“Checkers”

Richard M. Nixon
“Checkers”
delivered and broadcast live on television 23 September 1952.

My Fellow Americans,

I come before you tonight as a candidate for the Vice Presidency and as a man whose honesty and — and integrity has been questioned.

Now, the usual political thing to do when charges are made against you is to either ignore them or to deny them without giving details. I believe we’ve had enough of that in the United States, particularly with the present Administration in Washington, D.C. To me the office of the Vice Presidency of the United States is a great office, and I feel that the people have got to have confidence in the integrity of the men who run for that office and who might obtain it. [ more ]

Link for Details

Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation

Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation
delivered 8 December 1941, Washington, D.C.

[AUTHENTICITY CERTIFIED: Text version below transcribed directly from audio.]

Mr. Vice President, Mr. Speaker, Members of the Senate, and of the House of Representatives:

Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 — a date which will live in infamy — the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.

The United States was at peace with that nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its government and its emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific. [ more ]

Link for Details

First Inaugural Address

Franklin Delano Roosevelt
First Inaugural Address
Delivered 4 March 1933

[AUTHENTICITY CERTIFIED: Text version below transcribed directly from audio.]

President Hoover, Mr. Chief Justice, my friends:

This is a day of national consecration. And I am certain that on this day my fellow Americans expect that on my induction into the Presidency, I will address them with a candor and a decision which the present situation of our people impels.

This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure, as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. [ more ]

Link for Details

Inaugural Address

John F. Kennedy
Inaugural Address
delivered 20 January 1961

[AUTHENTICITY CERTIFIED: Text version below transcribed directly from audio.]

[Taking the oath of Office]

Vice President Johnson, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chief Justice, President Eisenhower, Vice President Nixon, President Truman, reverend clergy, fellow citizens:

We observe today not a victory of party, but a celebration of freedom — symbolizing an end, as well as a beginning — signifying renewal, as well as change. For I have sworn before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forebears prescribed nearly a century and three-quarters ago. [ more ]

Link for Details

“I Have a Dream”

Martin Luther King, Jr.
“I Have a Dream”
delivered 28 August 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.

[Text version below transcribed directly from audio.]

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity. [ more ]

Link for Details