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In this brief bonus episode we take just a few minutes to remember the career of the great ABC News reporter Tom Jarrell who passed away in October 2024. Jarrell covered some of the biggest stories of the last half of the 20th century. He most notably was in Memphis covering Dr. Martin Luther King Jr when King was assassinated in 1968.
We have some of his remarkable career to play for you in our brief tribute to one of the best television reporters of our time.
Tom Jarrell was 89 years old.Questions or comments at , [email protected] , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/
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In 1992, as the Cold War had come to an end, George H. W. Bush was up for re-election. It should have been a cake walk. Bush had accomplished more in three years than many Presidents accomplish in 8 years. He had presided over the end of the Cold War, victory in the Gulf War, and in Panama, he had bailed out the Savings and Loans, passed the Americans with Disabilities Act, and presided over the management of Communisms collapse around the globe.
To this day, I still have never understood how George Bush lost that election. The reason can be summed up in two words, Bill Clinton. The Arkansas Governor is without question the best campaigner who ever drew a breath and he got helped out by a conservative firebrand on the right challenging and wounding the President , named Pat Buchanan and a Texas Billionaire named H. Ross Perot draining away Republican votes in the general election too.
If you listen closely, what you will hear in the echoes of this 1992 campaign, are the talking points and blueprints of a movement that has taken a hold of the United States today in the form of Donald Trump, Make America Great Again, and America First politics of 2024. The big difference between now and then is the charismatic talents of the Democratic nominee, Bill Clinton. He is the first of the Vietnam era generation to win on the national stage and this election marks the moment that the World War 2 Generation begins to leave stage left.
A special thank you to CNN's "Campaign 1992" for many of the edited highlightsQuestions or comments at , [email protected] , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/
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In our Season finale of the historic year that was 1991, we look at the end of the Cold War, the fall of the Soviet Union itself.
It began in a bloody revolution that saw the execution of not only Czar Nicholas the second but also his entire family including his young daughters. In the 69 years it officially existed and in the five years before that after the Russian Revolution, it saw its revolution spread to many other countries and its own power spread across 11 time zones, and all across Eurasia. It became a world , nuclear Super Power in parity with the United States militarily. However, it never had any kind of real economic strength and it had all the weaknesses of a command economy.
That was what eventually brought it down. It had seen Lenin, a bloodthirsty dictator in Joseph Stalin, a wily, constantly experimenting in economics and Agriculture and cabinet shuffling leader in Nikita Khrushchev, the cunning, pragmatic, and cautions 20 year rule of Leonid Brezhnev, and then a succession of two old, relatively ill, and brief Presidents in Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko before a young, vibrant, Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in 1985.
Gorbachev would serve 6 years and try and reform, and save his country. It would be the reforms he let loose that would bring his country its first taste of political and economic freedom. Once it was tasted that freedom, it could not be turned back and Gorbachev, ever the committed Communist, continued to try and manage it all without totally overhauling the system.
In that he failed. On Christmas Day, 1991, he resigned the Presidency of the Soviet Union and the once proud hammer and sickle flag of the USSR was taken down from over the Kremlin and the flag of the Russian Federation was flown in its place. The Soviet Union, began in blood shed, and revolution, vanished quietly in the night with a phone call to the President of the country it had been at Cold War with for nearly half a century.Questions or comments at , [email protected] , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/
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In over a thousand years of Russian history only one man can lay claim as having been elected directly from the people. His name was Boris Yeltsin.
He is the man who pushed the Soviet Union over the cliff and then became the leader of the fledgling Russian Federation. He stood on a tank in defiance of a coup that was trying to seize control of the nation from the President of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev, and while that coup failed to topple Gorbachev, it in effect, stripped all the power away from the USSR President and all the real bonds of the republics that held it together.
By the end of 1991, the various republics of the old Soviet Union had declared themselves independent and Yeltsin got together with their leaders of those republics to form a new Federation, leaving Gorbachev and the Soviet Congress with no real country to rule. The Politburo would meet one last time to debate the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
This all occurred as one man rose to power in the Russia and it would be him who would lead Russia up until the start of the 21st century . In this episode we look back at him, Boris Yeltsin, and how he rose to the position of President and how he did as the new nations leader.Questions or comments at , [email protected] , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/
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In our second part of our look at both the fall of the Soviet Union and of its final leader Mikhail Gorbachev, we look back at his life and his career. we listen to the man himself and hear his thoughts after the dissolution of the Soviet Union had occurred.
We will also examine one of the ultimate of ironies for this historic figure of the 20th century. By the time of his death at age 91, Mikhail Gorbachev, had become a loved and admired figure around the world, and yet he was shunned in his own country. The new leader of Russia said of the demise of the Soviet Union "It was the worst catastrophe of the 20th Century"
Vladimir Putin, while sending condolences to the Gorbachev family and visiting the wake of the last Soviet Union, sent his regrets that he was to busy to attend the funeral of the last President of the Soviet Union and a giant in the history of the world, Mikhail Gorbachev.Questions or comments at , [email protected] , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/
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As we begin our four part look back at the fall of the Soviet Union, we begin by looking back at the man who presided over it, Mikhail Gorbachev.
