American history

Critic David Bianculli remembers watching the original news coverage of Kennedy's assassination — four days of unprecedented television — when he was 10 years old. He recalls how from that point on, TV, not radio, was the dominant medium for breaking news.

Recently, Fresh Air contributor Maureen Corrigan found a letter from then-Secretary of War James Forrestal that had been sent to her father after he had been honorably discharged from the U.S. Navy in 1945. In that letter, she found an expression of gratitude that could serve us well today.

The three-day March on the Pentagon in October 1967 inspired Norman Mailer to write Armies of the Night and stirred many to action. While the march 40 years ago cannot be considered a turning point in the anti-war movement in the 1960s, it did serve to galvanize opposition to the Vietnam War.

Critic John Powers reflects upon recent media attention on former presidents Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan.

Maureen Corrigan reveals part two of her summer reading suggestions. She reviews "Everybody Was So Young" by Amanda Vaill (Houghton Mifflin), "The Inviting Garden" by Allen Lacy (Henry Holt), "Gain" by Richard Powers (Farrar, Strauss and Giroux) and "The Way I Found Her" by Rose Tremain (Farrar, Strauss and Giroux).

Commentator Gerald Early reflects on the legacy of Booker T. Washington, who among other things, founded the Tuskegee Institute. Today is the 100th anniversary of a speech given by Washington at the Atlanta Exposition, which celebrated a "new" industrialized, post-reconstruction South.

Commentator Gayle Pemberton comments on Black History Month.

Commentator Gayle Pemberton remembers the "Birmingham Bombing", which killed four young girls and galvanized support for the Civil Rights Movement.

Rock historian Ed Ward tells us about the infamous "riot" on Sunset Strip and how it galvanized and inspired Los Angeles bands.

Writer Barry Lopez reads from a new essay, called the Rediscovery of North America, about contemporary views of indigenous landscapes, which developed during the era of European conquest.