Campaign Speeches on VOD

Trevor Parry-Giles — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 17:57:37 +0000

With the campaign between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney concluded, the campaign speechmaking ends as well. Campaign speechmaking as a separate or unique type of rhetoric is analyzed by some VOD contributors. Check out these units on specific campaign oratory:

Abraham Lincoln Sesquicentennial

lzbthgardner — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 13:21:36 +0000

Just having marked the sesquicentennial of Abraham Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address on March 4th and having recently celebrated the bicentennial of his birth, much consideration has been given to the life and legacy of Abraham Lincoln. For those interested in learning more or in integrating some Lincoln materials into your rhetoric and public address courses, check out VOD’s unit on Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and its partner unit on Edward Everett’s Gettysburg Address.

We’d also encourage interested scholars to develop a unit on either of Lincoln’s inaugural addresses.

JFK 50th Anniversary

Trevor Parry-Giles — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 12:46:09 +0000

Today marks the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s inauguration. It also marks the anniversary of one of the most remarkable speeches in American history.

For those celebrating this anniversary or teaching this speech, VOD‘s teaching unit on JFK’s Inaugural Address is worth a visit. There you will find the speech itself, teaching and learning resources, suggested classroom activities and assignments, and an interpretive essay by Sara Ann Mehltretter that emphasizes the foreign policy dimensions of the Inaugural Address.

Coming Soon to VOD

Trevor Parry-Giles — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 21:16:12 +0000

New units analyzing important public oratory will soon come to Voices of Democracy, including:

Eugene Debs, “Canton, Ohio Speech” (1918)—by James Darsey
Lyndon B. Johnson, “Renunciation Speech” (1968)—by David Zarefsky
Abraham Lincoln, “House Divided Speech” (1858)—by David Zarefsky
Harvey Milk, “The Hope Speech” (1978)—by Charles E. Morris III & Jason Edward Black