All language subtitles for America in Color S03E04 Made in the USA

Narrator: This is
the story of america,

Seen in color
for the first time.

At the turn of the 20th century,

29 million americans
are working.

40 percent of them are farmers.

But factories are expanding
as never before.

As labor and management clash,
politicians make promises.

Calvin coolidge:
I want the people of america

To be able to work less
for the government

And more for themselves.

[cheering]

Narrator: Unions rise,
and some fall.

Technology creates new jobs

And a new workplace--
the modern office.

By the 1950s,

Americans have the world's
highest standard of living.

This is the story of the workers
who made america,

As you've never
seen them before.

♪

John kennedy: I want us
to recapture that...

♪

♪

At the turn
of the 20th century,

This is what
a modern factory looked like.

♪

This incredibly rare moving
footage was taken in 1904.

♪

Industrialist
george westinghouse

Had this
two-million-square-foot plant

Built to his specifications.

The product?

Huge generators
to produce the electricity

That will make america
an industrial superpower.

♪

A camera mounted on
a 50-ton crane tracks activity

Along a 600-yard-long
machine shop floor.

10,000 people work
in the plant...

♪

...Including 650 women.

They spend
their nine-hour shift

Winding wire onto coils
for the giant dynamos.

♪

A crane helps wrangle the huge
components for final assembly.

♪

They're working
to fulfill a contract

For the world's biggest
engineering project--

Using the power of niagara falls
to make electricity.

Electricity
from westinghouse's turbines

Flows by wire
20 miles from the falls

To buffalo, new york...

...Illuminating the city

For its quarter of a million
inhabitants.

It's the first time anyone

Has transmitted
this much electricity so far.

To succeed, innovative firms
like westinghouse

Depend on their employees.

So do smaller operations.

In 1915, at kennedy gold mine
in jackson, california,

Human labor is cheap.

Miners spend ten-hour shifts
hauling ore by hand.

There's no such thing
as a weekend,

Or health insurance.

Coal miners in pennsylvania
get paid by the ton,

A routine that encourages
risk-taking.

In 1913,
35,000 americans nationwide

Die in workplace accidents.

That's 700 percent
more than today.

Out of self-interest,
workers organize.

Former cigar maker
samuel gompers

Forms the american
federation of labor.

The afl fights for higher wages
and safer workplaces,

But in the early years,
enrollment is slim.

Less than one percent
of tradesmen join.

Management holds the power.

The imbalance is especially bad
in new york's clothing industry.

More than 200 factories cram
the 8-block garment district,

Where, on March 25, 1911,

New yorkers witness the worst
factory disaster to date.

The triangle waist company
rents three floors

In the asch building
in greenwich village.

That Saturday, a workday,

A blaze starts
on the eighth floor.

Firefighters raise ladders,

But the flames are too fierce
and too high up.

The ywca re-enacts the events
in a film shortly afterwards.

Managers have locked exit doors

To discourage theft
and goofing off.

The one fire escape
is too narrow.

As horrified onlookers watch,

Desperate workers
leap from the building.

In 18 terrifying minutes,

146 workers,
mostly immigrant women, die.

The youngest, kate leone,
is 14 years old.

A court acquits factory owners
max blanck and isaac harris

Of any wrongdoing,

Though they are ordered
to pay compensation

To grieving families,
$75 per victim.

Insurers reimburse blanck
and harris $60,000.

They immediately
go back into business.

The triangle waist company
factory fire

Prompts new laws,

Requiring sprinkler systems
and multiple fire escapes.

[machines clattering]

Nationwide, automation
changes factory work.

At this new york
cloth cutting shop,

One employee runs a row
of embroidery machines

That replaces
six skilled workers

Stitching military uniforms.

Mechanization threatens
many traditional jobs.

At this sawmill,
conveyors boost efficiency.

Manual work becomes
monotonous and dull.

In 1915, workplace scientist
frank gilbreth

And his industrial psychologist
wife lillian

Examine the way
modern americans work.

Their tools are a 35-millimeter
motion picture camera

And a clock.

They film workers,
recording every movement

And analyzing
individual efficiency--

The brick mason,

The typist,

The file clerk.

Pears soap in new jersey
hires the duo

To find ways
to increase productivity.

They film miss gertrood,
a packer,

Calculating how long
each gesture takes her.

They suggest two simple changes.

Let her sit

And stack the empty boxes
beside her.

These adjustments raise
productivity by 36 percent.

Frank and lillian
are also productive at home.

They have nine children.

