The Best Presidential Speeches
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Now, as millions hunch over their radios, listening for the assurance that change is finally at hand, FDR begins to speak.
President Hoover, Mr. Chief Justice, my friends, 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.
His first inaugural words will join a long American tradition of presidential speechifying. Less than a century earlier, Abraham Lincoln stood on a Pennsylvania battlefield soaked in the blood of its dead, calling on a fractured nation to fulfill the ideals for which they'd fought. Before him, George Washington famously bade farewell to public life with words of warning to future Americans. Across the centuries, these moments revealed the extraordinary power of presidential oratory to steady the nation, rally the people, and rechart the course of American history. I'm Don Wildman, and you're listening to American History Hit. Thanks for joining us. Today, we welcome a guest who's joined us several times.
Professor Jeremy Suri is a historian who teaches at the University of Texas at Austin. His works include Civil War by Other Means, America's Long and Unfinished Fight for Democracy. He's an expert in American presidencies, so we figured the ideal guest to discuss the best presidential speeches ever. Jeremy, today we're looking at three presidential speeches considered to be the most enduring chief executive eloquence across the ages. But first, I'm curious, your opinion, what do you think makes for a great and memorable presidential address?
I think there are three necessary ingredients. First of all, you have to have something to say. You have to have a message. You have to have a vision. You have to have a story. So the content matters. People sometimes think you can wordsmith your way to eloquence. There's no eloquence without content. So that's the first thing. Second, you have to find language that resonates with your audience. And most speeches, very good speeches, resonate with an audience in its particular moment, in its particular place. The workers in the factory in Michigan, the people at the July 4th celebration on the lawn. The truly great speeches resonate with an audience across time. That's what we're going to be talking about with Washington and Lincoln and Roosevelt.
They use language that resonates across periods of time, across context. And then the third thing is finding some memorable phrases, some ways of saying things that endure poetry, some would say, something beyond prose, something that becomes embedded in one's memory, in one's thinking, kind of like a music lyric. That's the sort of symphonic element of a speech.
I think what's so interesting about presidents is that some of them are really bad speakers. And yet, you know, in their case, as you say, the message is what matters. So they get remembered that way more so than how they move the audience. It's nice when it comes to as a whole package. Let's begin with the man who really set the standard for these kinds of addresses, largely because he was the first. In 1796, George Washington stood on the precipice of a new life. It had been 20 years of revolution, constitutional debate, eight years as president.
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