On Feb. 14, 2025, U.S. Vice President JD Vance spoke at Germany's 61st annual Munich Security Conference. He warned European leaders of the "threat from within, arguing that some European governments have warred against democratic values by trampling freedom of conscience and failing to respect the voices of their citizens. He also said leaders have done a disservice to their citizens by not controlling immigration. A transcript of his remarks is at https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/02/18/...
Feb 15, 2025•21 min
Former U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm discusses his book The Myth of American Inequality: How Government Biases Policy Debate , which he co-authored with statistician John Early and economist Robert Ekelund. The book details how faulty government data has led to a massive misperception about wealth and poverty in the U.S. The Myth of American Inequality won the 2024 Hayek Book Prize awarded by the Manhattan Institute. In politics, Phil Gramm served three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, initial...
Jun 21, 2024•26 min•Ep. 78
Donald Trump's May 23 address in The Bronx, New York, will prove to be one of the most significant speeches of the 2024 campaign — so predicts social commentator Roger Kimball, editor of The New Criterion. "Among other things, it will be seen to mark the moment when Trump's gathering momentum became unstoppable," Mr. Kimball argues in an article posted at American Greatness . The former president gave a wide-ranging address to several thousand enthusiastic supporters at an earl...
May 30, 2024•1 hr 36 min
The cultural ideology of "wokeism" isn't new. It has a pedigree traceable to philosophers of previous centuries, including René Descartes, Immanuel Kant, Karl Marx, and Jacques Derrida. In this address, Catholic Bishop Robert Barron , one of America's most influential religious leaders, describes how the ideas of such philosophers have formed the foundations of "critical theory" and "woke" ideology. Bishop Barron serves the diocese of Winona-Rochester in Min...
Jul 21, 2023•36 min•Ep. 76
This episode features the second inaugural address of Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, delivered outdoors to a crowd of several thousand gathered at the Florida State Capital Building in Tallahassee on Jan. 3, 2023. After narrowly winning the governor's seat in 2018, he won a resounding re-election victory in 2022. Although Gov. DeSantis (R) has not announced any intention to run for president in 2024, many political observers speculate that he will do so. Mr. DeSantis, a Florida native, is a Navy ...
Jan 06, 2023•18 min•Ep. 75
Viktor Orbán, Europe's longest-serving Prime Minister, visited the U.S. in early August to speak at CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, held in Dallas, Texas. He said Western civilization, which defeated the enemies of freedom in the past, is now "at war with itself." But "we Hungarians know how to defeat the enemies of freedom on the political battlefield." Mr. Orbán described several policies his government has implemented, including a successful border-protection system, tax l...
Aug 12, 2022•38 min•Ep. 74
In July, U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Samuel Alito spoke at a Religious Liberty Summit hosted by the University of Notre Dame Law School's Religious Liberty Initiative . "We can't lightly assume that the religious liberty enjoyed today in the United States, in Europe, and in many other places will always endure," he said at the Summit's evening gala on July 21. "Religious liberty is fragile, and religious intolerance and persecution have been recurring features of human history." The 202...
Aug 05, 2022•38 min•Ep. 73
This episode features an address by Dr. Kristen Collier, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School and director of the school's Program on Health, Spirituality & Religion . She spoke on July 24, 2022, at Michigan Medicine's annual White Coat Ceremony welcoming new med students Dr. Collier's address generated controversy , not because of her remarks but because of her views on abortion. She is pro-life. Some students walked out rather than listen to...
Jul 29, 2022•19 min•Ep. 72
On March 24, 2022, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki addressed the National Conservatism Conference meeting in Brussels, Belgium. Speaking via video, Mr. Morawiecki urged support for Ukraine in the wake of Russia's invasion and he said "we must rebuild the Western world worthy of Ukraine's heroism." "Ukrainians have resurrected the idea that freedom and independence are values worth living and even dying for," he said. Mateusz Morawiecki has been the Prime Minister of Poland since 2017. H...
Mar 25, 2022•8 min•Ep. 71
Outspoken freshman Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has been a lightning rod for criticism in the press and on social media. In a Feb. 25, 2022, address to the America First Political Action Conference, she articulated and defended her views on a range of issues, including the responsibility Christians have to "stand up for the unborn" and to resist social experimentation in the area of human sexuality. She also spoke about combating illegal immigration, warned of the dangers posed by current U...
