ABSTRACT
Political speeches are an integral part of the political communication process. They reflect the candidate's expression of ideas and form the basis for mass media messages. As Martin Luther King Jr. and others have demonstrated numerous times, political speeches can play a vital role in inspiring and uniting people around a common cause. Part of the criticism comes from the inherent differences between political speeches and other forms of public speaking. This book assumes that those differences include the following features: political speeches are more complex than most other forms of public speaking and great political speeches are often developed more than written. Speechwriters have been on the American political scene from the beginning of the nation. The ideal speechwriter has superb rhetorical skills and can write in an easily read, conversational tone that includes vivid and quotable phrases; add in versatility in subject matter and the capacity to work under pressure, and that person can be a political speechwriter.
