Greatest Speeches

[Duke]

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yeah, I'm wondering why Reagan's Challenger speech is so high...it was nice, but not incredible.

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That "tough the face of god" line in there was pretty solid, Reagan was a popular president, and it came after a very memorable disaster.

[Miamipuck]

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You moved me to Wiki Ol' Winnie's speeches. Wiki says that around the time of the "Blood, toil, tears, and sweat" speech, he also had a couple of other speeches that include familiar phrases that I find even more moving:

I have, myself, full confidence that if all do their duty, if nothing is neglected, and if the best arrangements are made, as they are being made, we shall prove ourselves once again able to defend our Island home, to ride out the storm of war, and to outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary for years, if necessary alone.

Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the Old.

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What General Weygand called the Battle of France is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilisation. Upon it depends our own British life, and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this Island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, "This was their finest hour."

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Churchill was right up there with Lincoln as far as great speech writers go. The "This was their finest hour." always gives me goose bumps listening to it.

[Blarg]

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yeah, I'm wondering why Reagan's Challenger speech is so high...it was nice, but not incredible.

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He's more or less deified in this country. If it wasn't that speech, it would have been another.

[Low Key]

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All I know is that any great speech is always followed by:
...............clap............................... ................clap...........
...............clap................clap........... ....clap...........clap........
..clap........clap.....clap....clap...clap..clap.c lapclapclapclapclapclapclap

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I don't know that Dr. King's speech would have worked out so well if it ended with a swelling single clap thing like this. It's a hilariously text representation none the less, though, Kudos!

[JoeDimaggio]

I wouldn't really consider this speech by Hitler good in any idealistic way... but it is one of the more dramatic or powerful speeches (not for the right reasons) of the 20th century http://youtube.com/watch?v=vCBXcnndhJU

[Blarg]

His astounding talent is testified to by the fact that for more than 50 years it was virtually impossible to see his speeches with subtitles.