Original subtitles

Narrator: This is the story of america...

Seen in color for the first time.

[crowd cheering]

In the early 20th century, moving pictures

Spark a new fascination with america's rich and famous.

Legendary families that rule the worlds

Of power, money and style.

The roosevelts produce two presidents...

Franklin roosevelt: To restore america to its own people.

Narrator: The rockefellers and vanderbilts

Build empires and spend fortunes.

William randolph hearst uses film to cash in

On the glitzy lives of the rich and famous.

And a glamorous first family spawns a political dynasty...

John kennedy: The torch has been passed

To a new generation of americans.

Narrator: This is the story of american royalty...

As you've never seen it before.

♪

Kennedy: I want us to recapture that...

♪

September 12, 1953.

The wealthy resort town of newport, rhode island.

The storybook wedding

Of 36-year-old senator john f. Kennedy

And 24-year-old jacqueline bouvier.

This union between two legendary american families

Is the social event of the season.

[applause]

This bright young couple

Will one day come to define an american kind of royalty:

An enduring mix of glamour, popularity and power.

And for the groom's father, joseph,

Seen here dancing with wife rose,

Power has long been the family goal.

Joe kennedy, like so many americans,

Is the descendant of immigrants.

In the 19th century, millions cross the ocean

Seeking freedom and opportunity.

They find a country starkly divided

Between the haves and the have-nots.

Between 1860 and 1900,

The richest 2% of american families

Own one third of the nation's wealth.

Ruthless operators, like industrialist charles schwab,

Banker j.P. Morgan,

Real estate magnate jacob astor iv,

And steel tycoon andrew carnegie have amassed piles of money...

But little public admiration.

Most americans call them "robber barons."

In the early 20th century,

These bare-knuckled businessmen rule industry,

Wall street and washington.

The most powerful of all:

Oil tycoon john d. Rockefeller, the world's first billionaire.

His company, standard oil,

Savages and then swallows up its competitors...

And ends up controlling 90% of the american oil industry.

In upstate new york,

He builds a private estate called pocantico hills.

Lavish gardens surround the 40-room mansion.

One observer jokes, "it's what god would have built

If only he had the money."

Rockefeller is america's richest man.

By 1896 he has assets of $200 million--

Over $5 billion in today's money.

He's the bill gates of his day.

But in his 50s, amid work stress,

He develops alopecia and goes bald.

Image conscious, he wears wigs for the rest of his life.

Rockefeller and his fellow robber barons are not loved.

Ordinary americans resent their wealth and power...

But a new populist president

Will promise to drain this swamp.

In 1901, president william mckinley

Visits the pan american exposition in buffalo, new york.

The next day, an anarchist's bullet takes his life.

Vice president teddy roosevelt follows mckinley's coffin.

His sudden rise to power and prominence does not faze him.

Teddy is from a wealthy family of dutch descent...

Pillars of new york's high society.

But this son of privilege feels a bond with average americans.

And they feel he understands their struggles.

[crowd cheering]

In a famous address in 1910 he says:

"nothing in this world is worth having or worth doing

Unless it means effort, pain, difficulty."

[applause]

Teddy embraces a recent invention:

The silent movie camera.

When he visits san francisco in may 1903,

Crowds clamor for a glimpse of this new celebrity president.

And in 1904, thousands see him sworn in for a second term.

Teddy targets the monopolies of the robber barons.

He calls the rockefellers

"the biggest criminals in the country."

He sues standard oil for violating antitrust laws...

And in 1911, the company is forced to break up.

But this blow, ironically, not only makes rockefeller richer...

It will help transform his image

From hated robber baron to revered american royalty.

A transformation that starts, strangely enough,

With a tragedy caused by his son, john jr.

In colorado, a rockefeller-owned company

Runs the state's largest coal mining operation,

With 11,000 workers...

Most of them poor immigrants from southern europe.

They're paid not by the hour,

But by how much coal they mine...

A system that encourages risky practices.

[crash]

In September 1913, 8,000 of the coal miners strike.

They want higher pay, better conditions

And the right to form a union.

Rockefeller jr. Refuses their demands.

He pressures the governor to send in the national guard,

With the rockefellers paying their salaries.

A pathé news cameraman films the guardsmen...

Who are ready for a confrontation.

[gunshots]

A gun battle with the strikers breaks out.

This footage is seen across the country.

On April 20, 1914,

Guardsmen open fire on the strikers' camp.

21 are killed, including women and children.

The incident becomes known as "the ludlow massacre."

