October 22, 2012

Kennedy’s Cuban Missile Crisis Speech

50 years ago today, on October 22nd, 1962, President John F. Kennedy delivered a nation-wide televised address about the discovery of Soviet missiles in Cuba and the U.S. plan of action during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Watch or listen to Kennedy’s speech during one of the major confrontations of the Cold War.

Cuban Missile Crisis Address to the Nation by John F. Kennedy on Audio Download and Streaming Video

The confrontation ended on October 28, 1962, when Kennedy and United Nations Secretary-General U Thant reached a public and secret agreement with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. Had a nuclear conflict, or possibly World War III, been initiated it has been estimated that 100 million Americans and over 100 million Soviets would have perished.

50 years later eight countries have detonated nuclear weapons and acknowledge that they possess nuclear weapons: the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, the People’s Republic of China, India, Pakistan, and North Korea. And it is widely believed that Israel possesses nuclear weapons, though it does not acknowledge having them. South Africa has the unique status of a nation that developed nuclear weapons but has since disassembled its arsenal. The Federation of American Scientists estimates there are more than 19,000 nuclear warheads in the world as of 2012, with around 4,400 of them kept in “operational” status, ready for use.

January 30, 2012

Best Commencement Speeches on Audio & Video

Get inspired with this list of the 10 best commencement speeches available on audio & video. While college commencement addresses are aimed at graduates, the wisdom they contain can be inspirational for everyone, no matter what stage of life you’re at. Since colleges have been putting out more videos in recent years there are now many commencement addresses available on YouTube. And we’ve also discovered that the C-SPAN video library also features many great commencement addresses from the past twenty years or so.

We’ve selected these top 10 best commencement speeches mixing some historic commencement speeches with some great modern commencement addresses as well:

1. 2005 Commencement Address at Stanford University by Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs delivered this commencement address at Stanford University and it’s one of the more inspiring commencement addresses we’ve ever had a chance to hear. Jobs tells three stories of endurance through his education, his career, and his diagnosis with cancer, and through it all his advice is: “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.” This title is available on streaming video.

2. 1963 American University Commencement Address by John F. Kennedy

In this famous address delivered a few months before his assassination, President John F. Kennedy spoke of peace. Delivered at the height of the Cold War, Kennedy expressed his goal for peace that wasn’t a “Pax Americana” based on American weapons of war. He spoke of the U.S. intentions around the World and against many of the policies of the Soviet Union. Many of Kennedy’s words on peace still ring true today such as his statement: “For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal.”

3. J.K. Rowling Speaks at the 2008 Harvard Commencement

Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling delivers some wise words of wisdom during her Harvard Commencement address in 2008 which she entitled “The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination”. She talks about how failure in her life after a divorce and when she was living in poverty helped her to eliminate everything that wasn’t most important to her. And she talks about what she learned of human good and evil in her work for Amnesty International. She points out how fortunate the graduates of Harvard are and encourages them to succeed and fail and live rich lives.

4. 2001 Harvard Commencement Address by Bono

Rock star Bono addresses Harvard graduates in this 2001 Commencement Address. He talked about his journey with economist Jeffrey Sachs to encourage debt cancellation in Africa in the Jubilee 2000 campaign. He encouraged graduates to rebel against indifference and create an America where anything is possible. The address is full of inspiring words from the U2 frontman and activist.

5. Oprah Winfrey’s 2008 Stanford Commencement Address

Oprah Winfrey packs as much advice as she can into this 30 minute Commencement Address which she gave to the Stanford graduating class of 2008. Through stories in her own life, she relays life lessons like: “Grow into being more of yourself”, “Listen to your gut”, “If it doesn’t feel right don’t do it”, “If you’re not sure what to do, get still”, “If you struggling, then help others who are struggling”. And there are many more lessons relayed here in Oprah’s wonderful speech.

6. 1978 Harvard University Commencement Address: A World Split Apart by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

In one of the most ambitious commencement speeches ever delivered, the Russian author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn accessed the Western political and cultural situation in the year 1978 and many of his criticisms still hold true today. While in exile from the Soviet Union, he spent a number of years in the United States and this address is his analysis of the Western predicament. In this comprehensive one hour speech he discusses Western politics, the media, our role in Vietnam, the lack of courage in our leadership, Soviet communism, commercialism and materialism, and the spiritual state of Western man. He delivers the speech in Russian and it is simultaneously translated into English. This speech is offered on streaming audio through Google Video.

