The Epic Story of the Presidency

The American President, a ten-part series on the history and impact of the American presidency, will air on the Public Broadcasting Service beginning April 9, 2000.  The epic series is written, produced, and directed by Philip B. Kunhardt, Jr., Philip B. Kunhardt III, and Peter W. Kunhardt, and is a co-production of Kunhardt Productions and Thirteen/WNET in New York.  It is the first series to explore the history of the presidency through the stories of America's 41 chief executives.  The American President is presented on PBS by Thirteen/WNET.  The sole underwriter is the New York Life Insurance Company.

Rare photographs from the Meserve-Kunhardt Collection are used throughout the series. (Above: George Washington, circa 1765)

The series will air during the political primary season, when interest in the national elections is keen.  The series, and the materials that accompany it, will help students understand the scope and limitations of the president's powers, trace the development of the American electoral process, and develop the historical frame of reference they need to be more responsible voters.

The National Council for the Social Studies has endorsed this outreach and will play a partnership role in the development of classroom materials designed for distribution to teachers nationwide.

The series will be a valuable and flexible tool for teachers.  The presidents are grouped thematically, as explained in the series overview below, and each individual presidential profile lasts 12 to 15 minutes, making the series ideal for classroom use. 

Historian Richard Neustadt

The Series

Hugh Sidey, the White House correspondent for Time magazine for four decades, hosts and narrates the programs.   Harvard scholar Richard Neustadt, who has been called by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., "our most brilliant commentator on the presidency," offers his perspective on each of the presidents profiled.

Four presidents are profiled in each hour (except for program 6, which features 5 presidents).  Each program concludes with a president speaking in his own voice, either from earlier recorded sources or through exclusive interviews with narrator Sidey, filmed especially for the series.  The remaining presidents' words are spoken by public figures from the worlds of politics and journalism, including John Glenn, Walter Cronkite, Morley Safer, General Norman Schwarzkopf, James Carville, and many others.

Program 1: "Family Ties" ( John Q. Adams, B. Harrison, Franklin Roosevelt, Kennedy)
Program 2: "Happenstance" (Tyler, Fillmore, A. Johnson, Arthur, Truman)
Program 3:  "An Independent Cast of Mind" (John Adams, Taylor, Hayes, Carter)
Program 4: "The Professional Politician" (Van Buren, Buchanan, Lincoln, Lyndon Johnson)
Program 5: "The American Way" ( Jefferson, Coolidge, Hoover, Reagan)
Program 6: "The World Stage" (Monroe, McKinley, Wilson, Bush)
Program 7: "The Heroic Posture" (Washington, W.H. Harrison, Grant, Eisenhower)
Program 8: "Compromise Choices" ( Pierce, Garfield, Harding, Ford)
Program 9: "Expanding Power" (Jackson, Cleveland, T. Roosevelt, Nixon)
Program 10: "The Balance of Power" (Madison, Polk, Taft, Clinton)

Lessons Plans

Teachers from all over the nation are developing lesson plans specifically tailored for the ten programs.  Visit the Lessons on the Series section for ideas on how to use The American President in your classroom.