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HOST:
Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC in VOA Special English. I’m Doug Johnson.
On our show this week we play music from jazz singer Lizz Wright …
Answer a listener question about the American presidential candidates …
And, visit former President Abraham Lincoln’s cottage, now a museum near Washington, D.C.
(MUSIC)
Lincoln’s Cottage
HOST:
A newly restored house has opened in Washington, D.C. The house looks like it did during the presidency of Abraham Lincoln in the early eighteen sixties. In fact, Mister Lincoln and his family lived in the house while he was president. Faith Lapidus explains.
FAITH LAPIDUS:
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| President Lincoln's Cottage |
Washington banker George Riggs built the cottage in eighteen forty-two. He sold the house and land to the government about ten years later. The government built a large home for military veterans on the land. They also expanded the house nearby.
James Buchanan was the first president to use this house. But the Lincolns used it the most. They moved there each June or July, and did not return to the White House until early November.
Back then, the cottage was outside the city of Washington, about one and one-half kilometers north of the White House. President Lincoln returned to the cottage every night from the White House.
Today, the cottage and the retirement home are inside the city limits, in an area where many people live. The house has been open to visitors for only about one month. It does not have a lot of furniture, yet it tells many stories about President Lincoln and his family.
One story that many people do not know is that President Lincoln was the object of an assassination attempt near the cottage in eighteen sixty-four. Coming back from the White House, he was riding a horse alone at night when a bullet went through his tall hat. He did not take the incident seriously. But it led the War Department to increase security for the president.
Later, John Wilkes Booth watched the president ride from the cottage to the White House. He had planned to kidnap Mister Lincoln and exchange him for captured Confederate soldiers. But there were too many guards protecting the president. So Booth changed his plans. He shot and killed the president at Ford’s Theatre in Washington in eighteen sixty-five.
You can hear more stories about President Lincoln’s Cottage on the Special English program THIS IS AMERICA on Monday, March seventeenth.
Presidential Candidates’ Platforms
HOST:
Our listener question this week is about the American presidential election. Armand Ngouala asks what the Democratic Party candidates plan to do if elected president, especially on the issue of Iraq.
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| Barack Obama |
The two candidates hold similar positions, especially on social issues. For example, both support a woman’s right to seek an abortion. Both also support stem cell research. And both candidates believe homosexuals should have rights to form legal unions similar to marriage. Senators Clinton and Obama also have plans that they say will provide health care to all Americans. Both also have plans to end the war in Iraq.
Barack Obama says as president he would immediately begin troop withdrawals from Iraq. He says he would get all American combat forces out of Iraq within sixteen months. The senator says he would leave some troops in the country to protect the American embassy and diplomats. But, he says he would not permit the building of any permanent American bases in Iraq.
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| Hillary Clinton |
Hillary Clinton says she would meet with America’s top military and civilian security officials shortly after taking office. She says she would order them to make a plan to begin withdrawing troops within the first sixty days of her presidency.
Senator Clinton says she would also increase aid to Iraq and make sure it reaches the people who need it. And she says she supports the appointment of a high level United Nations representative to help negotiate peace among Iraqi groups.
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| John McCain |
Lizz Wright
HOST:
Lizz Wright is a singer with a rich and smoky voice. The twenty-eight year old performer’s third album is “The Orchard.” She says her childhood in a small town in rural Georgia influenced the album. Critics say it is her best yet. Barbara Klein plays some of Wright’s music.
BARBARA KLEIN:
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| Lizz Wright |
(MUSIC)
Lizz Wright first began singing and playing music as a young child at the religious center where her father worked. You can hear the influence of this gospel music in many of her songs. As an adult, Wright studied music at Georgia State University in Atlanta. Later, critics praised her singing in a traveling musical show honoring the blues singer Billie Holiday. On her earlier albums, Wright borrowed the songs and stories of other performers. She says that “The Orchard” mainly tells her own story. Here is “My Heart.”
(MUSIC)
Lizz Wright also sings songs by other musicians on this album. For example, she performs a version of “Strange” by the country and western singer Patsy Cline. We leave you with a song that was first made famous by Tina Turner. Lizz Wright says she wanted to sing like Tina Turner’s fiercely powerful voice in her own version of the song “I Idolize You.”
(MUSIC)
HOST:
I'm Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today.
It was written by Dana Demange, Nancy Steinbach and Caty Weaver, who was also our producer. To read the text of this program and download audio, go to our Web site, ChinaVOA.com.
Send your questions about American life to mosaic@voanews.com. Please include your full name and mailing address. Or write to American Mosaic, VOA Special English, Washington, D.C., two-zero-two-three-seven, U.S.A.
Join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOA’s radio magazine in Special English.