A person who has to make a persuasive speech has a great opportunity to demonstrate his or her eloquence, erudition, and analytical skills. However, in many cases, students don’t know how to use rhetoric devices in order to convince their listeners. This is why you should take a look at some famous persuasive speeches made by political leaders, social activists, writers, and so forth: you will learn a lot from them.
 

Famous Persuasive Speeches: The World of Politics

 
Political leaders always try to convince the audience of something. Persuasive speeches of famous politicians can show you how to interact with the audience. To better appreciate them, you should both read and listen to them if audio records are available. Here are some great examples:

1. Their Finest Hour, by Winston Churchill;
2. Lincoln’s First Inaugural;
3. Quit India, by Mahatma Gandhi;
4. Four Freedoms Speech, by Franklin Roosevelt;
5. Margaret Thatcher’s Sermon on the Mound;
6. Conciliation with America, by Edmund Burke;
7. A More Perfect Union, by Barack Obama;
8. Winston Churchill’s Iron Curtain Speech;
9. No Easy Walk to Freedom, by Nelson Mandela;
10. Inauguration address, by John Kennedy;
11. A House Divided, by Abraham Lincoln;
12. The Light on the Hill, by Ben Chifley;
13. Donald Regan’s speech, Tear Down That Wall;
14. Holocaust Speech, by Pope John Paul II;
15. Stanley Baldwin’s Disarmament Speech.

Famous Persuasive Speeches: Society and Its Conflicts

 
Excellent persuasive speeches were made by writers, political activists, abolitionists, and other people who tried to attract people’s attention to social problems. Please, take a look at some excellent speeches which are surely worth your attention:

• I Have a Dream – a speech by Martin Luther King;
• Mother Theresa’s Nobel Lecture;
• Votes for Women – a speech by Mark Twain;
• Robert Kennedy’s speech called On the Mindless Menace of Violence;
• Strike against War, by Helen Keller;
• What is Patriotism, by Emma Goldman;
• Richard Nixon’s Resignation Speech;
• Gloria Steinem’s Address to the Women of America
• The Apology of Socrates;
• Responding to Landmines – a speech by Princess Diana.

Famous Persuasive Speeches: How to Use Them

 
Overall, a student can learn a great deal from a famous persuasive speech. While reading or listening to them, you should pay attention to such things as:

1. The use of rhetoric devices by the speakers;
2. Types of arguments that the speakers advance;
3. The use of intonation as a method of emphasizing key ideas of the text;

So, if you want to learn from excellent examples, you should certainly consider the speeches mentioned in this article. They can be of great help to you.

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