Ken Burns on how the U.S. ‘failed’ during the Holocaust

Plus: America's third Reconstruction |

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By Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer In The U.S. and the Holocaust—a new documentary directed by Ken Burns, Lynn Novick, and Sarah Botstein, that aired on PBS Sep. 18-20—one of the recurring questions is what, if anything, the U.S. could have done to prevent the worst of the Holocaust. I zero in on the parts of the film that focused on this question , such as a debate among the historians about bombing Auschwitz and the visa roadblocks Jewish refugees faced. “We didn’t do enough. We failed,” Ken Burns told me. In another interview with TIME Editor-at-Large Jeffrey Kluger, Burns expands on the filmmaking process, from the tears shed during script-writing, to the ways the documentarians tried to humanize the 6 million deaths of European Jews. Here’s more history to know:

HISTORY ON TIME.COM The Tabloid That Launched America’s Obsession With True Crime By Joe Pompeo The story of how America's first tabloid brought us the culture of true crime, scandal, and celebrity that we live with today Read More » National Hispanic Heritage Month Is Incomplete Without Afro-Latino History By Natasha S. Alford The intersection of Black and Hispanic history tends to occupy an uncomfortable middle ground Read More » Column: The Perils and Promise of America's Third Reconstruction By Peniel E. Joseph Since the birth of the nation, its racial politics have been shaped by an ongoing battle between reconstructionist and redemptionist America Read More » The Little-Known History of the Black Men Who Became America’s First Paramedics By Olivia B. Waxman In "American Sirens," author Kevin Hazzard spotlights the Black men in Pittsburgh who pioneered America's modern emergency medical service. Read More » The Complicated History Behind The Woman King By Laura Zornosa Viola Davis stars in 'The Woman King,' a historical epic that chronicles the trials and triumphs of the Agojie and Dahomey Read More »

FROM THE TIME VAULT This week in 1955: Thurgood Marshall “In Kansas City, Mo. and Oklahoma City, in Oak Ridge, and Charleston, W. Va., white and Negro children for the first time sat together in classrooms. This simple fact, part of a vast and complex social revolution, resulted from a legal victory: the U.S. Supreme Court's decisions of May 17, 1954 and May 31, 1955, holding segregated schools contrary to the 14th Amendment. The name indelibly stamped on this victory is that of Thurgood Marshall, 47, counsel for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People…Most centrally and immediately, Marshall must deal with the future course of desegregation and the intertwined issues of the social revolution of which he is a leading figure.” (Sept. 19, 1955) Read More » This week in 1967: The Beatles “Like all good popular artists, the Beatles have a talent for distilling the moods of their time...Cole Porter's urbanities were wonderful tonics for the hung-over '30s; Rodgers and Hammerstein's ballads reflected the sentient and seriousness of the World War II era. Today the Beatles' cunning collages piece together scraps of tension between the generations, the loneliness of the dislocated '60s, and the bitter sweets of young love in any age. At the same time, their sensitivity to the absurd is sharper than ever. (Sept. 22, 1967) Read More » This week in 1984: America's Mood “Once again, people feel good about their lives and their country…Put on the Willie Nelson record. Turn up Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring. Woody Guthrie will do fine too, and even John Philip Sousa is permissible. The Zeitgeist has turned zesty. The U.S. is at peace, and between rising employment and fading inflation, the economy is aglow. Americans are feeling more sanguine and comfortable about their country than they have felt in two decades.” (Sep. 24, 1984) Read More »

HIGHLIGHTS FROM AROUND THE WEB Roads: The New York Times uses graphics to examine the way highways have divided major metropolitan areas since the mid-20th century. Driving history: For Car and Driver, Brett Berk reviews Bryan Appleyard’s new book The Car on the history of cars, which goes as far back as 1885. Presidential history: Salon’s Matthew Rozsa looks at modern-day lessons from the conspiracy theories about President Warren G. Harding’s 1923 death. Photos: NBC’s Harry Smith spotlights a veteran who is photographing the surviving members of the World War II generation. Food for thought: For New England Today, Aimee Tucker explores the sweet history of Necco wafers candy.

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