White House Ghosts: Presidents and Their Speechwriters
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touched him “most of all”: Jimmy Carter, Keeping Faith: Memoirs of a President (Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 1995), 21.
“over and over”: Rosalyn Carter, First Lady from Plains (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1984), 4.
“In simplistic terms”: Jerry Rafshoon memo to Jimmy Carter, re: “Inaugural Address,” January 4, 1977, “[Inaugural Speech Drafts—Notes and Suggestions] [2]” folder, Office of Staff Secretary, Jimmy Carter Library.
The president-elect sent a draft: James Fallows oral history interview, November 14, 1978, Jimmy Carter Library, 11.
wearing a three-piece business: James Wooten, “A Moralistic Speech: Nation’s Spiritual Lineage Is Stressed—New Leader Pays Tribute to Ford,” New York Times, January 21, 1977.
Carter had been warned: Carter, Keeping Faith, 22.
“With his sense of the moment”: Hedrick Smith, “A Call to the American Spirit,” New York Times, January 21, 1977.
“The more familiar”: Jim Fallows memo to the president, re: “Two Questions on Speechwriting,” January 21, 1977, “Speeches—Preparation of (Guidance) 1/1/77–5/31/80” folder, Speechwriters, Subject File, Jimmy Carter Library.
“it was clear to me”: Fallows OH, 6.
“tall, slim, boyish-looking”: Martin Schram, “Wondering Why Carter Remains Speechless,” Newsday, December 11, 1977.
“boyish-faced”: James T. Wooten, “Carter Led a ‘Writers Collective,’” New York Times, January 22, 1978.
“Fallows is bright”: William Greider, “The Seductions of White House Powers,” Washington Post, March 20, 1977.
Jerry Doolittle had worked: Author interview with Jerry Doolittle, 271 The only member: Author interview with Achsah Nesmith, 271 “He looked hurt”: Achsah Nesmith typed notes, starting “The President’s speechmaking and his speeches,” undated, “In-House—[Memos and Drafts, 3/8/77–6/8/79]” folder, Speechwriters, Nesmith, Jimmy Carter Library.
“were—for the most part”: Author interview with Hendrik Hertzberg, 272 it was the Carters’ first: Donnie Radcliffe, “Carter and Congress: Leaving Them Laughing,” The Washington Post, January 27, 1977.
The mantle: Author interview with Doolittle.
“Oh shit”: Ibid.
“In an evening where”: Radcliffe, “Carter and Congress: Leaving Them Laughing.”
Doolittle received plaudits: Author interview with Doolittle.
“Jim, Very poor”: Jim Fallows memo to the president, with Jimmy Carter handwritten reply on it, January 25, 1977, “Memoranda: Fallows, Jim, 1/21/77–5/20/77” folder, Jody Powell Papers, Jimmy Carter Library.
“Working people understand”: Fallows, “The Passionless Presidency.”
The president was wearing a beige: “Warm Words from Jimmy Cardigan,” Time, February 14, 1977.
“the most memorable symbol”: Ibid.
“Brzezinski tended”: Carter speechwriters oral history interview, December 3 and 4, 1981, University of Virginia, Miller Center for Public Affairs, on file at Jimmy Carter Library, 22.
“President Carter has concluded”: David Binder, “President to Ask Broader System of U.S. Alliances,” New York Times, May 22, 1977.
“Carter seemed to me”: Author interview with Doolittle.
“In the past”: Jerry Doolittle memo to Jim Fallows, undated, “Speechwriters, [5/3/77–5/27/77]” folder, Saar and Sandage, Jimmy Carter Library.
“as the end result”: Author interview with Hertzberg.
“obvious intensity and feeling”: “Plain Talk About America’s Global Role,” Time, June 6, 1977.
“President Carter has left many”: Murrey Marder, “Test of Carter’s ‘Feel Good’ Foreign Policy Is Workability,” The Washington Post, May 24, 1977.
“the reality of the military”: “A Great Debate,” editorial, The Washington Post, June 12, 1977.
“All the recent policy statements”: Achsah Nesmith memorandum to the president, July 15, 1977, “[Chronology]—Green Chrons—[7/1/77–9/28/77]” folder, Speechwriters, Fallows, Jimmy Carter Library.
“scheduling complaint”: Jim Fallows cover note to Rick, July 18, 1977, “[Chronology]—Green Chrons—[7/1/77–9/28/77]” folder, Speechwriters, Fallows, Jimmy Carter Library.
“You can arrange”: Author interview with Nesmith.
“He did not particularly”: Author interview with Hertzberg.
“The President believes”: James T. Wooten, “The President as Orator: His Deliberate Style Appears to Run Counter to Inspiration,” New York Times, January 26, 1978.
