Jacinda Ardern, A Call for Tolerance and Rejecting Hate
<h4><a href="https://vmps.omeka.net/exhibits/show/public-service-spoken-word/public-service-spoken-word">Return to Public Service Through the Spoken Word</a></h4>
In a speech dated March 15, 2019, Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern speaks of the Christchurch Shooting Massacre. Ardern emphasizes providing thoughts and prayers to those who were impacted, and also offers reassurances to those who choose to immigrate to New Zealand because of its ideals. Ardern emphasizes the power of diversity running through New Zealand, as a place of refuge for those who need it, and one of compassion and support for communities. She concludes by remarking, "You may have chosen us -- but we utterly reject and condemn you."
Televison
https://womenintheworld.com/wp-content/uploads/fly-images/28514/GettyImages-1135920580-1920x0.jpg
Government of New Zealand
March 15 2019
Televison
Government of New Zealand
<a href="https://www.vsotd.com/featured-speech/strongest-possible-condemnation">Vital Speeches</a>
Photograph
English
Speech
Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand, Christchurch, Diversity, Tolerance, Pluralism, Anti-Racism
New Zealand
Amina J. Mohammed, A Call for Ethical Uses of Technology
<h4><a href="https://vmps.omeka.net/exhibits/show/public-service-spoken-word/public-service-spoken-word">Return to Public Service Through the Spoken Word</a></h4>
On February 25, 2019, Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed talked about the pace of technological change at the Mobile World Congress. She remarked that technology has led to improvements in fighting against climate hazards, improved health outcomes, and inclusive public services through digital identities powered by blockchain, among others. She also mentioned downsides to these trends, such as accelerating inequality due to losses of jobs, cyber attacks and cybercrimes, disformation, violation of privacy, and persecution of dissenting voices. She recommends that to use technology for the public good, there must be cooperation mechanisms involving multiple stakeholders, making technology inclusive, investing in science-related courses, and to reflect across disciplines.<br /><br /><p>Ms. Amina J. Mohammed<span class="apple-converted-space"><span> </span></span><span>is the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations and also Chair of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Group.</span></p><p></p>
<p><span>Prior to her appointment, Ms. Mohammed served as Minister of Environment of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, where she steered the country’s efforts on climate action and efforts to protect the natural environment.</span></p><p></p>
<p><span>Ms. Amina Mohammed first joined the United Nations in 2012, as Special Adviser to former Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, with the responsibility for post-2015 development planning. Mohammed led the developing planning process, which resulted in global agreement around the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, as well as the creation of the Sustainable Development Goals. </span></p><p></p>
<p><span>Amina Mohammed began her career in Nigeria, with her work focused on the design of Nigerian schools and clinics. She also served as an advocate, focused on increasing access to education and other social services to all students, before moving into the public sector, where she rose to the position of adviser to three successive Presidents on poverty, public sector reform, and sustainable development.</span></p><p></p>
<p><span>Ms. Mohammed has been awarded several honorary doctorates and has served as an adjunct professor, teaching courses on international development. Ms. Mohammad has received various global awards over the course of her professional endeavors, and has served on numerous international advisory boards and panels. Based on her advocacy efforts and sustainable development involvement, Ms. Amina J. Mohammed’s call for ethical uses of technology was successfully heard and responded to.</span></p><p></p>
Mobile World Congress
https://www.un.org/sg/en/dsg/index.shtml
Mobile World Congress, United Nations
February 25, 2019
Mobile World Congress, United Nations
Mobile World Congress
<a href="https://www.vsotd.com/featured-speech/midst-unprecedented-unpredictable-technological-change">Vital Speeches</a>
Photograph
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/83/Amina_J._Mohammed_in_London_-_2018_%2841824822362%29_%28cropped%29.jpg
English
Speech
Amina J. Mohammed, Technology, Privacy, Innovation, Access, Inequality, Public Good
Spain
Mary Sue Coleman, A Call for Saving Public Higher Education
<h4><a href="https://vmps.omeka.net/exhibits/show/public-service-spoken-word/public-service-spoken-word">Return to Public Service Through the Spoken Word</a></h4>
