Presidential Speechwriting

1. Presidential Speechwriting Performance or Personal?

2. Ten Myths that Plague Modern SpeechwritingMartin Medhurst • “In the good old days, presidents always wrote their own speeches” • “Franklin Roosevelt was the first modern president to use speechwriters on a regular basis” • “The people who write speeches for the president of the U.S. have always been called speechwriters”

3. “Presidential Speechwriters – whatever title they might have – are always employed as members of the White House.” • “Speechwriters merely reflect what the president’s policies are. Their role is one of ornamentation and amplification, not invention.” • “Speechwriting reduces presidents to marionette who merely mouth the words that others write for them.” • “ The most successful presidential speechwriters have displayed a passion for anonymity.”

4. “Presidential discourse would be better if we could eliminate speechwriters and let the presidents write their own speeches.” • “The practice of speechwriting makes it impossible to judge what presidents really believe by examining their speeches because their words are not their own.” • “Speechwriting is a relatively minor part of the larger policy-making process and the further we can keep the speechwriters away from policy discussions the better off we will be.

5. Speechwriting in Action

6. “Message in a Bottle” Gerald Ford Jimmy Carter George H.W. Bush

7. Attached less importance to speechmaking than their predecessors, yet spoke more frequently • Used professional wordsmiths to write speeches instead of collaborating on speeches with senior aides • Kept speechwriters at a distance and allowed them little involvement in policy. As a result collaboration with speechwriters, when it did occur, was symbolic rather than substantive • Speeches lacked consistent thematic concepts, and stylistic features. • Administrations plagued by squabbles between speechwriters and staff which were reflected in a sense of incoherency and inconsistancy in their speeches

8. “Speechmaking Re-invention” William Jefferson Clinton

9. Never had a speechwriter until his 1992 campaign • For the first two years he used his speechwriters more for outlines than full text, often choosing to improvise off of their work. • Frequently rewrote entire speeches himself. • 1994 Republican Revolution created a change in Clinton and a need for better communication • Moved the speechwriting team into the White House, so that they become more involved with policy. • Used public opinion polling more than any other President.