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One hundred years after John F. Kennedy’s birth and 56 years after he delivered one of the greatest speeches of the 20th century, we are still inspired by John F. Kennedy’s words. We remember JFK’s ideas because he was a good editor.
On a visit to the John F. Kennedy library in Boston, I was struck by the large number of edits Kennedy had made to the inaugural speech now on display in the museum. The speech, delivered on January 20, 1961, was the fourth shortest inaugural address in presidential history. And JFK wanted it that way.
“I don’t want people to think I’m a windbag,” Kennedy told his speechwriter Ted Sorensen. “Make it short.” Think about it. Kennedy’s speech was 13 minutes and 42 seconds. One of the greatest speeches of the 20th century is four minutes shorter than a TED talk.
Sorensen had worked closely with Kennedy for years and understood how best to articulate his ideas. But despite Sorensen’s gorgeous prose, Kennedy made thirty-one changes in the last few hours. You can see the edits in red. Until the last minute Kennedy is crossing out phrases, replacing long words with short ones, and eliminating entire sentences.
For example, Kennedy crossed out the following sentence: “The world is very different now, empowered as it is to banish all form of human poverty and all form of human life.”
Kennedy removed the words “empowered” and “banish” and wrote a simpler, stronger sentence that sounds better for the ear: “For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all form of human poverty and to abolish all form of human life.”
The most famous line even went through edits. Kennedy crossed out “will” and replaced it with “can.” He cut out three words, too. The sentence finally read: “Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.” While the concept is profound, the sentence is made up of short words that a fourth-grader could read (I placed the sentence in a tool that measures readability for grade school textbooks).
Another famous sentence tests at a third grade readability level because it’s made up of mostly one-syllable words and there are few, if any, shorter words to say the same thing:
“We shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe…”
Imagine if Kennedy had written: “We should consider the effort to be worth any cost or encumbrance associated with the initiative…” If he had, we would not have remembered the speech. Instead he wrote, “We shall pay any price, bear any burden.”
Fewer, shorter words are more memorable.
Kennedy studied two speechmakers: Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill. Lincoln, of course, is known for writing one of the most famous short speeches in history — The Gettysburg Address. Kennedy and Sorensen analyzed the speech and concluded that Lincoln used one word when he could have used three words. He chose one-syllable words when there were two and three-syllable alternatives available. In other words, Lincoln made the speech as simple as possible.
Churchill is also known for replacing long words with short ones.
“Short words are best,” Winston Churchill once said. “The shorter words of a language are usually the most ancient.”
After an impressive victory in the Battle of Britain, Churchill, referring to the actions of British pilots, wrote: “Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few.” So much, so many, so few. In six words, Churchill spoke volumes about heroism and sacrifice.
In his ground-breaking book, Thinking, Fast and Slow, Nobel prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman writes, “If you care about being thought credible and intelligent, do not use complex language where simpler language will do.” Effective leaders speak in simple language.
It’s good to celebrate inspiring leaders. Their stories bring out the best in us. John F. Kennedy once said, “A person may die. Nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on.” True, but convoluted ideas will never live on because they don’t catch on. Great communicators are great editors and JFK was one of the best.
