Lend Me Your Ears: Great Speeches in History

by Unknown

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  WE MEET TOGETHER upon these birthdays of our great men, not only to review their lives but to revive and cherish our own patriotism. This matter is a difficult task. In the first place, we are prone to think that by merely reciting these great deeds we get a reflected glory, and that the future is secure to us because the past has been so fine.

  In the second place, we are apt to think that we inherit the fine qualities of those great men, simply because we have had a common descent and are living in the same territory.

  As for the latter, we know full well that the patriotism of common descent is the mere patriotism of the clan—the early patriotism of the tribe. We know that the possession of a like territory is merely an advance upon that, and that both of them are unworthy to be the patriotism of a great cosmopolitan nation whose patriotism must be large enough to obliterate racial distinction and to forget that there are such things as surveyor’s lines. Then when we come to the study of great men it is easy to think only of their great deeds, and not to think enough of their spirit. What is a great man who has made his mark upon history? Every time, if we think far enough, he is a man who has looked through the confusion of the moment and has seen the moral issue involved; he is a man who has refused to have his sense of justice distorted; he has listened to his conscience until conscience becomes a trumpet call to like-minded men, so that they gather about him and together, with mutual purpose and mutual aid, they make a new period in history.

  Let us assume for a moment that if we are going to make this day of advantage to us, we will have to take this definition of a great man. We will have to appeal to the present as well as to the past. We will have to rouse our national consciences as well as our national pride, and we will all have to remember that it lies with the young people of this nation whether or not it is going to go on to a finish in any wise worthy of its beginning.

  If we go back to George Washington and ask what he would be doing were he bearing our burdens now, and facing our problems at this moment, we would, of course, have to study his life bit by bit—his life as a soldier, as a statesman, and as a simple Virginia planter.

  First, as a soldier. What is it that we admire about the soldier? It certainly is not that he goes into battle; what we admire about the soldier is that he has the power of losing his own life for the life of a larger cause; that he holds his personal suffering of no account; that he flings down in the gage of battle his all and says, “I will stand or fall with this cause.” That, it seems to me, is the glorious thing we most admire, and if we are going to preserve that same spirit of the soldier, we will have to found a similar spirit in the civil life of the people, the same pride in civil warfare, the spirit of courage, and the spirit of self-surrender which lies back of this.

  If we look out upon our national perspective, do we not see certainly one great menace which calls for patriotism? We see all around us a spirit of materialism—an undue emphasis put upon material possessions; an inordinate desire to win wealth; an inordinate fear of losing wealth; an inordinate desire to please those who are the possessors of wealth. Now, let us say, if we feel that this is a menace, that with all our power, with all the spirit of a soldier, we will arouse high-minded youth of this country against this spirit of materialism. We will say today that we will not count the opening of markets the one great field which our nation is concerned in, but that when our flag flies anywhere it shall fly for righteousness as well as for increased commercial prosperity; that we will see to it that no sin of commercial robbery shall be committed where it floats; that we shall see to it that nothing in our commercial history will not bear the most careful scrutiny and investigation; that we will restore commercial life, however complicated, to such honor and simple honesty as George Washington expressed in his business dealings.

  Let us take, for a moment, George Washington as a statesman. What was it he did, during those days when they were framing a constitution, when they were meeting together night after night, and trying to adjust the rights and privileges of every class in the community? What was it that sustained him during all those days, all those weeks, during all those months and years? It was the belief that they were founding a nation on the axiom that all men are created free and equal. What would George Washington say if he found that among us there were causes constantly operating against that equality? If he knew that any child which is thrust prematurely into industry has no chance in life with children who are preserved from that pain and sorrow; if he knew that every insanitary street, and every insanitary house, cripples a man so that he has no health and no vigor with which to carry on his life labor; if he knew that all about us are forces making against skill, making against the best manhood and womanhood, what would he say? He would say that if the spirit of equality means anything, it means like opportunity, and if we once lose like opportunity we lose the only chance we have toward equality throughout the nation.

  Let us take George Washington as a citizen. What did he do when he retired from office, because he was afraid holding office any longer might bring a wrong to himself and harm to his beloved nation? We say that he went back to his plantation on the Potomac. What were his thoughts during the all too short days that he lived there? He thought of many possibilities, but, looking out over his country, did he fear that there should rise up a crowd of men who held office, not for their country’s good, but for their own good? Would he not have foreboded evil if he had known that among us were groups and hordes of professional politicians, who, without any blinking or without any pretense that they did otherwise, apportioned the spoils of office, and considered an independent man as a mere intruder, as a mere outsider; if he had seen that the original meaning of office-holding and the function of government had become indifferent to us, that we were not using our foresight and our conscience in order to find out this great wrong which was sapping the foundations of self-government? He would tell us that anything which makes for better civic service, which makes for a merit system, which makes for fitness for office, is the only thing which will tell against this wrong, and that this course is the wisest patriotism. What did he write in his last correspondence? He wrote that he felt very unhappy on the subject of slavery, that there was, to his mind, a great menace in the holding of slaves. We know that he neither bought nor sold slaves himself, and that he freed his own slaves in his will. That was a century ago. A man who a century ago could do that, would he, do you think, be indifferent now to the great questions of social maladjustment which we feel all around us? His letters breathe a yearning for a better condition for the slaves as the letters of all great men among us breathe a yearning for the better condition of the unskilled and underpaid. A wise patriotism, which will take hold of these questions by careful legal enactment, by constant and vigorous enforcement, because of the belief that if the meanest man in the Republic is deprived of his rights, then every man in the Republic is deprived of his rights, is the only patriotism by which public-spirited men and women, with a thoroughly aroused conscience, can worthily serve this Republic. Let us say again that the lessons of great men are lost unless they reinforce upon our minds the highest demands which we make upon ourselves; that they are lost unless they drive our sluggish wills forward in the direction of their highest ideals.

