The following list ranks the top 100 American speeches of the 20th century as determined in a nationwide survey of 137 communication scholars, conducted by Stephen E. Lucas (University of Wisconsin) and Martin J. Medhurst (Texas A&M University). The speeches were rated on two criteria: rhetorical artistry and historical impact. To be eligible for consideration, a speech did not need to have been presented in the United States, but the speaker had to be a U.S. resident. There were no restrictions on the genres or topics of speeches, or on the number of speeches from a single speaker.
In order to view the Top 100 American Speeches, you will need Macromedia's Flash Player installed on your system. Download Flash Player now for free. Or, view a
Top 100 Speeches print-ready version
Following the title of each speech is at least one link to a website with a transcript of that speech. In all but a few cases, the websites provide complete texts. Many also furnish historical background about the speech and/or links to additional sites with information about the speaker, speech or occasion.
Whenever possible, a site has been included that contains a full or partial audio presentation of the original speech. Links to websites with audio of the speech are indicated by this icon:
<![CDATA[<a onClick="window.open('/olcweb/cgi/pluginpop.cgi?it=gif::::/sites/dl/free/007313564x/77464/audio.gif','popWin', 'width=66,height=86,resizable,scrollbars');" href="#"><img valign="absmiddle" height="16" width="16" border="0" src="/olcweb/styles/shared/linkicons/image.gif"> (0.0K)</a>]]> To hear the audio you will need the appropriate plug-in installed in your Web browser — either RealNetworks RealPlayer® or Apple QuickTime Player[TM] depending on the website.
Every effort has been made to provide stable, accurate and high-quality websites. Inevitably, however, there will be changes in some of the sites after they have been posted. If you discover that you cannot access a speech using the link provided here, try searching for the speech by title using a search engine such as Google, Alta Vista, or All the Web. In addition, please e-mail McGraw-Hill Customer Service with any problems that you encounter.
