The first of its kind in the field of rhetoric, this book examines important speech encounters in the political life of twentieth-century America. The essays focus on significant speakers who have delivered political accusations against their opponents and on the orators who, in turn, have delivered apologies in order to protect their political standing. The essays treat these speech encounters as oratorical confrontations. Both accusatory and defending speeches are used to illuminate one another and to provide unique insight into the outcome of the encounters themselves. Each essay concludes with a bibliography of research materials, sources, and locations of speech texts.