100 Greatest Speeches of the 20th Century

*V.E.T. (Vulnerability, Empathy, Truth) Scale equalizes all the speeches given they have different word counts. The number is derived from dividing the V.E.T. Total by the word count.

Rank	V.E.T. Scale	Speech	Speaker	Vulnerability	Empathy	Truth	Coded Total	WPM
1	536	Farewell to Baseball	Lou Gehrig	2	6	7	15	—
2	390	I Have a Dream	Martin Luther King Jr.	0	25	40	65	101
3	379	Speech Accepting the Nobel Prize in Literature	William Faulkner	0	4	17	21	194
4	335	1992 Republican Convention Address	Mary Fisher	10	24	16	50	114
5	332	1992 Democratic National Convention Address	Elizabeth Glaser	17	11	10	38	103
6	269	We Shall Overcome	Lyndon B. Johnson	3	31	67	101	85
7	259	Address at the Public Memorial Service for Robert F. Kennedy	Edward M. Kennedy	2	3	29	34	135
8	254	The Perils of Indifference	Elie Wiesel	5	21	20	46	87
9	245	Address on the Challenger Explosion	Ronald Reagan	0	8	8	16	136
10	219	Statement on the Articles of Impeachment	Barbara Jordan	2	1	31	34	119
11	217	A Left-Handed Commencement Address	Ursula K. Le Guin	0	7	19	26	—
12	215	Remarks to the U.N. Fourth World Conference on Women	Hillary Rodham Clinton	0	23	27	50	115
13	212	The Man with the Muckrake	Theodore Roosevelt	0	4	66	70	—
14	202	Plea for Leopold and Loeb	Clarence Darrow	5	19	19	43	—
15	199	Statement on the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.	Robert F. Kennedy	2	4	5	11	91
16	188	Inaugural Address	John F. Kennedy	0	6	20	26	100
17	175	Oklahoma Bombing Memorial Prayer Service Address	William Jefferson Clinton	0	6	10	16	102
18	171	Ich Bin ein Berliner	John F. Kennedy	0	4	8	12	82
19	170	Address to the People of Massachusetts on Chappaquiddick	Edward M. Kennedy	16	2	5	23	—
20	170	Beyond Vietnam	Martin Luther King Jr.	3	57	55	115	123
21	161	Commencement Address at Wellesley College	Barbara Pierce Bush	0	4	16	20	116
22	160	Labor and the Nation	John L. Lewis	0	16	22	38	—
23	157	Statement to the Court	Eugene Debs	3	5	9	17	—
24	153	Farewell Address	Dwight D. Eisenhower	2	1	25	28	117
25	146	A Tale of Two Cities	Mario Cuomo	0	30	33	63	110
26	145	I've Been to the Mountaintop	Martin Luther King Jr.	6	29	29	64	102
27	141	Democratic National Convention Keynote Address	Ann Richards	3	25	10	38	80
28	141	Now We Can Begin	Crystal Eastman	0	8	18	26	—
29	137	Statement Before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee	John Kerry	2	27	14	43	—
30	136	Civil Rights Address	John F. Kennedy	0	11	16	27	148
31	131	The Fourteen Points	Woodrow Wilson	0	3	13	16	—
32	124	First Inaugural Address	Woodrow Wilson	0	5	16	21	—
33	122	The Marshall Plan	George C. Marshall	0	5	13	18	120
34	122	The Rainbow Coalition	Jesse Jackson	2	26	33	61	93
35	122	Who Then Will Speak for the Common Good?	Barbara Jordan	0	3	20	23	89
36	121	1988 Democratic National Convention Address	Jesse Jackson	11	36	18	65	107
37	117	Duty, Honor, Country	Douglas MacArthur	5	10	9	24	62
38	116	American University Commencement Address	John F. Kennedy	0	5	35	40	128
39	115	War Message	Franklin D. Roosevelt	0	0	6	6	68
40	114	Day of Affirmation Address	Robert F. Kennedy	0	13	33	46	120
41	114	First Inaugural Address	Ronald Reagan	0	6	22	28	111
42	114	Vice Presidential Nomination Acceptance Address	Geraldine Ferraro	0	7	13	20	65
43	111	Declaration of Conscience	Margaret Chase Smith	0	1	19	20	—
44	111	Old Soldiers Never Die	Douglas MacArthur	5	8	23	36	86
45	108	Remarks on the 40th Anniversary of D-Day	Ronald Reagan	0	14	6	20	146
46	107	The Mexican-American and the Church	Cesar E. Chavez	3	6	8	17	—
47	105	The Truman Doctrine	Harry S. Truman	0	9	14	23	114
48	104	The Issue	Eugene V. Debs	5	28	37	70	—
49	101	Address to the Nation Pardoning Richard M. Nixon	Gerald R. Ford	2	3	6	11	114
