Includes bibliographical references (p. 221-232) and index.

The First and Greatest : Abraham Lincoln -- The Gettysburg Address, November 9, 1863 ; Second Inaugural, March 4, 1865 -- The Rough Riding Rhetorician : Theodore Roosevelt -- The Strenuous Life, April 1899 ; The Man with the Muck-rake, April 5, 1906 -- American Conservatism Finds its Spokesman in the Speech that Wasn't : William F. Buckley, Jr. -- Yale Alumni Day Speech, February 1950 -- Strategic Speechifying : Dwight Eisenhower -- Atoms for Peace, December 8, 1953 ; Little Rock, September 24, 1957 -- The Speech That Made the Civil Rights Act of 1964 Possible : Everett Dirksen -- The Time Has Come, June 10, 1964 -- You Know He's Right : Barry Goldwater -- Acceptance Speech, July 16, 1964 -- The Beginning of The End : Richard Nixon -- Checkers, September 23, 1952 -- Our Long National Nightmare is Over : Gerald Ford -- Oath of the U.S. Presidency, August 9, 1974 -- A Shining Speaker on a Hill : Ronald Reagan -- The Evil Empire, March 8, 1983 ; Challenger, January 28, 1986 ; Tear Down this Wall, June 12, 1987 -- The Revolutionary Speaker : Newt Gingrich -- The Contract with America, January 4, 1995 -- His Mission and His Moment : George W. Bush -- Our Mission and Our Moment, September 20, 2001 -- The Maverick & His Message : John McCain -- An Disingenuous Filmmaker, August 30, 2004.

"Complete with memorable contributions from John McCain, Newt Gingrich, President George W. Bush, and others, The Right Words is a veritable gold mine of Republican and conservative political theory, strategy, and action delivered by the party's most outstanding leaders. Hall's careful analysis of the technical elements that make each of these masterful presentations so effective will be particularly useful to anyone interested in public speaking, communications, or advocating for a political cause."--BOOK JACKET.