Too much and too long, we seem to have surrendered community excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material things. Our gross national product … if we should judge America by that - counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors and the jails for those who break them. It counts the destruction of our redwoods and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl. It counts napalm and the cost of a nuclear warhead, and armored cars for police who fight riots in our streets. It counts Whitman’s rifle and Speck’s knife, and the television programs which glorify violence in order to sell toys to our children.
Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages; the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage; neither our wisdom nor our learning; neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country; it measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile. And it tells us everything about America except why we are proud that we are Americans
- Address, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, March 18, 1968
This quote has been on my mind lately. I came across it while reading the collected speeches of Robert Kennedy a couple years back. It hit me like a brick in the face. I had been looking for speech writing that compared to Aaron Sorkin’s material on the West Wing and this was clearly it. I can never figure out why the DNC doesn’t just hire Sorkin to write the sound byte for important speeches. None the less, it is a shame we never hear today’s leaders speak in these terms. Appealing to our greatest hopes and not our deepest fears, and asking quite clearly what we truly value as a people.
Wow.
What a great excerpt, and a powerful image too.
I wonder who wrote it.
I once saw in an interview with Jeff Greenfield and I believe he said that he, kennedy, and another speech writer had done a majority of rfk’s stump speech.
His son is blessed with the same speechmaking talents. RFK Jr’s address at ideaCity was one of the most powerful I’ve ever heard - and it spoke along many of the same lines as his father’s speech in 1968.
The best part is you could make that exact same speech today! Maybe update the Whitman bit…but nonetheless, these should clearly be recycled to show the lack of fwd progress we are making.
A young lawyer from the Justice Dept. who Kennedy took with him to his campaign/Senate staff wrote many of RFK’s speeches. His name was/is (I don’t know if he’s still alive) Adam Walinsky.
[...] A couple months ago I posted a quote from RFK. I came across it while reading a collection of Kennedy’s speeches and it “hit me like a brick in the face”. But what shocked me even more was that RFK’s speeches, for the most part, focused on the poor and disenfranchised. [...]
This is a great speech! Does anyone know where to find this part in audio format? Maybe an MP3 download? I want to share it with others.
Thanks!
[...] phony economy - Harper’s Magazine. RFK summed this up quite well 40 years ago. via [...]