Watch American Experience: The 1930s

2009
1 Season

American Experience: The 1930s is a documentary miniseries that explores the decade that marked a turning point in American history. This series is produced by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), which is a non-profit public broadcaster in the United States. The 1930s were a time of great upheaval in American society. The country was still reeling from the Great Depression, which had started in 1929, and was struggling through the early years of World War II. The decade was marked by major political, economic and cultural changes, including the rise of the New Deal and the end of Prohibition.

This series consists of five hour-long episodes, each of which explores a different aspect of the 1930s. The first episode, titled "The Great Depression," covers the impact of the stock market crash and the subsequent economic downturn on American society. It examines the efforts of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal to restore confidence in the country and rebuild the economy.

The second episode, "The Civilian Conservation Corps," looks at one of the New Deal's most successful programs. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a government initiative that provided young men with jobs and training in conservation work. The program was tremendously popular and helped to improve the country's infrastructure and natural resources.

The third episode, "The Dust Bowl," focuses on one of the most devastating environmental disasters in American history. The Dust Bowl was a series of severe dust storms that struck the Great Plains region in the 1930s, causing widespread damage and economic hardship. This episode explores the causes and consequences of the Dust Bowl, as well as the efforts to address it.

The fourth episode, "The Battle for Radio," chronicles the rise of radio as a popular medium for entertainment and news. This episode looks at the emergence of radio as a tool for political propaganda, as well as the challenges faced by commercial radio broadcasters in the face of growing competition.

The fifth and final episode, "Hollywood's Golden Age," examines the golden age of Hollywood during the 1930s. This episode explores the emergence of the studio system and the major stars of the decade, including Clark Gable, Ginger Rogers and Shirley Temple. It also examines the impact of censorship on the movie industry, as well as the role of Hollywood during World War II.

Overall, American Experience: The 1930s is a compelling and informative look at a pivotal decade in American history. The series effectively captures the political, social and cultural changes of the time, while also examining how these changes shaped the country's future. This series is a valuable resource for anyone interested in American history or the Great Depression.

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Seasons

5. Seabiscuit

November 23, 2009

He was boxy, with stumpy legs that wouldn't completely straighten a short straggly tail and an ungainly gait; though he didn't look the part, Seabiscuit was one of the most remarkable thoroughbred racehorses in history. In the 1930s, when Americans longed to escape the grim realities of Depression-era life, four men turned Seabiscuit into a national hero. They were his fabulously wealthy owner Charles Howard, his famously silent and stubborn trainer Tom Smith and the two hard-bitten, gifted jockeys who rode him to glory. By following the paths that brought these four together and in telling the story of Seabiscuit's unlikely career, this film illuminates the precarious economic conditions that defined America in the 1930s and explores the fascinating behind-the-scenes world of thoroughbred racing. Scott Glenn narrates.

4. Surviving the Dust Bowl

November 16, 2009

In 1931 the rains stopped and the "black blizzards" began. Powerful dust storms carrying millions of tons of stinging, blinding black dirt swept across the Southern Plains--the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma, western Kansas, and the eastern portions of Colorado and New Mexico. Topsoil that had taken a thousand years per inch to build suddenly blew away in only minutes. One journalist traveling through the devastated region dubbed it the "Dust Bowl." This American Experience film presents the remarkable story of the determined people who clung to their homes and way of life, enduring drought, dust, disease--even death--for nearly a decade. Less well-known than those who sought refuge in California, typified by the Joad family in John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath," the Dust Bowlers who stayed overcame an almost unbelievable series of calamities and disasters.

3. Hoover Dam

November 9, 2009

Rising more than 700 feet above the raging waters of the Colorado River, it was called one of the greatest engineering works in history. The Hoover Dam, built during the Great Depression, drew men desperate for work to a remote and rugged canyon near Las Vegas. There they struggled against heat, choking dust and perilous heights to build a colossus of concrete that brought electricity and water to millions and transformed the American Southwest.

2. The Civilian Conservation Corps

November 2, 2009

In March 1933, within weeks of his inauguration, President Franklin Roosevelt sent legislation to Congress aimed at providing relief for the one out of every four American workers who were unemployed. He proposed a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) to provide jobs in natural resource conservation. Over the next decade, the CCC put more than three million young men to work in the nation's forests and parks, planting trees, building flood barriers, fighting fires and maintaining roads and trails. Corps workers lived in camps under quasi-military discipline and received a wage of $30 per month, $25 of which they were required to send home to their families. This program interweaves rich archival imagery with the personal accounts of CCC veterans to tell the story of one of the boldest and most popular New Deal experiments, positioning it as a pivotal moment in the emergence of modern environmentalism and federal unemployment relief.

1. The Crash of 1929

October 26, 2009

In 1929, while the stock market was rising, seemingly without limits, there were few critics. Based on eight years of continued prosperity, presidents and economists alike confidently predicted that America would soon enter a time when there would be no more poverty, no more depressions -- a "New Era" when everyone could be rich. The Crash of 1929 captures the unbounded optimism of the age and the shocking consequences when reality finally hit, exploring a fateful year through the words and experiences of the descendants of several titans of finance.

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