European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 28, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 18 a Olurin the stars and stripes monday september 28, 19b7 speech borrow no Days Are past say it Ain t so Joe moaned the dismayed sup porters of sen. Joseph r. Biden jr., formerly a demo cratic presidential hopeful in lanes Echois of the fans of baseball s shoeless Ioe Jackson when it was discovered that their idol had Faill Cisily sold out to the gamblers in i he 1919 world series. The cause of the Biden followers dismay was what members of the Judson Wal liver society he Organiza Liim of former while House speech writers Call heavy lifting borrowing at length and Wilhour attribution the rhythms thought patterns and sometimes he words of another orator. Why is it that Joe Biden is the first in his family Ever logo to a University i cd the candidate who has since withdrawn in a rousing finale o a debate at the Loua slate fair. Is it because our fathers and mothers were not Bright. Is it because they did t work hard my ancestors who worked in the Coal mines of Northeast Pennsylvania and would come up after 12 hours and play football for four hours these rhetorical questions were answered with a ringing it s because they did t have a platform upon which to thai was a fail scr Diller of a peroration warning egalitarian hearts until Maureen Dowd a reporter for the new York times printed excerpts from a speech by Neil Kinlock Leader of Britain s labor party made several months before Why am i the first Kinlock in a thousand generations to be Able to get to University. Was it because All our predecessors were thick was it because they were weak those people who could work eight hours underground and then come up and play football weak. It was because there was no platform upon Wlinich they could As an old hand at the Dodge and a longtime specialist in is thrilling peroration division my first reaction was to wince at the formalistic upon which construction. Although it enabled the speaker to conclude with the Strong word stand the ostentatiously careful grammar conflicts with the common Man Point a More forceful conclusion would be no plat form to stand with spoken emphasis on stand. Focused on this particular tree however i missed the Forest of moral outrage that sprang up to deride he heavy lifter. I m going Back to Gary Hart said one embittered Democrat. At least he did t steal that girl from some far lefty in maybe my familiarity with rhetorical borrowing has left me insensitive to the Shock of recognition. I re member listening to John f. Kennedy s inaugural with its stirring line in your hands my fellow citizens More than mine will rest the final Success or failure of our i had to Admire the Way writer Ted Sorn san evoked the rhythm of the line in the Lincoln first inaugural in your hands my dissatisfied fellow countrymen and not in mine is the momentous Issue of civil Kennedy subtly corrected Lincoln s redundancy of fellow countrymen that was especially As tute what s wrong with such evocation Winston Churchill writing his ringing 1940 speech about de fending his Island by fighting on the beaches in the streets Etc. Recalled Georges Clemcnceau s Defiance in 1918 "1 shall fight in front of Paris within Paris behind Clemcnceau in turn was paraphrasing marshal Ferdinand Foch on Amiens that sort of boosting a is pejorative term than lifting and certainly far from plagiarizing rooted in the latin for kidnapping is done All the Lime. Time for confession. I always admired Franklin d. Roosevelt s use of the repeated / see construction begun in his 1937 i see one third of a nation ill housed ill Clad ill nourished " working with writers Samuel i. Rosenman and Robert e. Sherwood in 1940, for collaborated on a speech that used / see to Frame an inspiring vision i see an America where Factor workers Are not Dis carded after they reach their prime.,. See an Ameri Ca whose Rivers and valleys and lakes. Are protected As the rightful heritage of All the people. 1 Sec an America devoted to our Freedom working As a speechwriter for Richard Ninon in 1968, i thought Why not lift it Adlai Stevenson had already adapted the pattern to a series of paragraphs that began with / look Forward to which pics Ideal Kennedy had lifted in 1963 i look Forward to a great future for America a future in which our country will match its military strength with our moral restraint. I look Forward to an America which will not be afraid of Grace and Beauty. And i look Forward to a world which will be Safe not Only for democracy and diversity but a so for personal always a slam Bane formal for a peroration. So Richard Nixon told the Republican convention i see a Day when americans Are once again proud of their Flag. I see a Day when the preside no of the United states is respected and his office is honoured because it is worthy of respect and worthy of Honor. I see a Day when our nation is at peace and the world is Al after that speech i Felt a Little Pang of guilt some spark of conscience had not been totally extinguished in the peroration Dodge and i called judge Rosen Man to fuss up to using the / Sec construction he and Bobby Sherwood had written for Roosevelt. Check Robert Ingersoll about 10 Yean after the civil War replied the Man for called Sammy the with the help of the Library of Congress i tracked Down the speeches of the orator who coined the sobriquet the plumed Knight in the rousing nominating speech for candidate James Elaine. There was the source of for s i see s in an Ingersoll speech in 1876 i see our country filled with Happy Homes. I see a world where i broncs have crumbled. I Sec a world where labor reaps its full Reward. I Sec a world without the beggar s outstretched Palm. And As i look life lengthens Joy deepens love canopies the Earth and Over All in the great dome shines the Eter Nal Star 9f human that is the sort of ending to a speech that demos thenes would have considered a grabber. I never credited Sam Rosenman and Rosenman never credited the Guy who wrote it for Ingersoll Why should the Biden speechwriter have Given a Public Pat on the Back to the Hack who pounds away for Kinlock
