All the Presidents' Words: The Bully Pulpit and the Creation of the Virtual Presidency - Hardcover

Gelderman, Carol

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0802713181 ISBN 13: 9780802713186

Publisher: Walker & Co, 1997

Synopsis

Traces the rise and development of the rhetorical presidency, from FDR to Bill Clinton, and explores the impact each president's approach to speechwriting has had on his ability to govern. Examines public and private drama surrounding historic speeches related to WWII, the Cold War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and Vietnam, and especially focuses on how the speechwriting process changed when Nixon took office and relied on professional speechwriters. Argues that when speechwriters have no policy-making responsibilities, speeches they produce reflect a serious disconnect between what the president says and does. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

About this title

Review

Rhetoric has always been first among the political arts that are required in a republic, and the role of U.S. president, since the institution's inception, has always relied on a rhetorician's talent. Yet Carol Gelderman is right in thinking that the modern presidency is distinctly different in role accorded to words and the folks who write them. Gone is the importance of eloquence and exposition. Today "spin" and staying "on message" are the aims of the various tropes and topoi peddled by speechwriters. Gelderman expertly traces the way words and speeches have shaped the modern presidency, from the Truman Doctrine to the "End of Welfare As We Know It." In an accessible yet learned style, All the Presidents' Words serves as an alternative history of the executive office where "what the President says" signifies "who he was" to America.

From Kirkus Reviews

Gelderman (English/Univ. of New Orleans) departs from her usual genre of biography (Henry Ford, 1980; Mary McCarthy, 1988) in this thesis-driven history of speechwriting in the White House. The first half of her thesis--that presidents until Richard Nixon utilized a cadre of policymakers to double as speechwriters, thus uniting speechwriting with policy--is strong. Gelderman shows that, with varying degrees of effectiveness, presidents created policy through the speechwriting process itself, often taking months to draft their most famous words. The process was collegial, as with Eisenhower's ``Wheaties'' group, which drafted policy over breakfast every day. But with Nixon, media image, not substance, became the goal of the presidency. Nixon crafted his controversial speeches in isolation and kept key policy advisors in the dark. Gelderman's argument deteriorates in its post-Nixon passages. She identifies Nixon's heir as Ronald Reagan, which seems an odd choice, given Nixon's reputation as a workaholic who alienated his colleagues and Reagan's as a 9-to-5er who was content to let his aides do the work. The common ground, according to Gelderman, is the ``virtual presidency'': that is, the central importance to both leaders of image-crafting and the power of television. Gelderman claims that the reliance on TV has divorced policy from speechwriting and reduced the latter to the art of crafting attractive soundbites. But to prove this, she relies almost exclusively on foreign-policy issues, with little attention to domestic programs. She also shortchanges the Ford, Carter, and Bush administrations; Carter felt dishonest using speechwriters and wrote complex speeches. The author ultimately argues that Clinton is returning to the old marriage of speechwriting and policy (though here she bases her argument almost entirely on domestic issues, such as his masterful handling of the tragedy in Oklahoma City). An unfocused and unconvincing ending after a promising start. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Walker & Co
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0802713181
• ISBN 13: 9780802713186
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 221