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The Best Episodes of American Experience

Every episode of American Experience ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of American Experience!

The Best Episodes of American Experience

TV's most-watched history series brings to life the compelling stories from our past that inform our understanding of the world today.
  1. Background image for RFK (Part 1 & 2)
    10.0/10(1 votes)

    #1 - RFK (Part 1 & 2)

    S17:E1

    A shy, if driven man, Robert Kennedy "wasn't built for the spotlight, he was built for the wings," says journalist Jack Newfield. While John Kennedy was alive, that's where Bobby stayed -- making certain that JFK remained in the spotlight.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  2. Background image for God in America (Parts 5-6)
    10.0/10(1 votes)

    #2 - God in America (Parts 5-6)

    S23:E3

    Hour five explores the post-World War II era, when rising evangelist Billy Graham tried to inspire a religious revival that fused faith with patriotism in a Cold War battle with Godless Communism.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  3. Background image for Robert E. Lee
    10.0/10(1 votes)

    #3 - Robert E. Lee

    S23:E4

    Robert E. Lee, the leading Confederate general of the American Civil War, remains a source of fascination and, for some, veneration. Few public figures have ever held a such a firm grip on the American popular imagination. Grant was a man whose rise from obscurity made him a hero to millions who could see themselves in him. An ordinary man who faced and met extraordinary challenges, his successes and failures seemed to encapsulate the national character. He was so popular with the American public that, despite his two scandal-ridden terms as president, he was nearly nominated to run for a third term.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  4. Background image for The Feud
    8.6/10(85 votes)

    #4 - The Feud

    S31:E7

    Anderson Hatfield and Randolph McCoy, the patriarchs of the legendary feud, were entrepreneurs seeking to climb up from hardship after fierce economic competition and rapid technological change had turned their lives upside down. When members of both families took their grievances to court, their dispute escalated into a war between two families and a struggle between two states. The Feud reveals more than an isolated story of mountain lust and violence between “hillbillies” — the Hatfield - McCoy feud was a microcosm of the tensions inherent in the nation’s rapid industrialization after the Civil War.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  5. Background image for T.R.: The Story of Theodore Roosevelt (1): The Long Campaign
    8.5/10(122 votes)

    #5 - T.R.: The Story of Theodore Roosevelt (1): The Long Campaign

    S9:E1

    TR is born into a wealthy New York family that has a strong sense of social justice. He fights his severe asthma through a strenuous exercise program. He becomes New York State assemblyman. Then tragedy strikes with the untimely deaths of his beloved first wife and his mother. To escape his grief, he flees to the Dakota Badlands for the rigors of ranch life. When he returns, his political career flourishes; he eventually becomes William McKinley's Vice President.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  6. Background image for Abraham and Mary Lincoln: A House Divided, Part I
    8.4/10(160 votes)

    #6 - Abraham and Mary Lincoln: A House Divided, Part I

    S13:E7

    Part 1 and 2 of a six-part chronicle of the Abraham Lincoln-Mary Todd relationship begins with their childhoods and courtship. He, of course, was born into poverty; she, however, grew up in luxury, the daughter of a Kentucky banker and slave owner. (Several of her brothers would die fighting for the South in the Civil War.) While he was something of a rube when they met, she was the opposite, polished and refined. Yet they shared something in common: a love of politics. The marriage of Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln proves to be a tempestuous affair accented by her temper, his depression and their political ambitions. Included: his elections to the U.S. House of Representatives and, later, the presidency.

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  8. Background image for Woodstock
    8.4/10(93 votes)

    #7 - Woodstock

    S31:E6

    In August, 1969, half a million people from all walks of life and every corner of the country converged on a small dairy farm in upstate New York. They came to hear the concert of their lives, but most experienced something far more profound: a moment that would change them and the country forever, and define a cultural revolution.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  9. Background image for T.R.: The Story of Theodore Roosevelt (2): The Bully Pulpit
    8.3/10(66 votes)

