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One for the ages!  An audio tour of history coves more than a century

Shout! Factory’s 5-CD set titled 100 Greatest celebrates some of the greatest moments in modern history.

The perfect gift for the pop culture fan, history buff or sports fanatic, the collection is now available.
 

Produced by David McLees and Gordon Skene, the set includes speeches ranging from Grover Cleveland in 1893 and FDR’s Day Of Infamy speech in 1941 to Barack Obama in 2008.

Among the  news stories here are 3 Mile Island in 1979, the JFK Assassination in 1963, and the Berlin Wall falling in 1989. The 100 Greatest Scandals disc covers Frank Sinatra Jr.’s 1963 kidnapping, Nixon’s “Crook” speech in 1973, the Jonestown massacre of 1977, and Abu Ghraib prison in 2003.

The Greatest Personalities range from luminaries Jim Morrison and Amelia Earheart to Fidel Castro, William Faulkner, Albert Einstein and Benazir Bhutto.

Some of the greatest sports moments remembered are Babe Ruth’s induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936, Pelé’s World Cup win in 1970, and Red Sox World Series win of 2004.

Track Listing:

Disc One: 100 Greatest Speeches

1          A. Philip Randolph 1954 – An early voice in the civil rights movement, Randolph formed the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in 1925, creating opportunity for thousands of young African American men. He was one of the key organizers of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

2.         Abraham Ribicoff 1968 – The Connecticut senator, and former state governor, was the nominating voice of George McGovern as the Democratic candidate during the National Convention in Chicago in 1968.

3.         Adlai Stevenson 1952 – Two-time Presidential candidate Stevenson was beloved for his forthrightness and oratorical skills. His first campaign was in 1952, running against Eisenhower. He lost, as he did in 1956, but not for lack of effort, as famously documented in the photograph of a hole worn in his shoe taken during the ’52 campaign

4.         Adlai Stevenson 1955 – In this speech about public health and medical research, Stevenson demonstrated the breadth of his knowledge, vocabulary and his uniquely eloquent speaking style.

5.         Al Smith/Neutrality 1939 – The popular former Governor of New York and erstwhile Presidential candidate was one of the voices of neutrality in the U.S. during the build-up to WWII. Once the war began, however, he was a staunch supporter.

6.         Alf Landon 1937 – After having famously lost the 1936 election to FDR, Landon, who was Governor of Kansas through the election, popularized the expression “our country—right or wrong” in this landmark speech about the growing conflict in Europe.

7.         Arthur Vandenberg 1937 – Michigan’s Senator Vandenberg still advocated isolationism in this speech that was informed by world conflicts of the time involving Spain, Japan and the rise of Nazism. He would radically change his views on foreign policy by the end of WWII, when his Vandenberg Resolution paved the way for NATO.

8.         Barack Obama/Chicago 2008 – The Illinois senator and Democratic candidate in the 2008 Presidential election captured the imagination and aspirations of a nation with his speaking style and content. Quotable phrases such as “We are the ones we are waiting for” along with his “Yes We Can” motto helped the wunderkind candidate take the lead in popular and electoral votes.

9.         Bernard Baruch 1946 – A successful businessman and advisor to more than one U.S. President, Baruch created the Baruch Plan, which sought to place control of atomic weapons and energy under international and U.N. governance.

10.      Bill Clinton/Convention 1992 – Clinton gave this impassioned speech at the 1992 Democratic Convention, setting the tone for his Presidency and bringing down the house with a multilayered reference to his hometown of Hope, Arkansas, that was enhanced by his finely tuned sense of oratorical timing.

11.      Borman/Moon 1968 – Apollo 8 was the first manned mission to travel to another heavenly body. The rocket, with three astronauts onboard, orbited the moon ten times over 20 hours, and it was during this time that mission commander Frank Borman delivered a Christmas Eve broadcast to Earth that included this reading from the Book of Genesis.

12.      Byrnes/U.N. 1946 – James Byrnes, at various times a senator, a member of the House of Representatives and a Supreme Court justice, was Secretary of State under President Truman when he gave this speech in 1946 about the U.N.’s formation.

13.      Carter/Egypt/Israel 1978 – President Jimmy Carter was a central figure in helping to negotiate the terms of the Camp David Accords, a peace agreement between Israel and Egypt, in meetings with Menachem Begin and Anwar El Sadat.

14.      Churchill/Finest Hour 1940 – Winston Churchill’s powers of speech were most riveting during the buildup to WWII, when he galvanized the country and the world for a struggle against the forces of Hitler and Nazi Germany. His speeches provided hope, inspiration and many a quotable phrase, such as his “finest hour” reference in this clip.

15.      Churchill/France 1940 – In another classic speech, Churchill rallies the hopes of the British and the French, assuring both nations that despite the apparent lack of hope, “. . . conquer we must and conquer we shall!”

16.      Churchill/German Threat 1934 – After leaving the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer, and prior to returning to public service as Prime Minister, Churchill presciently warned of the dangers of ignoring the rapidly growing threat of a re-arming Germany.

17.      Churchill/Iron Curtain 1946 – Once again, Churchill proves to be both a master statesmen and a master speaker by coining the phrase “Iron Curtain” not to mention the phrase “Soviet Sphere,” both of which entered into common political usage during the decades that followed.

18.      Coretta Scott King 1968 – Just weeks after the assassination of her husband, Coretta Scott King demonstrated her own ability to inspire through her words in this June 19, 1968, speech about rescuing the soul of the nation. She took on the helm of the civil rights movement and spread her concerns to include women’s and later gay and lesbian rights.

19.      Dag Hammarskjöld 1958 – Hammarskjöld, the second Secretary General of the U.N., was the only official to die while holding that title. His vision of the U.N.’s role in maintaining the balance of world peace was an influence on many of his successors.

20.      Dean Acheson/Asia 1950 – Acheson, the U.S. Secretary of State under Truman, was an architect of both the Marshall Plan and NATO. Though he was wary of the expansion of power in Asia, at the same time he celebrated its growth toward independence.

21.      Dean Rusk 1963 – Rusk, the Secretary of State under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, was the U.S. representative who signed the Test Ban Treaty of 1963, effectively slowing the arms race by banning all but underground tests of nuclear weapons.

22.      Desmond Tutu/Truth And Reconciliation 1995 – The first Black leader of the Anglican Church in South Africa was a peaceful but tenacious foe of apartheid. After the elimination of segregationist policy, Archbishop Tutu acted as head of the Truth And Reconciliation Commission, which helped the country transition to multiracial politics without widespread violence.

23.      Douglas MacArthur 1945 – MacArthur, the leader of the Pacific Theater of WWII and the man who accepted the surrender of Japan in 1945, also served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers in Japan, maintaining order in the Pacific region after the war ended.

24.      Douglas MacArthur/Farewell 1951 – After acting as the primary U.S. military leader in the Pacific during both WWII and the first year of the Korean War, General MacArthur’s penchant for disregarding orders led to his dismissal. Despite the controversy surrounding his removal from military command, his famous farewell speech before Congress was interrupted by no less than 30 standing ovations.

25.      Earl Stanley Baldwin 1939 – Baldwin was a three-time Prime Minister in the U.K., but his final term, which ended in 1937, brought him the most renown. His position of appeasement in the face of German aggression made him very unpopular after the fact.

26.      Edward Stettinius/U.N. Opening 1945 – United States Secretary of State under Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman, Stettinius was instrumental in the formation of the United Nations; this inaugural speech was delivered during the same June 26 ceremony as James Byrnes’ (see entry #12).

27.      Eisenhower/End Of Korean War 1953 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces the signing of the Korean War Armistice. Speaking as a former general, his words touched the hearts of the families of those who had served and died in the conflict.

28.      Eisenhower/Convention 1956 – Winning his second term with a landslide victory in both popular and electoral votes, “Ike” spoke at the 1956 Republican convention about his hope of penetrating the Iron Curtain with truth.

29.      Eisenhower/Farewell 1961 – The first U.S. President “forced” by the 22nd Amendment to leave office after his second term, Eisenhower delivered a prophetic and controversial speech in 1961 warning of the dangers of “unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex . . .”

30.      FDR/Inaugural 1933 – In his first of four inaugural addresses, Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s inimitable ringing voice proclaimed that fear itself was only thing our country had to fear, making for a stunning example of the power of a leader to guide his people through his own positive and courageous oratorical declarations.

31.      FDR/Inaugural 1937 – In his second inaugural address, FDR addressed the continuing effects of the Great Depression, promising that it cannot defeat the united spirit of hope of the country.

32.      FDR/Day Of Infamy 1941 – FDR’s December 8 announcement of the U.S. entry into war after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor motivated an entire nation to rise to defend their country with “righteous might.”

33.      FDR/Lend-Lease 1941 – In one of his first moves toward war, FDR announced a new program to assist nations that were battling Nazi aggressions by providing billions of dollars worth of supplies to Allied forces through the Lend-Lease program.

34.      Ford/Inaugural 1974 – In his inauguration speech, the only U.S. Vice President to ever succeed a resigned President promised the end to the “long national nightmare” of the Watergate scandal. Gerald Ford’s speech inspired the country to renew its faith in the process of law and to take pride in the primacy of the U.S. Constitution over its leaders.

35.      General Eisenhower 1945 – In one of the speeches that led to Eisenhower’s great popularity and eventual ascension to the White House, the General speaks of the Allied victory on V-E Day.

36.      General Patton 1945 – One of the great figures of WWII, General George S. Patton gave this speech two days after liberating the Czech city of Pilsen on May 6, 1945. His prediction of victory over both Germany and Japan became truth and was an inspiration to many.

37.      General Pershing 1917 – The highest-ranking general in the history of the U.S. Army, General of the Armies John Pershing led the American Expeditionary Force in WWI and became an inspiration for generations of military men to follow. In this speech he created a rhetorical style of ideological military pronouncement that was imitated by future generals and politicians alike.

38.      Goldwater 1964 – Arizona state senator for five terms and almost 20 years, Barry Goldwater ran for President in 1964 as the Republican Party’s nominee. This speech, delivered at the Republican National Convention, became the gold standard of conservative oration, establishing the kind of right-wing political tone that has experienced resurgence in the past decade.

39.      Grover Cleveland 1893 – Cleveland was the only U.S. President to serve two non-consecutive terms, and one of the few to lose the electoral vote despite winning the popular vote in 1888. This speech was given at the start of his second term.

40.      Harold Ickes 1935 – Ickes was a powerful figure in the FDR Administration, acting as both the director of the Public Works Administration and the Secretary of the Interior. In that role he represented the President at the dedication of the Hoover Dam in September 1935.

41.      Helen Gahagan Douglas 1948 – The eloquent former actress and California member of the House of Representatives proposed several groundbreaking laws, including an early civil rights bill that led to future achievements in the Civil Rights Movement.

42.      Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. 1960 – This scion of an influential political and artistic family acted as a U.S. ambassador to both South Vietnam and West Germany, in addition to his duties as a U.N. ambassado and Massachusetts senator. As such he developed a skill for presenting broad ideas with surprising simplicity and diplomacy, as he does in this speech regarding the role of government leaders.

43.      Henry Wallace 1948 – Wallace, who served as Vice President under FDR, ran for President as the candidate of the Progressive Party in 1948. His campaign was truly progressive, advocating an end to segregation and strongly urging a search for the truth amidst political spin.

44.      Herbert Hoover/Convention 1932 – After a tenure in which the country had fallen victim to the Great Depression, President Hoover ran for a second term, launching his candidacy at the Republican National Convention in 1932 with this speech. He lost to FDR.

45.      Herbert Lehman/World’s Fair 1939 – The Governor of New York during the harshest years of the Great Depression, Lehman took the opportunity at the opening of the World’s Fair in 1939 to voice the hopes of his constituents and of Americans as a whole.

46.      Howard Hughes 1938 – As a brilliant self-taught aircraft engineer and record-breaking aviator—not to mention an astute businessman who became one of the wealthiest men in the world—Howard Hughes offered a vision for the future of the aviation industry that was nearly prophetic.

47.      Huey P. Long 1935 – After serving as governor of his state, “The Kingfish” became a Louisiana senator who fought against the Federal Reserve and in support of every American trying to obtain a comfortable standard of living. His diehard populism made him an enemy of rich bankers with the creation of the radical Share Our Wealth Society, which proclaimed “Every Man A King.”

48.      Jesse Jackson 1988 – A close associate of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and a civil rights leader in his own right, Jackson twice ran for President. His second campaign inspired millions and triumphed in seven primaries and four caucuses. His signature preaching inflections gathered a “Rainbow Coalition” of supporters, but failed to garner him the Democratic nomination.

49.      JFK/Candidacy Announcement 1960 – In the first days of the new decade, John Fitzgerald Kennedy announced that he would enter the 1960 New Hampshire primary and pursue the nomination of his party to victory in the general election. It was the first of his many confident and prophetic speeches.

50.      JFK/Cuban Missile Crisis 1962 – After obtaining evidence of a Soviet missile site being constructed in Cuba, President Kennedy referenced the appeasement of the 1930s in enlisting the support of the American public for his plan to face down the Soviet provocation.

51.      JFK/Inaugural 1961 – President Kennedy’s inaugural speech enshrined him as the country’s guiding light and great hope, at the same time inspiring and challenging his compatriots to join him in his vision of greatness for America.

52.      JFK/United Nations 1961 – President Kennedy’s address to the U.N. invoked the recent death of Secretary General Hammarskjöld to underscore his plea for peace among nations and an end to war.

53.      Jimmy Carter 1976 – At the 1976 Democratic National Convention, the Governor of Georgia, who had seemingly emerged from thin air, became his party’s Presidential nominee. Carter struck a populist cord as the peanut farmer from the South, promising to uphold a government that was representative of “the people.”

54.      Kennedy/Nixon Debates 1960 – Television played an unprecedented role in the election-year debate between these two candidates. Kennedy’s comfort and eloquence in front of the cameras only served to highlight Nixon’s nervousness and clumsy attempts at eloquence.

55.      King Hussein/Congress 1994 – On July 26 King Hussein of Jordan announced before Congress the Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace, an accord negotiated with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin that ended territorial disputes between the neighboring nations.

56.      Kofi Annan/Kosovo 1999 – As Secretary General of the U.N. for a decade, Annan was the diplomat in charge when the Kosovo War broke out in 1999. The territory came under the interim administration of the U.N. through Security Council Resolution 1244. By bringing the Council’s considerable clout to bear on what had been treated as a local problem, the war was ended.

57.      LBJ/Civil Rights 1965 – A week after the “Bloody Sunday” Selma march, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared the event a “turning point” in the pursuit of equality. Denouncing the violence inflicted on protesters, Johnson went on to sign a second civil rights bill, the Voting Rights Act, soon thereafter.

58.      LBJ/Civil Rights Act 1964 – Making history, President Johnson signed the act outlawing segregation in public schools and public places. His speech pointed to the irony of the wording of the U.S. Constitution in contrast to the reality of life for people of color.

59.      LBJ/Declines Re-election 1968 – Astonishing the country with his refusal, President Johnson declined the potential nomination of the Democratic Party for the 1968 election, which would have presented him for a second full term.

60.      LBJ 1963 – Having been sworn in on Air Force One on the way to the nation’s capital, Lyndon Baines Johnson addressed the country for the first time as its President following the assassination of JFK.

61.      Mandela/Prison Release 1990 – Nelson Mandela’s conviction on charges of sabotage—related to his protests against apartheid—made him a hero to all who opposed the South African national policy of legalized segregation. Never letting his spirit break after 27 years of imprisonment, Mandela emerged to become the leader of a movement, a party and eventually an entire nation.

62.      Margaret Chase Smith 1950 – The Republican senator from Maine—who had also served in the House of Representatives—made this famous Declaration of Conscience on the Senate floor in order to protest the anti-Communist witch hunt being led by Senator Joseph McCarthy.

63.      Mario Cuomo 1984 – During the first year of his term as Governor of New York, Cuomo delivered this riveting keynote speech at the 1984 Democratic Convention, thereby initiating a decades-long dance of dodging the entreaties of his party to run for President.

64.      Marshall Plan 1947 – In order to help restore economic health to a war-torn Europe, the U.S. announced the European Recovery Program on June 5, 1947, which soon became known as the Marshall Plan, after Secretary of State George Marshall. Billions of dollars went overseas during the next four years to assist in rebuilding infrastructure and investing in local economies, leaving almost all the assisted countries in better economic condition than they were before the war.

65.      MLK/I Have A Dream 1963 – As one of the scheduled speakers at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. moved to the forefront of the civil rights movement with this speech. In the four decades since his death “I have a dream…” has become a phrase of hope and power for all who are oppressed.

66.      MLK/Mountaintop 1968 – This memorable and iconic speech by the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., not only placed the civil rights movement into the context of the Old Testament exodus from slavery into freedom, but also prophetically indicated that King—the modern Moses—would not survive to see this liberation. He was assassinated the next day, on April 4, 1968.

67.      MLK/Nobel Prize 1964 – King, who had already become the central figure in the civil rights movement, became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his nonviolent campaign of resistance.

68.      Neville Chamberlain 1938 – The Prime Minister of the U.K. during the the buildup of Nazi aggression, Chamberlain went to Hitler and negotiated an appeasement pact for peace that turned out not to be worth the paper on which it was written.

69.      Neville Chamberlain/War 1939 – Less than a year after Chamberlain had negotiated peace with Germany, the invasion of Poland put the U.K. in the position of having to defend its ally and go to war against Germany.

70.      Newton Minow 1961 – Minow was the chairman of the FCC in 1961 when he gave his “Television and Public Interest” speech in which he declared that that what television had to offer was a “Vast Wasteland.”

