Live from the Campaign Trail: The Greatest Presidential Campaign Speeches of the Twentieth Century and How They Shaped Modern America

In this collection of twenty-seven of the most influential presidential campaign speeches of the twentieth century, Michael A. Cohen brings to life the words that have shaped American politics over the last century. From the legendary, like William Jennings Bryan’s “Cross of Gold” and Ronald Reagan’s call for a “national crusade to make America great again”; to the infamous, including Richard Nixon’s maudlin “Checkers” speech and Bill Clinton’s rhetorical broadside against the rapper Sister Souljah; to the poignant, such as FDR’s evocation of America’s “rendezvous with destiny,” Hubert Humphrey’s call for America to walk “into the bright sunshine of human rights,” and Kennedy’s demand for an end to “religious intolerance,” all the great campaign speeches are here. With supporting essays that dramatically set the scene and provide the reader with a historical context to better understand the impact of these seminal addresses, Live from the Campaign Trail will do what no book has ever done before—use the great oratory of the campaign trail to help us examine anew how we got where we are today in American politics and help us better understand the grand themes that underscore the political debates of the twenty-first century.