1969

In July 1969 when Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins traveled to the moon and planted the American flag on the lunar surface, it brought the nation and the world together. Though the billions spent on the moon shot were controversial, especially among civil rights leaders, it would make America the world leader in technology.

Two young women, while still in their teens, fell in love with Charles Manson and became part of his group of devoted followers. Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme and Dianne Lake describe in revelatory detail the journeys that led each of them to join the so-called "Manson Family."

While Apollo 11 astronauts orbited the moon preparing for their historic landing, realizing a goal set by the late President John F. Kennedy, his brother Senator Ted Kennedy drove off a bridge into the waters of Martha's Vineyard. Ted left a young woman, Mary Jo Kopechne, who had been a campaign staffer for their late brother Robert F. Kennedy, in the submerged car. Kopechne died and to this day the diver who pulled her from the water and the accident investigator sent to the scene believe she might have been saved had the Senator reported the accident when it happened. Instead her story has largely been lost to history as the media and the public focused on the man whose career was forever damaged by the accident, rather than the bright and young woman who did not live to tell us what really happened on that mysterious night.

In 1969, a running battle between the Department of Justice, the Nixon White House and the Black Power movement reached its height. Patterns of infiltration, wiretapping and violence marked that year. The special episode features powerful firsthand accounts that chronicle how the Black Panther Party established itself and became so influential in 1969; how their agenda evolved; what the Panthers represented to African Americans; and why the White House deemed them a threat.

In upstate New York, amidst social turmoil and war, two determined 20-somethings hatched a far-fetched plan to transform a dairy farm into a politically inspired rock festival billed as "3 Days of Peace & Music." Meanwhile, in New York's Greenwich Village, an underground community of LGBTQ+ youth was becoming fed up with social inequality, ready to rise up to challenge harsh laws aimed at their community and break centuries of taboos. Ultimately, both the Woodstock Music & Arts Festival and the Stonewall Uprising of 1969 changed America and the world forever.

"Fortunate Sons" traces the roots of the American culture wars to a time 50 years ago when the nation was increasingly prosperous and increasingly divided. The question of what America owed the world and its own people was hotly debated as the gap between the generations grew. In 1969 as President Richard Nixon battled a growing anti-war movement, TV shows like "Hee Haw" and "Lawrence Welk" promoted small town values while other shows like "That Girl" and "The Brady Bunch" challenged ideas about what a family and what being female should look like. In the same period John Lennon and Yoko Ono staged "bed-ins for peace" and young TV stars like Marlo Thomas attended anti-war rallies.