Speech at the National Press Club, (11 May 1973) Washington D.C.

“Speech at the National Press Club,” delivered May 11, 1973, Chávez, César. (1927-1993)

The copy text is a written transcription of the original reel-to-reel audiotape located in the George Meany Memorial AFL-CIO Archive, Meany Box 99, Identifier: Labor-081251, McKeldin Library, Box 652, Reel 1, University of Maryland, College Park.

There is no known video recording or no other known copytext.

The text of this edition has been thoroughly checked and proofread. The speech was recovered by Benjamin Blake, Labor Archivist and Director, George Meany Memorial AFL-CIO Archive and transcribed by Fielding Montgomery. The copy text was proofed by Fielding Montgomery, Richard Jensen, and Gabrielle McCoy.

This transcription remains faithful to Chávez’s words on the audio reel. As such, everything other than verbal fillers like “um” or “uh” was transcribed. The times when Chávez repeated a word or digressed mid-thought are denoted by a double hyphen (–). Punctuation and paragraphing have been chosen based on the editor’s discretion, attempting to keep the speaker’s style and speech organization in mind. Paragraph numbers were added in brackets.