oratory

A critical study of the sermons and speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr., exploring his formation in the African-Baptist church where he learned to preach and discussing his use of the Bible as authority for his civil rights activities.

Presents a rhetorical analysis of the Truman Doctrine speech, which was addressed to Congress on March 12, 1947, and analyzes the influences on the speech's content and delivery, the impact it had on foreign policy, and other related topics.

Presents excerpts and transcripts from the speeches of American labor leader Cesar Chavez, organizer of the first farm workers union in the United States.

Examines the role that rhetoric played in the downfall of George H. W. Bush's presidency, discussing how Bush abonded the rhetorical strategies that won him the election once he was in office and failed to recognize the important role rhetoric plays in policy formation and implementation.

Examination of the Gettysburg Address and Lincoln in their historical moment and cultural frame breathing new life into the words and revealing much about the President.

Contains twelve speeches delivered by Vernon Jordan over the course of his career as president and chief executive officer of the National Urban League, Inc., director of the Voter Education Project of the Southern Regional Council, an attorney in private practice, and in many other roles, from 1971 to 2008.

JFK's final year in office was spent in a struggle for a sustainable peace with the Soviet Union. President Kennedy and his Soviet counterpart, Nikita Khrushchev, came close to Nuclear War during the Cuban Missile Crisis. They both emerged with the determination to forge a less threatening direction for the world. Together they would chart a path for future peacemakers to follow. The first of those measures was reached in the summer of 1963--the partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

Angela Farris Watkins, the niece of Martin Luther King Jr., recounts her uncle's work to promote racial equality and introduces key events during the civil rights era.

Examines the historical context of Abraham Lincoln's October 16, 1854 antislavery speech in Peoria, Illinois, that became the turning point in his political career that pointed the way toward the presidency.

Profiles the life and career of patriot Patrick Henry from his childhood in Hanover County, his early legal career and supporter of colonial rights, and involvement in the war for independence including an examination of his famous "Give me Liberty" speech to the second Virginia Convention in 1775.