"Because ignorance of your culture is considered uncool"
Most News programs spend the first day of a new year looking back on the events of the previous one. In 1961 however, January 1st was spent looking ahead. It was a year in transition for the White House. President Kennedy was poised to take over, come January 22nd and...
Since we’re rapidly (and thankfully) approaching the end of 2020, the somewhat pained looks back at the year start now. But rather than mull over 2020 here (since everyone else will do a better job anyway), today we’re going to start with the goings-on that shaped 1958. Oddly, a year...
Another day of drama and upheaval, this December 4th in 1947. Still reeling from the UN partition plan of Palestine, riots were continuing in Jerusalem and all throughout the region. Riots were erupting again in Paris, with Communists taking to the streets. And Paris was again the sight of...
The lingering legacy of the Cuban Missile Crisis was still very apparent, this November 20th in 1962. On this day, news broke that Cuban Premier Fidel Castro backed down on a pledge to keep Russian Jet bombers on Cuban soil, averting another potential crisis and allowing the IL-28 Bombers to...
London Forum – Discussion on the economy in Britain and the elections – November 8, 1950 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection – After the end of World War II, the British economy had huge amounts of absolute wealth. Its economy was driven entirely for the needs of war and took...
A day full of politics, both Domestic and Foreign, this October 23, 1980. Starting with the Presidential election and the race, the rhetoric and the banter back and forth between President Carter and hopefuls Reagan and Anderson. The economic news wasn’t rosy – with the Labor Department reporting that consumer...
With all the talk about Taxes and Social Security and all the fear being bandied about in recent years, here are a few words on that subject, delivered by President Roosevelt during a campaign stop in Worcester, Massachusetts on October 21, 1936, 79 years ago. President Roosevelt: “I want to...
With the Presidential Campaign of 1936 in its last weeks and at fevered pitch, President Roosevelt embarked on a coast-to-coast tour to bring his message home. In 1936, America was in better shape than it was in 1932. But detractors clamored to call the New Deal a disaster, that The...
As a kid growing up in Detroit in the 1950s, I wasn’t really aware of how much Detroit was different than other cities. It was a place I lived with my family and I had no other frame of reference. I was however, aware that my father, who worked in...
September 30, 1975 – Options: Growing Economic Problems For U.S. Cities – National Public Radio – Gordon Skene Sound Collection – Cities on the Edge and in crisis. 1975 signaled a year of economic despair that threatened to sweep over America. We were in the midst of a recession –...
Gordon Skene, two-time Grammy Nominee and archivist runs The Gordon Skene Sound Archive and this website, which is dedicated to preserving and encouraging an interest in history and historic news, events, and cultural aspects of our society. Past Daily is the only place on the Internet where you can hear a Nixon speech, listen to an interview with John Cassavettes or play a broadcast of Charles Munch rehearsing the Boston Symphony in 1950, all in the same place. It's living history and it's timeless.
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