Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Doris Kearns Goodwin explains how Abraham Lincoln rose from obscurity to become one of the most significant presidents in the nation's history.
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Lyndon B. Johnson biographer Robert Caro introduces a panel discussion on the presidency and legacy of LBJ, with the panel including writers; historians; and former adviser to President Johnson, Jack Valenti.
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Professor Nina Silber traces the emergence of a new sense of self and citizenship among the women left behind by Union soldiers during the Civil War. Silber argues that women found themselves at a disadvantage, with their husbands away, in a male-dominated society; but also found new, active roles for themselves in politics and support.
Pulitzer-Prize-winning author David McCullough talks about his book 1776, which covers the year 1776 in American history, and the corresponding Revolutionary War events. He particularly focuses on his research while writing the book.
Professor Colin G. Calloway looks at Native American participation in the French and Indian War, focusing on the motivations and experiences of these individuals.
Professor Wayne Franklin discusses the life and work of James Fenimore Cooper, his inspiration for and work on the French and Indian War novel The Last of the Mohicans, and the influence of his depiction of this war on U.S. popular novels, works on the war, literature and on the colonial-era history of the U.S. Franklin also covers, in relation, the history of fiction-writing and novels in the U.S.
Professor Mary Frances Berry reviews the life of Callie House, an ex-slave and civil rights activist in the late 1800s and early 1900s who started the Ex-Slave Mutual Relief, Bounty and Pension Association, which sought African-American pensions based on those offered Union soldiers. Berry presents House as a forerunner of figures such as Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. Her presentation includes a question-and-answer session.
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Massachusetts Historical Society director William F. Fowler, Jr., follows the course of the French and Indian War and details its impact on North American history.
Three World War II veterans share their stories of serving on PT Boats in the Solomon Islands at the same time as John F. Kennedy during World War II. (John F. Kennedy's PT Boat, PT-109, was struck and sunk in 1943.) The presentation includes film clips of the (now deceased) survivors of PT-109.
Historian Russell Bourne looks at the role of waterfront "mobs" in the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party and other pre-Revolutionary events. He focuses on events of radical mass violence as precursors of the Revolutionary War.
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