Appendix
Anatomy of a Speech
We’re often asked who our favorite speakers are and what we thought of this speech or that one. It’s both hard and easy to answer. It’s difficult because speaker styles and contexts vary so dramatically. And does “great” speaking equal admiration or effectiveness? For example, the question we get a lot is whether Adolf Hitler was a good speaker. Well, arguably, yes. He galvanized a nation with his words and dynamic delivery. He was also adept at appealing to the angst and frustration Germans felt after being defeated in World War I. On the other hand, Hitler’s intentions were despicable and he used his oratory skills for nefarious purposes. See how evaluating can get tricky?
That being said, we do have perennial favorites like Ann Richards’s speech at the 1988 Democratic Convention. More recently, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D–MA) delivered a new classic on the floor of the U.S. Senate. What made these speeches so impressive to us? In this section, we’ll tell you why we think they worked. Incidentally, both women were debaters in school.
Anatomy of a Speech: Gov. Ann Richards
Atlanta, GA
July 19, 1988
Ann Richards burst onto the national political stage when she delivered an electrifying keynote address at the 1988 Democratic National Convention. At the time, she was relatively unknown outside her native Texas, where she served as that state’s treasurer. But on a July evening in Atlanta, the 54-year-old, white-haired Texan with the mega-watt wit stepped up to the podium and captivated a nation. She would go on to serve as the 45th governor of Texas. The speech she delivered that night at the DNC is often listed as one of the greatest speeches in modern times. We think it is one of the best, too. In a nutshell, it is a carefully crafted presentation delivered with zest, down home Southern charm, and memorable zingers.
Richards was known to only a handful of the more than 4,000 delegates from all over the United States when she stepped onto the stage. She, like the delegates, was a Democrat, but that seemed to be the only thing Richards had in common with them. How was she going to make a connection with so many different types of people from all over? What makes her introduction so truly remarkable is that she is able to personally connect with more than half the audience within the span of only 60 seconds. Let’s look a little closer.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, very much.
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Buenas noches, mis amigos.
She spoke Spanish in the second sentence. If you’re a Spanish speaker and suddenly you hear Spanish, your ears are going to perk up. You might think, “Hey, this woman is speaking my language. Let’s see what she’s all about.”
I’m delighted to be here with you this evening, because after listening to George Bush all these years, I figured you needed to know what a real Texas accent sounds like.
By highlighting her Texas accent, she was speaking to Southerners in the room—and there were a lot of them. It was also a jab at George H.W. Bush, who was born in Massachusetts and raised in Connecticut.
Twelve years ago, Barbara Jordan, another Texas woman, made the keynote address to this convention, and two women in 160 years is about par for the course.
Barbara Jordan, also a formidable speaker in her own right, was an African-American woman. Richards deftly brought these groups of delegates—African Americans and women—into the conversation.
But if you give us a chance, we can perform. After all, Ginger Rogers did everything that Fred Astaire did. She just did it backwards and in high heels.
Richards puts a “button” on the point that women are more than capable and have been proving it for years. The point is, a woman’s accomplishments sometimes go unnoticed.
I want to announce to this Nation that in a little more than 100 days, the Reagan-Meese-Deaver-Nofziger-Poindexter-North-Weinberger-Watt-Gorsuch-Lavelle-Stockman-Haig-Bork-Noriega-George Bush [era] will be over!
These are major political personalities from the era and represented what Democrats regarded as the Bush administration’s failings. Richards received wild applause.
You know, tonight I feel a little like I did when I played basketball in the 8th grade. I thought I looked real cute in my uniform. And then I heard a boy yell from the bleachers, “Make that basket, bird legs.” And my greatest fear is that same guy is somewhere out there in the audience tonight, and he’s going to cut me down to size, because where I grew up there really wasn’t much tolerance for self-importance, people who put on airs.
Richards showed vulnerability by telling this story, which made her human and relatable. This story transitioned beautifully into talking about small town Texas life and the values she grew up with.
