Famous speeches, inaugurations, addresses to the nation, debates, trials and the Moon landing, free and in the public domain: films made by the US government, and Universal Newsreel, which Universal gave to the American people in 1976. Where an official transcript exists, each page links it.
Inaugurations
Roosevelt's fourth inaugural (home movie, silent)
Inauguration of President Harry S. Truman
Eisenhower inauguration (reel 1 of 11)
Presidential inauguration of John F. Kennedy
Kennedy sworn in: "Ask not what your country can do for you"
Inauguration of President Lyndon B. Johnson
Johnson inauguration highlights
Addresses to the nation
Speeches
"I hate war": the Chautauqua address
"U.S. faces war": the quarantine speech
Roosevelt urges Congress to revise neutrality
"The arsenal of democracy"
Roosevelt warns the Axis
Eleanor Roosevelt on human rights
Kennedy outlines the Peace Corps
"We choose to go to the Moon": Kennedy at Rice
Debates
Trials & tribunals
The Moon
Documentaries
Where to watch the rest
These are famous, but we could not document a public-domain copy, so we point you to them instead of playing them.
- The Kennedy–Nixon debates (1960) — network-produced broadcasts (copyright CBS/NBC/ABC). Watch it at JFK Presidential Library and C-SPAN ↗
- Eisenhower's farewell address (the military-industrial complex) (1961) — no copy with a documented federal source on the Internet Archive yet. Watch it at Eisenhower Presidential Library; text at the National Archives ↗
- Roosevelt's Pearl Harbor address ("a date which will live in infamy") (1941) — uploads found have no documented public-domain source. Watch it at FDR Presidential Library; National Archives ↗
- Nixon's resignation address (1974) — network broadcast footage. Watch it at Nixon Presidential Library ↗
- Reagan at the Brandenburg Gate ("Tear down this wall") (1987) — no White House Communications Agency copy found on the Internet Archive. Watch it at Reagan Presidential Library ↗
- The Army–McCarthy hearings (1954) — network kinescopes; no documented public-domain copy found. Watch it at Library of Congress / C-SPAN ↗
Not here on purpose: Martin Luther King Jr., "I Have a Dream" (copyrighted by the King estate (Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr. v. CBS)).