Their time and motion studies
strike a balance

Between bosses and workers.

Profits rise,
and employees are happier.

But even bigger changes
are just around the corner.

[gunfire]

On April 6, 1917,

The united states
enters world war I.

Going to war accelerates
mass production

And creates jobs.

On long island, new york,

At the gas defense
service plant,

Workers making gas masks
cut rubberized fabric.

With two million men
serving overseas,

A million women are employed
for the first time

But are paid 50 percent less
for the same tasks.

Each week, the plant produces
40,000 gas masks.

[horn blows]

The war ends in 18 months.

Returning servicemen
want their jobs back.

But peacetime
brings a recession.

And between 1916 and 1919,
the cost of living doubles.

The recession rocks
industrial cities like chicago,

Where the tribune newspaper

Sponsors
an "eat more fish" campaign.

Promoting it as an affordable
alternative to red meat,

They're selling subsidized
haddock at 11 cents a pound.

America has too many workers
and not enough work.

September 1919,
gary, indiana.

Thousands of striking
steelworkers fill the streets.

They're protesting
low wages and long hours.

During the war, union membership
rose by 50 percent.

Now the steelworker unions
flex their muscles.

Across the nation,
365,000 steelworkers strike.

Half the steel industry
in america shuts down.

On November 1st,

United mine workers president
john l. Lewis

Leads his 400,000 members
off the job.

They have the same grievances.

In wilkes-barre, pennsylvania,

Striking coal miners are urged
to stand firm and stay civil.

In all, a record 20 percent of
the american workforce strikes.

The steel industry alone
loses $17 million--

Today, $260 million.

In the end, though,
strikers suffer more.

Opponents call them communists,

And public opinion
turns against them.

After six weeks,
they return to work.

Conditions stay the same.

Unions have lost, for now.

♪

Out west, another sector
is growing.

On tannahill ranch
in new mexico,

Cowboys drive 3,000 steers
25 miles a day.

In 1920, 11 million americans
work the land.

This old-fashioned job
has scarcely changed at all.

[mooing]

Wranglers supplement
their $37 monthly pay

By breaking wild horses
for $12 a head.

They test their riding
and roping skills

Competing for prize money
at rodeos.

But change is ahead.

In the 1920s,
american workers will benefit

From unprecedented growth
and prosperity.

♪

1919, northampton,
massachusetts.

Governor calvin coolidge
is a pro-business republican.

Posing for the camera with wife
grace and their sons at home,

Coolidge is on a mission
to promote american business.

In 1923,
when warren g. Harding dies,

Coolidge becomes president.

He meets the press
on the white house lawn.

For the first time, an american
leader is filmed with sound.

Coolidge: I want to cut down
public expense.

I want the people of america

To be able to work less
for the government

And more for themselves.

I want them to have the rewards
of their own industry.

This is the chief meaning
of freedom.

[cheering]

Narrator:
Coolidge follows through.

With congressional backing,

He increases taxes
on imported goods

To give american
businesses an edge.

Entrepreneur bill cheney
leaps to the challenge.

Aired here for the first time,

This footage shows
cheney's company in action,

Fulfilling a contract
to bridge the columbia river

At rainier, oregon.

His welders are helping to erect
the longview bridge,

America's longest
cantilever span.

The country has entered
a golden age of road building,

And some of that gold
is going to cheney.

A string of profitable projects
lets him retire early.

Philadelphia hosiery maker
ellwood hoffmann

Is riding the boom.

At his lucille knitting factory,

Opened in 1920
and named after his wife,

Workers check the quality
on silk stockings.

They're especially popular,

Now that women
have ditched long skirts.

It's not a requirement to have
shapely legs to work here,

But it certainly helps.

And as lucille knitting
prospers,

Profits let hoffmann's
family live in style.

Home movie footage shows them

Fishing along barnegat bay,
new jersey...

...And enjoying a day
at the seashore.

♪

Life is improving
for some workers, too.

As paperwork multiplies,

Typewriters become
standard office equipment,

Creating a new job--the typist.

Cheaper to hire than men,

A million women
fill typing pool vacancies.

Competition for jobs is intense.

One way to land work is to win
a typing contest.

Champion birdie reeve types
200 words a minute, accurately.

At 15, she can type faster
than anyone can dictate.

In 1927, there's a huge upset.

A man, george hossfield,
wins the world title,

Typing 157 words a minute.

♪

[whistle blows]

America's economy soars
in the twenties.

Wages rise 20 percent.

Workers become consumers,

Able to afford
labor-saving inventions...

