speeches — Bunk History

Portrait of Patrick henry wearing a red robe.

No One Gave a Speech Like Patrick Henry

Henry’s fiery oratory turned words into revolution, merging faith, emotion, and democracy to help speak a nation into being.

by Drew Gilpin Faust via The Atlantic on October 8, 2025

US Senator Cory Booker giving a speech.

US Senator Cory Booker Just Spoke for 25 Hours in Congress. What Was He Trying to Achieve?

He set a new record for the longest continuous speech in the Senate, surpassing Strom Thurmond’s 1957 attempt to prevent the passage of the Civil Rights Act.

by Bruce Wolpe via The Conversation on April 2, 2025

An 1851 painting of Patrick Henry speaking to the Virginia House of Burgesses.

Discover Patrick Henry’s Legacy, Beyond His Revolutionary ‘Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death’ Speech

Delivered 250 years ago, the famous oration marked the Henry’s influence. The politician also served in key roles in Virginia’s state government.

by Cassandra A. Good via Smithsonian on March 21, 2025

Joe Biden waving.

Joe Biden and the Art of the Presidential Farewell

Plus: How George Washington almost ruined his own exit from the national stage.

by Lindsay M. Chervinsky via The Bulwark on August 19, 2024

A large crowd listening to Harry Truman give a speech on a train.

Harry Truman's Train Ride

A whistle-stop train tour, and some plain speaking spur Harry Truman's come from behind win in 1948 over Thomas Dewey.

by Michael Liss via 3 Quarks Daily on March 25, 2024

Hubert Humphrey addresses the Democratic National Convention in July 1948.

The Speech That Turned Democrats on Civil Rights and Lost Them the South

The president didn’t want to go too far on civil rights in 1948, fearing it would cost him reelection. But an obscure mayor changed the race — and his party.

by Richard Harris via Retropolis on July 14, 2023

Artwork of Sojourner Truth, against a background of newspaper articles for women's rights.

The Truth About Sojourner Truth

She was a woman, but she was not the author of the speech attributed to her in popular lore.

by Mary Cuff via Law & Liberty on May 26, 2023

Hillary Clinton addresses her supporters in Philadelphia the night before the 2016 presidential election.

Would These Undelivered Speeches Really Have Changed History?

At a time of upheaval, we want to believe that better leaders have the power to change the course of history. But counterfactuals are never simple.

by Priya Satia via The New Republic on May 20, 2022

MLK waving at March on Washington

"I Have A Dream": Annotated

Martin Luther King, Jr.'s iconic speech, annotated with relevant scholarship on the literary, political, and religious roots of his words.

by Martin Luther King Jr. via JSTOR Daily on February 28, 2022

A grandiose cream mansion

A Radical Gettysburg Address

A behind-the-scenes look at Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.

by David T. Dixon via Emerging Civil War on May 18, 2021

Jimmy Carter speaking.

What Happens When a President Really Listens?

Jonathan Alter on Jimmy Carter ditching politics for truth.

by Jonathan Alter via Literary Hub on September 30, 2020

Trump speaking in front of Mount Rushmore, stage lit, mountains in night's darkness

Nostalgia and the Tragedy of Trump's Speech at Mount Rushmore

In a recent speech, Trump looks to America's past for answers. However, the history he recounts is glaringly limited.

by John Bodnar via HNN on September 20, 2020

Segregation Now, Segregation Forever: The Infamous Words of George Wallace

Radio Diaries tells the story behind those infamous words, and the man who delivered them.

by Radio Diaries via Radio Diaries on August 6, 2020

The Republican President who Called for Racial Justice in America After Tulsa Massacre

Warren G. Harding’s comments about race and equality were remarkable for 1921.

by James D. Robenalt via Retropolis on June 21, 2020

Eugene V. Debs campaigning to crowd

When America's Most Prominent Socialist Was Jailed for Speaking Out Against World War I

After winning 6 percent of the vote in the 1912 presidential election, Eugene Debs ran afoul of the nation's new anti-sedition laws.

by Erick Trickey via Smithsonian on June 15, 2018

The Last Words of Robert F. Kennedy

Until his last breath, RFK insisted that Americans confront their country’s shortcomings—and live up to its potential.

by Conor Friedersdorf via The Atlantic on June 5, 2018

LBJ’s 1968 State of the Union Was a Disaster. Can President Trump Avoid His Fate?