There's an outpouring of sympathy for the miners.

Hundreds turn out for the funeral.

A little more than two months later, on July 4, 1914,

A bomb explodes in new york city.

Four are killed, and many are injured.

Radicals seeking vengeance

Were preparing an explosive device

To send to john d. Rockefeller.

It blew up in their faces.

The rockefellers decide to redeem their public image.

John d. Jr. Travels personally to the mines...

And dresses down in denim.

He also creates opportunities for workers' voices to be heard.

John sr., to win american hearts and minds,

Publicizes his philanthropy.

♪

By now he has already given away around $150 million...

Over 4 billion today.

With his trademark cap,

John sr. Appears more often in front of the cameras.

Crowds, like this one welcoming him

At a florida railroad station, treat him warmly.

The strategy pays off.

Americans start to associate the rockefellers

Less with ruthless business practices

And more with good works.

Thanks to film, audiences can now see the lifestyles

Of the rich and famous.

The robber barons become celebrities.

[train whistle blows]

Before rockefeller, the biggest fortune in america

Belongs to railroad magnate cornelius vanderbilt.

When he dies in 1877, he leaves $100 million--$2 billion today.

What his family does with this huge inheritance

Makes the vanderbilts a name that all americans know.

Grandson cornelius vanderbilt ii

Builds a family summer residence in newport, rhode island,

Called "the breakers."

Boasting some 70 rooms and imported marble,

It costs $7 million.

Palaces like the vanderbilts'

Become a trademark of american royalty.

Cornelius vanderbilt's great-grandson,

William kissam vanderbilt ii,

Likes to burn his cash on fast cars.

October 8, 1904.

The inaugural run of the vanderbilt cup,

A 284-mile automobile race he organizes on long island.

It's the first international auto race ever held in the u.S.

After nearly 5 1/2 hours, the frenchman george heath wins.

♪

The luxuries enjoyed by the rich

Are swelling to a scale that fascinates ordinary americans...

Especially when disaster strikes.

This is the only footage of the ocean liner titanic,

Seen before her fateful 1912 voyage

From southampton, England, to new york.

[ship horn blows]

She is carrying 325 passengers in first class.

The most expensive suite costs nearly $4,500--

More than $100,000 today.

A price that secures a luxurious floating accommodation,

Including an onboard gym.

Banker j.P. Morgan, the liner's owner,

Is booked to travel,

But at the last moment cancels his trip.

In this lonely stretch of the north atlantic,

When the titanic hits an iceberg,

Other rich americans are not so lucky.

Property tycoon john jacob astor,

Macy's owners isidor and ida straus,

And businessman benjamin guggenheim

All lose their lives, along with 1,500 others.

The front pages plaster the names

Of the first-class passengers

To feed a growing fascination with fame.

At the time, the biggest name in publishing

Is william randolph hearst...

The rupert murdoch of his day.

His chain of newspapers makes and breaks people.

Hearst has the ear of presidents.

In 1923, cameras capture him and wife millicent

Outside the white house after meeting president coolidge.

♪

In 1914, hearst enters a new business: Newsreels.

And the american public

Are eager to see the rich and famous,

No matter what they're doing.

One of hearst's newsreels shows

The now former president theodore roosevelt...Rowing.

This exposure of the super rich

Creates a class of new celebrities.

And some of them play along for the cameras,

Including hearst himself.

1919, san simeon, california.

The media millionaire takes a bold leap

Toward making himself a legend.

He builds his own hearst castle on his 250,000-acre estate.

♪

With 56 bedrooms, 61 bathrooms, 19 sitting rooms

And 127 acres of gardens,

The mansion is one of the most opulent ever

And dwarfs the vanderbilts' breakers.

It costs nearly $10 million-- close to $700 million today.

It even has a private zoo.

No one turns down an invitation to hearst castle.

Movie stars like marie dressler, here seen on hearst's arm...

And his long-time mistress,

Actress marion davies, on the left,

Ham it up in home movies.

Charlie chaplin also clowns for the camera.

They schmooze with new york city's corrupt mayor,

Jimmy walker...

While actress hedda hopper rubs shoulders

With the chairman of the bank of america, a.P. Giannini.

But fun and games

Aren't the only thing the hearst cameras capture.

In 1917, the united states enters world war I.

[boom]

Hearst's newsmen film the horror of the trenches.

[gunfire]

America needs weapons,

And one man has a virtual monopoly on supplying munitions.

Charles schwab owns bethlehem steel,

The second largest steel company in the world.

