Speechwriters who have inspired us. Terry edmonds served as assistant to the president and director of speechwriting for president bill clinton, overseeing production of domestic policy speeches. Over a career spanning 40 years he has written for nasa administrator Charles Bowden as well as top executives at ibm, columbia university, time warner, the list goes on. He is a graduate from Morgan State University and is adjunct professor at hofstra university. Our next panelist, sarah hurwitz, served in the white house from 200920 17, first as a speechwriter for president obama before becoming had speechwriter for first Lady Michelle obama. Previously she served as chief speechwriter for Hillary Clinton during her 2008 president ial campaign. She is a graduate of Harvard College and harvard law school, and has an upcoming book about judaism coming out in september. And John Mcconnell served more than 10 years in the white house staff under two administrations. He was a senior speechwriter for president and was responsible for the president s address to the joint session of congress after the 9 11 attacks. During the bush cheney administration, he served as Deputy Assistant to the president and assistant to the Vice President. He is a graduate of Carleton College and yale law school. Todays conversation will be moderated by alicia sands, director of the risk are fellows program. Alicia directed and produced the Emmy Awardwinning film, by the people, the election of barack obama. She is working on a documentary about white house speechwriters. Before the discussion, we will watch some of the panelists work. Give a warm welcome to our panelists. [applause] my fellow americans, there are still bridges yet to cross. As long as there are people and places, including neighborhoods in selma, that have not participated in our economic prosperity, we have a bridge to cross. As long as africanamerican income hovers at nearly half that of whites, we have another bridge to cross. [applause] as long as africanamerican and hispanic children are more likely than white children to live in poverty and less likely to attend her graduate from college, we have another bridge to cross. As africanamericans and other minorities suffered 2, 3, even four times the rates of heart disease, aids, diabetes and cancer, then we have another bridge to cross. Our children continue to die as the victims of mindless violence, we have another bridge to cross. As africanamericans and latinos anywhere in america believe they are unfairly targeted by police because of the color of their skin, and Police Believe they are unfairly judged by their communities because of the color of their uniforms, we have another bridge to cross. [applause] the waving symbol of one americans pride is the shameful symbol of another americans pain, we have another bridge to cross. As long as the power of americas diversity remains discriminate remains diminished by discrimination and stained by acts of violence against people just because they are black or hispanic or asian or gay or jewish or muslim, as long as that happens to any american, we have another bridge to cross. [applause] as long as less than half our eligible voters exercise the right so many here in selma marched and died for, we have got a very large bridge to cross. It is my hope that in the months and years ahead, life will return to almost normal even grief recedes with time and grace. But our resolve must not pass. Each of us will remember what happened that day, and to whom it happened. We will remember the moment the news came, where we were and what we were doing. Some will remember an image of a fire, or a story of a rescue. Some will carry memories of a face, and a voice gone forever. And i will carry this. It is the Police Shield of a men named george howard, who died at the World Trade Center trying to save others. When given to me by his mom, arlene, as a proud memorial to her son, it is my reminder of a life that ended and a task that does not end. [applause] i will not forget the wound to our country, and those who inflicted it. I will not yield. I will not rest. Thisl not relent in waging struggle for freedom and security for the american people. The course of this conflict is not known, yet its outcome is certain. Freedom and fear, justice and the course of this conflict is not known,cruelty, have always r and we know that god is not neutral between them. You see, hilary understands that the president is about one thing and one thing only. It is about leaving Something Better for our kids. That is how we have always moved this country forward, all of us coming together on behalf of our children. Folks who volunteered to teach that team, to teach that sunday school class, because they know it takes a village. [applause] heroes of every color and creed who wear the uniform and risk their lives to keep passing down those blessings of liberty. Protesterscers and in dallas, who all desperately want to keep our children safe. [applause] orlandoho lined up in to donate blood because it could have been their son, their daughter in that club. [applause] leaders like tim kaine, [applause] kids what decency and devotion look like. Leaders like Hillary Clinton, who have the guts and the grace to keep coming back and put cracks in that highest and hardest Glass Ceiling until she finally breaks through, lifting all of us along with her. [applause] that is the story of this country, the story that has brought me to this stage tonight, the story of generations of people who felt the lash of bondage, the staying of servitude, the sting of segregation, who kept on striving and hoping and doing what needed to be done so that today i wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves. [applause] and i watch my daughters, two beautiful, intelligent, black young women, playing with their dolls on the white house lawn. [applause] and belatedly, thank you, kristen, for that kind introduction. Each of these clips is so different, and