American History Radio Collection
American History Radio Collection is a GRH archival grouping rather than one historical radio program. It brings together speeches, news, documentary recordings, dramatizations, interviews and music connected to United States history, with the subject date kept separate from the date a recording was actually broadcast or produced.
Program History
GRH/OTRR synthetic American-history archive containing dramatizations, speeches, news, music, interviews, and documentary recordings. Historical subject dates are separated from recording/broadcast dates.
The stories often return to U.S. politics and presidency, Historical news broadcasting, War and military history, Science and technology history, Frontier and westward expansion, and Civil rights and race.
All Episodes & Recordings
Search this program or browse in its validated catalog order.
Fiorello La Guardia on Death of FDR
Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia responds to Franklin Roosevelt’s death by describing the shock and grief shared across political, religious and ethnic lines, then calls on New Yorkers to unite and carry…
Ravensbruck Concentration Camp
A wartime report describes conditions recounted by women who survived the Ravensbrück concentration camp, including abuse by female SS guards, forced medical procedures and experiments, and testimony from prisoners of…
First Announcement of Hitlers Death
A London news flash announces that German radio has reported Adolf Hitler dead and immediately repeats the bulletin.
Hiroshima News Bulletin
A news bulletin announces that British and American scientists have produced the atomic bomb and that the first bomb was dropped on a Japanese city that morning.
Japan Surrenders
A news announcement reports Japan’s unconditional surrender to the Allies and notes that the Second World War has ended six years after German aggression began it.
Harry Truman Inaugural Address
Harry Truman pledges to work for national welfare and a just, lasting peace, contrasts democratic freedom with Communism and commits the United States to supporting free peoples.
1787 Cavalcade of America – Captain Robert Gray
Cavalcade dramatizes Captain Robert Gray’s Pacific Northwest voyage and discovery of the Columbia River, showing how the expedition strengthened the United States claim to the Oregon country.
1841 Cavalcade of America – Preservation
Cavalcade of America presents stories of persistence in American invention. One follows Elias Howe through poverty, ridicule and legal battles surrounding the sewing machine; another follows the Wright brothers as…
1757 Last of the Mohicans the Part 03
In this third segment, Hawkeye and his companions defend their rocky refuge from attacking warriors until their powder supply is lost with the canoe. Hawkeye and the Mohican allies slip…
1944 0116 CBS World News Today
A January 16, 1944 CBS World News Today broadcast reports on Eisenhower’s arrival in Britain to command the invasion forces, Churchill’s meeting with de Gaulle, Allied fighting in Italy, Soviet…
1944 0227 CBS World News Today
CBS World News Today surveys major war developments, including news from Finland and the Soviet front, Allied air operations in Europe and reports from the Pacific theater.
1944 0606 Dwight D Eisenhower D-Day Part 1
Part 1 of an Eisenhower retrospective traces the planning for the Normandy invasion, Eisenhower’s rise to supreme Allied command, disputes and coordination among senior commanders, the immense logistical preparations, airborne…
1776 Cavalcade of America – Declaration of Independence
Cavalcade of America dramatizes the political struggle leading to the Declaration of Independence. The story moves through arguments over loyalty to Britain, the influence of pro-independence pamphlets and debate in…
1971 Gloria Steinem Address to the Women of America
In this brief excerpt, Gloria Steinem describes women’s liberation as a broad social revolution against sex- and race-based hierarchies and argues for a humanist society in which roles are chosen…
1941 1207 CBS – John Charles Daly Reports Pearl Harbor Attack
John Charles Daly interrupts programming with the White House announcement that Japan has attacked Pearl Harbor and other U.S. military targets, reports a second attack in Manila, and explains that…
1803 Horizons West 02 the Confrontation
After harsh disciplinary punishments strain morale, Lewis and Clark recruit interpreter Pierre Dorion and continue west through desertion and loss until a tense confrontation with the Teton Sioux tests the…
1886 Cavalcade of America – Admiral Peary Discovers the Pole
The dramatization follows Robert E. Peary from his early Greenland expeditions through years of setbacks and renewed attempts to reach the North Pole. His persistence, Arctic travel and determination are…
1944 0130 CBS World News Today
A January 30, 1944 CBS World News Today broadcast covers the expanding Allied bridgehead south of Rome, fighting on the main Fifth Army front, an American bomber strike on Brunswick,…
1916 Cavalcade of America – Stories of American Dyes
Using the fictional Stone family across changing years, the episode shows how shortages and advances in American dye chemistry affect everyday clothing and household life. Their experiences illustrate the growth…
1861 Frontier Fighters – Wild Bill Hickok
The dramatization follows Wild Bill Hickok from his violent clash with the McCandless gang through his work as a frontier lawman, including a showdown while marshal of Hays City and…
1868 Frontier Fighters – Custers Last Stand at Little Big Horn
The drama traces mounting conflict after reservation treaties and the Black Hills gold rush, the consolidation of Native resistance under Sitting Bull, and Custer’s advance toward the Little Bighorn. After…
1874 Cavalcade of America – Annie Oakley
The drama follows sharpshooter Annie Oakley’s rise from an exceptional marksman to national fame as a celebrated exhibition performer.
