History from the podium
In February 1990, Nelson Mandela was released after 27 years in a South African prison. He was later to become president of that nation. He is also one of only five people ever to have been granted honourary Canadian citizenship. He first addressed the Canadian Parliament in 1990, not long after his release from prison.... Continue Reading →
Normally this blog is devoted to Canadian speeches but on rare occasion there is an exception. This is one of those times. In a televised address on March 18, 2020 Chancellor Angela Merkel appealed to Germans to follow reason and show discipline in the face of the Corona pandemic. Merkel has shown herself, once again,... Continue Reading →
Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand's youthful prime minister, is stepping down. In 2019, Dennis Gruending featured her eloquent speech following a horrific mosque massacre in Christchurch in March 2019.
This blog post analyzes the famous "I-have-a-dream speech delivered by Dr. Martin Luther King in Washington D.C. in August 1963.
Until recently there were very few anthologies of Canadian speeches. There existed collections by this or that prime minister but there was a dearth of more inclusive anthologies such as existed in the U.S., Great Britain and even Australia. That has begun to change. My book, Great Canadian Speeches, published in 2004, was one of... Continue Reading →
Great Canadian Speeches 