In the next-to-last draft of Friday's radio essay, I had a paragraph about President Rutherford B. Hayes -- imagine that.#
About 145 years ago, Hayes was touring the newish western states of Oregon and Washington, trying to engage them in the life of the country. In 1880 (scroll down), he gave brief speeches in several young cities, talking to local crowds about their accomplishments and their opportunities for growth. (Example.) He committed the U. S. government to opening up transportation systems that would unite the far-flung parts of the country.#
These presidential speeches were criticized as being trivial or slight. Walt Whitman begged to differ -- he said that the speeches were fashioned to meet the needs of a democracy and they hinted at a style of political rhetoric that could serve the purpose. #
Whitman said that President Hayes sought to “compact and fraternize the States, encourage their materialistic and industrial development, sooth and expand their self-poise, and tie all and each with resistless double ties not only of inter-trade barter, but of human comradeship.” (154-155)#
Uplifting rhetoric, yes, decent and honorable, yes, especially if aligned with policies. In our age of politicians who enjoy stirring up chaos and fear, politicians whose goal is victory rather than comradeship, I'm grateful that Whitman composed a note about what Mr. Hayes was trying to accomplish.#
I ran out of time and had to delete the Whitman/Hayes discussion from the final radio essay, though.#
In the next-to-last draft of Friday's radio essay, I had a paragraph about President Rutherford B. Hayes -- imagine that.#
About 145 years ago, Hayes was touring the newish western states of Oregon and Washington, trying to engage them in the life of the country. In 1880 (scroll down), he gave brief speeches in several young cities, talking to local crowds about their accomplishments and their opportunities for growth. (Example.) He committed the U. S. government to opening up transportation systems that would unite the far-flung parts of the country.#
These presidential speeches were criticized as being trivial or slight. Walt Whitman begged to differ -- he said that the speeches were fashioned to meet the needs of a democracy and they hinted at a style of political rhetoric that could serve the purpose. #
Whitman said that President Hayes sought to “compact and fraternize the States, encourage their materialistic and industrial development, sooth and expand their self-poise, and tie all and each with resistless double ties not only of inter-trade barter, but of human comradeship.” (154-155)#
Uplifting rhetoric, yes, decent and honorable, yes, especially if aligned with policies. In our age of politicians who enjoy stirring up chaos and fear, politicians whose goal is victory rather than comradeship, I'm grateful that Whitman composed a note about what Mr. Hayes was trying to accomplish.#
I ran out of time and had to delete the Whitman/Hayes discussion from the final radio essay, though.#