What are some truly moving speeches that have been delivered in the past?

Question

With the exclusion of those such as MLK's "I have a Dream." I'm thinking more along the lines of the somewhat obscure. Court statements welcome.

Answer 1

In 1870 a court case was filed in Warrensburg, Missouri by a Mr. Burden against his neghbor Mr. Hornsby because Hornsby had shot Burden's dog, a mutt of indeterminate lineage named "Old Drum."

George Graham Vest, who would later be both a governor and Senator from Missouri represented Mr. Burden. When the defendant's lawyer, during his closing, made the error of dismissing the affair as being "just about a dog" Vest seized upon it and delievered a tribute to "man's best friend" so moving that the defendant's lawyer would later remark that everyone in the room from the judge to the jury foreman was openly weeping. He said that he turned to his client and adivsed him that if they didn't get out of there he expected they would be lynched.

Only the final part of his speech is preserved. I can't imagine any dog owner reading this speech without being reduced to tears. I know I always choke up. Here it is:

"The best friend a man has in this world may turn against him and become his enemy. His son or daughter that he has reared with loving care may prove ungrateful. Those who are nearest and dearest to us, those whom we trust with our happiness and our good name, may become traitors to their faith. The money that a man has, he may lose. It flies away from him, perhaps when he needs it the most. A man’s reputation may be sacrificed in a moment of ill-considered action. The people who are prone to fall on their knees to do us honor when success is with us may be the first to throw the stone of malice when failure settles its cloud upon our heads. The one absolutely unselfish friend that a man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him and the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous is his dog."

"Gentleman of the Jury, a man’s dog stands by him in prosperity and in poverty, in health and in sickness. He will sleep on the cold ground, where the wintry winds blow and the snow drives fiercely, if only he may be near his master’s side. He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer, he will lick the wounds and sores that encounters the roughness of the world. He guards the sleep of his pauper master as if he were a prince. When all other friends desert, he remains. When riches take wings and reputation falls to pieces, he is as constant in his love as the sun in its journey through the heavens."

"If fortune drives the master forth an outcast in the world, friendless and homeless, the faithful dog asks no higher privilege than that of accompanying him to guard against danger, to fight against his enemies. When the last scene of all comes, and death takes the master in its embrace and his body is laid away in the cold ground, no matter if all other friends pursue their way, there by his graveside will the noble dog be found, his head between his paws, his eyes sad but open in alert watchfulness, faithful and true even to death."

Answer 2

With today's media, there are less and less speeches. All the messages get out during interviews and soundbites.

Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton were all great speakers. Rudy Giuliani after the September 11th attacks. President Bush at the World Trade Center Site.

My personal favorite is Joe Castiglione, October 27, 2004.

Answer 3

In a radio address recorded in the waning moments of his presidency, Chilean President Salvador Allende remained defiant, refusing to surrender his power despite an onslaught of bombs and bullets that were ripping apart the presidential palace in Santiago.

///Nat SOUND Allende radio address 9/11/73 ///

"I will not resign," Allende vowed. "I will pay for the loyalty of the people with my life."

It is reported that he took his own life before the soldiers could take him alive but one may also contemplate that it was not he who took his own life but perhaps they who never inteded on taking him alive especially when considering the following:

The bloody coup that ended the life of Salvador Allende on September 11, 1973 put General Augusto Pinochet into power, opening a deadly and dark chapter in Chile's history. During Pinochet's reign, approximately 3000 people "disappeared" and thousands of others were tortured and exiled.

Another not neccessarily moving your heart to best of places speech moving you to the edge of your seat...

September 11, 1990 (11 years before 9/11) was when George Herbert Walker Bush gave his famous "New World Order" speech.

Out of these troubled times, our fifth objective — a New World Order — can emerge ... A hundred generations have searched for this elusive path to peace, while a thousand wars raged across the span of human endeavor. Today that new world is struggling to be born, a world quite different from the one we've known. A world where the rule of law supplants the rule of the jungle. A world in which nations recognize the shared responsibility for freedom and justice. A world where the strong respect the rights of the weak.
- George H.W. Bush, 911/1990

Answer 4

Abdication speech of Edward V111

Answer 5

Online Speech Bank

Index to and growing database of 5000+ full text, audio and video (streaming) versions of public speeches, sermons, legal proceedings, lectures, debates, interviews, other recorded media events, and a declaration or two.

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speechbank.htm

Good luck.

Kevin, Liverpool, England.

Answer 6

Anything by Ralph Waldo Emerson; especially "Self Reliance"...

Answer 7

♥ ☼ ♥ "I Have A Dream" ♥ ☼ ♥
~Martin Luther King, Jr.

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm

Audio and Text

Answer 8

I was moved by a speech a cop told me. He said if I don't stop sleeping in the subway, he'd crack my skull.

Answer 9

Abraham Lincoln, J.F.K. both gave great speeches.

Answer 10

the kanye west awards speech short sweet to da damn point too not all long and crap!!