The Right Words

Wynton C. Hall

Description

Award-winning presidential scholar and speechwriter Wynton Hall brings together the Republican Party’s greatest oratorical gems, from Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and Teddy Roosevelt's the Man with the Muckrake to Ronald Reagan's "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall" and George W. Bush's "our mission and our moment" speech after 9/11. Hall examines the historical context of each of these great addresses and reveals the persuasive secrets that make each speech truly outstanding.

Sujets

• Political Parties
• Political Process
• Political Science
• History of the United States
• 11

Informations

• Publié par: Turner Publishing Company
• Date de parution: 01 février 2007
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781620459669
• Langue: English

Extrait

The Right Words
Also by Wynton C. Hall
Home of the Brave: Honoring the Unsung Heroes in the War on Terror (coauthor Caspar W. Weinberger)
The Greatest Communicator: What Ronald Reagan Taught Me about Politics, Leadership, and Life (coauthor Dick Wirthlin)
The Right Words
Great Republican Speeches That Shaped History
Wynton C. Hall

John Wiley Sons, Inc.
Copyright 2007 by Wynton Hall. All rights reserved
Published by John Wiley Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada
Design and composition by Navta Associates, Inc.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Hall, Wynton C., date.
The right words : great Republican speeches that shaped history / Wynton C. Hall.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-471-75816-7 (cloth)
1. United States-Politics and government-Sources. 2. Speeches, addresses, etc., American. 3. Republican Party (U.S. : 1854-)-History-Sources. I. Title.
E183.H29 2007
973.09 9-dc22
2006021033
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Kate
We regard speaking well to be the clearest sign of a good mind, which it requires, and truthful, lawful, and just speech we consider the image of a good and faithful soul .
-Isocrates, Nicocles 3.7
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
INTRODUCTION
The Elephant Poachers: Leftist Academe and the Erasure of Republican Remembrance
1 Abraham Lincoln: The First and Greatest
The Gettysburg Address
NOVEMBER 19, 1863, BATTLEFIELD, GETTYSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA
Second Inaugural
MARCH 4, 1865, U.S. CAPITOL, WASHINGTON, D.C.
2 Theodore Roosevelt: The Rough-Riding Rhetorician
The Strenuous Life
APRIL 10, 1899, THE HAMILTON CLUB, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
The Man with the Muck-Rake
APRIL 15, 1906, WASHINGTON, D.C.
3 William F. Buckley Jr.: American Conservatism Finds Its Spokesman in the Speech That Wasn t
Yale Alumni Day Speech
FEBRUARY 1950 (UNDELIVERED), YALE UNIVERSITY, NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT
4 Dwight D. Eisenhower: Strategic Speechifying
Atoms for Peace
DECEMBER 8, 1953, UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY, NEW YORK, NEW YORK
Little Rock
SEPTEMBER 24, 1957, OVAL OFFICE, THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON, D.C.
5 Everett Dirksen: The Speech That Made the Civil Rights Act of 1964 Possible
The Time Has Come
JUNE 10, 1964, U.S. SENATE, WASHINGTON, D.C.
6 Barry Goldwater: You Know He s Right
Extremism in the Defense of Liberty Is No Vice
JULY 16, 1964, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION, THE COW PALACE, SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA
7 Richard M. Nixon: The Beginning of the End
Checkers
SEPTEMBER 23, 1952, U.S. CAPITOL, WASHINGTON, D.C.
8 Gerald R. Ford: Our Long National Nightmare Is Over
Oath of the US. Presidency
AUGUST 9, 1974, EAST ROOM OF THE WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON, D.C.
9 Ronald Reagan: A Shining Speaker on a Hill
The Evil Empire
MARCH 8, 1983, ANNUAL CONVENTION OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF EVANGELICALS, ORLANDO, FLORIDA
Challenger
JANUARY 28, 1986, OVAL OFFICE, THE WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON, D.C.
Mr. Gorbachev, Tear Down This Wall
JUNE 12, 1987, BRANDENBURG GATE, BERLIN, GERMANY
10 Newt Gingrich: The Revolutionary Speaker
The Contract with America
JANUARY 4, 1995, INAUGURAL SPEECH AS SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE, U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, WASHINGTON, D.C.
11 George W. Bush: His Mission and His Moment
Justice Will Be Done
SEPTEMBER 20, 2001, JOINT SESSION OF CONGRESS, U.S. CAPITOL, WASHINGTON, D.C.
12 John McCain: The Maverick and His Message
A Disingenuous Filmmaker
AUGUST 30, 2004, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION, MADISON SQUARE GARDEN, NEW YORK, NEW YORK
