Sting's Speech about Music's Spiritual Power

Sting in Concert

“Music is probably the oldest religious rite.”

Quite a shocking statement, until one listens to how and why English musician Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner, better known as Sting, believes that music and religion share a connection. While giving the 1994 commencement address at Boston’s Berklee College of Music, Sting’ metaphor showed music’s power by equating music and religion. 

Ceremonial speeches like Sting’s express values, and Sting’s intention that day was to reveal music’s most basic value. Musical success comes, he emphasized, not from fame, but from one’s soul. That is, he explained, religion and music find common ground. All good ceremonial speeches either praise or blame their subject, and Sting elevated his audience by praising music and, in doing so, he explained music’s link to the human soul.

After mentioning his youthful failures studying the piano, Sting described his sudden inspiration when he first picked up a guitar: 

“Where the piano had seemed incomprehensible, I was able to make music on the guitar almost instantaneously.” 

Once Sting discovered the guitar, his practicing became a celebration rather than work. As he explained:

“I spent hour after hour, day after day, month after month, just playing, rejoicing in the miracle and probably driving my parents 'round the bend.”

A “miracle.” Sting had discovered something central about himself and it reminded him of a religious experience. Indeed, no words, no logic could explain where his music came from. He continued his religious theme:

“If somebody asks me how I write songs, I have to say, ‘I don't really know.’ I don't really know where they come from. A melody is always a gift from somewhere else. You just have to learn to be grateful and pray that you will be blessed again some other time.”

“Pray,” he said, and “blessed.” More religious themes! As he continued, was he mocking religion or praising music? No, not mocking, but showing how religion and music were linked:

“What I'm trying to say here is that if ever I'm asked if I'm religious I always reply, ‘Yes, I'm a devout musician.’ Music puts me in touch with something beyond the intellect, something otherworldly, something sacred.”

The “devout,” the “sacred” are, I think we should remember, deep parts of human experience. We miss part of life if we dwell only on what is rational. That may be why Sting insisted that music teaches wisdom that goes beyond language:

“It's very hard to talk about music in words. Words are superfluous to the abstract power of music. We can fashion words into poetry so that they are understood the way music is understood, but they only aspire to the condition where music already exists.”

Concluding his speech, Sting told the graduating musicians that their success as a musician was not central. No, music’s central point is to understand and heal one’s soul:

“So what I'm getting round to saying is that as musicians, whether we're successful, playing to thousands of people every night, or not so successful, playing in bars or small clubs, or not successful at all, just playing alone in your apartment to the cat, we are doing something that can heal souls, that can mend us when our spirits are broken. Whether you make a million dollars or not one cent, music and silence are priceless gifts, may you always possess them. May they always possess you.”

“Heal souls?” “Priceless gifts?” Uplifting goals indeed!

Lady Gaga Spoke and Sang for National Unity

Singer Dolly Parton's Commencement Speech

People, Sting showed, need to engage with music (or, no doubt, although he didn’t say so, with other arts). We all need to engage emotions which we cannot talk about but that the arts develop and express. For my part, although I am just a retired speech teacher, I always supported education in music, theater, dance, film, and visual arts. They matter every bit as much as reading, writing, and arithmetic. That is because, as Sting demonstrated, artistic expression is basic to our souls. As talk radio, cable news, and social media take over our world with their arguments, half-truths, and wishful thinking, we must never forget the concepts that only art can provide. Not being conventionally religious himself, Sting didn’t think to mention how religion and music often join in hymns, chants, and meditative ceremonial music. I, for one, do not think that music is religion in any literal sense, but Sting is right that music and religion both reach deeply into our souls. Therein lies the metaphor. 

We do not all need to think about the music-religion link in the same way.  Maybe we could say that Sting's mind rejected religion while his musical spirit accepted it, or we could say that music and religion guide us to truth over different routes. Maybe we could say that music and religion work together to heal us.  Perhaps best, we might say that Sting’s shocking metaphor made his audience think. 