Mar 04, 2022•20 min•Ep. 70
"It is our job to stop giving ear to political arsonists who would burn down our institutions and intensify our divisions," said Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) in a Senate floor speech on Jan. 13, 2022. He spoke during a debate on eliminating the filibuster, a long-standing Senate rule designed to prevent highly controversial bills from being passed on slim majorities. "Getting rid of the filibuster means you don't have to try to talk to people on the other side of the aisle," he said. Sen. Sasse...
Jan 21, 2022•20 min•Ep. 69
Our most-listened-to podcast of 2021 featured a speech from 1865: President Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address. Many historians consider it to be one of the best inaugural speeches in U.S. history. The speech was delivered five weeks before the end of the U.S. Civil War and six weeks before Mr. Lincoln was assassinated. Portions of the address are etched in stone in the Lincoln Memorial. The recording used on this podcast, by Lincoln impersonator Walter Trumbull, attempts to re-create wh...
Dec 31, 2021•11 min
This week, we are re-posting our Top 5 programs of 2021 — those that garnered the most "listens." The second-most-listened-to program featured a speech that continues to be a focus of interest months later: President Donald Trump's speech to a massive "Save America" rally near the White House on January 6. In that address, Mr. Trump vigorously disputed that former Vice President Joe Biden had won the 2020 presidential election. He urged the crowd to "peacefully and patriotically" support t...
Dec 30, 2021•1 hr 16 min
This week, we are re-posting our most-listened-to podcasts of 2021. Today, our third-most-popular program, featuring an address by U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Speaking at the 2021 Conservative Political Action Conference, Sen. Hawley said conservatives are "facing a fight for the republic itself." He warned that an alliance of "radical liberals" and large corporations "want[s] to run this country, and if we don't do something, they are going to." Sen. Hawley, a former state attorney gen...
Dec 29, 2021•18 min
During this final week of the year, we are re-posting our five most-popular podcasts of 2021. Our fourth most-listened-to episode featured a speech by Flordia Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), delivered July 14, 2021, at an event sponsored by the legal group Alliance Defending Freedom. Mr. DeSantis talked about his conservative approach to governing and his willingness to push back against critics and naysayers. If you have a comment or question about the Notable Speeches podcast, email feedback@notablespe...
Dec 28, 2021•27 min
This week, we are re-posting our five most-listened-to podcasts of 2021. We begin with the fifth most-popular program, which featured an address by U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas. On September 16, Justice Clarence Thomas delivered the 2021 Tocqueville Lecture sponsored by the University of Notre Dame's Center for Citizenship and Constitutional Government . In his remarks, he described the U.S. Declaration of Independence as America's "national North Star." "While we have fa...
Dec 27, 2021•42 min•Ep. 64
Paul Harvey was one of America's most popular radio personalities for more than half a century. Millions tuned in for his daily broadcast via ABC Radio, Paul Harvey News and Comment . On his Christmas program each year, Mr. Harvey would tell a modern-day parable, "The Man and the Birds." The version here is from Dec. 25, 2004. If you have a comment or question about the Notable Speeches podcast, email [email protected] . Merry Christmas!...
Dec 24, 2021•8 min
Speaking via video link to the Congress of Catholics and Public Life in Madrid, Spain, Archbishop Gomez, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, described recent "social justice" movements as "political religions" that offer a different "story of salvation" than the Christian faith. "Whatever we call these movements — 'social justice,' 'wokeness,' 'identity politics,' 'intersectionality,' 'successor ideology' — they claim to offer what religion provides," the archbishop noted. ...
Nov 19, 2021•23 min•Ep. 63
This edition of the Notable Speeches podcast features U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley's October 31 keynote address at the National Conservatism Conference in Orlando, Fla. "America needs good men," the Missouri Republican said. "We need men who will shoulder responsibility, men who will start and provide for families, men who will enter the covenant of marriage and then honor it." He decried leftist attacks on "toxic masculinity" and argued that decades of "government policy has helped destroy the ...
Nov 12, 2021•29 min
Russian President spoke at the annual meeting of the Moscow-based Valdai Discussion Club. The four-day gathering, held in the Russian resort city of Sochi, focused on the theme, "Global Shake-Up in the 21st Century: The Individual, Values, and the State." In his remarks, Mr. Putin talked about challenges common to nations worldwide — including the coronavirus pandemic, social discontent, and ethical considerations related to new technologies. He also spoke about the "re-alignment of the balance ...
