In Pursuit: Lessons of American Leadership

What can history teach us about leadership? In a special documentary based on More Perfect’s In Pursuit, @RETROREPORT explores lessons from America’s presidents and first ladies through new voices, archival material and documentary storytelling. In Pursuit: Lessons of American Leadership | Full Episode This program is made possible by viewers like you. Support your local PBS station: https://www.pbs.org/donate Subscribe to the PBS channel for more clips: https://www.youtube.com/@PBS Enjoy full episodes of your favorite PBS shows anytime, anywhere with the free PBS app: https://to.pbs.org/2QbtzhR FOLLOW US: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PBS/ X: https://twitter.com/PBS/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/PBS/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@pbs Threads: https://www.threads.net/@pbs #americanhistory #president #leadership In Pursuit: Lessons of American Leadership The special and digital series feature segments inspired by the essays and interviews of some of the nation’s most respected voices, including: retired General Stanley McChrystal reflects on Ulysses S. Grant as a model of leadership grounded in service rather than personal ambition. Secretary of the Smithsonian Lonnie Bunch considers Martin Van Buren’s role in building the modern American political system. And documentary filmmaker Ken Burns reflects on Franklin Roosevelt’s empathetic leadership during the Great Depression and World War II. Additional insights feature Chief Justice John Roberts on William Howard Taft, Judy Woodruff on Rosalynn Carter, Douglas Brinkley on Barack Obama, David Brooks on Ronald Reagan, Anita McBride on Bess Truman, Sean Wilentz on Bill Clinton, and Lindsay Chervinsky on John Quincy Adams. In addition to the broadcast special and digital series, Retro Report has developed free educational resources tied to the In Pursuit project, available at retroreport.org, designed to bring civic learning into classrooms nationwide. The In Pursuit essay series is accompanied by a companion podcast, “In Pursuit with Colleen Shogan,” produced by PRX and available on all major podcast platforms. About Retro Report Retro Report is an Emmy Award-winning nonprofit newsroom dedicated to producing documentary journalism and educational resources. Retro Report has produced two prime-time television series for PBS, including the IDA award winning “Citizen Nation,” and has been recognized with 15 Emmy Award nominations, 14 Edward R. Murrow Awards, 12 Webbys, a Gerald Loeb Award and others. Feature-length documentaries include “Enemies of the People,” “How Saba Kept Singing” and, for FRONTLINE, “Baby Brokers,” “Crisis on Campus,” “Facing Eviction,” “Massacre in El Salvador,” “Forever Prison,” and “American Reckoning,” which was nominated for a 2023 Peabody Award. Retro Report has created more than 300 short documentaries in partnership with The New York Times, The New Yorker, PBS NewsHour, Independent Lens, Scientific American and many others. Retro Report’s free educational resources reach more than 3 million students each month About More Perfect More Perfect is a bipartisan alliance of 44 Presidential Centers, National Archives Foundation, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Karsh Institute for Democracy at the University of Virginia, and more than 100 organizations working together to advance five foundational Democracy Goals: 1) Universal Civic Learning; 2) Expanding National Service & Volunteering; 3) Bridging Divides & Building Trust; 4) Trusted Elections & More Representative and Responsive Governance; and 5) Access to Trusted News & Information. About In Pursuit In Pursuit is led by CEO Colleen Shogan, former Archivist of the United States & Senior Advisor to More Perfect & Senior Fellow in Civics at Stand Together; and Co-Chaired by John Bridgeland, More Perfect Founder & CEO and former Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council under President George W. Bush; Anita McBride, Director, First Ladies Initiative at American University and former Chief of Staff to First Lady Laura Bush, and Mark Updegrove, President & CEO of the LBJ Foundation and Presidential Historian for ABC News; with Vice Chair Andrew Mangino, an award-winning social entrepreneur.