<p>Mary Sue Coleman, President of the Association of American Universities, delivered a compelling speech on September 27, 2016, at the <span>Times Higher Education World Academic Summit, University of California,</span><span class="widont"> </span><span>Berkeley. In this speech, Coleman</span> spoke quite vocally about the issue of higher education being a public good that is appearing to become increasingly inaccessible and lacking support. Within her speech, a noteworthy quote she stated was, "We are, I believe, at a tipping point. The question is which way public higher education will fall, and who will do the pushing," suggestive of the lack of support among state governments towards public education, which had declined by a whopping 30 percent. As a result of the decline in state funding for public education, Coleman explained how such coincided with the increased costs of education for students and families. Accordingly, this increase in tuition costs had led universites to make major cuts, to educational programs, as well as services, which may potentially weaken the quality of the education students receive as a result of the state investment declines for public educational universities that are now offering less programs and services to their students, yet charging students and families increased tuition rates. </p>
<p><br />Faced with skepticism, Coleman uses her speech to reiterate how public universities drive American research along with health benefits. Coleman concludes by emphasizing that we should seek new revenue streams in order to fund public universities, to foster partnerships between public research universities and the private sector, and by improving student access through policy reforms.<br /><br /><span>Within a 15-year span, starting in 2000, investment by American state governments in public higher education declined by 30 percent. Thirty percent. That is an ominous start to the 21st century. And a large step backward in a nation aiming for the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by the year 2020.</span></p>
Times Higher Education World Academic Summit, Pro Rhetoric, American Association of Universities (AAU)
https://www.aau.edu/key-issues/saving-public-higher-education-aau-president-mary-sue-coleman-speech-world-academic
https://prorhetoric.com/saving-public-higher-education/
UC Berkeley
September 27, 2016
Times Higher Education World Academic Summit
UC Berkeley
<a href="https://www.vsotd.com/featured-speech/saving-public-higher-education">Vital Speeches</a>
Photograph
English
Speech
Mary Sue Coleman, Public Education, Education, Research, Public Good, College
United States
Robert F Kennedy, "A Call to Stop Violence"
<h4><a href="https://vmps.omeka.net/exhibits/show/public-service-spoken-word/public-service-spoken-word">Return to Public Service Through the Spoken Word</a></h4>
Senator Robert F. Kennedy, in a speech to a city club in Cleveland, Ohio, bemoans the futility of violence and how it erodes love and connection between human beings. The Senator criticizes the country's tolerance and desensitization towards acts of violence, as well as the institutional failures that do not address public needs adequately, due to the heinous dynamism of racism. Within his "A Call to Stop Violence," speech, Senator John F. Kennedy calls on Americans to look for true justice, and to strive for reaching commonal goal that all Americans can agree with, invoking a sense of unity and cohesion among Americans without capitalizing on the contretemps of others.
City Club of Cleveland
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ncUYKk_CuTM/maxresdefault.jpg
https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/the-kennedy-family/robert-f-kennedy/robert-f-kennedy-speeches/remarks-to-the-cleveland-city-club-april-5-1968
City Club of Cleveland
April 5, 1968
City Club of Cleveland
City Club of Cleveland
<a href="https://www.vsotd.com/featured-speech/mindless-menace-violence-1">Vital Speeches</a>
Photograph
English
Speech
Robert F. Kennedy, Violence, Racism, MLK, United States, Humanity
United States
John McCain, A Call for Compromise in Public Service
<h4><a href="https://vmps.omeka.net/exhibits/show/public-service-spoken-word/public-service-spoken-word">Return to Public Service Through the Spoken Word</a></h4>
Former senator John McCain, in a speech dated July 25, 2017, criticizes the winner-take-all approach of modern politics. Rather, McCain emphasises in his speech the need for a "Government designed for compromise." McCain emphasizes in his speech that members of Congress ought to take a more conciliatory and cooperative approach towards each other to best serve the American people, as opposed to an absoluist, hyper-competitive approach. McCain emphasizes that public servants should learn to trust each other, and to be willing to seek help from across the aisle, as partisan bickering makes congressional action slow to impossible.<br /><br /><span>McCain said he would be returning to work when Congress begins a new legislative session next week.</span>
US Senate
National Public Radio, Inc.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Cw4RqZAKa5A/maxresdefault.jpg
https://www.npr.org/2017/07/25/539323689/watch-sen-mccain-calls-for-compromise-in-return-to-senate-floor
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/26/opinion/letters/senator-john-mccain-death.html
https://www.12news.com/article/news/politics/government-designed-for-compromise-sen-john-mccain-pens-op-ed-in-washington-post/75-470072342
U.S. Senate, National Public Radio, Inc., New York Times, Channel 12 News
Author: Hayden Packwood (KPNX), Publisher: 12News.
