Jon Meacham on When Words Saved the World

Winston Churchill sensed what was coming. As a young soldier in India in the closing years of the 19th century, he drafted an essay on the world he hoped to enter: that of politics and public service. Long unpublished, Churchill’s piece, titled “The Scaffolding of Rhetoric,” explored a perennial question: What makes a good speech? “Of all the talents bestowed upon men, none is so precious as the gift of oratory,” Churchill wrote. “He who enjoys it wields a power more durable than that of a great king. He is an independent force in the world. Abandoned by his party,… Read Full Article