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Speeches for the Public Speaking Program

The speeches below are provided for students participating in the Public Speaking Program. Currently, there are two collections, American Speeches and Literary & Dramatic Monologues. Students should check with their teachers if they have any questions about which speech to use. Good Luck with your speech!


American Speeches

Abraham Lincoln: Gettysburg AddressAbraham Lincoln: 2nd Inaugural AddressAdm. William McRaven: U Texas Commencement 2013
Barack Obama: 2008 Acceptance SpeechBarbara Bush: Wellesley Commencement AddressBill Clinton: Oklahoma Bombing Memorial Address
Brett Favre: Retirement AddressConan O’Brien: Harvard Commencement AddressGen. Douglas Macarthur: Duty, Honor, Country Address at West Point
Drew Brees: Loyola Commencement AddressDr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: I Have a Dream AddressDwight D. Eisenhower: Farewell Address
Franklin D. Roosevelt: 1st Inaugural AddressFranklin D. Roosevelt: The Four Freedoms AddressFranklin D. Roosevelt: Pearl Harbor Address
George Graham Vest: A Tribute to Dogs AddressGeorge H.W. Bush: Attack on Iraq 1991 AddressGeorge W. Bush: Address After the September 11 Attack
George Washington: Address Resigning His CommissionGerald R. Ford: Remarks on Taking Office, August 9, 1974Harold Ickes: What Is An American Address
Hillary Clinton: Women’s Rights Are Human Rights AddressJamie Hyneman: Villanova Commencement AddressJim Valvano: 1993 ESPY Award Speech
John F. Kennedy: Inaugural AddressJohn F. Kennedy: Address to the Houston Ministerial AssociationJohn F. Kennedy: Decision to Go to the Moon Address
John F. Kennedy: Speech on the American Spirit AddressLady Bird Johnson: Tribute to Eleanor Roosevelt AddressOprah Winfrey: A Eulogy for Rosa Parks
Oprah Winfrey: On Receiving the Bob Hope Humanitarian AwardPatrick Henry: Give Me Liberty AddressRobert F. Kennedy: Remarks on the Assassination of Martin Luther King
Ronald Reagan: Brandenburg Gate AddressRonald Reagan: Challenger Disaster AddressRonald Reagan: 40th Anniversary of D-Day Address
Sojourner Truth: Ain’t I A Woman? SpeechStan Lee: Letter on CensorshipSteve Jobs: Stanford University Address
Theodore Roosevelt: The Duties of American Citizenship AddressTheodore Roosevelt: Strength and Decency AddressUrsula K. Leguin: A Left-Handed Commencement Address at Mills College 1983
Vince Lombardi: What It Takes to Be Number OneWinston S. Churchill: Response to Becoming an American CitizenWinston S. Churchill: Never Give In Address
Winston S. Churchill: Christmas Message from Washington, December 1941Winston S. Churchill: Christmas Message from Washington, December 1941Winston S. Churchill: This Was Their Finest Hour Address
8th Grade Speeches for Social Justice & Change

 

Literary & Dramatic Monologues

Achilles’ Lament from the Iliad Achilles to Agamemnon from the Iliad A Retreating Artilleryman from War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
 Athena Asks Zeus to Help Odysseus from the Iliad Atticus Finch from To Kill A Mockingbird Build It and They Will Come from Field of Dreams
 Clytemnestra on Murdering Agamemnon from the Iliad  Danton’s Retreat from the Fourteenth of July and Danton Electra Seeks Vengeance from Electra by Sophocles
 Eponine’s Death from Les Miserables An Extract from Adam’s Diary by Mark Twain An Extract from Eve’s Diary by Mark Twain
 Fantine’s Arrest from Les Miserables Fantine’s Death from Les Miserables Gandalf and the Finding of the One Ring from the Lord of the Rings
 Hector to Achilles in Hades from the Iliad Hotchkiss Celebrates Snobbery from The Marriage by George Bernard Shaw How the Thought police Work from 1984
 Ferris Bueller’s I Could Be the Walrus Janning’s Confession from Judgment at Nuremberg Jack Explains himself While Stuck Climbing the Beanstalk from the Beanstalk by Tara Meddaugh
 Jane’s Story About the School from Jane Eyre Jane Tells Her Aunt Why She hates Her from Jane Eyre Joanna Kramer’s Testimony from Kramer vs. Kramer
 Joan of Arc: Have Pity on Me from The Lark by Jean Anouilh King Priam’s Apology from the Iliad Luka’s Story from The Lower Depths by Maxim Gorky
 Lysidamus: Nothing in the World Like Love from Casina by Plautus Mr. Rochester’s Explanation from Jane Eyre Newspeak and Doublethink from 1984
 O’Brien Talks About Power from 1984 Paquette Explains Why She Became a Courtesan from Candide by Voltaire Paul Baumer: I Shouldn’t Have Come home from All Quiet on the Western Front
 Peculiar behavior Don’t make One Crazy from Mr. Deeds Goes to Town Poseidon Demands Vengeance from the Iliad Poseidon Against Odysseus from the Iliad
 Antigone’s lament Prison Forever from Antigone by Sophocles Quint’s Story about the U.S.S. Indianapolis Sinking from Jaws Robespierre from the Fourteenth of July and Danton
 Samantha Black Crow from American Gods by Neil Gaiman Sir Patrick Explains the Medical Profession from The Doctor’s Dilema by George Bernard Shaw Smirnov: I Am Done with Women from The Boor by Anton Checkov
 The Battle with Grendel from Beowulf The Opening from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens The Road to Isengard from The Lord of The Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
 Von Helsing Describes the Vampire from Dracula  Who Is Kyser Soze from The Usual Suspects by Christopher McQuarrie