In our own words: extraordinary speeches of the American century

1900-1909. Virtues of great oratory / Don P. Halsey

America's right to subjugate / Albert J. Beveridge

American "Imperialism" / George F. Hoar

George Washington's birthday / Jane Addams

Justifying "honest graft" / George Washington Plunkitt (Tammany Hall)

Condemning the "muckrakers" / Theodore Roosevelt

"Does God care?" (San Francisco earthquake) / Donald Sage

Battle for humanity / W.E.B. Du Bois

Warning against confronation / Booker T. Washington

Smoking, drinking, and lying / Mark Twain

Lynchings and "mob murder" in America

Ida B. Wells-Barnett

Peace between the tribes / Chief Plenty Coup

White supremacy ; Jack Johnson-Jim Jeffries boxing match / Reverdy Ransom.

1910-1919. Patriotism, a menace to liberty / Emma Goldman

The Triangle shirtwaist fire / Rose Schneiderman

The Titanic's last hours / Mrs. D.H. Bishop

Worker bonuses / Henry Ford

Our declaration of war / Woodrow Wilson

One last hard fight for suffrage / Carrie Chapman Catt

Fourteen points / Woodrow Wilson

German-American loyalty to the U.S. / James W. Gerard

"Disloyalty and sedition" defense / Eugene V. Debs

League of Nations / Anna Howard Shaw

Rejecting the League of Nations / Henry Cabot Lodge

William Randolph Hearst / Alfred E. Smith.

1920-1929. Alcohol: God's worst enemy / Billy Sunday

Prohibition debate / Will Rogers

1919 World Series / Edward Prindeville

Communism / Helen Keller

Birth control / Margaret Sanger

Yellowstone National Park / Warren G. Harding

Common ground with the Ku Klux Klan / Marcus Garvey

No prisoner beyond hope / Maud Ballington

Spare their lives / Clarence Darrow

Darwin's theory / William Jennings Bryan

Theology and science in the schools / Dudley Field Malone

I'm innocent / Nicola Sacco

Farewell to Chicago / Al Capone

Abolition of poverty / Herbert Hoover.

1940-1949. Nazi air attacks on London / Edward R. Murrow

We must defend the world against Nazism / Franklin D. Roosevelt

African American contributions to society / Duke Ellington

The German army / Charles Lindbergh

A world controlled by Hitler / Dorothy Thompson

Declaration of war against Japan / Franklin D. Roosevelt

Equality at home / Pearl Buck

D-day apology / Dwight D. Eisenhower

Order of the day at Normandy beaches / Dwight D. Eisenhower

War as competition / George S. Patton

Death of FDR / Harry S. Truman.

1950-1959. Battle against Communist sympathizers / Joseph McCarthy

A warning against those who use "fear, ignorance, bigotry .. for political gain / Margaret Chase Smith

Man will prevail / William Faulkner

The firing of MacArthur / Harry S. Truman

Actions in the Korean War / Douglas MacArthur

Democratic party accomplishments / Adlai Stevenson

Use of campaign funds / Richard M. Nixon

Separate but equal / John W. Davis

Separate but equal / Thurgood Marshall

Has the United Nations failed? / Eleanor Roosevelt

Beauty of the earth / Rachel Carson

Buildings beneficial to humankind / Frank Lloyd Wright

Inspired by Sputnik / Homer Hickam

What is the "Beat generation"? / Jack Kerouac

Honoring Abraham Lincoln / Carl Sandburg

Make any sacrifice to win / Vince Lombardi.

1960-1969. Message of peace / Dwight D. Eisenhower

War against poverty / John F. Kennedy

The Cuban missile crisis / John F. Kennedy

Segregation now! / George Wallace

Failures of communism / John F. Kennedy

End segregation and discrimination / Martin Luther King

Eulogies for four little black girls / Martin Luther King

No such thing as a nonviolent revolution / Malcolm X

A tribute to Robert Frost / John F. Kennedy

A final prayer for President John Kennedy / Richard Cushing

Air action against North Vietnam / Lyndon B. Johnson

Extremism in defense of liberty / Barry Goldwater

Stifling free speech at Berkeley / Mario Savio

The great society / Lyndon Johnson.

