Guide to the Best History Documentaries
Civil Rights Movement -  The Kennedy's - Famous Presidents
 Teachers Guide to American History

Crisis - Behind a Presidential Commitment One of the most intimate and engaging films on John and Bobby Kennedy ever made, CRISIS is the first and only film ever shot candidly of a President making decisions during a crisis. In June of 1963, the President and his brother faced one of the gravest racial confrontations of the 20th century. Despite a federal court order, Alabama Governor George Wallace vowed he would personally bar the door to the all-white University of Alabama to prevent two black students from enrolling at the school. 

With a revolutionary new filmmaking style, award-winning filmmaker Robert Drew and his four-team crew recorded the crisis as it unfolded, capturing the story from all sides up until its dramatic climax. With unprecedented access inside the oval office and rare footage of John and Bobby making critical, last minute decisions, CRISIS is an astonishing and suspenseful film classic. The DVD and VHS also include Drew's award-winning film Faces of November, a view of reactions to President Kennedy's death on November 22, 1963 (Click on Title to Buy)

The Kennedy Mystique - Creating Camelot  examines the skill with which John F. Kennedy used the media to create and sustain an image of glamour. Under Kennedy, not only was there an official White House photographer (Cecil Stoughton), but Kennedy had his own personal photographer (Jacques Lowe) who captured most of the intimate photos that have defined Kennedy in retrospect. In interviews, Stoughton and journalists of the time like Ben Bradlee discuss how Kennedy deflected attention away from his health and womanizing, focusing the public on a young, vital president and his warm, loving family. 

As television began to take hold of the country, becoming its dominant medium, Kennedy's photogenic looks became a powerful political tool. The Kennedy Mystique: Creating Camelot doesn't push its analysis too deeply, but it does describe the beginning of an era in which image has become as important to politics as substance (Click on Title to Buy)

History of US Presidents - America's Greatest Leaders (2-DVD Set) Historic reflections on these powerful men and you. You may agree with the cliché that the American Presidency is a ‘glorious burden’. However, it takes a high degree of indifference to ignore the magnitude of this office. The White House has had its share of incumbents. Some are remembered kindly, even with reverence. Others are forgotten, ignored or actively derided. In the motherland of free opinion, our presidents have some rather high expectations to live up to. 

How do we remember them? By their political Waterloos? It pays to bear in mind that almost all of this rather controversial lot attained office on the basis of what they promised in their speeches.

It was only in hindsight that we could judge whether they delivered or reneged on these promises. We elect and support our presidents on the strength of the spoken word. This makes the presidential a historic figure in his right. 

This innovative documentary presents a carefully compiled set of historic presidential speeches, as well as live footage from landmark events in some remarkable presidential tenures. Witness first-hand the presidential speeches and debates that have, for better or worse, gone down in the annals of American history.  (Click on title to buy)

Conquest of America (History Channel) After Columbus came conquest--from all corners of the world, explorers reached the shores of the New World to reap untold riches, seek new routes to the Far East, and gain the most elusive glory of all--a place in history.  upon viewing "Conquest of America", as it depicts Europeans tromping through the New World, slaughtering innocent indigenous persons and their cultures.

I agree that much of what occurred in the process of European colonization of the Americas was lamentable. 

Still, all socio-political aside, this documentary did indeed inform me of many aspects of the history of America's being settled. For instance, I'd not been aware that hapless Henry Hudson was a victim of mutiny who perished on a tiny frozen boat somewhere in the massive Canadian bay that is named in his honor. Or that the present state of Florida had been such a bone of contention between the French and Spanish Empires. 

The re-enactments are very well-done and believable. One gets a real feel for the historical settings, intrigues, and characters, rather than the sense that one sits there thinking "Okay, now I'm watching a historical recreation". 

Overall, well done and relatively engaging and informational. It would be a very good resource particularly for junior and senior high school history teachers, I should think, who are instructing on the history of the United States and exploration. 

Famous Photos of 1970s | Manson Murders | Famous Photographers 
  History of Sex in Film | Sex in Cinema  |Famous Photographers
Famous Photos | Famous Celebrity REAL Names |Celebrity Pets
  Hollywood Crimes | Hollywood Suicides 
Before and After Celebrity Photos 

Famous Fashions
Famous Men's Fashions