Synopsis

"The Power and the People: 1898-1914" evokes the age of widespread immigration. As narrator David Ogden Stiers observes, "The entire world would arrive at the city's doorstep," a figure of 1.2 million in a single year in 1907. Writer Pete Hamill captures the spirit of the time: "Come here, everything is possible." The program further traces the political ascent of Al Smith, dubbed the "Happy Warrior," and documents the burgeoning subway system alongside the soaring construction of skyscrapers wi