I was born during the Depression in a little community just outside Waco, and I grew up listening to Franklin Roosevelt on the radio. Well, it was back then that I came to understand the small truths and the hardships that bind neighbors together. Those were real people with real problems and they had real dreams about getting out of the Depression. I can remember summer nights when we’d put down what we called the Baptist pallet and we listened to the grown-ups talk. I can still hear the sound of the dominoes clicking on the marble slab my daddy had found for a tabletop.
As we know, stories are powerful, and Richards told this story brilliantly, putting us in that backyard and yearning for a simpler time. The sound of the dominos adds an auditory element that made it multi-sensory. She also brings up FDR, an icon in American politics, a Democrat who led the country out of the Great Depression.
I can still hear the laughter of the men telling jokes you weren’t supposed to hear—talkin’ about how big that old buck deer was, laughin’ about mama puttin’ Clorox in the well when the frog fell in.
They talked about war and Washington and what this country needed. They talked straight talk. And it came from people who were living their lives as best they could. And that’s what we’re gonna do tonight. We’re gonna tell how the cow ate the cabbage.
The colloquialism “how the cow ate the cabbage” was an excellent transition into her main arguments. Now, even if you don’t know what that means, the audience she was speaking to did, which continued to increase her relatability and connection with them.
I got a letter last week from a young mother in Lorena, Texas, and I wanna read part of it to you. She writes,
“Our worries go from pay day to pay day, just like millions of others. And we have two fairly decent incomes, but I worry how I’m going to pay the rising car insurance and food. I pray my kids don’t have a growth spurt from August to December, so I don’t have to buy new jeans. We buy clothes at the budget stores and we have them fray and fade and stretch in the first wash. We ponder and try to figure out how we’re gonna pay for college and braces and tennis shoes. We don’t take vacations and we don’t go out to eat. Please don’t think me ungrateful. We have jobs and a nice place to live, and we’re healthy. We’re the people you see every day in the grocery stores, and we obey the laws. We pay our taxes. We fly our flags on holidays and we plod along trying to make it better for ourselves and our children and our parents. We aren’t vocal anymore. I think maybe we’re too tired. I believe that people like us are forgotten in America.”
Richards read off what appeared to be the actual letter, thus lending authenticity. However, it was clear that she had the passage memorized and only referred to it occasionally. Illuminating a family’s struggle did more than any statistic could and humanized the conditions of the working poor.
Well of course you believe you’re forgotten, because you have been.
She talked back to the letter, but addressed the audience. This was a fantastic rhetorical strategy because it brought the discussion back into the arena.
This Republican Administration treats us as if we were pieces of a puzzle that can’t fit together.
Richards uses the analogy of a puzzle, which gives the audience a shortcut to her point.
They’ve tried to put us into compartments and separate us from each other. Their political theory is “divide and conquer.” They’ve suggested time and time again that what is of interest to one group of Americans is not of interest to anyone else. We’ve been isolated. We’ve been lumped into that sad phraseology called “special interests.”
She sets up her argument that we are used as special interests before launching into several examples of how this is ultimately used against us.
They’ve told farmers that they were selfish, that they would drive up food prices if they asked the government to intervene on behalf of the family farm, and we watched farms go on the auction block while we bought food from foreign countries.
Well, that’s wrong!
They told working mothers it’s all their fault—their families are falling apart because they had to go to work to keep their kids in jeans and tennis shoes and college. And they’re wrong!
In the next section, Richards repeats the word wrong after each of her examples and she builds the momentum and energy of the word as she goes.
They told American labor they were trying to ruin free enterprise by asking for 60 days’ notice of plant closings, and that’s wrong. And they told the auto industry and the steel industry and the timber industry and the oil industry, companies being threatened by foreign products flooding this country, that you’re “protectionist” if you think the government should enforce our trade laws. And that is wrong. When they belittle us for demanding clean air and clean water for trying to save the oceans and the ozone layer, that’s wrong.
No wonder we feel isolated and confused. We want answers and their answer is that “something is wrong with you.”
Well nothing’s wrong with you.
Nothing’s wrong with you that you can’t fix in November!
Richards expertly takes a negative and makes it a positive.