Me, practicing

Guitarist Frank Zappa Delivered Shock Rock to a Senate Committee 

While Sting's musical art gained him fame and fortune, I myself rarely perform in public, and, to me, music means plunking away on a guitar or piano for my always-appreciative wife. Despite my long training as a logical, linear-thinking, Aristotelian-style debater, my life, like any life, requires expression. Sting did not merely speak to the young people who had just graduated from a superb music school. He spoke to humanity. Let us hear. Let us hear the sounds, see the images, or sense the actions that shape our ideas and our thoughts. This was a speech for art’s spiritual power. 

by William D. Harpine

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Theoretical Note: 

Many rhetorical theorists have studied the rhetoric of metaphors. I. A. Richards' book The Philosophy of Rhetoric has probably been the most influential work on the subject. 

Copyright ©2026 by William D. Harpine

Image of Sting: QueenbdayRAH210418-34, Creative Commons License, via Wikimedia Commons 

Image of William Harpine, by Elaine Clanton Harpine, copyright ©2026, used by permission

John F. Kennedy Spoke for World Peace at American University

John F. Kennedy

“I realize that the pursuit of peace is not as dramatic as the pursuit of war--and frequently the words of the pursuer fall on deaf ears. But we have no more urgent task.”

On June 10, 1963, President John F. Kennedy stood on a stage at American University in Washington DC and spoke these words. He also said that to speak of peace is: “to discuss a topic on which ignorance too often abounds and the truth is too rarely perceived—yet it is the most important topic on earth: world peace.”

In this particular speech, President Kennedy praised, not a person, but the moral value of a higher peace.

All good ceremonial speeches convey values: what is good, and what is bad? What should we praise, and what should we condemn? So it was with Kennedy’s speech that day. Although most commencement speeches offer personal reflections or give the graduates life advice, Kennedy guided his audience toward Universal values. He spoke for peace, progress, and hope. In today’s more cynical milieu, we need to remember his message all the more. For Kennedy spoke of moral excellence, not national arrogance. He spoke of setting a good example for other nations, not of dominating other nations. He reminded the graduates, and the nation, and the world, that true world peace requires justice, morality, and hope. Instead of dreaming of the wonderful past, Kennedy looked forward to an inspiring future. Kennedy guided his audience – the graduates, the nation, and the world – toward a future of higher values.

John Kennedy Spoke for World-Wide Freedom and Independence in his 1962 Fourth of July Speech

John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address: A Call to Service

Commemorative Plaque at The American University

First, Kennedy redefined the word “peace.” To Kennedy, peace was not merely the absence of war. Peace did not mean that the United States would wield military power to enforce an uneasy peace on a reluctant world:

“What kind of peace do I mean? What kind of peace do we seek? Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war. Not the peace of the grave or the security of the slave.”

No, in contrast to that limited definition of peace, Kennedy offered a higher value. To Kennedy, peace meant an opportunity to thrive, for everyone to have better lives: 

“I am talking about genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living, the kind that enables men and nations to grow and to hope and to build a better life for their children—not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women—not merely peace in our time but peace for all time.”

Phrases like “America First,” proudly shouted by antisemites in the 1940s, and repeated by today’s Republican Party, imply domination. The America First Committee of 1940-1941 called Jews warmongers and echoed Nazi ideology. “America First” implies isolation and a bit of arrogance. In contrast, President Kennedy, a decorated combat veteran of World War II, saw a better way. As he concluded his speech, he rejected war and its horrors:

“The United States, as the world knows, will never start a war. We do not want a war. We do not now expect a war. This generation of Americans has already had enough—more than enough of—war and hate and oppression.”

“As the world knows,” Kennedy insisted. I shudder to ask: does the world still know that today?

Kennedy did not mistake peace for weakness, for the nation must always be prepared for war:

“We shall be prepared if others wish it. We shall be alert to try to stop it.”

Instead, Kennedy sought world peace that arose, not from selfishness or arrogance, but from justice and security:

“But we shall also do our part to build a world of peace where the weak are safe and the strong are just. We are not helpless before that task or hopeless of its success. Confident and unafraid, we labor on—not toward a strategy of annihilation but toward a strategy of peace.”

And, with that assurance, Kennedy concluded. He did not give the graduates insights into how to get a job or to live a satisfying personal life. Instead, he advised the graduates about their moral place in the universe. This speech led directly to treaties limiting nuclear arms. Alas, Kennedy spoke for a time, that has, I fear, vanished in the mists, when peace arose not from power, but from justice.

Yet, Kennedy taught a lesson that the world needs to remember even as I write. It is a lesson that every American needs to remember on every election day. It regards a value that requires us to let hope replace fear.

