American History TV visited the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Renwick Gallery to learn about Delphine Hirasuna's book and exhibit "The Art of Gaman: Arts and Crafts from the Japanese American Internment Camps, 1942-1946." Ms. Hirasuna's parents were interned in a camp during World War II and her discovery of a carved wooden bird pin led her to seek other objects made in the camps by internees.

More Info »

Saul Cornell discusses his book "A Well-Regulated Militia: The Founding Fathers and the Origins of Gun Control in America."  He explores the opposing sides of the gun control debate, arguing that both base their opinions on a flawed understanding of the second amendment.

More Info »

“Operation Gold” was a 1950s project conducted by the CIA and the British Intelligence Service to tap into Soviet communications by tunneling from West Berlin into East Berlin, Germany. Known as “Operation Stopwatch” by the British, the 1,500 foot tunnel was active for eleven months, and netted about 40,000 hours of East German telephone conversations - even though the KGB knew about the tunnel before it was built. Retired CIA officer Lou Mehrer tells the story of the Berlin Tunnel at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library & Museum in West Branch, Iowa.

More Info »

Harvard Law School history professor Annette Gordon-Reed is the author of two books exploring the story of Sally Hemings and her family’s ties to Thomas Jefferson. Her 2009 book, “The Hemingses of Monticello,” won a Pulitzer Prize. At the National Council for History Education National Conference in Richmond, Virginia, professor Gordon-Reed discusses teaching about slavery, as well as the research that led to her books.

More Info »

These are unedited excerpts from a 1992 conversation with former President Gerald Ford. He remembers Dwight D. Eisenhower from the perspective of the Michigan congressman that he was in the 1950s. Topics include the 1952 election and the GOP’s domestic agenda, McCarthyism, civil rights, and Ike’s legacy for the Republican party. He also discusses the day he took his young sons to visit Eisenhower at his Gettysburg farm, and the impromptu lesson the former World War II general gave the Ford boys on one of this nation’s most storied battles.   

More Info »

C-SPAN's "First Ladies: Influence & Image" follows the life of Lucy Hayes and her influence on the 19th president, Rutherford B. Hayes.

More Info »

In this program from our 1999 "American Presidents: Life Portraits" series we focused on Rutherford B. Hayes' life and career. Author Ari Hoogenboom and the director of the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center, Roger Bridges, talked about President Hayes as a lawyer, soldier, and politician during the contested election of 1876 in which Congress appointed Hayes president despite his loss to Samuel Tilden in the national election. The guests also explored the grounds of the Hayes Presidential Center, highlighting the various landmarks there. 

More Info »

In this program, Georgetown University professor Michael Kazin teaches a class on 1920s culture and society. He discusses Prohibition and the exploits of the gangster Al Capone, who eventually went to prison on tax evasion charges. Professor Kazin also talks about the motion picture industry and the new production codes that sought to tamp down on sexuality in films. In addition, he addresses the 1925 Scopes Trial, in which a high school teacher faced charges of unlawfully teaching evolution in a state-funded school. Georgetown University is in Washington, DC.

More Info »

David Coleman, Director of the Presidential Recordings Program at the University of Virginia's Miller Center, talks about audio recordings made of President John F. Kennedy in 1963, his last year in office. We recorded the interview at the annual meeting of the Organization of American Historians in San Francisco.

More Info »

On March 25th, 1911, a fire at New York City’s Triangle Shirtwaist Factory took the lives of 146 garment workers, most of them young immigrant women. The tragedy led to many changes in New York’s labor laws and building regulations. From New York’s Lower East Side Tenement Museum, journalist & novelist Kevin Baker talks with four relatives of Triangle Shirtwaist garment workers about how their ancestors died or survived, and about efforts to memorialize the victims. This program was co-hosted by the Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition.

More Info »