not just because each person had their own voice and their own vision, but because the bully pulpit has so many different purposes. I would like each of you to talk about why you chose that particular clip and what made that speech important to you, and your goals and challenges in writing it. I would like to start with your task. Who did president clinton want to reach, and what kind of guidance did he give you . Thank you. And thank you all, for being here tonight. One of president clintons signature commitments and one of his signature accomplishments in the white house, was his focus anduilding one america, bringing us together across all lines of division, race, color, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation. And he and i shared that commitment. That is one of the things that drew me close to him, and it was one of the things i was most proud to work on with him in the white house. Since lyndon johnson, probably, he was focused more on one america and bringing the races together. So that speech was a chance to make that point, and he always tells me that was one of his favorite speeches. Becauseas a great day, he actually walked across the Edmund Pettus bridge to reenact bloody sunday. And it was a great occasion. Host did he stick to your speech . He pretty much did. He liked that, we have another bridge to cross refrain. He had an appreciation for the black church and for the black cadence. ,ome of you might recall sometimes he called himself the first black president. [laughter] until obama showed up. He really took that mission to heart. Was onen, as i said, it of my proudest moments working. Ith him of theohn, that was one most difficult moments in our nations history. Talk about the white house in the aftermath of september 11, and the difficulty of the president showing leadership as commander in chief and healer in chief. What was the thought process around that speech . John it was a moment of national unity. If you are old enough to a moment it was also of greatly mixed feelings. People were shocked and grieving, but the country was also angry, and the country was also terrified of what might be coming next. On the decision was made monday morning, september 17, six days after the attack, that the president would address a joint session of congress on thursday night. Colleagues, matt and mike, the three of us were working together on virtually all the major addresses, and we were given the instruction. Mike was given the instruction monday morning by karen hughes that the president is probably going to speak to congress, but he will make the decision when he sees the draft, which he expects to see today. [laughter] and mike said, i dont think we can do that. And karen said, well, the president thinks if he can give a speech on thursday, monday is a reasonable day to look at it. And i said, we will give him the option. And so we got to work on it. It wasnt as if we were lacking on subject matter, obviously. We knew with the speech was going to be about, and we had general guidance, but early that afternoon we got a call to go to the oval office. The three of us went over there. Im sure karen hughes was also in the root, in the room, and dandy card, the chief of staff. President bush said that americans have questions, they want to know who attacked us, they want to know why they hate us, they want to know what is expected of us now and they want to know, how do we fight and win this war . And from then on we had an organizational principle for the speech, and that is what the speech did. It went through those questions as the president described them to us in the oval office. All speechwriters know, one of your Biggest Challenges in speechwritings organization, how is this going to come together . How my going to lay things out a it compelling . Out and make it compelling . We did finish the draft that day, everything but a conclusion, we werent quite there, but we did have a draft for the president to look for that day. Again, it was such a memorable moment because it emotions. All of those host you had to articulate a vision very quickly. President s vision develops over time. What were the touchstones for coming up with the path forward . John it definitely wasnt on the speechwriters. It really was the president who was our guiding force. We knew the man, he wanted us, he never said this, but i always had the feeling he wanted us to know him and how his mind worked. He was a very close editor on speeches. So in that speech, although it was still in the first year, we had reached a Comfort Level with president bush where we knew his once we had the concepts that were going to be expressed in the speech, we had a pretty good sense of how he would want to express them. And if we got it wrong, he would dump us. Host did you learn more about him and that period . John yes, and a general sense, just because of the tragedy that had come to the country, and now we were a country at war. It is not that i saw a new person, but i saw definitely some of the strengths that i basically understood him to have coming more to the forefront. What stuck with me was his steadiness at the time. I saw him the morning after 9 11. I did not see him the night of, but the morning after, and it wasnt at all clear to anybody what was going to happen next, and there was a lot of anxiety, to put it lightly. But i just remember being struck by the steadiness of nerve. Awfulsarah, that was an historical moment. A happier historic moment, writing the nomination for the first woman president. That seemed to capture missus obamas values and hopes for the nation for her daughters. How did that come about . How did you come to understand her and her voice . Icia a lot of people ask me how i got her voice and i think they are being polite. I think they want to ask me, how did you, a jewish woman, get the voice of the first lady, an africanamerican woman . At the end of the date you might be very different from the person you write for in