Farewell speech
A farewell speech or farewell address is a speech given by an individual leaving a position or place. They are often used by public figures such as politicians as a capstone to the preceding career, or as statements delivered by persons relating to reasons for their leaving. The term is often used as a euphemism for "retirement speech," though it is broader in that it may include geographical or even biological conclusion.
In the Classics, a term for a dignified and poetic farewell speech is apobaterion (ἀποβατήριον), standing opposed to the epibaterion, the corresponding speech made upon arrival.<ref name="Cyclopaedia 1728, Apobatedion">Template:Cyclopaedia 1728</ref>
U.S. presidential farewell addresses
Many U.S. presidential speeches have been given the moniker "farewell address" since George Washington's address in 1796.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Some notable examples:
- George Washington – Washington's Farewell Address in which he warned of the dangers of political parties and foreign alliances.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower – Eisenhower's farewell address in which he warned of the military–industrial complex.
- Barack Obama – Obama's farewell address made from Chicago, breaking tradition of holding one in the White House.
- Donald Trump – Trump's first farewell address, delivered as a recorded, online video message from the White House.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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- Joe Biden – Biden's farewell address in which he warned of the tech–industrial complex.
Other notable farewell speeches
- Muhammad – Farewell Sermon, 6 March 632.
- The speech of Aeneas to Helenus and Andromache, Aeneid, Book III.<ref name="Cyclopaedia 1728, Apobatedion"/>
- Napoleon Bonaparte – First abdication, April 6, 1814 (see Treaty of Fontainebleau (1814)).
- Napoleon Bonaparte – Farewell to the Old Guard, April 20, 1814.
- Napoleon Bonaparte – Second abdication, June 22, 1815 (see Abdication of Napoleon, 1815).
- Abraham Lincoln – Farewell address to the people of Springfield, Illinois before departing to be inaugurated as President of the United States.
- Robert E. Lee – Farewell address to the Army of Northern Virginia, the day after the end of the American Civil War.
- Douglas MacArthur – farewell speeches before Congress and U.S. Military Academy; "old soldiers never die, they only fade away" and "duty, honor, country".
- Salvador Allende - Issued a farewell speech during the 1973 Chilean coup.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>