71.      Nixon/Checkers Speech 1952 – While Richard Nixon was running as Vice President in 1952, he was accused of accepting illegal campaign contributions. He went on television to address the American public in defense of his conduct and his finances. During the speech he admitted that he had kept one gift from a constituent—a dog. His daughter named it Checkers and the media dubbed the bizarre performance “The Checkers Speech.”

72.      Nixon/China Visit 1972 – When Nixon announced his intention of visiting China and opening diplomatic relations with the isolationist Communist country, it came as an unlikely shock to most. A weeklong diplomatic journey materialized in February 1972, during which time Nixon met with Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou Enlai.

73.      Nixon Concession 1962 – After losing the race for President in 1960, Nixon embarked on an ill-advised campaign to challenge Pat Brown in the race for Governor of California. He fared poorly. During the press conference in which he conceded the election, Nixon blustered at the press corps about what he perceived to be its prejudice against him. His promise that “you won’t have Nixon to kick around anymore” was one that he did not keep.

74.      Nixon/End Of Vietnam War 1973 – On January 23?? Nixon announced that the Paris Peace Accord had been ratified by U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho of Vietnam, calling for a cease-fire between the warring nations.

75.      Nixon/Inaugural 1969 – Richard M. Nixon was inaugurated as the 37th President of the United States on January 20, 1969. In this unintentionally ironic speech, the new President called for a reduction of inflated, angry and bombastic rhetoric in favor of a more open style of dialog.

76.      Nixon/Resignation 1974 – After the Watergate scandal brought down several Nixon aids, the trail of the “smoking gun” led to the Oval Office and the threat of impeachment seemed inevitable. Nixon became the only President to resign his office after he made this announcement in August 1974.

77.      Paul Robeson/Madison Square Garden 1948 – Robeson was an actor, singer, and powerful speaker who, for some time, was a leader of the nascent civil rights movement. He often spoke out about lynching and, in 1946, launched the American Crusade Against Lynching.

78.      Reagan/Berlin Wall 1987 – President Reagan spoke at the site of the Berlin Wall’s Brandenberg Gate in 1987, directing his comments to General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev. His challenge to “tear down this wall” helped initiate a period of intense reform in the Soviet Union, leading to the demolition of the wall in 1989.

79.      Reagan/Challenger 1986 – Reagan eulogized the crew of the Space Shuttle Challenger after its members died tragically during liftoff, comparing them to the explorer Sir Francis Drake, who died on the same day 390 years prior. His poetic reference was a consoling gesture that made the senseless deaths seem to have a greater meaning.

80.      Reagan/Inaugural 1981 – The Reagan Presidency launched in full force with this inaugural speech. Reagan pointed the finger of blame for the economic ills of the time squarely at the U.S. government, implying that he, somehow, would cure the nation’s ills by removing the disease of interfering bureaucracy.

81.      Reagan/Iran-Contra 1986 – Reagan denied all charges of trading arms for hostages in Lebanon. What he failed to mention while making these blanket denials of U.S. arms shipped to Iran was that there was a covert operation going on . . . not aimed at freeing American hostages but rather at funding the Contra rebels in Nicaragua with an untraceable source of revenue.

82.      Reagan/“Shining City” 1989 – In President Reagan’s farewell speech, after two terms in office as the most popular President since JFK, Reagan cited a visionary metaphor of the U.S. as “shining city” on the hill—a beacon of freedom for all who sought it.

83.      Reagan/Star Wars 1983 – In this speech, President Reagan laid out his plan to create a space-based defense system to protect America and its allies against nuclear attack. The Strategic Defense Initiative was so technologically futuristic at the time that it became known as the Star Wars plan.

84.      RFK/Announces Candidacy 1968 – In typical Kennedy fashion, Robert Fitzgerald Kennedy’s candidacy announcement was more than just that—it was an eloquent and moving assessment of the problems facing the country and the way in which a dedicated public servant such as himself could change them.

85.      Sadat/Addresses Congress 1975 – After cutting ties with the U.S.S.R. and demonstrating military might in the Yom Kippur War, Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat moved in earnest toward negotiating peace with Israel. As part of his pursuit of peace he traveled to the U.S. and addressed Congress in order to win over public opinion.

86.      Shirley Chisholm 1972 – A pioneer for civil rights, Chisholm was the first African American woman elected to Congress (in 1968) and the first African American candidate for President (in 1972), receiving 152 Democratic delegates during the primaries.

87.      Solzhenitsyn/Harvard Address 1978 – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was a Nobel Prize–winning writer perhaps best known for Gulag Archipelago, his groundbreaking three-volume work about life in the Russian prison camps. The subversive manuscript had to be smuggled out of the U.S.S.R. for publication, and the author was exiled from Russia shortly thereafter. He gave this speech calling for the U.S. to think globally about how decisions made here affected the whole world.

88.      Ted Kennedy/RFK Eulogy 1968 – After the tragic death of another brother, Senator Ted Kennedy gave this emotional speech at Robert F. Kennedy’s funeral in 1968. Though many expected Ted to grab the torch and run for President as the surviving member of the political Kennedy siblings, he did not.

89.      Theodore Roosevelt 1909 – Roosevelt—the “Bully”—ascended to the office of President after McKinley was assassinated. He was re-elected to office and held it for two full terms, largely due to his respect for the common man and for common moral values. His Square Deal speech summed up his philosophy of fair play for all who live in this country.

90.      Tony Blair 2007 – Blair became the Prime Minister of the U.K. in 1997 as the leader of the Labour Party, ending the 18-year dominance of the Conservatives. Having started his terms as one of the most popular modern Prime Ministers, Blair lost some of that public and party support when he stood staunchly by the U.S. throughout the wars that followed the 9/11 attacks. He stepped down as Prime Minister a month after this May 10 speech.

91.      Truman/NATO 1949 – President Truman’s speech tied the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949 to the founding of the U.N. and the goals of international peace and security. NATO offered a collective defense for all its members, guaranteeing that the vulnerability of smaller nations—as experienced in the European wars—would not make them susceptible to attack

92.      Truman/No Re-election 1952 – Although he was not limited to two terms by the 22nd Amendment (as his successors would be) Truman chose to end his Presidency after two full terms.

93.      Truman/Opening Of U.N. 1945 – In one of the defining moments of Truman’s Presidency, the U.N. established its charter just two months after FDR’s passing and Truman’s succession as 33rd President. The end of WWII, the rise of nuclear weapons, the founding of the U.N., the creation of NATO—all of these combined to make the Truman Presidency one of the most powerful periods of change in the 20th century.

94.      Walter Reuther 1966 – The man who made the United Automobile Workers a union force to contend with in American industry and politics laid out his personal beliefs about the power of man to guide technology rather than be overcome by it.

95.      Wayne Morse/Vietnam 1968 – The Oregon senator was one of the first major political voices to challenge the U.S. government’s involvement in Vietnam. His speech popularized the phrase “policemen of the world,” a role that he felt the U.S. had no right to assume.

96.      Wendell Willkie 1940 – Willkie ran against FDR in 1940 and lost in an electoral landslide. He did, however, inspire a wave of support that garnered over 22 million popular votes.

97.      William Green/AF Of L 1939 – William Green became the head of the American Federation of Labor following the long reign of Samuel Gompers. In this speech, Green dramatically illustrates the great good fortune of the U.S. to not (yet) be engaged in the pending global conflict.

98.      William Howard Taft 1908 – Secretary of War under Teddy Roosevelt, Taft ran for President in 1908 under Roosevelt’s endorsement. He soundly beat William Jennings Bryan in the race and went on to promote peace and enhance both the civil service and the postal system.

99.      William Jennings Bryan 1923 – Though best known for his role in the Scopes “Monkey” Trial, Bryan was a career politician who ran for President three times. He created the campaign stump tour, a tradition which many candidates have followed ever since. He also served as Secretary of State for two years under Woodrow Wilson before resigning in protest over a perceived gaffe in Wilson’s response to the sinking of the RMS Lusitania.

100.    Woodrow Wilson 1912 – Wilson, though not a very charismatic speaker, appealed to the public as a man of good sense and even temperament. His 1912 campaign was aided by the heated battle between Teddy Roosevelt and William Howard Taft, which split the Republican vote.

Disc Two: 100 Greatest News Stories

1.         3 Mile Island 1979 – Three Mile Island was the site of the first major nuclear-power plant disaster in the U.S. A five-mile radius clear zone was evacuated of pregnant women and preschool children.

2.         9/11/01 – The first reports of planes crashing into the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers on September 11. The collisions were intentional attacks by terrorists seeking to strike a deadly psychological blow against the U.S. The Pentagon was also struck. A fourth jet, which crashed after a passenger revolt, was likely headed toward the White House or the Capitol Building.

3.         A-Bomb 1945 – A description of the fireball and mushroom cloud from the nuclear detonation over Hiroshima, witnessed by one of the crewmembers on the Enola Gay. This marked the first time nuclear technology was used as a weapon.

4.         Agnew Resigns 1973 – On October 10 Spiro Agnew became the second Vice President in U.S. history to resign, having pled nolo contendere (no contest) to criminal charges of tax evasion and money laundering, stemming from his years as Maryland’s governor. Less than a year later the President he served under, Richard Nixon, resigned amidst his own scandal.

5.         Allies In Berlin 1945 – One of the final battles of World War II, the Battle of Berlin started in late April 1945 and ended on May 2 with the capture of the city. With the Russians entering from the east and U.S. forces pushing from the west, the Germans surrendered within a week after Berlin fell.

6.         Apollo/Soyuz 1975 – The giddy greetings of the Russian cosmonauts and American astronauts were broadcast back to Earth as the two space programs met in the docking of the Soyuz and Apollo spacecrafts, in orbit some 140 miles over Europe.

7.         Babe Ruth 1947 – The final words of Babe Ruth’s “Farewell to Baseball.” The Bambino’s brief speech, given before a packed Yankee Stadium on April 27, summed up his view of the sport and his gratitude for the kindness of his fans.

8.         Berlin 1961 – A reporter describes the division of East Berlin from West Berlin in detail, and the frustrations of Berliners being prevented from taking routes that crossed the new closed border.

9.         Berlin Airlift 1949 – Literally flying in the face of the Russian blockade, Western forces airlift 10,000 tons of supplies into West Berlin.

10.      Berlin Wall 1989 – The Berlin Wall fell in November. An explosive and spontaneous celebration followed around and atop the wall itself and became a powerful symbol of East Germany’s newfound freedom.

11.      Bhopal 1984 – More than 3,000 people died when lethal gas leaked from the Union Carbide chemical plant in Bhopal, India. The death toll eventually reached 20,000 (although estimates vary) as related illnesses from exposure continued to take lives.

12.      Chernobyl 1986 – Early reports on Russia’s Chernobyl disaster came from Sweden and Finland, where radiation monitors registered nuclear activity more than three times the normal levels. Chernobyl would go down in history as the world’s most devastating nuclear-power accident.

13.      China/U.N.­ 1971 – Chiang Kai-Shek, the leader of the Republic of China, withdrew from the United Nations in light of the increasing power of Mao Tse-Tung’s Communist People’s Republic of China. The PRC was then voted to be the country’s sole government.

14.      Clinton/Lewinsky 1998 – President Bill Clinton emphatically denies an improper relationship with former intern Monica Lewinsky. This untruth led to impeachment proceedings when proof of his sexual relations with “that woman” was discovered.

15.      Columbia Disaster 2003 – In the first major space-shuttle disaster since the 1986 Challenger explosion, the Columbia broke up on reentry in the skies above Texas. Review of launch videos showed large chunks of protective foam breaking off during liftoff and causing damage to the heat-resistant tiles on the craft’s underside.

16.      Columbine 1999 – Two students armed with multiple weapons perpetrated the third-worst mass assault at a school in American history, killing 13 and injuring 23 others before taking their own lives. Sadly, their “record” was surpassed nearly eight years later at Virginia Tech.

17.      Cuba 1962 – President John F. Kennedy announced the embargo of all trade with Cuba in the spring after the expropriation of corporations and property of U.S. citizens. The embargo has continued to this day, 46 years later, and became a law in 1992.

18.      Czechoslovakia 1968 – Alexander Dubček came to power in 1968 and began instituting a series of liberalizing reforms that seemed to indicate a new era of freedom from the oppressive rule of the Soviet Union. Before the summer ended, however, the Russians gathered 200,000 soldiers and 2,000 tanks from their own and other Warsaw Pact countries to invade and occupy Czechoslovakia and wrest power from Dubček, restoring Soviet rule.

19.      D-Day 1944 – In a huge mobilization, the Western Allied forces began the Invasion of Normandy in June. A coordinated effort involving more than 150,000 troops crossing the English Channel by sea and air, it was the beginning of the protracted campaign to liberate mainland Europe from Nazi occupation.

20.      Desert Storm 1991 – President George H.W. Bush launched Operation Desert Storm to reverse Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait. Hussein was attempting to annex Kuwait in order to control its oil and have greater access to the Gulf. The U.S. was joined by all the major world powers in agreeing to push Hussein back.

21.      Eichmann 1961 – Adolf Eichmann was brought to trial in Israel for “crimes against humanity” committed in his role as the purported architect of the Holocaust. During the public trial Eichmann had to sit inside a booth of bulletproof glass to protect him from violence. He was sentenced to death. His appeal, which questioned the legality of the laws and Israel’s jurisdiction, was rejected, and he was executed in June 1962.

22.      Elvis 1977 – “The King” Elvis Aaron Presley had risen to the top of the music, film, and pop culture worlds in the late ’50s and early ’60s, breaking all sales, box office, and television records, only to have his throne challenged by The Beatles. After a successful comeback or two, he slid into a drug-addled, bloated existence, which ended at the age of 42.

23.      End Of Vietnam 1975 – After years of immersion in the Vietnamese conflict and increased polarization over its presence there, the United States found its situation seriously deteriorating. Unable to defend the Southern capital of Saigon and unable to defend the cause of war at home, the U.S. evacuated all personnel, many of whom were airlifted out by helicopter from atop the embassy as the North Vietnamese breached the city.

24.      Falklands 1982 – The Falkland Islands, a self-governing overseas territory of the U.K. located off the coast of Argentina’s southern tip, was invaded by Argentinean forces in an attempt to reassert their claim to the archipelago. The British launched an amphibious assault and retook the islands after a two-month conflict.

25.      French Strike 1968 – In May a series of student protests in Paris escalated to such an extent that President Charles de Gaulle tried to squash them with force, leading to violent battles in the streets. A strike ensued, which eventually involved more than ten million French workers, paralyzing the country and causing de Gaulle’s government to lose its mandate.

26.      Friedan 1972 – Betty Friedan, an architect of the women’s movement and cofounder of the National Organization of Women, was one of the principal activists to lobby for an Equal Rights Amendment. The ERA came before Congress in 1972 and was passed by the Senate, but it was never fully ratified by all the states.

27.      Gagarin 1961 – In April 27-year-old cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to travel into space, putting the Russians squarely ahead of the United States in the space race. He returned safely to Earth and helped guide the Soviet space program, only to perish in an MiG jet test flight nearly seven years later.

28.      Gandhi Death 1948 – An eyewitness account of the assassination of Mohandas Gandhi recalls how a man stepped out of a car and shot Gandhi at close range. Gandhi was respected widely as India’s “Father of the Nation.” His nonviolent resistance and moral authority had helped guide the country from colony to independent nation just a few years earlier. The world mourned his loss.

29.      Gorbachev Resigns 1991 – Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, who initiated sweeping changes in the Soviet Union that led to its eventual dissolution and the fall of the Berlin Wall, found himself marginalized during the failed coup of 1991. Although he returned to power, it was short-lived, as Boris Yeltsin seized the moment and control of Russia. Gorbachev resigned.

30.      Hindenburg 1937 – The Hindenburg, a German zeppelin, was heralded as the first ship of a new age in air travel. It was the largest rigid aircraft ever built, crossing the Atlantic in a record five days and just under 20 hours. Many believed zeppelins would become the luxury cruisers of the sky, until the Hindenburg burst into flames while attempting to moor at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey. The conflagration claimed 36 lives.

31.      Hong Kong 1997 – After leasing and administering the territory of Hong Kong, a tiny set of islands off the coast of China, since 1842, the U.K. government transferred its rule back to the People’s Republic of China. Though dependent on the central government for defense and foreign affairs, the region maintains it own government and legal system.

32.      Hungary 1956 – After a student-spawned revolt against Russian rule turned into a full-fledged revolution, many believed that Hungary would become one of the first Soviet countries to escape the rule of Moscow. Less than a month later the Soviet government rolled tanks into the Hungarian capital of Budapest and squashed the resistance.

33.      India Independence 1947 – India had been under British rule for almost 90 years when the former’s partition from the U.K. led to the establishment of two independent states: the Union of India and the Dominion of Pakistan.

34.      Invasion Of Poland 1939 – A German-initiated attack on Poland set into motion the events that started World War II. After failing to fight off the Germans from their northern border, the Polish were then attacked from the east by Russia, cooperating with the German offensive. The invasion triggered a declaration of war on Germany by Polish allies, the U.K., France, and many others, and the war in Europe began.

35.      Iran Hostages 1979 – In November a group of students took over the U.S. embassy in Iran as an act of protest against Western influence and of support for the growing Islamic revolution against the U.S.-supported Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. The students held 52 U.S. diplomats for a total of 444 days, resisting all attempts at military rescue and diplomatic negotiation.

36.      Iran-Contra 1986 – After much controversy and denial, President Ronald Reagan finally admitted that he had authorized the sale of defensive weapons to U.S.-opposed Iran. Although he tried to diminish the import of his actions, it later became clear that this authorization was part of a larger multinational covert scheme to support the Contra rebels in Nicaragua.

