Summary Of George F Will's Inaugural Speech

Prof. Combs
English 300
16 September 2013
‘Let us…’ No, Give It a Rest The Inaugural Address, given by the United States’ president on the day he is officially transitioned into office, can be seen as a yard-stick to measure just how far we’ve come as a country. George F. Will believes that the issues presented in the address, which have changed over time (from executive power all the way to coastal fortifications and polygamy) are an important facet of the address, because they show the problems that we as a country are tackling as well as pointing out specific problems that may be more important to the public. However, another side to the address is the diction, which can help assess where we are linguistically as a country. While writing his article, Will was looking forward to the 54th Inaugural Address, given by President George W. Bush in 2001. The first president of the United States, George Washington, spoke 87 words in the second sentence of his Inaugural Address. George F. Will questions exactly what type of reaction
that would garnish from the American people if it were implemented in an Inaugural Address today. Will states that we would become “bewildered, then restive, then headachy” (Will). Will wonders what this type of hypothetical response says about where we have come since 1789 in rhetoric as well as intellect. He does, however, give the concession that the public was not wired in across the country, and therefore the people physically at the address was more likely to pay attention than someone watching from home. But on the other hand, at the time the United States’ population had a keener listening ear based on the fact that they were constantly hearing Protestant sermons. The long, detailed sermons gave the early American population more of an indulgence for long-winded sentences filled with syntax. Will argues that being raised on the King James Version of the Bible was more stimulating than being raised on today’s comedic journalism and irony. Being spoon-fed advertising from a television is a much more detrimental to our brain’s well-being, causing our brain muscles to go “flaccid,” than listening to or reading John Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s Progress” and other such classical works. Herbert Stein, who worked over half a millennium as an economist, compiled statistics on the average amount of words-per-sentence in presidential Inaugural Addresses.
He discovered that between the Presidents Washington and Buchannan, the average amount of words-per-sentence was 44. Following this from Lincoln through Wilson, the mean was 34 words. Since Wilson’s Inaugural Address, the average word-per-sentence count is 25. However, Will notes that despite having a lower word count per sentence, Abraham Lincoln’s second Inaugural is the only one that is considered actual literature by the current American standards. Will looks upon it with great veneration and patriotic awe, stating that “no one who has a pulse, or deserves to have one, can read Lincoln’s second Inaugural … without a frisson of patriotic awe” (Will). He also mentions that one of Lincoln’s most immaculate sentences was a mere four words in length: “And the war
came.” Will pronounces that the shortening in length of the Inaugural Addresses may merely reflect a change in the nature of the addresses. He affirms that the presidential stand has become more like a pulpit than it was when it began. The presidents are taking on an oratory role, acting as preachers speaking the gospel of patriotism, trying to convince Americans to change their views and opinions on certain matters. The presidents began to have catchphrases that they would repeat, until it was a bloody carcass of a sentence. Some of the worst offenders were Kennedy and Nixon, using the phrase “let us” 16 and 22 times in their Inaugural Addresses, respectively.
Backtracking to the subject of George Washington, Will paints him as a modest man, considering that he just led his country in a revolution to become the first president, as well as the only, 212 years later, to win all of the electoral votes. With an immense sense of pride, the leader of a country fresh from revolution, Washington gave a very heartfelt yet tactful speech. Will compares Washington’s third sentence, a mere 69 words, to the writings of Ernest Hemmingway. The article closes with a description of a newborn country, freely emancipated. Then Coming full circle, Will references president Bush and the anxieties of today as less important than those of yesteryear. Washington was obviously concerned about someone taking the executive power held by him and abusing it to the point that emancipation would be futile. Will explains that president Bush shouldn’t concern himself with something like that, because “we deem it less important today than the topics of polygamy and coastal defenses” (Will). In conclusion, the United States’ Inaugural Address has exemplified the changing linguistic characteristics of the country, as well as the issues that are important to the public. Although the length of sentences has shortened, the change is in congruence with the nature of the speech. This is also true of the issues, because while executive power was a pressing issue to the first president, that is not as much of an issue now compared to coastal defenses, the economy, and war. However, the Inaugural Address is still and will always be an important tool in studying history and culture of the United States.

Works Cited
Will, George. “Let Us...?’ No, Give It A Rest.” Newsweek. 22 Jan. 2001: 64. Print.