The 20th century has had such progress that it's harder to make great speeches. When you're arguing to a 60 million people democracy or in your case, far, far more than that, you're having to be more demonic. The audacity of building a space program from nothing and putting a man on the moon in seven years is the type of thing we don't get anymore in our speeches. It's not even John F. Kennedy's best speech. I put his inaugural address at American University above it, but it's my favourite.
To celebrate some of the most influential and impactful speeches ever made, we invited Barack Obama’s director of speechwriting, Cody Keenan and Tony Blair’s former speechwriter, Philip Collins, to discuss the power of the spoken word. Our host was journalist and presenter Emily Maitlis, with actors including Jeremy Irons and Carey Mulligan joining us to reenact speeches that have defined pivotal moments in history.
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