We’ve been told—we’ve been told that the interests of the South and the Southwest are not the same interests as the North and the Northeast. They pit one group against the other. They’ve divided this country and, in our isolation, we think government isn’t gonna help us, and we’re alone in our feelings. We feel forgotten. Well, the fact is that we are not an isolated piece of their puzzle. We are one nation. We are the United States of America.
Now we Democrats believe that America is still the county of fair play, that we can come out of a small town or a poor neighborhood and have the same chance as anyone else; and it doesn’t matter whether we are black or Hispanic or disabled or a women [sic]. We believe that America is a country where small business owners must succeed, because they are the bedrock, backbone of our economy.
One of the strongest ideals in America is one of fair play and equality. Richards uses this idea to her advantage. It hints to the story she told earlier in the speech about growing up in simpler times.
We believe that our kids deserve good daycare and public schools. We believe our kids deserve public schools where students can learn and teachers can teach. And we wanna believe that our parents will have a good retirement and that we will too. We Democrats believe that social security is a pact that cannot be broken.
We wanna believe that we can live out our lives without the terrible fear that an illness is going to bankrupt us and our children. We Democrats believe that America can overcome any problem, including the dreaded disease called AIDS. We believe that America is still a country where there is more to life than just a constant struggle for money. And we believe that America must have leaders who show us that our struggles amount to something and contribute to something larger—leaders who want us to be all that we can be.
Richards addresses a few of the major concerns Americans were facing at the time and, to some degree, still are.
We want leaders like Jesse Jackson. Jesse Jackson is a leader and a teacher who can open our hearts and open our minds and stir our very souls. And he has taught us that we are as good as our capacity for caring, caring about the drug problem, caring about crime, caring about education, and caring about each other.
Rev. Jesse Jackson is a noted African-American civil rights leader and by addressing him and his work, she tackles the race issue with ease.
Now, in contrast, the greatest nation of the free world has had a leader for eight straight years that has pretended that he cannot hear our questions over the noise of the helicopters. And we know he doesn’t wanna answer. But we have a lot of questions. And when we get our questions asked, or there is a leak, or an investigation, the only answer we get is, “I don’t know,” or “I forgot.”
This section refers to an ongoing feeling by many Democrats that the Bush administration avoided direct questions. The joke at the time was how reporters would ask the president questions as he boarded his helicopter, and he’d put his hand to his ear and signal as if he couldn’t hear the question.
But you wouldn’t accept that answer from your children. I wouldn’t. “Don’t tell me you ‘don’t know’ or you ‘forgot.’” We’re not going to have the America that we want until we elect leaders who are gonna tell the truth; not most days, but every day; leaders who don’t forget what they don’t want to remember. And for eight straight years George Bush hasn’t displayed the slightest interest in anything we care about. And now that he’s after a job that he can’t get appointed to, he’s like Columbus discovering America. He’s found child care. He’s found education. Poor George. He can’t help it. He was born with a silver foot in his mouth.
This last line became one of her most famous zingers from this speech and, in fact, she was remembered for it throughout her career. It accomplished two things. It said that Bush was prone to misspeaking or not speaking at all, and that he grew up rich and couldn’t relate to working people.
Well, no wonder. No wonder we can’t figure it out. Because the leadership of this nation is telling us one thing on TV and doing something entirely different. They tell us—they tell us that they’re fighting a war against terrorists. And then we find out that the White House is selling arms to the Ayatollah. They—they tell us that they’re fighting a war on drugs and then people come on TV and testify that the CIA and the DEA and the FBI knew they were flying drugs into America all along. And they’re negotiating with a dictator who is shoveling cocaine into this country like crazy. I guess that’s their Central American strategy.
Now they tell us that employment rates are great, and that they’re for equal opportunity. But we know it takes two paychecks to make ends meet today, when it used to take one. And the opportunity they’re so proud of is low-wage, dead-end jobs. And there is no major city in America where you cannot see homeless men sitting in parking lots holding signs that say, “I will work for food.”
Now my friends, we really are at a crucial point in American history. Under this Administration we have devoted our resources into making this country a military colossus. But we’ve let our economic lines of defense fall into disrepair. The debt of this nation is greater than it has ever been in our history. We fought a world war on less debt than the Republicans have built up in the last eight years. You know, it’s kind of like that brother-in-law who drives a flashy new car, but he’s always borrowing money from you to make the payments.
