English 1C -- Finding Political Speeches

PBS’s Great American Speeches
Click on “Speech Archive” to access speeches arranged by decade.
Douglass: Archives of American Public Address
Click on the links under “On-site speeches and related documents:”
U of Iowa Department of Communication’s Speeches and Speechmakers
Provides many links to collections of speeches, including the Castro Speech Database and Ronald Reagan’s Speeches.
Rutger’s Index to USA Presidents
Click on the name of a president to access speeches and other resources.
The White House’s Latest News
Includes links to many speeches by George W. Bush and his advisors.

Using Proquest you can access the full text of many speeches, such as those included in Vital Speeches of the Day from 1975 on. To find a speech, click on the link to the Proquest database.

Click on the More Search Options link.
Type in some words that you would find in the speech, for example the subject of the speech or the speaker.
Then select “Speech” for the Article Type field.
Be sure to check the box requiring full text availability.
If you wish, you can also limit the speeches to a particular date range.

For older speeches, here are some books and series of books in the Gavilan Library that you might try:

World’s Great Speeches
REF PN6121 C66

Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents of the United States
1789-1969 and 1789-1973
REF PS 663 P73 U5

The World’s Orators
PN 6121 L4 vol 1-5

The World’s Best Orations
Oversize PN 6121 B85

Web Sites: