The Greatest Speech of All Time

[SumDood]

The Greatest Speech of All Time

Wow, just felt like I had to share this. Charlie Chaplin from the film The Great Dictator. Absolutely incredible.

 

[NoahFence]

Harrumph!!!!

 

[Keeper]

Pure method from the moustache.

 

[Johny2x4]

That speech is pure awesome.

 

[Jungle Jim]

The Greatest Speech of All Time

Wow, just felt like I had to share this. Charlie Chaplin from the film The Great Dictator. Absolutely incredible.

Except that it is not a speech (as I take the word to mean in the context you imply). It is a monologue from a film (well done, to be sure). Here is a list that more accurately addresses the OP (American version): http://www.americanrhetoric.com/top100speechesall.html

 

[JoeTheJuggler]

Here is a list that more accurately addresses the OP (American version): http://www.americanrhetoric.com/top100speechesall.html

And limited to the 20th Century.

 

[rjh01]

There is even a doctor who reference in the OP.

 

[TheGoldcountry]

Warn people to listen without video. The video is well thought out, but I think each viewer might gain something by listening with eyes closed. Which is ironic, considering that the author is famous for silent films.

 

[Foolmewunz]

It's a good speech (but the video blows chunks), but greatest speech of all time? Not by many a mile. (Andy my politics are very sympathetic to what the little barber was saying.)

The greatest oratory of all times is impossible to choose, of course because we weren't there for it. No, I don't know what it was - that's the point. But Lincoln's Gettysburg Address is right up there. As are some of Churchill's WWII speeches. MLK? Pretty hard to match.

And the thing is that these guys actually inspired people to do something. Chaplin's speech is from a film and it didn't do much of anything, cause any new movements, nor change many minds. It's just feel-good affirmation.

I think the litmus test of a great speech is whether it can sell you on something you don't believe in normally. So at that level I'd rate Henry V's St. Crispin's Day Speech(Shakespeare) as possibly the greatest fictional speech I've ever heard. It goes against my very fibre, but I find myself wanting to get out there and get all hacked up with Henry when I hear it.

Try someone whose opinions repulse you. Louis Farrakhan, for instance. I heard a speech of his when he was deriding Jessie Jackson as no longer being in touch with black America and it was awesome. (As in open-mouthed wonder at his abilities in both rhetoric and oratory.)

I also understand from native speakers that Hitler's oratory was frighteningly good. Old Adolf knew how to work a room, that's for certain.

 

[MaGZ]

H.L. Mencken wrote: “Gerald L.K. Smith is the greatest orator of them all, not the greatest by an inch or a foot or a yard or a mile, but the greatest by at least two light years. He begins where the best leaves off.”

Gerald L.K. Smith
http://en.metapedia.org/wiki/Gerald_L._K._Smith

 

[geni]

Gerald L.K. Smith
http://en.metapedia.org/wiki/Gerald_L._K._Smith

Ah good old metapedia. Written by nazis for nazis.

 

[Captain Obvious]

I also understand from native speakers that Hitler's oratory was frighteningly good. Old Adolf knew how to work a room, that's for certain.

I would agree. Not particularly from the content of his speeches but from the way he delivered them, and the kind of manic energy he transmitted in them.

I think the fact that Hitler was the best rhetorician of the 20th Century meant that powerful public speaking has been rather frowned upon since then; it has come to be seen as an inherently dodgy and dangerous means of appraising political leaders.

 

[Foolmewunz]

H.L. Mencken wrote: “Gerald L.K. Smith is the greatest orator of them all, not the greatest by an inch or a foot or a yard or a mile, but the greatest by at least two light years. He begins where the best leaves off.”

Gerald L.K. Smith
http://en.metapedia.org/wiki/Gerald_L._K._Smith

You know we won't click on Metapedia or Stormfront links, MaGZ. Have you actually heard Smith speak? He's good, but doesn't hold a candle to Farrakhan as rabble-rousing rhetorical speakers go. Like Farrakhan, though, you can't get past the yucky parts - with Smith it's where he starts blaming Jews, Communism, the Supreme Court et al and crediting Jesus and the flag with being the only forces that can save us.

Smith:



That's not exactly brilliant oratory. It's Hollywood style patter. It fits right in with the OP. Except that he wasn't kidding. The miscreant believed all his crap. Again, though, ignoring the propaganda and just evaluating his speaking ability, I'd give him a distant fifteenth place to the likes of Jackson, MLK and even Farrakhan. (These are people who all come from black preaching backgrounds, of course. The blacks had the power of the word and only the power of the word going for them and it's evident.)

Agree with him or not (same premise as above), don't tell me this isn't an incredible orator at work.

Farrakhan:





Disclaimer: Both of the above are posted with the assumption that most people will disagree with both of the speakers. I'm using the examples in keeping with my contention above that you judge great speakers and great speeches on the ability to move the audiences.

 

[The Central Scrutinizer]

The Greatest Speech of All Time

Wow, just felt like I had to share this. Charlie Chaplin from the film The Great Dictator. Absolutely incredible.

No.

 

[Debaser]

Not the greatest, but a case of knowing your audience...how do you persuade a group of cynical politicians to continue a fight you appear to have already lost? By suggesting that they are all of them better men than you, and heroes, every one;

... And I am convinced that every one of you would rise up and tear me down from my place if I were for one moment to contemplate parley or surrender. If this long island story of ours is to end at last, let it end only when each one of us lies choking in his own blood upon the ground.

Cue cheers...

 

[jenspen]

I would agree. Not particularly from the content of his speeches but from the way he delivered them, and the kind of manic energy he transmitted in them.

I think the fact that Hitler was the best rhetorician of the 20th Century meant that powerful public speaking has been rather frowned upon since then; it has come to be seen as an inherently dodgy and dangerous means of appraising political leaders.

Yes. There was an instance in Australia on Remembrance Day 1975 of a political leader, Gough Whitlam, giving a brief impromptu speech to a baying crowd on the steps of parliament house. Because of his physical and intellectual stature he managed a few inspiring moments of great drama. I read somewhere that Olivier studied the filmed report to pick up tips. At the time some of us were full of rage and enthusiasm.

Fortunately, we Australians are a meek and law-abiding folk. We followed the proper procedures and no blood was spilt.

Mark Anthony's oration over the body of Caesar is another great, not entirely honest, speech. I think my favourite is Pericles Funeral Oration:"Therefore, having judged that to be happy means to be free, and to be free means to be brave, do not shy away from the risks of war". Not unlike the great Gettysburg Address.

 

[FattyCatty]

Here's Time's Top 10 Speeches of All Time. After reading them (all but Reagan's), I would reorder the list based on the chills-it-gave-me factor. My order is:

• Lincoln
• Churchill
• Martin Luther King
• Patrick Henry
• Lyndon Baines Johnson
• Frederick Douglass
• John F. Kennedy
• Susan B. Anthony
• Socrates
• Chief Joseph "Surrender Speech" (to replace Reagan)

And just for fun, William Lyon Phelps, The Pleasure of Books, 1933

 

[Garrette]

Here's Time's Top 10 Speeches of All Time. After reading them (all but Reagan's), I would reorder the list based on the chills-it-gave-me factor. My order is:

• Lincoln
• Churchill
• Martin Luther King
• Patrick Henry
• Lyndon Baines Johnson
• Frederick Douglass
• John F. Kennedy
• Susan B. Anthony
• Socrates
• Chief Joseph "Surrender Speech" (to replace Reagan)

And just for fun, William Lyon Phelps, The Pleasure of Books, 1933

The Chief Joseph speech is quite moving. Unfortunately, it is likely (though not certain) that he never said it. iirc, the young reporter covering the story likely wrote it to enhance the drama of his report.

 

[FattyCatty]

The Chief Joseph speech is quite moving. Unfortunately, it is likely (though not certain) that he never said it. iirc, the young reporter covering the story likely wrote it to enhance the drama of his report.

Oh dear. Well, even as a made-up speech, I prefer it to anything Reagan said. I'll think of it as having a speech writer.

Although, when I Google it, there may be less liklihood that he didn't say that or something very similar.

http://www.nezperce.com/npedu11.html

Chief Joseph's Surrender Speech at Bears Paw Battle
October 5, 1877​

Tell General Howard I know his Heart. What He told me before I have in my heart. I am tired of fighting, Looking Glass is dead. too-Hul-hul-sote is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say yes or no. He who led on the young men is dead. It is cold and we have no blankets. The little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food; no one knows where they are--perhpas freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my chiefs. I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever." <sup>1

1</sup> Brown, Mark H., The Flight of the Nez Perce, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, NE, 1967, p. 407.

Historical Note: Mark Brown may have been one of the first Historians to question whether or not Joseph actually gave the surrender speech as taken by Lieutenant C. E. S. Wood. Or, did Lt. Wood paraphrase Joseph's words. Please refer to page 407 of "The flight of the Nez Perce" for discussion.

It should be noted that the Speech is consistent with Joseph's eloquence as a speaker. It is reasonable to assume that the surrender speech was very near what Lt. Wood reported or perhaps edited slightly as Lt. Wood was later trying to recall and document Joseph's words. It should also be noted that Lt. Wood made the transcription of the speech at time of delivery and that both Lt. Wood and General Howard may have edited the transcription.

From page 429 of An Indian's Views of Indian Affairs [pp. 412-434], Authors: Joseph, Young, Chief of the Nez Perces; Hare, W. H., Right Rev., D.D.

<snip>
On the fifth day I went to General Miles and gave up my gun, and said, "From where the sun now stands I will fight no more." My people need rest--we wanted peace.

 

[alfaniner]

Remember that great speech Archer gave at the Assembly of delegates, that forged a new Star Federation alliance? No?

Because all they did was talk about it and not show it. Possibly the worst final episode in history. (Enterprise)