I'm Oprah Winfrey. Welcome to Super Soul Conversations, the podcast. I believe that one of

the most valuable gifts you can give yourself is time, taking time to be more fully present.

Your journey to become more inspired and connected to the deeper world around us starts right

now.

He's the man who helped shape two of President Joe Biden's most important speeches. New

York Times best-selling author, renowned presidential historian, and Pulitzer Prize winner John

Meacham. I chose his book The Soul of America the

Battle for our Better Angels as one of the books that have helped me through challenging

times. Now when America seems more divided than ever, John Meacham is here to remind us

that even in the darkest chapters of our nation's history, there is always a way to find hope.

Hello John Meacham, all the way from Nashville. Welcome to Super Soul.

Well, I'm his Winfrey.

Oprah, you know you call me Oprah John for God's sakes. Come on here. I want to get to

talking about the book in a moment, but first I want to ask you about two of the most

important speeches of our current time that you helped write President Biden's inauguration

speech, and before that his victory speech. What was foremost on your mind? What were

you told? What were the themes you wanted to land? Was it a daunting task?

I'll start at the end. Yes, it was very daunting, absolutely terrifying in some ways. You

know, I'd never written speeches before. Vice President Biden was a great friend and

had been really kind, particularly about the book. We're talking about, we've done a

couple of public events together, and as the campaign unfolded, I'd never been really

involved in politics much, except as an observer, but we were clearly fighting for the essence

...