Well, but let’s take what they are most proudest of—that is their stand of defense. We Democrats are committed to a strong America and, quite frankly, when our leaders say to us, “We need a new weapons system,” our inclination is to say, “Well, they must be right.” But when we pay billions for planes that won’t fly, billions for tanks that won’t fire, and billions for systems that won’t work, “that old dog won’t hunt.” And you don’t have to be from Waco to know that when the Pentagon makes crooks rich and doesn’t make America strong, that it’s a bum deal.
Richards addresses a series of what Democrats perceived as Republican missteps and calls up her hometown of Waco, which at this point in the speech represents every small town in America.
Now I’m going to tell you, I’m really glad that our young people missed the Depression and missed the great Big War. But I do regret that they missed the leaders that I knew, leaders who told us when things were tough, and that we’d have to sacrifice, and that these difficulties might last for a while. They didn’t tell us things were hard for us because we were different, or isolated, or special interests. They brought us together and they gave us a sense of national purpose. They gave us Social Security and they told us they were setting up a system where we could pay our own money in, and when the time came for our retirement we could take the money out. People in the rural areas were told that we deserved to have electric lights, and they were gonna harness the energy that was necessary to give us electricity so my grandmamma didn’t have to carry that old coal oil lamp around. And they told us that they were gonna guarant[ee] when we put our money in the bank, that the money was going to be there, and it was going to be insured. They did not lie to us.
And I think one of the saving graces of Democrats is that we are candid. We talk straight talk. We tell people what we think. And that tradition and those values live today in Michael Dukakis from Massachusetts.
Richards gets to the solution for our country’s woes: the Democratic candidate, Michael Dukakis.
Michael Dukakis knows that this country is on the edge of a great new era, that we’re not afraid of change, that we’re for thoughtful, truthful, strong leadership. Behind his calm there’s an impatience to unify this country and to get on with the future. His instincts are deeply American. They’re tough and they’re generous. And personally, I have to tell you that I have never met a man who had a more remarkable sense about what is really important in life.
And then there’s my friend and my teacher for many years, Senator Lloyd Bentsen. And I couldn’t be prouder, both as a Texan and as a Democrat, because Lloyd Bentsen understands America. From the barrio to the boardroom, he knows how to bring us together, by regions, by economics, and by example. And he’s already beaten George Bush once.
A great use of alliteration is shown in “From the barrio to the boardroom.”
So, when it comes right down to it, this election is a contest between those who are satisfied with what they have and those who know we can do better. That’s what this election is really all about. It’s about the American dream—those who want to keep it for the few and those who know it must be nurtured and passed along.
Richards clearly delineates the two major candidates.
I’m a grandmother now. And I have one nearly perfect granddaughter named Lily. And when I hold that grandbaby, I feel the continuity of life that unites us, that binds generation to generation, that ties us with each other. And sometimes I spread that Baptist pallet out on the floor, and Lily and I roll a ball back and forth. And I think of all the families like mine, like the one in Lorena, Texas, like the ones that nurture children all across America. And as I look at Lily, I know that it is within families that we learn both the need to respect individual human dignity and to work together for our common good. Within our families, within our nation, it is the same.
She uses the phrase “Baptist pallet” which she used in one of her first stories, growing up outside Waco. Though it would be easy to miss, it triggers the same emotional response we felt moments earlier.
Instead of saying she spends time with her granddaughter Lily or just talks to her, Richards creates a compelling visual of rolling a ball back and forth between them. It’s also a useful metaphor about passing the ball to the next generation.
Finally, she talks about the young letter writer from Lorena, Texas, who puts a human face on the day-to-day struggles of so many people.
And as I sit there, I wonder if she’ll ever grasp the changes I’ve seen in my life—if she’ll ever believe that there was a time when blacks could not drink from public water fountains, when Hispanic children were punished for speaking Spanish in the public schools, and women couldn’t vote.
Here, Richards circles back to her memorable attention-getter: the Spanish speakers, African Americans, and the capabilities of women.
