Lend Me Your Ears: Great Speeches in History Read online

  Lend Me Your Ears

  Great Speeches in History

  selected and introduced by William Safire

  Copyright

  Lend Me Your Ears

  Copyright © 1992, 1997, 2004, 2014 by William Safire

  Cover art, special contents, and Electronic Edition © 2014 by RosettaBooks LLC

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

  Cover jacket design by David Ter-Avanesyan/Ter33Design

  ISBN Mobipocket edition: 9780795336607

  TO

  JUDSON WELLIVER,

  first White House speechwriter

  (Harding and Coolidge administrations), and members of the Judson Welliver Society, the association of former White House speechwriters

  CONTENTS

  Preface

  An Introductory Address

  I. Memorials and Patriotic Speeches

  Pericles Extols the Glory That Is Greece at the Funeral of Its Fallen Sons

  Roman Empress Theodora Refuses to Flee

  Founding Father Gouverneur Morris Defines National Greatness

  Daniel Webster Speaks at the Dedication of the Bunker Hill Monument

  Lecturer Frances Wright Speaks on Independence Day

  Lincoln Rededicates the Union at Gettysburg

  Mark Twain Celebrates the Fourth of July

  President Calvin Coolidge Affirms His Faith in Massachusetts

  Interior Secretary Harold Ickes Lashes Isolationists and Defeatists

  Judge Learned Hand Evokes the Spirit of Liberty

  Underground Fighter Menachem Begin Pledges His Group’s Allegiance to the Newborn State of Israel

  Democratic Candidate Adlai Stevenson Defines the Nature of Patriotism

  General Douglas MacArthur Reminds West Point Cadets of Duty, Honor, Country

  II. War and Revolution Speeches

  Catiline the Conspirator Turns and Fights

  Pope Urban II Launches the First Crusade

  Queen Elizabeth Inveighs against the Spanish Armada

  Patrick Henry Ignites the American Revolution

  An Indian Chief Pledges Help

  General Washington Talks His Officers Out of Insurrection

  Richard Price, an English Cleric, Hails the Revolutions

  Revolutionist Georges-Jacques Danton Demands Death for the Squeamish

  Napoleon Exhorts His Troops against France’s Enemies

  Garibaldi Prepares Italy’s Guerrillas for Battle

  Jefferson Davis Takes His Leave of the U.S. Senate

  Chief Joseph Surrenders

  President Woodrow Wilson Presents an Ideal to the War Congress

  Lenin Defends Proletarian Dictatorship

  Mussolini Justifies His Invasion of Ethiopia

  Hitler Declares Germany’s Intentions

  Winston Churchill Braces Britons to Their Task

  Churchill Rallies the British People after the “Miracle of Deliverance” at Dunkirk

  Stalin Commands the Soviet Peoples to Scorch the Earth Being Taken by Hitler’s Troops

  President Franklin D. Roosevelt Asks Congress to Declare War on Japan

  General Montgomery Takes Command and Draws the Line at El Alamein

  Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher Acts to Defend the Falkland Islands

  Israel’s Yitzhak Rabin Shakes Hands with His Lifelong Enemy

  III. Tributes and Eulogies

  Mark Antony Urges Mourners to Vengeance over the Body of Julius Caesar

  Edmund Burke Laments the Death of Marie Antoinette

  Henry Lee Remembers George Washington

  Daniel Webster Puts a Speech in the Mouth of John Adams

  Senator George Graham Vest Offers a Tribute to the Dog

  Ralph Waldo Emerson Commemorates the Centennial of Robert Burns

  Frederick Douglass Cuts through the Lincoln Myth to Consider the Man

  Humanist Robert Green Ingersoll Speaks at His Brother’s Grave

  James Blaine of Maine Eulogizes Assassinated President Garfield

  Jane Addams Praises George Washington

  Rabbi Stephen S. Wise Offers a Tribute to Lincoln

  Will Rogers Eulogizes Woodrow Wilson

  Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin Toasts a Lexicographer

  George Bernard Shaw Salutes His Friend Albert Einstein

  India’s Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru Delivers the Eulogy for Gandhi

  John F. Kennedy, in Praise of Robert Frost, Celebrates the Arts in America

  Senator Robert F. Kennedy Speaks after the Assassination of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.