Published: 12:00 PM MST September 1, 2017
July 25, 2017
US Senate, National Public Radio, Inc., New York Times, 12 News, the Phoenix, Arizona NBC affiliate owned by TEGNA Inc.
U.S. Senate, National Public Radio, Inc.
<a href="https://www.vsotd.com/featured-speech/lets-trust-each-other-lets-return-regular-order">Vital Speeches</a><br />
Photograph
English
Speech
John McCain, US Senate, Tribalism, Politics, Compromise, Public Service
United States
Cody Keenan, Taking Risks in Public Service
<h4><a href="https://vmps.omeka.net/exhibits/show/public-service-spoken-word/public-service-spoken-word">Return to Public Service Through the Spoken Word</a></h4>
In an address dated May 19, 2015, former President Obama's Senior Advisor and Chief Speechwriter, Cody Keenan, advises public service graduates to embrace the fear of failure. Fear of failure can help to push oneself in public service, and avoid the plague of complacency. Keenan concludes by stating that no matter how tough public service can be in terms of doubters, you must tread ahead and be able to take big risks.<br /><br /><p>Cody Keenan wrote speeches with and for former President Barack Obama for more than a decade. Throughout times of challenge and change, Keenan helped President Obama craft remarks on every topic for every audience, a key strongpoint that his career working for President Obama and Congess significantly highlight – Keenan could craft rhetoric for all topics that werre relatable and resonating to all listeners, with the same messaging ringing through from the tiny backyards in Iowa to the biggest stadiums in the country; from a sermon in Selma to Obama's farewell address. <br /><br />Keenan has been described as the “Springsteen” of Obama’s White House, and was named by British GQ as one of the “35 Coolest Men Under 38 (And a Half).” In January of 2017, after 36 years of hopefully waiting, Keenan finally earned and was thereby given the opportunity to write his "dream speech" – one in which President Obama welcomed the World Champion Chicago Cubs to the White House. Indeed, Keenan demonstrated quite impressive speechwriting career highlights galore!</p>
<p>Having received his higher education at both Northwestern University (class of '02) and Harvard University, Cody Keenan’s passion for public service was polished during his role as a young aide to Senator Edward Kennedy. Upon leaving the White House, President Obama asked Keenan to continue their partnership as his collaborator on his upcoming book, as well as as his post-presidential speechwriter, maintaining the close-knit bond the two had developed while President Obama was in office. </p>
New York University, Northwestern University's Department of Political Science
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/MHhmYoTKU4o/maxresdefault.jpg
https://time.com/3921833/cody-keenan-nyu-commencement-speech/
https://www.polisci.northwestern.edu/about/featured-alumni/cody-keenan-02.html
NYU
May 19, 2015
2020
NYU
NYU
<a href="https://www.vsotd.com/featured-speech/speechwriter-public-service-grads-be-afraid-fail">Vital Speeches</a>
Photograph
English
Speech
Cody Keenan, Speech, Public Service, Failure, Risk-Taking
United States
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
<h4><a href="https://vmps.omeka.net/exhibits/show/public-service-spoken-word/public-service-spoken-word">Return to Public Service through the Spoken Word</a></h4>
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the leading, national public health institute of the United States. It is a United States federal agency, under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Its main goal is to protect public health and safety through the control and prevention of disease, injury, and disability in the US and internationally. The CDC focuses national attention on developing and applying disease control and prevention. It especially focuses its attention on infectious disease, food borne pathogens, environmental health, occupational safety and health, health promotion, injury prevention and educational activities designed to improve the health of United States citizens. <br /><br />According to the CDC, <br /><ul class="bullet-list"><li>Detecting and responding to new and emerging health threats</li>