♪

...Like the westinghouse
turnover toaster.

This beauty arrives three years
ahead of sliced bread.

♪

Not every innovation succeeds.

Take this early mobile phone,

Using an umbrella
as its antenna.

A driverless vehicle
follows remote control commands,

A novelty and nothing more.

♪

[horn honks]

But actual autos are everywhere.

Over half american families
own cars.

As they take over the streets,

They are the most visible part
of a wave of new innovations,

But some bring hidden dangers.

This is the chrysotile mine
in arizona.

Buried deep in this mountain

Are rocks containing
rich deposits

Of a precious natural mineral.

It forms in stringy fibers.

Trucks haul tons of it
across the country

To a factory
in manville, new jersey,

Where the long
needle-like fibers

Are stripped from the rock.

The natural fiber
is an industrial miracle.

It's tough, flexible,
and fire-resistant.

The auto industry
is its biggest consumer,

Using the wonder material
to make brake pads.

It's called asbestos.

In 1929, johns manville company
reports record profits

Of $6.6 million selling it.

Most workers have no idea

The dust they're breathing
is deadly.

And they have
no protection from it.

But the same year,

11 johns manville workers win
settlements of $30,000 apiece

On claims that breathing
asbestos damaged their lungs.

It will take another 26 years

Before its link to cancer
is confirmed,

And in the 1970s,
court cases will establish

That, for decades, the industry
concealed its product's risks

From workers and consumers.

Another new technology
gets america talking

And creates brand-new jobs.

In the summer of 1925,
near toledo, ohio,

The american telephone and
telegraph company makes history.

At&t board member a.F. Stevenson
makes the final splice

In an 861-mile phone cable
linking new york and chicago.

Now 139 calls
can be made at a time.

With phones in a third
of american homes,

The call goes out
for more operators.

In 1926,
this at&t recruiting film

Encourages women to sign up.

On the practice switchboards,

They learn how to connect
customer calls

Via cables between exchanges.

200,000 women are working
as operators.

The tele skater appears
as switchboards increase in size

To cope with the 64 million
calls made daily.

Besides connecting individuals,

The telephone
becomes a business tool.

♪

But some deals
require face time,

And that means travel.

In 1926,
a new business tool arrives.

Stout air services schedules the
first regular passenger flights

In the united states.

Within two years,

Business passengers
are the line's main customers.

A round-trip flight
between detroit and cleveland

Costs $35,

More than the average worker
makes in a week.

By 1930, united airlines
has acquired stout.

Nationwide, more than 650
airports are up and running

And the number of airplane
passengers exceeds 173,000

By the end of the decade.

As american business soars,

Some everyday workers
do get to share in the success.

♪

Shown here for the first time,

This footage shows a day out
for the girls heinz 57 club,

A social club organized
for female employees.

These factory girls are arriving
at eden hall farm

Outside pittsburgh for a day of
hiking, riding, and picnicking.

♪

As his father did,

Clifford heinz
believes company benefits

Will keep his employees happy
and non-unionized.

6,500 heinz workers
have free medical care

And financial assistance.

Farther east
in the keystone state,

Chocolate magnate
milton s. Hershey

Takes worker benefits
to a new level.

Hershey park
is a brand-new company town

Built specifically
for workers and their families,

Providing his workforce with
everything its people need--

Schools, churches, parks,

An orphanage and hospital,

A sports arena,

A private country club,

And, for the kids, a zoo.

It later becomes
a famous amusement park.

Hershey holds
that providing his workforce

With a clean, safe place
to live and raise families

Will make for happier workers
and a better bottom line.

In the 1920s, these workers
are living the american dream,

But as the economy tanks,

Millions are
about to be made unemployed.

1933. America is nearly four
years into the great depression.

12 million are out of work.

Newsreels show
abandoned coal mines

In the town of shamokin,
in southwest pennsylvania.

In just two years, coal output
has dropped 34 percent.

Busted flat, with
no welfare state to help them,

Unemployed miners
do what they need to do,

Illegally digging for coal.

♪

It's dangerous work,
done on the sly.

In teams, 3,500 men and boys

Bootleg coal
every day but Sunday.

They work by hand,

Using crude but effective
homemade pumps and winches.

♪

Under cover of darkness,
they load five-ton trucks

And drive to nearby towns,

Where they sell it
right out of the truck.

The towns depend on coal
for heat,

And the miners make $2.50 a day,

Which they spend
in local stores,

Keeping communities alive
through the depression.

Workers' desperation
is an opportunity

For america's unions.