37.      Iraq 2003 – Repeated attempts at U.N. inspection and diplomatic sanctions fell by the wayside when the U.S. decided to “disarm Iraq” because of the imminent threat posed by their weapons of mass destruction . . . the very weapons no inspectors could find. The Iraqi army was quickly overwhelmed and Saddam Hussein was captured, but no WMDs were found. The invasion evolved into an occupation and a drawn-out war.

38.      Iraq/Kuwait 1990 – Despite months of threatening speeches and gestures from their northern neighbor, Kuwait was completely taken by surprise when Iraq boldly invaded and annexed the country. The three-pronged attack involving infantry, tanks, and air assaults overwhelmed the Kuwaiti Armed Forces. The ensuing seven-month occupation led directly to the launch of Operation Desert Storm, a successful American-led international campaign to push Iraqi forces back over the border.

39.      Israel 1948 – The state of Israel as it is known today was formed as a national home for the Jewish people when, in May, Israel declared independence and the British Mandate for Palestine came to an end. The Arab/Israeli war immediately followed and was waged with intensity until the 1949 armistice agreements were signed and boundaries established. The concept of an Israeli state, however, has been an enduring dream of the Jewish people since their exodus from slavery in ancient Egypt.

40.      JFK Assassination 1963 – John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, was both the youngest elected and first Roman Catholic Commander-in-Chief. His youth, intelligence, eloquence, and charisma captured and enchanted the world. His tragic death in Texas from an assassin’s bullet paralyzed the country with grief.

41.      JFK/Berlin 1963 – Kennedy’s powerful speech against the failures of Communism, given in West Berlin less than two years after the raising of the Berlin Wall and less than five months before his untimely death, was attended by some 120,000 people. His dramatic delivery and key use of German phrases won the crowd over completely.

42.      JFK Jr. 1999 – “America’s Son,” the oldest son of John F. and Jackie Kennedy (his younger brother Patrick died two days after being born) grew up in the White House and in the hearts of the country. He fiercely protected his privacy, but after receiving a law degree and serving as assistant district attorney in Manhattan, he became more of a public figure when he launched a political publication called George. In July the 38-year-old and his wife and sister-in-law crashed into the Atlantic in a small plane he was piloting to a wedding in Martha’s Vineyard. There were no survivors.

43.      John Glenn 1962 – In an effort to top the Russian accomplishment of launching the first manned flight into space, the U.S. sent astronaut John Glenn, Jr., into orbit, literally. In February, Glenn completed three full orbits of the planet in a five-hour period. He splashed down safely despite concerns about a heat-shield failure, landing in the history books as a pioneer and American hero.

44.      Jonestown 1978 – When Congressman Leo Ryan led a delegation of concerned relatives and reporters to Guyana’s Jonestown to make sure members of the Peoples Temple were safe, he saw disturbing signs of coercion and offered to take anyone home who wanted to go. Later that night his party was stopped at the airstrip by machine-gun fire. Back at the camp Jones led his entire flock in a forced mass suicide, in which more than 900 people perished.

45.      Justice O’Connor 1981 – In September Sandra Day O’Connor was sworn in by President Reagan as the first woman to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court. She was confirmed unanimously by the Senate as the replacement for Justice Potter Stewart, who had held his seat for 22 years. O’Connor, who became as well known for her humor as for her detailed and independent statements, retired in 2005.

46.      KAL 007 1983 – Korean Air Lines Flight 007 was a civilian airliner carrying 269 passengers and crew from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City to Gimpo International Airport in Seoul, Korea, in September. The flight entered Soviet airspace over the Kamchatka Peninsula and was shot down by a Soviet Sukhoi jet. Everyone on board, including 62 Americans, perished. The incident provoked international outrage and protest.

47.      Khrushchev Ouster 1964 – Nikita Krushchev, the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and Joseph Stalin’s immediate successor, was a polarizing figure. His fall from power came at the hands of his successor, Leonid Brezhnev, who plotted his removal from office while Krushchev was on vacation.

48.      King Edward Abdicates 1936 – King Edward VIII shocked his country and the world when he chose love over power and renounced his throne. The cause of his abdication: Wallis Simpson, a divorcée to whom he had proposed despite the objections of his family, ministers and subjects. His reign lasted less than a year, and he was never officially crowned. He was the only monarch to ever voluntarily relinquish his royal position.

49.      King Verdict 1992 – In a stunning display of blind justice, all four white Los Angeles police officers videotaped beating Rodney King within an inch of his life were found not guilty. The verdict was so unthinkable in light of the evidence that the city erupted in a violent riot that lasted for six days, took 53 lives, and caused an estimated $1 billion in damages.

50.      Kissinger/Vietnam 1973 – Henry Kissinger, the Secretary of State under Presidents Nixon and Ford, was considered the mind behind Nixon’s foreign policy. He was the chief negotiator, with Le Duc Tho of North Vietnam, for a peaceful resolution of the Vietnamese conflict. The Paris Peace Accords brought ceasefires (and a Nobel Peace Prize for Kissinger), but the conflict resumed for another two years.

51.      Korea 1953 – After three years of entrenched conflict involving thousands of U.S. troops, an armistice was signed between North and South Korea. It ended a series of drawn-out negotiations which had continued for the last two years of the conflict, finally drawing the line of division between the two regions fairly close to where it had started before the North invaded the South in 1950.

52.      Legionnaires’ Disease 1976 – The mysterious disease broke out in more than 100 individuals attending an American Legion convention at the Bellevue Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The cause was eventually determined to be a naturally occurring bacterium that spread through the venue’s air-conditioning system.

53.      Lennon Death 1980 – On December 8, obsessed fan Mark David Chapman confronted legendary Beatles cofounder John Lennon outside Lennon’s New York apartment, the Dakota, and delivered four deadly hollow-point bullets in quick succession. Lennon made it to the hospital but died soon after.

54.      Lindbergh 1927 – Charles Lindbergh flew the Spirit of St. Louis in the first solo, non-stop transatlantic flight. His flight, which took 33 hours and 29 minutes, started at Roosevelt Field on Long Island and ended at Le Bourget in Paris, where he gave this speech on May 21.

55.      Little Rock School Integration 1957 – The enrollment of nine African-American students at all-white Little Rock Central High School was so unthinkable in September of 1957 that the U.S. Army 101^st Airborne Division had to escort them inside to prevent an incident.

56.      Lockerbie 1988 – In December Pan Am Flight 103 fell to the earth in Lockerbie, Scotland, after a terrorist bomb was detonated onboard. All 259 passengers and crew, as well as 11 Lockerbie residents, were killed. Two Libyan intelligence officers were eventually accused and tried for the act.

57.      London Bombing 2005 – On July 7 a series of bombs exploded in a single minute on three different London Underground trains, followed within an hour by a fourth explosion on a bus. More than 700 were injured and 52 killed in what qualified as the largest terrorist attack in the history of the British capital.

58.      Love Canal 1978 – The Niagara Falls area known as Love Canal was a chemical waste dump for the Hooker Chemical and Plastics Corporation in the late ’40s. Construction to accommodate residential sprawl ended up breaching the dump’s protective clay wall, and chemicals began to leak into the local water supply and ground. After years of illnesses and birth defects, the President and EPA declared an environmental emergency and evacuated the population.

59.      Madrid Bombing 2004 – In March a series of coordinated bombings in Madrid’s commuter train system, directed by a Moroccan national, took the lives of 191 people and injured more than 2,050. The reason or inspiration for the bombing remains a mystery.

60.      Mao Tse-Tung Death 1976 – Mao Tse-Tung masterminded and led the People’s Revolution in China in 1949 and then ruled over the People’s Republic of China until his death in 1976. He was considered one of the 20th century’s most influential political figures.

61.      March On Washington 1963 – Approximately a quarter-million peaceful protesters marched on Washington for “Jobs and Freedom.” In addition to being the location of Martin Luther King’s famous “I Have A Dream” speech, the march is considered one of the most powerful influencing factors in the political gains for the civil rights movement in the ensuing years, when the Civil Rights and National Voting Rights acts were both passed.

62.      McDonald’s 1984 – In a horrible case of meaningless mass murder, James Huberty, a security guard who had lost his job a week earlier, entered a San Ysidro, California, McDonald’s and opened fire. He was armed with an Uzi, a shotgun, and a pistol, with which he killed 21 and injured 19.

63.      Martin Luther King, Jr., Assassination 1968 – Senator Robert F. Kennedy announced the murder of Martin Luther King, Jr., to a rally in Indiana. Kennedy realized when he saw the excited crowd, which was mostly African-American, that they had not yet heard the news of King’s death, so he told them and briefly eulogized King before ending the rally.

64.      Marilyn Monroe Death 1962 – The ultimate Hollywood sex symbol, the wife of Joe DiMaggio and Arthur Miller, the reputed mistress of the President, and heartthrob of the world died under mysterious circumstances at her home in Brentwood, Los Angeles, California. Although her death was listed as a “probable suicide,” conspiracy theories have raged rampant ever since.

65.      Moon Walk 1969 – In one of the most amazing moments in human history, men mastered space travel and landed on the moon in July—a dream envisioned by President John F. Kennedy a scant eight years earlier. Hundreds of millions watched live as Neil Armstrong stepped off the ladder and onto the surface of the moon. He was subsequently joined by lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin. Command module pilot Michael Collins orbited above.

66.      Mount St. Helens 1980 – When Mount St. Helens erupted in May, it was the fifth highest mountain in Washington. Although there were warning signs and locals were urged to evacuate, the power of the blast came as a huge surprise. Some 57 people lost their lives as 3/4 of the mountainside exploded with the force of 24 megatons, reducing the altitude of the peak by more than 1,000 feet.

67.      N.Y. Blackout 1965 – A series of unlikely events, including a mouse chewing through wires, came together to create one of the most massive power losses in modern history. Seven states in the Northeast, including New York and portions of Ontario, Canada, were thrown into darkness and left without electricity for 12 hours.

68.      Nixon Resigns 1974 – After the Watergate scandal brought down numerous aides and the trail of the “smoking gun” led to the Oval Office, the threat of impeachment seemed inevitable. Richard Nixon became the only president to resign from the office when he made this announcement in August.

69.      Nixon Visits China 1972 – When Nixon announced his hope of visiting China and opening diplomatic relations with the isolated Communist country, it came as an unlikely shock to most. However, within a short time this hope materialized in a week-long diplomatic journey in February, during which Nixon met with Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou Enlai.

70.      Oklahoma City Bombing 1995 – In this speech President Clinton denounced the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. The attack was planned and executed by American dissidents Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols in protest of the Waco, Texas, standoff two years earlier. More than 800 people were injured and 168 killed when a truck loaded with a homemade explosive detonated and took down the entire front of the building.

71.      Olympics 1972 – Members of Black September, a Palestinian terrorist organization, took 11 Israeli athletes hostages and held them for most of a day. Negotiation and rescue attempts failed. All the Israelis were killed, as were five of the Palestinians. The incident became known as the Munich Massacre.

72.      Pearl Harbor 1941 – On the morning of December 7 a U.S. naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, came under a Japanese “surprise” attack. A combination of aerial and submarine attacks sunk nine U.S. ships and severely damaged 21 more. More than 2,300 people died in the tragedy, and America was effectively drawn into World War II.

73.      Pentagon Papers 1971 – When State Department officer Daniel Ellsberg leaked a 7,000-page top-secret history of the United States’ involvement in Vietnam—which included internal plans and the Department of Defense’s secret policies—to The New York Times in 1971, the newspaper began publishing excerpts, causing a huge uproar and embarrassment for the government. When more than half the pages were entered into the Congressional Record, they became publicly available in a published edition.

74.      Pope Death 2005 – In March, John Paul II, one of the most popular public figures of the 20^th century and the second-longest reigning Pope in the Church’s history, died at his Vatican residence. His 26-year pontificate is credited with reviving the Church’s popularity, as well as having an influence in the fall of Communist rule in Central and Eastern Europe.

75.      Pope Shooting 1981 – In May, Pope John Paul II was shot in Vatican City’s St. Peter’s Square by a Turkish gunman. His survival was considered a medical miracle, considering that he lost nearly three-quarters of his blood. He lived another 23 years.

76.      Princess Diana 1997 – After a fairy-tale wedding to His Royal Highness Charles, the Prince of Wales, an event witnessed by a television audience of nearly 1 billion, Princess Diana became one of the world’s most popular figures. By the mid-’90s Charles and Diana were divorced and pursuing other relationships. Diana became involved with Dodi Al-Fayed around 1997, and it was with him that she was attempting to elude paparazzi in Paris when their driver lost control of the car and crashed into a tunnel pillar, killing them both.

77.      Rabin 1995 – After a peace rally in Tel Aviv, held in support of the Oslo Accords, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by a right-wing Israeli who thought Rabin’s signing of the agreement was a betrayal of Israel. Finalized in 1993, the Oslo Accords led to Rabin, Shimon Peres, and Yasser Arafat receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994.

78.      Reagan Shot 1981 – President Reagan came under fire at the Washington Hilton Hotel in 1981. His assailant was John Hinckley, Jr., a disturbed stalker who was allegedly trying to impress actress Jodie Foster. At first it seemed that security and staffers had “taken the bullet” for the President as shots rang out and they rushed him into his car, but at the hospital it was discovered that one of the six bullets had hit Reagan and punctured his lung.

79.      Red China 1949 – The first recognition of Mao Tse-Tung’s Communist government after his successful People’s Revolution came from Britain. The U.S. attempted to remain uninvolved, but dispute of the rightful rule of the People’s Republic of China over the Chinese Nationalist government in Taiwan endured as a political standoff for decades.

80.      RFK 1968 – While campaigning for President and after celebrating his California primary victory at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, Robert Kennedy was assassinated by a Palestinian gunman named Sirhan Sirhan. Coming just two months after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s murder, Kennedy’s death came as an unendurably shattering end to a campaign filled with hope.

81.      Rosenbergs 1953 – The long ordeal of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg came to an end in June when they were executed in the electric chair at Sing Sing. They were accused of selling nuclear secrets to the Russians. Many believed their 1951 trial was a witch hunt, and subsequent revelations seemed to exonerate Ethel.

82.      Russia A-Bomb 1949 – President Harry Truman helped fuel the Cold War when he announced that the Soviet Union had successfully tested an atomic bomb in 1949. The fact that they were able to follow the U.S. so quickly in this development led many to suspect stolen secrets and espionage. The Communist threat and the specter of nuclear war became very real.

83.      Sadat Addresses Knesset 1977 – Anwar El Sadat, the third President of Egypt and successor to Gamal Nassar, became the first Arab leader to visit Israel and speak before the Knesset, Israel’s legislature. Sadat, along with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, began negotiating a peace that took shape in the Camp David Peace Agreement they both signed the next year. Sadat’s gesture earned him Time’s Man of the Year honors in 1977, and the Peace Agreement earned both men the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize.

84.      Shah Overthrow 1979 – Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was the dictator king of Iran from 1941 to 1979, when the Islamic Revolution seized control. He had left the country weeks earlier at the strong suggestion of his prime minister and chief opposition, Shapour Bakhtiar. Bakhtiar invited the Ayatollah Khomeni to return and quickly lost power to Khomeni’s followers.

85.      Shuttle Disaster 1986 – As the Challenger took off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, it was carrying a crew of seven, including the first civilian passenger, schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe. Seventy-three seconds into its launch and just after throttling up, the shuttle burst into flames and exploded—to the horror of those watching from below and on TV.

86.      South Africa 1994 – After more than 40 years of apartheid, South Africa established a multiracial parliament and put an end to legalized, forced segregation. The African National Congress, which had led resistance to apartheid for decades, and Nelson Mandela, who had served in prison for 27 years due to his resistance, rose to power after the first multiracial elections were held in 1994.

87.      Sputnik 1957 – The U.S.S.R. started the “space race” by launching the first manmade satellite into orbit around the Earth in October. Sputnik 1 only stayed in orbit for a few months, but the gauntlet had been thrown and the U.S. accelerated its own space program.

88.      Stalin Death 1953 – Joseph Stalin’s death marked a turning point in world politics. Having contributed significantly to the defeat of Nazi Germany, he brought the U.S.S.R. out of World War II as one of the two great world superpowers. The Russians idolized him to near-mythic status, but within a decade “de-Stalinization” had begun, and the Communist Party became more dominant than any individual leader.

89.      Test Tube Baby 1978 – The process of in vitro fertilization (IVF), which involves the fertilization of an egg outside of a womb, is a kind of last-resort fertility treatment. After years of successful research with animals, the first human was born: Louise Brown, who became known as the first “test-tube baby.”

90.      Tiananmen Square 1989 – After massive uprisings and protests by students, intellectuals, and activists, all calling for democratic reforms and greater freedoms, the Chinese government reacted with a massive show of military force and a shutdown of foreign press coverage. The military crackdown, which accelerated after tanks famously rolled into the square, resulted in the deaths of hundreds, maybe thousands of protestors.

91.      Tokyo Subway 1995 – In a bizarre act of local terrorism, five members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult released deadly sarin gas in five locations on the Tokyo subway system in March. More than 1,000 people were injured, 50 suffered serious harm, and 12 died. No plausible reason for the attack has ever been discovered.

92.      Tonkin 1964 – In an incident often called the Pearl Harbor of the Vietnam War, U.S. destroyers Maddox and the Turner Joy were attacked by North Vietnamese naval forces. The incident brought about the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which gave President Lyndon Johnson authority to assist Southeast Asian countries against Communist aggression. The resolution brought an almost immediate escalation of U.S. involvement in Vietnam.

