Seven and eighty years have gone by from the day when our fathers gave to this land a new nation—a nation which came to birth in the thought that all men are free, a nation given up to the idea that all men are equal.
Miscellaneous Information:
Ogden was a Cambridge-educated editor, writer, translator, and mischief-maker. As a student he opposed compulsory attendance at chapel and with a few of his like-minded friends, founded a group called the Heretics Society, where he honed his skills in questioning authority and challenging dogma. He supported progressive social causes like womens' rights and birth control, and generally enjoyed being on the wrong side of stuffy propriety. At his own request, his entry in Who's Who says that he spent 1946-1948 "bedeviled by officials."
Basic English was his proposal for an international language based on a reduction of English to 850 words.
