History’s Lost Speeches - Professor Suzannah Lipscomb

Written by Professor Suzannah Lipscomb
Format: M4A

A five part series exploring how the story of Western ideology may have unfolded differently in the 20th Century, based on the undelivered speeches of world leaders. Features academics, writers and historians talking to presenter Professor Suzannah Lipscomb.

Tracking through the 20th century, from the Western heroic rhetoric borne of Allied success in the D-Day Landings, all the way to Britain’s present day relationship with Europe, we’ll explore the fragile balance of power, nuclear armament, warfare, heroic narratives and the spread of democratic protest throughout the world.

5. Democracy Returns to the Philippines

In 1983, a leading figure in the democratic movement was shot dead as he disembarked a plane in his native Philippines. Ninoy Aquino Jnr had prepared his speech, but he never delivered it. Yet his assassination sparked a resistance towards the oppressive rule of martial law that led to revolution, and a wave of peaceful protest that spread throughout nations of the modern world.

If Aquino had lived, though, would his nation have continued to sleepwalk through the curfews and controls of an oppressive state? Or would the people have risen up all the same?

Today we hear Aquino’s speech.

4. Britain Faces Nuclear War

At the height of Cold War tension, what if someone had fired their weapon? This 1983 speech drafted for Queen Elizabeth II to deliver in the event of nuclear warfare shows the chilling reality Britain and the world might have faced. Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to the experts about how close this really was, and finds out why nuclear warfare is a zero sum game for the world.

3. A Moon Disaster

In the summer of 1969, America made history for mankind, as the Apollo 11 mission placed man on the moon. But what if that spectacular moment had been a disaster instead, and astronauts carrying the pioneering hopes of humankind had met another fate?

An alternative speech for President Nixon was drafted, but just what might it have meant for Western psychology, politics and culture if he’d had to deliver it?

2. If JFK Had Lived…

In this episode, historian Professor Suzannah Lipscomb picks through the legacy John F. Kennedy’s presidency might have left, had he not been assassinated. How might this have impacted Cold War relations, the space race, the Vietnam War and American heroic culture?

1. In the Event of D-Day Failure

What if the Allied D-Day invasions had failed? Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to experts about the possible impact of a failure in this crucial turning point in the Second World War. How would the West have built its identity throughout the 20th Century, who would have held the power, and who would have won the war?