Preface

What’s Past Is Prologue

My first experience with the power of the spoken word came on December 8, 1941, when, as a child, I joined my father and mother at the family Philco radio to hear President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor, deliver his stirring Day of Infamy speech. I’ll never forget how he concluded, his rich voice reverberating: “With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounded determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph. So help us God.” In that exhilarating moment, Roosevelt’s potent words pierced through our dismay, lifted our spirits, and restored our confidence in our nation and in our future.

Later, I learned more about the ability of words to move ...

Get Produce Powerful Presentations (Collection) now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.