terms of background, which im from missus obama. You might be a different race, gender, sexual orientation, et cetera. What matters is that you have a similar sensibility of speechwriting, similar sensibility of how you move an audience, persuade, reach peoples hearts. This is a oh missus obama and i did. There was a click with that. In terms of this speech, she is a woman who knows what she is and knows what she wants to say. That was true of every speech i ever worked with her on. This one in particular, she clearly knew, this is going to be about our kids, about how this election is the future we want for our kids. She started the speech talking about her own kids, coming to the white house, the first day of school, shes putting them in the big cars with men with guns and faces pressed against the window and she is thinking, what have i done, and she takes this personal story and started broadening it out, talking about how all of us are worried about our kids. That was the theme for the speech. By the time she got to this part, it was very big, she was talking about people who coached Little League and Teach Sunday School because they care about kids, people who lined up to give blood because there kids could have been in that nightclub where people were killed, and when she comes back to her daughters playing on the white house lawn, it is the meeting of both, the small story of her daughters at the very big arcy of the ark of the of American History. She wove those two themes together in the speech in a way that was personal, but she brought indented to the american story. That is why that speech felt both personal, but a lot of people responded thinking it was personal to them as well. why did you choose that clip . Its a beautiful interpretation of an uplifting idea of what the american story can be. Im struck by how similar the clips we chose our in that respect. They are aspirational. They are leaders saying, we are not perfect, but here is what we can be. They are very hopeful. I feel a sense of Kindred Spirit ship with both of these guys, even though we may be different parties, but a very similar sensibility about the american democracy, patriotism and politics. Alicia these three aspirational speeches, speechwriters are often returned often referred to as storytellers and administration storytellers in an administration. What is a day in your office in the white house like . How do you start . Give us a little bit of the highs and lows . Is no first of all, there typical day in the white house you have to be ready for the unexpected. You have to be ready for the unexpected, you have to have a schedule and then breaking news will come out, like the Oklahoma City bombing happened when i was some breaking news, so you have to be ready to react sometimesduce quickly you have lead time, a couple of weeks or a week or so, to write a speech. Other times you have only minutes to produce something. So there is no typical day. But the types of speeches range from the state of the union, which is the super bowl of speeches, [laughter] two pardoning the thanksgiving day turkey. [laughter] so you have to be ready to produce that range of speaking. Is other thing i would say that, you mentioned speechwriters are storytellers, that is very true. One of the things that irks me is when people think we are just wordsmiths. We are not just wordsmiths. We are part of a policymaking policy comes to life unless it is written down or spoken, especially about the president. So as director of speechwriting, which was my job, i was at the table every morning with the chief of staff and the senior staff of the white house, plotting our message of the day, how do we get it across, what speeches should the president give, those kinds of things. So we were part of the policymaking apparatus of the white house, and not just wordsmiths. Alicia was it similar for you, sara . Policies dont come alive until they are articulated to the american people. Thats an important aspect of it. What struck me about the white house is, as terry said, you never have the day you think you are going to have. Thats especially true with traveling. We tended to travel with the president and first lady, and it is this kind of realtime unfolding, you are writing a speech in a plane, and a helicopter, in a motorcade, in a hotel room, on the floor of a plane, there is a lot of unglamorous logistics people dont think about where you are trying to print the speech in the back of the plane before the plane lands, you get to the event, it is quite hectic. I think the hardest part i found was the lastminute crisis. The first lady is not a first responder, that is the president , but if something terrible happens she does have to acknowledge it. And it is often really stressful to type out that lastminute paragraph, acknowledge it, say the right thing, make sure you are not contradicting the president , it can be intense. John i remember being with the president in europe and we were about to fly back to washington and were derived pope john had gone to the hospital and was not well at all. It was decided that if the pope were to die that day while the president was flying across the atlantic, when he landed at Andrews Air Force base, he would get off the plane and read a statement. It was my job on that flight to prepare a statement for the president to read. Backly when you are coming from a foreign trip, you are working on something. Then a rumor came to me by telephone on the plane that president ford was dying. Asked andy card, the chief of staff, since former president s have secret service, if we could find out where president ford was. The director of secret Service Called the command post in rancho and the pope also did not die that day. [laughter] but these things come up, and you have to be ready. Ms. Sams at least you had it for next time. [laughter] if mcconnell people ask us we have things in the can, so to speak, for things that will happen. President reagan was not