July 1, 2023 • 29 mins
Ryan Gorman hosts an iHeartRadio nationwide special featuring Julie Garner, Founder of Project Yellow Light. Julie Garner discusses the issue of distracted driving, along with her organization’s partnership with the Ad Council for an initiative in which high school and college students create TV, radio, and billboard PSAs to educate their peers about the dangers of distracted driving, with an emphasis on not using your mobile device while driving. Historian & Best-Selling Author Kenneth C. Davis also joins the show. For the July 4th holiday, Kenneth C. Davis explains the creation of the Declaration of Independence, including the key players involved in the document's creation, how it would shape the course of history, and the impact it has had on the rest of the world.
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(00:00):
Welcome to iHeartRadio Communities, a publicaffairs special focusing on the biggest issues impacting
you. This week, here's RyanGorman. Thanks for joining us here on
iHeartRadio Communities. I'm Ryan Gorman,and we have some important conversations lined up
for you. In just a bit, we'll check in with historian and best
selling author Kenneth C. Davis todiscuss the upcoming July fourth holiday. We're
(00:23):
going to go back to our nation'sfounding and step through who was involved in
the Declaration of Independence, how theprocess played out, and how that document
would go on to shape the courseof history. But right now, to
get things started, I'm joined byJulie Garner, founder of Project yellow Light,
to discuss the issue of distracted driving. You can learn more at Project
(00:45):
yellow light dot com. Julie,thank you so much for coming on the
show, and first of all,tell us the backstory to how this initiative
got started and what you aim toaccomplish. Well, it's a passion project
for me. Ryan, an Hunterwas killed at the age of sixteen due
to a car crash, and formy own survival and just to be able
(01:07):
to live without him, we wantedto do something to protect all other young
people from meeting that same demise.I had no idea at the time,
but found out that car crashes wereone of the meeting causes of death of
our youth and remains to this day, and we wanted to make sure that
we caused a broad about awareness tothat. And I think people just don't
(01:33):
even think about it unless sadly theymeet up with it personally, as we
did as a family. So westarted a scholarship competition in his high school
and as four years in, theAD Council reached out to us and asked
us if we would like to partnerwith them in the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration and took us national. Soit's a national scholarship competition where you've talked
(01:59):
to their peers about being careful onthe road to not drive distracted. And
certainly this issue has become even moreprevalent across the country as more and more
drivers have gotten behind the wheel andhave spent time on their cell phones while
driving. Distracted driving has become sucha major concern all across the country.
(02:23):
What have we seen in terms ofthe data undistracted driving, Well, it
is at crisis mode. I mean, we just have so many fatalities in
this age group group. Our focusis the youngest drivers sixteen to twenty five,
and of all the drivers, theyare the ones with the largest proportion
(02:46):
who are distracted at the time ofa fatal crash. The numbers are huge.
Between two thousand and twelve and twentyone, just nine years, almost
thirty three thousand people died in carcrashes to distraction, just as distractions,
and it's just, you know,it's a crisis, it's continuing, and
(03:07):
sadly, it's something that we justhave to focus on and that's what we
do through our little project. Andyou know, our aim is at our
youngest drivers, and we feel likethere's nobody better to get that message out
there than a peer to peer typecommunication. And I think all of us
have experienced the issue of distracted drivingon the road. A lot of times
(03:29):
when someone is swerving these days,and let's say it's in the middle of
the day, it's not necessarily adrunk driver, and it could be,
but a lot of times such assomebody on their phone not paying attention,
or if somebody's going especially slow,a lot of times because they're scrolling the
Internet on their phone. I know, I talked to a family who really
took action and push their state legislatureto enact distracted driving laws because they were
(03:54):
stuck in traffic. I mean itwas a huge traffic jam and a major
interstate and a driver who was olderthan the age group that you're focused on
at Project yellow Light at this driverwent right into them at full speed,
never saw the traffic jam because hewas on his phone, and now that
person is spending thirty years in prisonbecause of it. So this is a
(04:17):
really important project and again everyone canlearn more Project yellow Light dot com talk
about these public service announcements that havebeen created by teens who are warning others
against driving when distracted. Yes,so our competition is national and it's open
to all high school juniors and seniorsand college students where they create a public
(04:42):
service ad that promotes this safe driving. And we have three levels, three
different competitions, one for radio,thank you, iHeart, one for Billboard,
and one for TV and the youthto create these ads to re their
peers. And then it's just sharednationwide, which is so amazing through our
(05:05):
credible media partners. So we havea shared national exposure with over eighteen hundred
CET stations, digital outdoor displays allover the country and our amazing partner,
iHeart Media Radio stations. We're joinedby Julie Garner, founder of Project yellow
(05:25):
Light. What have you seen fromthe twenty twenty three winners. What's their
creativity level like and their unique messagesthat they're trying to get across to help
prevent distract the driving I think Ryanthat each year they just get better and
better, and I'm just so impressedwith the talent of our young people and
(05:45):
their poise quite off frankly too,and just their ability to get a message
out. One of the things wedo is we say you have creative license
when you apply for this. Youcan take this project upon however you like.
And a lot of the youth humorfeeling that's probably the best way to
reach their peers or some sort ofpositive message. And so this year,
(06:09):
without fail, we've got some amazingentries and I'm just thrilled with what they
have accomplished. When you take alook at these videos, these messages,
these PSAs that teams have put together, and you've been doing this for quite
a while, this is the twelfthannual Project yellow Light Scholarship Competition. What
(06:30):
stands out to you about what you'reseeing from these young people. Is there
something that is pretty consistent throughout theyears, or is there something that the
changes that varies depending on the groupof students who ends up winning that year.