7. 1990 Commencement Address at Wellesley College by Barbara Bush

First Lady Barbara Bush imparted some words of wisdom in her well received Commencement Address at Wellesley College back in 1990. She emphasizes what’s most important in life, provides some humorous anecdotes, and even quotes Ferris Bueller. In this brief 10 minute speech she receives thunderous applause.

8. Randy Pausch Inspires Graduates at the 2008 Carnegie Mellon Commencement

Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch is famous for his “Last Lecture” which he delivered shortly after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. A few months before his death he delivered this brief and inspiring speech at the Carnegie Mellon commencement on what’s really important when you look back at your life.

9. 2000 Boston University Commencement by Tom Wolfe

Watch this turn of the century commencement address from the great American author Tom Wolfe. While most commencement address speakers urge students to go out and change the world and fight the system, Tom Wolfe reminds graduates to keep up the current greatness of America and of our tremendous wealth and openness as a country. He praises our middle class virtues and laughs at movie actors and rock stars and other “intellectuals” who tear down the ordinary virtues of America with satire and cries of indignation. Throughout the talk Wolfe gives some of his own hilarious observations on America at the turn of the 21st century. It’s a unique commencement address from one of America’s most keen observers and most entertaining writers.

10. Conan O’Brien’s 2011 Dartmouth College Commencement Address

And for some comic relief in a commencement address, Conan O’Brien delivered a rapid fire comic routine at Dartmouth College last year. After many jokes to warm the crowd up he gets a little serious about his failure at hosting the Tonight Show and the importance of having your greatest fear realized. Through it all he learned that dreams do change and that can lead to a much more exciting life than was previously imagined.

In addition to this top ten you might also want to check out NPR’s list of “The Best Commencement Speeches, Ever” with videos available for many of the speeches:

The Best Commencement Speeches, Ever

And here are some other good commencement addresses we listened to that have proven to be popular. Here are over dozen other commencement addresses in historical order. We’re linking directly to these ones for the most part:

1941 Winston Churchill Address To Harrow School

Delivered in the midst of World War II, Churchill’s speech to the Harrow School contains the lines: “Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never — in nothing, great or small, large or petty — never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense.”

George C. Marshall Introduces The Marshall Plan at the 1947 Harvard University Commencement

George C. Marshall introduces the Marshall Plan to rescue Europe after World War II.

1999 George Washington Commencement Address by Desmond Tutu

Archbishop Desmond Tutu preaches for a new world and asks graduates to work for it.

1999 Agnes Scott College Commencement Address by Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut gives a freewheeling and funny commencement address with some gems of wisdom for the graduates to remember.

2000 Antioch College Commencement by Mumia Abu-Jamal

Mumia Abu-Jamal gives a politically charged taped audio address from death row for the Antioch College commencement.

2001 California State University at Fullerton Commencement by Nicholas Cage

Actor Nicholas Cage spreads his passion for movies and acting and art and life.

2001 Vassar College Commencement Address by Stephen King

America’s Boogie Man Stephen King says life is short and then you die so give away what you have to the poor.

2004 Commencement Address at The College of William & Mary by Jon Stewart

Jon Stewart praises the youth generation and encourages them to fix what the previous generation has broken.

Ellen at Tulane Commencement 2009

Comedienne Ellen DeGeneres talks about how she overcame some of the tougher setbacks in her life.

2011 Commencement Address by Denzel Washington

Actor Denzel Washington tells graduates to not have something to fall back on, but instead fall forward and keep getting back up.

Dr. E.O. Wilson at the 2011 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Commencement

Biologist E.O. Wilson encourages us to rescue the biodiversity of the plant.

Tom Hanks Addresses the Yale Class of 2011

Actor Tom Hanks talks about the “ying yang thang” of life and how our faith can grow bigger than our fears.

January 16, 2012

20 Free Famous Speeches by Martin Luther King

Happy Martin Luther King Day! Celebrate the life and legacy of this great leader by listening to some of his speeches.

