powerful war speeches

• World War II

‘A Date Which Will Live in Infamy.’ Read President Roosevelt’s Pearl Harbor Address

P resident Franklin Roosevelt called the unprovoked attack on Pearl Harbor a “date which will live in infamy,” in a famous address to the nation delivered after Japan’s deadly strike against U.S. naval and military forces in Hawaii. He also asked Congress to declare war.

As the nation reflects on the anniversary of the surprise attack that led America to join World War II, here is the transcript of President Roosevelt’s speech, which he delivered in Washington, D.C. on Dec. 8, 1941—one day after the assault:

“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. Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in the American island of Oahu, the Japanese ambassador to the United States and his colleague delivered to our Secretary of State a formal reply to a recent American message. And while this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or of armed attack. It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time, the Japanese government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace. The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. I regret to tell you that very many American lives have been lost. In addition, American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu. Yesterday, the Japanese government also launched an attack against Malaya. Last night, Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong. Last night, Japanese forces attacked Guam. Last night, Japanese forces attacked the Philippine Islands. Last night, the Japanese attacked Wake Island. And this morning, the Japanese attacked Midway Island. Japan has, therefore, undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area. The facts of yesterday and today speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation. As Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy, I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense. But always will our whole nation remember the character of the onslaught against us. No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory. I believe that I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us. Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory, and our interests are in grave danger. With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph—so help us God. I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7th, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese empire.”

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The Interpreter

Putin’s Case for War, Annotated

For the second time in days, President Vladimir V. Putin addressed Russians about his aims in Ukraine. A close look at his speech offers hints to what may lie ahead.

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By Max Fisher

When Vladimir V. Putin announced Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in a televised address on Thursday, he articulated aims far beyond those of Russia’s prior assaults on its Ukrainian neighbor.

In a sweeping and angry address, Mr. Putin portrayed the conflict as one waged against the West as a whole. In a falsehood-filled narrative too detailed to be dismissed as mere nationalist fervor, Mr. Putin argued that the West aimed to use Ukraine as a springboard to invade and destroy Russia.

Unlike his speech earlier in the week , Mr. Putin spent relatively little time rehashing false stories of Ukrainian atrocities against the country’s Russian-speaking minority. Those claims had served as justification for his decision to recognize Russian-backed separatist forces, which have held parts of eastern Ukraine since 2014, as independent states that he was intervening to protect.

Rather, he portrayed the war as a pre-emptive strike against Western aggression and a decisive battle to protect Russia’s rightful imperial hold over Europe’s east.

What follows is a concise annotation of several key passages from his address.

The Case for War

It is a fact that over the past 30 years we have been patiently trying to come to an agreement with the leading NATO countries regarding the principles of equal and indivisible security in Europe. In response to our proposals, we invariably faced either cynical deception and lies or attempts at pressure and blackmail, while the North Atlantic alliance continued to expand despite our protests and concerns.

Mr. Putin framed his decision to invade Ukraine as a last-ditch effort to halt the West’s hostile expansion ever closer to Russia’s borders.

Since the end of the Cold War, a number of countries in Eastern Europe have chosen to join NATO, making them military allies of Moscow’s former adversaries in the West. In 2008, Washington pushed NATO to announc e that it might one day consider membership for Ukraine, though Western leaders have insisted ever since that they see little prospect of this coming about any time soon.

Especially in recent weeks, Mr. Putin has called NATO’s expansion a plot to destroy Russia.

He has portrayed the flurry of diplomacy that began after Russia started massing troops on Ukraine’s border late last year as his effort to secure a stable European balance short of war. In reality, Russian diplomats have issued demands so extreme that they are widely seen as poison-pill provisions meant to derail talks. Western intelligence agencies say Mr. Putin appears to have decided on the invasion weeks or months ago.

We cannot stay idle and passively observe these developments. This would be an absolutely irresponsible thing to do for us. For our country, it is a matter of life and death, a matter of our historical future as a nation. … It is not only a very real threat to our interests but to the very existence of our state and to its sovereignty. It is the red line which we have spoken about on numerous occasions. They have crossed it.

Mr. Putin asserts that, with diplomacy having failed, he has no choice but to save Russia by resolving through violence an existential conflict with the West that has been building since the Cold War’s end.

He draws on a nationalist narrative of lost imperial glory, a mostly false historical account of a duplicitous West forcing its will on Eastern Europe, and a long-mounting paranoia that Russia scholars consider to very possibly be sincere.

The collapse of the Soviet Union led to a redivision of the world. … This array includes promises not to expand NATO eastward even by an inch. To reiterate: They have deceived us, or, to put it simply, they have played us.

Mr. Putin spends a substantial portion of his speech retelling the past 30 years as a history of false Western promises to divide Europe in a stable balance between American and Russian spheres of influence. He implies that this proves that the West is implacably bent on encircling and destroying Russia, and so can only be turned back with force.

Yet contrary to Mr. Putin’s claims, Europe’s security order has been continually negotiated between Moscow and Washington, including in formal agreements over diplomatic and military arrangements.

Mr. Putin’s assertion of a Russian right to dictate those countries’ alliances amounts to a demand that the world jettison principles of international law and sovereignty in favor of old-style imperial spheres of influence.

His claim to this Russian right is new, despite his implication that Washington had in fact agreed to such an arrangement, the betrayal of which is, in his telling, just one of many Western acts of aggression.

There are many examples of this. First a bloody military operation was waged against Belgrade, without the U.N. Security Council’s sanction but with combat aircraft and missiles used in the heart of Europe.

Mr. Putin begins his long recitation of Western aggression with an episode that has obsessed Moscow ever since it occurred: NATO’s 1999 intervention in Serbia, where Serbian forces were accused of massacring civilians in the breakaway region of Kosovo. Washington later supported Kosovo’s independence.

Moscow has long seen that 1999 war as a shocking assault on the fellow Slavic peoples of Serbia and an implied threat to dismember Russia as well.

Mr. Putin also cited the American-led invasion of Iraq and Western interventions in Libya and Syria as proof of the West’s aggression.

This is how it was in the 1990s and the early 2000s, when the so-called collective West was actively supporting separatism and gangs of mercenaries in southern Russia. What victims, what losses we had to sustain and what trials we had to go through at that time before we broke the back of international terrorism in the Caucasus! We remember this and will never forget.

Mr. Putin is referring to a series of bitter internal wars fought in Russia’s North Caucasus region, particularly in Chechnya. Separatists in those regions had sought independence after the Soviet Union’s fall.

His claim that the West sponsored these conflicts to weaken Russia is fiction. But it is a concerning one, given fears that Mr. Putin may see Russia’s wars there as a possible scenario for Ukraine. The wars in Chechnya, which included a yearslong military occupation, saw much of the region obliterated and ended with Moscow installing a brutal dictator there.

They sought to destroy our traditional values and force on us their false values that would erode us, our people from within, the attitudes they have been aggressively imposing on their countries, attitudes that are directly leading to degradation and degeneration, because they are contrary to human nature. This is not going to happen.

Mr. Putin is referring to the extension of legal rights and cultural acceptance to L.G.B.T. peoples in Western countries. He has long portrayed this as evidence of Western cultural decadence and an assault on right-thinking Christian values of which he is, in his telling, the defender.

What next, what are we to expect? If history is any guide, we know that in 1940 and early 1941 the Soviet Union went to great lengths to prevent war or at least delay its outbreak. … The attempt to appease the aggressor ahead of the Great Patriotic War proved to be a mistake which came at a high cost for our people. … We will not make this mistake the second time. We have no right to do so.

In a chilling culmination of Mr. Putin’s primary case for war, he compares expanding Western influence in Europe to Nazi machinations on the eve of World War II.

The Kremlin has increasingly emphasized a Russian identity centered on World War II. This appears aimed at justifying Mr. Putin’s authoritarian rule and Russia’s stagnating economy as wartime necessities, while rallying citizens around another glorious national struggle.

Still, Mr. Putin is unusually explicit in portraying the West as the next Nazi Germany, arguing that Moscow must learn from World War II, when the Nazi occupation of Soviet lands brought years of suffering, and strike first in Ukraine.

‘Genocide’ in eastern Ukraine

This brings me to the situation in Donbass. We can see that the forces that staged the coup in Ukraine in 2014 have seized power, are keeping it with the help of ornamental election procedures and have abandoned the path of a peaceful conflict settlement. We had to stop that atrocity, that genocide of the millions of people who live there and who pinned their hopes on Russia, on all of us.

Unlike in his speech on Monday, which centered on mostly fictitious Ukrainian crimes against its Russian-speaking minority, Ukraine itself is almost an afterthought in Mr. Putin’s latest address.

Mr. Putin recites his earlier justification for recognizing as independent states Russian-backed separatist forces, which have controlled parts of eastern Ukraine since 2014. That was the year that Ukrainians revolted to topple their pro-Moscow president.

The Kremlin has claimed ever since that the 2014 uprising was in fact a coup and that the government in Kyiv has sought to outright exterminate the country’s Russian-speaking minority, whom Mr. Putin portrays as crying out for Russian liberation.

In reality, Ukraine’s current government was democratically elected, the separatist forces in Ukraine’s east rule it through violence, and Ukrainians, including those who natively speak Russian, express overwhelming distrust of Russia.

The leading NATO countries are supporting the far-right nationalists and neo-Nazis in Ukraine, those who will never forgive the people of Crimea and Sevastopol for freely making a choice to reunite with Russia.

Mr. Putin has long painted Ukraine’s government as neo-Nazis, in another attempt to portray Russia’s aggression toward the country as defensive, akin to its battle against Germany in World War II.

They will undoubtedly try to bring war to Crimea just as they have done in Donbass, to kill innocent people just as members of the punitive units of Ukrainian nationalists and Hitler’s accomplices did during the Great Patriotic War. They have also openly laid claim to several other Russian regions.

Mr. Putin’s repeated claims of genocidal Ukrainian persecution against Russian-speaking civilians in Donbass, the region in Ukraine’s east, are false.

In reality, Russian-backed separatists seized those territories by force, setting off a now eight-year war that has claimed thousands of lives. Mr. Putin has falsely claimed ever since that the separatists are merely defending local civilians from the threat of extermination.

If we look at the sequence of events and the incoming reports, the showdown between Russia and these forces cannot be avoided. It is only a matter of time. They are getting ready and waiting for the right moment. Moreover, they went as far as aspire to acquire nuclear weapons. They did not leave us any other option for defending Russia and our people, other than the one we are forced to use today. In these circumstances, we have to take bold and immediate action.

This is the culmination of Mr. Putin’s up-is-down narrative portraying Ukraine, the country that his forces have repeatedly carved up through occupations and annexations, as a terrifying threat to Russia.

Ukraine, he argues, was not only plotting to attack Russia, but seeking nuclear weapons to do so. There is no evidence for either claim .

The Aims of the War

The purpose of this operation is to protect people who, for eight years now, have been facing humiliation and genocide perpetrated by the Kyiv regime.

Despite Mr. Putin’s long case for war as necessary to turn back encroaching Western influence by reimposing Russian influence in Ukraine, he ultimately declares his intentions to be more modest: protecting civilians in eastern Ukraine who have supposedly cried out for his help.

There is little reason to see this as an accurate description of Mr. Putin’s aims, given that he himself, in this same speech, emphasized far more sweeping goals — and that Russian forces are already launching attacks across Ukraine, far beyond the country’s separatist-held east.

Rather, this narrow goal may be intended to serve as an official casus belli, giving Russian diplomats something to cite, however implausible, particularly at the United Nations.

To this end, we will seek to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine, as well as bring to trial those who perpetrated numerous bloody crimes against civilians, including against citizens of the Russian Federation.

This may be the most important line of Mr. Putin’s speech, as a seeming statement of war aims far beyond his superficial claim of humanitarian intervention.

His reference to “demilitarize” is being widely read as a threat to subjugate the Ukrainian state as a whole, neutering its ability to defend itself and therefore its sovereign autonomy. Russian forces have already struck at Ukrainian military installations across the country.

And Mr. Putin’s use of “denazify,” in context with his false claim that Ukraine’s democratic government is a neo-Nazi dictatorship, is seen as a threat to topple that government outright. Western intelligence agencies have warned for weeks that Moscow may be plotting to install a pliant dictatorship in Kyiv.

Still, it is possible that these references are bluster, meant to intimidate Ukraine into accepting some accommodation short of full Russian subjugation.

Girding for Conflict

I urge you to immediately lay down arms and go home. I will explain what this means: The military personnel of the Ukrainian army who do this will be able to freely leave the zone of hostilities and return to their families. … I want to emphasize again that all responsibility for the possible bloodshed will lie fully and wholly with the ruling Ukrainian regime.

Mr. Putin’s offer of amnesty to Ukrainian soldiers who leave the battlefield is most likely intended to encourage desertion.

But it may also serve as a warning that Russian forces will accept heavy bloodshed in their invasion, which is already reaching into civilian areas, on the grounds that responsibility for loss of life ultimately rests on Ukrainian forces for not immediately surrendering.

I would now like to say something very important for those who may be tempted to interfere in these developments from the outside. No matter who tries to stand in our way or all the more so create threats for our country and our people, they must know that Russia will respond immediately, and the consequences will be such as you have never seen in your entire history.

This statement is widely seen as a threat of nuclear strikes against any Western country that might militarily intervene against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Russian threats of using nuclear weaponry to retaliate against an attack on Russia itself are nothing new. But Mr. Putin, in extending this nuclear umbrella to cover his invasion forces in Ukraine, has issued a major and potentially destabilizing threat. Russian forces have carried out nuclear exercises in recent days, likely intended as a signal of his sincerity.

Citizens of Russia … It is our strength and our readiness to fight that are the bedrock of independence and sovereignty and provide the necessary foundation for building a reliable future for your home, your family, and your Motherland.

Mr. Putin ends by appealing directly to Russian citizens to support his war in Ukraine as a necessary national struggle.

But there is every indication , including in opinion polls, that Russian citizens, as well as members of the country’s all-important elite, do not want a war with Ukraine and are deeply skeptical of Mr. Putin’s aggression. If Mr. Putin hopes to stave off public or political backlash as the war’s already-mounting political and economic toll on Russia rise, appeals to national struggle, such as this one, have so far proven severely insufficient.

Max Fisher is a New York-based international reporter and columnist. He has reported from five continents on conflict, diplomacy, social change and other topics. He writes  The Interpreter , a column exploring the ideas and context behind major world events. More about Max Fisher

Winston Churchill’s most famous WW2 speeches

There are many sides to Sir Winston Churchill : he was an icon of the Allied war effort; a Prime Minister who led a nation to victory; a leader who fought fiercely against a tyrannical regime; and a man who strengthened a people with words of courage.

It is on a human level, as a man speaking to other men and women that he made his greatest impact. His words which offered encouragement and consolation during WW2's darkest moments have an enduring legacy. To appreciate these feats of oratory we must understand the context in which they were spoken to fully grasp their impact and how they lifted the spirits of a dejected country.

Read more about WW2

Their finest hour: Which actor portrayed the most convincing Churchill?

'blood, toil, tears and sweat' - may 10 1940.

This was Churchill’s first speech since assuming the role of British Prime Minister, following Neville Chamberlain’s resignation: 'I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.' Churchill asked the Commons for a vote of confidence in his new all-party government. Despite not being Chamberlain's preferred successor - primarily due to his opposition to the former’s appeasement policy - it was passed unanimously.

Three days prior, the ‘phoney war’ (a period of relative calm after Britain and France declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939) ended abruptly - The Battle of France had begun. Churchill made it very clear how he planned to deal with the Nazis: ‘You ask, what is our policy? I will say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air…’ He also assured the Commons of his commitment and stressed how high the stakes were, 'without victory there is no survival’.

'We Shall Fight on the Beaches' - June 4 1940

Much of this speech addressed the military developments in Western Europe - including the weakening of the French army (even suggesting an eventual surrender) and the loss of the Belgian one. The success of Operation Dynamo was also highlighted – the evacuation of over 338,000 Allied troops from Dunkirk .

At the time, Churchill was under pressure from fellow ministers to sue for peace with Hitler . Instead, Churchill reinforced his war policy and emphasized a message of no surrender: ‘we shall prove ourselves once again able to defend our island home, to ride out the storm of war, and to outlive the menace of tyranny...’

He also made it clear that Britain would never surrender, even after defeat. Why? Because the American government needed this avowal. Via secret channels, President Roosevelt wanted an assurance of British military commitment even if defeated on the field. This was necessary if there was to be any American intervention.

'This was their finest hour' - June 18 1940

This was Churchill’s third and final speech during the Battle of France, made two days after France began seeking an armistice. The thirty-six-minute speech acknowledged French losses and Hitler’s shifting focus to Britain: ‘What General Weygand has called the Battle of France is over…the Battle of Britain is about to begin.’ Churchill continued to rally the country, highlighting the severity of the situation whilst stressing the importance of Britain’s response in the coming weeks and months: ‘If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be freed.’

A message of belief in victory continued to be pushed, with parallels drawn to The Great War , where the Allies had found themselves in a similar losing situation: ‘During that war we repeatedly asked ourselves the question, “How are we going to win?” and no one was able ever to answer….until at the end…our terrible foe collapsed before us.’

Churchill also continued to address the need for American involvement: 'But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States…will sink into the abyss of a new dark age…’

'The Few' - August 20 1940

The Battle of Britain had begun and in this speech, Churchill praised the Royal Air Force - 'undaunted by odds, unweakened by their constant challenge and mortal danger' that was fending off the German Luftwaffe and 'turning the tide of world war by their prowess and their devotion’. Rapid aircraft salvaging and production were also commended.

Britain’s response was applauded, considering the gains made by the Germans and the losses suffered across Europe: ‘Few would have believed we could survive – none would have believed that we should today…be stronger than we have ever been before.’

The speech concluded with an update on Britain’s strategic alliance with America specifically, the provision of British defence facilities for the United States.

'Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few’

Coupled with the three speeches above, Churchill had created rousing and heartening rhetoric that bolstered the nation in the early stages of the war.

‘You do your worst - and we will do our best’ – July 14th,1941

Churchill’s words of strength were present throughout the war. Notably in this speech, where he paid homage to those who had served during The Blitz and expressed admiration of the spirit of the British people: ‘The courage, the unconquerable grit and stamina of our people, showed itself from the very outset.’

