Historic Voices Podcast: Global History And Culture

In the podcast episode in this two-part series, we feature Mr. Edward R. Murrow, a well-respected American broadcast journalist. He was a pioneer in radio and television news broadcasting. Murrow was recognized by the public and his peers for his honesty and setting the standard for integrity in delivering the news. During his career for CBS radio, Murrow was appointed as director of CBS’s European operations during the 1930s and 1940s. While he was based in London, he traveled throughout Europe and reported on the beginning of German and Italian aggression against neighboring countries. Through his broadcasts before the U.S. was attacked at Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Murrow brought World War Two to the American public who were still isolationist regarding their lack of interest in the aggression of Japan against China and that of Germany and Italy against our European allies. This episode provides a report by Murrow of him riding with an allied airplane crew that bombed Berlin. As the narrator points out

In this podcast episode, we feature Reverend Billy Graham sharing a five-minute, low-key talk about importance of the Easter Story that he recorded in 1960 while on location in Jerusalem. There is a video of the same speech is available through YouTube. Dr. Graham has retired from active preaching and lives in an assisted medical care facility. His wife passed a few years ago. I attended one of his revival meetings in a crowded Royals baseball stadium in Kansas City many years ago. It was an experience that I still remember today. Here is just a little bit of information about him. He was an active preacher and author for six decades. Dr. Graham sought to relate the Bible to contemporary social issues. He preached jointly with Dr. Martin Luther King at some crusades in the 1950s. Graham provided some of the bail money to release Dr. King when he was arrested after a civil rights demonstration. It is estimated the total audience at revival meetings, listeners on radio, and viewers on television of Dr. Graham’s

In this podcast episode, we feature Alexandr Solzhenitsyn delivering a speech named by others as A World Split Apart at Harvard University in 1978. He is considered the Soviet Union’s greatest author, historian, and resilient critic of the government. In 1970 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. This speech was delivered during tensions of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. The Cuban Missile Crisis occurred less than 15 years earlier. The Vietnam Conflict and ongoing violence in the Middle East were supported on opposite sides by both countries. Both nations were rapidly developing new weapons with even more destructive force than during World War Two. In his speech at Harvard, Mr. Solzhenitsyn shares about the crisis that faces the world and possible solutions to end the violence and threat to humankind. You will hear the voice of him and that of the translator. In addition to an available download transcript of this speech, I also included another PDF from Wikipedia with t

We are excited to announce that a spin-off podcast has been created from the Historic Voices Podcast.  It is the Paul Harvey Podcast.  Our two most popular episodes in Historic Voices have been by Paul Harvey: "So God made a farmer" and "The boxer's second career."  There is so much audio content available that it was decided to create a separate podcast. Paul Harvey will still appear on Historic Voices from time-to-time, but mostly on its own podcast. Check out the website at http://paulharveypodcast.org  It also has its own Facebook Page and YouTube channel. The format for this podcast is rebroadcasting his News and Comment and The Rest of the Story shows. Unfortunately, few of his News and Comment shows are available. They will be featured once or twice a month and I will attempt to schedule them to coincide with major U.S. holidays related to the show topic. With the large library of Rest of the Story shows, I will group them into common themes that will run for three or four consecutive podcast episodes.

In this podcast episode, we feature President Eisenhower delivering a speech named by others as Atoms for Peace at the United Nations in 1953. This speech was delivered during high tensions of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union.  The Berlin Blockade had only been resolved a few years earlier in 1948.  That event nearly triggered a military confrontation between those who countries then.  Both nations were rapidly developing new weapons with even more destructive force than used at Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War Two.  President Eisenhower previously was General Eisenhower serving as the Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe during World War Two.  After the war ended, he retired from the military and was elected President of the United States in 1953.  Eisenhower was now in a position to take nuclear energy as a weapon and help repurpose it for peaceful purposes.  This speech to the United Nations was part of an intentional campaign called “Operation Candor” to discuss t

In this podcast episode, we feature Eleanor Roosevelt delivering a speech about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights shortly after World War Two. With the rampant disregard for human life and dignity leading up to and during World War Two, world leaders agreed to clearly affirm the rights of individuals wherever they lived. In April 1946, Eleanor Roosevelt became the first chairperson of the preliminary United Nations Commission on Human Rights. Roosevelt remained chairperson when the Commission was established on a permanent basis in January 1947. She played an instrumental role, along with others, in drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Eleanor spoke in favor of the Declaration, calling it "the international Magna Carta of all men everywhere" in a speech on the night of September 28, 1948. The Declaration was adopted by the General Assembly on December 10, 1948.