Stanford University’s King Research and Education Institute now freely provides streaming audio of over 20 of Dr. King’s most famous speeches and sermons:

Martin Luther King Speeches and Sermons from the King Institute

Here are the speeches you can listen to there:

1954:

28 February 1954 – Rediscovering Lost Values

1955:

5 December 1955 – Address to the first Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) Mass Meeting

1956:

4 November 1956 – “Paul’s Letter to American Christians”

1957:

7 April 1957 – The Birth of a New Nation, Sermon delivered at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church
17 May 1957 – “Give Us the Ballot,” Address at the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom
17 November 1957 – “Loving Your Enemies,” Sermon Delivered at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church

1963:

16 April 1963 – “Letter From Birmingham Jail”
23 June 1963 – Speech at the Great March on Detroit
28 August 1963 – I Have a Dream, Address at March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
18 September 1963 – Eulogy for the Martyred Children

1964:

10 December 1964 – Acceptance Speech at Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony

1965:

25 March 1965 – Address at the Conclusion of the Selma to Montgomery March

4 July 1965 – “The American Dream”

1966:

5 June 1966 – “Guidelines for a Constructive Church”

1967:

4 April 1967 – Beyond Vietnam
9 April 1967 – “The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life”
11 June 1967 – “A Knock at Midnight”
16 August 1967 – “Where Do We Go From Here?,” Delivered at the 11th Annual
SCLC Convention
27 August 1967 – “Why Jesus Called A Man A Fool”

1968:

4 February 1968 – “The Drum Major Instinct”
3 March 1968 – “Unfulfilled Dreams”
31 March 1968 – “Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution”
3 April 1968 – I’ve Been to the Mountaintop

And if you’ve not yet listened to these speeches by Martin Luther King that we’ve featured in the past we highly encourage you to do so:

I Have a Dream Speech

I’ve Been to the Mountaintop Speech

Beyond Vietnam Speech

And for our comprehensive collection of audio & video resources about Dr. King check out:

MLK Out Loud Audio & Video Resources

Some of the new free resources we’ve added there this year:

African-American History: Modern Freedom Struggle – Stanford course taught by Professor Clayborne Carson who is the author of many books on Dr. King and the Civil Rights movement, and the director of the Martin Luther King Papers Project, a long-term project to edit and publish the papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King Memorial Dedication – C-SPAN’s video coverage of the dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial on the national mall which took place October 16, 2011 and features speeches by Barack Obama, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Martin Luther King III, Dan Rather, and many others.

And also in the past year we added our Martin Luther King, Jr. audio & video author page which features all of the audio & video titles we have that are directly by Martin Luther King including audio of his speeches and writings.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Audio & Video Resources Page

Plenty of great resources to help you celebrate the holiday!

January 13, 2012

Ron Paul Speeches, Podcasts, and a Free Audio Book

Congressman Ron Paul came in 2nd place in the New Hampshire primary this past Tuesday in his 2012 presidential campaign for the Republican Party nomination. With a largely grassroots following Ron Paul’s ideas on freedom have proved popular with his libertarian base. He is an advocate of the Austrian School of Economics developed by Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich Hayek which emphasizes free markets that are not intruded on by government intervention. Ron Paul has spoken many times at the Mises Institute and he even offers a few of his writings on audio book there as well. You can view a lot of his talks there right here:

Ron Paul: Mises Institute Lectures

And if you’d like to see our collection of over a dozen audio & video resources from representative Ron Paul check out:

LearnOutLoud’s Ron Paul Audio & Video Resource Page

Today we’re featuring Ron Paul’s audio booklet Gold, Peace, and Prosperity which is a 1981 text that outlines his advocacy of returning to the gold standard and getting rid of the U.S. Federal Reserve which regulates the U.S. money supply among other things. Paul feels that since its creation the U.S. Federal Reserve has created a flood of paper money which has led to constant inflation and the gradual decline of the value of the U.S. dollar. By backing up the dollar with a gold standard which was in place through the Great Depression, Paul feels we can restore real value to the dollar and separate the economy from governmental influence in the same way church and state are separated. In today’s headlines of corporate welfare and government bailouts, Ron Paul’s ideas on these matters of economic freedom still prove to be popular.

