It Was Said

It Was Said, the 2021 Webby Award winner for Best Podcast Series, returns with a new season to look back on some of the most powerful, impactful, and timeless speeches in history. Written and narrated by Pulitzer Prize winner and bestselling author-historian Jon Meacham, this documentary podcast series takes you through another season of ten generation-defining speeches. Meacham, along with top historians, authors and journalists, offers expert insight and analysis into the origins, the orator, and the context of the times each speech was given, and they reflect on why it’s important to never forget them.

It Was Said is a creation and production of Peabody-nominated C13Originals, in association with The HISTORY® Channel.

Episodes

November 23, 2022

Eleanor Roosevelt, and The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

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.” To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-po...

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November 16, 2022

FDR’s Pearl Harbor Address

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. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad cho...

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November 9, 2022

Frederick Douglass, What To The Slave Is The Fourth of July?

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. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Le...

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November 1, 2022

Margaret Chase Smith’s Declaration of Conscience

Republican Senator Margaret Chase Smith breaks with partisan orthodoxy to take a stand against the demagoguery of Joseph McCarthy. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcast...

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October 26, 2022

Ronald Reagan's D-Day Commemoration

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. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn ...

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October 19, 2022

Nelson Mandela, I Am Prepared To Die

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. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://w...

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October 12, 2022

Margaret Thatcher, The Lady’s Not For Turning

Margaret Thatcher resolves not to change course despite mounting criticism of her economic policy in Britain. The lady's not for turning, she said. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Vi...

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October 5, 2022

Theodore Roosevelt, Man In The Arena

Theodore Roosevelt, speaking at the Sorbonne in Paris, outlines the vital role and responsibility of the ordinary citizen in a republic. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https:/...

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September 28, 2022

John F. Kennedy, We Choose To Go To The Moon

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. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choice...

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September 28, 2022

Winston Churchill, The Finest Hour

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. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy ...

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September 22, 2022

Welcome to It Was Said, Season 2, with Jon Meacham

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 C13Orig...

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October 28, 2020

John F. Kennedy, A Summons To Service

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. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Vis...

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October 21, 2020

John Lewis, We Want Our Freedom Now

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. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more...

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October 14, 2020

Hillary Clinton, Women’s Rights Are Human Rights

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. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about you...

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October 7, 2020

Barbara Jordan, Your Keynote Speaker

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. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visi...

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September 30, 2020

Edward R. Murrow Fights for Free Press

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 Unive...

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September 23, 2020

Ronald Reagan’s Farewell Address

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. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privac...

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September 16, 2020

Meghan McCain, and Her Father’s America

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. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/...

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September 9, 2020

President Obama's Charleston Sermon

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. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.co...

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September 2, 2020

RFK, A Eulogy for King

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. To learn more about listener data and our privacy p...

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September 2, 2020

MLK Jr., The Last Speech

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 d...

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August 11, 2020

Welcome to It Was Said, with Jon Meacham

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 C13Orig...

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