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 Ju