World War II, Part 1: Into the Storm

ABC News

This ABC News program anchored by Peter Jennings plots out Adolf Hitler's rise to power, in which he used charisma, guile, and aggression to forge an iron-clad dictatorship from the economic chaos of the 1930s. The Spanish Civil War-proving ground for the inevitable war to come-is addressed, and World War II in Europe is surveyed, spanning events from the blitzkrieg against Poland to the invasion of the Soviet Union. The war against the Jews is also featured, as the Nuremberg laws and Kristallnacht foreshadowed the Fuhrer's "final solution." (54 minutes)

Confronting Communism: And the Walls Came Tumbling Down

ABC News

From the rise of Lenin to the fall of the Berlin Wall, the 20th century witnessed the birth and death of the Soviet Union. This ABC News program anchored by Peter Jennings confronts the impact of Bolshevism, from the Russian Revolution to the Cold War, featuring the spread of Communism to China, the Korean War, the Berlin Airlift, McCarthyism, the Hungarian uprising, Sputnik, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War, glasnost and perestroika, and the raising of the Iron Curtain. (62 minutes)

Business and Industrial Growth, Part 1: From Boom to Bust

ABC News

From the mechanization of agriculture to the mass production of consumer goods, the first three decades of the 20th century left no one in America untouched, for better or for worse, by the rush to modernize. This ABC News program anchored by Peter Jennings captures the heyday of American big business, when industrialization, easy consumer financing, and a bullish stock market readily translated into a higher standard of living for a growing middle class-until the Great Depression brought the nation to its knees. (29 minutes)

The Immigrant Experience: 1900-1940

ABC News

The political and economic turmoil of Europe drove millions to leave their countries of origin and emigrate to the U.S. where a lady held a welcoming lamp "beside the Golden Door." This ABC News program anchored by Peter Jennings tells the dramatic story of the transformation of America into a truly multicultural nation, from the teeming ethnic neighborhoods of New York to the black migration to northern cities during the Great Depression. Also discussed are ugly incidents of racism spurred by the terror tactics of the Ku Klux Klan and the World War II fears that prompted the forced internment of 120,000 Japanese. (29 minutes, color)

Business and Industrial Growth, Part 2: Riding the Cycles

ABC News

Can history help predict how long America's current wave of affluence will last? This ABC News program anchored by Peter Jennings tracks the ups and downs of the U.S. economy, spanning the New Deal and World War II, the G.I. Bill and post-war prosperity, the rise and fall of Motor City, the rampant consumerism and runaway inflation of the '70s, the mixed results of Reaganomics, and Wall Street's merger mania. The size and influence of the federal government from FDR's presidency to the early years of the Clinton administration is assessed as well. (40 minutes)

World War II, Part 2: A Time of Reckoning

ABC News

As Hitler's armies reached their high-water mark in the Soviet Union, Japanese expansion spelled trouble for an isolationist America. This ABC News program anchored by Peter Jennings describes Japan's bid for Asian dominance, starting with the Rape of Nanking, and subsequent defeat by the Allies. Highlights of America's involvement in the war against the Axis nations include the Pearl Harbor attack, mobilization and the war effort on the homefront, the push from Normandy to the Rhine, island-hopping in the Pacific, dropping the A-bombs, and the prosecution of war criminals. (36 minutes)

Women's Rights: Finding a Voice

ABC News

"Men their rights and nothing more; women their rights and nothing less." This was the motto of the women's movement at the beginning of the 20th century-eloquent, direct, and extremely difficult to achieve. This ABC News program anchored by Peter Jennings traces the evolution of women's rights, from Susan B. Anthony through the fight for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment. Following the rocky road to true equality, it examines the contributions of pivotal figures such as Eleanor Roosevelt, Betty Friedan, Amelia Earhart, and Babe Didrickson. (21 minutes)