dispatches from the new world of work

It's How You Tell 'Em!

The UK's Guardian newspaper is in the middle of presenting a truly fabulous mini-series of the best speeches of the 20th Century. Here is the list of speeches, that are being presented daily from 21st April – 4th May:

Winston Churchill, We shall fight on the beaches, June 4, 1940
John F Kennedy, Ask not what your country can do for you, January 20, 1961
Nelson Mandela, An ideal for which I am prepared to die, April 20, 1964
Harold Macmillan, No going back, February 3, 1960
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, The only thing we have to fear is fear itself, March 4, 1933
Nikita Khrushchev, The cult of the individual, February 25, 1956
Emmeline Pankhurst, Freedom or death, November 3, 1913
Martin Luther King, Jr., I have a dream, August 28, 1963
Charles de Gaulle, The flame of French resistance, June 1940
Margaret Thatcher, The lady's not for turning, October 10, 1980
Jawaharlal Nehru, A tryst with destiny, August 14, 1947
Virginia Woolf, A room of one's own, 1928
Aneurin Bevan, We have to act up to different standards, December 5, 1956
Earl Spencer, The most hunted person of a modern age, September 6, 1997
[Some have audio; others don't. And to date, the first seven are available; the rest are to come.—CM]

You can read transcripts, as well as listen to the actual speeches at www.guardian.co.uk/greatspeeches. I've just listened to the Winston Churchill speech, which took place shortly after the Dunkirk Landings—it really conjoured up the spirit of the moment in a chilling way.

What do you think of the list—which do you think is the finest of them all, and is there any one that you would have added to that list?

Madeleine McGrath posted this on 04/27/07.

Comments

Madeleine,
Thanks for this link. We should hope that Tom, given his love of great speeches, sees a computer within the next week so he can listen in.

Posted by cathy mosca at April 27, 2007 1:26 PM

I would add Ronald Reagan's speech at the Berlin Wall.

Posted by Tom E. Snyder at April 27, 2007 2:13 PM

No Gandhi around ?? :(-

Posted by /pd at April 27, 2007 2:32 PM

I'm surprised I've missed several of these. I've got to check out the Krushchev one. (We're promoting commies now, eh?)

Posted by John O'Leary at April 28, 2007 8:34 AM

John,

I think if we are measuring the effectiveness and power of a speech, it should be irrelevant whether or not we agree with the speaker. It is about rhetoric, presence and moving the listener.

Under these criteria, Goebbel's 1943 Sportpalast speech should be in there. Long, wrong, evil, terrifying and technically brilliant.

Respectfully,

Adam
experiencedesign.de

Posted by Adam Lawrence at April 29, 2007 12:28 PM

Good point - the debate in the UK media also picked up on this argument.

Apparently Enoch Powell's 'Rivers of Blood' Speech and Hitler's Nuremberg Rally were excluded from this series as a result of the distaste that the public might feel towards the subject matter. And yet, you might argue that the fact that these speakers were able to win over huge audiences to their 'cause' only shows how influential they were able to be.

It is a very rare gift to be able to affect peoples' behaviour purely through the power of speech, and we have to hope that those invested with that gift use it wisely!

Madeleine

Posted by Madeleine McGrath at April 30, 2007 3:56 AM

Neil Kinnock - Labour Party Conferecne 1985. Expulsion of left wing group 'Militant' - awesome speech of great courage. Can be seen at this link http://simplicityitk.blogspot.com/2007/04/neil-kinnock-under-estimated-leader.html

Posted by Trevor Gay at April 30, 2007 4:08 AM

BTW, my "commie" comment was with tongue firmly in cheek. And we have US media commentators STILL referring to China or the PRC as Communist China or Red China. How idiotic is that? And, yes, Joseph Goebbels was a brilliant rhetorician and master of The Presentation. (He had an awareness of Design as well, which he used to further his twisted agenda.)

Posted by John O'Leary at May 2, 2007 11:20 AM

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John,

You are right there.

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Posted by Adam Lawrence at May 6, 2007 7:21 PM

150 mg viagra Whilst I find some of his arguments unpalatable, some of his premises ill-founded, and much of his rhetoric staid, here is a speech of great thought, insight and clarity.

The proof of itâ€™s greatness is demonstrated in three simple tests,
1.) mention â€œRivers of Bloodâ€ and most people know that Enoch Powell was itâ€™s narrator
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It has been proven true, in so many ways.

What more needs to be said. The race riots in many of our cities. The inequality of the majority in our society. The Religious and Racial (he did fail to see the rise in Sexual) bigotry that pervades our great country. His speech predicted much and changed nothing.

Great speech, probably, but he simply polarised a nation against him and his brand of Conservatism!

Posted by Tom Dickson at July 20, 2007 7:37 AM