Truman begat Adlai Stevenson and his acceptance speech in 1952. His speech contains all the rhetorical bombastics people tell us was the norm of time. Also, note its highly partisan nature. I’m sure pundits were shocked, appalled and tizzied over the lowering of civil discourse and divisiveness, etc..
The people are wise, wiser than the Republicans think. And the Democratic party is the people’s party — not the labor party, not the farmers’ party, not the employers’ party — it is the party of no one because it is the party of everyone.
That, that, I — I think, is our ancient mission. Where we have deserted it, we have failed. With your help, there will be no desertion now. Better we lose the election than mislead the people, and better we lose than misgovern the people. Help me to do the job in these years of darkness, of doubt, and of crisis which stretch beyond the horizon of tonight’s happy vision, and we will justify our glorious past and the loyalty of silent millions who look to us for compassion, for understanding, and for honest purpose.
Wherever Howard Dean might be in the polls today we should know that the legacy of Truman’s plainspoken style and Stevenson’s rhetorical grace and passion live amalgamated in the Dean campaign.
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