“You’re not the only dissident”: Ibid.
“I’m a worrier”: Goldberg, “The Believer.”
McConnell turned down: Author interview with McConnell.
“The man whose words helped”: Chuck Raasch, “Bush’s Wordsmith Leaves with Vivid 9/11 Memories,” USA Today, July 13, 2006.
“author of nearly of all”: Peter Baker, “Top Bush Speech Writer to Step Down,” Washington Post, June 14, 2006.
Typical was a December 2002: Scully, “Present at the Creation”; Gerson on Nightline.
“I wasn’t out there”: Peter Baker, “Bush’s Muse Stands Accused,” Washington Post, August 11, 2007.
“For me, the poignancy”: Bruce Reed, “Honor Among Scribes; A Vegan Speechwriter Pens the Juiciest Hatchet Job of the Bush Era,” Slate, August 11, 2007.
Acknowledgments
This book would not have been possible without the always patient, often enthusiastic support of countless presidential speechwriters and other aides. More than ninety White House aides spared their time (over 127 hours) and memories, many in multiple interview sessions, most on the record, all generous with their support. Many appear in these pages. Some are members of the Judson Welliver Society, whose meetings inspired this history. They are too numerous to name here, but all made valuable contributions to this work—and for them I have the deepest gratitude and appreciation. In particular, I would like to give special thanks to Hendrik Hertzberg, William Safire, and Curt Smith for sharing or granting me access to their personal papers and for their generous support of this project.
Our national system of presidential libraries, administered by the National Archives, remains a remarkable resource for veteran historians and amateurs alike. Research for this book took me to nine presidential libraries (ten, as the Archives II in College Park, Maryland, is now considered a branch of the Richard Nixon Library) as well as the Library of Congress. I collected nearly 30,000 pages of documents. The staffs at these libraries have been friendly, helpful, and insightful. In particular, I would like to thank Bob Clark and the staff at the FDR Library in Hyde Park, New York; Randy Sowell and the staff at the Truman Library in Independence, Missouri; Dwight Strandberg and the staff at the Eisenhower Library in Abilene, Kansas; the staff at the JFK Library in Boston, Massachusetts; Sarah Haldeman and the staff at the LBJ Library in Austin, Texas; the staff who handle the Nixon materials at Archives II in College Park, Maryland; William McNitt and the staff at the Ford Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan; Albert Nason and the staff at the Carter Library in Atlanta, Georgia; Diane Barrie and Mike Duggan at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California; and Chris Pembelton at the Bush Library in College Station, Texas.
Gathering this material was made much easier by grants from several organizations. Specifically, I owe a debt of thanks to the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute, the Harry S. Truman Library Institute, the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, the George Bush Presidential Library Foundation, and the White House Historical Association for their grants supporting this project.
I have been fortunate in trying to pull all of this material together in a coherent manner to have the support and assistance of a wide array of people. Key in this effort was Alice Mayhew, my editor at Simon & Schuster, whose guidance regarding structure and pacing gave this book shape and flow, and whose keen line edits have improved the writing immeasurably. Her fellow editor Roger Labrie was also invaluable in shepherding the various chapters into readable form, ready with both wise suggestions and the strategic pat on the back.
Robert Dallek, John A. Farrell, and Charles Lewis all provided early support for this project, for which I am grateful. Linda Killian and the staff at the Boston University Washington Journalism Center have been helpful throughout. I would especially like to thank Mason McAllister, who aided me in numerous ways, always cheerfully and tirelessly. Jamie Hammon, Sara Hatch, and Katie Stevenson each volunteered their time and help with research, expecting (and receiving) little in the way of compensation save my lasting gratitude and amazed appreciation. Jack Harris and Beka Sturges also made an invaluable contribution.
Others contributed in important non-literary ways. Randy Brown, Rob Pegoraro, and Bob Vanasse acted as my personal technical support team, for which I am grateful. OnTrack Data Recovery performed a historically impossible feat—saving Nixon and Carter. Brian and Joslyn Schaefer and Jennifer Crow housed me on my travels. Numerous other friends and family contributed through their ongoing patience, good humor, and offers to read.
My agent, Andrew Wylie, has a deserved reputation as the best in the business, and he has been a great help not only to me but to my family in trying times. For that, and especially for taking an early interest in this book, I am most grateful.
In the end, an undertaking like this one can only be as successful in print as it is at home. I owe more than I can express to my extraordinary parents. My enduring regret is that my father, Arthur Schlesinger, will not read this book, though he saw very rough drafts of the Roosevelt and Truman chapters. In many ways, this work is the product of thirty-five years of his love, support, and guidance, along with that of my wonderful mother, Alexandra Schlesinger, who has read draft after draft with tireless enthusiasm.
Most of all, I owe thanks to my wondrous wife, Francesca Schlesinger. She has given unstinting support throughout this project, sharing the highs, steadying the lows, and not letting the swings back and forth unsettle her. She has carefully read each chapter and provided her perceptive and honest reactions. I marvel at my remarkable luck to have her as a companion and best friend through life.
