[Music]
this is the story of America seen in
color for the first time 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 the
Rockefellers and Vanderbilt's 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 the torch has been
passed to a new generation of American
this is the story of American royalty as
you've never seen it before
[Music]
I want a recap
[Music]
September 12th 1953 the wealthy resort
town of Newport Rhode Island a storybook
wedding of 36 year old Senator John F
Kennedy and 24 year-old Jacqueline
Bouvier
[Music]
this union between two legendary
American families is the social event of
the season
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
[Music]
Joe Kennedy like so many Americans is
the descendant of immigrants in the 19th
century millions crossed 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 owned one-third of the
nation's wealth
[Music]
ruthless operators like industrialist
Charles Schwab banker JP Morgan real
estate magnate Jacob Astor the forth 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 rural 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
percent of the American oil industry
[Music]
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
dollars over five billion dollars in
today's money
he's the Bill Gates of his day but in
his 50s
amid work stress he develops alopecia
and ghost ball 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
[Applause]
in 1901 President William McKinley
visits the pan-american exposition in
Buffalo New York the next day an
anarchists bullet takes his life
[Music]
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 in a
famous address in 1910 he says nothing
in this world is worth having or worth
doing unless it means effort pain
difficulty
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
[Music]
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 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 path a news cameraman films the
guardsmen who are ready for a
confrontation
a gun battle with the strikers breaks
out this footage is seen across the
country
on April 20th 1914 Guardsmen opened 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
[Music]
a little more than two months later on
July 4th 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's senior to win
American hearts and minds publicizes his
philanthropy
[Music]
by now he has already given away around
150 million dollars over four billion
today with his trademark cap John senior
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 before
rockefeller the biggest fortune in
America belongs to railroad magnate
Cornelius Vanderbilt when he dies in
1877 he leaves one hundred million
dollars two billion dollars today
[Music]
what his family does with this huge
inheritance makes the Vanderbilts a name
that all Americans know
[Music]
grandson cornelius vanderbilt ii builds
a family summer residence in newport
rhode island called the breakers
boasting some seventy rooms and imported
marble it costs seven million dollars
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 8th
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
US
after nearly five and a half hours the
Frenchman George Heath wins
[Applause]
[Music]
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 she is
carrying 325 passengers in first class
the most expensive suite costs nearly
four and a half thousand dollars more
than $100,000 today a price that secures
luxurious floating accommodation
including an onboard gym
banker JP 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 1500 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
[Music]
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 her snooze reels 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
[Music]
19:19 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 ten
million dollars close to 700 million
today
it even has a private Zoo
[Music]
no one turns down an invitation to
Hearst Castle movie stars like Marie
Dressler
here's seen on Hearst zarm and his
longtime mistress actress Marion Davies
on the left
Hammond 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 AP
Giannini but fun and games aren't the
only thing the Hearst cameras capture
[Music]
in 1917 the United States enters World
War one
[Music]
Hearst newsmen filmed the horror of the
trenches 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
[Music]
at his fore River shipyard in
Massachusetts which Wahb 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
a 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 US Navy
[Music]
after the war the ambitious FDR enters
national politics in 1920 he wins the
Democratic nomination for vice president
[Music]
more than politicians that they shall
support innate always with individual
ambition and the party advantage to the
national group 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
it's 88 degree water will help him grow
stronger home movies capture his
rehabilitation with a therapist
[Music]
in 1926 he buys the place and turns it
into a polio treatment center these
buildings will come we hope for many
generations people and especially
children who will be greatly helped
along the road of life
[Applause]
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 six and
a half billion in today's money but the
gift that becomes his trademark hardly
dents his wallet he hands out shiny new
dawns
Americans fall in love with the aging
billionaire thank you thank you very
much dr. diamond I thank you for the
ride I get better myself more than
athletes paid thank you thank you thank
you thank you
along with his dimes the old oilman
gives lectures on thrift but the
youngest Rockefellers burned through
their money these home movies captured
John Dee juniors children
Winthrop Lawrence Nelson David and Babs
enjoying life during the roaring 20s at
the for Lee's expanding Pocantico Hills
property in upstate New York
with speedboats
[Music]
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 multimillionaire 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
five million dollars richer that's
around 70 million today but making money
isn't enough for Joe this immigrant son
sets his sights on Washington media
mogul William Randolph Hearst already
wields power amplified by his enormous
wealth
[Music]
in 1929 he pays 175,000 dollars
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 past
the long hours along departure from
Japan we arrived at the Golden Gate the
historic flight attracts tons of
publicity perfectly timed for the launch
of Hurst's first sound newsreel at New
York's Embassy Theatre on September 28th
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 dollars 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 Killam jr.
