President Bush

Presidents do public speaking, of course, but how do presidents view public speaking? This essay examines public presidential remarks about public speaking to offer a view of presidential rhetoric about rhetoric.
This analysis reveals that presidents have offered evaluations (implicit and explicit) of public speaking, as well as specific advice about giving and writing speeches. Excerpts from speeches and other remarks are included, with representation from Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, Johnson, Carter, Reagan, H. W. Bush, Clinton, W. Bush, and Obama. Considering presidential remarks about public speaking provides unique material to further inform how we teach, view, study, and do public speaking.

Brad Swanson was a former State Department official and international investment banker from Virginia when he got a call in early 2004 to work for the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA). His friend, Michael Fleischer was in charge of private sector development, and needed help because his office was understaffed. Swanson eventually arrived in Baghdad in March and spent the next four months working on trying to get Iraqi businesses up and running after the invasion. During those few months in Iraq he became disillusioned with the U.S. effort believing that the CPA was trying to do far too much than it had time or ability. Here is an interview with Swanson about his time working for the CPA, and what he thought went wrong.