Gold, Peace, and Prosperity

And when we added over 2000 new free resources a few months back we included over 30 free audio books from the Mises Institute along with many free audio courses and audio essays that they offer there. Here are the free audio books we added:

Against Intellectual Property by Stephan Kinsella

Chaos Theory: Two Essays On Market Anarchy by Robert Murphy

Defending the Undefendable by Walter Block

Deflation and Liberty by Jorg Hulsmann

Economic Science and the Austrian Method by Hans-Hermann Hoppe

Economic Calculation In The Socialist Commonwealth by Ludwig von Mises

Human Action: A Treatise on Economics by Ludwig von Mises

Theory and History by Ludwig von Mises

Mises and Austrian Economics: A Personal View by Ron Paul

Mises: The Last Knight of Liberalism by Jorg Hulsmann

A History of Money and Banking in the United States Before the Twentieth Century by Murray N. Rothbard

An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 1: Economic Thought Before Adam Smith by Murray N. Rothbard

An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 2: Classical Economics by Murray N. Rothbard

Conceived in Liberty by Murray N. Rothbard

For a New Liberty by Murray N. Rothbard

Man, Economy, and State, with Power and Market by Murray N. Rothbard

The Case Against the Fed by Murray N. Rothbard

The Ethics of Liberty by Murray N. Rothbard

What Has Government Done to Our Money? by Murray N. Rothbard

My Years with Ludwig von Mises by Margit von Mises

No Treason: The Constitution of No Authority by Lysander Spooner

Our Enemy, The State by Albert J. Nock

Speaking of Liberty by Llewellyn Rockwell

The Austrian School of Economics: A History of Its Ideas, Ambassadors, and Institutions by Eugen-Maria Schulak

The Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle by Richard M. Ebeling

The Driver by Garet Garrett

The Failure of the “New Economics” by Henry Hazlitt

The Law by Frederic Bastiat

The Man versus The State by Herbert Spencer

The Politics of Obedience: The Discourse of Voluntary Servitude by Etienne de La Boetie

November 6, 2011

Best of CSPAN Video

Today we’ll look at C-SPAN and the selection of videos we’ve added from them. While these are all videos, most of them can just be listened to without the video component so you can play them while you do other things on your computer or around the house. We’ll start off by highlighting some of the best programs from C-SPAN.

We’ve added over 100 titles featuring videos and speakers on the C-SPAN video library. C-SPAN has been broadcasting since 1979 and they now offer a complete, freely accessible video archive going back to 1987. They offer over 250,000 video programs in the C-SPAN video library! We can’t say that we went through all of the programs, but we went through a lot of them. And we found that the C-SPAN video library is much more than hours and hours of Senate committee meetings, White House press briefings, and House sessions (although that stuff is all there if you’re interested). If you would like to go way back you can check out their:

First Televised House Session (featuring Al Gore)

But mostly we’ve picked out special programs from the most well known political figures, the most highly regarded authors, and some of the most popular thinkers that we feature on our site. Many of the people we feature have numerous videos on C-SPAN and for them we are linking to the page on C-SPAN that features all of their C-SPAN appearances. We’ve embedded many of these videos, and we saw on C-SPAN’s video library blog that for many of their programs they are now offering the MP3 audio downloads for $0.99 per program. A small price to pay for some of these recorded gems if you want them “on-the-go” on audio. You can check out all the C-SPAN offerings we’ve added along with a lot of free C-SPAN offerings on audio download from Audible.com and free C-SPAN podcasts right here:

Browse Over 200 Titles from C-SPAN

C-SPAN features a number of series in their video library. For example they feature 2-3 hour “life portraits” of some of the most popular presidents of all time. You can check out all of their Peabody Award winning series on American Presidents right here:

American Presidents Series on C-SPAN

And here are some of the presidents they feature:

Life Portrait of Abraham Lincoln

Life Portrait of George Washington

Life Portrait of Thomas Jefferson

Life Portrait of Theodore Roosevelt

In addition to these portraits, we’ve added links to all of the videos for every president of the past 100 years from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Barack Obama. Here are some of them:

Franklin D. Roosevelt Videos on C-SPAN

John F. Kennedy Videos on C-SPAN

Richard Nixon Videos on C-SPAN

Ronald Reagan Videos on C-SPAN

Barack Obama Videos on C-SPAN

C-SPAN also offers some of their own unique programming. They’ve produced special feature documentaries on the American institutions hold our three branches of government. They’ve also done a re-creation of the seven Lincoln-Douglas debates, they’ve retraced the journey of Alexis de Tocqueville, and they’ve done features on every presidential library. Check out these C-SPAN unique programs:

The Capitol – History, art, and architecture of the U.S. Capitol.

