Presidential Speech

Marco: Hello English learners! Welcome back to another advanced lesson with us here at EnglishPod! My name is Marco.

Erica: And my name’s Erica.

Marco: So, today we’re bringing you another advanced lesson and this time it’s kind of historical.

Erica: Like the name suggests, we are listening in as a president says goodbye to the nation, uh, before he steps down from his role as president.

Marco: Now, actually, this dialogue is very much based on President Eisenhower’s farewell speech.

Erica: Uh, okay, so, a pretty… pretty famous… Now, we have to tell you that we did change the speech a little bit, right?

Marco: Yeah, just a little bit to make it a little bit more understandable, but it’s basically what he said to the nation back in nineteen sixty nine (1969).

Erica: Alright, now, um, I will as well tell you that this is a pretty hard dialogue.

Marco: It is very hard, because the structures are a little bit complicated and even to a certain point a little bit poetic, right?

Erica: Uhu, so why are we taking this… this speech as our dialogue? What are we gonna learn from this?

Marco: Well, we’re gonna learn some structures and some words that you can use maybe on a resignation letter or maybe in a celebration you want to thank people for coming.

Erica: Okay, um, so, we’re gonna learn some pretty difficult vocabulary, but also… learn some really useful structures like you said you could use in a resignation letter of even in a formal speech of you own.

Marco: Exactly, now, this presidential farewell speech is divided into two parts, so today we’re gonna do part one and then, next time, we’ll finish this speech with part two. So, let’s listen to President Eisenhower as he says goodbye to the nation and we’ll come back just in a little bit.

Voice: DIALOGUE, FIRST TIME

Erica: Wow, so, uh, Eisenhower is a pretty good speaker, isn’t he?

Marco: A good speaker and, well, he said a lot of really nice things when he was saying goodbye.

Erica: Yeah, pretty inspiring I thought.

Marco: Really inspiring and as we said there were a couple of different and difficult words and phrases, so why don’t we start right now with “language takeaway”?

Voice: Language takeaway.

Erica: Well, Eisenhower said that in three days he shall lay down the responsibilities.

Marco: To lay down the responsibilities.

Erica: Alright, lay down something.

Marco: Basically, we understand the… the… the verb – to lay down, right?

Erica: Yeah, the… to put it down, to put…

Marco: To…

Erica: To put it on the ground, really.

Marco: Right, now, he’s using it with responsibilities, which is a little bit strange, but it’s kind of like a metaphor by saying “Lay down arms” – to lay down your weapons.

Erica: Right, and, you know what, this is a really common phrase that we would hear, um, especially when we’re talking about, you know, the end of a war of something like that.

Marco: Uhu, s… lay down your arms.

Erica: Yeah.

Marco: Lay down your weapons.

Erica: Yeah, so, here I think Eisenhower is kind of referencing this and giving us a little bit of, um… a bit of poetry in his speech.

Marco: Right, so, it’s not that he’s quitting, it’s not that he’s being fired.

Erica: Yeah.

Marco: He’s just like finishing what he started.

Erica: Yeah, so, he’s laying down his responsibilities. Now, I think this would be quite an interesting phrase to use, for example, in a resignation letter.

Marco: Right, so, I would say, uh, “A month from now I will lay down my responsibilities as manager”.

Erica: Yep. Alright, so, that sounds pretty good. Now, he said he’s gonna be laying down the responsibilities in a traditional and solemn ceremony.

Marco: Alright, solemn.

Erica: Solemn.

Marco: Now, solemn, what does… what does that mean? What is a solemn ceremony?

Erica: Well, a solemn ceremony would be a serious, respectful and a little bit sad ceremony.

Marco: Okay, so, it’s a serious matter, it’s, um… and it’s very respectful, right?

Erica: Yeah, so you might… you might say, for example, um… uh, on the Eleventh of November when you’re remembering the war, you might say something like “This is a very solemn day”.

Marco: Very good.

Erica: Uhu.

Marco: Okay, and the authority of the presidency is vested in my successor.

Erica: Okay, so, interesting verb, uh, no… so, interesting word – vested.

Marco: Vested.

Erica: The authority vested in my successor.

Marco: Very good, so, this word basically means power that I have by law.

Erica: Right, so, the… this power, this important power you have is given to you by the law, by the president, by the country.

Marco: This is a very common world you will hear in a wedding.

Erica: Uhu.

Marco: When the priest or the person that’s leading the wedding will say “By the power vested in me by the state of California”.

Erica: Yeah, “I now pronounce you husband and wife”.

Marco: I now pronounce you husband and wife.

Erica: Yeah.

Marco: So, he’s saying the power that I have given to me by the state of California I can now make you be married.

Erica: So, here Eisenhower is saying “The authority of the presidency is vested in my successor”. So, the power of the presidency will be given to his, um… given to the next… next president by law.

