The crucial years of the Second World War. Stone, on the one hand, denounces the steadfastness of Allied forces in the face of the rise of Nazi-fascist regimes and the Americans' choice to use atomic weapons at the end of the conflict, on the other. He celebrates the sacrifice of the Soviet people who succeeded in curbing Hitler's advance, allowing the Allied forces to win the war.

Highlights from the historical upset of Harry Truman replacing Henry Wallace as Roosevelt's Vice President. Exploration of the relationship between the US and the Soviet Union and the beginnings of the Cold War.

The strategies behind the U.S. atomic bombings of Japan are explored as well as the new mythology that emerged from the war. The bombing haunted the Soviets and mistrust towards the Allies grew quickly.

The equation changes: specific month-by-month causes of the Cold War emerge and it is not entirely clear who started it. Highlights include Churchill's Iron Curtain speech, the civil war in Greece and the Red Scare that prompts the rise of Joseph McCarthy, the House Un-American Activities Committee and the FBI.

Eisenhower and John Foster Dulles replace Truman. Stalin dies but relations with the Soviet Union turn colder. The H-bomb and the doctrine of nuclear annihilation are explored, as are the Korean War and U.S. rearmament. McCarthyism grows and so does the ruthlessness of U.S. policy towards a Third World. Eisenhower emerges as a game changer.

JFK and the Bay of Pigs; on the brink of total war during Cuban Missile Crisis; early Vietnam; JFK's attempts at peace with Khrushchev; JFK assassinated. Directed and narrated by Oliver Stone.

The war in Vietnam reaches a turning point; President Nixon's involvement in Watergate comes to light.

Ronald Reagan succeeds Jimmy Carter; Reagan and the Soviet Union's Mikhail Gorbachev powwow; and Reagan's legacy is examined.

George W. Bush's doctrine of endless war in Iraq and Afghanistan and the continued cannibalization of the U.S. economy. Squandered chances given by the end of the Cold War. A new USA, the National Security Fortress.

In the Season 1 finale, the war on terrorism and the presidential administrations of George W. Bush and Barack Obama are examined.