Speechwriting: Get To The Point
“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.”
In the pantheon of famous American speeches, Abraham Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address" is usually ranked number one.
Two hundred and seventy-two words.
If brevity is the soul of wit, then certainly the Gettysburg Address is the most memorable of all speeches:
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.
Most speeches don’t need to be this short. But as not one word is wasted, it is a model to emulate.
Contrast this with former Secretary of State Edward Everett, who spoke earlier the same day. He gave a 2-hour speech about the significance and tragedy of the Battle of Gettysburg. Despite its eloquence and praiseworthiness, it was overshadowed by Lincoln’s pithy words and is forgotten today.
When writing your next speech, be bold, be direct and get to the point.
Join us at our next meeting. We’re on Zoom during the pandemic.