This week we highlight presidential leadership and one of the most important civil rights speeches ever delivered by a sitting American president.

By June of 1963, John F. Kennedy has been president for nearly two and a half years.

While Kennedy had long privately expressed his deep moral objections to the treatment of black people in American society and indicated support for New federal legislation. 

His public comments ranged from cautious moderate criticism to a 1950s version of “both sides-ism” but were mostly nonexistent.

In June of 1963, however the man and the moment met.

Alabama Governor George Wallace’s staged photo op definance of federal law by standing in the school house doorway had lasted less than 90 minutes. 

On June 11th 1963 two black students were peaceful enrolled at the University of Alabama under the protection of a federalized Alabama National Guard commanded by US Marshals under the direction of the Department of Justice and the Attorney General of the United States.

Kennedy’s advisors recommended and Fully expected that the president would NOT address the American people that evening. 

With a little less than 18 months until to the 1964 elections, the President’s legislative agenda and his political future depended upon the votes Southern Democrats in Congress and those of their politically unforgiving constituents. 

The President had other ideas. Kennedy saw a way to exercise moral leader on an issue where he had to that point failed. He would request Network Television airtime to address the nation on the issue of civil rights. 

The facts and statistics on racial inequality in the United States described by President Kennedy to the American people that evening had even never been acknowledged by a President before - much less spoken in such a detailed and direct language. 

In a telegram to the White House after watching the President’s remarks in Atlanta with other civil rights leaders, the Reverend Dr Martin Luther King Jr. described the address as ONE OF THE MOST ELOQUENT,

 PROFOUND,

 AND UNEQUIVOCAL PLEAS FOR JUSTICE AND FREEDOM OF ALL MEN,

 EVER MADE BY ANY PRESIDENT.

Dr King knew that Kennedy was moved by his now famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail” - written just weeks before. 

To President Kennedy and many Americans Dr. King’s letter was more than than a spirited defense of civil disobedience. It was an indictment of white indifference.

As you listen to the speech, you will hear Kennedy echoing King’s “Letter”

The President rejects the idea that Black Americans should have to wait for equality. "Who among us," Kennedy asks the American people, "would then be content with counsels of patience and delay?"

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Everyone needs a reminder about just how good people can be. On Wondery’s new series The Daily Smile, host Nikki Boyer brings you stories that will make you feel good each weekday morning. With interviews, inspiring clips, and chats with special guests and passionate friends, The Daily Smile takes you on a journey into goodness, gives you all the feels, and will leave you with a smile on your face.

Listen to the full episode: wondery.fm/dailysmilewords

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In January of 1989 after 8 years in office, President Ronald Reagan delivered his 34th and final Oval Office address.

His tenure was not without controversy - and there is much about Reagan and his policies for historians and commentators to rightly criticize.

But more than anything else Ronald Reagan understood the power and importance of words.

For his final presidential address Reagan wanted to end on a note of what had become his trademark - optimism.

All of his political life The Gipper had talked about America as a Shining City on a Hill. But he never really defined what he’d meant.

As he prepared to leave office - Reagan finally communicated that vision.

Pay attention to his words - in Reagan’s view America was made great by free trade and the contributions of immigrants.

“If that City had to have walls, those walls had doors and those doors were open to all who had the heart and the will to get here.”

It is a very different message than we hear from those who claim his legacy three decades later.

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Katie and Joe sit down with best-selling author and political analyst Doug Sosnik. He has advised presidents, senators, governors, Fortune 100 corporations and universities for 35 years.

Doug also served as a senior advisor to President Clinton for six years as Senior Advisor for Policy and Strategy, White House Political Director and Deputy Legislative Director.

He is the co-author of New York Times bestseller Applebee’s America: How Successful Political, Business and Religious Leaders Connect with the New American Community.

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Today, on what would have been his 70th birthday, we pay tribute to the late, great Tim Russert - Moderator of Meet the Press and NBC News Washington Bureau Chief.

