Recent Articles in Great Speeches
July 10, 2023
Never Give Up: The story behind Jim Valvano’s most memorable speech
Great Speeches , Seen|Read|Heard
Ten years after winning a national championship, college basketball coach Jim Valvano gave a speech that's made a lasting impression. A new ESPN documentary looks at the story behind the speech.
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June 11, 2023
Powerful speaker, enduring messages: Frederick Douglass in Five Speeches
Seen|Read|Heard , Great Speeches , Significant Speeches
Through five speeches given across the span of Frederick Douglass's life, an HBO documentary looks at how a remarkable orator developed his own skills and how his speaking is still relevant today.
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July 4, 2021
Lou Gehrig's Farewell Speech: The Luckiest Man
Great Speeches , Significant Speeches , On This Day
Called baseball's Gettysburg Address, Gehrig's short speech in July 1939 still teaches big lessons in how to move audiences with humility and grace...
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August 18, 2020
Susan B. Anthony: On Women's Right to Vote
Great Speeches , On This Day , Significant Speeches
She spoke for women's right to vote - and had to fight for her right to speak. On the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment, a few lessons in making your voice heard from one of the best to ever do it...
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July 19, 2020
John Lewis: Good Trouble at the March on Washington
Great Speeches , Significant Speeches , Resources , Public Speaking
Skilled in oratory from an early age, John Lewis was the youngest speaker at the March on Washington. Learn how his fiery approach surprised other civil rights leaders and their last-minute efforts to tone it down...
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June 17, 2020
What She Said: Speaking While Female Speech Bank
Great Speeches , Resources , Significant Speeches
As TED fans will tell you, reading speeches and watching speakers is a great way to learn and be inspired. Check out a new resource we think you'll like...
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March 26, 2020
Eloquent Women: A Quest to Highlight Great Speeches
Public Speaking , Great Speeches , Resources
If you're looking for examples of great speeches by women, Denise Graveline left us with a wonderful resource. Because it's Women's History Month, we were inspired to bring you her Famous Speech Friday posts...
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January 28, 2020
On This Day: Reagan's Challenger disaster speech
On This Day , Great Speeches , Significant Speeches , Presidents Day
With Americans in shock after witnessing the tragedy, President Ronald Reagan needed to deliver a message. Here's how a little-known speechwriter helped him find the right words...
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September 5, 2019
The King’s Speech: New Inspiration for Speakers Who Stammer
Public Speaking Fear , Significant Speeches , Great Speeches , Resources , Public Speaking
Eighty years after Great Britain's king overcame his stuttter to address the nation, his courage still provides inspiration to stammerers...and is helping them change perceptions about speaking in public.
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August 31, 2019
On This Day: The American Scholar
Great Speeches , On This Day , Significant Speeches
In case you think our worries about the influence of such things as Twitter and university education are recent ones, consider this speech Ralph Waldo Emerson made in 1837...
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July 25, 2019
Michelle Obama: When They Go Low
On This Day , Great Speeches , Public Speaking , Instruction
It's been three years since Michelle Obama spoke at the Democratic National Convention and gave us the line we still quote today. Here's what you can learn from her approach to public speaking...
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July 4, 2019
Douglass: 'What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?'
Significant Speeches , Great Speeches , On This Day , Resources , Public Speaking
On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass believed his well-timed remarks would get noticed. It's become one of the most important speeches in American history.
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June 12, 2019
Great Speeches: Berlin, Donuts and Walls
Great Speeches , On This Day , Significant Speeches , Presentation Tips , Presidents Day
One wall, two famous speeches separated by 24 years. In the month of June, both Kennedy and Reagan spoke before the Berlin Wall. A look at the impact of their words and what we can learn from those speeches today...
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June 5, 2019
The Eyes of the World are Upon You: Eisenhower's D-day Speech
Significant Speeches , On This Day , Public Speaking , Great Speeches , Resources , Presentation Tips , Presidents Day
On this day, Gen. Dwight Eisenhower recorded a message for D-day troops. Learn more about how this speech came together and the edits that made his words more powerful...
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May 29, 2019
On This Day: Ain't I a Woman
On This Day , Great Speeches , Significant Speeches , Public Speaking
Inspiring awe with her plain speaking, commanding presence, musical voice, and wit, Sojourner Truth gave her most quoted speech on a May day in Ohio, 168 years ago. But did she even say that famous line? And why does that speech still resonate today?
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May 6, 2019
On this Day: The Real MVP
On This Day , Public Speaking , Great Speeches , Seen|Read|Heard
On this day in 2014, Kevin Durant spoke from the heart to pay tribute to his mother. Here's why serious speakers should give his speech another look, all memes aside...
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April 23, 2019
On this Day: The Man in the Arena
Significant Speeches , On This Day , Great Speeches , Seen|Read|Heard , The Buckley Experience , Presidents Day
Ever wondered if your speech fell flat? Theodore Roosevelt wasn't so sure about this one--though his famous lines have lived on to inspire in a variety of ways.
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April 12, 2019
On This Day: The Ballot or the Bullet
Significant Speeches , Great Speeches , On This Day , Resources , Public Speaking
The speech he gave on this day is considered one of the top 10 American speeches of the 20th century. Here's what we can learn from Malcolm X and "The Ballot or the Bullet."
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April 3, 2019
On This Day: I've Been to the Mountaintop
On This Day , Great Speeches , Significant Speeches , Resources
The final oration from an inspiring leader and one of the greatest speakers of all time: A look at Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Mountaintop" speech in Memphis.
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February 20, 2019
Rhetorical Device of the Month: Antithesis
Rhetorical Devices , Resources , Public Speaking , Presentation Tips , Great Speeches
Why are we pro-antithesis? Here's how this artful juxtaposition can sharpen your point, challenge injustice, or make hearts soar--and make your words more memorable.
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December 7, 2018
FDR's Speech and the Day That Lives in Infamy
On This Day , Significant Speeches , Great Speeches , Public Speaking , Presidents Day
How Franklin D. Roosevelt drafted one of history's best known and oft misquoted lines--and what his speech can teach us about the importance of working to find the right words...
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November 19, 2018
On This Day: The Gettysburg Address
Significant Speeches , On This Day , Great Speeches , Public Speaking , Presidents Day
Seven score and 15 years ago on this day, Abraham Lincoln delivered a 270 word address that is still teaching us lessons about public speaking today...
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September 12, 2018
On This Day: 'We choose to go to the Moon'
Public Speaking , Seen|Read|Heard , Great Speeches , Significant Speeches , On This Day , Presidents Day
We do these things "not because they are easy, but because they are hard." On this day in 1962, President Kennedy gave a speech with lines that still resonate. What he said, how he said it, and what you can learn about speeches to inspire a vision...
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August 28, 2017
The Dream Speech: 54 Years Ago Today
Public Speaking , Seen|Read|Heard , Significant Speeches , Great Speeches , On This Day
Fifty-four years ago on this day, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered "I Have a Dream" on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Everyone claims to know this speech...but do they really?
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