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September 16, 1968. Richard Nixon isn't exactly seen as a comedian. But tonight, he's trying to change that by appearing on Laugh-In, a TV show similar to Saturday Night Live. Nixon needs every vote he can get in the 1968 election, facing off against Hubert Humphrey, the vice president who became the Democratic nominee after Lyndon Johnson withdrew from the ticket.

Nixon's Laugh-In appearance is a surprise, but soon, he'll pull off a move that no one would ever expect. How did back-channel dealings, unattended teleprompters, and Oval Office shouting matches turn this election into an all-time drama? And what do recently uncovered conversations reveal about how far Nixon was willing to go to secure victory?

Special thanks to David Farber, professor of history at the University of Kansas and author of Chicago ‘68; Lawrence O’Donnell, host of The Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell on MSNBC and author of Playing with Fire: The 1968 Election and the Transformation of American Politics; and Luke Nichter, professor of history at Chapman University and author of The Year That Broke Politics: Collusion and Chaos in the Presidential Election of 1968.

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As war breaks out with Spain, Roosevelt heads to Cuba with his cavalry, a newly-minted band called the Rough Riders. He returns a hero – and a celebrity – and runs for Governor of New York.

After his wife and mother both die on a single day, Teddy Roosevelt thinks his life is over. He escapes to the Dakota Badlands and the hardscrabble ranching life of the frontier. But the lure of politics brings him back to New York, where he’s determined to root out corruption as the new Commissioner of the Police Department.

Teddy Roosevelt is a sickly child born into a wealthy New York family. But he’s determined to seek out physical and intellectual challenges that instill in him a spirit of adventure that will guide his political life.

Making Teddy takes you inside the life of a man who went from the big city to life on the frontier, from leading a cavalry unit in the Spanish-American War to leading the entire country from the White House. Each episode will bring together leading historians, authors and journalists to paint in vivid detail the forces that shaped Theodore Roosevelt into the pioneer he would become.

Making Teddy premieres Thursday, July 27.