"Because ignorance of your culture is considered uncool"
On this February 4th in 1980, a new Acronym entered our Dictionary –ABSCAM, which stood for Abdul Enterprises Scam or Arab Scam implicated at least 8 Senators and Congressmen over accepting bribes in exchange for favors. Denials and hand-wringing went into swift action, but questions arose when it was learned...
With no end in sight and protests continuing and becoming more violent, the situation in Iran on this day in 1979 was anything but resolved. The Pro and Anti-Shah factions were battling it out in the streets of Tehran and it was only escalating with each passing day. As of...
The CBS Radio Workshop – Voice Of New York – March 2, 1956 You support is always enormously appreciated: Become a Patron! In the 1950’s, reel to reel tape recorders were the equivalent to iPhones today. Everybody had to have one and everybody felt the overpowering need to record everything...
News for this October 9th in 1989 had to do with the growing protest movement in East Germany and the rioting going on in East Berlin. The riots erupted when East German police broke up a demonstration urging reforms from the hardline regime of Erich Honecker. Western Press were barred...
By 1956 it would be pretty safe to say America was headed well into nervous breakdown territory. Everything was on the rise – divorce, alcohol abuse, prescription medications, fear, paranoia and irrevocable change. And it wasn’t being coped with, other than via escape. And those issues were many. We had...
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...
Hard to forget this week in September of 1980 was all about the Presidential Election campaign and the upcoming debates between Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and that thorn in both of their sides, John Anderson. Carter refused to participate in any debate that also included Anderson. Spokesman Robert Strauss explained...
A week where the vagaries of Human Nature went haywire, this September 10th in 1949. Starting with news of a deadly mass shooting in Camden New Jersey. The lone gunman, Howard Unruh, claiming people were saying bad things about his character, went on a shooting rampage, indiscriminately killing some 13...
Click on the link here for Audio Player – George Meany – Labor Day Address – Sept. 1, 1967 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection Labor Day in 1967 was on the pessimistic side. Unrest all over the country. Poverty, cities in turmoil, unemployment, the Vietnam War sapping the country of...
August 28th marks the 57th anniversary of the legendary March on Washington. The largest Civil Rights demonstration of its kind up to this point, the march culminated in a day of speeches in front of the Lincoln Memorial and a general feeling that something had begun. Most people think of...
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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