Fifty million babies were born in the 15 years following World War II. No wonder it was called the "Baby Boom." I was born in the middle of the boom and two years after it ended, America elected its youngest President up to that point.
The last of the premiere run of broadcasts in The History Channel's groundbreaking series, America: The Story of Us aired on Memorial Day evening and featured a gallery of talking heads. Yep, the stars were out Monday night and some shone brightly while others, well, you wonder how they made the cut.
Throughout the series, THC has supplemented the thoughtful narration of Liev Schreiber with an impressive array of credible commentators who have earned the right to contribute along with household names (media stars). Tom Brokaw was, for me, the highlight of the broadcasts as he chimed in with obviously original material. His comments sounded extemporaneous, they were thoughtful, and they cut to the bone: "We don't turn the other cheek. That's not who we are," and "We can build any damned thing we please."
So much of who and what America is today is a result of technological advances. Throughout the series, James Meigs of Popular Mechanics was on hand to lend credibility to stories as diverse as the cotton gin, computers, the technology of war, the oil and automobile industries, computers, and space flights. Donald Trump came across confidently speaking about personal traits for success as well as big business deals like the Louisiana Purchase. Sean Hannity, Martha Stewart, and Buzz Aldrin fit in nicely with their areas of expertise along with noteworthy contributions from selected military men (Colin Powell, Col. Tommy Franks) and politicians (Rudy Giuliani). Annette Gordon Reed of Rutgers made intelligent and appropriately emotional contributions to the dialog in several episodes. There was a parade of well known faces as well as strangers making gratuitous appearances or simply pandering to specific demographic groups.
Article comments
1 - Gail
I found it very predictable that slavery and the plight of the black man was given for at least 20 minutes, while the Indians (you remember, the ORIGINAL owners of this land) are barely mentioned, as usual. I didn't see one indian commenting either. Talk about prejudice.