The Presidents

The final hour of the series brings us to precipice of the 2005 inauguration. This is an era marked by a new world order, defined by the fall of the Berlin Wall, then shattered by the specter of global terrorism.

An era of seeming bliss turns into a period of total political disenfranchisement. Plain-spoken Harry Truman becomes president after FDR dies in office and presides during the last days of WWII.

The sixth hour looks at a challenging period of US history that was marked by financial depression and two world wars. This era also witnessed America's emergence as a player on the world stage and ultimately a superpower.

From Grover Cleveland to William Howard Taft, the Gilded Age of the American Presidency, featured a new breed of men who occupied the White House. It was an era of unbridled economic growth, combined with the completion of America's "Manifest Destiny" policy, and dominated by the emerging figure of Theodore Roosevelt.

During America's Age of Reconstruction, from Andrew Johnson (Lincoln's vice president) to Chester A. Arthur, the ruptured nation faced the difficult task of rebuilding a union after four years of civil war and a presidential assassination.

Marked by polar opposites, this hour scrutinizes a fractious era of the presidency--from Taylor to Lincoln--one of the most turbulent in US history, when the volatile issues of states' rights and slavery erupted in civil war. We highlight the rough-hewn style of Zachary Taylor, the second president to die in office, through the compromising weaknesses of Millard Fillmore and Franklin Pierce (Barbara Pierce Bush's fourth cousin four times removed), the near-treasonous James Buchanan administration, to Abraham Lincoln, savior of the republic to some, destroyer of the nation to others.

In Part 2, America's leadership changes hands from the Founding Fathers to a new breed of Founding Sons. The period marked rapid growth and contentious politics, including the bitterest election in US history and first decided by popular vote--the election of 1828.

Based on the book To the Best of My Ability, this 8-part series provides an insightful look at the exclusive group of men from all walks of life and parts of the country who have led America from the Oval Office. Part 1 probes the Constitutional Era, when the fledgling nation's revolutionary Founding Fathers became its first administrators.