well. But really, we did not have anything ready things like that. Whenever you have spare time, you are not going to sit down and write something. [laughter] you need the moment. But i got a call saturday night of liberty gunned, close to midnight saturday night of labor day weekend, close to midnight, and i was told that chief Justice Rehnquist had just died and the president was going to be giving a speech the next morning at 10 00 on the topic. So i was back on duty. But we had so many Different Things happen. As indicated, you could plan your day. I have been asked many times if i could plan my life. Of course, i have a plan. It is useless, but i start every monday having the week mapped out. But you just have to be ready. And the date you cannot deal with that is the day you should find another line of work. Ms. Sams there is a sense of awe when you are in the white house, but can you tell us about some weird things that happened to you . Turkey pardons . Mr. Edmonds one of the weirdest things that happened to me is we were preparing president clinton for a state of the Union Address and we were in the oval office. Brought a tape recorder into balance ideas off of him. And to hear him speak, and sometimes those were the best snippets of the speech, just hearing him talk. So we were in there for about two hours and i was in charge of the tape recorder. Office, got back to the it was three speechwriters and myself, i turned on the tape recorder and realized it had not recorded. Luckily, we were all trained notetakers, so we took notes in invisibleo having the recording, so that was kind of a scary moment which we laughed about later. [laughter] ms. Sams how much later . [laughter] as you have been told, i wrote speeches during the entire eight years for Vice President cheney, and it was a very interesting contrast in personality to work for him, but a similar process. One day, i got a call from the Vice President , and as my colleagues know, the little window on your phone will say potus when it is them calling. Sometimes it is just an asterisk when it is them. But i knew it was the Vice President , and i said, yes, sir . And he said, john, i got us in trouble. And i said, oh . And he said, yeah. The president has to go to europe. He has to miss the radio tv correspondents dinner. The replacement tomorrow. I have to go there and be funny. [laughter] and then he says, i do not do funny. [laughter] is a very modest statement for dick cheney to make, because he has a very good sense of humor and always delivered, as he did at the dinner the next night and at other events, had a very good sense of humor, very good delivery. That was a quick turnaround project that i could never have done alone. Matthew spelling, my able colleague, helped on that. But that was another quick turnaround. Timeurwitz i remember a missus obama was going to japan to announce the partnership with the japanese government to fund Girls Education around the world. I thought it would be really neat to end the speech with a japanese proverb, the culture of the country we were visiting. I looked, and i could find anything appropriate. I finally found a proverb that said, no road is long with a good companion. And i thought, this is good. The challenge of educating girls around the world will be difficult, but with the companion of the government of japan, it will be good. Checker saidure this checks out, it is a japanese proverb. Just decided to triple check all of the embassies around the world have local staffers, people who actually are natives of the country who work for our embassy. So they had a japanese woman review the speech and i got a call from someone very senior in the embassy saying, we need to talk about that proverb. I remember saying, what, you are antifriendship . And she said, talk to her. She puts the woman on the phone and she says, i appreciate that you think this is a beautiful but in about friendship, our culture, this is understood to be a proverb about suicide. [laughter] like, you convinced me. I am taking this out. So i had to explain to missus mrs. Obama and we had a good laugh, but it would not have been funny at all if that had gone through. [laughter] mr. Mcconnell fact checking, when youre in those positions, you do not have to do it long before you get that first phone call after a speech is done where they say, where did you get that . And you dont remember, because you are onto the next thing. So we had to regularize it. There was a very nice anecdote , the John Philip Sousa composer whose name at birth was different. In patriotic fervor later life, he changed his last name add usa. O sousa, to our facter checker said, we ran that to ground, and there is nothing there. Mr. Edmonds it reminds me of the ted sorensen story about when john kennedy was at the said ich benn, and , which translated to, i am a jelly doughnut. [laughter] mr. Mcconnell i remember he said, if there is a magazine called the new yorker, and i said to you right now, i am a new yorker, you would understand that i am not saying i am a weekly magazine. You could tell it still him. He was annoyed. [laughter] we have a lot of competing voices in the white house. So how did you navigate, particularly in things like the state of the union and different agendas that may be might try to creep into a speech. What are the back room dynamics . Mr. Edmonds it is different in every administration. President clinton was especially , you know, he liked to gather thoughts and ideas from everybody from his College Roommate to first lady, to everybody. And they also had outside advisors, pollsters, cabinet secretaries, especially during state of the union time, the speechwriter would get a call from the secretary of education and say, you have to put my program in the state of the union. I became like a traffic cop. Sometimes you had to disappoint people, sometimes you had to acquiesce to what they wanted. Was a major there president ial address, you would get solicited and