Letter from America by Alistair Cooke: The Early Years (1940s, 1950s and 1960s)

The assassination of JFK through to Vietnam and America’s shame at the My Lai massacre. Alistair Cooke's fascinating social, cultural and political history of American life.

  • 13 minutes 48 seconds
    Bobby Kennedy's assassination, 1968

    An eyewitness account of the assassination of Bobby Kennedy on June 5, 1968 in Los Angeles, and the collective-guilt aftermath for America.

    9 June 1968, 8:00 pm
  • 14 minutes 9 seconds
    1000th letter - American reactions to Vietnam, 1968

    The national mood begins to change over the Vietnam war - how America began to move from early indifference to the recognition of a nightmare.

    24 March 1968, 8:00 pm
  • 13 minutes 37 seconds
    Christmas 1967

    Senator Jacob Javits' parking fine, Mayor Lindsay and the water commissioner, and a President Truman Christmas story.

    24 December 1967, 9:00 pm
  • 14 minutes 1 second
    Honeymoon with President Johnson, 1966

    Democracy demonstrated - how the President of the United States had to make way for Mr Meyer Sugarman's wedding night.

    21 August 1966, 8:00 pm
  • 14 minutes
    The LA Watts riots, 1965

    The Watts riots in Los Angeles - were they an uprising by black Americans angry at their treatment or simply criminally motivated looting and violence?

    22 August 1965, 8:00 pm
  • 13 minutes 46 seconds
    Clay vs Liston Fight

    How the debacle of the Cassius Clay–Sonny Liston boxing prize fight tarnished one of the elements of American culture - sportsmanship

    30 May 1965, 8:00 pm
  • 13 minutes 59 seconds
    President Johnson's inauguration, 1965

    President Lyndon B Johnson's inauguration for his own full first term, and some earlier notable inaugurations, including Washington and Jefferson's.

    17 January 1965, 9:00 pm
  • 14 minutes 14 seconds
    Assassination of J F Kennedy, 1963

    The assassination of John F Kennedy, the first president of the television age, and the style, grace and fun he brought to the White House.

    24 November 1963, 9:00 pm
  • 13 minutes 53 seconds
    Big brains

    How New York construction was brought to a halt by the Electrician's Union strike, and why the computer or 'the big brain' will soon change how people work.

    21 January 1962, 9:00 pm
  • 15 minutes 42 seconds
    500th letter

    Alistair Cooke remembers Lindsay Wellington, the BBC head who came up with the idea of weekly letters to help people in the UK understand American life in 1946.

    8 September 1957, 8:00 pm
  • 13 minutes 1 second
    William Kapell (1922-1953)

    A tribute to American Pianist William Kappell, the best pianist of his generation, and what music means to Americans.

    5 November 1953, 9:00 pm
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