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Presidential Speech Writers
by Ron Kurtus (3 March 2013)
The United States President gives a number of important speeches throughout the year. Even if he was a capable speech writer, the president may not have the time available to write his own speeches. Thus, most presidents have at least one speech writer to help formulate an upcoming speech.
There's a typical method used by the presidential speech writers. It is uncertain whether all presidents used speech writers, but I included a list of the most recent writers.
Questions you may have include:
- What is the typical method used to write the speech?
- What is a list of presidential speech writers?
- What are some facts on the writers?
This lesson will answer those questions.
Typical method used
Typically, the method used is that the president wants to express a specific subject to an audience at an event. The speech writer that makes an outline of proposed speech, and the president reviews it to make sure main points are covered. Then the speech writer puts the speech together, improved wording, and gives it to the president. Some changes may be made before the speech finally given.
Presidents and their speech writers
Following is a list of recent presidents and their head speech writers:
Warren G. Harding
- Judson T. Welliver is considered the first official presidential speechwriter.
John F. Kennedy
- Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.
- Theodore "Ted" Sorenson
- Richard N. Goodwin
Lyndon B. Johnson.
- Richard N. Goodwin
Richard M. Nixon
- Pat Buchanan
- William Safire
- Ben Stein
Jimmy Carter
- James Fallows
- Chris Matthews
Ronald Reagan
- Peggy Noonan
George H. W. Bush
- Peggy Noonan
- Christopher Buckley
- Michael Johns
- Tony Snow
Bill Clinton
- Michael Waldman
George W. Bush
- Charlie Fern
- David Fru
- Michael Gerson
- William McGurn
- Marc Thiessen
Barack Obama
- Jon Favreau
Facts on writers
Indications are that Alexander Hamilton had written speeches for President George Washington.
Apparently, Abraham Lincoln wrote the Gettysburg Address himself. The story is that he outlined the speech on an envelope.
Although, some presidents have only one speech writer listed, in most cases there is a staff of writers reporting to the head writer.
Summary
Since the United States President gives a number of important speeches throughout the year, most presidents have at least one speech writer to help formulate an upcoming speech. The typical method used by the presidential speech writers, includes outlining and checking with the president on the content before the speech is given.
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presidential_speech_writers.htm
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Presidential Speech Writers