Showing results by publisher "Spoken Realms" in Politics & Government

Read by award-winning narrator Mike Vendetti, Common Sense is a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in 1775-76 that inspired people in the Thirteen Colonies to declare and fight for independence from Great Britain in the summer of 1776. The pamphlet explained the advantages of and the need for immediate independence in clear, simple language. It was published anonymously on January 10, 1776, at the beginning of the American Revolution and became an immediate sensation.

George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 43rd president of the United States, from 2001 to 2009, and the 46th governor of Texas, from 1995 to 2000. The eldest son of Barbara and George H. W. Bush, he was born in New Haven, Connecticut.

Common Sense is a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in 1775-76 that inspired people in the Thirteen Colonies to declare and fight for independence from Great Britain in the summer of 1776. In clear, simple language, it explained the advantages of and the need for immediate independence. It was published anonymously on January 10, 1776, at the beginning of the American Revolution and became an immediate sensation.

Franklin Delano (January 30, 1882 - April 12, 1945), commonly known by his initials FDR, was an American statesman and political leader who served as the 32nd President of the United States. A Democrat, he won a record four elections and served from March 1933 to his death in April 1945. He was a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic depression and total war.

Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (October 14, 1890-March 28, 1969) was the thirty-fourth president of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army during World War II and served as supreme commander of the Allied Forces in Europe; he had responsibility for planning and supervising the invasion of North Africa in Operation Torch in 1942-43 and the successful invasion of France and Germany in 1944-45 from the Western Front.

John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. (July 4, 1872-January 5, 1933) was the thirtieth president of the United States (1923-1929). A Republican lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state. His response to the Boston police strike of 1919 thrust him into the national spotlight and gave him a reputation as a man of decisive action.

Franklin is a short but concise biography of Ben Franklin. We learn of difficulties with his learning but how those challenges may have been key to his genius and success. From printer to inventor, statesman to philosopher, this biography is an impressive look at the life of this man who possessed both wit and wisdom. Narrated by Glenn Hascall.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 - November 22, 1963), commonly known as Jack Kennedy or by his initials JFK, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from January 1961 until his assassination in November 1963. This undelivered speech was due to be given on November 22, 1963, to the annual meeting of the Dallas Citizens Council at the Dallas Trade Mart.

Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874-October 20, 1964) was the thirty-first president of the United States (1929-1933). Hoover, born to a Quaker family, was a professional mining engineer. He achieved American and international prominence in humanitarian relief efforts in war-time Belgium and served as head of the U.S. Food Administration during World War I.

Theodore Roosevelt wrote this message on January 3, 1919. Both by its character and the circumstances of its publication, it's considered his final message to the American people. He sent it to the president of the American Defense Society, and it was read at a great mass meeting under the auspices of that organization in the Hippodrome in New York, on the evening of January 5. It was published on the morning of January 6, the day of his death.

Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884-December 26, 1972) was the thirty-third president of the United States (1945-53). As the final running mate of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1944, Truman assumed the presidency on April 12, 1945, when Roosevelt died after months of declining health. Under Truman the Allies successfully concluded World War II; in the aftermath of the conflict, tensions with the Soviet Union increased, marking the start of the Cold War.

William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857-March 8, 1930) was the twenty-seventh president of the United States (1909-1913) and later the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921-1930). He is the only person to have served in both of these offices. Riding a wave of popular support for fellow Republican Roosevelt, Taft won an easy victory in his 1908 bid for the presidency.

Warren Gamaliel Harding (November 2, 1865-August 2, 1923) was the twenty-ninth president of the United States (1921-23), a Republican from Ohio who served in the Ohio Senate and then in the United States Senate, where he played a minor role.

Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856-February 3, 1924) was the twenty-eighth president of the United States, from 1913 to 1921, and leader of the progressive movement. Wilson induced a conservative Democratic Congress to pass a progressive legislative agenda, unparalleled until the New Deal in 1933. This included the Federal Reserve Act, the Federal Trade Commission Act, the Clayton Antitrust Act, the Federal Farm Loan Act, and an income tax.

Narrated by award winning narrator Mike Vendetti, Henry David argues that individuals should not permit governments to overrule or atrophy their consciences, and that they have a duty to avoid allowing such acquiescence to enable the government to make them the agents of injustice. Thoreau was motivated in part by his disgust with slavery and the Mexican-American War.

The Emancipation Proclamation was a presidential proclamation issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, as a war measure during the American Civil War, directed to all of the areas in rebellion and all segments of the Executive branch (including the Army and Navy) of the United States. It proclaimed the freedom of slaves in the eleven states that were still in rebellion, excluding areas controlled by the Union and thus applying to 3 million of the 4 million slaves in the U.S. at the time.

Chester Alan Arthur (October 5, 1829 - November 18, 1886) was the 21st President of the United States (1881-85); he succeeded James Garfield upon the latter's assassination. At the outset, Arthur struggled to overcome his reputation, stemming from his beginnings in politics as a politician from the New York City Republican political machine. He succeeded by embracing the cause of civil service reform.

His inability to calm tensions over slavery kept the country on the path to the American Civil War. Genial and well-spoken, Pierce was a northern Democrat who saw the abolitionist movement as a fundamental threat to the unity of the nation. His polarizing actions in championing and signing the Kansas-Nebraska Act and enforcing the Fugitive Slave Act failed to stem intersectional conflict, setting the stage for Southern secession, and leaving him widely regarded as one of the worst presidents in U.S. history.

Jackson's Farewell Address has been described as an agrarian message in which he tells how he tried to promote traditional ideals while restraining privileged monopolies. He explains that the country's economic health, attributed to new market forces, has led to unprecedented prosperity and that never before had the people "enjoyed so much freedom and happiness.

Fillmore was the only Whig president that did not die in office or get expelled from the party, and Fillmore appointed the only Whig Supreme Court Justice. He is consistently included in the bottom 10 of historical rankings of Presidents of the United States. As Zachary Taylor's vice president, he assumed the presidency after Taylor's death. Fillmore was a lawyer from western New York state, and an early member of the Whig Party.