The Top 100 Speeches of all time

[Emerald Ghost]

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/top100speechesall.html

Do you agree? Disagree?

I agree with MLK's "I have a dream" speech being number one, but what I'm having trouble seeing is how the Checkers speech (Nixon) got that high on the list? Eh? Oh well. Could be worse...

[EZMOHR]

So the Gettysburg Address is not considered a speech?????? Maybe just recorded speeches I guess.

[Phrozen]

That is just the 20th century.

[Sir Tim Drake]

You should have clarified that this is the top 100 speeches made by Americans in the 20th century. When the list is limited that strictly, it becomes much less interesting. I'd be curious to see how Martin Luther King Jr. ranks in comparison to Daniel Webster, Abraham Lincoln, or the early William Jennings Bryan.

Also, I notice that they left out Lloyd Bentsen's "you, sir, are no Jack Kennedy" speech.

[nervmeister]

Oh yeah, and Howard Dean deserves a mention as well.

And the "fear itself" speech.


Edit: Wait a sec....... this is only American speeches?

Edit 2: Since this is American speeches, the foreign one I mentioned is crossed off the list.

[GoGo Yubari]

I'm kind of disappointed that Theodore Roosevelt's Bull Moose speech, given after John Schrank had shot him, didn't make the list. I adore that one.

[thehod]

Interesting list.

Bar the first two though, most of Churchills speeches would blow them all away.

[Trystenn]

Not trying to stir up waters, but i would figure Hitler would be on the list, simply because of the effect his speeches had.

[The Mirrorball Man]

What? A top 100 speeches of all time and Jed Bartlet's "there's evil in the world" speech is not even mentioned? This is anti-fictionism at its most rampant!

[Emerald Ghost]

lol, okay okay, so it's the Top 100 American Speeches of the 20th Century. Nitpicking bastards. ;)

[The Mirrorball Man]

lol, okay okay, so it's the Top 100 American Speeches of the 20th Century. Nitpicking bastards. ;)
You mean the "Non-Fictional Top 100 American Speeches of the 20th Century", of course.

[GreenHornet]

No Offense BUT ever sense a Public speaking class in my college course with this so called doctor i've hated speeches. This was the worst class i've ever taken. Ever since that time i've been tramatized. :( Im now afraid of public speaking.

[Sir Tim Drake]

My list of the top 10 American speeches of all time would be something like this, in chronological order:

1. George Washington: Farewell Address
2. Red Jacket: speech on religion
3. Daniel Webster: Second Reply to Hayne
4. Sojourner Truth: "Ain't I a woman?"
5. Abraham Lincoln: Gettysburg Address
6. William Jennings Bryan: "Cross of Gold"
7. John F. Kennedy: "Ich Bin Ein Berliner"
8. Robert F. Kennedy: "Tiny Ripple of Hope"
9. Martin Luther King Jr.: "I Have a Dream"
10. Mario Cuomo: 1984 DNC keynote speech

[Emerald Ghost]

You mean the "Non-Fictional Top 100 American Speeches of the 20th Century", of course.

Hmm...I dunno, the Checkers speech was pretty fictional.