1941 1207 BBC Attack on Pearl Harbor – Alvar Liddell
BBC newsreader Alvar Liddell reports Japanese attacks on Hawaii and the Philippines, Japan’s declaration of war on the United States and Britain, early naval and casualty reports, and emergency political…
1790 Cavalcade of America – Conservation
The program presents two conservation stories: John Chapman spreading orchards across the frontier as “Johnny Appleseed,” followed by a modern forest-fire drama about firefighters risking themselves to protect timberlands.
1941 1208 1400 NBC Blue – Vincent Lopez and His Orchestra
A Vincent Lopez orchestra broadcast is repeatedly interrupted by wartime bulletins, culminating in live reports from Manila describing Japanese bombing, antiaircraft fire, damage to military targets and early casualty reports.
1939 0312 Father Coughlin – Bonds and Neutrality
Father Charles Coughlin delivers a political address from the Shrine of the Little Flower opposing municipal bonds and arguing in favor of the U.S. Neutrality Act.
1932 Election Song – Cactus Jack and FDR
A 1932 campaign song urges voters to support Franklin Roosevelt and John Nance “Cactus Jack” Garner, presenting the Democratic ticket as the route to removing the Hoover administration from the…
1712 Sentinels of the Deep
The episode dramatizes three episodes in lighthouse-service history: the danger of entering Boston Harbor before its first lighthouse, a keeper’s family forced to choose how to use its last oil…
1941 1207 BBC – Washington Reaction to Pearl Harbor Attack
A short BBC report from Washington describes crowds gathering near the White House, State Department and Japanese Embassy and says Roosevelt is preparing a message to Congress expected to seek…
1920 Warren G Harding – Campaign Speech
Warren G. Harding presents the Constitution and national unity as the foundation of Americanism, tracing the country’s movement from colonial liberty to a representative national government and stressing preservation of…
1962 03 Adlai Stevenson – Russian Missiles in Cuba
Adlai Stevenson confronts Soviet ambassador Valerian Zorin at the United Nations, says the United States has incontrovertible evidence of missiles in Cuba and demands a direct answer on the Soviet…
1943 1003 CBS World News Today
CBS reports on Allied advances in Italy, the German attack on the Dodecanese island of Cos, air operations over Europe and developments on the Russian front through correspondents in overseas…
1891 Adventures in Research – Gustave Dalen
A dramatized biography follows Swedish inventor Gustaf Dalén from his early mechanical experiments to automatic lighthouse equipment, then through an explosion that blinds him as his work earns the Nobel…
1941 Adventures in Research – SOFA R
The program explains the developing SOFAR underwater sound system through a naval family story, showing how long-range sound transmission can aid rescue work, locate undersea features and improve navigation and…
1764 Cavalcade of America – Stephen Girard
The drama follows Stephen Girard from a teenage sailor into a successful Philadelphia merchant who repeatedly puts his resources at the city’s service. During the yellow-fever epidemic he volunteers to…
1868 Election Song – Hurrah for Grant
A Republican campaign song rallies voters for Ulysses S. Grant, invokes Union veterans and predicts a strong showing on election day.
1970 Spiro Agnew Generation Gap
Spiro Agnew criticizes student protest culture, says young people increasingly go to college to proclaim rather than learn, and attacks what he calls the generation gap and a spirit of…
1851 Cavalcade of America – Heroes of the Sea
Cavalcade of America presents two stories of American seamanship separated by generations. The first follows the clipper Flying Cloud and the effort to drive her from New York to San…
1941 1208 1330 NBC Red - Irving Miller Let's Sing and Swing
A music program is repeatedly interrupted for live Capitol coverage as the Senate and House vote on President Roosevelt’s request for war against Japan, culminating in overwhelming congressional approval before…
1860 American Heritage – the Mails
American Heritage traces the development of mail service from early European couriers through American postal routes, the Pony Express, telegraph, railroads and air transport, presenting communication as a central link…