3 November 2012 Last updated at 10:50 ET

Alistair Cooke - Letter from America: Television, Thanksgiving and 4 July

From the early days of television and fears it would corrupt America's youth, to celebrations marking the two truly all-American holidays of Thanksgiving and 4 July - Alistair Cooke was able to put his unique spin on US popular culture.

Listen to some examples here, in the fourth of five slideshows featuring highlights from his Letter from America collection.

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The BBC has published more than 900 episodes of Alistair Cooke's Letter from America which were originally broadcast between 1946 and 2004.

All images subject to copyright. Click bottom right for image information.

Images courtesy: Cooke Americas LLP, Getty Images and AP. Music by KPM Music.

Slideshow production by Paul Kerley. Publication date 3 November 2012.

More Alistair Cooke audio slideshows:

JFK, Bobby Kennedy and Watergate

My friends Bing and Chaplin

Eyewitness in the civil rights era

The road to the White House

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