Churchill also warned of further German bombing raids as the RAF offensive continued, to which he also added a message of strength, reiterating the scale of what the nation was fighting for: ‘We shall never turn from our purpose, however sombre the road, however grievous the cost, because we know out of this time of trial and tribulation will be born a new freedom and glory for all mankind.’

In a long-career of oratory, journalism and historical writing these notable speeches, represent just a small proportion of what he contributed to the English language - a man whose words were just as important as his actions.

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How Woodrow Wilson’s War Speech to Congress Changed Him – and the Nation

In 70 days in 1917, President Wilson converted from peace advocate to war president

Erick Trickey

A group of activists calling themselves the Emergency Peace Federation visited White House on February 28, 1917, to plead with their longtime ally, President Woodrow Wilson. Think of his predecessors George Washington and John Adams, they told him. Surely Wilson could find a way to protect American shipping without joining Europe’s war. 

If they had met with him four months earlier, they would have encountered a different man. He had run on peace, after all, winning re-election in November 1916 on the slogan “He kept us out of war.” Most Americans had little interest in sending soldiers into the stalemated slaughter that had ravaged the landscapes of Belgium and France since 1914. Wilson, a careful, deliberative former professor, had even tried to convince England and Germany to end World War I through diplomacy throughout 1916. On January 22, speaking before the U.S. Senate, he had proposed a negotiated settlement to the European war, a “ peace without victory .”

What the peace delegation didn’t fully realize was that Wilson, caught in a series of events, was turning from a peace proponent to a wartime president. And that agonizing shift, which took place over just 70 days in 1917, would transform the United States from an isolated, neutral nation to a world power.

“The President’s mood was stern,” recalled Federation member and renowned social worker Jane Addams, “far from the scholar’s detachment.” Earlier that month, Germany had adopted unrestricted submarine warfare: Its U-boats would attack any ship approaching Britain, France, and Italy, including neutral American ships. The peace delegation hoped to bolster Wilson’s diplomatic instincts and to press him to respond without joining the war. William I. Hull, a former student of Wilson’s and a Quaker pacifist, tried to convince Wilson that he, like the presidents who came before him, could protect American shipping through negotiation.

But when Hull suggested that Wilson try to appeal directly to the German people, not their government, Wilson stopped him.

“Dr. Hull,” Wilson said, “if you knew what I know at the present moment, and what you will see reported in tomorrow morning’s newspapers, you would not ask me to attempt further peaceful dealings with the Germans.”

Then Wilson told his visitors about the Zimmermann Telegram.

“U.S. BARES WAR PLOT,” read the Chicago Tribune ’s headline the next day, March 1, 1917. “GERMANY SEEKS AN ALLIANCE AGAINST US; ASKS JAPAN AND MEXICO TO JOIN HER,” announced the New York Times . German foreign minister Arthur Zimmermann’s decoded telegram , which Wilson’s administration had leaked to the Associated Press, instructed the German ambassador in Mexico to propose an alliance. If the U.S. declared war over Germany’s unrestricted submarine warfare, Zimmermann offered to “make war together” with Mexico in exchange for “generous financial support and an understanding on our part that Mexico is to reconquer the lost territory in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona” (ceded under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo that ended the Mexican-American War nearly 70 years earlier ).

Until the dual shocks of unrestricted submarine warfare and the Zimmermann Telegram, Wilson had truly intended to keep the United States out of World War I. But just 70 days later, on April 2, 1917, he asked Congress to declare war on Germany. Wilson’s agonized decision over that period permanently changed America’s relationship with the world: He forsook George Washington's 124-year precedent of American neutrality in European wars. His idealistic justifications for that decision helped launch a century of American military alliances and interventions around the globe.

In his January speech, Wilson had laid out the idealistic international principles that would later guide him after the war. Permanent peace, he argued, required governments built on the consent of the governed, freedom of the seas, arms control and an international League of Peace (which later became the League of Nations). He argued that both sides in the war—the Allies, including England and France, and the Central Powers, including Germany—should accept what he called a “peace without victory.” The alternative, he argued, was a temporary “peace forced upon the loser, a victor’s terms imposed upon the vanquished.” That, Wilson warned, would leave “a sting, a resentment, a bitter memory” and build the peace on “quicksand.”

But nine days later, at 4 p.m. on January 31, the German ambassador in Washington informed the U.S. State Department that his nation would begin unrestricted submarine warfare—which threatened American commerce and lives on the Atlantic Ocean—at midnight. “The President was sad and depressed,” wrote Wilson’s adviser Edward House in his diary the next day. “[He] said he felt as if the world had suddenly reversed itself; that after going from east to west, it had begun to go from west to east and that he could not get his balance.”

Wilson cut off diplomatic relations with Germany, but refused to believe war was inevitable. “We do not desire any hostile conflict with the Imperial German Government,” he told Congress on February 3. “We are the sincere friends of the German people and earnestly desire to remain at peace with the Government which speaks for them. We shall not believe that they are hostile to us unless and until we are obliged to believe it.”

Though most Americans weren’t eager to fight, Wilson’s critics raged at his inaction. “I don’t believe Wilson will go to war unless Germany literally kicks him into it,” former President Theodore Roosevelt, who had failed in his bid to re-take the White House in 1912, wrote to U.S. Senator Henry Cabot Lodge.

Then, on February 23, came the “kick.” That day, the British government delivered a copy of the Zimmermann Telegram to Walter Hines Pace, the American ambassador in London. It was the espionage coup of the war. Britain’s office of naval intelligence had intercepted and partially decoded it in January, and a British spy’s contact in a Mexican telegraph office had stolen another copy on February 10. Pace stayed up all night drafting a message to Wilson about the telegram and its origins. When Zimmermann’s message arrived from London at the State Department in D.C. on Saturday night, February 24, Acting Secretary of State Frank L. Polk took it directly to the White House. Wilson, Polk recalled later, showed “much indignation.”

Four days later, when Wilson met with the peace activists, he revealed that his thoughts about how to bring about a lasting peace had changed. He told them, according to Addams’ recollection in her memoir, that “as head of a nation participating in the war, the President of the United States would have a seat at the Peace Table, but that if he remains the representative of a neutral country he could at best only ‘call through a crack in the door.’”

The telegram inflamed American public opinion and turned the nation toward war. Yet even then, the deliberative Wilson was not quite ready. His second inaugural address , delivered March 5, asked Americans to abandon isolationism. “We are provincials no longer,” he declared. “The tragic events of the 30 months of vital turmoil through which we have just passed have made us citizens of the world. There can be no turning back. Our own fortunes as a nation are involved whether we would have it so or not.” Today, Wilson’s address reads like a prelude to war—but at the time, pacifists like Addams heard it as a continuation of his focus on diplomacy.

When Wilson met with his cabinet on March 20, he was still undecided. But two events the previous week added to his calculus. German U-boats had sunk three American ships, killing 15 people. And the ongoing turmoil in Russia had forced Nicholas II to abdicate the throne , ending 300 years of Romanov rule. The czar’s abdication had ceded power to a short-lived provisional government created by the Russian legislature. That meant that all of the Allied nations in World War I were now democracies fighting a German-led coalition of autocratic monarchies .

The cabinet unanimously recommended war. Wilson left without announcing his plans. “President was solemn, very sad!” wrote Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels in his diary.

Wilson likely made his decision that night. On March 21, he set a date with Congress for a special session on April 2 on “grave matters of national policy.” Alone, Wilson wrote his speech by hand and by typewriter.

According to a story that appears in many Wilson biographies, the president invited his friend Frank Cobb, editor of the New York World, to the White House on the night before his speech. Wilson revealed his anguish to his friend. He’d tried every alternative to war, he said, and he feared Americans would forsake tolerance and freedom in wartime. In words that echoed his speech to the Senate, Wilson said he still feared that a military victory would prove hollow over time.

“Germany would be beaten and so badly beaten that there would be a dictated peace, a victorious peace,” Wilson said, according to Cobb. “At the end of the war there will be no bystanders with sufficient power to influence the terms. There won’t be any peace standards left to work with.” Even then, Wilson said, “If there is any alternative, for God’s sake, let’s take it!” (Cobb’s account, given to two fellow journalists and published after his death in 1924, is so dramatic that some historians think it’s not authentic. Other historians find it credible .)

On April 2, when Wilson came to the podium at the Capitol, no one but House and perhaps Wilson’s wife, Edith, knew what he would say. He asked Congress to “declare the recent course of the Imperial German Government to be in fact nothing less than war against the government and people of the United States,” and to “formally accept the status of belligerent.” He recounted Germany’s submarine attacks and called the Zimmermann Telegram evidence of “hostile purpose.” He also declared the German government a “natural foe of liberty.” His speech’s most famous phrase would resound through the next century, through American military victories and quagmires alike: “The world must be made safe for democracy.”

Cheers resounded through the House chamber. Later that week, Congress declared war, with 373-50 votes in the House and an 82-6 margin in the Senate.

But after the speech, back at the White House, Wilson was melancholy. “My message today was a message of death for our young men,” Wilson said—and then broke into tears. “How strange it seems to applaud that.” (His secretary, Joseph Tumulty, recorded the president’s words in his 1921 memoir. But as with Cobb’s dramatic anecdote, there is doubt among historians about the story’s veracity.)

All in all, 116,516 Americans died in World War I among about nine million deaths worldwide. (More would die from the flu epidemic of 1918 and pneumonia than on the battlefield.) Wilson’s own administration struck blows against freedom and tolerance during the war, imprisoning anti-war activists such as socialist Eugene Debs . And at the Versailles conference of 1919, Wilson became one of the victors dictating peace terms to Germany. His earlier fears that such a peace would not last eerily foreshadowed the conflicts that eventually erupted into another world war.

Wilson’s high-minded argument that the U.S. should fight World War I to defend democracy has been debated ever since. A different president might have justified the war on simple grounds of self-defense, while diehard isolationists would have kept America neutral by cutting its commercial ties to Great Britain. Instead, Wilson’s sweeping doctrines promised that the United States would promote stability and freedom across the world. Those ideas have defined American diplomacy and war for the last 100 years, from World War II and NATO to Vietnam and the Middle East. A century later, we’re still living in Woodrow Wilson’s world. 

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Erick Trickey | | READ MORE

Erick Trickey is a writer in Boston, covering politics, history, cities, arts, and science. He has written for POLITICO Magazine, Next City, the Boston Globe, Boston Magazine, and Cleveland Magazine

50 Most Famous War Speeches

Published by muhammad arif hossain on december 8, 2023 december 8, 2023.

War speeches have played a significant role throughout history in rallying nations, inspiring soldiers, and shaping the course of conflicts. These powerful orations, delivered by leaders, soldiers, and civilians, have the ability to evoke strong emotions and galvanize entire populations. In this article, we will explore 50 of the most famous war speeches, spanning different eras, cultures, and leaders, highlighting their impact on the world and the people they addressed.

Pericles’ Funeral Oration (431 BC)

In ancient Greece, a famous leader named Pericles gave a speech honoring the brave soldiers of Athens who had died in a long battle. He emphasized the importance of democracy and how the sacrifice of these soldiers saved it. Pericles praised the bravery and dedication of the soldiers, highlighting how they ensured Athens was a free and democratic city.

“The Gettysburg Address” by Abraham Lincoln (1863)

In the middle of the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln gave a short but powerful speech on the battlefield of Gettysburg which became one of the most famous war speeches in history. The speech had two main purposes: to honor the soldiers who lost their lives fighting for freedom and equality, and to rekindle the nation’s commitment to those ideals.

Although brief, Lincoln’s words carry immeasurable weight. He spoke of the sacrifices of fallen soldiers and how their bravery ensured that the nation conceived of freedom and dedicated to the proposition that all men, created equal, could endure. His speech resonated deeply with the nation, reminding them of the core values they were fighting for and the importance of continuing the struggle until those values are fully realized.

“We Shall Fight on the Beaches” by Winston Churchill (1940)

In 1940, during the darkness of World War II, British leader Winston Churchill delivered a powerful speech known as “We Shall Fight on the Beaches.” This speech, filled with defiance and determination, aimed to rally the British people and inspire them to resist the growing threat of Nazi Germany.

Faced with the prospect of Nazi invasion and the potential fall of their nation, the British people were understandably fearful and uncertain. Churchill, however, used his powerful words to ignite a fire of courage and resolve within them. He declared that Britain would not surrender, but would instead fight with all its might on every front, from the beaches and landing grounds to the fields and streets.

“The Charge of the Light Brigade” by Lord Alfred Tennyson (1854)

Written by the famous poet Lord Alfred Tennyson in 1854, “The Charge of the Light Brigade” tells the story of brave British soldiers who fought during the Crimean War. Inspired by the real-life incident of the Light Brigade’s charge under enemy fire, the poem captures the essence of courage, bravery and self-sacrifice in the face of overwhelming odds.

“Blood, Toil, Tears, and Sweat” by Winston Churchill (1940)

In 1940, as World War II swept across Europe, Winston Churchill became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. In his first address to Parliament, a speech now known as “Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat”, Churchill delivered a powerful message to the nation: it was time to unite and fight for their survival .

Churchill’s words were stern and honest. He acknowledges that the difficult road lies ahead, filled with hardship, sacrifice and uncertainty. He famously said, “I have nothing but blood, toil, tears and sweat.” The phrase became a rallying cry for the British people, reminding them that victory would require not only military might but also unwavering dedication and collective effort.

“The Battle Hymn of the Republic” by Julia Ward Howe (1861)

Written by Julia Ward Howe in 1861, “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” is an iconic song that served as a powerful anthem during the American Civil War. With its stirring lyrics and familiar melodies, it captured the spirit of the times, inspiring soldiers and civilians alike with its message of faith, hope and unwavering determination.

The song’s powerful imagery evokes the struggle and sacrifice of war, while expressing a deep belief in a just cause and the ultimate victory of good over evil. Lines like “He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored” and “His truth is marching on” resonated with the hopes and fears of a nation deeply divided.

“Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” by Patrick Henry (1775)

In 1775, amid the flames of the American Revolution, Patrick Henry delivered one of the most famous war speeches that ignited the spirit of independence in the hearts of the colonists. Known as “Give me freedom or give me death”, this speech stands as a testament to the unwavering desire for freedom and the courage it takes to fight for it.

Henry’s words were not just a call to arms, but an impassioned appeal to the essence of what it means to be American. He spoke of the “priceless privileges” the colonists fought for and the injustice of their surrender to British tyranny. He argued that freedom is not just a right but a necessity and without it life itself is meaningless.

“Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen (1917)

Wilfred Owen’s powerful poem, “Dulce et Decorum Est,” written in 1917 during the horrors of World War I, stands as a stark and moving rebuttal to the romanticized ideals of war and its supposed glory. Through vivid imagery and raw emotion, Owen paints a harrowing picture of the physical and psychological devastation inflicted by war, exposing its true cost and shattering any illusions about its nobility.

“Finest Hour” by Winston Churchill (1940)

Winston Churchill delivered his iconic “Finest Hour” speech on June 18, 1940, in the midst of the famous Battle of Britain. It was a pivotal moment in World War II, as Britain stood alone against the seemingly unstoppable Nazi German war machine. Churchill’s speech, with its force of character and conviction, was designed to inspire and rally the British people in this time of great peril.

“The Star-Spangled Banner” by Francis Scott Key (1814)

“The Star-Spangled Banner” is the national anthem of the United States. It was written by Francis Scott Key in 1814 after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry by British ships during the War of 1812. Key was inspired and wrote the poem by seeing the American flag flying over the fort despite heavy attacks. To commemorate the event “Defense of Fort M’Henry”. The poem was later set to a popular British song and became known as “The Star-Spangled Banner”.

“The Iron Curtain” by Winston Churchill (1946)

On March 5, 1946, Winston Churchill delivered a historic speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri. In this speech, Churchill coined the now-famous term “Iron Curtain” to describe the political and ideological barrier that had descended across Europe after World War II. This one of the most famous war speeches is widely considered to be the official start of the Cold War, a period of intense tension and rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union that lasted until the early 1990s.

“A Date Which Will Live in Infamy” by Franklin D. Roosevelt (1941)

On December 7, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered a historic address to Congress, urging a declaration of war against Japan after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. Known as “A Date Will Live Infamy,” the speech marked the official entry of the United States into World War II.

“The White Man’s Burden” by Rudyard Kipling (1899)

Written in 1899 by English poet Rudyard Kipling, “The White Man’s Burden” is a controversial poem that advocates imperialism and Western colonialism. Published during the Spanish-American War, it became a rallying cry for those who believed in the civilizing mission of European powers.

“An Appeal to the Women of the South” by Angelina Grimké (1836)

Published in 1836, Angelina Grimmock’s “An Appeal to the Women of the South” stands as a powerful and passionate plea for women’s involvement in the abolitionist movement. This address, written by a Southern woman herself, called on her fellow Southern women to confront the evils of slavery and work actively toward its end.

“I Have a Dream” by Martin Luther King Jr. (1963)

Although Delivered during the March for Peace, Equality, and Justice in Washington in 1963, Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech is considered one of the most powerful and influential speeches in American history. While not a call to war in the traditional sense, it resonated deeply with the aspirations of the civil rights movement, advocating peaceful resistance, equal rights, and justice for all.

“The Unknown Soldier’s Tomb” by Ferdinand Foch (1920)

In 1920, French military leader Marshal Ferdinand Foch gave a powerful speech at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier of World War I. Buried beneath the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, the mausoleum served as a symbolic tribute to the soldiers who lost their lives. War, even those whose identities were unknown.

Foch’s speech played an important role in shaping the legacy of World War I. His words resonated with the masses and helped them cope with the immense loss and devastation caused by the war. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier has become a national symbol of remembrance and continues to be a pilgrimage site for millions of visitors each year.

“The Balfour Declaration” by Arthur Balfour (1917)

In 1917, Arthur Balfour, the British Foreign Secretary, wrote an important letter to Lord Rothschild, the leader of the British Jewish community. This letter, known as the Balfour Declaration, expressed British support for the establishment of a “national home” for the Jewish people in Palestine.

The Balfour Declaration is a complex and controversial document. While it is celebrated by many as a historic milestone for the Jewish people, it is also seen by some Palestinians as a betrayal and a root cause of the ongoing conflict in the region.

