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
  presidents 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.