In this podcast episode, we feature Paul Harvey and one of his signature radio programs. The Rest of the Story was a Monday-through-Friday radio program hosted by Paul Harvey beginning during the Second World War on the ABC Radio Networks.   The Rest of the Story consisted of stories presented as little-known or forgotten facts on a variety of subjects with some key element of the story (usually the name of some well-known person) held back until the end. The broadcasts always concluded with a variation on the tag line "And now you know the rest of the story."  So I do not spoil the ending, I will not say anything else about this episode.

In this podcast episode, we feature the voices of two great British Shakespearean actors, Sir John Gielgud and Sir Ralph Richardson, and the great radio and movie actor, director, producer, and writer, Mr. Orson Wells. Sir Gielgud appeared in many great Hollywood films including Gandhi, Elizabeth, Chariots of Fire, and The Elephant Man. Mr. Wells is best known for the film Citizen Kane and 1938-radio show, War of the Worlds. The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes was an old-time radio show which aired in the USA from October 2, 1939 to July 7, 1947. The radio stories were action packed, filled with atmosphere, and featured great music by Lou Kosloff, as well as excellent sound effects. Originally, the show starred Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson. Together, they starred in 220 episodes. In 1955, NBC re-ran the BBC series with the great British actors Sir John Gielgud as Holmes, and Sir Ralph Richardson as Watson, and in "The Final Problem," Orson Wells is the voice of Holmes’ gre

In this podcast episode, we feature Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King’s A Time to Break Silence speech on April 4, 1967 in New York City. While many have listened to Dr. King’s I Have a Dream speech, fewer have considered his words in A Time to Break Silence. He embraced his concern for both the welfare of the African-American soldiers who most often were on the front lines of battle, but also for the poor in Vietnam. Dr. King was one of the few national leaders who correctly understood the struggle in Vietnam was not between Communism and democracy, rather a long battle against French imperialism that had dominated the region for hundreds of years. The fear of the Cold War between the U.S. and Russia had spilled into Southeast Asia where it did not belong. Dr. King saw how the Vietnam conflict was both destroying our own country as well as that of the poor in Vietnam. This was not a universally popular speech among the American people. Time has revealed the wisdom of Dr. King who not only spoke of advancing civil

In this podcast episode, we feature Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. speech I Have a Dream delivered on August 28, 1963. We are about to celebrate the national holiday in honor of Dr. King on January 16th. I thought it timely to release Dr. King’s on this day of remembrance and challenge to for us to recommit ourselves to the continuing fight for civil rights for all. The context for Dr. King’s speech was the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in summer of 1963. The speech was delivered from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial before a quarter million civil rights supporters in Washington, D.C. Many historians declare the speech to be the defining moment of the American Civil Rights Movement

In this podcast episode, we feature the inaugural speech by President Kennedy in 1961. As I record this podcast episode, President Obama has just given his last speech as president in Chicago where he reminded the audience that was where his public service began. In a week, President-Elect Trump will give his first speech as the next U.S. President. It seemed appropriate to go back to one of the most remembered speeches by a new president. There was much more to President Kennedy’s speech than the often-quoted “Ask not what the country can do for you but what you can do for your country.” He reminded the listeners that even though they were living in the high point of the Cold War with the Soviet Union, there were alternatives to war and opportunities to bring prosperity to all the earth’s people.