  Rabbi Stephen S. Wise Offers a Tribute to Lincoln

  “There could be no poorer way of honoring the memory of Lincoln than to assume, as we sometimes do, that the race of Lincolns has perished from the earth, and that we shall never look upon his like again.”

  Stephen Samuel Wise, the American Jewish visionary, was asked in 1914 to give a Lincoln’s Birthday address at Springfield, Illinois. Below is a portion of that speech, delivered February 12, 1914.

  The Zionist leader and rabbi who founded the Free Synagogue of New York in 1907, Wise became widely recognized for his oratorical power. His sermons, attracting large audiences to Carnegie Hall, focused on American and Jewish concerns, particularly issues that would l
ead Wise into world politics. In 1936, he became the founder of the World Jewish Congress, an outspoken organization in the fight against Hitler and nazism.

  In contemplating Abraham Lincoln, Wise enumerates the qualities that set apart this leader from other “servants of the Republic.” Paraphrasing Hamlet’s tribute to his dead father, Wise warns against the assumption “that we shall never look upon his like again.” This is the line in Shakespeare’s Hamlet—“He was a man, take him for all in all, I shall not look upon his like again”—that has been used so often in eulogies that it has become a cliché. Instead, Rabbi Wise offers the example of Lincoln as the model for all Americans and leaders.

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  WE DWELL IN times of great perplexity and are beset by far-reaching problems of social, industrial, and political import. We shall not greatly err if upon every occasion we consult the genius of Abraham Lincoln. We shall not falter nor swerve from the path of national righteousness if we live by the moral genius of the great American commoner.

  Instead of following Lincoln, we too often strive to make it appear that he is following us. Instead of emulating him, we too often venture to appropriate him. Instead of sitting at his feet as his disciples, and humbly heeding the echoes of his lips, we attribute to him our own petty slogans. The truth is that Lincoln belongs to no party today, though in his time he stood well and firmly within party ranks. His spirit ought today to inform all parties. He was a partisan second, an American first, as he is the first of Americans. Men and measures must not claim him for their own. He remains the standard by which to measure men. His views are not binding upon us, but his point of view will always be our inspiration. He would not be blindly followed who was open-minded and open-visioned. He did not solve all the problems of the future, but he did solve the problem of his own age. Ours is not to claim his name for our standards but his aim as our standard.

  Lincoln is become for us the test of human worth, and we honor men in the measure in which they approach the absolute standard of Abraham Lincoln. Other men may resemble and approach him; he remains the standard whereby all other men are measured and appraised….

  Such a standard is Lincoln become for us, save that we dare not hope that any American may serve his country better than did Lincoln. However covetous of honor for our country we may be, we cherish no higher hope for the land we love than that the servants of the Republic in all time may rise to the stature of Abraham Lincoln.

  In his lifetime Lincoln was maligned and traduced, but detraction during a man’s lifetime affords no test of his life’s value nor offers any forecast of history’s verdict. It would almost seem as if the glory of immortality were anticipated in the life of the great by detraction and denial whilst yet they lived. When a Lincoln-like man arises, let us recognize and fitly honor him. There could be no poorer way of honoring the memory of Lincoln than to assume, as we sometimes do, that the race of Lincolns has perished from the earth, and that we shall never look upon his like again. One way to ensure the passing of the Lincolns is to assume that another Lincoln can nevermore arise. Would we find Lincoln today, we must not seek him in the guise of a rail-splitter, nor as a wielder of the backwoodsman’s ax, but as a mighty smiter of wrong in high places and low.

  Not very long ago I chanced upon a rarely beautiful custom in the city of Florence. It was the day of the martyrdom “of a prophet sent by God.” A multitude stood before the spot where he was done to death—his hands miraculously uplifted in blessing in the very moment of torture and death—and every man brought a rose petal in token of reverence and gratitude to the martyred soul. This day every American citizen, every American man and woman and child has in spirit brought a petal to the grave of Lincoln, who sleeps tonight beneath a wilderness of love tokens from men of all faiths and tongues and races and backgrounds—who are become one and indivisible in their love and honor for the memory of Abraham Lincoln.