The White House: Inside America’s Most Famous Home, 2011 Edition – A documentary-style look behind the scenes at White House operations and history of the president’s home.

The Supreme Court: Home to America’s Highest Court, 2010 Edition – A look into the role, traditions, and history of the Supreme Court featuring interviews with all the sitting and retired Justices.

Tocqueville Series on C-SPAN – C-SPAN retrace the steps of Alexis de Tocqueville, author of Democracy in America, who traveled throughout the U.S. in 1831.

Lincoln Douglas Debates Series on C-SPAN – A re-enactment of the series of seven historic debates held in each of the original seven towns.

Presidential Library Series on C-SPAN – A look inside all 12 of the nation’s presidential libraries.

And if you’d like to hear some political figures we also have featured the videos of some of the leading political voices on the right and the left. We’ll divide them up here:

Leading Conservative Voices:

Ann Coulter Videos on C-SPAN

Bill O’Reilly Videos on C-SPAN

Glenn Beck Remarks to Conservative Political Action Conference and Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, and Others at the Restoring Honor Rally

Michael Medved Videos on C-SPAN

Mitt Romney Videos on C-SPAN

Ron Paul Videos on C-SPAN

William F. Buckley, Jr. Videos on C-SPAN

William Kristol Videos on C-SPAN

Leading Liberal Voices:

Arianna Huffington Videos on C-SPAN

Dennis Kucinich Videos on C-SPAN

Gloria Steinem Videos on C-SPAN

Jesse Jackson Videos on C-SPAN

Michael Moore Videos on C-SPAN

Noam Chomsky Videos on C-SPAN

Ralph Nader Videos on C-SPAN

Robert Reich Videos on C-SPAN

And there are a lot of other great individual videos we discovered in the C-SPAN video library that we thought would be of interest. Here are some of C-SPAN’s top videos:

2011 State of the Union Address by Barack Obama

The Atomic Bomb by J. Robert Oppenheimer

Drugs and Public Policy by Dr. Andrew Weil

Financial Future of American Youth by Warren Buffett

Future of Space Travel by Stephen Hawking

Gay Marriage Debate by Evan Wolfson & David Blankenhorn

Interview with Ayn Rand

Tony Blair and Christopher Hitchens Debate Religion

Israel and Palestine After Disengagement – Debate between Noam Chomsky & Alan Dershowitz

Author James Baldwin National Press Club Speech

Leadership Styles & Ethics by Steven R. Covey

Martin Luther King, Jr. and Foreign Policy by Clayborne Carson

Mike Wallace Interview with Eleanor Roosevelt

Nixon-Khrushchev Kitchen Debate

Richard Nixon & John F. Kennedy First Presidential Debate

And of course there is much, much more to discover from the C-SPAN video library. Search some of your favorite authors there from the past 30 years and chances are you’ll find some videos of them. You can check out their programs right here:

www.c-spanvideo.org

July 1, 2009

Ten Famous Speeches in American History

Listen to ten of the most famous historical speeches in American history. For the past many years we’ve featured hundreds of free audio & video resources as part of our Free Resource of the Day Emails. From these emails, we’ve picked ten of the most enduring free speeches from America’s founding to the Civil War, World War II, and on through to the present era. With this collection, you can listen to audio performances from early luminaries such as George Washington, Daniel Webster, and Abraham Lincoln, and hear archival recordings of speeches delivered by John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Dwight D. Eisenhower. We also devote special attention to social leaders such as Susan B. Anthony and, of course, Martin Luther King, Jr. We hope this top ten list provides a useful overview of the world-defining rhetoric that has helped define each part of the American story. You can check them all out by clicking the links below:

1. Gettysburg Address

For our first speech, we thought it fitting to feature Lincoln’s most famous speech delivered at the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania during the American Civil War. American Rhetoric offers the speech in four different versions, one narrated by musician Johnny Cash, and the others read by actors Jeff Daniels, Sam Waterson, and Jim Getty. Sam Waterson has portrayed Lincoln on TV and film and delivers the address in how we typically assume Lincoln to sound like. Jim Getty is one of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania’s “most recognized” residents as he often plays the role of Lincoln there, and his reading sounds like a historical reenactment. Johnny Cash strums the guitar on his reading and Jeff Daniels offers the most dramatic reading complete with orchestral accompaniment. The speech is about 2 minutes and 30 seconds and is available on streaming audio from American Rhetoric.

