Greatest Speeches

[Sholar]

I recently came across http://www.americanrhetoric.com/top100speechesall.html -- in short, a list of 100 great speeches from 20th century America. The speeches tend to be mainly political, but I guess those are the only kind of speeches that are really ever noteworthy.

One of the nice features of the site is that they have audio recordings of a great number of the addresses, and some of them are just wonderful to listen to.

Top of the list is Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech, and if you listen to a bunch of the addresses, I think that you would agree; he was certainly an exceptional speaker and speech writer.

But many of the other ones are speeches that I haven't heard before, or only read, or read about. I'll mention two more I found particularly enjoyable: Nixon's Checkers speech stands out; it is a true act of political genius.

Welch's exchange with McCarthy "Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?" is given more or less in full. It is, I think, a reasonably famous exchange, but if you listen to it, the tone may surprise you; it certainly was not what I expected. (A longer transcript is here http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6444).

I'd be curious to know of other online repositories of speeches such as this, or if there are any classics that you think should have made the list.

[Abones]

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/spee...oespyaward.htm

This is my favorite non-political speech of all time. It still hits my heart.

[diebitter]

I'm hijacking this thread with a great speech made by a non-American. This is Winston Churchill's 1st speech as Prime Minister, having been installed in office after the UK had declared war on the Nazis. Despite being ill-prepared at this time, the UK was put centre stage in this war as the Nazis ran rampant, successfully, all over Europe. It was a bleak time in Britain with worse to come (the Blitz for example), but Churchill was one of our greatest assets. From that first speech:

I would say to the House, as I said to those who have joined this government: "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat."

We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering. You ask, what is our policy? I can say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival. Let that be realised; no survival for the British Empire, no survival for all that the British Empire has stood for, no survival for the urge and impulse of the ages, that mankind will move forward towards its goal. But I take up my task with buoyancy and hope. I feel sure that our cause will not be suffered to fail among men. At this time I feel entitled to claim the aid of all, and I say, "come then, let us go forward together with our united strength."

[odellthurman]

That americanrhetoric website is one of the best sites on the web.

A lot of people will dismiss this b/c of their knee-jerk reaction to the mention of his name, but Al Sharpton's speech at the 2004 Democratic convention is incredible. The guy is a great great speaker, even if you dislike him personally or disagree with his politics. Check it out at http://www.americanrhetoric.com/spee...ton2004dnc.htm

[Wynton]

Nice list. The Cuomo speech of 1984 is particularly memorable for me, because I was watching it live.

In fact, though these speeches may all sound great now, the different context makes it hard to appreciate them in their fullest. When Cuomo made that speech in 1984, the Democratic party was totally demoralized. Reagan had just made his own, well-received speech at the Republican convention, about the "shining city on a hill." Cuomo's speech was an effective response. It was as if he reminded the Democrats what they were supposed to believe in.

Of course, they proceeded to get demolished in the election, but that doesn't detract from the speech any.

[gharp]

Wow, this is a great site. The "I have a dream" speech gives me chills just reading it.

[odellthurman]

[ QUOTE ]
Wow, this is a great site. The "I have a dream" speech gives me chills just reading it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Does anyone know if there is a way to put speeches from americanrhetoric onto iTunes and thus onto my iPod? I am somewhat computer illiterate, so this may be a dumb question.

[gharp]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Wow, this is a great site. The "I have a dream" speech gives me chills just reading it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Does anyone know if there is a way to put speeches from americanrhetoric onto iTunes and thus onto my iPod? I am somewhat computer illiterate, so this may be a dumb question.

[/ QUOTE ]

Looks like you can right-click on the 'Audio' link from americanrhetoric.com and save the .mp3 file right to your computer. From there I'm not too familiar with iTunes, but you can probably just drag it into the playlist window or else use the 'File..Open' option (assuming it has one).

[OrigamiSensei]

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

[daveT]

I helped write the presidential acceptance speech for some African president in 2005. I think it was Namibia, but I can't find it on-line.

Looking for help on this one if anyone is bored.