The Seventies

The 1970s were known for extremes, perhaps nowhere more than on television. PBS and C-SPAN launched, but so did "The Love Boat" and "Three's Company." We talk with Norman Lear, Ed Asner, LeVar Burton and Vince Gilligan, among many others.

How did a "third-rate burglary" lead to the only presidential resignation in American history? We trace the story of Watergate with, among others, John Dean, Pat Buchanan, Elizabeth Drew and Dan Rather.

The Vietnam War is one of the defining events of recent American history. It still exerts enormous influence on our military and foreign policy. Why did it end the way it did? Interviewees include: Neil Sheehan, Evan Thomas, Karl Marlantes, and Winston Lord.

America suffered through one of its most violent decades as crime rates soared and Charles Manson, Ted Bundy, the Son of Sam and the Jim Jones made headlines. We hear from Vincent Bugliosi, Lawrence Wright, and James Wolcott.

That unlikely phrase is taken from President Gerald Ford's 1975 State of the Union address and reflects an America that careened from crisis to crisis in the second half of the decade. Richard Reeves, Lesley Stahl, Douglas Brinkley, and Rick Perlstein help us understand why.

From the massacre of athletes at the Munich Olympics to the seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran, the 1970s gave birth to the modern face of terrorism. Interviewees include: Robert Baer, Robin Wright, Brian Jenkins, and Peter Bergen.

After the breakup of the Beatles, popular music exploded into a variety of new formats and genres as artists including Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie, Donna Summer, The Jackson Five, Stevie Wonder, The Talking Heads and hosts of others reshaped the art form. Hear from Mick Fleetwood, Questlove, Nelson George, and Giorgio Moroder.