93.      Tsunami 2004 – In December an underwater earthquake measuring 9.3 on the Richter scale caused a shift on the Indian Ocean floor that triggered a massive tsunami, which destroyed entire villages and inundated resorts that were miles away. More than 225,000 people lost their lives in the disaster, which was the second most powerful quake ever recorded.

94.      U-2 Incident 1960 – American pilot Gary Powers, who flew a U-2 plane for the CIA, was at the center of this Cold War incident when he was shot down over Russia. Convicted as a spy, he was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment and seven years of hard labor.

95.      V-E Day 1945 – Victory in Europe Day marks Germany’s surrender to the Allied forces and the end of WWII. The May surrender came just a week after Hitler took his own life, and was signed under the authorization of his successor, the President of Germany, Karl Dönitz. The surrender was signed in Reims, France.

96.      V-J Day 1945 – Three months after the German surrender, the Japanese finally surrendered to the Allied forces. The official surrender took place September 2 on the U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Bay. The final straws for the Asian theater were the nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, respectively.

97.      Waco 1993 – The Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, a heavily armed cult center with apocalyptic beliefs led by David Koresh, came under siege from the ATF and the FBI. The conflict lasted for 51 days, until federal agents gassed the compound. Fires broke out and quickly consumed the main building, where 76 people died. Subsequent autopsies on the bodies found inside indicated that many had died of single gunshots to the head, not the fire.

98.      Woodstock 1969 – In a remarkable gathering of thousands from all over the country, the Woodstock Music and Art Fair came to embody the spirit of the hippie movement and the music of the ’60s. The free concert became a touchstone event that launched several successful music careers.

99.      Wounded Knee 1973 – The American Indian Movement (AIM), a radical organization protesting the mismanagement of the Ogala Sioux reservation, took control over an entire South Dakota town. The U.S. military laid siege to the encampment and the two sides exchanged fire for almost three months. After 71 days both sides agreed to disarm, and the town was evacuated. Most of the siege’s leaders were killed.

100.    Yeltsin Resigns 1999 – After surviving impeachment attempts and severe criticism, Russian President Boris Yeltsin fired his prime minister and entire cabinet in 1999. He appointed Vladimir Putin as prime minister. A few months later, after public displays of erratic behavior and international saber-rattling with U.S. President Bill Clinton over the war in Chechnya, Yeltsin resigned.

Disc Three: 100 Greatest Personalities

1.         Abba Eban – Eban, an erudite and renowned orator and master of ten languages, was one of the key voices in 1947 who garnered U.N. approval for Resolution 181—the partition of Palestine into Jewish and Arab sections. His role in guiding and serving the nation of Israel continued for the next four decades.

2.         Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. – The son of a Baptist minister, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., became the first black congressman from New York in 1944. He represented the 22nd District, which included Harlem, and became a powerful figure in the civil rights movement.

3.         Adlai Stevenson – Stevenson, a renowned public speaker and Democratic politician, rose through the ranks of the party to become Governor of Illinois. He twice ran for President against Eisenhower, in 1952 and 1956, but lost both bids. He went on to become U.S. ambassador to the U.N., where he gave a famous speech in 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

4.         Al Gore, Jr. – After eight years as Vice President under Clinton, Gore won the popular vote for President in 2000, but lost the election. His lifelong concern for the environment crystallized in the Academy Award^®-winning documentary on global warming, An Inconvenient Truth. His efforts to bring awareness to the dangers the world faced won him and the IPCC the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.

5.         Albert Einstein – Einstein, the patent clerk who developed the Theory of Relativity and won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921, is considered by many to be the greatest mind of modern science. He has become the name and face of genius, but was also a profoundly astute philosopher about the human condition. Einstein speaks about the creation of nuclear weaponry based on his research, defending the demand for its creation but pointing out the futility of possessing such destructive power.

6.         Allen Ginsberg – The poet, who, along with writers Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs, gave birth to the Beat movement, was the first to publish of the three. Ginsberg’s revolutionary poem Howl, published in 1956, was soon followed by Kerouac’s On The Road (1957) and Burroughs’ Naked Lunch (1959). They became the triumvirate of Beat literature.

7.         Amelia Earhart – The pioneering woman aviator was the first female pilot to complete a solo transatlantic flight in 1932. Her multiple attempts to fly around the world ended with her disappearance in 1937 somewhere over the Pacific Ocean.

8.         Anwar Sadat – The third President of Egypt was elected in 1970 and served until 1981, when he was assassinated. His recognition of Israel as a state through the signing of the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty led to the expulsion of Egypt from the Arab League.

9.         B.F. Skinner – Skinner was the leading pioneer in behavioral psychology and launched a school of experimental research to prove his theories. He revolutionized how behavior was analyzed and treated and had a powerful influence in the field of child education.

10.      Barbara Jordan – Jordan, a congresswoman from Texas who broke many race and sex barriers, gave this powerful keynote speech before the 1976 Democratic National Convention and moved the entire nation with her profound ability to remind us of the American Dream in a time of great disenchantment.

11.      Benazir Bhutto – Bhutto, the first woman elected to lead a Muslim country, was twice the Prime Minister of Pakistan. After leaving the country in exile in 1998 following allegations of corruption, Bhutto returned to Pakistan when she was granted amnesty in 2007 in order to run again. In December 2007, two months after her return and two weeks before the election, she was assassinated.

12.      Benjamin Britten – Britten was a celebrated British composer who took it upon himself to develop a new form of modern British opera. Some of his most famous works were Peter Grimes (1945), Billy Budd (1951) and The Turn Of The Screw (1954).

13.      Bill W. – The cofounder of Alcoholics Anonymous (in the mid-1930s), Bill W. created the system for attaining and maintaining sobriety through Twelve Steps. His program approached addictive behavior as a disease that could be treated.

14.      Billy Graham – The father of modern evangelism, Graham has been a spiritual advisor to nine Protestant U.S. Presidents, most famously nurturing close relationships with Richard Nixon and the Presidents Bush. His war against pornography was one of many battles he fought to protect the purity of his flock.

15.      Billy Wilder – Writer and director Wilder was responsible for some of the most beloved dark comedies and dramas ever to come out of Hollywood. He won several Academy Awards^® for his film directing or screenplays for motion pictures including The Lost Weekend (1945), Sunset Boulevard (1950) and The Apartment (1960), along with numerous other nominations and awards.

16.      Bob Dylan – Dylan was known for his obtuse responses to the media and their attempts to pigeonhole him in one way or another. In this interview he cites Rimbaud and Allen Ginsberg as poetic influences, but also cites W.C. Fields and the Flying Wallendas.

17.      Booker T. Washington – Freed from slavery as a child, Washington became one of the most important leaders and spokesmen for the African American population. His passion was education and he single-handedly built a network of schools for African Americans and became a leading educator himself. Upon the publication of his autobiography Up From Slavery in 1901, he was invited to the White House as a guest of President Theodore Roosevelt.

18.      Cesar Chavez – Chavez cofounded the National Farm Workers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers. The son of migrant farm workers who lost their own farm during the Great Depression, he became a labor organizer and civil rights leader beginning with his community work in the 1950s. Chavez’s use of nonviolent tactics such as strikes and boycotts helped secure decent working conditions for disenfranchised farm laborers, and his birthday is now recognized as a holiday in eight U.S. states.

19.      Charles de Gaulle – The statesman and general who led the Free French Forces during WWII, de Gaulle became the first President of what became known as the Fifth French Republic in 1959, a position he held for the next decade.

20.      Charles Lindbergh – Lindbergh’s transatlantic flight in 1927 made him a worldwide celebrity. His controversial views on politics and race are not obvious in all of his speeches, including this one on the effects of aviation on international relations.

21.      Christiaan Barnard – After experimenting for years on animals, Barnard performed the first human heart transplant in December 1967 on Louis Washkansky. Most people don’t know that Barnard was also a pioneer in kidney transplants, performing the first South African human kidney transplantation in 1959.

22.      Clarence Darrow – Darrow, a prominent lawyer and civil libertarian, is most famous for defending John T. Scopes in the 1920s for teaching Darwin’s theory of evolution in a Tennessee school, in what became known as “The Monkey Trial.”

23.      Dalai Lama – Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, has come to represent the embodiment of nonviolent, spiritually based political action. Despite being deposed from the rule of his native Tibet by the Communist Chinese, he has steadfastly maintained a view of all humans being part of one family. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.

24.      Dr. Benjamin Spock – Dr. Spock became the voice of healthy child-rearing when he published his landmark work Baby And Child Care in 1946. He brought elements of psychology and common sense into the family dynamic and became a powerful vocal advocate for balancing discipline with parental tenderness and support.

25.      Dwight D. Eisenhower – The 34th President of the United States speaks about the “ . . . war of great ideologies,” framing it as a holy battle against atheism and darkness. His rhetoric has continued to influence modern-day conflicts long after the end of the Cold War.

26.      Éamon de Valera – A strong proponent for an Irish national identity, de Valera served in public office for an astounding five and a half decades. His influence on the fight for independence for Ireland, his contribution as principal author of the Irish Constitution, and his two terms as Irish President made him one of the most powerful individuals in Ireland’s modern history.

27.      Edward R. Murrow – Murrow was a beloved radio and television journalist who became the voice of war-time reporting for millions of listeners. His series of reports about Senator Joseph McCarthy put the Red Scare into perspective for many Americans and contributed significantly to the censure of McCarthy and the end of his reign of terror.

28.      Edward Steichen – Steichen was a fine-art painter who forsook the oils to focus on photography. He was instrumental in giving credibility to photography as an art form. His love for photography led to his curating the landmark 1955 MOMA exhibit The Family Of Man, the catalog of which became the introduction to fine photography for many.

29.      Eleanor Roosevelt – The wife of The U.S.’s longest-sitting president, the outspoken Eleanor became an active public figure and speaker in her own right. Her humanitarian efforts and contributions to the drafting of the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights gained her the respect and admiration of freedom lovers and activists around the world.

30.      Ernest Hemingway – Hemingway became the poster child for the image of what a writer should be. He was daring, challenging, difficult, ornery and highly opinionated about his contribution to the canon of American literature. His novels, short stories and war reporting won him praise and prizes, including the Pulitzer and the Nobel, but none of the accolades could save him from his own troubled mind: He committed suicide in 1961 just a few weeks shy of his 62nd birthday.

31.      Federico Fellini – The five-time Oscar^®-winning Italian director created a cinematic style all his own and became one of the most influential filmmakers in the world. Known for using naturalistic actors in his classics La Strada, La Dolce Vita, 8½ and Amarcord among others, he speaks here about the importance of casting in developing his vision for a film.

32.      Fidel Castro – Castro came into power as Prime Minister of Cuba in 1959, after leading a successful guerilla campaign against dictator Fulgencio Batista. Although he was initially vague about his association with the Communist Party, he became the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba in 1965. He remained the First Secretary even after ceding his office of President (held since 1976) to his brother Raul in 2008.

33.      Fiorello LaGuardia – The three-term mayor of NYC prided himself on his fight against thuggery and his support of programs to help guide the youth of New York, as he led the city through and out of the Depression. His radio broadcasts were listened to through the New York region.

34.      Florence Nightingale – A rare recording of the pioneering British nurse, capturing her own voice at her house in 1890. Her legend grew around her work during the Crimean War, where she traveled in 1854 and stayed until 1857, becoming known as “The Lady with the Lamp” for the nightly rounds she made to minister to the wounded, long after the medical staff had gone to sleep.

35.      Frank Lloyd Wright – Wright is one of the most influential architects of the 20th century. His personal crusade for organic or naturalistic architecture was seen as a reversal of the prevailing trends in urban growth and rising skylines, and his innovations and experiments have put him in a class of his own.

36.      Franklin Delano Roosevelt – FDR ushered the country from the Great Depression, through to the last year of WWII. His eloquent speeches inspired the country and earned him election into an unparalleled four terms in office. He didn’t survive the first year of his last term, and the job of “finishing the war” went to his Vice President, Harry S. Truman.

37.      George Bernard Shaw – The Irish playwright wrote more than 60 plays, the most famous being Pygmalion, which earned him both the Nobel Prize for Literature and later the Oscar for his adaptation of his own work for the screen. Pygmalion later morphed again into My Fair Lady. Shaw became a world-renowned satirist and orator, championing equal rights, socialism and the elevation of the working class.

38.      Gloria Steinem – Steinem was and is one of the leading voices in the feminist movement. She helped redefine the role of women in society, business, politics and popular culture. Her tireless campaigns for equal rights helped establish legislation that banned unequal treatment based on sex. She is still actively fighting for the cause she helped bring into being.

39.      Golda Meir – The fourth Prime Minister of Israel and the third woman in the world to hold that title, Meir held the tumultuous position from March 1969 to June 1974 following a distinguished political career that witnessed the birth of the Israeli nation. Her five years in office displayed her great strength in the face of the Munich Massacre of Israeli athletes in 1972 and the Yom Kippur War in 1973.

40.      Guglielmo Marconi – Marconi pioneered research into what he called “wireless telegraphy,” which evolved into radio transmission. He succeeded in creating the first transatlantic radio transmission in December 1902 originating from Nova Scotia, Canada.

41.      Harold Lloyd – Lloyd helped to create an era of silent film alongside Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. They each created a cartoonish character of themselves and won the hearts of the world with their stylized comedies.

42.      Helen Keller – Keller, who became deaf and blind at 19 months of age, was rescued from utter isolation by her teacher, Anne Sullivan. Sullivan remained with her as a governess and companion for the next five decade; her tutoring allowed Keller to become an activist for the disabled and for other social and political causes, including her role in founding the ACLU.

43.      Howard Hughes – A pioneering polymath of aviation and filmmaking, Hughes built his love for flying into a huge business empire that made him one of the wealthiest men in the world. He held many air-speed records and dated the most beautiful women in Hollywood before descending into mental illness and drug dependency that drove him into isolation.

44.      Igor Stravinsky – Stravinsky was one of the most revolutionary and influential composers in the 20th century. In this speech he speaks of his ballet composition—Le Sacre du Printemps—which was perceived as so revolutionary that its 1913 debut literally caused a riot to break out in the theater.

45.      Indira Gandhi – Gandhi, the four-term Prime Minister of India, was her country’s only female leader. Her near-authoritarian policies and family lineage—her father was Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister—made her a powerful political figure. Internal conflict with separatists led to her assassination in 1984.

46.      J. Robert Oppenheimer – Oppenheimer earned the epithet “the father of the atomic bomb” by heading the Manhattan Project, which applied the theory of nuclear fission to the development of a nuclear weapon. Following WWII, however, he became an advocate of international control of atomic technology as well as a respected researcher and noted lecturer in the field of theoretical physics.

 47.     Jackson Pollack – Pollack created a whole new vocabulary of art in the late 1940s with his splash-and-drip paintings. His embrace of movement and abstraction in the pursuit of pure expression of the unconscious altered not only the way artists approached the creation of art, but also how people learned to appreciate the creation.

48.      Jacques Cousteau – Cousteau built a public identity as the single most famous popularizer of underwater exploration. His innovations in technology and his ceaseless curiosity led to the era of modern deep-sea diving and to an awareness of environmental issues that has become a vital part of the modern understanding of our planet’s delicate natural balance.

49.      James Baldwin – The groundbreaking African American author, essayist, poet and civil rights activist explored issues of race, psychology, sexuality and identity in an era when awareness of these subjects was far from common. His homosexuality sometimes made him a target for other activists, despite his close friendship with civil rights luminaries such as Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr.

50.      James Dean – The gifted actor, whose life was cut short at the age of 24, discusses the process through which he approaches developing a character. He became the first actor to receive posthumous Oscar nominations, for his roles in East Of Eden and Giant.

51.      Jane Goodall – Goodall studied the behavior of chimpanzees in Tanzania at the Gombe Stream National Park. Her research began at the behest of the famous anthropologist Louis Leakey and continued for over 45 years, powered by the belief that the study of chimpanzee behavior might shed light on the behavior of human populations.

52.      Jawaharlal Nehru – The first Prime Minister of an independent India, Nehru ruled from 1947 to 1964. Nehru unofficially inherited the independence movement from Mohandas Gandhi upon his decease. Nehru also fathered a de facto dynasty with his daughter, Indira Gandhi, serving as Prime Minister, and his grandson, Rajiv Gandhi, also holding the same office.

53.      Jim Morrison – Poet, singer, icon, shaman, rebel; Morrison’s flame burned brightly before being snuffed out too early at the age of 27. In this clip he describes the experience of allowing his muse to emerge to the music of his group The Doors.

54.      John F. Kennedy – The 35th President of the United States and the first Catholic to hold that post, JFK galvanized the country with his youth, intelligence, charisma, eloquence and vision. His assassination three years after entering office devastated the country and the freedom-loving world. This clip is from the famous “Ask not . . . ” speech.

55.      John L. Lewis – The president of the United Mine Workers of America for 40 years, Lewis became known as the indefatigable voice of labor and the common man. His organizational skills and strategies almost single-handedly made labor unions a powerful political force to contend with.

56.      John Paul II – The most beloved Pope in modern history, John Paul II was born Karol Józef Wojtyła in Poland. His reign as the 264th Pope lasted 27 years, from 1978 until his death in 2005. The Pope received the Nobel Peace Prize for his untiring fight against Communism.

57.      Justice Thurgood Marshall – The first African American U.S. Supreme Court Justice was appointed by President Johnson in 1967. His very presence in the highest court of the land created an atmosphere of change and hope for the dream of the civil rights movement to become a reality.

58.      Lance Armstrong – Seven-time Tour de France winner Armstrong is the greatest cyclist in history. He not only beat all previous records of Tour winners, he also beat testicular cancer three years before his winning streak began, showing a truly unique quality of athletic competition.

