(am I a great salesperson, or what?). Maybe the people at
! While playing catch-up on my work, I was listening, for like the third or fourth time, to a podcast on the history of presidential debates. This time, though, I was struck by the truth of a comment that one of the hosts made about how television changed voters' reactions to the words they heard.
The first televised presidential debate took place between John Kennedy and Richard Nixon. Just a few days before the event, Nixon had injured his leg and developed a staph infection so that by the time he went before the camera and the television viewing audience, it wasn't hard for people to see that something was wrong with him. The power of the image over the word was fully realized in this debate when voters who watched it on television said that Kennedy won, yet people who had heard the debate on the radio declared Nixon the winner! The television viewing audience focused on the image, whereas the radio audience focused on the words.
Most of us know at least a line or two from some of history's greatest speeches. But now I can't help but wonder if those famous lines would be as memorable if we had heard them on television and seen the orator's delivery of them. With that in mind, my list is of Great Speeches and where possible, I've included an image of the orator and the most famous line(s) from the speech for your consideration. Do you think we'd still remember them if we had seen rather than heard or read these great words? Or in the case where the speech was originally televised, would the words have had the same impact on us if we hadn't seen the facial expressions and body language of the orator?
"The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable -- and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come!
It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, "Peace! Peace!" -- but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but
2. Abraham Lincoln: June 16, 1858Complete Speech
"If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could better judge what to do, and how to do it. We are now far into the fifth year since a policy was initiated with the avowed object, and confident promise, of putting an end to slavery agitation. Under the operation of that policy, that agitation has not only not ceased, but has constantly augmented. In my opinion, it will not cease, until a crisis shall have been reached and passed. '
A house divided against itself cannot stand.' I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved -- I do not expect the house to fall -- but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it forward, till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new -- North as well as South."
3. Winston Churchill: June 18, 1940Complete Speech
"What General Weygand called the Battle of France is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. Upon it depends our own British life, and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us.
Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this Island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science.
Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, '
This was their finest hour.'"
4. Franklin D. Roosevelt: December 8, 1941Complete Speech
"Yesterday,
December 7, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy - the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.
The United States was at peace with that nation, and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its government and its Emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific.
Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in the American island of Oahu, the Japanese Ambassador to the United States and his colleague delivered to our Secretary of State a formal reply to a recent American message. And, while this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or of armed attack."
5. Martin Luther King, Jr.: August 28, 1963Complete Speech
"Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.
And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today!"
6. John F. Kennedy: January 20, 1961Complete Speech
"In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility -- I welcome it. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it. And the glow from that fire can truly light the world.
And so,
my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.
My fellow citizens of the world, ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man."
7. Queen Elizabeth I: August 9, 1588Complete Speech
"We have been persuaded by some that are careful of our safety, to take heed how we commit our selves to armed multitudes, for fear of treachery; but I assure you I do not desire to live to distrust my faithful and loving people. Let tyrants fear. I have always so behaved myself that, under God, I have placed my chiefest strength and safeguard in the loyal hearts and good-will of my subjects; and therefore I am come amongst you, as you see, at this time, not for my recreation and disport, but being resolved, in the midst and heat of the battle, to live and die amongst you all; to lay down for my God, and for my kingdom, and my people, my honour and my blood, even in the dust.
I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too, and think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realm; to which rather than any dishonour shall grow by me, I myself will take up arms, I myself will be your general, judge, and rewarder of every one of your virtues in the field."
8. Abraham Lincoln: November 19, 1863Complete Speech
"
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that
government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
9. Chief Joseph: October 5, 1877Complete Speech
"Tell Gener
al Howard I know his heart. What he told me before, I have it in my heart. I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed; Looking Glass is dead, Too-hul-hul-sote is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say yes or no. He who led on the young men is dead. It is cold, and we have no blankets; the little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food. No one knows where they are—perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children, and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands,
I will fight no more forever."
The Cowboys (1972): I've never been a fan of cowboy movies, but since this one was filmed in and around my dad's hometown of Pagosa Springs, Colorado, and my grandmother loved to tell the story about how she had lunch with John Wayne after he and his crew came into the town's bank one day, I decided to watch it.
in (2003): Always a sucker for a movie about the Civil War, I was pleasantly surprised by this one. Nicole Kidman was fabulous, but Renee Zellweger absolutely stole the show with her performance! I love Ruby's down-to-earth approach to life and her creative problem solving skills.
