Presents a collection of oratory including sermons, speeches, courtroom arguments, radio broadcasts, eulogies, and commencement addresses.

1900-1909 -- Don P. Halsey Extols the Virtues of Great Oratory -- Senator Albert J. Beveridge Defends America's Right to Subjugate "Savage" Peoples and Foreign Governments -- Senator George F. Hoar Denounces American "Imperialism" -- Jane Addams Offers an Impassioned Tribute to George Washington on the Anniversary of His Birthday -- Tammany Hall Politician George Washington Plunkitt Justifies "Honest Graft" -- President Theodore Roosevelt Condemns the "Muckrakers" Who Smear and Slander Honest Men -- The Reverend Dr. Donald Sage Mackay Addresses the Question "Does God Care?" After an Earthquake Destroys San Francisco -- W. E. B. Du Bois Issues a Call to Arms to His Fellow African Americans in the "Battle for Humanity" -- Booker T. Washington Warns Against Confrontational Actions That May Do More Harm than Good -- Mark Twain Speaks to Misses Tewksbury's School for Girls on Smoking, Drinking, and Lying -- Ida B. Wells-Barnett Calls Attention to the Epidemic of Lynchings and "Mob Murder" in America -- Chief Plenty Coup Confers with His Tribal Council on Achieving Peace Between the Great Tribes of the United States -- The Reverend Reverdy Ransom on "White Supremacy" and an Upcoming Boxing Match Between Jack Johnson and Jim Jeffries -- 1910-1919 -- Anarchist Emma goldman Derides Patriotism as a "Menace to Liberty" -- Union Activist rose Schneiderman on the Deaths of 146 Workers in the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire -- Mrs. D. H. Bishop Offers a Harrowing Eyewitness Account of the Titanic's Last Hours -- Henry Ford Describes the Bonus He Has Provided His Workers and Its Intended Effects on Their Private Lives -- President Woodrow Wilson Requests a Declaration of War Against Germany -- Carrie Chapman Catt Urges the U.S. Congress to Make One "Last, Hard Fight" for Suffrage -- President Woodrow Wilson Enumerates the "Fourteen Points" That Will Ensure World Peace and "Justice to All Peoples and Nationalities" -- Ambassador James W. Gerard Encourages German Americans to Be Loyal to the United States-or Else -- Socialist Leader Eugene V. Debs Defends Himself in Court Against Charges of "Disloyalty" and "Sedition" -- The Reverend Dr. Anna Howard Shaw Beseeches Americans to Accept President Wilson's Proposal for a "League of Nations" -- Senator Henry Cabot Lodge Rejects the League and Its "Mongrel Banner" -- New York Governor Alfred E. Smith Assails the "Contemptible" Publishing Tycoon William Randolph Hearst -- 1920-1929 -- Evangelical Preacher Billy Sunday Excoriates Alcohol as "God's Worst Enemy" -- Will Rogers Skewers Both the "Wets" and the "Drys" in the Prohibition Debate -- Attorney Edward Prindeville Demands Imprisonment for Eight Chicago White Sox Players Who Intentionally Lost the 1919 World Series -- Helen Keller Emphatically Endorses Communism and the Russian Revolution -- Margaret Sanger Promotes Birth Control as an "Ethical Necessity for Humanity" -- President Warren G. Harding Marvels at the "Majesty" of Yellowstone National Park -- Black Leader Marcus Garvey Finds Common Ground with the Ku Klux Klan -- Maud Ballington Booth Expresses Her Belief That No Prisoner Is "Beyond Hope" -- Defense Attorney Clarence Darrow Implores the Court to Spare the Lives of Two Young Murderers -- William Jennings Bryan Scoffs at Darwin's Theory of Evolution -- Defense Attorney Dudley Field Malone Argues That Both "Theology and Science" Should Be Taught in Public Schools -- Nicola Sacco, Before His Execution, Restates His Innocence -- Al "Scarface" Capone Bids Farewell to Chicago and Laments Being Unappreciated for Showing Citizens a "Good Time" -- Republican Presidential Candidate Herbert Hoover Predicts the "Abolition of Poverty" in the United States. 