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Michigan's Future: Asking Basic Questions

Jack Lessenberry — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 18:30:00 +0000

There are a number of important debates going on in Michigan about our economic crisis, and our future.

Three of the most intense are these:

Should Detroit have an Emergency Manager?
Should the Emergency Manager law itself be repealed?
And what’s the future of public education in this state, and how should we pay for it?

Virtually everyone has opinions about these issues, and I have expressed mine, on Michigan Radio and elsewhere. But it occurs to me that we may all be missing something.

Celebrating JFK's Peace Corps speech (with audio)

Mark Brush — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 19:09:11 +0000

Fifty years ago today, people in Ann Arbor, Michigan were anticipating the arrival of then Senator John F. Kennedy. He was on the campaign trail in a tight race for the presidency with Richard Nixon.

Kennedy and the Peace Corps: Idealism on the Ground

Lester Graham — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 16:20:24 +0000

Its critics called it "naive idealism."

In the 1950s, the United States' answer to the global spread of Communism had been military strength and monetary aid to prop up nations friendly to the U.S., including dictators and other authoritarian governments.

That changed late one chilly night on the campus of the University of Michigan when Democratic candidate for president, John F. Kennedy, challenged students to help the world.

They took it seriously. They organized. They made a proposal, and Kennedy embraced it.

He called it the Peace Corps.

In "Kennedy and the Peace Corps: Idealism on the Ground" you'll hear from some of the students who took on Kennedy's challenge and the White House staff who helped make it reality.

Listen to the documentary here:

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/michigan/local-michigan-929049.mp3