But his ad-libbed remarks: Jim Fallows memo to the president, October 25, 1977, “[Chronology]—Green Chrons—[10/1/77–12/28/77]” folder, Speechwriters, Fallows, Jimmy Carter Library.
“Carter, on Six-State Trip”: James T. Wooten, “Carter, on Six-State Trip, Defends Policies, But Avoids the Jobs Bill,” New York Times, October 22, 1977.
“As you know”: Jim Fallows memo to the president, October 25, 1977.
“While Arthur Ashe”: Jerry Doolittle memo to the president, October 25, 1977, “Speeches—Preparation of (Guidance) 1/1/77–5/31/80” folder, Speechwriters, Subject File, Box 28, Jimmy Carter Library.
“There’s a real aversion”: Schram, “Wondering Why Carter Remains Speechless.”
Richard Goodwin: Fallows OH, 11.
“In the unwritten book”: Hugh Sidey, “The Trouble with Loose Lingo,” Time, November 21, 1977.
“The talk around town”: Nicholas von Hoffman, “Carter’s Energy Speech: A Fumbling Attempt to Rally the Nation,” Washington Post, November 16, 1977.
The speech marked a turning point: Fallows OH, 11.
“There is a silver lining”: Jim Fallows note, undated “Speeches—Preparation of (Guidance) 1/1/77–5/31/80” folder, Speechwriters, Subject File, Jimmy Carter Library.
“From time to time”: Jerry Doolittle oral history interview, December 25, 1978, Jimmy Carter Library, 3–4.
“Morale in this department”: Hendrik Hertzberg unpublished diary.
“the President will be judged”: Jim Fallows memo to Jody Powell, December 2, 1977, “Speechwriters, [Chronology]—Green Chrons—[10/1/77–12/28/77]” folder, Fallows, Jimmy Carter Library.
“That is part of the difficulty”: Schram, “Wondering Why Carter Remains Speechless.”
He drafted it in consultation: Hertzberg diary; Curtis Wilkie, “Zbig Brzezinski: That Spells Clout,” Boston Globe, January 15, 1978; Hendrik Hertzberg oral history interview, December 10, 1980, Jimmy Carter Library, 15–16.
“The idea of me sitting”: Hertzberg diary.
The next day: Wilkie, “Zbig Brzezinski: That Spells Clout.”
Hertzberg eventually conceded: Hertzberg OH, 15–16.
“Your speech”: Hertzberg diary.
“We were kind of allied”: Author interview with Hertzberg.
The speechwriters eventually: Speechwriters OH, 49.
Two days after Hertzberg’s run-in: Hertzberg diary.
“I worry”: Ibid.
“Every reforming President”: Rick Hertzberg memo to Jim Fallows, January 5, 1978, “‘Beloved Community,’ 1/3/78–1/5/78” folder, Speechwriters, Subject File, Jimmy Carter Library.
“needs a lot of work”: Handwritten note from President Carter to Jim Fallows, undated, “State of the Union [Address], 1978, “Beloved Community” [2]” folder, Speechwriters, Subject File, Jimmy Carter Library.
Fallows had put in thematic: Hertzberg diary.
“Whenever he edited”: Fallows, “The Passionless Presidency.”
“If you sent a speech”: Author interview with Bernie Aronson.
“He distrusted rhetoric”: Author interview with Nesmith.
“yes, he capitalized”…At one point: Hertzberg diary.
coming so soon after Vietnam: Edwin Warner, “That Troublesome Panama Canal Treaty,” Time, October 31, 1977.
“We bought it”: “Panama Theatrics,” Time, April 26, 1976.
“He asked me to make it”: Jim Fa
llows note to the First Lady, January 27, 1978, “2/1/78–Fireside Chat No. 4 (Panama Canal), File No. 2 [3]” folder, Speechwriters, Chron. Files, Jimmy Carter Library.
“Having made 20”: Jimmy Carter handwritten note to Jim Fallows, January 30, 1978, “Panama Canal Fireside Chat, [2/1/78] [1]” folder, Office of Staff Secretary, Jimmy Carter Library.
“That made me almost uniquely”: Fallows OH, 12.
“He hated it”: Ibid.
“One of our biggest problems”: Hertzberg diary.
Rafshoon later recounted: Gerald Rafshoon oral history interview, September 12, 1979, Jimmy Carter Library, 1.
“developing the themes”: Martin Tolchin, “Carter Selects Rafshoon to Take Long-Range Message to the Public,” New York Times, May 19, 1978.
The speechwriters solicited ideas: Jim Fallows memo to the president, May 23, 1978, “6/7/78—Naval Academy Speech [1]” folder, Speechwriters, Chron. Files, Jimmy Carter Library; Rick Hertzberg et al. memo to the president, May 26, 1978, “6/7/78—Naval Academy Speech [2]” folder, Speechwriters, Chron. Files, Jimmy Carter Library.
