League of Women Voters to present historic speeches

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, June 10, 2026

PORT TOWNSEND — The League of Women Voters of Jefferson County will present “We The People Have Spoken: Inspiring Oratory from the First 250 Years of the Republic” at noon Sunday.

The oral presentations will be at the Tyler Street Plaza in Port Townsend.

The program, modeled after the American Lyceum movement of the 19th century, will feature condensed versions of 15 speeches from U.S. history presented by local individuals.

The speeches are:

• George Washington’s 1796 Farewell Address, read by Genevieve Barlow.

• Seneca Chief Red Jacket’s 1806 Address to White Missionaries and Iroquois Six Nations, read by Jerry Sukert.

• Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 Gettysburg Address, read by Michelle Hensel.

• Nez Perce Chief Joseph’s 1877 Surrender Speech, read by Jerry Sukert.

• Carrie Chapman Catt’s 1936 Message to Sweet Briar College: The Woman’s Century, 1820-1920, read by Ki Gottberg.

• Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s 1944 State of the Union Message to Congress: The Economic Bill of Rights, read by Charley Pope.

• Dwight D. Einsenhower’s 1953 “The Chance for Peace” delivered before the American Society of Newspaper Editors, read by Erin Lamb.

• John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s 1961 Inaugural Address, read by Ben Thomas.

• Fannie Lou Hamer’s 1964 testimony before the Credentials Committee at the Democratic National Convention, read by Alise Moss-Vetica.

• Raul Yzaguirre’s 1994 address to the graduating class of Mercy College in White Plains, N.Y., read by Esiquio Uballe.

• Elie Wiesel’a 1999 White House speech, The Perils of Indifference, read by Bobbie Butler.

• John McCain’s 2000 remarks, The Cause of Citizenship, read by David Goldsmith.

• Peter MacDonald’s 2017 White House address on the Navajo Code Talkers, read by Jerry Sukert.

• Amanda Gorman’s 2021 The Hill We Climb, from the inauguration of Joe Biden, read by Rufina Garay.

“We are thrilled to bring together community voices to illustrate through speech the roots and foundation of our democracy, as well as the highs and lows on the rocky road we have traveled since the historical expressions set forth in the preamble of the U.S. Constitution,” said Jackie Aase, the league’s co-chair.

The program will be presented outdoors, so attendees are encouraged to bring a chair and to dress for the weather.

For more information, visit www.lwvwa.org/jefferson.