In what began as the dedication of a memorial to members of the 35th Infantry Division, of which Harry Truman was Captain of the 129th Field Artillery during World War 1, turned into a much anticipated speech on Foreign Policy which Truman delivered in a nationwide address on June 11, 1949.

In his address, Truman warned of dire consequences if Congress went ahead in slashing funds for European recovery, saying the only thing to gain from it would be Communism. He urged for stronger commitment to a stable European economy and a stronger United Nations in order to deal with conflicts abroad.

Here is that address, as broadcast over CBS Radio on June 11, 1949.

Interesting when you consider now that, even in 1961, Technology was very much on India's mind. In this 1961 address to The Collegiate Council of the United Nations, Indian Prime Minister Jawahrarlal Nehru saw the importance of technological advances in an emerging nation. How education was the most important thing in obtaining a better place in the world in general. And how, on the one hand nations like the U.S. were making great technological strides, yet somehow losing on moral grounds. The two, in Nehru's mind, had to be in harmony.

Nehru: “On the one side there is tremendous achievement and the world is changing rapidly in regard to technical matters, technological advances and material advancement. But probably the thinking of human beings has not kept pace with these changes that are taking place.

Later on in his address, Nehru quoted Albert Einstein in saying the war after the next war will most likely be fought with bows and arrows.

He may still have a point there.

Here is the complete address Prime Minister Nehru gave at that United Nations meeting on November 11, 1961.

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When news of the ill-fated CIA backed invasion of Cuba at The Bay Of Pigs was first announced on April 17th, it wasn't clear if the attempted overthrow of the Castro regime would be a success or not. But as hours and days passed, it was clear it wasn't. In fact, it was a howling failure and it made for a goodly amount of Anti-U.S. propaganda fodder for the Soviet press and another big set-back for our Foreign Policy in Latin America.

President Kennedy made an address to the country during a meeting of the Press Association. At the time it wasn't made known the CIA had anything to do with the invasion, rather it was touted to be a group of Anti-Castro rebels, trained and equipped on a shoestring, attempting to overthrow Fidel Castro. That part looked good on paper. But the reality was a bit different.

Here is that address from April 21, 1961.

In honor of Memorial day this year, I will be running some addresses honoring the dead and missing from wars we've been involved in.

Starting off with President Kennedy's Dedication of The Memorial To The Missing from May 23, 1963, given at Battery Park, New York.

A short address - but timely.

Don't forget the reason you have the day off.

September 17, 1937 marked the 150th anniversary of the Constitution. In that year, the country was still in the midst of digging itself out of the worst depression in history, and suffering a second shock in the process. The Anti-FDR factions were loudly trumpeting our certain descent into Socialism. Meanwhile, radical movements were on the rise, with the American Nazi Party and The American Communist Party gaining prominence with the public. The Supreme Court was clogged and stagnant and a remnant of the Coolidge and Hoover administrations. The Recovery was slow and plagued with obstacles. Wall Street was resistant to the point of belligerence. The rest of the world was going through financial turmoil. Nazi Germany was emerging as a new and dangerous world power.

They were, if anything, worrisome times.

But on that Constitution Day in 1937 President Franklin Roosevelt saw the big picture, and his address to a crowd of 75,000 as well as broadcast around the world to countless millions, reiterated the sentiments of the majority that the country was getting better. Slowly, but getting better.

President Roovevelt: "It cost a Civil War to gain recognition of the constitutional power of the Congress to legislate for the territories.

It cost twenty years of taxation on those least able to pay to recognize the constitutional power of the Congress to levy taxes on those most able to pay.

It cost twenty years of exploitation of women's labor to recognize the constitutional power of the States to pass minimum wage laws for their protection.

It has cost twenty years already—and no one knows how many more are to come- to obtain a constitutional interpretation that will let the Nation regulate the shipment in national commerce of goods sweated from the labor of little children.

We know it takes time to adjust government to the needs of society. But modern history proves that reforms too long delayed or denied have jeopardized peace, undermined democracy and swept away civil and religious liberties. —-"

Yes, time more than ever before is vital in statesmanship and in government, in all three branches of it.

We will no longer be permitted to sacrifice each generation in turn while the law catches up with life."

Even in 1937.

Here is the complete Constitution Day Address of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, as it was heard on September 17, 1937.

In keeping with our current preoccupation with taxes, the deficit and spending, I thought I would run an address President Franklin Roosevelt gave while campaigning for re-election in 1936.

Seems the subject of taxes has been with us for a very-very long time. And it also seems the ones doing the most complaining haven't changed very much in the past 200 or so years.

Comforting, I suppose. But you'd think by now it would get a little tired.

In 1936 though, FDR had a few choice words nestled in what has become a timeless address.

President Roosevelt: “In 1776 the fight was for Democracy in Taxation. In 1936 there is still the fight. Mister Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes once said ‘taxes are the prices we pay for civilized society’. One sure way to determine the social conscience of a government is to examine the way taxes are collected and how they are spent. And one sure way to determine the social conscience of an individual is to get his tax reaction. Taxes, after all are the dues we pay for the privilege of membership in an organized society. And as society becomes more civilized government, national and state and local, is called on to assume more obligations to its citizens. The privileges of membership in a civilized society are vastly increased in modern times. But I am afraid we still have many who still do not recognize their advantages and want to avoid paying their dues.”

Tax breaks for the wealthy were a concept well in place by the time Hoover was President.

FDR: “To divide fairly among the people the obligation to pay for these benefits has been a major part of our struggle to maintain Democracy in America. Ever since 1776, that struggle has been between two forces; on the one hand there has been a vast majority of citizens who believe the benefits of democracy should be extended and who are willing to pay their fair share to extend them. And on the other hand, there has been a small but powerful group which has fought the extension of these benefits because they did not want to pay a fair share of their cost. That was the lineup in seventeen hundred and seventy-six and it’s the lineup today. And I am confident that once more, in nineteen thirty-six democracy in taxation will win. Here is my principle, and I think it’s yours too; Taxes shall be levied according to ability to pay. That is the only American principle.”

So hearing this now and knowing it was from the dim-distant past of 1936, it makes the current situation and posturing that much more absurd. Unfortunately if it were only absurd it would be laughed off. But it has become deadly serious business in the ensuing years.

And I keep reminding myself that Fair is a place in Pomona California where people get together once a year and show cows.