20 Memorable Presidential Addresses

In a new book published on October 16, 2012 by Lyons Press, author C. Edwin Vilada has assembled 20 of the most memorable Presidential speeches.

Book title: The book is titled: “The President’s Speech: The Stories Behind the Most Memorable Presidential Addresses.”

In this glossy 256 page book, he provides background of the speech, the text of the speech and photos showing actual edits, deletions, additions, and handwritten notes.

What speeches are included? Here are the speeches included in the book:

George Washington – Farewell Address to the American People (1796)
Thomas Jefferson – First Inaugural Address (1801)
James Monroe – Seventh Annual Message to Congress (1823)
Abraham Lincoln – First Inaugural Address (1861)
Abraham Lincoln – Second Inaugural Address (1865)
Theodore Roosevelt – Address at the Laying of the Corner Stone of the Office Building of the House of Representatives (1906)
Woodrow Wilson – Presidential Address to Joint Session of Congress (1918)
Franklin Roosevelt – First Inaugural Address (1933)
Franklin Roosevelt – State of the Union Address (1941)
Franklin Roosevelt – Presidential Address to Joint Session of Congress (Day of Infamy) (1941)
Harry S. Truman – Presidential Address to Joint Session of Congress (1947)
Dwight Eisenhower – Farewell Address to the American People (1961)
John Kennedy – Inaugural Address (1961)
John Kennedy – Address at Rice University (1962)
Lyndon Johnson – Presidential Address to Joint Session of Congress (1965)
Richard Nixon – Address to the Nation on the War in Vietnam (1969)
Ronald Reagan – Address on the 40th Anniversary of D-Day (1984)
Ronald Reagan – Address to the Nation on the Explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger (1986)
Ronald Reagan – Address on East-West Relations (1987)
George H.W. Bush – Inaugural Address (1989)

What speeches are missing? Surprising, there are a number of presidential speeches that I would expect would have been included, such as the following:

Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address
Franklin Roosevelt’s Fireside Chats
Richard Nixon’s Resignation speech to the nation

What speeches do you think are missing? Are there presidential speeches that you would classify as memorable that are not included in this collection? Either comment on this blog or contact me.