The World's Great Speeches

Nearly 300 speeches provide public speakers with a wealth of quotes and inspiration, from Pericles' funeral oration and William Jennings Bryan's "Cross of Gold" speech to Malcolm X's powerful words on the Black Revolution. This outstanding compendium of 292 great speeches contains addresses from nearly every historical era and nation, from the formal orations of ancient Greece and the speeches of Julius Caesar, to modern-day addresses by Nelson Mandela, Ronald Regan and Vaclav Havel. Among the memorable speeches included here are Pericles' funeral oration, St. Bernard's advocacy of the Second Crusade, William Jennings Bryan's "Cross of Gold" speech, Winston Churchill's "Blood, Sweat and Tears" address, Richard Nixon's speech to the astronauts on the moon, Malcolm X's address on the Black Revolution, and many more. Readers will also find time-honored declamations by St. Francis, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Napoleon, Victor Hugo, Leon Trotzky, Mohandas K. Gandhi, Dylan Thomas, Fulton J. Sheen, Adlai Stevenson, Walter Reuther, and many others-over 240 speakers in all. For this newly updated edition, Stephen J. McKenna, Assistant Professor of English at The Catholic University of America, has added 14 important speeches delivered between 1974 and 1997. These new selections include Barbara Jordan's Opening Statement to the House Judiciary Committee for the Nixon Impeachment Proceedings (1974); Alexander Solzhenitsyn's Harvard Commencement Address (1978); Ronald Regan's First Inaugural Address (1981): Nelson Mandela's Address to a Rally in Cape Town on His Release from Prison (1990); Václav Havel's Address to a Joint Session of Congress (1990); the Earl of Spencer's Tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales (1997); and more. Rich with drama of history, the speeches in this volume will serve you time and time again by suggesting provocative themes and historical parallels, and by providing apt quotations, important reference passages, and a wide range of other valuable material.

Table of Contents:
PART I GREAT SPEECHES OF EARLIER TIMES I. Greece and Rome PERICLES Funeral Oration SOCRATES On His Condemnation to Death ISOCRATES On the Union of Greece to Resist Persia DEMOSTHENES On the Crown The Second Oration Against Philip "CATO, THE ELDER" In Support fo the Oppian Law HANNIBAL To His Soldiers CICERO First Oration Against Catiline The Fourth Philippic CATILINE To the Conspirators To His Troops JULIUS CAESAR On the Treatment of the Conspirators "CATO, THE YOUNGER" The Catilinarian Conspirators MARK ANTONY Oration on the Dead Body of Julius Caesar II. The European Continent ST. BERNARD A Second Crusade ST. FRANCIS Sermon to the Birds MARTIN LUTHER Before the Diet of Worms JOHN CALVIN On Suffering Persecution FREDERICK THE GREAT Before Invading Silesia Before the Battle of Leuthen DESMOULINS Advocating the Execution of Louis XVI MIRABEAU Against the Charge of Treason DANTON "To Dare Again, Ever to Dare!" "Let France Be Free!" MARAT Defense Against the Charges ROBESPIERRE The Festival of the Supreme Being NAPOLEON BONAPARTE At the Beginning of the Italian Campaign On Entering Milan On Beginning the Russian Campaign Farewell to the Old Guard CARNOT Against Imperialism VICTOR HUGO Voltaire GIUSEPPE MAZZINI To the Young Men of Italy GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI To His Soldiers CAVOUR Rome and Italy LOUIS KOSSUTH America's Welcome LEON GAMBETTA To the Delegate from Alsace EMILE ZOLA Appeal for Dreyfus LEO XIII Christian Democracy OTTO VON BISMARCK War and Armaments in Europe BETHMANN-HOLLWEG Germany and the War KAISER WILHELM II Address to the German People JEAN JAURES Last Speech RENE VIVIANI The Spirit of France CARDINAL MERCIER Coronation Day Sermon GEORGES CLEMENCEAU One Aim: Victory ALEXANDER KERENSKY To Workingmen and Soldiers LEON TROTZKY To the Red Army NIKOLAI LENIN The Dictatorship of the Proletariat MARSHAL FERDINAND FOCH Napoleon ARISTIDE BRIAND Naval Disarmament III. Great Britain and Ireland OLIVER CROMWELL On the Dissolution of Parliament SIR ROBERT WALPOLE On a Motion for His Removal JOHN WESLEY God's Love to Fallen Man "WILLIAM PITT, EARL OF CHATHAM" On the Right of Taxing America EDMUND BURKE Conciliation with America Indictment of Warren Hastings RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN At the Trial of Warren Hastings WILLIAM PITT On His Refusal to Negotiate with Bonaparte CHARLES JAMES FOX On Refusal to Negotiate with Bonaparte GEORGE CANNING The Fall of Napoleon THOMAS BABINGTON MACAULAY On the Reform Bill RICHARD COBDEN The Effects of Protection on Agriculture JOHN BRIGHT "The "Trent" Affair" BENJAMIN DISRAELI Peace with Honor WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE On Domestic and Foreign Affairs CARDINAL MANNING Anti-Semitism JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN The British Empire EMMELINE PANKHURST Militant Suffragists SIR EDWARD GREY England's Position DAVID LLOYD GEORGE An Appeal to the Nation ARTHUR JAMES