1930-1939 -- Oscar Ameringer Describes Intolerable Suffering Throughout the United States as a Result of the Great Depression -- Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, on His Ninetieth Birthday, Offers Profound Advice on Life and Death -- Notre Dame President the Reverend Father Charles L. O'Donnell Eulogizes the Legendary Football Coach Knute Rockne -- Walter W. Waters, Leader of the "Bonus Expeditionary Forces," Rallies Americans Against President Herbert Hoover -- Newly Elected President Franklin D. Roosevelt Gives Inspiration and Courage to a Nation Overwhelmed by Poverty and Anxiety -- Joseph Strauss, Engineer of the Golden Gate Bridge, Celebrates the Bridge as a Symbol of "New Hopes and New Aspirations" -- Mary McLeod Bethune Commemorates the Sacrifices and Achievements of African American Women Over the Past 100 Years -- Populist Senator Huey P. Long Advances His "Share Our Wealth" Plan to Make "Every Man a King" -- Radio Broadcaster Herb Morrison Reports Live as the Hindenburg Explodes and Crashes to the Ground -- Union Leader John L. Lewis Excoriates Big Business for Its "Brutality and Oppression" Against Organized Labor -- Orson Welles Tries to Assure Terrified Listeners That They Are Not Being Attacked by Martians -- Baseball Great Lou Gehrig, Suffering from a Fatal Disease, Thanks His Fans and Considers Himself the "Luckiest Man on the Face of the Earth" -- 1940-1949 -- CBS Newsman Edward R. Murrow Describes Nazi Air Attacks on the City of London -- President Franklin D. Roosevelt Tries to Convince a Skeptical Nation Why It Must Defend the World Against Nazism -- Legendary Composer Duke Ellington Exalts the Artistic, Intellectual, and Spiritual Contributions Made by African Americans -- Famed Pilot Charles Lindbergh Argues That the United States Would Meet with "Defeat and Failure" Against the German Army -- Journalist Dorothy Thompson Imagines the Horror of a World Controlled by Adolf Hitler -- President Franklin D. Roosevelt Requests from Congress a Declaration of War Against Japan -- Nobel Laureate Pearl Buck Contends That to Defeat Fascism Abroad, Americans Must Fight for Equality at Home -- General Dwight D. Eisenhower Drafts a Message of Apology for His Failure at D-Day -- General Eisenhower Issues His "Order of the Day" to the Men Who Will Storm the Beaches of Normandy -- General George S. Patton Tells His Troops That War Is the "Most Magnificent Competition in Which a Human Being Can Indulge" -- President Harry S. Truman Addresses a Nation Grief-Stricken by the Death of Franklin D. Roosevelt -- President Truman Announces That an Atomic Bomb-the Largest Bomb Ever Used in the History of Warfare-Has Been Dropped on Japan -- General Douglas MacArthur Offers Words of Peace After Japan Signs the Official Declaration of Surrender -- J. Robert Oppenheimer, Creator of the Atomic Bomb, Beseeches His Colleagues Not to Forget Morality in Their Pursuit of Science -- Robert H. Jackson Demands a Verdict of Guilty for the Nazi Leaders on Trial at Nuremberg -- Holocaust Survivor Hadassah Rosensaft Describes the Day She Was Liberated from a Nazi Extermination Camp -- Zionist Leader Abba Hillel Silver Implores the United Nations to Authorize the Creation of a Homeland for Jews in Palestine -- Secretary of State George Marshall Announces a Plan to Save War-Ravaged Europe from Descending into "Chaos" -- World-Renowned Performer Paul Robeson Adamantly Defends His Love for the Soviet Union and Its Government -- Major-League Baseball Player Jackie Robinson Appears Before the House Un-American Activities Committee to Comment on Robeson's Remarks. 1950-1959 -- Senator Joseph McCarthy Launches a "Final, All-Out Battle" Against Communist Sympathizers in the United States -- Senator Margaret Chase Smith Warns Against Those Who Use "Fear, Ignorance, Bigotry, and Smear [Tactics]" for Political Gain -- Nobel Laureate William Faulkner Expresses His Heartfelt Belief That "Man Will Not Merely Endure: He Will Prevail" -- President Harry S. Truman Defends Sending Troops to Korea and Firing General Douglas MacArthur -- General MacArthur Explains His Actions in the Korean War and Refutes Charges of Being a "Warmonger" -- Democratic Governor Adlai Stevenson Reminds Members of His Party of All That They Have Accomplished in the Past Twenty Years -- Vice Presidential Candidate Richard M. Nixon Confronts Allegations That He Used Campaign Funds for His Personal Gain -- John W. Davis Contends That "Separate but Equal" Is a Matter for the Legislature, Not the Courts, to Decide -- NAACP Attorney Thurgood Marshall Argues That "Separate but Equal" Schools and Other Institutions Are Unconstitutional -- Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt Addresses the Question: "Hasn't the United Nations Failed?" -- Environmentalist Rachel Carson Muses on the "Exceeding Beauty of the Earth" and Its Effect on the Human Spirit -- Architect Frank Lloyd Wright Encourages His Students to Create Buildings That Are "Beneficial to Humankind" -- Homer Hickam Relates How Sputnik Inspired Him to Become a Rocket Engineer for NASA -- Jack Kerouac, in a Rare