shows vertigo-inducing building
practices unrestrained by safety rules
[Music]
the centerpiece of the development is
the 70 story Art Deco skyscraper 30
Rockefeller Plaza popularly known as 30
rock
[Music]
December 27th 1932 the complexes first
building Radio City Music Hall a New
York icon to this day opens with a
lavish performance by the Roxy 'it's
later known as the Rockettes
[Music]
while the Rockefellers burnish their
fame with their Manhattan towers some of
their fellow magnets choose to escape
the depression William Vanderbilt ii and
his wife Rosalind spend their millions
on a world cruise 264 feet long and
luxuriously appointed their ship the
Alva is the original super yacht with a
crew of 50 they collect specimens for a
Marine Museum on the grounds of their
Long Island mansion a crew of nine films
the journey
Polynesians and Australian Aborigines
treat these Americans as visiting
royalty originally screened for charity
a 1932 commercial release in New York
gives the public a glimpse of the elite
at play but some American Royals work
for their subjects while the Vanderbilts
tour the world Franklin Delano Roosevelt
campaigns for the presidency one of his
big financial backers Joe Kennedy a
$25,000 donation and a 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 earn him Millions
[Music]
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 Roosevelt's
Joe Kennedy jr. Jack Bobby and Teddy all
become Harvard men
a confetti fight celebrates graduation
from a place where powerful networks
that lasts a lifetime are born summer
1934 FDR takes time out to watch the
harvard-yale regatta
19 year old Franklin jr. a talented
athlete rose for Harvard's Freshman team
as they posed here before the race he's
fourth from the right
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
president waving happily from the
referee's boat it's just an eager father
today getting a big thrill as the
Harvard crew makes a desperate spurt for
the lead
Harvard loses but Roosevelt's love of
boating doesn't falter
[Music]
ships bring the American aristocracy
together in September 1934 FDR joins
distant relative William Vincent Astor
to watch the Americas company
one of the Vanderbilts Harold is racing
his yacht the rainbow against Endeavour
owned by British aviation pioneer Thomas
sup with
a friendly pre-race face-off c-sharp
suited Vanderbilt and his rival trade
compliments like tell you how much
involve in admiring your beautiful
rainbow and the way you and your crew
have been Hindi but we fear precisely
the same way in a god to endeavor FDR
and aster 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
[Music]
19:34 ten-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 blue blood Aunt Gertrude Whitney
[Music]
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 newsreels show
captivated crowds outside the court and
his cameras found little Gloria
[Music]
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 folk stung by
the depression people crowd to see him
he is a beloved president
sharing the spotlight his wife Eleanor
everything
Eleanor Roosevelt stares and does
becomes new true to her prediction her
personal life is no longer her own 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 minors in West Virginia America has
fallen in love with the first family
the Roosevelts are American royalty
wealthy powerful and glamorous and it's
no surprise that in November 1936
Roosevelt wins a second term
[Music]
seven months later 22 year-old FDR jr.