He was reformer, a charismatic leader, and a committed Communist. It is that latter part of the description that is the key to understanding his own downfall. He stayed married to the Communist philosophy to long and due to it was maneuvered out of his job, by another leader, Boris Yeltsin, whose rise was only made possible by the reforms that Gorbachev himself had unleashed.
In this episode we examine both the life, rise and career of Mikhail Gorbachev but also the situation the Soviet Union faced after the committed Communists tried to overthrow Gorbachev in August of 1991. The Gang of 8 were trying to take back control of the country before the Soviet Union fell apart. Instead, they may very well have pushed it over the cliff. It created a change in the power dynamic that even after Gorbachev was restored to the title of President of the USSR, he found himself sharing power with Boris Yeltsin, and all the real power had shifted away from him.
Here is the beginning of that story.
Questions or comments at , [email protected] , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/
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On the 33rd anniversary of the address to the Kennedy Political Union at American University by Senator Strom Thurmond, we thought we would rebroadcast it here for you.
In this address, Senator Thurmond will talk about various issues of the day from the recently concluded Clarence Thomas Hearing, to military preparedness, to politics, Thurmond discusses it all and then takes questions from the students at American University.
Thurmond was a former school teacher and this Q&A segment is an excellent tutorial on Government and politics from a master of the craft, a man who served in South Carolina in one capacity or another for 74 years. Here is Strom Thurmond and this is an excellent speech and presentation.Questions or comments at , [email protected] , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/
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In this episode we will watch the United States Senate cast its vote on the confirmation of Clarence Thomas as an Associate Justice on the United States Supreme Court.
We will hear his mother's reaction as he wins the fight .
Then we will travel to the confirmation ceremony itself and hear from both President George H. W. Bush and the newest member of the U. S. Supreme Court Clarence Thomas as he addresses the crowd just after taking the oath to serve on the highest court in the land.Questions or comments at , [email protected] , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/
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In this episode we listen in on a number of the giant figures of the era in the United States Senate as they debate the confirmation of Judge Clarence Thomas.
It is a whose who of some of the the towering political figures of the era. They will debate Clarence Thomas's political positions, their concerns about his Judical rulings, and his positions on natural law, and abortion rights but always the question of sexual harrassment will linger in the air.
We will also feature commentary from the coverage of NBC News with Tom Brokaw and Andrea Mitchell as they count the votes right up until they actually do vote on the nomination of Clarence Thomas, the numbers will be close as the Senate prepares to vote.Questions or comments at , [email protected] , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/
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In this episode we hear the Senators ask questions of both Clarence Thomas and his accuser, Anita Hill.
The questions and the answers can be at times graphic, deeply personal, and revealing. The Senators often were portrayed as sexist for the grilling they put to Anita Hill. However, some questions needed to be asked, like why did she stay in touch with Thomas for years after the alleged harassment had occurred.
To both of their credit, they answered them all and I will leave it to you to decide as you listen if you find one more credible than the other as the hearing unfolded.Questions or comments at , [email protected] , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/
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In this episode we hear directly from the accuser and the accused just as if it happened yesterday. This episode will also have both of the people involved give addresses and opening comments from both the Chairman , Joe Biden, and the ranking member, Strom Thurmond.
It is a fascinating look back at tumultuous times and you will get to hear both sides of the argument as we feature both the accuser, Anita Hill, and the accused Clarence Thomas as they open up their lives for close examination .Questions or comments at , [email protected] , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/
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The accusations against Clarence Thomas explode on to the scene just the day before he was going to be voted on for placement of the Space Court. The news was a bombshell in the hearings and the two sides were aimed for a fight.
In this episode we listen to the man that had originally employed Clarence Thomas as he worked his way up the legal ladder to serve as a District Judge and now a potential Supreme Court Justice. Senator John Danforth will step up and hold a press conference in defense of his former employee who was now poised to become the a Supreme Court Justice, or maybe not.
This is the opening act for the hearings that will get underway later the next morning.Questions or comments at , [email protected] , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/
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In this episode we get to listen in on various panels both in favor of Judge Clarence Thomas and opposed to Clarence Thomas testify in front of the United States Senate Judiciary Committee. You will hear the senators raise issues from Affirmative Action, to Civil Rights, to the Judges opinion on the South African Government.
You will hear from a former Attorney General , Griffin Bell, some Georgia State Senators, a State Judge, the President of the American Bar Association, and several College Professors who taught Thomas at Holy Cross University.