Robert Emmet Kennedy Schlesinger
Alexandria, Virginia
September 19, 2007*
Illustration Credits
Courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library: 1
Courtesy of the Harry S. Truman Library: 2, 3
Courtesy of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Library: 4, 5
John F. Kennedy Library photo by Cecil Stoughton: 6
Courtesy of Alexandra Schlesinger: 7
LBJ Library photo by Yoichi R. Okamoto: 8, 9, 10, 11
Courtesy of Lee Huebner: 12.
Courtesy of the Gerald Ford Library: 13
Courtesy of Robert Orben: 14
Courtesy of the Jimmy Carter Library: 15, 16
Courtesy of the Ronald Reagan Library: 17, 18
Courtesy of Curt Smith: 19, 20
Courtesy of Don Baer: 21, 22, 24
Courtesy of Jeff Shesol: 23
White House photo by Tina Hager: 25
About the Author
ROBERT SCHLESINGER teaches political journalism at the Boston University Washington Journalism Center. His work has appeared in The Washington Monthly, Salon.com, The Weekly Standard, People, and the Boston Globe Magazine. He lives with his wife and dog in Alexandria, Virginia.
Photographic Insert
1
FDR used a variety of key policy advisers to help write speeches, including Raymond Moley, pictured here with the president-elect going over Roosevelt’s first inaugural address.
2
Clark Clifford (above, right) first gained Harry Truman’s attention by, among other things, helping organize his regular poker games. Later, Clifford, who became Truman’s top aide and ran his speechwriting in the first term, and his assistant, George Elsey (below), were invited to join the games.
3
4
Bryce Harlow (above, left) captured Dwight Eisenhower’s plainspoken style, but Ike bridled against his partisanship. Malcolm Moos (below, left), a former political science professor and journalist, had an important role in shaping Ike’s famous farewell address.
5
6
Ted Sorensen credited months spent traveling and campaigning with JFK during the late 1950s for his ability to capture the president’s rhetorical style. Sorensen and Kennedy had as close and fruitful a collaboration as any president and speechwriter.
7
JFK would occasionall
y call on others for speech drafts, including historian and White House aide Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.
8
LBJ initially mixed in his own top aides, such as Jack Valenti (above, second from right) and Bill Moyers (above, second from left), with JFK holdovers like Ted Sorensen (above, middle; also pictured is Press Secretary Pierre Salinger, above, left). While LBJ was the first president since Eisenhower who had full-time speechwriters, most of his major speeches were written by top policy aides such as (below, from left) Moyers, Valenti, and Horace “Buzz” Busby (also pictured, at right, is aide Marvin Watson).
9
10
Johnson brought former JFK aide Richard Goodwin (above, left) back into the White House, with the support of Moyers (above, middle). LBJ’s aides burned out quickly. Goodwin, shown below (left) working on the 1966 State of the Union speech with Valenti (middle) and Joseph Califano (right), was so disgusted with his treatment during the drafting of that address that he never again spoke to Johnson.
11
12
Richard Nixon, who privately grumbled about his talented group of writers, spent more time than any modern president working on his speeches. He is shown meeting in the Oval Office with his writing staff (left to right): Ray Price, Lee Huebner, Pat Buchanan, Bill Gavin, Jim Keogh, and William Safire. White House Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman is seated in the background on the couch.
13
Gerald Ford tapped the irascible Robert Hartmann, his longtime aide, to run speechwriting. Hartmann, shown above with Ford shortly before Ford announced his pardon of Richard Nixon, fought a running battle against what he viewed as a “Praetorian Guard” of Nixon holdovers. Ford and Hartmann hired television gag-writer Robert Orben (with Ford in the Oval Office, below), who had enough skill writing speeches that he eventually became the top speechwriter.
14
15
Jimmy Carter had never worked with a speechwriter before the 1976 presidential campaign. He never grew comfortable with speechwriting, and his first chief speechwriter, James Fallows (above, standing next to Carter), quit after growing frustrated with his lack of influence in the White House. Fallows later wrote a devastating critique of the administration. Hendrik Hertzberg was Carter’s last chief speechwriter and collaborated on his key speeches during the second half of his term. Perhaps the most notable was the July 1979 speech on the nation’s spiritual crisis, which Hertzberg (below) worked on with Carter at Camp David, along with speechwriter Gordon Stewart (below right).
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17
Ronald Reagan’s speechwriters viewed themselves as “Musketeers” protecting the president’s conservative rhetoric despite the objections of his more moderate senior staff. Above, Reagan meets with speechwriters (from left to right, on the couch facing the camera, Tony Dolan, Peter Robinson, and Dana Rohrabacher; and from left to right, facing away from the camera, Communications Director Tom Griscom and speechwriters Clark Judge and Josh Gilder) in the Oval Office. Below, Reagan meets with speechwriter Peggy Noonan (second from right) and Communications Director Mari Maseng, herself a former Reagan speechwriter, to discuss his farewell address.
18
19
President George H. W. Bush was never comfortable speaking rhetoric supplied by others. He had good relations with the writers themselves, however: the night before the U.S. invasion of Panama, as the operation was already secretly under way, Bush invited his speechwriters (above, from left, Curt Smith, Dan McGroarty, and Chriss Winston) for a drink in the residence. By the Bush administration, presidential speechwriting had become a sprawling group effort (below).
