Aired: Nov 11, 2002Jimmy Carter ran for president on a wave of post-Watergate disaffection with ...
American Experience
Season 15 Episode 7: Transcontinental Railroad
Charting the race between the Union Pacific and Central Pacific to construct a transcontinental railroad to link the U.S. It ended May 10, 1869, in Promontory Point, Utah. The construction was "the engineering marvel of the 19th century -- and a flat-out swindle,” says narrator Michael Murphy. It was also "the technological manifestation of Manifest Destiny,” says historian Wendell Huffman, one of the program's commentators. And it sealed the fate of the Plains Indians. When th...
