Top 100 American Speeches of the 20th century

University of Wisconsin-Madison and Texas A & M University ^ | December 15, 1999 | Stephen Lucas

[jern]

I ran across this looking up some Reagan speeches today, and I thought everyone would want to tear into this...

[wattsmag2]

I can do without quite a few "gifts" listed here.

[zarf]

What prism were these clowns who compiled this looking through?

Stalin, Lenin, Hitler and other tyrants made some of the most vital speeches of the century......where are they?

[zarf]

Oh it says Murican....sorry....nevermind!!!

[Free the USA]

I detect a little bias in the selection.

[Beernoser]

seems like the person making this list spent a lot of time atDemocratic National Conventions and not so much time at Republican National Conventions.

[leadpenny]

George S. Patton's speech to the troops.

I know it's Hollywood, but Al Pacino's speech (well, kind of a speech) defending the kid from Arigon in "Scent of a Woman" is still fun to watch and listen too.

[Arthur McGowan]

They just couldn't ignore Reagan, could they? But they ignored Coolidge, who was real thinker, and wrote his own speeches, and delivered several timeless gems, such as his speech on the Declaration of Independence, at Philadelphia, July 4, 1926. And they obviously do not exclude from "greatness" speeches that are a tissue of lies and demogogic claptrap, like Teddy's speech on the murder of Mary Jo, Anita Hill's smear of Clarence Thomas, or Saint Mario's speech in 1984 at San Francisco.

[3k9pm]

I would think that a current R. Reagan speech would at least be able to bump a J Jackson or T Kennedy off the list.

[big'ol_freeper]

Most interesting, besides the fact that one would have to assume that liberals in general must be better speechifiers than conservatives based on the lack of conservative speeches on the list, is the fact that Margaret Sanger appears several times on the list. Margaret Sanger, the lover of Hitler's eugenics program who gave us Planned Parenthood and the murder of millions of innocents in the womb.

[gusopol3]

american speeches... but what about churchill on American soil at Fulton, MO, "an iron curtain has descended across the continent."

[Husker24]

I kind of thought W's post September 11th speech to congress should have been in there SOMEWHERE.

[COL. FLAGG]

So where is Slick Willie's "I'm only gonna say this once.,,,,"?

[gitmo]

1	"I Have a Dream"	Martin Luther King, Jr.	28 Aug 1963	Washington, DC
OK. I'll give them that one.
2	Inaugural Address	John F. Kennedy	20 Jan 1961	Washington, DC
3	First Inaugural Address	Franklin D. Roosevelt	4 Mar 1933	Washington, DC
No way.
4	War Message ("A Date which Will Live in Infamy")	Franklin D. Roosevelt	8 Dec 1941	Washington, DC
Yes.
94	Address at the Brandenburg Gate	Ronald Reagan	12 June 1987	West Berlin, Germany
94 !!! Should be 3-4.

[ChadGore]

Re: "I detect a little bias in the selection."

Agreed !

But of you consider the source of Madison WI, it's natural behaviour of the indiginous libs that populate that place.

[gusopol3]

20th century

[leadpenny]

I was thinking of that too, but the list was compiled in 99, I believe.

[Husker24]

ohh, well at least that explains that.