“No Easy Walk to Freedom” by Nelson Mandela (1990)

After spending 27 years in prison for fighting apartheid, Nelson Mandela gave a powerful speech upon his release in 1990. Titled “No Easy Walk to Freedom”, the speech emphasized the importance of reconciliation, forgiveness and working together in the new South Africa.

Mandela’s “No Easy Walk to Freedom” speech helped unite South Africa and set the tone for the country’s transition to democracy. His message of forgiveness and reconciliation played an important role in healing the wounds of the past and ushering in a new era of peace and unity.

“The Fourteen Points” by Woodrow Wilson (1918)

After the devastation of World War I, President Woodrow Wilson sought to establish a lasting peace. In a 1918 speech, he outlined his Fourteen Points, a set of principles that aimed to create a just and equitable world order.

These Fourteen Points e.g. Open covenants of peace, Freedom of navigation on the seas, Removal, so far as possible, of all economic barriers, Guarantees for the reduction of national armaments, Impartial adjustment of all colonial claims, Evacuation of all Russian territory, Restoration of Belgium, Liberation of all French territory, Autonomous development for the peoples of Austria-Hungary, Evacuation of Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro, Secure sovereignty for the Ottoman Empire, An independent Polish state, A general association of nations had a significant impact on the world order after World War I. Although they were never fully implemented, they served as the basis for the League of Nations and influenced international relations for decades to come. The principles of open diplomacy, free trade, arms reduction and collective security continue to be relevant in today’s world.

“The Emancipation Proclamation” by Abraham Lincoln (1863)

In 1863, during the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This important document declared the end of slavery in the Confederate States, the southern states that rebelled against the Union.

“This is the End of the Beginning” by Winston Churchill (1942)

Following the Allied victory at the Battle of El Alamein in 1942, Prime Minister Winston Churchill delivered a powerful speech that marked a turning point in World War II. Titled “This is the End of the Beginning”, the speech served as a beacon of hope and inspiration for the Allies, marking the end of a difficult period and the beginning of their journey to final victory.

“We Shall Overcome” by Lyndon B. Johnson (1965)

Lyndon B. Johnson, in 1965, gave a speech supporting the Civil Rights Act in which he promised fairness and justice for everyone. He spoke about how important it is for all people to have equal rights and opportunities. His words show a strong dedication to ensuring that everyone is treated fairly and has the same chances in life. He wanted to make sure that regardless of who you were or where you came from, you would be given the same respect and opportunity as anyone else.

“The Address to the Army of Italy” by Napoleon Bonaparte (1796)

In 1796, Napoleon Bonaparte gave a speech to his army in Italy that fired them up and helped them win the battle during the French Revolutionary War. His words inspired his soldiers, giving them courage and determination to achieve victory. He spoke about their strengths, their goals and the importance of unity in reaching success. Napoleon’s speech was like a rallying cry, raising the morale of his troops and guiding them to victory in Italy.

“The Crisis” by Thomas Paine (1776)

During the American Revolution in 1776, Thomas Paine published a series entitled “The Crisis”. These powerful and inspiring writings aimed to boost American morale in times of great hardship and uncertainty.

The “Crisis” played an important role in rallying American support for the Revolutionary War. Paine’s powerful words helped inspire hope and determination among the colonists, and his arguments for independence and freedom resonated deeply with the American public.

“The Rhetoric of Hitler” by Adolf Hitler (Various)

Adolf Hitler’s war speeches, although not known for being morally upright, were famous and a powerful tool in swaying and pushing the German people to extreme beliefs, ultimately contributing to the start of World War II. His words had a powerful influence, influencing the thinking and feeling of many Germans, and leading them to radical ideas and actions. Hitler used his rhetoric to manipulate emotions and manipulate facts, stirring up division and leading the country into a devastating war.

“The Yalta Conference Address” by Franklin D. Roosevelt (1945)

Delivered in 1945, at the Yalta Conference by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s speech marked a pivotal moment in the shaping of the post-World War II world. This speech outlined the Allied vision for a peaceful and stable Europe after the defeat of Nazi Germany.

“The Gulag Archipelago” by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1973)

Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s “The Gulag Archipelago”, published in 1973, was a bombshell that exposed the brutal reality of the Soviet Union’s Gulag system. This vast network of forced labor camps held millions of political prisoners, ordinary citizens and religious minorities in appalling conditions, where they suffered torture, starvation and death.

“A War to End All Wars” by George V (1919)

After World War I, Britain’s King George V gave a speech in which he shared a widespread wish: The world would never again experience such destruction. He expressed a hope shared by many—that the terrible suffering and destruction caused by war would serve as a lesson, calling nations to work together for lasting peace. King’s words resonated with the longing of countless people for a world where conflict would never again bring such great tragedy and loss.

“I am Prepared to Die” by Nelson Mandela (1964)

In 1964, while on trial for sabotage and other charges related to his fight against apartheid, Nelson Mandela gave a powerful speech that became a symbol of his unwavering commitment to justice and equality. The speech, titled “I am Prepared to Die”, declared his readiness to face death if necessary for the cause he believed in.

“Cry ‘Havoc!’ and Let Slip the Dogs of War” by William Shakespeare (1601)

The line “Cry ‘Havoc!'” from William Shakespeare’s famous play “Julius Caesar” was written in 1601. And Let Sleep the Dogs of War” became a powerful symbol of the devastating consequences of war.

The phrase captures the essence of the brutality and chaos of war. It highlights the uncontrollable nature of war, once it starts, and the devastating consequences it has on society.

“The Armistice of Compiègne” by Ferdinand Foch (1918)

On November 11, 1918, French Marshal Ferdinand Foch stepped onto a train in Compiegne, France, and uttered the words that marked the end of World War I: “Hostilities will be stopped on the entire front beginning at 11 o’clock, November 11th (French hour). The Allied troops will not go beyond the line reached at that hour on that date until further orders.”

This simple statement ended the deadliest conflict in human history up to that time. After four long years of brutal trench warfare, millions of lives and unimaginable destruction, the guns finally fell silent.

“The Second Inaugural Address” by Abraham Lincoln (1865)

In Abraham Lincoln’s second speech after becoming president again, he aimed to end the American Civil War and mend the country’s divisions and bring everyone together. He spoke of the importance of putting the past behind us and moving towards peace and unity as a country. Lincoln’s words focused on healing and forgiveness, urging the nation to come together because of so much conflict. He wanted to lead the country towards unity and harmony after long struggle and suffering.

“The Eisenhower Farewell Address” by Dwight D. Eisenhower (1961)

In his farewell speech, President Eisenhower addressed a major concern: how the military and arms manufacturing companies could wield too much power over American decisions and ways of life. He wanted to make people aware that this influence could influence the actions and decisions of the country. Eisenhower warned against letting these complexities of military and industry get too much control, urging a careful balance to ensure that the country’s choices are guided by what is best for all, not just a few powerful interests.

“The Destruction of Hiroshima” by Harry S. Truman (1945)

When President Truman announced the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, it marked a huge turning point in World War II and how people viewed the war. His announcement informed the world of this incredibly powerful new weapon being used for the first time. The incident shocked the world and made everyone reconsider the devastating effects of war. The bombing of Hiroshima raised serious questions about how nations view conflict and the use of such destructive weapons in war. It has left a lasting mark on history, shaping how nations approach conflict and the consequences of extreme force.

“The Battle of Britain” by Winston Churchill (1940)

In 1940, after the crucial Battle of Britain, Prime Minister Winston Churchill gave a powerful speech, which people still consider one of the most famous war speeches, celebrating the bravery and efficiency of the Royal Air Force (RAF). Known as the “Battle of Britain”, the historic address recognizes the vital role the RAF played in defending Britain from Nazi invasion.

“The Fireside Chats” by Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1944)

Between 1933 and 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) gave a series of informal radio addresses known as “Fireside Chats”. These broadcasts served as a powerful tool to connect with the American public during critical times such as the Great Depression and World War II.

FDR’s Fireside Chats revolutionized presidential communication and remain a landmark example of effective leadership in times of crisis. These broadcasts not only provided vital information and guidance but also fostered a strong sense of national unity and resilience.

“A Time for Choosing” by Ronald Reagan (1964)

During a TV speech, Ronald Reagan shared his ideas for America, focusing on conservative values such as individual liberty and small government. He spoke of the importance of greater freedom for individuals and less government control over people’s lives. Reagan believed in giving more power to everyday citizens and reducing government influence in many areas. His speech aimed to highlight these conservative principles as a way to shape the country’s future.

“The Long Telegram” by George F. Kennan (1946)

In 1946, while stationed as a diplomat in Moscow, George F. Kennan sent a long telegram to the US State Department. Known as the “Long Telegram,” the document became incredibly influential in shaping American foreign policy toward the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

The Long Telegram had a profound impact on American foreign policy. It laid the groundwork for the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan, both of which aimed to contain Soviet influence in Europe. The document also contributed to the establishment of NATO, a military alliance designed to counter the Soviet threat.

“The Dunkirk Speech” by Winston Churchill (1940)

In June 1940, as the British army evacuated from Dunkirk, France, during World War II, Prime Minister Winston Churchill delivered a powerful speech to the House of Commons. This speech, now known as “The Dunkirk Speech,” rallied the British people and instilled a sense of hope and determination in the face of adversity.

The Dunkirk Speech had a profound effect on the British public. It boosted morale, strengthened national unity and inspired people to resist the Nazi threat. The speech is considered one of Churchill’s most famous and significant speeches and is remembered as a testament to the spirit of British resistance during World War II.

“J’Accuse” by Émile Zola (1898)

In 1898, amid intense controversy and national division, French writer Émile Zola published an emotional open letter titled “J’Accuse” (meaning “I am accused”) in the newspaper L’Aurore. This powerful document denounced the blatant wrongdoing of the French government in the Dreyfus Affair, a case that shook the nation to its core.

“The Sykes-Picot Agreement” (1916)

In World War I, Britain and France made a secret agreement called the Sykes-Picot Pact. The agreement stipulates the control and influence each country will have in the Middle East. It essentially draws lines on the map, shaping how the region will be governed after the war. This agreement had a major impact on the future of the Middle East, as it determined how different parts of the region would be controlled and administered by the two countries. It is seen as a significant moment in history because it greatly influenced the political boundaries and divisions we see in the Middle East today.

“On War” by Carl von Clausewitz (1832)

In his important book “On War,” Clausewitz looked deeply into what war is all about and how it works. He studied the nature of war and how strategies play out during conflicts. Even today, military leaders study his work to understand the ins and outs of warfare better. Clausewitz’s insights have remained influential because they provide valuable lessons and perspectives on how wars unfold and how to approach them strategically.

“Cry for Argentina” by Eva Perón (1946)

In Eva Perón’s speech backing her husband’s run for president, she made a big impact on Argentine politics. Her words became a key moment in the country’s political history. She stood up for her husband and rallied support, which played a significant role in shaping the direction of Argentine politics at that time. Eva Perón’s speech resonated deeply with people and helped pave the way for her husband’s political journey, making her an influential figure in Argentine politics.

“The Prague Spring” by Alexander Dubček (1968)

Alexander Dubek’s speech during the Prague Spring called for political change in Czechoslovakia. He advocated reforms in the hope of creating a more open and democratic society. Unfortunately, Soviet intervention crushed these aspirations, leading to the Prague Spring and the re-establishment of authoritarian rule.

“The Apology of Socrates” by Plato (399 BC)

Plato’s dialogues contain a defense of Socrates’ beliefs and actions before his execution. In this powerful speech, Socrates challenges conventional thinking by defending his commitment to truth and philosophy. This influential discourse lays the foundations of Western philosophy, emphasizing critical thinking and ethical principles.

“The Marshall Plan” by George C. Marshall (1947)

George C. Marshall’s speech at Harvard University outlined the United States’ plan to help rebuild Europe after World War II. This visionary strategy aimed to aid economic recovery and stability, offering substantial assistance to war-torn nations. The Marshall Plan became a cornerstone of post-war reconstruction and fostered stronger international relations.

“The Liberation of Kuwait” by George H. W. Bush (1991)

President George H. W. Bush’s announcement of the liberation of Kuwait marked a significant moment in the Gulf War. His speech celebrated the successful military operation that liberated Kuwait from Iraqi occupation, reflecting a turning point in the conflict and demonstrating a coalition victory.

“Manifest Destiny” (1845)

“Manifest Destiny” encapsulated the belief that the United States was destined to expand across North America. This notion justified territorial expansion, leading to westward migration, acquisition of new territories, and conflict with indigenous peoples. It profoundly shaped American history and influenced policies guiding westward expansion.

“The Powell Doctrine” by Colin Powell (1992)

General Colin Powell’s Doctrine outlined the policy for US military intervention. Emphasizing clear objectives and using overwhelming force when necessary, this doctrine aims to ensure well-defined goals and careful consideration before engaging in conflict. It served as a guideline for future military tactics.

“The Gates of Kiev” by Nikolai Gogol (1831)

Nikolai Gogol’s depiction of the Russian defense of Kiev during the Napoleonic Wars highlights the bravery and sacrifice of the defenders. Gogol’s vivid narrative immortalizes the courage and resilience of those who fought to defend their city, portraying intensity and heroism amid the chaos of war.

Conclusion: 50 Most Famous War Speeches

These 50 famous war speeches span centuries, continents, and conflicts, illustrating the enduring power of words in times of crisis and change. From ancient Greece to the modern era, these famous war speeches have inspired nations, shaped history, and continue to resonate with people around the world. Whether rallying soldiers on the battlefield or advocating for peace and justice, these orations remind us of the profound impact that words can have in times of war and conflict.

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Abraham Lincoln’s Most Enduring Speeches and Quotes

By: Aaron Randle

Updated: February 7, 2024 | Original: January 26, 2022

There’s perhaps no better way to grasp Abraham Lincoln ’s outsized American legacy than through his writing.

From his time as a 20-something political hopeful to his tragic death, Lincoln was a voluminous writer, authoring hundreds of letters, speeches, debate arguments and more.

Despite very little formal schooling, the 16th president was an avid reader who from a young age understood the transformative power of words. “Words were Lincoln’s way up and out of the grinding poverty into which he had been born,” wrote historian and author Geoffrey Ward. “If the special genius of America was that it provided an environment in which ‘every man can make himself,’ as Lincoln believed, pen and ink were the tools with which he did his self-carpentering.”

While he often expressed himself with humor and folksy wisdom, Lincoln wasn’t afraid to wade into lofty territory. His writings show how his thoughts on the thorny issues of the day—like slavery, religion and national discord—evolved over time. He penned some of America’s most monumental expressions of statecraft, such as the Gettysburg Address , widely hailed for its eloquence and clarity of thought. His prose, infused with his deep love of poetry, helped him in his efforts to reach—and heal—a fractured nation.

Here are a few excerpts of Lincoln’s writings, both famous and lesser-known.

On the Fractured Nation

The  ‘House Divided’ Speech:  As America expanded West and fought bitterly over whether new territories could extend the practice of slavery, Lincoln spoke out about what he saw as a growing threat to the Union. Many criticized this speech  as radical, believing—mistakenly—that Lincoln was advocating for war.

The 'Better Angels of Our Nature' speech:  By the time Lincoln was first sworn into office , seven states had already seceded from the Union. During his first address as president, he tried to assure the South that slavery would not be interfered with, and to quiet the drumbeat of war by appealing to “the better angels of our nature.”

The Gettysburg Address: Hailed as one of the most important speeches in U.S. history, Lincoln delivered his brief, 272-word address at the dedication of the Gettysburg battlefield , the site of more than 50,000 casualties. By alluding to the Declaration of Independence , he redefined the war as a struggle not just to preserve the Union, but for the fundamental principle of human freedom.

On Religion

During his younger years, the future President remained notoriously noncommittal on the topic of religion—so much so that even his close friends were unable to verify his personal faith. At times, wrote Lincoln scholar Allen Guelzo, “He would actually be aggressive on the subject of unbelief,” asserting that the Bible was just a book or that Jesus was an illegitimate child.

This lack of clarity on his beliefs—Was he an atheist? A skeptic?—proved a political liability early on. After failing to win election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1843, a worried Lincoln expressed fears that his lack of religiosity might have been to blame:

Lincoln won that House seat three years later, but not without his opponent, a revivalist preacher, accusing him of being a religious scoffer. Instead of dismissing the allegation, as he might have before, the future President wrote a public message directly to his constituency to deny any disrepect, while still avoiding pinning himself down to one personal faith:

By his first inauguration, Lincoln had evolved to making full-throated avowals of faith, even declaring that adherence to Christianity was critical to the Union's survival.

On Racial Inequality

It might seem that the author of the Emancipation Proclamation , the president hailed as “the Great Liberator,” would have clear and consistent views on racial justice and equality. Not exactly.

From the onset, Lincoln always opposed the idea and existence of slavery . As early as 1837, when addressing Congress as a newly-elected member of the Illinois General Assembly, the 28-year-old Lincoln proclaimed the institution to be “founded on both injustice and bad policy.”

Nearly two decades later, he continued to reject it on moral and political grounds:

Nonetheless, despite his deep opposition to slavery, Lincoln did not believe in racial equality. He made this point clear during his famed debates against rival Stephen A. Douglas during their race for the U.S. Senate seat from Illinois:

Lincoln struggled to articulate a vision for how free Black Americans could integrate into white-dominated U.S. society. Under constant political pressure to offset his push for emancipation, Lincoln frequently floated the idea of resettling African Americans elsewhere —to Africa, the Caribbean or Central America. As early as 1854, he articulated this idea:

Lincoln’s views on race equality continued to evolve until his death. In his last public address, just four days before his assassination, Lincoln seemed to denounce a future in which newly freed Black Americans were barred from a chance at equal access to the American dream.

In that same speech, Lincoln also teased the idea of Black suffrage , particularly maddening one attendee. Listening from the crowd, Confederate sympathizer  John Wilkes Booth heard the assertion and remarked, “That is the last speech he will make.”

Lincoln’s Humor

An essential facet of Lincoln the man—and a huge contributor to his political success—was his witty, folksy humor and his talent for mimicry. An inveterate storyteller, Lincoln skillfully spun up puns, jokes, aphorisms and yarns to offset dicey social and political situations, ingratiate himself with hostile audiences, endear himself with the common man and separate himself from political opponents.

