Lend Me Your Ears: Great Speeches in History (138 page)

I can only guess at those burdens, although I have witnessed at close hand the tragedies that befell three presidents and the lesser trials of others.

With all the strength and all the good sense I have gained from life, with all the confidence my family, my friends, and my dedicated staff impart to me, and with the good will of countless Americans I have
encountered in recent visits to forty states, I now solemnly reaffirm my promise I made to you last December 6: to uphold the Constitution, to do what is right as God gives me to see the right, and to do the very best I can for America.

God helping me, I will not let you down.

Thank you.

“Don’t ask me to make diplomatic relations with them,” said Anwar el-Sadat in 1970, a few months before Israel’s longtime foe became president of Egypt. “Never. Never. Leave it to the coming generations to decide that, not me.” Yet it was Sadat’s willingness to go to Jerusalem, in effect recognizing the state of Israel, that broke the logjam that had existed between Arab and Jew since the foundation of the Jewish state after World War II.

Prime Minister Menachem Begin, his Israeli interlocutor, matched the Arab leader’s daring by ceding to Egypt “every inch” of Sinai territory that Egypt lost in its attacks on Israel in return for formal, peaceful relations
and security arrangements. At the Camp David meetings later presided over by President Jimmy Carter, agreement was reached, and Sadat could proudly allude to the words of the Old Testament prophet Isaiah: “Let us work together until the day comes when they beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.” Fundamentalists answered this plea with assassination in 1981.

Sadat’s speech in Arabic to the Knesset came only ten days after he told a reporter he would “go to the ends of the earth” to pursue peace, a statement that was promptly followed by Israel’s expected invitation. Although the speech broke little negotiating ground on prickly questions like the status of Jerusalem, the fact of his presence—and the personal danger he was willing to assume—charged his words with emotion. The concluding blessing,
Salam Aleikum
, is close to the Hebrew phrase
Sholom Aleichem
, meaning “Peace be with you”—and the overlapping of the languages accentuated the common desire of speaker and spoken to.

***

…I COME TO
you today on solid ground to shape a new life and to establish peace. We all love this land, the land of God; we all, Moslems, Christians, and Jews, all worship God.

Under God. God’s teachings and commandments are love, sincerity, security, and peace.

I do not blame all those who received my decision when I announced it to the entire world before the Egyptian People’s Assembly. I do not blame all those who received my decision with surprise and even with amazement—some gripped even by violent surprise. Still others interpreted it as political, to camouflage my intentions of launching a new war.

I would go so far as to tell you that one of my aides at the presidential office contacted me at a late hour following my return home from the People’s Assembly and sounded worried as he asked me, “Mr. President, what would be our reaction if Israel actually extended an invitation to you?”

I replied calmly, “I would accept it immediately. I have declared that I would go to the ends of the earth. I would go to Israel, for I want to put before the people of Israel all the facts.”

I can see the faces of all those who were astounded by my decision and had doubts as to the sincerity of the intentions behind the declaration of my decision. No one could ever conceive that the president of the biggest Arab state, which bears the heaviest burden and the main responsibility pertaining to the cause of war and peace in the Middle East, should
declare his readiness to go to the land of the adversary while we were still in a state of war….

Here I would go back to the big question: How can we achieve a durable peace based on justice? In my opinion, and I declare it to the whole world, from this forum, the answer is neither difficult nor is it impossible despite long years of feuds, blood, faction, strife, hatreds, and deep-rooted animosity.

The answer is not difficult, nor is it impossible, if we sincerely and faithfully follow a straight line.

You want to live with us, part of the world.

In all sincerity I tell you we welcome you among us with full security and safety. This in itself is a tremendous turning point, one of the landmarks of a decisive historical change. We used to reject you. We had our reasons and our fears, yes.

We refused to meet with you, anywhere, yes.

We were together in international conferences and organizations, and our representatives did not, and still do not, exchange greetings with you. Yes. This has happened and is still happening.

It is also true that we used to set as a precondition for any negotiations with you a mediator who would meet separately with each party.

Yes. Through this procedure, the talks of the first and second disengagement agreements took place.

Our delegates met in the first Geneva conference without exchanging direct word. Yes, this has happened.

Yet today I tell you, and I declare it to the whole world, that we accept to live with you in permanent peace based on justice. We do not want to encircle you or be encircled ourselves by destructive missiles ready for launching, nor by the shells of grudges and hatreds….

I hail the Israeli voices that call for the recognition of the Palestinian people’s right to achieve and safeguard peace.

Here I tell you, ladies and gentlemen, that it is no use to refrain from recognizing the Palestinian people and their right to statehood as their right of return. We, the Arabs, have faced this experience before, with you. And with the reality of the Israeli existence, the struggle which took us from war to war, from victims to more victims, until you and we have today reached the edge of a horrible abyss and a terrifying disaster unless, together, we seize this opportunity today of a durable peace based on justice.

You have to face reality bravely, as I have done. There can never be a solution to a problem by evading it or turning a deaf ear to it. Peace cannot last if attempts are made to impose fantasy concepts on which the
world has turned its back and announced its unanimous call for the respect of rights and facts.

There is no need to enter a vicious circle as to Palestinian rights. It is useless to create obstacles; otherwise, the march of peace will be impeded or peace will be blown up. As I have told you, there is no happiness based on the detriment of others.

Direct confrontation and straightforwardness are the shortcuts and the most successful way to reach a clear objective. Direct confrontation concerning the Palestinian problem and tackling it in one single language with a view to achieving a durable and just peace lie in the establishment of that peace. With all the guarantees you demand, there should be no fear of a newly born state that needs the assistance of all countries of the world.

