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Alexander Hamilton
Born
The earliest well-documented case of a ghostwriter for a president. Washington began his 1796 Farewell Address from a draft James Madison had prepared in 1792, then sent it to Hamilton, who rewrote it extensively; surviving drafts let readers trace who wrote which passages.
More about Alexander Hamilton2
Judson Welliver
Born
A former newspaper reporter, Welliver joined Warren Harding's staff in 1921 as a "literary clerk" and is usually counted as the first White House speechwriter. Former presidential speechwriters still meet in a society named after him.
More about Judson Welliver3
Samuel Rosenman
Born
Rosenman, a New York judge and Roosevelt's longest-serving writer, drafted the 1932 acceptance speech that pledged "a new deal for the American people". He later became the first official White House Counsel and edited Roosevelt's public papers, which shaped how those speeches were preserved.
More about Samuel Rosenman4
Robert E. Sherwood
A Pulitzer-winning playwright, Sherwood joined Rosenman and Harry Hopkins on Roosevelt's wartime speeches, including the 1940 "arsenal of democracy" fireside chat. His book Roosevelt and Hopkins describes how drafts moved between the three and the president, a rare inside account of collaborative writing.
More about Robert E. Sherwood5
Emmet John Hughes
A Time-Life journalist, Hughes wrote Eisenhower's 1952 campaign pledge "I shall go to Korea" and the 1953 "Chance for Peace" speech on the cost of the arms race. His 1963 memoir The Ordeal of Power was unusually critical of the president he had served.
More about Emmet John Hughes6
Malcolm Moos
Born
Moos, a political scientist, drafted Eisenhower's 1961 Farewell Address with staff writer Ralph Williams, and drafts found in 2010 show the "military-industrial complex" warning took shape in their work before Eisenhower revised it. He later became president of the University of Minnesota.
More about Malcolm Moos7
Ted Sorensen
Born
Sorensen, Kennedy's counsel and closest writer for eleven years, drafted the 1961 inaugural address and the 1963 American University speech on peace. How much of "ask not what your country can do for you" was his or Kennedy's remains disputed; Sorensen himself kept the question open.
More about Ted Sorensen8
Richard N. Goodwin
Born
Goodwin wrote Lyndon Johnson's 1964 University of Michigan speech that named the "Great Society" and, in a single night, the March 1965 "We Shall Overcome" address urging Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act. Both texts are well documented as primarily his drafts.
More about Richard N. Goodwin9
Pat Buchanan
Born
Before his own campaigns, Buchanan was a Nixon writer and the author of Spiro Agnew's November 1969 Des Moines speech attacking network television news. It began a long conservative argument about media bias, and shows how a writer could set a political theme as well as phrase it.
More about Pat Buchanan10
William Safire
Safire gave Agnew "nattering nabobs of negativism" and wrote the never-delivered 1969 statement "In Event of Moon Disaster" for Nixon. He went on to a long New York Times column and On Language, so his habits as a phrase-maker can be read in public for decades after.
More about William Safire11
Ray Price (speechwriter)
Born
Price, Nixon's chief speechwriter, drafted his first inaugural address in 1969 and the resignation speech of August 1974. Read with Buchanan and Safire, he represents the more conciliatory voice among Nixon's writers.
More about Ray Price (speechwriter)12
Peggy Noonan
Born
Noonan wrote Reagan's 1984 "boys of Pointe du Hoc" speech and his 1986 Challenger address, which borrowed "slipped the surly bonds of earth" from the poem High Flight. For George H. W. Bush in 1988 she wrote "a thousand points of light" and "read my lips: no new taxes", a pledge that later cost him.
More about Peggy Noonan13
Peter Robinson (speechwriter)
Born
Robinson wrote Reagan's 1987 Brandenburg Gate speech, and the line "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" survived repeated attempts by the State Department and National Security Council to remove it. It is a well-documented case of a writer's line kept because the president insisted on it.
More about Peter Robinson (speechwriter)14
Michael Waldman
Waldman directed speechwriting for Bill Clinton from 1995 to 1999, including several State of the Union addresses and the 1997 second inaugural, and described the process in his book POTUS Speaks. He has since led the Brennan Center for Justice, a voice in voting rights and court reform debates.
More about Michael Waldman15
Michael Gerson
Born
Gerson led George W. Bush's speechwriting and drafted the address to Congress nine days after the September 11 attacks and the 2005 second inaugural on spreading freedom. His phrase "the soft bigotry of low expectations" framed No Child Left Behind; later, as a columnist, he became a sharp critic of his own party.
More about Michael Gerson16
David Frum
Born
A useful case study in shared authorship: Frum drafted the phrase "axis of hatred" for the 2002 State of the Union, which Gerson revised to "axis of evil" before Bush delivered it. Frum's account in The Right Man is one of the clearest insider descriptions of how a single phrase passes through several hands.
More about David Frum17
Jon Favreau (speechwriter)
Born
Favreau worked with Barack Obama on the 2008 "Yes we can" New Hampshire speech and, at 27, drafted the 2009 inaugural address as director of speechwriting. Obama was an active co-writer, so Favreau's entries are a good study in close collaboration; he later co-founded Crooked Media.
More about Jon Favreau (speechwriter)18
Sarah Hurwitz
Hurwitz drafted Hillary Clinton's 2008 concession speech, with its "18 million cracks" in the glass ceiling, and then became Michelle Obama's head speechwriter. She worked with the First Lady on the 2016 convention speech that included "when they go low, we go high", a phrase Obama has said was her own.
More about Sarah Hurwitz19
Cody Keenan
Born
Obama's chief speechwriter from 2013 drafted the 2015 Selma 50th anniversary speech and the Charleston eulogy for Clementa Pinckney, which Obama heavily rewrote and ended by singing "Amazing Grace". Keenan's book Grace reconstructs that week's drafting in unusual detail.
More about Cody Keenan
