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Diane Rehm: On My Mind

WAMU 88.5

Diane Rehm’s weekly podcast features newsmakers, writers, artists and thinkers on the issues she cares about most: what’s going on in Washington, ideas that inform, and the latest on living well as we live longer.

Copyright WAMU 88.5 American University Radio - For Personal Use Only

Diane Rehm’s weekly podcast features newsmakers, writers, artists and thinkers on the issues she cares about most: what’s going on in Washington, ideas that inform, and the latest on living well as we live longer.

Copyright WAMU 88.5 American University Radio - For Personal Use Only
6hr 11min
Thumbnail for "The Story Of One Woman's Decision To End Her Life".
After years of battling a mysterious illness, Diana Williams chose to end her life with the help of Dignitas, a “death with dignity” organization in Switzerland. Before she did, she talked to Diane about her agonizing choice, and what she called a life well lived and a death well planned.
May 23, 202441min 4sec
Thumbnail for "How Barbara Walters changed the news media for women -- and everyone else".
Journalist Susan Page talks about the woman who blazed a trail in television news – and changed the media forever. Her new book is "The Rulebreaker: The Life and Times of Barbara Walters."
June 20, 202429min 58sec
Thumbnail for "The push to remove "forever chemicals" from America's drinking water".
ProPublica's Sharon Lerner on the fight to get "forever chemicals" out of America's drinking water – and the story of how they got there in the first place.
June 13, 202433min 17sec
Thumbnail for "How Trump's guilty verdict shifted the race for president (if not the minds of the voters)".
The New Yorker's Susan Glasser on the aftermath of Trump's guilty verdict, Biden's attempt to take on immigration, and the GOP's new wave of attacks on the country's justice system.
June 6, 202435min 30sec
Thumbnail for "'The Spirit of America' vs. 'America First': Revisiting FDR's war of words with Charles Lindbergh".
In 1939 fascism was spreading around the world and America was at a crossroads. President Franklin D. Roosevelt argued for intervention while famed aviator Charles Lindbergh led a fierce isolationist movement with the slogan "America First." The former director of FDR's presidential library tells the story in a new book, "Awakening the Spirit of America."
May 30, 202439min 58sec
Thumbnail for "How U.S. Public Schools Became Political Battlegrounds".
Three years ago, conservative activists took over the school board in a small suburb in Texas. NBC News investigative reporter Mike Hixenbaugh has been following the story ever since. He says what happened in Southlake inspired a movement that threatens to undermine public education in America.
May 16, 202435min 55sec
Thumbnail for "The Role Of Third-Party Candidates In The 2024 Election".
About half of American voters say, if given the chance, they would replace both Trump and Biden on the ballot. While nearly two-thirds agree with the statement that “a third major party is needed.” Washington Post's Michael Scherer discusses what these attitudes mean for the 2024 race for the White House.
May 9, 202435min 10sec
Thumbnail for "Will Trump And Biden Debate This Election? Does It Matter?".
To debate or not to debate? That has been an ongoing question in this year's presidential campaign. But last week Joe Biden said he'd be willing to share the stage with Donald Trump, making a face-off before November likely. Diane turns to an expert on presidential debates to look at their history and examine whether they are still relevant in today's political climate.
May 3, 202437min 49sec
Thumbnail for "Can We Engineer Our Way Out Of Catastrophic Climate Change?".
As the effects of climate change become increasingly obvious, ideas once thought of as radical are becoming part of the mainstream debate. Cristopher Flavelle of the New York Times explains the promise and perils of geoengineering.
April 25, 202440min 12sec
Thumbnail for "A Call To Rethink American Leadership: "We Must Stop Outsourcing Responsibility For Our Democracy"".
Rethinking leadership in the U.S. Black Studies professor Eddie S. Glaude Jr. says Americans have looked to the political class to create a just democracy for too long – and it hasn't worked. In a new book he argues that we are the leaders we have been looking for and explains what that means for the 2024 election.
April 18, 202441min 53sec

The Story Of One Woman's Decision To End Her Life

Thumbnail for "The Story Of One Woman's Decision To End Her Life".
May 23, 202441min 4sec

Diana Williams lived a rich life by any measure. She was a wife, a mother, a traveler, and the founder of a job training organization at San Quentin prison in California. 

But for three decades, Williams was plagued by mysterious symptoms. These included exhaustion, night sweats, brain fog, and throbbing headaches and chills that left her bedridden for days. 

Specialists diagnosed her with a series of maladies such as multiple sclerosis, Lyme disease, and toxic mold exposure. They prescribed grueling treatments that took up time, money, and ultimately proved unsuccessful. 

Williams eventually decided enough was enough. In January of this year, she traveled to Dignitas, a “death with dignity” group in Switzerland, and ended her life. 

In December 2023, just weeks before her “death date,” Williams joined Diane for a conversation about her agonizing choice and why she felt it was so important to tell her story of “a life well lived, a death well planned.”

You can read more about Diana Williams’s story in her posthumously published memoir, “Traveling Solo.”