Lend Me Your Ears

by Safire, William

• ISBN13: 9780393033687
• ISBN10: 0393033686
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1992-10-01
• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc

Summary

An instant classic when first published in 1992 and now substantially revised and expanded, Lend Me Your Ears collects more than two hundred of history's outstanding instances of oratorical eloquence. They are selected, arranged, and introduced by William Safire, considered by many to be the most influential political columnist in America, himself a former speechwriter and language scholar. The book is arranged by theme and occasion, and each speech is expertly introduced by the editor, who places the speech's occasion in historical context and analyzes the particular techniques that convey its force and effect. William Safire enlivens many of these introductions with personal anecdotes of the circumstances of the speechmaker and the speech. His introduction is a brisk, effective short course in how to make a great speech - with a cornucopia of examples to follow.

Table of Contents

An Introductory Address	p. 19
Memorials and Patriotic Speeches	p. 29
Pericles Extols the Glory That Is Greece at the Funeral of Its Fallen Sons	p. 31
Roman Empress Theodora Refuses to Flee	p. 36
Founding Father Gouverneur Morris Defines National Greatness	p. 38
Daniel Webster Speaks at the Dedication of the Bunker Hill Monument	p. 41
Lecturer Frances Wright Speaks on Independence Day	p. 46
Lincoln Rededicates the Union at Gettysburg	p. 49
Mark Twain Celebrates the Fourth of July	p. 51
President Calvin Coolidge Affirms His Faith in Massachusetts	p. 54
Interior Secretary Harold Ickes Lashes Isolationists and Defeatists	p. 57
Judge Learned Hand Evokes the Spirit of Liberty	p. 61
Underground Fighter Menachem Begin Pledges His Group's Allegiance to the Newborn State of Israel	p. 64
Democratic Candidate Adlai Stevenson Defines the Nature of Patriotism	p. 69
General Douglas MacArthur Reminds West Point Cadets of Duty, Honor, Country	p. 74
War and Revolution Speeches	p. 79
Catiline the Conspirator Turns and Fights	p. 81
Queen Elizabeth Inveighs against the Spanish Armada	p. 83
Patrick Henry Ignites the American Revolution	p. 84
An Indian Chief Pledges Help	p. 89
General Washington Talks His Officers Out of Insurrection	p. 91
Richard Price, an English Cleric, Hails the Revolutions	p. 95
Revolutionist Georges-Jacques Danton Demands Death for the Squeamish	p. 98
Napoleon Exhorts His Troops against France's Enemies	p. 99
Garibaldi Prepares Italy's Guerrillas for Battle	p. 101
Jefferson Davis Takes His Leave of the U.S. Senate	p. 103
Chief Joseph Surrenders	p. 108
President Woodrow Wilson Presents an Ideal to the War Congress	p. 109
Lenin Defends Proletarian Dictatorship	p. 117
Mussolini Justifies His Invasion of Ethiopia	p. 121
Hitler Declares Germany's Intentions	p. 123
Winston Churchill Braces Britons to Their Task	p. 130
Stalin Commands the Soviet Peoples to Scorch the Earth Being Taken by Hitler's Troops	p. 133
President Franklin D. Roosevelt Asks Congress to Declare War on Japan	p. 137
Senator Eugene McCarthy Crystallizes Dissent by Denouncing the War in Vietnam	p. 140
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher Acts to Defend the Falkland Islands	p. 144
Tributes and Eulogies	p. 149
Mark Antony Urges Mourners to Vengeance over the Body of Julius Caesar	p. 151
Edmund Burke Laments the Death of Marie Antoinette	p. 156
Henry Lee Remembers George Washington	p. 158
Daniel Webster Puts a Speech in the Mouth of John Adams	p. 160
Senator George Graham Vest Offers a Tribute to the Dog	p. 163
Ralph Waldo Emerson Commemorates the Centennial of Robert Burns	p. 165
Frederick Douglass Cuts through the Lincoln Myth to Consider the Man	p. 168
Humanist Robert Green Ingersoll Speaks at His Brother's Grave	p. 174
James Blaine of Maine Eulogizes Assassinated President Garfield	p. 176
Jane Addams Praises George Washington	p. 179
Rabbi Stephen S. Wise Offers a Tribute to Lincoln	p. 183
Will Rogers Eulogizes Woodrow Wilson	p. 185
