Martin Luther King Jr. and the Art of Improvisation

There are quite a few good pieces floating around the Internets today about the power of speechifying: more specifically, Martin Luther King Jr.‘s “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered 50 years ago and generally recognized as the greatest oratorical feat of the 20th century. But from a PR perspective, we’re most interested in this New York Times op-ed, which reveals that some of the best-known portions of the speech itself were improvised.

King apparently wrote multiple drafts, argued with advisers over which portions to include, and felt that he didn’t have time to use the words “I have a dream”.

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