Marco: Exactly, and he also wished the new president and everyone with him, he sad Godspeed.

Erica: Alright, Godspeed.

Marco: Godspeed.

Erica: I wish you Godspeed.

Marco: Now, Godspeed, what does that mean?

Erica: Well, it’s kind of a blessing, you know, um, it basically means “Good luck and good fortune”.

Marco: Alright, and especially in a journey, right?

Erica: Yeah, I think you would almost only use this when someone’s going off on a… on a big trip or a journey, so, um, here they’re going on the journey of the presidency.

Marco: Right, very good.

Erica: So, I wish you Godspeed.

Marco: Godspeed. Very good. And now let’s take a look at our last set of words. Uh, when he was talking about Congress, he said that his relation with Congress began on a remote and tenuous basis.

Erica: Alright, so, two interesting words here – remote and tenuous.

Marco: Now, remote we understand as being far away or distant.

Erica: Yeah, what about tenuous, though?

Marco: But tenuous is kind of unimportant or not really relevant.

Erica: Alright, so, actually, this is a pretty high quality, um, useful and smart sounding words, so I think we should hear a few more examples of how it’s used.

Voice: Example one.

A: How can you say the earth is actually getting cooler? That is a pretty tenuous argument.

Voice: Example two.

B: John believes that Elvis Presley is still alive. He’s got a tenuous hold on reality.

Voice: Example three.

C: You’re making yourself seem more important than you are. The connection between our company success and your performance is tenuous at best.

Erica: Alright, so, as we said, these were some pretty, um… pretty difficult words, uh, that we found in the dialogue, but now I wanna go on and look at some really interesting, um, formal structures that Eisenhower used here, so let’s look at those now in ”fluency builder”.

Voice: Fluency builder.

Marco: Alright, on fluency builder today we have three phrases and, well, starting with the first one, I think it’s one of the most interesting ones. He said “Three days from now, after a half a century of service of our country, I shall lay down the responsibilities of office”.

Erica: Alright, so, what’s interesting about this?

Marco: If you take a look at the structure he’s saying three days from now, which is…

Erica: Future.

Marco: Future.

Erica: Uhu.

Marco: And then he makes a reference to the past – after a half-century of service.

Erica: Uhu… okay, so, we’ve got Future-Past.

Marco: And then again Future – I shall lay down the responsibilities.

Erica: Alright, so, this actually is quite a good structure if you’re giving, um, a farewell speech of even… even I could imagine using this at a wedding.

Marco: Right, how would you use it in a wedding?

Erica: Well, I might say, um, “Twelve hours from now, after a long and beautiful relationship, this couple shall marry”.

Marco: Very good, so, you’re making reference to the future and then a past event or something that’s been going on for a while.

Erica: Uhu.

Marco: And then future again.

Erica: Why don’t we do one more example?

Marco: So, for example, in a resignation letter I can say, uh… I can say “One month from now, after thirty years of hard work and dedication to this company, I shall lay down my responsibilities as product manager”.

Erica: Alright, interesting.

Marco: Uh, so, we can use it and it’s… it sounds good, it sounds very professional and…

Erica: And… and very poetic.

Marco: Very poetic.

Erica: Yeah.

Marco: It sounds nice.

Erica: Yeah, alright, so, that’s one interesting structure. And now, why don’t we go on to this next kind of very, uh, formal and helpful, you know, and a very formal speech?

Marco: Well, uh, President Eisenhower said “This evening I come to you with a message of leave-taking and farewell”.

Erica: So, this evening I come to you with a message of leave-taking and farewell.

Marco: So, it’s a very nice way of saying “I’m talking to you today, because I am saying goodbye”.

Erica: Yes, so, what I really like about this phrase is the beginning part - this evening I come to you with a message of.

Marco: Uhu, so, again, let’s suppose we’re at a wedding.

Erica: Aha.

Marco: If I’m offering a toast or I’m the best man, I could say “This evening I come to you with a message of love and trust and respect”.

Erica: Alright, or maybe if you’re the leader of a company, you might say something like “This afternoon I come to you with a message of hope for the future”.

Marco: Very good. And now the part when he says leave-taking and farewell, it’s basically saying taking leave or taking like a vacation, right?

Erica: Yeah, yeah.

Marco: And farewell is…

Erica: Goodbye.

Marco: Goodbye.

Erica: Uhu.

Marco: And what about our last phrase?

Erica: Uh, this is actually a bit of a long one, so I’m… I’m gonna read it now. “Our people expect their president and the Congress to find essential agreement on questions of great importance, the wise resolution of which will better shape the future of our great nation”.

Marco: Okay, great, now let’s take a look at the first part. Uh, basically, he’s saying, uh, the people expect the president and the Congress to give them answers, right?

Erica: Wh… yeah, to… to agree on… on important issues.