No, John Kennedy was no more perfect than anyone else. He did, however, understand that the United States of America must use its power, influence, and values for the greater peace. That forgotten wisdom still lingers. Let us pursue that value today. 

by William D. Harpine

Joe Biden's 2022 University of Delaware Commencement Speech Reminds Americans that Our Nation Was Founded on an Idea

Ronald Reagan Spoke about Freedom, Friendship, and Hope at Moscow State University

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Theoretical Note: In rhetorical theory, a ceremonial speech (or epideictic speech) either praises or blames, and usually expresses values for the audience to emulate. Some of the greatest speeches, with Lincoln's Gettysburg Address serving as the pinnacle, have fallen under this genre.

Personal note: My father, Casper Allen Harpine, Jr., received his law degree from the Washington College of Law at American University in 1956. American University is one of several outstanding universities found in the United States of America’s capital city.

Copyright ©2026 by William D. Harpine

Image of John F. Kennedy, official White House photo, public domain

Image of commemorative plaque, The American University, used by permission

“False Conviction Saps True Potential.” Wise Words from Harvard’s President

Harvard University's 2025 Commencement

“A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.” Proverbs 15:1KJB

Sometimes the gentlest words tell us the most. At Harvard University’s 2025 commencement, University President Alan Garber pointedly reminded students that they had been educated to avoid rigid thinking and ideological devotion. Indeed, he warned the crowd that we take a terrible risk if we grow too sure of our own wisdom. Not raising his voice, not naming names, and avoiding all hostility, Garber challenged the Trump administration, not on its policies, not even on its rhetoric, but on its underlying philosophy (or lack thereof).

Garber defended Harvard University at the same time, and with the same words, that he used to give wise, gentle advice to the newly-minted scholars. On the one hand, commencement speakers want to honor the graduates and offer advice. Garber did that. Still, on the other hand, the United States government has lashed out at Harvard University for political reasons that strike against the school’s entire purpose. (Indeed, if we reject open inquiry and human community, we have rejected the concept of a university. After all, the word “university” comes from the idea of “universality.”) While Garber reminded everyone of the university's purpose, he also reminded the attendees, and the entire nation, that we all require human dignity, intellectual growth, and wisdom. He never needed to mention Donald Trump, for the context made his meaning obvious. 

So, Garber warned the graduates against complacent thinking:

“The world as it is tempts us with the lure of what one might generously call comfortable thinking, a habit of mind that readily convinces us of the merits of our own assumptions, the veracity of our own arguments, and the soundness of our own opinions, positions, and perspectives—so committed to our beliefs that we seek information that confirms them as we discredit evidence that refutes them.”

Anyone who watches Fox News or surfs through talk radio has heard willfully uninformed people spout absolute nonsense with complete self-confidence. Never mentioning those sources by name, Garber quietly rejected their underlying value:

“False conviction saps true potential.”

What a stunningly insightful axiom! For college graduates are potential in the making.


Trump's Attack on Harvard

Irked almost to the point of blind rage, President Donald Trump had placed severe restrictions on Harvard’s ability to recruit international students. Although a judge quickly ruled against Trump’s action, the shockwaves continued to roil the campus. In a sweeping, and possibly, illegal move, Trump canceled almost 1,000 research grants. Most of these were medical studies awarded by the National Institutes of Health. These included research into a TB vaccine, ALS treatments, and Alzheimer’s Disease. Trump justified the cuts by claiming that Harvard was “woke” (whatever that means) and falsely stating that many Harvard students were taking remedial math courses. (A glance at Harvard’s catalog shows that calculus is their lowest-level math course.) He accused Harvard of being antisemitic. (Garber himself is Jewish.) Harvard is reacting by suing the administration. 

Tom Hanks, Truth, and the American Way at Harvard University


What Is the Most Important Lesson University Students Can Learn?

Trump’s actions appear to arise from resentment rather than policy. Trump even canceled grants for artificial intelligence research, which is supposedly one of his priorities. The self-righteousness, the unwillingness to admit error, make it difficult for the Trump administration to see reason, much less to back down. Thus, Garber reminded the crowd that there are worse things than being wrong. He reminded them that it is only when we learn that we are wrong that we allow ourselves to grow, become better, learn new things, and have a better society. Learning, Garber insisted, requires us to take risks:

“Focused on satisfying a deep desire to be right, we can willingly lose that which is so often gained from being wrong—humility, empathy, generosity, insight—squandering opportunities to expand our thinking and to change our minds in the process.”