♪

At his fore river shipyard in massachusetts,

When schwab needs a new general manager...

29-year-old joseph kennedy gets the job.

The ambitious father of a future president

Is married to rose fitzgerald, the daughter of boston's mayor.

The shipbuilding job gives kennedy an important contact--

Franklin delano roosevelt,

Who is the assistant secretary to the navy,

Seen here clambering aboard a naval weapons train in 1918.

He's a distant relation of the legendary teddy

And married to teddy's niece, eleanor.

The assistant secretary visits the massachusetts shipyard

To see the vast number of destroyers

Kennedy is helping deliver for the u.S. Navy.

[ship horn blows]

After the war, the ambitious fdr enters national politics.

In 1920, he wins the democratic nomination for vice president.

Roosevelt: The men who represent us

In the affairs of our government

Shall be more than politicians,

That they shall subordinate always

The individual ambition and the party advantage

To the national good.

Narrator: ...And campaigns

With presidential candidate james cox.

Though republican warren g. Harding

Defeats them in a landslide...

Fdr's political future seems bright.

But nine months after this footage is taken,

He is paralyzed by polio.

The next time he's seen in public,

Here at the 1924 democratic national convention,

He is on crutches.

Determined to recover, fdr goes to a resort

In warm springs, georgia,

Hoping its 88-degree water will help him grow stronger.

Home movies capture his rehabilitation with a therapist.

In 1926, he buys the place...

And turns it into a polio treatment center.

Roosevelt: To these buildings will come,

We hope for many generations,

People, and especially children,

Who will be greatly helped along the road of life.

[applause]

Narrator: This 1928 home movie

Shows a family picnic with a 13-year-old fdr jr.

It offers a rare view of a relaxed fdr

Openly wearing leg braces.

In private, he doesn't hide his disability.

Publicly, he and rockefeller, still wearing his wig,

Are much more image conscious.

Rockefeller hypes his own philanthropic image

For the newsreels at this christmas party.

By 1921, he has given away over half a billion dollars--

6.5 billion in today's money.

But the gift that becomes his trademark

Hardly dents his wallet.

He hands out shiny new dimes.

♪

Americans fall in love with the aging billionaire.

Reporter: Won't you give her a dime, mr. Rockefeller?

Please.

Woman: Thank you, sir. Man: Thank you very much.

Rockefeller: And I thank you for the ride.

Man: I consider myself more than amply paid.

Rockefeller: Bless you, bless you, bless you.

Woman: Thank you.

Narrator: Along with his dimes,

The old oil man gives lectures on thrift.

But the youngest rockefellers burn through their money.

♪

These home movies capture john d. Jr.'s children--

Winthrop, laurance, nelson, david and babs--

Enjoying life during the roaring '20s

At the family's expanding pocantico hills property

In upstate new york.

With speedboats...

And horseplay in something few can afford:

An indoor swimming pool.

♪

But these movies are never widely seen.

The richest and most powerful americans

Will soon understand

That while the camera can create public reputations,

It can also destroy them.

Wall street.

The early 1920s.

Scene of the next triumph in the rise of joseph kennedy.

He becomes a multi-millionaire, thanks in part

To insider trading deals that would be illegal today.

♪

In 1926 he sets out to conquer another freewheeling industry--

Hollywood.

Kennedy buys studios in trouble, cuts costs, fires people,

Then cashes out at a profit.

In 1931 he leaves hollywood an estimated $5 million richer.

That's around $70 million today.

But making money isn't enough for joe.

This immigrant's son sets his sights on washington.

♪

Media mogul william randolph hearst

Already wields power...

Amplified by his enormous wealth.

♪

In 1929, he pays $175,000 to sponsor

The first round-the-world flight by an airship--

The graf zeppelin.

A full onboard kitchen serves green turtle soup and pigeon...

And in-flight entertainment helps pass the long hours aloft.

Officer: And in 69 hours from our departure from japan,

We arrived at the golden gate.

Narrator: The historic flight attracts tons of publicity--

Perfectly timed for the launch of hearst's first sound newsreel

At new york's embassy theatre on September 28, 1929...

♪

Just one month before the crash

That starts the great depression...

A calamity that hurts millions of ordinary americans.

But for the super rich,

The depression is not a barrier to ambition.

May 17, 1930. Midtown manhattan.

Construction starts on a project

That will lift the spirits of a city in crisis.

Rockefeller jr. Uses his own money

On his biggest business project:

Rockefeller center, a city within a city--

With a price tag of $250 million,

Over 2 billion in today's money.

