The BEST episodes of American Experience season 9

#1 - Troublesome Creek: A Midwestern

Season 9 - Episode 10 - Aired 4/14/1997

A story of the realities leading to the vanishing role of the family farm in the United States.

#2 - New York Underground

Season 9 - Episode 9 - Aired 2/17/1997

Chronicle of the construction of the New York subway and its dramatic impact on the city.

#3 - The Telephone

Season 9 - Episode 7 - Aired 2/3/1997

The debut of the telephone in 1876 and its subsequent impact on American communication, and even, America's landscape.

#4 - Vietnam: A Television History (10): Homefront USA

Season 9 - Episode 22 - Aired 7/21/1997

Americans at home divide over a distant war, clashing in the streets as demonstrations lead to bloodshed, bitterness and increasing doubts. An edited re-broadcast of the 1983 series Vietnam: A Television History.

#5 - Vietnam: A Television History (8): Cambodia and Laos

Season 9 - Episode 20 - Aired 7/7/1997

With fighting already spread to neighboring Laos, President Richard Nixon orders a secret bombing campaign against Cambodia, which will soon endure a nightmarish post-war holocaust. An edited re-broadcast of the 1983 series Vietnam: A Television History.

#6 - Vietnam: A Television History (6): Tet 1968

Season 9 - Episode 18 - Aired 6/23/1997

North Vietnam's dramatic offensive on the lunar New Year stuns American military and political leaders, leading to calls for the withdrawal of U.S. troops. An edited re-broadcast of the 1983 series Vietnam: A Television History.

#7 - Vietnam: A Television History (4): America Takes Charge

Season 9 - Episode 16 - Aired 6/9/1997

With the South Vietnamese army in disarray, the U.S. military assumes control of the war, leading to increased American casualties in a country both beautiful and horrific. An edited re-broadcast of the 1983 series Vietnam: A Television History.

#8 - Vietnam: A Television History (2): America's Mandarin

Season 9 - Episode 14 - Aired 5/26/1997

The United States is drawn into Vietnam through its support − then abandonment − of South Vietnam's president, Ngo Dinh Diem, who is assassinated in a coup. An edited re-broadcast of the 1983 series Vietnam: A Television History.

#9 - T.R.: The Story of Theodore Roosevelt (2): The Bully Pulpit

Season 9 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/6/1996

#10 - T.R.: The Story of Theodore Roosevelt (3): The Good Fight

Season 9 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/7/1996

#11 - Vietnam: A Television History (11): The Fall of Saigon

Season 9 - Episode 23 - Aired 7/28/1997

Ten years after American ground troops arrived in South Vietnam, communists seize Saigon in a lightning attack that brings the war to a startling conclusion. An edited re-broadcast of the 1983 series Vietnam: A Television History.

#12 - T.R.: The Story of Theodore Roosevelt (4): Black Care

Season 9 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/7/1996

#13 - Vietnam: A Television History (9): Peace Is at Hand

Season 9 - Episode 21 - Aired 7/14/1997

As President Nixon escalates the bombing of Hanoi and North Vietnamese troops advance, negotiators struggle for four years to sign a peace treaty that will be broken quickly. An edited re-broadcast of the 1983 series Vietnam: A Television History.

#14 - Vietnam: A Television History (7): Vietnamizing the War

Season 9 - Episode 19 - Aired 6/30/1997

As the U.S. turns over the war to the South Vietnamese army, American soldiers and Vietnamese citizens feel the dimming prospects for victory. An edited re-broadcast of the 1983 series Vietnam: A Television History.

#15 - Vietnam: A Television History (5): America's Enemy

Season 9 - Episode 17 - Aired 6/16/1997

The war Americans seldom saw: the view from North Vietnam, featuring the perspectives of communist leaders, Vietcong guerrillas and American prisoners of war. An edited re-broadcast of the 1983 series Vietnam: A Television History.

#16 - Vietnam: A Television History (3): LBJ Goes to War

Season 9 - Episode 15 - Aired 6/2/1997

Charging that North Vietnam has attacked American ships in the Gulf of Tonkin, President Lyndon B. Johnson orders bombing raids and sends 200,000 troops into an undeclared war. An edited re-broadcast of the 1983 series Vietnam: A Television History.

#17 - Vietnam: A Television History (1): The First Vietnam War (1946-1954)

Season 9 - Episode 13 - Aired 5/26/1997

This program traces the rise of a pro-American Vietnamese nationalist, Ho Chi Minh, whose Viet Minh guerrillas grab a stunning victory over French colonial forces. An edited re-broadcast of the 1983 series Vietnam: A Television History.

#18 - Gold Fever

Season 9 - Episode 12 - Aired 5/12/1997

The story of the last great gold rush in North America, the search in the Yukon and Klondike at the end of the 19th century.

#19 - Around the World in 72 Days

Season 9 - Episode 11 - Aired 4/28/1997

Groundbreaking New York reporter Nellie Bly uses all manner of transportation to beat the fictional feat of Verne's Phileas Fogg.

#20 - Big Dream, Small Screen

Season 9 - Episode 8 - Aired 2/10/1997

How Philo Farnsworth combined his work with other emerging technologies to contribute to the development of television.

#21 - Hawaii's Last Queen

Season 9 - Episode 6 - Aired 1/27/1997

In 1893, the last sovereign ruler of Hawaii is removed by forces that want the islands to come under the official jurisdiction of the United States.

#22 - The Richest Man in the World: Andrew Carnegie

Season 9 - Episode 5 - Aired 1/20/1997

A chronicle of the rise of industrialist Andrew Carnegie, his steel empire, and his philanthropy.

#23 - T.R.: The Story of Theodore Roosevelt (1): The Long Campaign

Season 9 - Episode 1 - Aired 10/6/1996