By Mursi Saad El-Din There are speeches that have made history, great speeches that should always be remembered. Here in Egypt, we can claim some such speeches: President Gamal Abdel-Nasser's speech on the occasion of the nationalisation of the Suez Canal Company; President Anwar El-Sadat's speech in the People's Assembly announcing his readiness to go to the end of the world in search of peace; and, of course, the latter's historic speech in the Israeli Knesset. Now the Guardian newspaper has started publishing a series titled "Great Speeches of the 20th Century". I am surprised that none of Churchill's famous speeches has appeared in it so far. He was a great orator and he laid down the principles of the relation between the orator and his audience: "Before he can inspire them with any emotion, he must be swayed by it himself. When he would arouse their indignation, his heart is filled with anger. Before he can move their tears, his own must flow. To convince them, he must himself believe. His opinions may change as their impressions fade, but every orator means what he says at the moment he says it. He is never consciously insincere." I still remember listening to a speech Churchill gave in June 1940, which was rebroadcast on the Egyptian radio: "We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills." And now I come to the G uardian 's first speech in the series, John F Kennedy's inaugural speech on 20 January 1961, with the title "Ask not what your country can do for you". The booklet is introduced by Ted Sorensen, an author and lawyer "who was special counsel and adviser to Kennedy and his primary speech writer". Sorensen says, "I cannot give the whole speech, but I have selected certain passages which reflect the new and daring policy of Kennedy who was entrusted with the presidency at the age of 43, becoming the youngest ever elected." It is gripping: "The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe -- the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God." This invocation of God underscores the fact that Kennedy was the United States' first Catholic president. "Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardships, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and the success of liberty. This much we pledge -- and more." Then Kennedy starts to address the different nations, starting with "those old allies whose cultural and spiritual origins we share". To these nations he pledges the loyalty of faithful friends. "United, there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided, there is little we can do -- for we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder." Thus Kennedy is asking for the preservation of the cohesion of the Western alliance. Then comes what, I believe, is the most important part of his speech, addressing "the two great and powerful groups of nations" who are "overburdened by the cost of modern weapons, both rightly alarmed by the steady spread of the deadly atom, yet both racing to alter that uncertain balance of terror that stays the hand of mankind's final war". He asks both groups to begin anew, "remembering that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof": Let us never negotiate out of fear but let us never fear to