♪

♪

An investment that provides 40,000 jobs for new yorkers

At a time when 1 in 4 people are out of work.

This film, made by architect walter harrington kilham, jr.,

Shows vertigo-inducing building practices,

Unrestrained by safety rules.

The centerpiece of the development

Is the 70-story art deco skyscraper

30 rockefeller plaza...

Popularly known as 30 rock.

December 27, 1932.

The complex's first building--

Radio city music hall, a new york icon to this day--

Opens with a lavish performance by the roxyettes...

Later known as the rockettes.

While the rockefellers burnish their fame

With their manhattan towers,

Some of their fellow magnates choose to escape the depression.

William vanderbilt ii and his wife rosamund

Spend their millions on a world cruise.

William: Hello, rose. Well, we're off at last.

Rosamund: Well, I'm delighted.

We've waited so long for this day.

♪

Narrator: 264 feet long and luxuriously appointed,

Their ship, the alva, is the original superyacht.

With a crew of 50...

They collect specimens for a marine museum

On the grounds of their long island mansion.

[sea lion barks]

A crew of nine films the journey.

Polynesians and australian aborigines

Treat these americans as visiting royalty.

♪

[bell rings]

Originally screened for charity,

A 1932 commercial release in new york

Gives the public a glimpse of the elite at play.

♪

[crowd cheering]

But some american royals work for their subjects.

While the vanderbilts tour the world,

Franklin delano roosevelt campaigns for the presidency.

Roosevelt: ...In this crusade to restore america

To its own people.

[crowd cheering]

Narrator: One of his big financial backers: Joe kennedy.

A $25,000 donation and loan of a further 50,000

Secures him a seat on the campaign train.

Fdr is victorious and rewards kennedy,

Appointing him head

Of the securities and exchange commission.

His mission?

To crack down on the same shady stock market tactics

That earned him millions.

While joe cleans up wall street...

His sons are being groomed

At one of america's most prestigious universities:

Harvard.

By 1934, four presidents have been educated here,

Including both roosevelts.

Joe kennedy, jr., jack, bobby, and teddy

All become harvard men.

A confetti fight celebrates graduation

From a place where powerful networks that last a lifetime

Are born.

Summer 1934.

Fdr takes time out to watch the harvard-yale regatta.

19-year-old franklin jr., a talented athlete,

Rows for harvard's freshman team.

As they pose here before the race,

He's fourth from the right.

[starting gun fires]

[cheering]

Newsreel narrator: The president, waving happily

From the referee's boat,

Is just an eager father today getting a big thrill

As the harvard crew makes a desperate spurt for the lead.

Narrator: Harvard loses.

But roosevelt's love of boating doesn't falter.

Ships bring the american aristocracy together.

In September 1934,

Fdr joins distant relative william vincent astor

To watch the america's cup.

One of the vanderbilts, harold,

Is racing his yacht, the rainbow,

Against endeavour,

Owned by british aviation pioneer thomas sopwith.

A friendly pre-race faceoff

Sees sharp-suited vanderbilt and his rival trade compliments.

Sopwith: I'd like to tell you

How much we've all been admiring your beautiful rainbow

And the way you and your crew have been handling her.

Astor: Well, we feel precisely the same way

In regards to endeavour.

Narrator: Fdr and astor see vanderbilt secure the victory.

But while cameras capture a vanderbilt triumph at sea...

In new york, the family runs into much choppier waters.

A sensational public trial

Is laying their private lives bare.

[crowd shouting]

1934.

10-year-old gloria vanderbilt

Is the most famous heiress in america.

In new york, she's the subject of a tawdry custody battle

Between her inattentive young widowed mother, gloria morgan,

And her blueblood aunt, gertrude whitney.

Gloria morgan's self-indulgent lifestyle is laid bare

In court and in the press...

And she is sensationally accused of romantic interest in women.

William randolph hearst's newsreels

Show captivated crowds outside the court...

And his cameras hound little gloria.

[engine starts]

After seven weeks of dramatic testimony,

The judge awards custody to aunt gertrude.

Years later, young gloria gains fame once again

As a model and fashion designer.

Stories like hers enthrall the 69 million americans a week

Who are now flocking to newsreels.

Even more read the gossip in hearst newspapers.

The private lives of the rich and powerful are now fair game.

♪

It's 1935, and president roosevelt,

Halfway through his term, has been fighting

For the ordinary folks stung by the depression.

People crowd to see him.

