how to become speech writer

How to Become a Speechwriter: 7 Degree-Less Steps

Some of the most impactful moments of history and even movies, can be linked back to a speech given. The ones that give the listener goosebumps, that they still contemplate and discuss and reference years and years later. It may make some of you stop and decide to learn how to become a speechwriter.

But how does that happen if you also don’t want to be the one giving the speech?

Maybe you don’t want to stand in front of a crowd. Maybe you want to be the person behind the scenes, aiding in sharing another’s message in a way that stands out.

It’s not as easy as the movie Long Shot has us believe, where simply running into an old babysitter who just happens to be running for president allows the job to fall into your lap. Even so, there’s a lot we can learn from Seth Rogen’s role as journalist-turned-white-house-speechwriter.

But we’ll look at a lot more than just those methods, and you’ll walk away having a clear understanding of how to become a speechwriter, no degree required.

• Types of speechwriters: political vs. business vs. other
• Is speech writing in demand?
• Do you need a degree to be a speech writer?
• How to become a speech writer: acquiring skills in 8 steps

Types of speechwriters: political vs business vs other 

One of the best things you can do upfront is determine what type of speechwriter you want to be. In almost any industry, there are opportunities for speeches. But given that you want to make an entire job out of just writing speeches, you’ll have a few primary types to decide on.

Usually, people will think of motivational speeches along with political talks when deciding they want to write speeches. Neither of these are bad, but they’re very broad.

Here are the types of speeches you can potentially learn to write:

• Teaching / Informative
• Eulogies 
• Motivational
• Political: tons of sub-speech types in here too
• Commencement
• Business / Sales
• Special occasions: weddings, one-off events
• Demonstrative

This isn’t an exhaustive list by any means. Many speechwriters tend to specialize in certain areas in order to grow in their field, but it’s good to have a baseline for many types.

Note: You don’t have to decide right now. Part of the process of learning how to become a speechwriter will include discovering your unique strengths and areas of expertise. You may be a terrible political speechwriter, but have the skills to move proverbial mountains in the motivational speech world. This will come out with time.

Is speechwriting in demand?

Yes. The world we live in right now is one of soundbites and snippets of powerful TED talks , but also one of long form video content. Which means it’s perfect for speeches, and therefore speechwriters.

Learning how to become a speechwriter nowadays may look a lot different than it did even 10 years ago because of this. You might not see job listings specifically seeking “speech writer” but more like “script writer.” Keep an eye on the job descriptions for these types of roles and be able to identify when an organization actually means “speech writer.”

With this in mind, classic speechwriters may not be the best fit for these roles, as they require more modern techniques that take into account the way media is consumed at large today. That’s where your advantage of learning now comes in, and why a college degree might not give you the tools you need by itself.

Do you need a degree to be a speechwriter?

The short answer is no. The long answer is that a degree can be beneficial for a lot of aspects of becoming a speechwriter, but it’s not a make or break accolade—especially in modern times.

And as weird as writing the words “modern times” feels, the fact of social media, the internet, and general access to digital education by highly qualified individuals means you can learn to write amazing speeches in far less time and for far less money.

That said, college provides some necessary education for learning how to become a speechwriter, along with potential networking opportunities, depending on the type of speechwriter you want to become.

The specific benefits from journalism and communications-focused degrees, along with English and writing courses can go a long way. But again, it’s not completely necessary and you can gain that information in alternative ways that we’ll cover below.

How to become a speechwriter: acquiring skills in 8 steps

You do have to take some action yourself. You can’t just approach someone and ask to write a speech for them. Well, you certainly can and it might pan out, but only if you’re already acquired the skills necessary.

If you’re still looking for the right way to go about it, here are some steps to help you learn how to become a speechwriter.

1. Study famous speeches

There’s a reason some speeches have been around for so long. They resonate with people in ways that are really important to study if you want to become one.

Now, you don’t have to write speeches like those in order to learn how to become a speech writer, but they will help you understand the power speeches can have, and what specifically about them seems to stick with people.

You can use those aspects to craft the speeches you write in a way that triggers an emotional response.

These are some of the most famous speeches to study:

• I Have a Dream by Martin Luther King Jr. – 1963
• Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln – 1863
• We Shall Fight on the Beaches by Winston Churchill – 1940
• The Inaugural Address by John F. Kennedy (written by Ted Sorensen) – 1961
• Rivonia Trial Speech by Nelson Mandela – 1964
• Tear Down This Wall by Ronald Reagan (written in part by Peter Robinson) – 1987
• Blood, Toil, Tears, and Sweat by Winston Churchill – 1940
• I Am an African by Thabo Mbeki – 1996
• Ich Bin Ein Berliner by John F. Kennedy (written by Ted Sorensen) – 1963

Unless otherwise noted, these speeches are known to have been authored by the speech giver. Listen to each of these, and then read them in writing.

Notice the differences in how it looks written to how it sounds when spoken. Are there specifics that you can take away?

What stood out about them? Did they have any similarity in structure and build? What about the topics themselves? Dive into the openings, middle, and endings and get a sense for what these look like.

2. Study bad speeches

You can learn quite a lot from the “what not to do” style as well. There are plenty of things you want to avoid when learning how to become a speechwriter.

Most importantly, and what’s difficult to teach, is context. The person giving the speech, their position, and what the topic is can do a lot to either make or break the speech. Take Herbert Hoover’s Prosperity is Just Around the Corner speech from 1932 .

This was during the Great Depression, and many people thought that he was very disconnected from the struggles of the reality of the challenges during this time. Notably, the content with the tone he took made it seem like it was the people’s problem that they did not have work, and not the deeper systemic issues that brought about those unemployment rates.

While you, as the speechwriter, can’t dictate tone of voice, you can do a lot to set the tone of the speech by how you craft it.

3. Work with a speechwriter as a student

If you can get in touch with people who are already doing this job, it’s a much faster way to learn how to become a speechwriter. Especially if they will take you on as a mentee. Job shadowing is also a great idea if you want to learn the ins and outs if you’re still undecided about this as a career.

Mostly, though, you can even work with one as someone who gives a speech.

This would likely mean taking on a goal of speaking and hiring a speaking coach who will also help you write the speech. There’s a different level of insight you’ll gain by having to perform the speech yourself.

You’ll understand audience nuances, presentation of information, and will craft your speech to avoid some of the missteps that make for badly received talks. 

4. Give speeches yourself

Not only can you work with a speech writer, you can write your own speeches and focus on becoming a speaker. It’s a great way to test how your talks sound when performed live.

Many people will take their speeches to a group like Toastmasters or other communities to gain insight into how others perceive the talk itself, in addition to public speaking feedback.

By staying focused on the material in the speech itself, it’ll allow you to focus less on giving the actual talk. Plus, knowing how nerves affect a speaker is one of the many nuances you’ll have to pay attention to when crafting different talks for different people.

For example, if you know the speaker has nerves, you’ll be less likely to include speech elements that need more confident finesse to pull off. You’ll have to be able to write a speech for people based on their skillset and ability to deliver it.

If you or your client suffer from a bit of fear, don’t worry. Both you and your client can learn the skills to overcome stage fright.

5. Work with speakers

There’s a difference between writing a speech for yourself and writing a speech for someone else, as mentioned above.

This part of learning how to become a speechwriter has a lot to do with being able to adopt another’s tone and voice while still writing a speech that fulfills their goals. You can’t write this for yourself to give.

This is where that movie Long Shot is actually helpful. There are scenes in which Seth Rogen’s character interviews Charlize Theron’s as she makes attempts to initiate an environmental bill as a secretary of state, and later as she runs for president. The purpose of this is so Seth Rogen’s character can write better speeches for her, more personal, something that aids in her character’s ability to increase her likability ratings in the polls.

While this movie is fictional, the strategy behind it is sound.

If you try to write speeches for other people but don’t tweak them to fit the presenter, you’ll have trouble.

A great way to find speakers to work with is to get into a community in which they are plentiful, like a Toastmasters or even a private group or network. Provide some feedback and connect. Then offer your services to practice writing for someone else.

See how they do, and what type of feedback they receive.

6. Test your speeches publicly 

You won’t know how your speeches are performing if you don’t test them. And not just with other speakers, but with an audience who has no background in knowing how a speech should be done.

This step is really important. The feedback from those who would otherwise be the target audience is vital to getting better at learning how to become a speechwriter. Getting outside the world you’re in every day—one of writing and hearing and giving speeches—allows you to be a part of the everyday person. 

The angles you take and elements you add or remove depend on how they’ll be received from this person.

7. Further your education

This doesn’t necessarily mean going to college. It just means there are an excessive amount of information and resources available for much cheaper than a college degree that’ll help you learn how to become a speechwriter.

Books are one of them, and courses are another.

When it comes to books, these are some we’d recommend for learning how to become a speechwriter:

• Stories that Stick by Kindra Hall
• The Art of Public Speaking by Dale Carnegie
• Made to Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
• Thank You For Arguing by Jay Heinrichs

Don’t let these titles fool you. While they don’t all cover speeches specifically, they all offer nuggets of wisdom and research that’ll help you craft specific pieces of a great speech.

Many actually focus on the very ideas and stories that great speeches are crafted around. Because without both of those elements, a speech won’t have the impact necessary.

And remember, there are many courses, coaches, and other books crafted around how to write a good speech. Many are around the focus of “giving” great speeches, but the content of those speeches is a primary focus. Keep an eye out and read whenever you can!

Learning how to become a speechwriter includes various skill sets. If you want to be great, start now, start anywhere. Eventually, you will have to dedicate time and money to learning this craft, as with any other career worth pursuing.

Check out more great articles from the Thought-Leader Blog covering TEDx Talks, success mindsets, and everything else in between

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More Than Words: Speech Writer Job Description

Steps to become a speech writer, key speech writing tips, 4 types of speech writing, what is the typical speech writer salary, why we need speech writers.

Speeches provoke cultural change, memorialize human achievement, and shape monumental events. In the right hands, with the right voice, under the right circumstances, spoken words can inspire, motivate, persuade, or inform the world.

Before the words of a speech are spoken, they are written. Words delivered in a public setting can be powerful. However, to reach their full potential, the words must be considered, measured, and crafted to suit the message and the audience.

This is the mission of a speech writer: to help a speaker effectively deliver a message. Sometimes, the message resonates through history:

“Four score and seven years ago …”

“Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country …”

“I have a dream …”

“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”

These words commemorate significant moments in American history: the Civil War, generational upheaval in the 1960s, the civil rights movement, and the end of the Cold War. The words and the associated turning points forever are linked with the famous speakers — Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., and Ronald Reagan.

However, only two of them actually wrote the words they spoke: Lincoln and King. Kennedy, Reagan, and countless other historical figures breathed life into speeches written by others.

Not every speech writer has the opportunity to write for a president or a legendary civil rights leader. A wedding toast, commencement address, keynote presentation at a conference — these speeches won’t necessarily change the course of history, but they’re important to the people delivering them.

Professional speech writers work in every industry to help people in all walks of life deliver clear, concise messages that resonate with an audience. It’s a career that requires a deft touch with words; a passion for digging into the facts; and a desire to help others inform, entertain, or persuade an audience.

A speech writer’s professional focus is communication. Depending on the size and scope of the organization, a speech writer might be responsible for multiple communication-related duties.

These duties might include the following:

• Public relations
• Media relations
• Crisis management
• Internal communications
• Social media

No matter how broad the duties of a writer or communications professional, there are aspects of the job that translate across disciplines. It begins with a mastery of language and the written word.  

Writing and Editing

Strong writing and editing skills are a must for anyone who wishes to pursue a speech writing career. Fortunately, while there is an art to writing and editing, the craft can be taught and improved over time.

Grammar, spelling, and sentence structure count. To effectively deliver a message, a writer must understand the effect words have when delivered out loud in a particular sequence. In this regard, it’s as much about the writer’s “ear” as about the thought process.

While writing and editing a speech, the writer must ask whether the words will elicit the desired emotional response from the audience. Experienced writers have knowledge of the power of certain words and phrases to move listeners. Reading great speeches and other writings can help writers develop an ear for what works.

Researching Facts

Knowing how to write and edit well is only the beginning. A speech must be grounded in facts to reach its full potential.

Facts that support the message should be researched first. For example, Peter Robinson, one of Reagan’s speech writers, spent time in Berlin before he wrote Reagan’s “Tear Down This Wall” speech in 1987. During his  preliminary research , Robinson spoke with a U.S. diplomat in West Berlin, took a helicopter flight over the city, and conversed with German citizens.

Robinson devised the famous challenge — “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” — after noticing the bleak conditions on the East Berlin side of the wall and hearing the sentiment expressed by a German dinner companion.

The work Robinson put into the research led to one of the most memorable public statements by a U.S. president in the 20th century. By 1989, the people of Berlin were free to cross the once-formidable barrier.

Robinson’s work on the speech was an excellent example of how thorough research became the foundation for a speech that marked a historical turning point.

Conducting Interviews

In addition to learning as much as possible about the topic through research, a speech writer must know how a speaker talks and what message the speaker wishes to deliver. One way to learn this is to conduct an interview.

There are two types of interview questions: fact-finding and open-ended.

