(419 words) William Lyon Phelps (1865-1943) was an American educator, literary critic and author. On April 6, 1933, in response to the Nazi burning of books containing “un-German” ideas, he delivered the following radio address: The Speech (excerpted) The habit … More ☛
(238 words) Susan B. Anthony had been arrested for voting in Rochester, New York in the 1872 elections, violating state laws that allowed only men to vote. During her criminal trial, Anthony argued that she had the right to vote … More ☛
(353 words) “Ain’t I a Woman?” was an extemporaneous speech given by Sojourner Truth (1797–1883), who was born into slavery in New York State. After gaining her freedom in 1827, she became a well-known anti-slavery speaker. This address was given … More ☛
(366 words) Patrick Henry gave his famous speech to the Second Virginia Convention on March 23, 1775, at St. John’s Church in Richmond, Virginia, which convinced the convention to muster troops for the Revolutionary War. According to Edmund Randolph, the … More ☛
(272 words) The New York Yankees honored Lou Gehrig two months after the great first baseman found out that ALS had robbed him of his physical abilities. On July 4, 1939, Yankee Stadium was packed with 61,000 fans. When the … More ☛
(316 words) Josephine Baker was a showgirl in 1920s and ’30s Paris who retired her skimpy costumes to serve in the French Resistance before becoming an international superstar. She was the only woman to speak at Dr. Martin Luther King, … More ☛
(378 words) In his 1961 inaugural address, John F. Kennedy challenged America to join him in the struggle for freedom during the Cold War. Nearly a million people braved freezing temperatures to see the new President. The issues of the … More ☛
(385 words) Douglas MacArthur’s acceptance of the Thayer Award speech before the Corps of Cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, on May 12, 1962, offers excellent examples of the “rule of threes.” Almost every paragraph … More ☛
Abraham Lincoln‘s famous Gettysburg address has been recorded by numerous orators over the years, including Orson Welles, but few of these works suggest that the speakers did anything more than read with conviction. How do you reconstruct a speech that … More ☛
(308 words) “We Shall Fight on the Beaches” is a small portion of a longer speech delivered by Winston Churchill to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom on June 4, 1940 during the Second Word … More ☛