As we prepare to enter 2017 on this New Year’s Eve, I thought it best to share a quick update report on the podcast and request feedback from you to help shape future episodes. An important part of independent podcasts like this one is developing a relationship between the podcast host and the listeners. You have several ways to provide your feedback. Choose one you like. Send an email to me at david@lifepodcast.net Include an audio clip if you like.  Just let me know if I have permission to share it on the show. Write a comment on the blog posting for this episode. Click on the tiny number in the upper right-hand corner of the blog posting for this episode.    Complete an anonymous online survey at the website, http://programsurvey.info As I said, it is anonymous and an easy way to provide your thoughts. Thanks for listening to the Historic Voices podcast.  I hope you share your thoughts about our podcast show. Best wishes to you for a happy and prosperous New Year.

In this podcast episode, we feature a rebroadcast of a radio speech by Sir Winston Churchill on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1941. The dramatic timing of the speech was that it was aired live just two weeks after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. As I record this podcast episode a few days before Christmas Eve, I am mindful of the recent terrorist attacks using cars, minivans, and trucks against civilians around the world. A few weeks ago, a terrorist college student drove a vehicle into a crowd of students at Ohio State University killing nearly ten. A few days ago, a terrorist stole a semi-trailer truck and drove into a crowded Christmas market in Berlin, killing and injuring more than 50. A day or two later another terrorist drove a van filled with explosive gas bottles into an Australian Christmas lobby office. Four have just died when a minivan crashed into a farmer’s market in Beijing. And who can forget the ongoing genocide at the hands of ISIL and others with the civilians in Syria. It can be difficult to thi

In this podcast episode, we feature a rebroadcast of a USO Show led by Bob Hope for our U.S. soldiers on station in West Berlin in December 1948. The dramatic timing of this event was that West Berlin was under siege by the East German and Russian troops.  Food, medicine, and the basics for life were being stalled by the Soviet troops at the road crossing points into West Berlin.  This Cold War event is better known as the “Berlin Airlift” that saved the lives of hundreds of thousands and was the first time the U.S., Great Britain, and France stood up to the first act of aggression by the Soviets against the NATO alliance of nations. As I record this podcast episode a few days before Christmas Eve, I remember listening to the Bob Hope Christmas USO shows that he led to our troops in the most dangerous war zones around the world.  I will feature other holiday shows in upcoming podcast episodes.  You can view edited versions of these shows on video through YouTube and other online websites. 

In this podcast episode, we feature a rebroadcast of a radio show that celebrated the 150th anniversary of the original Bill of Rights approved by Congress and ratified by the states. The dramatic timing of the show was that it was aired live on December 15, 1941, just one week after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. At the end of the radio show, President Roosevelt addressed the nation and stated why war was needed against Japan to guarantee our constitutional rights as free people. That speech was shared during the previous episode of this podcast series. A special thanks to Dennis Humphreys of the Journey’s Into American History Podcast for granting permission to use this historic recording. His podcast can be subscribed through iTunes and other podcast services. In this portion of the radio show, you will hear the voices of famous Hollywood actors portraying average Americans in the late 1700s who debated reasons for passage of the Bill of Rights, its importance to average Americans, and why war might be needed

In this podcast episode, we feature a short speech by President Roosevelt regarding why war against Japan was needed to defend our freedoms as Americans as expressed through the Bill of Rights. The President delivered this short speech at the end of a one-hour radio program celebrating the 150th anniversary of the original Bill of Rights approved by Congress and ratified by the states. While many of us have probably heard the other speeches by the President on the days following the attack, this may be one that you have not heard before. A special thanks to Dennis Humphreys of the Journey’s Into American History Podcast for granting permission to use this historic recording. His podcast can be subscribed through iTunes and other podcast services.  This radio program was performed live on December 15, 1941, just one week after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.

Welcome to the first episode in the podcast series, Historic Voices: Global History and Culture. Each podcast will feature voices of important people from the past. Some episodes will bring the voices of political leaders, common citizens who living during extraordinary times, and occasional entertainers who helped Americans live through difficult times. All the voices are authentic and come from open resources. I will provide a short introduction to the program and then another at the end to provide more historical context for the audio recording. Historic Voices Podcast brings the voices from the past that make history alive through their personal accounts and public speeches. This podcast is part of the LifePodcast Network composed of other family-friendly podcasts that bring a positive message of hope and inspiration. Check out the LifePodcast Network by clicking on this link, http://lifepodcast.net.  Send email to me at david@lifepodcast.net