Washington, D.C.

United States before the Civil War, shaped by territorial growth, competing labor systems and mounting sectional tensions.

Global economic downturn following financial instability and credit crises, with major consequences for banking, employment and public policy.

Modern civil rights movement seeking to end racial segregation and secure equal voting and legal rights in the United States.

Global geopolitical rivalry and ideological competition centered on the United States and Soviet Union from the postwar era to the breakup of the USSR.

Enslaved Africans seized control of the Spanish ship La Amistad in 1839, provoking legal conflict in the United States.

U.S. and Soviet leaders confronted nuclear escalation after discovery of Soviet missile sites in Cuba.

The publication of classified Vietnam War history exposed government decision-making and sparked a major press-freedom dispute.

Investigations into the Watergate break-in and cover-up precipitated the resignation of U.S. President Nixon.

The national setting for Rogers’s television career, public-education work, and cultural influence.

The metropolitan setting surrounding LaGuardia Airport, the flight path, rescue response, and media attention.