Name Robert Lehrman Role Novelist | Education Tufts University | |
 | ||
Books The Political Speechwriters Companion: A Guide for Speakers and Writers | ||
Collectors roundtable with robert lehrman secrets of the art world
Robert A. Lehrman is an American novelist, commentator, speechwriter, Democratic aide, and teacher.
Contents
- Collectors roundtable with robert lehrman secrets of the art world
- Professional Background
- Works
- Books
- Selected Articles
- Interviews
- References
Former White House Chief Speechwriter for Vice President Al Gore (1993–95), Lehrman has written six books including several award-winning novels, and thousands of speeches for Democratic politicians, corporate and nonprofit CEOs, and celebrities. He is perhaps best known for his non-fiction book, The Political Speechwriter’s Companion: A Guide for Writers and Speakers, a systematic look at the techniques and strategies of modern political speech.
Professional Background
Lehrman frequently writes and speaks about politics and speech. He is a contributor to AOLNews, and has appeared in the Washington Post, New York Times, Politico, Christian Science Monitor and other periodicals.
A long-time Adjunct Professor at American University, Lehrman teaches public speaking and created AU’s course on political speechwriting which he co-teaches with Professor Eric Schnure. Along with American University Professor Leonard Steinhorn, he co-founded the commentary site, PunditWire.
In 2010, American University named Lehrman its Adjunct Professor of the Year, one of only 5 all-university awards given by the school.
Lehrman graduated from Tufts University, and received an MFA from the University of Iowa Writer’s Workshop, where he studied with Richard Yates and Kurt Vonnegut. After Iowa he taught at Muscatine (IA) Community College. He then worked as a campaign organizer and later speechwriter for Governor Dan Walker (D-IL).
He also worked as a speechwriter for Governor Hugh Carey (D-NY), then for the CEO and other officers of Texaco before moving to Washington DC where he worked for Senator Lloyd Bentsen, and Majority Whips William H. Gray and David Bonior before moving to the White House where he wrote over 250 speeches for Gore and edited about the same number, before beginning his own business, Lehrman Communications, in 1996.
Works
Lehrman’s most recent book, The Political Speechwriter’s Companion (CQPress 2009), draws on almost two hundred examples taken mostly from American political speeches to demonstrate how one structure and what he calls the LAWS of political speech – language, anecdote, wit, and support – can be effective in almost any political setting. In chapters that include speeches and excerpts annotated to show how each technique works, Lehrman analyzes how to be effective, whether on the stump, on the floor, or in ceremonial speeches ranging from commencements to eulogies to keynotes. He presents an original way to close speeches that has been compared to what Alan Monroe did for the motivated sequence.
The book has won praise from a wide and bipartisan assortment of politicians, journalists, and academics, including former Republican Senator from Maine William Cohen, who said of the book, said, “what Strunk & White’s The Elements of Style is to the written word, Bob Lehrman’s book is to the spoken one.”
From 1980 through 1993 Lehrman also wrote 4 novels, three for young adults and one for grownups. Those include:
Other publications by Lehrman include articles, reviews, and short stories under own name in a wide range of publications—the New York Times, WomenSports, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Illinois Times, Public Relations Journal, Transatlantic Review, Louisville Review, Tufts Magazine and many others. Documentary scripts include Bradley Whitford's narration for Alliance for Justice award-winning 2007 film, Quiet Revolution.
Books
Selected Articles
State of the Union: The crafting of a speech (Christian Science Monitor cover story, January 2011)
Friends, Romans, Countrymen (Tufts Magazine cover story, Summer 2010)
Richard Yates Remembered (From The Workshop: Seven Decades of the Iowa Writers' Workshop (Hyperion, 1999))
Interviews
Interview with Mark Ragan of Ragan Communications for its Social Media Leadership Series.