I think it varies from year toyear. I'm just always amazed at
(06:51):
the talent of our young people,and I just love the work that they
create. Sometimes it's animation. Wehave an animated video this year. Sometimes
it's it's a musical type thing,which one of our radio spots is a
little jingle that's just very catchy andI love it. And I'm just always
(07:12):
impressed with the voices and the creativitythat they used to reach others about this
very vile message. And I'm assumingpart of the goal with this project to
reach drivers between the ages of fifteenand twenty is to utilize their peers to
deliver that message. And how muchof an impact do you think that has
(07:36):
on getting the message across to peoplethat age. I think it's it's vital
because when we started this, thestatistics and everything that I had seen out
there, all the messaging was doneby adults and it just frankly wasn't hitting
the mark. And either you hadsomebody kind of talking down to you,
(08:00):
or somebody in the uniform wagging afinger at you, or some show of
blood, guts and gore that justturned everybody off. And that's why we
felt like we needed to turn thisover to the youth themselves to see what
they could do to help them withthis problem that they have. And you
know, see if they can't finda solution better than us adults, and
(08:20):
I think they do. They areable to resonate with each other in a
way that we cannot and they justdo a fabulous job. And finally,
the winners have been chosen for twentytwenty three. But you might have some
students who are listening right now,maybe some parents who are thinking to themselves,
this would be a great, greattask to take on next year.
(08:43):
What do you recommend for those whoare more interested in the work you're doing
at Project yellow Light. Go toour website Projects yellow light dot com.
You can learn everything you need toknow about the project, from applying for
the scholarship, to the winners announced, to seeing past winners, and it's
all their self contained Project yellow Lightdot Com. Not only do the winners
(09:05):
get a scholarship prize, their workis shared nationwide. And you know,
I think the biggest thing is that, as cool as it is to have
your work shared that way, thisis so vital. It's about doing something
for the greater good, having avoice and making a difference. And in
the process you may just save alife. And it just doesn't get any
(09:28):
bigger than that. And it's suchan important issue that impacts all of us.
Julie Garner the founder of Project yellowLight. You can learn more about
this tremendous campaign at Project yellow lightdot com. That's Project yellow Light dot
com. Julie, really appreciate thetime and all the work you're doing on
this issue. Thanks so much forcoming on the show. Oh my goodness,
(09:50):
Ran, thank you for helping usspread the message. I truly appreciate
it. It's my pleasure. Thanksagain for coming on. I'm Ryan Gorman
here on iHeartRadio Communities, and nowI want to bring in our next guest.
We're joined by historian and best sellingauthor Kenneth C. Davis. He's
author of the Don't Know Much Aboutbook series, which you can learn more
about at don't know much dot com. Kenneth, thank you so much for
(10:15):
coming on the show in advance ofthis July fourth holiday. And let's start
with a very basic question, aquick refresher for everyone. How did July
fourth become the day that we celebrateour country's independence. Well, John Adams,
who was there back in seventeen seventysix, wrote this nice letter to
his wife Abigail, and he said, this day will be the most memorable
(10:39):
in the history of America. Itought to be solemnized with pomp and parade,
with shows and games and sports,guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations
from one end of this continent tothe other. He wrote that on July
third, and he was talking aboutJuly second, because that was the day
that the Continental Congress actually wrote infavor of a resolution of independence. But
(11:03):
it was two days later, onJuly fourth, seventeen seventy six, that
that same Continental Congress debated and thenadopted Thomas Jefferson Declaration of Independence, which
explained why these thirteen states had madethis decision to separate from Great Britain.
(11:24):
So it was an extraordinary day,and John Adams was right about how we
would celebrate it. He was justwrong about the date. So on July
fourth, we're celebrating America's independence andthose very very important ideas. All men
are created equal, they are endowedwith life, liberty, and the pursuit
(11:46):
of happiness, unalienable rights to thosethings. And finally, and maybe most
important, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent
of the government. And that wasa radical idea in seventeen seventy six,
and perhaps we take it for grantedtoday when we looked at what led up
(12:07):
to the declaration of Independence and thedecision by those thirteen colonies two break free,
knowing the battle that was to come, What were some of the major
underlying reasons they felt it was necessaryto proceed down that road. Well,
it wasn't just taxes and tea andstamps. That's maybe you're what you remember
(12:33):
from eighth grade civics, if youlearned civics in eighth grade. We seem
to be struggling with that these days, in social studies or American history or
civics. There were a lot ofissues. Obviously, certainly one to a
man like George Washington was the factthat they had fought a war a few
years earlier in thirteen colonies. Wecalled it the French and Indian War.
