We here at The Cup of Joe are thankful, very thankful, that U.S. News & World Report editors, in confidently declaring The Gettysburg Address to be "America's Greatest Speech" on its most recent cover, opted for this most eloquent and brilliant expression instead of, say, the Sally Field "you really like me" Oscar acceptance speech.However, we also believe that many historians (and as a construction worker I can't count myself to be a historian) would argue that the Gettysburg Address can't possibly be "America's greatest speech" because it probably wasn't even Lincoln's greatest speech.
These historians would probably point to the extraordinary words (and historical context) of his Second Inaugural, and they might say that his famous "Address at Cooper Union" (Feb. 27, 1860) was so masterful that it propelled a failed politician and a relatively unknown country lawyer right into the White House, and that maybe these speeches are even more extraordinary than The Gettysburg Address, and that maybe declaring something as the "best ever" might sell magazines but is really a little silly and a little self-important.When 1,500 New Yorkers listened to Lincoln for 45 minutes at Cooper Union, they really, really liked him, just as America would later embrace Sally Field.
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1 comment:
Google "Jewish Rabbi Molestation boy" and you will find many hits about Rabbi's who are pedophiles (mostly local papers and Jewish journals). Where is the Major National Media coverage on this? It is supressed to prevent anti-Semitism. But it is open season on Catholics. Phil Donohue, Ted Kennedy, and Rudolph Gulianni are liberal pro gay pro choice Catholics. They go to church. Hollywood and The Media lie.
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