Edited by Senator Robert Torricelli and Andrew Carroll

Contents

Foreword by Doris Kearns Goodwin

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1900-1909

Don P. Halsey Extols the Virtues of Great Oratory

Senator Albert J. Beveridge Defends America's Right to Subjugate "Savage" Peoples and Foreign Governments

Senator George F. Hoar Denounces American "Imperialism"

Jane Addams Offers an Impassioned Tribute to George Washington on the Anniversary of His Birthday

Tammany Hall Politician George Washington Plunkitt justifies "Honest Graft"

President Theodore Roosevelt Condemns the "Muckrakers" Who Smear and Slander Honest Men

The Reverend Dr. Donald Sage Mackay Addresses the Question "Does God Care?" After an Earthquake Destroys San Francisco

W. E. B. Du Bois Issues a Call to Arms to His Fellow African Americans in the "Battle for Humanity"

Booker T. Washington Warns Against Confrontational Actions That May Do More Harm than Good

Mark Twain Speaks to Misses Tewksbury's School for Girls on Smoking, Drinking, and Lying

Ida B. Wells-Barnett Calls Attention to the Epidemic of Lynchings and "Mob Murder" in America

Chief Plenty Coup Confers with His Tribal Council on Achieving Peace Between the Great Tribes of the United States

The Reverend Reverdy Ransom on "White Supremacy" and an Upcoming Boxing Match Between Jack Johnson and Jim Jeffries

1910-1919

Anarchist Emma Goldman Derides Patriotism as a "Menace to Liberty"

Union Activist Rose Schneiderman on the Deaths of 146 Workers in the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

Mrs. D. H. Bishop Offers a Harrowing Eyewitness Account of the Titanic's Last Hours

Henry Ford Describes the Bonus He Has Provided His Workers and Its Intended Effects on Their Private Lives

President Woodrow Wilson Requests a Declaration of War Against Germany

Carrie Chapman Catt Urges the U. S. Congress to Make One "Last, Hard Fight" for Suffrage

President Woodrow Wilson Enumerates the "Fourteen Points" That Will Ensure World Peace and "Justice to All Peoples and Nationalities"

Ambassador James W. Gerard Encourages German Americans to Be Loyal to the United States -- or Else

Socialist Leader Eugene V. Debs Defends Himself in Court Against Charges of "Disloyalty" and "Sedition"

The Reverend Dr. Anna Howard Shaw Beseeches Americans to Accept President Wilson's Proposal for a "League of Nations"

Senator Henry Cabot Lodge Rejects the League and Its "Mongrel Banner"

New York Governor Alfred E. Smith Assails the "Contemptible" Publishing Tycoon William Randolph Hearst

1920-1929

Evangelical Preacher Billy Sunday Excoriates Alcohol as "God's Worst Enemy"

Will Rogers Skewers Both the "Wets" and the "Drys" in the Prohibition Debate

Attorney Edward Prindeville Demands Imprisonment for Eight Chicago White Sox Players Who Intentionally Lost the 1919 World Series

Helen Keller Emphatically Endorses Communism and the Russian Revolution

Margaret Sanger Promotes Birth Control as an "Ethical Necessity for Humanity"

President Warren G. Harding Marvels at the "Majesty" of Yellowstone National Park

Black Leader Marcus Garvey Finds Common Ground with the Ku Klux Klan

Maud Ballington Booth Expresses Her Belief That No Prisoner Is "Beyond Hope"

Defense Attorney Clarence Darrow Implores the Court to Spare the Lives of Two Young Murderers

William Jennings Bryan Scoffs at Darwin's Theory of Evolution

Defense Attorney Dudley Field Malone Argues That Both "Theology and Science" Should Be Taught in Public Schools

Nicola Sacco, Before His Execution, Restates His Innocence

Al "Scarface" Capone Bids Farewell to Chicago and Laments Being Unappreciated for Showing Citizens a "Good Time"

Republican Presidential Candidate Herbert Hoover Predicts the "Abolition of Poverty" in the United States

1930-1939

Oscar Ameringer Describes Intolerable Suffering Throughout the United States as a Result of the Great Depression

justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, on His Ninetieth Birthday, Offers Profound Advice on Life and Death

Notre Dame President the Reverend Father Charles L. O'Donnell Eulogizes the Legendary Football Coach Knute Rockne

Walter W. Waters, Leader of the "Bonus Expeditionary Forces," Rallies Americans Against President Herbert Hoover

Newly Elected President Franklin D. Roosevelt Gives Inspiration and Courage to a Nation Overwhelmed by Poverty and Anxiety

Joseph Strauss, Engineer of the Golden Gate Bridge, Celebrates the Bridge as a Symbol of "New Hopes and New Aspirations"

Mary McLeod Bethune Commemorates the Sacrifices and Achievements of African American Women Over the Past 100 Years

Populist Senator Huey P. Long Advances His "Share Our Wealth" Plan to Make "Every Man a King"

