White House Ghosts: Presidents and
Their Speechwriters by Robert
Schlesinger
Great Lessons For Any Speechwriter
In White House Ghosts, veteran Washington reporter Robert Schlesinger
opens a fresh and revealing window on the modern presidency from FDR
to George W. Bush. This is the first book to examine a crucial and often
hidden role played by the men and women who help presidents find the
words they hope will define their places in history.Drawing on scores of
interviews with White House scribes and on extensive archival research,
Schlesinger weaves intimate, amusing, compelling stories that provide
surprising insights into the personalities, quirks, egos, ambitions, and
humor of these presidents as well as how well or not they understood the
bully pulpit.White House Ghosts traces the evolution of the presidential
speechwriters job from Raymond Moley under FDR through such
luminaries as Ted Sorensen and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., under JFK, Jack
Valenti and Richard Goodwin under LBJ, William Safire and Pat Buchanan

under Nixon, Hendrik Hertzberg and James Fallows under Carter, and
Peggy Noonan under Reagan, to the Troika of Michael Gerson, John
McConnell, and Matthew Scully under George W. Bush.White House
Ghosts tells the fascinating inside stories behind some of the most iconic
presidential phrases: the first inaugural of FDR (the only thing we have to
fear is fear itself ) and JFK (ask not what your country can do for you -- ask
what you can do for your country), Richard Nixons I am not a crook and
Ronald Reagans tear down this wall speeches, Bill Clintons ending the era
of big government State of the Union, and George W. Bushs post-9/11
declaration that whether we bring our enemies to justice or bring justice to
our enemies, justice will be done -- and dozens of other noteworthy
speeches. The book also addresses crucial questions surrounding the
complex relationship between speechwriter and speechgiver, such as who
actually crafted the most memorable phrases, who deserves credit for
them, and who has claimed it.Schlesinger tells the story of the modern
American presidency through this unique prism -- how our chief executives
developed their very different rhetorical styles and how well they grasped
the rewards of reaching out to the country. White House Ghosts is
dramatic, funny, gripping, surprising, serious -- and always entertaining.
Personal Review: White House Ghosts: Presidents and Their
Speechwriters by Robert Schlesinger
Schlesinger describes the men and women who acted as speech writers to
every President from FDR in 1932 to George W. Bush in 2001. Each
administration is given a chapter. Each President's relationship with his
speech writers is outlined with an analysis of one or more key speeches.
Sometimes an Inaugural Address; sometimes the State of the Union
address; or a speech on foreign or domestic policy; once a resignation
speech.
What's fascinating is the unique relationship each President had with his
speech writers and other close advisers. The games they played. The
office politics. The late nights. Who `owned' the speech and at what point
and to what extent the President gave direction. The best were intimately
involved. Sorensen and Kennedy were so close that someone observed
"When Jack is wounded, Ted bleeds." Carter kept speech writers at arms-
length and "didn't much like the idea of using them, ever." It showed.
In some administrations, White House staffers would rail against the power
of a speech writer to make policy. In others, the speech writers were
emasculated scribes left out in the cold.
What's absolutely fascinating for anyone who has worked in
communications in large commercial organizations (as I have) is how eerily
familiar many of the trials and tribulations of the role supporting a CEO is
to that of the White House Ghosts. Here's some which had a familiar ring:
* Eisenhower's speech writer Bryce Harlow only agreed to take on the
role "on the condition that he get to spend a great deal of time around the

president so as to best understand how Ike liked to express himself, what
his concerns were, how to capture the man's voice." (p. 82)
* Eisenhower advising Harlow not to circulate a speech too widely for
review. Ike himself was a speech writer (for MacArthur in the Philippines)
and is quoted as saying "..one thing I know: If you put ten people to work
on a speech, they'll kill anything in it that has any character." (p.85)
* JFK used speechwriters to counter the "diplomatic blandness" the
State Department bureaucracy produced. Echoing the same tin ear that
many high-tech Product Marketing departments have when asked to
submit speaking points for a CEO speech, the recipe the State Department
used "was evidently to take a handful of cliches...repeat at five minute
intervals...stir in the dough of the passive voice...and garnish with self-
serving rhetoric." (p.131)
* Speech writers in the Kennedy White House influenced strategy and
policy "The two roles - writer and policymaker - were symbiotic. .. Active
participation made accurate articulation likely.." (p.149)
* In the Nixon White House Kissinger put the speechwriter "through so
many drafts with short deadlines and with such insistence on his own
organization and language" that the writer said "I'm sick of being Henry's
stenographer." (p.206)
* Regan's speech writer Josh Gilder observed that "writing the speech
was a small part of (the) job". "Navigating a draft through the rounds of
edits required political skills, negotiations, and compromises." (p.343)
* In the Clinton White House the speechwriters claimed that the
president only stuck to the written text about half the time. (p. 408) The
writers would boldface the text they needed him to say.
Been there. Done that. If you'd like to know what the job of a speech writer
is all about, rad this book.
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