The great political speeches thread

[joegrundman]

maybe not just political speeches. Maybe some short texts could be included too.

I am always moved by Neville Chamberlain's declaration of war.

The man is much -and over- maligned these days, especially by Americans who like to use his bad example to stifle debate about whatever piece of idiocy they are thinking of next.

The text itself is a masterpiece of brevity and emotion (of the kind that was expressed by British people of the time)

It reveals a man who was deeply scarred by the First World War, and desperate to avoid a repeat catastrophe, was willing to go a great distance in giving concessions to Germany and allow it to resume more-or-less its status pre ww1.

And it reveals a man, who with great sadness and a firm understanding of the enormous suffering that will certainly ensue from this decision, nonetheless knows that his previous efforts have been defeated and now Britain must declare war.

I think it is instructive to listen to this speech, and also to ponder what people in your own country were saying on that day.

Here it is:

[the_tyrant]

"We are not just going to shoot the bastards. we are going to cut out their living guts, and use them to grease the tracks of our tanks!"-Patton

Manliest quote ever, worthy of Conan the barbarian

[joegrundman]

The whole Patton speech from the beginning of the film is fantastic

Great speech, great performance, great movie

[MH]

Originally Posted by joegrundman

maybe not just political speeches. Maybe some short texts could be included too.

I am always moved by Neville Chamberlain's declaration of war.

The man is much -and over- maligned these days, especially by Americans who like to use his bad example to stifle debate about whatever piece of idiocy they are thinking of next.

The text itself is a masterpiece of brevity and emotion (of the kind that was expressed by British people of the time)

It reveals a man who was deeply scarred by the First World War, and desperate to avoid a repeat catastrophe, was willing to go a great distance in giving concessions to Germany and allow it to resume more-or-less its status pre ww1.

And it reveals a man, who with great sadness and a firm understanding of the enormous suffering that will certainly ensue from this decision, nonetheless knows that his previous efforts have been defeated and now Britain must declare war.

I think it is instructive to listen to this speech, and also to ponder what people in your own country were saying on that day.

Here it is:

It was clear to many that hitler wanted more that pre ww1 status.
I agree that he was scared an coward and went to great effort to avoid confrontaion with Germany not facing reality.
Hitler was supraised that Britan declared war after inviding Poland
Chamberlain' it seems send this kind of massege by his weak dyplomacy.
He is a true example that certain idologies must be faced with big stick as well.

[Betonov]

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”


Teddy Roosevelt

Hitler was supraised that Britan declared war after inviding Poland

Thats because Britain was in no position to aid Poland at all, just as it had been in no position to aid the Czechs.

He is a true example that certain idologies must be faced with big stick as well.

Its a bit of a problem when you broke your stick 20 years ago and havn't been able to buy a new one as you are still trying to pay for the one you broke.
He is a true example of what faces countries when they go off playing silly buggers and then get faced later with a real serious threat.

[joegrundman]

Originally Posted by MH

It was clear to many that hitler wanted more that pre ww1 status.
I agree that he was scared an coward and went to great effort to avoid confrontaion with Germany not facing reality.
Hitler was supraised that Britan declared war after inviding Poland
Chamberlain' it seems send this kind of massege by his weak dyplomacy.
He is a true example that certain idologies must be faced with big stick as well.

a) Hindsight is what we have, not what they had
b)I said "scarred", not "scared", and yes it is obviously the case that his strategy was not successful. In the end obvious to him too.
c) in the end, however, it was Chamberlain who declared war on Germany. Not the Soviets, not the Americans. Nor was it Churchill. It was Britain, under Chamberlain, and France.

The thing that makes the speech great is the gravity and emotion that comes with knowing the horrors ahead, and seeing the failure of your attempts to avoid it, going ahead and declaring the war that will bring the horrors you fear. It is filled with humanity and dignity (neither of which are present in the Patton speech, but that is great for a different reason)

[Platapus]

"These are dangerous times. When we are afraid, we want to be protected, and since we can not protect ourselves against such horrors as mass murder by bombers, we are tempted to run to the government… a government that is always willing to trade the promise of protection for our freedom.

This leaves, as always, the question: How much freedom are we willing to relinquish for such a bald promise?" -- Gerry Spence

[Jimbuna]

Churchill was always a great one for speeches, he knew how to keep the British morale from wavering.

An excerpt from his speech to the House of Commons on August 20 1940.

The gratitude of every home in our Island, in our Empire, and indeed throughout the world, except in the abodes of the guilty, goes out to the British airmen who, undaunted by odds, unwearied in their constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the tide of the World War by their prowess and by their devotion. Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few. All our hearts go out to the fighter pilots, whose brilliant actions we see with our own eyes day after day…

[tater]

Always liked this:

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 battle-field 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 can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not 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.