Items19The creator’s order
  1. 1Day of Infamy speechDay of Infamy speechFranklin D. Roosevelt asked a joint session of Congress to declare war on Japan in the early afternoon of December 8, 1941, and the whole address runs about six and a half minutes. On film you see what radio listeners could only imagine: a president delivering a short, flat list of Japanese attacks…0
  2. 2Charles de GaulleCharles de GaulleBorn Nov 22, 1890"Paris libéré" speech at the Hôtel de Ville, Paris, August 25, 1944 Charles de Gaulle improvised this on the evening Paris was freed, and it remains one of his most famous speeches, built around the run of words "Paris outragé! Paris brisé! Paris martyrisé! mais Paris libéré!" The point to watch…0
  3. 3Douglas MacArthurDouglas MacArthurBorn Jan 26, 1880Farewell address to a joint session of Congress, April 19, 1951 Eight days after President Truman relieved him of command in Korea, Douglas MacArthur came home to a hero's welcome and defended his conduct of the war before Congress and a national television audience. It is the clearest case on…0
  4. 4Dwight D. Eisenhower's farewell addressDwight D. Eisenhower's farewell addressA five-star general and two-term president used a farewell television broadcast on January 17, 1961, three days before leaving office, to warn the country about the military-industrial complex. That is the line everyone remembers, but the roughly 15-minute address also cautions that public policy…0
  5. 5Inauguration of John F. KennedyInauguration of John F. KennedyInaugural address, East Portico of the U.S. Capitol, January 20, 1961 John F. Kennedy's inaugural is short, at 1,366 words, and it was the first inaugural address delivered to a television audience in color. A snowstorm had hit Washington the day before, and the glare off the snow stopped Robert…0
  6. 6We choose to go to the MoonWe choose to go to the MoonThe space race's defining speech was given outdoors, in Rice Stadium in Houston on September 12, 1962, to a crowd of about 40,000, many of them Rice students. That setting is why the film is worth seeing: Kennedy is selling an enormous, expensive science program to a stadium crowd, and you can…0
  7. 7Ich bin ein BerlinerIch bin ein BerlinerTwenty-two months after East Germany put up the Berlin Wall, John F. Kennedy stood on the steps of Rathaus Schöneberg in West Berlin on June 26, 1963, before a crowd estimated at 120,000. The film is essential because the crowd is half the story: listen to the roar at "Lasst sie nach Berlin…0
  8. 8I Have a DreamI Have a DreamMartin Luther King Jr. spoke at the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963, to more than 250,000 people at the March on Washington, and The New York Times's James Reston wrote that the day was better covered by television and the press than any event in the city since Kennedy's inauguration. That…0
  9. 9Richard Nixon's resignation speechRichard Nixon's resignation speechAt 9:01 p.m. Eastern time on August 8, 1974, Richard Nixon spoke from the Oval Office for 16 minutes, live on radio and television, and announced that he would resign the next day, the only American president ever to leave office that way. Watergate itself is a story of tapes, hearings and…0
  10. 10The lady's not for turningThe lady's not for turningMargaret Thatcher's speech to the Conservative Party Conference on October 10, 1980, came as Britain sank into recession, with unemployment at about 2 million and rising, and her critics wanted a change of course. Her answer, "You turn if you want to. The lady's not for turning!", was written by…0