George Bernard Shaw Salutes His Friend Albert Einstein	p. 189
India's Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru Delivers the Eulogy for Gandhi	p. 191
John F. Kennedy, in Praise of Robert Frost, Celebrates the Arts in America	p. 194
Senator Robert F. Kennedy Speaks after the Assassination of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.	p. 197
Electronic Journalist Eric Sevareid Remembers Rocket Scientist Wernher von Braun	p. 199
President Richard M. Nixon Defines "Politician" in Eulogizing Senator Everett Dirksen	p. 201
President Jimmy Carter Salutes His Good Friend Hubert H. Humphrey	p. 204
Senator Daniel P. Moynihan Spoofs Abstractionist Art at a Dedication Ceremony	p. 208
Secretary Jack Kemp, Saluting Winston Churchill, Applies the Munich Analogy to Kuwait	p. 209
President Boris Yeltsin of Russia Eulogizes Victims of Communism's Final Power Play	p. 214
Debates and Argumentation	p. 217
Cicero Rails against Catiline and His Conspiracies	p. 219
A Youthful William Pitt the Elder Debates the Merits of Age	p. 226
William Pitt the Younger and Charles Fox Disagree on Napoleon's Offers of Peace	p. 229
Senator Daniel Webster Backs the Union in His Reply to Senator Hayne	p. 241
Senator John C. Calhoun Fights the Expunging of His Criticism of President Andrew Jackson	p. 253
Abolitionist Charles Sumner Excoriates Two Senate Colleagues on the Issue of "Bloody Kansas"	p. 256
Senator Stephen Douglas Differs with Lincoln on the "Popular Sovereignty" Decision on Slavery	p. 261
John Cabell Breckinridge Disputes Colonel E. D. Baker's Charge of Treason	p. 265
Henry Cabot Lodge Speaks on the League of Nations	p. 271
Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia Appeals to the League of Nations to Stop Aggression	p. 275
Candidates Nixon and Kennedy Meet in the First Televised Presidential Debate	p. 279
Senators Dan Quayle and Lloyd Bentsen Clash on Qualifications for the Presidency	p. 289
Trials	p. 295
Job Pleads the Record of a Good Life against God's Inexplicable Punishment	p. 297
Martin Luther Addresses the Diet of Worms	p. 302
Sir Thomas More Defends Himself against Charges of Treason	p. 305
Robert Emmet Demands That Posterity Be the Judge of His Irish Patriotism	p. 308
Novelist Emile Zola Turns His Libel Defense into an Appeal to Free Falsely Convicted Dreyfus	p. 314
Antiwar Dissident Eugene V. Debs Addresses the Court before Sentencing	p. 319
Gandhi Defends His Beliefs	p. 322
Defense Lawyer Clarence Darrow Answers a Supporter of Capital Punishment	p. 327
Soviet Dissident Anatoly Shcharansky Defies His Judges before Sentencing	p. 336
Gallows and Farewell Speeches	p. 339
Socrates, Condemned to Death, Addresses His Judges	p. 341
Charles I and, Later, His Regicide Speak from the Scaffold	p. 345
Rebel Richard Rumbold, on the Gallows, Attacks Booted and Spurred Privilege	p. 351
Revolutionist Robespierre Delivers His Final Speech	p. 354
President George Washington Delivers His Farewell	p. 357
John Brown Has a Few Words to Say about His Death Sentence	p. 366
King Edward VIII Abdicates His Throne	p. 369
Yankee Great Lou Gehrig Bids Farewell to Baseball	p. 371
General Douglas MacArthur Moves Congress with "Old Soldiers Never Die"	p. 373
President Dwight D. Eisenhower Takes His Leave with a Surprising Theme	p. 379
President Lyndon B. Johnson Halts the Bombing in Vietnam and Drops His Own Political Bomb	p. 383
Speaker of the House James Wright Resigns as "Propitiation" for Ill Will	p. 391
Sermons	p. 397
Jesus of Nazareth Delivers the Sermon on the Mount	p. 399
Saint Francis Preaches to the Birds	p. 405
John Wyclif Gives the Sixth Sunday Gospel after Easter	p. 406
Religious Scourge Savonarola Demands Repentance from the Citizens of Florence	p. 410
John Calvin Preaches on Suffering Persecution	p. 415
Calvinist Jonathan Edwards Promises Hellfire and Damnation to the Sinful	p. 418
Methodist John Wesley Asserts "Free Grace" to Deny the Implacability of Fate	p. 421
Clergyman John Witherspoon Couples Religion with Politics	p. 425
Chief Red Jacket Rejects a Change of Religion	p. 431
Bishop James Madison Speaks on Divine Providence toward America	p. 433
