THE GREATEST PRESIDENTIAL SPEECHES OF OUR TIME

For this collection, "our time" is roughly the radio and television age, covering all the presidents from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Barack Obama, whose victory speech is included. While listeners may remember some of the words, what the production focuses on are the issues and events of that age: the Depression, wars, Communism, the Civil Rights Act, Watergate, 9/11, and the energy crisis. Sound quality is good on all but FDR's inaugural speech from 1933. Listeners will likely remember the speeches, or at least the issues, from their own lifetimes, and the speeches are all interesting. However, with no background or context, the production’s main value may be as a keepsake or nostalgia piece, rather than history. J.A.S. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine [Published: JANUARY 2009]