Writing Political Speeches: An Interview with Thomas LaFauci, former speech writer to Senator and Vice President-elect Joseph Biden
Thomas LaFauci has been a speechwriter and communications advisor for over twenty years. Most recently, he served on the staff of United States Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr. He has also served as a speechwriter on the staffs of Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts and former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Thomas S. Foley. Mr. LaFauci has been a consulting speechwriter to nationally recognized leaders in both the public and private sectors.
In 1990, during the First Gulf War, Mr. LaFauci served as a media advisor and communications consultant to the Kuwaiti Government in Exile. Based at the Dhahran International Hotel in Saudi Arabia, Mr. LaFauci assisted the Kuwaiti Ministry of Information in responding to the wartime demands of the international press corps, represented Kuwaiti officials to members of the press, and drafted speeches and other written materials for government officials, including the Minister of Information and the Crown Prince of Kuwait.
Mr. LaFauci received a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from Fordham University in New York City in 1971 and a Master of Arts in English Literature from New York University in 1974. In 1976 he joined the staff of the Governor of Rhode Island as a legislative assistant, and in 1984 he became Rhode Island State Campaign Director for the Presidential campaign of Senator Gary Hart. He was elected delegate to the 1984 Democratic National Convention in San Francisco. He has written for the American University in Cairo, Brown University, The American Academy in Rome, and private corporations.
Mr. LaFauci is currently consulting and working on a novel. Recently by email, he responded to questions posed by NCBLA president Mary Brigid Barrett.
MBB: Is the inaugural address high stakes? What is its historical significance and how does it differ from a state of the union address?
TSL: An inaugural address is a thematic speech setting the tone and tenor of an administration. It should blend poetry and political philosophy with a smattering of generalized policy without the weight of time limited statistics and detail. It should categorize challenges and opportunities and move the nation to reach for the stars. Inaugural addresses are, by nature, timeless and should be drafted with a sense of history in mind. A state of the union address, on the other hand, is a much more programmatic speech promoting specific policies and legislative goals that are time limited. An inaugural address speaks to generations while a state of the union address speaks to 535 members of Congress. Both are important speeches for any president, but state of the union messages tend to die a slow death in the Congressional Record; inaugural addresses, on the other hand, are remembered long after they are delivered. When read together, from George Washington’s first inaugural address to Barack Obama’s inaugural, we are given a unique glimpse into history through the hopes and aspirations of the forty-four presidents who have shaped this nation’s history.
MBB: Would a speech writer approach an inaugural speech with different goals in mind than a campaign stump speech?
TSL: The speechwriter’s task in an inaugural address is to tap into the true language of leadership, language that does makes us feel something in our gut and inspires us to follow. It is language that can make us see ourselves in a new, more focused light; language that reveals something about who we are and what we stand for as a people; language that unmasks a mystery or consoles us in times of tragedy or trouble. A great inaugural speech should reach into our collective soul to touch what is most human in the human spirit. Other speeches are more limited in scope, more issue oriented, demanding a more analytical presentation of facts and figures.
As I said above, the speechwriter’s fundamental task in drafting an inaugural message is to understand the difference between a timeless speech and a more specific time-limited speech like a state of the union message or political speech that might be more poll driven and focuses on issues of the moment.
MBB: How is writing a speech different from writing a lecture, or a short story? Do speeches have a narrative arc, a climax and a dénouement, like, say, great works of fiction?
TSL: A speech is not bound by the rigid grammatical rules we associate with the written word. A speech is dialogue, a long monologue. What may appear, on the page, to be an incomplete or run-on sentence might achieve a compelling cadence or rhythm that works well when spoken. We do not always speak as logically as we write. And those listening to a speech are not following the logic of the speaker, but reacting emotionally to the words. That’s why a well-written paper on a particular topic does not a great speech make, though too often politicians and businessmen believe that their most talented policy personnel are perfectly capable of writing their next keynote address. Not true! Speechwriting is a specific talent, an art unto itself. It requires an appreciation of the sound of words and an understanding that a good speech depends on the sound the words make, and the story they tell.
MBB: What do you consider to be your best speech? Did you feel the speech accomplished what you set out to do?
TSL: I wouldn’t say I have a best speech, but one of the most challenging to write was a eulogy for Senator Joe Biden to deliver at the funeral of Senator Strom Thurmond. Neither Senator Biden nor I agreed with Strom’s politics, but, for many years, Senator Biden had served closely with Strom on the Judiciary Committee and they became friends. Strom occupied the offices adjacent to Biden’s in the Russell Senate Office Building, the oldest Senate office building just north of the Capitol on Constitution Avenue. In fact, Strom’s personal office was directly adjacent to mine. He had been a staunch segregationist early in his career and ran for president in 1948 as a Dixiecrat. He was a drafter of the 1956 Southern Manifesto against Brown vs. Board of Education. In 1957 he filibustered against the Civil Rights Act for twenty-four hours and eighteen minutes, the longest filibuster in Senate history. But over the years, Strom’s views had mellowed. When Senator Biden was asked to deliver the eulogy, he called me into his office and we looked at each other and wondered exactly how he could fashion a fitting tribute to a good friend with whom he so fundamentally disagreed. The final result was one of our best collaborative efforts. The theme was redemption, based on a story I will tell you later. Senator Biden spoke movingly about redemption and the power of one man to change.
