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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
partner

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
partner

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

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
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
partner

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
Richard Nixon and Billy Graham at the podium at the University of Tennessee.
partner

The Leaders of Tomorrow

What happened in 1970 after Richard Nixon was told, “I doubt that there would be any problem of student demonstrations in Tennessee.”
by Katherine J. Ballantyne via HNN on May 8, 2024
Henry Ward Beecher.

When Preachers Were Rock Stars

A classic New Yorker account of the Henry Ward Beecher adultery trial recalls a time in America that seems both incomprehensible and familiar.
by Louis Menand via The New Yorker on April 14, 2024
George Caleb Bingham, Stump Speaking (1853–54).

How the American Jeremiad Can Restore the American Soul

One of the country’s greatest rhetorical traditions still has the power to remind us of our founding principles.
by Sam B. Girgus via Bulwark+ on March 29, 2024
People holding signs supporting Alfred E. Smith at the 1924 Democratic Convention
partner

Lessons from the 1924 Democratic Convention: An Immigration Debate's Impact

Immigration has been a defining issue in a campaign before, and the consequences transformed the Democratic Party.
via Retro Report on March 14, 2024
Statue of Sojourner Truth.

The Remarkable Untold Story of Sojourner Truth

Feminist. Preacher. Abolitionist. Civil rights pioneer. Now the full story of the American icon's life and faith is finally coming to light.
by Cynthia R. Greenlee via Smithsonian on February 12, 2024
Engraving of President William Henry Harrison

This President was Widely Attacked for Being Too Old to Run — at 67

In 1840, William Henry Harrison was mocked for his presidential run at age 67 — 15 years younger than President Biden would be at the start of a second term.
by Ronald G. Shafer via Retropolis on November 12, 2023
Martin Luther King, Jr. at podium, with three men sitting behind him

Tuskegee University’s Audio Collections

The archives of the historically Black Tuskegee University recently released recordings from 1957 to 1971, with a number by powerful civil rights leaders.
by Evan Towle, Karyn Anonia, Dana Chandler via JSTOR Daily on October 5, 2023
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