The Top 10
Speeches of the
20th Century
As determined by 137
public address scholars
in a study performed by
Texas A & M and
University of WisconsinMadison.
1. “I Have a Dream”
Martin Luther King, Jr.
August 28, 1963
Washington, DC
I have a dream that my four little children
will one day live in a nation where they will
not be judged by the color of their skin but
by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/democrac/38.htm
2. Inaugural Address
John F. Kennedy
January 20, 1961
Washington, DC
And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what
your country can do for you--ask what you
can do for your country.
My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what
America will do for you, but what together we
can do for the freedom of man.
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/presiden/inaug/kennedy.htm
3. First Inaugural Address
Franklin D. Roosevelt
March 4, 1933
Washington, DC
We face the arduous days that lie before us in the
warm courage of national unity; with the clear
consciousness of seeking old and precious moral
values; with the clean satisfaction that comes from
the stern performance of duty by old and young alike.
We aim at the assurance of a rounded and permanent
national life.
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=14473
4. War Message
Franklin D. Roosevelt
December 8, 1948
Washington, DC
Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date
which will live in infamy—the United
States of American was suddenly and
deliberately attacked by naval and air forces
of the Empire of Japan.
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5166/
5. Keynote Speech to the
Democratic National
Convention
Barbara Jordan
July 12, 1976
New York, NY
That we will cease to be one nation and become instead a
collection of interest groups: city against suburb, region against
region, individual against individual. Each seeking to satisfy
private wants.
If that happens, who then will speak for America?
Who then will speak for the common good?
http://www.infoplease.com/t/hist/jordan-1976dnc/
6. “My Side of the Story”
(“Checkers”)
Richard M. Nixon
September 23, 1952
Los Angeles, CA
I have a theory, too, that the best and only answer to a
smear or to an honest misunderstanding of the facts is to
tell the truth. And that's why I'm here tonight. I want to
tell you my side of the case.
http://www.watergate.info/nixon/checkers-speech.shtml
7. “The Ballot or the
Bullet”
Malcolm X
April 3, 1964
Cleveland, OH
“No, if you never see me another time in
your life, if I die in the morning, I'll die
saying one thing: the ballot or the bullet,
the ballot or the bullet.”
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/065.html
8. Address to the
Nation on the
Challenger
Ronald Reagan
January 28, 1986
Washington, DC
And I want to say something to the school children of America
who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle's takeoff. I
know it is hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like
this happen. It's all part of the process of exploration and
discovery. It's all part of taking a chance and expanding man's
horizons. The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it
belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into
the future, and we'll continue to follow them.
http://www.reaganfoundation.org/reagan/speeches/challenger.asp
9. Speech to the Greater
Houston Ministerial
Association
John F. Kennedy
September 12, 1960
Houston, TX
For while this year it may be a Catholic against whom the finger
of suspicion is pointed, in other years it has been -- and may
someday be again -- a Jew, or a Quaker, or a Unitarian, or a
Baptist. It was Virginia's harassment of Baptist preachers, for
example, that led to Jefferson's statute of religious freedom.
Today, I may be the victim, but tomorrow it may be you -- until
the whole fabric of our harmonious society is ripped apart at a
time of great national peril.
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/jfkhoustonministers.html
10. Address to
Congress on the
Voting Rights Act
Lyndon B. Johnson
March 15, 1965
Washington, DC
I want to be the President who educated young children to the wonders of
their world.
I want to be the President who helped to feed the hungry and to prepare them
to be taxpayers instead of taxeaters.
I want to be the President who helped the poor to find their own way and who
protected the right of every citizen to vote in every election.
I want to be the President who helped to end hatred among his fellow men and
who promoted love among the people of all races and all regions and all
parties.
I want to be the President who helped to end war among the brothers of this
earth.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/presidents/36_l_johnson/psources/ra_voting.html
Submitted by Andrew Herscher,
Southern Illinois University of
Edwardsville