Top 5 of 2021 – #1: President Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address – March 4, 1865

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 what the speech likely would have sounded like, as Mr. Lincoln spoke to a large outdoor crowd without amplification.

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