Speechwriter for John F. Kennedy, Ted Sorensen lived and worked in the age of eloquence. That was the peak of rhetorical flourishes such as the famous Kennedy triplicates, which that brain trust might have picked up, at least by osmosis, from Churchill.
For many years Sorensen remained on the lecture circuit talking to people about the power of language, especially the spoken kind. The last time I had heard of him he was addressing the annual conference of a speechwriting group.
Now, of course, leaders have moved to the point outline, at least the in-touch ones. In this age of authenticity, audiences tune out of prepared texts. Sure, they want evidence that speakers have given a lot of thought to the subject matter but they also want evidence that speakers are responding directly in real time to them.
Everything is cyclical, so we can expect another time of great eloquence among our leaders. But that probably won't happen in our speechwriting careers.
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