    #8 - T.R.: The Story of Theodore Roosevelt (2): The Bully Pulpit

    S9:E2

    After McKinley's assassination, Roosevelt becomes an "accidental" president. Seeing himself as a crusader, TR uses the presidency to advance his agenda of social reform. He expands the power of the presidential office and comes to dominate American politics. Yet, the night he is elected to a second term, TR announces he will not run again, ultimately weakening his second term.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  10. Background image for New York (1): The Country and the City
    8.3/10(81 votes)

    #9 - New York (1): The Country and the City

    S12:E1

    The Country and the City, 1609-1825: New York, notes narrator David Ogden Stiers, "was a business proposition from the very start," when Henry Hudson, exploring for the Dutch East India Company, sailed into its harbor. Part 1 also focuses on New Yorker Alexander Hamilton, the first Treasury Secretary; and Gov. DeWitt Clinton, who built the Erie Canal. "All America," says Stiers, "now met in New York."

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  11. Background image for Stephen Foster
    8.3/10(35 votes)

    #10 - Stephen Foster

    S13:E12

    A profile of quintessentially American composer Stephen Foster features interviews with historian Fath Ruffins, biographer Ken Emerson, musicologists Josephine Wright and Dale Cockrell, and modern-day musicians influenced by Foster's work.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  12. Background image for New York (8): The Center of the World
    8.3/10(72 votes)

    #11 - New York (8): The Center of the World

    S16:E1

    Filmmaker Ric Burns adds a poignant postscript to his series "New York: A Documentary Film" with this chronicle of the World Trade Center's rise and fall. Burns recounts Sept. 11 wrenchingly, but he devotes more than half the film to the Center's rise. This isn't a pretty story: It's one of economic, political, architectural and engineering labyrinths. The result was a critical and commercial flop, though historian Kenneth Jackson says: "It's more important to history now that it's gone."

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  13. Background image for Citizen King
    8.3/10(101 votes)

    #12 - Citizen King

    S16:E4

    "Citizen King," a reverential chronicle of the final five years of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s life, employs eyewitnesses to the history King made to recall it. Among them: Coretta Scott King, former representative William Gray, author David Halberstam, civil-rights veterans Joseph Lowery, Roger Wilkins and Taylor Branch, long-time political figure Andrew Young, former senator Harris Wofford, former attorney general Ramsey Clark and theologian James Cone.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  14. Background image for Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid
    8.3/10(370 votes)

    #13 - Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid

    S26:E4

    The story of outlaws Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, whose turn-of-the-century exploits made headlines, led them to be pursued by Pinkerton detectives and inspired the popular 1969 film starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  15. Background image for George W. Bush (Part 1)
    8.3/10(137 votes)

    #14 - George W. Bush (Part 1)

    S32:E4

    The latest in our award-winning series of presidential biographies, this film looks at the life and presidency of George W. Bush, from his unorthodox road to the presidency to the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and the myriad of challenges he faced over his two terms, from the war in Iraq to the 2008 financial crisis.

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  16. Background image for New York (2): Order and Disorder
    8.2/10(63 votes)

    #15 - New York (2): Order and Disorder

    S12:E2

    "Order and Disorder: 1825-1865" recalls a period of tremendous growth and ferment. Most of the new arrivals were Irish immigrants (100,000 by 1842—and that was before the potato famine), and the subsequent overcrowding led to the construction of Central Park (1857-58). But that didn't quell the ferment, which exploded in 1863 with the racially charged draft riots. "It was the largest incident of civil disorder in U.S. history," notes historian Mike Wallace.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  17. Background image for New York (3): Sunshine and Shadow
    8.2/10(63 votes)

    #16 - New York (3): Sunshine and Shadow

    S12:E3

    "Sunshine and Shadow: 1865-1898" During the Gilded Age, New York "was home to the greatest concentration of wealth in human history," says narrator David Ogden Stiers. And, he adds, "the greatest concentration of poverty." This episode surveys that dichotomy, from Fifth Avenue mansions to slums documented by Jacob Riis in "How the Other Half Lives." Also recalled: the fall of William H. "Boss" Tweed ("he took a fall for the system," claims Pete Hamill).

