The contrast between President Bidenâs first address to Congress last Wednesday night and the Republican response delivered by Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) reminded me of another occasion between one long-winded and another profound speaker.
It was 1863 and the nationally known orator Edward Everett was the featured speaker in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to commemorate the soldiers who had died during that terrible battle.
Everettâs speech was 1,607 words and lasted two hours. He was followed by President Abraham Lincoln, whose far more famous address, once memorized by schoolchildren as âThe Gettysburg Address,â was 275 words and took a mere two minutes.
Everett later wrote Lincoln, praising his brief remarks for their âeloquent simplicity and appropriateness. ⦠I should be glad, if I could flatter myself that I came as near to the central idea of the occasion, in two hours, as you did in two minutes.â