Top Ten Most Persuasive Speakers of All Time
Sometimes, you can revolutionize the world with one speech. Think of Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech. Some people are just so persuasive, so believable, and so powerful with their word-selection and speaking that they can get millions of people hooked with one word. Hitler succeeded because of how persuasive his rants were. With these people, they make you believe they're on your side. You want to believe them. So here are the top ten most powerful speakers of all time.It's embarrassing to admit, but once when I was learning about Nazi Germany in history class, they showed a scene where he gave a speech, and when he was finished, I actually started clapping for a moment without realizing it. So yes, I can understand why he is number one.
As much as I hate to put him so high on the list, it's true that he is one of the most persuasive speakers of all time. He was able to stir up prejudices and hatred in anyone who listened to his rants, and that was pretty much the only reason he got into such a position of power.
This man had some of the greatest speeches ever. Such an inspiration.
The most charismatic president we've had, with the possible exception of Abe Lincoln.
He had a dream that we would overcome the ideas of racial identity and address each other as individuals. He wanted us to view our fellow man not on the basis of race, gender, sexuality, or anything else but the content of their character.
It was his mighty skills of persuasion that led the civil rights movement to success through nonviolence. If only he were alive today, he, along with Kennedy and Lincoln, could really stand to teach these SJWs a lesson.
His "I Had a Dream" speech brought so many people to his cause through a very strong and persuasive message.
After someone else gave a speech that lasted two hours, he got up and gave a two-minute-long address and sent the audience into roaring applause with his famous Gettysburg Address.
It's true that this man is a very good public speaker. Simply put, he knows how to connect with the American people by tapping into their emotions. Obama made the American people relate to him on a personal level. By doing this, he enabled them not only to listen to what he had to say but also to convince themselves that what he was saying was sensible and agreeable.
This famous and renowned Ancient Greek speaker's speeches were so unique and so different that he basically redefined the public speech, stirring the spirits of his fellow Athenians.
I know how everybody says Hitler was the persuader in the Nazi Party, but as Minister of Propaganda, Goebbels was the speaker and writer of many of its important speeches and movies. His media is even considered dangerous to watch now because it is so charismatic and toxic/persuasive.
This famous speaker from the 300s (BC) spent decades researching previous successful speeches and tactics of powerful speakers, including the renowned Pericles. His most famous speech was a warning against Philip of Macedonia, who was going to conquer Greece (the father of Alexander the Great). These speeches, called the Philippics, were so bitter and scathing yet persuasive that today a severe speech denouncing someone is called a Philippic.
"The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help." - Ronald Reagan
"We can't help everyone, but everyone can help someone." - Ronald Reagan
Most well-spoken, grounded, and persuasive speaker ever.
Jesus was a master at persuasion. He convinced people to follow him and spread his teachings. He would also talk in parables that made difficult topics easy to understand.
Although he likely didn't speak in front of crowds of thousands, Yeshua was a powerful orator who bestowed unto his disciples messages that still affect us to this day.
I voted for Jesus because he is my savior and his word is widely believed.
Fireside chats, incredible speeches, and much more.
In 1893, he gave a persuasive speech at the World's Parliament of Religions in Chicago.
He was no exciting shouter like Hitler but a brilliant rhetorician with a fatherly way of speaking. His radio address of May 1, 1945, can be found in the Internet Archive (search terms: Dönitz 1945-05-01).
Lenin should be in the top ten. His speech convinced people to join him in the Russian Revolution, which led to the removal of the czar and the rise of communism. He paved the way for people like Hitler, Stalin, and Mao.
Jim Jones had radiating charisma and targeted people from a lower socioeconomic background, hoping their organization would bring prosperity and justice to the less fortunate under the name of religion. At first, they had good intentions in mind but later leaned into socialism. Unfortunately, drug abuse consumed his personality for the worse, leading him to take the wrong path.
When people are in a disadvantaged background, they are more likely to turn to religion or other faiths in desperation for a better living. Jim Jones was a perfect example of someone who took full advantage of that, leading to the massacre of Jonestown by using fear to control his followers. You have to have a special kind of narcissism and charisma to attract even high-profile political figures and to convince people to live in your own delusions.