Synopses & Reviews
With vivid insight and rousing examples,
The Presidents Speech takes apart Americas most important presidential addresses, phrase by phrase, and examines the pivotal, often familiar, and always potent language that presidents past used to mold public opinion.
Author and speechwriter Edwin Vilade provides the framework for each speech, both within the context of its era and also as a point on a timeline of our countrys long history. Starting at George Washingtons Farewell Address and ending with George W. Bushs Axis of Evil State of the Union speech, Vilade reveals the varied and often conflicting points of view that shaped the final famous words.
Color facsimiles show actual edits, deletions, additions, and handwritten notes to illustrate how remarkable and forceful language was crafted, sometimes at the last minute, into enduring words made famous by their timing, context, delivery, and power, from the 1823 Monroe Doctrine to Ronald Reagans “tear down that wall, Mr. Gorbachev” speech at Berlins Brandenburg Gate, revealing political and social currents that frame these words for modern times.
Synopsis
A readable analysis of 25 momentous presidential speeches that provides context and understanding of events and history, illustrated with facsimiles of supporting documents, notes, and drafts that together formed the final speech.
Synopsis
When Abraham Lincoln rose to address the assembled crowd after taking the oath of office as president, he began by stating that he was doing so in compliance with “a custom as old as the government itself.” He was correct. Over more than two centuries since the election of George Washington, presidents have addressed the American people thousands, if not tens of thousands of times. Although they direct their words to the audiences seated and standing in front of them, all presidents have been aware that their words would eventually reach to the furthest corners of the ever-expanding country. Direct communication between the chief executive and the citizenry is a bedrock tradition in America, and a hallmark of democracy.—From the Introduction
About the Author
Charles Edwin (Ed) Vilade is an author, speechwriter and communications consultant who has written for two U.S. Presidents, two Vice Presidents, numerous Cabinet officials, heads of multinational corporations and other public figures. Born in England, he was raised in the United States and holds a Bachelors degree in Public Communications from Virginia Commonwealth University and a Masters degree in Speech Communication from Syracuse University, specializing in the study of rhetoric.
Vilade began his career as a sportswriter and later was an editorial writer and news editor on daily newspapers. He became an editor of energy magazines before joining the U.S. government in 1974. He served in communications positions with government energy organizations and also at the White House during the Ford and Carter administrations. In 1977, he helped to organize the communications function for the U.S. Department of Energy when it was formed, later serving as special assistant to the Deputy Secretary of Energy and as director of media relations before becoming chief speechwriter. During the energy crises of the 1970s, he wrote the government-wide emergency communications plans for use during an oil embargo, and in the event of imposition of nationwide gasoline rationing.
His other government posts included special assistant for communications to the Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade and speechwriter for the Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Between periods of government appointment, Vilade was variously executive writer, director of executive communications and manager of public policy issues for several of the largest energy companies in the U.S. For the past 15 years, he has headed his own communications firm, with an international clientele. He is the author of many published articles on subjects such as energy, environment, international trade and finance. He also has written and lectured extensively on rhetoric and communication techniques.
Table of Contents
PRESIDENTIAL SPEECHES TABLE OF CONTENTS
George Washington - Farewell Address (including drafts by James Madison), 1796
Thomas Jefferson - First Inaugural Address, 1801
James Monroe - Seventh Address to the Congress on the State of the Union (containing his statement of the Monroe Doctrine) 1823
John Quincy Adams - (Post-Presidential) Supreme Court argument in defense of slaves accused of mutiny aboard the slave ship Amistad, 1841.
Abraham Lincoln - First Inaugural Address (Including language proposed by William Seward), 1861.
Abraham Lincoln - Second Inaugural Address, 1865.
Theodore Roosevelt - The Man with the Muck Rake, 1906
Woodrow Wilson - War Message to Congress (The World Must be Made Safe for Democracy), 1917.
Woodrow Wilson - The 14 Points (Plans for a post-war world, principally authored by the later-distinguished commentator Walter Lippmann), 1918.
Calvin Coolidge -- The Press Under a Free Government (drafted by the first Presidential speechwriter, Judson Welliver), 1925.
Franklin D. Roosevelt - First Inaugural Address, 1933.
Franklin D. Roosevelt - The Four Freedoms, 1941.
Franklin D. Roosevelt -- Address to Congress after bombing of Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941.
Harry S. Truman - The Truman Doctrine, Address to Congress 1947.
Dwight D. Eisenhower - Farewell Address (Military-Industrial Complex Speech), 1961,
John F. Kennedy - Inaugural Address (Ask Not….), 1960.
John F. Kennedy -Rice University Address (We Choose to Go to the Moon), 1962.
Lyndon B. Johnson - The American Promise, 1965.
Richard Nixon - “Silent Majority” speech, 1969
Jimmy Carter - “Crisis of Confidence” speech, 1979.
Ronald Reagan - Speech at the Brandenburg Gate (Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall), 1987.
Ronald Reagan - 40th Anniversary of D-Day speech (The Boys of Pointe du Hoc), 1984.
George H.W. Bush - Inaugural Speech (Thousand Points of Light), 1989.
Bill Clinton - “I Have Sinned speech (handwritten by Clinton), 1998.
George W. Bush - State of the Union speech, 2002 (Axis of Evil speech), 2002.