50	94	Sit-in Address on the Steps of Sproul Hall	Mario Savio	0	4	6	10	—
51	93	Imperialism	William Jennings Bryan	0	10	70	80	—
52	93	Speech to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association	John F. Kennedy	0	2	13	15	137
53	93	The Great Society	Lyndon Baines Johnson	0	2	15	17	97
54	92	Commonwealth Club Address	Franklin Delano Roosevelt	0	8	30	38	—
55	91	War Message	Woodrow Wilson	4	8	21	33	—
56	90	Television and the Public Interest	Newton N. Minow	0	5	44	49	—
57	87	Address to the Congress on Women's Suffrage	Carrie Chapman Catt	0	5	10	15	—
58	86	Speech Accepting the Republican Presidential Nomination	Barry Goldwater	0	2	26	28	81
59	85	Black Power Address at UC Berkeley	Stokely Carmichael	2	19	43	64	145
60	85	Speech Accepting the Democratic Presidential Nomination	Adlai Stevenson	3	0	12	15	—
61	82	Opening Statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee	Anita Hill	14	0	6	20	—
62	81	Faith, Truth, and Tolerance in America	Edward M. Kennedy	0	3	27	30	127
63	81	For the Equal Rights Amendment	Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm	0	3	11	14	—
64	80	Remarks at the Brandenburg Gate	Ronald Reagan	0	8	14	22	104
65	80	The Crisis	Carrie Chapman Catt	0	20	22	42	—
66	80	The Four Freedoms	Franklin Delano Roosevelt	0	0	27	27	93
67	80	The Struggle for Human Rights	Eleanor Roosevelt	0	6	26	32	—
68	78	Address in Support of the League of Nations	Woodrow Wilson	2	4	11	17	—
69	77	Resignation Address to the Nation	Richard M. Nixon	7	2	5	14	120
70	77	Television News Coverage	Spiro Theodore Agnew	0	1	26	27	—
71	75	1948 Democratic National Convention Address	Hubert H. Humphrey	0	3	7	10	—
72	74	Message to the Grassroots	Malcolm X	1	14	25	40	124
73	74	The Children's Era	Margaret Sanger	0	3	9	12	—
74	73	On the Adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights	Eleanor Roosevelt	0	0	12	12	119
75	72	1980 Democratic National Concession Address	Ted Kennedy	1	12	11	24	96
76	72	First Inaugural Address	Franklin D. Roosevelt	0	3	11	14	103
77	72	The Evil Empire	Ronald Reagan	0	2	26	28	117
78	70	Address Upon Taking the Oath of the U.S. Presidency	Gerald R. Ford	0	2	4	6	85
79	69	A Time for Choosing	Ronald Reagan	0	6	26	32	169
80	69	Energy and the National Goals - A Crisis of Confidence	Jimmy Carter	1	8	16	25	111
81	68	Atoms for Peace	Dwight D. Eisenhower	1	3	17	21	119
82	65	Every Man a King	Huey P. Long	0	14	18	32	—
83	65	Final Address in Support of the League of Nations	Woodrow Wilson	5	10	25	40	—
84	65	The Ballot or the Bullet	Malcolm X	0	13	30	43	—
85	63	Address to the Jury	Emma Goldman	3	5	24	32	—
86	63	The Great Silent Majority	Richard M. Nixon	3	6	20	29	143
87	62	The Arsenal of Democracy	Franklin D. Roosevelt	0	8	17	25	107
88	57	The Fundamental Principle of a Republic	Anna Howard Shaw	1	20	33	54	—
89	54	Religious Belief and Public Morality	Mario Cuomo	4	10	27	41	141
90	53	Checkers	Richard M. Nixon	8	7	10	25	165
91	52	First Fireside Chat	Franklin Delano Roosevelt	0	4	6	10	149
92	49	Let Us Continue	Lyndon Baines Johnson	2	0	6	8	67
93	48	On Vietnam and Not Seeking Reelection	Lyndon Baines Johnson	5	8	7	20	103
94	48	Statement at the Smith Act Trial	Elizabeth Gurley Flynn	3	18	19	40	—
95	45	Cuban Missile Crisis Address to the Nation	John F. Kennedy	0	4	7	11	140
96	43	Acres of Diamonds	Russell Conwell	8	15	43	66	—
97	43	Have You Left No Sense of Decency?	Joseph N. Welch	1	4	1	6	142
98	42	Share Our Wealth	Huey P. Long	4	10	16	30	—
99	38	Senate Address on Free Speech in War Time	Robert La Follette	5	12	41	58	—
100	30	Cambodian Incursion Address	Richard M. Nixon	0	1	7	8	125

100 Greatest Speeches of the 20th Century

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