unsolicited advice from all corners of the universe. Try toquite a job to separate the wheat from the chaff, decide what to put in and what to keep out. The president was the final decisionmaker, of course, on what he wanted to say. That was a big part of the job, trying to ferret out those kinds of advice. Ms. Hurwitz i think as a speechwriter, you have to realize you are representing the speech and protecting your principles from a lot of people want them to say things. The number of times i had someone say, you need to say all 18 points of this policy proposal. No, he doesnt. You had to come back and say, im sorry, the president would not be comfortable saying this. The first lady would not be comfortable saying this. How can we fix it . And i learned that people often had legitimate concerns, but the edit they made wasnt good. I would ask, why do you need all 18 points, and they would say, it is important for people to know we have a plan. What is youre, ok, actual interest, what is the problem youre trying to solve . Mr. Mcconnell president bush reminded us that the name our name and phone number was at the bottom of the draft. He told us to never blame anyone for something that was in a speech that had our name on it. He told us we were responsible for and that this meant we had authority. If we knew something was not right for a speech, we could keep it out. We had to defer to the obvious people, but it was important. Terry was an assistant to the president , the highest rank on the white house staff. My colleague was an assistant to the president. When the head of speechwriting has standing, it makes for a cleaning process cleaner process to change the story about when he was on ford staff, he ended up chief of staff. There was factual as and when it came to speeches, and president ford had a longtime aide going back to his days in the house when Donald Rumsfeld was the chief of staff. Point, the one president had two competing speech drafts given to him and the president himself spent the night reconciling the two speech drafts. Therding to dick cheney, president came to the awful office the next morning oval office the next morning and indicated he would never be put in this situation again. Ms. Sams that really speaks to the power of it. How does itrience, become an effective tool of leadership . Mr. Edmonds when you are president , you have the bully pen in the world, and you can represent the you most admire and commit to. I was fortunate to work for a president who exemplified the highest values, i thought, in as far as the economy, bringing the , and in so many areas. Education, health care, all of these important issues. Even if you did not have a specific policy to change things, you could use your voice to move the conversation along. And president clinton did that oneedingly well, especially the issue of race. President whost created an office in the white house called the office of one america. And he used that office to focus and initiative on race, which was very effective in changing peoples attitudes about race and bringing the country together as one america. Pulpit is very effective. Of thatitz i think all is so true of the president. The first lady is a little different. Something missus obama did so well is really met people where they were. People read People Magazine and mrs. Obama was not a snob. She loved people and would go on allen and speak of an important issue and she would go on Stephen Colbert and the latest social media thing. She would do it. But there was always a requirement that it served a purpose. So, we will come on your show but i will talk about military families. She would use these fun, cool venues to talk about real substantive issues and the combination was really interesting and surprising, and i think she reached a lot of people who do not consider themselves to be engaged in politics. There she was, talking about an issue that was important and i thought that was an effective way to use the pulpit of the first ladys office. Speech writer a of president truman, george, i used to have him to lunch at the white house and he wanted to talk about what i was doing and i wanted to talk about what he was doing in the 1940s and 50s. Said,merous times, george the president talks too much. He did not mean president bush. He meant a 20th century president. He said truman go days and days, sometimes weeks, without giving a speech. Said, i would like to go back to that. [laughter] there is the weekly radio address, the weekly speed bump in the speechwriters office. [laughter] is, just given the it is theis that presidency and we lived in an age where you can go on all forms of media, it is going to be used by the president had white house staff, and i think speeches are very important, if for no other reason that there are moments where you need to find exactly what you want to say and say it in the best way you know how. And the only way to do that is through concentrated discipline, effort, and it does not mean you cannot do the other things, but this will always be important, just because of the posture of the office, will always have an outsized influence. Ms. Sams we are about to take questions, so line up at the microphone. We will do a lightning round. We are heading into 2020 campaign and a lot of the students are interested in working in speechwriting. The first piece of advice you would give to someone interested in becoming you . Mr. Mcconnell go to work on a campaign. Get a job in the campaign. A they figure out they have writer on their hands, and it is you, i virtually guarantee they will use you. It does not matter what office you are in. Go up to the chief speechwriter or press secretary and say, if you ever need help on drafting press releases or statements for the candidate, i would like to take something off your hands, if you ever would like a little help. They are always looking for good writers in these situations. The hardest thing about president ial speechwriting is being