Daily Dialogue — December 1, 2014

“I can’t listen to this anymore. I can’t accomplish a goddamn thing of any human meaning or worth until we cure ourselves of slavery and end this pestilential war! And whether any of you or anyone else knows it, I know I need this! This amendment is that cure! We are stepped out upon the world stage now! Now! With the fate of human dignity in our hands! Blood’s been spilt to afford us this moment! Now! Now! Now! And you grousle and heckle and dodge about like pettifogging Tammany Hall hucksters! See what is before you. See the here and now, that’s the hardest thing, the only thing that accounts. Abolishing slavery by constitutional provision settles the fate for all coming time not only of the millions now in bondage but of unborn millions to come.”

— Lincoln (2012), screenplay by Tony Kushner, book by Doris Kearns Goodwin

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Leadership.

Trivia: Steven Spielberg told a preview audience in Manhattan that screenwriter Tony Kushner spent about six years working on the movie. Originally it was conceived of as a biography film exploring Abraham Lincoln’s entire life story, but eventually was whittled down to the events surrounding the passage of the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery in the U.S. detailed in Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book “Team of Rivals”.

Dialogue On Dialogue: Arguably the greatest leader in American history, this is perhaps the single most defining moment in the movie. Lincoln simply will not yield.

If you have a suggestion for this week’s theme, please post in comments. Thanks!