Greatest Speeches in American History. (bomb, Lincoln, assassin, assassination)

[OC Investor2]

Reagan's speech at Normandy in 1984, also "Tear down this Wall" in Berlin. His speech at the GOP convention in 1964 was a real political stemwinder as well, but probably not an American great.

Douglas Macarthur's "Duty,Honor, Country" lecture at USMA after he retired. Also his speech after accepting Japan's surrender on the Might Mo in 1945.

Even though I did'nt vote for him, I think Obama's speech on race after the Rev Wright stuff started to catch fire was a great speech. Too bad he did'nt follow through on the discussion he started. Probably will be remembered as his "Checkers" speech

[TonyT]

A few speeches that come to mind:

Adlai Stevenson accepting the Democratic Party Presidential Nomination in 1952

Lou Gehrig saying "goodbye" to baseball

Newton Minow's speech in 1961 in which he referred to television as "a vast wasteland"

Red Skelton commenting on the meaning of each word of the "Pledge of Allegiance"

Richard Nixon speaking about "The Great Silent Majority"

Spiro Agnew on "Television News Coverage"

Warren Harding's "Readjustment" speech about America in the aftermath of World War I

[stillkit]

I thought G.W. Bushs' speech at the national memorial service after 9/11 was a zinger.

Too bad he followed that up with such reckless, irresponsible actions.

[Moth]

Originally Posted by Peggy Anne

Michael Parenti got my attention more than a few times, but most people have never heard him.

Quotes by Michael Parenti

Actually, I have. During my college/leftist days, I was a big fan and read some of his books. Although more to the right now, I still respect the man.

[jtur88]

There are a couple of rather infamous ones:

Ray Nagin's "Chocolate City" speech, and DeGaulle's "Vive le Quebec Libre".

There are a some examples of "no brainer" speeches for which people became quite renowned, like FDR's "Four Freedoms".

[Da Grouch]

FDR's "Day of Infamy"





YouTube - WWII, Day of Infamy Speech


Of course, I have a cousin entombed aboard the USS Arizona - so I suppose I'm somewhat biased.

[oldblue125]

mario savio during the Berkeley free speech movement:

"There's a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious—makes you so sick at heart—that you can't take part. You can't even passively take part.
"And you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop.
"And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all." – Sproul Hall Steps, December 2, 1964

[jtur88]

Originally Posted by oldblue125

mario savio during the Berkeley free speech movement:

"There's a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious—makes you so sick at heart—that you can't take part. You can't even passively take part.
"And you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop.
"And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all." – Sproul Hall Steps, December 2, 1964

Excellent choice. Even more relevant today than it was then.

[texdav]

Certainly kennedy's speech calling people to serve their country was a great one.Certainly is loss today. Reagan's berlin speech was also a great one that set the tone for his vision.Other than that I really don't see any modern speech that are really great or rememebered really. Through out the past there were many great speeches given.I always expected Clinton to give a great speech as he was a very good speaker but his subject matter just never got to that level.Great events are when great speeches are made and why they are remmebered.

[jtur88]

For a long time Bartlett's Familiar Quotations was at my fingertips as one of my favorites for casual reading. Some years laters, I happened across a newer edition of it, and, since the authors are arranged chronologically, it was easy to glance at the back and see the most recent entries. I was dunbfounded. Nearly all the entries from the late 20-th century were things like 'Ich bin ein Berliner" and "Where's the beef?" and "Strawberry Fields Forever". Very few were sentences long enough to contain a subject, verb and object. I expect the next edition to have "I'll be back" and "There you go again" and "Get off the island" and "LOL" and "I did not have sexual relations with that woman".

What has happened to our society's capacity to create an entire paragraph that reflects an eloquent and articulate thought process?

In the past few decades, perhaps the longest off-the-cuff quotation that is worthy of note was "I knew Jack Kennedy---I was a friend of Jack Kennedy. Senator, you are no Jack Kennedy". (Lloyd Bentsen, in case you've forgotten).