Fact-finding questions are intended to learn details about the speaker’s expertise in the topic. This can include education, work experience, or research projects.

Open-ended questions are intended to provide detail, color, and anecdotes that might provide the audience with emotional access to the speaker’s point of view. This might include information about how and why the speaker became interested in the topic, or it might be a relevant story about the topic drawn from the speaker’s life.

An interview with the speaker also gives the writer insight into the speaker’s speech patterns and personality. This kind of information enables the writer to capture the rhythm of the speaker’s voice.

Writing and Editing Resources

• American Rhetoric: Top 100 Speeches
• Scribbr: List of Credible Sources for Research

Back To Top

Many speech writers begin their careers either as communications specialists (public relations, journalism, academia) or as experts in a particular industry with a flair for writing. Rarely will someone step into the job and start writing for heads of state or CEOs.

As with any career, there’s a known trajectory to follow as regards educational requirements, work experience, and soft skills needed to succeed. The important thing for an aspiring speech writer to remember is to set career goals early and take the appropriate steps along the way to achieve those goals.

Educational Requirements for Speech Writers

Speech writers may benefit from a bachelor’s degree in journalism, communications, or English, as well as a liberal studies degree with a concentration in writing or marketing. It’s important to study writing, editing, rhetoric, debate techniques, and other topics related to public speaking and speech writing.

In addition to honing the craft of writing, an aspiring speech writer might pursue a course of study related to a specific topic. This could entail earning a minor in a broad topic, such as history or political science. Another educational route might be in-depth study of a specialized topic, such as a technical field or law.

Recommended Work Experience for Speech Writers

Work experience is particularly important for an aspiring speech writer. A writer with a high level of expertise in a topic brings authority to the job.

Some of the finest speech writers in American history were lawyers: Ted Sorenson (JFK) was one. Others, such as Peggy Noonan (Reagan), were journalists or ghostwriters before they entered the inner circle of world leaders.

Professional speech writer Brent Kerrigan, writing an  essay on speech writing as a career  for the public relations firm Ragan, said that the best way to get started with speech writing work experience is to “find somebody who needs a speech written, and write it for them.”

Kerrigan went on to write that “becoming an expert in anything takes practice.” His advice is to seek out busy public officials and company leaders who regularly make speeches but lack the time to write them, and offer your services.

Nonwriting Skills to Cultivate

It’s not enough for an aspiring speech writer to perfect the craft of writing and to learn as much as possible about a relevant topic. As with all careers, finding the right job requires building a well-connected professional network.

According to the Labor Department’s Occupational Outlook Handbook  entry for writers and authors , the soft skills writers should cultivate include adaptability, creativity, determination, critical thinking, social perceptiveness, and the ability to persuade others.

Writing begins with a plan. Sometimes the plan is depicted by an outline. Sometimes it’s simply a set of notes on a piece of paper.

The beginning stages of writing a speech require a lot of thinking. It helps to have a solid foundation of knowledge about the topic and the speaker going into the process.

Here are a few tips for developing a speech that can resonate with an audience.

Determine the Message

Why is a speech necessary? What does the speaker want to say? What action is intended for audience members to take after they hear the speech?

Answering these questions in the early stages of speech writing will allow the writer to find clarity of purpose. Reagan’s “Tear Down This Wall” speech provides an excellent example of how a writer worked to develop a concise, compelling message.

According to Robinson, the speech was originally intended to commemorate the 750th anniversary of the city of Berlin. In 1987, the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union was coming to a head, but the Berlin Wall remained a symbol of oppression.

Robinson, as well as Reagan’s other advisors, chose that moment to send a message of support for the people of East Germany. It was a seminal moment in the Reagan presidency and a powerful milestone in U.S.-Soviet relations.

Understand the Audience

An important factor in determining the message is understanding the makeup of the intended audience. In most cases, the audience for a speech will consist of the people present for the event. However, all speeches have multiple audiences: those present, those who will read the text only, those who will view some or all of the speech later on video, and all future generations.

Each element of the larger “audience” should be taken into consideration when a writer sits down to determine the tone, voice, and length of a speech. Audience makeup determines not only the words that are written but also the way a speaker is intended to deliver those words.

Will the message be couched in humor? Will the tone be completely serious? How big is the in-person audience? How knowledgeable are the audience members about the topic? Are the audience members sympathetic or adversarial toward the speaker?

All of these questions and more are important to answer when creating the framework and shaping the message of a speech.

Use Research to Support the Message

Research forms the core of the speech. It’s as simple as no research, no speech.

However, supporting the message with research isn’t merely a matter of throwing together a list of related facts. The information gathered during the research process must be organized so the message can be supported logically, clearly, and convincingly.

One way to effectively use research is to create a list of questions related to the topic and use examples pulled from the research to provide the answers. The questions should be prioritized based on urgency: What does the audience most want or need to hear?

The structure of the speech will depend, in part, on how the writer and speaker decide to present the facts learned through research. A well-researched fact presented at the right time can capture attention and provide an air of authority to the speaker.

Show Personality to Connect

Attorney and author Sarah Hurwitz was the primary speech writer for former first lady Michelle Obama. Prior to that, Hurwitz wrote speeches for former President Barack Obama when he was a presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, and other prominent politicians.

In an  interview about speech writing with the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania , Hurwitz described how she and Michelle Obama used details to show — rather than tell — a relevant anecdote.

“I think details are so incredibly important,” Hurwitz told the Wharton interviewer. “When she tells the story of her father who had multiple sclerosis and worked at the city water plant, she could say, ‘You know, my dad had MS. He worked at the plant. He worked really hard. He sacrificed a lot.’ That’s all just sort of telling. I don’t really see him. But instead what she said in some of her speeches was, ‘You know, as my dad got sicker it got harder for him to get dressed in the morning. He would wake up an hour early so that he could slowly button his shirt. He would drag himself across the room with two canes to give my mom a kiss.’”

Through the use of colorful, vivid details about an experience, Hurwitz helped her subject reveal her personality as a way of connecting to the audience.

Speech Writing Resources

• Public Affairs Council: Speechwriting 101 — Writing an Effective Speech
• Medium: “Orations Worth Ovations — The Olive Branch as a Weapon”
• ThoughtCo: “How to Organize Research Notes”

Speeches can be categorized by delivery style, writing style, and purpose. It’s important to know ahead of time what type of speech will be written, because the type has a bearing on word choice, tone, and many other elements of the speech.

To determine the type of speech to write, first answer questions such as:

• Is the speech intended to elicit an emotion or trigger a specific action?
• Does the speaker want to stick to the script or talk off the cuff?
• Will the speaker be required to defend an opinion?
• Will the speaker be alone on the podium, or will others talk?

Answers to these and other relevant questions will provide guidance about what type of speech to write. The more details writers know about the context of the event, the more likely they’ll craft an effective speech.

Here are four common types of speeches with examples of when each should be used.

Informative Speech Writing

An informative speech is used to explain a concept, describe an object or objects, or provide context for an event or a social movement. For example, a CEO might want to deliver an informative speech at a shareholder event or share details about an annual report with employees.

An effective informative speech presents facts in a concise, easily understood format. One potential challenge for the writer of an informative speech is to capture and maintain the interest of the audience. A dry recitation of facts seldom makes for a memorable or an effective speech.

Persuasive Speech Writing

A persuasive speech is used in an effort to convince an audience to support an idea or take a specific action. Types of persuasive speeches include opening or closing arguments in a criminal trial, an opening or a closing statement in a debate, and a sales presentation.

Persuasive speeches use rhetorical devices to create a sense of intimacy with the audience. The words used, the tone of voice, the volume, the physical gestures, eye contact — all of these devices can create a connection and engender trust with the audience.

The greater the connection, the more likely the audience is to be persuaded by the arguments being presented.

Motivational Speech Writing

A motivational speech is used to convince an audience to take specific action, particularly action that’s designed to engineer change of some sort. This type of speech is also used to elicit an emotional response to a particular cause or purpose.

Motivational speakers know how to connect with an audience on an emotional level. They help audience members understand an obstacle, recognize how that obstacle affects them, and determine ways to overcome that obstacle.

Motivational speeches are good for commencement addresses, recruiting drives, and charity drives. Coaches and managers also make motivational speeches before games and matches to help players focus their emotions toward success on the field of play.

Demonstrative Speech Writing

A demonstrative speech is used to show the audience how to do, build, or create something. A demonstrative speaker is typically an expert in the field who’s sharing knowledge or demonstrating how audience members can attain knowledge for themselves.

A demonstrative speech often requires visual aids, such as a slideshow or stage props. The speaker typically provides context for the demonstration with an introduction, and then gives the presentation. Sometimes, the speaker will open the floor to audience questions.

A demonstrative speech might be used by a salesperson to show how a product is used, by an inventor to show how a new device was created, or by a professional instructor to show how to use a piece of equipment.

Additional Tips for Writing Different Speech Types

• Your Dictionary: 5 Steps for Writing an Informative Speech
• Lifehack: “Ultimate Guide to Persuasive Speech (Hook and Influence an Audience) ”
• Houston Chronicle : “The Key Components of a Motivational Speech”
• Purdue University: Tips for Effective Demonstrations

Salaries for speech writers vary widely in the U.S. Wages can be determined by factors such as the prominence of the client or employer, professional experience, and the complexity or relevance of the speech topics.

According to a 2011 report in  The   Washington Post , Obama speech writer Jon Favreau earned $172,200 annually — the same salary as some of the former president’s top advisors. An expert freelance speech writer who crafts minor speeches for businesses or personal use might charge by the word, hour, page, or speech.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), writers and authors ― speech writers among them ― were paid a median salary of $63,200 in 2019. Salaries and job opportunities are affected by factors such as geography, job market, and economic conditions.

BLS employment projections for writers and authors show that the number of positions nationwide is expected to hold steady at about 123,000 from 2018 to 2028. In a related field, media and communication workers, BLS projections indicate a 4% increase in positions from 2018 to 2028.

The history of the U.S. can be told through its famous speeches.

George Washington’s farewell address created the precedent of the peaceful transition of power in the federal government. Frederick Douglass gave voice to the enslaved and momentum to the abolitionist movement with his 1852 speech “ What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? ”

The Lincoln-Douglas debates in the 1850s led to Lincoln’s victory in the 1860 presidential election, an event that helped trigger the Civil War. Then President Franklin D. Roosevelt offered motivation and encouragement with his inaugural address, with its famous line “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

MLK delivered perhaps the most influential speech in American history on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1963, giving impetus to the civil rights movement.

We remember the speakers, and rightfully so. They were front and center, delivering the words that shifted history.

However, before the words could be spoken, before history could be made, someone had to write the speeches. Someone had to, as Hurwitz advises, “say something true.”

That’s the role of the speech writer: to distill the facts and provide the words that allow the speaker to serve as an effective, persuasive, entertaining messenger.

“Whether you were giving a speech to 1,000 people or talking to your board or leading an informal meeting, it’s really important to say something that is clearly and glaringly true,” Hurwitz said. “I think that it makes people trust you. It makes them respect you. It shows your authenticity. I think it makes you credible and it’s a really good way to start. I’d say it’s also a good way to continue and end a speech.”

Houston Chronicle , “Speechwriter Job Description”

Houston Chronicle , “The Key Components of a Motivational Speech”

National Archives, “Tear Down This Wall”

PayScale, Average Speech Writer Salary

PRSA, “Your Speech Writer: An Operator’s Manual”

Public Affairs Council, Speechwriting 101: Writing an Effective Speech

Public Affairs Council, “Speechwriting: Getting to a Perfect Fit”

Ragan, “Want to Become a Speechwriter? Step 1: Write Speeches”

Textbroker, Speechwriting

The Manual, “10 Famous Speeches That Stand the Test of Time”

Time , “‘He Had Transformed’: What It Was Like to Watch Martin Luther King Jr. Give the ‘I Have a Dream’ Speech”

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Writing speeches is a lucrative and interesting genre for freelance writers and career writers. The question of how to become a speechwriter is one I get quite often, as speechwriting — writing speeches for others to deliver — is a potentially lucrative area for freelance writers. Freelance writers make themselves and their career infinitely more stable by adding skills and services to their offerings, and this could be an area that you explore.

The audience and potential clients who need speeches aren't limited to the political arena. Writing speeches also means you may work with executives, philanthropists, athletes, or PR and management agencies. There is a political element to this, too, and a writer could potentially specialize only in political speech writing if desired.

How Much You Can Make as a Speechwriter

The Bureau of Labor Statistics says that the median for a speechwriter is about $75,000. Keep in mind that this is likely for a full time, 8am to 5pm+ staff position. Freelance speechwriters will need to consider how much time and effort they want to invest in this position, and weigh the option of taking a full-time position.

What a Speechwriter Writes

There are many different types of speeches. We tend to think of speeches that are made to convince the audience of something- such as those that surround our elections. Consider other places you've seen speeches: conferences, commencements. Sometimes speeches are meant to thank important donors or to trace histories or stories of buildings, organizations or groups.