For unpopular presidents, the State of the Union is a minefield.

by Kyle Longley via Made By History on January 30, 2018

Sojourner Truth

Compare the Two Versions of Sojourner Truth's “Ain’t I a Woman” Speech

Why is there more than one version of the famous 1851 speech?

by Leslie Podell via The Sojourner Truth Project on June 6, 2017

Coyote covering his eyes, as depicted on the cover of Julian Brave Noisecat's book "We Survived the Night."

Through the Eyes of Little Crow

Little Crow was one of the leaders of the Dakota Uprising of 1862, a conflict that began, as so many Indian wars did, because treaty rights were being ignored.

by Julian Brave NoiseCat via Pittsburgh Review of Books on October 15, 2025

Lincoln, Washington, and a snippet from a lyceum address.

The Lincoln Way

How he used America’s past to rescue its future.

by Jake Lundberg via The Atlantic on October 10, 2025

Eric Schmitt

The Schmittian Enemy

What's up at the NatC Conference.

by John Ganz via Unpopular Front on September 4, 2025

Carl Borgmann.

The 1965 Commencement Speech That Should Have Rocked the World

In 1965, Carl Borgmann warned University of Tennessee graduates about CO₂ buildup and climate change, decades before it became a global concern.

by Marc Hudson via All Our Yesterdays on August 25, 2025

Political cartoon depicts Roosevelt steering a ship out of a depression while his detractors are rained on.

Welcoming Their Hatred

As Elon Musk and Donald Trump engaged in a campaign of mutually-assured destruction, social media saw record new levels of schadenfreude.

by Kevin M. Kruse via Campaign Trails on June 6, 2025

Charles Sumner

What We Can Learn From the Senator Who Nearly Died for Democracy

The brutal caning of Sen. Charles Sumner in 1856 shows the difference between courage and concession.

by Zaakir Tameez via Washington Post on June 1, 2025

Grave of John Quincy Adams.

From Son of the Revolution to Old Man Eloquent

A new Library of America edition of John Quincy Adams’s writings demonstrates the enduring appeal—and real shortcomings—of his revolutionary conservatism.

by Michael Lucchese via Law & Liberty on April 11, 2025

A photograph of Frederick Douglass imposed on the cover of The Columbian Orator by Caleb Bingham.

The Columbian Orator Taught Nineteenth-Century Americans How to Speak

For strivers like Lincoln, guides to rhetoric had a special currency in the nineteenth century.

by Danny Heitman via Humanities on April 2, 2025

Joseph McCarthy with a map.

Joseph McCarthy in Wheeling, West Virginia: Annotated

Senator Joseph McCarthy built his reputation on fear-mongering, smear campaigns, and falsehoods about government employees and their associates.

by Joseph McCarthy, Liz Tracey via JSTOR Daily on March 24, 2025

Patrick Henry

Did Patrick Henry Really Say ‘Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death’?

The Virginia delegate may have spoken those words on March 23, 1775, but some historians doubt it.

by Gregory S. Schneider via Retropolis on March 21, 2025

The Media Spawned McCarthyism. Now It's Happening Again

Some of today's most influential political figures also won power through their willingness to say things that capture media attention.

by A. Brad Schwartz via Made By History on February 9, 2025

Anti-KKK demonstrators at the 1924 Democratic National Conventions.

The Craziest Convention in American History

Think this year’s Democratic convention is going to be nuts? One hundred years ago, Democrats took 103 ballots—and more than two weeks—to choose a candidate.

by Walter Shapiro via The New Republic on June 24, 2024

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