The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for July 1, 2025

Distinguished television journalist Bill Moyers died June 26th at age 91.  In his long career, he earned 30 Emmy awards, served as President Lyndon Johnson’s press secretary, helped found public broadcasting, and was a stalwart voice for democracy and democracy reform.

On being a reporter, Moyers told a Chautauqua Institution audience in 2016, “I was hooked, and in one way or another I’ve continued to engage the issues of money and power, equality and democracy over a lifetime spent at the intersection between politics and journalism.”

He served as an aide to Johnson’s failed 1960 campaign, and from 1964 to 67, served as Johnson’s press secretary during the passage of the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act. He was instrumental in the creation of public broadcasting, where later reported for almost a decade.  He wrote scores of commentaries for CBS and NBC, and produced 70 documentaries for PBS. 

Democracy and democracy reform appears frequently in Moyers work, including his Moyers on Democracy podcast, and a companion book of speeches. 

When Moyers retired in 2017, he wrote:  “In the meantime, please remain vigilant and engaged as citizens in the civic and political life of your community and our country. Democracy is fragile, and no one can say with certainty that it can withstand the manifold risks to which it is now exposed.”We’ve linked to his farewell essay and more at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

Bill Moyers – (2017) Farewell
Moyers on Democracy – PODCAST: Democracy on the Edge 
Bill Moyers – (2016) We, the Plutocrats vs. We, the People – Saving the Soul of Democracy
Frontline – Legendary Journalist Bill Moyers, Correspondent on FRONTLINE Documentaries Including ‘Two American Families,’ Dies at 91
BillMoyers.com – BILL MOYERS BIOGRAPHY
Doris “Granny D” Haddock – Walking Across America in My 90th Year: Forward by Bill Moyers

Groups Taking Action:

The Nation – John Nichols:  Bill Moyers Kept the Faith in Democracy. We Need His Example More Than Ever.

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

U.S. Election Assistance Commission – Register And Vote in Your State

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#News #Democracy  #DemocracyNews #BillMoyers #PBS #BillMoyers.com

The post Bill Moyers, Journalist and Keen Observer of Democracy, Dies at 91 appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Dec. 31, 2024

Today’s Script

(Variations occur with audio due to editing for time. Today’s Links below the script)

You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.

Facing an energy crisis, high inflation, and rising unemployment, President Jimmy Carter addressed the nation in his “Crisis of Confidence” speech on July 15th, 1979.

“The erosion of our confidence in the future is threatening to destroy the social and the political fabric of America. The confidence that we have always had as a people is not simply some romantic dream or a proverb in a dusty book that we read just on the Fourth of July. It is the idea which founded our nation and has guided our development as a people.” 

“Confidence in the future has supported everything else—public institutions and private enterprise, our own families, and the very Constitution of the United States. Confidence has defined our course and has served as a link between generations. We’ve always believed in something called progress. We’ve always had a faith that the days of our children would be better than our own.”

“Our people are losing that faith, not only in government itself but in the ability as citizens to serve as the ultimate rulers and shapers of our democracy.”

“Looking for a way out of this crisis, our people have turned to the Federal government and found it isolated from the mainstream of our nation’s life. Washington, D.C., has become an island. The gap between our citizens and our government has never been so wide. The people are looking for honest answers, not easy answers; clear leadership, not false claims and evasiveness and politics as usual.”

We’ve linked the full speech at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. I’m Brian Beihl.

Full 32-minute “A Crisis of Confidence” speech in MP3 Audio:

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

Voices of Democracy – The U.S. Oratory Project – JIMMY CARTER, “CRISIS OF CONFIDENCE” (15 JULY 1979)
CBS News – Video –  President Jimmy Carter’s “malaise” speech – “A Crisis of Confidence”
Bill of Rights Institute – Jimmy Carter and the “Malaise” Speech
The Fulcrum – Jimmy Carter: Defender of Democracy

The Carter Center – Democracy Programs

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

U.S. Election Assistance Commission – Register And Vote in Your State

Please follow us on Facebook and Bluesky Social, and SHARE! 

Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

Want ADM sent to your email?  Sign up here!

Are you a radio station?  Find our broadcast files at Pacifica Radio Network’s Audioport and PRX

#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #JimmyCarter #MalaiseSpeech #RIPJimmyCarter 

The post The ‘A Crisis of Confidence’ Speech by President Jimmy Carter, July 15, 1979 appeared first on American Democracy Minute.