(12:58):
The rest of the world called itthe Seven Years War. And after that
Americans expected that they were going tohave a piece of what the British had
won, especially by defeating the French. And they learned to their chagrin that
they weren't going to that The Kinghad made a proclamation in seventeen sixty three
(13:22):
and the fruits of that war werenot going to fall to people like George
Washington. So a lot of ithad to do, like most wars,
with power. Who was going tohave the power over this extraordinary continent that
was, of course, at thattime a handful of colonies stretched out along
the Atlantic coast. But they knewhow big and rich and what the possibilities
(13:46):
were. But they also believed thatthey were Englishmen and that they had the
rights of Englishmen, and they weren'tbeing they were being denied those and perhaps
most important, and especially to aman like Jefferson, they were living in
the time of what we call theEnlightenment or the age of Reason. So
when Jefferson writes those words about allmen being created equal that we have the
(14:09):
right to life, liberty in thepursuit of happiness, that the governed must
consent. These were radical ideas,but they were part of what was going
on in the world that especially theEuropean world at that time, when people
were questioning the old order, andkings and monarchs around the world were being
(14:31):
challenged, and the Church was beingchallenged. So it was an extraordinary time
of change and revolution. And certainlythe ideals that these men stood up for
expressed in the Declaration were very muchwhat the revolution was about. But it
almost always comes down to power.Who's going to have the power to divide
(14:54):
up the spoils of this great continent. The men behind the creation of the
Declaration of Independence and those ideals tellus a little bit about them and who
the main players were. Oh,that's a great question, And I can
be more specific in point to mywebsite Don't Know Much dot Com, where
(15:16):
I have a series running around thistime of year every year about the fifty
six men who signed the declaration andwhat became of them. They pledged in
that document, their lives, theirfortunes, and their sacred honor, And
it sounds like pretty poetry to ustoday. But it was very true in
seventeen seventy six that they were takingtheir lives and certainly their wealth into their
(15:41):
hands by challenging the man who wasperhaps the most powerful man on earth at
the time, the King of England. So they were a real mix of
Americans, some immigrants, Irish andScots and otherwise, and they represented a
cross section of American society in somerespect. There were farmers and doctors,
(16:07):
but a lot of lawyers, certainlymen John Adams, men like Thomas Jefferson.
Obviously, the five people most involvedin drafting the declaration, in fact
included Jefferson, John Adams, andBenjamin Franklin, who at that time was
the most famous American, not onlyin America but in the world. So
(16:29):
these were extraordinary men gathered together atthis time. But I also have to
say one thing, and it isvery important to point out, especially in
these times, that forty of thosefifty six men who signed the document talking
about all men are created equal werealso men who enslaved other people. And
(16:51):
this is the great contradiction in Americanhistory that a nation conceived in liberty was
also born in shackles. And wehave to talk about that when we talk
about American history and the Declaration ofIndependence, because slavery was part of the
foundation of this nation, and that'sa reality that some people are trying to
(17:11):
bury right now. I'm Ryan Gorman, joined by historian and best selling author
Kenneth C. Davis. He's authorof the Don't Know Much About book series,
which you can find a Don't KnowMuch dot com. So when the
creators of the Declaration of Independence weregoing through this process, were there disagreements
about what's put in, what notto put in. How did all of
(17:34):
that play out? That's an interestingquestion because of course I should back up
a minute here, Ryan and saythe war had already started. It didn't
start when in America declared its independence. The war had started a full year
earlier, in April seventeen seventy five, with the Battles of Lexington and conquered
(17:55):
up in Massachusetts. The Battle ofBunker Hill had already been fought. George
Washington had already been sent a fullyear earlier up to Massachusetts to take command
of this rather ragtag collection of militiamenand turned them into the Continental Army.
Boston had been liberated from the British. In a sense, the British were
(18:18):
sailing towards New York and Washington wouldthen move his army down there. And
in fact, Washington was in NewYork in seventeen seventy six and had the
declaration of Independence read to the mengathered together. So the war was already
underway, but there were still menin the continent of the Congress who were
(18:38):
looking to see if there was someway we couldn't come to agreement avoid a
bigger war, come to kind ofagreement with the British, either about changing
the status of America or granting someof the rights that they were asking for.
And it wasn't just about representing patientin Parliament. That the old line
(19:02):
no taxation without representation is a bitof propaganda, because if they given the
colonies a few seats in Congress,I don't think it in the Parliament,
I should say, wouldn't have reallymade a difference. But the movement towards
independence really gathered steam in seventeen seventysix, and by June when it was
(19:26):
proposed that the United States should declareitself independent, it was quite a popular
idea, although not every voted forit. New York abstained, for instance,
from the vote at first, lateron joined to be unanimous. So
there was a considerable range of opinion. But once it was announced, it
(19:49):
was really quite accepted and celebrated inthe United States, and the popular movement
towards independence became quite strong. TheDeclaration of Independence itself we know as Thomas
Jefferson as the author of that.But how much input was coming in from
other individuals, and how did thatfinal draft come about? That's a good
(20:15):
question too. It was actually givento Jefferson to write this document. It
was a committee of five that weresupposed to draft it. I mentioned Adams
and Franklin. It was also RogerSherman and lived Robert Livingston of New York.
Those men really said, Jefferson,you're pretty good with words. You
take care of it. Jefferson showedhis draft to Franklin and Adams, and
(20:38):
they made a few changes. Itwas Franklin who, for instance, who
suggested changing the phrase life, libertyand the pursuit of property, which came
from a very important philosopher named JohnLocke. He suggested to change that to
life liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And I think we should all be
glad that that change was made.Beyond that, the declaration as Thomas Jefferson
(21:04):
drafted it was then turned over toCongress on June twenty eighth, and they
debated it for the next few days, and Jefferson was not too happy about
this. Jefferson was quite certain thatwhat he had written was perfect. Like
all writers, we don't like tobe edited. But he sat and fumed
while the Congress picked over his words. A few phrases were changed. They
(21:30):
were the insertion of more references toProvidence and the Creator than Jefferson might have
included. So it was the resultof some you know, editing by the
Congress in general, But it wasessentially Jefferson's words at play. But I
should again mention, and this issomething I brought up earlier, that Jefferson
(21:52):
in his draft put in a paragraphabout slavery. He said that the King
of England was responsible for slavery andwas keeping America from ending the slave trade.
