Customer Reviews

The Greatest Speeches of All-Time

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SOUNDWORK's GREATEST SPEECHES OF ALL TIME Box Set combines their three original volumes into one great package. The 39 film and sound clips presented over these 3½ hours represent some of most important moments in modern political history. Fascinating throughout.


Also recommended is JOHN F. KENNEDY: The Presidential Years, which contains highlights of 13 speeches JFK made between 1960 and '63.


CONTENTS of GREATEST SPEECHES Box Set:

VOL. ONE--
Franklin D. Roosevelt: 1942 "State of the Union Address" (post- Pearl Harbor attack).
Winston Churchill: Excerpts of famous speeches made during WWII.
Gen. Douglas MacArthur: "Old Soldiers Never Die..."
Harry S. Truman: Fiery political rhetoric from the "Buck stops here" president.
John F. Kennedy: Highlights of "New Frontiers," the 1961 Inaugural Address ("Ask Not") and "Ich Bin Ein Berliner."
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.: Excerpts from two speeches, including his last. - (Memphis, 1968)
Robert F. Kennedy: RFK's impromptu eulogy of Martin Luther King. - (Indiana, 1968)
Malcolm X: A speech delivered in Harlem.
Richard M. Nixon: "I will resign this office effective noon tomorrow..." - ( Aug. 1974)
Ronald Reagan: Speeches made at the start and close of his administration.
Total time: 68:00

VOL. TWO--
Franklin D. Roosevelt: 1st Inaugural Address ("...fear itself") - (3/4/33)
Franklin D. Roosevelt: Answers claim that he feasts on "Grilled Millionaires." - (12/5/38)
Franklin D. Roosevelt: Teamsters Union Banquet, Hotel Statler in Washington D.C. - (9/23/44)
Richard M. Nixon: "Checkers Speech." - (9/23/52)
John F. Kennedy: "Test Ban Treaty" speech at American University. - (6/10/63)
Martin Luther King, Jr.: Brown Chapel in Selma, Alabama. - (3/8/65)
Barry Goldwater: Republican National Convention speech, San Francisco. - (7/16/64)
Ronald Reagan: Speech supporting Goldwater-Miller G.O.P. ticket. - (10/27/64)
Ronald Reagan: At the Brandenburg Gate ("Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall"). - (6/12/87)
Mario Cuomo: Democratic National Convention speech, San Francisco. - (7/16/84)
Jesse Jackson: Political rally, Tendley Baptist Church, Philadelphia. - (1/16/84)
George H.W. Bush: Address to Joint Session of Congress following Desert Storm victory. - (3/6/91)
Bill Clinton: 50th Anniversary of D-Day Invasion. - (6/6/94)
Bill Clinton: 2nd Inaugural Address, Washington D.C. - (1/20/97)
Total Time: 94:30

Disc #3
Will Rogers: Campaign Rally with FDR - 1932
Huey Long: To Congressional Staff members ("redistribute the wealth"). - (12/11/34)
3. Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Second Inaugural Address. - January 20, 1937
George S. Patton: War Bond rally speech, Los Angeles. - (6/12/45)
John L. Lewis: Call for ouster of Secretary of the Interior, after mining disaster. - (4/3/47)
Atty. Joseph Welch: Army vs. McCarthy testimony ("Have you no shame?"). - (4/22/54)
V.P. Richard Nixon-Nikita Khrushchev: "Kitchen Debate," U.S. Embassy, Moscow. - (7/24/59)
Hubert Humphrey: Presidential Primary speech made to farm workers. - (3/14/60)
John F. Kennedy: Civil Rights Legislation address to the nation. - (6/11/63)
Nelson Rockefeller: Republican National Convention speech. - (7/14/64)
Robert F. Kennedy: Democratic National Convention, Atlantic City. - (9/27/64)
U.S. Rep. Barbara Jordan at Impeachment hearings of Richard Nixon. - (7/25/74)
Gerald Ford: Pardon for Richard Nixon. - (9/8/74)
Jimmy Carter: Energy Crisis speech. - (7/15/79)
Ronald Reagan: National Assn. of Evangelicals Convention. - (3/23/83)
Running Time: 52:00

I teach an introductory public speaking course at a local university and start each class with a speech from one of these DVDs. They're wonderful examples of great public speaking and, I hope, an inspiration to my students. For anyone who appreciates history and major political figures, this is a terrific collection to own.

Raw footage, no complete speeches so far. I haven't seen them all yet but I'm not impressed with the quality. Probably won't buy from Speech Works again.

OK, so I bought this box set to supplement my American History classes. I figured that it'd be helpful to have hard copies so I wasn't at the mercy of Youtube or a poor Internet connection to show some of these speeches to my classes. As it turns out, I would have been significantly better off not bothering. I can't even tell you how disappointed I am that some of the speeches have been edited down to almost nothing. Take Martin Luther King's "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech, which is well over 20 minutes long. No kidding, this DVD contains only about a minute of the speech! There is no commentary, no context, or anything besides a brief introduction that mentions the setting of the speech.

Other speeches aren't as badly cut, but as far as I know there are only a few complete speeches on this disk.

For the price ($30) there isn't much value to this set.

Great Box set of speeches, but was expecting a little bit more speeches that did not focus on political issues.

Speech for 8th graders is all about the basics. This collection of speeches, largely persuasive in the broad sense, was an excellent way to place speeches in historical context and discuss their importance to our world. It was also great to use with a substitute if you are technically set up. Use a questionnaire and show a variety of speeches. If you have an older substitute teacher they can also share their unique experience (if they personally remember the events surrounding 'some' of the speeches) to the class.

I think it`s a great product. It could be better if it had transcriptions of the speeches.