Vital Speeches of the Day is a monthly magazine

Magazine

Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...

 that presents speeches and addresses in full.

Overview

Vital Speeches was established in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 in 1934 by Thomas Daly — whose grandson Thomas Daly III moved publication to South Carolina

South Carolina

South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...

 in 1986 — and is published by McMurry, Inc. The magazine came to newsstands as of the February, 1935, issue, which included speeches by then-President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Nobel Peace Prize

Nobel Peace Prize

The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...

 winner Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, David Lawrence

David Lawrence

David Lawrence may refer to:*David Lawrence, pseudonym of English poet & TV scriptwriter David Harsent *David Lawrence , Canadian actor *David Lawrence , English cricketer...

, legal expert Ferdinand Pecora

Ferdinand Pecora

Ferdinand Pecora was an American lawyer and judge who became famous in the 1930s as Chief Counsel to the United States Senate Committee on Banking and Currency during its investigation of Wall Street banking and stock brokerage practices.-Early career:Ferdinand Pecora was born in Nicosia, Sicily,...

, and economist

Economics

Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...

 and eugenicist

Eugenics

Eugenics is the "applied science or the bio-social movement which advocates the use of practices aimed at improving the genetic composition of a population", usually referring to human populations. The origins of the concept of eugenics began with certain interpretations of Mendelian inheritance,...

 Irving Fisher

Irving Fisher

Irving Fisher was an American economist, inventor, and health campaigner, and one of the earliest American neoclassical economists, though his later work on debt deflation often regarded as belonging instead to the Post-Keynesian school.Fisher made important contributions to utility theory and...

. As of 1995 the magazine had published speeches by every president since Roosevelt, although the publication avoided campaign speech

Political campaign

A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making process within a specific group. In democracies, political campaigns often refer to electoral campaigns, wherein representatives are chosen or referendums are decided...

es; Editor, Thomas Daly IV said of such speeches, "A lot of that is hot air."

According to their policy statement:

The publisher of Vital Speeches believes that the important addresses of the recognized leaders of public opinion constitute the best expression of contemporary thought in America, and that it is extremely important for the welfare of the nation that these speeches be permanently recorded and disseminated. The publisher has no axe to grind. Vital Speeches will be found authentic and constructive.

The periodical is included in various guides to reference works. These guides typically describe Vital Speeches in politically neutral terms, as when Guide to Reference Materials offered this summary: "Each semimonthly issue contains the full text of some 12 to 15 addresses on public issues delivered by important figures. The editors attempt to select speeches pertaining to all sides of controversial issues." However, descriptions of specialty collections of speeches often compare the collection favorably to the content of Vital Speeches.

Review

A review of Jamye Coleman Williams and McDonald Williams' 1970 work The Negro Speaks: The Rhetoric of Contemporary Black Leaders observed, "Of the thousands of speeches published in Vital Speeches of the Day published before 1970, less than one-tenth of 1 percent were by African Americans." Similarly, a 1994 review of the 3000 speeches included in Beverly Manning's Index to American Women Speakers, 1828-1978 noted, "Virtually none of these were listed either in Speech Index or Vital Speeches which, as indexing tools, have not been prone to include women's contributions."