[shouting]

In the summer of 1934,

Violence is in the air
in minneapolis, minnesota.

Truck drivers here are fighting
for a minimum wage

And a 40-hour week.

Police are edgy
when the drivers' union,

The international brotherhood
of teamsters,

Calls on its 3,000 local members
to strike area trucking firms.

The crowd overwhelms the city.

Along first avenue, strikers
outnumber police ten to one.

Unprecedented violence
breaks out.

[shouting]

Strikers john belor
and henry ness are shot dead.

Special deputies
c. Arthur lyman and peter erath

Are beaten to death.

After 97 days, the trucking
companies finally give in.

The strike wins over
public opinion.

Victory gives the teamsters
national clout.

Membership nearly doubles.

At the height of the depression,

Unions are beginning to win
major victories for workers.

♪

But that's in the city.

The country
is a different story.

Like millions
of other agriculture workers,

These sharecroppers
in poinsett county, arkansas,

Have no one
to fight in their corner.

Tenant families are burdened
by one-sided contracts.

One bad harvest can leave them

Severely indebted
to their landlord.

Unions are weak.

Life is barely
one step above slave labor.

Many head to northern cities.

Harlem in upper manhattan, 1936.

200,000 black migrants,

On the run from
the terrible southern economy,

Have poured in here.

Jobs are scarce,

But harlem's downtrodden
have a champion.

♪

The reverend father devine
builds a huge following

Of tens of thousands
preaching to the poor.

[applause and cheering]

He puts donations
towards helping his community

With cheap lodging,

Discount stores,

And low-price services.

He calls his establishments
heavens.

At rockland palace in harlem,

Father devine
hosts a free banquet

And blesses the food.

Followers call him god on earth.

[singing]

With black unemployment
at nearly 50 percent,

Father devine is keeping
tens of thousands fed and housed

Till they get work.

Washington, d.C.,
August 14, 1935.

At the white house, president
franklin delano roosevelt

Signs into law
the social security act.

Workers have insurance
against unemployment.

Now losing a job does not
have to mean losing everything.

Fdr names frances perkins
his labor secretary,

The first woman
to hold any cabinet job.

Frances perkins:
With the passage

Of the social security bill,

Life in the united states
of america

Will be considerably better
in the future

For all the people.

Narrator: Perkins witnessed
the triangle waist company

Factory fire 24 years earlier,

Arriving at the scene by chance

To see women
jumping from windows.

Ever since,
she has been passionate

About protecting
american workers.

Hoping to get two million women
back into work,

She sets up camps designed to
train unemployed single women.

Camp jane addams
at bear mountain

In upstate new york
is the first.

Its initial enrollment of 17
are bussed in from nearby towns.

During their three-month stay,
campers take vocational classes

And enjoy
recreational activities

While being paid $5 a month.

At camps around the country,

Thousands have
life-changing experiences.

But americans
would rather spend money

On training men
to rebuild the country.

By 1937, funding is gone,
and the camps close.

In some areas,
the recovery starts early.

In 1933, congress
repeals prohibition,

In place since 1919,

And the liquor industry booms.

Within four hours of repeal,

Schlitz beverage company
of milwaukee, wisconsin,

Has beer on the loading docks.

During prohibition, schlitz
kept 2,000 people working

By producing a cereal
soft drink called famo.

With the beer
that made milwaukee famous

Back on the shelves,

The local industry
hires 8,000 more workers.

♪

Schlitz becomes
the world's leading brewery,

And americans
are back to boozing.

Within 18 months of repeal,
$2 billion of beer is sold.

Everyone is happy.

Man: Drink it right down, now.
Atta-boy!

Man: More!

Narrator: Even beauty queen
miss old England

Wets her whistle.

[applause]

Americans have
spent the thirties

Getting the country
working again.

In 1939, with recovery in sight,
the new york world's fair

Celebrates american labor
and its achievements.

The theme is building
the world of tomorrow.

New westinghouse chairman
david youngholm

Helps assemble a time capsule.

The contents reflect
american workers' ingenuity

And efficiency--

A memo to the future about
the american way of life

To be opened in 5,000 years.

The hall of nations showcases

The cultures of France,
belgium, and czechoslovakia.

By fair's end, these nations
will be under the nazi boot,

And in two years, the same war
will entangle american workers.

♪

December 1941,

The united states is at war.

Industrial production
increases 96 percent.

American factories
build 300,000 warplanes.

♪

At a bomber plant in seattle,

Workers sign
a b-17 flying fortress.

