History in the Making

Recent conversations on Facebook have led me to ponder on the topic of famous speeches and political speeches. I found this wonderful website that put together a list of the Top 100 Speeches and it seems like a good list to me so I thought I would share it.

Political speech is not what it once was in America. This is understandable given the advent of television and the lessening attention span of the voter. Back in the day, a good political speech could run two hours or more. And in the days before microphones, that meant the speaker would have to really belt it out, usually in a sing-song manner so that the diaphragm did most of the work. There was an art and artifice to speeches back then. Audiences came to expect the classical allusions, the histrionic hand waving, the tears, the posing – all tricks of the trade a good speaker would have at his beck and call.

How on earth did people sit still for two hours to listen to a speech, you might ask? With the good ones, the people usually begged for more. Most politicians were proud of their ability to deliver a whopper of a speech and sway people to vote for them. It explains the good run that the Long family had in Louisiana. :)

This is an outgrowth of the fact that most politicians began their careers as lawyers. In small town America, going to a courtroom was like going to the movies. Court watching was sophisticated entertainment for most people.

There are numerous examples of defense attorneys getting a murderer off by giving a closing argument that blatantly appealed to the pity of the jurors or of prosecutors getting a jury to convict an innocent man by raising the jury’s bloodlust.

There were also traveling speech writers and speakers who, for a fee, would deliver appropriate remarks at funerals and holidays like the Fourth of July. Many times, these speakers doubled as preachers – another place Americans liked to go to listen to a good speech.

It seems we Americans appreciated a good speech more than just about anything. Think of the Lincoln-Douglas debates where thousands turned out to hear the two men. And, of course, a half a million turned out to hear a Georgia preacher speak of a dream he had for America.

There are a couple of things that all great speeches have in common.
1. The moment. The exact time in history where the speaker’s words will resonate.
2. The backdrop. The place the speech is delivered amplifies its meaning.
3. The words. All great speeches are as inspiring when read as they are when delivered orally.

A favorite comedian of mine, Eddie Izzard, does a hysterical but accurate portrayal of speaking and the importance of speeches in his comedy routine when he offers the following declaration:  All speeches are about "70% of how you look, 20% of how you sound, only 10% is what you say. 

Here is a little snippet of that comedy routine:

”But it – back in the 60s, though, back in the 60s, President Kennedy became the President of the United States of America. “People of Berlin, I have come to you to tell you something about the American states – what is – I – I sound a bit God, don’t I? But I have come to say to you that every free citizen of the world is a citizen of Berlin. And I wish to say to you, ‘Ich bin ein Berliner.’ ” And the crowd went fucking wild!

Trouble is, “Ich bin ein Berliner” means “I am a donut.”  This is true, and this is what he said, he said “I am a donut!” And, as I say, 70% of how you look, 20% of how you sound, only 10% is what you say. He said “I am a donut” and they went *wild*! You know. Because “Ich bin Berliner” is “I am a Berliner.” But “Ich bin *ein* Berliner,” is – that’s the name of a donut they have there.

But the – it – the people in Berlin must’ve gone, “It – what did – what did he say?” “He said he was a donut!” “I thought he said he was a donut too!” “So what does that mean?” “It’s a slang! It’s American!”

And given that we are talking about the spoken word as opposed to the written word, it's much funnier when you hear it as opposed to just reading it.  So here is the clip of that part of his routine.
And almost anything is funnier in an English accent.  That's a fact.  

This brings me around to where we were last night.  Are great political speeches historically significant or just politically significant.  Or are they both?  Like I said, I think it’s a combination of the moment, the backdrop, and the words.  That magical formula where a speaker can take words on the paper and weave them into some of the most famous moments in history.  Some would argue that these speeches are not true historical events because they were, for the most part, planned.  But I think that the written word in the right hands at the right time can change lives, build you up, tear you down, and shape the course of events in our lives.  Sure, the words are important and we may never know or meet the dozens of people behind some of our most resonating speeches but it’s the men and women who deliver them that cements them in our minds and hearts. 

Maybe speeches are so important to me because both of my parents are very well spoken.  Both excellent speakers in their own right.   My dad was a salesman so naturally he was a good speaker.  He had the tricks and the flair and the style to grab an audience and take them on a journey when he spoke.  I remember at his barbershop concerts he used to give this “We Sing So They Shall Speak” speech to explain how barbershop choruses across the country worked together to raise funds for children’s speech programs, testing and equipment all across the country.  He loved giving that speech and I loved hearing him give it.  One of the favorite things that I have of my dad’s is a handwritten copy of a speech that he had given.  I found it by accident in a stack of file folders I had from his office.  I thought they were empty but here were these papers stuck in one of the folders. 

Now, dad had the flair and the showmanship but I think that Mom is the true speaker of the family because she has the most important gift of a really great speaker, she’s a good listener.  It’s from my mom that I have this love of history and historical moments.  Mom is the one that pays attention and is the keeper of history.  And boy does she love a good quote!   Mom has inspired so many people from serving on the School Board or working with the Adult New Readers program to her work with The Historical Society or writing for the Que Vive club.  And of course being a librarian came from her love of books and of the written word.  When mom speaks, people listen.  And those are the kind of speakers who shape history and change lives. 

Click HERE for the link to the Top 100 American Speeches.  Most of the speeches have a link for the written transcript and some even have the MP3 file so you can listen to it.   And, yes, Reagan’s “Brandenburg Gate” speech is on the list. 

Here are the Top 10 Speeches according to that list.  Seems like a pretty good representation to me.

1 Martin Luther King, Jr.                        I Have A Dream

2 John Fitzgerald Kennedy                     Inaugural Address

3 Franklin Delano Roosevelt                   First Inaugural Address

4 Franklin Delano Roosevelt                   Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation

5 Barbara Charline Jordan                     1976 DNC Keynote Address

6 Richard Milhous Nixon                       Checkers

7 Malcolm X                                         The Ballot or the Bullet

8 Ronald Wilson Reagan                        Shuttle ''Challenger'' Disaster Address

9 John Fitzgerald Kennedy                     Houston Ministerial Association Speech

10 Lyndon Baines Johnson                     We Shall Overcome