<li>Tackling the biggest health problems causing death and disability for Americans</li>
<li>Putting science and advanced technology into action to prevent disease</li>
<li>Promoting healthy and safe behaviors, communities and environment</li>
<li>Developing leaders and training the public health workforce, including disease detectives</li>
<li>Taking the health pulse of our nation</li>
</ul><br /><br />The CDC also conducts research and provides information on non-infectious diseases, such as obesity and diabetes, and is a founding member of the International Association of National Public Health Institutes. <br /><br />The CDC has been noted for the breadth of its resources and information provided to the American citizen during the 2019-20 Coronavirus Pandemic. More can be seen at this <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/index.html">link</a>. Attached is an image of a CDC director warning in April 2020 urging preparation in the event a second wave of coronavirus in the winter turns out harsher than anticipated.
Logo - CDC
Photograph - Alex Brandon
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/71/US_CDC_logo.svg/1000px-US_CDC_logo.svg.png
CDC - Logo
AP - Photograph
2006 - Logo
2020 April - Photograph
Logo - CDC
Photograph - Alex Brandon
CDC - Logo
AP - Photograph
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centers_for_Disease_Control_and_Prevention">Wikipedia</a><br /><br /><a href="https://www.inquirer.com/health/coronavirus/coronavirus-second-wave-covid-19-cdc-20200421.html">Philadelphia Inquirer</a>
Logo & Photograph
English
Logo & Speech
CDC, Public Health, Media, Diseases, United States
United States
Radio Free Asia
<h4><a href="https://vmps.omeka.net/exhibits/show/public-service-spoken-word/public-service-spoken-word">Return to Public Service through the Spoken Word</a></h4>
From Wikipedia: Radio Free Asia is a United States government–funded, nonprofit international broadcasting corporation that broadcasts and publishes online news, information and commentary to readers and listeners in East Asia. Its self-stated mission is "to provide accurate and timely news and information to Asian countries whose governments prohibit access to a free press."<br /><br />Based on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, it was established in the 1990s with the aim of promoting democratic values and human rights, and diminishing Communist Party of China control. It is funded by a grant from the U.S. Agency for Global Media (formerly the "Broadcasting Board of Governors"), an independent agency of the United States government. In 2017, RFA and other networks, such as Voice of America, were put under the newly created US Agency for Global Media, an independent federal agency. RFA is the only station outside China that broadcasts in the Uygur-language. It has been recognized for played a vital role in exposing Xinjiang re-education camps. The New York Times regards RFA as one of the few reliable sources of information about Xinjiang.<br /><br />Attached is an image of Radio Free Asia Director Libby Liu addressing diplomats on RFA's broadcasts to the citizens of China
Logo - Radio Free Asia
Photograph - Bruce Guthrie
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51QF3y8IFeL.png
Logo - Radio Free Asia
August 12 2019
Logo - Radio Free Asia
Photograph - Bruce Guthrie
Logo - Radio Free Asia
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Free_Asia">Wikipedia</a><br /><br /><a href="https://www.publicdiplomacycouncil.org/2019/08/12/a-struggle-for-minds-in-closed-societies-a-radio-free-asia-update/">Public Diplomacy Council</a>
Logo & Photograph
English
Logo & Speech
Radio, Radio Free Asia, Freedom, Liberty, Asia, China, Freedom of the Press
United States
"Chance for Peace" Speech - Dwight Eisenhower
<h4><a href="https://vmps.omeka.net/exhibits/show/public-service-spoken-word/public-service-spoken-word">Return to Public Service through the Spoken Word</a></h4>
