John Shosky, author of The Words Of Our Time: Speeches That Made A Difference 2001 - 2011 on how some speeches are consigned to the dustbin and how others shape history.
Political speeches are the real ‘first drafts of history.’ Problems are identified and discussed. Policies are announced. Ideas are debated. Comparisons are made between the present and a possible future. Great speeches move an issue forward. And they build consensus for action. They mould and frame our time.
Political speeches can do more than that. They may set the tone of political discussion. They help form our thinking, influencing our culture. This is one way that a speech becomes action. The world is changed after a great speech. A great speech has impact. It can keep influencing thinking days, weeks, years, even centuries after it is given. A great speech is a source for history, a causal force, a reason why events happen.
And the words remain long after the speakers have gone. That is why Winston Churchill said that ‘Words are the only things which last forever’.
Well, political speeches can do all that. That is their potential whenever the opportunity arises for public speaking. Unfortunately, the vast majority of political speeches fail to make an impact. They have no shelf life. They are given, and then forgotten, consigned to obscure archives or back-up drives, languishing in files, unnoticed on the internet.
Yet, a few speeches have a profound impact. They refuse to go away, demanding to be remembered, becoming part of the cultural landscape. People remember them (a sure sign of positive or negative impact). Reporters and pundits return to these speeches for new ideas or to see how an idea has ‘evolved.’ Historians quote them to explain a period of time. Language is liberally ‘borrowed’ for subsequent speeches. In fact, people begin to talk using the words in some speeches, creating a reverberating, reinforcing impact.
My goal in gathering great political speeches for The Words of our Time is to capture and highlight the words that are writing the first draft of our history. Each of the speeches has been influential. Some have been landmarks, such as George W. Bush’s remarks before a Joint Session of Congress after 9/11. That was a speech watched by the world that introduced ideas and language that are still under intense discussion a decade later. Some speeches have a powerful moral effect, such as Nelson Mandela’s speech at Trafalgar Square concerning global poverty. Some speeches are shocking policy statements that usher in a new way of thinking, such as David Cameron’s foreign policy speech at the Lord Mayor’s Dinner. And some speeches are breaking down seemingly solid, immovable barriers, such as Aung San Suu Kyi’s remarkable speech after release from house arrest. These are speeches that demand to be heard, again and again. They will not be consigned to the ‘dustbin of history’ (apologies to Trotsky)
Speaking of the dustbin, recently I cleaned my office and tossed into the recycle bin more than a thousand speeches, most from 1985-1992. It was painful. Those speeches were a part of my life; some were old friends. You can imagine the way they looked. The paper was old, crinkly. Some of the words were faded. The paper clips were red rusted. There were memories, some not so good. I thought about the work that went into those words, the hours of initial construction, the review process, the compromises on language and policy, the late nights, the pain, the angst in their production, and the relief when the speech was well-received. From among their number I saved copies of half a dozen. They were speeches that were still working, still important. I still needed to have them at hand.
This book is the product of a similar process. I looked at thousands of speeches, weighing their initial significance and their lasting impact. The speeches I selected continue to speak. We need to keep them at hand. Years from now, historians will look at these speeches as documents to explain this time, the decade after the new millennium. You and I can look at them as contemporary ways of thinking, shaping the moments of our time – this time – right now!