'If You Can Keep It': America In Constitutional Crisis

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4.4 • 4.3K Ratings

🗓️ 28 April 2025

⏱️ 43 minutes

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Summary

Big news is happening at a breakneck pace these days. But on the cusp of the 100th day of President Donald Trump's second administration, let's take a pause to go back in time to Sept. 30, 1962.

On that day, President John F. Kennedy sent U.S. military forces to protect James Meredith on the campus of the University of Mississippi. Meredith was the first Black student admitted to the school. That night, JFK addressed the nation from the White House.

In his address JFK describes a moment when the word of the Constitution no longer prevails, is by most definitions a "constitutional crisis."

Some of you think that moment is here.

As part of our weekly series on the state of our democracy, "If You Can Keep It," we're posing a big question: Are we in a constitutional crisis?

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is Eric Glass.
0:01.8	In Lily's family, there's a story everybody knows by heart.
0:05.2	If this story had never happened...
0:06.8	All of us wouldn't be here right now.
0:08.6	Sammy wouldn't be here?
0:09.7	Annie wouldn't be here.
0:10.8	Wally wouldn't be here.
0:12.3	Anyone that we know wouldn't be here.
0:14.9	So what happens when Lily's mom tells her, this story is not true?
0:20.0	This American life, surprising stories, every week.
0:24.0	Hi, it's Jen. Just a quick heads up before we start the conversation. The news is rapidly
0:28.9	developing and things may have changed by the time you hear this episode. For the very latest
0:33.7	news, tune in to your public radio station and follow updates at npr.org.
0:45.8	Big news is coming at us at a breakneck pace these days, but on the cusp of the 100th day of
0:51.5	President Trump's second administration, let's take a pause to go back in time to
0:56.1	September 30th, 1962. On that day, President John F. Kennedy sent U.S. military forces to protect James Meredith
1:04.3	on the campus of the University of Mississippi. Meredith was the first black student to enroll at the school.
1:10.2	That night, JFK addressed the nation from the White House.
1:13.4	For our nation is founded on the principle that observance of the law is the eternal safeguard of liberty,
1:21.0	and defiance of the law is the surest road to tyranny.
1:26.7	The law which we obey includes the final rulings of the courts,
1:32.4	as well as the enactment of our legislative bodies. Even among law-abiding men, few laws are
	...

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