Fifty years after his assassination, U.S. president John F. Kennedy still attracts widespread fascination and admiration, even among Canadians. It鈥檚 a testimony to the power of words.
Historians and scholars do not place Kennedy among the top 10 U.S. presidents for achievement and effective leadership. They say his achievements didn鈥檛 match his oratory, but let鈥檚 not dismiss the value of that oratory. A leader needs to be able to inspire and motivate, and Kennedy, despite his many flaws, reached millions with his powerful words, beginning with his inaugural address:
鈥淎sk not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.鈥�
Pierre Trudeau was not universally loved as a prime minister, yet he is one of our most memorable, largely because of his effective use of words: 鈥淲e wish nothing more, but we will accept nothing less. Masters in our own house we must be, but our house is the whole of sa国际传媒.鈥�
Britain鈥檚 wartime prime minister Winston Churchill鈥檚 naked ambition and self-promotion, First World War blunders and political scheming are largely forgotten, shoved aside in collective memory by speeches of greatness during the Second World War: 鈥淲e shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.鈥�
Would that we had leaders today who could communicate with such power, rather than a tight-lipped administrator who mainly leaves us wondering what is going on.
