(3) Base Camp

Ike was a man of the people, and he wanted his final speech to the nation to be easily understood by the average American bear. He had some very clear thoughts to get off his chest as a parting gift to the country that had given him so much power and responsibility.

But then again, he gave this speech at a time when presidents were expected to have some linguistic sophistication and to use multisyllabic words every once in a while (did you notice that multisyllabic is multisyllabic?). He also had enlisted the help of his super smart brother Milton and his main speechwriter Malcolm Moos to absolutely perfect the address, so over the months-long course of editing 29 drafts, they added their own style into the mix.

It's not the most poetic speech you've ever read. It's kinda clunky at times. It's filled with abstract language. And if you're going to make any sense of it you've got to know about a few… minor events that happened over the violent course of the 20th century.

Even so, you can probably make it through the whole speech without breaking open a dictionary. We believe in you.