The Sixties

The early 1960s were some of the most dramatic years of the Cold War as several key events influenced the early days of the Kennedy presidency. The World On The Brink examines how the political and military tensions between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. at the start of the decade were reflected through the prism of the Bay of Pigs Invasion, construction of the Berlin Wall and the Cuban Missile Crisis, revealing an increasingly strained relationship as the two nuclear superpowers careered from crisis to crisis. The son of the former Soviet premier, Sergei Khrushchev describes how close the U.S. and U.S.S.R came to igniting World War III with the high stakes brinksmanship. Marvin Kalb, Robert Dallek, Evan Thomas and Richard Reeves are just a few of the people who provide historical context for this harrowing time and explain how the teetering on confrontation gave way to the Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. A CNN, Playtone and Herzog & Company Production for CNN (USA)

The assassination of President Kennedy was not only a national tragedy, but has become an enduring national controversy. With the help of Vincent Bugliosi, Edward Epstein, Max Holland, Dan Rather and Robert Caro, Robert MacNeil, Mark Lane, members of the Warren Commission staff, and Alexandra Zapruder, the investigations, personalities, the media coverage of the Warren Commission Report, the "magic bullet," the Texas School Book Depository, Lee Harvey Oswald, Jack Ruby, Jim Garrison and the Zapruder film are examined to try to explain why the nation finds them all still so compelling. A CNN, Playtone and Herzog & Company Production for CNN (USA)

The escalation of the war in Vietnam meant troop levels soared from just several hundred advisors at the beginning of the decade, to more than 550,000 American troops by the end of it. The mounting casualties and the stories reported from the warfront from the troops who did the fighting and the dying, influenced social and political polarisation around the war back home. The war's increasing unpopularity altered how Americans viewed their government – and authority in general. The publicly-touted optimism veiled the private doubts of Presidents Kennedy and Johnson – and their Defence Secretary Robert McNamara. Vietnam veterans Karl Marlantes, Philip Caputo and Tim O'Brien, historians Fredrik Logevall, Robert Dallek, George Herring, Andrew Bacevich and journalists Neil Sheehan and Marvin Kalb discuss this most complex of American stories. A CNN, Playtone and Herzog & Company Production for CNN (USA)

When Ed Sullivan uttered, "Ladies and gentlemen, The Beatles," the lads from Liverpool and their thrilling performance on Sullivan's eponymous variety show enthralled millions and launched a reciprocal exchange of influences with American artists. The music was a revelation – and inspired a revolution in fashion, hairstyles, advertising, politics and sexual mores that influenced nearly every aspect of American life. Smokey Robinson, Michelle Phillips, Graham Nash, Eric Bourdon, Dave Clark, Mickey Dolenz and others recall what it was like to make the music that mirrored the souls of the young and the restless. Jann Wenner, Mikal Gilmore, Patrick Goldstein, Nelson George, Bill Janovitz, John Heilemann, Tom Hanks, David Wild, and musicians Eric Burdon, Paul Schaffer, and Questlove describe how this legendary music era did so much more than provide a soundtrack for the generation of change. 2014 A CNN, Playtone and Herzog & Company Production for CNN (USA)

The genesis of the social and political currents that dominate today's headlines have their beginnings in the 1960s. The influences of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique, Barry Goldwater's The Conscience of a Conservative and the Stonewall riots were kick starters to fundamental cultural and political change – and altered how Americans worked, loved, lived, and looked at each other. Feminist icons Gloria Steinem, Cecile Richards, Marlo Thomas, and journalists Gail Collins and Douglas Brinkley, along with Barney Frank, Robert Kennedy, Jr. and others explore the beginnings of the women's, environmental, conservative and gay movements. 2014 A CNN, Playtone and Herzog & Company Production for CNN (USA)

In fewer than 10 years, America rocketed from launching rudimentary satellites to landing a man on the Moon. Pioneers like Werner Von Braun and heroes like Alan Shepard, John Glenn, and Neil Armstrong, pushed the boundaries of exploration to literally unprecedented heights. Throughout the decade, the rivalry between America and the Soviet Union raised the stakes on the competition that went even beyond the "giant leap for mankind" and led to astonishing technological inventions. Astronaut and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, and astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Mike Massimino and Dave Scott, along with Tom Wolfe, Andy Chaikin, Walter Isaacson, Douglas Brinkley and Tom Hanks describe one of the greatest real-life adventure stories of all time. 2014 A CNN, Playtone and Herzog & Company Production for CNN (USA)

Television came of age in the 1960s and quickly became the dominant influence in American culture. When Americans wanted to be entertained or informed, they increasingly turned on "the tube." The pure entertainment of The Ed Sullivan Show, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Carol Burnett Show, I Dream of Jeannie, and The Fugitive evolved into the events - driven relevance of The Dick Cavett Show, Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, and The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. And when Americans wanted to learn more about the war in Vietnam, the protests in the Southern states or follow their favourite sports, they switched on the TV. Tom Hanks, Sally Field, Paul Shaffer, Petula Clark, Dick and Tom Smothers, Dick Cavett, Diahann Carroll, Carl Reiner, Carol Burnett, Vince Gilligan, and others take a sentimental, sometimes moving look back at the ground-breaking, rule-breaking, norm-bending sitcoms, dramas, variety shows, and news coverage that shaped and reflected who we were. 2014 A CNN, Playtone and Herzog & Company Production for CNN (USA)

American culture changed rapidly and fundamentally in the 1960s. Tom Wolfe, Jann Wenner, Grace Slick, Graham Nash, Michael Butler and James Rado, Douglas Brinkley, Mark Kurlansky, Ric Burns, Vincent Bugliosi and others review how the beatniks and folk music scene of the early '60s evolved to the hippies and psychedelic rock of the later years. They also explore why Haight-Ashbury, "the Summer of Love" and Woodstock, Andy Warhol, Timothy Leary, Ken Kesey, Yippies, Dead-Heads, Charles Manson and Hell's Angels became enduring counter-cultural touchstones. 2014 A CNN, Playtone and Herzog & Company Production for CNN (USA)

The decade's penultimate year, 1968, was framed by extraordinary events and turmoil. The Tet Offensive, the Senators Robert F Kennedy/Eugene McCarthy battle for the Democratic presidential nomination, the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert F Kennedy, violent student protests around the world, a chaotic Democratic National Convention in Chicago, the Soviet incursion into Prague and President Johnson's decision not to run for re-election were pivotal turning points. All ushered in some of the most fundamental social and political changes in American history. Robert Kennedy, Jr., Dan Rather, Evan Thomas, Robert Dallek, Jeff Greenfield, Walter Isaacson, Taylor Branch, Tom Hayden, Mark Kurlansky, Leonard Steinhorn, Todd Gitlin and others describe one of the most dramatic years in American history. 2014 A CNN, Playtone and Herzog & Company Production for CNN (USA)

The moral mission of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s is re-examined by eyewitnesses to history. Diane Nash, U.S. Representatives John Lewis & Eleanor Holmes Norton, Rev. James Lawson, Rev. C.T. Vivian and Bob Moses describe first-hand the lunch counter sit-ins, Freedom Rides, the integration of the University of Mississippi and the University of Alabama, as well as the Children's Crusade in Birmingham. Taylor Branch, Dave Garrow, Gene Roberts, Isabel Wilkerson and Diane McWhorter give historical context to "Bloody Sunday," the march from Selma to Montgomery, Freedom Summer, the murder of three civil rights workers in Mississippi, the passage of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights acts and the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. 2014 A CNN, Playtone and Herzog & Company Production for CNN (USA)