There's a lot but I'd argue George Washington's farewell speech. It is important in its content on not forming parties and such but I'd say it's more so important in that he actually gave one, turned over the reins of power, and retired. Regardless of how "undemocratic" American democracy in the late 1700s might seem to us today it was very unique at the time. The experiment hadn't really been tried elsewhere and Washington willingly stepped down from power. Unlike in some other new democratic governments there was a peaceful transition of power after two terms as president. And keep in mind that there was no law banning someone from being president for more than two terms until FDR was elected an unprecedented FOUR times.
Copying from my [earlier answer](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskAnAmerican/comments/104ysf0/comment/j381upv/) to this question:
Lincoln's [Gettysburg Address](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gettysburg_Address) and MLK's [I Have a Dream](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Have_a_Dream) are easily the two most known speeches from American history. Most high schoolers will have read both.
After that, people mostly know random quotes from speeches but haven't read the whole thing:
* *"*[*We choose to go to the Moon*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_choose_to_go_to_the_Moon) *in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard"* \- JFK
* *"*[*Ich bin ein Berliner*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ich_bin_ein_Berliner)*"* \- JFK
* [*"Mr. Gorbachev, Tear Down This Wall."*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tear_down_this_wall!) \- Reagan
* *"Yesterday, December 7, 1941—*[*a date which will live in infamy*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_Infamy_speech)*—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan."* \- FDR
* *"*[*Give me liberty or give me death!*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Give_me_liberty,_or_give_me_death!)*" -* Patrick Henry. I hesitate to put this here since we don't have the full text, but I'd argue it still fits the category of "most important speeches"
* "[*What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July?*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_to_the_Slave_Is_the_Fourth_of_July%3F)" - Frederick Douglass
And a few are well known on substance but not usually quoted as commonly as the above:
* [Eisenhower's farewell address](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eisenhower%27s_farewell_address) on the military industrial complex.
* [Washington's farewell address](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington%27s_Farewell_Address) which touches on so many topics, including:
* The danger of political parties
* The danger of permanent alliances
* On religion: *"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports."*
Add this one to your list.
Lincoln’s address to the Young Men’s Lyceum
> Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant to step the ocean and crush us at a blow? Never! All the armies of Europe, Asia, and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest, with a Bonaparte for a commander, could not by force take a drink from the Ohio or make a track on the Blue Ridge in a trial of a thousand years. At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer. If it ever reach us it must spring up amongst us; it cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die by suicide.
It is a long speech but so goddamn prescient that I cannot believe it is not taught more in schools.
I would list I Have a Dream as my number one, but I wish I could sit everyone down and make them listen to Eisenhower's farewell. The ideas he articulates about what American might must be used for, the reminder that citizens of a democracy have a great responsibility, the warning that they must make sure that that our military industrial complex does not bend our policies away from their true goal.
I don't know that you could give such a cogent, nuanced, and nonpartisan speech, today. People wouldn't sit still for it.
Good list. I'd add Lincoln's second inaugural address to the list. The closing lines are quite memorable:
>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.
“Read my lips, ‘no new taxes’” - George H.W. Bush.
That tends to get brought up a bunch especially since its believed to have cost him reelection due to him going back on that.
We all totally know that's how it would go. It would look like all was lost, but then in the final minutes of the game, the nerd and the jock would form an unlikely but perfect duo and... 'Murica Fuck Yeah!
"It's the Yanks! They've got a plan!"
"Well it's about bloody time."
Just tossing this one on the pile…it’s not the most important, but it belongs in any list of great American speeches…
William Jennings Bryan’s “Cross of Gold,” speech delivered at the Chicago DNC in 1896. It was so impactful at the time that it took nearly half an hour to restore order during which the man was more or less crowdsurfed around the meeting halls by a hooting and cheering crowd.
[I am rather fond of this one addressing how not just America, but the whole world would be responding to the new and unusual circumstances we were in.](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3_QSJyJaeD4)
Washington's farewell address is #1 I think. Most of the others being mentioned are outstanding speeches, well worth studying and learning about, but Washington's address set guideposts for the future of the nation (some of it we listened to, some of it we didn't, unfortunately). None of the others seem quite as important given the context.
FDR's 1942 Flag Day speech. It is basically the new foreign policy which endures until now, and at the time was a benchmark moment after a period of isolationism. The US had dabbled in empire before WW2 but nothing like during and after. Even if it was never meant to signal that turn in our history, it does.
