Speech #5 - Vocal Variety: “Where have all the Orators gone?”
In 1963, five years before he was assassinated, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his memorable “I have a Dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Making good use of the evocative nature of the venue and the fortuitous timing of that being the centennial year of both the Emancipation Proclamation and the Gettysburg Address, he began by echoing its opening lines and invoking the aspirations that seemingly had been satisfied. Lincoln knew that to put the proclamation into effect, a war would have to be won, which took two more bloody years, a figure Reverend King was inclined to raise.
With his speaking talents honed by years in pulpits and on soapboxes, he grabbed everyone’s attention, contradicting an apparent truism by asserting “…the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free…" citing segregation, discrimination, and poverty. Within an extended metaphor to keep the speech flowing, he developed and supported each of those points, adding the spice of urgency, while carefully balancing the recipe by stirring in an alliterative cooling call to proceed in a non-violent manner, “on the high plane of dignity and discipline”.
He began his conclusion with instructions to the assembled multitude, to go back from whence they came and continue the struggle with a renewed vigor to achieve specific objectives he worked into his famous dream. The highlight was, that one day that his “children would live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” He finished by working in a patriotic song everyone knew, “My country ‘tis of thee”, metamorphosing its last line, “Let freedom ring” into a resounding call for action across the nation, such that everyone, whatever their race, would be able to “thank God Almighty” that they were “free at last”. In the abstract, his speech is worthy of study by aspiring Toastmasters, but that is the least of the lessons we can learn from it.
There have been other notable speeches before, but few after. His carries lasting relevance. It has been quite a saga, but much of what he hoped for has been achieved, while another portion remains yet to be done. The positive examples are numerous: the end of segregation, people of color being elected to serve in city halls, state capitals and in Washington D.C. But probably most indicative of how far we have come is illustrated by our bank’s affirmative action and diversity programs, which are far more wide-ranging than required by government regulations. We do it because it is a good idea, not because we have to.
But why has there been a paucity of good oration since then? Certainly there have been memorable phrases that have lodged themselves in our collective consciousness, but they mostly lack intellectual or moral content. Presidents grab our attention from the “bully pulpit” that that office provides, and a sampling of pre-1963 quotations will demonstrate:
? Teddy Roosevelt – “walk softly but carry a big stick”
? FDR – “we have nothing to fear but fear itself”
? Harry Truman – “the buck stops here”
? JFK – “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country”
Since then we seem to have taken a turn for the worse. The most memorable phrases of more recent presidents…
? Nixon said “I am not a crook” but he had to resign in disgrace.
? Reagan, nicknamed the great communicator, he got plenty of applause during his state of the union addresses, but I reckon his most memorable phrase was a joke, “The Soviet Union has been abolished, the bombing starts in 5 minutes.” As it turned out it abolished itself 5 years later, with much less of that nasty radioactive fallout.
? Bush – “Read my lips, no new taxes” but two years later he agreed to raise them, and thereby couldn’t win reelection despite our winning the Gulf War.
? Clinton will be remembered for a blatant lie, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman”.
It is tempting to take the easy way out and blame the media. Political coverage on television has evolved from radio with pictures to an interactive event with pundits and spin doctors on-tap to provide instant analysis and the validity of every position is judged by its effect on the polls.
Party nominating conventions were once a golden opportunity for the outstanding orator, populist William Jennings Bryan’s famous Cross of Gold speech advocating inflationary coinage of silver being the best example. That and his later support of the prosecution of Scopes for teaching evolution serve to remind us that a great orator is not always backing the best policy. There is a fine line between oration and demagoguery. “The Who” said it best “…we won’t be fooled again!”
The Democratic and Republican conventions are now mostly irrelevant as it is likely that one candidate will already have a lock on the nomination before the start. While this may say good things about the quality of our democracy, wresting the choice away from the proverbial smoke filled rooms, it has resulted in carefully scripted media events lacking any real drama, thus losing ratings and enjoying less coverage.
Candidates have theme music. A flattering film that masquerades as a documentary introduces them. Speechwriters have tested drafts with focus groups, and the actual speech is read off Tele-prompters. There is no excuse for a not delivering a technically flawless speech, but one where centrist positioning has removed any hint of controversy, and as an unavoidable by-product the speech’s soul as well. Video killed the radio star... and the stirring oration as well.
But wait a second…there is an immense choice in media, and we can choose what we want to watch, how we want to find out about a candidates views, or whether to pay attention at all. If we didn’t pay attention to sound bites, candidates would spend less to put them in front of us. Research candidates on the Internet or watch the debates, and then vote! This could raise the level of political discussion. If you do nothing, the media will deliver more of the same. Let your voices be heard across America!
Rather than turning the blame for this trend on ourselves, I prefer to consider that it is a pendulum that can swing either way. There have been periods in the past where there has been a similar drought of memorable oration. It isn’t a one-way street it is cyclical. We are wising up to media tricks and won’t be fooled by them either, thereby pushing the pendulum back the other way. The assembled multitude here proves that oration is coming back into fashion at one level. How long will take before Washington jumps back on the oration bandwagon?