Now this was not true, butJefferson had put it in there that
was taken out. It was theonly major paragraph deleted from Jefferson's draft.
He later said it was done indeference to the men who owned slaves in
(22:17):
the South, as as well asthe men in the North who were making
a great deal of money from slavery. And this is again a reminder that
there are very very few clean handsin Philadelphia in seventeen seventy six, when
it comes to the question of enslavingpeople. I'm Ryan Gorman, joined by
historian and bestselling author Kenneth C.Davis. So our founding fathers, they
(22:41):
create the Declaration of Independence, Butin that moment did they have a real
understanding of the impact it would have, how it would go on to shape
the course of history for future generations. I think some of them did,
And I think you hear that letterthat John Adams writes to his wife Abigail
(23:03):
on July third, of course missingthe date by two days, but giving
the sense that this was something extraordinary, This was something that had never really
happened in the world before that colonieshad broken free and declared their independence based
on some very very fundamental ideas.And so, you know, we can
(23:25):
be a little bit cynical in termsof looking back and saying, oh,
these guys were contradicting their little hypocriticalBut what they did was extraordinary, and
it did change history, and Ithink many of them had that sense that
they were in the midst of somethingthat was changing history for all time.
Again, though they were taking theirlives in their hands. When they say
(23:48):
we pledge our lives and our sacredhonor to this, that was real.
It wasn't just a nice sounding pieceof rhetoric. So we have to really
respect and honor what they did.But again taking into accounts that there was
this contradiction, as I've called itmany times in writing about this in our
(24:10):
history. But almost two hundred andfifty years later now the countries still moving
in the direction of those ideals thatJefferson talked about in the declaration. All
men are created equal, we areall entitled to life, liberty, and
the pursuit of happiness, and thoseare really ideas that did change the world.
(24:33):
Once they all decide to move forwardwith the Declaration of Independence, did
they have a plan, some kindof an idea of how they wanted things
to proceed from their assuming they wereto defeat the British, how they would
implement these ideals that were laid outin this document. Well, that's a
(24:53):
really good question as well, andwhat they had created at first was something
called the Articles of confess Oration,which is a loose kind of almost a
mutual defense pack as opposed to atrue national government. And almost from the
very beginning the question of slavery wasin there. One of the delegates from
(25:14):
South Carolina said that if you startedto talk about putting attacks on slaves,
we're going to walk out, andthe whole thing is over. The first
threat of secession over slavery comes barelytwo months after the declaration is signed.
They do have a Congress that organizesa war. They have George Washington,
who was indispensable as the leader,not as a brilliant military tactician, but
(25:40):
as this incredible survivor who keeps thisrag tag army together long enough until the
French come in and provide a significantnumber of arms and chips and the ammunition
and soldiers to help George Washington winthis war. But it was now another
eleven years from seventeen seventy six toseventeen eighty seven before we have the constitution.
(26:06):
Because all those years that it worked, for those eleven years getting through
the war and afterwards, it wasa very weak form of government and that's
why in Philadelphia, in the sameplace that the Declaration had been adopted in
seventeen seventy six, some of thesame men go back to draft the United
States Constitution in seventeen eighty seven toform, as we know, a more
(26:30):
perfect union. I'm Ryan Gorman,joined by historian and bestselling author Kenneth C.
Davis. The ideals that we findin the Declaration of Independence, when
did they start to spread beyond ourshores and impact the rest of the world?
Which almost immediate when you when youlook around the world, certainly almost
immediately. The French begin their ownrevolution, which takes a very different and
(26:55):
very violent course. The French Revolutionultimately leads to a reign of terror,
ultimately leading to a general named Napoleontaking over and wiping out the French Republic
and replacing it with a Napoleonic Empire. More importantly, perhaps or equally important,
(27:15):
and often neglected, is the secondRevolution in the Western Hemisphere is clearly
inspired by Jefferson and the Declaration,and that's the revolution in Haiti, where
formerly enslaved people rose up against theirowners for mostly French, and created the
(27:37):
second independent Republic in the Western Hemisphere, on Haiti, and that was clearly
a result of what had happened inthe United States of America. So the
impact was immediate and sent reverberations aroundthe world that continued for two centuries.
(28:00):
Finally, for those who maybe youwant to spend part of their holiday learning
more about all of this, tellus about the books that you've written on
our country's history. Okay, Don'tKnow Much dot Com. It's my website,
and right now I have this seriestalking about the men who signed the
declaration, what became of them.Some of them are very obscure to us,
some of them are well known.You can read more about this subject
(28:21):
in my very first book in theseries, Don't Know Much About History.
I also wrote about this subject morespecifically in terms of enslaver in The Shadow
of Liberty, which talks about fivepeople who were enslaved by Washington, Jefferson,
Madison, and Andrew Jackson. Andit shows the real human side of
(28:42):
this story and this contradiction, asI call it, that this nation had
to struggle for a long time throughthe clear contradiction between its founding ideals and
the nation it would become as weknow it today. And we're still struggling,
and that's why it's so important tounderstand its history. Best Selling author
(29:06):
and historian Kenneth C. Davis,author of the Don't Know Much About book
series, which again you can findat Don't Know Much dot com. Kenneth
can't thank you enough for all thatfantastic insight into our founding. We really
appreciate the time, but thank you. Ryan. History is not boring.
