All the presidents' words

by Carol W. Gelderman

Ever since Teddy Roosevelt introduced the concept of the "bully pulpit," speechmaking has become an increasingly important tool of leadership. In this provocative book, biographer Carol Gelderman traces the rise and development of the "rhetorical presidency" - from Franklin Delano Roosevelt to Bill Clinton - and the impact each president's approach to speechwriting has had on his ability to govern. All the Presidents' Words examines public and private dramas that took place as Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and others collaborated with their top aides, hammering out the historic speeches that led the United States into World War II, threw down the gauntlet to the USSR in the cold war, and brought the nation back from the precipice during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The speechwriting process changed dramatically when Richard Nixon took office. He and all of his successors have relied on staffs of professional speech-writers and public relations experts, rather than on the assista