America: Facts vs. Fiction

World War 2 is obscured by myth. Few remember that an American admiral played a pivotal role in showing Japan how to attack Pearl Harbor.

Much of what is known about the old west is myth. Gunfights never started with a quick draw, and Native Americans feared enemies more menacing than soldiers.

Myths taint our knowledge of the 4th of July, St. Patrick's Day, and our favourite mini-holiday, the weekend.

Myths obscure the real facts about our favourite vices: smoking, drinking and gambling. Which nation had the first anti-smoking campaign?

Myths surround pivotal historic moments: the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Battle of Thermopylae, the Boston Tea Party, and the Battle of Waterloo.

Myths eclipse the real facts about NASA's dramatic rescue of three astronauts aboard the crippled Apollo 13 spacecraft.

Much of what we know about America's secret societies is myth. The Freemasons have no evil agenda, and the Mafia took root not in New York, but the South.

Myths surround America's most infamous bad guys. Al Capone was a philanthropist as well as a hood, and Benedict Arnold was a hero as well as a traitor.

America's medical history is infected with myths. George Washington's doctors may have inadvertently killed him and heroin was once a best-selling cough suppressant.

Before their epic duel, Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr were law partners, and the conflict between the Hatfields and McCoys ended in a courtroom, not the backwoods.

The US Civil War is clouded in myth - the North's largest city tried to secede, the Union didn't go to war to end slavery and most deaths weren't due...

In the Cold War, an astronomer was involved in a plan to fire a nuclear missile at the moon and America's nuclear security hinges on a football and a biscuit.