59.      Le Corbusier – The Swiss-born artist and architect became one of the single most influential visionaries of Modern Architecture and urban planning. Of all of his buildings and projects, however, the most famous is the United Nations Headquarters in New York, for which his design was selected from among 50 different submissions.

60.      Lee De Forest – Inventor De Forest ushered in the electronic age with his development of the Audion, a vacuum tube that amplifies electrical signals. His technological breakthrough was instrumental in the development of telephone and radio communications, as it allowed these transmissions to become audible.

61.      Lee Strasberg – Strasberg cofounded the Group Theatre in New York, which popularized the Stanislavski “Method” that taught actors to “live the part” onstage. He left the Group to teach at the Actor’s Studio in New York, where he became the resident guru to many of the greatest actors of our day, including James Dean, Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift and, most famously, Marilyn Monroe.

62.      Lennon/McCartney – As the most commercially and critically successful music group in modern history, The Beatles led a social revolution that brought youth culture to the forefront in the 1960s. Founding members John Lennon and Paul McCartney speak about the responsibilities that come with the fame and wealth they’ve received as the most popular music group in the world.

63.      Leopold Stokowski – Founder of the NYC Symphony and the American Symphony Orchestras, among others, Stokowski was one of the great disseminators of classical music in the 20th century. He was one of the first musicians of his stature to embrace recording technology fully, consulting with technicians to achieve the finest quality possible at the time.

64.      Louis Armstrong – Satchmo, the most celebrated trumpet player of the 20th century, helped to introduce the instrumental solo to the development of jazz music. His musical innovations extended to his distinctive scat singing, and he also became a popular icon through his appearances in films such as New Orleans (1947), alongside Billie Holliday, and High Society (1956), with Bing Crosby.

65.      Malcolm X – One of the great leaders of the civil rights movement, Malcolm split from the nonviolent stance held by Dr. Martin Luther King and advocated achieving freedom, justice and equality “ . . . by any means necessary.” Later in his ministry he softened his rhetoric on the futility of peaceful integration, but his assassination in 1965 prevented this phase of Malcolm’s leadership from materializing.

66.      Marcus Garvey – The Jamaican-born founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL) was one of the first voices for Pan-African pride and unity. His separatist ideology included a controversial proposal to “free” Africa of European influence and governance and return Africa to Africans.

67.      Margaret Mead – A famed cultural anthropologist who demystified sexual traditions through her studies of the Samoan people, Mead went on to observe other technologically primitive societies and their sexual mores in Papua New Guinea, in Oksapmin and among the Arapesh people, among others. She warned against the temptations of technological development out of balance with reason.

68.      Margaret Mitchell – Mitchell won the Pulitzer Prize in 1937 for her novel Gone With The Wind. Her depiction of the South from that region’s point of view captured the minds of many and became one of the most popular novels and most enduring films in history.

69.      Marilyn Monroe – The most famous “sex symbol” in Hollywood history, Marilyn strove for acceptance as an actress rather than just as a body. Her intellectual aspirations were genuine, if often mocked, and led to her marrying Arthur Miller, one of the finest writers of the era.

70.      Marlon Brando – One of the most famous “method” actors describes his process of “becoming” the role he played. Brando was considered the greatest film actor of his time for decades before becoming better known for his eccentricities.

71.      Martin Luther King, Jr. – King’s oratorical powers are most evident in his famous final speech in which he invoked the prophetic Biblical metaphor of seeing the Promised Land from the mountain without being able to enter it with his flock. He was assassinated the next day. Many thought King knew what was coming and that this speech was no coincidence.

72.      Mikhail Gorbachev – Gorbachev ushered in a new era in Russian history as the last General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the final leader of the USSR. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990 for his attempts to initiate reform in Russia through his programs of perestroika and glasnost.

73.      Mohandas Gandhi – The leading practitioner of nonviolent protest in the 20th century, Gandhi freed India from British rule through civil disobedience. His spiritual view of change was to influence many future leaders around the world, most famously Martin Luther King, Jr.

74.      Mother Teresa – Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, India, in 1950, when she was 40 years old. From that point forward she worked tirelessly to save the lives of the poor and sick people she found there for nearly five decades, until her death in 1997. Her work won her the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.

75.      Muhammad Ali – The three-time World Heavyweight Champion was known for his “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee” boxing technique as well as his catchy sloganeering. Here the self-proclaimed “Greatest of All Time” talks about regaining his championship title in a 1974 battle with George Foreman that was held in Zaire and became known as the Rumble In The Jungle.

76.      Nelson Mandela – Mandela—who served out a 27-year prison term in South Africa after being arrested for his role in sabotage against the apartheid government—quickly rose to become the President of his country as leader of the African National Congress. He is largely responsible for bringing an end to apartheid and creating a multiracial government.

77.      Nikita Khrushchev – The polemical and ornery successor to Joseph Stalin led his nation through the heart of the Cold War as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union between 1953 and 1964, and as the Premier of the Soviet Union between 1958 and 1964. His visits to the U.S. created media frenzies, often due to antics such as banging his shoe on the table at the U.N. and interrupting the speeches of other diplomats. Here he clarifies his famous quote “We Will Bury You.”

78.      Pablo Casals – Casals was adored around the world as the greatest cellist of his time. He played for every world leader from Queen Victoria to JFK and used his public status to fight against the fascist dictatorship of Francisco Franco, which ruled over Casal’s native Spain from 1939 to 1975.

79.      Pierre Boulez – Boulez is one of the great innovators of modern classical music. His experiments in serialism and “controlled chance” led to his early embrace of electronic music and electronic sound manipulation. Now in his eighties, he continues to explore, experiment, compose and conduct.

80.      P.T. Barnum – A consummate showman and creator of the Greatest Show on Earth, P.T. Barnum was best known for saying, “There’s a sucker born every minute,” although this attribution is disputed. His traveling circus was the first entertainment tour that had its own train, enabling Barnum to create a national phenomenon, and he further built his empire with sensational “hoaxes” and exhibits that capitalized on his ability to publicize these events.

81.      Queen Elizabeth II – The reigning Queen of England is sovereign over 16 countries worldwide, although she does not actively participate in the day-to-day governance of these territories. Here she speaks about the love of freedom, a common thread that runs through the extended kingdom of which she is the Royal Majesty.

82.      Dr. Ralph Bunche – The first African American to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, which was awarded to him for his mediation of the Palestinian conflict in the late ’40s. His work for the U.N. and continued mediation in war-torn areas led to his becoming the Undersecretary General of the U.N. in 1968.

83.      Robert Fitzgerald Kennedy – The younger brother of JFK served as Attorney General during his brother’s term as 35th President of the U.S. RFK’s erudition and eloquence earned him the deferred expectations of the country for his deceased brother when he declared his candidacy for President in 1968. His campaign was cut short by an assassin’s bullet in Los Angeles after his victory in the California primary.

84.      Rolling Stones – Mick Jagger—the singer of the second most famous musical group of the British Invasion—scoffs at being compared to other British bands of the period, but maintains respect for The Beatles.

85.      Samuel Gompers – The founder of the American Federation of Labor (AFL), Gompers was one of the most important public faces for the labor movement in America. He served as President of the AFL for 37 years until his death in 1924.

86.      Sigmund Freud – The single most influential mind in the field of psychoanalysis—whether in or out of vogue—Freud set forth his theories of consciousness and the unconscious and developed his unique process of psychoanalysis early in the 20th century. The ubiquity of sex as a motivating factor, the rules of dream interpretation, Oedipal urges—all of these ideas spilled forth from his extraordinary mind.

87.      Steve Jobs – Jobs helped found Apple Computers in 1976, left the company in 1986, and helped restore it to its former glory when he returned—for an annual salary of $1—in 1996. This commencement speech was given at Stanford University in 2005.

88.      Theodore Roosevelt – The 26th President of the United States rose from being Governor of New York to Vice President under William McKinley before his own inauguration as President. An avid outdoorsman who single-handedly pioneered environmental preservation, Roosevelt also became famous for extending the U.S.’s influence outside its borders. He appears with Presidents Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln on Mount Rushmore.

89.      Thomas Edison – Edison is widely hailed as the father of the modern technological age, harnessing electricity in devices such as the lightbulb, the phonograph, the motion picture camera and countless other vital inventions. In all he held over 1,000 original patents.

90.      Thomas Mann – Mann, the Nobel Prize–winning author most famous for Death In Venice and The Magic Mountain, was a massive intellect whose personal pursuit of philosophical truth influenced his work and a generation of writers who followed him.

91.      Vladimir Lenin – Lenin was the driving force behind the Russian Revolution and the leader of the new Soviet Socialist Republic government as the Chair of the Council of People’s Commissars from 1917 to 1924.

92.      Walt Disney – Disney created a universe of his own and entertained the world at large with the characters that inhabited it. The expansion of his vision from cartoons to feature films to television, theme parks and merchandise created a gold standard in what has become known as branding.

93.      Wernher von Braun – The original German rocket scientist, von Braun created the V-2 rocket for Germany, greatly assisting the German machine in WWII. After the war, he and his team were brought to the U.S. as part of a secret program. Here his work paved the way for the U.S. space program to become the best in the world, leading to the first successful moon landing.

94.      Will Rogers – One of America’s favorite down-to-earth performers and social commentators, Rogers had the knack for simplifying complex issues into punch lines and sound bites. He became Hollywood’s highest-paid star while simultaneously authoring over 4,000 nationally syndicated newspaper columns and managing to find something he liked in every man he met.

95.      William Faulkner – Faulkner, the voice of the South and a hugely influential fiction stylist, received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1949. His acceptance speech was as unusual, emotional and cerebral as his difficult stories and characters, showing that his creations were close in temperament to their originator.

96.      William Jennings Bryan – “The Great Commoner” was a politician and a lawyer, not to mention a three-time contender for President and the prosecuting attorney in the famous Scopes “Monkey Trial.” (He held the antievolution position.) He won. His stentorian voice and supreme confidence in his own opinions made him one of the most powerful public speakers of his time.

97.      William O. Douglas – Supreme Court Justice William Douglas sat on the bench from his nomination by FDR in 1939 until 1975, making him the longest-serving Justice in that court’s history. For many he came to represent the keeper of the conscience, of which he speaks here.

98.      Winston Churchill – Prime Minister of the U.K. during WWII, Churchill is one of the most celebrated statesmen and orators of the century. His inspiring speeches led many to rise beyond the call of duty and take personal pride in the Allied effort in the war.

99.      Yehudi Menuhin – Violinist and conductor Menuhin, though born in New York, spent the lion’s share of his career in the U.K. Menuhin was a consummate performer who gained international recognition for being the first Jewish musician to play in post-WWII Germany under a German conductor, as an act of forgiveness and reconciliation.

100.    Yves Saint-Laurent – Saint-Laurent was one of the most famous fashion designers of the 20th century. He was able to simultaneously enchant the general public with the idea of haute couture and convince the couture customers to respect ready-to-wear clothing as an option they could embrace.

 

Disc Four: 100 Greatest Scandals

1.         Abramoff 2006 – Jack Abramoff, who had close ties to the Bush Administration, was convicted of fraud, conspiracy and tax evasion for his role in bilking Native American tribes out millions of dollars in lobbying “fees” that were split among some of his other guilty cohorts. The scandal pulled back the curtain on the “business as usual” criminal activities that most politicians try to turn a blind eye to.

2.         ABSCAM 1978 – An FBI sting caught several congressmen red-handed in the act of accepting or agreeing to accept large bribes in exchange for support of a fictional sheikh’s efforts to launder money and purchase U.S. asylum, among other favors.

3.         Abu Ghraib 2003 – Whistleblowers smuggled out horrifying images of tortured inmates in Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison. Major General Taguba was tasked to report on the misconduct at the prison. His report helped formulate the conclusion of the ensuing investigation, which found fault with a few individuals, rather than an endemic set of deplorable practices sanctioned by the commanding officers of the prison. Many believe that responsibility should have been borne by all who were in command.

4.         Agnew 1973 – Nixon Vice President Spiro Agnew pled nolo contendere to criminal charges of tax evasion and money laundering that occurred during his tenure as Maryland’s governor. The furor around his plea led to his resignation, which acted as a prophetic moment for the future of the Nixon Administration.

5.         Alec Baldwin 2007 – The profanity-laden, viciously belittling phone message Baldwin left in April 2007 for his own daughter, Ireland, was leaked to the press through the gossip site TMZ.com. The public outrage in response to his verbal barrage was considerable, but it didn’t derail Baldwin’s career.

6.         Alger Hiss 1948 – The public servant was found guilt of perjury for his denials under oath that he was involved in any way with the Communist Party or with any acts of espionage. His testimony was contradicted by Whittaker Chambers, a U.S. informant charged with the same crimes, but whose testimony guaranteed him immunity. The drama unfolded as part of hearings by the House Committee on Un-American Activities led by Senator Joseph McCarthy.

7.         Andrew Young/U.N. 1979 – In brokering Middle East peace talks as ambassador to the U.N. under President Carter, Young broke with U.S. policy by meeting with a representative of the Palestine Liberation Organization. His apparent defense of his actions when they came to light led to his resignation.

8.         Anita Bryant Fruit Pie 1977 – Florida fruit juice spokesperson, singer and former Miss America contestant Anita Bryant engaged in a crusade against an equal rights ordinance in Dade County, Florida, which would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual persuasion. Her efforts earned her a banana cream pie in the face during a televised press conference—a mild retribution considering the hatred she espoused.

9.         Belushi Death 1982 – After burning the candle at both ends and in the middle too, the 33-year-old gonzo comedian took his drug use too far and overdosed by injecting a “speedball” combination of heroin and cocaine. Belushi was best remembered for his outrageous Saturday Night Live characters, including Jake Blues of the Blues Brothers.

10.      Bert Lance 1977 – Lance served as director of the Office of Management and the Budget under President Jimmy Carter. He was forced to resign when charges of mismanagement and corruption at the Calhoun National Bank during Lance’s tenure as Chairman of the Board came to light. Though Lance was cleared of those charges, he resurfaced in another banking scandal when the Bank of Credit and Commerce International collapsed in 1991 and Lance walked away with millions.

11.      Bhopal 1984 – In one of the world’s worst industrial accidents, a leakage of lethal pesticide gas from a Union Carbide Chemical plant in Bhopal, India, resulted in more than 3,000 fatalities. Eventually the death toll was estimated at over 20,000, as related illnesses continued to take lives, with more than 100,000 people permanently injured by exposure to gas and area contamination.

12.      Bill Carter/Libya 1980 – Billy Carter, the oft-embarrassing brother of President Jimmy Carter, visited Libya three times in 1978 and 1979. He actually became an agent of the Libyan government and secured a loan in excess of $200,000 from that government. His actions prompted a Senate investigation of what the press dubbed “Billygate.”

13.      Billie Sol Estes 1962 – Closely connected with President Lyndon Johnson, this Texas financier was convicted of 57 counts of fraud in 1962 and became the center of a whirlwind of controversy and mysterious deaths. The scandals threatened to derail Johnson’s political future, but Estes went to jail and, for a while, the dust settled. Estes later made allegations about Johnson’s complicity in many unsolved deaths, including the assassination of JFK.

14.      Carter Playboy 1976 – Jimmy Carter was interviewed for Playboy magazine in 1976, just weeks before the election. In his interview he admitted that he had lusted in his heart many times for women other than his wife. Either in spite of this or because of it, Carter won both the popular and electoral vote and became the 39th President of the United States.

15.      Chaplin Leaves U.S. 1952 – Charlie Chaplin, the beloved “Little Tramp” who starred in a series of immensely popular silent films, fell into the crosshairs of J. Edgar Hoover and Senator McCarthy during WWII. He was accused of un-American activities and of being a Communist sympathizer. When he took a trip home to the U.K. in 1952, Hoover had his re-entry legally blocked. He did not return until 20 years later when he was awarded an honorary Oscar in 1972.

16.      Chappaquiddick 1969 – Following a party on Chappaquidick, an island near Martha’s Vineyard, Senator Ted Kennedy offered a ride to the departing Mary Jo Kopechne, who had served in his brother Robert’s 1968 Presidential campaign. Kennedy apparently drove off a wooden bridge into the cold waters, where the car sank. He was unable to rescue his passenger, who died, and the incident caused a nationwide scandal for his failure to alert authorities in a timely manner.

17.      Clarence Thomas 1991 – Judge Thomas was nominated to the Supreme Court in 1991 by the first President Bush. As his confirmation hearings proceeded, an attorney who had previously worked for Thomas, Anita Hill, was called to testify. She told of many occasions on which Thomas spoke of sexual issues in an inappropriate manner. Despite Hill’s accusations of harassment and impropriety, Thomas was confirmed as the 106th Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.

18.      Clinton/Lewinsky 1998 – The juxtaposition of audio clips of Monica Lewinsky confessing her love for President Clinton to Linda Tripp (who taped their calls and blew the whistle on Clinton) and of Clinton himself denying he ever had sexual relations “with that woman—Miss Lewinsky” sums up the scandal that led to (unsuccessful) impeachment proceedings for the 42nd President.

19.      Condit/Levy 2001 – Congressman Gary Condit claimed to know nothing about the 2001 disappearance of Chandra Levy, an intern with whom he admitted to having a five-month affair. Although nothing was proved, Condit was thought by many to be withholding information about Levy’s disappearance. Her remains were found a year later and the cause of her death was determined to be murder, but Condit was never charged and the cased was never solved.

20.      Cunningham 2005 – The charismatic Randy “Duke” Cunningham, a Republican congressman from California, was a war hero and a populist favorite who claimed that parts of the film Top Gun were based on episodes from his life. His house of cards started to tumble in 2005 when evidence emerged of a pattern of corruption and bought influence that had been continuing for years. He pled guilty to tax evasion, conspiracy to commit bribery, mail fraud and wire fraud.

