Is Eloquence Overrated?
IN the end, said Theodore C. Sorensen, the celebrated speechwriter for President John F. Kennedy, what made a great speech in 1940 or 1961 is not much different from what makes a great speech in 2008.
“Speaking from the heart, to the heart, directly, not too complicated, relatively brief sentences, words that are clear to everyone,” he said of the fine art of political rhetoric.
“I’ve always said a model of a statement by a leader were the seven words uttered by Winston Churchill on the fall of France — ‘The news from France is very bad.’ That’s how he opened his speech to the country. Very direct, honest, no confusing what he’s saying, but very moving at the same time.”
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“Speaking from the heart, to the heart, directly, not too complicated, relatively brief sentences, words that are clear to everyone,” he said of the fine art of political rhetoric.
“I’ve always said a model of a statement by a leader were the seven words uttered by Winston Churchill on the fall of France — ‘The news from France is very bad.’ That’s how he opened his speech to the country. Very direct, honest, no confusing what he’s saying, but very moving at the same time.”