He is a beloved president.

Sharing the spotlight: His wife eleanor.

Newsreel narrator: Everything eleanor roosevelt says and does

Becomes news.

True to her prediction,

Her personal life is no longer her own.

Narrator: She knows publicity can be powerful...

So she opens her public life to the cameras

As she supports progressive causes...

Models the latest fashions...

And square dances with miners in west virginia.

America has fallen in love with the first family.

The roosevelts are american royalty--

Wealthy, powerful and glamorous.

[crowd cheering]

And it's no surprise that in November 1936,

Roosevelt wins a second term.

♪

Seven months later,

22-year-old fdr jr. Marries ethel du pont.

She's the granddaughter

Of explosives tycoon eugene du pont

And heiress to an estimated $5 billion.

The happy occasion

Is more than just a joining of wealthy families.

It's america's equivalent of a royal wedding...

A bonanza for the press and the public.

And americans are still entranced

By the first of the royals.

John d. Rockefeller, sr., now in his late 80s,

Is a newsreel favorite.

Audiences see him celebrate his 90th birthday in style.

♪

He dies in 1937... Two years short of 100.

Once hated as a robber baron, at his death,

He is the embodiment of selfless charity.

Newsreel narrator: He passes into history

As the greatest philanthropist of all time,

A man who gave away $530 million.

Narrator: In 1938, one year after rockefeller's death,

Joseph kennedy moves up in politics.

Fdr appoints him ambassador to britain.

It's the job that this son of an irish catholic immigrant

Has most longed for.

Kennedy: I'm looking forward with great anticipation

To taking up my duties here.

Narrator: The father of nine,

He's joined by his wife and children.

Ted, the youngest, is 6.

Rose: Don't get him excited.

Ted: This is my first trip to europe,

And I'm very excited.

I couldn't even sleep last night.

Narrator: The kennedys mix with british high society.

The king and queen attend a dinner

At the american embassy...

And joe's wife rose and daughters kathleen and rosemary

Are presented at the royal court.

The kennedy women attend the debutantes ball

With aristocracy and royalty.

The ambassador himself, as tensions rise in europe,

Thinks the way to avoid war is to appease hitler.

Kennedy: I've been asked by the newspapermen this afternoon

What the chances were of appeasement.

I said I didn't know what they were,

But they certainly were worth trying.

Narrator: A furious fdr disagrees

And summons him back to the u.S.,

With orders to keep his mouth shut.

Kennedy's 1940 farewell to the british people

Is delivered after bombs start falling on london.

Kennedy: It's been a tough two months.

You have faced it day and night with plenty of courage,

Faced it with your chins up and with a grin.

My hat's off to you.

Narrator: Kennedy's political views have cost him his job,

But he is not alone in his aversion to war.

[crowd cheering]

William randolph hearst once eyed the presidency.

Now he uses his media power

To support a policy of "america first."

William thompson: I have the honor to present to you

The greatest living american of the hour,

William randolph hearst.

[cheering]

Narrator: Hearst believes in staying out of war

And bitterly opposes fdr.

But the aging publisher's grip on public opinion

Is starting to slip.

[horns honking]

May 1, 1941.

The premiere of "citizen kane"

At new york's rko palace theatre.

The movie is orson welles' unflattering story

Of a newspaper tycoon...

A character based on hearst.

Welles is all smiles at his premiere...

But the 78-year-old hearst fights back

In bareknuckle tabloid style.

A threat to expose family gossip leads john d. Rockefeller, jr.,

To cancel the planned opening at his radio city.

And soon, "citizen kane" is tanking at the box office.

Six months later, fdr leads the nation to war.

Roosevelt: With confidence in our armed forces,

With the unbounding determination of our people,

We will gain the inevitable triumph, so help us god.

[applause]

Narrator: Some wealthy americans respond patriotically.

William vanderbilt ii is too old to serve

But gives his superyacht to the navy.

The alva becomes a gunboat-- uss plymouth.

In 1943 off north carolina, she's sunk by a german torpedo.

Though joe kennedy supported appeasement...

Joe jr. And jack sign up for service.

Newsreel narrator: Air cadet joseph p. Kennedy, jr.,

Reports for preliminary training.

With other college men, he'll try for navy wings.

Narrator: Joe jr. Volunteers for a secret assignment.

This footage shows test flights for his mission.

He's to parachute from his plane

Before the explosive-filled aircraft crashes

Into german v2 rocket sites.

This photograph is taken just before his first mission.