As a lawyer , Lincoln always made a point to speak plainly to the judge and jury, avoiding obscure or high-minded legal jargon. One day in court, another lawyer quoted a legal maxim in Latin, then asked Lincoln to affirm it. His response: “If that’s Latin, you had better call another witness.”

So captivating and engaging was Lincoln’s banter that even his vaunted Senate opponent Stephen A. Douglas begrudgingly acknowledged its effectiveness. Douglas likened it to "a slap across my back. Nothing else—not any of his arguments or any of his replies to my questions—disturbs me. But when he begins to tell a story, I feel that I am to be overmatched."

Humor played a key role, historians say, in Lincoln’s victory over Douglas in their famed 1858 debates. In one instance, he colorfully undercut Douglas’s arguments for the Dred Scott Supreme Court decision as “as thin as the homeopathic soup that was made by boiling the shadow of a pigeon that had starved to death.”

And when hecklers followed a Douglas jibe by calling Lincoln “two-faced,” the future president famously defused the attack with his famed self-deprecating humor:

“If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?” 

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10 uplifting speeches from history that will inspire you in times of crisis

• Throughout history, leaders have made speeches that inspired millions and changed the course of history. Those speeches still inspire us today. 
• Famous speeches like Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" and Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address still resonate today. 
• Lesser-known speeches like Hillary Clinton's "Human Rights Are Women's Rights" and Nora Ephron's commencement address are considered inspirational. 
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories .

While history is no stranger to crises, there are always leaders who come forward to help usher in more hopeful times by crafting and delivering impactful speeches. 

Leaders like Martin Luther King Jr., Abraham Lincoln, and Maya Angelou have all delivered speeches that inspired millions — and some even changed the course of history. 

Take a look back at some of the most famous speeches from history that still move us today. 

Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address in 1863 reminds people to honor those we have lost.

President Abraham Lincoln gave a relatively short speech at the deadliest battle site during the Civil War on November 19, 1863. Although it wasn't meant to be monumental, some call it the best speech in history. In it, Lincoln tells his people that they must remember each and every person who fought and died on the battlefield, especially because every human is created equal. 

"The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here," Lincoln says in the address. "It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

In 1938, Lou Gehrig gave his "Luckiest Man" that celebrated the beauty of life.

On July 4, 1938, Lou Gehrig delivered a speech at Yankee Stadium after it was revealed that the baseball player had ALS. Although he was delivering devastating news to his fans in the speech, he instead focused on everything life has to offer. 

"Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about a bad break. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth," he said in the speech. "I have been in ballparks for 17  years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans … So I close in saying that I may have had a tough break, but I have an awful lot to live for."

Winston Churchill delivered the "We Shall Fight on the Beaches" speech in 1940, showing the strength of the human spirit.

On June 4, 1940, Prime Minister Winston Churchill addressed Parliament during a particularly difficult time in World War II. Smithsonian Magazine called it "one of the most rousing and iconic addresses" of the era. In the speech, the prime minister told his people that they would fight together and use all their strength to defeat their enemies. 

"We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender," Churchill says in the famous speech . 

In 1942, Mahatma Gandhi gave his "Quit India" speech, which encouraged peaceful protests.

The day before the Quit India movement started, Mahatma Gandhi delivered an inspiring speech, on August 8, 1942 . In the speech, he told his people to resist the British government but to do so in a peaceful, organized manner. He focused on the benefits of a nonviolent uprising, which became the cornerstone of his beliefs. 

The most famous line from the speech is: "I believe that in the history of the world, there has not been a more genuinely democratic struggle for freedom than ours."

John F. Kennedy delivered "The Decision to Go to The Moon" speech in 1961, proving humans know no bounds.

On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy announced to Congress and the world that the US was committed to sending an American to the moon. In the inspiring speech , the president explains the ambitious goal as one of necessity. 

"Many years ago the great British explorer George Mallory, who was to die on Mount Everest, was asked why did he want to climb it. He said, 'Because it is there,'" Kennedy said in his speech. "Well, space is there, and we're going to climb it, and the moon and the planets are there, and new hopes for knowledge and peace are there. And, therefore, as we set sail we ask God's blessing on the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked."

Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "I Have a Dream Speech" in 1963 reminds people there is always something better on the horizon.

On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr., delivered what is arguably the most famous and most inspiring speech in American history. Before the historic March on Washington, King stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and addressed the 250,000 attendees, calling for the end of discrimination and racism by dreaming about a brighter future. 

"I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice," he said in the speech. "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today."

In 1993, Maya Angelou read her poem "On the Pulse of the Morning" at Bill Clinton's inauguration in an attempt to bring the global community together.

On the morning of President Bill Clinton's inauguration in 1993, poet Maya Angelou delivered a moving speech when she read out her poem "On the Pulse of the Morning." It was the first time a poem had been recited at the ceremony since 1961 . In it, Angelou touched upon topics of equality and inclusion, and she attempted to inspire the world to unite under these principles.

Part of the poem reads:

"The river sings and sings on. There is a true yearning to respond to The singing river and the wise rock. So say the Asian, the Hispanic, the Jew, The African and Native American, the Sioux, The Catholic, the Muslim, the French, the Greek, The Irish, the Rabbi, the Priest, the Sheikh, The Gay, the Straight, the Preacher, The privileged, the homeless, the teacher. They hear. They all hear The speaking of the tree."

Hillary Clinton delivered the "Human Rights Are Women's Rights" speech in 1995, saying those who are suppressed also have a voice.

As the first lady, Hillary Clinton attended the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995. She was pressured to water down her message, but instead, she delivered a moving speech that still resonates today. In it, she said women who are held back by sexist governments should be set free and heard. 

"If there is one message that echoes forth from this conference, let it be that human rights are women's rights and women's rights are human rights once and for all," Clinton said in the speech. "Let us not forget that among those rights are the right to speak freely — and the right to be heard."

Nora Ephron encouraged people to break the rules in her commencement address to Wellesley College in 1996.

While Nora Ephron is known for penning some of the most famous films in the '80s and '90s, she also made a legendary speech at the 1996 Wellesley College graduation ceremony . In it, she inspired women to break free of the mold placed on them. 

"Whatever you choose, however many roads you travel, I hope that you choose not to be a lady. I hope you will find some way to break the rules and make a little trouble out there," Ephron said in the speech. "And I also hope you will choose to make some of that trouble on behalf of women."

She also said, "Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim."

In 1977, Harvey Milk gave his "Give Them Hope" speech, urging people to celebrate their differences and to hold on to messages of hope.

When he was running for local office in California, Harvey Milk delivered his "Give Them Hope" remarks as a stump speech . It was meant to rally supporters behind him, but it quickly became a speech of hope and celebration for the LGBT community. 

"And the young gay people in Altoona, Pennsylvanias, and the Richmond, Minnesotas, who are coming out and hear Anita Bryant on television and her story. The only thing they have to look forward to is hope. And you have to give them hope," Milk said in his speech . "Hope for a better world, hope for a better tomorrow, hope for a better place to come to if the pressures at home are too great. Hope that all will be all right. Without hope, not only are the gays, but the blacks, the seniors, the handicapped, the 'us-es.' The 'us-es' will give up."

• 8 inspirational speeches from Martin Luther King Jr. that aren't 'I Have a Dream'
• The most impactful event in every state that shaped US history
• 4 famous lines from legendary speeches that were made up on the spot
• 9 influential speeches that changed the world

• Main content

It was Winston Churchill's most powerful war speech but few people have heard all of it

Nine years after Churchill vowed to fight the Nazis on the beaches, in the fields and in the streets, he recreated the speech for posterity. But not the whole speech

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The Second World War was over when Winston Churchill approached the microphone to record what was perhaps his most memorable wartime speech.

It was 1949, almost nine years since the German army had overrun France and driven British and French forces into the pocket around Dunkirk.

It was Winston Churchill's most powerful war speech but few people have heard all of it Back to video

Nine years since enemy aircraft had bombed and strafed the tens of thousands of Allied soldiers huddled on the beach, and fears of a Nazi invasion loomed.

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Nine years since Churchill had stood in the chamber of the House of Commons and vowed to fight the enemy on the beaches, in the fields and in the streets. “We shall never surrender,” he had thundered.

But few people had actually heard him deliver the speech.

Broadcast and recording equipment was prohibited in the House of Commons at the time, June 4, 1940, according to Britain’s Churchill Archives Centre.

A BBC announcer read excerpts during the 9 p.m. news. But only those present that afternoon – several hundred members of Parliament and other VIPs crammed into the chamber – heard it all live.

So four years after the war ended in 1945, the former (and future) prime minister, then 74, sat in his country home, Chartwell, outside London, as a recording company readied equipment to capture Churchill reading the speech for posterity.

But he left a lot out.

The original speech was about a half-hour long, historians believe. What was recorded appears to be only about 12 minutes or so. And, executed almost a decade after the desperate spring of 1940, the recording lacks the probable punch of the original.

It’s missing the cheers that news accounts say echoed in the chamber during the speech. And it’s missing Churchill’s poignant reference to the absence that day of Sir Andrew Duncan, president of the Board of Trade. “His son has been killed,” Churchill said.

Get a dash of perspective along with the trending news of the day in a very readable format.

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Enter Gary Oldman, who portrays Churchill in the new movie, “Darkest Hour.” Oldman, made up with Churchillian jowls, round-rimmed spectacles and blue polka-dot bow tie, delivers an impassioned version of the address.

“One of the many wonderful things about ‘Darkest Hour’ is that it gives us the opportunity to hear that speech delivered as Churchill might have” in 1940, said Michael Bishop, director of the International Churchill Society and head of the National Churchill Library at George Washington University.

“It really allows people to see and hear Churchill delivering one of the greatest speeches in the English language . . . in a packed house chamber . . . at a moment of extreme peril,” he said. (The peril would get much worse. The historic chamber where Churchill spoke was destroyed in a German bombing raid less than a year later.)

Much of that drama is missing from the recording, Bishop said.

In 1949, Churchill was temporarily out of office, and all the cataclysmic events unfolding in 1940 were now in the past.

“The German eruption (that) swept like a sharp scythe” across France – a phrase in the original but left out of the recording – was part of history now.

The fall of France to the Nazis had been reversed.

And most of the “old and famous States (that) have fallen into . . . the odious apparatus of Nazi rule” – another line missing from the recording – were again free.

But back in 1940, with Britain about to face the conquering German forces alone, Churchill’s words roused his country, and future allies like the United States.

“We shall not flag or fail,” he said, according to the recording and the official government transcript.

“We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans . . . We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills.”

But the actual text of the speech, which ran in many newspapers the next day, was slightly different.

The text, provided by two reputable wire services, had Churchill saying, less dramatically: “We shall fight on beaches, landing grounds, in fields, in streets and on the hills.”

It seems likely that Churchill, an accomplished orator, deviated from the text to add pauses, rhythm and repetition, and make an average sentence unforgettable. He is depicted in the movie scribbling last-minute changes to another address.

The recording of the speech excerpts came about through the efforts of Oscar Preuss of Britain’s Gramophone Co., according to Sophie Bridges, an archivist at the Churchill Archives Centre.

Churchill had originally been interested in making records of his favorite music, to be called “Winston’s Tunes” and sold for charity.

He seems to have lost interest in that project, but Preuss – whose protege was future Beatles producer George Martin – arranged for Churchill to record, among other things, parts of the “fight on the beaches” speech.

A mobile unit was sent to Chartwell, and the recording was done in April 1949. Churchill was charged a fee, and the recordings became his property, Bridges wrote in an email. They were released on the Decca record label in 1964 as “Winston S. Churchill. His Memoirs and His Speeches.”

Bishop said the International Churchill Society has a copy. Alas, the excerpt of the famous speech is brief.

To have heard the whole thing in real time in 1940, he said, “would have been an incredible experience.”

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• The Eisenhowers

These speeches reflect Dwight D. Eisenhower's values and accomplishments as a military leader, statesman, and thirty-fourth President of the United States. It is hoped that they will serve to stimulate and encourage the reader to learn more about this man who led the greatest military expeditionary force in history -- a man who dedicated his life to the cause of universal freedom and to public service.

Video Format

Dwight D. Eisenhower taking the Oath of Office of the President of the United States, 1953

Audio Format

Remarks After the Unconditional Surrender of Arms of Italy, September 8, 1943

Order of the Day, June 6, 1944

V-E [Victory in Europe] Day Statement, May 8, 1945

101st Airborne Division Citation Ceremony, ca. 1945

Guildhall Address, London, England, June 12, 1945

Campaign speech in Detroit, Michigan regarding ending the Korean conflict, October 24, 1952

"The Chance for Peace" (also known as the Cross of Iron speech), April 16, 1953

Radio Report to the Nation, August 6, 1953

State of the Union Address, January 1, 1954 (in two parts)

State of the Union Address, January 6, 1955 (in two parts)

Review of the State of the Union Message, January 5, 1956

Radio and Television Report to the American People on the Developments in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, October 31, 1956

Radio and Television Address to the American People on the Situation in Little Rock, Arkansas, September 24, 1957

Statement by the President following the Landing of U.S. Marines at Beirut, July 15, 1958.

 Address to the Third Special Emergency Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations, August 13, 1958

Radio and Television Report to the American People Regarding the Situation in the Formosa Straits, September 11, 1958

Satellite SCORE Goodwill message, President Eisenhower's message is the first voice to be transmitted in space, December 19, 1958

Radio and Television Report to the American People on Security in the Free World, March 16, 1959

Address to the American People on the Need for an Effective Labor Bill, August 6, 1959

Address at Eisenhower Presidential Library Groundbreaking Ceremony, October 13, 1959

State of the Union Address, January 7, 1960 (in two parts)

Radio and Television Report to the American People on the Events in Paris, May 25, 1960

Address before the 15th General Assembly of the United Nations, September 22, 1960

Farewell Address to the American People, January 17, 1961

Pre-Presidential Speeches

Selection of Eisenhower's Pre-Presidential speeches

Presidential Speeches

The text to most of the public messages and statements of the President of the United States that were released by the White House during the Eisenhower Administration, January 20, 1953 through January 20, 1961, may be found in the eight volumes, Public Papers of the Presidents: Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1953-61. The items in these volumes are presented in chronological order, rather than being grouped in classes. Most needs for a classified arrangement are met by the subject index volume, The Cumulated Indexes to the Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Eisenhower.

"The Public Papers of the Presidents: The American Presidency Project" is an online resource that has consolidated, coded, and organized into a single searchable database the messages and papers of the Presidents Washington - Obama.

You may conduct text searches of the Eisenhower speeches in the Presidential Papers of the Presidents online at The American Presidency Project .

1953 Inaugural Address 1953 State of the Union Address Chance For Peace Address Atoms For Peace Address 1954 State of the Union Address 1955 State of the Union Address 1956 State of the Union Address 1957 State of the Union Address 1957 Inaugural Address 1958 State of the Union Address 1959 State of the Union Address 1960 State of the Union Address Farewell Address

Post-Presidential Speeches

Selection of Eisenhower's Post-Presidential speeches

State of the Union Address, January , 1957 (in two parts)

3 Great military speeches to inspire you as a leader

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The world sorely needs great leaders, whether in the workplace, in the public square, or in the home. History offers compelling lessons and examples of what such wise governance could look like.

These three historic speeches offer a blueprint for what a great leader might say to inspire his team to give their best effort and get through hard times.

1 Remind your team of who they are.

One of the earliest great speeches on record is the Funeral Oration delivered by Pericles, an eminent Athenian politician, at the end of the first year of the Peloponnesian War. He made the speech at a public funeral held annually for the war dead.

Instead of speaking only of the men who had died , Pericles chose to describe the history of Athens itself, specifically what made it distinct from other city-states. He recalled the efforts with which Athenian ancestors had built up the city:

I will speak first of our ancestors, for it is right and seemly that now, when we are lamenting the dead, a tribute should be paid to their memory. There has never been a time when they did not inhabit this land, which by their valor they will have handed down from generation to generation, and we have received from them a free state. But if they were worthy of praise, still more were our fathers, who added to their inheritance, and after many a struggle transmitted to us their sons this great empire. And we ourselves assembled here today, who are still most of us in the vigor of life, have carried the work of improvement further, and have richly endowed our city with all things, so that she is sufficient for herself both in peace and war.

Then he extolled Athens’ reputation and fame compared to its neighbors, making clear that such a magnificent city was worth every sacrifice :

Our form of government does not enter into rivalry with the institutions of others. Our government does not copy our neighbors’, but is an example to them… For we have compelled every land and every sea to open a path for our valor, and have everywhere planted eternal memorials of our friendship and of our enmity. Such is the city for whose sake these men nobly fought and died; they could not bear the thought that she might be taken from them; and every one of us who survive should gladly toil on her behalf.

After making the case at length for the glory and power of Athens, he assured his audience, “So died these men as becomes Athenians. You, their survivors, must determine to have as unfaltering a resolution in the field, though you may pray that it may have a happier outcome.” His statement that these men were “worthy of Athens” carried enormous weight, given all he had said before.

Pericles exalted the history and identity of Athens to remind his listeners of who they were and what set them apart. The pride and honor of their heritage would inspire them to continue the war with renewed vigor.

This is a valuable strategy for modern-day leaders: Remind your team of their great achievements of the past. List all the reasons they have to be proud of their efforts. Recalling past accomplishments is one way to spur them on to future triumph.

2 Describe your vision for great things to come

The year was 1415, and the English army was badly outnumbered when it collided with French forces at Agincourt, France, during the Hundred Years’ War. But the English king, Henry V, delivered a rousing speech that inspired his soldiers to achieve a decisive victory on October 25, the feast of St. Crispin. The exact words of King Henry V’s speech have been lost to history, but Shakespeare captured its themes and spirit in his play Henry V , in a passage known as the St. Crispin’s Day Speech .

This address is exemplary for so many reasons, such as its focus on brotherhood, honor, and pride. It’s also a wonderful example of a simple but powerful leadership tactic: getting through a difficult period by describing in detail the glorious things to come.