As Garber reminded the graduates, we too often require society to assure us that we are right.  We seek comfort and support, not wisdom, when we ask people to confirm everything we think.  That is a terrible mistake, for no one is always right. Instead, we must, Garber said, always be ready to revise our beliefs and move forward:

“My hope for you, members of the Class of 2025, is that you stay comfortable being uncomfortable.”

Garber did not urge the graduates to be self-confident. Instead, he urged them to live in intellectual discomfort, knowing that this is the path to personal growth.

Garber did not need to mention Trump. No one in the audience could possibly have missed his point. 


Should Harvard Welcome International Students?

Garber defended Harvard’s commendable practice of enrolling students from around the world. Yet, he made his point by implication. He never mentioned Trump. He did not complain about the government’s injustices. He did not refute Trump point by point. Argument and refutation would not suit the occasion.  Instead, Garber gently countered Trump's underlying values. That, in the long run, made a far more powerful argument. 

Tim Cook's Commencement Speech at Duke University - "Be the Last to Accept It"

Harvard has long enrolled foreign students, but it was no coincidence that Garber had specifically mentioned them at his speech’s outset. Not about to let a good point die out, Garber continued:

“Members of the Class of 2025 from down the street, across the country, and around the world.

“Around the world, just as it should be.”

Just as it should be! Instead of knuckling under to the Trump administration’s foolish idea that “America First” means “America Only,” Garber proudly stood by his worldwide values: “just as it should be.”

That is how Garber established his thesis, which was that true intellectuals never allow rigid, inflexible ideas to take over their lives. He stood up for America: not the America of Jim Crow, isolationism, or injustice, but the America that welcomes the free interchange of ideas, cultures, and people. Garber showed how to counter the false philosophy of fear and exclusion. Garber delivered a calm, gentle, and insightful speech for the ages. I hope that the graduates, who deserve our congratulations, remember his words forever. 

by William D. Harpine

Copyright © 2025 by William D. Harpine

Image: Used by permission, courtesy of Harvard University

Tom Hanks, Truth, and the American Way at Harvard University

Harvard University

Truth seems to be a graduation theme in 2023. In his May 25, 2023 commencement speech at Harvard University, movie star Tom Hanks cited a pop-culture character to remind his audience that truth is a basic American value. Ceremonial speeches remind the audience about their values, and Hanks made the point that, not only is truth a great value, but it is a fundamental value of American tradition. Nothing, he showed, could be more patriotic or more traditional than to speak the truth. And what could be more American, more traditional, than Superman’s flowing red cape?

In an era when liars proudly call themselves patriots, Hanks asked us to return to values that we once treasured. Instead of quoting Thomas Jefferson, however, Hanks cited that heroic cultural icon, Superman, to bring his audience back to our traditional American values. No, in real life, truth did not always rule in Superman’s heyday.  Instead, Superman’s values were ideals to strive for. Still, Hanks reminded us of that perhaps-forgotten ideal. What better goal can a speech serve? Hanks reminded us about honor and self-respect. He reminded us that it is we, ourselves, who must stand for truth. No one else will do it for us. Hanks taught a lesson we needed to hear: a lesson that has disappeared in a blizzard of conspiracy theories, news cycles, and the endless scratching for temporary advantage. 

While Liz Cheney’s commencement address at Colorado College defended truth by citing a biblical quotation, movie star Tom Hanks reminded the students about Superman:

“Some of us here can recite by repetition the preamble for a television show we might have seen 5 days a week about a strange being from another planet with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men.”

That preamble, Hanks then cleverly reminded us, cited the three values for which Superman fought:

“Superman, you see, and his prox[ies], Wonder Woman, Captain America, Black Panther and Black Widow and the Fantastic (Four) … are all enmeshed in that never-ending battle for truth, justice and the American way. And in such a struggle, being a Superman is a plus.” [Italics added]

As Hanks cleverly noted, truth ranked first among Superman’s red, white, and blue values. Generations of boys and girls grew up hearing on television that “truth, justice, and the American way,” above all others, gave the United States of America its moral focus. Truth was the American way. 

