Henry Ford

On July 4th, 2026, the United States will celebrate Independence Day, just as it does every year. But 250 years on from the country’s Declaration of Independence, the image of the United States has become tarnished. Yet today, the United States seems increasingly alien and ever more threatening to many Europeans. Is Donald Trump’s current policy the product of a national identity shaped by history? To understand the American mindset, one must look back to the roots and myths that have shaped it — a history marked by rifts and conflicts that continue to resonate today. By drawing parallels between cowboys and populism, Thanksgiving and Charlie Kirk, this 2-part documentary demonstrates that Trump’s politics differ from those of his predecessors and are not in line with the values upon which the history of the American nation was founded.

Americans consider themselves a 'nation of immigrants', but as the catastrophe of the Holocaust unfolds in Europe, the U.S. prove unwilling to open its doors to more than a fraction of the hundreds of thousands of desperate refuge seekers. Through riveting firsthand testimony of witnesses and survivors who as children endured persecution, violence and flight as their families tried to escape Hitler, this three-part documentary series delves deeply into the tragic human consequences of public indifference, bureaucratic red tape and restrictive quota laws in America. Did the nation fail to live up to its ideals? This is a history to be reckoned with.

Infographics and archival footage deliver bite-size history lessons on scientific breakthroughs, social movements and world-changing discoveries.

Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) was a mediocre who rose to power because of the blindness and ignorance of the Germans, who believed he was nothing more than an eccentric dreamer. But when the crisis of 1929 devastated the economy, the population, fearful of chaos and communism, voted for him. And no one defended democracy. As the dictatorship extended its relentless shadow, the leader claimed peace, but was preparing the Apocalypse.

Vaudeville is a 1997 PBS documentary under its American Masters program. Using film clips and photos, the art and history of vaudeville (1890-1930s) is illustrated.

The film depicts Olav Vs and Märtha from Norway's trip to the USA in 1939

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By the time he died in 1931, Thomas Alva Edison was one of the most famous men in the world. The holder of more patents than any other inventor in history, Edison had achieved glory as the genius behind such revolutionary inventions as sound recording, motion pictures, and electric light. Born on the threshold of America's burgeoning industrial empire, Edison's curiosity led him to its cutting edge. With just three months of formal schooling, he took on one seemingly impossible technical challenge after another, and through intuition, persistence, and a unique team approach to innovation, invariably solved it. Driven and intensely competitive, Edison was often neglectful in his private life and could be ruthless in business. Challenged by competition in the industry he'd founded, Edison launched an ugly propaganda campaign against his rivals, and used his credibility as an electrical expert to help ensure that high-voltage electrocution became a form of capital punishment.

A look at the parallel lives of Charlie Chaplin and Adolf Hitler and how they crossed with the creation of the film “The Great Dictator,” released in 1940.

HENRY FORD paints a fascinating portrait of a farm boy who rose from obscurity to become the most influential American innovator of the 20th century.

Based on eight years of continued prosperity, presidents and economists alike confidently predicted that America would soon enter a time when there would be no more poverty, no more depressions -- a "New Era" when everyone could be rich. But when reality finally struck, the consequences of such unbound optimism shocked the world.

Just before the advent of the Great Depression, Henry Ford controlled the most important company in the most important industry in the booming American economy. His offer of high wages in exchange for hard work attracted workers to Detroit, but it began to come apart when Ford hired a private police force to speed up production and spy on employees. After the depression hit in 1929, these workers faced a new, grim reality as unemployment skyrocketed.

The film expresses the history of oppression, discrimination, violence and hate in America. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.

Produced for the home gauge market, a short documentary centered around footage from the 1920s of Henry Ford's marvel, the Model T. For a time, the 'Tin Lizzie' was recognized worldwide as the symbol of American manufacturing, prosperity and leisure.