The Chance for Peace speech, also known as the Cross of Iron speech, was an address given by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower on April 16, 1953, shortly after the death of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. Speaking only three months into his presidency, Eisenhower likened arms spending to stealing from the people, and evoked William Jennings Bryan in describing "humanity hanging from a cross of iron." Although Eisenhower, a former military man, spoke against increased military spending, the Cold War deepened during his administration and political pressures for increased military spending mounted. By the time he left office in 1961, he felt it necessary to warn of the military-industrial complex. <br /><br />The speech was addressed to the American Society of Newspaper Editors, in Washington D.C., on April 16, 1953. Eisenhower took an opportunity to highlight the cost of continued tensions and rivalry with the Soviet Union While addressed to the American Society of Newspaper Editors, the speech was broadcast nationwide, through use of television and radio, from the Statler Hotel. He noted that not only were there military dangers (as had been demonstrated by the Korean War), but an arms race would place a huge domestic burden on both nations: <br /><br />"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some fifty miles of concrete pavement. We pay for a single fighter with a half-million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people. . . . This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron"
White House
https://kr.usembassy.gov/education-culture/infopedia-usa/famous-speeches/dwight-d-eisenhower-chance-peace/
https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/eisenhower-weighs-chance-for-peace-in-the-cold-war-video
- excellent video provided on this webpage
Dwight_D._Eisenhower%2C_official_photo_portrait%2C_May_29%2C_1959.jpg
Eisenhower Presidential Library, U.S. Embassy, History.com
May 29, 1959
White House, U.S. Embassy, History.com
Eisenhower Presidential Library
Photograph
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/63/Dwight_D._Eisenhower%2C_official_photo_portrait%2C_May_29%2C_1959.jpg/818px-
English
Speech
Arms Spending, Eisenhower, Poverty, Public Needs, Priorities, Defense
United States.
Lincoln-Douglas debates
<h4><a href="https://vmps.omeka.net/exhibits/show/public-service-spoken-word/public-service-spoken-word">Return to Public Service through the Spoken Word</a></h4>
<p><strong>The Lincoln-Douglas debates </strong>can be <span>can be defined as a series of seven debates between incumbent S</span>enator<span> </span>Stephen A. Douglas, as the Democratic Party candidate,<span> </span>and Republican challenger<span> </span>Abraham Lincoln, Republican Party candidate for the U.S. Senate from Illinoiw during the 1858<span> </span>Illinois<span> </span>senatorial campaign, principally concerning the issue of<span> </span><span>slavery</span><span> </span>extension into the territories.<br /><br />Lincoln and Douglas decided to hold one debate in each of the nine congressional districts in Illinois. Both candidates had already spoken in Springfield and Chicago within a day of each other, so they decided that their joint appearances would be held in the remaining seven districts. Each debate lasted 3 hours. The format was that one candidate spoke for 60 minutes, then the other candidate spoke for 90 minutes, and then the first candidate was allowed a 30-minute rejoinder. The debates previewed the issues that Lincoln later faced after his victory in the 1860 presidential election. Illinois was a free state, and the main issue discussed in all seven debates was slavery in the United States, particularly its future expansion into new territories.</p>
<p><span> </span><span>The slavery extension question had seemingly been settled by the</span><span> </span><span>Missouri Compromise</span><span> </span><span>nearly 40 years earlier. The</span><span> </span><span>Mexican War, however, had added new territories, and the issue flared up again in the 1840s. The</span><span> </span><span>Compromise of 1850provided a temporary respite from sectional strife, but the</span><span> </span><span>Kansas-Nebraska Act</span><span> </span><span>of 1854—a measure which was sponsored by Douglas—brought the slavery extension issue to the forefront once again. Douglas’s bill in effect repealed the</span><span> </span><span>Missouri Compromise</span><span> </span><span>by lifting the ban against slavery in territories north of the 36°30′ latitude. In lieu </span><span>of the ban, Douglas offered</span><span> </span><span>popular sovereignty, the doctrine which states that the actual settlers in the territories should decide the fate of slavery in their own land, being the central focus of such settlers, and not Congress. </span></p>