  President Richard M. Nixon Defines “Politician” in Eulogizing Senator Everett Dirksen

  President Jimmy Carter Salutes His Good Friend Hubert H. Humphrey

  Senator Daniel P. Moynihan Spoofs Abstractionist Art at a Dedication Ceremony

  Actor-Director Orson Welles Eulogizes Another Hollywood Legend, Darryl F. Zanuck

  Secretary Jack Kemp, Saluting Winston Churchill, Applies the Munich Analogy to Kuwait

  President Boris Yeltsin of Russia Eulogizes Victims of Communism’s Final Power Play

  Senate Leader Robert Dole Remembers Richard Nixon as “One of Us”

  IV. Debates and Argumentation

  Cicero Rails against Catiline and His Conspiracies

  Lord General Oliver Cromwell Orders the “Rump Parliament” Out of the House

  A Youthful William Pitt the Elder Debates the Merits of Age

  William Pitt the Younger and Charles Fox Disagree on Napoleon’s Offers of Peace

  Senator Daniel Webster Backs the Union in His Reply to Senator Hayne

  Senator John C. Calhoun Fights the Expunging of His Criticism of President Andrew Jackson

  Abolitionist Charles Sumner Excoriates Two Senate Colleagues on the Issue of “Bloody Kansas”

  Senator Stephen Douglas Differs with Lincoln on the “Popular Sovereignty” Decision on Slavery

  John Cabell Breckinridge Disputes Colonel E. D. Baker’s Charge of Treason

  Henry Cabot Lodge Speaks on the League of Nations

  Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia Appeals to the League of Nations to Stop Aggression

  Candidates Nixon and Kennedy Meet in the First Televised Presidential Debate

  Senators Dan Quayle and Lloyd Bentsen Clash on Qualifications for the Presidency

  V. Trials

  Martin Luther Addresses the Diet of Worms

  Sir Thomas More Defends Himself against Charges of Treason

  Robert Emmet Demands That Posterity Be the Judge of His Irish Patriotism

  Novelist Emile Zola Turns His Libel Defense into an Appeal to Free Falsely Convicted Dreyfus

  Antiwar Dissident Eugene V. Debs Addresses the Court before Sentencing

  Gandhi Defends His Beliefs

  Defense Lawyer Clarence Darrow Answers a Supporter of Capital Punishment

  Cuban Rebel Fidel Castro Defies His Captors and Predicts That History Will Absolve Him

  Defense Attorney Johnnie Cochran Wins Acquittal for the Accused Killer O. J. Simpson

  VI. Gallows and Farewell Speeches

  Socrates, Condemned to Death, Addresses His Judges

  Charles I and, Later, His Regicide Speak from the Scaffold

  Rebel Richard Rumbold, on the Gallows, Attacks Booted and Spurred Privilege

  Revolutionist Robespierre Delivers His Final Speech

  President George Washington Delivers His Farewell
/>   John Brown Has a Few Words to Say about His Death Sentence

  King Edward VIII Abdicates His Throne

  Yankee Great Lou Gehrig Bids Farewell to Baseball

  General Douglas MacArthur Moves Congress with “Old Soldiers Never Die”

  President Dwight D. Eisenhower Takes His Leave with a Surprising Theme

  President Lyndon B. Johnson Halts the Bombing in Vietnam and Drops His Own Political Bomb

  Speaker of the House James Wright Resigns as “Propitiation” for Ill Will

  VII. Sermons

  The Buddha Urges a Turning Away from Craving in His “Fire Sermon”