Soon after takeoff, on the 12th of August 1944,

His plane explodes in midair over England.

Joseph kennedy, jr., is killed;

His death, the first of a string of tragedies

That will stalk the family.

His brother jack, serving in the navy,

Is decorated as a hero

For saving 10 of his sailors when his boat is destroyed.

Most of the war's horror, and its bravery,

Takes place out of the camera's eye.

The daring rescue of one 20-year-old pilot

Is captured by first lieutenant

And photographic officer bill edwards

On the submarine uss finback.

The airman is the sole survivor

Of a japanese attack on his squadron.

Eight others die.

The young pilot is future president george h.W. Bush.

With america's victory,

He's part of a new generation that is about to take power.

♪

In the new york nightclubs,

In the closing days of world war ii,

The good times roll.

The stork club is one of the top hotspots.

The wealthy elite mingle in the cub room.

♪

Fdr jr. And ethel du pont and war hero jfk

Share the night with such notables

As judy garland and frank sinatra.

Two more regulars: Lucille ball and desi arnaz...

Stars of a wildly popular new medium.

♪

In 1950, only 9% of american households own a tv set.

By 1954, over half do.

No technology has ever spread so fast.

In connecticut, prescott bush, father of george h.W. Bush,

Recognizes the advantages of reaching voters at home.

In 1952, he runs for the u.S. Senate

And produces one of the first campaign commercials.

Prescott bush: Some of our friends and television audience

Have asked if we have any pictures of the family.

So here are a few shots that were taken last summer.

Narrator: The candidate uses home movies

To portray a successful family man...

Who's strong and healthy...

And the proud father of a war hero son.

Bush: I hope all of you have as much fun and happiness

In your family life as we do.

Narrator: Bush wins the seat.

In massachusetts, in 1952,

John f. Kennedy is elected to the senate.

He marries jackie a year later, and the young glamour couple,

Seen here in private home movies,

Also grasp the political potential of tv.

Edward r. Murrow: We're going up to boston

To meet senator john kennedy and his bride.

Narrator: One month after their 1953 wedding,

Jfk and jackie invite cbs newsman edward r. Murrow

Into their home

For his interview show "person to person."

Kennedy reminds the audience of his heroic war record.

Murrow: Is that a model of your pt boat there?

Kennedy: Yes, it is.

That was made over at the boston navy yard.

Narrator: And they show wedding gifts...

Like a football from harvard's athletic department.

Jackie: This is john's favorite,

Which he's always throwing around this apartment.

Narrator: Tv gives politicians a new way to reach the public.

While some american royals are rising...

Others decline.

William randolph hearst dies in 1951.

For decades he shined a spotlight

On those striving for a place in the nation's heart.

1,500 mourners turn out in san francisco.

His five sons follow him as publishers and businessmen,

But none captures the public imagination

Like the man nicknamed "the chief."

In 1958, the family donates the majestic hearst castle

To the state of california.

A quarter million people still visit each year.

[crowd cheering]

Many of the vanderbilts continue to live the high life.

But with the fortune scattered

Among many branches of the family,

It's used up fast.

The vanderbilts live on...

But most of their money is gone.

On January 20, 1961,

John f. Kennedy is sworn in as president.

Kennedy: The torch has been passed

To a new generation of americans.

[crowd cheering]

Narrator: Jfk's youngest brother, ted,

Fills his senate seat...

Which he holds until his death in 2009.

Nicknamed "the lion of the senate,"

He authors over 300 successful bills

And becomes the standard bearer for the kennedy name.

In 1962, glamorous first lady jackie kennedy

Invites america into her home.

And she gives a tour

Of her $2 million white house renovation.

Jackie kennedy: And there is the beautiful monroe centerpiece

And his flower or fruit baskets and candelabra.

Narrator: The broadcast is considered

The first prime time documentary

Ever targeted at a female audience.

Charles collingwood: Mr. President, what do you think

Of the changes that she's made?

Kennedy: Well, I think the great effort that she's made

Has been to bring us much more intimately in contact

With all the men who lived here.

When we were founded, there was a king in France,

A tsar in russia, an emperor in peking.

All that's been wiped away, and yet this country continues.

[crowd cheering]

Narrator: America doesn't have hereditary kings and queens.

But it has created its own kind of royalty...

Men and women whose hunger for success and wealth

Fascinate the nation.

Storied families rise and fall,

But the power and glamour of the kennedys

Will tower over the 20th century.

Their triumphs and tragedies become legendary.

They are the epitome of american royalty.