It's not dates and battles and speeches. It's real stories of real people,
(29:27):
and it's fascinating and I am gratefulfor the chance to talk about it.
So now go pursue happiness, allright, And that'll do it for this
edition of iHeartRadio Communities. I'm RyanGorman. Have a fantastic Fourth of July
holiday, and we'll talk to youagain real soon
Welcome to iHeartRadio Communities, a publicaffairs special focusing on the biggest issues impacting
you. This week, here's RyanGorman. Thanks for joining us here on
iHeartRadio Communities. I'm Ryan Gorman,and we have some important conversations lined up
for you. In just a bit, we'll check in with historian and best
selling author Kenneth C. Davis todiscuss the upcoming July fourth holiday. We're
(00:23):
going to go back to our nation'sfounding and step through who was involved in
the Declaration of Independence, how theprocess played out, and how that document
would go on to shape the courseof history. But right now, to
get things started, I'm joined byJulie Garner, founder of Project yellow Light,
to discuss the issue of distracted driving. You can learn more at Project
(00:45):
yellow light dot com. Julie,thank you so much for coming on the
show, and first of all,tell us the backstory to how this initiative
got started and what you aim toaccomplish. Well, it's a passion project
for me. Ryan, an Hunterwas killed at the age of sixteen due
to a car crash, and formy own survival and just to be able
(01:07):
to live without him, we wantedto do something to protect all other young
people from meeting that same demise.I had no idea at the time,
but found out that car crashes wereone of the meeting causes of death of
our youth and remains to this day, and we wanted to make sure that
we caused a broad about awareness tothat. And I think people just don't
(01:33):
even think about it unless sadly theymeet up with it personally, as we
did as a family. So westarted a scholarship competition in his high school
and as four years in, theAD Council reached out to us and asked
us if we would like to partnerwith them in the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration and took us national. Soit's a national scholarship competition where you've talked
(01:59):
to their peers about being careful onthe road to not drive distracted. And
certainly this issue has become even moreprevalent across the country as more and more
drivers have gotten behind the wheel andhave spent time on their cell phones while
driving. Distracted driving has become sucha major concern all across the country.
(02:23):
What have we seen in terms ofthe data undistracted driving, Well, it
is at crisis mode. I mean, we just have so many fatalities in
this age group group. Our focusis the youngest drivers sixteen to twenty five,
and of all the drivers, theyare the ones with the largest proportion
(02:46):
who are distracted at the time ofa fatal crash. The numbers are huge.
Between two thousand and twelve and twentyone, just nine years, almost
thirty three thousand people died in carcrashes to distraction, just as distractions,
and it's just, you know,it's a crisis, it's continuing, and
(03:07):
sadly, it's something that we justhave to focus on and that's what we
do through our little project. Andyou know, our aim is at our
youngest drivers, and we feel likethere's nobody better to get that message out
there than a peer to peer typecommunication. And I think all of us
have experienced the issue of distracted drivingon the road. A lot of times
(03:29):
when someone is swerving these days,and let's say it's in the middle of
the day, it's not necessarily adrunk driver, and it could be,
but a lot of times such assomebody on their phone not paying attention,
or if somebody's going especially slow,a lot of times because they're scrolling the
Internet on their phone. I know, I talked to a family who really
took action and push their state legislatureto enact distracted driving laws because they were
(03:54):
stuck in traffic. I mean itwas a huge traffic jam and a major
interstate and a driver who was olderthan the age group that you're focused on
at Project yellow Light at this driverwent right into them at full speed,
never saw the traffic jam because hewas on his phone, and now that
person is spending thirty years in prisonbecause of it. So this is a
(04:17):
really important project and again everyone canlearn more Project yellow Light dot com talk
about these public service announcements that havebeen created by teens who are warning others
against driving when distracted. Yes,so our competition is national and it's open
to all high school juniors and seniorsand college students where they create a public
(04:42):
service ad that promotes this safe driving. And we have three levels, three
different competitions, one for radio,thank you, iHeart, one for Billboard,
and one for TV and the youthto create these ads to re their
peers. And then it's just sharednationwide, which is so amazing through our
(05:05):
credible media partners. So we havea shared national exposure with over eighteen hundred
CET stations, digital outdoor displays allover the country and our amazing partner,
iHeart Media Radio stations. We're joinedby Julie Garner, founder of Project yellow
(05:25):
Light. What have you seen fromthe twenty twenty three winners. What's their
creativity level like and their unique messagesthat they're trying to get across to help
prevent distract the driving I think Ryanthat each year they just get better and
better, and I'm just so impressedwith the talent of our young people and
(05:45):
their poise quite off frankly too,and just their ability to get a message
out. One of the things wedo is we say you have creative license
when you apply for this. Youcan take this project upon however you like.
And a lot of the youth humorfeeling that's probably the best way to
reach their peers or some sort ofpositive message. And so this year,
(06:09):
without fail, we've got some amazingentries and I'm just thrilled with what they
have accomplished. When you take alook at these videos, these messages,
these PSAs that teams have put together, and you've been doing this for quite
a while, this is the twelfthannual Project yellow Light Scholarship Competition. What
(06:30):
stands out to you about what you'reseeing from these young people. Is there
something that is pretty consistent throughout theyears, or is there something that the
changes that varies depending on the groupof students who ends up winning that year.