Rather than enumerate the terrible odds facing his army, King Henry V vividly outlines how the battle’s veterans will remember this day for the rest of their lives:

He that outlives this day, and comes safe home, Will stand a tip-toe when this day is named, And rouse him at the name of Crispian. He that shall live this day, and see old age, Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbors, And say “To-morrow is Saint Crispian.” Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars, And say “These wounds I had on Crispin’s day.” Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot, But he’ll remember, with advantages, What feats he did that day.

He promises that not only the soldiers themselves but their neighbors, the rest of the country, and indeed all the world will remember their valor on this day:

And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by, From this day to the ending of the world, But we in it shall be rememberèd— We few, we happy few, we band of brothers … And gentlemen in England now a-bed Shall think themselves accursed they were not here, And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.

“We happy few” is a stroke of rhetorical genius; his soldiers know that being comparatively “few” in number will be their weakness in the coming battle, but Henry V turns it around and presents it as a strength, since “few” warriors means more glory for each of them. 

Henry V describes in great detail the glory to be won in the coming battle, glory that will attend each soldier forever. His words reveal a strategy for modern-day leaders: Paint a verbal picture of the coming reward for the hard work and difficult times. Having that vision of the future to look forward to can make all the difference.

3 Acknowledge the worst-case scenario and address it directly.

Most people don’t want to talk about really scary possibilities. They want to plan for the safest options and pretend the worst can’t happen. But leaders are not silent about hard things. Instead, they acknowledge the most fearsome dangers, face them head-on, and outline a plan for overcoming them.

That’s what Winston Churchill did on June 4, 1940, when he addressed the British House of Commons after the Battle of Dunkirk, during the Second World War. The nation was in a euphoric mood. A week before, the Allied Forces had been perilously trapped at the Dunkirk port in France and all seemed lost, but every possible seafaring vessel (including small civilian fishing boats!) had come to their aid and carried over 338,000 troops to safety on British soil.

Despite the immense relief following the successful evacuation, the Allied Forces were in a disastrous situation. They’d had to abandon not only enormous amounts of military equipment but also literally the continent of Europe; the German army had beaten them back to the shores of the British isle, costing the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers. Nobody wanted to admit it, but the grim prospect of a German invasion was looking more and more likely.

Winston Churchill addressed that terrifying possibility directly in his speech that day . He not only acknowledged that the nation’s worst fear could happen, but he told the British people that they would meet that fear, if it came, with their characteristic indomitable courage:

I have, myself, full confidence that … we shall prove ourselves once again able to defend our Island home, to ride out the storm of war, and to outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary for years, if necessary alone … Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God’s good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.

His bold response would rouse any heart to courage! Churchill outlined this response to a German invasion of Britain, but the strategy can work for any leader. For your team, what’s the worst-case scenario, the fear no one wants to talk about? What would be the ideal response to it that you would want to see?

Clearly lay out this plan before it ever becomes necessary. Knowing that you have a carefully considered and courageous plan in place for even the worst-case scenario inspires your team to imitate that fearlessness and go forth with confidence.

These are only a small fraction of the countless bold and noble speeches recorded in history’s pages. Winston Churchill once said, “Study history, study history. In history lie all the secrets of statecraft.” In history, too, lie all the secrets of great leadership—of commanding and supporting a team, in both victory and defeat. No better manual or guide book can be found.

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Uncategorized

40 famous persuasive speeches you need to hear.

Written by Kai Xin Koh

Across eras of calamity and peace in our world’s history, a great many leaders, writers, politicians, theorists, scientists, activists and other revolutionaries have unveiled powerful rousing speeches in their bids for change. In reviewing the plethora of orators across tides of social, political and economic change, we found some truly rousing speeches that brought the world to their feet or to a startling, necessary halt. We’ve chosen 40 of the most impactful speeches we managed to find from agents of change all over the world – a diversity of political campaigns, genders, positionalities and periods of history. You’re sure to find at least a few speeches in this list which will capture you with the sheer power of their words and meaning!

1. I have a dream by MLK

“I have a dream that one day down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification – one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together. This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. 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. This will be the day, this will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning “My country ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my father’s died, land of the Pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring!”

Unsurprisingly, Martin Luther King’s speech comes up top as the most inspiring speech of all time, especially given the harrowing conditions of African Americans in America at the time. In the post-abolition era when slavery was outlawed constitutionally, African Americans experienced an intense period of backlash from white supremacists who supported slavery where various institutional means were sought to subordinate African American people to positions similar to that of the slavery era. This later came to be known as the times of Jim Crow and segregation, which Martin Luther King powerfully voiced his vision for a day when racial discrimination would be a mere figment, where equality would reign.

2. Tilbury Speech by Queen Elizabeth I

“My loving people, We have been persuaded by some that are careful of our safety, to take heed how we commit our selves to armed multitudes, for fear of treachery; but I assure you I do not desire to live to distrust my faithful and loving people. Let tyrants fear. I have always so behaved myself that, under God, I have placed my chiefest strength and safeguard in the loyal hearts and good-will of my subjects; and therefore I am come amongst you, as you see, at this time, not for my recreation and disport, but being resolved, in the midst and heat of the battle, to live and die amongst you all; to lay down for my God, and for my kingdom, and my people, my honour and my blood, even in the dust. I know I have the body of a weak, feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too, and think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realm; to which rather than any dishonour shall grow by me, I myself will take up arms, I myself will be your general, judge, and rewarder of every one of your virtues in the field. I know already, for your forwardness you have deserved rewards and crowns; and We do assure you on a word of a prince, they shall be duly paid. In the mean time, my lieutenant general shall be in my stead, than whom never prince commanded a more noble or worthy subject; not doubting but by your obedience to my general, by your concord in the camp, and your valour in the field, we shall shortly have a famous victory over these enemies of my God, of my kingdom, and of my people.”

While at war with Spain, Queen Elizabeth I was most renowned for her noble speech rallying the English troops against their comparatively formidable opponent. Using brilliant rhetorical devices like metonymy, meronymy, and other potent metaphors, she voiced her deeply-held commitment as a leader to the battle against the Spanish Armada – convincing the English army to keep holding their ground and upholding the sacrifice of war for the good of their people. Eventually against all odds, she led England to victory despite their underdog status in the conflict with her confident and masterful oratory.

3. Woodrow Wilson, address to Congress (April 2, 1917)

“The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be planted upon the tested foundations of political liberty. We have no selfish ends to serve. We desire no conquest, no dominion. We seek no indemnities for ourselves, no material compensation for the sacrifices we shall freely make. We are but one of the champions of the rights of mankind. We shall be satisfied when those rights have been made as secure as the faith and the freedom of nations can make them. Just because we fight without rancor and without selfish object, seeking nothing for ourselves but what we shall wish to share with all free peoples, we shall, I feel confident, conduct our operations as belligerents without passion and ourselves observe with proud punctilio the principles of right and of fair play we profess to be fighting for. … It will be all the easier for us to conduct ourselves as belligerents in a high spirit of right and fairness because we act without animus, not in enmity toward a people or with the desire to bring any injury or disadvantage upon them, but only in armed opposition to an irresponsible government which has thrown aside all considerations of humanity and of right and is running amuck. We are, let me say again, the sincere friends of the German people, and shall desire nothing so much as the early reestablishment of intimate relations of mutual advantage between us—however hard it may be for them, for the time being, to believe that this is spoken from our hearts. We have borne with their present government through all these bitter months because of that friendship—exercising a patience and forbearance which would otherwise have been impossible. We shall, happily, still have an opportunity to prove that friendship in our daily attitude and actions toward the millions of men and women of German birth and native sympathy who live among us and share our life, and we shall be proud to prove it toward all who are in fact loyal to their neighbors and to the government in the hour of test. They are, most of them, as true and loyal Americans as if they had never known any other fealty or allegiance. They will be prompt to stand with us in rebuking and restraining the few who may be of a different mind and purpose. If there should be disloyalty, it will be dealt with with a firm hand of stern repression; but, if it lifts its head at all, it will lift it only here and there and without countenance except from a lawless and malignant few. It is a distressing and oppressive duty, gentlemen of the Congress, which I have performed in thus addressing you. There are, it may be, many months of fiery trial and sacrifice ahead of us. It is a fearful thing to lead this great peaceful people into war, into the most terrible and disastrous of all wars, civilization itself seeming to be in the balance. But the right is more precious than peace, and we shall fight for the things which we have always carried nearest our hearts—for democracy, for the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in their own governments, for the rights and liberties of small nations, for a universal dominion of right by such a concert of free peoples as shall bring peace and safety to all nations and make the world itself at last free. To such a task we can dedicate our lives and our fortunes, everything that we are and everything that we have, with the pride of those who know that the day has come when America is privileged to spend her blood and her might for the principles that gave her birth and happiness and the peace which she has treasured. God helping her, she can do no other.”

On April 2, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson of the USA delivered his address to Congress, calling for declaration of war against what was at the time, a belligerent and aggressive Germany in WWI. Despite his isolationism and anti-war position earlier in his tenure as president, he convinced Congress that America had a moral duty to the world to step out of their neutral observer status into an active role of world leadership and stewardship in order to liberate attacked nations from their German aggressors. The idealistic values he preached in his speech left an indelible imprint upon the American spirit and self-conception, forming the moral basis for the country’s people and aspirational visions to this very day.

4. Ain’t I A Woman by Sojourner Truth

“That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain’t I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain’t I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man – when I could get it – and bear the lash as well! And ain’t I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother’s grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain’t I a woman? … If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back , and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it, the men better let them.”

Hailing from a background of slavery and oppression, Sojourner Truth was one of the most revolutionary advocates for women’s human rights in the 1800s. In spite of the New York Anti-Slavery Law of 1827, her slavemaster refused to free her. As such, she fled, became an itinerant preacher and leading figure in the anti-slavery movement. By the 1850s, she became involved in the women’s rights movement as well. At the 1851 Women’s Rights Convention held in Akron, Ohio, she delivered her illuminating, forceful speech against discrimination of women and African Americans in the post-Civil War era, entrenching her status as one of the most revolutionary abolitionists and women’s rights activists across history.

5. The Gettsyburg Address by Abraham Lincoln

“Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said “the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.” With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”

President Abraham Lincoln had left the most lasting legacy upon American history for good reason, as one of the presidents with the moral courage to denounce slavery for the national atrocity it was. However, more difficult than standing up for the anti-slavery cause was the task of unifying the country post-abolition despite the looming shadows of a time when white Americans could own and subjugate slaves with impunity over the thousands of Americans who stood for liberation of African Americans from discrimination. He urged Americans to remember their common roots, heritage and the importance of “charity for all”, to ensure a “just and lasting peace” among within the country despite throes of racial division and self-determination.

6. Woman’s Rights to the Suffrage by Susan B Anthony

“For any State to make sex a qualification that must ever result in the disfranchisement of one entire half of the people is to pass a bill of attainder, or an ex post facto law, and is therefore a violation of the supreme law of the land. By it the blessings of liberty are for ever withheld from women and their female posterity. To them this government has no just powers derived from the consent of the governed. To them this government is not a democracy. It is not a republic. It is an odious aristocracy; a hateful oligarchy of sex; the most hateful aristocracy ever established on the face of the globe; an oligarchy of wealth, where the right govern the poor. An oligarchy of learning, where the educated govern the ignorant, or even an oligarchy of race, where the Saxon rules the African, might be endured; but this oligarchy of sex, which makes father, brothers, husband, sons, the oligarchs over the mother and sisters, the wife and daughters of every household–which ordains all men sovereigns, all women subjects, carries dissension, discord and rebellion into every home of the nation. Webster, Worcester and Bouvier all define a citizen to be a person in the United States, entitled to vote and hold office. The only question left to be settled now is: Are women persons? And I hardly believe any of our opponents will have the hardihood to say they are not. Being persons, then, women are citizens; and no State has a right to make any law, or to enforce any old law, that shall abridge their privileges or immunities. Hence, every discrimination against women in the constitutions and laws of the several States is today null and void, precisely as in every one against Negroes.”

Susan B. Anthony was a pivotal leader in the women’s suffrage movement who helped to found the National Woman Suffrage Association with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and fight for the constitutional right for women to vote. She courageously and relentlessly advocated for women’s rights, giving speeches all over the USA to convince people of women’s human rights to choice and the ballot. She is most well known for her act of righteous rebellion in 1872 when she voted in the presidential election illegally, for which she was arrested and tried unsuccessfully. She refused to pay the $100 fine in a bid to reject the demands of the American system she denounced as a ‘hateful oligarchy of sex’, sparking change with her righteous oratory and inspiring many others in the women’s suffrage movement within and beyond America.

7. Vladimir Lenin’s Speech at an International Meeting in Berne, February 8, 1916

“It may sound incredible, especially to Swiss comrades, but it is nevertheless true that in Russia, also, not only bloody tsarism, not only the capitalists, but also a section of the so-called or ex-Socialists say that Russia is fighting a “war of defence,” that Russia is only fighting against German invasion. The whole world knows, however, that for decades tsarism has been oppressing more than a hundred million people belonging to other nationalities in Russia; that for decades Russia has been pursuing a predatory policy towards China, Persia, Armenia and Galicia. Neither Russia, nor Germany, nor any other Great Power has the right to claim that it is waging a “war of defence”; all the Great Powers are waging an imperialist, capitalist war, a predatory war, a war for the oppression of small and foreign nations, a war for the sake of the profits of the capitalists, who are coining golden profits amounting to billions out of the appalling sufferings of the masses, out of the blood of the proletariat. … This again shows you, comrades, that in all countries of the world real preparations are being made to rally the forces of the working class. The horrors of war and the sufferings of the people are incredible. But we must not, and we have no reason whatever, to view the future with despair. The millions of victims who will fall in the war, and as a consequence of the war, will not fall in vain. The millions who are starving, the millions who are sacrificing their lives in the trenches, are not only suffering, they are also gathering strength, are pondering over the real cause of the war, are becoming more determined and are acquiring a clearer revolutionary understanding. Rising discontent of the masses, growing ferment, strikes, demonstrations, protests against the war—all this is taking place in all countries of the world. And this is the guarantee that the European War will be followed by the proletarian revolution against capitalism”

Vladimir Lenin remains to this day one of the most lauded communist revolutionaries in the world who brought the dangers of imperialism and capitalism to light with his rousing speeches condemning capitalist structures of power which inevitably enslave people to lives of misery and class stratification. In his genuine passion for the rights of the working class, he urged fellow comrades to turn the “imperialist war” into a “civil” or class war of the proletariat against the bourgeoisie. He encouraged the development of new revolutionary socialist organisations, solidarity across places in society so people could unite against their capitalist overlords, and criticised nationalism for its divisive effect on the socialist movement. In this speech especially, he lambasts “bloody Tsarism” for its oppression of millions of people of other nationalities in Russia, calling for the working class people to revolt against the Tsarist authority for the proletariat revolution to succeed and liberate them from class oppression.

8. I Have A Dream Speech by Mary Wollstonecraft

“If, I say, for I would not impress by declamation when Reason offers her sober light, if they be really capable of acting like rational creatures, let them not be treated like slaves; or, like the brutes who are dependent on the reason of man, when they associate with him; but cultivate their minds, give them the salutary, sublime curb of principle, and let them attain conscious dignity by feeling themselves only dependent on God. Teach them, in common with man, to submit to necessity, instead of giving, to render them more pleasing, a sex to morals. Further, should experience prove that they cannot attain the same degree of strength of mind, perseverance, and fortitude, let their virtues be the same in kind, though they may vainly struggle for the same degree; and the superiority of man will be equally clear, if not clearer; and truth, as it is a simple principle, which admits of no modification, would be common to both. Nay, the order of society as it is at present regulated would not be inverted, for woman would then only have the rank that reason assigned her, and arts could not be practised to bring the balance even, much less to turn it.”

In her vindication of the rights of women, Mary Wollstonecraft was one of the pioneers of the feminist movement back in 1792 who not only theorised and advocated revolutionarily, but gave speeches that voiced these challenges against a dominantly sexist society intent on classifying women as irrational less-than-human creatures to be enslaved as they were. In this landmark speech, she pronounces her ‘dream’ of a day when women would be treated as the rational, deserving humans they are, who are equal to man in strength and capability. With this speech setting an effective precedent for her call to equalize women before the law, she also went on to champion the provision of equal educational opportunities to women and girls, and persuasively argued against the patriarchal gender norms which prevented women from finding their own lot in life through their being locked into traditional institutions of marriage and motherhood against their will.

9. First Inaugural Speech by Franklin D Roosevelt

“So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is…fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and of vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. And I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days. … More important, a host of unemployed citizens face the grim problem of existence, and an equally great number toil with little return. Only a foolish optimist can deny the dark realities of the moment. Our greatest primary task is to put people to work. This is no unsolvable problem if we face it wisely and courageously. There are many ways in which it can be helped, but it can never be helped merely by talking about it. We must act and act quickly. … I am prepared under my constitutional duty to recommend the measures that a stricken Nation in the midst of a stricken world may require. These measures, or such other measures as the Congress may build out of its experience and wisdom, I shall seek, within my constitutional authority, to bring to speedy adoption. But in the event that the Congress shall fail to take one of these two courses, and in the event that the national emergency is still critical, I shall not evade the clear course of duty that will then confront me. I shall ask the Congress for the one remaining instrument to meet the crisis — broad Executive power to wage a war against the emergency, as great as the power that would be given to me if we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe.”

Roosevelt’s famous inaugural speech was delivered in the midst of a period of immense tension and strain under the Great Depression, where he highlighted the need for ‘quick action’ by Congress to prepare for government expansion in his pursuit of reforms to lift the American people out of devastating poverty. In a landslide victory, he certainly consolidated the hopes and will of the American people through this compelling speech.

10. The Hypocrisy of American Slavery by Frederick Douglass

“What to the American slave is your Fourth of July? I answer, a day that reveals to him more than all other days of the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mock; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are to him mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy – a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation of the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of these United States at this very hour. Go search where you will, roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the Old World, travel through South America, search out every abuse and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this nation, and you will say with me that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival.”

On 4 July 1852, Frederick Douglass gave this speech in Rochester, New York, highlighting the hypocrisy of celebrating freedom while slavery continues. He exposed the ‘revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy’ of slavery which had gone unabolished amidst the comparatively obscene celebration of independence and liberty with his potent speech and passion for the anti-abolition cause. After escaping from slavery, he went on to become a national leader of the abolitionist movement in Massachusetts and New York with his oratory and incisive antislavery writings. To this day, his fierce activism and devotion to exposing virulent racism for what it was has left a lasting legacy upon pro-Black social movements and the overall sociopolitical landscape of America.

