1992 Democratic National Convention Address
speakingforleaders Elizabeth Glaser · July 14, 1992 Occasion. Democratic National Convention, Madison Square Garden, July 14, 1992. Clinton is about to be nominated; Bush is president. Pediatric AIDS is still widely…
The 100 Greatest 20th
The Issue
Eugene V. Debs · May 16, 1908 Occasion. Courthouse Park, Girard, Kansas, May 16, 1908. Townspeople, few of them Socialists, surprised him with a rally after his nomination; the Appeal…
First Inaugural Address
Woodrow Wilson · March 4, 1913 Occasion. Capitol, March 4, 1913. Wilson won a four-way race after Taft and Roosevelt split the Republicans; Democrats now hold the House, the incoming…
Sit-in Address on the Steps of Sproul Hall
Mario Savio · December 2, 1964 Occasion. Steps of Sproul Hall, December 2, 1964. Several thousand students are about to occupy the building in the Free Speech Movement sit-in; the…
On Vietnam and Not Seeking Reelection
Lyndon Baines Johnson · March 31, 1968 Occasion. Oval Office television, March 31, 1968, three months after Tet. Eugene McCarthy nearly won New Hampshire; Robert Kennedy entered the race two…
Commonwealth Club Address
Franklin Delano Roosevelt · September 23, 1932 Occasion. Commonwealth Club, San Francisco, September 23, 1932. Roosevelt is the Democratic nominee speaking in a nonpartisan forum; Hoover is still president. Unemployment…
Address to the Congress on Women’s Suffrage
Carrie Chapman Catt · November 1917 Occasion. Open address to Congress, November 1917, mailed by NAWSA; she did not deliver it from the House floor. New York had just enfranchised…
1980 Democratic National Concession Address
Ted Kennedy · August 12, 1980 Occasion. Madison Square Garden, August 12, 1980. Kennedy has lost a bitter primary to the incumbent, Jimmy Carter. Chappaquiddick is eleven years old and…
Farewell to Baseball
Lou Gehrig · July 4, 1939 Occasion. Yankee Stadium, July 4, 1939, Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day. He is dying of ALS and does not name it. The crowd has been…
Cambodian Incursion Address
Richard M. Nixon · April 30, 1970 Occasion. White House television, April 30, 1970. U.S. and South Vietnamese units are already moving into Cambodia that night; the public has not…