Five shiny new aircraft
roll off the production line

Every day, seven days a week.

This is number 5000.

But with millions of american
men at and behind the front,

The nation needs pilots
to ferry planes to air bases.

Pilot jacqueline cochran
has an ambitious idea.

She persuades the air force

To hire female pilots
for the first time.

At ellington field in texas,

She presents
the first graduating class

Of women air force
service pilots, or wasps,

With their wings.

After a kiss
from her ten-year-old daughter,

Wasp natalie ellis takes off
for a training session.

During the war,
more than 1,000 wasps

Ferry over 12,000 warplanes
from factories to bases.

Three decades will pass
before women are allowed

To pilot
u.S. Military aircraft again.

[whirring]

Wartime demands speed up
technological change,

Creating new industries
and skills.

This rare footage from may 1944
shows ibm's mark I,

The world's first large-scale
digital computer.

Naval personnel run mark I

Under chief programmer,
admiral grace hopper.

This five-ton wonder
produces calculating tables

For artillery shells and bombs,

Completing three calculations
per second.

Today, a smartphone
makes 40 million.

Mark I jump-starts
the information technology age.

For this new industry,

The old way of labor
is not going to work.

It will require a more educated
and skilled workforce.

As peace nears,
fdr signs the gi bill,

Offering veterans $500
for education and job training.

In 1947, over half the students
enrolled at universities

Are veterans.

Another five million
military personnel

Are in apprenticeships.

The gi bill produces the world's
best educated workforce,

And american business
runs with it.

Hartford, connecticut.

With the war over, the american
entrepreneurial spirit

Is kicking in again.

Hartford is home
to the fuller brush company,

America's best-known
door-to-door sales outfit.

The fuller brush man sells

A range of personal care
and household brushes.

In 1948, more than 7,000
fuller brush men

Knock on 50 million
american front doors.

The key to success
is getting in the door.

A free sample brush often helps.

Buying their own sample kits,

They keep half of what they make
on every sale.

In 1948, fullerettes arrive,

Organizing
home cosmetic parties.

Woman: All you have to do

Is invite about 12 or 15
of your friends

To drop over some afternoon
or evening for a party,

And I'll help you put it on.

Narrator: Fullerettes
also work on commission,

Averaging $2 an hour
selling beauty products

And establishing the first
hostess party business model,

Now a $30-billion industry.

♪

As the forties end,
new industries like these

Will revolutionize
american workers' lives.

♪

The 1950s see
the american worker

Experience
the most dramatic change

Since the industrial revolution.

An entirely new sector
sprouts 13 million jobs--

The service industry.

Dick spady is an early pioneer.

In 1954,
he opens dick's drive-in,

A new kind of restaurant

In the seattle neighborhood
of wallingford.

This never-before-seen footage

Shows how spady
and americans like him

Upend the food service industry.

He has burger flipping
down to a science.

Speed is profit,

And there are
no fast-food unions.

♪

But dick spady knows
what heinz and hershey knew--

That when you treat workers
right, they do right by you.

He pays a high wage

And donates $1 million
in university scholarships

To his student employees.

They keep the burgers coming,

And fast food is here to stay.

♪

Along new york city's
7th avenue,

The ready-to-wear
garment district bustles.

Lombardy dress corporation
is doing business just two miles

From where the triangle factory
fire shocked manhattanites.

Things have changed
in the last 40 years.

New tools and methods

Enable mass production
of two million garments a year.

Lombardy is one
of over 3,000 dress firms

That copy the latest couture
designs for the mass market.

Only 40 years ago,

Garment makers were
exploiting their workers.

Now the workers have power,

Thanks to the international
ladies garment workers union,

Better known as the ilgwu.

Their 420,000 members
get a dime more an hour

Than the average
manufacturing worker,

Plus paid vacations,
health insurance, and a pension.

By the mid-1950s,

Union membership
is at an all-time high,

With a third of the american
workforce organized.

Miami beach, florida,
October 1957.

One of america's biggest,
most powerful unions

Is heading for trouble.

[cheering]

Jimmy hoffa celebrates
his election as president

Of the international brotherhood
of teamsters

In front of thousands
of cheering supporters.

Within a month,
hoffa is summoned

To the u.S. Courthouse
in foley square in new york,

Defending accusations
of funding irregularities

And links to organized crime.

♪

Chief counsel robert kennedy
and u.S. Senator john kennedy

Lead the investigation.

Robert kennedy:
We're exempting everyone

But racketeers
and hoodlums and crooks.

