White House Ghosts by Robert Schlesinger

I've finally finished Robert Schlesinger's White House Ghosts: Presidents and Their Speechwriters (click here to view all my posts about this book); once I made some time for reading it was a breeze to get through.

And my final verdict: this book is a winner!

As a young person born after most of these president's governed, I enjoyed learning more about our nation's presidents. I also liked learning about the roles of Chris Matthews, Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, Colin Powell, Peggy Noonan, James Fallows, and other familiar figures through different administrations.

I especially appreciated reading about Eric Liu (who thoughtfully expressed the confusion anguish many Asian American's feel about their heritage and cultural identity in his memoir The Accidental Asian: Notes of a Native Speaker, which I read in 2002) and Rahm Emmanuel and their roles in the Clinton administration.

Schlesinger convinced me of the importance of presidential speechwriters; as he tells it, Jimmy Carter and George H. W. Bush failed to win second terms (and Bill Clinton contributed to the Republicans winning control of the House and Senate and George W. Bush's election to governor of Texas in 1994) largely because they did not view presidential speeches as serious business.

And serious business it is. An effective leader must have excellent communication skills or will fail to effect change. So while some have derided Barack Obama for his eloquent prose, I believe it will make him a better president.

Click here to visit the official website for the White House Ghosts, here to read an excerpt on the publisher’s website, or here to view the table of contents.

Robert Schlesinger's White House Ghosts

Just an update on White House Ghosts: Presidents and Their Speechwriters by Robert Schlesinger (which I first heard about in May and have been slowly reading since August; click here to view all my posts about this book).

I am enjoying the book; Schlesinger is a great storyteller and with each chapter I am more and more impressed by his abilities.

It's just that with all of the excitement surrounding the Presidential election and the drama of the financial crisis, I found myself watching news on tv and reading news online during every spare moment.

So I confess I haven't been reading as much as I'd like to these past few months.

Click here to visit the official website for the book, here to read an excerpt of White House Ghosts on the publisher’s website, or here to view the table of contents.

White House Ghosts by Robert Schlesinger

I've just started reading Robert Schlesinger's White House Ghosts: Presidents and Their Speechwriters.

I found out about this book through the New York Times, checked it out from the library after the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, and finally got motivated to start reading this lengthy book as I've been eagerly watching the presidential and vice presidential debates and the candidates speeches about the bailout bill.

So far, this book seems very well-researched. Schelsinger is a natural storyteller and expertly weaves the facts into a fascinating behind-the-scenes account of presidents and their speechwriters.

This book is required reading for students of the American presidency.

Click here to read an excerpt of White House Ghosts on the publisher’s website or click here to view the table of contents.

White House Ghosts: Presidents and Their Speechwriters by Robert Schlesinger

I love reading the New York Times, particularly their book reviews.

Unsurprisingly, I read about yet another book today on the NYTimes website that I want to read:

White House Ghosts: Presidents and Their Speechwriters by Robert Schlesinger. Schlesinger, son of historian and presidential speechwriter Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., is deputy assistant managing editor, opinion at U.S. News & World Report and teaches political journalism at Boston University's Washington Journalism Center.

Schlesinger researched this book by interviewing 90 speechwriters and other key officials from each of the administration covered (from FDR through the George W. Bush). White House Ghosts: provides a history of speechwriting and tells the stories of some of the most iconic presidential phrases, such as:

• the first inaugural of FDR ("the only thing we have to fear is fear itself")
• the first inaugural of JFK ("ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country")
• Richard Nixon's "I am not a crook"
• Ronald Reagan's "tear down this wall" speeches
• Bill Clinton's ending "the era of big government" State of the Union
• George W. Bush's post-9/11 declaration that "whether we bring our enemies to justice or bring justice to our enemies, justice will be done"

The website for this book tells us

Judson Welliver, "literary clerk" during the Harding administration, from 1921 to 1923, is generally considered the first presidential speechwriter in the modern sense - someone whose job description includes helping to compose speeches. Emmet J. Hughes, who wrote speeches for President Dwight D. Eisenhower during the first year of his first term (and again briefly in the 1956 campaign and into the Ike's second term) was the first staffer to officially be called "speechwriter."

Clearly presidential speeches are viewed to be much more important. As Schlesinger says on the book's website, "Herbert Hoover made an average of around eight public appearances per month; Bill Clinton made an average of 28!"

Given the intense interest in Barack Obama's beautiful, poignant and often poetic speeches (which are largely written by Jon Favreau and a team of other young speechwriters -- click here for the NYTimes article) and the immense popularity of David Letterman's "Great Moments in Presidential Speeches" skits (probably my favorite part of watching Letterman), I expect this book will do very well!

Click here to read an excerpt of White House Ghosts on the publisher's website.