BALFOUR The Fourth of July JAMES RAMSAY MACDONALD Peace LADY ASTOR Women in Politics GEORGE BERNARD SHAW On His Seventieth Birthday DANIEL O'CONNELL Justice for Ireland ROBERT EMMET Protest Against Sentence as Traitor CHARLES STEWART PARNELL The Home Rule Bill ARTHUR GRIFFITH The Irish Free State IV. The United States JONATHAN EDWARDS Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God JOHN HANCOCK The Boston Massacre PATRICK HENRY "Give Me Liberty, or Give Me Death!" SAMUEL ADAMS American Independence BENJAMIN FRANKLIN On the Faults of the Constitution JAMES MADISON The States and the Federal Government JOHN MARSHALL Justice and the Federal Constitution ALEXANDER HAMILTON The Federal Constitution GEORGE WASHINGTON Inaugural Address Farewell Address THOMAS JEFFERSON First Inaugural Address GOUVERNEUR MORRIS Alexander Hamilton AMERICAN INDIANS Red Jacket Tecumseh EDWARD EVERETT & VII. Domestic Affairs in the United States WILLIAM GREEN Modern Trade Unionism ALFRED E. SMITH Religious Prejudice and Politics FIORELLO H. LAGUARDIA American Labor CLARENCE S. DARROW A Plea for Mercy JOHN L. LEWIS The Rights of Labor WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE Speaking for the Consumer THOMAS E. DEWEY Rendezvous with Despair HERBERT HOOVER The Bill of Rights CHARLES EVANS HUGHES Our Government VIII. World Affairs and the Second World War ANTHONY EDEN A Firm Policy NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN The Munich Agreement WINSTON CHURCHILL "Blood Sweat and Tears" Dunkirk "Their Finest Hour" The War on Russia Address before the United States Congress CLEMENT R. ATTLEE The Atlantic Charter W. L. MACKENZIE KING Canada and the War EDOUARD DALADIER Nazis' Aim Is Slavery PAUL REYNAUD France Will Live Again! HENRI PHILIPE PETAIN "I Need Your Confidence!" EAMON DE VALERA Ireland Among the Nations MAXIM LITVINOV The League of Nations HAILE SELASSIE The Position of Ethiopia FREDERICO LAREDO BRU United Hemisphere Defense ADOLF HITLER Germany's Claims No More Territorial Demands German Conquests BENITO MUSSOLINI A Call to Arms Anniversary of Italy's Entry in the War VYACHESLAV M. MOLOTOV The Nazi War on Russia JOSEPH STALIN "Defend Every Inch of Soviet Soil!" FUMIMARO KONOYE The Triple Alliance CHIANG KAI-SHEK War Between Justice and Force PRUS XII Appeal for Peace IX. The United States and the Second World War FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT First Inaugual Address Hemisphere Defense for Democracy "The Arsenal of Democracy" Freedom of the Seas For a Declaration of War Against Japan American's Answer to Japan's Challenge First War Address Before Congress WENDALL L. WILLKIE "Loyal Opposition" American Liberty CORDELL HULL The Pillars of Enduring Peace JAMES BRYANT CONANT What are We Arming to Defend? CHARLES A. LINDBERGH An Independent Policy HENRY L. STIMSON A Grave Situation HAROLD L. ICKES What Constitutes an American FRANK KNOX We Must Fight for Our Liberties FULTON J. SHEEN The Cross and the Double Cross DOROTHY THOMPSON Hitler's Plans for Canada and the United States HENRY A. WALLACE America's Second Chance NORMAN THOMAS America and the War PART III GREAT SPEECHES OF THE MODERN PERIOD X. United States Government BERNARD MANNES BARUCH Control of Atomic Weapons HARRY S. TRUMAN Inaugural Address Powers of the President DOUGLAS MACARTHUR Old Soldiers Never Die ADLAI EWING STEVENSON Acceptance of Nomination United States Far Eastern Policy DWIGHT DAVID EISENHOWER Inaugural Address Peaceful Use of Atomic Energy The Spirit of Geneva EARL WARREN A Home for American Jurisprudence XI. International Affairs and the United Nations WINSTON CHURCHILL An Iron Curtain Has Descended JAWAHARLAL NEHRU Asia Finds Herself Again A Glory Has Departed OSWALDO ARANHA A New Order Through the United States PIERRE MENDES-FRANCE The Search for International Cooperation DAG HAMMARSKJOLD Values of Nationalism and Internationalism NICKOLAI ALEKSANDROVICH BULGANIN The Lessening of International Tension FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT On Architecture ALBERT EINSTEIN Peace in the Atomic Age WILLIAM FAULKNER Acceptance of the Nobel Prize DYLAN THOMAS A Visit to America ELEANOR ROOSEVELT The United Nations as a Bridge J. ROBERT OPPENHEIMER Prospect in the Arts and Sciences WALTER PHILIP REUTHER A Historical Agreement ADLAI EWING STEVENSON To the Graduating Class at Smith College PART IV INFORMAL SPEECHES XII. Informal Speeches RALPH WALDO EMERSON The Memory of Burns CHARLES DICKENS English Friendship for America JULIA WARD HOWE A Tribute to Oliver Wendell Holmes JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL After-Dinner Oratory OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES Dorothy Q HENRY MORTON STANLEY Through the Dark Continent HENRY WARD BEECHER Merchants and Ministers CHAUNCEY MITCHELL DEPEW Woman JOSEPH HODGES CHOATE The Bench and the Bar GEORGE GRAHAM VEST A Tribute to the Dog HORACE PORTER Woman! THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY Science and Art CARL SCHURZ The Old World and the PART