This bestselling collection of American oratory is the most comprehensive anthology of its kind: a record of twentieth-century America captured in the words that inspired and infuriated, electrified and galvanized its people. Decade by decade, generation to generation, history unfolds in the famous and infamous expressions of Americans from all walks of life: poets and politicians, artists and astronauts, soldiers and sports legends, preachers and pacifists, humorists and hell-raisers.
In Our Own Words bears witness to the forces that swept our nation -- two World Wars, Prohibition, the Depression, the Cold War, the Civil Rights era, Vietnam, the Reagan era, and beyond -- and features the voices of Theodore Roosevelt * Booker T. Washington * Mark Twain * Emma Goldman * Woodrow Wilson * Marcus Garvey * Oliver Wendell Holmes * George S. Patton * Pearl Buck * Orson Welles * Jackie Robinson * Joseph McCarthy * Rachel Carson * Vince Lombardi * Barry Goldwater * John F. Kennedy * J. Edgar Hoover * Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. * Malcolm X * Richard M. Nixon * Frank Zappa * Elie Wiesel * Charlton Heston * Ryan White * Duke Ellington * Billy Graham * Barbara Jordan * Bill Clinton * Cesar Chavez * Helen Keller...and dozens of others who tell the story of their age from their podiums and soapboxes, courtrooms and convention halls.
Table of Contents
1900-1909
Don P. Halsey Extols the Virtues of Great Oratory
Senator Albert J. Beveridge Defends America's Right to Subjugate "Savage" Peoples and Foreign Governments
Senator George F. Hoar Denounces American "Imperialism"
Jane Addams Offers an Impassioned Tribute to George Washington on the Anniversary of His Birthday
Tammany Hall Politician George Washington Plunkitt justifies "Honest Graft"
President Theodore Roosevelt Condemns the "Muckrakers" Who Smear and Slander Honest Men
The Reverend Dr. Donald Sage Mackay Addresses the Question "Does God Care?" After an Earthquake Destroys
San Francisco
W. E. B. Du Bois Issues a Call to Arms to His Fellow African Americans in the "Battle for Humanity"
Booker T. Washington Warns Against Confrontational Actions That May Do More Harm than Good
Mark Twain Speaks to Misses Tewksbury's School for Girls on Smoking, Drinking, and Lying
Ida B. Wells-Barnett Calls Attention to the Epidemic of Lynchings and "Mob Murder" in America
Chief Plenty Coup Confers with His Tribal Council on Achieving Peace Between the Great Tribes of the United States
The Reverend Reverdy Ransom on "White Supremacy" and an Upcoming Boxing Match Between Jack Johnson and
Jim Jeffries
1910-1919
Anarchist Emma Goldman Derides Patriotism as a "Menace to Liberty"
Union Activist Rose Schneiderman on the Deaths of 146 Workers in the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
Mrs. D. H. Bishop Offers a Harrowing Eyewitness Account of the Titanic's Last Hours
Henry Ford Describes the Bonus He Has Provided His Workers and Its Intended Effects on Their Private Lives
President Woodrow Wilson Requests a Declaration of War Against Germany
Carrie Chapman Catt Urges the U. S. Congress to Make One "Last, Hard Fight" for Suffrage
President Woodrow Wilson Enumerates the "Fourteen Points" That Will Ensure World Peace and "Justice
to All Peoples and Nationalities"
Ambassador James W. Gerard Encourages German Americans to Be Loyal to the United States -- or Else
Socialist Leader Eugene V. Debs Defends Himself in Court Against Charges of "Disloyalty" and "Sedition"
The Reverend Dr. Anna Howard Shaw Beseeches Americans to Accept President Wilson's Proposal for a "League
of Nations"