marries Ethel DuPont
[Music]
she's the granddaughter of explosives
tycoon Eugene DuPont and heiress to an
estimated five billion dollars 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
[Music]
and Americans are still entranced by the
first of the Royals john d rockefeller
senior now in his late 80s is a newsreel
favorite audiences see him celebrate his
90th birthday in style
[Music]
he dies in 1937 two years short of 100
once hated as a robber baron at his
death he's the embodiment of selfless
charity he passes into history as the
greatest philanthropist of all time a
man who gave away five hundred and
thirty million dollars in 1938
one year after Rockefellers 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
I'm looking forward with great
anticipation taking up my duties here
the father of nine he's joined by his
wife and children Ted the youngest is
six 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 I've been asked by the
newspaper man this afternoon but the
chances were of appeasement I said I
didn't know what they were but they
certainly were worth trying
a furious FDR disagrees and summons him
back to the US with orders to keep his
mouth shut
Kennedy's 1940 farewell to the British
people is delivered after bombs start
falling on London 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 Kennedy's political views
have cost him his job
but he is not alone in his aversion to
war
William Randolph Hearst one side the
presidency now he uses his media power
to support a policy of America first
[Music]
Hurst believes in staying out of war and
bitterly opposes FDR but the aging
publishers grip on public opinion is
starting to slip
[Music]
may 1st 1941 the premiere of Citizen
Kane at New York's RKO palace theater
the movie is Orson Welles unflattering
story of a newspaper tycoon a character
based on Hurst Welles is all smiles at
his premiere but the 78 year old Hurst
fights back in bare-knuckle 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 with confidence in our armed forces
with the unbounding determination of
some wealthy Americans respond
patriotically william vanderbilt ii is
too old to serve but gives his super
yacht to the navy
the alva becomes a gunboat USS Plymouth
in 1943 off North Carolina she sunk by a
German torpedo
though Joe Kennedy supported appeasement
Joe jr. and Jack sign up for service air
cadet Joseph P Kennedy jr. reports for
preliminary training with other college
men he'll cry for Navy wait 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 ten of his sailors
when his boat is destroyed most of the
wars horror and its bravery takes place
out of the cameras eye
[Music]
the daring rescue of one 20 year old
pilot is captured by first lieutenant
and photographic officer bill Edwards on
the submarine USS fin back
the airman is the sole survivor of a
Japanese attack on his squadron eight
others died the young pilot is future
President George HW 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 two the good times roll the
Stork Club is one of the top hot spots
the wealthy elite mingle in the cub room
[Music]
FDR jr. and Ethel DuPont 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 nine percent of
American households owned a TV set by
1954 over half do know technology has
ever spread so fast in Connecticut
Prescott Bush father of George HW Bush
recognizes the advantages of reaching
voters at home in 1952 he runs for the
US Senate and produces one of the first
campaign commercials some of our friends
in television audience Avast if we have
any pictures of the family so here are a
few shots that were taken last summer
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 I hope all of you have
as much fun and happiness in your family
life as we do 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 grasped the political
potential of TV we're going up to Boston
to meet Senator John Kennedy and his
bride
one month after their 1953 wedding JFK
and Jackie invites CBS newsman Edward r
murrow into their home for his interview
show person-to-person
Kennedy reminds the audience of his
heroic war record there's not a model of
your PT boat there yes it is that was
made over at the fourth the Navy Yard
and they show wedding gifts like a
football from Harvard's athletic
department TV gives politicians a new
way to reach the public while some
American Royals are rising others
decline
[Music]
William Randolph Hearst dies in 1951 for
decades he shined a spotlight on those
striving for a place in the nation's
heart
[Music]
1,500 mourners turnout 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
[Music]
many of the Vanderbilts continued 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 20th 1961 John F Kennedy is
sworn in as president the torch has been
passed to a new generation of Americans
[Music]
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 two million
dollar White House renovation and there
is the beautiful Monroe centerpiece and
his flower of fruit baskets and
candelabra the broadcast is considered
the first primetime documentary ever
targeted at a female audience president
what do you think of the changes she's
made 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 czar in
Russia and Emperor in Peking all that's
been wiped away and yet this country
continues
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
guys this was American in color I
actually bought a few episodes so I'm
going to put I'm gonna get some more so
just wait a few more days I'll probably
install some more in blah blah blah
anyways thanks for watching and bye