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.

Introduction by Julie Nixon Eisenhower
Chapter One—George Washington’s Farewell Address
Chapter Two—Thomas Jefferson—A Revolutionary Becomes a Reconciler
Chapter Three—James Monroe Defines U.S. Foreign Policy
Chapter Four—Andrew Jackson, American Folk Hero
Chapter Five—Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address
Chapter Six—Grover Cleveland—A Light on a Dark Street
Chapter Seven—Theodore Roosevelt’s “Big Stick” Speech
Chapter Eight—Pacifist Woodrow Wilson Declares War
Chapter Nine—Warren Harding Revisited
Chapter Ten—Calvin Coolidge, Philosopher from Vermont
Chapter Eleven—FDR—Recovery in Peace and Victory in War
Chapter Twelve—Harry Truman Extends America’s Promise
Chapter Thirteen—President Eisenhower’s Prophesies
Chapter Fourteen—John F. Kennedy—Symbol over Substance
Chapter Fifteen—President Lyndon Johnson Declares His Dream for a Great Society
Chapter Sixteen—Richard Nixon Mobilizes the Silent Majority
Chapter Seventeen—Gerald Ford Shares Healing Words
Chapter Eighteen—Jimmy Carter Delivers His “Malaise” Address
Chapter Nineteen—Ronald Reagan Becomes the Champion of the Free World
Chapter Twenty—George H.W. Bush Delivers His Kinder and Gentler Inaugural
Chapter Twenty-One—Bill Clinton Manifests Communication Magic in Oklahoma
Chapter Twenty-Two—The Second Bush Issue: An Historic Summons to the Free World
Chapter Twenty-Three—Barack Obama, a Promising President?
Bibliography