11. Still I Rise by Maya Angelou

“You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, You may trod me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I’ll rise. Does my sassiness upset you? Why are you beset with gloom? ’Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells Pumping in my living room. Just like moons and like suns, With the certainty of tides, Just like hopes springing high, Still I’ll rise. Did you want to see me broken? Bowed head and lowered eyes? Shoulders falling down like teardrops, Weakened by my soulful cries? Does my haughtiness offend you? Don’t you take it awful hard ’Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines Diggin’ in my own backyard. You may shoot me with your words, You may cut me with your eyes, You may kill me with your hatefulness, But still, like air, I’ll rise. Does my sexiness upset you? Does it come as a surprise That I dance like I’ve got diamonds At the meeting of my thighs? Out of the huts of history’s shame I rise Up from a past that’s rooted in pain I rise I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide, Welling and swelling I bear in the tide. Leaving behind nights of terror and fear I rise Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear I rise Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave. I rise I rise I rise.”

With her iconic poem Still I Rise , Maya Angelou is well-known for uplifting fellow African American women through her empowering novels and poetry and her work as a civil rights activist. Every bit as lyrical on the page, her recitation of Still I Rise continues to give poetry audiences shivers all over the world, inspiring women of colour everywhere to keep the good faith in striving for equality and peace, while radically believing in and empowering themselves to be agents of change. A dramatic reading of the poem will easily showcase the self-belief, strength and punch that it packs in the last stanza on the power of resisting marginalization.

12. Their Finest Hour by Winston Churchill

“What General Weygand called the Battle of France is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. Upon it depends our own British life, and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this Island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, “This was their finest hour.””

In the darkest shadows cast by war, few leaders have been able to step up to the mantle and effectively unify millions of citizens for truly sacrificial causes. Winston Churchill was the extraordinary exception – lifting 1940 Britain out of the darkness with his hopeful, convicted rhetoric to galvanise the English amidst bleak, dreary days of war and loss. Through Britain’s standalone position in WWII against the Nazis, he left his legacy by unifying the nation under shared sacrifices of the army and commemorating their courage.

13. A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf

“Life for both sexes – and I looked at them (through a restaurant window while waiting for my lunch to be served), shouldering their way along the pavement – is arduous, difficult, a perpetual struggle. It calls for gigantic courage and strength. More than anything, perhaps, creatures of illusion as we are, it calls for confidence in oneself. Without self-confidence we are babes in the cradle. And how can we generate this imponderable quality, which is yet so invaluable, most quickly? By thinking that other people are inferior to oneself. By feeling that one has some innate superiority – it may be wealth, or rank, a straight nose, or the portrait of a grandfather by Romney – for there is no end to the pathetic devices of the human imagination – over other people. Hence the enormous importance to a patriarch who has to conquer, who has to rule, of feeling that great numbers of people, half the human race indeed, are by nature inferior to himself. It must indeed be one of the great sources of his power….Women have served all these centuries as looking-glasses possessing the magic and delicious power of reflecting the figure of man at twice its natural size. Without that power probably the earth would still be swamp and jungle. The glories of all our wars would be on the remains of mutton bones and bartering flints for sheepskins or whatever simple ornament took our unsophisticated taste. Supermen and Fingers of Destiny would never have existed. The Czar and the Kaiser would never have worn their crowns or lost them. Whatever may be their use in civilised societies, mirrors are essential to all violent and heroic action. That is why Napoleon and Mussolini both insist so emphatically upon the inferiority of women, for if they were not inferior, they would cease to enlarge. That serves to explain in part the necessity that women so often are to men. And it serves to explain how restless they are under her criticism; how impossible it is for her to say to them this book is bad, this picture is feeble, or whatever it may be, without giving far more pain and rousing far more anger than a man would do who gave the same criticism. For if she begins to tell the truth, the figure in the looking-glass shrinks; his fitness in life is diminished. How is he to go on giving judgment, civilising natives, making laws, writing books, dressing up and speechifying at banquets, unless he can see himself at breakfast and at dinner at least twice the size he really is?”

In this transformational speech , Virginia Woolf pronounces her vision that ‘a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction’. She calls out the years in which women have been deprived of their own space for individual development through being chained to traditional arrangements or men’s prescriptions – demanding ‘gigantic courage’ and ‘confidence in oneself’ to brave through the onerous struggle of creating change for women’s rights. With her steadfast, stolid rhetoric and radical theorization, she paved the way for many women’s rights activists and writers to forge their own paths against patriarchal authority.

14. Inaugural Address by John F Kennedy

“In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility–I welcome it. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it–and the glow from that fire can truly light the world. And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you–ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man. Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us here the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you. With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God’s work must truly be our own.”

For what is probably the most historically groundbreaking use of parallelism in speech across American history, President JFK placed the weighty task of ‘asking what one can do for their country’ onto the shoulders of each American citizen. Using an air of firmness in his rhetoric by declaring his commitment to his countrymen, he urges each American to do the same for the broader, noble ideal of freedom for all. With his crucial interrogation of a citizen’s moral duty to his nation, President JFK truly made history.

15. Atoms for Peace Speech by Dwight Eisenhower

“To pause there would be to confirm the hopeless finality of a belief that two atomic colossi are doomed malevolently to eye each other indefinitely across a trembling world. To stop there would be to accept helplessly the probability of civilization destroyed, the annihilation of the irreplaceable heritage of mankind handed down to us from generation to generation, and the condemnation of mankind to begin all over again the age-old struggle upward from savagery towards decency, and right, and justice. Surely no sane member of the human race could discover victory in such desolation. Could anyone wish his name to be coupled by history with such human degradation and destruction?Occasional pages of history do record the faces of the “great destroyers”, but the whole book of history reveals mankind’s never-ending quest for peace and mankind’s God-given capacity to build. It is with the book of history, and not with isolated pages, that the United States will ever wish to be identified. My country wants to be constructive,not destructive. It wants agreements, not wars, among nations. It wants itself to live in freedom and in the confidence that the peoples of every other nation enjoy equally the right of choosing their own way of life. So my country’s purpose is to help us to move out of the dark chamber of horrors into the light, to find a way by which the minds of men, the hopes of men, the souls of men everywhere, can move forward towards peace and happiness and well-being.”

On a possibility as frightful and tense as nuclear war, President Eisenhower managed to convey the gravity of the world’s plight in his measured and persuasive speech centred on the greater good of mankind. Using rhetorical devices such as the three-part paratactical syntax which most world leaders are fond of for ingraining their words in the minds of their audience, he centers the discourse of the atomic bomb on those affected by such a world-changing decision in ‘the minds, hopes and souls of men everywhere’ – effectively putting the vivid image of millions of people’s fates at stake in the minds of his audience. Being able to make a topic as heavy and fraught with moral conflict as this as eloquent as he did, Eisenhower definitely ranks among some of the most skilled orators to date.

16. The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action by Audre Lorde

“I was going to die, if not sooner then later, whether or not I had ever spoken myself. My silences had not protected me. Your silence will not protect you. But for every real word spoken, for every attempt I had ever made to speak those truths for which I am still seeking, I had made contact with other women while we examined the words to fit a world in which we all believed, bridging our differences. What are the words you do not have yet? What do you need to say? What are the tyrannies you swallow day by day and attempt to make your own, until you will sicken and die of them, still in silence? Perhaps for some of you here today, I am the face of one of your fears. Because I am a woman, because I am black, because I am myself, a black woman warrior poet doing my work, come to ask you, are you doing yours?”

Revolutionary writer, feminist and civil rights activist Audre Lorde first delivered this phenomenal speech at Lesbian and Literature panel of the Modern Language Association’s December 28, 1977 meeting, which went on to feature permanently in her writings for its sheer wisdom and truth. Her powerful writing and speech about living on the margins of society has enlightened millions of people discriminated across various intersections, confronting them with the reality that they must speak – since their ‘silence will not protect’ them from further marginalization. Through her illuminating words and oratory, she has reminded marginalized persons of the importance of their selfhood and the radical capacity for change they have in a world blighted by prejudice and division.

17. 1965 Cambridge Union Hall Speech by James Baldwin

“What is dangerous here is the turning away from – the turning away from – anything any white American says. The reason for the political hesitation, in spite of the Johnson landslide is that one has been betrayed by American politicians for so long. And I am a grown man and perhaps I can be reasoned with. I certainly hope I can be. But I don’t know, and neither does Martin Luther King, none of us know how to deal with those other people whom the white world has so long ignored, who don’t believe anything the white world says and don’t entirely believe anything I or Martin is saying. And one can’t blame them. You watch what has happened to them in less than twenty years.”

Baldwin’s invitation to the Cambridge Union Hall is best remembered for foregrounding the unflinching differences in white and African Americans’ ‘system of reality’ in everyday life. Raising uncomfortable truths about the insidious nature of racism post-civil war, he provides several nuggets of thought-provoking wisdom on the state of relations between the oppressed and their oppressors, and what is necessary to mediate such relations and destroy the exploitative thread of racist hatred. With great frankness, he admits to not having all the answers but provides hard-hitting wisdom on engagement to guide activists through confounding times nonetheless.

18. I Am Prepared to Die by Nelson Mandela

“Above all, My Lord, we want equal political rights, because without them our disabilities will be permanent. I know this sounds revolutionary to the whites in this country, because the majority of voters will be Africans. This makes the white man fear democracy. But this fear cannot be allowed to stand in the way of the only solution which will guarantee racial harmony and freedom for all. It is not true that the enfranchisement of all will result in racial domination. Political division, based on colour, is entirely artificial and, when it disappears, so will the domination of one colour group by another. The ANC has spent half a century fighting against racialism. When it triumphs as it certainly must, it will not change that policy. This then is what the ANC is fighting. Our struggle is a truly national one. It is a struggle of the African people, inspired by our own suffering and our own experience. It is a struggle for the right to live. During my lifetime I have dedicated my life to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons will live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal for which I hope to live for and to see realised. But, My Lord, if it needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”

Apartheid is still considered one of these most devastating events of world history, and it would not have ended without the crucial effort and words of Nelson Mandela during his courageous political leadership. In this heartbreaking speech , he voices his utter devotion to the fight against institutionalised racism in African society – an ideal for which he was ‘prepared to die for’. Mandela continues to remind us today of his moral conviction in leading, wherein the world would likely to be a better place if all politicians had the same resolve and genuine commitment to human rights and the abolition of oppression as he did.

19. Critique on British Imperialism by General Aung San

“Do they form their observations by seeing the attendances at not very many cinemas and theatres of Rangoon? Do they judge this question of money circulation by paying a stray visit to a local bazaar? Do they know that cinemas and theatres are not true indicators, at least in Burma, of the people’s conditions? Do they know that there are many in this country who cannot think of going to these places by having to struggle for their bare existence from day to day? Do they know that those who nowadays patronise or frequent cinemas and theatres which exist only in Rangoon and a few big towns, belong generally to middle and upper classes and the very few of the many poor who can attend at all are doing so as a desperate form of relaxation just to make them forget their unsupportable existences for the while whatever may be the tomorrow that awaits them?”

Under British colonial rule, one of the most legendary nationalist leaders emerged from the ranks of the thousands of Burmese to boldly lead them towards independence, out of the exploitation and control under the British. General Aung San’s speech criticising British social, political and economic control of Burma continues to be scathing, articulate, and relevant – especially given his necessary goal of uniting the Burmese natives against their common oppressor. He successfully galvanised his people against the British, taking endless risks through nationalist speeches and demonstrations which gradually bore fruit in Burma’s independence.

20. Nobel Lecture by Mother Teresa

“I believe that we are not real social workers. We may be doing social work in the eyes of the people, but we are really contemplatives in the heart of the world. For we are touching the Body Of Christ 24 hours. We have 24 hours in this presence, and so you and I. You too try to bring that presence of God in your family, for the family that prays together stays together. And I think that we in our family don’t need bombs and guns, to destroy to bring peace–just get together, love one another, bring that peace, that joy, that strength of presence of each other in the home. And we will be able to overcome all the evil that is in the world. There is so much suffering, so much hatred, so much misery, and we with our prayer, with our sacrifice are beginning at home. Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the action that we do. It is to God Almighty–how much we do it does not matter, because He is infinite, but how much love we put in that action. How much we do to Him in the person that we are serving.”

In contemporary culture, most people understand Mother Teresa to be the epitome of compassion and kindness. However, if one were to look closer at her speeches from the past, one would discover not merely her altruistic contributions, but her keen heart for social justice and the downtrodden. She wisely and gracefully remarks that ‘love begins at home’ from the individual actions of each person within their private lives, which accumulate into a life of goodness and charity. For this, her speeches served not just consolatory value or momentary relevance, as they still inform the present on how we can live lives worth living.

21. June 9 Speech to Martial Law Units by Deng Xiaoping

“This army still maintains the traditions of our old Red Army. What they crossed this time was in the true sense of the expression a political barrier, a threshold of life and death. This was not easy. This shows that the People’s Army is truly a great wall of iron and steel of the party and state. This shows that no matter how heavy our losses, the army, under the leadership of the party, will always remain the defender of the country, the defender of socialism, and the defender of the public interest. They are a most lovable people. At the same time, we should never forget how cruel our enemies are. We should have not one bit of forgiveness for them. The fact that this incident broke out as it did is very worthy of our pondering. It prompts us cool-headedly to consider the past and the future. Perhaps this bad thing will enable us to go ahead with reform and the open policy at a steadier and better — even a faster — pace, more speedily correct our mistakes, and better develop our strong points.”

Mere days before the 4 June 1989 Tiananmen Square uprising, Chinese Communist Party leader Deng Xiaoping sat with six party elders (senior officials) and the three remaining members of the Politburo Standing Committee, the paramount decision-making body in China’s government. The meeting was organised to discuss the best course of action for restoring social and political order to China, given the sweeping economic reforms that had taken place in the past decade that inevitably resulted in some social resistance from the populace. Deng then gave this astute and well-regarded speech, outlining the political complexities in shutting down student protests given the context of reforms encouraging economic liberalization already taking place, as aligned with the students’ desires. It may not be the most rousing or inflammatory of speeches, but it was certainly persuasive in voicing the importance of taking a strong stand for the economic reforms Deng was implementing to benefit Chinese citizens in the long run. Today, China is an economic superpower, far from its war-torn developing country status before Deng’s leadership – thanks to his foresight in ensuring political stability would allow China to enjoy the fruits of the massive changes they adapted to.

22. Freedom or Death by Emmeline Pankhurst

“You won your freedom in America when you had the revolution, by bloodshed, by sacrificing human life. You won the civil war by the sacrifice of human life when you decided to emancipate the negro. You have left it to women in your land, the men of all civilised countries have left it to women, to work out their own salvation. That is the way in which we women of England are doing. Human life for us is sacred, but we say if any life is to be sacrificed it shall be ours; we won’t do it ourselves, but we will put the enemy in the position where they will have to choose between giving us freedom or giving us death. Now whether you approve of us or whether you do not, you must see that we have brought the question of women’s suffrage into a position where it is of first rate importance, where it can be ignored no longer. Even the most hardened politician will hesitate to take upon himself directly the responsibility of sacrificing the lives of women of undoubted honour, of undoubted earnestness of purpose. That is the political situation as I lay it before you today.”

In 1913 after Suffragette Emily Davison stepped in front of King George V’s horse at the Epsom Derby and suffered fatal injuries, Emmeline Pankhurst delivered her speech to Connecticut as a call to action for people to support the suffragette movement. Her fortitude in delivering such a sobering speech on the state of women’s rights is worth remembering for its invaluable impact and contributions to the rights we enjoy in today’s world.

23. Quit India by Mahatma Gandhi

“We shall either free India or die in the attempt; we shall not live to see the perpetuation of our slavery. Every true Congressman or woman will join the struggle with an inflexible determination not to remain alive to see the country in bondage and slavery. Let that be your pledge. Keep jails out of your consideration. If the Government keep me free, I will not put on the Government the strain of maintaining a large number of prisoners at a time, when it is in trouble. Let every man and woman live every moment of his or her life hereafter in the consciousness that he or she eats or lives for achieving freedom and will die, if need be, to attain that goal. Take a pledge, with God and your own conscience as witness, that you will no longer rest till freedom is achieved and will be prepared to lay down your lives in the attempt to achieve it. He who loses his life will gain it; he who will seek to save it shall lose it. Freedom is not for the coward or the faint-hearted.”

Naturally, the revolutionary activist Gandhi had to appear in this list for his impassioned anti-colonial speeches which rallied Indians towards independence. Famous for leading non-violent demonstrations, his speeches were a key element in gathering Indians of all backgrounds together for the common cause of eliminating their colonial masters. His speeches were resolute, eloquent, and courageous, inspiring the hope and admiration of many not just within India, but around the world.

24. 1974 National Book Award Speech by Adrienne Rich, Alice Walker, Audre Lorde

“The statement I am going to read was prepared by three of the women nominated for the National Book Award for poetry, with the agreement that it would be read by whichever of us, if any, was chosen.We, Audre Lorde, Adrienne Rich, and Alice Walker, together accept this award in the name of all the women whose voices have gone and still go unheard in a patriarchal world, and in the name of those who, like us, have been tolerated as token women in this culture, often at great cost and in great pain. We believe that we can enrich ourselves more in supporting and giving to each other than by competing against each other; and that poetry—if it is poetry—exists in a realm beyond ranking and comparison. We symbolically join together here in refusing the terms of patriarchal competition and declaring that we will share this prize among us, to be used as best we can for women. We appreciate the good faith of the judges for this award, but none of us could accept this money for herself, nor could she let go unquestioned the terms on which poets are given or denied honor and livelihood in this world, especially when they are women. We dedicate this occasion to the struggle for self-determination of all women, of every color, identification, or derived class: the poet, the housewife, the lesbian, the mathematician, the mother, the dishwasher, the pregnant teen-ager, the teacher, the grandmother, the prostitute, the philosopher, the waitress, the women who will understand what we are doing here and those who will not understand yet; the silent women whose voices have been denied us, the articulate women who have given us strength to do our work.”

