Torch-lit marches down Main Street... at first glance, images like these conjure up some of America's darkest moments. But this wasn't the Klan. These black-clad torch-bearers were the Wide Awakes: a para-military political machine that some say delivered the presidency to Abraham Lincoln.

Before they led America through national crises, Presidents Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson were all transformed by personal trauma. Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin reveals the all too human men who became legends.

These are some of the key events In the run-up to the U.S. election of 1860 that would ultimately lead a young nation to a bloody Civil War.

Television made John Kennedy the ultimate celebrity during his presidency. However, the JFK we remember is the one his wife, Jackie, created after his death. From Air Force One to the Oval Office to the Rose Garden, Jackie Kennedy designed the symbols of presidential power still used today.

Colonial America had no freedom of religion, and the men who signed the Declaration of Independence hated each other. The reason you don’t know those facts? Thomas Jefferson.

Like a burger and fries, Nixon and scandal have always gone together. But why did his men break into the Watergate office building? Why did Nixon crave personal wealth? The answers lie with JFK, Howard Hughes, and... the Nixonburger!

When Theodore Roosevelt came to Dakota Territory to hunt bison in 1883, he was a skinny, young, spectacled dude from New York. He could not have imagined how his adventure in this remote and unfamiliar place would forever alter the course of the nation.

Dwight Eisenhower’s interstate highway system was the biggest infrastructure project of its time, a bold plan to connect all corners of America and boost the post-war economy. So how did it end up dividing the nation, and deepening the divide between rich and poor?

In 48 episodes, John Green will teach you the history of the United States of America! Crash Course US History

Franklin Delano Roosevelt is remembered for overcoming the toughest possible challenges. Staring down the Depression, staring down the Nazis, saving democracy. He would remake the world and at the same time conquer his own personal limitations.

It took an extraordinary set of circumstances to bring Abraham Lincoln to the White House. Violence in the streets... and in the U.S. capital. Dueling Newspapers. An unpredictable election with four main candidates, and an obscure frontier lawyer destined for greatness.