How to Become a Speech Writer

Following are some tips on getting started as a speechwriter. In my research, I've encountered strong suggestion that the writer earns at least a bachelor's degree specifically in English, communications, political science, public policy or similar studies. After that:

• Start small, even free, offering speeches to community groups or on a volunteer basis.
• Think about joining a Toastmasters or other speech group/club.
• Volunteer to work in other capacities on campaigns and in elections. This gets you introduced to the "right" people for your future.
• Seek out local speechwriters for mentoring. Ask after the arc of their career. How did they "get here"?
• Read books on speechwriting.
• Break down famous speeches on your own, without leaning on a book to tell you the "why" and "how" of the speech.
• Speechwriters often come from other career fields like journalism and writing, consider those career paths, too.
• If you want to be a political speechwriter, consider writing other political material, such as op-eds, press releases, and campaign brochures. Start building up that writing portfolio.

What Makes a Successful Speechwriter

• Keep your own unique sound and voice (especially if you're already an accomplished writer.
• Have an opinion, but be able to give equal weight to different opinions.
• Sometimes you'll be able to choose or shape the beliefs inherent in your speech, and sometimes you won't. Be ready to write things that you don't quite believe or that aren't quite "true."
• If you're still in high school or college, consider joining debate teams or political clubs.
• Speechwriters must be especially open to critiques of their work, as it usually goes through several people before its final delivery.
• Attend the speeches that you write, if possible. Audience reaction to your work is immediately observable and multiplied by volume. That's some valuable writing critique at your fingertips!
• Think like a singer and take care of your voice.
• Be ready to get along with different kinds of people- people who are political, opinionated, famous.
• Keep your vocabulary well-rounded and fresh by reading and listening to others' speeches.
• Consider co-opting your opponents' language (which may be divergent from yours) but spinning to your own uses.
• Like other freelance writers, speechwriters need to be able to write about a wide variety of subjects. This means you'll need serious research skills (unless you've got a vast store of knowledge in your noggin).
• As with any writing, you'll need to successfully target your audience.
• Consider the first parts of your speech to be your headline- you'll need to capture the audience immediately from the start. There's no "skipping ahead" when it comes to listening to a speech.

How to Become a Speech Writer: 10 Practical Steps

• October 4, 2023

Table of Contents:

10 practical steps to become a speech writer, 1- discover the power of words, 2- study different types of speeches, 3- develop your writing skills, 4- understand your audience, 5- listen to the speeches: , 6- practice speechwriting techniques, 7- embrace creativity, 8- pursue formal education, 9- intern or volunteer, 10- build your portfolio, conclusion:.

Have you ever listened to a speech’s good that you felt so empowered and motivated and wanted to write one of your own? Behind every powerful speech, there is a very detailed process of writing it. And not everyone is capable of writing amazing speeches. So if you want to become a speech writer and learn how to write an amazing speech, this article is for you. Explore effective techniques and consider professional speech writing services to enhance your skills.

The first step to Becoming a Speech Writer is to discover the power that words hold. They can weave connections between people and spark intense emotion. They will also ignite actions that can change the world.

We have seen so many great historical speeches, and what makes them so good? The words and the delivery. So if you want to understand the artistry behind it all, immerse yourself in the pages of books, articles, and speeches.

These literary gems reveal how language can truly captivate an audience. Take note of what makes these speeches unforgettable. Also, see what clever techniques they use to deliver their messages effectively. 

Did you know that speechwriters tailor their words to suit different occasions? And if you, too, want to become a speechwriter, you must follow in their footsteps. You must go through different content and see what makes these speeches amazing. 

There are three main types of speeches that you need to know about if you want to become a speech writer.  

• persuasive speeches
• informative speeches
• commemorative speeches.

Each type has its special style and purpose. 

Persuasive speeches are like a convincing argument, where you try to persuade your audience to see things your way. Informative speeches are about sharing knowledge and teaching your listeners something new and exciting. Lastly, commemorative speeches celebrate special moments or honor important people.

To become a speech writer who changes people’s views, you must understand the characteristics and goals of each type of speech. That way, you can adapt your words to create the perfect impact on your audience and inspire them with your words.

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So writing a speech is not easy, and you must acquire many good skills to achieve something. So to become a speech writer, you must keep polishing your skills. But how can you do that? 

Start by putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) regularly. Even if it’s just a few lines or a short paragraph, the better you’ll become, the more you write. But don’t stop there! Add a splash of descriptive language to your writing to create vivid mental images for your readers. It’s like adding colors to your words, making them come alive!

To level up your writing game, improve your grammar and vocabulary. The more words you have, the more colorful and engaging your speeches will be.

And here’s a secret ingredient to success: immerse yourself in the wonderful world of books. Reading broadens your knowledge and exposes you to different writing styles. Plus, engaging in creative writing exercises will exercise those writing muscles and help you become a true wordsmith!

So, don’t be afraid to dive into the sea of words and let your creativity flow. With determination and practice, you’ll be crafting mesmerizing speeches in no time!

Understanding your audience is crucial in any job, even if you want to become a speech writer. Creating a successful speech is like crafting a special gift for your audience. To make it truly memorable, you need to understand who your audience is – their interests, beliefs, and what makes them tick. It’s like having a secret code that unlocks the hearts of your listeners.

So, before you pen to paper, take time to get to know your audience. What are their hobbies and passions? What are their dreams and aspirations? Once you have these puzzle pieces, you can tailor your speech to their unique tastes.

Consider the tone you want to set – should it be lighthearted and funny or more serious and thought-provoking? Your language is also important; it should feel natural and relatable to your audience.

Remember, connecting with your audience is like building a bridge of understanding. So, sprinkle in some examples that they can relate to and watch as your speech comes to life before their very eyes. The magic happens when your audience feels like you’re speaking directly to them!

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As you explore these amazing speeches, pay close attention to their delivery. Notice how they use their voices and body language to captivate the audience. Notice the structure of their speeches. See how they build and weave their ideas like a beautiful tapestry.

But that’s not all! Watch how these masterful speakers engage with their audience. Do they use humor, storytelling, or emotions to connect with their listeners? Understanding these techniques is like having a secret treasure map to crafting your compelling speeches.

You’ve laid the groundwork, and now it’s time to dive into the fun part – practicing your speechwriting skills! It’s like being a magician, conjuring words that will leave your audience spellbound.

Let your imagination run wild as you write speeches for made-up scenarios or events. You can transport your listeners to a mystical land or a futuristic world – endless possibilities! And here’s the best part: you’re the director of this wordy play so you can experiment with different styles.

Feeling playful? Sprinkle some humor into your speech and watch as laughter fills the room. Or, if you want to tug at heartstrings, weave in storytelling that’ll make your audience feel like they’re on an emotional rollercoaster.

But don’t forget – every great performer needs an audience! Share your speeches with friends or family and ask for their feedback. Their insights are treasures that’ll help you polish your skills and turn your words into magic.

In this world of speechwriting, there are no limits to what you can imagine. So to become a speech writer, you should not be afraid to step outside the box and embrace original ideas. Let your imagination soar high, and watch your speeches come to life. 

To become a successful speech writer, use your creativity like a secret ingredient that adds a sprinkle of stardust to your words. It’s what sets your speeches apart from the rest. It is what makes your words truly unforgettable for your audience. 

Your speeches will become a work of art that leaves a lasting impression on everyone who hears them. Embrace the artistry of speechwriting and paint a world of inspiration with your words!

Another important thing you must not overlook if you want to become a speech writer is to pursue formal education. You know what they say: knowledge is like a treasure chest of precious gems! While it’s unnecessary, diving into formal education can be a fantastic way to unlock valuable skills on your speechwriting journey.

Imagine joining courses or workshops specializing in communication, English, or public speaking – it’s like stepping into a world of learning adventures! These classes can give you a map to navigate the sea of words and become a true wordsmith.

Think about it – you’ll get to explore exciting topics, meet fellow aspiring speechwriters, and have experienced teachers guiding you every step of the way. It’s like having mentors who believe in your potential to shine as a speechwriting star.

So, don’t hesitate to open the door to learning and let your curiosity lead the way. Formal education is like a treasure map that can take you to new heights on your speechwriting expedition. Get ready to sail towards the horizons of knowledge and unleash your writing superpowers!

Another great way to become a speech writer is to gain experience as a writer. Picture this – you’re on an exciting quest to become a top-notch speechwriter. And guess what? Practical experience is like the secret key that unlocks the door to success!

Here’s the adventurous part: consider interning with a local politician, a charity organization, or even a public speaker. It’s like joining their team and becoming a wordsmith superhero!

But that’s not all! You can also volunteer to write speeches for school events or community gatherings. It’s like sharing your storytelling magic with the world and making a real impact!

As you venture on this journey of gaining experience, you’ll build a treasure trove of speechwriting gems for your portfolio. Each speech you craft is like a shiny jewel that showcases your skills and creativity.

Get ready to shine like a star in the sky as you gain exposure and take your speechwriting talent to new heights. You’ll be one step closer to becoming a speechwriter legend with every opportunity.

As you journey through the exciting world of speechwriting and gain more experience, it’s time to build your portfolio!

Fill your portfolio with your best writing pieces and your best speeches. You’ll want to include various speech types, like persuasive, informative, or commemorative. It’s like showing off your colorful array of skills!

Here’s the best part: your portfolio will reflect your capabilities to potential clients or employers. When they see your collection of captivating speeches, they’ll be amazed by your versatility and creativity.

So to become a speech writer and get jobs, you can also give affordable ghost writing services to others in need as a freelancer. Get ready to impress the world with your shining talents!

Becoming a speechwriter is a thrilling journey exciting, and rewarding journey that allows you to influence and inspire others through the power of words.

Remember to study great speeches, practice your writing skills, and tailor your speeches to your audience. Embrace your creativity, pursue learning opportunities, and gain practical experience to set yourself up for success.

With dedication, passion, and hard work, you can become a master speechwriter who crafts impactful and unforgettable speeches for generations. So go ahead, let your words take flight, and shape a better world through the art of speechwriting!

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How to Become a Speech Writer

Step 1: Understand the job description and responsibilities of a Speech Writer

What does a speech writer do.

A Speech Writer researches, drafts, writes, and edits a variety of speeches, talking points, press statements, web content, news releases, and other materials for executives. Translates the ideas, objectives, position, and management philosophy into messaging that relates to the topic, speaker, and intended audience. Being a Speech Writer ensures consistent messaging strategy and brand identity are included in every piece. Provides subject matter expertise in delivering presentations and speeches Requires a bachelor's degree. Additionally, Speech Writer typically reports to a manager. The Speech Writer work is generally independent and collaborative in nature. Contributes to moderately complex aspects of a project. To be a Speech Writer typically requires 4-7 years of related experience.

Speech writers draft strategic communications designed for delivery by executives, politicians, community leaders, and others.

The speeches must be clear, concise, and well researched, while also matching the tone and style of the person presenting the speech.

Writing speeches is a lucrative and interesting genre for freelance writers and career writers.

Freelance writers make themselves and their career infinitely more stable by adding skills and services to their offerings, and this could be an area that you explore.

The audience and potential clients who need speeches aren't limited to the political arena.

Step 2: Learn best tips to become a Speech Writer

Best tips for those who want to become a speech writer.

Here are some tips to become a Speech Writer.

Keep your remarks brief and to the point.

Do not attempt humor unless you are, a) a noted humorist, b) an experienced toastmaster or, c) well-acquainted with the humor that will make your audience laugh and not wince.

Keep your sentences short, your words shorter.

Preparation and rehearsing is key.

Your Delivery Matters, Timing IS everything.

Step 3: View best colleges and universities for Speech Writer

Best colleges and universities for speech writer.

• Butler University
• Carroll College
• Cooper Union
• High Point University
• Princeton University
• Providence College

Step 4: Think about whether is it worth to be a Speech Writer

Is being a speech writer worth it.

Writing a wedding speech is a high-pressure task for anyone - no matter how witty and eloquent they are - but thankfully one wise wordsmith is here to help ensure that anything said on 'the big' day is nothing less than perfect.

With a Masters in Journalism and decades' worth of experience in the world of communications and media, Den originally began writing wedding speeches after a 'casual request' from a marketing client who needed help solidifying his rambling thoughts ahead of his brother's wedding.

'In addition to many years of speech writing and performance coaching experience, my real value to clients is perspective.

Work directly with the Under Secretary on formulating themes for speeches and other public remarks, draft the substance of such speeches and remarks, and revise them as directed.

Speeches claiming victory are never as interesting as those conceding defeat, because people are never more interesting than when they lose.

Step 5: Prepare relevant skills for being a Speech Writer

What skills do you need to be a speech writer.

There are skills required to succeed in every role, and this one is no different.  Strategic knowledge of the follow skills will be required: Internal Communications.  Your ability to stand out from the competition depends on these skills, as well as your resume, interview, and other factors.

Sometimes you'll be able to choose or shape the beliefs inherent in your speech, and sometimes you won't.

Like other freelance writers, speechwriters need to be able to write about a wide variety of subjects.

Government agencies are a good place to start, but there are also many non-profit organizations and trade associations that need politically savvy writers -- and have executives who frequently give public speeches.

You may go through a few jobs or need more experience before you begin writing political speeches, but keep the early connections you made in campaign work, even if it means volunteering a few hours a month.