Nov 05, 2021•27 min•Ep. 61
On Oct. 1, 2021, author, columnist, and editor Sohrab Ahmari spoke at a symposium in Warsaw, Poland, titled "The Place of Truth in the Age of Cancel Culture." The event, sponsored by the Polish university Collegium Intermarium, featured speakers from the U.S., France, Poland, Austria, Croatia, Hungary, Sweden, and Italy. The venue was the lecture hall at Warsaw's National Institute of Culture and Rural Heritage. Mr. Ahmari, the op-ed page editor for The New York Post , is the author of Fro...
Oct 08, 2021•25 min•Ep. 60
Speaking to European political, religious, and corporate leaders meeting in Hungary, former U.S. Vice President said that helping to "preserve the strength of the family" was their "most important task." Mr. Pence spoke last month at the 4th Demographic Summit in Budapest, along with leaders from Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Serbia, and other nations. "For our civilization to prosper, if we're to pass on the rights and the freedoms and the values that we cherish to the next generation, o...
Oct 01, 2021•22 min•Ep. 59
On September 16, U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas delivered the 2021 Tocqueville Lecture sponsored by the University of Notre Dame's Center for Citizenship and Constitutional Government . In his remarks, he described the U.S. Declaration of Independence as America's "national North Star." "While we have failed the...ideals of the Declaration time and again, I know of no time when [those] ideals have failed us," he said. The Declaration reflects the noble understanding of the ...
Sep 24, 2021•41 min•Ep. 58
On September 14, California voters will decide whether to replace current governor Gavin Newsom (D). If Newsom is recalled, the candidate who appears most likely to succeed him is Republican Larry Elder, a Los Angeles-based radio talk show host and documentary filmmaker. In this address, Mr. Elder focuses on the issues of crime, education, and homelessness. He also talks about racial strife in America and discusses his upbringing in South Central Los Angeles. If you have a comment or question ab...
Sep 03, 2021•26 min•Ep. 57
In this address, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) talks about his conservative approach to governing and his willingness to push back against critics and naysayers. Mr. Santis spoke on July 14, 2021, at an event sponsored by the legal group Alliance Defending Freedom. If you have a comment or question about the Notable Speeches podcast, email [email protected] .
Jul 23, 2021•27 min•Ep. 56
On July 7, 2021, former President Donald Trump announced he would be the lead plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit against Facebook, Google, and Twitter. The suit alleges the tech companies' "broad, vague, and ever-shifting" content-moderation policies effectively violate the constitutional guarantee of free speech. You can see the filing against Facebook at https://aboutblaw.com/Yur?campaign=2CEA049A-DF37-11EB-81DA-26B84F017A06 . Learn more about the lawsuit takeonbigtech.com . Mr. Trump, and se...
Jul 09, 2021•24 min•Ep. 55
During a June 22, 2021, floor debate on the confirmation of Kiran Ahuja, President Joe Biden's nominee to head the U.S. government's Office of Personnel Management, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) spoke out against critical (race) theory. Critical theorists, he said, "pit whiteness and blackness against each other in a manner that reduces every American, no matter their character or their creed, to their racial identity alone." In light of Ahuja's previous writings and comments that appear to sup...
Jun 25, 2021•16 min•Ep. 48
Speaking at a May 18 event sponsored by the Claremont Institute's Center for the American Way of Life, author J.D. Vance warned that "the biggest businesses, the most powerful institutions, the most powerful banks in this country have aligned themselves against [political and social conservatives]." He urged conservatives to fight back and outlined a plan for doing so. "We’re never going to beat them unless we go after them," he said. Mr. Vance is the best-selling author of Hillbilly Elegy: A Me...
Jun 11, 2021•23 min•Ep. 53
Speaking at the 2021 Conservative Political Action Conference, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said conservatives are "facing a fight for the republic itself." He warned that an alliance of "radical liberals" and large corporations "want[s] to run this country, and if we don't do something, they are going to." Sen. Hawley, a former state attorney general, called for federal action to "break those corporations up and cut them down to size." Although he named Google, Facebook, and Twitter in...
Mar 05, 2021•18 min•Ep. 52
Radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, a key figure in American political discourse for more than three decades, died this month following a battle with lung cancer. In this excerpt from a 1995 broadcast, he explained one aspect of how he would use ludicrous humor to make serious points. If you have a comment or question about the Notable Speeches podcast, email [email protected] .
Feb 26, 2021•9 min•Ep. 51