20
21
Like Carter, Bill Clinton had never worked with speechwriters before his presidential run. Clinton often extemporized from his prepared remarks, but he learned over the course of his two terms to work with the writers. While Clinton preferred plain language, he occasionally indulged in rhetorical lift, as with his 1994 speech memorializing the D-Day invasion, which he discussed (above) on Air Force One with his wife Hillary, Counselor David Gergen, speechwriter Jeremy Rosner, and Chief Speechwriter Don Baer. Below, he worked on the 1997 State of the Union with Baer, Michael Waldman, NSC speechwriter Tony Blinken, and Clinton college roommate Tommy Caplan.
22
23
Clinton edited his speeches straight through rehearsal, as with the 2000 State of the Union rehearsal with (above, right to left) speechwriters Josh Gottheimer, chief Terry Edmonds, and Jeff Shesol, who worked to enter Clinton’s changes as he made them. Below, Clinton works with aides George Stephanopoulos, Jonathan Prince, and Baer.
24
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President George W. Bush called his top speechwriters—Michael Gerson, John McConnell, and Matthew Scully—the “Troika” for their habit of writing and editing everything collaboratively. Above, he meets with the Troika and senior aide Karen Hughes (from left, McConnell, Hughes, Bush, Gerson, Scully).
*We know that Lincoln consulted with Seward the night before he delivered the Gettysburg Address, but whether they discussed the speech remains a matter of historical conjecture. (Garry Wills, Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America [New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992], 31–32.)
*Welliver was succeeded by F. Stuart Crawford, but, as Time magazine noted, the position “went under a cloud when it was found that the Coolidge addresses, when dealing with geography and other indisputable facts, followed with a striking literalness the text of the International Encyclopaedia.” (“Encyclopaedia,” Time, April 8, 1929.)
*When the Saturday Evening Post serialized Moley’s administration memoir After Seven Years (1939), Rosenman clipped the article containing Moley’s “new deal” claim and sent it to FDR. “If you have some idea that you had anything to do with making yourself President, you should read the attached modest, self-effacing account of the process by one Raymond Moley,” Rosenman wrote in a cover note. “He now emerges in a new role, a master of—fiction!” (Rosenman, note to FDR and attached clipping, “Rosenman, Samuel: 1933–40” folder, President’s Secretary’s File, FDR Library.)
*Seventy-five years later, the Democratic Party remained split on the issue of trade.
*Prior to the Twentieth Amendment (ratified in 1933 but too late to affect Roosevelt’s first term), which among other things set the date of the presidential inauguration at January 20, presidents were sworn in on March 4.
*In 1937 the magazine merged with rival publication News-Week to form Newsweek.
*Until the Nixon administration, the White House did not have a press room, so the reporters would gather in the main lobby of the West Wing.
*What is now called the State of the Union address was simply the “annual message” until well into the twentieth century. FDR’s 1934 speech was the first to incorporate the title, but not until 1947 did it come into general usage. (Michael Kolakowski and Thomas H. Neale, “The President’s State of the Union Message: Frequently Asked Questions,” Congressional Research Service, March 7, 2006, available at www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/RS20021.pdf.)
*Roosevelt’s fireside chats took on such importance that in later years popular imagination had the president at the microphone monthly if not more often; in fact, after 1933, he never gave more than three fireside talks in any of his remaining peacetime years in office.
*It illustrates how relatively infrequently the president spoke then that for most of his first decade in office his principal speechwriters, Moley and later Rosenman, lived in New York City.
*The fact that absinthe had been banned in the United States since 1912 apparently did not deter the mixologist-in-chief.
*This presaged by more than four decades the Reagan-inspired tradition of strategically placing guests in the first lady’s box.
*“General MacArthur’s intelligence service on the enemy and enemy-held territory is superb…. On the other hand, I was shocked by the inaccuracy of the information held by General MacArthur and his imme
diate entourage about the formulation of high policy in Washington. There are unmistakable evidences of an acute persecution complex at work.” (Robert Sherwood, memorandum to the president, March 24, 1945, “Sherwood, Robert E.” folder, President’s Secretary’s File, FDR Library.)
*More than fifty years later, George Elsey returned to the White House and the Map Room at the invitation of three George W. Bush speechwriters: John McConnell, Michael Gerson, and Matthew Scully. Asked how it looked during the war, Elsey described the room, walking over to a portrait hanging on the wall. The maps should be right back here, he said, and—much to his hosts’ horror—yanked at the picture. Sure enough, there were the maps. (Author interview with Matthew Scully.)
*The system did not always work. When Washington Post music critic Paul Hume savaged Margaret Truman’s musical debut, the president personally mailed his outraged letter so his staff could not intercept it. “Some day I hope to meet you,” Truman wrote. “When that happens you’ll need a new nose, a lot of beefsteak for black eyes, and perhaps a supporter below!” (McCullough, Truman, 828.)
White House Ghosts: Presidents and Their Speechwriters Page 68
