White House Ghosts: Presidents and Their Speechwriters

White House Ghosts: Presidents and Their Speechwriters
by Robert Schlesinger

White House Ghosts: Presidents and Their Speechwriters
List Price: $30.00
Our Price: $14.00
You Save: $16.00 (53%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $13.00 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


(Click here)
Buy this book at online book store in your country
Canada | UK | Germany | France

Book Summary Information

Author: Robert Schlesinger
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2008-04-15
ISBN: 0743291697
Number of pages: 592
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Book Reviews of White House Ghosts: Presidents and Their Speechwriters

Book Review: interesting perspective
Summary: 4 Stars

Schlesinger reviews each of the Presidential speech writers, from FDR through W. I found the book became increasingly engaging as he approached the modern presidential speech writers though that may be because they were the Presidents that I grew up with. The chapters on Reagan, Clinton and W are particularly interesting in that they provide a glimpse behind the idiosyncratic personalities that shaped much of our modern policy.

Of the Bush team, he writes, "The troika [Skully, Gerson, McConnell] gathered to prepare the State of the Union. For eight, nine, ten days running, the routine would be the same: The three sequestered themselves in McConnell's office and word-by-word, line-by-line, wrote the speech. After several days, McConnell's office resembled, as he put it, 'the back of a cheap restaurant' - coffee stained papers piled up, books of food, half-full coffee cups and water bottles lying around. McConnell, who kept a supply of Wet Ones towelettes on hand, endured the chaos with good humor". (p. 476)

Summary of White House Ghosts: Presidents and Their Speechwriters

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.

Political Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in Presidential Rhetoric
Woodrow Wilson's Western Tour: Rhetoric, Public Opinion, And the League of Nations ImageWoodrow Wilson's Western Tour: Rhetoric, Public Opinion, And the League of Nations
by J. Michael Hogan
Texas A&M University Press; Published: 2006-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $17.95
FDR and Fear Itself: The First Inaugural Address (The Library of Presidential Rhetoric) ImageFDR and Fear Itself: The First Inaugural Address (The Library of Presidential Rhetoric)
by Davis W. Houck
Texas A&M University Press; Published: 2002-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.95
Price in other shops: $14.95
Who Leads Whom?: Presidents, Policy, and the Public (Studies in Communication, Media, and Public Opinion) ImageWho Leads Whom?: Presidents, Policy, and the Public (Studies in Communication, Media, and Public Opinion)
by Brandice Canes-Wrone
University Of Chicago Press; Published: 2005-12-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.00
Price in other shops: $18.00
Going Public: New Strategies of Presidential Leadership ImageGoing Public: New Strategies of Presidential Leadership
by Samuel Kernell
CQ Press; Published: 2006-10-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $29.93
Price in other shops: $36.95
Presidential Travel: The Journey from George Washington to George W. Bush ImagePresidential Travel: The Journey from George Washington to George W. Bush
by Richard J. Ellis
University Press of Kansas; Published: 2008-04-22; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.39
Price in other shops: $34.95
UNION OF WORDS: A History of Presidential Eloquence ImageUNION OF WORDS: A History of Presidential Eloquence
by Wayne Fields
Free Press; Published: 1996-01-11; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $18.95
Price in other shops: $25.00
Deeds Done in Words: Presidential Rhetoric and the Genres of Governance ImageDeeds Done in Words: Presidential Rhetoric and the Genres of Governance
by Karlyn Kohrs Campbell, Kathleen Hall Jamieson
University Of Chicago Press; Published: 1990-06-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $42.47
Price in other shops: $42.50
The Moral Rhetoric of American Presidents (Presidential Rhetoric Series, No. 17) ImageThe Moral Rhetoric of American Presidents (Presidential Rhetoric Series, No. 17)
by Colleen J. Shogan
Texas A&M University Press; Published: 2006-09-30; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $45.00
Confessions of a White House Ghost Writer: Five Presidents and Other Political Adventures ImageConfessions of a White House Ghost Writer: Five Presidents and Other Political Adventures
by James C. Humes
Regnery Publishing, Inc.; Published: 1997-04-25; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $16.47
Price in other shops: $22.50
Woodrow Wilson and the Lost World of the Oratorical Statesman (Presidential Rhetoric Series, No. 9) ImageWoodrow Wilson and the Lost World of the Oratorical Statesman (Presidential Rhetoric Series, No. 9)
by Robert Alexander Kraig
Texas A&M University Press; Published: 2004-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $45.00
Similar Books and other products
The Thirteen American Arguments: Enduring Debates That Define and Inspire Our Country ImageThe Thirteen American Arguments: Enduring Debates That Define and Inspire Our Country
by Howard Fineman
Random House; Published: 2008-04-22; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.91
Price in other shops: $25.00
The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court ImageThe Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court
by Jeffrey Toobin
Doubleday; Published: 2007-09-18; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $16.16
Price in other shops: $27.95
The Age of Reagan: A History, 1974-2008 ImageThe Age of Reagan: A History, 1974-2008
by Sean Wilentz
Harper; Published: 2008-05-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $16.50
Price in other shops: $27.95
Pennsylvania Avenue: Profiles in Backroom Power ImagePennsylvania Avenue: Profiles in Backroom Power
by John Harwood, Gerald F. Seib
Random House; Published: 2008-05-13; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.00
Price in other shops: $26.00
Journals: 1952-2000 ImageJournals: 1952-2000
by Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.
Penguin Press HC, The; Published: 2007-10-04; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $10.99
Price in other shops: $40.00
What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception ImageWhat Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception
by Scott McClellan
PublicAffairs; Published: 2008-05-28; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.79
Price in other shops: $27.95
The Post-American World ImageThe Post-American World
by Fareed Zakaria
W. W. Norton; Published: 2008-05-05; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.87
Price in other shops: $25.95
Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America ImageNixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America
by Rick Perlstein
Scribner; Published: 2008-05-13; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $21.51
Price in other shops: $37.50
The Last Campaign: Robert F. Kennedy and 82 Days That Inspired America ImageThe Last Campaign: Robert F. Kennedy and 82 Days That Inspired America
by Thurston Clarke
Henry Holt and Co.; Published: 2008-05-27; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.00
Price in other shops: $25.00
Counselor: A Life at the Edge of History ImageCounselor: A Life at the Edge of History
by Ted Sorensen
Harper; Published: 2008-05-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.50
Price in other shops: $27.95
Book store. Illustrated catalog of books on different categories