Web Site Spotlight:Presidential Rhetoric

Presidential Rhetoric at the American Presidency Project

The American Presidency project at the University of California - Santa Barbara has brought together an impressive collection of presidential rhetoric -- from George Washington to George Bush -- as part of this site focused on the study of the presidency.

The document archive includes:

• * Every presidential inaugural address from 1789 to 2005


• * Annual State of the Union messages to Congress from 1790 to 2006. (Until Woodrow Wilson -- and in some cases since -- these were written documents, rather than oral addresses delivered on Capitol Hill.)


• * Weekly Saturday radio addresses of Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush, plus a selection of Franklin Roosevelt's "Fireside Chats."


• * Transcripts of Presidential news conferences as far back as Herbert Hoover


• * Presidential nomination acceptance speeches back to 1932 for the Democrats and 1956 for the Republicans


• * Transcripts of Presidential debates back to 1960

In addition to transcripts, the site includes a considerable amount of audio and some video. (See the Audio/Video Archive for a full list of what is available. The earliest recordings on the site are from Herbert Hoover.)