I think of all the political fights I’ve fought, and all the compromises I’ve had to accept as part payment. And I think of all the small victories that have added up to national triumphs and all the things that would never have happened and all the people who would’ve been left behind if we had not reasoned and fought and won those battles together. And I will tell Lily that those triumphs were Democratic Party triumphs.
She reinforces that the Democrats fight even against the greatest of odds and the bitterness of defeats.
I want so much to tell Lily how far we’ve come, you and I. And as the ball rolls back and forth, I want to tell her how very lucky she is that for all our difference, we are still the greatest nation on this good earth. And our strength lies in the men and women who go to work every day, who struggle to balance their family and their jobs, and who should never, ever be forgotten.
She doesn’t drop the ball. She brings it up again. Whereas lesser speakers might have let it go, she continues to use it as a metaphor.
I just hope that like her grandparents and her great-grandparents before that, Lily goes on to raise her kids with the promise that echoes in homes all across America: that we can do better, and that’s what this election is all about.
Richards’s conclusion is extremely personal, but highly relatable. Her last line encapsulates her entire speech.
Thank you very much.
Anatomy of a Speech: U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D–MA)
Washington D.C.
August 3, 2015
Planned Parenthood was in the news a lot in 2015. A lot. Widely circulated and heavily edited “undercover videos” seemed to show that the nonprofit organization was engaged in the illegal activity of selling baby body parts. Despite the fact that this is not, and has never been, the case, the videos became an instant political lightening rod. For years, Planned Parenthood has been a target of the pro-life movement for offering abortion services. As false impressions swirled feverishly, Republican Congress members were pressured by conservative groups to take legislative action. On the eve of a vote to defund Planned Parenthood, Elizabeth Warren, a rising star of the Democratic Party and senator from Massachusetts, addressed her colleagues from the floor of the U.S. Senate. Her clear and compelling argument coupled with a dynamic and confident delivery made her speech an instant classic. The vote to defund Planned Parenthood was defeated.
I come to the Senate floor today to ask my Republican colleagues a question: Do you have any idea what year it is? Did you fall down, hit your head, and think you woke up in the 1950s? Or the 1890s?
Should we call for a doctor? Because I simply cannot believe that in the year 2015, the United States Senate would be spending its time trying to defund women’s healthcare centers.
Warren opens with a pointed question, mockingly implying that the only way Republicans can be pushing this vote is if they had totally lost their minds.
You know, on second thought, maybe I shouldn’t be surprised. The Republicans have had a plan for years to strip away women’s rights to make choices over our own bodies. Just look at the recent facts.
Warren then takes the opportunity to address a history of legislation meant to take away a woman’s right to choose.
In 2013, Republicans threatened to shut down the government unless they could change the law to let employers deny women access to birth control.
In March of this year, Republicans held up a non-controversial bipartisan bill to stop human trafficking. Why? Because they demanded new anti-abortion restrictions to cover private funding meant to help the victims of human trafficking.
In the previous passage, Warren shows the “all or nothing” approach to anti-abortion restrictions Republicans are willing to go to even in the most dire of circumstances—in this case, human trafficking.
In June, House Republicans passed a budget eliminating funding for the Title X family planning program—the only federal grant program that provides birth control, HIV tests, STD screening, and other preventive services for poor and uninsured people.
Now, Warren demonstrates how much is really at stake if Planned Parenthood is defunded. The poor and uninsured people are hurt the most.
Over the past few years, Republicans have voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act more than 50 times, including the portions that require insurers to cover contraception.
And let’s be clear: it’s not just Congress. Over the past five years, Republican state legislators have passed nearly 300 new restrictions on abortion access. This year alone, Republican state legislators have passed more than 50 new restrictions on women’s access to legal healthcare.
Warren trots out the numbers. And they are meant to shock.
So Madam President, let’s be really clear about something. The Republican scheme to defund Planned Parenthood is not some sort of surprised response to a highly edited video. Nope! The Republican vote to defund Planned Parenthood is just one more piece of a deliberate, methodical, orchestrated, rightwing attack on women’s rights. And I’m sick and tired of it. Women everywhere are sick and tired of it. The American people are sick and tired of it.
