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 Address	Abraham Lincoln: 2nd Inaugural Address	Adm. William McRaven: U Texas Commencement 2013
Barack Obama: 2008 Acceptance Speech	Barbara Bush: Wellesley Commencement Address	Bill Clinton: Oklahoma Bombing Memorial Address
Brett Favre: Retirement Address	Conan O’Brien: Harvard Commencement Address	Gen. Douglas Macarthur: Duty, Honor, Country Address at West Point
Drew Brees: Loyola Commencement Address	Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: I Have a Dream Address	Dwight D. Eisenhower: Farewell Address
Franklin D. Roosevelt: 1st Inaugural Address	Franklin D. Roosevelt: The Four Freedoms Address	Franklin D. Roosevelt: Pearl Harbor Address
George Graham Vest: A Tribute to Dogs Address	George H.W. Bush: Attack on Iraq 1991 Address	George W. Bush: Address After the September 11 Attack
George Washington: Address Resigning His Commission	Gerald R. Ford: Remarks on Taking Office, August 9, 1974	Harold Ickes: What Is An American Address
Hillary Clinton: Women’s Rights Are Human Rights Address	Jamie Hyneman: Villanova Commencement Address	Jim Valvano: 1993 ESPY Award Speech
John F. Kennedy: Inaugural Address	John F. Kennedy: Address to the Houston Ministerial Association	John F. Kennedy: Decision to Go to the Moon Address
John F. Kennedy: Speech on the American Spirit Address	Lady Bird Johnson: Tribute to Eleanor Roosevelt Address	Oprah Winfrey: A Eulogy for Rosa Parks
Oprah Winfrey: On Receiving the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award	Patrick Henry: Give Me Liberty Address	Robert F. Kennedy: Remarks on the Assassination of Martin Luther King
Ronald Reagan: Brandenburg Gate Address	Ronald Reagan: Challenger Disaster Address	Ronald Reagan: 40th Anniversary of D-Day Address
Sojourner Truth: Ain’t I A Woman? Speech	Stan Lee: Letter on Censorship	Steve Jobs: Stanford University Address
Theodore Roosevelt: The Duties of American Citizenship Address	Theodore Roosevelt: Strength and Decency Address	Ursula K. Leguin: A Left-Handed Commencement Address at Mills College 1983
Vince Lombardi: What It Takes to Be Number One	Winston S. Churchill: Response to Becoming an American Citizen	Winston S. Churchill: Never Give In Address
Winston S. Churchill: Christmas Message from Washington, December 1941	Winston S. Churchill: Christmas Message from Washington, December 1941	Winston 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