21.      David Kelly Suicide 2003 – David Kelly was a weapons expert in the U.K. Ministry of Defence and a former U.N. weapons inspector in Iraq who was asked to review “The September Dossier” on WMDs possessed by Iraq. He found faults with the dossier and was publicly named as the source of a news report that said the truth about Iraq’s capabilities had been “sexed up” to make the case for invasion; Kelly was subsequently summoned before the House of Commons to testify. He was found dead a day later, and it was ruled a suicide despite suspicious circumstances.

22.      David Vitter/D.C. Madam 2007 – The staunchly conservative Louisiana junior senator was caught smack in the middle of the D.C. Madam scandal. His phone number was found among her records, forcing him to publicly apologize and calling into question his strong “family values” reputation.

23.      D.C. Madam 2007 – Deborah Jean Palfrey claimed she was running a legal escort service called Pamela Martin and Associates. The U.S. Government called it prostitution, and the press dubbed her the “D.C. Madam.” When she handed over client phone numbers to ABC News to try to drum up ex-clients who would testify for her, ambassadors and senators started scrambling for cover. Paltrey was facing sentencing when she was found dead of an apparent suicide.

24.      DeLay Resignation 2005 – The House Majority Leader was a major player in the GOP who was found guilty of violating campaign finance laws, but even that didn’t slow his roll. It took two of his former aides getting convicted in the Abramoff scandal for DeLay to realize that things were not going to get better for him . . . and he stepped down.

25.      Dennis Hastert 2007 – The 59th Speaker of the House under both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush and a member of Congress for 20 years, Hastert refused to resign throughout the 2006 Foley/Congressional Page scandal, despite pressure from the press, fellow Republicans and religious leaders. Reports that Hastert’s knowledge of Foley’s improprieties went back for years put his integrity into serious question, and he finally did step down in November 2007.

26.      Dirty Tricks 1972 – During the investigation of the Watergate scandal, evidence revealed that the Nixon campaign committee had engaged in a Dirty Tricks campaign to discredit anyone thought to present a serious challenge to Nixon’s re-election. Among those targeted was Democratic candidate Edmund Muskie, whose wife’s character was called into question.

27.      Dorothy Stratten 1980 – Having just become Playboy’s Playmate of the Year in 1980, Stratten was only 20 years old when her estranged manager/husband, Paul Snider, violently ended her life and his own with a shotgun at his duplex in Los Angeles.

28.      Duke Lacrosse Rape Case 2006 – When stripper and escort Crystal Mangum accused members of the Duke University lacrosse team of raping her at a house party, prosecutor Mike Nifong went after the players with a full court press. Tried by public opinion and the media, the real scandal emerged when it turned out that the accusations were false. The prosecutor was disbarred.

29.      Eagleton 1972 – While he was the Vice Presidential candidate under George McGovern in the 1972 election, Eagleton’s past psychiatric treatment—including electroshock therapy for depression—came to light. Though McGovern initially showed support, eventually Eagleton withdrew from the race.

30.      Earl Butz Racial Slur 1976 – Butz, the Secretary of Agriculture under Presidents Nixon and Ford, seemed to have a difficult time keeping his foot from swinging firmly into his mouth. After first offending the Pope, he went on to utter some of the most disgraceful public comments about African Americans ever made by a public official. The worst part is that he thought he was being funny. He resigned in October 1976.

31.      Ed Meese 1988 – Meese was U.S. Attorney General under President Reagan, after having been a close advisor to the President for many years. His involvement in, and intimate knowledge of, the Iran-Contra Affair as “counselor” to the President put Reagan in a very uncomfortable position.

32.      Election 2000 – The Presidential race in 2000 between Al Gore and George W. Bush became the first in which a re-count was demanded. It was the fourth in which a President won the electoral majority without receiving a majority of the popular vote. The tally brought the vote to within 500 votes in the state of Florida, where the balance hung, triggering a mandatory full re-count. Despite allegations of some improprieties at polling places, eventually the Supreme Court voted 5–4 to stop the Florida re-count and certify Bush’s win, making him President.

33.      Elián González 2000 – Elián was a five-year-old boy who was rescued off the Florida coast in an inner tube, as one of three survivors of a fatal escape attempt from Cuba. He was put in his uncle’s custody in Miami, only to have his Cuban father demand his return to Cuba. Elián became the center of an international tug of war which ended when Attorney General Janet Reno gave the order for his return. Armed border patrol agents stormed the house of his Miami relatives and seized the boy to return him to Cuba, causing outrage.

34.      Eliot Spitzer 2008 – Spitzer, a courageous Attorney General who went on to become the 54th Governor of N.Y. State, brought his distinguished career to an ignoble end through his own brazen law-breaking. He was caught in 2008, in a federal wiretap, as a patron of a high-priced prostitution ring called the Emperor’s Club, and resigned a week later.

35.      Enron 2004 – The Texas-based energy company claimed income of $111 billion in 2000 and employed over 22,000 people. A year later, when it declared bankruptcy, Enron’s incredible success was revealed to be an elaborate hierarchy of accounting tricks. Not only did the collapse cause the loss of billions of dollars, it also led to indictments of Chairman Kenneth Lay, CEO Jeffrey Skilling and CFO Andrew Fastow, not to mention the dissolution of giant accounting firm Arthur Anderson for not catching and reporting the questionable accounting practices it found.

36.      Father Coughlin Censure 1938 – Coughlin was a Roman Catholic priest who used radio to reach the masses in an unprecedented way. Millions tuned in to his broadcasts on topics spanning religious, political and financial matters, and his support was thought to have helped FDR’s New Deal reforms gain public acceptance. As WWII loomed and grew, Coughlin’s broadcasts took a distinctly anti-Semitic, pro-Fascist tone, causing his show to be cancelled and the Church to censure him.

37.      Fiorello LaGuardia 1938 – The Mayor of New York from 1934 to 1945, LaGuardia was a powerful force in moving New York through the Great Depression. His “my way or the highway” approach alienated many of his political contemporaries, and his city council came famously under fire for corruption, forcing LaGuardia to establish the New York City Board of Estimate to oversee their activities.

38.      Ford Pinto 1971 – Ford Motors was sued for continuing to manufacture Pintos with knowledge that the gas tank was vulnerable to life-threatening damage when hit from behind. A fatal crash instigated the suit, and a California court ruled against Ford to the tune of $6 million.

39.      Frank Sinatra, Jr. 1963 – The son and namesake of “Old Blue Eyes” was kidnapped from his room at Harrah’s Lake Tahoe resort in December 1963, just a month shy of his 20th birthday. His father shelled out $240 “large” as ransom, and the bad guys sprung the kid two days later.

40.      Gacy 1978 – John Wayne Gacy, a professional clown and amateur artist, was being investigated for the disappearance of a teenage boy when a search of his house revealed suspicious and incriminating items. Gacy confessed to police in December 1978 that the remains of 27 teenage boys he had assaulted and killed were buried in and around his house, and four others were thrown in the river. After spending 14 years on death row, Gacy was executed in 1994.

41.      Gary Francis Powers 1960 – Powers, an American pilot who flew a U-2 plane for the CIA, was at the center of a Cold War incident in 1960 when his craft was shot down over Russia. Convicted there as a spy, he was sentenced to three years of imprisonment and seven years of hard labor; less than two years later he was “traded” for a KGB Colonel being held by the U.S. As a result of his capture, Russia was able to also obtain many classified secrets from the fallen U2.

42.      Gary Hart 1987 – Hart, a married U.S. Senator from Colorado and two-time candidate for President, had his second campaign completely derailed when a picture emerged of 29-year-old Donna Rice sitting on his lap onboard a yacht called Monkey Business. Hart, who maintained his innocence throughout, railed against the press as the guilty party in the incident.

43.      Great Train Robbery 1963 – In 1963 over £2.5 was stolen from a train at Bridego Railway Bridge. Adjusted to today’s value, the amount would be closer to £40 million. Most of the money was not recovered, but the gang who stole it was not so lucky. Thirteen of them were caught and imprisoned, but some, including the infamous Ronnie Biggs and Charlie Wilson, were able to escape and live relatively normal lives under aliases before being recaptured or turning themselves in.

44.      Harvey Milk Murder 1978 – Milk, who served as City Supervisor in San Francisco, was the first “openly gay man elected to any substantial political office” (Time Magazine). The hugely popular figure, often called the Mayor of Castro Street, was murdered alongside San Francisco Mayor George Moscone by former city supervisor Dan White in 1978. White’s plea of diminished capacity, which came to be called the Twinkie defense, resulted in a shockingly lenient manslaughter charge.

45.      Hitler’s Diaries 1983 – In 1983 Stern Magazine started publishing excerpts from a cache of over 60 handwritten volumes alleged to be personal diaries by none other than Adolf Hitler. Stern had paid 10 million German marks for the treasure, but despite being confirmed as authentic by a number of historical experts, scientific examinations exposed them as total fakes.

46.      Hollywood Ten 1947 – Arrested and cited for contempt of Congress for refusing to state under oath whether or not they were members of the Communist Party, the Hollywood Ten were among the first to be blacklisted by the House Un-American Activities Committee hearings. The Ten cited First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and assembly, but though their refusal was in fact constitutional, it drew the ire of the Committee and brought Hollywood under its fire  HHHollywood.

47.      House Banking Scandal 1992 – In what appeared to many as an ultimate irony, the public learned that over 450 representatives had overdrawn their House checking accounts without any penalty; the House Bank provided overdraft protection for accounts that were overdrawn, in some cases, for over a year. The bizarre banking practices came to light in 1992 and led to further revelations about financial improprieties among representatives.

48.      Howard Hughes 1972 – Hughes, one of the wealthiest men in the world, descended into a secluded twilight world toward the end of his life. In a phone interview in 1972, Hughes denied any participation in the celebrated Clifford Irving “autobiography” of Hughes, exposing the book as a hoax and Irving as a fraud.

49.      Hutton Report 2004 – Lord Hutton was called upon by the U.K. government to investigate the circumstances around the death of David Kelly. Kelly had been named as the media source for the allegations that the government had “sexed up” a report on WMDs to appear to give reason for invasion of Iraq. Shortly after being named, Kelly was found dead. Hutton’s report was published in January 2004.

50.      I Love You Virus 2000 – One of the first world-famous viruses transmitted through email programs infect over 10% of all computers connected to the Internet. It caused an estimated $5.5 billion in damages when major corporations and government agencies, including the Pentagon, had to completely shut down operations to clean their systems of the virus.

51.      Imus 2007 – Radio personality Don Imus took one step over the line with his “nappy-headed hos” comments about the Rutgers Women’s Basketball team. His attempt at humor lost him his job. Somehow he is back on the air again.

52.      Jack Kevorkian 1999 – “The Suicide Doctor” believed he was doing good by helping suffering patients through “physician assisted suicide.” He admitted to enabling over 130 patients to end their lives and was sentenced to 11–20 years for second-degree murder, but was released after eight years for good behavior . . . never acknowledging that there was anything wrong with what he did.

53.      James Watt 1983 – The 43rd U.S. Secretary of the Interior under President Ronald Reagan was surrounded by considerable controversy due to his disregard for the environment he was appointed to protect. However, it was his attempt at humor during a speech in September 1983 that ended his term in resignation by offending four minority groups in a single sentence.

54.      Jim Bakker 1987 – The head of the PTL club, a massively profitable televangelistic empire built on The Jim and Tammy Show, was forced to resign when evidence of a sex scandal involving the minister and Jessica Hahn came to light. PTL attempts to buy Hahn off failed. It was the beginning of a complete unraveling of the Bakker empire, with mail fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy charges following soon after.

55.      Jimmy Hoffa Disappearance 1975 – Hoffa—the former president of the Teamsters union and back-room power broker in the labor movement—was known for his questionable practices and was convicted of attempted bribery of a grand juror, only to have his sentence partially commuted by President Nixon. He mysteriously disappeared in 1975 and was never found. Speculation and wild theories about what happened still circulate, but none have been proven.

56.      Jimmy Swaggart 1988 – After having exposed the sexual scandals of fellow Assemblies of God minister Marvin Gorman and former friend Jim Bakker, Swaggart got his comeuppance. He was caught in the company of a prostitute himself and confessed before his congregation and audience. He refused to give up his ministry, and so his church had to defrock him and take him off the air.

57.      JonBenet Ramsey/John Mark Karr 2006 – After the six-year-old child beauty pageant starlet was found beaten and strangled in her home in December 1996, suspicion fell largely on her parents, but there were no charges filed and the case remained unsolved. Remarkably, ten years later a former schoolteacher in Thailand claimed that he was with the child when she died, but that her death was an accident. His DNA did not match existing evidence in the Ramsey case, and no charges were filed against him.

58.      Jonestown 1977 – After moving his flock of almost 1,000 believers to a makeshift settlement in Guyana in late 1977, Jim Jones, the leader of the Peoples Temple, cut off all contact with the U.S. When Congressman Leo Ryan led a delegation of concerned relatives and reporters to South American to make sure everyone was safe, he saw disturbing signs of coercion and offered to take anyone home who wanted to go. They were all stopped at the airstrip by machine gun fire. Back at the camp Jones led his entire flock in a forced mass suicide in which over 900 people perished.

59.      Keating Five 1989 – The Keating Five were Senators who were involved in the Savings and Loan crisis by obstructing the investigation into Charles Keating, the chairman of a failed Savings and Loan association. Two of the five, Senator John McCain and Senator John Glenn, were criticized for questionable conduct but were considered to be only peripherally involved in the obstruction. Both ran for re-election and remained in office. The other three, Senators DeConcini, Riegle and Cranston, were found to have significantly obstructed the investigation by the Federal Home Loan Band Board, and Cranston was censured. None of them ran for re-election.

60.      Kerrigan/Harding 1994 – The world of figure skating turned into a soap opera when Tonya Harding was found to be involved in a conspiracy to assault her beautiful rival Nancy Kerrigan during a practice session in 1994.

61.      Klaus von Bulow 1980 – Von Bulow was a European socialite who married American heiress “Sunny” Crawford in 1966. Fourteen years into their marriage, von Bulow injected his wife with too much insulin, inducing a vegetative comatose state in which she remains to this day. Von Bulow was tried twice for attempted murder. He was convicted in the first trial, but appealed the decision and was exonerated in the second trial.

62.      Kurt Cobain Death 1994 – In March of 1994, the despondent Nirvana vocalist was admitted to the Exodus Recovery Program in Los Angeles following several near-overdose incidents that suggested suicide. One day later, he walked out of the treatment center and boarded a plane to his home in the Seattle area. Approximately a week later Cobain’s body was found locked in a spare room over his garage with a shotgun cradled on his chest, having apparently lain there dead for several days already.

63.      Larry Craig 2007 – The senior Senator from Idaho, who supported the Federal Marriage Amendment and the Idaho constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, was arrested for lewd conduct in the men’s bathroom of the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. In the wake of his arrest, several reports of same-sex escapades emerged. Craig attempted to withdraw his plea of disorderly conduct without success.

64.      Lee Marvin Palimony 1979 – In his lifetime, actor Lee Marvin was married twice—but never to live-in girlfriend Michelle Triola (who adopted the surname “Marvin” nonetheless). Following their breakup, Triola took Marvin to court charging that they had entered into an oral agreement to share all property accumulated during their cohabitation. Despite an initial win in the California Supreme Court, Triola’s lawsuit was ultimately rejected by the Court of Appeals, establishing a valuable legal precedent that left her with nothing.

65.      Lisa Nowak/NASA 2007 – Lisa Nowak, a NASA robotics specialist and astronaut, was arrested for attempting to kidnap the girlfriend of her alleged love, fellow astronaut and shuttle pilot William Oefelein. Nowak drove 900 miles and donned a wig and a trench coat to confront the woman.

66.      Lorena Bobbitt 1994 – In a story that grabbed men’s attention worldwide, a woman cut off her husband’s penis in a fit of anger. She was found not guilty by reason of insanity, making sure that men thought twice ever after about being insensitive to their wives.

67.      Louise Woodward 1997 – Woodward was a nanny whose charge, Matthew Eappen, died from a fractured skull and other head injuries. Though Woodward denied any wrongdoing and even passed a lie detector test, she was found guilty of murder in the second degree, breaking down after hearing the verdict. After an appeal, the charge was reduced to involuntary manslaughter.

68.      Lt. Calley/My Lai 1971 – As commanding officer of the Charlie Company in the 23rd Infantry Division of the U.S. Army, Calley led his troops in a ruthless massacre of between 300 and 500 innocent Vietnamese villagers, many of them women and children. A whistleblower from the company sent letters about the incident to the President, the Pentagon, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and many members of Congress. In the trial that followed, Calley was found guilty of premeditated murder and assault.

69.      Mark Foley 2006 – Congressman Foley was found to have sent inappropriate text messages to at least one teenage male congressional page. The transcripts of the text message conversation were made public and evidence of a cover-up—or at least the turning of a blind eye—by senior Republicans came to light. Ironically, Foley had been a leading crusader against child pornography and pedophiles.

70.      Martha Stewart 2004 – The lifestyle guru and CEO of self-built, self-branding empire Omnimedia found herself in hot water when it was discovered that she sold shares in the ImClone company shortly before the stock tanked based on news that its FDA approval wasn’t going through. It wasn’t the alleged insider trading that got her, though; it was her attempts to cover up her foreknowledge that put her in the Alderson Federal Prison Camp for five months.

