The Best Presidential Speeches
In our series of Presidential Superlatives, we’ve mostly been focusing on the things that our nation’s Presidents have done -- which makes sense, as they are the heads of the executive branch of the government. However, they also have a role as Head of State, so it’s just as important that they know how to lead and persuade. On that note, here are our picks for the four best Presidential speeches:
4. Washington's The Farewell Address
Not technically a speech, we know, but we had to find a way to include the original George W. on this list, and his Farewell Address, with the American people as its audiences and published in newspapers across the country as his second term came to an end, is the summation of his legacy. Washington was a unitary figure at the head of the country, seeking to unite all Americans, and in his Farewell Address, he warned of the dangers of partisanship and reiterated his support for the fundamental freedoms of the American Constitution. Unfortunately, not many of his successors have listened to his advice.
3. Kennedy's West Berlin Speech
JFK might have been one of the most overrated presidents, but he was nonetheless one of the most consistently excellent speechmakers. The highest of his high point was probably his speech in West Berlin in June of 1963, in which he reiterated America’s opposition to Communism and support for West Berlin in the face of the construction of the Berlin Wall. Most famous of all, of course, was his statement, “Ich bin ein Berliner” -- now famous for meaning not “I am a Berliner” but “I am a jelly doughnut” (though the truth seems to be a bit more complicated).
2. FDR Explains the Four Freedoms
As with JFK, Franklin D. Roosevelt has a bevy of great oratorical moments to choose from, some grim (“Yesterday, December 7th, 1941...”), many inspirational (“Nothing to fear but fear itself”). None are more iconic, however, than the famous 1941 Inaugural Address, when FDR propounded his idea of the Four Freedoms should define human life. In retrospect, it’s hard to fully agree with his utopian perspective, but his rhetoric soars -- and in 1941, still mired in economic depression and watching with horror as Europe and Asia tore themselves apart, they were exactly the words that the American people needed to hear.
1. The Gettysburg Address
The greatest of all American speeches, as we all know, was the one delivered by our 16th President on November 19, 1863, at the dedication of a new national cemetery on the site of the Battle of Gettysburg. Brief at only ten sentences, the Gettysburg Address nonetheless respected the import of the location and summed up the nature of the sacrifice of the Civil War: “that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.” Delivered by one of the nation’s greatest Presidents, at the site of its most important and devastating battle, at the moment of its greatest crisis, the Gettysburg Address is the most significant of all Presidential speeches.
[Pic via Flickr -Steve Jurvetson]