responsible for hiring another one. Because it is really hard. So that is what you do, if that is your thing. Sharpen that tool anyway you know how. Campaign. In a they will find you, if you are a writer. Mr. Edmonds i would add, the white house has an Internship Program and a lot of folks got their start by being interns at the white house. Believe josh, who is now a congressman, was an intern, one of my interns. He is now a congressman. Way, if you can get one of those internships, i would highly recommend that you try to go for one of those. Ms. Sams we love internships. I am a firstyear graduate student. I noticed your commonality between generality and specificity. Things people notice in their everyday life. Versus the specificity of senior and the specificity of the badger versus where you were when you knew it or other wording that made me think of friends parents who died in 911. How do you choose when is a good detail . O use a specific bothdmonds i think you do in most speeches. You always want to have a reallife life story, an example to bring your point to life. And i think you might notice and most of the modern state of the Union Addresses, they have people in the gallery who represent different parts of the speech. And they asked them to stand up at the appropriate time. In most modern Campaign Speeches and policy speeches, you want to have a reallife example to bring it to life. You want to be specific as well as make a general point. Mr. Mcconnell i remember working with my colleagues mike and matthew on a speech president bush gave at normandy on june 6, 2004. The 60th anniversary of the landings on dday. And of course you have plenty of material to describe the event but i remember putting in a quote from bernie ernie pyle,nie who had written a daily column in the 1930s and during the war he wrote daily, or frequently. Every time he met an american soldier, he gave a name, rank, and street address so everyone reading. The point is, it was very nice to put some of those descriptive terms not in the speechwriter born in decades after the war, not in terms of that, but in the terms of ernie pyle, who was there. Thank you. Hello. I am a thirdyear in sociology. Thank you for sharing. Words of inspiration, other moments when you where the president you serve find that the words pale in comparison . If so, how did you absorb the moment and overcome . Mr. Mcconnell never had that problem. There was nothing i saw or experienced in the campaign or white house that ever said any cynical side to me. I think it starved to death when i was in the white house, my cynical side. Most of the people you run into in politics, it doesnt matter if you agree with them or not. You will find you are very similar to them. If it is what you are into, it is what they are into, sarah and i have had these conversations before. There is so much commonality. Then you get into the government , if you have the privilege to work for a president. People have very good intentions and want to do the right thing. That is really what you spend most of your time trying to do. Campaigns are rough and divisive. But even then, you are trying to appeal to a broad enough segment of the country to take power. Really, it brings out the best in people in positions we have. Ms. Hurwitz i would echo that and say there are moments when you are tired. But for me, it was getting to actually meet the people whose stories we were telling. You just cannot be cynical when you travel to a country and you are meeting teenage girls who walk 2 miles every morning to get to school and spend all night doing work and caring for their siblings, they get up the next morning and clean their house and do all of this stuff. For the Military Spouse who has moved every two years for the past 15 years and she has two jobs. You meet these people who were doing such extraordinary things, and i think they just constantly inspire me and help me realize that the stakes are very high and real and it is hard to be cynical when you meet the people you are serving. Hello, i am thinking about studying and Public Policy and sociology. Bunch a lot about a you talked a bunch a lot about Different School skills, writing a speech after a traumatic event, after a death, writing about policy or trying to mitigate in a speech. I was wondering what experiences helped you in your job as a speechwriter, and what made you want to become speechwriters . Mr. Edmonds that is a very good question. You bring your whole Life Experience to the job and hopefully your Life Experience is compatible or somewhat resonates with your principal with the president. Up in alf, i grew workingclass family in the projects in baltimore. I have always been interested in policyights and public and current events. A reader as a child, which is one of the things that mitigated some of the things i saw around me, was to always be trying to emulate some of the values i saw in literature. Things thatof the sort of brought the president and i together, because he had a similar background growing up somewhat in a workingclass environment in the south. Values ofaving those trying to lift himself up, as well as lift those around him up. We shared that commitment. Storying your whole life to the job, but you also remember that you are not writing for yourself, you are writing for someone else, and andng to find their voice to help them get their message out. Ms. Hurwitz in addition to being a good writer, i think having a good grasp of American History is really important. For me, the most important skill or aptitude a speechwriter can have is an ability to be moved. A sense of having an open heart and the ability to be moved by the story and struggles of others. I am not a Military Spouse. No one in my family is in the military. But hearing the stories of women who were Military Spouses and their partners were being deployed for years on end and they were raising their kids on their own and working, wondering if their spouse was coming back, i