Community Idea Stations

The political ad "Peace Little Girl" aired during the 1964 presidential campaign ushered in a new era of the television attack ad. The campaign also reshaped the American political landscape in other significant ways ultimately ending up with the establishment of the contemporary geopolitical map of red and blue states. Includes interviews with historians and participants in the campaign.

A project of the UVA Center for Politics and Community Idea Stations, "Ball of Confusion" is a one-hour documentary that examines the 1968 presidential contest in the context of a difficult and contentious year in American history. The assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, racial unrest, nationwide riots, and a continuing war in Vietnam put the nation on edge and produced a historic three-way presidential election. Through archival footage and compelling interviews, the film shows how the election was influenced by the fractures in the United States' social and political foundations, leaving deep scars that would affect generations to come.

At the second Virginia Convention of March 1775, held at St. John’s Church in Richmond, Virginia, Patrick Henry proposed a provocative resolution to arm a militia to put the colony into a state of defense against the tyranny of British rule. There he famously declared, “give me liberty, or give me death,” which spread across the colonies and became a rallying cry for the American Revolution.