When the bells of peace ring, there will be no hands to beat the drums of war. Even if they existed, they would be stilled….

Ladies and gentlemen, peace is not a mere endorsement of written lines. Rather, it is a rewriting of history. Peace is not a game of calling for peace to defend certain whims or hide certain admissions. Peace in its essence is a dire struggle against all and every ambition and whim.

Perhaps the example taken and experienced, taken from ancient and modern history, teaches that missiles, warships, and nuclear weapons cannot establish security. Instead, they destroy what peace and security build.

For the sake of our peoples and for the sake of the civilization made by man, we have to defend man everywhere against rule by the force of arms so that we may endow the full of humanity with all the power of the values and principles that further the sublime position of mankind.

Allow me to address my call from this rostrum to the people of Israel. I tell them, from the Egyptian people, who bless this sacred mission of peace, I convey to you the message of peace of the Egyptian people, who do not harbor fanaticism and whose sons—Moslems, Christians and Jews—live together in a state of cordiality, love, and tolerance.

This is Egypt, whose people have entrusted me with their sacred message. A message of security, safety, and peace to every man, woman, and child in Israel. Let all endeavors be channeled toward building a huge stronghold for peace instead of building destructive rockets.

Introduce to the entire world the image of the new man in this area so that he might set an example to the man of our age, the man of peace everywhere. Ring the bells for your sons. Tell them that those wars were the last of wars and the end of sorrows. Tell them that we are entering upon a new beginning, a new life, a life of love, prosperity, freedom, and peace.

You, sorrowing mother, you, widowed wife, you, the son who lost a
brother or a father, all the victims of wars, fill the air and space with recitals of peace, fill bosoms and hearts with the aspirations of peace. Make a reality that blossoms and lives. Make hope a code of conduct and endeavor.

The will of peoples is part of the will of God. Ladies and gentlemen, before I came to this place, with every beat of my heart and with every sentiment, I prayed to God Almighty. While performing the prayers at the Al Aksa mosque and while visiting the Holy Sepulcher I asked the Almighty to give me strength and to confirm my belief that this visit may achieve the objective I look forward to for a happy present and a happier future.

I have chosen to set aside all precedents and traditions known by warring countries. In spite of the fact that occupation of Arab territories is still there, the declaration of my readiness to proceed to Israel came as a great surprise that stirred many feelings and confounded many minds. Some of them even doubted its intent.

Despite all that, the decision was inspired by all the clarity and purity of belief and with all the true passions of my people’s will and intentions, and I have chosen this road considered by many to be the most difficult road.

I have chosen to come to you with an open heart and an open mind. I have chosen to give this great impetus to all international efforts exerted for peace. I have chosen to present to you, in your own home, the realities, devoid of any scheme or whim. Not to maneuver, or win a round, but for us to win together the most dangerous of rounds embattled in modern history, the battle of permanent peace based on justice.

It is not my battle alone. Nor is it the battle of the leadership in Israel alone. It is the battle of all and every citizen in our territories, whose right it is to live in peace. It is the commitment of conscience and responsibility in the hearts of millions.

When I put forward this initiative, many asked what is it that I conceived as possible to achieve during this visit and what my expectations were. And as I answer the questions, I announce before you that I have not thought of carrying out this initiative from the precepts of what could be achieved during this visit. And I have come here to deliver a message. I have delivered the message, and may God be my witness.

I repeat with Zachariah: Love, right, and justice. From the holy Koran I quote the following verses: We believe in God and in what has been revealed to us and what was revealed to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and the thirteen Jewish tribes. And in the books given to Moses and Jesus and the prophets from their Lord, who made no distinction between them. So we agree.
Salam Aleikum
—Peace be upon you.

The youngest of the Kennedy brothers, although the worst extemporaneous speaker of the three, turned out to be far better than Robert and the rival of Jack in reading speeches before large audiences.

In 1980, Senator Edward Kennedy had challenged a sitting Democratic president for his party’s nomination; had effectively divided the party and carried the state of New York in the primaries; and had, after a stumbling interview with correspondent Roger Mudd and the national recollection of the 1969 death of the senator’s companion at Chappaquiddick, been defeated by President Carter.

At the Democratic National Convention in New York, a month after the Republicans had selected conservative Ronald Reagan to be the GOP standard-bearer, Ted Kennedy sounded a certain trumpet for a liberalism that was being derogated by many in his own party as “throwing money at problems.” In a speech written by Robert Shrum, he did not defend Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society—indeed, he pointedly overlooked his brother’s successor in identifying Democrats as “the party of the New Freedom [Wilson], the New Deal [FDR], and the New Frontier [Kennedy].” His purpose was to identify his own reach for power as the espousal of the embattled liberal cause; though the cause seemed to be going out of fashion, he was determined to hold high the sputtering torch that had been passed to his generation.

This speech contains the themes and cadences we have come to call Kennedyesque. It begins with a self-deprecating line to take some of the tension out of the air, and then quickly assumes a classic oratorical tone: “not to argue for a candidacy but to affirm a cause” is on the order of the Shakespearean “hear me for my cause.” After blazing away at the
Republicans, Kennedy turns to his theme: “The poor may be out of political fashion, but they are not without human needs. The middle class may be angry, but they have not lost the dream….”

From Martin Luther King’s dream, he recalls FDR’s “this generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny”—in Kennedy’s paraphrase, “each generation of Americans has a rendezvous with a different reality.” When he comes to the environment, without overtly referring to his brother Robert’s 1968 campaign theme song, “This Land Is Your Land,” he uses its lyrics: “To all those who inhabit our land, from California to the New York island, from the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters….”