Posted on 01/21/2005 3:31:21 PM PST by goldstategop
Ladies and gentlemen, I want to read the Gettysburg Address to you. November 19th, 1863, Abraham Lincoln delivered this speech on the battlefield, and I want to read to you after I read it -- and it's very short and it's recognized now as one of the greatest presidential speeches in history; one of the greatest speeches in history, period -- and I want to read to you the reaction to the Gettysburg address from the Harrisburg Patriot and Union, the Chicago Times, the Springfield Republican, and the Harrisburg Patriot and Union again. But first, here's the Gettysburg Address.
"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth."
The Harrisburg Patriot and Union wrote: "We pass over the silly remarks of the President; for the credit of the nation we are willing that the veil of oblivion shall be dropped over them and that they shall no more be repeated or thought of."
The Chicago Times: "The cheeks of every American must tingle with shame as he reads the silly, flat, and dishwatery utterance."
The London Times: "[T]he ceremony was rendered ludicrous by some of the sallies of that poor President Lincoln... Anything more dull and commonplace it would not be easy to produce."
The Springfield Republican was surprised at how well Lincoln did, though, noting: "We had grown so accustomed to homely and imperfect phrase in his productions that we had come to think it was the law of his utterance."
These are all cited in Carl Sandburg's single-volume book: . So that's what the press said of the Gettysburg address in days after it. It's almost an echo of what the press is saying today of President Bush's speech. That's not saying it was the Gettysburg Address yesterday, but you will get the point.
What a great post--thank you! It deserves a bump.
I can't listen to Rush anymore unless I'm on the computer, but that's a great analysis. Thanks for posting it.
Leave it to Rush to put things into perspective. Leave it to President Bush to encapsulate it in speech. Leave it to the Americans to put it into practice. This is history in the making and, it is not foreordained, as the democrats would prefer it to be, shackled to some idiotic socialist ideology. It's FREEDOM: It's DIFFICULT; and it's worth DYING for. Thank God Kerry was not elected!!!
Thanks for the post.
I thought Bush's speech beautiful. It choked me up.
I heard Rush talking about this today. Amazing stuff. There is nothing new under the sun.
Great reminder of the vision that has characterized so many that have held the office of President.
The speech they praised, the one given by the featured speaker Edward Everett, and the one no one remembers even a single word of, can be read here:
http://douglassarchives.org/ever_b21.htm
Peggy Noonan (as most of you know) did likewise to Bush today in the WSJ.
But Bush behaved in an even more "Christian" manner than she thought. Namely, she (and just about everyone else who didn't like the speech) made the mistake of thinking he meant that he would accomplish all this in 4 years.
Bush and his speechwriters were taking on the role of prophet, which if you have read them fairly closely, you know that they will be prophesying one moment about the events of the very near term, the next moment about events thousands of years away, the next somewhere in between.
Bush is hoping to establish a policy that is so successful that the presidents who follow him even long after we are all dead will have no choice but to pick up the baton and stay the course.
I seriously doubt that Bush thinks he can democratize and pacify the entire world in 4 years. I pretty sure he believes (as I do) that most of us alive right now will probably not live to see the end of this war.
I could sense in my soul the press attitudes starting to harden -- without even having heard them squawk -- within two or three hours after Bush gave his speech.
For one, they do not like him having THAT MUCH TIME TO SPEAK WITH REFUTATION and from such a vaunted platform to the whole *gasp* world.
For two, they think like ants, not understanding the giant boot waiting to crush them if the US chief executive does not act decisively and with a forward-thinking agenda.
For three, they are, in large part, blind.
For four, they are jealous of his power and influence.
History will prove him right and these nitpickers, these small-minded opinion pushers, will still be sitting in the dust, and they'll still be wondering, "How did he DO that? How did he get so much done? How is it that freedom is still spreading around the world long after he left office -- that freedom always being opposed, yes, but still spreading?"
Peggy Noonan, when did you get off the freedom train? And lady, you NEED more of God if you're chewing gristle over Bush's mentioning of and honoring Him. Ms. Noonan, you need to remember your Maker. He never forgets you. And you wouldn't have one single thing in this world if He hadn't given it to you.
bump for wekend issue
"I could sense in my soul the press attitudes starting to harden -- without even having heard them squawk -- within two or three hours after Bush gave his speech."
It's amazing. I was listening to talk radio in Ottawa from 9 to 10 this a.m. and the (conservative) host was discussing this.
He said, Okay, leftists are (predictably) criticizing George Bush's speech. The speech was a statement expressing the hope for an ultimately free world.
So apparently, the leftists are so eager for GW to fail that they want people to remain prisoners of tyrants and dictators.
It's sickening.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1323501/posts?page=64 had an interesting discussion including some odd ideas about Sixteen.....
If GWB had held it to a few paragraphs focusing on the fine ideas he expressed, it might have had a shot at being long-remembered in specific, rather than for the feeling it invoked.....
"With Refutation" should be "Without Refutation" == the left doesn't like Bush getting to speak unchallenged.
They surely make up for it afterwards.
CBS is still working on a story about Lincoln missing a physical exam during the Black Hawk War.
Brings tears to your eyes, just re-reading the Gettysburg address.
Edward Everett's speech actually has some decent oratory, altho' most of it is unbearably ornate, flowery and detailed with minutae. (Link in post #8.)
The problem is that it would make a nice essay. But as a speech, it's way too long (at least for our time -- but he wasn't speaking to us was he?). He spoke for a little over two hours.
President LINCOLN allayed their fears, put up some money, sent for more beer and celebrated with them. Before leaving back for the White House (by foot), he allegedly told them that if any beer were left, they were to send it to "stuffy Old STANTON".
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