The best speaker in history.

[LightSpectra]

I'm sure this would rile a debate.

So many people to choose from: Pericles, Hitler, Lincoln, Cicero, Bismark, Martin Luther King, Churchill -- who would you say was the most charismatic, influential speaker?

 

[sydhe]

Probably Lincoln. But don't forget Demosthenes and FDR.

 

[scherbchen]

Tough one to differentiate between the one's where you have recordings of the speeches from the one's where only written transcripts are left (nevermind the languages, I get sewaty and neauseous when I even look at Cicero in Latin). A speech by Hitler/Goebbels in written form is just so different from a recording.

 

[.Shane.]

Don't forget the Boy Orator of the Platte!

 

[Plotinus]

I think Gladstone would make the top five easily. He was still delivering speeches to crowds of tens of thousands in his eighties, and he could keep them all entranced for hours at a time. The great speakers of the early twentieth century, such as Lloyd George or Churchill, were enormously influenced by him.

 

[warpus]

Dave Chapelle is one of the most effective public speakers I've ever heard.

 

[Irish Caesar]

Lincoln wasn't a particularly good speaker; he had many good things to say, but I've read that his voice was rather high-pitched and certainly not what you'd expect from someone of his stature.

Marty King is probably the best speaker I've heard or seen recordings of, so I can't really judge any of the others mentioned... but he sounds better on tape than the recordings I've heard of FD Roosevelt and John Kennedy.

 

[sydhe]

I understand his high-pitched voice was actually a bit of an asset. It carried well, which was important in the days before microphones. Theodore Roosevelt's was also apparently fairly high-pitched.

 

[silver 2039]

Hitler is a great one definatley, and Martin Luther King Jr. as well I've heard recordings of both their speeches.

 

[RickFGS]

Mahatma Gandhi, the all non-violence idea to achive a country independence is just pure genius.

 

[Plotinus]

But speaking ability hasn't got much to do with brilliance of thought; it's about presentation rather than originality. After all, Cicero wasn't a very original thinker, but he was one of the greatest speakers of all time.

Besides, Gandhi didn't come up with the idea of non-violent resistance. He was influenced by earlier figures such as Te Whiti.

 

[Lotus49]

Obviously the answer is Jesus Christ.

 

[Tee Kay]

Hitler, Kennedy, Churchill, Mao Zedong, Mahatma Gandhi, Lenin, Martin Luther King Jr are some of the best imvho.

The best however are probably the religious teachers and prophets throughout the ages - Christ, Mohammad, Buddha, Confucius, and others.

 

[cthom]

benjamin disraeli.

 

[zjl56]

Maybe not the greatest, but Roman orators such as Cicero, Cato, and others surely influenced many of these later speakers.

 

[Japanrocks12]

Dave Chapelle is one of the most effective public speakers I've ever heard.

you have just won this thread

 

[mitsho]

My first thought without having read anything in here was Cicero. I mean, he didn't have to deliver his speech, the opponent gave up beforehand... ;-)

 

[Rambuchan]

I'd say Hitler or Martin Luther King Jnr.

It's a little difficult to judge the speaking style of those from antiquity. Youtube, for example, just isn't throwing up anything by them.

 

[ohcrapitsnico]

I say religious figures easily are better than your political figures.

 

[Plotinus]

Well, where on earth is the evidence that (say) Jesus was a better speaker than (say) Cicero? I'd say there's evidence that Jesus and Muhammad, at least, were decent speakers; they certainly had a dramatic effect upon their audiences. But I don't see any evidence for saying that Confucius and Buddha were. In fact I don't think that either of them was noted for giving speeches to large audiences at all. Confucius, after all, wasn't very successful as a politician, which doesn't seem good evidence for his having been a notably impressive speaker.

The Christian preachers generally considered the best speakers include Gregory Nazianzus, John Chrysostom, Augustine, John Wesley, and (perhaps above all) George Whitefield, who was said to have driven fifteen people mad with one of his early sermons. Savonarola should probably make the list too.