Yes, people often want supernatural heroes like Superman to solve their problems and put the world right. Superman, however, does not exist. As Hanks next said, it is we, ordinary people, who must fight for what is right:

“But, hey, there ain’t no Superman or anyone else in his Justice League, there’s just us on this planet.”

If not Superman, who is going to stand for truth, justice, and the American way? Hanks pounded on the theme that it must be us, all of us, who work for what is right:

“Even though, yes, we are all but human. Still, we’d like to look up in the sky and see not a bird, not a plane, but, well someone who is young and strong and super, who will fight the never-ending battle, for truth, for justice and for the American way, someone who will take on that work.” [Italics added]

There is nothing new, of course, about people who talk about justice, while pretending that lies are truth or that the truth is a lie. The United States of America has reached a terrible point where falsehood dominates large chunks of American culture. Hanks continued:

“Truth is mined at the intersections of our chosen behaviors and our fixed habits and our personal boundaries. Truth has synonyms such as honesty, honor, transparency.” [Italics added]

Anyone who follows cable news or talk radio, or devours conspiracy theories on the Internet, can see at a glance that truth does not always reach forward toward us. We need to look for it. 

Furthermore, telling lies is not the only way to oppose truth. For instance, we can distract people’s attention from the truth. We can say something that is factual, but leave out crucial information, without which the listener will miss the full truth. Indeed, as Hanks wisely noted, the word “truth” means much more than simply misrepresenting facts:

“Likewise, truth has opposites. Omission. ‘You don’t need to know that.’ Distraction. ‘That’s not the real story, this is.’ Opinion masquerading as clairvoyance. ‘Oh, here is what is going to happen.’ And influence-peddling. ‘You know, a lot of people are saying …’”

The Nunes Memo: Why Does Context Matter?

In a thinly veiled reference to Kellyanne Conway’s concept of “alternative facts,” Hanks explained how the entire idea of the American way can twist around to support grifters and abusers:

“Someone will report the world to you exactly as you wish it were, full of alternative facts.… The American way can be demonstrated without ceasing as a perpetual prayer by every bigshot and any plain Jane or Joe Blow.” [italics added]

To Hanks, however, neither lies nor “alternative facts” are truth’s main enemy. The destructive force that gives truth its greatest challenge is indifference. The biggest problems arise when we don’t care. The tragedy is when we stop worrying about what is true or false, much less what is good or bad:

“Truth, too, has a nemesis, equal to any colored kryptonite. That, like a feral hound is never too far off the path in the weeds and in the shadows, lying in wait for the lethal opportunity to bring truth down. And that beast is indifference, which will make moot all the permanence found in truth. [italics added]

He had a point. We live in a nation where 70% of Republican voters believe Donald Trump’s ludicrous claim that the 2020 election was stolen. Fully 46% of Trump voters think there could be some truth to the bizarre accusation that Hillary Clinton ran a pedophile ring in the basement of a tiny pizza place that has no basement. Noble fact-checking websites like FactCheck.org have had too little effect, as liars simply accuse the fact-checkers of bias. The real problem, of course, is that it is the liars themselves who are biased: they are biased against facts. 

People try to ban books, Hanks implied in another part of his speech, not because books are bad, but because books often teach true things. Too often, we struggle for advantage, too rarely do we think about what is true or honorable. A speech reaches its highest level when the speaker reminds us about the values we treasure. Tom Hanks implicitly directed his speech against conservatives who twist truth and censor schools, but he conveyed a profoundly conservative message: he called for us to remember Superman’s American values. 

Image: David Adam Kress, Creative Commons License

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Here are some more of my posts about commencement speeches over the years:

Kamala Harris' Speech at West Point: Tradition and Innovation

The Themes of Savannah Guthrie's Commencement Speech at George Washington University

Joe Biden's 2022 University of Delaware Commencement Speech Reminds Americans that Our Nation Was Founded on an Idea

Oprah Winfrey at Skidmore College, May 20, 2017

Dolly Parton's Commencement Speech: Lively, Extemporaneous, Specific, Detailed

Tim Cook's Commencement Speech at Duke University - "Be the Last to Accept It"

For more, type "commencement" in the search box above and right. 

