American Experience

Explore the life of William Randolph Hearst. The model for Orson Welles’s Citizen Kane, he controlled a vast media empire, wielded unprecedented power and influence, and forever transformed the media’s role in American life and politics.

Joseph Pulitzer was a newspaper editor and publisher. In 1883 he moved to New York City, where he purchased The New York World.
The World became the most popular newspaper at the time, printing a quarter million copies on weekday mornings.

Millicent Hearst was married to the media tycoon William Randolph Hearst. She met W.R. in New York City in 1896, when he was 33 and she was a 16-year-old showgirl.

Marion Davies was the mistress of media tycoon William Randolph Hearst. Hearst used his influence and wealth to launch a film career for Davies.

William Randolph Hearst believed he was not reporting history but was instead creating it. By the end of the 1920s, Hearst owned newspapers in almost every major city, as well as magazines and even radio stations.

During the 1980 presidential campaign, Ronald Reagan promised to nominate the first woman to the U.S. Supreme Court. He made good on that promise in 1981, when he announced Sandra Day O’Connor’s nomination.

Discover the story of the Supreme Court’s first female justice.

The Supreme Court’s first female justice, Sandra Day O'Connor. A pioneer who both reflected and shaped an era, she was the deciding vote in cases on some of the 20th century’s most controversial issues—including race, gender and reproductive rights.

An international celebrity by age 30, Billy Graham built a media empire, preached to millions worldwide, and had the ear of tycoons, presidents and royalty.

Billy Graham explores the life and career of one of the best-known and most influential religious leaders of the 20th century.

The first Billy Graham crusade was held in 1947 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. By some estimates, Graham reached more than 210 million people in over 185 countries.

William Franklin Graham, Jr., an American evangelist and preacher was born on November 7, 1918 in rural North Carolina. In 1934, Graham attended a traveling revival meeting and had a religious experience.

Explore the life of one of the best-known and most influential religious leaders of the 20th century. An international celebrity by age 30, Billy Graham built a media empire, preached to millions worldwide, and had the ear of tycoons, presidents and royalty.

By 1900, when The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was published, L. Frank Baum was 44 years old and had spent much of his life in restless pursuit of success.

Matilda Joslyn Gage cofounded the National Woman Suffrage Association with Susan B. Anthony. Matilda’s daughter, Maud Gage married L. Frank Baum, author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

By 1900, when The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was published, L. Frank Baum was 44 years old and had spent much of his life in restless pursuit of success.

L. Frank Baum was an American actor, businessman and writer. He published The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in 1900 that became a best-seller, a theater smash hit and a film classic.

Explore the life and times of author L. Frank Baum, the creator of one of the most beloved, enduring and classic American narratives. By 1900, when The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was published, Baum was 44 years old and had spent much of his life in restless pursuit of success.

Booker T. Spicely was a Black soldier shot by a bus driver in 1944 for resisting his order to move to the back of the bus in Durham, N.C.

In 1946, Isaac Woodard, a Black army sergeant on his way home to South Carolina after serving in WWII, was pulled from a bus for arguing with the driver. The local chief of police savagely beat him, leaving him unconscious and permanently blind.