71.      McCarthy/Welch 1954 – Joseph Welch, an attorney for the U.S. Army, was one of the few people to stand up to Senator Joseph McCarthy during the Army-McCarthy hearing. When McCarthy accused a junior attorney in Welch’s firm of being associated with an alleged Communist front organization, Welch went off on him, questioning whether he had any decency.

72.      McGreevey 2004 – James McGreevey, the 52nd Governor of New Jersey, was not only caught having an affair, but it was with an Israeli-born male employee of the state. He came clean and came out all in one speech in 2004, becoming the first openly gay governor in U.S. history. He resigned three months later.

73.      Menendez Brothers 1989 – Lyle and Erik were the two sons of wealthy parents in Beverly Hills. Their desire to hasten their inheritance gave birth to a cold-blooded shotgun double murder in 1989. They went through a mistrial, but in a second trial they were convicted despite a defense attempt to justify their acts through an “escape from parental abuse” argument.

74.      Michael Jackson 2003 – The child star grown up has always denied his guilt the many times he has been accused of inappropriate behavior with underage boys. This particular denial was part of the Jordan Chandler case that ended in 1994 with a payoff of over $20 million and dropped charges. Less than a decade later the whole nightmare started again in 2003, and this time he went to trial . . . only to be found not guilty.

75.      Natalee Holloway 2005 – During a high school trip to Aruba in 2005, the 18-year-old disappeared without a trace. She was last seen with locals Joran van der Sloot and his friends, Deepak and Satish Kalpoe, but they claimed to have no knowledge of how she disappeared. Her parents criticized the investigation for being slow and turning up little hard evidence. After a series of arrests, releases and rearrests, the Aruba authorities closed the case in 2007, only to have a confession by van der Sloot turn up in 2008. Although it led to more questioning, no charges were filed.

76.      Nixon/“Crook” 1973 – Richard Nixon, the 37th President of the United States, came under investigation for being involved in a cover-up of the break-in to Democratic Party Headquarters at the Watergate hotel. Nixon tried to reassure the American public of his integrity. Though he claimed he was “not a crook,” before long he resigned in the face of impending impeachment.

77.      Oliver North Testimony 1987 – North was a career military man who worked his way up to a position in the National Security Council. It was there that he became the go-to guy for selling weapons to Iran to create an untraceable revenue stream that would support the Contra rebels in what became known as the Iran-Contra affair. Though he was indicted and sentenced, all convictions were later vacated.

78.      Patty Hearst Kidnapping 1974 – The granddaughter of William Randolph Hearst was kidnapped in Berkeley, California, in 1974. In the bizarre events that followed, Hearst appeared to become a willing member of the Symbionese Liberation Army, participating in a bank robbery with gun in hand and changing her name to Tania.

79.      Pedophile Priests 2007 – When over 500 victims brought a class action suit against the Los Angeles Diocese for the damages wrought by sexual abuse at the hands of allegedly celibate priests, the courts set a precedent by awarding a total punitive financial settlement of $660 million.

80.      Phil Spector Mistrial 2007 – In a bizarre but not unanticipated twist, Spector was found not guilty of murder after an extended jury trial. Spector, whose fame for producing hit music had long since faded, was an explosive character who had often threatened friends, girlfriends and musicians with a loaded gun. Yet somehow when a gun went off in the mouth of his “date” Lana Clarkson in 2003, the jury couldn’t arrive at a verdict.

81.      Profumo Affair 1963 – In 1963 the Secretary of State of War of the U.K. was caught in a very uncomfortable position when it came to light that a girl of ill-repute he had been having an affair with—Christine Keeler—was also the mistress of a Russian spy. The support he received from the Prime Minister seriously damaged the government’s credibility.

82.      Red Scare/Musicians 1947 – Testifying before the House Un-American Activities Committee during the infamous McCarthy hearings, American Federation of Musicians Local 47 acting President Reed declared that any musician with membership in the Communist party or one of its “fronts” would be liable for expulsion.

83.      Richard Jewell 1996 – A security guard at the Centennial Olympic Park, Jewell was falsely accused of being responsible for planting the bomb he found. He immediately called police and helped evacuate many who would have surely been injured or killed by the explosion. He went from hero to chief suspect in a “trial by media” before being completely cleared.

84.      Richard Pryor 1980 – Pryor, one of the leading pioneers in irreverent stand-up comedy and an inspiration to a generation of comics to follow, shocked the world in 1980 when he suffered third-degree burns over 50 percent of his body from an accidental self-immolation while free-basing cocaine. Later, however, Pryor admitted it was not an accident, but a suicide attempt during a drug-induced psychotic breakdown.

85.      Robert Blake 2002 – Child star of Our Gang, movie actor and star of hit TV series Baretta, Blake led a troubled life. None of it could compare with his third-act disaster, when his wife was shot down in their car while she waited for him to go back into the restaurant to retrieve his gun. After a lengthy trial, Blake was found not guilty on all charges. In a subsequent civil trial, however, he was found responsible for her death.

86.      Rodney King Verdict 1992 – In a stunning display of blind justice, all four of the white officers who were videotaped beating Rodney King within an inch of his life were found not guilty. The verdict was so unthinkable in light of the evidence seen by all on TV that Los Angeles erupted into a violent riot that lasted for four days, claimed 53 lives and caused an estimated $1 billion in damages.

87.      Scooter Libby 2007 – Lewis “Scooter” Libby, the Chief of Staff for Vice President Dick Cheney, was found guilty of obstructing justice during the CIA Leak Case, in which CIA operative Valerie Plame’s identity was leaked to the press in violation of federal law. Libby denied his own and Karl Rove’s involvement in the revelation, only to have the truth later emerge during the trial.

88.      Sid Vicious 1978 – The bass player of the notorious punk band the Sex Pistols, Vicious—born John Simon Ritchie—was arrested and charged for the murder of his girlfriend Nancy Spungen. He claimed he had awoken from a drug-induced stupor to find her dead on the bathroom floor of their Chelsea Hotel room in October 1978. In February 1979, out on bail for an ensuing, unrelated assault charge, Vicious fatally OD’d on heroin at the age of 21.

89.      Simpson Trial 1994 – O.J. Simpson was a retired football hero and sometime actor when he was accused and tried for the murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and a friend. After one of the most widely publicized televised pursuits, surrender and trials, Simpson was found not guilty. In an increasingly common and bizarre twist, a subsequent civil “wrongful death” suit found him responsible for the same crime.

90.      Ted Haggard 2006 – Haggard was an evangelical preacher and founder of the New Life Church in Colorado as well as a respected leader in the National Association of Evangelicals. That all changed when former male escort Mike Jones blew the whistle on Haggard, revealing that he’d provided both sex and drugs to the preacher. Haggard resigned from his positions in November 2006.

91.      Terry Schiavo 2005 – Schiavo fell victim to brain damage after a respiratory and cardiac arrest in her home in 1990. Her husband went to court to have her feeding tube removed, claiming she was in a persistent vegetative state, eliciting years of battle in the Supreme Courts of Florida and the U.S. against her parents, who were fighting to keep her on life support. Fifteen years later, after drawing intense media scrutiny and the involvement, both invited and uninvited, of many prominent politicians, Schiavo’s tube was finally removed and she died.

92.      Topless Bathing Suit 1964 – In 1964 futurist fashion designer Rudi Gernreich took his groundbreaking reputation one step beyond by designing the Monokini . . . a one-piece that left the breasts bare. Tony Shelley debuted the creation in the U.S., only to be arrested for indecent exposure.

93.      Trent Lott 2007 – Lott, a Senator from Mississippi, served as whip in both the House and the Senate, as well as holding several other leadership positions. Lott’s power seemed unassailable until some unfortunate and insensitive remarks were made at old friend Strom Thurmond’s 100^th birthday party. His comments seemed to indicate he wished Thurmond’s segregationist party had won the 1948 election and kept the country from integration.

94.      Tylenol 1982 – When two people died within a week’s time after both taking Extra Strength Tylenol^® in 1982, the company recalled 92,000 bottles from that lot. Then more fatalities appeared, and all shared traces of cyanide. It became clear that someone was actually introducing the deadly poison into bottles of Tylenol and returning them to the shelves. A whole new era of tamper-resistant packaging was born.

95.      Unabomber 1996 – Ted Kaczynski was the quintessential loner anarchist. He had a series of bombs delivered in the mail that killed three people and wounded an additional 23. Kaczynski sent an antitechnology manifesto to The New York Times in 1995, claiming he would desist from his terrorism if it were published. Its publication ultimately helped lead to his capture when it was recognized by his brother as being very similar to something Ted had written in 1971.

96.      Valachi Testimony 1963 – Joseph Valachi broke omertà, the Mafia code of silence, by admitting during testimony before a Congressional committee on organized crime that the Mafia did, indeed, exist. Officially he was just a family “driver,” but his desire to avoid the death penalty for a 1962 murder may have contributed to his willingness to testify where none others in his world had.

97.      Valerie Plame 2003 – Covert operative for the CIA and wife of former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, Plame’s identity as an undercover agent was revealed by journalist Robert Novak in 2003 in violation of Federal law. It is commonly thought that her identity was leaked to discredit her husband after he wrote an op-ed piece for The New York Times that contradicted widely circulated misinformation about Iraq attempting to purchase Niger’s uranium yellow cakes.

98.      Watergate Break-in 1972 – Five political operatives were caught trying to bug the Democratic National Committee Headquarters in the Watergate hotel. The Nixon camp, through John Mitchell, the head of Nixon’s election committee, denied any involvement. The ensuing cover-up by Nixon and his henchmen led to his downfall.

99.      Watergate Hearing 1974 – With the Watergate break-ins appearing to be authorized by the man who held the highest office in the land, Congressional hearings ensued to uncover the truth. The investigations would lead to the indictment of 40 administration officials and, in turn, to Nixon’s resignation.

100.    Wilbur Mills 1974 – Mills, the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee for longer than any other individual (18 years), was stopped by the U.S. Park Police in 1974 for not having his lights on. Out popped Fanne Foxe, a stripper, who jumped into the Tidal Basin; in the car was an intoxicated Mills. Though he somehow managed to be re-elected, he soon was seen again, drunk and with Ms. Foxe, at which point he threw in the towel, resigned and sought treatment for alcoholism.

Disc Five: 100 Greatest Sports Moments

1.         1980 Olympic Boycott – In March President Jimmy Carter announced that the U.S. would not participate in the 1980 Olympics in Moscow because Russia had not withdrawn from Afghanistan by his deadline. Sixty-one other countries joined the boycott.

2.         Agassi/Wimbledon 1992 – After refusing to play Wimbledon for a few years in the late ’80s—allegedly in protest of the contest’s stodginess, but many considered him ill-suited to the grass court—Andre Agassi downed Boris Becker and John McEnroe before defeating Goran Ivanišević 6–4 in the final of five sets.

3.         AJ Foyt 1961 – Foyt is the only driver to have won all the major races: the Indianapolis 500 (four times), the Daytona 500, the 24 Hours of Daytona, and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In 1961 he won his first Indy.

4.         Ali/Foreman 1974 – The great match between former world heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali and then-champ George Foreman took place on October 30 in Zaire and became known as the Rumble in the Jungle. In a shocking turnaround, Ali, who seemed to take a beating for eight rounds, suddenly leapt off the ropes and delivered a stunning combination to win the bout, regain his title and coin the term “rope-a-dope.”

5.         Althea Gibson 1950 – A sportscaster provided play-by-play commentary as Gibson’s victory on August 20 made her the first African American national tennis champion in 1950. A year later she broke Wimbledon’s race barrier, another first.

6.         America’s Cup 2007 – In the competition’s seventh race, Alinghi, the Swiss defenders of the Cup, pulled ahead in a photo finish to beat Emirates Team New Zealand with a lead of less than two seconds.

7.         Arthur Ashe 1967 – Ashe was an inspiration beyond tennis, where he was an incredible player indeed. He remains the first and only African American men’s singles champion at Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and the Australian Open. But in 1967 he was just getting started, losing to defending champ Roy Emerson in the Australian Championship semifinals.

8.         Babe Ruth 1936 – One year after his final season, Babe Ruth was elected into the brand-new Baseball Hall of Fame as part of the First Class, which included fellow legends Christy Mathewson, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner and Walter Johnson. On the occasion of his induction, the Bambino reflects on his early career and goals as a player.

9.         Barry Bonds 2006 – After tying Hank Aaron’s National League career home run record of 733 a day earlier, the San Francisco Giant eclipsed it in a September 23 game against the Milwaukee Brewers.

10.      Baseball Hall Of Fame Opens 1939 – June 12 saw the grand opening of the National Baseball Museum and Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, where Abner Doubleday had “invented” the sport 100 years earlier.

11.      Baseball Strike 1981 – The longest players’ strike in professional sports history to date lasted 50 games. In total, 713 games went unplayed and an estimated $100 million in revenue was lost.

12.      Baseball Strike 1994 – As a result of owners demanding a salary cap on players, a strike ensued that lasted through the end of the season and precluded the World Series, marking its first cancellation since 1904.

13.      Ben Johnson Scandal 1988 – After defeating Carl Lewis to break the world record and win the gold medal for the 100-meter race in the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, Johnson tested positive for the performance enhancer Stanzolol. He was stripped of both medal and record and ejected from competition.

14.      Bill Mazeroski 1960 – Mazeroski knocked a game-ending homer for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the World Series against the New York Yankees, putting the score at 10-9. It was the first time a World Series had ever been brought to an end with a “walk-off’” home run.

15.      Bill Veeck ’66 World Series – Veeck, famous for bringing the Chicago White Sox their first pennant in 40 years in 1959, comments in his uniquely entertaining style on the Baltimore Orioles’ pennant race.

16.      Billie Jean King/Riggs 1973 – Tennis star King challenged bombastic former Wimbledon champion Bobby Riggs to a “Battle of the Sexes.” Despite his bluster and braggadocio, she defeated him and put to an end the belief that men played in a completely different league.

17.      Björn Borg 1976 – The 20-year-old Borg became the youngest winner in Wimbledon tennis history, defeating Ilie Nastase in three straight sets.

18.      Bobby Thomson 1951 – The New York Giants’ Bobby Thomson clocks one of the most famous home runs in baseball history—“The Shot Heard ’Round the World”—in a 5–4 National League pennant victory over the Brooklyn Dodgers. Giants announcer Russ Hodges is the voice of sports hysteria in this clip.

19.      Boris Becker – Wimbledon 1985 – The 17-year-old Becker broke Borg’s record for the youngest player to triumph at Wimbledon, defeating Kevin Curren in four sets.

20.      Brett Favre Retires 2008 – After 16 seasons with the Green Bay Packers, three consecutive Associated Press MVP awards and a 1997 Super Bowl championship, Favre said his final, emotional goodbye to the sport and his team.

21.      Bruce Jenner/Wheaties 1976 – Jenner won the gold medal and set a world record in the 1976 Olympic decathlon. His victory led to a famous stint as Wheaties spokesperson, starting a series of celebrity sports endorsements for the cereal.

22.      Cal Ripken, Jr. 1995 – The 6-foot-4 Baltimore Orioles shortstop surpassed Lou Gehrig’s consecutive-games record when he reported for #2,131. Halfway through the game it became “official,” and the crowd erupted in a 22-minute standing ovation for the notoriously humble player.

23.      Carl Lewis 1984 – At the Olympics in Los Angeles, Lewis took his third gold medal in the 200-meter race with a record-breaking time of 19.8 seconds, putting him one step closer to his goal of matching Jesse Owens’ legendary four-medal victory in 1936. Lewis accomplished that later in the 400-meter relays with another record-breaking performance.

24.      Casey Stengel – Most famous for his career as manager for the Dodgers, Braves, Yankees and Mets, during which he led his teams to seven World Series titles, Stengel testified before the Estes Kefauver committee in 1958 on the subject of the baseball “business” with regard to antitrust and monopolies in professional sports.

25.      Citation 1948 – After Citation began making a name for himself early in 1948, his jockey, Al Snider, drowned, and the horse had to compete in the Kentucky Derby with a new rider, Eddie Arcaro. The three-year-old came back from a loss in the Chesapeake Trial Stakes to a win in the Derby Trial Stakes and in the Derby itself, starting a winning streak that continued through six more title races that year alone.

26.      Clay/Liston 1964 – Cassius Clay, the future Muhammad Ali, established his hyperverbal, rhyming, boasting style early in his professional career, predicting a win over world champion Sonny Liston “in eight,” although Liston was “great.” Liston quit the bout in the seventh, claiming a shoulder injury, resulting in Clay’s first title.

27.      Colts/Giants 1958 – This Baltimore Colts/New York Giants title contest was the first game to use the overtime rule and is widely regarded as one of the defining football games of all time. The Colts took the NFL championship.

28.      Connie Mack 1928 – Mack was without a doubt one of the most famous baseball managers, holding the record for the most games managed (over 7,700)! For 24 years he handled the Philadelphia Athletics. In this clip he offhandedly predicts a good performance “next year,” when his team would just happen to win the World Series.

29.      Curse Of Babe Ruth 1986 – The 1986 World Series seemed to prove the Curse of the Bambino that had plagued the Boston Red Sox since 1918, the year they let Ruth go, when Bill Buckner’s Game 6 error in the bottom of the tenth kept New York’s series hopes alive. The Yankees won Game 7 and the title. The curse was finally broken with a title win in 2004.

30.      Dale Earnhardt 2001 – The professional-racing giant, who raised a family of racers and boasted 76 wins and seven series championships, turned the corner in the Daytona 500’s final lap and was caught in a lethal accident, resulting in his tragic death.

31.      David Beckham 2006 – Beckham was one of the most celebrated and famous players of the game when he resigned his position as captain of England’s National team, five and a half years after taking the job. This unexpected shift happened almost a year to the day before Beckham signed to the Los Angeles Galaxy team and moved to the United States.

