{{short description|Speech given by an individual leaving a position or place}} [[File:Montfort - Adieux de Napoleon a la Garde imperiale.jpg|300px|thumb|Napoleon saying farewell to the Old Guard at the Palace of Fontainebleau, after his first abdication (1814)]]
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">{{Cyclopaedia 1728 |url=http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/HistSciTech/HistSciTech-idx?type=turn&id=HistSciTech.Cyclopaedia01&entity=HistSciTech.Cyclopaedia01.p0155&q1=apobaterion |title=Apobatedion |page=115 |inline=yes}}</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>{{Cite magazine|url=https://time.com/4624166/presidential-farewell-addresses/|title=Barack Obama's Farewell Address and 6 Other Memorable Presidential Goodbyes|magazine=Time|date=9 January 2017|language=en|access-date=2018-06-19|archive-date=2018-05-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180501084744/http://time.com/4624166/presidential-farewell-addresses/|url-status=live}}</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>{{Cite web|title=Remarks by President Trump In Farewell Address to the Nation|url=https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/farewell-address/|access-date=January 20, 2021|website=The White House|language=en-US|archive-date=January 28, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210128171852/https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/farewell-address/|url-status=live}}</ref> *Joe Biden – Biden's farewell address in which he warned of the tech–industrial complex.
==Other notable farewell speeches== {{Rhetoric}} *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>{{cite book |last1=Chandra |first1=G. |title=Narrating Violence, Constructing Collective Identities |date=2008 |publisher=Palgrave MacMillan UK |page=134}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
Category:Farewell addresses Category:Speeches by type Category:Endings
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