Liz Cheney's Commencement Speech at Colorado College: "The Truth Shall Make You Free"

Liz Cheney at Colorado College

Have we ever had a year when so many people gave speeches about truth? 

Ceremonial speeches teach us about values. What value can be higher than truth? In her May 28, 2023 commencement address at her alma mater, Colorado College, former Republican representative Liz Cheney explained to the graduates that truth matters. She started with this thesis:  

“The first thing we ask of you is that you live in the truth.” 

Continuing, Cheney cited the inscription on a building on Colorado College’s gorgeous campus: “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.”

Cheney immediately followed that noble premise by reminding the graduates that:

“…after the 2020 election and the attack of January 6th, my fellow Republicans wanted me to lie. They wanted me to say the 2020 election was stolen, the attack of January 6th wasn’t a big deal, and Donald Trump wasn’t dangerous. I had to choose between lying and losing my position in House leadership.”

Continuing, Cheney talked about her final meeting as Chair of the Republican House Conference:

“As I spoke to my colleagues on my last morning as chair of the Republican conference, I told them that if they wanted a leader who would lie, they should choose someone else.”

How can we disagree? Cheney was right that it is, indeed, a basic life rule: to be free, we must embrace truth. Cheney continued:

“It is a fundamental fact - we cannot remain a free nation if we abandon the truth. As you go out to change the world, resolve to stand in truth.”

Yes, truth is life’s most basic virtue. How can we expect our plans and ideas to work out if they arise from falsehood? Why should it surprise us that lies never turn out to be true? That relationships based on lies mean nothing? 

For her second value, Cheney asked the students to “do good and be kind to each other.” That is also a basic value, but it is, once again, subordinate to truth. If we live in lies, all else falters.

Liz Cheney concluded by repeating her values:

“Class of 2023, go forth. Stand in truth. Do good and be kind. Always do the next right thing. Be heroes. Be incandescent with courage. Defend our democracy. Love and serve our country. She – and we – have never needed you more.”

Yes, it’s easy to talk about truth. It is easy to say that we each have our own truths. It is, unfortunately, all too easy for us to fabricate beliefs that we know, deep inside, to be false. We often admire the truth as a principle, while rejecting its harsh reality. Truth challenges us. In contrast, all too often, lies comfort us. 

Cheney was not only applauded but booed during her speech, perhaps partly by Trump supporters, but also by many students who protested her conservative views. More generally, Cheney paid a price for her integrity. She was essentially expelled from the Wyoming Republican Party. She was censured by the Republican National Committee, which, astonishingly, held that the January 6 Capitol riot was “legitimate political discourse.” Rejected by Democrats for being too conservative, rejected by most Republicans for being too honest, she wanders without a political home. She chose to rely, instead, on truth. 

Cheney was absolutely correct to tell the students to honor truth. She rightly told them that this requires courage. It is, after all, often much easier to tell lies. Her successor as Republican Conference Chair, Elise Stefanik, happily and falsely tells people that the 2020 election was stolen, and her voters and the caucus alike seem to love her. Stefanik won almost 60% of the vote in her rural New York State district. The point is not that liars never prosper. Nor is it even true; indeed, we all know that liars often triumph. No, the point is that people tell lies when they know they are in the wrong, and yet do not care. The point is that liars never know what it means to be free. 

Ceremonial speeches are about values. Cheney talked about the most important value of all, the value of truth. Although she is just as dedicated to right-wing policies as the typical Republican voter, she refused to lie about Donald Trump or the 2020 election. That ended her political career. She discovered that it was too much to speak even one word of truth to people who didn’t want to hear it. Truth could turn her into an exile, a pariah. So it was.

Liz Cheney Used Examples to Remind Us of Our Values in Her Courageous Speech about Trump's False Election Claims

Liz Cheney and the Firehose of Truth: Using the Republicans' Text Messages Against Them

Liz Cheney is a very smart woman. She knows that her party has rejected truth. She knows that she will never again win any election as a Republican. She gave this speech, I imagine, because she hopes that the new generation of leaders can learn more integrity than the old ones.

Almost a year ago, Liz Cheney told the Select Committee investigating January 6 that, “Tonight, I say this to my Republican colleagues who are defending the indefensible: There will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain.” In this remarkable commencement address at Colorado College. Cheney was speaking to history. This was not only a speech for our times, and not just a speech about the danger that Trumpism still poses to the United States of America. It was a speech for the ages.