On Thursday, June 1: Carter’s daily diary, on file at the Jimmy Carter Library and online at the library’s Web site, has Carter meeting Doolittle from 9:35 am to 9:40 am on June 1.
There was a misperception: Author interview with Doolittle.
“spell out more clearly”: Carter, Keeping Faith, 235.
Carter gave Doolittle a ten-page: Hertzberg diary; author interview with Doolittle.
He again numbered and wrote: Handwritten drafts of the speech and notes for the speech, undated, “[Annapolis Speech] [6/7/78] [1]” folder, Office of Staff Secretary, and “[Annapolis Speech] [6/7/78] [3]” folder, Office of Staff Secretary, Jimmy Carter Library.
On Wednesday, June 7: Terence Smith, “Carter Calls on Soviet to End Confrontation or Risk ‘Graver’ Strain,” New York Times, June 8, 1978.
“And now—war!”: Fallows OH, 11.
“It had an obvious break”: Fallows, “The Passionless Presidency.”
“Mr. Carter’s speech”: Bernard Gwertzman, “Carter on Soviet: An Ambiguous Message,” New York Times, June 8, 1978.
“Two Different Speeches”: Murrey Marder, “Two Different Speeches,” The Washington Post, June 8, 1978.
“should not be subjected to”: Robert G. Kaiser and Walter Pincus, “Carter as Speechwriter: Limiting Split,” The Washington Post, June 8, 1978.
“It is precisely”: Jim Fallows memo to Jerry Rafshoon, June 8, 1978, “Speeches—Preparation of (Guidance) 1/1/77–5/31/80” folder, Speechwriters, Subject File, Jimmy Carter Library.
Fallows sent Carter a letter: Jim Fallows letter to the president, June 21, 1978, “Administrative Matters—Speech Writing Office [1978]” folder, Rafshoon Files, Jimmy Carter Library.
“I had always been interested”: Fallows OH, 1.
“The mistake was in failing”: James Fallows, “The Passionless Presidency II: More from Inside Jimmy Carter’s White House,” Atlantic Monthly (June 1979).
“It is precisely because”: Jim Fallows letter to Colman McCarthy, September 8, 1978, “[Chronology]—Green Chrons—[7/3/78–12/4/78]” folder, Speechwriters, Fallows, Jimmy Carter Library.
He did not, Fallows told: Jim Fallows memo to Jody Powell and Rex Granum, August 16, 1978, “Administrative Matters—Speech Writing Office [1978]” folder, Rafshoon Files, Box 22, Jimmy Carter Library.
Fallows made his first trip: Hertzberg Diary.
“If Jimmy Carter looks out”: Hugh Sidey, “The Sweet Fruits of Success,” Time, September 25, 1978.
“Jim wrote a very good speech”: Hertzberg diary.
The first planning meeting: Martin Tolchin, “Birth of ‘New Foundation’: Slogan Almost Discarded,” New York Times, January 25, 1979.
The writers assembled: Ibid.
Hertzberg—who had pressed: Hertzberg diary.
“Can’t we do better”: Author interview with Walter Shapiro.
Fallows was leaving, however: Tolchin, “Birth of ‘New Foundation.’”
Bernie Aronson: Curtis Wilkie, “Purge Is Denied in Shakeup of White House speech-writers,” Boston Globe, November 22, 1978.
Doolittle was shown: Ibid.
“We need to get”: Robert Shrum, “Jerry Rafshoon’s Ministry of Propaganda,” New Times, July 10, 1978.
“I’ve had it with”: Greg Schneiders note to Jerry Rafshoon, undated, “Administrative Matters—Speech Writing Office [1978]” folder, Rafshoon Files, Jimmy Carter Library.
“volatile…hostile, suspicious”: Patrick H. Caddell memo to the president, December 14, 1978, “State of the Union [Address], 1979 [1]” folder, Speechwriters, Subject File, Jimmy Carter Library.
Carter read the first draft: Memo to Jerry, Greg, January 2, 1979, “[½/79–1/9/79]” folder, Speechwriters, Saar and Sandage, Jimmy Carter Library; Tolchin, “Birth of ‘New Foundation.’”
They met for thirty-seven minutes: Daily Diary of the President, January 2, 1979, Jimmy Carter Library.
“The New Foundation does”: Hertzberg diary.
Hertzberg had lunched: Speechwriters OH, 39.
“The idea of a ‘new foundation’”: William Safire, “The New Foundation,” New York Times, January 25, 1979.
Once, in an attempt: Hertzberg, Politics, 55.
“He regarded the whole process”: Speechwriters OH, 11.
“My personal guess is”: Gordon Stewart oral history interview, February 6, 1981, Jimmy Carter Library, 9–10.
“It was a bad scene”: Hertzberg OH, 6–7.