Step 6: View average salary for Speech Writer

How much does a speech writer make.

The average salary range for a Speech Writer is from $112,198 to $151,407. The salary will change depending on your location, job level, experience, education, and skills.

Average salary for Speech Writer jobs

• Senior Writer, Leadership Communications
• Speech Therapist
• Speech Pathologist

Step 7: Find relevant Speech Writer jobs, and apply.

Looking for speech writer jobs.

Here are some Speech Writer jobs in the United States.

Step 8: Explore Career Path of Speech Writer

• Online Degree Explore Bachelor’s & Master’s degrees
• MasterTrack™ Earn credit towards a Master’s degree
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Fundamentals of Speechwriting

Taught in English

Financial aid available

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals

Instructor: Laura Ewing

Included with Coursera Plus

Recommended experience

Beginner level

Some experience—even if minimal—in writing and delivering speeches. 

Skills you'll gain

• Speechwriting
• Public Speaking

Details to know

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There is 1 module in this course

Fundamentals of Speechwriting is a course that enhances speechwriting skills by deepening learners’ understanding of the impact of key elements on developing coherent and impactful speeches. It is aimed at learners with experience writing and speaking who wish to enhance their current skills. This course covers strategies for analyzing audience and purpose, selecting style and tone, and incorporating rhetorical appeals and storytelling. Learners will craft openings and closings, build structured outlines, review effective rehearsal techniques, and examine methods for editing and revising. This comprehensive course prepares participants to deliver powerful and persuasive speeches.

By the end of this course, learners will be able to: -Identify the elements of speechwriting -Identify common advanced writing techniques for speeches -Identify the parts of a structured speech outline -Identify the role of speech rehearsal, editing, and revising in speechwriting

This is a single-module short course. This module covers the three stages of speechwriting: prewriting, drafting, and editing and revising.

What's included

10 videos 1 reading 4 quizzes

10 videos • Total 61 minutes

• Welcome to Fundamentals of Speechwriting • 3 minutes • Preview module
• Asking "Who?" and "Why?" • 8 minutes
• The Best Way to Say It • 5 minutes
• Appealing to Your Audience • 8 minutes
• Where to Start? • 6 minutes
• Connecting Your Ideas • 5 minutes
• Wrapping Up • 6 minutes
• The Power of Practice • 5 minutes
• Editing vs. Revising • 8 minutes
• Pulling it All Together • 3 minutes

1 reading • Total 5 minutes

• Welcome • 5 minutes

4 quizzes • Total 60 minutes

• Final Assessment • 30 minutes
• New Quiz • 10 minutes
• Writing a Speech • 10 minutes
• Refining a Speech • 10 minutes

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More questions

What does a speechwriter do?

Would you make a good speechwriter? Take our career test and find your match with over 800 careers.

What is a Speechwriter?

A speechwriter specializes in creating speeches for clients, usually for politicians, executives, or public figures. The primary responsibility of a speechwriter is to craft a compelling message that effectively communicates the speaker's ideas, values, and objectives to the audience. This requires not only exceptional writing skills but also the ability to understand the speaker's personality, voice, and audience's expectations, as well as the context of the speech.

Speechwriters typically work closely with their clients to understand their goals, message, and audience. They research the topic, gather data and information, and write a draft speech, which they then edit and refine until it meets the speaker's needs. This involves creating an outline, selecting the right words, tone, and structure, and ensuring the speech is well-organized and coherent. In some cases, speechwriters may also assist in rehearsing and delivering the speech, providing feedback and guidance to the speaker to ensure they deliver the message effectively.

What does a Speechwriter do?

Speechwriters are valuable assets in any organization or public figure's communication team because they possess the expertise to craft well-written, impactful speeches that can inspire, persuade, and inform the audience. They can help ensure that the message is communicated clearly and effectively, and that the tone and style of the speech match the speaker's personality and objectives.

Speechwriters also have the ability to research and understand the audience, tailoring the content to their specific needs and interests. In addition, they can help their clients save time and reduce stress by taking on the task of writing and editing the speech, allowing the speaker to focus on delivering it with confidence and passion.

Duties and Responsibilities The following are some of the key duties and responsibilities of a speech writer:

• Research: Before writing a speech, a speech writer must conduct research on the topic to ensure that they have a deep understanding of the subject matter. This may involve reading relevant articles, books, and reports, as well as conducting interviews with subject matter experts. The speech writer must also research the audience to ensure that the speech is tailored to their interests, knowledge level, and cultural background. In addition, they may research the occasion or event to ensure that the speech is appropriate for the setting and tone.
• Writing: After completing the research, the speech writer must craft the speech in a clear, concise, and engaging manner. They must use language and tone that is appropriate for the audience and occasion, and convey the message in a compelling way. The speech writer must also consider the length of the speech, as well as any visual aids or other materials that may be used during the presentation.
• Editing: Once the speech is written, the speech writer must proofread and edit it for clarity, grammar, and tone. They may also seek feedback from others, such as the speaker or a trusted colleague, to ensure that the speech is effective and persuasive.
• Collaboration: Throughout the process, the speech writer must work closely with the speaker or client to ensure that the speech aligns with their vision and goals. This may involve multiple rounds of revisions and feedback, as well as ongoing communication to ensure that the speech is on track.
• Delivery: In some cases, the speech writer may be responsible for coaching the speaker on delivery techniques. This may include providing guidance on pacing, inflection, and body language to ensure that the speech is delivered in a confident and engaging manner.
• Feedback: Finally, the speech writer may be asked to solicit feedback from the audience or client to help improve future speeches. This may involve collecting surveys, conducting interviews, or analyzing social media and other feedback channels to identify areas for improvement.

Types of Speechwriters Here are some common types of speechwriters and what they do:

• Political Speechwriters: These speechwriters work for political leaders such as presidents, governors, and senators. They are responsible for creating speeches that communicate the leader's vision, policy proposals, and political platform.
• Corporate Speechwriters: These speechwriters work for companies and executives, crafting speeches that address stakeholders, shareholders, and employees. They may write speeches for product launches, shareholder meetings, and corporate events.
• Non-profit Speechwriters: These speechwriters work for non-profit organizations and charities, creating speeches that communicate the organization's mission, goals, and accomplishments.
• Freelance Speechwriters: These speechwriters work independently and are hired by individuals, businesses, and organizations to write speeches for specific events or occasions.

What is the workplace of a Speechwriter like?

The workplace of a speechwriter can vary depending on the organization they work for and the nature of their job. Generally, a speechwriter is responsible for crafting speeches and presentations that will be delivered by high-profile individuals, such as politicians, CEOs, or public figures. This can be a challenging and high-pressure role, as the quality of their work can have a significant impact on the reputation and success of the speaker.

In some cases, speechwriters may work directly for the individual they are writing for, such as a politician or CEO. In these situations, the workplace of the speechwriter may be within the same office or building as their client. They may attend meetings, events, and speeches with their client to gather information and ensure their writing is aligned with the speaker's messaging and tone.

In other cases, speechwriters may work for an agency or consulting firm, where they may have multiple clients across various industries. These speechwriters may work remotely or in a traditional office setting, collaborating with colleagues and clients through email, phone calls, and video conferencing. They may have a more flexible schedule than those working directly for an individual, but may also have to balance multiple projects and deadlines.

Regardless of the specific workplace, speechwriters typically work closely with their clients to understand their goals, audience, and messaging. They conduct research and gather information to inform their writing, and may collaborate with other team members, such as researchers or communication specialists, to ensure their work is accurate and effective. Depending on the organization, speechwriters may also be involved in other communication and marketing initiatives, such as developing social media content or creating press releases.

Frequently Asked Questions

Writing and journalism related careers and degrees.

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• Academic Writer
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• Food Critic
• Ghostwriter
• Grant Writer
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• Nonfiction Writer
• Screenwriter
• Speechwriter
• Sports Writer
• Technical Writer
• Television Writer
• Travel Writer

Journalism Careers

• Correspondent
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• News Reporter
• Photojournalist
• Broadcast Journalism
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How to Become a Speech Writer

Home / Journalism / How to Become a Speech Writer

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Speech Writers use their innate capability and love of language in order to create speeches for a variety of clients and professionals.

Speech writing professionals help their clients take ideas and then create professionally and carefully structured speeches to read to a particular audience.

Speech Writers are a part of a specific niche and have perfected their skills to write for a variety of clients and audiences.

Their work can be considered a part of public relations, communications or writing and editing.

These types of workers can work in a wide range of fields and may write speeches for different purposes.

Speech writing professionals can work for a large company; they may also write speeches for public figures, such as political candidates or government offices.

Students thinking about joining this field need a strong skill set that focuses on communication in order to become a Speech Writer .

Their work goes beyond writing.

They must spend time understanding the person who is giving the speech, the type of audience it is being dictated to and the context or situation it will be given in.

A Speech Writer working for a politician would determine their client’s personality, what situation or type of environment it will be given in and whether the audience is the general public or a room full of potential donors.

Table of Contents

Education Requirements to Become a Speech Writer

Speech writer job description, national average salary, average salary by state.

These are the top 5 earning states in the field:

What does a speech writer do?

How much do speech writers make, how much does it cost to become a speech writer, what is the demand for speech writers, how long does it take to become a speech writer.

In order to become a Speech Writer, candidates must continue their education and seek an advanced degree.

The most useful skill a candidate who wants to become a Speech Writer is whether they can take an idea and present it in a way that will grasp the audience’s attention.

Some helpful majors that can help a student become a Speech Writer include Communications, Public Relations, Journalism, Marketing or English.

Creating a grammatically correct speech is only one of the necessary skills a Speech Writer needs.

They must also learn how to draw the audience’s attention and maintain it through the length of the presentation.

Speech Writers must understand the audience they are writing the speech for and the tone of voice the presenter can recite it with.

They must be able to take a complicated idea and write it in a way that is understandable for the audience.

Students who major in the previously mentioned degrees will be able to learn how to strengthen these types of skills.

In addition, students who want to pursue this career can choose to add a second major to their educational background.

For example, a student can major in English and Journalism or Communications and Public Relations in order to learn techniques from both areas of study.

Students wanting to go into this field have a lot of options to strengthen their command of the English language.

A Speech Writer’s goal is to create an oral presentation that is developed around a specific idea or message.

This idea will then be taken and presented in a way that the audience will understand, relate to and stay interested in.

Speech writers will keep the tone of voice, grammar, the message or idea and the audience in mind while writing a speech.

This professional must keep their audience and presenter in mind and may write a speech that is geared to move, inspire and cause the audience to think.

Speech Writers must take the audience in mind in order to create a speech that is relatable and understandable.

A Speech Writer creating a dialogue for the general public will curb the sophisticated and stylish language.

These professionals will focus on a message and write it in an approachable manner.

Speech writers will take an audience into consideration and use what they know about the listeners and create a discourse that would keep their interest.

Speech writers may do all this work under pressure and may required to complete speeches with limited time.

Speech Writer Salary and Career Path

A Speech Writer’s salary will depend on the industry and type of client they work for.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median wage for Speech Writers in the public relations industry is approximately $51,340 annually if they work for a local government.

For those in the business or political sector the median wage is approximately $55,460 per year.

For speech writers who work full time as salaried writing employees, the median wage is approximately $53,070 per year.

The top earning state in the field is California, where the average salary is $111,110.

The top earning state in the field is California, where the average salary is $9,250.

The top earning state in the field is California, where the average salary is $53.42.

Frequently Asked Questions

A speech writer is someone who prepares talking points and writes and edits speeches for different clients.

Those can be corporate executives, public relations firms, political officials, and larger organizations.

Professionals can also be responsible for the texts presented in radio or television commercials.

The typical duties of a speech writer usually include conducting research; organizing the data; working directly with the speaker; finalizing drafts; providing advice and feedback on speech presentation, and so on.

Some decide to do speechwriting full-time, while others prefer to do it as a part-time job.

A speech writer can also work in the government, education, and non-profit sectors.

On average, a speech writer can make a little less than $82.000 per year in the United States.

In case you decide to choose this career path, you can expect to earn anywhere between $58.000 and 138.000 annually.

The salary would certainly depend on a variety of factors – your education and experience level, the employer, the location and so on.

Speech writers that work in the District of Columbia, for example, have the highest average salaries.

An entry-level speech writer can earn around $15.00 per hour, while a top-level professional with plenty of experience can make $53.00 and more per hour.

In the majority of cases, an aspiring speech writer would have to go for a bachelor’s degree in English, journalism, communications or a related field.

A year in a university can cost you anywhere between $8.000 and $45.000 (and more); the cost depends on a variety of factors (the books, supplies, and accommodation expenses are not included).

To improve job prospects, you can go for a master’s degree in public relations or speech communication; that will cost you $6.000-$70.000 per year.

Between 2018 and 2028, the speech writer job market is expected to grow by 6%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

That is a little slower than the average for all occupations in the United States.

The speech writers that specialize in producing speeches for Internet broadcasting platforms will have better job prospects; more positions will be open in the industry as public figures (and businesses) will continue to focus on improving their reputations.

It will take you 4 years to obtain a bachelor’s degree and 1-2 years to earn a master’s degree.

