Up Next
Back to Show
Watch Preview
American Experience
War of the Worlds
Season 25
Episode 6
Shortly after 8 p.m. on the Halloween Eve, 1938, a panicked radio announcer broke in with a report that Martians had landed in the tiny town of Grovers Mill, New Jersey. Although most listeners understood that the program was a radio drama, the next day's headlines reported that thousands of others plunged into panic. It turned out to be H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds performed by Orson Welles.
Support Provided By
Unlock with PBS Passport
1:22:36
Bombshell explores how the US manipulated the narrative about the toll of the WWII atomic bombings.
Unlock with PBS Passport
1:22:42
Discover how Kissinger’s anti-Communism would shape U.S. foreign policy, from Vietnam to the USSR.
Unlock with PBS Passport
1:22:49
The life of the brilliant foreign policy powerbroker who shaped the world in which we live.
1:21:16
The violent 1970 clash between student protestors and construction workers in downtown NY.
Unlock with PBS Passport
52:39
The story of L.A.’s noxious smog problem and the creation of the EPA and Clean Air Act.
52:20
The story of Edwin Land, whose iconic Polaroid camera let everyone instantly chronicle their lives.
Unlock with PBS Passport
53:00
The dramatic story of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990.
1:52:47
The story of one of the most influential yet forgotten civil rights figures, Walter White.
1:51:27
The little-known story of the deadly 1898 race massacre and coup d’etat in Wilmington, NC.
Unlock with PBS Passport
52:36
A look at the US vice presidency, from constitutional afterthought to position of political import.
Unlock with PBS Passport
1:53:04
When US inner cities erupted in violence in 1967, LBJ created a commission to investigate.
1:52:30
The story of housewives who led a grassroots movement to galvanize the Superfund Bill.