I think it varies from year toyear. I'm just always amazed at
(06:51):
the talent of our young people,and I just love the work that they
create. Sometimes it's animation. Wehave an animated video this year. Sometimes
it's it's a musical type thing,which one of our radio spots is a
little jingle that's just very catchy andI love it. And I'm just always
(07:12):
impressed with the voices and the creativitythat they used to reach others about this
very vile message. And I'm assumingpart of the goal with this project to
reach drivers between the ages of fifteenand twenty is to utilize their peers to
deliver that message. And how muchof an impact do you think that has
(07:36):
on getting the message across to peoplethat age. I think it's it's vital
because when we started this, thestatistics and everything that I had seen out
there, all the messaging was doneby adults and it just frankly wasn't hitting
the mark. And either you hadsomebody kind of talking down to you,
(08:00):
or somebody in the uniform wagging afinger at you, or some show of
blood, guts and gore that justturned everybody off. And that's why we
felt like we needed to turn thisover to the youth themselves to see what
they could do to help them withthis problem that they have. And you
know, see if they can't finda solution better than us adults, and
(08:20):
I think they do. They areable to resonate with each other in a
way that we cannot and they justdo a fabulous job. And finally,
the winners have been chosen for twentytwenty three. But you might have some
students who are listening right now,maybe some parents who are thinking to themselves,
this would be a great, greattask to take on next year.
(08:43):
What do you recommend for those whoare more interested in the work you're doing
at Project yellow Light. Go toour website Projects yellow light dot com.
You can learn everything you need toknow about the project, from applying for
the scholarship, to the winners announced, to seeing past winners, and it's
all their self contained Project yellow Lightdot Com. Not only do the winners
(09:05):
get a scholarship prize, their workis shared nationwide. And you know,
I think the biggest thing is that, as cool as it is to have
your work shared that way, thisis so vital. It's about doing something
for the greater good, having avoice and making a difference. And in
the process you may just save alife. And it just doesn't get any
(09:28):
bigger than that. And it's suchan important issue that impacts all of us.
Julie Garner the founder of Project yellowLight. You can learn more about
this tremendous campaign at Project yellow lightdot com. That's Project yellow Light dot
com. Julie, really appreciate thetime and all the work you're doing on
this issue. Thanks so much forcoming on the show. Oh my goodness,
(09:50):
Ran, thank you for helping usspread the message. I truly appreciate
it. It's my pleasure. Thanksagain for coming on. I'm Ryan Gorman
here on iHeartRadio Communities, and nowI want to bring in our next guest.
We're joined by historian and best sellingauthor Kenneth C. Davis. He's
author of the Don't Know Much Aboutbook series, which you can learn more
about at don't know much dot com. Kenneth, thank you so much for
(10:15):
coming on the show in advance ofthis July fourth holiday. And let's start
with a very basic question, aquick refresher for everyone. How did July
fourth become the day that we celebrateour country's independence. Well, John Adams,
who was there back in seventeen seventysix, wrote this nice letter to
his wife Abigail, and he said, this day will be the most memorable
(10:39):
in the history of America. Itought to be solemnized with pomp and parade,
with shows and games and sports,guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations
from one end of this continent tothe other. He wrote that on July
third, and he was talking aboutJuly second, because that was the day
that the Continental Congress actually wrote infavor of a resolution of independence. But
(11:03):
it was two days later, onJuly fourth, seventeen seventy six, that
that same Continental Congress debated and thenadopted Thomas Jefferson Declaration of Independence, which
explained why these thirteen states had madethis decision to separate from Great Britain.
(11:24):
So it was an extraordinary day,and John Adams was right about how we
would celebrate it. He was justwrong about the date. So on July
fourth, we're celebrating America's independence andthose very very important ideas. All men
are created equal, they are endowedwith life, liberty, and the pursuit
(11:46):
of happiness, unalienable rights to thosethings. And finally, and maybe most
important, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent
of the government. And that wasa radical idea in seventeen seventy six,
and perhaps we take it for grantedtoday when we looked at what led up
(12:07):
to the declaration of Independence and thedecision by those thirteen colonies two break free,
knowing the battle that was to come, What were some of the major
underlying reasons they felt it was necessaryto proceed down that road. Well,
it wasn't just taxes and tea andstamps. That's maybe you're what you remember
(12:33):
from eighth grade civics, if youlearned civics in eighth grade. We seem
to be struggling with that these days, in social studies or American history or
civics. There were a lot ofissues. Obviously, certainly one to a
man like George Washington was the factthat they had fought a war a few
years earlier in thirteen colonies. Wecalled it the French and Indian War.