(1991): Loosely based on the novel by Jack London, this film tells the story of a young man who goes to Alaska to take over his father's mining claim. When Jack first arrives in Alaska, he sees a beautiful young dog/wolf hybrid owned by a native who uses him for work. Jack, the city boy, disagrees with the man's treatment of the dog but can't do anything about it. Later, however, when the dog has been sold to another man who plans to train him to fight, Jack rescues him. With a little work and patience from Jack, White Fang learns to trust him and the two develop a lifelong friendship. Lots of beautiful Alaska scenery in this one.
Heidi (1937): By far my favorite of the old Shirley Temple films! I have no clue where it was filmed -- it seems unlikely that the outdoors scenes were actually shot in the Swiss Alps -- but wherever it was, the place was beautiful.
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ays Amazing Egyptian Dude earned props -- lots of them -- when, despite being utterly exhausted, he hauled himself to the market last night to get me some Diet Dr. Pepper and Butter Pecan ice cream. A tall glass of Diet Dr. Pepper on crushed ice did wonders for my sore throat. Chewing is not easy because it involves using the muscles in my neck that have been cut, so soft and squishy foods like soup and jello are it for a couple of days. Oh, and Butter Pecan ice cream!
"The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable -- and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come!
"If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could better judge what to do, and how to do it. We are now far into the fifth year since a policy was initiated with the avowed object, and confident promise, of putting an end to slavery agitation. Under the operation of that policy, that agitation has not only not ceased, but has constantly augmented. In my opinion, it will not cease, until a crisis shall have been reached and passed. 'A house divided against itself cannot stand.' I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved -- I do not expect the house to fall -- but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it forward, till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new -- North as well as South."
"What General Weygand called the Battle of France is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. Upon it depends our own British life, and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us.
"Yesterday, December 7, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy - the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.
"Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.
"In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility -- I welcome it. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it. And the glow from that fire can truly light the world.
"We have been persuaded by some that are careful of our safety, to take heed how we commit our selves to armed multitudes, for fear of treachery; but I assure you I do not desire to live to distrust my faithful and loving people. Let tyrants fear. I have always so behaved myself that, under God, I have placed my chiefest strength and safeguard in the loyal hearts and good-will of my subjects; and therefore I am come amongst you, as you see, at this time, not for my recreation and disport, but being resolved, in the midst and heat of the battle, to live and die amongst you all; to lay down for my God, and for my kingdom, and my people, my honour and my blood, even in the dust.
"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
al Howard I know his heart. What he told me before, I have it in my heart. I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed; Looking Glass is dead, Too-hul-hul-sote is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say yes or no. He who led on the young men is dead. It is cold, and we have no blankets; the little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food. No one knows where they are—perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children, and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever."
"I have bad news for you, for all of our fellow citizens, and people who love peace all over the world, and that is that Martin Luther King was shot and killed tonight.
"We’ve grown used to wonders in this century. It’s hard to dazzle us. But for 25 years the United States space program has been doing just that. We’ve grown used to the idea of space, and perhaps we forget that we’ve only just begun. We’re still pioneers. They, the members of the Challenger crew, were pioneers.
"The question tonight, as I understand it, is 'The Negro Revolt, and Where Do We Go From Here?' or 'What Next?' In my little humble way of understanding it, it points toward either the ballot or the bullet.
"This is a day of national consecration. And I am certain that on this day my fellow Americans expect that on my induction into the Presidency I will address them with a candor and a decision which the present situation of our people impels. This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper.
have the ninth surgery of my life. It's not because I think that spending time on a chilly stainless steel table in an eerily smelly sterilized room is the ideal way to spend a couple hours of spare time that I will embark on yet another surgical adventure. Trust me, I can find plenty of better ways to keep myself occupied! Nope, the time has come to remove yet another malfunctioning part of my body so that it will no longer interfere with those parts that do work as they still should.
From the first time I heard John Denver sing "Rocky Mountain High" back in 1973, I have been a fan. Even when it wasn't popular or cool to like John Denver in my high school days, it simply didn't matter to me -- the man had a way with words and music that touched me like only a few other artists ever have. But the one thing I admired most about John Denver's music was the fact that at a time when the generation gap was growing ever wider and communication between parents and their children was becoming increasingly difficult, my family found a young, talented, and vibrant artist whose music we all enjoyed listening to together. That didn't happen very often back in the 70s!
mber 5, 2008, I wrote about rediscovering an artist whom my mother loved one night when I couldn't sleep. The video that I am going to share today is the piece that actually reignited that spark. This week, it's Ella Fitzgerald who moves me.
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