Showing results by publisher "Spoken Realms" in Politics & Government

Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884-December 26, 1972) was the thirty-third president of the United States (1945-53). As the final running mate of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1944, Truman assumed the presidency on April 12, 1945, when Roosevelt died after months of declining health. Under Truman the Allies successfully concluded World War II; in the aftermath of the conflict, tensions with the Soviet Union increased, marking the start of the Cold War.

Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874-October 20, 1964) was the thirty-first president of the United States (1929-1933). Hoover, born to a Quaker family, was a professional mining engineer. He achieved American and international prominence in humanitarian relief efforts in war-time Belgium and served as head of the U.S. Food Administration during World War I.

Theodore Roosevelt wrote this message on January 3, 1919. Both by its character and the circumstances of its publication, it's considered his final message to the American people. He sent it to the president of the American Defense Society, and it was read at a great mass meeting under the auspices of that organization in the Hippodrome in New York, on the evening of January 5. It was published on the morning of January 6, the day of his death.

Warren Gamaliel Harding (November 2, 1865-August 2, 1923) was the twenty-ninth president of the United States (1921-23), a Republican from Ohio who served in the Ohio Senate and then in the United States Senate, where he played a minor role.

William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857-March 8, 1930) was the twenty-seventh president of the United States (1909-1913) and later the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921-1930). He is the only person to have served in both of these offices. Riding a wave of popular support for fellow Republican Roosevelt, Taft won an easy victory in his 1908 bid for the presidency.

Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856-February 3, 1924) was the twenty-eighth president of the United States, from 1913 to 1921, and leader of the progressive movement. Wilson induced a conservative Democratic Congress to pass a progressive legislative agenda, unparalleled until the New Deal in 1933. This included the Federal Reserve Act, the Federal Trade Commission Act, the Clayton Antitrust Act, the Federal Farm Loan Act, and an income tax.

Narrated by award winning narrator Mike Vendetti, Henry David argues that individuals should not permit governments to overrule or atrophy their consciences, and that they have a duty to avoid allowing such acquiescence to enable the government to make them the agents of injustice. Thoreau was motivated in part by his disgust with slavery and the Mexican-American War.

Author Sarah K. Bolton wrote many wonderful and concise biographies of men and women that had lived and died in her era. She tells the stories from first-hand accounts (hers and others). This biography of one of the most influential nurses who ever lived is masterfully told - from early days attending to dogs to transforming the way we care for the military wounded.

The Emancipation Proclamation was a presidential proclamation issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, as a war measure during the American Civil War, directed to all of the areas in rebellion and all segments of the Executive branch (including the Army and Navy) of the United States. It proclaimed the freedom of slaves in the eleven states that were still in rebellion, excluding areas controlled by the Union and thus applying to 3 million of the 4 million slaves in the U.S. at the time.

Chester Alan Arthur (October 5, 1829 - November 18, 1886) was the 21st President of the United States (1881-85); he succeeded James Garfield upon the latter's assassination. At the outset, Arthur struggled to overcome his reputation, stemming from his beginnings in politics as a politician from the New York City Republican political machine. He succeeded by embracing the cause of civil service reform.

His inability to calm tensions over slavery kept the country on the path to the American Civil War. Genial and well-spoken, Pierce was a northern Democrat who saw the abolitionist movement as a fundamental threat to the unity of the nation. His polarizing actions in championing and signing the Kansas-Nebraska Act and enforcing the Fugitive Slave Act failed to stem intersectional conflict, setting the stage for Southern secession, and leaving him widely regarded as one of the worst presidents in U.S. history.

Jackson's Farewell Address has been described as an agrarian message in which he tells how he tried to promote traditional ideals while restraining privileged monopolies. He explains that the country's economic health, attributed to new market forces, has led to unprecedented prosperity and that never before had the people "enjoyed so much freedom and happiness.

Fillmore was the only Whig president that did not die in office or get expelled from the party, and Fillmore appointed the only Whig Supreme Court Justice. He is consistently included in the bottom 10 of historical rankings of Presidents of the United States. As Zachary Taylor's vice president, he assumed the presidency after Taylor's death. Fillmore was a lawyer from western New York state, and an early member of the Whig Party.

While asking that Congress work to establish better commercial relations with Mexico, Great Britain, and Austria-Hungary, Adams demonstrates how tariffs affect the commerce of the country.

Zachary Taylor was the 12th President of the USA, serving from March 1849 until his death in July 1850. Before his presidency, Taylor was a career officer in the United States Army. His status as a national hero as a result of his victories in the Mexican-American War won him election to the White House despite his vague political beliefs. His top priority as president was preserving the Union, but he died sixteen months into his term, before making any progress on the status of slavery...

Before leaving office, Van Buren reminds Congress that he refrained from raising taxes, and kept the national debt in check. He makes no mention of the growing factionalism between pro-slavery and abolitionist groups, once again showing his concern for preserving the union.

In this, his eighth annual message, Madison tells of his impending retirement. For the future he recommends better transportation, a national university, rebuilding the military, and a consistent system of weights and measures, among other things.

Jefferson is often cited as an important figure in early American democracy. He envisioned democracy as an expression of society as a whole, and called for national self-determination, cultural uniformity, and education of all the people (or all the males, as he believed at the time). His emphasis on uniformity did not envision a multiracial republic in which some groups were not fully assimilated into the identical republican values.

A truly sweet poem narrated by voice actor Ann M. Richardson. Short, but sure to enthrall the child in all of us.

A concise biography of the pastor, orator, and political figure Henry Ward Beecher. This audio life tour takes you from Henry's childhood to moments when he faced those he opposed in the Civil War as well as moments when his words swayed Europe. This is a biographical sketch for all ages.