You can consider seeking an internship during your last years in university to get that on-job experience as the majority of employers prefer the candidates to have at least a few years of experience.

The requirements will vary by position; however, the majority of larger clients prefer the speech writer to have at least 4 years of relevant experience.

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Want to become a speechwriter? Step 1: Write speeches

You won’t start off penning soaring orations for heads of state and CEOs. You can find local officials and businesspeople, though, who need a wordsmith. Also, ask your own boss.

I’ve been a professional speechwriter for more than a decade and have written for heads of state, international organizations and more than a few weddings and funerals.

Competitions and salaries for speechwriters are high—certainly higher than most writing gigs. Experienced speechwriters earn more than $100,000 annually.

Speechwriters also have the advantage of access: access to top decision-makers, access to those who shape policies and ideas, and access to people who want to change the world. It’s just a matter of getting your foot in the door.

Unlike most occupations, there’s no school that teaches speechwriting. There’s no place to trade your life savings for a piece of paper that will land you an unpaid stint as an intern. Although live and online speechwriting courses exist, there’s no Harvard for speechwriters.

At the risk of putting myself and my colleagues out of business, I’ll let you in on the big secret about how to become a speechwriter. Please keep this confidential, because it’s a huge secret:

Find somebody who needs a speech written, and write it for them.

The answer to your next question? Anybody who needs one .

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How to Become a Speechwriter: An Expert Guide

Most people’s knowledge of speech writing comes from TV and movies. But we can’t all be like Seth Rogen in “the Long Shot,” flying around the world writing speeches for President Charlize Theron.

The good news is that there are plenty of speechwriting jobs that you can do online, for a variety of clients. And who knows? Maybe one day it could lead to the Oval Office!

Being a Speechwriter

I’ve written and delivered speeches across the worlds of business, politics and even comedy. For some time I ran a business helping people with best man speeches.

Those were the speeches I found the most fun. I was talking both to people who were really comfortable and looking forward to the experience, and those utterly terrified at the thought of public speaking.

In one instance a client presented me with a beautifully written, thoughtful speech, but had no idea how to deliver it. With minor edits (a joke about his future mother-in-law had to go), I provided guidance on pacing, and highlighted where the laughs would come. Nervous as he was, the day was a great success, and he was delighted.

How is Speechwriting Different from Other Writing Jobs?

The difference between speechwriting and other writing jobs is that you are writing for somebody to speak the words.

That may seem obvious, but it makes a big difference to the style and use of language. You will need to pay attention to the rhythm of the speech, highlight areas for emphasis, and arrange the text in a way that can be easily read.

Know your Client!

Some clients will be experienced public speakers, others may be coming to you for their first big engagement. Their confidence, speaking ability and subject matter should dictate your style.

If you’re writing a best man toast for a first time speaker you will need a very different speech to one for an experienced business person speaking at a convention.

What does Being a Speechwriter Involve?

The work of being a speechwriter is incredibly varied. It can range from anything from providing a couple of jokes to brighten up an existing speech, to transforming a short brief into a full presentation.

Unlike a lot of writing, you get to be part of the performance – thinking about how your client will present themselves and how your words will be received by the audience.

It is always a good idea to think about how the speech will flow. Start with high energy, or even humour, lighten detailed and heavy parts with anecdotes, and ensure there is a strong finish.

Should I use Humour in a Business Speech?

Not all speech writing is about humour, and sometimes it is inappropriate.

A joke that would go well at a social occasion may fall completely flat at a conference. As such, it is vital that you understand the audience, and the type of event at which the speech will be delivered.

That being said, a lot of speechwriting involves people asking for some humour to “jazz up” a speech or presentation. If you are comfortable with humour, then by all means try, but it is a very competitive area.

Where do I find Speech Writing Work?

There are speech writing jobs on sites like Upwork ( review here ) and PeoplePerHour ( review here ).

If you are looking for something more permanent, you may find something on LinkedIn, or on normal online job boards . Don’t forget to network with your existing circle too, as that’s often a source of work. (For networking advice, check out this article ).

How Much does Speechwriting Pay?

Speech writing jobs can pay as little as $50 for a few lines to brush up an existing speech, to thousands for a full speech for a big client.

As with most writing jobs, the more you do and the better you get, the higher the fee you will command.

Do I need any Special Software Skills?

Some clients will simply want a script, others may need help with a presentation, so it’s useful to be familiar with presentation software, such as Microsoft PowerPoint and Apple Keynote.

It’s rare for people to be familiar with more than one of these, and it’s difficult to switch between them, so being proficient in both is certainly beneficial.

• Know your client : How confident a speaker are they?
• Know the audience : This will dictate much of the style and content.
• Remember that not all speechwriting is about jokes.
• Get a feel for pace and flow : Your job is to help hold the audience’s attention.
• Brush up your own presentation skills : This will help with your writing.

More on Writing for a Living

HomeWorkingClub has LOTS more content on becoming a professional writer. Check out some of these articles:

• An honest guide to how realistic it is to get writing jobs with no experience. 
• A step by step guide to becoming a freelance writer.
• Here we have a detailed guide to the infamous “content mills” where many writers earn their first money. 
• A guide to ProBlogger Jobs – an interesting place to find new writing gigs.
• An interesting article to building a writing portfolio up from scratch.
• A list of places for more experienced writers to find work. 
• More beginners’ advice for freelance writers. 

Alex is an experienced public speaker and podcaster, and has been working in the marketing and media industry for most of this century. He held a senior marketing role with Royal Mail, before becoming a marketing consultant. He founded the crowdfunding events business “Crowdfinders” and has recently been Head of Membership for The Marketing Society. In 2013 Alex created “Your Best Man”, a consultancy helping people with all manner of speeches from weddings to business.

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What's it really like being a government speechwriter?

By James Doughty

18 Feb 2017

Words don’t come easily to everyone, but speechwriters have a head start. Department for Work and Pensions wordsmith James Doughty shares some trade secrets

Speechwriting is a job quite unlike any other in the civil service. It’s a job of contradictions. You work alone and with everyone, you’re a specialist but also a generalist, you’re creative and constrained, you’re in the thick of it and standing back.

It’s a straight-talking job title. Yet, the lid on the speechwriter’s world is very rarely lifted. For speechwriters, like spies, anonymity is the name of the game. Spies work in the shadows. Speechwriters, more specifically, work in the shadow of their master. Their words are often in the spotlight, but they are not. 

Here are five insights into the world of a speechwriter and the speechwriting profession and how they add value to organisations and the wider civil service.

Seven things every government press officer knows are true Special advice: What's it really like being a spad? What's it really like being cabinet secretary? Six men who've done the job spill the beans

What is speechwriting anyway? When many people think speechwriter, they think Sam Seaborn from The West Wing. The reality is somewhat different. Think less fast-paced corridor walking and talking, more painstaking research and midnight-oil-burning writing and rewriting.

In essence, a government speechwriter helps ministers communicate their vision, policies and objectives. In a world of short-burst social media, delivering a single speech from a lectern to a room full of real people is still the vehicle of choice to do this. A speech affords the space and time to develop his or her ideas, to take the audience on a journey, to tell a story – something you simply can’t do in 140 characters.

What goes into writing a speech? It often starts with an initial meeting with the minister to get a broad understanding of the main points they want to make. Then, it’s about having detailed conversations with policy teams – often multiple teams, analysts, political special advisers and press officers. During this process, the speechwriter is the conduit through which the ideas flow. They are the lightning rod, capturing every thought, every angle and every idea offered up. It is through the speechwriter that those ideas are then distilled, ordered, reordered, refined and woven into a narrative that makes sense and fits together. 

To do that, a speechwriter needs to be able to convey complex information simply and compellingly. They need to bring it all together into a coherent whole that, like a piece of music, ebbs and flows to hold interest and create contrasts – quiet bits and loud bits, long flowing passages and short staccato points, poetry and policy prose. After the extensive collaboration, this is the part where the speechwriter needs quiet solitude, which can be in short supply in a government department. I hear one department has plans for a “speech bubble” – a pod dedicated for speechwriters.

How do you keep hold of the pen and your nerve? For any one speech, there will have been an army of people involved in some way, from fact-checking to policy advice to analytical input, No. 10 steers and engaging those who have a powerful story to tell that will bring a speech alive. The speechwriter has to manage all of these different actors and ensure they are all happy and the speech beats with a single pulse and purpose.

 "A speechwriter can often find themselves at the centre of a kind of frenzied scrum"

In doing this, a speechwriter can often find themselves at the centre of a kind of frenzied scrum, particularly as the date of the speech approaches. This can, ironically, be one of the loneliest, most difficult and skilful parts of being a speechwriter – keeping a tight hold of the pen whilst surrounded by persuasive and often quite senior officials making their case for a line to be included – or more often than not – excluded.

It’s an interesting place to be and a test of nerve. I think it’s always important to remember whose speech it is: it’s the boss’s speech – the person who actually has to stand up and deliver it, whose mouth the words will come out of and the person whose name and reputation hangs on them. They are always the best speechwriter, we just play a supporting role. 

Because they are the boss, it can feel like a brutal and bruising profession at times. You need to be prepared for your carefully crafted lines to be crossed out or rewritten. That’s a healthy part of the process, if a little hair-depleting. A speechwriter colleague of mine had all but two words taken out of an initial draft of a speech. The two surviving words came at the end: “Thank you”. 

Some are based within the press office, some work from home, many work within the ministerial private office – from where you actually get much better access to ministers. Some are brought in because they have a history of working with a minister. Others have worked in the same department for successive ministers. Some are career civil servants who occupy the role for a period of time before moving on. Some have come from outside the civil service, mainly journalism. Whatever their background, many become career speechwriters, choosing to specialise in speechwriting as a vocation.

The numbers between departments also vary. Some have one, others have whole teams. Some double up the speechwriting role with being a private secretary to a minister. Others have experimented with relatively new approaches that merge functions together. For example, in the Department for Work and Pensions, alongside my speechwriting duties, I also head up a team of communication officers who provide dedicated support to ministers on briefing and communications.

Increasingly, speechwriters are diversifying and becoming generalist copywriters too, alongside writing speeches. They are turning their hand to writing and editing key departmental products that require strong, compelling prose, such as green papers or annual reports. In the past, I have known of departments commissioning external copywriters to do this. Departments are increasingly looking in-house to the existing talent of their speechwriters.

I like the sound of this. How do I become a speechwriter? No formal qualifications are required. A flair for writing, an interest in politics and public affairs are important, as is emotional intelligence and the ability to completely absorb the language and tone of another person. I have acted in the past, so being able to become someone else is a real advantage! Resilience and a thick skin are also needed to withstand the never-ending deadlines and pressure that are brought to bear on a speechwriter.

In terms of training, there are some excellent short courses out there for aspiring speechwriters. One of the best is a course run out of the Groucho Club in Soho by ex-Whitehall speechwriter Simon Lancaster, who now writes speeches for some of the world’s top CEOs. Simon has also written a book on writing speeches, Speechwriting: The Expert Guide. It is my bible. Whilst it is hard to teach someone how to write well (in my view it is something innate that comes from deep within), there are rules and recipes you can follow to ensure a speech is as good as it can be. I’d recommend it as a good read for anyone wanting to make their writing have more impact.

Speechwriting jobs are like gold dust, but it’s worth sounding out departments about any future positions in the offing and to register your interest. I also run a Whitehall Speechwriters’ Network and we are always happy to talk to budding speechwriters about opportunities. Many of the big companies now count a speechwriter as an essential part of their corporate entourage, so it’s worth looking into those too.

A final word Speechwriters add enormous value to an organisation. They write with a birds-eye view of the organisation and the wider horizon. They bring perspective, clarity and purpose, cutting through the complexity of policy and making it resonate with the outside world. 

Speechwriting is a job of contradictions, but that’s what makes it one of the most interesting, challenging and rewarding jobs in the civil service.

How to Become a Political Speech Writer

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Many politicians don't write their own speeches, preferring to delegate the task to a dedicated speech writer. Big politicians might even have teams of them. Speech writing in politics is a difficult art, and it's not for everyone. A good speech has to optimistically appeal to all the right constituencies, avoid unintended controversy, yet be provocative and eloquent enough to make the news, all while catering to a middle school reading level. Since the job is also very competitive, it isn't enough simply to be good at it. You also need to make friends and work your way in.

Political Speech Writer Jobs: Education

Zippia reports that these days, a bachelor's degree is all but mandatory to get into the world of speech writing. Having a degree suggests that you're serious, disciplined and capable of following through on a commitment. The type of degree doesn't really matter, though some politicians and their staffs prefer a related degree, like political science or English. Don't quit college while you're there, either. Your speech-writing job will eventually end, but the degree will stay with you for a lifetime.

Speech Writers and Political Involvement

Political speech writing is a niche industry. According to Indeed , in order to make it as a speech writer, you have to get politically involved. This means doing a whole lot of volunteering at first. Register with your local political party chapter and help out. Join political campaigns and volunteer with them too. Assist with elections. Get involved in the later stages of elections, such as caucuses and conventions. Overall, aim to attach yourself to a specific politician in hopes of eventually getting a paid staff job.

