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How the Hard Hat Riot Predicted Today's Culture Wars

Season 37 Episode 5 | 4m 13s

In December 1969, the United States Selective Service conducted its first draft lottery since World War II, fueling a nationwide firestorm between those conscripted to serve and those who found a way out.

Corporate sponsorship for American Experience is provided by Liberty Mutual Insurance and Carlisle Companies. Major funding by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
Extras
Bombshell explores how the US manipulated the narrative about the toll of the WWII atomic bombings.
Hear what it was like working for Henry Kissinger from former staffers.
The life of the brilliant foreign policy powerbroker who shaped the world in which we live.
Watch a preview of Part One of Kissinger.
Kissinger escaped Nazi Germany and emigrated to the U.S., where he was drafted in the U.S. Army.
Kissinger and Nixon authorized the secret bombing of Cambodia in 1969.
Watch a preview of Hard Hat Riot.
Watch a preview of Hard Hat Riot.
What was The Hard Hat Riot?
At the dawn of the 1970s, blue-collar workers were re-shaping New York City's skyline. But they were