The BEST episodes written by Mark Zwonitzer
#1 - Jesse James
American Experience - Season 18 - Episode 7
An examination of the real details of the notorious outlaw and his brother.
#2 - JFK: Part 1
American Experience - Season 26 - Episode 2
JFK's campaign for president is the first to be waged on television, a distinct advantage for the telegenic candidate. Despite his lack of legislative achievements and his Catholicism -- which many Americans see as a negative -- Kennedy wins the election on the promise that he will stand up to the Soviets and protect American preeminence in the world.
#3 - JFK: Part 2
American Experience - Season 26 - Episode 3
This episode follows Kennedy into the White House, offering fresh assessments of the successes and failures of his tenure. In 1961, the most challenging issue facing the new administration is the spread of communism and continuing Cold War fears. Only a few months into his first term, Kennedy launches the Bay of Pigs invasion, an unmitigated disaster that teaches him a powerful lesson. Nikita Khrushchev proves a stubborn foe, and Kennedy takes a stand against the spread of communism in a country few Americans had ever heard of--Vietnam. On the domestic front, civil rights prove tricky for the administration, as they rely heavily on the support of Southern Democrats. Forced to intervene when Freedom Riders take direct action in Southern states, the administration sends in federal marshals to ensure their safety.
#4 - Triangle Fire
American Experience - Season 23 - Episode 11
It was the deadliest workplace accident in New York City’s history. A dropped match on the 8th floor of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory sparked a fire that killed over a hundred innocent people trapped inside. The private industry of the American factory would never be the same.
#5 - Battle of the Bulge
American Experience - Season 7 - Episode 7
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 - The Battle of Chosin
American Experience - Season 29 - Episode 2
Revisit this pivotal 1950 Korean War battle through the eyewitness accounts of participants. A harrowing story of bloody combat and heroic survival in the first major military clash of the Cold War.
#7 - The Mine Wars
American Experience - Season 28 - Episode 6
Go inside the coal miners' bitter battle for dignity at the dawn of the 20th century with The Mine Wars. The struggle over the material that fueled America led to the largest armed insurrection since the Civil War and turned parts of West Virginia into a bloody war zone.
#8 - Robert E. Lee
American Experience - Season 23 - Episode 7
Robert E. Lee, the leading Confederate general of the American Civil War, remains a source of fascination and, for some, veneration.
#9 - The Gilded Age
American Experience - Season 30 - Episode 3
Meet the titans and barons of the glittering late 19th century, whose materialistic extravagance contrasted harshly with the poverty of the struggling workers who challenged them. The vast disparities between them sparked debates still raging today.
#10 - Mount Rushmore
American Experience - Season 14 - Episode 6
The grand vision of sculptor Gutzon Borgum and the logistics behind the massive monument located in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
#11 - The Massie Affair
American Experience - Season 17 - Episode 8
Racial anger erupts in Hawaii after five non-White men are wrongly accused of raping a Navy wife in the early 1930s.
#12 - We Shall Remain (3): Trail of Tears
American Experience - Season 21 - Episode 7
Perspectives on the forced move of the Cherokee from the southeast to the newly established "Indian Territory" of what is now Oklahoma
#13 - Joe DiMaggio: The Hero's Life
American Experience - Season 12 - Episode 14
The life of the "Yankee Clipper," from his humble beginnings as the son of an Italian-American fisherman in California to his world-wide acclaim.
#14 - Transcontinental Railroad
American Experience - Season 15 - Episode 7
The combination of ambition, money, and power that led to the completion of the famous railway that spanned America's west.
#15 - Walt Whitman
American Experience - Season 20 - Episode 15
A chronicle of the poetry of Whitman through the lens of his personality and background - with a discussion of both the literary praise and criticism of his work.