Barack Obama’s 2009 Inauguration Speech Given on January 20, 2009, in Washington DC My fellow citizens: I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you’ve bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation – as well as the… Read More
Category: Speeches
Barack Obama’s 2004 Democratic Convention Speech Delivered on July 27, 2004 at The Fleet Center, in Boston, Massachusetts. Michelle, I love you. The other night, I think the entire country saw just how lucky I am. Malia and Sasha, you make me so proud…but don’t get any ideas, you’re still going to class tomorrow. And… Read More
George W. Bush 9/11 Speech Mr. Speaker, Mr. President Pro Tempore, members of Congress, and fellow Americans: In the normal course of events, presidents come to this chamber to report on the state of the Union. Tonight, no such report is needed. It has already been delivered by the American people. We have seen it… Read More
President Bill Clinton – I Have Sinned Speech September 11, 1998 Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the White House and to this day to which Hillary and the vice president and I look forward so much every year. This is always an important day for our country, for the reasons that… Read More
1996 State of the Union Address by President William Jefferson Clinton, on January 23, 1996 Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, members of the 104th Congress, distinguished guests, my fellow Americans all across our land: Let me begin tonight by saying to our men and women in uniform around the world, and especially those helping peace… Read More
“Remarks at the Brandenburg Gate” by Ronald Reagan, on June 12, 1987, in Berlin Chancellor Kohl, Governing Mayor Diepgen, ladies and gentlemen: Twenty four years ago, President John F. Kennedy visited Berlin, and speaking to the people of this city and the world at the city hall. Well since then two other presidents have come,… Read More
Address to the Nation on the Challenger by Ronald Reagan, on January 28, 1986, in Washington, DC Ladies and Gentlemen, I’d planned to speak to you tonight to report on the state of the Union, but the events of earlier today have led me to change those plans. Today is a day for mourning and… Read More
“40th Anniversary of D-Day” Speech by Ronald Reagan, on June 6, 1984, in Pointe du Hoc, France We’re here to mark that day in history when the Allied armies joined in battle to reclaim this continent to liberty. For 4 long years, much of Europe had been under a terrible shadow. Free nations had fallen,… Read More
Jimmy Carter – Crisis of Confidence Malaise Speech Good evening. This is a special night for me. Exactly 3 years ago, on July 15, 1976, I accepted the nomination of my party to run for President of the United States. I promised you a President who is not isolated from the people, who feels your… Read More
President Gerald R. Ford – Nixon Pardon September 8, 1974 Ladies and Gentlemen: I have come to a decision which I felt I should tell you and all of my fellow American citizens, as soon as I was certain in my own mind and in my own conscience that it is the right thing to… Read More
The Americans: A Canadian’s Opinion By Gordon Sinclair Originally written for a regular broadcast on CFRB radio in Toronto on June 5, 1973. This Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as most generous and possibly the least appreciated people on all the earth. Germany, Japan and, to a lesser extent,… Read More
By John F. Kennedy President Pitzer, Mr. Vice President, Governor, Congressman Thomas, Senator Wiley, and Congressman Miller, Mr. Webb, Mr. Bell, scientists, distinguished guests, and ladies and gentlemen: I appreciate your president having made me an honorary visiting professor, and I will assure you that my first lecture will be very brief. I am delighted… Read More
Duty, Honor, Country by General Douglas MacArthur His Sylvanus Thayer Award Acceptance Address on May 12, 1962 General Westmoreland, General Grove, distinguished guests, and gentlemen of the Corps! As I was leaving the hotel this morning, a doorman asked me, “Where are you bound for, General?” And when I replied, “West Point,” he remarked, “Beautiful… Read More
We Choose To Go To The Moon by President John F. Kennedy May 25, 1961 We’re here to mark that day in history when the Allied armies joined in battle to reclaim this continent to liberty. For four long years, much of Europe had been under a terrible shadow. Free nations had fallen, Jews cried… Read More
Inauguration Address by John F. Kennedy on January 20, 1961, in Washington, DC Vice President Johnson, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chief Justice, President Eisenhower, Vice President Nixon, President Truman, reverend clergy, fellow citizens: We observe today not a victory of party but a celebration of freedom – symbolizing an end as well as a beginning –… Read More
Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Farewell Address Given on January 17, 1961, in Washington, D.C. My fellow Americans: Three days from now, after half a century in the service of our country, I shall lay down the responsibilities of office as, in traditional and solemn ceremony, the authority of the Presidency is vested in my successor. This… Read More
Checkers Speech by Richard M. Nixon, given on September 23, 1952 My Fellow Americans, I come before you tonight as a candidate for the Vice-presidency and as a man whose honesty and integrity has been questioned. Now, the usual political thing to do when charges are made against you is to either ignore them or… Read More
“Farewell Address to Congress” by General Douglas MacArthur, on April 19, 1951, in Washington, DC Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, and Distinguished Members of the Congress: I stand on this rostrum with a sense of deep humility and great pride- humility in the wake of those great American architects of our history who have stood here… Read More
Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech by William Faulkner on December 10, 1950, in Stockholm, Sweden I feel that this award was not made to me as a man, but to my work-a life’s work in the agony and sweat of the human spirit, not for glory and least of all for profit, but to create out… Read More
The Jewel Voice Broadcast The Jewel Voice Broadcast was the radio broadcast in which Japanese Emperor Hirohito read out the Imperial Rescript on the Termination of the Greater East Asia War, announcing to the Japanese people that the Japanese Government had accepted the Potsdam Declaration demanding the unconditional surrender of the Japanese military to the… Read More
“Quit India” by Mahatma Gandhi, on August 8, 1942; India Before you discuss the resolution, let me place before you one or two things, I want you to understand two things very clearly and to consider them from the same point of view from which I am placing them before you. I ask you to… Read More
“Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation” by Franklin Delano Roosevelt December 8, 1941, Washington, D.C. Mr. Vice President, Mr. Speaker, Members of the Senate, and of the House of Representatives: Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 – a date which will live in infamy – the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval… Read More
“Blood, Sweat, and Tears” by Winston Churchill May 13, 1940; House of Commons, London, EnglandMister Speaker, on Friday evening last I received His Majesty’s commission to form a new Administration. It was the evident wish and will of Parliament and the nation that this should be conceived on the broadest possible basis and that it… Read More
“The Appeal of 18 June” by Charles de Gaulle, on June 18, 1940 President Hoover, Mr. Chief Justice, my friends: This is a day of national consecration. And I am certain that on this day my fellow Americans expect that on my induction into the Presidency, I will address them with a candor and a… Read More
“Their Finest Hour” by Winston Churchill, on June 18, 1940, at House of Commons, London I spoke the other day of the colossal military disaster which occurred when the French High Command failed to withdraw the northern Armies from Belgium at the moment when they knew that the French front was decisively broken at Sedan… Read More
We Shall Fight on the Beaches by Winston Churchill, on June 4, 1940 at The House of Commons, London From the moment that the French defenses at Sedan and on the Meuse were broken at the end of the second week of May, only a rapid retreat to Amiens and the south could have saved… Read More
Lou Gehrig’s Farewell to Baseball Address On July 4, 1939, at Yankee Stadium Henry Louis Gehrig, (born Heinrich Ludwig Gehrig, June 19, 1903 – June 2, 1941), nicknamed “the Iron Horse,” was a MLB first baseman who played his entire professional career (17 seasons) for the New York Yankees, from 1923 until 1939. Fans, for… Read More
Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s First Inaugural Address Given on March 4, 1933, in Washington, DC I am certain that my fellow Americans expect that on my induction into the Presidency I will address them with a candor and a decision which the present situation of our Nation impels. This is preeminently the time to speak the… Read More
“Citizenship In A Republic/ The Man In The Arena” by Theodore Roosevelt Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, France on April 23, 1910Strange and impressive associations rise in the mind of a man from the New World who speaks before this august body in this ancient institution of learning. Before his eyes pass the shadows of… Read More
“The Man with the Muck-rake” by President Theodore Roosevelt, on April 14, 1906, in Washington, D.C. *Given as President Roosevelt laid the cornerstone of the office of the House of Representatives [1] Over a century ago Washington laid the corner stone of the Capitol in what was then little more than a tract of wooded… Read More