Presidential scholar revives speech "ghosts"

Author: Jaime Fuller

Robert Schlesinger '94, deputy assistant managing editor of opinions at U.S. News & World Report, gave a lecture promoting his book, White House Ghosts: Presidents and their Speechwriters, as part of the Rohatyn Center International Studies Colloquium on Oct. 3.

Schlesinger has covered the beltway for many prestigious publications, including The Boston Globe, The Hill, The Washington Monthly and www.Salon.com. He also teaches political journalism at the Boston University Washington Journalism Center. His former advisor, Director of the Rohatyn Center of International Affairs Allison Stanger, said during her introduction that one of his greatest accomplishments was that "Schlesinger was the first of my former students to appear on Jon Stewart's The Daily Show."

Schlesinger began his lecture by laying out the significant differences between the speechwriting styles of the two bookend presidents of his narrative, Franklin D. Roosevelt and George W. Bush. For FDR, speechwriting was done after the day's work was done; the president would meet with his speechwriters over cocktails and the chief executive would bounce ideas off his staff in an organic, congenial fashion.

"The real work on speeches would commence after dinner. Roosevelt sat on a couch near the fireplace in the office, his feet propped up on a custom-made stool. He often pulled from his pocket old scraps of paper where he had written down ideas, phrases, specific points to make in a speech. The president would retire by 11p.m., the speechwriters then retired to the cabinet room to finish the draft."

This is contrasted with the institutionalized speechwriting of FDR's successors, including the current administration.

"Speech sessions no longer took place over cocktails in the Oval Office," he said. "Instead, if you were a speechwriter working on a speech the president was going to deliver that day, you were expected to be at your desk at 7 a.m. the morning of the speech."

For Schlesinger, presidential speechwriting is a family affair; his father Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. was a noted presidential historian and speechwriter for John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy. Schlesinger noted that Kennedy was one of the best modern presidential rhetoricians because he "understood that the context had to be correct for presidential rhetoric to have an effect. Schlesinger also considered the partnership of JFK and his speechwriter Ted Sorensen the "model of speechwriter collaboration."

He also informed the audience that JFK's famous "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech was mostly ad-libbed. Schlesinger admitted that many presidents were gifted orators in their own right, and often ad-libbed the sound bites attributed to their speechwriters.

FDR often complained to his secretary, "They won't let me say anything of my own in my own speech!" FDR would then acquiesce to his speechwriters' recommendations, only to ad-lib the lines he had crafted back in when he gave the speech.

Bill Clinton was also gifted at improvising speeches. Schlesinger noted his musical background, saying, "the job of speechwriters was to establish a main theme and allow Clinton to riff."

Schlesinger also explained how the fragmentation of the presidency had led to arguments concerning the president's words. This is most visible in the Reagan presidency, where his conservative speechwriters were constantly at odds with more moderate policy makers.

"We considered ourselves like the musketeers, guarding the royal jewels," Schlesinger said, quoting Reagan speechwriter Dana Rohrabacher.

The abrasive relationship between the speechwriters and other less conservative members of the Reagan administration led to conflicts over such famous lines as "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall" and "Win one for the Gipper." This tension was largest during the Reagan and H.W. Bush administrations, but has been alleviated somewhat since then. Speechwriting has once again become a more collaborative process, but it still is nothing like the days before FDR transformed it into an integral, institutionalized part of the presidency.

Schlesinger ended his lecture by highlighting the rhetorical strengths as deficiencies if the current presidential candidates.

"Obama gets the importance of public communication-it's his greatest strength," he said. "We'll have to see how skillfully he'll be able to use the rest of his presidential power."

One thing Schlesinger doesn't understand is how McCain's long relationship with his speechwriter hasn't translated to effective primary of general election rhetoric from the Republican candidate's camp.

"They seem to have an inability to find a style that suits him, lets him be effective," he said.

Schlesinger then ended his remarks, holding himself to the cardinal rule of speechmaking.

"I'm done now, I've already broken the presidential speech rule of brevity," he said.