Radio Broadcaster Herb Morrison Reports Live as the Hindenburg Explodes and Crashes to the Ground

Union Leader John L. Lewis Excoriates Big Business for Its "Brutality and Oppression" Against Organized Labor

Orson Welles Tries to Assure Terrified Listeners That They Are Not Being Attacked by Martians

Baseball Great Lou Gehrig, Suffering from a Fatal Disease, Thanks His Fans and Considers Himself the "Luckiest Man on the Face of the Earth"

1940-1949

CBS Newsman Edward R. Murrow Describes Nazi Air Attacks on the City of London

President Franklin D. Roosevelt Tries to Convince a Skeptical Nation

Why It Must Defend the World Against Nazism

Legendary Composer Duke Ellington Exalts the Artistic, Intellectual, and Spiritual Contributions Made by African Americans

Famed Pilot Charles Lindbergh Argues That the United States Would

Meet with "Defeat and Failure" Against the German Army

journalist Dorothy Thompson Imagines the Horror of a World Controlled by Adolf Hitler

President Franklin D. Roosevelt Requests from Congress a Declaration of War Against Japan

Nobel Laureate Pearl Buck Contends That to Defeat Fascism Abroad, Americans Must Fight for Equality at Home

General Dwight D. Eisenhower Drafts a Message of Apology for His Failure at D-Day

General Eisenhower Issues His "Order of the Day" to the Men Who

Will Storm the Beaches of Normandy

General George S. Patton Tells His Troops That War Is the "Most

Magnificent Competition in Which a Human Being Can Indulge"

President Harry S. Truman Addresses a Nation Grief-Stricken by the

Death of Franklin D. Roosevelt

President Truman Announces That an Atomic Bomb-the Largest

Bomb Ever Used in the History of Warfare-Has Been Dropped on Japan

General Douglas MacArthur Offers Words of Peace After Japan Signs the Official Declaration of Surrender

J. Robert Oppenheimer, Creator of the Atomic Bomb, Beseeches His Colleagues Not to Forget Morality in Their Pursuit of Science

Robert H. Jackson Demands a Verdict of Guilty for the Nazi Leaders on Trial at Nuremberg

Holocaust Survivor Hadassah Rosensaft Describes the Day She Was Liberated from a Nazi Extermination Camp

Zionist Leader Abba Hillel Silver Implores the United Nations to Authorize the Creation of a Homeland for Jews in Palestine

Secretary of State George Marshall Announces a Plan to Save War-Ravaged Europe from Descending into "Chaos"

World-Renowned Performer Paul Robeson Adamantly Defends His Love for the Soviet Union and Its Government

Major-League Baseball Player Jackie Robinson Appears Before the House Un-American Activities Committee to Comment on Robeson's Remarks

1950-1959

Senator Joseph McCarthy Launches a "Final, All-Out Battle" Against Communist Sympathizers in the United States

Senator Margaret Chase Smith Warns Against Those Who Use "Fear, Ignorance, Bigotry, and Smear [Tactics]" for Political Gain

Nobel Laureate William Faulkner Expresses His Heartfelt Belief That "Man Will Not Merely Endure: He Will Prevail"

President Harry S. Truman Defends Sending Troops to Korea and Firing General Douglas MacArthur

General MacArthur Explains His Actions in the Korean War and Refutes Charges of Being a "Warmonger"

Democratic Governor Adlai Stevenson Reminds Members of His Party of All That They Have Accomplished in the Past Twenty Years

Vice Presidential Candidate Richard M. Nixon Confronts Allegations That He Used Campaign Funds for His Personal Gain

John W. Davis Contends That "Separate but Equal" Is a Matter for the Legislature, Not the Courts, to Decide

NAACP Attorney Thurgood Marshall Argues That "Separate but Equal" Schools and Other Institutions Are Unconstitutional

Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt Addresses the Question: "Hasn't the United Nations Failed?"

Environmentalist Rachel Carson Muses on the "Exceeding Beauty of the Earth" and Its Effect on the Human Spirit

Architect Frank Lloyd Wright Encourages His Students to Create Buildings That Are "Beneficial to Humankind"

Homer Hickam Relates How Sputnik Inspired Him to Become a Rocket Engineer for NASA

Jack Kerouac, in a Rare Public Appearance, Describes What the "Beat Generation" Is -- and Is Not

Poet Carl Sandburg, Before a joint Session of Congress, Honors Abraham Lincoln on the 150th Anniversary of His Birth

Green Bay Packers Coach Vince Lombardi Orders His Players to "Make Any Sacrifice to Win"

1960-1969

Dwight D. Eisenhower Ends His Presidency with a Heartfelt Message of Peace and a Warning About the Growing "Military Establishment" in America

President John F. Kennedy Summons the Nation and the World to join Together in the Fight Against "Tyranny, Poverty, Disease, and War"

President John F. Kennedy Informs Americans...