Great Speeches
These speeches are offerred in memory of all those who served in history and all those who serve today.
Listed chronologically.
Abraham Lincoln
November 19, 1863
Abraham Lincoln “Gettysburg Address”
MP3 – read by Jeff Daniels – 2.31 Megs
MP3 – read by Sam Waterston – 672 KB
MP3 – read by Johnny Cash – 2.4 Megs
Excerpt:
“Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”
Winston Churchill
May 13, 1940
Winston Churchill “Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat”
First Speech as Prime Minister to the House of Commons
MP3 – 1.8 Megs
Full Text of Speech
Excerpt:
“I hope that any of my friends and colleagues, or former colleagues, who are affected by the political reconstruction, will make allowance, all allowance, for any lack of ceremony with which it has been necessary to act. I would say to the House, as I said to those who have joined this government: I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.”
Winston Churchill
June 4, 1940
Winston Churchill “We Shall Fight on the Beaches”
House of Commons
Following May 26, “Operation Dynamo,” Dunkirk, the evacuation of 338,000 Allied troops to English shores.
MP3 – 2.6 Megs
Full Text of Speech
Excerpt:
“We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God’s good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old. “
Winston Churchill
June 18, 1940
Winston Churchill “Their Finest Hour”
House of Commons
MP3 – 5.8 Megs
Full Text of Speech
Excerpt:
“But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, “This was their finest hour.” “
Winston Churchill
August 20, 1940
Winston Churchill “The Few”
House of Commons
Discussing the efforts of the Royal Air Force during the Battle of Britian
MP3 – 4 Megs
Full Text of Speech
Excerpt:
“The gratitude of every home in our Island, in our Empire, and indeed throughout the world, except in the abodes of the guilty, goes out to the British airmen who, undaunted by odds, unwearied in their constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the tide of the World War by their prowess and b~ their devotion. Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few. “
Attack at Pearl Harbor
December 7, 1941
CBS – Radio announcement regarding attack at Pearl Harbor
Franklin D. Roosevelt
December 8, 1941
Franklin D. Roosevelt “Date That Will Live in Infamy”
Joint Session of the U.S Congress
Following December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt declares war on Japan.
MP3 – 7.3 Megs
Full Text of Speech
Excerpt:
“Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of American was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.. “
General Dwight D. Eisenhower
June 5, 1944
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s address to the troops about to invade Normandy, France on D-Day
News Report
June 6, 1944
Live Report on D-Day
News Report
April 12, 1945
Franklin Delano Roosevelt dies
MP3 – 2.24 Megs
BBC News Report
April 30, 1945
Adolf Hitler Dead
From BBC
MP3 – 147KB
News Report
August 14, 1945
Japanese Surrender
Live broadcast describes scene in New York City
MP3 – 5 Megs
President John F. Kennedy
January 20, 1961
President John F. Kennedy
His Inaugural Address which included “ask not what you can do for your country …
Full text of speech
Martin Luther King Jr.
August 28, 1963
Martin Luther King Jr.
The “I Have a Dream ” Speech presented at the March on Washington
Full text of speech
