The Story

A look back in time to when the Soviet Union attempted to design and manufacture goods. From 99% Invisible.

In the early morning hours of August 22, 1971, Father Michael Doyle and 27 other mostly Catholic priests and lay people were caught destroying draft records inside the federal courthouse in Camden, N.J. It was an act of nonviolent civil disobedience to protest what Father Doyle and the others considered the immoral war in Vietnam. Also in this episode: Grandma gets the lead out.

Mai Mclean had just turned 17 when she married an American soldier she met while working at an air base near her village in Vietnam.  He was the first person who ever showed her any kindness. Mai left her village with her new husband. But leaving her mother was particularly wrenching. Mai faithfully sent money to her family in Vietnam every month until her husband abandoned her and she had to work 3 jobs to support her children. In February 2007, and for the first time in 40 years, Mai Mclean returned to her village in Vietnam to reconnect with the family and country she left behind.

Artist Toni Scott has studied the narratives of American slaves and built life-size castings of people in her work Bloodlines.