The Great Society
speakingforleaders Lyndon Baines Johnson · May 22, 1964 Occasion. University of Michigan commencement, May 22, 1964, six months to the day after Kennedy was killed. Johnson has been president only since…
The 100 Greatest 20th
1988 Democratic National Convention Address
Jesse Jackson · July 19, 1988 Occasion. Omni Coliseum, Atlanta, July 19, 1988. Jackson has lost the nomination to Michael Dukakis; this is the valedictory of his campaign. He does…
Cuban Missile Crisis Address to the Nation
John F. Kennedy · October 22, 1962 Occasion. Live television, October 22, 1962. The public is learning of the Soviet missiles for the first time; ExComm has been meeting in…
Television News Coverage
Spiro Theodore Agnew · November 13, 1969 Occasion. Midwest Republican meeting, Des Moines, November 13, 1969. Agnew is the Vice President sent to answer the networks after Nixon's Vietnam speech;…
Commencement Address at Wellesley College
Barbara Pierce Bush · June 1, 1990 Occasion. Wellesley College commencement, June 1, 1990, carried live. About 150 seniors had petitioned against her because she was known through her husband's…
Civil Rights Address
John F. Kennedy · June 11, 1963 Occasion. Televised address, June 11, 1963. That afternoon Governor George Wallace stood in the schoolhouse door at the University of Alabama to block…
Beyond Vietnam
Martin Luther King Jr. · April 4, 1967 Occasion. April 4, 1967. King is making his first major public break with Lyndon Johnson over the war; many civil rights allies…
Imperialism
William Jennings Bryan · August 8, 1900 Occasion. Indianapolis, August 8, 1900. Bryan is being notified of the Democratic nomination for a second run at the presidency. The Philippine-American War…
Declaration of Conscience
Margaret Chase Smith · June 1, 1950 Occasion. Senate floor, June 1, 1950. Joseph McCarthy is in the chamber and is never named; his Wheeling charges are four months old.…
The Four Freedoms
Franklin Delano Roosevelt · January 6, 1941 Occasion. Joint session of the 77th Congress, January 6, 1941. The United States is still at peace; France has fallen and Britain is…