Eugene McCarthy

A presentation of key events in the life of civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. Beginning with the 1955 bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, MLK is followed through major steps in his struggle to promote racial equality. Including footage of King's stirring speeches, it is a fitting tribute to his legacy, and features clips narrated by a wide range of celebrities, including Harry Belafonte, Paul Newman Charlton Heston, Ruby Dee, Burt Lancaster, Anthony Quinn, Walter Matthau, Ben Gazzara, Clarence Williams III, Joanne Woodward, and James Earl Jones.

Many times during his presidency, Lyndon B. Johnson said that ultimate victory in the Vietnam War depended upon the U.S. military winning the "hearts and minds" of the Vietnamese people. Filmmaker Peter Davis uses Johnson's phrase in an ironic context in this anti-war documentary, filmed and released while the Vietnam War was still under way, juxtaposing interviews with military figures like U.S. Army Chief of Staff William C. Westmoreland with shocking scenes of violence and brutality.

At the risk of a 5-year prison term, Francesco Da Vinci struggles with his Virginia draft board to be recognized as a sincere conscientious objector to the Vietnam war.

American Experience looks at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago where Vice President Hubert Humphrey won his party's nomination for president amid massive civil unrest and violence perpetrated by Chicago Police and anti-Vietnam War protesters.

"This film traces the 1968 presidential election, from the earliest primary campaigning in New Hampshire to President-Elect Nixon's morning-after victory speech. The film touches on important election events and issues, and adheres to the main theme of Americans' personal involvement in choosing political leaders" (US National Archives).

A new investigative documentary exploring the controversies surrounding the assassination of Bobby Kennedy on June 5, 1968 as he looked set to challenge Nixon for the White House. Munir Sirhan tells how his brother Sirhan has never been able to remember the shooting. Sandra Serrano speaks for the first time in forty years about the girl in the polka-dot dress fleeing the scene, yelling "We shot him! We shot him!" And Dr. Herbert Spiegel of Columbia University describes how Sirhan was hypnotically programmed to kill Robert Kennedy.