Liz Cheney's Courageous Speech Asking Republicans to Reject Trump's False Election Claims

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Research Note: Speech scholars have various theories of ceremonial or epideictic speaking. A good ceremonial speech is never just empty show. A good ceremonial speaker appeals to basic values, reminds the audience about what is important, and aims for social cohesion. In his Art of Rhetoric, Aristotle said that epideictic speaking aims at the goal of honor. That is true enough, and Cheney honored truth. Belgian philosophers Chaïm Perelman and Lucie Olbrechts-Tyteca expounded the idea that epideictic speeches promote social cohesion by stressing shared values.

Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca also introduced the postmodern idea that the audience exists in the speaker's mind. From that viewpoint, Cheney spoke to multiple audiences, not just to the students, but also to the audience of the future. She spoke for history. 

Of course, “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free” is from the King James Bible, John 8:32.

Image: Lonnie Timmons III / Colorado College. Used by permission.

Kamala Harris' Speech at West Point: Tradition and Innovation

Kamala Harris

For the first time in history, a woman gave the commencement address to the graduates of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. On May 27, 2023, Vice President Kamala Harris spoke to congratulate the cadets. For the most part, her speech was conventional and safe, but she did take time to celebrate the increasing role of women in the United States military. Like a long line of liberal speakers before her, she (paradoxically) located innovation in the firm service of tradition. The tradition was the tradition of innovation, and, yet, innovation is, of course, the opposite of tradition.

So, Harris commented that:

“So, to the Class of 2023 and to all the cadets here today: You stand on the broad shoulders of generations of Americans who have worn the uniform, including many barrier breakers and trailblazerss.”

When she said, “generations of Americans,” she emphasized tradition. When, in her next breath, she talked about “barrier breakers and trailblazers,” her point was innovation. Breaking barriers. Blazing new trails.

She continued that theme a moment later, reminding the cadets that:

“In fact, this year, you celebrate the 75th anniversary of the integration of women in the military, as well as the desegregation of our military. (Applause.)”

So, once again, she combined tradition (75th anniversary) with an integration policy that many conservatives would still consider to be innovative.

Harris concluded that section by addressing what she called a “fundamental truth:” 

“Our military is strongest when it fully reflects the people of America.”

Harris speaks at West Point 

Harris took time to congratulate Cadet Mary Bell, whose mother was also a West Point graduate, and Cadets Aaron Hall and Claire Dworsky, whom she had nominated to West Point when Harris was a United States Senator. She didn’t need to remind the audience that the Bells and Dworsky were women. Listeners could draw the link for themselves.

Bringing women and minorities into a complete role in the military has represented a dramatic, although gradual, change in the military forces. Tradition and “fundamental truth” are, however, conservative watchwords: the paradox of traditional innovation.

Harris’ persuasive tactic was to imply that innovation is traditional. It's unclear to me that this argument has ever convinced any conservative. It does, however, recast innovation into a new context. The argument from tradition asks conservative listeners to think about whether they should, or should not, live up to the fundamental principles of equality and liberty that most of them espouse.

Finally, although she didn't say so, the fact that it was Harris - a minority woman - giving the speech gave living proof to the growing role of women in the American polity. Good for her.

Kamala Harris Acceptance Speech at the Virtual DNC Convention: Breaking Ground with Caution

Oprah Winfrey's Eulogy for Rosa Parks: A Speech about Opposing Traditions

President Macron's Speech to Congress: Reminding the USA of Its Traditions

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P.S.: Conservatives promptly jumped on social media to claim that conservative firebrand author Ayn Rand gave the 1974 commencement speech at West Point. That is incorrect. Rand did make a brief 1974 appearance at West Point, but she was not the commencement speaker. Howard H. Callaway was the 1974 West Point Commencement Speaker.

Also, while we're at it, the United States Military Academy campus is a gorgeous architectural wonder on the banks of the Hudson River palisades. Visit if you get the chance. It’s worth the drive. 

Research Note: Harris’ tactic has a long tradition! For example, in his award-winning book The Prophetic Tradition and Radical Rhetoric in America, Professor James Darsey points out that progressive speakers often quote the Hebrew prophets.

Images: Official White House photo, White House YouTube Channel