Public Appearance, Describes What the "Beat Generation" Is-and Is Not -- Poet Carl Sandburg, Before a Joint Session of Congress, Honors Abraham Lincoln on the 150th Anniversary of His Birth -- Green Bay Packers Coach Vince Lombardi Orders His Players to "Make Any Sacrifice to Win" -- 1960-1969 -- dwight D. Eisenhower Ends His Presidency with a Heartfelt Message of Peace and a Warning About the Growing "Military Establishment" in America -- President John F. Kennedy Summons the Nation and the World to Join Together in the Fight Against "Tyranny, Poverty, Disease, and War" -- President John F. Kennedy Informs Americans of the Installation of Nuclear Missiles in Cuba-a "Reckless and Provocative Threat to World Peace" -- Alabama Governor George Wallace Promises His State: "Segregation Now! Segregation Tomorrow! Segregation Forever!" -- Standing in Front of the Berlin Wall, President John F. Kennedy Reminds the World of the "Failures of Communism" -- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Electrifies a Nation with His Call for an End to Segregation and Racial Discrimination -- Dr. King Eulogizes Four Little Black Girls Murdered by the Ku Klux Klan -- Malcolm X Scoffs at Dr. King's Pacifism, Declaring: "There's No Such Thing as a Nonviolent Revolution" -- President John F. Kennedy Pays Tribute to the Poet Robert Frost and All of America's Writers and Artists -- Cardinal Richard Cushing Offers a Final Prayer for President John F. Kennedy, Slain by an Assassin's Bullet -- President Lyndon Johnson Orders "Air Action" Against North Vietnam After U.S. Destroyers Are Attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin -- Senator Barry Goldwater Exclaims at the 1964 Republican Convention That "Extremism in the Defense of Liberty Is No Vice" -- Berkeley University Student Mario Savio Criticizes the School Administration's Attempts to Stifle Free Speech -- President Lyndon Johnson Envisions Transforming America into a "Great Society" Free of Poverty, Crime, and Racism -- President Johnson Makes an Impassioned Plea to Congress to Pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965 -- FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover Explains Why Only "Clean Cut" Men (and No "Beatniks") Can Serve in the FBI -- President Lyndon Johnson Outlines the "First Steps" to Limiting the War in Vietnam and Makes a Stunning Personal Announcement to the American People -- Labor Leader Cesar Chavez, Recovering from a Three-Week Fast, Explains to His Followers Why "Sacrifice" Is Integral to Their Struggle -- Robert F. Kennedy Calms a Mostly Black Crowd of 1.000 After Informing Them That Martin Luther King Jr. Has Just Been Assassinated -- Two Months Later, Robert F. Kennedy Is Killed by an Assassin's Bullet and Is Eulogized by His Younger Brother, Senator Ted Kennedy -- Crew Members of the Apollo 8 Spacecraft Offer a Christmas Eve Message of Peace and Hope to a Nation Reeling from Social and Political Turmoil -- Congresswoman Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm Demands That the United States Spends Its Resources on "People and Peace, Not Profits and War" -- Wellesley Graduate Hillary Diane Rodham Defends Her Generation's Use of "Constructive Protest" to Create Social Change -- Vice President Spiro Agnew Blasts the "Effete Corps of Impudent Snobs" and "Professional Anarchists" Who Oppose the War in Vietnam -- Betty Friedan Explains Why the Feminist Movement Is Imperative Not Only for Women, But for Men As Well. 1970-1979 -- Herbert L. Carter Describes in Graphic Detail His Eyewitness Account of the Atrocities Committed at My Lai -- Twenty-eight-Year-Old Veteran and War Hero John Kerry Asks the U.S. Senate "Where Are the Leaders" to End This "Barbaric War" in Vietnam? -- TV Reporter Dorothy Fuldheim, Who Covered the Kent State Shootings, Responds to Critics of Her "Pro-Student" Sympathies -- Inmate L. D. Barkley Reads Aloud the Prisoners' Demands During a Hostage Crisis in New York State's Attica Prison -- Twenty-five-Year-Old Attorney Sarah Weddington Argues Before the U.S. Supreme Court Why Abortions Should Be Legal Throughout America -- Actress Jane Fonda Broadcasts Pro-Communist Radio Messages in Hanoi to Demoralize American Servicemen Fighting in Vietnam -- President Richard M. Nixon Announces A Cease-Fire Between the U.S. Military and the North Vietnamese -- Pat Simon, the Mother of a Young Soldier Killed in the Vietnam War, Asks That Amnesty Be Granted to All Draft Resisters -- Representative