Terence Szuplat, one of President Obama's two foreign policy speechwriters, discusses his journey from East Falmouth to the West Wing and what it was like to write for--and be edited by--Barack Obama.
Read more »Terence Szuplat, former President Obama speechwriter and founder of Global Voices Communications, talks about the relationship between speechwriting and storytelling
Read more »Terry Szuplat, a foreign policy speechwriter for former President Obama, said "It's important for the American people to understand who's responsible. Wars don’t start on their own. They’re started by people. This one was started by Vladimir Putin. He owns the death. He owns the destruction. And he owns the costs."
Read more »Szuplat, who helped Obama’s head speechwriters Cody Keenan and Jon Favreau on several addresses, argued that although the president has a long list of items to address [in the State of the Union] including inflation, energy prices, and the Covid-19 pandemic, his biggest challenge is to explain why Ukraine matters for America.
Read more »"An appreciation for the power of our example and our ideals as Americans was central to Obama’s presidency and it was central to his foreign policy," Szuplat said. "By virtue of his life and unique biography he had a real appreciation for the power of America’s story around the world."
Read more »“If one of the great questions for the American people right now is ‘How do we get through this profound loss, can there be better days?’—who better to point the way than someone who has lived through the darkest moments any person can face?" said Szuplat. "I think it’ll be a huge element of his inauguration and of his presidency…. He might end up being the most perfect leader for this moment because of his life experience.”
Read more »Please say a prayer for all the dedicated White House permanent staff — the butlers, the housekeepers, the janitors—being forced to work in a Covid hot zone. Their lives are being endangered so a weak, enfeebled man can pretend to be strong.
Read more »When many people picture working in the White House, they imagine the expansive suite of offices depicted in Aaron Sorkin’s The West Wing. Terence Szuplat, who was a speechwriter for the Obama administration, describes his time in the West Wing as like working “in a submarine.”
Read more »“You can probably have a more intimate experience with the audience,” says Terence Szuplat, who runs Global Voices, a strategic communications and speechwriting firm. "I would hope it’s an opportunity for candidates to be much more accessible. Maybe that will be a good thing for our democracy."
Read more »Terence Szuplat, former Deputy Director of Speechwriting for President Barack Obama, joins panelists Andrew Cohen and William McGurn to discuss the meaning and legacy of President Kennedy's landmark 1963 speech at the American University.
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