The BEST episodes of American Experience season 7
Every episode of American Experience season 7, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of American Experience season 7!
Presents an absorbing look at the personalities, events and resources that have had a profound impact on the shaping of America's past and present.
#3 - FDR (3): The Grandest Job in the World (1933-1940)
Season 7 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/12/1994
In episode three, the subject is FDR's leadership of America during the Great Depression. The nation turned to this son of great wealth for a host of social programs that promised a New Deal for the common man.
#4 - FDR (4): The Juggler (1940-1945)
Season 7 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/12/1994
In this last episode, the story turns to the war years. The days leading up to the bombing of Pearl Harbor and America's entry into World War II were turbulent ones in America. FDR's strong leadership charted America's course, as the newly emerging world power took on the responsibilities of the war in Europe. Meanwhile, back in America, the New Deal was still a work in progress.
#5 - Battle of the Bulge
Season 7 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/9/1994
American forces moving toward Germany to end the war are opposed by a deadly counter-offensive that leads to a great loss of life.
#6 - FDR (1): The Center of the World (1882-1921)
Season 7 - Episode 1 - Aired 10/11/1994
This first episode looks at the early life of FDR. Born into a wealthy family, there was little about his youth that would suggest the giant of history that he would become. His entry into state politics and a significant meeting with a woman named Eleanor would change his life and the course of a nation.
#7 - FDR (2): Fear Itself (1922-1933)
Season 7 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/11/1994
In this second episode, the subject is FDR's courageous fight with polio. With his wife Eleanor Roosevelt at his side, FDR, wins the Democratic nomination for president. He takes office at the beginning of the Great Depression. Exhorting the nation to keep the faith, FDR utters his famous words: "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."
#8 - America's War on Poverty, Part 5: My Brother's Keeper
Season 7 - Episode 23 - Aired 1/18/1995
This final episode delves into the complex and often contentious history of the American welfare system and the organized efforts of welfare recipients to fight for dignity and rights.
#9 - America's War on Poverty, Part 4: In Service to America
Season 7 - Episode 22 - Aired 1/17/1995
This episode explores the challenges, successes, and ultimate decline of the War on Poverty initiatives during the Lyndon B. Johnson administration and the subsequent Nixon and Ford years, and examines the later years of the War on Poverty, as the Vietnam War diverted funds and political support waned.
#10 - America's War on Poverty, Part 3: City of Promise
Season 7 - Episode 21 - Aired 1/17/1995
This episode shifts the focus of the War on Poverty to America's inner cities and examines the challenges faced by urban poor communities and the political struggles for control over federal aid programs.
#11 - America's War on Poverty, Part 2: Given A Chance
Season 7 - Episode 20 - Aired 1/16/1995
This episode examines the implementation and challenges of 1960s anti-poverty programs, focusing on initiatives like community action and programs such as Job Corps and Head Start aimed at providing opportunity. It highlights both successes, including a drop in the official poverty rate, and failures, such as not addressing deeper structural issues, while also detailing the political conflicts that weakened the programs. The episode concludes by looking at how subsequent administrations dismantled some parts of the Office of Economic Opportunity while retaining successful programs like Head Start.
#12 - America's War on Poverty, Part 1: In This Affluent Society
Season 7 - Episode 19 - Aired 1/16/1995
This episode examines the conditions leading to the declaration of the War on Poverty in the 1960s. It details the existence of widespread poverty despite national affluence, the political discovery of this issue, President Johnson's declaration of war on poverty, and the establishment of early anti-poverty programs like the OEO, VISTA, and Head Start
#13 - The Way West (4): Ghost Dance (1877-1893)
Season 7 - Episode 12 - Aired 5/9/1995
Chronicles the crackdown on Native American tribes across the Northwest in the aftermath of the Battle of the Little Big Horn in June 1876, and charts the final, desperate days of Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull. Examines the rise of the heartbreaking Ghost Dance religion, and the last, horrendous massacre at Wounded Knee.
#15 - One Woman, One Vote
Season 7 - Episode 8 - Aired 2/15/1995
The struggle of the women's movement and the 19th Amendment that finally extended national suffrage to women.
#16 - Midnight Ramble
Season 7 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/26/1994
Oscar Micheaux and the History of Race. Oscar Micheaux wrote, produced and directed over 40 movies and despite this was really not known because he was African American . This movie recounts the history of the black film industry from 1910 to the 1940s and includes rare clips and highlights.
#17 - Telegrams from the Dead
Season 7 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/19/1994
A program that examines America's fascination with spiritualism and the occult in the second half of the 1800s.