(12:58):
The rest of the world called itthe Seven Years War. And after that
Americans expected that they were going tohave a piece of what the British had
won, especially by defeating the French. And they learned to their chagrin that
they weren't going to that The Kinghad made a proclamation in seventeen sixty three
(13:22):
and the fruits of that war werenot going to fall to people like George
Washington. So a lot of ithad to do, like most wars,
with power. Who was going tohave the power over this extraordinary continent that
was, of course, at thattime a handful of colonies stretched out along
the Atlantic coast. But they knewhow big and rich and what the possibilities
(13:46):
were. But they also believed thatthey were Englishmen and that they had the
rights of Englishmen, and they weren'tbeing they were being denied those and perhaps
most important, and especially to aman like Jefferson, they were living in
the time of what we call theEnlightenment or the age of Reason. So
when Jefferson writes those words about allmen being created equal that we have the
(14:09):
right to life, liberty in thepursuit of happiness, that the governed must
consent. These were radical ideas,but they were part of what was going
on in the world that especially theEuropean world at that time, when people
were questioning the old order, andkings and monarchs around the world were being
(14:31):
challenged, and the Church was beingchallenged. So it was an extraordinary time
of change and revolution. And certainlythe ideals that these men stood up for
expressed in the Declaration were very muchwhat the revolution was about. But it
almost always comes down to power.Who's going to have the power to divide
(14:54):
up the spoils of this great continent. The men behind the creation of the
Declaration of Independence and those ideals tellus a little bit about them and who
the main players were. Oh,that's a great question, And I can
be more specific in point to mywebsite Don't Know Much dot Com, where
(15:16):
I have a series running around thistime of year every year about the fifty
six men who signed the declaration andwhat became of them. They pledged in
that document, their lives, theirfortunes, and their sacred honor, And
it sounds like pretty poetry to ustoday. But it was very true in
seventeen seventy six that they were takingtheir lives and certainly their wealth into their
(15:41):
hands by challenging the man who wasperhaps the most powerful man on earth at
the time, the King of England. So they were a real mix of
Americans, some immigrants, Irish andScots and otherwise, and they represented a
cross section of American society in somerespect. There were farmers and doctors,
(16:07):
but a lot of lawyers, certainlymen John Adams, men like Thomas Jefferson.
Obviously, the five people most involvedin drafting the declaration, in fact
included Jefferson, John Adams, andBenjamin Franklin, who at that time was
the most famous American, not onlyin America but in the world. So
(16:29):
these were extraordinary men gathered together atthis time. But I also have to
say one thing, and it isvery important to point out, especially in
these times, that forty of thosefifty six men who signed the document talking
about all men are created equal werealso men who enslaved other people. And
(16:51):
this is the great contradiction in Americanhistory that a nation conceived in liberty was
also born in shackles. And wehave to talk about that when we talk
about American history and the Declaration ofIndependence, because slavery was part of the
foundation of this nation, and that'sa reality that some people are trying to
(17:11):
bury right now. I'm Ryan Gorman, joined by historian and best selling author
Kenneth C. Davis. He's authorof the Don't Know Much About book series,
which you can find a Don't KnowMuch dot com. So when the
creators of the Declaration of Independence weregoing through this process, were there disagreements
about what's put in, what notto put in. How did all of
(17:34):
that play out? That's an interestingquestion because of course I should back up
a minute here, Ryan and saythe war had already started. It didn't
start when in America declared its independence. The war had started a full year
earlier, in April seventeen seventy five, with the Battles of Lexington and conquered
(17:55):
up in Massachusetts. The Battle ofBunker Hill had already been fought. George
Washington had already been sent a fullyear earlier up to Massachusetts to take command
of this rather ragtag collection of militiamenand turned them into the Continental Army.
Boston had been liberated from the British. In a sense, the British were
(18:18):
sailing towards New York and Washington wouldthen move his army down there. And
in fact, Washington was in NewYork in seventeen seventy six and had the
declaration of Independence read to the mengathered together. So the war was already
underway, but there were still menin the continent of the Congress who were
(18:38):
looking to see if there was someway we couldn't come to agreement avoid a
bigger war, come to kind ofagreement with the British, either about changing
the status of America or granting someof the rights that they were asking for.
And it wasn't just about representing patientin Parliament. That the old line
(19:02):
no taxation without representation is a bitof propaganda, because if they given the
colonies a few seats in Congress,I don't think it in the Parliament,
I should say, wouldn't have reallymade a difference. But the movement towards
independence really gathered steam in seventeen seventysix, and by June when it was
(19:26):
proposed that the United States should declareitself independent, it was quite a popular
idea, although not every voted forit. New York abstained, for instance,
from the vote at first, lateron joined to be unanimous. So
there was a considerable range of opinion. But once it was announced, it
(19:49):
was really quite accepted and celebrated inthe United States, and the popular movement
towards independence became quite strong. TheDeclaration of Independence itself we know as Thomas
Jefferson as the author of that.But how much input was coming in from
other individuals, and how did thatfinal draft come about? That's a good
(20:15):
question too. It was actually givento Jefferson to write this document. It
was a committee of five that weresupposed to draft it. I mentioned Adams
and Franklin. It was also RogerSherman and lived Robert Livingston of New York.
Those men really said, Jefferson,you're pretty good with words. You
take care of it. Jefferson showedhis draft to Franklin and Adams, and
(20:38):
they made a few changes. Itwas Franklin who, for instance, who
suggested changing the phrase life, libertyand the pursuit of property, which came
from a very important philosopher named JohnLocke. He suggested to change that to
life liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And I think we should all be
glad that that change was made.Beyond that, the declaration as Thomas Jefferson
(21:04):
drafted it was then turned over toCongress on June twenty eighth, and they
debated it for the next few days, and Jefferson was not too happy about
this. Jefferson was quite certain thatwhat he had written was perfect. Like
all writers, we don't like tobe edited. But he sat and fumed
while the Congress picked over his words. A few phrases were changed. They
(21:30):
were the insertion of more references toProvidence and the Creator than Jefferson might have
included. So it was the resultof some you know, editing by the
Congress in general, But it wasessentially Jefferson's words at play. But I
should again mention, and this issomething I brought up earlier, that Jefferson
(21:52):
in his draft put in a paragraphabout slavery. He said that the King
of England was responsible for slavery andwas keeping America from ending the slave trade.
Now this was not true, butJefferson had put it in there that
was taken out. It was theonly major paragraph deleted from Jefferson's draft.
