It Was Said

In the West, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is always seen as one of two things: KGB spy or judo master. But to anyone who’s ever lived in the Soviet Union, Putin is something else entirely: a street kid. Join journalist Julia Ioffe as she explores how Putin’s childhood taught him lessons that shape his thinking and actions to this day.

Eleanor Roosevelt champions the creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a foundational document proclaiming that “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” 

Franklin D. Roosevelt asks Congress for a declaration of war against Japan following the attack on Pearl Harbor – a date, he says, which will live in infamy.

Frederick Douglass delivers a searing speech on the Fourth of July, summoning the nation to remedy the contradiction between slavery and the founding principles of the United States. 

Republican Senator Margaret Chase Smith breaks with partisan orthodoxy to take a stand against the demagoguery of Joseph McCarthy.

Ronald Reagan commemorates the 40th anniversary of D-day. Linking past and present, he harks back to the landing in Normandy to revive a sense of American greatness and strength. 

Nelson Mandela stands trial for challenging the apartheid regime in South Africa. Speaking from the defendant’s dock at Pretoria, he defiantly declares that he is prepared to die to achieve a democratic and free society. 

Margaret Thatcher resolves not to change course despite mounting criticism of her economic policy in Britain. The lady's not for turning, she said.  

Theodore Roosevelt, speaking at the Sorbonne in Paris, outlines the vital role and responsibility of the ordinary citizen in a republic.  

John F. Kennedy delivers a historic speech at Rice University on his daring and uncertain mission to land a man on the moon before the end of the decade. 

Confronted with the impending threat of Nazi invasion, Winston Churchill outlines the stakes of the war and rallies the British people to fight on against seemingly insurmountable odds. 

Welcome to Season Two of It Was Said, a documentary podcast series that looks back on 10 of the most powerful, impactful and timeless speeches in American history. Written and narrated by Pulitzer Prize-winning and best-selling author-historian, Jon Meacham, created, directed and produced by C13Originals Studios, in association with HISTORY Channel.

Ep 10: On a bright and snowy morning a young president summons a nation and a generation to the work of history with his enduring inaugural address.

Ep 9: A twenty three year old John Lewis, speaking at the March On Washington, calls a nation to moral account. He didn’t want to be patient, he said. He wanted freedom now.  

Ep 8: In the tradition of Eleanor Roosevelt, Hillary Rodham Clinton travels to Beijing to argue that women’s rights are human rights, setting new global priorities. 

Ep 7: A daughter of the segregated south, Barbara Jordan, keynotes the Democratic National Convention of 1976. It was America’s bicentennial, and Jordan was a voice born in one nation speaking to the hopes of a better nation to come.

Ep 6: A demagogic politician, exaggerated claims, an insatiable thirst for attention and controversy, and a national climate of fear and anxiety. How Edward R. Murrow took on Senator Joseph McCarthy.     Special thanks to The Department of Special Collections and University Archives, Marquette University Libraries

Ep 5: Ronald Reagan brings his long American odyssey to a close in his presidential farewell address, an evocation of America as a shining city on a hill. A nation that builds not walls but bridges.

Ep 4: Meghan McCain delivers a provocative eulogy for her father, the war hero and senator, John McCain, at Washington National Cathedral. It was a speech at once elegiac and resonant in the age of Trump.

Ep 3: Barack Obama goes to Charleston, South Carolina in the wake of a white supremacist’s massacre of innocents at Emanuel AME Church. In word and in song the 44th President contemplates tragedy and grace.

Ep 2: Robert Kennedy learns of the MLK Jr.’s assassination while in route to a campaign event in inner city Indianapolis. He breaks the news to an unsuspecting crowd, delivering a spontaneous and empathetic eulogy for the apostle of nonviolence. 

Ep 1: In one of the most tumultuous moments in American history, Martin Luther King Jr. travels to Memphis to address the issue of racial and economic injustice. With eloquent language and brilliant rhetoric, he creates a mosaic of the ongoing Civil Rights struggle, culminating with a fearless and defiant premonition.  

Welcome to Season One of It Was Said , a documentary podcast series that looks back on 10 of the most powerful, impactful and timeless speeches in American history. Written and narrated by Pulitzer Prize-winning and best-selling author-historian, Jon Meacham, created, directed and produced by C13Originals Studios, in association with HISTORY Channel.