Top 100 American Speeches of the 20th Century

Compiled by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Texas A & M University, this list reflects the opinions of 137 leading scholars of American public address.

The top ten are shown below. You can see the whole list here.

Links:

I Have A Dream Speech of August 28, 1963

John F. Kennedy Inaugural Address of January 20, 1961

Franklin Roosevelt Inaugural Address of March 4, 1933

Franklin Roosevelt War Message of December 8, 1941

Barbara Jordan Address to Democratic National Convention of July 12, 1976

Richard Nixon “Checkers Speech” of September 23, 1952

Malcolm X “The Bullet or The Ballot” Speech of April 3, 1964

Ronald Reagan on the Challenger Disaster of January 28, 1986

John F. Kennedy Speech on his religion on September 12, 1960

Lyndon Johnson “We Shall Overcome” speech on March 15, 1965