was very moved by the stories. Had so i could write and share their stories with others. If youre are someone who is cynical and closed off, speechwriting is not a good job. It is a job for people who are openhearted and willing to be affected by other peoples stories. I always liked listening to speeches from the time i was a kid. The best way to sharpen the tool is to read. Tool toe, writing is a be sharpened as well, but just to stock your mind with a sense of what good writing is. It doesnt matter what the subject is. If it interests you, read it. Develop a sense of what is good writing and what is not and this tension between the two. Some of the best advice i have repeated many times about speechwriting and i internalized came from a historian who was not talking about speeches but he has are in so many books about Different Things and the question was put to him, how do you decide what your next book is . He said, i write the book i want to read. If he wanted to read a good book on the building of the Brooklyn Bridge and found that there wasnt one, he spent eight years of his life writing one. In that sense, when i am writing a speech, i think, what is the speech i would like to listen to and that is a good guide, because i 100 guarantee the listener is going to get bored. You just take it in those terms as well. We is something you can get good at and something you can continuously get better at. Token, there is no secret to it. Isis just what works, what credible, what is interesting and over time, if you listen to speeches and become a discerning reader, you will develop an eye for all of those things. I am also first year in the college studying history and possibly filmmaking or screenwriting. Mediastion is, what other , prose, poetry, playwriting or lyrics,iting, even song do you think speechwriting is closest to . That is a good question. All of the above. For myself, poetry is my first love. I always try to infuse speeches that i write with lyricism and rhythm. Storytelling, journalism, everything. Depending on the audience. I think having a love of literature is really important. Some type of literature, whether it is poetry or prose or fiction or nonfiction. We all draw from those disciplines to do our job. I think that oftentimes journalists have a hard time making the transition to speechwriting, because writing to be heard is very different than writing to be read. They are two different arts. You have to make this transition. I just said, you have to make this transition. If that were written in a newspaper article, no one would think that was bizarre, no one for the media that you named, anyone that involves words being spoken is going to be closer than something written. I remember hearing that peggy noonan used to write the news screws for dan rather. She was writing to be spoken. Anything spoken is going to be the closest. Clarity is so important. My colleague always pointed out writing is a process of elimination. In a political context, you are not lawyering in the technical sense, but you are making a case. Important. So ,ever skipping a logical step because if you do that, someone not persuaded and what you are saying will notice you skipped a step. It weakens your point. In the of what you do work that we were called on to and tryingg it clear to make it trying to do away with the clutter, and all of those extra touches. Clutter, therehe is so much obvious occasion in politics, so many youve ms. Hims. That a lot of people giving these speeches do not feel like they are pulling something off by using euphemisms. It doesnt work. Age,ve in a conversational so im not advocating for oratory, just for simplicity and clarity. Did,nald reagan always assuming an intelligent listener. Have two more questions and not a lot of time, so what are you all ask your questions and then you will take them. To continue with the theme of , id writing and good reading imagine being a good speechwriter is watching speeches. What is a speech that you thought was remarkably effective in terms of accomplishing the goal or do you think it would be more productive, what was a speech that didnt accomplish the goal and what was the rhetorical failure . That two of you went to law school. You thinkn is, how do your experiences at law school have informed you as a speechwriter. Did you ever see yourself on a clear path to speechwriting in the white house in law school . Your speeches inspire a lot of people, so i was curious, who inspires you . Have you ever felt that rhetoric posed an ethical message and if so, what did you do . Inspiration, you want to listen to great speeches. Franklin roosevelt, john kennedy, ronald reagan, Martin Luther king, i would add, just in terms of to make another point as well, and that is to say when we talk about authenticity and nowadays there is so much talk about authenticity being whatever is on the top of your head, it is authentic. When Martin Luther king was writing these speeches and sermons, he put a lot of effort into them, and when he got there, no one said, give us some authenticity. There was nothing more authentic than his best thoughts. Wereresidents i mentioned very serious about speeches and in my own case, working with , he didnt do a lot of adlibbing with speeches, because he edited them so much and when he got up there and was reading his speech, it was exactly what he wanted to say. Marks forh authenticity there. I would add Bobby Kennedy to your list of people who inspired me. I will tell you one story about Martin Luther king. When we came up, there were not many courses in college on speechwriting. Most of us probably just fell into it. I never started out wanting to be a speechwriter. I wanted to be a journalist, but that is another story. Started writing in the Clinton Administration for the secretary of health and human services. My idea of a great speech was Martin Luther king, i have a dream. Forarted writing speeches findinguther king and, the voice of your speaker is one