Lessons in public speaking, circa 1940…

Writing always happens when I read on a regular basis. This is the natural order of things–yin/yang, always in balance. So I finished reading one book tonight, and will start with another tomorrow. And if I can get a good few thousand words from the inspiration the reading affords, all the better…

I used to teach MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech in my Rhetoric courses at Iowa. We held it up and dissected it as one of the classics. Then, we’d always show other student speeches–good and bad–and dissect those. This one, from the 1940s, I think is still a perfectly cromulent example of how using exact words can help your public speaking skills. (“Why, Pete, you express your ideas very well. But here, these words you use–they sound good. Where’d you learn all those words?”) Enjoy: