Summary: White House Ghosts E-Book

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• Herausgeber: Political Book Summaries
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 19

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

The must-read summary of Robert Schlesinger's book: “White House Ghosts: Presidents and Their Speechwriters”.

This complete summary of "White House Ghosts" by Robert Schlesinger, a prominent journalist and blogger, presents his argument that much can be learned about modern presidency by analyzing who was in charge of writing presidential speeches. He examines some of the most iconic speeches from the best-known presidents and reveals how these hidden men and women have helped to shape and define history.

Added-value of this summary:
• Save time
• Understand the important role of presidential speech writers
• Expand your knowledge of American history and politics

To learn more, read "White House Ghosts" and discover the complex relationship between presidents and their speech writers and how they work together to create the most memorable rhetoric possible.

Leseprobe

Book Presentation: White House Ghosts by Robert Schlesinger

Book Abstract

When a president speaks, who is responsible for his words? Are the most successful presidents those who’ve made the best speeches? White House Ghosts examines these questions, as well as the evolution of the presidential speechwriter, from Franklin Roosevelt’s administration through the first term of George W. Bush.

Schlesinger points out that the examination of presidential speechwriters provides a unique lens through which to view the men who have served as president. Looking at how the presidents prepared their speeches and the people they chose to aid them, we can learn much about their views of the modern presidency.

About the Author

Robert Schlesinger is a Washington reporter. He formerly served as political editor of The Hill and was Washington correspondent for The Boston Globe. He has written for many publications, including The Washington Monthly, Salon.com, and The Weekly Standard. He currently teaches political journalism at Boston University’s Washington Journalism Center.

Summary of White House Ghosts (Robert Schlesinger)

Introducing the “Literary Clerk”

The position of “literary clerk,” i.e. a White House staffer whose regular job description included helping the President compose his remarks, did not exist until the twentieth century. When Warren Harding was elected president, H.L. Mencken described Harding’s own self-written inaugural address as “the worst English that I have ever encountered. It reminds me of a string of wet sponges; it reminds me of tattered washing on the line; it reminds me of stale bean soup, of college yells, of dogs barking idiotically through endless nights. It is so bad that a sort of grandeur creeps into it.” President Harding thus appointed Judson Welliver, a former reporter, to be his full-time speechwriter and press handler.

FDR

Franklin D. Roosevelt is remembered for a number of phrases and slogans throughout his presidency: the “New Deal;” “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself;” “…a day which will live in infamy.” While Roosevelt certainly played a critical role in crafting and editing his speeches, and is entirely credited with the last phrase, the majority of his memorable quotes were written by his carefully chosen stable of speechwriters.