of the key things to being successful as a speechwriter. After a while, she pulled me aside and said, i like Martin Luther king, but i am a short, punchy lady and i like short, punchy sentences. I am not Martin Luther king. That was a great lesson to me in finding the voice. You can admire these great writers and great speeches, but you have to always remember that the person you are writing for that style may not be suited to that person. We have to always find their voice. There authentic voice. I totally agree with that. It was a separate moment of my life. It hasnt been useful as a speech writer. Sorry for anyone who wishes otherwise. In terms of authenticity, i want to echo what john said. What is more authentic, the paper that he spent two weeks agonizing over, aching sure every sentence was exactly what you wanted to say, or the paper you dashed off hours before the deadline. I have zero patience for the people who dont do the work of rethink b horror hand. But of our bosses riffed a lot. They riffed all the time, but before they went to the podium. They spent a lot of time pouring themselves into their speeches, editing, taking away. By the time they got up, it was exactly what they wanted to say. That is so important. This idea of im just going to rip up my speech and speak from the heart, if you are dr. Martin luther king jr. , go ahead. If not, chances are it will not go well. In terms of speeches who inspire me, i would add malala yousafzai. Her speeches are extraordinary. Her speech to the u. N. , she is a powerful moral voice and speaks so beautifully and movingly. I am a big fan of hers. I on the law school point, have never applied specific knowledge that i picked up in law school, but i am a big believer in studying what you want to study. I could not categorize the best writers i know according to what they studied. Smart andthey are they studied what interested them. Some of the clearest writers you will ever meet our mathematicians, the logic and everything else. One more thing about the writing process, one thing ive always is to read a speech allowed before handing it in. Colleague, we had a speech we were working on for a president and there was one part we really liked and we could not wait for the president to read it. Andouldnt wait to hear it those words, set forth into the stream of history. Point, we got to the where it was time to finish the draft and send it in and we were reading it and we got to our favorite part and it rhymed. [laughter] said, we thought we were churchill, but we were dr. Seuss. [laughter] avoiding rhetorical failings. Anyone want to take ethical dilemma . I just you have had a lot of concerns, a lot of things he hoped would turn out well, but i dont remember any ethical struggles. Would say ishing i i did not write that speech about that woman. [laughter] thank you very much. And. Kind of is the perfect thank you for coming. You are a great audience. [applause] unions washington journal coming up friday mortgage. We talk with michael cannon with the Cato Institute about the state of health care in the u. S. Including Democratic Candidates and the Trump Administration measures. And rob richie of fair vote discusses the recent Supreme Court decision regarding partisan gerrymandering. Watch washington journal live at 7 00 eastern on friday morning. Join the discussion. Tomorrow the National Educational association hosts a forum with several democratic president ial candidates, focusing on issues that impact students and schools. The Forum Takes Place in houston. See it friday at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan. This Holiday Weekend on American History tv, saturday at 10 00 p. M. And reel america, the 1970 film honor america day, the july 4th celebration at the National Mall featured comedian bob hope and the reverend billy graham. Hidden our ever problems and faults. Ith freedom of the press, we dont sweep our since under the rug. If poverty exists, if racial tension exists, if riots occur, the well world knows about it. Instead of an iron curtain, we have a picture window. Sunday at 6 00 p. M. Eastern on american artifacts. Craig hall portrays a soviet calf ray officer and discusses the role in world war doctor. One month before dday, we had been occupying 65 of the best german troops fighting us. If we hadnt done that if we ad failed at moscow, stalingrad or krusk, all those troops could be on normandy beaches. That was a significant contribution to winning the war. Watch on American History tv on cspan 3. The cspan bus is traveling across the country asking folks what does it mean to be american. I think being an american means that we come with tremendous privilege, to express who we are and celebrate our values. With a capacity to welcome people from around the world and be inclusive of all communities and show love and respect and kindness, compassion to everyone that enters into our country. Try to foster the Community Everywhere we go. Sometimes we do less good than others, but it is worth fighting for. What it means his pride, having pride in my country, my flag. We live in the land of the free because of the brave. We hope to work hard, do the right thing, and make a better life for our children. What i think it means to be an american is having the right to choose your own future. Whether that means choosing where you live, picking whatever job you want and living the way you want to, spending your money the way you want it. That is truly what it means to be an american. Meansbe an american to me a sense of camaraderie. A lot of other places miss sometimes because we have 50 unique states, we come together and say we are american. I am from wisconsin or texas but in the end, we are all bond. An and that voices from the road on cspan. Next, a look at reauthorizing the Exportimport Bank which expires on september 30. We heard about the banks is a concurrent competition necessity, competition with china
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