the back story of the Gettysburg Address at the Noblesville Chamber of Commerce monthly meeting on June 25. (Photo by Navar Watson)
By Navar Watson
Edward Everett, the “Peyton Manning of public speakers” of his day, gave a 90-minute speech before President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address on Nov. 19, 1863. As Everett spoke, Lincoln made one last-minute change to his famous speech. He added “under God” to the phrase “that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom.”
Dr. Dan Miller of Historical Solutions, LLC, provided some new details of the Gettysburg Address to members of the Noblesville Chamber of Commerce at their June 25 breakfast meeting. From these details, Miller gave several insights to communication and public speaking.
Among them: always be open to last-minute changes.
“Don’t think you’ve got to have it all finished right up till the last second,” Miller said. “There might be something that comes to you as you’re walking up … It’s up to you in that moment whether you choose to listen to it or not.”
Calling himself a “consulting historian,” Miller worked 10 years at a consulting firm before founding Historical Solutions – an organization that helps companies and individuals use the past in preparing for the future.
“Everything repeats … and it’s going to repeat whether you know it or not,” Miller said. “The question becomes then, are you prepared when it does repeat?”
Miller chose to discuss the Gettysburg Address at the chamber meeting because the back story is not well known. During the presentation, he made two other key points. One was to interact with people after giving a speech, just as Lincoln did when he shook hands and thanked his audience.
Miller’s other point was that people don’t specifically have strengths and weaknesses. People have traits, he said, and sometimes these traits can be strengths or weaknesses. He said this in reference to Lincoln who, naturally a funny man, accidently made a joke about the battle to a crowd on his way to Gettysburg.
Chamber President Bob DuBois said the Chamber is making some “enhancements” during the next several months. One focus is on leadership development. Miller’s presentation, he said, was a good lead-in to the bigger discussion.
“I honestly wasn’t sure what the goal was going to be until I got a chance to see his presentation (via email). He gave some good life lessons. Simple things, and he made it exciting,” said DuBois. “Leadership is not all about communication, but it doesn’t succeed without communication.”
Miller is working on his latest book, Lincoln’s Lost Days, which will chronicle Lincoln’s visit to the Antietam battlefield in October 1862. He said he hopes to finish it this summer.
