Presidents and Their Pens

James C. Humes, White House speechwriter for Eisenhower, Nixon, Ford, George H.W. Bush, and Reagan, has practiced the art of public speaking as an attorney, lecturer, diplomat, and Pennsylvania State Legislator. The author of 38 books, Humes wrote the Pulitzer-nominated biography Churchill, Speaker of the Century, which won an Athenaeum of Philadelphia Literary Award. Other Humes titles include Churchill, The Prophetic Statesman;Target Churchill (with Warren Adler); Speak Like Churchill, Stand Like Lincoln: 21 Powerful Secrets of History's Greatest Speakers; The Reagan Persuasion: Charm, Deliver and Inspire a Winning Message; My Fellow Americans: Presidential Addresses That Shaped History; and Confessions of a White House Ghostwriter: Five Presidents and Other Political Adventures. Currently a Fellow at the University of Colorado, Humes has shared his expertise on American government as guest lecturer at more than 30 universities in Asia and Latin America, on behalf of the U.S. State Department.

The book is at its best when it discusses the speeches and speechwriters of recent presidents, and the chapter on FDR is superb.... Those who seek a brief, generally well-written and easy read on some of America’s canonical presidents ... will find an enjoyable read in Presidents and Their Pens.

• Introduction by Julie Nixon EisenhowerChapter One—George Washington’s Farewell AddressChapter Two—Thomas Jefferson—A Revolutionary Becomes a ReconcilerChapter Three—James Monroe Defines U.S. Foreign PolicyChapter Four—Andrew Jackson, American Folk HeroChapter Five—Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg AddressChapter Six—Grover Cleveland—A Light on a Dark StreetChapter Seven—Theodore Roosevelt’s “Big Stick” SpeechChapter Eight—Pacifist Woodrow Wilson Declares WarChapter Nine—Warren Harding RevisitedChapter Ten—Calvin Coolidge, Philosopher from VermontChapter Eleven—FDR—Recovery in Peace and Victory in WarChapter Twelve—Harry Truman Extends America’s PromiseChapter Thirteen—President Eisenhower’s ProphesiesChapter Fourteen—John F. Kennedy—Symbol over Substance Chapter Fifteen—President Lyndon Johnson Declares His Dream for a Great SocietyChapter Sixteen—Richard Nixon Mobilizes the Silent MajorityChapter Seventeen—Gerald Ford Shares Healing WordsChapter Eighteen—Jimmy Carter Delivers His “Malaise” AddressChapter Nineteen—Ronald Reagan Becomes the Champion of the Free WorldChapter Twenty—George H.W. Bush Delivers His Kinder and Gentler InauguralChapter Twenty-One—Bill Clinton Manifests Communication Magic in OklahomaChapter Twenty-Two—The Second Bush Issue: An Historic Summons to the Free WorldChapter Twenty-Three—Barack Obama, a Promising President?Bibliography