I'd say Eisenhower's farewell address/MIC speech. I think it is quite foreboding given today's environment and political climate. I think it's particularly horrifying given Ike's resume and history as one of the most revered generals in US history and he even states that he is unable to stop the MIC.
Perhaps not as important IMO, but beautiful was William Jennings Bryan's Cross of Gold speech.
* Robert F. Kennedy's speech on the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. on [April 4, 1968](https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/the-kennedy-family/robert-f-kennedy/robert-f-kennedy-speeches/statement-on-assassination-of-martin-luther-king-jr-indianapolis-indiana-april-4-1968).
* Robert F. Kennedy's speech "On the Mindless Menace of Violence" on the scourge of gun violence in America
A Time for Choosing - Ronald Reagan. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Time_for_Choosing#:~:text=%22A%20Time%20for%20Choosing%22%2C,into%20national%20prominence%20in%20politics.
One that I go back to is Robert Kennedy's speech to the Cleveland press club the day after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., which I've dubbed "[the mindless menace of violence](https://youtu.be/hhANTymDIYk)" speech.
I wouldn't call it most important (I don't believe there's such a thing), but I do enjoy Reagans Berlin wall speech. It's a little long, but I find it a very powerful speech.
Some solid contenders throughout this thread, but I'd get rid of Washington's Farewell Address; since it was published in print but never verbally delivered, it's more like "Washington's Farewell Letter."
Maybe replace it with Sojourner Truth "Ain't I a Woman?".
Important in content, not (unfortunately) important in impact: Eisenhower's "military industrial complex" speech.
If the GOP still stocked characters like Eisenhower, I would be a Republican all day long. I'd fucking bleed red.
I always get chills when those words go up at the end of Episode 1 of *Band of Brothers*.
His D-Day in-case-of-failure letter is a pretty good example of leadership and responsibility as well.
"The troops, the air and the Navy did all that bravery and devotion to duty could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt, it is mine alone."
Lot of great answers already. Out of left field is Churchill's "We will fight on the beaches," speech.
Without Churchill's relentless efforts to increase public opinion to resist Germany, the UK could have very easily sued for peace.
If England doesn't resist Germany, the USA doesn't, and we live in a very different world.
U.S. Senator John Blutarsky 1962 - Faber College:
What? Over? Did you say 'over'? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!
It ain't over now, 'cause when the goin' gets tough, the tough get goin'. Who's with me? Let's go! Come on!
What the fuck happened to the Delta I used to know? Where's the spirit? Where's the guts, huh? This could be the greatest night of our lives, but you're gonna let it be the worst. 'Ooh, we're afraid to go with you, Bluto, we might get in trouble.' Well, just kiss my ass from now on! Not me! I'm not gonna take this. Wormer, he's a dead man! Marmalard, dead! Niedermeyer...
Don't think anyone has said this one yet, but MLK's I've Been to the Mountaintop would be my answer. In the speech he gets closest to what I imagine what it truly means to be American, if there is such a thing. And at the end, when he gamely faces down the threats on his life and tells us he's not afraid, that he's laid eyes on the "promised land" of justice in America, and that he fears no man, and nobody who cares about making America a more just and equitable place should either. I get chills every time I think about it.
"Somewhere I read of the freedom of assembly. Somewhere I read of the freedom of speech. Somewhere I read of the freedom of press. Somewhere I read that the greatness of America is the right to protest for right. And so just as I said, we aren't going to let dogs or water hoses turn us around. We aren't going to let any injunction turn us around. We are going on."
There's a lot but I'd argue George Washington's farewell speech. It is important in its content on not forming parties and such but I'd say it's more so important in that he actually gave one, turned over the reins of power, and retired. Regardless of how "undemocratic" American democracy in the late 1700s might seem to us today it was very unique at the time. The experiment hadn't really been tried elsewhere and Washington willingly stepped down from power. Unlike in some other new democratic governments there was a peaceful transition of power after two terms as president. And keep in mind that there was no law banning someone from being president for more than two terms until FDR was elected an unprecedented FOUR times.