Notes
Index
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Speeches don t write themselves. Neither do books. Both represent the collective efforts of a cast of many who remain hidden from their audiences. Several individuals assisted with this book, each of whom I wish to thank.
Whatever I know about rhetoric I owe to my graduate school mentor and friend, Baylor University Distinguished Professor of Rhetoric and Communication Dr. Martin J. Medhurst, formerly of Texas A M University. Marty s passion for rhetoric became my own. I thank him for his support through the years and, most of all, for his friendship.
I ve had the great fortune of writing books with two of my political mentors: Ronald Reagan s chief political strategist and pollster Dick Wirthlin and Reagan s secretary of defense Caspar W. Weinberger. Dick taught me that politics and integrity are not mutually exclusive. He remains one of the most respected presidential strategists in history for a reason. I also want to thank Cap Weinberger. Cap passed away during the writing of this book. He was at once courtly and humble, and he had a way about him that won you over instantly. Cap and Dick were of the old school in politics that believed a person could fight for his beliefs and still maintain comity and decorum. I pray we can bring some of that back.
I express my appreciation for my friend former Reagan and George H. W. Bush press secretary Marlin Fitzwater, one of the most humble, humorous, cigar-smoking men I know, and the consummate communications professional to boot. I also wish to thank Reagan speechwriters Tony Dolan, Peter Robinson, and Peggy Noonan; Gerald R. Ford speechwriter Craig R. Smith; George H. W. Bush speechwriter Curt Smith; and George W. Bush speechwriters Marc Thiessen and Michael Gerson. Through the granting of interviews and the words you ve wrought, you have proven that the right words don t just materialize; they are crafted, often under difficult and tense circumstances. Thank you for serving your presidents and your nation with your gifts.
My gratitude also goes to those who provided research support, including Yale University, George H. W. Bush Presidential Library; Bainbridge College; Young America s Foundation; the Republican National Committee; and the Everett Dirksen Center.
My gratitude extends to the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. Special thanks go to Hoover president Dr. John Raisian for appointing me as a visiting fellow and to senior associate director Richard Sousa for his continued support.
I am grateful for John Wiley Sons and publisher Kitt Allan, as well as senior production editor Lisa Burstiner and freelance copy editor Steven M. Long. I am especially thankful for senior editor Hana Lane. Hana s gifts are myriad. She possesses an encyclopedic knowledge of, well, just about anything historical. But Hana s greatest talent is her ability to spur you to approach a passage from a crisp, fresh angle you might not have otherwise seen. She is, quite simply, a delight.
Joe Vallely, my literary agent, is one of the best in the business. His indefatigable support and ironclad friendship are, as ever, appreciated.
To my friends who supported me through the writing of this book, I offer my deepest thanks: Peter and Rochelle Schweizer, Yusuf and Nicole Haidermota, Phil Reyes, Jack Weisser, Scott and Amanda Renick, Scott and Carey Watts, Stan and Jenna Miley, Tim and Shelly Matthews, Paul Kengor, and Tim Watkins.
My family remains my rock. Dad, Mom, Bill, Gretchen, Holly, Leslie, Creighton, and Jane-your love and support humble me. Most of all, I want my beautiful bride and best friend, Katie, and our angel, Bella Kate, to know how much their patience and love mean to me. You inspire me daily. Thank you.
The author alone is responsible for the contents of this book.
Introduction
The Elephant Poachers
Leftist Academe and the Erasure of Republican Remembrance

The first step in liquidating a people is to erase its memory. Destroy its books, its culture, its history. Then have somebody write new books, manufacture a new culture, invent a new history. Before long the nation will begin to forget what it is and what it was.
-Milan Kundera
This book is based on a simple if profound truth: words matter.
Sometimes this axiom is self-evident. While reading the words of an old love letter or poem, for example, a phrase or a line can be so dazzling, so powerful that it almost seems to levitate off the printed page, like a magician s assistant rising and hovering in midair. The line sparkles with significance, and we instantly sense its importance