Special documentary series about the people we don't acknowledge as being behind really big events.
Robert McNamara (and Westmoreland) v. Vo Nguyen Giap in the Vietnam War, beginning with Giap turning the tables on the French at Dien Bien Phu, sparking Domino Theory and getting US generals interested in intervening in Southeast Asia.
Leo Ryan’s requested visit to Guyana was the prompt for the Jonestown Massacre.
WFNX was the first in the country to play artists such as Nirvana, The Killers, Franz Ferdinand, Florence and the Machine, Foster the People, Mumford and Sons, and many more.
John Softsword sucking so hard at ruling England that the Magna Carta was written.
9,000 screenwriters, in 1988, struck against the film & TV industry, for 155 days (longest Writer’s Guild Strike yet), which gave TV producers a deep need for content, prompting the creation of COPS, which spawned a new breed of reality television, which led to the reality TV boom in the 2000s as a way to reap profits without investing in production.
LucasFilm’s Graphics Group’s Adventures of Andre and Wally B, as the first fully computer animated short film, MTV and the Dire Straits had the first computer-animated music video, Terminator 2 and Jurassic Park had groundbreaking CGI, then Graphics Group became Pixar and made Toy Story, the first fully computer-animated film—and the CGI business exploded.
Robert Watson-Watt implemented radar for the British, allowing them to win the Battle of Britain, and therefore not be conquered by Nazi Germany (while attributing success in aviation detection to “carrots making eyesight better”).
Paul Revere got caught during his midnight ride, whereas Israel Bissell went 345 miles to Philadelphia (or at least to Hartford, CT) among others who also made the rounds that night (all dispatched by Joseph Warren—it wasn’t Revere’s idea).
Ub Iwerks was the real cartoonist at the early Disney company, not Walt. Ub’s drawings went on to influence the manga art style, which led to all of anime.
Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement kept giving Hitler the opportunities to grow in domain and violence, allowing Nazi Germany to begin World War II.
Lise Meitner (and her nephew) figured out how to split the atom (nuclear fission) which led to atomic weaponry, the end of WWII, and the entire Cold War arms race.
Charles Coughlin rallied American citizens to feel safe during the Great Depression, and then used his radio presence to support FDR and help get him and the New Deal elected, which cured the Great Depression and had FDR lead into WWII—but Coughlin was dejected by FDR and kicked off of the air by this point for egotism, fascist support, and anti-Semitism (FDR also only used him, but didn’t accept him into the inner circle after being sworn-in because he perceived Coughlin as a threat to his reign).
Howard Hyde Russell founded the Anti-Saloon League in Ohio, which grew in popularity after the Civil War, leading to the Temperance Movement during the Progressive Era, and having a sober WWI led to the 18th Amendment being passed, making alcohol illegal, which led to the Prohibition in the 1920s, which led to rises in speakeasies (and a loose underground culture), organized crime, and bootlegging, all of which led to advancements in Women’s Rights (see: loose underground culture), the foremost of the Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese filmographies, and eventually NASCAR.
The FCC split NBC into NBC Blue and NBC Red because of monopoly laws, but while initially still cohesive they eventually developed different schemes, leading Blue to become ABC.
Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction in the 2004 Super Bowl Halftime Show led to the FCC’s crackdown on daytime and primetime television indecency, cutting sexuality and violence. Clear Channel Communications, which owns many popular radio stations and is affiliated with Super Bowl broadcaster CBS, had also censored or removed many songs from radio following the event, including blacklisting Jackson from receiving airplay as well as focusing on editing rock radio formats in particular. Rolling Stone stated "Stations all over the country, the petition notes, are dropping or editing dozens of songs, including the Who's 'Who Are You,' Lou Reed's 'Walk on the Wild Side,' Pearl Jam's 'Jeremy' and John Mellencamp's 'Jack and Diane.'“ Live broadcasts are now received by television sets 10 seconds late, in order to give watching Censors the opportunity to stop the broadcast. MOST IMPORTANTLY, the incident prompted Jawed Karim to found YouTube, since he couldn’t find the video online, as a place to upload video clips – which led to viral videos, and modern viral culture: reddit, Vine, tumblr, etc.
Napoleon III wanted to restore France’s grandeur, so he declared war on Russia. This (the Crimean War) saw Russia pitted against the allied French, Ottomans, British, and Sardinians; the Russians lost and, fearing losing their territory in North America, they optioned to sell it instead. America first had to deal with its Civil War problem but afterwards Secretary of State William Seward bought the territory of Alaska; American public reception was not too good (“Folly,” they called it), but eventually it became the 49th US State, and the largest one, and it produced an abundance of oil. (“Folly,” they called it.)
Napoleon [Bonaparte] I was eager to take the Louisiana Territory from Spain, but was warring England while Spain wasn’t eager to get rid of Florida – Jefferson, leading the US, didn’t want to risk getting his country turned into a battlefield (and he wanted the Louisiana Territory), so he tried to get it bought – Napoleon said no, but couldn’t have Louisiana while fighting Britain, because then Britain would take it – Jefferson said he’d help Britain against France if Napoleon didn’t contend, which upset Napoleon, but he held fast. BUT THEN, in Haiti, the slaves revolted against the French, and it was the only successful slave revolt in history: Napoleon tried to re-enslave Haiti, but his plans of building a New World empire were ruined – without his revenue from Caribbean sugar, he had no value in holding Louisiana – so he sold it to Jefferson, at a sum of less than 3 cents per acre. Many of the initial revolting slaves were unified by François Mackandal, who was captured and killed, but his revolution lived beyond him.
Tennis for Two and Spacewar! began the history of popular videogames, and then the home entertainment system (from Nashua, NH) followed by Pong, Nintendo, the PC, etcetera…
In 1898, Nikola Tesla demonstrated a radio-controlled boat—which he dubbed "teleautomaton"—to the public during an electrical exhibition. This led to radio-guided missiles, RC toys, drone aircraft (since WWII, and especially now), quadcopters (which are now automated with GPS by Amazon), and first-person-view video piloting.
John Randall made the cavity magnetron produce small electromagnetic waves (microwaves) at an acceptable amount, Sir Henry Tizard brought it to the US in exchange for R&D help during WWII, and then Percy Spencer (self-driven electricity-genius) stood so close to one that his candy bar melted—and this inspired him to take the cavity magnetron and turn it into a food cooker (the Radarange) and he was paid a mere $2.00 by Raytheon as gratuity. By 1967, the “microwave oven” was small enough and cheap enough for the home, and many bought them; families could prepare food faster, and eat TV dinners, leading to the decline of Family Dinners and the rise of Primetime Television audiences.
Gospel singer Sister Rosetta Tharpe invented Rock’n’Roll back in the 1930s and 40s, inspiring everyone today who we think were the originators of Rock’n’Roll.
Tom Cruise made Ray Ban sunglasses popular with Risky Business, and again with Top Gun.
Original document created 02/23/2015.