Speech

Address on Vietnam War by Spiro Agnew

“Sometimes it appears that we’re reaching a period when our senses and our minds will (pause) no longer respond to moderate stimulation. We seem to be approaching an Age of The Gross. (pause) Persuasion through speeches and books (p) is too often discarded for disruptive demonstrations (p) aimed at bludgeoning the unconvinced into action.

The young (p)– and by this I don’t mean by any stretch of the imagination all the young, but I’m talking about those who claim to speak for the young (p) – at the zenith of physical power and sensitivity, overwhelm themselves with drugs and artificial stimulants. Subtly is lost and fine distinctions based on acute reasoning (p) are carelessly ignored in a headlong jump to a predetermined conclusion.

Life is visceral,(p) rather than intellectual. And the most visceral practitioners of life are those who characterize themselves as “intellectuals”. Truth is to them is “revealed” rather than logically proved. And the principal infatuations of today revolve around the “Social Sciences”, those subjects which can accommodate any opinion and about which the most reckless conjecture cannot be discredited.

Education is being redefined (p) at the demand of the uneducated (p)to suit the ideas of the uneducated. The student now goes to college to proclaim (p), rather than to learn. The lessons of the past are ignored and obliterated (p) in a contemporary antagonism known as the “generation gap.”

A spirit of national masochism prevails, encouraged by an effete corps of impudent snobs who characterize themselves as “intellectuals”.

Who is speaking? 


Spiro Agnew

Why was/is the speech important to society?

This address is on the Vietnam War, which is the first war in American History that had large amounts of protest. The Vietnam War generated lots of anti-war demonstrations in America. In the speech Vice President Spiro Agnew talks down on anti-war protesters and the press. He comes off as being stuck in the ways of the past and not willing to accept the social changes of the 20^th century.

Why do you feel it is important or interesting? I feel that it is relevant now to look at this speech while The United States is engaged in the Iraq war since there are many similarities in the two wars.

What is the emotion, mood, tone, personality, feeling of the speech?

Condemning. Political. Bland. Harsh. Close-minded.

What is intonation, emphasis, what is loud, stressed, or soft.

Most of the speech is said at the same level not being very loud or soft but placing emphasis on some words more than others.

Where are there pauses...

Is there a call to action? When listening to it what are key/emphasized words? Bludgeoning. Subtly. Visceral. Revealed. Reckless. Proclaim. Gap. Effete.

How does it make you feel? Kinda mad at what he is saying.

How do imagine that the audience felt? Probably politically moved to support America in the Vietnam war.

Write/find a short bio, of the person giving the speech.

Spiro Theodore Agnew was the 39th Vice President of the United States, serving under President Richard Nixon, and the 55th Governor of Maryland. He was also the first Greek American to hold these offices.

During his fifth year as Vice President, in the late summer of 1973, Agnew was under investigation by the United States Attorney's office in Baltimore, Maryland, on charges of extortion, tax fraud, bribery and conspiracy. In October, he was formally charged with having accepted bribes totaling more than $100,000, while holding office as Baltimore County Executive, Governor of Maryland, and Vice President of the United States. On October 10, 1973, Agnew was allowed to plead no contest to a single charge that he had failed to report $29,500 of income received in 1967, with the condition that he resign the office of Vice President.

Agnew is the only Vice President in U.S. history to resign because of criminal charges. Ten years after leaving office, in January 1983, Agnew paid the state of Maryland nearly $270,000 as a result of a civil suit that stemmed from the bribery allegations.

Agnew soon found his role as the voice of the so-called "silent majority", and by late 1969 he was ranking high on national "Most Admired Men" polls. He also inspired a fashion craze when one entrepreneur introduced Spiro Agnew watches (a take off on the popular Mickey Mouse watch); conservatives wore them to show their support for Agnew, while many liberals wore them to signify their mocking contempt.

Agnew was known for his scathing criticisms of political opponents, especially journalists and anti-war activists. He attacked his adversaries with relish, hurling unusual, often alliterative epithets — some of which were coined by White House speechwriters William Safire and Pat Buchanan — including "pusillanimous pussyfooters", "nattering nabobs of negativism" (written by Safire), and "hopeless, hysterical hypochondriacs of history".[7] He once described a group of opponents as "an effete corps of impudent snobs who characterize themselves as intellectuals."