Adrienne Rich, Audre Lorde, and Alice Walker wrote this joint speech to be delivered by Adrienne Rich at the 1974 National Book Awards, based on their suspicions that the first few African American lesbian women to be nominated for the awards would be snubbed in favour of a white woman nominee. Their suspicions were confirmed, and Adrienne Rich delivered this socially significant speech in solidarity with her fellow nominees, upholding the voices of the ‘silent women whose voices have been denied’.

25. Speech to 20th Congress of the CPSU by Nikita Khruschev

“Considering the question of the cult of an individual, we must first of all show everyone what harm this caused to the interests of our Party. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin had always stressed the Party’s role and significance in the direction of the socialist government of workers and peasants; he saw in this the chief precondition for a successful building of socialism in our country. Pointing to the great responsibility of the Bolshevik Party, as ruling Party of the Soviet state, Lenin called for the most meticulous observance of all norms of Party life; he called for the realization of the principles of collegiality in the direction of the Party and the state. Collegiality of leadership flows from the very nature of our Party, a Party built on the principles of democratic centralism. “This means,” said Lenin, “that all Party matters are accomplished by all Party members – directly or through representatives – who, without any exceptions, are subject to the same rules; in addition, all administrative members, all directing collegia, all holders of Party positions are elective, they must account for their activities and are recallable.””

This speech is possibly the most famed Russian speech for its status as a ‘secret’ speech delivered only to the CPSU at the time, which was eventually revealed to the public. Given the unchallenged political legacy and cult of personality which Stalin left in the Soviet Union, Nikita Khruschev’s speech condemning the authoritarian means Stalin had resorted to to consolidate power as un-socialist was an important mark in Russian history.

26. The Struggle for Human Rights by Eleanor Roosevelt

“It is my belief, and I am sure it is also yours, that the struggle for democracy and freedom is a critical struggle, for their preservation is essential to the great objective of the United Nations to maintain international peace and security. Among free men the end cannot justify the means. We know the patterns of totalitarianism — the single political party, the control of schools, press, radio, the arts, the sciences, and the church to support autocratic authority; these are the age-old patterns against which men have struggled for three thousand years. These are the signs of reaction, retreat, and retrogression. The United Nations must hold fast to the heritage of freedom won by the struggle of its people; it must help us to pass it on to generations to come. The development of the ideal of freedom and its translation into the everyday life of the people in great areas of the earth is the product of the efforts of many peoples. It is the fruit of a long tradition of vigorous thinking and courageous action. No one race and on one people can claim to have done all the work to achieve greater dignity for human beings and great freedom to develop human personality. In each generation and in each country there must be a continuation of the struggle and new steps forward must be taken since this is preeminently a field in which to stand still is to retreat.”

Eleanor Roosevelt has been among the most well-loved First Ladies for good reason – her eloquence and gravitas in delivering every speech convinced everyone of her suitability for the oval office. In this determined and articulate speech , she outlines the fundamental values that form the bedrock of democracy, urging the rest of the world to uphold human rights regardless of national ideology and interests.

27. The Ballot or The Bullet by Malcolm X

“And in this manner, the organizations will increase in number and in quantity and in quality, and by August, it is then our intention to have a black nationalist convention which will consist of delegates from all over the country who are interested in the political, economic and social philosophy of black nationalism. After these delegates convene, we will hold a seminar; we will hold discussions; we will listen to everyone. We want to hear new ideas and new solutions and new answers. And at that time, if we see fit then to form a black nationalist party, we’ll form a black nationalist party. If it’s necessary to form a black nationalist army, we’ll form a black nationalist army. It’ll be the ballot or the bullet. It’ll be liberty or it’ll be death.”

Inarguably, the revolutionary impact Malcolm X’s fearless oratory had was substantial in his time as a radical anti-racist civil rights activist. His speeches’ emancipatory potential put forth his ‘theory of rhetorical action’ where he urges Black Americans to employ both the ballot and the bullet, strategically without being dependent on the other should the conditions of oppression change. A crucial leader in the fight for civil rights, he opened the eyes of thousands of Black Americans, politicising and convincing them of the necessity of fighting for their democratic rights against white supremacists.

28. Living the Revolution by Gloria Steinem

“The challenge to all of us, and to you men and women who are graduating today, is to live a revolution, not to die for one. There has been too much killing, and the weapons are now far too terrible. This revolution has to change consciousness, to upset the injustice of our current hierarchy by refusing to honor it, and to live a life that enforces a new social justice. Because the truth is none of us can be liberated if other groups are not.”

In an unexpected commencement speech delivered at Vassar College in 1970, Gloria Steinem boldly makes a call to action on behalf of marginalized groups in need of liberation to newly graduated students. She proclaimed it the year of Women’s Liberation and forcefully highlighted the need for a social revolution to ‘upset the injustice of the current hierarchy’ in favour of human rights – echoing the hard-hitting motto on social justice, ‘until all of us are free, none of us are free’.

29. The Last Words of Harvey Milk by Harvey Milk

“I cannot prevent some people from feeling angry and frustrated and mad in response to my death, but I hope they will take the frustration and madness and instead of demonstrating or anything of that type, I would hope that they would take the power and I would hope that five, ten, one hundred, a thousand would rise. I would like to see every gay lawyer, every gay architect come out, stand up and let the world know. That would do more to end prejudice overnight than anybody could imagine. I urge them to do that, urge them to come out. Only that way will we start to achieve our rights. … All I ask is for the movement to continue, and if a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door…”

As the first openly gay elected official in the history of California, Harvey Milk’s entire political candidature was in itself a radical statement against the homophobic status quo at the time. Given the dangerous times he was in as an openly gay man, he anticipated that he would be assassinated eventually in his political career. As such, these are some of his last words which show the utter devotion he had to campaigning against homophobia while representing the American people, voicing his heartbreaking wish for the bullet that would eventually kill him to ‘destroy every closet door’.

30. Black Power Address at UC Berkeley by Stokely Carmichael

“Now we are now engaged in a psychological struggle in this country, and that is whether or not black people will have the right to use the words they want to use without white people giving their sanction to it; and that we maintain, whether they like it or not, we gonna use the word “Black Power” — and let them address themselves to that; but that we are not going to wait for white people to sanction Black Power. We’re tired waiting; every time black people move in this country, they’re forced to defend their position before they move. It’s time that the people who are supposed to be defending their position do that. That’s white people. They ought to start defending themselves as to why they have oppressed and exploited us.”

A forceful and impressive orator, Stokely Carmichael was among those at the forefront of the civil rights movement, who was a vigorous socialist organizer as well. He led the Black Power movement wherein he gave this urgent, influential speech that propelled Black Americans forward in their fight for constitutional rights in the 1960s.

31. Speech on Vietnam by Lyndon Johnson

“The true peace-keepers are those men who stand out there on the DMZ at this very hour, taking the worst that the enemy can give. The true peace-keepers are the soldiers who are breaking the terrorist’s grip around the villages of Vietnam—the civilians who are bringing medical care and food and education to people who have already suffered a generation of war. And so I report to you that we are going to continue to press forward. Two things we must do. Two things we shall do. First, we must not mislead the enemy. Let him not think that debate and dissent will produce wavering and withdrawal. For I can assure you they won’t. Let him not think that protests will produce surrender. Because they won’t. Let him not think that he will wait us out. For he won’t. Second, we will provide all that our brave men require to do the job that must be done. And that job is going to be done. These gallant men have our prayers-have our thanks—have our heart-felt praise—and our deepest gratitude. Let the world know that the keepers of peace will endure through every trial—and that with the full backing of their countrymen, they are going to prevail.”

During some of the most harrowing periods of human history, the Vietnam War, American soldiers were getting soundly defeated by the Vietnamese in guerrilla warfare. President Lyndon Johnson then issued this dignified, consolatory speech to encourage patriotism and support for the soldiers putting their lives on the line for the nation.

32. A Whisper of AIDS by Mary Fisher

“We may take refuge in our stereotypes, but we cannot hide there long, because HIV asks only one thing of those it attacks. Are you human? And this is the right question. Are you human? Because people with HIV have not entered some alien state of being. They are human. They have not earned cruelty, and they do not deserve meanness. They don’t benefit from being isolated or treated as outcasts. Each of them is exactly what God made: a person; not evil, deserving of our judgment; not victims, longing for our pity ­­ people, ready for  support and worthy of compassion. We must be consistent if we are to be believed. We cannot love justice and ignore prejudice, love our children and fear to teach them. Whatever our role as parent or policymaker, we must act as eloquently as we speak ­­ else we have no integrity. My call to the nation is a plea for awareness. If you believe you are safe, you are in danger. Because I was not hemophiliac, I was not at risk. Because I was not gay, I was not at risk. Because I did not inject drugs, I was not at risk. The lesson history teaches is this: If you believe you are safe, you are at risk. If you do not see this killer stalking your children, look again. There is no family or community, no race or religion, no place left in America that is safe. Until we genuinely embrace this message, we are a nation at risk.”

Back when AIDS research was still undeveloped, the stigma of contracting HIV was even more immense than it is today. A celebrated artist, author and speaker, Mary Fisher became an outspoken activist for those with HIV/AIDS, persuading people to extend compassion to the population with HIV instead of stigmatizing them – as injustice has a way of coming around to people eventually. Her bold act of speaking out for the community regardless of the way they contracted the disease, their sexual orientation or social group, was an influential move in advancing the human rights of those with HIV and spreading awareness on the discrimination they face.

33. Freedom from Fear by Aung San Suu Kyi

“The quintessential revolution is that of the spirit, born of an intellectual conviction of the need for change in those mental attitudes and values which shape the course of a nation’s development. A revolution which aims merely at changing official policies and institutions with a view to an improvement in material conditions has little chance of genuine success. Without a revolution of the spirit, the forces which produced the iniquities of the old order would continue to be operative, posing a constant threat to the process of reform and regeneration. It is not enough merely to call for freedom, democracy and human rights. There has to be a united determination to persevere in the struggle, to make sacrifices in the name of enduring truths, to resist the corrupting influences of desire, ill will, ignorance and fear. Saints, it has been said, are the sinners who go on trying. So free men are the oppressed who go on trying and who in the process make themselves fit to bear the responsibilities and to uphold the disciplines which will maintain a free society. Among the basic freedoms to which men aspire that their lives might be full and uncramped, freedom from fear stands out as both a means and an end. A people who would build a nation in which strong, democratic institutions are firmly established as a guarantee against state-induced power must first learn to liberate their own minds from apathy and fear.”

Famous for her resoluteness and fortitude in campaigning for democracy in Burma despite being put under house arrest by the military government, Aung San Suu Kyi’s speeches have been widely touted as inspirational. In this renowned speech of hers, she delivers a potent message to Burmese to ‘liberate their minds from apathy and fear’ in the struggle for freedom and human rights in the country. To this day, she continues to tirelessly champion the welfare and freedom of Burmese in a state still overcome by vestiges of authoritarian rule.

34. This Is Water by David Foster Wallace

“Our own present culture has harnessed these forces in ways that have yielded extraordinary wealth and comfort and personal freedom. The freedom all to be lords of our tiny skull-sized kingdoms, alone at the centre of all creation. This kind of freedom has much to recommend it. But of course there are all different kinds of freedom, and the kind that is most precious you will not hear much talk about much in the great outside world of wanting and achieving…. The really important kind of freedom involves attention and awareness and discipline, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them over and over in myriad petty, unsexy ways every day. That is real freedom. That is being educated, and understanding how to think. The alternative is unconsciousness, the default setting, the rat race, the constant gnawing sense of having had, and lost, some infinite thing.”

Esteemed writer David Foster Wallace gave a remarkably casual yet wise commencement speech at Kenyon College in 2005 on the importance of learning to think beyond attaining a formal education. He encouraged hundreds of students to develop freedom of thought, a heart of sacrificial care for those in need of justice, and a consciousness that would serve them in discerning the right choices to make within a status quo that is easy to fall in line with. His captivating speech on what it meant to truly be ‘educated’ tugged at the hearts of many young and critical minds striving to achieve their dreams and change the world.

35. Questioning the Universe by Stephen Hawking

“This brings me to the last of the big questions: the future of the human race. If we are the only intelligent beings in the galaxy, we should make sure we survive and continue. But we are entering an increasingly dangerous period of our history. Our population and our use of the finite resources of planet Earth are growing exponentially, along with our technical ability to change the environment for good or ill. But our genetic code still carries the selfish and aggressive instincts that were of survival advantage in the past. It will be difficult enough to avoid disaster in the next hundred years, let alone the next thousand or million. Our only chance of long-term survival is not to remain inward-looking on planet Earth, but to spread out into space. The answers to these big questions show that we have made remarkable progress in the last hundred years. But if we want to continue beyond the next hundred years, our future is in space. That is why I am in favor of manned — or should I say, personned — space flight.”

Extraordinary theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author Stephen Hawking was a considerable influence upon modern physics and scientific research at large, inspiring people regardless of physical ability to aspire towards expanding knowledge in the world. In his speech on Questioning the Universe, he speaks of the emerging currents and issues in the scientific world like that of outer space, raising and answering big questions that have stumped great thinkers for years.

36. 2008 Democratic National Convention Speech by Michelle Obama

“I stand here today at the crosscurrents of that history — knowing that my piece of the American dream is a blessing hard won by those who came before me. All of them driven by the same conviction that drove my dad to get up an hour early each day to painstakingly dress himself for work. The same conviction that drives the men and women I’ve met all across this country: People who work the day shift, kiss their kids goodnight, and head out for the night shift — without disappointment, without regret — that goodnight kiss a reminder of everything they’re working for. The military families who say grace each night with an empty seat at the table. The servicemen and women who love this country so much, they leave those they love most to defend it. The young people across America serving our communities — teaching children, cleaning up neighborhoods, caring for the least among us each and every day. People like Hillary Clinton, who put those 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling, so that our daughters — and sons — can dream a little bigger and aim a little higher. People like Joe Biden, who’s never forgotten where he came from and never stopped fighting for folks who work long hours and face long odds and need someone on their side again. All of us driven by a simple belief that the world as it is just won’t do — that we have an obligation to fight for the world as it should be. That is the thread that connects our hearts. That is the thread that runs through my journey and Barack’s journey and so many other improbable journeys that have brought us here tonight, where the current of history meets this new tide of hope. That is why I love this country.”

Ever the favourite modern First Lady of America, Michelle Obama has delivered an abundance of iconic speeches in her political capacity, never forgetting to foreground the indomitable human spirit embodied in American citizens’ everyday lives and efforts towards a better world. The Obamas might just have been the most articulate couple of rhetoricians of their time, making waves as the first African American president and First Lady while introducing important policies in their period of governance.

37. The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama

“I’m not talking about blind optimism here — the almost willful ignorance that thinks unemployment will go away if we just don’t think about it, or the health care crisis will solve itself if we just ignore it. That’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about something more substantial. It’s the hope of slaves sitting around a fire singing freedom songs; the hope of immigrants setting out for distant shores; the hope of a young naval lieutenant bravely patrolling the Mekong Delta; the hope of a millworker’s son who dares to defy the odds; the hope of a skinny kid with a funny name who believes that America has a place for him, too. Hope — Hope in the face of difficulty. Hope in the face of uncertainty. The audacity of hope! In the end, that is God’s greatest gift to us, the bedrock of this nation. A belief in things not seen. A belief that there are better days ahead.”

Now published into a book, Barack Obama’s heart-capturing personal story of transformational hope was first delivered as a speech on the merits of patriotic optimism and determination put to the mission of concrete change. He has come to be known as one of the most favoured and inspiring presidents in American history, and arguably the most skilled orators ever.

38. “Be Your Own Story” by Toni Morrison

“But I’m not going to talk anymore about the future because I’m hesitant to describe or predict because I’m not even certain that it exists. That is to say, I’m not certain that somehow, perhaps, a burgeoning ménage a trois of political interests, corporate interests and military interests will not prevail and literally annihilate an inhabitable, humane future. Because I don’t think we can any longer rely on separation of powers, free speech, religious tolerance or unchallengeable civil liberties as a matter of course. That is, not while finite humans in the flux of time make decisions of infinite damage. Not while finite humans make infinite claims of virtue and unassailable power that are beyond their competence, if not their reach. So, no happy talk about the future. … Because the past is already in debt to the mismanaged present. And besides, contrary to what you may have heard or learned, the past is not done and it is not over, it’s still in process, which is another way of saying that when it’s critiqued, analyzed, it yields new information about itself. The past is already changing as it is being reexamined, as it is being listened to for deeper resonances. Actually it can be more liberating than any imagined future if you are willing to identify its evasions, its distortions, its lies, and are willing to unleash its secrets.”

Venerated author and professor Toni Morrison delivered an impressively articulate speech at Wellesley College in 2004 to new graduates, bucking the trend by discussing the importance of the past in informing current and future ways of living. With her brilliance and eloquence, she blew the crowd away and renewed in them the capacity for reflection upon using the past as a talisman to guide oneself along the journey of life.

39. Nobel Speech by Malala Yousafzai

“Dear brothers and sisters, the so-called world of adults may understand it, but we children don’t. Why is it that countries which we call “strong” are so powerful in creating wars but so weak in bringing peace? Why is it that giving guns is so easy but giving books is so hard? Why is it that making tanks is so easy, but building schools is so difficult? As we are living in the modern age, the 21st century and we all believe that nothing is impossible. We can reach the moon and maybe soon will land on Mars. Then, in this, the 21st century, we must be determined that our dream of quality education for all will also come true. So let us bring equality, justice and peace for all. Not just the politicians and the world leaders, we all need to contribute. Me. You. It is our duty. So we must work … and not wait. I call upon my fellow children to stand up around the world. Dear sisters and brothers, let us become the first generation to decide to be the last. The empty classrooms, the lost childhoods, wasted potential-let these things end with us.”

At a mere 16 years of age, Malala Yousafzai gave a speech on the severity of the state of human rights across the world, and wowed the world with her passion for justice at her tender age. She displayed tenacity and fearlessness speaking about her survival of an assassination attempt for her activism for gender equality in the field of education. A model of courage to us all, her speech remains an essential one in the fight for human rights in the 21st century.