Speech Writers and Social Involvement

A complement to volunteering at political activities is to join a political nonprofit or activist organization that works on issues you care about. These groups have frequent contact with the politicians who represent them as well as with ideologically friendly politicians, which can provide a means for you to work with those politicians' staffs. Many people eventually parlay that personal familiarity into a paid political job.

Political Speech Writers and Audience

Politicians are much likelier to hire a writer with an extensive body of political writing publicly available to scrutinize, such as on a blog or website. Long before you try to get a political speech-writing job, hone your writing and work on building an audience. If you can show that your writing resonates with people, that makes you much likelier to eventually get a speech-writing job.

• Indeed: How To Become a Political Speech Writer
• Zippia: Speech Writer Education Requirements and Degrees

Josh Fredman is a freelance pen-for-hire and Web developer living in Seattle. He attended the University of Washington, studying engineering, and worked in logistics, health care and newspapers before deciding to go to work for himself.

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What is a speech writer and how to become one

A speech writer is a professional who creates written and spoken content for public figures or events. Their work can include drafting speeches, remarks, and press releases on a variety of topics. They may also prepare commentary, letters, and print and broadcast messages for a range of audiences. Their role often involves conducting research, interviewing subject matter experts, and managing the crafting of these materials. They also work closely with the person they are writing for, often the Secretary or a high-ranking executive, to develop editorial content for various communications purposes.

How long does it takes to become a speech writer?

It takes approximately 6 to 8 years to become a speech writer.

Year 1-4: Bachelor's Degree Most speech writers need a bachelor's degree, which typically takes four years to complete.

Year 5-8: Experience After obtaining a degree, gaining 2 to 4 years of experience in writing or related fields is common for speech writers.

Some may also require 1 to 3 months of on-the-job training.

• Salary $61,897
• Growth Rate 8%
• Jobs Number 38,009
• Most Common Skill Executive Communications
• Most Common Degree Bachelor's degree
• Best State Washington

Speech Writer career paths

A career as a speech writer can lead to various opportunities, such as becoming a communications director or marketing director. These roles involve creating content and messaging for different mediums, like speeches, press releases, and advertisements. Some speech writers may also choose to pursue roles like director of communications and marketing or vice president of marketing & communications, where they oversee the overall strategy and implementation of communication and marketing efforts. Additionally, some may become creative directors, public relations directors, or account directors, where they use their writing skills to create impactful campaigns and manage client relationships.

Key steps to become a speech writer

Explore speech writer education requirements, most common speech writer degrees.

Bachelor's

Master's

Start to develop specific speech writer skills

Speech writers prepare and revise speeches for various purposes. They conduct research and interview subject matter experts to create comprehensive long-term communications strategies. They also plan and manage public events, drafting and editing speeches, statements, and other communications materials for executives.

Complete relevant speech writer training and internships

Research speech writer duties and responsibilities.

Speech writers develop comprehensive long-term communications strategies, interview subject matter experts and senior leaders, and manage the production of speeches, remarks and press releases. They also prepare commentary, letters, and print and broadcast messages for U.S. armed forces and various public constituencies. Additionally, speech writers conduct in-depth research and writing to create speeches on political issues. They often collaborate with other staff members to develop editorial content and assist in advancing public appearances.

• Maintain guest blogging strategy and policies to achieve a consistently diverse authorship and to grow readership.
• Coordinate logistics management for signal elements, including securing training sites, movement of personnel, communications, and equipment.
• Work closely with the senator and key staff members to develop editorial content for constituent and stakeholder communications.
• Research and write executive level speeches, PowerPoint presentations and articles for global venues.

Get speech writer experience

Prepare your speech writer resume.

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your speech writer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a speech writer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Speech Writer Resume templates

Apply for speech writer jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a speech writer job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

• Browse job boards for relevant postings
• Consult your professional network
• Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
• Watch out for job scams

Are you a Speech Writer?

Share your story for a free salary report.

Average speech writer salary

The average Speech Writer salary in the United States is $61,897 per year or $30 per hour. Speech writer salaries range between $43,000 and $87,000 per year.

What Am I Worth?

How do speech writers rate their job?

Speech writer reviews.

Could be paid more. Slow to get started very competitive.

Updated April 5, 2024

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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Author Interviews

A historian's view of 'an extraordinary time capsule of the '60s'.

Reena Advani

Doris Kearns Goodwin's late husband, Dick Goodwin, and Bill Moyers peering over President Johnson's desk in the Oval Office to see the edits the president is making on a speech draft in May, 1965. LBJ Library photo by Yoichi Okamoto hide caption

Doris Kearns Goodwin's late husband, Dick Goodwin, and Bill Moyers peering over President Johnson's desk in the Oval Office to see the edits the president is making on a speech draft in May, 1965.

When acclaimed historian Doris Kearns Goodwin delved into 300 boxes of memorabilia preserved by her late husband Richard Goodwin, she got to relive with him his twenties. In real life, they first met when he was 40 years old and she was 29.

In 1972, he walked into her office at Harvard, where they both had office space, and the two bonded over shared interests. "So began a conversation about LBJ, the Sixties, writing, literature, philosophy, science, astronomy, sex, evolution, gossip, the Red Sox, and everything else under the sun," Kearns Goodwin writes in her new memoir, An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s. It's an intimate account of her husband's experience in law, military service, and politics, capturing his pursuit of social justice in everything he did.

Items from Dick Goodwin's boxes. The author's late husband served as an advisor and speechwriter for Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. Courtesy of Christie's Images, Ltd. hide caption

Items from Dick Goodwin's boxes. The author's late husband served as an advisor and speechwriter for Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson.

As a longtime political speechwriter and presidential adviser to John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, he wanted his own history remembered, so he asked his wife to help him relive it and ultimately write it. That meant delving into dozens of letters and journals, a kind of time capsule of the 1960s. Their date nights involved watching old presidential debates between John F. Kennedy and incumbent Richard Nixon and critiquing their performances together.

"He would describe to me how he was preparing Kennedy for that," Doris Kearns Goodwin said in an interview on Morning Edition . "We'd go backward and forward. So it was really fun. I remember he said to me at the beginning, 'Are you nervous? Do you wonder who's going to win?'"

Doris Kearns Goodwin and Dick Goodwin were married in 1975. Marc Peloquin, courtesy of the author. hide caption

Doris Kearns Goodwin and Dick Goodwin were married in 1975.

Richard Goodwin advised Kennedy in the White House, and after Kennedy's assassination, he stayed on with President Lyndon Johnson. In An Unfinished Love Story , Doris Kearns Goodwin celebrates the many historical moments of the 1960s that her husband had a large hand in defining, including the founding of the Peace Corps and helping to draft the lauded Voting Rights Act speech delivered by President Johnson.

Doris Kearns Goodwin came to our studio in Washington D.C., for a conversation with NPR's Steve Inskeep.

Steve Inskeep: The key line [in the Voting Rights Act Speech] – you called it the "We Shall Overcome" speech. This is a line from a spiritual that people sang as they were demonstrating for civil rights. Johnson just says it. What did it mean that Johnson just said that?

Kearns Goodwin: What it really meant was that's a moment when the person in the highest level of power is connecting to an outside group, the civil rights movement, who are pressuring the government to act. And that's when change takes place in our country.

SI: How do you think Richard was able to win the favor of and the trust of powerful men without losing himself, as some staffers do?

KG: It wasn't always easy. I think the fact that he had been with John Kennedy before Lyndon Johnson meant there was always a layer in Lyndon Johnson of not fully trusting him because he thought he was a Kennedy. You know, that was that fault line. You were either a Kennedy, or you were a Johnson. Even the first time when he calls Bill Moyers on the phone and there's this great tape where he's saying, "I need someone to be my speechwriter." This was only months after John Kennedy had died.

Dick Goodwin, President Kennedy, and David Dean Rusk, the president's secretary of state, in front of the U.S. Army helicopter on the White House South Lawn. Feb. 1, 1962. Abbie Rowe, courtesy of John F. Kennedy Library hide caption

Dick Goodwin, President Kennedy, and David Dean Rusk, the president's secretary of state, in front of the U.S. Army helicopter on the White House South Lawn. Feb. 1, 1962.

And he says to Moyers, "I need someone who can put sex in my speech, who can put rhythm in my speech, Churchillian phrases. Who could that be?" And Moyers says, "well, there's Dick Goodwin, but he's not one of us." And he knew then that that would always mean that he would always have a layer of not full trust.

SI: I feel that that relationship in microcosm is something that goes all the way through American life because this is a class difference along with everything else, right? Guy from Harvard versus the guy from a teacher's college in Texas.

KG: So true. I mean, one of the things Johnson used to say a lot was that his father always told him that if you brush up against the grindstone of life, you'll get more polished than anyone who went to Harvard or Yale ever did. But then he would add, but 'I never believed that.' I mean, there was always - and he was so much more brilliant than many people who go to Harvard or Yale. I mean, he used to call me Harvard half the time.

SI: When you met your husband, your future husband, in the early '70s, he's still a relatively young man but had had his greatest accomplishments. Would you say that that's true?

KG: I think that was the thing that was hard for him the rest of his life. I mean, he did do work after that. He wrote a play that was put on in London. He wrote columns. He wrote manifestos about America's revolution, the need for a new revolution. He got more radical as time went on. And he did work on Al Gore's concession speech.

SI: That's a gracious speech, Al Gore's concession in the 2000 election...?

KG: It was a lovely speech. Al Gore had called him and said that he wanted a victory speech or a concession speech. But Dick knew that the concession speech would be more important. And what a great, important memory is that right now that in that year of 2000, he was able to say, the law of the land is this. I don't agree with the decision, but I cherish this tradition and congratulate President Bush. We need that so badly right now.

SI: I'm struck by the idea that he thought people would not remember.

KG: I'm not sure what it was, but yeah, he did feel that need. It wasn't so much even for his work but for the work that he did together with these presidents because he wanted people to remember that the '60s was a time when young people in particular were powered by the conviction that they could make a difference. And tens of thousands of people joined the Peace Corps, were marching against segregation, against denial of the right to vote, were anti-war marching – and the beginning of the women's movement, the gay rights movement. It was a great time to be alive and a great time to be young.

The audio for this interview was produced by Kaity Kline.

How to Become a Freelance Writer, Plus Tips for Success

F reelance writing is a booming industry, and it could be a great way to enjoy remote work and set your own schedule. Yet becoming a freelance writer can be difficult and confusing, especially in the beginning.

Today, let's explore how to become a freelance writer step-by-step, plus break down some extra tips to ensure success in this field.

1. Decide what kind of writer you'll be

No freelance writer can do it all, so you need to decide what kind of writer you'll be before starting on this career path.

Here are some examples of freelance writing niches and focuses:

• Technical writers : have technical expertise or in-depth knowledge about a specific subject, like manufacturing, finance, programming, etc. This type of writing is the most profitable side hustle. However, it's also the hardest for new freelance writers to break into as small businesses.
• Content writers: create blog posts for a variety of websites, often retail or affiliate websites. Content marketing includes high-qualitycontent writing. Such content might include guest posts for bloggers and business owners. It might also include other freelance content, like creating social posts or email copy. Helpful skills to know are how to use WordPress, Slack, Google Suite, Asana and similar.
• Copywriters : create content for brands by mimicking brand voice, tone and language rules. This freelance writing work means providing writing services to a brand's own blog. Such purposes typically revolve around SEO/search engine optimization purposes.

Of these types of freelance writers, you can further specialize. For instance, you can be a retail content writer exclusively, a finance technical writer and so on. In many cases, you should choose your freelance writer niche based on your previous experience, interests or specializations.

Consider your working schedule, too. Full-time writers will have more access to freelance writing jobs. However, you can still build a writing portfolio with stellar writing samples to attract potential clients, even as a part-time writer.

There are lots of online writing clients to attract. In any case, you'll build up a byline reputation after you get your first client and start flexing your creative writing skills.

Related: How Much Should You Charge as a Freelance Writer ?

2. Learn your niche's writing conventions and strategies

Next, you'll need to learn and master your niche's writing conventions and strategies.

As an example, if you become a copywriter for retail brands, you need to understand typical writing conventions like:

• Reading through your clients' tone packages or portfolios (sometimes called brand guides). These will give you the information you need to mimic your client's voice appropriately.
• Writing in streamlined, short sentences without a lot of fluff. These days, most online readers skim written content rather than reading it word by word, so you need to know how to create compelling, attractive headers and content blocks.
• Using bullet points frequently (just like this.) to convey key informational points quickly and succinctly.

Many of these skills can be learned and practiced as you hone your writing skills and as you determine your ultimate freelance writing niche or focus. Outside of learning by pursuing writing opportunities and building an online presence, many good writers have positive experiences with writing courses designed to build professional writing skills for different types of content.

3. Build a portfolio and join freelance job sites

No one will want to hire you as a freelance writer without seeing some samples of your work. This can sound counterintuitive, as at the beginning of your career, you won't have any work to showcase. However, you should create a portfolio of sample or trial blog posts, copy and more. Even if you come up with this content from scratch, it can serve as a good example of the work future clients can expect.

