The Lost Art of the Great Speech: How to Write It * How to Deliver It

"The Name American Must Always Exalt Pride"

Some 165 years before President Eisenhower delivered his "last goodnight," another president, George Washington, bade his farewell. In that speech, delivered in March 1797, President Washington announced that he would not serve a third term and offered some advice that our political leaders of today would do well to follow. The antiquated language sounds stilted to modern ears, but the speech is well worth reading and studying:

Friends and fellow citizens: The period for a new election of a citizen to administer the executive government of the United States being not far distant, and the time having actually arrived when your thoughts must be employed in designating the person who is to be clothed with ...