Jimmy hoffa:
I would like to have you

Drop that language, sir.

Narrator: The nation is gripped.

1.2 million americans tune in
to their new tvs daily.

Hoffa is questioned over the use
of unions' pension funds

To loan money
to organized crime figures.

When the committee
cross-examines

Mob boss
salvatore "sam" giancana,

He invokes the fifth amendment
against self-incrimination

34 times in 2 hours.

Giancana: Decline to answer
because I honestly believe

My answer might tend
to incriminate me.

Kennedy:
Can you tell us anything

About any of your operations,

Or you'll just giggle
every time I ask you a question?

Narrator: Despite 270 days
of damaging hearings,

Hoffa returns
to business as usual.

In the 1960s, however,

He's convicted of jury tampering
and goes to prison.

Upon his release, hoffa
vanishes in detroit, michigan.

He's never seen again.

After the huge gains
they made for their members,

Such as pension funds

Worth a quarter
of a billion dollars by 1957,

Organized labor gradually
loses momentum and membership.

[baby fussing]

In 1957, america is in the midst
of a record baby boom,

Producing 4.3 million babies.

Jobs change with the times,

And a host of new
service industries appear.

In roxborough, pennsylvania,
dy-dee diaper is washing

Nearly half a million
dirty diapers every month.

Each piece of cloth gets
four washings, seven rinses,

And a spritz of antiseptic.

Dy-dee is one of 700
american diaper services,

Whose revenues total $50 million
yearly during the baby boom.

America's surging population
is boosting

The suburban expansion
that began after the war.

In california, developers
build 250,000 new houses.

This residence is
state-of-the-suburban-art.

Push-button everything.

♪

Even a snack for fido.

♪

These labor-saving devices
symbolize affluence and freedom

For a generation
of white-collar workers.

♪

Upwardly mobile americans
have a third more buying power

Than their predecessors
in the 1940s...

...And they're spending
as never before.

Announcer: Still searching
for the perfect deodorant?

Narrator: By 1955, more than
two thirds of american homes

Have a tv,

Creating an enormous audience
for a new kind of advertising.

Stephen frankfurt
runs young & rubicam,

A leading ad firm.

Their office on madison avenue

Is fashionable, creative,
and professional.

The cameras offer a glimpse
into a new way of working,

At least for the men.

♪

Stephen frankfurt:
Advertising does sell people

Things they don't need,
things like television sets,

Automobiles, ketchup,
mattresses.

Narrator:
At frankfurt's factory,

The assembly line
fashions ideas into words

That persuade consumers to buy.

This is creative labor,

And y&r's president is
aggressive, wealthy, and famous.

The mad men are as much a brand
as the products they sell.

America rides the leading edge
of television advertising,

An industry
worth $100 billion today.

Announcer:
And parker's exclusive

Electro-polished point...

Narrator: By the 1960s,

Tv ads are reaching 90 percent
of american households.

Advertising revenues increase
tenfold in just two years,

Propelling american companies
into global super-brands.

Woman: And here's
this week's heinz hint.

Make a welsh rarebit,

Mixing in heinz ketchup
with the cheese.

That's a tomato rarebit.

Narrator:
Young & rubicam launch

An international campaign
for heinz,

Declaring 1957
the year of heinz.

Results--heinz global sales
exceed $278 million.

♪ that's heinz 57 ♪

Venerable soft drink coca-cola

Wants more of the post-war
boom babies to love coke,

So the company
sponsors a series,

"the adventures
of kit carson."

Boy: Boy, would I like
to be kit carson!

Girl: Hi, kit.
Where's your horse?

[laughter]

Woman: Well,
anybody here interested

In sandwiches and coke?

Narrator: Coke is on its way
to world domination,

Assuming its place
among the giants of commerce.

Announcer: Six and a half
magic hours to europe.

Narrator: America is exporting
itself worldwide.

In the late 1950s,
pan am begins promoting itself

As "the" international
air carrier,

With ad campaigns that emphasize
business travelers.

Customers go for it,

And more than 28 million
business passengers buy tickets.

Pan am ads sell gloss, luxury,
glamour, and sex.

Flight attendants
smile like movie stars,

Pouring cocktails
eight miles high.

In half a century,

American workers have lived
through multiple revolutions.

Wages have more than doubled.

The work week
is a third shorter.

Parents who worked
standing up at machines

Have children who make
their livings with their minds.

Complicated
and sometimes frustrating,

The american dream
has come true for many,

And american workers are among
the richest in the world.