Byron's oratory

The occasion for Edward Kennedy's Lynchburg address on “Tolerance and Truth in America” has been called “something of a mistake.” However, Kennedy used the opportunity to speak at Liberty Baptist College in 1983 to propose a “contract” for the public relationship between himself and Jerry Falwell. Virtually auditioning for a part in a new form of dialogue, Kennedy displayed for Falwell a universe of discourse in which each could be more civil toward the other without betraying his own constituencies or threatening the other's supporters. Subsequent events demonstrate that the contract, although never explicitly stated, was accepted.