On June 6, 1944, the Normandy landings commenced. Forty years later, President Ronald Reagan (who died on June 5, 2004) eloquently commemorated the event.
“We stand on a lonely, windswept point on the northern shore of France,” Reagan proclaimed. “The air is soft, but 40 years ago at this moment, the air was dense with smoke and the cries of men, and the air was filled with the crack of rifle fire and the roar of cannon.”
“These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc,” he said. “These are the men who took the cliffs. These are the champions who helped free a continent. These are the heroes who helped end a war…”
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Ronald Reagan was around to give that speech because he survived an assassination attempt outside a Hilton hotel in 1981. But on June 6, 1968, Robert F. Kennedy was running for president when he was shot and killed as he walked through the Ambassador hotel’s kitchen.
As I’ve discussed before, one of my favorite speeches was RFK’s remarks, announcing the death of Martin Luther King, Jr.
It was a remarkable speech, partly because he was warned not to go into this poor section of Indianapolis — certainly not on that night. Thanks to his speech (most likely), Indianapolis slept in peace as other cities rioted and burned.
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In 1967, Bobby Kennedy and Ronald Reagan debated each other, an event which reportedly prompted RFK to ask an aide, ‘Who the f—- got me into this?‘
The two men were different, of course, but each, in his own way, delivered a memorable and historic speech. And in an age when everything is now poll tested and focus grouped, it’s worth noting that Reagan and Kennedy had panache. What is more, both speeches included flourishes of poetry and romance.
RFK quoted Aeschylus (“In our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair…comes wisdom…through the awful grace of God.”)
“I look at you and I think of the words of Stephen Spender’s poem,” Reagan said. “You are men who in your ‘lives fought for life . . . and left the vivid air signed with your honor.'”
Today seems like a good day to remember them. And their speeches.