In the West, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is always seen as one of two things: KGB spy or judo master.... more

Eleanor Roosevelt champions the creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a foundational document proclaiming that “all human beings... more

Franklin D. Roosevelt asks Congress for a declaration of war against Japan following the attack on Pearl Harbor – a... more

Frederick Douglass delivers a searing speech on the Fourth of July, summoning the nation to remedy the contradiction between slavery... more

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

Ronald Reagan commemorates the 40th anniversary of D-day. Linking past and present, he harks back to the landing in Normandy... more

Nelson Mandela stands trial for challenging the apartheid regime in South Africa. Speaking from the defendant’s dock at Pretoria, he... more

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

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

John F. Kennedy delivers a historic speech at Rice University on his daring and uncertain mission to land a man... more

Confronted with the impending threat of Nazi invasion, Winston Churchill outlines the stakes of the war and rallies the British... more

Welcome to Season Two of It Was Said, a documentary podcast series that looks back on 10 of the most... more

Ep 10: On a bright and snowy morning a young president summons a nation and a generation to the work... more

Ep 9: A twenty three year old John Lewis, speaking at the March On Washington, calls a nation to moral... more

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... more

Ep 7: A daughter of the segregated south, Barbara Jordan, keynotes the Democratic National Convention of 1976. It was America’s bicentennial,... more

Ep 6: A demagogic politician, exaggerated claims, an insatiable thirst for attention and controversy, and a national climate of fear... more

Ep 5: Ronald Reagan brings his long American odyssey to a close in his presidential farewell address, an evocation of... more

Ep 4: Meghan McCain delivers a provocative eulogy for her father, the war hero and senator, John McCain, at Washington... more

Ep 3: Barack Obama goes to Charleston, South Carolina in the wake of a white supremacist’s massacre of innocents at... more

Ep 2: Robert Kennedy learns of the MLK Jr.’s assassination while in route to a campaign event in inner city... more

Ep 1: In one of the most tumultuous moments in American history, Martin Luther King Jr. travels to Memphis to... more

Welcome to Season One of It Was Said, a documentary podcast series that looks back on 10 of the most powerful,... more