FREE – Thursday, Nov 7, at 7 p.m. | Film students and history buffs are invited to an Evening at WKAR featuring Eisenhower's Secret War with historian and independent producer Dr. George A. Colburn. | RESERVATIONS ARE CLOSED
Colburn presents an excerpt from his latest documentary, Eisenhower's Secret War, and discusses the challenges and rewards of independent filmmaking. The event is hosted by WKAR Public Media in partnership with Media Sandbox in the college of Communication Arts and Sciences at MSU.
Free with Reservation
This event is free, but registration is required. | RESERVATIONS ARE CLOSED
Where
The Evening at WKAR featuring Eisenhower's Secret War, with producer George A. Colburn, takes place in the Communication Arts & Sciences Media Auditorium (Room 145), 404 Wilson Road on the campus of Michigan State University. Parking is free (after 6 p.m.) in the Trowbridge Road parking ramp, near the South, Main Lobby.
About 'Eisenhower's Secret War'
Eisenhower's Secret War examines Dwight D. Eisenhower's unwavering commitment -- both public and covert -- to peaceful co-existence with the USSR in the tumultuous and uneasy Cold War years. Based on recent research by established scholars and writers, the two-part documentary series provides a fresh understanding of how Eisenhower's national security policies and tactics kept a divided world at peace during the 1950s and in the ensuing decades. The first part, "The Lure of the Presidency," chronicles the movement to draft Eisenhower -- then NATO commander in Europe -- as the Republican candidate for president in 1952. The second hour, "Building Weapons, Talking Peace," recounts President Eisenhower's battles against the Soviet Union in the escalating arms race. Hosted by Evan Thomas, journalist and author of the critically acclaimed book, Ike's Bluff: President Eisenhower’s Secret Battle to Save the World, Eisenhower's Secret War features accounts of more than 20 witnesses, both American and Soviet, to the major events of the era.
About George A. Colburn
Dr. George A. Colburn is an independent producer of history-based documentary programs. Colburn's recent work includes TV and education projects about Eisenhower's nuclear strategy, the Navajo Code Talkers of World War II, Ernest Hemingway's youth, the role of innovation in shaping U.S. history and a history of immigration in the U.S. since World War II. A native of Highland Park, Michigan, Colburn has an A.B. degree in history from Aquinas College, Grand Rapids, and a Ph.D. in modern British political history from Michigan State University, East Lansing.
"Maybe the most distinctive thing about George Colburn is that he is both a filmmaker and an historian. Which is really unusual," says Robert Albers, senior video specialist and director of MSU Media Sandbox. "Most filmmakers are filmmakers first. I think George is actually a historian first. And so his projects are always intellectually sound and very interesting, and in some cases -- and this is a good example of it -- historically significant."
On the Air
Eisenhower's Secret War Part 1:
"The Lure of the Presidency," airs Friday, Nov.29, 9 p.m. on WKAR-TV/PBS.
Eisenhower's Secret War Part 2:
"Building Weapons, Talking Peace," airs Friday, Nov. 29, 10 p.m. on WKAR-TV/PBS.
MSU Media Sandbox is a creative curriculum and community in the College of Communication Arts & Sciences at Michigan State University. MSU Media Sandbox provides students with fundamentals of storytelling, creativity, design and technique, through a curriculum shaped by advertising, journalism and media studies faculty; and a community of students, faculty, alumni and creative media professionals around the world.