Once you have your portfolio, put it up on your personal website and your social media pages (particularly your LinkedIn profile). Then add to freelance job websites like Upwork. Make profiles on all the freelance job boards you can.

In the earliest days of your freelance writing career, you'll be pursuing as many jobs as possible. The more places you have to advertise your skills, the better.

Related: Leaving a Steady Job to Start a Freelance Career ? Here Are 5 Things You Must Know

4. Start looking for work

Now it's time to put your nose to the grindstone and begin looking for work. As a freelance writer, the initial months of your career will be filled with proposals and requests for work. Don't expect to get a lot of clients initially. In fact, you'll probably spend most of your time seeking out clients instead of writing.

This isn't a bad thing. During this time, you'll learn how to write effective, persuasive proposals to your clients and how best to represent yourself as the ideal freelancer for their needs. In time, you'll get a few jobs, then use those jobs to open further doors and new professional opportunities.

5. Request good reviews

Each time you get a job from a client, do it to perfection. Then, at the end of your contract, request an excellent review or testimonial. Many freelance job board websites allow you to post reviews or automatically calculate a review or star score based on your performance.

The better your review score is, the easier you'll find it to acquire new, high-paying clients. In this way, your freelance writing career will start off very slow, then quickly pick up speed.

Related: The 9 Skills it Takes to Succeed as a Freelance Writer

6. Market your writing aggressively

As you earn initial success, you should market your writing aggressively. There are a few different ways in which you can do this:

• You can create a personal website for your freelance writing business, showcasing your best samples and reviews or testimonials.
• You can make online ads promoting your skills as a knowledgeable copywriter, particularly in a specific industry or niche.
• You can and should market yourself on social media by regularly posting that you are looking for work or new clients.

Don't feel bad about announcing your skills in this way: You have to hustle to make it in this industry, a truism that holds for all freelance professionals, in fact.

Other tips for freelance writing success

You now know the basics about how to become a freelance writer. But even with the step-by-step process above, you might not see initial success unless you keep some key tips and strategies in mind.

Pick a niche to excel at

First, and perhaps most importantly, you should pick a niche or specialization at the earliest opportunity. Generalized freelance writers don't make nearly as much money as specialized writers. That's because specialized writers can provide more raw value to their clients.

Imagine a situation in which a programming company needs a writer to create some in-depth blog posts for B2B clients. They can hire a generalized content writer or a specialized technical writer who knows the ins and outs of programming languages and computer science. The latter choice is always the better option for that client.

To that end, find a niche in which to excel based on your previous schooling, your interests and more.

Price your writing properly

Many freelance writers struggle with getting a living wage, partially because they price their writing too low. True, in the earliest stage of your career, you'll probably earn about one cent or two cents per word. However, as you earn your first initial reviews, you should counterintuitively increase your price to five cents per word or more.

Why? If you price your writing too low, clients will think that you aren't worth their time. By pricing your writing sufficiently high, you show that you are confident in your ability to deliver results to those clients.

Always be looking for new clients

The life of a freelance writer involves constantly looking for new clients and work opportunities. Even if you have a handful of solid clients who send you work consistently, don't rest on your laurels.

Always be cultivating new contacts and finding new professional clients who you can approach for work. You never know when your current jobs or projects might dry up, leaving you in desperate need of new income streams.

Always improve your writing skills

Similarly, always work to improve your writing skills by learning new words, practicing your grammar and so on. As a writing craftsman, it's up to you to make sure that your skills are as sharp and desirable as possible. Don't let your writing skills fall by the wayside just because you have achieved some initial success as a freelance writer.

Related: Examples of Writing Business Ideas

Start your journey as a freelance writer

As you can see, you can become a successful freelance writer in a variety of ways and niches. But keep the above tips in mind, and you'll be sure to land high-paying clients and master your new business in short order.

Check out Entrepreneur's other guides and resources for more information on this topic.

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'Trump lost': Ex-Bush speechwriter shows how GOP 'has rebelled against him' in latest vote

David McAfee

Senior editor, david joined raw story in 2023 after nearly a decade of writing about the legal industry for bloomberg law. he is also a co-founder and a commissioning editor at hypatia press, a publisher that specializes in philosophical works that challenge religion or spirituality..

" Trump deflates," writes former Bush speechwriter David Frum.

Frum, who previously assessed former president Trump was prone to stoking violence, writes for the Atlantic about how the U.S. House voted to approve something Trump has steadfastly stood against.

"Ukraine won. Trump lost," he wrote. "The House vote to aid Ukraine renews hope that Ukraine can still win its war. It also showed how and why Donald Trump should lose the 2024 election."

ALSO READ: Revealed: What government officials privately shared about Trump not disclosing finances

Frum goes on to suggest Trump is used to getting his way within the GOP. But that appears to be changing with Ukraine, he noted.

"On aid to Ukraine, Trump got his way for 16 months. When Democrats held the majority in the House of Representatives in 2022, they approved four separate aid requests for Ukraine, totaling $74 billion. As soon as Trump’s party took control of the House, in January 2023, the aid stopped. Every Republican officeholder understood: Those who wished to show loyalty to Trump must side against Ukraine," he wrote in the piece published Saturday. "Three months later, Trump’s party in Congress has rebelled against him—and not on a personal payoff to some oddball Trump loyalist, but on one of Trump’s most cherished issues, his siding with Russia against Ukraine."

Frum suggests the "anti-Trump, pro-Ukraine rebellion" began in the Senate.

"Twenty-two Republicans joined Democrats to approve aid to Ukraine in February. Dissident House Republicans then threatened to force a vote if the Republican speaker would not schedule one. Speaker Mike Johnson declared himself in favor of Ukraine aid," he wrote. "This weekend, House Republicans split between pro-Ukraine and anti-Ukraine factions. On Friday, the House voted 316–94 in favor of the rule on the aid vote. On Saturday, the aid to Ukraine measure passed the House by 311–112. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the Senate will adopt the House-approved aid measures unamended and speed them to President Biden for signature."

Trump still has strong GOP support, but "the cracks in unity are visible," according to the writer.

Read it here.

Stories Chosen For You

Should trump be allowed to run for office, gop has gone rancid — and it isn't fair decent people have to keep cleaning up after them.

I’ve heard more than enough from people identifying as Republicans to last for whatever is left of my life.

By words and actions, Republicans have proven they are not serious people, and most definitely do not love or care for our country. We have learned without any doubt during the past decade that there is no line they won’t cross, rule they won’t break, or lie they won’t tell to further their dirty causes, which have absolutely nothing to do with making America great.

They are incapable of good governance, and have settled into mob rule. The Republican-led House of Representatives is a complete and nasty joke, where members literally elbow and hiss at each other, and that is both true and terribly, terribly sad.

With help from our inept Justice Department and a bought-off Conservative Supreme Court , Republicans are making a mockery of the notion that our nation is protected by the rule of law. They know better than anybody, that this simply is not true.

They have exploited a system they have learned to eagerly spit on by refusing to allow nominations for Supreme Court Justices in some cases, while rocketing other Conservative nominees through the Senate in record time.

READ: Breaking our democracy is all part of the GOP plan

They call violent terrorists who attack our country hostages, and expect the press to keep swallowing it whole, because that’s what they do.

Cheating and underhandedness is in their DNA.

They are long past the point of no return, and will either pay for their felonious behavior, or will somehow be rewarded for it at the polls this November, in which case we are done with our Democratic experiment after 248 years.

It is now up to Democrats to once again save this nation from the sick arsonists eagerly trying to burn it to the ground, and that is helluva lot to ask, and isn’t remotely fair.

Here’s a damn truth we don’t hear near enough about: If the Democratic candidate for president was facing 91 felony counts, had been convicted of fraud, was a serial abuser of women, told a documented 30,573 lies in four years, spread a big, toxic lie about an election he lost, and praised dictators, the party and the people who support it, would drop him/her like a rock.

He or she wouldn’t stand a chance. They’d be banished to the nearest dumpster. No decent person would want to be associated with such obvious scum.

The people who vote on the Left and the Right in this country are not remotely the same, and I am way past sick and tired of hearing that they are.

Something as despicable and odious as Donald J. Trump could NEVER happen in the Democratic Party. We simply would not allow it.

That right there is an ironclad fact.

Democrats and left-leaning people are not perfect, because no person is, but we still believe in truth, decency and manners. ALL children are important in our world, which is why we believe feeding them and getting them the healthcare and the childcare they need is vital, and far more important than paying the taxes of filthy-rich, bloated billionaires. We still believe that how the United States projects itself to rest of the world and our children means something.

We love our country, warts and all.

We still believe that when we’ve made mistakes, or said stupid, hurtful things we should apologize for them, not recklessly double down like ill-bred maniacs.

We have not, and will not, surrender to the lowest form of life like Trump. It is simply not in us.

As of this writing, I am officially DONE listening to the unmitigated gall that “both sides do it” or “both parties are the same” because that’s a complete load of bullshit. It is brutally insulting to the tens of millions of people in this country who play by the rules, believe all people are created equal, and still know a damn lie, or attack on our country when they hear it and see it.

The people who populate the Left and Right in our country are wired differently, and it’s time this was said out loud, and repeatedly. It is also long past time our media reported this. Especially because they know it to be true.

In the newsrooms where I used to work, if something so obviously bad and as evil as Trump and his enablers had burst on the scene, we would have been sounding alarms and reporting on it 24/7. The man means us and our country harm. We know this because he is SHOWING US AND TELLING US THIS.

There is seldom a day that goes by without him saying or doing something revolting and egregious. The media doesn’t even bother asking his Republican followers in Congress to account for his larceny anymore. They just accept it as somehow normal when it most certainly is not and never can be.

There are two sides to the story that should be told in America right now. One is called, good, the other is called, evil.

The only reason our national press does not report on this legitimately and accurately is simply because they are pathetic cowards, plain and simple. They know they are failing, but are carrying on despicably, anyway.

I’ll always have ammo to burn addressing their egregious behavior these days, but for now, I want to continue unwinding this thread of how the Left and Right are completely different and how unfair it is that we have to deal with the never-ending recklessness on the Right.

Back in 2015, when Trump laughably announced he’d be seeking the Republican nomination for president, many prominent Republicans rightfully scoffed at the possibility. You’ll get no better example than Lindsey Graham’s evergreen tweet: “If we nominate Trump we will get destroyed.......and we will deserve it.” Graham went on to call Trump, “a jackass.”

The Bushes, Rubios, and other red-blooded Republicans all saw Trump for what he was: completely disgusting and ridiculous. That was before the big-mouth, lifetime loser started blasting them off the debate stage by imitating a slobbering, belligerent drunk at the end of the bar.

Instead of bouncing him from the party, they allowed him to play to the delight of the silent minority in America, who had watched him bravely fire people on his TV show, and lick his toilet seat by degrading President Obama with his putrid, racist, noxious birther blather.

These were the fine people whose tongues bled from self-censoring the bile that flowed from their broken brains, into their their big, fat mouths, and had taken centuries to finally go out of taste in this country. It killed them that there were actually awful, hurtful things they could not say out loud anymore.

Now they were free to be themselves again, and let the sludge flow freely from their chapped lips.

Their freedoms had nothing to do with breaking free from any chains, or breaking glass ceilings. No, their freedoms meant having the permission from the very top to be just as disgusting and appalling as they wanted to be. It meant belittling the disabled, and dragging women into the gutter. It meant coddling Nazis and calling cities that terrified them with their sophistication, “s--t holes.”

Before we knew it Nazis and white suprematists were coming out of their caves everywhere and lighting their tiki torches. They were finally on the march to the point of no return, where their disgusting leader was waiting to tell them that he loved them.

Once you have coddled a racist, a traitor, a two-timer, a friend of our enemies, an environmental terrorist, a serial liar, and a sociopath, you are completely lost and broken. Done.

Now the mob rules the Republican Party, which makes it fitting they are represented by this two-bit thug, who is currently sitting in a court room for hiding campaign money he paid to an adult movie star he slept with named Stormy, while his wife was at home caring for a newborn.

Yeah, that’s good and wholesome and normal right there.

A few have broken free of the madman’s grip in the Republican Party, while others have tried, and have crumpled into a heap and back into the mud and slime.

In February, Trump’s very own attorney general, the morally corrupt, Bill Barr, stumbled into bravery and truth when he said that voting for Trump would be “playing Russian roulette with the country.”

By this past Wednesday he had once again devolved and said, but “I’ll support the Republican ticket” if Trump leads it.

Also in February, New Hampshire Republican Governor Chris Sununu said of Trump: “A--holes come and go. But America is here to stay.”

On Sunday, he admitted he had changed his tune and said: “Look, nobody should be shocked that the Republican governor is supporting the Republican president.”

That’s exactly right, governor: A--holes come and go, and apparently you will do everything you can to hang around for a while. You are a revolting person, sport.

Nobody should be surprised by these things anymore, because the Republican Party is irredeemable and incapable of surprises. They can ALWAYS go lower, and prove it literally every day.

This is what happens when you are morally busted and are not bound by any rules or self-control that guide the rest of us.

This is what happens when you surrender to depravity.

This is what happens when you rubber stamp abuse of women, lies, insurrection and support for dictators as anything in the vicinity of normal.

