Peggy Noonan, a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and former presidential speechwriter (for Ronald Reagan), presented this address one year ago at the University of Notre Dame near South Bend, Ind. She addressed the question, "How does conservatism find its best expression now, in the 21st century?" Peggy Noonan's books include What I Saw at the Revolution: A Political Life in the Reagan Era (Random House 1990) and Patriotic Grace: What It Is and Why We Need It Now (Harper, 2008.) She has w...
May 15, 2020•22 min•Ep. 24
Antonin Scalia served as an Associate Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court from 1986 until his death in 2016. In this 2015 address, presented at Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart in Bethesda, Md., he poked gentle fun at the platitudes often offered in graduation speeches, such as "follow your star" and "never compromise your principles." Justice Scalia's remarks have been abridged slightly for this podcast. A transcript of this address, under the title "Platitudes and Wisdom," is included in t...
May 08, 2020•20 min•Ep. 23
Dr. Anthony Fauci, a lead member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, is the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a post he has held since 1984. He has advised six U.S. presidents on domestic and international health-policy matters. Dr. Fauci presented this address in January 2017 at an event hosted by the Center for Global Health Science and Security in Washington, D.C. His remarks have been condensed for this podcast. If you have a comment or quest...
May 01, 2020•22 min•Ep. 22
This episode features an address by Ken Myers, host of the long-running Mars Hill Audio Journal , a bimonthly audio magazine that "encourag[es] conversations about faith, faithfulness, and culture." Mr. Myers is also the author of All God's Children and Blue Suede Shoes: Christians and Popular Culture (Crossway redesign edition, 2012). Earlier in his career, he was the arts and humanities editor for NPR's Morning Edition . Ken Myers presented this address in April 2019 at a Christ and Cult...
Apr 24, 2020•30 min•Ep. 21
In a Nov. 1, 2005, speech at the National Institutes of Health, President George W. Bush laid out a plan to prepare the U.S. for a possible pandemic. The Bush strategy called for detecting outbreaks as early as possible anywhere in the world, stockpiling existing vaccines and antiviral drugs, speeding up the process of making new vaccines for a pandemic virus, and improving general readiness at the federal, state, and local levels. Although the preparedness plan never reached full fruition...
Apr 17, 2020•26 min•Ep. 20
Many churches will be empty this Easter, as the world continues to battle the COVID-19 pandemic. In this troubled time, this episode presents words of comfort and challenge from the One who rose from the grave on Easter: Jesus the Messiah. Actor Alexander Scourby (1913-1985) reads three chapters from the Gospel According to John. If you have a comment or question about the Notable Speeches podcast, email [email protected] ....
Apr 10, 2020•14 min•Ep. 19
Most people living today have never seen anything like the current coronavirus pandemic. But an even worse pandemic struck just over a century ago: the 1918 Spanish Flu. It claimed an estimated 50-to-100 million lives worldwide, including more than 600,000 in the U.S. Dr. Jeremy Brown is the author of Influenza: The Hundred Year Hunt to Cure the Deadliest Disease in History (Atria Books, 2018). He is also the director of Emergency Care Research at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, M...
Apr 03, 2020•29 min•Ep. 18
Clive Staples Lewis, a professor of English literature at the UK's University of Oxford (and later at Cambridge University), became one of the most influential writers of the 20th century, with works ranging from fiction to philosophy to Christian apologetics. This radio address, presented on the BBC on March 21, 1944, later formed the basis for a chapter in his book, Mere Christianity , first published in 1952. C.S. Lewis died on Nov. 22, 1963, one week before his 65th birthday. If you have a c...
Mar 27, 2020•16 min•Ep. 17
Attorney General Bill Barr presented this address in Nashville, Tenn., on Feb. 26, 2020, at the annual convention of National Religious Broadcasters . His remarks have been condensed slightly for this podcast. For a text of this address (as prepared for delivery), go to https://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/attorney-general-william-p-barr-delivers-remarks-2020-national-religious-broadcasters Have a comment or question about the Notable Speeches podcast? Email [email protected] ....
Mar 20, 2020•39 min•Ep. 16
Marvin Olasky, editor in chief at WORLD News Group, is the author Reforming Journalism (P&R Publishing, 2019). He taught journalism at the University of Texas at Austin from 1983-2007 and later held the distinguished chair in journalism and public policy at Virginia's Patrick Henry College. His earlier books include The Tragedy of American Compassion (original edition 1992, republished in 2007) and Prodigal Press: Confronting the Anti-Christian Bias of the American News Media (2013), co-auth...
Mar 13, 2020•22 min•Ep. 15
Journalist/blogger Rod Dreher is the author of The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation (Sentinel, 2017). He presented this address Feb. 4, 2020, at an event titled "God, Honor, Country: President Ronald Reagan, Pope John Paul II, and the Freedom of Nations — A National Conservatism Conference." The conference, sponsored by conservative groups from Hungary, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the U.S., was held in Rome, Italy. Mr. Dreher...
Mar 06, 2020•24 min•Ep. 14
Arthur C. Brooks , a Harvard University professor and president emeritus of the American Enterprise Institute, was the keynote speaker at this year's National Prayer Breakfast, held February 6 in Washington, D.C. The breakfast is an annual event, attended more than 3,000 leaders from the U.S. and around the world. Mr. Brooks is the author of 11 books, including Love Your Enemies: How Decent People Can Save America from the Culture of Contempt (Broadside Books, 2019) and The Conservative Heart: H...