Senator Henry Cabot Lodge Rejects the League and Its "Mongrel Banner"
New York Governor Alfred E. Smith Assails the "Contemptible" Publishing Tycoon William Randolph Hearst
1920-1929
Evangelical Preacher Billy Sunday Excoriates Alcohol as "God's Worst Enemy"
Will Rogers Skewers Both the "Wets" and the "Drys" in the Prohibition Debate
Attorney Edward Prindeville Demands Imprisonment for Eight Chicago White Sox Players Who Intentionally Lost the
1919 World Series
Helen Keller Emphatically Endorses Communism and the Russian Revolution
Margaret Sanger Promotes Birth Control as an "Ethical Necessity for Humanity"
President Warren G. Harding Marvels at the "Majesty" of Yellowstone National Park
Black Leader Marcus Garvey Finds Common Ground with the Ku Klux Klan
Maud Ballington Booth Expresses Her Belief That No Prisoner Is "Beyond Hope"
Defense Attorney Clarence Darrow Implores the Court to Spare the Lives of Two Young Murderers
William Jennings Bryan Scoffs at Darwin's Theory of Evolution
Defense Attorney Dudley Field Malone Argues That Both "Theology and Science" Should Be Taught in Public
Schools
Nicola Sacco, Before His Execution, Restates His Innocence
Al "Scarface" Capone Bids Farewell to Chicago and Laments Being Unappreciated for Showing Citizens a
"Good Time"
Republican Presidential Candidate Herbert Hoover Predicts the "Abolition of Poverty" in the United States
1930-1939
Oscar Ameringer Describes Intolerable Suffering Throughout the United States as a Result of the Great Depression
justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, on His Ninetieth Birthday, Offers Profound Advice on Life and Death
Notre Dame President the Reverend Father Charles L. O'Donnell Eulogizes the Legendary Football Coach Knute Rockne
Walter W. Waters, Leader of the "Bonus Expeditionary Forces," Rallies Americans Against President Herbert
Hoover
Newly Elected President Franklin D. Roosevelt Gives Inspiration and Courage to a Nation Overwhelmed by Poverty
and Anxiety
Joseph Strauss, Engineer of the Golden Gate Bridge, Celebrates the Bridge as a Symbol of "New Hopes and New
Aspirations"
Mary McLeod Bethune Commemorates the Sacrifices and Achievements of African American Women Over the Past 100 Years
Populist Senator Huey P. Long Advances His "Share Our Wealth" Plan to Make "Every Man a King"
Radio Broadcaster Herb Morrison Reports Live as the Hindenburg Explodes and Crashes to the Ground
Union Leader John L. Lewis Excoriates Big Business for Its "Brutality and Oppression" Against Organized
Labor
Orson Welles Tries to Assure Terrified Listeners That They Are Not Being Attacked by Martians
Baseball Great Lou Gehrig, Suffering from a Fatal Disease, Thanks His Fans and Considers Himself the "Luckiest
Man on the Face of the Earth"
1940-1949
CBS Newsman Edward R. Murrow Describes Nazi Air Attacks on the City of London
President Franklin D. Roosevelt Tries to Convince a Skeptical Nation
Why It Must Defend the World Against Nazism
Legendary Composer Duke Ellington Exalts the Artistic, Intellectual, and Spiritual Contributions Made by African
Americans
Famed Pilot Charles Lindbergh Argues That the United States Would
Meet with "Defeat and Failure" Against the German Army
journalist Dorothy Thompson Imagines the Horror of a World Controlled by Adolf Hitler
President Franklin D. Roosevelt Requests from Congress a Declaration of War Against Japan
Nobel Laureate Pearl Buck Contends That to Defeat Fascism Abroad, Americans Must Fight for Equality at Home
General Dwight D. Eisenhower Drafts a Message of Apology for His Failure at D-Day