Barbara Jordan Argues for the Impeachment of President Richard M. Nixon -- President Nixon Bids an Emotional Farewell to His Staff -- President Gerald R. Ford Explains His Motivations for Pardoning Richard M. Nixon -- Astronomer Carl Sagan Discusses the Implications of Finding Life on Other Planets -- The Message (Recorded by President Jimmy Carter) Enclosed in the Voyager I and Voyager II Spacecrafts -- Native American Activist Leonard Peltier, on Trial for Murder, Denounces the Judge as a "Member of the White Racist American Establishment" -- Nobel Laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer Reflects on the Role of Stories and Literature to "Uplift the Spirit" -- Conservative Leader Phyllis Schlafly Denounces the Women's Movement as Incompatible with a "Successful Family Life and Motherhood" -- President Jimmy Carter Addresses the "Crisis of Confidence" Affecting the "Heart and Soul and Spirit" of the Nation -- 1980-1989 -- Presidential Candidate Ronald Reagan Vows a "National Crusade to Make America Great Again" -- Dr. Rayna Green, Cherokee, Offers a "Modest Proposal" for a "Museum of the Plains White Person" -- UN Ambassador Jeanne Kirkpatrick Excoriates the Soviet Union for Shooting Down a Passenger Plane, Killing Everyone On Board -- Eleven-Year-Old "Ambassador of Peace" Samantha Smith Shares Her Vision of the Future -- New York Governor Mario Cuomo Challenges President Reagan's Portrayal of America as a "Shining City on a Hill" -- Susan Baker of the PMRC Recommends Putting Warning Labels on Records with "Sexually Explicit and Violent" Rock Lyrics -- Musician Frank Zappa Dismisses the PMRC's Proposal as an "Ill-Conceived Piece of Nonsense" -- Holocaust Survivor Elie Wiesel Criticizes President Reagan at the White House for Planning to Visit a German Cemetery Where Nazi Officers Are Buried -- President Ronald Reagan Honors the Memory of the Seven Astronauts Killed in the Space Shuttle Challenger Explosion -- Corporate Raider Ivan Boesky Encourages Graduating Business Students to "Seek Wealth" in a "Virtuous and Honest Way" -- An Unrepentent Oliver North Defends His Role in the Iran-Contra Scandal and Blames Congress for Its "Fickle, Vacillating" Foreign Policy -- The Reverend Jesse Jackson Rallies All Americans-Particularly the Most Disadvantaged-to "Keep Hope Alive!" -- Ryan White Relates the Prejudices and Hatred He Has Endured Since Being Diagnosed with AIDS -- Patricia Godley, a Former Drug Addict, Stands Before a Town Hall Meeting on Drug Abuse and Implores: "Make Me Know I'm Worth Fighting For". 1990-1999 -- Student Dissident Shen Tong Offers a Firsthand Account of the Violent Crackdown in Tiananmen Square, China -- President George Bush Announces the Allied Air Attack on Saddam Hussein's Forces in Iraq and Kuwait -- Judge Clarence Thomas Vehemently Denies Charges of Sexual Harassment Made by Former Employee Anita Hill -- Anita Hill Describes Judge Thomas's Sexual Advances Toward Her in Lurid Detail -- The Reverend Cecil L. Murray, During the L. A. Riots, Implores His Parishioners to Find Faith and Refrain from Violence -- Senator Daniel Inouye Pays Tribute to the Courage and Patriotism of the Highly Decorated 442nd Regiment of Japanese American Soldiers -- President Bill Clinton Addresses a Predominantly Black Church on What Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Would Say If He Were Alive Today -- Barbra Streisand Defends the Role of the Arts-and Actors as Activists-in American Society and Politics -- The Reverend Billy Graham, After the Oklahoma City Bombing, Offers a Sermon on the "Mystery of Evil" -- Elizabeth Birch Appeals to Members of the Christian Coalition to Find "Common Ground" with Gays and Lesbians -- Defense Attorney Johnnie Cochran Enumerates the Reasons Why O. J. Simpson Must Be Found "Not Guilty" -- Handgun Control Activist (and Registered Republican) Sarah Brady Speaks to the Democratic National Convention on Gun Violence in America -- Famed Actor and NRA Leader Charlton Heston Lashes Out at Those Who Attempt to "Undermine the Second Amendment" -- Bill Henderson Laments Society's Increasing Dependence on Computers and Technology -- The Original Draft of President Bill Clinton's Apology to the American People for His "Improper Relationship" with Monica Lewinsky -- The Speech He Ultimately Gave -- Journalist Tom Brokaw Looks Back on the Triumphs and Turmoils of the Twentieth Century-and Looks Ahead to the Challenges and Possibilities of the Century to Come.