Feb 28, 2020•16 min•Ep. 13
The United Methodist Church, America's second-largest Protestant denomination, seems likely to split this year — a decision to be voted on at the denomination's General Conference this spring. One prominent plan would divide the UMC into at least two denominations — one adhering to historic Christian teaching, the other taking a "progressive" doctrinal stance. In this address, Professor William J. "Billy" Abraham, a proponent of "traditional" Methodist theology, says United Methodists face "a st...
Feb 21, 2020•23 min•Ep. 12
One day after this year's March for Life in Washington, D.C., Heritage Foundation president Kay Coles James spoke to about 3,000 pro-life activists gathered for the National Pro-Life Summit . Before becoming the president of Heritage in 2018, Kay Coles James served as the director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (2001-2005) and as dean of the Roberston School of Government at Virginia's Regent University (1996-1999). She is the founder of The Gloucester Institute, an organization that...
Feb 14, 2020•16 min•Ep. 11
On Jan. 23, 2020, dozens of world leaders gathered in Jerusalem to commemorate the Holocaust, the genocide of European Jews during World War II. The Forum coincided with the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp. The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, claimed an estimated six million lives, This edition of Notable Speeches features the World Holocaust Forum address presented by Charles, Prince of Wales, heir apparent to the British throne. ...
Feb 07, 2020•13 min•Ep. 10
British-born philosopher Roger Scruton , once hailed as “the most influential conservative thinker since Edmund Burke,” died Jan. 12, 2020, at the age of 75. His books include The Meaning of Conservatism (1980, 2001), An Intelligent Person's Guide to Modern Culture ( 1998, 2005), and The West and the Rest: Globalization and the Terrorist Threat (2002). Mr. Scruton delivered this address at a lecture-and-discussion event titled "Beauty in a World of Ugliness" held at the Catholic University of Am...
Jan 31, 2020•19 min•Ep. 9
Hadley Arkes, the founder of the James Wilson Institute on Natural Rights and the American Founding, was the architect of the Born-Alive Infants’ Protection Act, signed into law in 2002. A follow-up bill, known as the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, passed the House in 2018 but was not taken up in the Senate during that session of Congress. Mr. Arkes is a professor emeritus at Amherst College and the author of Natural Rights and the Right to Choose (2002) and Constitutional I...
Jan 24, 2020•39 min•Ep. 8
Historian Gertrude Himmelfarb passed away Dec. 30, 2019, at age 97. In an editorial tribute, The Wall Street Journal wrote that she was "known for rigorous scholarship, brilliant essays, and her forceful defense of morality in democratic politics," Her books include Poverty and Compassion: The Moral Imagination of the Late Victorians (Knopf, 1991) and The De-Moralization of Society: From Victorian Virtues to Modern Values (Knopf, 1995). Gertrude Himmelfarb was born in 1922 in Brookly...
Jan 17, 2020•32 min•Ep. 7
New York Times columnist Ross Douthat is the author of Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics (Free Press, 2012) and The Decadent Society: How We Became the Victims of Our Own Success (Simon & Schuster, 2020). He presented this address in September 2019 as part of the Archdiocese of Denver's Saint John Paul II Lecture Series, "a quarterly event which features intellectually stimulating talks," according to the Archdiocese's website. Mr. Douthat's remarks have been abridged slightly...
Jan 10, 2020•44 min•Ep. 6
Patrick Trueman led the U.S. Justice Department's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Criminal Division, from 1988 to 1993. Today, he serves as president and CEO of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, an organization that seeks to "expos[e] the links between all forms of sexual exploitation — such as child sexual abuse, prostitution, sex trafficking and the public health crisis of pornography." The Center's website is endsexualexploitation.org Mr. Trueman's remarks, abridged s...
Jan 03, 2020•30 min•Ep. 5
In this Oval Office address from Dec. 23, 1981, President Reagan speaks about the "sense of wonder" that is renewed when "recalling the story of the first Christmas in Bethlehem nearly two thousand years ago." He also decries the Polish government's recent martial-law crackdown on political opponents, including leaders of the trade union Solidarity. He warns Polish leaders and "their totalitarian allies" that they "should prepare themselves for serious consequences." A transcript of M...
Dec 20, 2019•16 min•Ep. 4
In this episode, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) describes the "breakdown of community" in the USA and the corresponding "rise of a new oligarchy of wealth and education." He argues that the nation's cultural moment requires "a new politics of family and neighborhood...of love and belonging...[and] of home." Sen. Hawley, the U.S. Senate's youngest member, presented this speech on Nov. 19, 2019, at the 6th Annual Gala hosted by the American Principles Project Foundation. The full text of his remarks (as...
Dec 13, 2019•23 min•Ep. 3
This speech by U.S. Attorney General William Barr was presented Oct. 11, 2019, at the University of Notre Dame Law School in Indiana. In his remarks, Mr. Barr criticized "militant secularists” who are "not content to leave religious people alone to practice their faith." Instead, "they seem to take delight in compelling people to violate their conscience,” he said. The full text of the attorney general's speech (as prepared for delivery) is available at https://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/at...
Dec 06, 2019•36 min•Ep. 2
On Nov. 5, 2019, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) delivered his address, “Catholic Social Doctrine and the Dignity of Work” to students at the Busch School of Business in Washington, D.C., part of the Catholic University of America. The text of his remarks (as prepared for delivery) is available at https://www.rubio.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/6d09ae19-8df3-4755-b301-795154a68c59/C58480B07D02452574C5DB8D603803EF.final---cua-speech-11.5.19.pdf Comments or suggestions about the Notabl...
Nov 29, 2019•41 min•Ep. 1
A short (45 seconds!) introduction to the forthcoming Notable Speeches podcast. Subscribe via your favorite podcast app — search "Notable Speeches." Comments or suggestions? Email [email protected]
Nov 23, 2019•46 sec