  I have sometimes thought that the noblest tribute paid to the memory of Lincoln was the word of Phillips Brooks in Westminster Abbey when, pointing out that the test of the world to every nation was “Show us your man,” he declared that America names Lincoln. But the first word spoken after the death of Lincoln is truest and best—the word of Secretary of War Stanton, standing by the side of that scene of peace—“Now he belongs to the ages.” It was verdict and prophecy alike, for Lincoln is not America’s, he is the world’s; he belongs not to our age, but to the ages; and yet, though he belongs to all time and to all peoples, he is our own, for he was an American.

  Will Rogers Eulogizes Woodrow Wilson

  “The world lost a friend.”

  When Woodrow Wilson died on February 23, 1924, solemn eulogies and serious orations followed in abundance. Great American humorist Will Rogers, however, chose to pay tribute in his own way, which called for a lighter vein.

  With a humanizing eulogy drawn from his personal experience of President Wilson, Rogers offers a glimpse of the man’s greatness outside of the White House, in the everyday setting of a theater. In “Wilson Could Laugh at a Joke on Himself,” the humorist recounts his first occasion to perform before our twenty-eighth president.

  The eulogy’s narrative structure is typical of the storytelling technique that Rogers used to great comic effect. In this case, though, the jokes are secondary to the purpose of illustrating one of President Wilson’s most memorable qualities: the ability to laugh at himself.

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  SOME OF THE most glowing and deserving tributes ever paid to the memory of an American have been paid in the last few days to our past president, Woodrow Wilson. They have been paid by learned men of this and all nations who knew what to say, and how to express their feelings. They spoke of their close association and personal contact with him. Now I want to add my little mite, even though it be of no importance….

  The Friars Club of New York, one of the biggest theatrical social clubs in New York, had decided to make a whirlwind tour of the principal cities of the East, all in one week. We played a different city every night. We made a one-night stand out of Chicago and New York. We were billed for Baltimore, but not for Washington. President Wilson came over from Washington to see the performance. It was the first time in theatrical history that the president of the United States came over to Baltimore, just to see a comedy show.

  It was just at the time that we were having our little set-to with Mexico, and when we were at the height of our note-exchanging career with Germany and Austria.

  The house was packed with the elite of Baltimore. The show was going great. It was a collection of clever skits, written mostly by our stage’s greatest man, George M. Cohan, and even down to the minor bits was played by stars with big reputations. I was the least-known member of the entire aggregation, doing my little specialty with a rope, and telling jokes on national affairs, just a very ordinary little vaudeville act, by chance sandwiched in among this great array.

  Finally a warden knocked at my dressing room door, and said, “You die in five minutes for kidding your country.” They just literally shoved me out on the stage.

  Now, by a stroke of what I call good fortune (for I will keep them always), I have a copy of the entire act that I did for President Wilson on the five times I worked for him. My first remark in Baltimore was “I am kinder nervous here tonight.” Now, that is not an especially bright remark, and I don’t hope to go down in history on the strength of it, but it was so apparent to the audience that I was speaking the truth that they laughed heartily at it. After all, we all love honesty.

  Then I said, “I shouldn’t be nervous, for this is really my second presidential appearance. The first time was when William Jennings Bryan spoke in our town once, and I was to follow his speech and do my little roping act.” Well you all know that Bryan never made the White House, even though he was the Democratic candidate three times, but I heard them laughing, so I took a sly glance at the president’s box, and sure enough he was laughing just as big as anyone. So I went on, “As I say,
I was to follow him, but he spoke so long that it was so dark when he finished, they couldn’t see my roping.” That went over great, so I said, “I wonder what ever become of him?” That was all right, it got over, but still I had made no direct reference to the president.

  Now, General Pershing was in Mexico at the time, and there was a lot in the papers for and against the invasion into Mexican territory to capture Pancho Villa, after he had raided an American town.

  I said, “I see where they have captured Villa. Yes, they got him in the morning editions, and then the afternoon ones let him get away.” Now everybody in the house before they would laugh looked at the president, to see how he was going to take it. Well, he started laughing, and they all followed suit.

  “Villa raided Columbus, New Mexico. We had a man on guard that night at the post. But to show you how crooked this Villa is, he sneaked up on the opposite side. We chased him over the line five miles, but run into a lot of government red tape, and had to come back. There is some talk of getting a machine gun, if we can borrow one. The one we have now they are using to train our army with in Plattsburg. If we go to war, we will just about have to go to the trouble of getting another gun.”

  Now, mind you, the president was being criticized on all sides for lack of preparations, yet he sat there and led that entire audience in laughing at the gags on himself.

  At that time there was talk of forming an army of two hundred thousand men. So I said, “We are going to have an army of two hundred thousand men. Henry Ford makes three hundred thousand cars every year. I think, Mr. President, we ought to at least have a man to every car. I see where they got Villa hemmed in between the Atlantic and Pacific. Now all we got to do is to stop up both ends. Pershing located him at a town called Los Quas Ka Jasbo. Now all we got to do is to locate Los Quas Ka Jasbo….”