America The Story of Us

Episode 9: BUST

Construction of Mount Rushmore (CGI)
Construction of Mount Rushmore (CGI)

In October 1929, the economic boom of the 1920s ends with a crash on Wall Street. Between 1929 and 1932, $2 billion in deposits evaporate. The American Dream has become a nightmare. The stock market crash coincides with the start of the Great Depression. Unemployment rises to more than one-fourth of the workforce and as confidence in US banks disintegrates, bank closures sweep the nation. On the Great Plains, economic difficulties are compounded by natural disaster. Years of intensive ploughing and severe drought dry out the land. Vast dust storms fill the skies and drive people west. Inaugurated in the depths of the Depression, new President Franklin D. Roosevelt starts to turn things around. The New Deal and public works projects aim to save America from despair and destitution. The construction of the Hoover Dam and Mount Rushmore employs thousands of men and signals recovery and hope for the future. However, world conflict is brewing in Europe, and it is brought home to Americans by the symbolic boxing match between Joe Louis and Max Schmeling.

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Upcoming Episodes

Southern troops storm Harpers Ferry after its capture by John Brown
Episode 4: Division
Soldiers in the Second Battle of Bull Run
Episode 5: Civil War
Transcontinental Railroad
Episode 6: Heartland
Construction of the Statue of Liberty
Episode 7: Cities
Spindletop salt mound in southeastern Texas on January 10, 1901
Episode 8: BOOM
Construction of Mount Rushmore
Episode 9: BUST
D-Day, the military invasion at Omaha beach (CGI)
Episode 10: WWII
Buzz Aldrin Standing by Flag on the Moon, 1969
Episode 11: Superpower
World Trade Center Light Memorial
Episode 12: Millennium

Show Schedule


Episodes in the next 2 weeks
  1. Wednesday, Feb 15, 10/9c Rebels: TVPG
  2. Wednesday, Feb 15, 12/11c Westward: TVPG
  3. Wednesday, Feb 15, 2/1c Civil War: TVPG
  4. Wednesday, Feb 15, 4/3c Metropolis: TVPG
View Complete TV Schedule
Rebels:
Wednesday, Feb 15, 10/9c
Westward:
Wednesday, Feb 15, 12/11c
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