Lincoln, in His Second Inaugural, Seeks to Heal the Spiritual Wounds of War	p. 439
Preacher Henry Ward Beecher Speaks of Visions	p. 442
Evangelist Billy Sunday Preaches a Revival Sermon	p. 445
Bishop Fulton John Sheen Makes a Wartime Plea	p. 447
Theologian Karl Barth Preaches Deliverance by Faith	p. 452
Rabbi Louis Finkelstein Delivers a Sermon in the White House	p. 457
President Ronald Reagan Inveighs against the Sinfulness of Communism	p. 462
Billy Graham Preaches about Salvation through Jesus	p. 465
Inspirational Speeches	p. 473
Chemist Louis Pasteur Praises the Rise of Scientific Education	p. 475
Theodore Roosevelt Blasts Ignoble Ease and Advocates the Strenuous Life	p. 477
Mark Twain Reveals Stage Fright	p. 483
Branch Rickey Discovers the Quality That Makes a Ballplayer Great	p. 485
Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Acknowledges a Ninetieth-Birthday Tribute	p. 487
John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Sets Forth His Family's Creed	p. 489
Nobel Laureate William Faulkner Charges Writers with the Duty to Help Humanity Prevail	p. 491
President John F. Kennedy Assures West Germany of America's Steadfastness	p. 493
Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., Ennobles the Civil Rights Movement at the Lincoln Memorial	p. 495
Senator Everett Dirksen Extols the Marigold	p. 500
Lectures and Instructive Speeches	p. 503
Philosopher-Poet Ralph Waldo Emerson Defines the Duties of the American Scholar	p. 505
Edgar Allan Poe Presents His Theory of Beauty and Poetry	p. 510
Mark Twain Stuns the Littery World by Spoofing Emerson, Longfellow, and Holmes to Their Faces	p. 513
William Lyon Phelps Praises the Owning of Books	p. 521
Broadcaster John Hilton Talks about Talking	p. 523
Architect Frank Lloyd Wright Calls Up the Image of "the Floo Floo Bird"	p. 527
Secretary of State Dean Acheson Explains Tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union	p. 529
Senator Henry Jackson Analyzes International Terrorism	p. 534
Speeches of Social Responsibility	p. 539
British Statesman William Pitt the Younger Urges Abolition of the Slave Trade	p. 541
Lord Byron Puts Poetic Passion into His Defense of Labor's Rights	p. 556
Social Reformer Maria Stewart Advocates Education for Black Women	p. 562
Suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton Pleads for Women's Rights	p. 565
Evangelist Sojourner Truth Speaks for Women's Rights	p. 568
Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison Admits of No Compromise with the Evil of Slavery	p. 570
Chief Seattle Cautions Americans to Deal Justly with His People	p. 574
Susan B. Anthony Argues for Women's Rights	p. 578
Governor Huey Long of Louisiana Proposes to End the Depression by Redistributing Wealth	p. 580
Labor's John L. Lewis Defends His Union's Right to Strike	p. 584
FDR Reminds the Daughters of the American Revolution about Their Lineage	p. 587
Walter Lippmann Scores His Generational Cohort for Having Taken "the Easy Way"	p. 589
Elder Statesman Bernard Baruch Offers America's First Plan to Control Nuclear Weapons	p. 594
Senator Robert Taft Opposes War Crimes Trials as Ex post facto Law	p. 597
Governor Kissin' Jim Folsom of Alabama Startles the South with a Concern for the Negro	p. 602
Senator Margaret Chase Smith Issues a "Declaration of Conscience" against Senator Joseph McCarthy	p. 606
Malcolm X Exhorts Afro-Americans to Confront White Oppression	p. 611
Holocaust Witness Elie Wiesel Asks President Reagan to Reconsider a Visit to a German Cemetery	p. 619
Astronomer Carl Sagan Contemplates the Potential Self-destruction of the Earth	p. 623
Playwright-Dissident Vaclav Havel Assumes the Presidency of Czechoslovakia	p. 628
Media Speeches	p. 635
Playwright-Journalist-Diplomat Clare Boothe Luce Criticizes the American Press	p. 637
FCC's Newton Minow Excoriates Broadcasters for Failing to Serve the Public Interest	p. 646
Historian Daniel J. Boorstin Examines the Coverage of Dissent	p. 655
Vice-President Spiro Agnew Castigates the Media	p. 663
Arthur Ochs Sulzberger of the New York Times Discusses Business and the Press	p. 670