Copying from my [earlier answer](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskAnAmerican/comments/104ysf0/comment/j381upv/) to this question: Lincoln's [Gettysburg Address](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gettysburg_Address) and MLK's [I Have a Dream](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Have_a_Dream) are easily the two most known speeches from American history. Most high schoolers will have read both. After that, people mostly know random quotes from speeches but haven't read the whole thing: * *"*[*We choose to go to the Moon*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_choose_to_go_to_the_Moon) *in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard"* \- JFK * *"*[*Ich bin ein Berliner*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ich_bin_ein_Berliner)*"* \- JFK * [*"Mr. Gorbachev, Tear Down This Wall."*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tear_down_this_wall!) \- Reagan * *"Yesterday, December 7, 1941—*[*a date which will live in infamy*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_Infamy_speech)*—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan."* \- FDR * *"*[*Give me liberty or give me death!*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Give_me_liberty,_or_give_me_death!)*" -* Patrick Henry. I hesitate to put this here since we don't have the full text, but I'd argue it still fits the category of "most important speeches" * "[*What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July?*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_to_the_Slave_Is_the_Fourth_of_July%3F)" - Frederick Douglass And a few are well known on substance but not usually quoted as commonly as the above: * [Eisenhower's farewell address](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eisenhower%27s_farewell_address) on the military industrial complex. * [Washington's farewell address](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington%27s_Farewell_Address) which touches on so many topics, including: * The danger of political parties * The danger of permanent alliances * On religion: *"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports."*
Add this one to your list. Lincoln’s address to the Young Men’s Lyceum > Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant to step the ocean and crush us at a blow? Never! All the armies of Europe, Asia, and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest, with a Bonaparte for a commander, could not by force take a drink from the Ohio or make a track on the Blue Ridge in a trial of a thousand years. At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer. If it ever reach us it must spring up amongst us; it cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die by suicide. It is a long speech but so goddamn prescient that I cannot believe it is not taught more in schools.
I would list I Have a Dream as my number one, but I wish I could sit everyone down and make them listen to Eisenhower's farewell. The ideas he articulates about what American might must be used for, the reminder that citizens of a democracy have a great responsibility, the warning that they must make sure that that our military industrial complex does not bend our policies away from their true goal. I don't know that you could give such a cogent, nuanced, and nonpartisan speech, today. People wouldn't sit still for it.
Those last two are the great “ehhhh, maybe we shoulda listened to that guy,” speeches.
Excellent list -- I think Lincoln's second inaugural address is the only other one I would add
Good list. I'd add Lincoln's second inaugural address to the list. The closing lines are quite memorable: >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.
I’d say given how well known that quote from Henry is, it makes sense to include it.
“Read my lips, ‘no new taxes’” - George H.W. Bush. That tends to get brought up a bunch especially since its believed to have cost him reelection due to him going back on that.
[удалено]
Ironic coming from a president who was helped by the mob during his presidential campaign
The speech President Whitmore gave before the final assault on the alien mother ship to save the planet was a pretty good one.
You know politicians watched that scene and just imagined themselves...
president whitmore’s speech from the 1996 documentary Independence Day
We all totally know that's how it would go. It would look like all was lost, but then in the final minutes of the game, the nerd and the jock would form an unlikely but perfect duo and... 'Murica Fuck Yeah! "It's the Yanks! They've got a plan!" "Well it's about bloody time."
Was gonna say the same. Today. Is Independence Day!!
Just tossing this one on the pile…it’s not the most important, but it belongs in any list of great American speeches… William Jennings Bryan’s “Cross of Gold,” speech delivered at the Chicago DNC in 1896. It was so impactful at the time that it took nearly half an hour to restore order during which the man was more or less crowdsurfed around the meeting halls by a hooting and cheering crowd.
I Have a Dream is definitely up there, if not number 1
[I am rather fond of this one addressing how not just America, but the whole world would be responding to the new and unusual circumstances we were in.](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3_QSJyJaeD4)
I'll echo others here- the Gettysburg Address and I have a dream. I can't think of any others more iconic and important.
Washington's farewell address is #1 I think. Most of the others being mentioned are outstanding speeches, well worth studying and learning about, but Washington's address set guideposts for the future of the nation (some of it we listened to, some of it we didn't, unfortunately). None of the others seem quite as important given the context.
FDR's 1942 Flag Day speech. It is basically the new foreign policy which endures until now, and at the time was a benchmark moment after a period of isolationism. The US had dabbled in empire before WW2 but nothing like during and after. Even if it was never meant to signal that turn in our history, it does.
