Judson Welliver’s laundry lists
The history of the annual State of the Union speech is examined in a fascinating article by Bob Lehrman in the Christian Science Monitor.
State of The Union: The crafting of a speech looks back at the speechwriters and presidents who have delivered State of the Union (SOTU) speeches.
The very first speechwriter to help write a STOU speech was Judson Welliver, hired by President Warrren Harding.
Lehrman explains why the speech is inevitably a laundry list of topics, and the process by which speechwriters approach the task.
Changes in technology have had a profound impact. Early in the 20th Century fewer than 1,000 people actually saw Woodrow Wilson deliver his SOTU. Last year 48 million watched Barack Obama on television or the web.
No matter how Obama’s speech is received this evening, somewhere in Washington DC a team of speechwriters will already have moved on to their next assignment.
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A couple of reviews of the speech in terms of presentation style and speechwriting (not politics)
Angela DeFinis applauds Obama’s confidence and certainty.
Fraser P. Seitel writing on ragan.com analyzes Obama’s oratory. His posting unleashed the usual firestorm of comments which I’ve personally experienced when writing about Obama’s speeches for ragan.com.
Finally, here’s Bob Lehrman’s comments on the speech, delivered on Federal News Radio.
By Ian on 01.27.11 9:33 am
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