This is an excellent opportunity for many of our listeners to hear the U. S. Senate at work debating and discussing issues in a civil manner about the qualifications of a Supreme Court Nominee. Things don't get ugly until our next episode. You will hear some of the giants of the Senate in this episode asking questions and gathering information and it will give you some insights into why Clarence Thomas was picked to be on the Supreme Court in the first place, before the debate of race and sexual harassment over shadowed everything.Questions or comments at , [email protected] , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/
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In this episode we see the Senators as they discuss this appointment of Clarence Thomas to Supreme Court.
We begin with a meeting of three of the most powerful Republican Senators on Capitol Hill , John Danforth, Bob Dole, and Strom Thurmond. They will discuss the qualifications of Judge Thomas and the strategy for getting him through the confirmation process.
Then Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell comes out and you will hear the arguments against Thomas that the Democrats are planning to make in the hearings to come. They will question his commitment to Civil Rights, Affirmative Action, and what they feel his position on abortion rights are all going to be. Then they try to sneak in some attacks based on race.
But Senator Strom Thurmond will step up to counteract that attack by inviting several leaders in South Carolina to come to the Judge's defense and show there support for Thomas. It is all here in this episode along with the opening questions that will begin with the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Joe Biden of Delaware.Questions or comments at , [email protected] , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/
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In July of 1991, Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall announced his retirement as a Supreme Court Justice. That would set off the second ugliest fight to date to fill a Supreme Court seat. Only the fight over the nomination of Robert Bork was tougher and Bork lost.
Clarence Thomas was a conservative justice, he was young at age 43, and had had a distinguished career as the head of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and he served on the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, He was a Yale Graduate and he had an undergraduate Degree from Holy Cross. He would also be the second African American to sit on the Supreme Court but he was not a liberal nor a Democrat.
That guaranteed him a fight on issues concerning Civil Rights, Affirmative Action, and Abortion rights. Those fights turned out to be only the first round of the Hearings to confirm him. An accusation had been made in some of the FBI reports that had been checking his background and in typical Washington style, it got leaked.
That led to round 2 and a long debate about the sordid tale of sexual harassment between the Conferee and a former employee he had at the EEOC, Dr. Anita Hill. This is the story of some of the most heated hearings ever held on Capitol Hill.Questions or comments at , [email protected] , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/
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Happy 100th Birthday to former President Jimmy Carter.!!!
He is the first President to live to be 100 years old and he has done a tremendous amount of good over those 100 years.
In our 10th season we did a dual biography of his Presidency alongside our look at our former Congressman John Jenrette. It was an enormous educational experience for me as the host of this podcast. I learned a lot I had not known about his time in office.
It was just before we started those episodes he announced he was going into hospice care. We put together this episode in order to honor him immediately when he passed away thinking it was only days away. Instead, he lived on and to honor him now we thought we would run that pre-prepared special edition, with a new brief introduction and a special message from President Joe Biden from CBS Sunday Morning too.
Happy 100th birthday to Jimmy Carter and we encourage you to go into our back catalogue and listen to our shows profiling his amazing life!!Questions or comments at , [email protected] , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/
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In this episode we let you listen to one of the most impressive statemen of the century, Secretary of State James Baker. He was a graduate of Princeton University and after the Soviet Union Coup attempt finally calms down he returned to his Alma Mater to talk about the future he hoped would occur in the Soviet Union.
We will be covering James Baker quite a bit over the next seasons as he takes a central role in managing the end of the Cold War, and running the re-election of his friend George H. W. Bush in 1992.Questions or comments at , [email protected] , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/
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In this episode we get the President and Secretary of State's views on the events over the past few days in the Soviet Union.
In the press conference you will see how the management of this historic event in the Soviet Union is indictive of how the fall of Communism was managed by these two wise leaders.Questions or comments at , [email protected] , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/
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On the third day the Coup collapses. This is that story. From the moment the three people perish the coup becomes a trainwreck.
At one point they go back to work out a deal with Gorbachev and nothing works. By the end of this day, Yeltsin has emerged as the man who saved the Soviet Union, for the moment anyway, and Gorbachev is on his way back to Moscow, but it is clear to the world that everything has changed.
As the Coup collapsed, the many different Republics declared themselves independent and by the end of the week it appears the Soviet Union is on the verge of collapse itself, which will occur later in 1991.Questions or comments at , [email protected] , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/
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In this episode we see the beginning of the end of the Coup as three people are killed by tanks running over them as the Army is moving in Moscow toward the White House, their home of the Russian Parliament. It is a day full of drama as Boris Yeltsin fights back defiantly. He eludes the Coup leaders by 40 minutes at his house and heads down to the parliament building. Then he moves to block the coup.
He calls on a strike by the nations minors, calls the coup leaders directly, and warns them that the world is watching and their would be consequences for their actions, and he talks with the leaders of the free world , John Major of the United Kingdom, and George H. W, Bush. the President of the United States, and he impresses then both. He is singularly the brave figure who stands up against the tyranny of the Committee of Eight.
Boris Yeltsin emerges on this day as the most powerful public figure in Russia.Questions or comments at , [email protected] , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/
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