Independent producer George Colburn has created a series of documentaries on Dwight D. Eisenhower’s military and political career, a period covering from 1941 to 1961.  His latest project –  “Eisenhower’s Secret War” – debuts in May 2013 on public television stations nation-wide and focuses on Ike’s campaign to wage peace in the aftermath of World War II. American History TV is airing a selection of interviews that Mr. Colburn has conducted over the last two decades with the people closest to Ike during the war years and his presidency. This interview from the Eisenhower Legacy Collection features unedited excerpts from a 1995 conversation with journalist Walter Cronkite. He knew Eisenhower in England during World War II and recalls his “white hat” reputation among his troops and the wartime press. And he describes how the “People’s Man” – as Cronkite called Ike – made the transition from war hero to president.

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Former President Richard Nixon served as Dwight D. Eisenhower’s vice-president over two terms, from January 1953 to January 1961. He sat down for an extended interview with independent producer George Colburn for a documentary series on Ike’s military and political career. Mr. Nixon – who died in 1994 at the age of 81 – spoke about the Eisenhower he knew. These are unedited excerpts from that 1991 conversation. We’ll hear about Eisenhower’s views on U.S.-Soviet relations, communism, the Middle East and the Space Race. Mr. Nixon recalls a decisive president who, he said, was always the calmest man in the room. And he explains why he himself never called the president “Ike.” This interview is from the Eisenhower Legacy Collection.

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Independent producer George Colburn has created a series of documentary television specials on Dwight D. Eisenhower’s military and political career – a period covering from 1941 to 1961.  His latest project , “Eisenhower’s Secret War," debuts in May on public television stations nation-wide. Hosted by Evan Thomas -  author of “Ike’s Bluff" - Mr. Colburn’s latest two-part program focuses on Ike’s campaign to wage peace in the aftermath of World War II. We'll air a selection of interviews that Mr. Colburn has conducted over the last two decades with the people closest to Ike during the war years and his presidency. This is a conversation with Mr. Colburn about documenting Ike and the interviews that now comprise “The Eisenhower Legacy Collection.”

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This is an oral history interview with former NASA astronaut and science pilot for the first Skylab mission, Joseph Kerwin. Skylab was America’s first Space Station. Kerwin’s mission was to repair Skylab and conduct scientific experiments in space, including tests in weightlessness. In the second part of this two-part interview, Kerwin discusses experimenting with weightlessness, their mission launch and docking on Skylab, as well as how their work influenced the development of the International Space Station. This interview was part of the Johnson Space Center’s Oral History Project.

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This is an oral history interview with former NASA astronaut and science pilot for the first SkyLab mission, Joseph Kerwin. SkyLab was America’s first Space Station. Kerwin’s mission was to repair SkyLab and conduct scientific experiments in space, including tests in weightlessness. In the first half of this two-part interview, Kerwin discusses the process of becoming an astronaut, his experience as a capsule communicator for Apollo 13 and how NASA prepared for the first extended stay in space. This interview is part of the Johnson Space Center’s Oral History Project.

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This is an interview with former NASA flight director, flight controller and Johnson Space Center Director, Gerald Griffin. After joining NASA in 1964, Griffin worked on moon missions, including Apollo 11, 12, 13, and 17. In the second half of this two-part interview, Griffin talks about transitioning from Master Control to the Apollo missions to taking the helm as director of the Johnson Space Center. He also discusses working with Washington, the results of the fatal Challenger mission, and the future of space travel. This interview was part of the Johnson Space Center’s Oral History Project.

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This is an interview with former NASA flight director, flight controller and director of the Johnson Space Center, Gerald Griffin. After joining NASA in 1964, Griffin worked on moon missions, including Apollo 11, 12, 13, and 17. In the first half of this two-part interview, Griffin discusses his role in the Gemini program and his work at Mission Control. He also recalls when lightning struck Apollo 12,  Apollo 8's groundbreaking mission, and how the almost disastrous Apollo 13 mission proved to be a NASA victory. This interview was part of the Johnson Space Center’s Oral History Project.

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This is an oral history interview with former NASA astronaut Vance Brand. In addition to three space shuttle missions, Vance was also a member of the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz mission – the first meeting in space between American astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts. In this interview, Brand talks about why this co-mission was important, what it was like learning from and training with the Soviets, and how the two spacecrafts eventually rendezvoused. This discussion was part of the NASA Johnson Space Center’s Oral History Project.

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Apollo 13 was scheduled for a 10-day mission to the moon. The highlight would have been the first landing on the moon’s upland region.  But 55 hours into the flight an oxygen system failure forced crew members to convert their lunar module “Aquarius” into a lifeboat for a perilous return to Earth. Fred Haise was Apollo 13’s Lunar Module Pilot. In excerpts from this interview recorded for the NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project, he talks about that failed trip to the moon.

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Bob Dole, former U.S. Senator and 1996 Republican nominee for president, recorded a series of interviews for an oral history project of the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas. The project chronicles not only Dole’s career, but the life of the U.S. Senate, and the people and politics of his times. In excerpts from a 2007 interview, Dole talks with historian Richard Norton Smith about passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, meeting Saddam Hussein, the advice he gave President Clinton, his interest in Colin Powell as a vice-presidential running mate and his work with veterans.

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