POLICY-MAKERS AND WORDSMITHS - WRITING FOR THE PRESIDENT UNDER JOHNSON AND NIXON

The writing of speeches for the President is inevitably connected to p ublic policy. Speeches provide opportunities to articulate policy, and their preparation often forces the setting of agendas and the determi nation or clarification of policy positions. This makes the growing di sjunction between presidential speeches and the clear accurate express ion of administration goals and policy initiatives noted by observers of the contemporary presidency all the more arresting. We locate the b eginning of this trend in the Johnson White House and compare the orga nizational responses of Presidents Johnson and Nixon to the challenge of creating a viable writing operation linked to policy making. Of the two, Nixon was more effective, particularly during his first term, an d his experience suggests lessons that his successors have largely fai led to follow.