A. M. Rosenthal of the New York Times Defines Freedom of the Press	p. 675
Television Journalist Ted Koppel Reports on the Newsworthiness of the Ten Commandments	p. 680
Novelist Norman Mailer Slams Censorship and Literary Cowardice	p. 684
Radio and Television Journalist Daniel Schorr, at Seventy-five, Makes a Few "Confessions"	p. 689
Author Salman Rushdie Cries Out from a Life "Trapped inside a Metaphor"	p. 694
Political Speeches	p. 703
Demosthenes Attacks His Accuser	p. 705
John Winthrop Defines the Mission of Government Officials	p. 712
Edmund Burke Makes a Case for Conciliation with America	p. 714
Benjamin Franklin Addresses the Federal Convention	p. 722
Thomas Jefferson Appeals for Unity at His Inauguration	p. 724
Lord Macaulay Presses the Need for Strong Leadership to Gain Popular Support	p. 729
William Cobbett Heaps Scorn on Opponents of His Bill to Reduce Child Labor	p. 732
Senator Henry Clay Calls for the Great Compromise to Avert Civil War	p. 734
Karl Marx Calls for the Dictatorship of the Proletariat	p. 737
Lincoln, in His First Inaugural, Asserts the Necessity of Majority Rule	p. 740
Representative J. Proctor Knott Uses Satire to Sink a Land Grant Bill	p. 747
British Conservative Benjamin Disraeli Speaks Up for Tory Principles	p. 755
Kalakaua, Last King of Hawaii, Assumes the Throne	p. 758
Prime Minister Gladstone Argues for Toleration and the Rights of Freethinkers in the House of Commons	p. 761
Democratic Candidate William Jennings Bryan Delivers His "Cross of Gold" Speech	p. 768
Claude Bowers Conjures the Ghosts of Democrats Past to Keynote a Convention	p. 773
President Franklin D. Roosevelt's First Inaugural Instills Confidence in a Depression-Racked Nation	p. 777
Winston Churchill Warns the West of the Soviet "Iron Curtain"	p. 783
Judge Noah Sweat of Mississippi Shows How to Straddle a Fence with Satiric Flair	p. 796
Hubert H. Humphrey Divides the Democratic Party on the Urgent Issue of Civil Rights	p. 798
President Harry Truman Whistle-stops the Nation, Blasting the "Do-Nothing" Congress	p. 801
Adlai Stevenson Makes the Model of a Concession Speech	p. 804
Premier Nikita Khrushchev, in a "Secret Speech," Tears Down Stalin's Reputation	p. 806
President John F. Kennedy, in His Inaugural, Takes Up the Torch for a New Generation	p. 811
President Charles de Gaulle Offers Self-determination to the Algerian People	p. 815
Barry Goldwater Ignites the Conservative Movement	p. 819
President Richard M. Nixon Rallies "the Silent Majority" to Support the War in Vietnam	p. 827
Representative Barbara Jordan Makes the Constitutional Case for the Impeachment of Nixon	p. 840
President Gerald Ford Takes Office after Nixon's Resignation	p. 845
Egypt's President Anwar el-Sadat Travels to Jerusalem to Address Israel's Knesset	p. 848
Senator Edward M. Kennedy Exhorts Fellow Democrats to Hold Fast to Liberalism	p. 853
President Ronald Reagan Foresees the Crisis of Communism	p. 862
Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick Blasts the "San Francisco Democrats"	p. 868
Labour's Neil Kinnock Excoriates Mrs. Thatcher's Toryism	p. 873
Henry Kissinger Warns against the Reemergence of Isolationism	p. 883
George Bush Accepts the Republican Nomination	p. 889
President Mikhail Gorbachev of the Soviet Union Acknowledges His Fault	p. 899
Commencement Speeches	p. 901
President Woodrow Wilson Calls the Midshipmen to Their Duty	p. 903
Editor William Allen White Calls the Prewar Generation to Its Duty	p. 905
Economist Arthur Burns Shares Three Discoveries with Young Israelis	p. 912
Humorist Art Buchwald Speaks to Law Graduates	p. 917
Language Maven William Safire Denounces the Telephone as the Subverter of Good English	p. 921
Financier Felix G. Rohatyn Examines a Fragile Economy	p. 926
Governor Mario Cuomo Speaks over the Heads of the Graduates to the Parents	p. 932
Labor's Lane Kirkland Rejects the Labels "Liberal" and "Conservative"	p. 937
Professor Jacob Neusner Defines the Social Contract between Teacher and Student	p. 942
Permissions	p. 947
Index	p. 949
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