1970-1979. Atrocities at My Lai / Herbert L. Carter

The war in Vietnam / John Kerry

Kent State shootings / Dorothy Fuldheim

Attica prisoners' demands / L.D. Barkley

Why abortions should be legal / Sarah Weddington

Pro-Communist radio messages / Jane Fonda

Cease-fire / Richard M. Nixon

Draft resister amnesty / Pat Simon

Impeachment of Richard Nixon / Barbara Jordan

Nixon farewell / Richard M. Nixon

Pardoning Nixon / Gerald R. Ford

Life on other planets / Carl Sagan

Voyager spacecraft message / Jimmy Carter

Judge as member of White racist establishment / Leonard Peltier

Literature to uplift the spirit / Isaac Bashevis Singer

The women's movement / Phyllis Schlafly

Crisis of confidence / Jimmy Carter.

1980-1989. Make America great again / Ronald Reagan

Museum of the Plains white person / Rayna Green

Passenger plane shooting by the Soviet Union / Jeanne Kirkpatrick

Vision of the future / Samantha Smith

Shining city on a hill / Mario Cuomo

Warning labels on recordings / Susan Baker

More on warning labels / Frank Zappa

President Reagan's visit to a Nazi officer's cemetery / Elie Wiesel

The Challenger explosion / Ronald Reagan

Seek wealth / Ivan Boesky

The Iran-Contra scandal / Oliver North

Keep hope alive! / Jesse Jackson

Living with AIDS / Ryan White

Drug abuse / Patricia Godley.

1990-1999 (cont.) Gun control / Sarah Brady

The second amendment / Charlton Heston

Our dependence on technology / Bill Henderson

Apology to the American people / Bill Clinton

Triumphs and turmoils of the 20th century / Tom Brokaw.

1990-1999. Tiananmen Square / Shen Tong

Air attack in Iraq / George Bush

Sexual harassment denied / Clarence Thomas

Sexual harassment / Anita Hill

L.A. riots / Cecil L. Murray

Tribute to 442nd Regiment / Daniel Inouye

What Martin Luther King would say today / Bill Clinton

The role of the arts / Barbra Streisand

The mystery of evil / Billy Graham

Common ground / Elizabeth Birch

Simpson defense / Johnny Cochrane.

Japanese surrender / Douglas MacArthur

Morality and science / J. Robert Oppenheimer

Nuremberg trial / Robert H. Jackson

Liberation from the Nazi camp / Hadassah Rosensaft

A homeland in Palestine / Abba Hillel Silver

Marshall plan / George Marshall

The Soviet Union / Paul Robeson

Comments on Robeson's remarks (House Un-American Activities) / Jackie Robinson.

Pass the Voting Rights Act / Lyndon B. Johnson

Only "clean cut" men in the FBI / J. Edgar Hoover

Limiting the war in Vietnam / Lyndon B. Johnson

Why sacrifice is necessary / Cesar Chavez

Robert F. Kennedy calms a mostly black crowd after informing them that Martin Luther King Jr. has been assassinated

Eulogy for Robert F. Kennedy / Ted Kennedy

Christmas Eve message from Apollo 8

People and peace, not profits and war / Shirley Anita St. Hill

Constructive protest / Diane Rodham

Those who oppose the war in Vietnam / Spiro Agnew

Why the feminist movement is imperative / Betty Friedan.

Suffering in the Depression / Oscar Ameringer

Advice on life and death / Oliver Wendell Holmes

Knute Rockne eulogy / Charles L. O'Donnell

Herbert Hoover / Walter W. Waters

Inspiration and courage / Franklin D. Roosevelt

Golden Gate Bridge / Joseph Strauss

African American women / Mary McLeod Bethune

Share our wealth / Huey P. Long

Live report of Hindenburg disaster / Herb Morrison

Big business brutality and oppression / John L. Lewis

No Martians / Orson Welles

The luckiest man / Lou Gehrig.