Unlike many in the public eye - Tim was the same guy off camera as he was on. He was tough, but fair, - always quick with a joke and above all he was forever humbled by his success and the opportunities afforded the son of a sanitation worker from South Buffalo.

“What a country?” Tim would often marvel - he lived by the words of the pious Saint Luke - “To whom much has been given, much will be required.”

Tim believed it was his responsibility as a journalist to hold our leaders accountable - regardless of party. To ask tough, but fair questions in pursuit of the truth.

A lawyer by training, a Meet the Press interview was like a public deposition. He didn’t suffer fools and he wrote his questions so that anything short of a complete and honest answer would be met with a series of increasingly pointed follow ups. When he believed a public official was shading the truth – or worse – Tim would lean across the table and remind them, with purpose: "Senator, Madame Secretary, Mr. President – Words Matter."

That is his legacy - and for those of us who want to honor him, we must try our best to continue that mission.

So today - on what would have been his 70th birthday - we honor Tim Russert by playing his 2002 Commencement Address at the University of Massachusetts Boston.

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This week, we begin a new series, Presidential Words Matter. Since we currently have a president who doesn't seem to know or even understand the importance of words, especially when they are spoken by the president of the United States, we thought it might be helpful in a time of national crisis to remember that we have had presidents of both parties who did understand this.

These presidents have led our country through difficult times with the power and eloquence of their words.

So this week, we wanted to highlight President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who in 1936 during the Great Depression and as the clouds of war gathered over Europe, delivered one of the most important political speeches ever given by a sitting president.

The occasion was the Democratic National Convention held that year in Philadelphia four years earlier in 1932. FDR had made history by flying to Chicago and becoming the first presidential candidate to accept his party's nomination in person.

In an earlier episode of Words Matter, we discussed this important speech with Professor Harvey Kaye, who has just published a new book entitled: FDR on Democracy.

In his 1936 acceptance speech, Roosevelt used the language of the founders and decried the economic royalists who were trying to fight back against the progress of the New Deal because it threatened their power.

As you listen to his words, pay particular attention to the part where Roosevelt tells his audience they have a rendezvous with destiny.

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Cindi Leive is the former editor-in-chief of both Glamour and Self magazines. She was the driving force behind barrier- breaking initiatives like “Glamour Women of the Year” and “The Girl Project” which supports girls’ education.

Cindi is the author and editor of numerous books including the 2018 New York Times bestseller Together We Rise, about the organizing of the Women's March.

She has interviewed heads of state, Hollywood and fashion’s biggest personalities, and iconic leaders from all walks of life. Her many awards and honors include recognition from the White House, the United Nations, and dozens of media organizations. She is currently a senior fellow at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Center.

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This week, we want you to join one of our favorite hosts, Lindsey Graham of -- American Scandal and American History Tellers -- as he previews his new six-part series, "The Harry Krishna Murders," as he explores an eastern religion with pure intentions that in the hands of its Western followers became a criminal enterprise of drug running abuse and murder. wondery.fm/wordsmatterAS

Subscribe to American Scandal wondery.fm/wordsmatterAS and other great podcasts from Wondery on Apple podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts

wondery.fm/wordsmatterAS

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Back in December Katie and Joe sit down with the Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Congressman Adam Schiff is in his 10 term representing California’s 28th Congressional District.Before that he was a Member of the California State Senate where he served as Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Congressman Schiff began his career as an Assistant US Attorney in the Central District of California.

Katie and Joe talk to him about the Impeachment of President Trump, what a Senate trial would look like and more.

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The Contenders is a special podcast series by Joe Lockhart. Given the importance of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, we thought it important and informative to hear from those people who've actually run for president. What goes into the decision? How do you possibly get to the place of thinking you can take on the toughest job in the world? What were your biggest mistakes as a candidate? What lessons did you learn and what advice do you have for those running against Donald Trump?

Joe recently traveled to Minnesota to interview his former boss, Vice Presidential Walter Mondale. Nearly a quarter century before Sarah Palin was picked by John McCain, it was Walter Mondale who first put a woman on a national ticket when he picked Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro in 1984.

The former Vice President reflects on that and much more.

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