<p><span> </span></p>
<p><span>In 1854</span>,<span>Senator </span><span>Stephen Douglas of Illinois presented a bill destined to be one of the most consequential pieces of legislation in our national history. </span><span>Supposedly </span><span>a bill “to organize the Territory of Nebraska,” an area covering the present-day states of Kansas, Nebraska, Montana, and the Dakotas, contemporaries </span><span>referred to </span><span>it </span><span>as</span><span>“the Nebraska bill.” Today, we know it as the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854.</span></p>
<p><span>By the 1850s</span><span>, </span><span>there were </span><span>pressing </span><span>demands to </span><span>structure </span><span>the western territories. </span><span>The </span><span>land acquired from Mexico in 1848, the California </span><span>Gold Rush </span><span>of 1849, and the </span><span>unyielding movement </span><span>toward westward expansion forced farmers, ranchers, and </span><span>over-viewers </span><span>toward the Pacific. The Mississippi River had </span><span>indeed </span><span>long served as a highway for the north-south traffic, but the western lands needed a river of steel, not a river of water—</span><span>denoting </span><span>a transcontinental railroad </span><span>in order </span><span>to link the eastern states to the Pacific. Whic h led to the golden question of: What route would that railroad take?</span></p>
<p><span>Stephen Douglas, one of the railway’s chief </span><span>organizers and supporters</span><span>, wanted </span><span>to develop </span><span>a northern route through Chicago. However, the only problem with this idea is that would take the rail lines through the </span><span>dis</span><span>organized </span><span>territory of Nebraska</span><span>, which </span><span>was located </span><span>north of </span><span>the </span><span>1820 Missouri Compromise line</span><span>, </span><span>where slavery was prohibited. Others, mainly slaveholders and allies </span><span>of</span><span>, most specifically, </span><span>favored </span><span>a southern </span><span>railroad </span><span>route, perhaps </span><span>one that went </span><span>through the new stat</span><span>e</span><span>of Texas. Nevertheless, in order to pass his “Nebraska bill,” Douglas needed a compromise.</span></p>
<p><span> </span></p>
<p><span>On January 4, 1854, </span><span>Stephen</span><span>Douglas introduced a bill designed to </span><span>maintain common ground</span><span>. He proposed arranging the </span><span>extensive</span><span>territory “with or without slavery, as their constitutions may prescribe.” </span></p>
<p><span>This policy became known as “popular sovereignty,” and was policy that contradicted the Missouri Compromise, and leaving open even more, the question of slavery. However, despite Douglas’s proposal and efforts to meet northerners and southerners in the middle, even that was not enough to satisfy a group of dominant southern senators led by the state of Missouri’s David Atchison. These senators wanted to explicitly repeal the 1820 line. Douglas viewed the railroad line as the “onward march of civilization,” and thus, he agreed to the southern senators’ demands. Douglas told Atchison, “I will incorporate it into my bill, though I know it will raise a hell of a storm.” From that moment on, the Nebraska bill debate was no longer a discussion about organizing railway lines; it was all about slavery.</span></p>
<br /><br />
US Government, Post Office Department, U.S. Senate
https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/Kansas_Nebraska_Act.htm
US Government, Post Office Department, U.S. Senate
1958
US Government, Post Office Department, U.S. Senate
US Government, Post Office Department, U.S. Senate
Senate.gov
Photograph
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/Lincoln_Douglas_Debates_1958_issue-4c.jpg
English
Debate
Abraham Lincoln, Lincoln-Douglas Debates, Illinois, Slavery, Unied States, Historic
United States