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  18. Background image for John Brown's Holy War
    8.2/10(52 votes)

    #17 - John Brown's Holy War

    S12:E10

    John Brown could be seen as a hero or a madman (perhaps both), but either way, there's no doubt he played a role in igniting the Civil War. Actor Joe Morton narrates a chronicle of Brown's life (1800-59), which features archival stills, atmospheric re-creations and the comments of historians. Interviewed: Russell Banks, Bruce Olds, Margaret Washington, Dennis Frye, Edward Renehan, James Horton, James Stewart, Paul Finkelman and Charles Joyner.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  19. Background image for My Lai
    8.2/10(231 votes)

    #18 - My Lai

    S22:E6

    What drove a company of American soldiers — ordinary young men from around the country — to commit the worst atrocity in American military history? American Experience focuses on the 1968 My Lai massacre, its subsequent cover-up, and the heroic efforts of the soldiers who broke ranks to try to halt the atrocities and then bring them to light.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  20. Background image for The Amish: Shunned
    8.2/10(141 votes)

    #19 - The Amish: Shunned

    S26:E3

    The Amish practice of shunning those who leave their faith is explored through the experiences of individuals who have left their communities. Also: faithful Amish men and women share the heartbreak they feel when a loved one leaves.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  21. Background image for The Great War: Part 3
    8.2/10(152 votes)

    #20 - The Great War: Part 3

    S29:E8

    Part 3 of 3. In the fall of 1918: a major American offensive that could bring a swift end to the war, a lost U.S. battalion surrounded by German forces, a deadly flu epidemic on the homefront.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  22. Background image for Sealab
    8.2/10(37 votes)

    #21 - Sealab

    S31:E2

    In 1969 off the California coast, a US Navy crane carefully lowered a massive tubular structure into the waters. It was an audacious feat of engineering — a pressurized underwater habitat, designed for an elite group of divers to spend days or even months at a stretch living and working on the ocean floor.Sealab tells the little-known story of the daring program that tested the limits of human endurance and revolutionized undersea exploration.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  23. Background image for Poisoned Ground: The Tragedy at Love Canal
    8.2/10(83 votes)

    #22 - Poisoned Ground: The Tragedy at Love Canal

    S36:E4

    The dramatic and inspiring story of the ordinary women who fought against overwhelming odds for the health and safety of their families. In the late 1970s, residents of Love Canal, a working-class neighborhood in Niagara Falls, New York, discovered that their homes, schools and playgrounds were built on top of a former chemical waste dump, which was now leaking toxic substances and wreaking havoc on their health. Through interviews with many of the extraordinary housewives turned activists, the film shows how they effectively challenged those in power, forced America to reckon with the human cost of unregulated industry, and created a grassroots movement that galvanized the landmark Superfund Bill.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  24. Background image for LBJ (1)
    8.1/10(140 votes)

    #23 - LBJ (1)

    S4:E1

    LBJ's career started in 1938 when he was elected a congressman, one of the youngest ever. He was elected to the Senate in 1948 under a cloud of suspicion. LBJ won by only 87 votes. In 1954, when the Democrats took over the Senate, LBJ became the youngest majority leader ever at age 46. In 1957, LBJ engineered passage of the first civil rights bill since Reconstruction, but the bill had too many compromises and no teeth. By 1960, LBJ felt he was ready for the presidency, but John Kennedy got there first and then picked LBJ as his vice president.

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    Director:David Grubin
    Writer:Unknown
  25. Background image for LBJ (2)
    8.1/10(130 votes)

    #24 - LBJ (2)

    S4:E2

    Lyndon Johnson's ascension to the Presidency and the controversial events of his tenure such as the Great Society and the Vietnam War are chronicled here.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  26. Background image for Truman (1): An Accident of Democracy
    8.1/10(122 votes)

    #25 - Truman (1): An Accident of Democracy

    S10:E1

    A study of Harry S. Truman, the 33rd president. Part 1 covers his service during World War I; his accomplishments as a small-time Kansas City politician; his two terms as a Missouri senator.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

Best Episodes Summary

"RFK (Part 1 & 2)" is the best rated episode of "American Experience". It scored 10/10 based on 1 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 10/4/2004. This episode scored 0.0 points higher than the second highest rated, "God in America (Parts 5-6)".