On Stage Fright, Part 1

       It was the annual Ludden Freshman-Sophomore Oratorical Contest at the University of Minnesota.  I was a freshman who had done well in a public speaking class and a couple high school contests.  I was encouraged by my teacher to enter the competition, something like a 20 minute persuasive speech on any serious subject.

       Emery Reeves’s The Anatomy of Peace was a popular book of the time, proposing and arguing for World Government just after World War II.  It was a more serious giving up of national autonomy than the UN, and it struck a chord with me, and many others.

       Outside of drawing too heavily on that single source, my speech was a good one, well constructed, and I believed strongly in the material.

       I had written out the speech, memorized it, and rehearsed it.  Listening to the other speeches that night, I thought mine would probably measure up in content.