In our own words: extraordinary speeches of the American century

Foreword/ Doris Kearns Goodwin

1900-1909. Don P. Halsey extols the virtues of great oratory

Senator Albert J. Beveridge defends America's right to subjugate "Savage" peoples and foreign governments

Senator George F. Hoar denounces American "Imperialism"

Jane Addams offers an impassioned tribute to George Washington on the anniversary of his birthday

Tammany Hall politician George Washington Plunkitt justifies "Honest Graft"

President Theodore Roosevelt condemns the "Muckrakers" who smear and slander honest men

The Reverend Dr. Donald Sage Mackay addresses the question "Does God Care?" after an earthquake destroys San Francisco

W. E. B. Du Bois issues a call to arms to his fellow African Americans in the "Battle for Humanity"

Booker T. Washington warns against confrontational actions that may do more harm than good

Mark Twain speaks to Misses Tewksbury's School for Girls on smoking, drinking, and lying

Ida B. Wells-Barnett Calls Attention to the Epidemic of Lynchings and "Mob Murder" in America

Chief Plenty Coup Confers with His Tribal Council on Achieving Peace Between the Great Tribes of the United States

The Reverend Reverdy Ransom on "White Supremacy" and an Upcoming Boxing Match Between Jack Johnson and Jim Jeffries

1910-1919. Anarchist Emma Goldman Derides Patriotism as a "Menace to Liberty" ǂt Union Activist Rose Schneiderman on the Deaths of 146 Workers in the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

Mrs. D.H. Bishop Offers a Harrowing Eyewitness Account of the Titanic's Last Hours.

Henry Ford describes the bonus he has provided his workers and its intended effects on their private lives

President Woodrow Wilson requests a declaration of war against Germany Carrie Chapman Catt urges the U.S. Congress to make one "Last Hard Fight" for suffrage

President Woodrow Wilson enumerates the "Fourteen Points" that will ensure world peace and "Justice to all people and nationalities"

Amabassador James W. Gerard encourages German Americans to be loyal to the United States or else

Socialist leader Eugene V. Debs defends himself in court against charges of "disloyalty and "sedition"

The Reverand Dr. Anna Howard Shaw beseeches Americans to accept President Wilson's proposal for a "League of Nations"