He later said it was done indeference to the men who owned slaves in
(22:17):
the South, as as well asthe men in the North who were making
a great deal of money from slavery. And this is again a reminder that
there are very very few clean handsin Philadelphia in seventeen seventy six, when
it comes to the question of enslavingpeople. I'm Ryan Gorman, joined by
historian and bestselling author Kenneth C.Davis. So our founding fathers, they
(22:41):
create the Declaration of Independence, Butin that moment did they have a real
understanding of the impact it would have, how it would go on to shape
the course of history for future generations. I think some of them did,
And I think you hear that letterthat John Adams writes to his wife Abigail
(23:03):
on July third, of course missingthe date by two days, but giving
the sense that this was something extraordinary, This was something that had never really
happened in the world before that colonieshad broken free and declared their independence based
on some very very fundamental ideas.And so, you know, we can
(23:25):
be a little bit cynical in termsof looking back and saying, oh,
these guys were contradicting their little hypocriticalBut what they did was extraordinary, and
it did change history, and Ithink many of them had that sense that
they were in the midst of somethingthat was changing history for all time.
Again, though they were taking theirlives in their hands. When they say
(23:48):
we pledge our lives and our sacredhonor to this, that was real.
It wasn't just a nice sounding pieceof rhetoric. So we have to really
respect and honor what they did.But again taking into accounts that there was
this contradiction, as I've called itmany times in writing about this in our
(24:10):
history. But almost two hundred andfifty years later now the countries still moving
in the direction of those ideals thatJefferson talked about in the declaration. All
men are created equal, we areall entitled to life, liberty, and
the pursuit of happiness, and thoseare really ideas that did change the world.
(24:33):
Once they all decide to move forwardwith the Declaration of Independence, did
they have a plan, some kindof an idea of how they wanted things
to proceed from their assuming they wereto defeat the British, how they would
implement these ideals that were laid outin this document. Well, that's a
(24:53):
really good question as well, andwhat they had created at first was something
called the Articles of confess Oration,which is a loose kind of almost a
mutual defense pack as opposed to atrue national government. And almost from the
very beginning the question of slavery wasin there. One of the delegates from
(25:14):
South Carolina said that if you startedto talk about putting attacks on slaves,
we're going to walk out, andthe whole thing is over. The first
threat of secession over slavery comes barelytwo months after the declaration is signed.
They do have a Congress that organizesa war. They have George Washington,
who was indispensable as the leader,not as a brilliant military tactician, but
(25:40):
as this incredible survivor who keeps thisrag tag army together long enough until the
French come in and provide a significantnumber of arms and chips and the ammunition
and soldiers to help George Washington winthis war. But it was now another
eleven years from seventeen seventy six toseventeen eighty seven before we have the constitution.
(26:06):
Because all those years that it worked, for those eleven years getting through
the war and afterwards, it wasa very weak form of government and that's
why in Philadelphia, in the sameplace that the Declaration had been adopted in
seventeen seventy six, some of thesame men go back to draft the United
States Constitution in seventeen eighty seven toform, as we know, a more
(26:30):
perfect union. I'm Ryan Gorman,joined by historian and bestselling author Kenneth C.
Davis. The ideals that we findin the Declaration of Independence, when
did they start to spread beyond ourshores and impact the rest of the world?
Which almost immediate when you when youlook around the world, certainly almost
immediately. The French begin their ownrevolution, which takes a very different and
(26:55):
very violent course. The French Revolutionultimately leads to a reign of terror,
ultimately leading to a general named Napoleontaking over and wiping out the French Republic
and replacing it with a Napoleonic Empire. More importantly, perhaps or equally important,
(27:15):
and often neglected, is the secondRevolution in the Western Hemisphere is clearly
inspired by Jefferson and the Declaration,and that's the revolution in Haiti, where
formerly enslaved people rose up against theirowners for mostly French, and created the
(27:37):
second independent Republic in the Western Hemisphere, on Haiti, and that was clearly
a result of what had happened inthe United States of America. So the
impact was immediate and sent reverberations aroundthe world that continued for two centuries.
(28:00):
Finally, for those who maybe youwant to spend part of their holiday learning
more about all of this, tellus about the books that you've written on
our country's history. Okay, Don'tKnow Much dot Com. It's my website,
and right now I have this seriestalking about the men who signed the
declaration, what became of them.Some of them are very obscure to us,
some of them are well known.You can read more about this subject
(28:21):
in my very first book in theseries, Don't Know Much About History.
I also wrote about this subject morespecifically in terms of enslaver in The Shadow
of Liberty, which talks about fivepeople who were enslaved by Washington, Jefferson,
Madison, and Andrew Jackson. Andit shows the real human side of
(28:42):
this story and this contradiction, asI call it, that this nation had
to struggle for a long time throughthe clear contradiction between its founding ideals and
the nation it would become as weknow it today. And we're still struggling,
and that's why it's so important tounderstand its history. Best Selling author
(29:06):
and historian Kenneth C. Davis,author of the Don't Know Much About book
series, which again you can findat Don't Know Much dot com. Kenneth
can't thank you enough for all thatfantastic insight into our founding. We really
appreciate the time, but thank you. Ryan. History is not boring.
It's not dates and battles and speeches. It's real stories of real people,
(29:27):
and it's fascinating and I am gratefulfor the chance to talk about it.
So now go pursue happiness, allright, And that'll do it for this
edition of iHeartRadio Communities. I'm RyanGorman. Have a fantastic Fourth of July
holiday, and we'll talk to youagain real soon
Host
Manny Munoz
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