“For certain aspects”: Fallows, “The Passionless Presidency.”
“It was very, very accurate”: Author interview with Hertzberg.
“We all have to make”: Hertzberg diary.
“Do not begin”: Jimmy Carter, handwritten note to “Jerry & speechwriters,” May 3, 1979, “Administrative Matters—Speech Writing Office 1979 [1]” folder, Rafshoon Files, Jimmy Carter Library.
Gordon Stewart: Author interview with Gordon Stewart.
By mid-May 1979: Data from the Gallup Poll, compiled by Gerhard Peters for the American Presidency Project—www.presidency.ucsb.edu/index.php.
He trailed: “He Can Catch Fire,” Time, May 7, 1979.
The revolution had caused: “Drive Now, Freeze Later?” Time, May 14, 1979.
“In politics—or at least”: Jerry Rafshoon memo to the president, undated, re: “Style,” “Memoranda from Jerry Rafshoon—June, July & August, 1979” folder, Rafshoon Files, Jimmy Carter Library.
His senior advisers had discussed: Martin Schram, “Color the White House Blue,” Washington Post, July 1, 1979.
“members are literally afraid”: “‘Nothing Else Has So Frustrated the American People’” (text of June 28, 1979, Eizenstat memo to Carter), Washington Post, July 7, 1979.
“Back home everything is”: Hertzberg diary.
“Since you left for Japan”: “‘Nothing Else Has So Frustrated the American People.’”
“The mood in the country”: Achsah Nesmith et al. memo to Jerry Rafshoon/Rick Hertzberg, June 29, 1979, “Energy, 7/5/79, 6/1/79–7/31/79” folder, Speechwriters, Subject File, Jimmy Carter Library.
Carter returned to Washington: Speechwriters OH, 62–76; Hertzberg diary.
including a 2:30 pm gathering: Daily Diary of the President, July 2, 1979, Jimmy Carter Library.
had to be alert not to get: Hertzberg diary.
It would be his fifth speech: Michael Waldman, My Fellow Americans: The Most Important Speeches of America’s Presidents, From George Washington to George W. Bush (Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks media Fusion, 2003), 238.
“The president will address”: Hertzberg diary.
“I was just feeling”: Speechwriters OH, 62.
In a fifteen-minute conference call: Daily Diary of the President, July 4, 1979, Jimmy Carter Library.
with Hertzberg having dismantled: Speechwriters OH, 62–76; Hertzberg diary; Hendrick Hertzberg, Politics: Observations
and Arguments, 1966–2004 (New York: Penguin Books, 2005), 61.
“Don’t give any explanation”: Hertzberg diary.
“almost lost control”: Jimmy Carter oral history interview, University of Virginia, Carter Presidency Project, November 29, 1982, 63.
“I felt a remarkable sense”: Carter, Keeping Faith, 120–21.
“President Carter has reached”: Tom Wicker, “Carter on the Precipice,” New York Times, July 10, 1979.
“He said he had a lot”: Martin Schram and Edward Walsh, “Carter Sees Need to Do Better Job, Counter ‘Malaise,’” Washington Post, July 10, 1979.
“We were off”: Speechwriters OH, 75.
“For the last several days”: Jerry Rafshoon memo to the president, July 10, 1979, “7/15/79—Address to the Nation—Energy/Crisis of Confidence [1]” folder, speech-writers, Chron. File, Jimmy Carter Library.
Caddell, who had produced: Waldman, My Fellow Americans, 238.
Rumors were spreading: Speechwriters OH, 66.
Eizenstat argued that: Hertzberg, Politics, 61; speechwriters OH, 72.
Hertzberg worried: Speechwriters OH, 70.
Stewart kept baiting Eizenstat: Author interview with Stewart; speechwriters OH, 70.
“made it possible”: Author interview with Stewart.
Concluding the meeting: Ibid.
Before joining: Stewart OH; author interview with Stewart.
Listening to Carter rehearse: Author interview with Stewart.
“The rhythm of his speech”: David S. Broder, “After 30 Months, Self-Criticism, Sense of Purpose,” The Washington Post, July 16, 1979.
The White House received: Hertzberg, Politics, 60.
Carter thought it: Carter OH, 63.
“On an individual basis”: “Carter’s Great Purge,” Time, July 30, 1979.
then Caddell used it: Waldman, My Fellow Americans, 238.
“Of all the problems”: Alonzo McDonald oral history interview, University of Virginia, Miller Center of Public Affairs, March 13–14, 1981, 18.
“Rather, He & I”: Rick Hertzberg memo to the president with Carter notations, October 7, 1979,” “10/20/79—Remarks—Dedication of Kennedy Library, Boston, MA [1]” folder, Speechwriters, Chron. File, Jimmy Carter Library.
Carter sat on a dais: “The President and the Phantom,” Time, October 29, 1979.