Bush's "Gettysburg Address"

In the first winter of the Peloponnesian War, Athens' leader honored that polis' war dead by reminding the citizens of Athens of the reason they had given their ultimate sacrifice. Pericles' funeral oration spoke of the ideals of democracy as they had been realized in Athens. These noble Athenians died for their beliefs in freedom and self-government, as Pericles put it:

Such is the city for whose sake these men nobly fought and died; they could not bear the thought that she might be taken from them; and every one of us who survive should gladly toil on her behalf.

I have dwelt upon the greatness of Athens because I want to show you that we are contending for a higher prize than those who enjoy none of these privileges, and to establish by manifest proof the merit of these men whom I am now commemorating. Their loftiest praise has been already spoken. For in magnifying the city I have magnified them, and men like them whose virtues made her glorious. And of how few Hellenes 1 can it be said as of them, that their deeds when weighed in the balance have been found equal to their fame! I believe that a death such as theirs has been the true measure of a man's worth...

Similarly, Abraham Lincoln honored those who fell at Gettysburg, the pivotal battle of the American Civil War, in his most important speech, now known simply as the "Gettysburg Address." Although President Lincoln was under a constant barrage of criticism from his political enemies for his handling of the war, he honored those who had given the ultimate sacrifice by reminding Americans of the cause for which they died--the very survival of America as a democratic nation under God, with liberty and justice for all:

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

This past Thursday, November 11, 2005, may be a day that history will remember in a similar fashion. In a speech to a group of veterans on a holiday that honored those who served their country and gave the ultimate sacrifice, President Bush gave this speech reminding Americans of the cause for which the Iraq War casualties have died. Here is a brief excerpt:

These brave citizens know the stakes: the survival of their own liberty, the future of their own region, the justice and humanity of their own tradition. And the United States of America is proud to stand beside them.

With the rise of a deadly enemy and the unfolding of a global ideological struggle, our time in history will be remembered for new challenges and unprecedented dangers.

And yet this fight we have joined is also the current expression of an ancient struggle between those who put their faith in dictators and those who put their faith in the people.

Throughout history, tyrants and would-be tyrants have always claimed that murder is justified to serve their grand vision. And they end up alienating decent people across the globe.

Tyrants and would-be tyrants have always claimed that regimented societies are strong and pure, until those societies collapse in corruption and decay.

Tyrants and would-be tyrants have always claimed that free men and women are weak and decadent, until the day that free men and women defeat them.

We don’t know the course our own struggle will take or the sacrifices that might lie ahead. We do know, however, that the defense of freedom is worth our sacrifice. We do know the love of freedom is the mightiest force of history. And we do know the cause of freedom will once again prevail.

I hope that Americans will not repeat the excesses of the Vietnam era, where troops came home not with honor and gratitude from their fellow countrymen but to verbal assaults and expectoration. Even as Jesus gave his life in order to free the world from its captivity to sin and Satan's diabolical oppression, so Americans have, millions of times over, given their lives to secure the blessings of liberty to themselves, to their posterity, and to millions of people worldwide.

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored,
He has loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword
His truth is marching on.

Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
His truth is marching on.

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,
While God is marching on.

Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
His truth is marching on.

Battle Hymn of the Republic, Julia Ward Howe