It was 40 years ago that a short Baptist minister stepped before a microphone in Washington D.C. to tell the crowd about his dream.

Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" speech has been called one of the great speeches of the 20th century. There haven't been a lot of speeches that have risen to that level, however there are a few.

Barbara Jordan, Ronald "The Great Communicator" Reagan, John F. Kennedy are three who come to mind. Unfortunately, there haven't been that many presidents who have been as skilled using "the bully pulpit" as a Franklin D. Rooselvelt, JFK, or Reagan. Certainly the current occupant, George W. Bush, is nobody's idea of a great speaker. But Clinton, Bush I, Ford, Johnson and Carter didn't raise the standard of oratory either.

I disagreed with Ronald Reagan's policies as president, but I have to say he was the last guy in the White Office who could inspire and rally people through the power of his speech. You can't take that away from him.

Who else has given speeches or may in time rise to the level of a King or Reagan in mastering the power of oratory?

Charleton Heston's speech at Harvard Law School in 1999 titled
"Winning the Cultural War"
and
Churchill's speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri.
"The Sinews of Peace"

I am undecided as to who may yet rise the this level of oratory.

Adolf Hitler and Gamel Abdul Nasser.