FAMOUS SPEECHES

Alexander the GreatDepart! (324 BC)

Maya AngelouEulogy of Coretta Scott King (2006)

Susan B. AnthonyOn Women's Right to Vote (1872)

Pearl S. BuckNobel Lecture - The Chinese Novel (Stockholm, Sweden: 12th December, 1938)

George W. BushAfter 9/11 (Sept. 11, 2001)Columbia disaster (Feb. 1, 2003)

Diahann Carroll Keeping Up the Good Fight, Winning the Crusade Against Cancer (World Summit Against Cancer in Paris, France: 9th February, 2001) 

Carrie Chapman CattThe Crisis (Atlantic City, New Jersey: 1916)

Sir Winston ChurchillBlood, Sweat, and Tears (May 13, 1940)We Shall Fight on the Beaches (June 4, 1940)

Finest Hour (June 18, 1940)Eulogy of King George VI (Feb. 7, 1952)Eulogy of FDR (House of Commons) (April 17, 1945)

Bill Clinton50th Anniversary of Normandy Invasion (1995)

Princess DianaOn Eating Disorders (April 23, 1993)Women and Mental Health (June 1, 1993)Eulogy by her brother, Charles (9th Earl Spencer) (9-6-97)

Frederick DouglassWhat to the Slave is the 4th of July? (July 4, 1852)Our Work Is Not Done (delivered at the annual meeting of the American Anti-Slavery Society, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1863)Hypocrisy of American Slavery (1852)

Queen Elizabeth ITo the Troops at Tilbury (Aug. 9, 1588) (memory

required)

William FaulknerNobel Prize Acceptance (Dec. 5, 1950)

Mary FisherA Whisper of AIDS (Houston Texas, August 1992) 

Mahatma GandhiQuit India (Aug. 8, 1942)

Lou GehrigFarewell to Baseball (July 4, 1939) (Memory required)

Nikki GiovanniWe Are Virginia Tech (April 17, 2007)

Patrick HenryGive Me Liberty (March 23, 1775)

Harold Ickes What is an American (May 1941)

Lyndon B. JohnsonWe Shall Overcome (1965)

Michael JordanHall of Fame induction (Sept. 12, 2009)

John F. KennedyI Am a Berliner (June 26, 1963)

The Decision to Go to the Moon (Houston, TX: 25th May, 1961) 

Robert F. KennedyOn the death of Martin Luther King, Jr. (April 4, 1968) (memory required)A Tiny Ripple of Hope (June 6, 1966)

Martin Luther King, Jr.Our God Is Marching On (Selma, 1965)I Have a Dream (Aug. 28, 1963)Eulogy for the young victims of the 16th Street Baptist

ChurchBombing (Sept. 18, 1963)

Nobel Acceptance (Dec. 10, 1964)Mountaintop (April 3, 1968)

Abraham LincolnGettysburg Address (Nov. 19, 1863) (memory required)Second Inaugural Address (1865)

Vince LombariWhat It Takes to be Number One (1970)

General Douglas MacArthurOld Soldiers Never Die (1951)Duty, Honor, Country (1962)Opening and Closing Remarks at the Japanese

Surrender (Sept. 2, 1945)

Nelson MandelaI am Prepared to Die (Court Statement from his 1964 trial) 

Edward R. MurrowWires and Lights in a Box (RDTNA Convention in Chicago: 15th October, 1958) 

President ObamaConvention speech (2004)A More Perfect Union (March 18, 2008)Election night speech (November 4, 2008)First Inaugural Speech (Jan. 20, 2009)Second Inaugural Speech (Jan. 21, 2013)Commencement Speech at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy

(2011) 

Michelle ObamaDemocratic National Convention (2008)Maya Angelou memorial (2014)Democratic National Convention (2012)Women's Rights (March 8, 2016)City College of NYC Commencement (June 3, 2016)Last Remarks as First Lady (January 6, 2017)Commencement Speech at Spelman College (2011)

Randy PauschReally Achieving Your Childhood Dreams (The Last Lecture) (September 18, 2007)

PericlesFuneral Oration (431 BC)

Ronald ReaganAddress at the Brandenburg Gate (Tear Down This Wall)

(1987)Challenger (January 26, 1986)40th Anniversary of Normandy Invasion (June 6, 1984)

Eleanor RooseveltThe Struggle for Human Rights (Sept. 28, 1948)

Franklin D. RooseveltFirst Inaugural Address (1933)Pearl Harbor Address (1941)

Theodore RooseveltThe Man with the Muck-Rake (Washington, D.C.: 14th April, 1906)Duties of American Citizenship (Jan. 26, 1883)Citizenship in a Republic (April 23, 1910)

Saint Francis of AssisiSermon to the Birds (1220)

Albert SchweitzerThe Problem of Peace (Oslo, Norway: 4th November,

1954) 

Sojourner TruthAin't I a Woman? (Dec. 1851) (memory required)

Jim ValvanoDon't Ever Give Up ESPYS Acceptance (March 4, 1993)

George Graham VestTribute to the Dog (1855)

George WashingtonResignation Speech (Dec. 23, 1784)

Elie WieselThe Perils of Indifference (April 12, 1999)Commencement at DePaul University (1997)

William WilberforceAbolition speech (May 12, 1789)

COMMENCEMENT SPEECHES:Steve Jobs (Stanford University on June 12th, 2005) Jon Stewart (at his Alma Mater William & Mary University on May 20th, 2004) Stephen Colbert (Knox College on June 5th, 2006) Conan O’Brian (at Alma Mater Harvard University in 2000) Meryl Streep (Barnard College in 2010) Jodie Foster (University of Pennsylvania in 2006) Kurt Vonnegut (Rice University in 1998) Alan Alda (Connecticut College in 1980) Bradley Whitford (The University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2004) Russell Baker (Connecticut College in 1995) William Allen White (Northwestern University in 1936) George C. Marshall (Harvard University in 1947) Amy Poehler at Harvard College Class Day (May 25, 2011) Sheryl Sandberg's Commencement Speech at Barnard College, 2011 Penn's 2011 Commencement Address by Denzel Washington Tom Hank's Address at Yale University, 2011 John Legend's Commencement Speech at Kean University, 2011 Arianna Huffington's Commencement Speech at Sarah Lawrence College, 2011 Stephen Colbert's Commencement Speech at Northwestern University, 2011 Conan O'Brien's Commencement Speech at Dartmouth College, 2011 J. K. Rowling's "The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination" (Commencement at Harvard, 2008) 

Anna Quindlen’s 2017 Commencement address at Washington University in St. LouisCallie Khouri, Rules To Live By:..From Someone Who's Been There And Done That, University of Michigan Commencement AddressDenzel Washington, Penn commencement 2011, Fall Forward

 

 

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