American Speeches: Political Oratory from Abraham Lincoln to Bill Clinton (Library of America) [Hardcover]

Ted Widmer (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 5, 2006

Public speeches have profoundly shaped American history and culture, transforming not only our politics but also our language and our sense of national identity. This volume (the second of an unprecedented two-volume collection) gathers the unabridged texts of 83 eloquent and dramatic speeches delivered by 45 American public figures between 1865 and 1997, beginning with Abraham Lincoln's last speech on Reconstruction and ending with Bill Clinton's heartfelt tribute to the Little Rock Nine. During this period American political oratory continued to evolve, as a more conversational style, influenced by the intimacy of radio and television, emerged alongside traditional forms of rhetoric.

Included are speeches on Reconstruction by Thaddeus Stevens and African-American congressman Robert Brown Elliott, Frederick Douglass's brilliant oration on Abraham Lincoln, and Oliver Wendell Holmes's "touched with fire" Memorial Day Address. Speeches by Robert Ingersoll and William Jennings Bryan capture the fervor of 19th-century political conventions, while Theodore Roosevelt and Carl Schurz offer opposing views on imperialism. Ida B. Wells and Mary Church Terrell denounce the cruelty of lynching and the injustice of Jim Crow; Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Carrie Chapman Catt advocate the enfranchisement of women; and Woodrow Wilson and Henry Cabot Lodge present conflicting visions of the League of Nations.

Also included are wartime speeches by George Patton and Dwight Eisenhower; an address on the atomic bomb by J. Robert Oppenheimer; Richard Nixon's "Checkers Speech"; Malcolm X's "The Ballot or the Bullet"; Barry Goldwater's speech to the 1964 Republican convention; Mario Savio urging Berkeley students to stop "the machine"; Barbara Jordan defending the Constitution during Watergate; and an extensive selection of speeches by Franklin Roosevelt, Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan.

Each volume contains biographical and explanatory notes, and an index.

Editorial Reviews

Review

...an invaluable...collection -- invaluable for the breadth and diversity of the people and ideas these two elegant volumes represent... -- Alan Brinkley

Nobody knows more about the history of American political speeches than Ted Widmer. In this terrific two-volume set, he's compiled famous speeches that readers will recognize and relish and also has unearthed some lesser-known gems. American Speeches gives a comprehensive view of the arguments, passions, and philosophies that have shaped America -- from the time of our Founding Fathers to the present. These speeches are part of our national heritage, just as much as our Constitution and the Bill of Rights. They should be studied and celebrated! -- President Bill Clinton

Whitman said he heard America singing. Here is America speaking. -- Richard Brookhiser

About the Author

Ted Widmer, editor, is the Beatrice and Julio Mario Santo Domingo Director and Librarian of the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University and the author of Martin Van Buren in The American Presidents Series and of Young America: The Flowering of Democracy in New York City. He was director of speechwriting at the National Security Council and a senior advisor to President Clinton from 1997 to 2001.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 875 pages
• Publisher: Library of America (October 5, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1931082987
• ISBN-13: 978-1931082983
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #653,210 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A treasury of complete American political speeches from Reconstruction to Bill Clinton, October 6, 2006

By 

Craig Matteson (Saline, MI) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: American Speeches: Political Oratory from Abraham Lincoln to Bill Clinton (Library of America) (Hardcover)

About a third of these speeches were delivered in my lifetime and I am pretty aware of most of the speeches included that were delivered during 1963 and later. Yes, I was young, but I was paying attention. I grew up with the echoes of WWII and Korea in my ears and the threat of nuclear war a part of the fabric of my life. The political speeches do not constitute everything that went into the crazy and tumultuous years that made up the sixties and seventies, but they were a reflection and were themselves an important portion of those times and events. The names if JFK, Bobby Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Malcom X, LBJ, Carter, and Reagan resonate well even today.

This volume begins with Lincoln's speech on Reconstruction, Sojourner Truth is here, as is Frederick Douglass. Chief Joseph's brief and poignant reply to General Howard is here as is Oliver Wendell Holmes' powerful address on Memorial Day. Grover Cleveland's address dedicating the Statue of Liberty, Elizabeth Cady Stanton's "The Solitude of Self", Booker T. Washington's "Address to the Atlanta Exposition" are all included.

Teddy Roosevelt is well represented as are speeches by Eugene Debs, Woodrow Wilson, FDR, Truman, Oppenheimer, and Betty Friedan.

Because the speeches are given in their complete form, it is a great treasury for the student of American history. Too often, a sentence or two is used to represent the whole of the speech and that seldom provides enough context of structure for the argument of the speech.

There are biographical notes on the speakers and notes on the text provided in the back of book along with and index.

Terrific work and something you should have (with its companion volume) on your bookshelf.

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow!, June 12, 2010

By 

Frank Beckendorf "Frank from Chalmette and no... (Abilene, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: American Speeches: Political Oratory from Abraham Lincoln to Bill Clinton (Library of America) (Hardcover)

This, the second volume of the two, is a complement to the great speeches of America's influential leaders. While one might wonder how such great oratory came from a disgraced President, one must also wonder how this individual ranks among the great: Chief Joseph, Huey Long, Frederick Douglass and Oliver Wendell Holmes, both Clinton and Nixon delivered some memorable speeches. You need to pick up this selection and see for yourself!

20 of 96 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Like mixing Einstein and Daffy Duck, October 24, 2006

By 

starflakes "starflakes" (Drinkwater) - See all my reviews

This review is from: American Speeches: Political Oratory from Abraham Lincoln to Bill Clinton (Library of America) (Hardcover)

The title of this book should be an alert as how one could class the oratory work of Abraham Lincoln with Bill Clinton is beyond what a reasonable mind could accept. It is like having Albert Einstein and then including Daffy Duck.
For that reason, I wonder of the agenda and the claim that the author knows more than anyone about these speeches and how he can pass over the oratory of the Comanche, Cheyenne and Kiowa at the Medicine Lodge treaty or for that matter neglect the moving speeches of General Patton only to include Betty Friedan who history has already passed over like most to the recent "great" speeches included here.
There is just too much a mix of extraordinary with the mundane which appears like a political spin to try and make people like Bill Clinton appear great by sticking him in with Lincoln. How one can compare the destruction of a people in the words of Chief Joseph to what some of these speeches entail is pure rhetoric.
One would do better to seek out the people who made the speeches in biographies and autobiographies than to invest in this rendered work, but if you enjoy rolling your eyes in how the compiler includes paid speech writers for leaders with people like Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and Chief Joseph.....then you probably will enjoy this book.
1 star to alert readers to think before they buy.