White House Ghosts: Presidents and Their SpeechwritersSimon and Schuster, 15/04/2008 - 368 من الصفحات In White House Ghosts, veteran Washington reporter Robert Schlesinger opens a fresh and revealing window on the modern presidency from FDR to George W. Bush. This is the first book to examine a crucial and often hidden role played by the men and women who help presidents find the words they hope will define their places in history. Drawing on scores of interviews with White House scribes and on extensive archival research, Schlesinger weaves intimate, amusing, compelling stories that provide surprising insights into the personalities, quirks, egos, ambitions, and humor of these presidents as well as how well or not they understood the bully pulpit. White House Ghosts traces the evolution of the presidential speechwriter's job from Raymond Moley under FDR through such luminaries as Ted Sorensen and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., under JFK, Jack Valenti and Richard Goodwin under LBJ, William Safire and Pat Buchanan under Nixon, Hendrik Hertzberg and James Fallows under Carter, and Peggy Noonan under Reagan, to the "Troika" of Michael Gerson, John McConnell, and Matthew Scully under George W. Bush. White House Ghosts tells the fascinating inside stories behind some of the most iconic presidential phrases: the first inaugural of FDR ("the only thing we have to fear is fear itself ") and JFK ("ask not what your country can do for you -- ask what you can do for your country"), Richard Nixon's "I am not a crook" and Ronald Reagan's "tear down this wall" speeches, Bill Clinton's ending "the era of big government" State of the Union, and George W. Bush's post-9/11 declaration that "whether we bring our enemies to justice or bring justice to our enemies, justice will be done" -- and dozens of other noteworthy speeches. The book also addresses crucial questions surrounding the complex relationship between speechwriter and speechgiver, such as who actually crafted the most memorable phrases, who deserves credit for them, and who has claimed it. Schlesinger tells the story of the modern American presidency through this unique prism -- how our chief executives developed their very different rhetorical styles and how well they grasped the rewards of reaching out to the country. White House Ghosts is dramatic, funny, gripping, surprising, serious -- and always entertaining. |
المحتوى
| 1 | |
| 31 | |
Sometimes You Sure Get Tired of All This ClacketyClack | 69 |
The Age of Sorensen | 101 |
Now Thats What I Calla News Lead | 145 |
Concern for Image Must Rank with Concern for Substance | 188 |
Go Back and Give Me One Speech Not Two Speeches | 230 |
Dont Give Any Explanation Just Say I Cancelled | 268 |
The Musketeers | 312 |
No No No This Is a SpeechI Just Want to Talk to People | 402 |
The Troika | 456 |
Notes | 495 |
Acknowledgments | 559 |
Illustration Credits | 579 |
طبعات أخرى - عرض جميع المقتطفات
عبارات ومصطلحات مألوفة
administration aides American asked Author interview Baer Bakshian Ben Elliott Buchanan Bush Bush’s called campaign Clark Clifford Clinton Congress Curt Smith Demarest Democratic diary Dolan draft Dwight Eisenhower Dwight Eisenhower Library Elsey Fallows FDR’s Files folder foreign policy George Gerald Ford Gergen going Goodwin Haldeman Hardesty Hartmann Hertzberg HSTL Hughes Ibid idea January Jimmy Carter Jimmy Carter Library John Johnson June Kennedy Kennedy’s Larson later LBJ Library March McConnell memo Moley Morris Nixon Noonan noted November oral history interview Orben Oval Office Papers Peggy Noonan phrase political president presidential Rafshoon recalled reported Republican Robert Ronald Reagan Roosevelt Rosenman Rosner Schlesinger Scully Secretary September Sorensen Soviet speak speech speechwriters speechwriting staff staffers Stephanopoulos talk Ted Sorensen television There’s thought tion told Truman Union Valenti Waldman wanted Washington Post White House White House staff William Safire words writing wrote York
مقاطع مشهورة
الصفحة 106 - Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans— born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage...
الصفحة 73 - Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies — -in the final sense — a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.
الصفحة 61 - More than half the people of the world are living in conditions approaching misery. Their food is inadequate. They are victims of disease. Their economic life is primitive and stagnant. Their poverty is a handicap and a threat both to them and to more prosperous areas.
الصفحة 46 - I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures. I believe that we must assist free peoples to work out their own destinies in their own way.
الصفحة 98 - In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
الصفحة 132 - So, let us not be blind to our differences — but let us also direct attention to our common interests and to the means by which those differences can be resolved. And if we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity.
الصفحة 23 - France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills ; we shall never surrender.
الصفحة 80 - The United States would seek more than the mere reduction or elimination of atomic materials for military purposes. It is not enough to take this weapon out of the hands of the soldiers. It must be put into the hands of those who will know how to strip its military casing and adapt it to the arts of peace.
الصفحة 134 - Why, so can I ; or so can any man : But will they come, when you do call for them ? Glend.
الصفحة 61 - Fourth, we must embark on a bold new program for making the benefits of our scientific advances and industrial progress available for the improvement and growth of underdeveloped areas.