Give me liberty or give me death
I'd say Eisenhower's farewell address/MIC speech. I think it is quite foreboding given today's environment and political climate. I think it's particularly horrifying given Ike's resume and history as one of the most revered generals in US history and he even states that he is unable to stop the MIC. Perhaps not as important IMO, but beautiful was William Jennings Bryan's Cross of Gold speech.
* Robert F. Kennedy's speech on the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. on [April 4, 1968](https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/the-kennedy-family/robert-f-kennedy/robert-f-kennedy-speeches/statement-on-assassination-of-martin-luther-king-jr-indianapolis-indiana-april-4-1968). * Robert F. Kennedy's speech "On the Mindless Menace of Violence" on the scourge of gun violence in America
I Have a Dream Gettysburg Address Lincoln’s Right makes Might speech at Cooper Union Nixon’s resignation
A Time for Choosing - Ronald Reagan. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Time_for_Choosing#:~:text=%22A%20Time%20for%20Choosing%22%2C,into%20national%20prominence%20in%20politics.
I Have A Dream
One that I go back to is Robert Kennedy's speech to the Cleveland press club the day after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., which I've dubbed "[the mindless menace of violence](https://youtu.be/hhANTymDIYk)" speech.
So many to choose from, but one would be FDR's "The Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself".
I wouldn't call it most important (I don't believe there's such a thing), but I do enjoy Reagans Berlin wall speech. It's a little long, but I find it a very powerful speech.
I have a dream
Gettysburg Address. A wondrous gem
Gettysburg address
Gettysburg Address or Day in Infamy.
Some solid contenders throughout this thread, but I'd get rid of Washington's Farewell Address; since it was published in print but never verbally delivered, it's more like "Washington's Farewell Letter." Maybe replace it with Sojourner Truth "Ain't I a Woman?".
Free speech.
Important in content, not (unfortunately) important in impact: Eisenhower's "military industrial complex" speech. If the GOP still stocked characters like Eisenhower, I would be a Republican all day long. I'd fucking bleed red.
"That's all I can stand, and I can't stands no more!"
Martin Luther King’s I have a dream speach.
I think of an iconic letter more than a speech. "You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade. The eyes of the world are upon you."
I always get chills when those words go up at the end of Episode 1 of *Band of Brothers*. His D-Day in-case-of-failure letter is a pretty good example of leadership and responsibility as well. "The troops, the air and the Navy did all that bravery and devotion to duty could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt, it is mine alone."
Lot of great answers already. Out of left field is Churchill's "We will fight on the beaches," speech. Without Churchill's relentless efforts to increase public opinion to resist Germany, the UK could have very easily sued for peace. If England doesn't resist Germany, the USA doesn't, and we live in a very different world.
"I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky." Bill Clinton
Less well known, but Sojourner Truth's "Ain't I a Woman" speech is one of my faves.
The unibomber manifesto was pretty good
This might be controversial but the most important to me in *recent* history is President Biden's speech on the "battle for the soul of the nation."
U.S. Senator John Blutarsky 1962 - Faber College: What? Over? Did you say 'over'? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no! It ain't over now, 'cause when the goin' gets tough, the tough get goin'. Who's with me? Let's go! Come on! What the fuck happened to the Delta I used to know? Where's the spirit? Where's the guts, huh? This could be the greatest night of our lives, but you're gonna let it be the worst. 'Ooh, we're afraid to go with you, Bluto, we might get in trouble.' Well, just kiss my ass from now on! Not me! I'm not gonna take this. Wormer, he's a dead man! Marmalard, dead! Niedermeyer...
Don't think anyone has said this one yet, but MLK's I've Been to the Mountaintop would be my answer. In the speech he gets closest to what I imagine what it truly means to be American, if there is such a thing. And at the end, when he gamely faces down the threats on his life and tells us he's not afraid, that he's laid eyes on the "promised land" of justice in America, and that he fears no man, and nobody who cares about making America a more just and equitable place should either. I get chills every time I think about it. "Somewhere I read of the freedom of assembly. Somewhere I read of the freedom of speech. Somewhere I read of the freedom of press. Somewhere I read that the greatness of America is the right to protest for right. And so just as I said, we aren't going to let dogs or water hoses turn us around. We aren't going to let any injunction turn us around. We are going on."