So what happens when standing by the truth and playing by the rules gets you nowhere as a political party and as a country? What happens when millions discover there is no justice and a depraved mad man once again has the keys to the kingdom?

Thanks to the Barrs and the Sununus, and the tens of millions of below-average, broken-down Republicans littering our country, we are terrifyingly close to finding out.

It is up to the Left to take out the garbage once again in America, because the Right has lost its damn mind, as well as its sense of taste and smell.

At what point can all this FINALLY be delivered as fact and shouted on Page 1?

At what point can we quit pretending that both sides are even remotely the same?

NOW READ: What most assuredly happens when Trump sits down with the New York Times

D. Earl Stephens is the author of “Toxic Tales: A Caustic Collection of Donald J. Trump’s Very Important Letters” and finished up a 30-year career in journalism as the Managing Editor of Stars and Stripes. Follow @EarlofEnough and on his website.

Trump has a new insult for hush money prosecutor Alvin Bragg

In a rare moment of expressed camaraderie, former President Donald Trump Monday commiserated with the Manhattan prosecutor leading his criminal hush money case.

Trump took to Truth Social Monday night to draw a comparison between himself and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who charged the former president with 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up salacious stories than might have derailed his 2016 campaign.

"Wow, D.A. Alvin Bragg is an Election Denier, the exact same thing that they said about me," Trump exclaimed. "But I was right!!!"

The latter comment was likely a reference to Trump's baseless claims that the 2020 presidential election he lost to President Joe Biden was rigged.

Trump's similar claims in the lead-up to Jan. 6, 2021, will likely play a key role in two of four criminal court cases facing the former president, one in Georgia state court and the other in Washington D.C. federal court, both linked to charges of election interference.

ALSO READ: A criminologist explains why keeping Trump from the White House is all that matters

Trump did not elucidate the former comment, but it is markedly similar to a headline that appeared Monday morning on an editorial in the right-wing magazine National Review : "Alvin Bragg, Election Denier."

"You knew Donald Trump was going to land in a criminal trial about election denialism," writes contributing editor Andrew McCarthy. "You just didn’t know it was going to be about 2016, not 2020, and that the election denier is Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg, not Trump."

McCarthy argues business falsification charges are the kind Bragg, a "paragon progressive prosecutor," would only bring against a "political enemy."

He also argues Bragg is attempting to enforce federal campaign law on the state level and that charges should not be pursued because there are no provable victims of fraud.

"Any one of these infirmities — and I’ve just hit the main ones — should be enough to explode Bragg’s prosecution, to say nothing of all of them in concert," McCarthy concludes. "But in focusing on the trees, we miss the forest: Alvin Bragg is an election denier."

Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges levied against him in New York, Georgia, Washington D.C. and Florida.

Jon Stewart shreds media coverage of Trump's NYC trial

Did Jon Stewart just call "Fake News?"

Stewart made his weekly appearance on the Daily Show the same day of opening statements in Trump's criminal hush money trial, but it was the media's coverage of minute detail that the comedian took to task.

"At some point at this trial, something important is going to happen...but none of us are going to notice," Stewart said. "It's your classic 'Boy who called Wolf' — Blitzer!"

In his return to political satire, Stewart has skewered Republican Sen. Katie Britt's repeatedly mocked State of the Union rebuttal , Trump's Gettysburg tribute , and Tucker Carlson , to name just a few.

On Monday, Stewart ridiculed the cable news channels devoting hours of coverage to the Trump's every move in the courtroom. He also quipped a dismissed juror named Mark was his doppelgänger.

"Did I have jury duty?" Stewart asked.

Stewart took to task a recent segment with the courtroom sketch artist who admitted her image of Trump , in which he appears sleepy, was the result of her struggling to draw his eyes from a distance.

"Damnit woman!" Stewart roared. "Does Donald Trump have eyeballs or no?"

This led to a montage of reporters describing Trump's body language.

"He walked toward me with a mixture of desire, scorn and lets call it age-related confusion," Stewart mimicked. "It was then that I realized that this former president of the United States has a front butt."

However, Stewart's rant was interrupted by comedian Jessica Williams who accused the host of being an old man who hates fun.

"This Trump trial is like an open window in Grey Hound bus full of farts," she said. "Why you trying to close the window, Jon, why you trying to make us smell farts?"

Williams' case for obsessive media coverage of the trial — in which Trump has pleaded not guilty to charges that he falsified business records to cover up hush money payments paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election — as follows.

"An extremely gross old man-slash-former president might go to prison for banging a porn star and trying to pay her off," Williams declared. "And you don't want us to cover that s--- all day long? Jon, the first witness is named David Pecker."

Watch the video below or click here .

Biden campaign surrenders tainted crypto cash

Breaking our democracy is all part of the gop plan, what most assuredly happens when trump sits down with the new york times.

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The Conservative Who Turned White Anxiety Into a Movement

Pat Buchanan made white Republicans fear becoming a racial minority. Now Donald Trump is reaping the benefits .

I n May 1995 , Pat Buchanan appeared at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., to announce an immigration policy that would become the centerpiece of his presidential campaign. “We have an illegal invasion of this country,” Buchanan warned. To resist it, he called for a “Buchanan Fence” patrolled by the military along the southern border, a five-year moratorium on legal immigration, and a constitutional amendment that would deny citizenship to children born in the U.S. to undocumented parents.

The platform was designed to stave off something Buchanan had long dreaded: “If present trends hold,” he noted a few years earlier, “white Americans will be a minority by 2050.” Buchanan was the first major politician to transform white anxiety about that prospect—which the Census Bureau first predicted in 1990—into an organizing principle for the conservative movement. (Never mind that the idea of a majority-minority tipping point is contested by social scientists, who argue that ever-changing norms about racial self-identification are blurring the numbers.) “The question we Americans need to address, before it is answered for all of us, is: Does this First World nation wish to become a Third World country?” he wrote in 1990.

Buchanan never came close to winning the presidency, but the fear he incited of a majority-minority future has become integral to the Republican Party and Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign. Like Buchanan, Trump has made opposition to undocumented immigration the cornerstone of his presidential bid. Although he and his supporters try to portray this as a matter of law and order, they often admit that their chief concern is America’s shifting ethnic composition.

“People are just alarmed by what they see in the changes in the demographics in our country,” South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, a Trump surrogate, said in Iowa this year. A few weeks earlier, Trump accused migrants of “poisoning the blood of our country.”

From the October 2022 issue: The long unraveling of the Republican Party

For Buchanan and Trump, immigration isn’t just about America’s ethnic identity. It’s also about electoral power. Even as the GOP slowly diversifies , white Americans continue to make up a disproportionate share of its base, leading many conservatives to view nonwhite immigration as an existential threat. “Either the Republican Party puts an end to mass immigration,” Buchanan wrote in 2011, “or mass immigration will put an end to the Republican Party.”

Buchanan may have been the first prominent politician to focus on the majority-minority tipping point, but the American right’s preoccupation with declining white power isn’t new; it shaped the right’s defense of slavery and the violent overthrow of Reconstruction. By the time Buchanan ran for president, it wasn’t new for him either. He’d begun politicizing white resentment at the start of his career, creating a blueprint that would prove hugely influential for the GOP.

As a young speechwriter for Richard Nixon, Buchanan helped conceive of the “ southern strategy ” that Republicans used to appeal to white voters who were alienated by the civil-rights movement. Buchanan counseled Nixon to ignore “liberal issues” like housing, education, and unemployment. “The second era of Reconstruction is over,” he wrote to the president in 1970. “The ship of integration is going down.”

When he ran for president in the 1990s, Buchanan was still criticizing the civil-rights laws of the 1960s, trying to court revanchist white voters, such as supporters of the Klansman turned presidential candidate David Duke. He described the Voting Rights Act as “regional discrimination against the South” and visited Confederate monuments while campaigning in states such as Georgia and Mississippi. “Who speaks for the Euro-Americans?” he asked. “Is it not time to take America back?”

Buchanan first ran for president in 1992 under the slogan “Make America First Again,” a riff on Ronald Reagan’s “ Let’s Make America Great Again .” He mounted a strong challenge to incumbent President George H. W. Bush in the New Hampshire primary, winning more than a third of the GOP electorate. After capturing nearly 3 million votes that year, Buchanan received a coveted keynote spot at the GOP convention, where he spoke apocalyptically about “a cultural war … for the soul of America.”

Although Buchanan didn’t win a single state, Republicans adopted some of his positions on immigration as the official party platform, pledging to “equip the Border Patrol with the tools, technologies and structures necessary to secure the border.” (Buchanan’s sister and campaign manager, Bay Buchanan, insisted that “structures” meant walls; “they don’t build lighthouses on the border,” she said.)

Four years later, Buchanan ran again and won the New Hampshire primary. During the campaign, he portrayed his effort to preserve Judeo-Christian values and white power in the face of a massive demographic shift as part of America’s oldest struggle, calling his followers “the true sons and daughters of the Founding Fathers.”

After he lost the nomination, Buchanan was sidelined by the GOP establishment. Instead of getting a prime-time slot at the convention, he was blocked from speaking entirely. Buchanan became disillusioned and left the GOP for Ross Perot’s Reform Party, where he briefly squared off against Trump in the 2000 primary. “Look, he’s a Hitler lover,” Trump said of Buchanan on Meet the Press in 1999. “I guess he’s an anti-Semite. He doesn’t like the Blacks. He doesn’t like the gays. It’s just incredible that anybody could embrace this guy.”

Buchanan won the Reform nomination but received fewer than half a million votes in the general election. He spent the 2000s in the political wilderness, watching as the country’s white population grew by just 1 percent from 2000 to 2010 while the Black population grew by 15 percent, and the Hispanic and Asian populations by 43 percent. Every few years he published screeds with titles like The Death of the West: How Dying Populations and Immigrant Invasions Imperil Our Country and Civilization and State of Emergency: The Third World Invasion and Conquest of America . “The people who put the GOP in power are not growing in numbers nearly as rapidly as immigrants and people of color who want them out of power,” he wrote in 2006. “The fading away of America’s white majority entails an existential crisis for the GOP.”

These writings, mostly ignored at the time, appeared prophetic after Barack Obama’s election in 2008, when Republicans fretted over the diverse coalition assembled by the first Black president. As Buchanan became more marginalized, his ideas paradoxically found greater favor within the GOP. His concerns about white displacement, which Republican leaders had mostly tried to downplay in the 1990s and 2000s, were now being pushed into the mainstream of the party, with GOP activists questioning Obama’s claim to the presidency. “For the first time in our lifetimes, outside the South, white racial consciousness has visibly begun to rise,” Buchanan observed in 2010. He seemed emboldened, writing the following year that “equal justice for the emerging white minority” was more important than extending rights to formerly marginalized communities.

When the RNC conducted its high-profile “autopsy” after Obama’s reelection in 2012 and urged congressional Republicans to pass immigration reform to improve the party’s standing with minority voters, Buchanan told the GOP to focus instead on courting white voters who hadn’t gone to the polls. At the start of Obama’s second term, when the Senate took up immigration reform, Buchanan warned that it would “create millions of new citizens who will vote to bury the Party of Ronald Reagan forever.”

Ronald Brownstein: Trump’s ‘knock on the door’

These views clearly influenced Trump and his advisers. In August 2014, the GOP consultant Kellyanne Conway released polling showing that white voters who were unhappy about demographic change would turn out in higher numbers if a candidate emphasized “stricter enforcement of current immigration laws” and demanded that “illegal immigrants … return to their home countries.” While Trump prepared to launch a seemingly quixotic bid for the presidency, his chief strategist Steve Bannon called the missing-white-voter theory and Conway’s polling on immigration “the intellectual infrastructure” of Trump’s campaign.

If Buchanan helps explain the start of Trump’s presidency, he also helps explain its culmination on January 6. One year after the insurrection, the University of Chicago’s Project on Security and Threats released a study of the more than 700 people charged with breaching the Capitol. It had a surprising conclusion. Unlike many Republicans, the insurrectionists didn’t come from the country’s reddest or most rural counties. Instead, they were more likely to reside in counties whose white populations had experienced significant declines, such as Harris County, Texas, a majority-minority area that includes Houston. The study described a political movement “partially driven by racial cleavages and white discontent with diversifying communities.”

In a larger national poll, the Chicago Project found that 8 percent of the public believed both that Joe Biden’s presidency was “illegitimate” and that force was “justified” to return Trump to power. Of these 21 million Americans, three-quarters agreed that “the Democratic Party is trying to replace the current electorate … with new people, more obedient voters from the Third World.” Fears of a “Great Replacement” were the “most important driver of [the] insurrectionist movement,” the survey concluded.

The fact that Trump has found so much more political success than Buchanan did 30 years ago in exploiting white anxiety suggests that it will worsen as the supposed majority-minority tipping point approaches. That’s coming sooner than Buchanan once feared; white Americans, census data now suggest, will technically be a minority by 2045 . Buchanan may have failed to hold back demographic change, but the backlash he sparked is only getting stronger.

This article has been adapted from Ari Berman’s new book, Minority Rule: The Right-Wing Attack on the Will of the People—And the Fight to Resist It .

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