinking of the most prominent icons of wealth and influence during the Roaring Twenties. Yet the one figure who has escaped notice is an enigmatic banker by the name of Clarence Dillon. ... Show More
45m 11s
Nov 20
A Utah Indian Chief Controlled the 1800s Mountain West Through Slave Trading, Building Pioneer Trails, Horse Stealing, and Becoming Mormon
<p>The American Indian leader Wakara was among the most influential and feared men in the nineteenth-century American West. He and his pan-tribal cavalry of horse thieves and slave traders dominated the Old Spanish Trail, the region’s most important overland route. They wid ... Show More
1 h
Nov 18
Why Did Rome Fall? Wrong Question. How Did it Last 2,000 Years Despite Changing its Religion, Language, and Government?
<p>Rome began as a pagan, Latin-speaking city state in central Italy during the early Iron Age and ended as a Christian, Greek-speaking empire as the age of gunpowder dawned. Everything about it changed, except its Roman identity. This was due to a unique willingness am ... Show More
53m 46s
Jul 2018
Ken Burns, Lynn Novick, and Rethinking Vietnam
<p>The vast ambition of Ken Burns and Lynn Novick's PBS documentary <em>The Vietnam War</em> has precedents, but most of them are other Burns and Novick documentaries. The two directors' collaborations -- including 1994's <em>Baseball</em> and 2007's <em>The War</em>, about WW2 - ... Show More
47m 29s
Aug 2020
Legacies of Vietnam
<p>Today, Alec speaks with two colleagues he’s known for a long time, Brian Delate and Dick Hughes -- both actors whose lives were touched by the Vietnam War. Delate, Alec’s first guest, served in Vietnam after high school. He has performed on stage, in movies and on TV, and he’s ... Show More
47m 24s
Jan 2022
Declaring War on Poverty (Replay)
History repeats itself this week with an episode from the HISTORY This Week archives: January 8, 1964. In his State of the Union address, Lyndon Johnson unveils his War on Poverty, an effort to tackle subpar living conditions and create jobs across the United States. Johnson disc ... Show More
36m 52s
May 2021
John McCain: Prisoner of War | Interview with Doug McCain and Everett Alvarez | 5
<p>John McCain was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam for five and a half years. John's son, Doug McCain, and the longest-held prisoner of war in Hanoi Hilton, Everett Alvarez, discuss the Vietnam War's effects on their lives and those they loved. </p><p>For more reading, we ... Show More
43m 53s