The Sixties

Americans gathered around “the tube,” for the news, The Twilight Zone, The Fugitive, Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In, and more. Dick and Tom Smothers, Carol Burnett and others describe how the shows and historical events reflected who we were.

Marvin Kalb, Richard Reeves, Robert Dallek, Sergei Khrushchev and more explain how close the Bay of Pigs and Cuban Missile Crisis brought us all to World War III.

The Warren Commission staff, and others trace the events leading up to that November day in Dallas, and try to explain why the investigations, media coverage and personalities associated with the tragedy remain compelling and controversial.

Involving more than 550,000 U.S. troops by the end of it, the escalation of the war in Vietnam brought social and political polarization home. It was televised so the more Americans saw of the war, the more unpopular the conflict became.

Selma, Birmingham, and the March on Washington are reexamined by eyewitnesses to history. They give context to sit-ins, Freedom Rides, Freedom Summer, integration, and the Children’s Crusade for the moral mission of the Civil Rights Movement.

"The lads from Liverpool" led a musical cultural exchange that impacted everything from fashion to sexual mores to politics. Graham Nash, Smokey Robinson and more recall what it was like to make music that mirrored the souls of the young.

Astronaut and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, astronauts Mike Massimino & Dave Scott, Tom Hanks and others describe the greatest adventure story of all time. The "giant leap" pushed the boundaries of exploration to an unprecedented frontier.

Tom Hayden, Gloria Steinem and others discuss one of the most dramatic years in U.S. history. A Soviet incursion, assassinations, the wars in Southeast Asia, violence at the Democratic National Convention and the election of President Nixon.

Gloria Steinem, Robert Kennedy, Jr., Marlo Thomas, and others discuss how feminism, civil rights, environmentalism, conservatism, and the gay rights movements were fueled by deep yearnings for freedom by a generation unwilling to wait.

American culture changed fundamentally in the 1960s. The tastes, morals, and politics of the Baby Boomer generation re-defined standards. Guests: Jann Wenner, Grace Slick, David Wild, Leonard Steinhorn,Tom Wolfe ,Douglas Brinkley, Tom Hanks.