2. I Have a Dream Audio and Video

One of our favorite free titles in our free directory is Martin Luther King, Jr.’s classic “I Have a Dream” speech. Delivered on August 28th, 1963 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C., King’s passionate call for justice and equality was the battle cry for the civil rights movement in America. Choose from an audio version of the speech from American Rhetoric or a video version from YouTube.

3. Patrick Henry’s “Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death” Speech

Download this free inspiring speech delivered by Patrick Henry on the brink of the Revolutionary War. This key speech in American history called forth the Founding Fathers to break the encroaching chains of slavery put on them by the British. It’s a stirring cry for freedom delivered with gusto by narrator Jon Reiss, and it’s available for MP3 download through LearnOutLoud.com.

4. Remarks on the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated during his campaign for president in June of 1968. Two months before his tragic death, on April 4, 1968, Robert F. Kennedy delivered a moving eulogy on the night of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination. In the speech he calls for “love, and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country”. This great 5 minute speech is available on streaming audio and MP3 download from American Rhetoric.

5. D-Day Pre-Invasion Address to Soldiers

Listen to General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s D-Day Pre-Invasion Address delivered on the morning of June 6th, 1944. This short, inspiring message was delivered to 175,000 soldiers of the allied expeditionary force. This speech is available on MP3 download and streaming audio from American Rhetoric.

6. Speech on Women’s Right to Vote

Listen to American civil rights leader Susan B. Anthony’s inspiring speech “On Women’s Right to Vote”. After casting her vote in the 1872 election, Anthony was arrested and brought to trial in the case of the United States v. Susan B. Anthony. She pleaded not guilty and in this famous speech she asserts that voting is her legal right as a United States citizen under the Constitution which promises all people the blessings of liberty. This speech is narrated by Antonia Bath and available exclusively through LearnOutLoud.com on MP3 download.

7. First Inaugural Address of President George Washington

Listen to the First Inaugural Address of President George Washington. In this address Washington reluctantly accepts the call of the American people and humbly stresses his shortcomings in carrying out the role of president. He expresses gratitude for the divine providence that led the United States to independence, and he sets his intention to be a selfless public servant, even asking that he not receive any form of compensation for his duties. This address is available on MP3 download exclusively through LearnOutLoud.com.

8. John F. Kennedy Speeches: The Inaugural Address

The Miller Center of Public Affairs features downloadable audio of the speeches by numerous Presidents in the 20th century. They offer over a dozen John F. Kennedy speeches, including his famous Inaugural Address, his inspiring address at Rice University on the space effort, his Civil Rights Address, and his “Ich bin ein Berliner” Speech which delivered next to the Berlin Wall criticizing communism. All these speeches can be downloaded on MP3.

9. Daniel Webster’s Plymouth Oration

Daniel Webster’s famous Plymouth Oration did much to establish the Pilgrims as the forefathers of America. After this speech delivered in 1820, the journey of the Pilgrims to Plymouth, Massachusetts became the nation’s founding myth, and by 1863 Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day which has been celebrated ever since. This historic speech is available on MP3 download and streaming audio directly through LearnOutLoud.com.

10. I’ve Been to the Mountaintop

On April 4th, 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. The night before he was assassinated Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his prophetic “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech. In this stirring speech Dr. King looks back on his life and is thankful for all the positive changes in civil rights that occurred in his lifetime, and he is grateful to have lived in the second half of the 20th century when masses of people all over the world were standing up for freedom and human rights. Listen to this speech on streaming audio or download it on MP3 from American Rhetoric.

We’ve been sending out our Free Resource of the Day Emails for many years now. If you’ve not subscribed yet, we highly encourage you to do so.

