Steven Spielberg to Give Keynote Speech at Gettysburg Address Ceremony

Deadline reports that Steven Spielberg has been selected to give the keynote speech at a commemoration marking the 149th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysbergy Address today. The award-winning director helmed the biopic LINCOLN, released in theaters last week. 

The Lincoln Fellowship of Pennsylvania, Gettysburg National Military Park, Gettysburg College and the Gettysburg Foundation will host the event taking place this morning at the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pa. Also at the ceremony, James Getty will recite the Gettysburg Address.  The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will hold a naturalization ceremony for sixteen "citizenship candidates."

Commented Spielberg, “It is an honor to be asked to speak at such a hallowed place on the anniversary of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. I look forward to visiting Pennsylvania and commemorating this important moment in our nation’s history."

Past speakers at the event include presidents Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Dreyfuss, om Ridge, Shelby Foote, Adlai Stevenson, Carl Sandburg, Colin Powell, Sam Donaldson, Sandra Day O’Connor, Ken Burns and Tom Brokaw.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / Retna Ltd.

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