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

Closings in action

Let's analyze some closings from actual speeches.

The conclusion of Lincoln's second inaugural address, March 4, 1865, provides a wonderful example of a direct appeal, or ''asking for the order'':

With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations.

Lincoln's appeal to the nation was clear and strong, a fitting way to conclude the speech.

Here is a closing, from a speech by an executive of Visa International, ...