The National Archives and Records Administration is an independent federal agency dedicated to the preservation of historic government records. With storage facilities across the United States, NARA's contents give us an insight into our country's history.

By watching this program, students will learn all about the United States Supreme Court, including the recent addition of Justice Neil Gorsuch. What is the Supreme Court's history? What role does it play in the government? What are its powers as well as its checks and balances? What is the process by which a case gets heard? How does the Supreme Court arrive at and announce a decision? Who are the current Supreme Court Justices? What is the nomination...

During the Republican-dominated Reagan years of the 1980s, two charismatic Democratic presidential contenders came to the forefront, hoping to define their party as the one of vision, inclusion and big ideas. And even though the Reverend Jesse Jackson and Sen. Gary Hart both came up short in 1984 and 1988, their candidacies would help shape their party’s trajectory for decades to come.

Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, is considered the most powerful woman in American politics. Pelosi was the first female Speaker of the House and the first woman to be third in line for the presidency. Among her greatest accomplishments in government was the passage of the Affordable Care Act/Obama Care, providing millions of Americans access to medical insurance. She shares what it was like wielding such political...

This program covers the years 1961 to 1963 - a blink of the eye during which the Freedom Riders traveled the South, John Glenn orbited Earth, Martin Luther King delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech, and America's vision of Camelot died with the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

This program presents the six-year term of Luis Echeverría, a lifetime bureaucrat who ascended to the presidency immediately following the Tlatelolco Massacre. Despite his efforts to enact populist economic and political reforms, he was blamed for the Tlatelolco massacre by those on the left, while he antagonized the business community and conservatives. Economic instability created tensions that erupted in protests repressed by the military.

Study how a president is elected in the United States. Get to know the process of voting in a general election and what role the electoral college plays. Follow how political parties choose their candidates on the campaign trail leading to election day.

A tangled web of issues is involved in electing a president. Edmund Muskie, former presidential press secretary Jody Powell, party officials and others discuss the role of political parties, the electoral college, and what to do if a president becomes disabled.

Dixieland, swing, bebop, modal, free, avant-garde, these were some of the terms critics used during the 1960s to categorize the diverse manifestations of jazz music. As for the artists themselves, many were desperate for work and headed for Europe, including bebop saxophone master Dexter Gordon. At home, jazz sought relevance. During the Civil Rights struggle it became a voice of protest, while avant-garde explorer John Coltrane reached for a higher...

Military life shapes service men and women in profound and unexpected ways. A young Coast Guard recruit who helped ferry soldiers to fight and die on D-Day. A pilot based in Nevada who remotely guided bomber drones over Afghanistan. A young Marine who rose to become the first Latina general. Narrated by Senator Tammy Duckworth, Iraq War veteran (Army) and Purple Heart recipient.