ChaPTER 4 StUdy gUide 63Think about These Questions
• Explain how ethical behavior serves as a balance to free speech.
• Why do you think the U.S. Supreme Court has historically considered flag
burning and pornography to be “free speech acts”?
• From at least the time of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, speechwriters have
written many of the best speeches made by U.S. presidents. Is such use of
speechwriters ethical? Is it ethical to give credit to the presidents for memo-
rable lines from speeches written by professional speechwriters?
• The following passage comes from the book Abraham Lincoln, Public Speaker,
by Waldo W. Braden:
The Second Inaugural Address, sometimes called Lincoln’s Sermon
on the Mount, was a concise, tightly constructed composition that did
not waste words on ceremonial niceties or superficial sentiment. The
shortest Presidential inaugural address up to that time, it was only 700
words long, compared to 3,700 words for the First, and required from
5 to 7 minutes to deliver.^26
Which of the following statements should be credited to Braden if you were to
use them in a speech?
“Lincoln’s second inaugural address is sometimes called Lincoln’s
Sermon on the Mount.”
“Because he was elected and sworn in for two terms as president,
Abraham Lincoln prepared and delivered two inaugural addresses.”
“Lincoln’s second inaugural address was 700 words and 5 to 7 minutes
long.”