Marco: But in the part when he says “The wise resolution of which will better shape the future of our great nation”.

Erica: Yeah, and this is the part I wanna focus on - the wise resolution of which. Now, this is a wonderful sort of, uh, formal structure. So, we can see what he’s doing here. He’s talking about the first idea, right? So, the president and the Congress, um, need to find agreement on important issues, right?

Marco: Uhu.

Erica: Now, the wise resolution of which, so he’s referring back to that idea.

Marco: Aha.

Erica: So, the wise resolution of what?

Marco: Of the essential agreement on question of great importance.

Erica: Right, so, really useful structure. Why don’t we hear a few more examples of this?

Voice: Example one.

A: We now faced a great challenge, the overcoming of which lead us all to untold riches and success.

Voice: Example two.

B: We as a company now faced our most difficult month to date, the overcome of which will determine our company’s future.

Voice: Example three.

C: The ambitious plan to reduce poverty, the start of which was launched last Tuesday in New York will require huge investment of tax payers’ dollars.

Marco: Alright, so, as you can hear from the examples, we have the main idea and then he passes on, but then kind of refers back to it again.

Erica: Yeah, and this sounds quite formal, but also quite literary, um, and intelligent, doesn’t it?

Marco: Yeah, it makes… it makes you sound well-spoken.

Erica: Uhu.

Marco: Very good.

Erica: This was quite a difficult dialogue with some really, um, interesting and… and tricky structures and words, so why don’t we l… hear it one more time altogether?

Voice: DIALOGUE, SECOND TIME

Marco: Alright, we’re back and here with us in the studio we have Pete, the… the actor in the dialogue of President Eisenhower’s presidential farewell speech.

Erica: He’s a pretty convincing actor at that.

P: Not quite.

Erica: Hehe.

Marco: Hehe. So, um, Pete is gonna give us a little bit of insight about President Eisenhower, well… Alright, so what can you tell us about President Eisenhower?

P: Well, he started off as a general, uh, he was an accomplished officer all through the early Twentieth Century and then he was the supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Word War Two.

M: Hm.

P: And, so, now he’s most famous for D-Day.

M: He was leading it?

P: Uh…

M: Or he was on the battlefield? What was…

P: No, no, he was… he was the organizer, he was…

M: Oh, he’s like… kind of like the… the brains behind the operation.

P: Yeah, and I don’t know if you wanna leave this in, but there’s… there’s a really cool document, that he wrote right before the invasion and it said… he basically knew that this was gonna go one of two ways and he wrote down a script to read in case of fail and he basically said “I’m sorry to inform you that, uh, the invasion did not go as planed and this has set back our war effort”. And when the invasion went well, he threw that in a trash and then one of his aids found out it and was like “Wow! This is the historical document!” And they kept the…

M: Hehe. Really?

P: Hehe. Yeah, like…

M: So, they had… they have the copy.

P: Alternate history.

M: Hehe. Cool.

Erica: Alright, so, he was, ah, an accomplished general, um, an amazing, uh, warrior, um, but what about his presidency?

P: Well, at the beginning probably the biggest thing he’s… was to wrap up the Korean War, uh, which was a vow he made during his campaign and then he visited Korea, uh, obviously the war’s still technically on, but they did arrange a sea’s fire. Uh, Eisenhower built up the Interstate Highway System, which is one of the big reasons that America was able to economically successful in the Twentieth Century. He did it basically so that in case of a war we have an easy way of shipping our soldiers and nukes across the country, but…

M: Hehe.

Erica: But…

M: It worked well anyways.

P: Yeah, it… is one of the things that pays a side benefit. At least he had to sell it to the… to the… to the country in that way. It’s very likely he didn’t intend ever to use it that way, but, you know, you have to… have it like… it’s like the War ???, you’ve gotta sell these things and…

Erica: Well, and I guess it’s had a huge impact, um, not only on the economy of the States, but also like the culture and… and the way that, um, people view the car and its effect on society.

P: Definitely.

Erica: So, pretty influential guy this Eisenhower.

M: Yeah, and a very, ah, historical lesson. It’s just a little bit of a culture and maybe some insight on American history. It’s not like we’re politically active or anything, but, um… but, yeah, it was some interesting information there and also, well, he was considered to be a pretty good president.

P: Yeah, he’s really… I wouldn’t say among the top five or so, but, uh, quite accomplished.

Erica: Well, maybe not the greatest president we’ve ever seen, but, uh, he wrote a pretty good farewell speech, so I think we have that to thank him for.

P: Hehe.

M: Hehe. Alright, guys, so, if you have any other questions or comments, you can come to the website at englishpod.com and, uh, you can leave them there for Erica or I.

Erica: Okay, so, thanks for downloading you guys and until next time… Good bye!

P: Bye!

M: Bye!