32.      DiMaggio Retires 1951 – At the age of 36, “The Yankee Clipper,” America’s most famous and highest-paid athlete, left the Yankees at the peak of his popularity, though not of his game.

33.      Fischer/Spassky 1972 – The world watched with near obsession that summer as the young American loner, Bobby Fischer, came from behind to beat Russian grandmaster Boris Spassky to become the World Chess Champion.

34.      Flo-Jo 1984 – Florence Griffith-Joyner, now affectionately known as Flo-Jo, took the silver medal after winning her heat in the 200-meter race with a stunning lead over Grace Jackson.

35.      Frank Frisch 1934 – Frisch, at one point the second-baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals and ringleader of the “Gashouse Gang” (as the core of the team were called), became a player/manager in 1933 and led the Cards to a World Series win over the Detroit Tigers the following year.

36.      George Brett Pine Tar 1983 – In July the Kansas City Royals’ power-hitting third-baseman clocked a two-run, ninth-inning shot off Yankee pitcher Goose Gossage for a 5–4 lead. New York manager Billy Martin had Brett’s bat examined. It was found that he had used more than the legal limit of pine tar on his bat. The run was disqualified, and the Royals lost the game, 4–3.

37.      George Steinbrenner 1977 – The Yankees owner has had a long and bizarre relationship with his team, beginning in 1973 when he pulled together some backers to purchase it. In 1974 he was suspended for 18 months after making illegal contributions to the Nixon campaign, but returned in 1976 and led the Yanks to a World Series win in ’77, the year he gave this speech.

38.      Giants/ Dodgers Move 1957 – In a year that changed New York sports forever, New York Giants majority shareholder Horace Stoneham and Brooklyn Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley entertained and eventually accepted overtures from San Francisco and Los Angeles, respectively.

39.      Gretzky 50th Goal 1981 – “The Great One” did more for hockey and broke more records than any single player in the sport. In 1981 he scored 50 goals in 39 games, breaking a 37-year-old mark.

40.      Hank Aaron 1974 – After ending the 1973 season just a run shy of Babe Ruth’s home-run record, Aaron finally closed the gap and surpassed Ruth with a 715th hit off the L.A. Dodgers in Atlanta.

41.      Ichiro Suzuki 2004 – The first Japanese-born position player in the major leagues, Suzuki set the all-time single season record for successful hits, reaching 262 in 2004.

42.      Jack Nicklaus/1986 Masters – The 46-year-old five-time Masters champion took his sixth title with a remarkable seven-under-par score of 65.

43.      Jackie Robinson 1948 – The first African American major-leaguer speaks of the racist heckling from the Philadelphia Phillies in an April 22, 1947, game and how Dodger teammate Pee Wee Reese showed support.

44.      Joe DiMaggio 1941 – It was a good season for Joltin’ Joe. The Yankee was all over the base path with a record 56-game hitting streak that lasted from May 15 to July 16, then, after one hitless performance, resumed for another 16. He also led the American League in total bases, RBIs, and extra-base hits. Unsurprisingly, he added league MVP to his accolades that year.

45.      Joe Namath 1969 – The college and pro football star took the New York Jets to a 16–7 Super Bowl win over the favored Baltimore Colts, just as he had cockily promised a heckling fan. He became the rock star of football and the symbol of the fledgling AFL’s credibility.

46.      John McEnroe 1980 – McEnroe exploded onto the tennis scene with incredible prowess on the court and incredibly angry vocal outbursts at judges. Despite his bad-boy behavior, he was a genuine champion who became the #1 player in the world.

47.      Kirk Gibson Home Run 1988 – No one expected the twice-injured Dodger to take the plate during a World Series appearance against the Oakland A’s. Wincing from pain from injuries in both knees, Gibson came in to pinch hit and knocked one out of the park to seal a 5–4 Game 1 win for Los Angeles. The Dodgers won the Series in four games.

48.      Kobe Bryant 2003 – The Los Angeles Laker’s skills reinvented the game, but no one could believe it when he broke an NBA record by draining 12 three-pointers in a single game.

49.      Lance Armstrong Pre-Tour 1999 – At the time of this recording, the 27-year-old cyclist had no idea what was coming. Not only would he win his first Tour de France shortly after this speech, he’d also dominate it for the next six years, finally retiring from the sport in 2005, after his final victory.

50.      Leo Durocher 1957 – The celebrated manager gives his views on what makes a championship baseball team—faith in their manager, of course!

51.      Lou Gehrig 1939 – During his July 4 farewell speech, Gehrig tugged at America’s heartstrings by declaring himself “the luckiest man on the face of the Earth,” despite his recent diagnosis with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), which is known today as Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

52.      Louis/Schmeling 1938 – On June 22 deposed American boxing champ Joe Louis was declared a winner, by TKO, against German usurper Max Schmeling in two minutes. The fight was seen and heard by more than 70,000 people. As WWII escalated, the battle took on global significance.

53.      Magic Johnson Retires 1991 – Los Angeles’s Earvin “Magic” Johnson announced his retirement from professional basketball after testing positive for HIV. He couldn’t stay away from the game for long, though, returning to the Lakers and representing the United States as part of the 1992 Olympics Dream Team. After brief stints as a player and coach, he finally ended his career in 1996, a five-time NBA champion and three-time MVP as well as one of the most beloved public figures basketball has ever known.

54.      Mario Andretti/Bobby Unser Indy 500 1981 – After finishing just a few seconds behind Bobby Unser in the 1981 Indianapolis 500, Mario Andretti took the title through a technicality: Unser had passed cars under a yellow flag, costing him a penalty lap and the title. It was later returned to him.

55.      Marion Jones 2007 – After denying the use of performance-enhancing drugs during the BALCO (Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative) steroid investigation, Jones finally admitted that she had, in fact, taken steroids and lied about it. In October 2007 she tearfully retired, forfeiting all of her gold medals and other sports prizes received after September 1, 2000.

56.      Mark McGwire 1998 – The St. Louis Cardinal hit his record-shattering 62nd home run of the season in a home game against the Chicago Cubs, besting Roger Maris’s 37-year-old standing record of 61.

57.      Mark Spitz 1972 Olympics – The swimmer became the first athlete in Olympics history to claim seven gold medals, winning and breaking world records in all seven events he entered.

58.      Martina Navratilova 1985 – Navratilova enjoyed a longstanding rivalry with Chris Evert, first losing to her and then finally surpassing her. This 1985 victory at the Australian Open came after Navratilova had reached the top-seeded position in the country a year earlier.

59.      Mary Lou Retton 1984 – Retton was only 16 when she overcame a knee injury and serious competition from Romanian gymnast Ecaterina Szabo to win the gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. She scored a perfect ten in both her floor exercise and the deciding event, the vault.

60.      Mets 1969 World Series Win – After decades of being second best to the famous New York Yankees, the “Miracle” Mets finally had their day, against the Baltimore Orioles. They took the World Series four games to one.

61.      Michael Jordan 1986 – Leaving college a year before his graduation to accept the Chicago Bulls’ draft offer in 1984, “Air” Jordan demonstrated that there was sufficient reason to be excited when he recorded 63 points in a single game two years later in this NBA playoff battle with the Boston Celtics.

62.      Mickey Mantle #500 1967 – On May 14, 1967, Mantle belted his 500th home run in a 6-5 Yankee win over the Baltimore Orioles. He would hit another 36 before ending his 18-year career in 1969.

63.      Monica Seles 1990 – The 15-year-old Seles won the 1989 Virginia Slims of Houston tournament, then the French Open at 16, becoming the youngest champion in the history of the competition. She took the title from Steffi Graf and successfully defended it in ’91 and ’92.

64.      Munich Olympics Tragedy 1972 – Members of Black September, a Palestinian terrorist organization, took 11 Israeli athletes hostage and held them for most of a day. Negotiation and rescue attempts failed. All the Israelis were killed, as were five of the Palestinians. The incident became known as the Munich Massacre.

65.      Native Dancer 1953 – Native Dancer was a born winner, a thoroughbred colt who became the first equine TV star. As a three-year-old in 1953, he was undefeated coming into the Kentucky Derby, but alas, it was not to be: he lost by a hair to Dark Star, the only horse to ever beat the legend. Native Dancer retired in 1954 and landed the cover of Time.

66.      New York Yankees 1938 – After being known as the team of Ruth and Gehrig, the Yankees didn’t fade when those stars departed or dimmed. In 1938 Joe DiMaggio appeared and assured a World Series victory over the Chicago Cubs with his stellar game, including this home run.

67.      Nolan Ryan No-Hitter 1991 – Over his 27-year career with the Mets, the California Angels, the Houston Astros and the Texas Rangers, Ryan pitched an unparalleled seven no-hitters. The final came in 1991 when the 44-year-old was in his 25th year on the mound.

68.      Parnelli Jones 1963 – Jones was a true speed demon, becoming the first driver to qualify for the Indy 500 at over 150 mph, in 1962. The following year he cheated an oil leak to dramatically take the Indy title. In this clip he extols the virtues of his car in both races.

69.      Pelé World Cup 1970 – Pelé became the world’s most famous “football” player after scoring his 1,000th goal in 1969 in Brazil’s Maracanã Stadium. A year later he assured a World Cup victory for his team in a game he remembers fondly in this interview.

70.      Perfect Game 1956 – Yankee Don Larsen pitched a perfect game during the World Series, the only perfect game in the championship’s history. Not a single Brooklyn Dodger reached first base!

71.      Pete Maravich 1970 – “Pistol Pete” Maravich was a devastating shot who was reputed to have drained 500 consecutive free shots as a child. At Louisiana State University he broke all basketball records, averaging 44 points a game. In three years, starting in 1967, he scored more points than any player in college history: a staggering 3,667. In this college game against Alabama, he scored a career-high 69 points!

72.      Pete Rose 1985 – Although often remembered for later scandals, Pete Rose joined the legendary Ty Cobb in the 4,000-hit club in 1984, and finally surpassed Cobb’s 60-plus-year all-time hits record with his 4192nd hit the following September.

73.      Pete Sampras 1993 – After impressive performances in both the Australian and French opens, the 21-year-old won Wimbledon in 1993, making his #1 status indisputable.

74.      Red Sox 2004 – The Curse of the Bambino was finally lifted after allegedly holding the Boston Red Sox back from winning the World Series for 86 years! The Sox came back from a three-game deficit to defeat the Yankees in the American League playoffs, and then rode the momentum to best the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series in four stunning bouts, the last of which took place on the night of the total lunar eclipse!

75.      Reggie Jackson 1977 – Mr. October reports on the 1973 threat on his life by the Weathermen terrorist organization and how that didn’t stop him from playing.

76.      Rod Laver 1968 – Laver had taken all four Grand Slam singles titles as an amateur in 1962. He returned as a professional when the “open era” allowed professionals to compete and took Wimbledon handily, first in the semifinals against Arthur Ashe, then by downing Tony Roche—both in straight sets.

77.      Roger Bannister 1954 – In May, the humble runner broke the world record for the mile run—and the four-minute barrier while he was at it—with a time of 3 minutes, 59.4 seconds.

78.      Roger Clemens Testifies Before Senate 2008 – Clemens was one of baseball’s leading pitchers, if not, as considered by some, the best. When his name came up in the Mitchell Report, an investigation into the use of performance-enhancing drugs among sports professionals, Clemens vehemently denied admitting to a friend that he used Human Growth Hormone (HGH).

79.      Ruffian Fall 1975 – The beloved female racehorse, who had already won the Filly Triple Crown that year, went up against Kentucky Derby champion Foolish Pleasure. In a horrifying accident, Ruffian snapped her right foreleg and caused further damage trying to continue running. Despite extensive surgery, she smashed her cast and exposed the compound fracture again, forcing her owners to euthanize her.

80.      Sammy Sosa 1998 – Roger Maris beat Babe Ruth’s 60-home-run season record in 1961. That mark held fast until 1998, lasting three years longer than Ruth’s, when both Sosa and Mark McGwire surpassed the record with 66 and 70, respectively.

81.      Seabiscuit 1938 – The five-year-old was on a winning streak when he hit a rough patch and lost his regular jockey. In a long-awaited race called “The Match of the Century,” Seabiscuit went up against War Admiral before a radio audience of more than 40 million listeners and outran the favored champion in the final stretch.

82.      Secretariat 1973 – A horse of championship lineage, Secretariat was three years old when he became the first winner of the Triple Crown in 25 years. His progress from the Kentucky Derby to the Preakness to the Belmont Stakes captured the attention of the nation and world. The ’70s saw two more Triple Crown winners, but there haven’t been any since 1978.

83.      Serena Williams 1998 – That year the younger of the remarkable Williams sisters broke the Top 20, defeated a world champion and took home over $2 million, but as this interview shows, she still felt she was in older sister Venus’s shadow.

84.      Shaquille O’Neal 1991 – The 7-foot-1 O’Neal was one of the most exciting college ball players on the courts. His height made him a defensive monster for Louisiana State University and went on to prove his value in the 1992 NBA Draft, when he was the first pick overall and selected by the Orlando Magic.

85.      Super Bowl XLII – In a huge upset, the match between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots brought the 2007 season and the Patriots’ 18-game winning streak to an end. The Patriots would have become the first team since the ’72 Miami Dolphins to go undefeated through an entire season, but in the fourth quarter, with the Patriots leading 14-10, the Giants scored a final touchdown with only 35 seconds remaining.

86.      Super Bowl XXXI – The 1996 season ended in this January 1997 game between the New England Patriots and the Green Bay Packers. Packer quarterback Brett Favre set the tone early, throwing a 54-yard touchdown pass to teammate Andre Rison. Green Bay won, 35–21.

87.      Ted Williams 1960 – In what turned out to be his final at-bat, Ted Williams, one of the game’s greatest hitters and the last to hit over .400 in a season, knocked a home run at Fenway Park.

88.      Tiger Woods 1997 – After bringing youth and magic back to golf as a stunningly gifted amateur, Woods went pro and became the PGA Rookie of the Year in 1996, securing more than $50 million in endorsements. Woods won his first professional tournament, The Masters, in 1997 at the age of 21, becoming the youngest and first African- or Asian-American champion in history.

89.      Tom Seaver #3000 1981 – In April interim Cincinnati Red Tom Seaver (he went back to his longtime team, the New York Mets, the following year) pitched his 3,000th strikeout in a game against the St. Louis Cardinals. His career record reached 3,640 when he retired five years later, putting him in the company of only nine pitchers to ever break 3,500 in their careers.

90.      Tunney/Dempsey Fight 1927 – After losing his title to Gene Tunney before a record fight audience of more than 120,000 almost a year to the day earlier, Jack Dempsey resolved to win it back. He almost succeeded, but forgot to retreat to a neutral corner after knocking Tunney to the mat. The official count started once Dempsey reached his corner, and Tunney was up before he was out, soundly beating Dempsey thanks to what became known as “The Long Count.”

91.      Tyson/Holyfield 1997 – In their rematch called “The Sound and the Fury,” Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield faced off less than a year after their first bout, in which Holyfield took the title. A frustrated Tyson shocked the entire sports world when he bit both of Holyfield’s ears, taking a piece of the second one. He was disqualified and his boxing license revoked. It was reinstated 15 months later.

92.      U.S. Hockey 1980 – Do you believe in miracles? The underdog U.S. Olympic Hockey team did, winning 4–3 over the USSR in what is now remembered as the “Miracle on Ice.” It was the first Olympic defeat suffered by the seasoned Russians since 1968, this time at the hands of a spirited year-old U.S. team.

93.      U.S./China Ping-Pong 1971 – A description of the aftermath of the first game between the U.S. and Chinese ping-pong teams. The U.S. team and attending journalists were the first to set foot in Communist China in 22 years.

94.      U.S./USSR Basketball 1972 – With one second left in the game and the Americans up by one point, Olympic officials turned the clock back a disputed three seconds, giving the Russian basketball team the chance to take the lead—and the gold—over the United States.

95.      Venus Williams/Wimbledon 2000 – After a difficult year struggling with tendonitis, Williams turned her luck around with a winning streak that led to her first Grand Slam at Wimbledon in 2000. In that tournament she beat the world’s top player, Martine Higgis, and her own sister Serena, before besting Wimbledon champ Lindsay Davenport.

96.      Vince Young/Rose Bowl 2006 – Even while still in college it was clear that Vince proved his skill, leading the University of Texas to its first-ever Rose Bowl victory with a last-minute touchdown.

97.      Vitas Gerulaitis 1994 – In a terrible loss to the sports world, Vitas Gerulaitis, one of tennis’s most beloved “almost” champions, suffered a lethal dose of carbon monoxide poisoning while sleeping at a friend’s house in Long Island.

98.      Willie Mays/“The Catch” 1954 – In the first game of the World Series, the Giants’ “Say Hey” centerfielder made a stunning, running catch at the far end of the Polo Grounds, foiling what would have been a three-run homer for Cleveland’s Vic Wertz. The play was dubbed “The Catch” and secured Mays’ place in baseball superstardom.

99.      Yogi Berra 1972 – Berra, the Yankees’ catcher for 17 years and then the coach/manager for the rival Mets, was as beloved for his bizarre utterances as for his love of the game. In 1972 he gave this speech when he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

100.    Zola Budd/Mary Decker Olympics Mishap 1984 – The two runners were competing in the 3,000-meter race when a series of brushes and clips between them led to Decker’s painful, injurious fall. She was unable to continue in the race. Although Budd was cleared of intentional foul by the International Association of Athletics Federations (AAF), the circumstances led many to believe that Budd was, in some way, responsible for the spill.