From American Rhetoric comes the top 100 speeches with text and mp3 audio(a few have real audio. Bummer).
My favorite speech of all time came in at number 6.
One other thing I probably should tell you, because if I don’t they’ll probably be saying this about me, too. We did get something, a gift, after the election. A man down in Texas heard Pat on the radio mention the fact that our two youngsters would like to have a dog. And believe it or not, the day before we left on this campaign trip we got a message from Union Station in Baltimore, saying they had a package for us. We went down to get it. You know what it was? It was a little cocker spaniel dog, in a crate that he had sent all the way from Texas, black and white, spotted, and our little girl Tricia, the six year old, named it Checkers. And you know, the kids, like all kids, love the dog, and I just want to say this, right now, that regardless of what they say about it, we’re gonna keep it.
(via Drikoland)
Update:
I should have posted it as the Top 100 Speeches of the 20th Century. This is what they say about the list.
THE TOP 100 SPEECHES is an index to and partial database of full text transcriptions of the 100 most significant American political speeches of the 20th century, according to a list compiled by Professors Stephen E. Lucas and Martin J. Medhurst. Dr. Lucas is Evjue-Bascom Professor in the Humanities and Professor of Communication Arts at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Dr. Medhurst is Distinguished Professor of Rhetoric and Communication at Baylor University (Texas). 137 leading scholars of American public address were asked to recommend speeches on the basis of social and political impact, and rhetorical artistry. Read the news release and an itemization of the published list for more information.
Comments
5 Comments so far. Leave a comment below.hmm… no gettysburg address… no “a house divided”, but we get anita hill. a little questionable.
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It looks like the top 100 of the 20th century. “I have been to the Mountaintop” gives me chills every time I hear it.
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The Gettysburg Address reigns supreme for me. Oh, to again have the days where the Presidents themselves actually wrote their speeches.
I remember being at Gettysburg when they had the eraly drafts of the address that Lincoln actually penned while taking the train north. That man had a way with words that is lacking greatly with pretty much everyone nowadays.
Short, simple, to the point, an awe-inspiring. What a great speech.
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The speech was so short that the photographer didn’t even have a chance to take a picture. I think the only picture is of Lincoln going to sit down.
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And it’s a distant shot, too, not really “of Lincoln” at all.
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/gadd/images/platform.jpg
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