  Jesus of Nazareth Delivers the Sermon on the Mount

  Saint Francis Preaches to the Birds

  John Wyclif Gives the Sixth Sunday Gospel after Easter

  Religious Scourge Savonarola Demands Repentance from the Citizens of Florence

  John Calvin Preaches on Suffering Persecution

  Calvinist Jonathan Edwards Promises Hellfire and Damnation to the Sinful

  Methodist John Wesley Asserts “Free Grace” to Deny the Implacability of Fate

  Clergyman John Witherspoon Couples Religion with Politics

  Chief Red Jacket Rejects a Change of Religion

  Bishop James Madison Speaks on Divine Providence toward America

  Lincoln, in His Second Inaugural, Seeks to Heal the Spiritual Wounds of War

  Preacher Henry Ward Beecher Speaks of Visions

  Evangelist Billy Sunday Preaches a Revival Sermon

  Bishop Fulton John Sheen Makes a Wartime Plea

  Rabbi Louis Finkelstein Delivers a Sermon in the White House

  President Ronald Reagan Inveighs against the Sinfulness of Communism

  The Exiled Dalai Lama Espouses a Philosophy of Compassion

  VIII. Inspirational Speeches

  Chemist Louis Pasteur Praises the Rise of Scientific Education

  Theodore Roosevelt Blasts Ignoble Ease and Advocates the Strenuous Life

  Mark Twain Reveals Stage Fright

  Branch Rickey Discovers the Quality That Makes a Ballplayer Great

  Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Acknowledges a Ninetieth-Birthday Tribute

  John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Sets Forth His Family’s Creed

  General Patton Motivates the 3rd Army on the Eve of the Invasion of Europe

  Nobel Laureate William Faulkner Charges Writers with the Duty to Help Humanity Prevail

  President John F. Kennedy Assures West Germany of America’s Steadfastness

  Senator Everett Dirksen Extols the Marigold

  President William Jefferson Clinton Urges Memphis Churchgoers to “Make Our People Whole Again”

  President George W. Bush Envisions the “Age of Liberty”

  IX. Lectures and Instructive Speeches

  Philosopher-Poet Ralph Waldo Emerson Defines the Duties of the American Scholar

  Edgar Allan Poe Presents His Theory of Beauty and Poetry

  Mark Twain Stuns the Littery World by Spoofing Emerson, Longfellow, and Holmes to Their Faces

  First Female Member of Parliament, Lady Astor, Expounds on Women in Politics

  William Lyon Phelps Praises the Owning of Books

  Broadcaster John Hilton Talks about Talking

  Architect Frank Lloyd Wright Calls Up the Image of “the Floo Floo Bird”

  Secretary of State Dean Acheson Explains Tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union

  Senator Henry Jackson Analyzes International Terrorism

  Presidential Aide Jack Valenti Recalls the Lessons Learned at the Center of Power

  After Bush v. Gore, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Speaks Out for Judicial Independence

  Bioethicist Leon Kass Warns against the “Brave New World” of Cloning

  X. Speeches of Social Responsibility

  British Statesman William Pitt the Younger Urges Abolition of the Slave Trade

  Lord Byron Puts Poetic Passion into His Defense of Labor’s Rights

  Social Reformer Maria Stewart Advocates Education for Black Women

  Suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton Pleads for Women’s Rights

  Evangelist Sojourner Truth Speaks for Women’s Rights

  Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison Admits of No Compromise with the Evil of Slavery

  Chief Seattle Cautions Americans to Deal Justly with His People

  Susan B. Anthony Argues for Women’s Rights

  Governor Huey Long of Louisiana Proposes to End the Depression by Redistributing Wealth

  Labor’s John L. Lewis Defends His Union’s Right to Strike

  FDR Reminds the Daughters of the American Revolution about Their Lineage

  Walter Lippmann Scores His Generational Cohort for Having Taken “the Easy Way”

  Elder Statesman Bernard Baruch Offers America’s First Plan to Control Nuclear Weapons

  Senator Robert Taft Opposes War Crimes Trials as Ex Post Facto Law

  Governor Kissin’ Jim Folsom of Alabama Startles the South with a Concern for the Negro

  Senator Margaret Chase Smith Issues a “Declaration of Conscience” against Senator Joseph McCarthy

  Vice-President Albert Gore Slams the Cynics and Asserts His Credo

  Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan Argues That Male Domination of Women Offends Her Islamic Religion

  XI. Media Speeches

  Thomas Jefferson Returns Fire of “the Artillery of the Press”

  Broadcaster Edward R. Murrow Despairs of the Future of TV Journalism

  Playwright-Journalist-Diplomat Clare Boothe Luce Criticizes the American Press

  FCC’s Newton Minow Excoriates Broadcasters for Failing to Serve the Public Interest

  Vice-President Spiro Agnew Castigates the Media

  Arthur Ochs Sulzberger of the New York Times Discusses Business and the Press

  A. M. Rosenthal of the New York Times Defines Freedom of the Press

  Radio and Television Journalist Daniel Schorr, at Seventy-five, Makes a Few “Confessions”

