America's Town Meeting of the Air

What Are We Preparing to Defend?

English · Political Science, Radio

America's Town Meeting of the Air brings public questions into a lively radio forum, inviting listeners to hear opposing viewpoints debated by speakers before an audience. The program is associated with moderator George V. Denny Jr. and the League of Women Voters, and its discussions focus on issues of civic and national importance.

In this broadcast, the question is “What Are We Preparing to Defend?” The town-meeting format centers on argument and response rather than a scripted drama: speakers make their cases, challenge one another, and address the concerns behind the topic. The result is a direct encounter with the language and reasoning of a public debate.

The tone is serious and engaged, with the immediacy of a live discussion and the tension of a question that invites more than one answer. It offers a window into how radio could bring political ideas into the home, making the exchange itself—not a single narrator’s account—the heart of the listening experience.

This recording is part of the Old Time Radio collection.