Evening star., 1936-07-05
Preparations for
Campaign Oratory
BY OWEN L. SCOTT.

WAA VI AOoC III INOFcHlDeT tIle
OF their appeal over the air. The result
is a promise Of the oratorical battle Of
the century in the months ahead.
That raises the question: Where does
President or candidate for the preSi-
dency find time to prepare speeches?
How are these appeals fashioned? What
part does the speaker actually play in
their preparation?
Answers depend on the individual.
They already are given in part by the
experience of President Roosevelt and
the present preparations of Gov. Landon.
Both depend on heavy thinkers and
phrase-makers. But the methods of
the two candidates differ
-Four years ago, Mr.. Roosevelt, then
seeking first term, used the services of
Gen. Hugh johnson. Raymond Moley
and DR.. Rexford Tugwell in prepara-
ton of his major addresses. Gen. john
son provided facts and phrases; DR..
Tugwell offered an economic philosophy
and literary style; Raymond Moley
watched the corners.
This year things are different.
Gen. johnson is turning his own
phrases. Raymond Moley is on the side
lines, critical of much that the Presi-
dent is. doing. Dr. Tugwell's collectivist
philosophy, with its emphasis on plan
ming, no longer is popular and has been
abandoned by the President, for the
time being at least.
President Roosevelt will not miss these
former helpers. The reason is that he
has a well-developed technique for
speech preparation that revolves around
his own ability to handle language. The
Presidents part is something like that
OF highly skilled editor.
~ ~
If Mr.. Roosevelt is to make an address.
he tells Stephen Early, his secretary, of
the type Of material wanted. Early puts
his assistant, William Hassett, on the
Job OF gathering this material from Gov
ernment departments concerned. The
departments, through their publicity
sections, shape up facts and background
Of the sort requested. Hassett then as-
sembles the contributions and organizes
the material
At that point, Mr.. Roosevelt goes to
work.
He decides which facts and viewpoints
fit into the word picture that he wishes
to make. The material goes into his
mind. reacts against his experience and
his objectives, and comes out in the
form of language and expressions with
which the country now is familiar
The President believes in turning COM
plicated facts and figures into simple
illustrations. He has facility for doing
that sort of thing and knack for Great
ing expressions that catch on.
In the last lew months, the men who
have been sending speech material TO
the White House have noted change
They observed that the more critical
portion of the matter they prepared was
consistently killed out and that. in its
stead, was appearing new spiritual note
and sort of emotional appeal that was
lacking in previous periods.
They read into this change a shift
in technique and see in it the hand of
Dr. Stanley High.
DR.. High. former editor of religious
magazine and an expert on radio ap-
peals of the type that cause a heart
throb. is very much in the speech-mak-
ing picture as the 1886 campaign gets
under way. His presence suggests that.
in place of Gen. johnson. with his sharp
criticisms, and DR.. Tugwell with his
economic reasoning, there now is to
appear a religious editor adding spir-
itual touch to the presidential addresses.
The new aide to the PreSident-not
on the Government pay rolls cred
tied with coming some of the expressions
in Mr.. Roosevelts acceptance address.
He also is credited with an important
part in preparation of recent speeches.
involving an Interpretation of economics
that made many an official head of hair
stand on end. AS an economist, he
turns out to be fine religious editor.
~
Essentially, the speeches of Mr.. Roose-
velt are his own, built out of material
supplied at his request and representing
his own fashioning of that material,
with later polishing by advisers.
In the preparation of presidential
speeches, Charles Nicholson. publicity
director for the Democratic National
Committee, plays little or no part. His
job is to get down on different level
and to develop the strong-arm personal
stuff that is used by the lesser lights in
the party.
The methods of Gov. Landon are de-
cidedly different from those of Mr..
Roosevelt.
The Republican candidate still is
working on his machinery for speech
preparation. His problem is different
from that of the President because he
possesses no Government departments
in close touch with facts of all kinds.
Because of that. he is dependent, as Mr.
Roosevelt was in 1892 on group of re-
search professors.
Gov. Landon is not skilled speaker
His voice on the radio is somewhat
harsh. Words do not flow readily and
resonantly from his mouth. He has been
advised to practice elocution and to
develop a radio technique, but has not
been interested in that advice.
The reason is that the Governor and
his advisers believe that voters may
prefer sharp contrast between the can
didates. They see chance to capitalize
on the matter -of-fact speaking ability
of an obviously sincere man. Some
gambling is being done on the chance
that the people may tire of eloquence.
Republicans this year have the job of
attacking. Mr.. Roosevelt will seek to
ignore his immediate opposition. The
oppositions objective will be to break
through presidential aloofness and put
President Roosevelt on the defensive.
Gov. Landon is preparing effectively
for that task.
His early speeches were prepared with