General Eisenhower Issues His "Order of the Day" to the Men Who
Will Storm the Beaches of Normandy
General George S. Patton Tells His Troops That War Is the "Most
Magnificent Competition in Which a Human Being Can Indulge"
President Harry S. Truman Addresses a Nation Grief-Stricken by the
Death of Franklin D. Roosevelt
President Truman Announces That an Atomic Bomb-the Largest
Bomb Ever Used in the History of Warfare-Has Been Dropped on Japan
General Douglas MacArthur Offers Words of Peace After Japan Signs the Official Declaration of Surrender
J. Robert Oppenheimer, Creator of the Atomic Bomb, Beseeches His Colleagues Not to Forget Morality in Their Pursuit
of Science
Robert H. Jackson Demands a Verdict of Guilty for the Nazi Leaders on Trial at Nuremberg
Holocaust Survivor Hadassah Rosensaft Describes the Day She Was Liberated from a Nazi Extermination Camp
Zionist Leader Abba Hillel Silver Implores the United Nations to Authorize the Creation of a Homeland for Jews
in Palestine
Secretary of State George Marshall Announces a Plan to Save War-Ravaged Europe from Descending into "Chaos"
World-Renowned Performer Paul Robeson Adamantly Defends His Love for the Soviet Union and Its Government
Major-League Baseball Player Jackie Robinson Appears Before the House Un-American Activities Committee to Comment
on Robeson's Remarks
1950-1959
Senator Joseph McCarthy Launches a "Final, All-Out Battle" Against Communist Sympathizers in the United
States
Senator Margaret Chase Smith Warns Against Those Who Use "Fear, Ignorance, Bigotry, and Smear [Tactics]"
for Political Gain
Nobel Laureate William Faulkner Expresses His Heartfelt Belief That "Man Will Not Merely Endure: He Will Prevail"
President Harry S. Truman Defends Sending Troops to Korea and Firing General Douglas MacArthur
General MacArthur Explains His Actions in the Korean War and Refutes Charges of Being a "Warmonger"
Democratic Governor Adlai Stevenson Reminds Members of His Party of All That They Have Accomplished in the Past
Twenty Years
Vice Presidential Candidate Richard M. Nixon Confronts Allegations That He Used Campaign Funds for His Personal
Gain
John W. Davis Contends That "Separate but Equal" Is a Matter for the Legislature, Not the Courts, to
Decide
NAACP Attorney Thurgood Marshall Argues That "Separate but Equal" Schools and Other Institutions Are
Unconstitutional
Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt Addresses the Question: "Hasn't the United Nations Failed?"
Environmentalist Rachel Carson Muses on the "Exceeding Beauty of the Earth" and Its Effect on the Human
Spirit
Architect Frank Lloyd Wright Encourages His Students to Create Buildings That Are "Beneficial to Humankind"
Homer Hickam Relates How Sputnik Inspired Him to Become a Rocket Engineer for NASA
Jack Kerouac, in a Rare Public Appearance, Describes What the "Beat Generation" Is -- and Is Not
Poet Carl Sandburg, Before a joint Session of Congress, Honors Abraham Lincoln on the 150th Anniversary of His
Birth
Green Bay Packers Coach Vince Lombardi Orders His Players to "Make Any Sacrifice to Win"
1960-1969
Dwight D. Eisenhower Ends His Presidency with a Heartfelt Message of Peace and a Warning About the Growing "Military
Establishment" in America
President John F. Kennedy Summons the Nation and the World to join Together in the Fight Against "Tyranny,
Poverty, Disease, and War"
President John F. Kennedy Informs Americans of the Installation of Nuclear Missiles in Cuba -- a "Reckless
and Provocative Threat to World Peace"
Alabama Governor George Wallace Promises His State: "Segregation Now! Segregation Tomorrow! Segregation Forever!"