The Senator’s thesis is that this isn’t about videos; it’s about a systemic and concerted effort to take away a woman’s right to choose. She also reminds Republican Senators that there are people not aligned with the pro-life lobby who vote, especially women.
Scheduling this vote during the week of a big Fox News presidential primary debate, days before candidates take trips to Iowa or New Hampshire isn’t just some clever gimmick.
This is an all-out effort to build support to take away a woman’s right to control her own body and access to medical care she may need.
Warren eliminates the notion that this is simply political grand standing but rather, again, an orchestrated effort on the part of Republicans to dismantle abortion rights in the United States.
Now this affects all of us. Whatever your age, wherever you live, I guarantee that you know someone who has used Planned Parenthood health centers. No one may mention it at Thanksgiving dinner or paste it on Facebook for the whole world to know. But just look at the facts. One in five women in America is a Planned Parenthood patient at least once in her life. Every single year, nearly 2.7 million women and men show up for help at Planned Parenthood.
Warren connects the Senators and the television audience with this issue. She makes it personal by noting that we have gone to Planned Parenthood ourselves, or know someone who has. It might not be discussed in polite conversation, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t happening. This invisible and silent population benefits greatly and, yes, they vote, too.
Why do so many people use Planned Parenthood? Because they’re nonprofit and they’re open. More than half of Planned Parenthood centers are located in areas without ready access to healthcare.
Warren brings up Planned Parenthood’s nonprofit status and the access to medical care it provides to rural areas of the country.
Women who can’t get appointments anywhere else go to Planned Parenthood for pap tests and cancer screening. Couples go to Planned Parenthood for STD treatments or pregnancy tests. Young people go to Planned Parenthood for birth control.
And yes, 3 percent of patients visit Planned Parenthood for a safe and legal abortion, with a doctor who will show compassion and care for a woman who is making one of the most difficult decisions of her entire life.
The Senator uses this opportunity to talk about the many services beyond abortion, but doesn’t skirt that issue either. She makes a point to use the words “safe” and “legal” when she says that only 3 percent of patients visit Planned Parenthood for abortions. She also makes this number emotional by saying it is the “most difficult” decision of a woman’s life.
But just to be clear, even though the abortions performed at Planned Parenthood are safe and legal, the federal government is not paying for any of them. Not. One. Dime.
For almost 40 years, the federal government has prohibited federal funding for abortions, except in the case of rape, incest, or life endangerment. Most of the money Planned Parenthood receives from the government comes in the form of Medicaid patients, for medical care provided to low-income patients. The same payments that any other doctor or clinic receives for providing cancer screenings or other medical exams.
The rest of Planned Parenthood’s federal funding comes from Title X. It provides birth control to low-income and uninsured people. The same program the House Republicans voted to cut in June.
The government doesn’t fund abortions. Period.
Now, Warren delivers the knockout punch. Again, she uses the words “safe” and “legal.” Then she makes it clear that the federal government doesn’t fund abortions at Planned Parenthood and never has.
A vote today to defund Planned Parenthood is not a vote to defund abortions. It’s a vote to defund cancer screenings and birth control and basic healthcare for millions of women.
Warren then shows the real consequences of defunding Planned Parenthood: Women across America will lose basic healthcare.
I want to say to my Republican colleagues: the year is 2015. Not 1955 and not 1895.
She returns to her attention-getter in her conclusion.
Women have lived through a world where backward-looking ideologues tried to interfere with the basic health decisions made by a woman and her doctor, and we are not going back. Not now, not ever.
Warren’s battle cry: We’re not going backward.
The Republican plan to defund Planned Parenthood is a Republican plan to defund women’s healthcare. For my daughter, for my granddaughters, for people all across Massachusetts and all across this country, I stand with Planned Parenthood. And I hope my colleagues will do the same.
Generations of women are affected, not only in the state Warren represents, but also throughout the nation. Saying she “stands” with Planned Parenthood is a powerful image. It’s solidarity, yes, but it’s also a U.S. senator saying that if you want to take away a woman’s right to choose, you’re going to have to take me down, too—and I’m not going anywhere.