Race For the White House (Series 1)

Race for the White House is a landmark six-part drama-documentary series for CNN that tells the story of America’s most dramatic and consequential presidential elections.

Each episode tells the story of one campaign, culminating with the euphoria or devastation of election night. The episodes include revealing interviews with candidates, campaign strategists, managers, politicians and historians who tell the inside stories of the six battles – the backroom deals, the dirty tricks and the brilliant power plays that seal victory. We use rarely seen archive and stylised dramatic reconstructions to bring these ‘behind the scenes’ stories vividly to life.

The six elections featured are 1828 – Andrew Jackson v John Quincy Adams; 1860 – Abraham Lincoln vs Stephen Douglas; 1948 – Harry Truman vs Thomas Dewey; 1960 – John F. Kennedy vs Richard Nixon; 1988 George H. W. Bush vs Michael Dukakis; 1992 – Bill Clinton vs George H.W. Bush.

Broadcast began on the 6th March 2016 to complement CNN’s coverage of the 2016 Presidential election. Episodes 1 and 2 broke CNN records to become the two highest rated Original Series documentaries of all time.