Presidential speechwriting
Subtitle: from the New Deal to the Reagan revolution and beyond
By: edited by Kurt Ritter and Martin J. Medhurst.
Contributors: Ritter, Kurt W.; Medhurst, Martin J.
Edition: 1st ed.
Series: Presidential rhetoric series ;; no. 7
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
Published: 2003
Place of publication: College Station
Language: eng
Number of pages: 231
Subjects: Presidents -- United States -- History -- 20th century.; Presidents -- United States -- Biography.; Rhetoric -- Political aspects -- United States -- History -- 20th century.; Political oratory -- United States -- History -- 20th century.; Speechwriting -- United States -- History -- 20th century.; Speechwriters -- United States -- Biography.; English language -- United States -- Rhetoric.; United States -- Politics and government -- 1945-1989.
Genres: Biography.
Description: "The reliance of individual presidents on their speechwriters has varied with the rhetorical skill of the officeholder himself, his managerial style, and his personal attitude toward public speaking. The individual chapters here (two by former White House speech-writers) give fascinating insight into the process and development of presidential speechwriting from Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration to Ronald Reagan's.

Some contributors, such as Charles Griffin writing on Eisenhower and Moya Ball on Johnson, offer case studies of specific speeches to gain insight into those presidents. Other chapters focus on institutional arrangements and personal relationships, rhetorical themes characterizing an administration, or the relationship between words and policies to shed light on presidential speechwriting.".

"Medhurst's introduction of ten "myths" in the scholarship on presidential speeches and his summary of the enduring issues in the practice of speechwriting pull together the work of individual contributors. At the same time, his introduction and conclusion transcend particular presidents by providing generalizations on the role of speechwriting in the modern White House."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Presidential speechwriting : ten myths that plague modern scholarship / Martin J. Medhurst; title: Franklin Delano Roosevelt : rhetorical politics and political rhetorics / Halford Ryan; title: Harry S. Truman : from whistle-stops to the halls of congress / Diana B. Carlin; title: Dwight D. Eisenhower : the 1954 state of the union address as a case study in presidential speechwriting / Charles J.G. Griffin; title: John F. Kennedy : presidential speechwriting as rhetorical collaboration / Theodore O. Windt, Jr.; title: Lyndon B. Johnson : from private deliberations to public declaration : the making of LBJ's renunciation speech / Moya Ann Ball; title: Richard M. Nixon and Gerald R. Ford : lessons on speechwriting / Craig R. Smith; title: Jimmy Carter : the language of politics and the practice of integrity / John H. Patton; title: Ronald Reagan's bully pulpit : creating a rhetoric of values / William K. Muir, Jr.; title: Enduring issues in presidential speechwriting / Martin J. Medhurst.