40. Final Commencement Speech by Michelle Obama

“If you are a person of faith, know that religious diversity is a great American tradition, too. In fact, that’s why people first came to this country — to worship freely. And whether you are Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Sikh — these religions are teaching our young people about justice, and compassion, and honesty. So I want our young people to continue to learn and practice those values with pride. You see, our glorious diversity — our diversities of faiths and colors and creeds — that is not a threat to who we are, it makes us who we are. So the young people here and the young people out there: Do not ever let anyone make you feel like you don’t matter, or like you don’t have a place in our American story — because you do. And you have a right to be exactly who you are. But I also want to be very clear: This right isn’t just handed to you. No, this right has to be earned every single day. You cannot take your freedoms for granted. Just like generations who have come before you, you have to do your part to preserve and protect those freedoms. … It is our fundamental belief in the power of hope that has allowed us to rise above the voices of doubt and division, of anger and fear that we have faced in our own lives and in the life of this country. Our hope that if we work hard enough and believe in ourselves, then we can be whatever we dream, regardless of the limitations that others may place on us. The hope that when people see us for who we truly are, maybe, just maybe they, too, will be inspired to rise to their best possible selves.”

Finally, we have yet another speech by Michelle Obama given in her final remarks as First Lady – a tear-inducing event for many Americans and even people around the world. In this emotional end to her political tenure, she gives an empowering, hopeful, expressive speech to young Americans, exhorting them to take hold of its future in all their diversity and work hard at being their best possible selves.

Amidst the bleak era of our current time with Trump as president of the USA, not only Michelle Obama, but all 40 of these amazing speeches can serve as sources of inspiration and hope to everyone – regardless of their identity or ambitions. After hearing these speeches, which one’s your favorite? Let us know in the comments below!

Article Written By: Kai Xin Koh

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Historic Speeches

President Kennedy believed in the power of words -- both written and spoken -- to win votes, to set goals, to change minds, to move nations. He consistently took care to choose the right words and phrases that would send the right message. This section presents some of John F. Kennedy's most historic speeches; view a broader selection of his pre-presidential speeches and presidential speeches in our Speeches section. For a complete record of President Kennedy's public statements, see the  Public Papers of the Presidents .

Courtesy of Google, six of these speeches have been translated into twelve languages. 

Acceptance of Democratic Nomination for President

July 15, 1960

Address to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association

September 12, 1960

The City Upon a Hill Speech

January 9, 1961

Inaugural Address

January 20, 1961

Address to Joint Session of Congress

May 25, 1961

Address at University of Washington

November 16, 1961

Address at Independence Hall

July 4, 1962

Address at Rice University on the Nation's Space Effort

September 12, 1962

Address During the Cuban Missile Crisis

October 22, 1962

Address at Vanderbilt University

May 18, 1963

American University Commencement Address

June 10, 1963

Televised Address to the Nation on Civil Rights

June 11, 1963

Remarks at the Rudolph Wilde Platz, Berlin

June 26, 1963

Address Before the Irish Parliament

June 28, 1963

Televised Address on Nuclear Test Ban Treaty

July 26, 1963

Remarks at Amherst College on the Arts

October 26, 1963

Ukraine war latest: Russia claims it has seized more villages - as Ukraine faces 'extremely dangerous' moment

Fighting is ongoing in Kharkiv, Ukraine's governor for the region has said - as Russia claims it has taken control of multiple villages in its surprise offensive. Lord Cameron has warned it is an "extremely dangerous" moment in the war.

Sunday 12 May 2024 15:59, UK

• More than 4,000 civilians have fled Kharkiv region after Friday morning's surprise attack by Putin's military  
• Russia claims to have captured another four villages in Kharkiv - bringing total to nine
• Cameron says new Russian offensive marks 'extremely dangerous' moment for Ukraine  
• At least seven killed after apartment collapse in Belgorod - Russian media
• Eyewitness: Deborah Haynes reports from town 'flattened' in offensive
• Analysis:  Russia's attack in Kharkiv region not a complete surprise - but the force of it is

We're pausing our coverage of the Ukraine war for now.

A lot's happened today on the northeastern border between Ukraine and Russia.

Russia's fierce offensive has continued in the Kharkiv region, with thousands of civilians continuing to flee.

Ukraine's military chief Oleksandr Syrskyi insisted his forces were doing all they could to contain the Russian threat, but admitted it was proving a challenge, while Russia's defence ministry claimed Putin's troops had taken another four villages near the border.

Meanwhile Russian media said at least seven people had been killed and 17 injured after a 10-storey apartment block collapsed in the Russian city of Belgorod.

Russian officials made unverified claims the missile was part of an aerial attack by Ukraine.

We'll be back with any major updates later, and we'll resume our regular live updates tomorrow morning. 

Thanks for following along. 

The Ukrainian air force has warned a rocket flew through Ukraine's Sumy region this afternoon - not far from Kharkiv.

It didn't give any more information about the rocket, other than saying it was part of "significant activity of enemy aviation".

A Kyiv Independent journalist on the ground in Kharkiv reported hearing explosions later this afternoon, the publication said.

They said they heard them at around 4.15pm local time (2.15pm GMT) - about an hour after the air force's update.

This report hasn't been backed up by Ukrainian officials.

We've got an update completely out of left field now...

The Ukrainian president's top aide has just tweeted saying he's held a meeting with none other than rock legend Bono.

Andriy Yermak said they discussed how Ukraine continues to "resist Russian aggression".

The Irishman has been a vocal supporter of Ukraine since its war with Russia began.

In 2022, he put on a surprise gig in Kyiv and told Sky News the conflict was "one man's war really" - referring to Russian president Vladimir Putin.

More recently the 64-year-old singer, who's never been one to shy away from politics, started paying tribute to Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny during a live performance days after he died in prison.

We've now got footage showing the moment a 10-storey apartment block collapsed in Belgorod.

At least seven people have been killed and 17 more injured after the building was struck by a shot-down missile, Russian media says.

Russian officials say the missile was part of an aerial attack by Ukraine. The claims have not been verified.

Footage also shows emergency services continuing to search the rubble for survivors.

We're seeing photos for the first time of Ukrainian soldiers on the frontline against Russia's offensive in Kharkiv.

Their military chief Oleksandr Syrskyi earlier insisted Ukrainian forces were doing all they could to contain the Russian threat, but admitted it was proving a challenge.

You can see the impact of that challenge in the images below, two of which show Ukrainian military paramedics treating a wounded service member.

They're near the town of Vovchansk, which has seen some of the most brutal fighting since the Russian attack began on Friday.

Some more details now from the ongoing search of a collapsed apartment block in the Russian city of Belgorod.

At least seven are dead and 17 injured after the 10-storey block fell, according to Russian media.

Russian officials say the building was struck by a Soviet-era missile launched by Ukraine that was shot down by Russia.

Specifically, they claimed it was a "massive mile attack" with Tochka ballistic missiles and Adler and RM-70 Vampire (MLRS) multiple launch rocket systems.

They said the attack, which involved at least 12 missiles, took place at 8.40am GMT.

Later, as emergency services scoured the rubble for survivors, the roof of the block collapsed and people ran for their lives, Reuters reported, with dust and rubble falling behind them.

Russian claims of a Ukrainian attack have not been verified and Kyiv officials have not commented.

Ukrainian officials never acknowledge responsibility for attacks on Russian territory or the Crimean Peninsula.

You may have noticed the bulk of our reporting over the past two days has covered two regions: Kharkiv in Ukraine and Belgorod in Russia.

A lot has happened in both, but here's a summary of events: 

In Kharkiv:  Russian forces have launched a brutal offensive, leading to fighting in various villages along the northeastern border separating Ukraine and Russia. 

Russia's defence ministry claims its troops have seized nine villages. Ukrainian officials, who have not commented on these claims, say thousands of civilians have been evacuated from the region.

In Belgorod:   Russian media has reported at least seven people have died and 15 more are injured after a whole section of the 10-storey building fell.

The governor of Russia's Belgorod region said the incident is a consequence of continuous attacks by Ukraine over the weekend - though Ukraine has not commented on the unverified claims.

Cities on opposite sides of the border

On the surface, these are separate incidents happening right next to each other.

And while Ukraine hasn't commented on whether it's responsible for the latest incident in Belgorod, it's no secret the city has regularly been targeted by Ukrainian artillery, drones and proxies over the past year.

Belgorod is a logistics hub for Russian military activity and Kyiv has always denied targeting civilians. 

Military analysts have speculated these attacks in Belgorod could have led Russia to carry out its brutal offensive in Kharkiv.

President Putin has long promised to create a buffer zone to push Ukrainian forces out of artillery range, which would limit the attacks on this frontier town. 

It's a likely motive, our military analyst  Sean Bell  has said, as is stretching Ukraine's military and potentially looking to seize the whole of Kharkiv.

We're seeing images from the Russian city of Belgorod, where part of a multi-storey apartment building has collapsed.

Russian media has reported at least seven people have died and 15 more are injured after a whole section of the 10-storey building fell.

Local officials have blamed the incident on "massive shelling by the armed forces of Ukraine" - but these claims have not been verified and Ukrainian officials have not commented.

Just before Russia claimed its troops had seized another four villages in Kharkiv, Ukraine's military chief had given an update on Telegram.

Oleksandr Syrskyi insisted his forces were doing all they could to contain the Russian threat, but admitted it was proving a challenge.

"Units of the Defence Forces are fighting fierce defensive battles, the attempts of the Russian invaders to break through our defences have been stopped," he said.

"The situation is difficult, but the Defence Forces of Ukraine are doing everything to hold defensive lines and positions, inflict damage on the enemy."

Ukrainian officials have not commented on reports from Russia claiming it has captured the villages of Hatyshche, Krasne, Morokhovets and Oliinykove.

The Russian defence ministry claims troops have seized four more villages in the Kharkiv region - which would bring the total to nine.

The ministry yesterday declared they had taken the Ukrainian villages of Borysivka, Ohirtseve, Pylna and Strilecha, all of which are directly on the border with Russia's Belgorod region.

Russian officials said they had also captured another village, Pletenivka.

Now they've claimed four more: Hatyshche, Krasne, Morokhovets and Oliinykove.

Kyiv has not commented on the latest claims, but Ukrainian officials have remained adamant up until now that the country's troops are continuing to fight and prevent Russians from claiming more ground.

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Putin says ‘arrogant’ West risking global conflict in Victory day speech

In Victory Day speech, Russian president says his forces are in a ‘state of combat readiness’.

Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the “arrogant” West of risking a global conflict, warning the nuclear power’s “strategic forces” are combat-ready, as he marked the Soviet victory over Germany in World War II.

In a defiant speech on Thursday at Moscow’s Red Square before thousands of soldiers dressed in ceremonial attire, Putin said that Western elites had forgotten the Soviet Union’s role in defeating Nazism and were now stoking conflict around the world.

Keep reading

How has modern russian culture been shaped by putin’s war in ukraine, ‘they killed him’: was putin’s critic navalny murdered, decoding putin’s ‘obsessive ideas’ in the tucker carlson interview.

“We know what the exorbitance of such ambitions leads to. Russia will do everything to prevent a global clash,” he said. “But at the same time, we will not allow anyone to threaten us. Our strategic forces are always in a state of combat readiness.”

Victory Day has become Russia’s most important public holiday as Putin puts the country firmly on a combat footing. Evoking the second world war , the president has repeatedly framed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 as an existential battle against Nazism.

This year’s address to the nation came as his troops make advances in Ukraine and just after he took the oath for an unprecedented fifth term after winning presidential elections devoid of all opposition. At a lavish inauguration held two days earlier, he promised to deliver “victory” to Russians.

The 71-year-old leader has also upped his nuclear rhetoric. Earlier this week, he ordered the Russian military to hold nuclear weapons drills involving the navy and troops based near Ukraine.

Last year Russia revoked its ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) and pulled out of a key arms reduction agreement with the United States.

Military showcase

On Thursday, columns of tanks and missiles rolled across Red Square as squadrons of fighter jets roared above.

There was tight security in the capital, and parades were cancelled in several areas, including the western Kursk and Pskov regions, due to security concerns.

The parade in Moscow was scaled back compared with past years amid the mobilisation on the front lines.

Putin casts the ongoing war as part of a struggle with the West, which he says humiliated Russia after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 by encroaching on what he considers Moscow’s sphere of influence.

Ukraine and its Western allies have pledged to defeat Russia, which currently controls about 18 percent of Ukraine, including Crimea, and parts of four regions in eastern Ukraine.

Present at the event were the leaders of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Cuba, Laos and Guinea-Bissau.

Russian officials say the Ukraine war is entering the most dangerous phase to date. Putin has repeatedly warned of the risk of a much broader war involving the world’s biggest nuclear powers.

The speech that a patriotic prime minister should deliver in the face of war

I srael has begun what looks like a limited operation in Rafah , but seven months after October 7, the parameters have not changed. Half the hostages have not returned, no alternative to Hamas has been allowed to emerge in Gaza, Israel’s international standing has collapsed, its relationship with the US is on the rocks, the economy has taken a hit, antisemitism is skyrocketing , and much of country is convinced the government is prolonging the crisis to stay in power. It’s clearly not great.

Now imagine an alternative universe in which Israel was led by a morally upstanding patriot who cared about the country’s reputation and the fate of Jews worldwide. Imagine that the prime minister understood the power of words to do good and of public diplomacy to persuade. And imagine – why not? – that this was Benjamin Netanyahu .

Whether or not a limited hostage deal is somehow reached in the coming days, such a prime minister could flip the entire narrative dramatically at any moment by holding an English-language news conference aimed at the world and containing honest truths and easy-to-understand messages with zero political scheming.

For starters, he’d express deep regret over the loss of life in Gaza.

“I know it has been severe, although I am not inclined to believe Hamas numbers. We did our best with a situation in which Hamas uses the population as a human fortification unlike any that history has seen and seems to seek as much ‘martyrdom’ as possible. Hamas is evil incarnate, and I weep for the Palestinians who are saddled with such maniacal rulers.” That part of the message should be beamed to every US college campus.

He would make clear that Israel has no desire to occupy Gaza and no intention of compelling the population to flee. “We are only there to remove the threat that attacked us on October 7 unprovoked, massacred over 1,200 people, and promised with great arrogance to do it again.

“I ask every Palestinian: What would you have recommended that we do, at that point? Wait for them, then, to do it again? I’m genuinely curious. Is that what you would have done?”

A departure from cynicism and self-righteousness 

The prime minister would say these last words without the kind of smirking, self-righteous cynicism we’ve come to expect. He would sound like a mensch, making each listener feel personally addressed. That’s because the prime minister is no fool and knows that empathy begets empathy and sometimes even sympathy.

THE PRIME MINISTER would, at this point, diverge not only from the style but from the content that has characterized Netanyahu hitherto. He would say he is prepared to end the war right now in exchange for all remaining hostages.

He would look into the camera and speak slowly words that will be replayed on every television station in the Arab world: “Dear Palestinians, dear people of Gaza: The war can end right now. This minute – this very second. No more death and destruction. Life and reconstruction instead. It is the decision of Hamas.”

He would make clear that Israel wants to engage the world, the region, and the Palestinians in a day-after plan. And he would offer the Palestinians a choice – after the hostages have all been released.

One option would be for Israel to pull out of Gaza and let the chips fall where they may, which probably means Hamas will remain in power despite its military degradation.

“For us to do this, there is a major precondition. The group must commit itself to never again attack Israel from Gaza – not with rockets, not with exploding balloons, and definitely not with an invasion by armed barbarians. This must be declared by the Political Bureau in documents submitted to the Arab League. We understand it is unlikely, but we are giving you this choice. If you take it, then something good will have come of this war. I will sell this to the Israeli people. Let’s see you explain yourselves to the people of Gaza.”

If Hamas is unwilling to do this – and it is close to a certainty that it won’t – then it would have a second option as well. The prime minister would explain that Israel would allow the entire leadership of the organization and anyone who participated in October 7 – thousands of bloodthirsty fanatics and fools – to leave the Strip in a flotilla guarded by the United States Navy and headed to whatever country agrees to take them. Turkey and Qatar are deserving candidates. Israel would undertake not to attack them there in the future as well.

Here, the prime minister would finally address what Israel would like to see happen in the Strip the day after Hamas. He would jettison the self-defeating boycott of the Palestinian Authority, saying that the PA would be invited to return to Gaza, from which it was expelled by Hamas in 2007. He would add that Israel would be hoping that the PA revises the problematic school curricula in which pupils are not educated for peace and that it would need to accept assistance, from Israel or from an Arab force, on security in the territory.

He would add that Israel would, in exchange for acquiescence in these areas, offer extremely significant financial aid to rebuild the Strip and set it on the road to a reasonable degree of prosperity.

The prime minister would also mention the elephant in the room – the world community’s desire to see a two-state solution in which the West Bank issue is also resolved. Repeating words Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders have said in the past, the prime minister would explain that Israel does not want to forever govern the Palestinians because it aims to be a democratic, Jewish-majority country. But he would add that there’s a catch.

“What happened on October 7 makes it impossible for us to remove the military completely from the West Bank because if that territory fell into the same hands that attacked us from Gaza, the damage would be many times greater.

“For this, you have Hamas to blame. Every person who supports Hamas supports continuing a level of threat against us that does not allow progress. Therefore, addressing the security danger – which is a real danger for us, and not paranoia – is the key. We will be working on this with all our partners, but we need some time. Let’s focus first on a real solution for Gaza.”

He would conclude with a broader message that will resonate around the world: “Palestinian and Arab friends, and also enemies: We want peace, but we will not roll over. The Jewish people are in Israel to stay. Work with us and you will find a supporter and a champion. The past seven months have offered a glimpse of the hell that awaits us if the radicals prevail. Let’s instead ensure that this never occurs again.”

The prime minister will have not committed to anything that Israel should not itself desire – but the deck will have been completely reshuffled. Even if Hamas rejects all the options, among serious people in the world there will be clarity at last, and Israel would have international legitimacy to press on. This is good, because there is no great advantage in dwelling alone.

I know – the prime minister who does this cannot be Netanyahu. It really does appear that basically nothing drives him but a lust for power and the most vulgar of political calculations. That’s why Israel needs a new election with urgency. But I would love to be proved wrong.

The writer is the former chief editor of The Associated Press in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, the former chairman of the Foreign Press Association in Jerusalem, and the author of two books about Israel. Follow his newsletter “Ask Questions Later” at danperry.substack.com.