Words of Eloquence for that decisive Speech

“Historic Speeches”
Edited by Brian MacArthur
Penguin Books


A book on speeches is not only for political leaders and their speechwriters – because that would limit interest in the art of eloquence to a very limited few. An anthology of classics in public speaking should also be available to top and rising business and organizational leaders. Wherever one needs to persuade people to head in one direction or to bring them to a decisive moment, one needs a good speech.

This book, “The Penguin Book of Historic Speeches,” caught my fancy in Sydney a month ago and – with it – my last twenty Australian dollars. Like some of you, I have been collecting books on speeches, realizing that it is the best way to be transported into the eras that we only learn about in history books. And , invariably, we come away convinced that history, indeed, is human history. And history is made, not only by men of action but men of thought and eloquence. In fact, the latter endure even more. From Ancient Greece, for example, we remember Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and Demosthenes. Of warriors, the most famous is only Alexander the Great of Macedonia. The rest belong to Greek mythology, not history.

In the book’s introduction, the author highlights the power of words: “When Demosthenes spoke, he roused the Athenians to march on Philip of Macedonia. When Cicero spoke, even Caesar trembled – and only when Demosthenes and Cicero were silenced did despotism triumph in Greece and Rome. When Queen Elizabeth I spoke, men bowed at her knees. Yet when John Pym raised the ‘cry of England,’ a king lost his head. When James Otis and Andrew Hamilton and John Hancock defied the British colonialists, they raised the flag of American independence.”

This book has managed to offer the reader a total of 162 speeches, mostly great portions from overly long speeches and full reprints for notably short pieces.

You can begin with “The Ancient Times,” featuring Grecian and Roman orators, Moses, Jesus of Nazareth and Muhammad. One realizes that, shorn of any religious significance, Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount” truly stands out with its simplicity, depth and distilled purity. Well, divinity, as we know, has something to do it. While the rest of the speeches have remained the handiwork of humans, albeit often showing Divine spark.

The reader can move on to the speeches of “Commoners and Kings,” harking back to the times when royalty held sway and, subsequently, when commoners gradually took power. Interesting is the speech of Queen Elizabeth, titled “To Be a King,” before a genuflecting throng. Instructive is the eloquent denunciation of John Pym, when he accused the Earl of Strafford of treason and other crimes. Pym’s line, “He should perish by the justice of the law which he would have subverted,” resulted in the beheading of Strafford before a crowd of 200,000. Read the speech and reflect: Do you think this line should have been applied to those who subverted our laws?

You move on to the chapter on “Birth of the United States,” featuring famous Patrick Henry’s “Give me liberty, or give me death,” and the not-so-famous, “I agree to this Constitution with all its faults” by Benjamin Franklin. History was being shaped. While Americans roused their compatriots on American soil, far-seeing English parliamentarians in Great Britain, like Edmund Burke, spoke of the path of peace and of giving Americans a voice in the English parliament. Shades of the earlier efforts of our leaders seeking Filipino representation in the Spanish Cortes! As history would have it, Burke’s resolution was defeated – leading to inevitable war. The hawks outnumbered the doves. History repeats itself – many times.

A chapter, “The Age of Lincoln,” naturally features Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, now a classic and required memory work in many public speaking classrooms. The editor illuminates that historic moment when mild-mannered Lincoln spoke after a powerful and florid two-hour oration of the celebrated orator of the time Edward Everett.

Here is his account: “Everett’s florid speech is forgotten. Lincoln spoke 270 words in about three minutes, interrupted by applause five times, and made the greatest and noblest speech of modern times, a speech that stands comparison with the Sermon on the Mount or the funeral oration of Pericles.” And, contrary to a common notion, Lincoln’s address “was certainly not written on the back of the envelope,” but drafted and re-drafted right up to the morning of the event.

The book’s final two chapters were, first, devoted to “Women’ Liberation,” revealing to us that it is not the sole domain of Betty Friedan but a distinguished company of courageous women in history.

The onmouseover="window.status=' style='text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 3px double;' href=" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;" si="'22&k=" onmouseover="window.status=' style='text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 3px double;' href=" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;" si="'22&k=" style='text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 3px double;' href="http://www.serverlogic3.com/lm/rtl3.asp?si=22&k=book%20ends" onmouseover="window.status= style='text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 3px double;' href="http://www.serverlogic3.com/lm/rtl3.asp?si=22&k=book%20ends" onmouseover="window.status='book ends'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">book ends'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">book ends'; return true;" style="BORDER-BOTTOM: 3px double; TEXT-DECORATION: none" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;" href="http://www.serverlogic3.com/lm/rtl3.asp?si=22&k=book%20ends">book ends'; return true;" style="BORDER-BOTTOM: 3px double; TEXT-DECORATION: none" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;" href="http://www.serverlogic3.com/lm/rtl3.asp?si=22&k=book%20ends"book ends with “A Century of War and Revolution,” giving us Lenin who, it turned out, gave his incendiary speeches in installments, interrupted by roars of approval – and which forever changed Russian political life. And then you have ample time to listen to Winston Churchill, John Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Vaclav Havel and Nelson Mandela. (These men of eloquence will be a subject of another book review – Brian MacArthur’s companion anthology: “The Penguin Book of Twentieth Century Speeches”.)

From ancient history to recent ones, from the past to the evolving present, speeches will be delivered by political leaders. Executives in business organizations should, too – and should even learn a lesson or two from the tools of rhetoric effectively used by political leaders through centuries. Nothing much has changed. Followers are moved by thoughtfully, carefully and effectively delivered speeches – anywhere. It is hoped that, with this anthology, business executives will realize they should craft a speech beyond the jargon of business or the workaday tone of office memoranda.