Online Highlight: Speeches of the American Presidents

The full texts of 200 major speeches by U.S. presidents, from George Washington through the first inauguration of George W. Bush, are available online for BC researchers through the database Biography Reference Bank Select.

Each speech is prefaced by a description of the date, place and circumstances of its composition and delivery. In addition, the speaking style of each president is described and his use of public address as an instrument of power is evaluated.

Here, for example, is an excerpt from the description of John Adams’ speaking style:

During his years with the Continental Congress, Adams was known, in the words of a col¬league, as a “most sensible and forceful speaker.” Jefferson said of him that he “was not graceful nor eloquent, nor remarkably fluent, but he came out occasionally with a power of thought and expression that moved us from our seats.” Short and stout, often moody and irascible, he did not have the physical presence of a great orator; but so attractive was the display of his intellectual powers that when he spoke, according to another colleague, his listeners “fancied an angel was let down from heaven to illumine the Congress.” By the time of Adams’s election to the presi¬dency, when he was 61, he was afflicted with palsy and had lost most of his teeth, so that he rarely spoke in public.

To acccess a president’s entry, look up the president by name in the database, then click on the hotlinked name. There will be a link along the left side of the screen to the Speeches of the American Presidents pages for that president.