Standing in Front of the Berlin Wall, President John F. Kennedy Reminds the World of the "Failures of Communism"
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Electrifies a Nation with His Call for an End to Segregation and Racial Discrimination
Dr. King Eulogizes Four Little Black Girls Murdered by the Ku Klux Klan
Malcolm X Scoffs at Dr. King's Pacifism, Declaring: "There's No Such Thing as a Nonviolent Revolution"
President John F. Kennedy Pays Tribute to the Poet Robert Frost and All of America's Writers and Artists
Cardinal Richard Cushing Offers a Final Prayer for President John F. Kennedy, Slain by an Assassin's Bullet
President Lyndon Johnson Orders "Air Action" Against North Vietnam After U.S. Destroyers Are Attacked
in the Gulf of Tonkin
Senator Barry Goldwater Exclaims at the 1964 Republican Convention That "Extremism in the Defense of Liberty
Is No Vice"
Berkeley University Student Mario Savio Criticizes the School Adrministration's Attempts to Stifle Free Speech
President Lyndon Johnson Envisions Transforming America into a "Great Society" Free of Poverty, Crime,
and Racism
President Johnson Makes an Impassioned Plea to Congress to Pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965
FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover Explains Why Only "Clean Cut" Men (and No "Beatniks") Can Serve
in the FBI
President Lyndon Johnson Outlines the "First Steps" to Limiting the War in Vietnam and Makes a Stunning
Personal Announcement to the American People
Labor Leader Cesar Chavez, Recovering from a Three-Week Fast, Explains to His Followers Why "Sacrifice"
Is Integral to Their Struggle
Robert F. Kennedy Calms a Mostly Black Crowd of 1,000 After Informing Them That Martin Luther King Jr. Has just
Been Assassinated
Two Months Later, Robert F. Kennedy Is Killed by an Assassin's Bullet and Is Eulogized by His Younger Brother,
Senator Ted Kennedy
Crew Members of the Apollo 8 Spacecraft Offer a Christmas Eve Message of Peace and Hope to a Nation Reeling from
Social and Political Turmoil
Congresswoman Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm Demands That the United States Spends Its Resources on "People
and Peace, Not Profits and War"
Wellesley Graduate Hillary Diane Rodham Defends Her Generation's Use of "Constructive Protest" to Create
Social Change
Vice President Spiro Agnew Blasts the "Effete Corps of Impudent Snobs" and "Professional Anarchists"
Who Oppose the War in Vietnam
Betty Friedan Explains Why the Feminist Movement Is Imperative Not Only for Women, But for Men As Well
1970-1979
Herbert L. Carter Describes in Graphic Detail His Eyewitness Account of the Atrocities Committed at My Lai
Twenty-eight-Year-Old Veteran and War Hero John Kerry Asks the U.S. Senate "Where Are the Leaders" to
End This "Barbaric War" in Vietnam?
TV Reporter Dorothy Fuldheim, Who Covered the Kent State Shootings, Responds to Critics of Her "Pro-Student"
Sympathies
Inmate L. D. Barkley Reads Aloud the Prisoners' Demands During a Hostage Crisis in New York State's Attica Prison
Twenty-five-Year-Old Attorney Sarah Weddington Argues Before the U.S. Supreme Court Why Abortions Should Be Legal
Throughout America
Actress Jane Fonda Broadcasts Pro-Communist Radio Messages in Hanoi to Demoralize American Servicemen Fighting
in Vietnam
President Richard M. Nixon Announces a Cease-Fire Between the U.S. Military and the North Vietnamese
Pat Simon, the Mother of a Young Soldier Killed in the Vietnam War, Asks That Amnesty Be Granted to All Draft Resisters
Representative Barbara Jordan Argues for the Impeachment of President Richard M. Nixon
President Nixon Bids an Emotional Farewell to His Staff
President Gerald R. Ford Explains His Motivations for Pardoning Richard M. Nixon
Astronomer Carl Sagan Discusses the Implications of Finding Life on Other Planets
The Message (Recorded by President Jimmy Carter) Enclosed in the Voyager I and Voyager II Spacecrafts
Native American Activist Leonard Peltier, on Trial for Murder, Denounces the judge as a "Member of the White
Racist American Establishment"
Nobel Laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer Reflects on the Role of Stories and Literature to "Uplift the Spirit"
Conservative Leader Phyllis Schlafly Denounces the Women's Movement as Incompatible with a "Successful Family
Life and Motherhood"
President Jimmy Carter Addresses the "Crisis of Confidence" Affecting the "Heart and Soul and Spirit"
of the Nation
1980-1989
Presidential Candidate Ronald Reagan Vows a "National Crusade to Make America Great Again"
Dr. Rayna Green, Cherokee, Offers a "Modest Proposal" for a "Museum of the Plains White Person"
UN Ambassador Jeanne Kirkpatrick Excoriates the Soviet Union for Shooting Down a Passenger Plane, Killing Everyone
On Board
Eleven-Year-Old "Ambassador of Peace" Samantha Smith Shares Her Vision of the Future
New York Governor Mario Cuomo Challenges President Reagan's Portrayal of America as a "Shining City on a Hill"
Susan Baker of the PMRC Recommends Putting Warning Labels on Records with "Sexually Explicit and Violent"
Rock Lyrics
Musician Frank Zappa Dismisses the PMRC's Proposal as an "Ill-Conceived Piece of Nonsense"
Holocaust Survivor Elie Wiesel Criticizes President Reagan at the White House for Planning to Visit a German Cemetery
Where Nazi Officers Are Buried
President Ronald Reagan Honors the Memory of the Seven Astronauts Killed in the Space Shuttle Challenger Explosion
Corporate Raider Ivan Boesky Encourages Graduating Business Students to "Seek Wealth" in a "Virtuous
and Honest Way"
An Unrepentent Oliver North Defends His Role in the Iran-Contra Scandal and Blames Congress for Its "Fickle,
Vacillating" Foreign Policy
The Reverend Jesse Jackson Rallies All Americans-Particularly the Most Disadvantaged -- to "Keep Hope Alive!"
Ryan White Relates the Prejudices and Hatred He Has Endured Since Being Diagnosed with AIDS
Patricia Godley, a Former Drug Addict, Stands Before a Town Han Meeting on Drug Abuse and Implores: "Make
Me Know I'm Worth Fighting For"
1990-1999
Student Dissident Shen Tong Offers a Firsthand Account of the Violent Crackdown in Tiananmen Square, China
President George Bush Announces the Allied Air Attack on Saddam Hussein's Forces in Iraq and Kuwait
Judge Clarence Thomas Vehemently Denies Charges of Sexual Harassment Made by Former Employee Anita Hill
Anita Hill Describes judge Thomas's Sexual Advances Toward Her in Lurid Detail
The Reverend Cecil L. Murray, During the L.A. Riots, Implores His Parishioners to Find Faith and Refrain from Violence
Senator Daniel Inouye Pays Tribute to the Courage and Patriotism of the Highly Decorated 442nd Regiment of Japanese
American Soldiers
President Bill Clinton Addresses a Predominantly Black Church on What Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Would Say If He
Were Alive Today
Barbra Streisand Defends the Role of the Arts -- and Actors as Activists -- in American Society and Politics
The Reverend Billy Graham, After the Oklahoma City Bombing, Offers a Sermon on the "Mystery of Evil"
Elizabeth Birch Appeals to Members of the Christian Coalition to Find "Common Ground" with Gays and Lesbians
Defense Attorney Johnnie Cochran Enumerates the Reasons Why O.J. Simpson Must Be Found "Not Guilty"
Handgun Control Activist (and Registered Republican) Sarah Brady Speaks to the Democratic National Convention on
Gun Violence in America
Famed Actor and NRA Leader Charlton Heston Lashes Out at Those Who Attempt to "Undermine the Second Amendment"
Bill Henderson Laments Society's Increasing Dependence on Computers and Technology
The Original Draft of President Bill Clinton's Apology to the American People for His "Improper Relationship"
with Monica Lewinsky
The Speech He Ultimately Gave
Journalist Tom Brokaw Looks Back on the Triumphs and Turmoils of the Twentieth Century -- and Looks Ahead to the
Challenges and