January 21, 2009

Presidential Inauguration Speeches From FDR to Obama

Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th President Of United States this week and delivered his Inauguration Speech. We thought we’d feature a collection of Presidential Inauguration Speeches going back to Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Inauguration Speech delivered on March 4, 1933. These speeches provide an interesting history lesson in what the most pressing issues of the nation were at the time and how the president planned to face these issues. This collection features audio downloads and streaming videos of the speeches courtesy of American Rhetoric, C-SPAN, YouTube, and Audible.com.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt: 1933 First Inaugural Address

Harry S. Truman: 1949 Inaugural Address

Dwight D. Eisenhower: 1953 First Inaugural Address

Dwight D. Eisenhower Inauguration Speech 1957

John F. Kennedy: 1961 Inaugural Address

Lyndon Baines Johnson: 1965 Inaugural Address

Richard M. Nixon: 1969 First Inaugural Address

Richard M. Nixon Inauguration Speech 1973

Gerald Ford Inauguration Speech 1974

Jimmy Carter Inauguration Speech 1977

Ronald Reagan: 1981 First Inaugural Address

George H. W. Bush Inauguration Speech 1989

Bill Clinton Inauguration Speech 1993

George W. Bush Inauguration Speech 2001

George W. Bush: 2005 Second Inaugural Address

Barack Obama: 2009 Presidential Inaugural Address

Another great resource for finding most of these addresses and hundreds more presidential speeches on video and MP3 download is the:

Scripps Library Presidential Speech Archive

Enjoy these presidential speeches.

January 24, 2007

2007 State of the Union Address Audio

Audible.com is offering President George W. Bush’s 2007 State of the Union Address for free on digital download courtesy of C-SPAN:

2007 State of the Union Address

They’re also offering for free Sen. Jim Webb’s Democrats’ Response to the State of the Union Address on download:

2007 Democrats’ Response to the State of the Union Address

Thanks Audible!

January 12, 2007

Martin Luther King, Jr. Audio & Video

When people ask me “Why audiobooks?” there are a few common responses that I’ll give. It’s a great alternative or supplement to reading. You can listen while you’re driving or at the gym. Sometimes it’s easier to remember what you hear than what you read. But there’s one another one that’s really powerful:

Some listening experiences just can’t be duplicated in print.

Probably the best example I can give of this is listening to A Knock at Midnight, an outstanding collection of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s sermons. I mean I guess you could read these but I doubt that it would move you the way listening to King himself preach would. When I flip this on my iPod (something I find myself increasingly doing) I almost immediately get goosebumps. I’m not sure quite what it is about King’s preaching that does that to me.

As most of you here in the United States know, Monday is Martin Luther King Day. For many people it’s just another freebie holiday that they probably won’t think twice about. And that’s a shame. Because it’s an awesome opportunity to learn more about an amazing man who has done so much in the struggle for justice and equality here in the U.S. and around the world.

We put the finishing touches on MLK Out Loud, an attempt on our part to bring together all of the audio and video content from or about King that we could find. There is a ton of great stuff linked from the page including biographies, documentaries, collections of sermons and of course King’s stirring “I Have a Dream” speech. We’ve tried to find as many free audio and video resources as we could too knowing that there are a lot of teachers who would love to use them to relay the power of King’s message to their classes.

I wanted to say a special thank you to American Rhetoric which hosts several of King’s speeches for free. If you have a minute, drop Michael Eidenmuller who runs the site a quick line and tell him thanks.

In the “I Have a Dream” speech King talks about a faith that he has. In his words:

With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

It’s a faith we need more of in this day and age when King’s message of brotherhood is as relevant as it has ever been.

Take some time this long holiday weekend to listen to one of his King’s speeches or order one of his audio books. It’s a great way to celebrate his legacy and a powerful way to learn more about the man who has touched so many lives.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

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April 3, 2006

Listen to Authentic Sources of History

Why read a dry American history book of the 20th century when you can listen to history as it happened for free? If nothing else, speeches and news broadcasts from the past make for exciting listening that connects the dots of important events from the past century. Let me point out a few free resources that will sonically immerse you in history:

Authentic History Center – A Massive Collection of Hours of Streaming Audio well organized by decades and historic events; and they sell $10 MP3 CDs containing dozens of hours of historical recordings.

American Rhetoric – We feature over 100 free speeches from politicians and leaders throughout the last century as streaming audio and a MP3 download. I’ve yet to hear one speech that isn’t a high quality recording. Simply the best audio resource for speeches on the Internet.

Library of Congress: American Memory – From the Library of Congress comes this eclectic collection of recordings you aren’t likely to find anywhere else. Recordings of Theodore Roosevelt, Quilts and Quiltmaking in America, Voices From the Days of Slavery, and more. Interesting stuff.

Go to the historical source with LearnOutLoud.com, Your Audio & Video Learning Resource!