MBB: As a speech writer, you do all the leg work, the creative work, then the person who delivers the speech gets all the credit. Is it hard writing something for which someone else gets the credit?
TSL: It is true that speechwriters are the most invisible staff members in Washington. They are often introduced merely as aides or special assistants. But, recognition aside, it has been an honor to work with some of the most extraordinary leaders in our nation on issues that have changed the course of history, an honor to have played even a small role in the great debates of our time. The personal satisfaction of being present for history is the speechwriter’s reward.
MBB: Would you like to share a great memory or anecdote related to your work as a speechwriter?
TSL: There was a moving story Senator Biden told which, as I mentioned earlier, we worked into Strom Thurmond’s eulogy. It was a moving story of redemption that Senator Biden delivered at Strom’s funeral and it went like this:
“When I first arrived in the Senate in 1972 I met with John Stennis, an old southern senator who became my friend. We sat on the other end of this gigantic, grand mahogany table he used as his desk that had been the desk of Senator Richard Russell. It was the table upon which the Southern Manifesto was signed.
“Senator Stennis patted the leather chair next to him when I walked in to pay my respects as a new young senator, which was the order of the day. And he said, ‘Sit down. Sit down here son.’
“And he looked at me and he said, ‘Son, what made you run for the Senate?’
“And like a darn fool I told him the truth . . . I said, ‘Civil rights, sir.’ And as soon as I did I could feel the beads of perspiration pop out of my head. And he looked at me and said, ‘Good, good, good.’ And that was the end of the conversation.
“Well, eighteen years later . . . we had become friends. I saw him sitting behind the same table eighteen years later, only this time in a wheelchair. His leg had been amputated because of cancer. And I was going to look at offices, because in my seniority, his office had become available as he was about to leave.
“I went in and sat down and he looked at me as if it were yesterday and he said, ‘Sit down Joe, sit down,’ and tapped the chair next to him. And he said something that startled me. He said, ‘Remember the first time you came to see me, Joe?’ And I shook my head. I didn’t remember. And he leaned forward and recited the story.
“I said to him, ‘I was a pretty smart young fellow, wasn’t I, Mr. Chairman?’ He said, ‘Joe, I wanted to tell you something then that I’m going to tell you now. You’re going to take my office aren’t you?’ And I said, ‘Yes sir, Mr. Chairman.’
“And he ran his hand back and forth across the mahogany table in a loving way and he said, ‘You see this table, Joe?’
“And I said, ‘Yes sir, Mr. Chairman.’ He said, ‘This table was the flagship of the Confederacy from 1954 to 1968.’ He said, ‘We sat here, most of us from the deep South, the old Confederacy, and we planned the demise of the Civil Rights movement.’
“Then he looked at me and said, ‘And now it’s time; it’s time that this table go from the possession of a man against civil rights to a man who is for civil rights.’
“And I was stunned. And he said, ‘One more thing, Joe,’ he said. ‘The Civil Rights movement did more to free the white man than the black man.’
“And I looked at him and I didn’t know what he meant, and in only John Stennis fashion, he said, ‘It freed my soul; it freed my soul.’”
When Senator Biden told me that story, I knew it had to be in the eulogy for Senator Thurmond. I took that story, and ended it as follows:
“Strom Thurmond’s soul is free today. His soul is free. The Bible says: Learn to do well, seek justice, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow, come now and let us reason together, though your sins may be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.”
After hearing that story, I sat at that old mahogany table many times, through many meetings. Each time I would quietly open a drawer just enough to peek inside, hoping a small piece of history might roll out, left behind by men like Stennis and Thurmond, a note from a conversation they had, an old fountain pen used to scribble the Southern Manifesto. Now, I can't help but think of the first African-American elected President of the United States and the man to whom that table was entrusted, about to be inaugurated as his Vice President. Times have changed, but that table remains as it was, tucked away somewhere in the Senate, holding a unique place in American political history. I wonder who will sit at it tomorrow.
MBB: Do you have favorite inaugural addresses—favorite presidential speeches?
TSL: I have many favorite presidential speeches, but one that is most pertinent today is Franklin Roosevelt’s first inaugural address, which I’m sure President-elect Obama and Jon Favreau, his speechwriter, are reading and re-reading as we speak.
On March 4, 1933 Franklin Roosevelt stood on the East Front of the United States Capitol and said, “The money changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization. We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths. The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit.”
“Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. The joy and moral stimulation of work no longer must be forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent profits. These dark days will be worth all they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves and to our fellow men.”
(For a primary source account of President Franklin Roosevelt’s first inauguration and first inaugural address go to: www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,745290,00.html)
MBB: If a young person wanted to grow up and become a political or presidential speechwriter, what would you recommend that they do right now?
TSL: Read. Write. Read poetry. Read history. Keep a broad perspective on how things work, how the political process works, how it affects the lives of people. See how the pieces fit together. Work in city government, town government, county government, state government to appreciate just how local politics really is. Learn the issues, all the issues, a little bit about everything, but not enough to get so lost in the weeds of any one issue that you lose sight of the human side, those things that touch the human spirit and warm the human heart. The best speechwriters are generalists who understand the issues, appreciate their historic significance, poets-at-heart who always see the big picture and can bring a particular vision to the policies and programs of a candidate.
Read. Write. You can’t do those things enough.