  Editor John S. Carroll Finds a Unity in the Pulitzer Prizes

  XII. Political Speeches

  Demosthenes Attacks His Accuser

  John Winthrop Defines the Mission of Government Officials

  Edmund Burke Makes a Case for Conciliation with America

  Benjamin Franklin Addresses the Federal Convention

  Thomas Jefferson Appeals for Unity at His Inauguration

  Historian-Legislator Thomas Macauley Calls on Parliament to Lift the Political Restrictions on the Jews

  William Cobbett Heaps Scorn on Opponents of His Bill to Reduce Child Labor

  Senator Henry Clay Calls for the Great Compromise to Avert Civil War

  Karl Marx Calls for the Dictatorship of the Proletariat

  Lincoln, in His First Inaugural, Asserts the Necessity of Majority Rule

  Representative J. Proctor Knott Uses Satire to Sink a Land Grant Bill

  British Conservative Benjamin Disraeli Speaks Up for Tory Principles

  Kalakaua, Last King of Hawaii, Assumes the Throne

  Prime Minister Gladstone Argues for Toleration and the Rights of Freethinkers in the House of Commons

  Democratic Candidate William Jennings Bryan Delivers His “Cross of Gold” Speech

  “Bull Moose” Candidate Theodore Roosevelt Gives the “Speech That Saved His Life”

  Claude Bowers Conjures the Ghosts of Democrats Past to Keynote a Convention

  President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s First Inaugural Instills Confidence in a Depression-Racked Nation

  Winston Churchill Warns the West of the Soviet “Iron Curtain”

  Hubert H. Humphrey Divides the Democratic Party on the Urgent Issue of Civil Rights

  President Harry Truman Whistle-Stops the Nation, Blasting the “Do-Nothing” Congress

  Adlai Stevenson Makes the Model of a Concession Speech

  Premier Nikita Khrushchev, in a “Secret Speech,” Tears Down Stalin’s Reputation


  President John F. Kennedy, in His Inaugural, Takes Up the Torch for a New Generation

  President Charles de Gaulle Offers Self-Determination to the Algerian People

  Barry Goldwater Ignites the Conservative Movement

  President Richard M. Nixon Rallies “the Silent Majority” to Support the War in Vietnam

  Representative Barbara Jordan Makes the Constitutional Case for the Impeachment of Nixon

  President Gerald Ford Takes Office after Nixon’s Resignation

  Egypt’s President Anwar el-Sadat Travels to Jerusalem to Address Israel’s Knesset

  Senator Edward M. Kennedy Exhorts Fellow Democrats to Hold Fast to Liberalism

  President Ronald Reagan Foresees the Crisis of Communism

  Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick Blasts the “San Francisco Democrats”

  Labour’s Neil Kinnock Excoriates Mrs. Thatcher’s Toryism

  Henry Kissinger Warns against the Reemergence of Isolationism

  George H. W. Bush Accepts the Republican Nomination

  President Mikhail Gorbachev of the Soviet Union Acknowledges His Fault

  Commentator Patrick J. Buchanan Brings a Note of Populism to the GOP

  British Prime Minister Tony Blair Exhorts His Party to Fight Terrorism

  XIII. Commencement Speeches

  President Woodrow Wilson Calls the Midshipmen to Their Duty

  Editor William Allen White Calls the Prewar Generation to Its Duty

  Language Maven William Safire Denounces the Telephone as the Subverter of Good English

  Financier Felix G. Rohatyn Examines a Fragile Economy

  Governor Mario Cuomo Speaks over the Heads of the Graduates to the Parents

  Labor’s Lane Kirkland Rejects the Labels “Liberal” and “Conservative”

  General Colin Powell Urges African-American Students to Reject Racial Hatred

  Brain-Science Philanthropist David J. Mahoney Envisions Active Lives Lived to One Hundred Years

  XIV. Undelivered Speeches

  President John F. Kennedy’s Prepared Remarks at Dallas on November 22, 1963

  President Clinton Rejects a Contrite Speech Draft and Elects to “Move On”

  President Nixon’s Prepared Text in case the Apollo XI Moon Landing Ended in Tragedy

  Permissions

  Preface

  A Curator at the National Archives in Washington called one day and invited me over to take a look at a new exhibit before it opened. The archivist said there was an item in its “American Originals” presentation that would surely intrigue me.