Are speeches by Heads of States academic sources? I'm uncertain whether speeches by Heads of State or other governmental figures are academic sources? Can someone please clarify?
A speech by a head of state is a primary source and can be used and cited as such:


  Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address begins "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation" [Lincoln, 1863]


It is not a peer reviewed scientific document, however, and should not be used in that way:


  The United States was founded in 1776 [Lincoln, 1863].


That's a very easy way to get things wrong, because speeches by heads of state are generally used for political effect, not for delivering factual information.  For example, if you used Lincoln as a citation, you'd be rather misled, because the United States per se did not exist until the adoption of the constitution in 1789.