Comparison of 2 Presidential Speeches
Abraham Lincoln's "Gettysburg Addre
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Abraham Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address" is one of the most famous speeches in American history, learned by heart by many schoolchildren, with phrases that have rung down through the ages. The speech is not merely of historical importance but also serves as a prime example of rhetorical structure in spite of the fact that it was probably "dashed off" by its author almost as an afterthought because of the need to make a speech at a certain place for a specific occasion. Bill Clinton's speech for the Memorial Day celebration at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. in 1993 has not been around long enough to compare to Lincoln's speech in terms of how it might affect subsequent generations, and indeed the speech itself lacks much of the rhetorical flourish and power of Lincoln's address. The two speeches differ in a number of respects on such matters as rhetorical situation, content of the speech, symbolic representations, reception of the speech, and so on.For both Lincoln and Clinton, the rhetorical situation was a speech by a sitting president at a war memorial. In Lincoln's case, the memorial was being dedicated at a battle site from the still-waging Civil War, while for Clinton the site was a memorial to the Vietnam War, ended for nearly two decades, though still a sore point with much of the nation. Lincoln's speech was delivered on a specific occasion related to the place where the speech was being given, since a cemetery was being dedicated, while Clin
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merely burying the dead but praising them and revitalizing them in the eyes of the world. He creates a comparison between the ceremony taking place, with the all-important government officials in attendance, and the reality of the men dying on the battlefield some time before. Lincoln says that the world will not long remember the words being said on this day, for the ceremony is transient. The world will remember what these men did on the battlefield and the way they died. In truth, of course, the world has remembered both, and the world perhaps remembers what those men did more because of Lincoln's address than in spite of it (text of Address from Sandburg 444-445).
Response to the speech at the time was mixed. At the ceremony, Lincoln finished almost before he had started and well before the photographer could adjust his equipment. Applause was tardy and polite, so much so that Lincoln told a friend he thought the speech would not "scour," believing that the people were disappointed. Press comments at the time were perfunctory, and the speech was criticized by Democratic papers and praised by Republican papers:
But it had been said as Lincoln wanted to say it. . . and it said what he meant, what he felt, and what he k
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Approximate Word count = 3985
Approximate Pages = 16 (250 words per page)
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