This is the 43rd in a collection of newspaper ads written by Harry Gray, then CEO of United Technologies, that appeared in the Wall Street Journal from the late 1970s through the early 1980s. Here is the text from that ad.
If you sometimes get discouraged, consider this fellow:
He dropped out of grade school.
Ran a country store.
Went broke.
Took 15 years to pay off his bills.
Took a wife.
Unhappy marriage.
Ran for House.
Lost twice.
Ran for Senate.
Lost twice.
Delivered speech that became a classic.
Audience indifferent.
Attacked daily by the press and despised by half the country.
Despite all this,
imagine how many people all over the world
have been inspired by this awkward, rumpled, brooding man
who signed his name simply,
A. Lincoln.
I had thought about writing something about Martin Luther King, Jr. today, but given that so many others have already posted eloquent tributes to such a great man, I thought I would just continue with my Monday postings of the United Technologies ads. As it turns out, the ad for today featured a man who has a connection to King.
King originally designed his I Have a Dream speech as a homage to Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, timed to correspond with the 100-year centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation.
The two men delivered what are arguably the two most famous political speeches in American history.
Two men committed to the belief that all men are created equal.
Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King, Jr. – two amazing individuals who gave their life for country and for cause.
Two men who make me proud to be an American.
Borden's Blather 