Jobs as here breeders, if they wanted to learn from ms. Brantley, they couldnt because it was a crime for her to teach them. Ouruncer just some of program looking at occupational licensing laws. You can watch it tonight at 9 00 p. M. Eastern. And announcer cspans live 2020 coverage continues saturday at 4 00 p. M. Eastern with Tulsi Gabbard in hudson, new hampshire. Sunday at 2 00 p. M. Eastern, joe biden in peterborough, new hampshire. Monday at 2 00 p. M. Eastern, andrew yang in nashua, new hampshire. Tuesday at 11 00 a. M. Eastern, Elizabeth Warren in boston. Watch the president ial candidates live on cspan, online at cspan. Org, or listen live on the free cspan radio app. Announcer former speechwriters for president clinton, obama, bush and obama discuss their the and stories from behind scenes. Hosted at the university of chicago earlier this year, this is an hour and 10 minutes. [applause] thank you all for coming. The iop is honored to welcome speechwriters behind the words that have inspired us. Terry edmonds served as assistant to the president and director of speechwriting for president bill clinton, overseeing production of domestic policy speeches. Over a career spanning 40 years he has written for nasa administrator Charles Bowden as well as top executives at ibm, columbia university, time warner, the list goes on. He is a graduate from Morgan State University and is adjunct professor at hofstra university. Our next panelist, sarah hurwitz, served in the white house from 20092017, first as a speechwriter for president obama before becoming had speechwriter for first Lady Michelle obama. Previously she served as chief speechwriter for Hillary Clinton during her 2008 president ial campaign. She is a graduate of Harvard College and harvard law school, and has an upcoming book about judaism coming out in september. And John Mcconnell served more than 10 years in the white house staff under two administrations. He was a senior speechwriter for president george w. Bush and was responsible for the president s address to the joint session of congress after the 9 11 attacks. During the bushcheney administration, he served as Deputy Assistant to the president and assistant to the Vice President. He is a graduate of Carleton College as well as yale law school. Todays conversation will be moderated by alicia sands, director of the Pritzker Fellows Program here, alongside this, she directed and produced the Emmy Awardwinning film, by the people, the election of barack obama. She is working on a documentary about white house speechwriters. Before we begin the discussion, we are lucky to watch some of these panelists work. Please join me in giving a warm welcome to our panelists. [applause] [video clip] my fellow americans, there are still bridges yet to cross. As long as there are people and places, including neighborhoods here in selma, that have not participated in our economic prosperity, we have a bridge to cross. [applause] as long as africanamerican income hovers at nearly half that of whites, we have another bridge to cross. [applause] as long as africanamerican and hispanic children are more likely than white children to live in poverty and less likely to attend or graduate from college, we have another bridge to cross. [applause] as long as africanamericans and other minorities suffer two, three, even four times the rates of heart disease, aids, diabetes and cancer, then we have another bridge to cross. [applause] as long as our children continue to die as the victims of mindless violence, we have another bridge to cross. As long as africanamericans and latinos anywhere in america believe they are unfairly targeted by police because of the color of their skin, and Police Believe they are unfairly judged by their communities because of the color of their uniforms, we have another bridge to cross. [applause] as long as the waving symbol of one americans pride is the shameful symbol of another americans pain, we have another bridge to cross. As long as the power of americas growing diversity remains diminished by discrimination and stained by acts of violence against people just because they are black or hispanic or asian or gay or jewish or muslim, as long as that happens to any american, we have another bridge to cross. [applause] and as long as less than half our eligible voters exercise the rights that so many here in selma marched and died for, we have got a very large bridge to cross. [applause] it is my hope that in the months and years ahead, life will return to almost normal. We will go back to our lives and routines, and that is good. Even grief recedes with time and grace, but our resolve must not pass. Each of us will remember what happened that day, and to whom it happened. We will remember the moment the news came, where we were and what we were doing. Some will remember an image of a fire, or a story of a rescue. Some will carry memories of a face and a voice gone forever. And i will carry this. It is the Police Shield of a man named george howard, who died at the World Trade Center trying to save others. It was given to me by his mom, arlene, as a proud memorial to her son, it is my reminder of lives that ended and a task that does not end. [applause] i will not forget the wound to our country, and those who inflicted it. I will not yield. I will not rest. I will not relent in waging this struggle for freedom and security for the american people. The course of this conflict is not known, yet its outcome is certain. Freedom and fear, justice and cruelty, have always been at war and we know that god is not neutral between them. You see, hilary understands that the president is about one thing and one thing only. It is about leaving Something Better for our kids. That is how we have always moved this country forward, by all of us coming together on behalf of our children. Folks who volunteered to Teach Sunday School class, because they know it takes a village. [applause] heroes of every color and creed who wear the uniform and risk their lives to keep passing down those blessings of liberty. Police officers and protesters in dallas, who all desperately want to keep our children safe. [applause] people who lined up in orlando to donate blood because it could have been their son, their daughter in that club. [applause] leaders like tim kaine. [applause] who show our kids what decency and devotion look like. Leaders like Hillary Clinton, who have the guts and the grace to keep coming back and putting those cracks in that highest and hardest Glass Ceiling until she finally breaks through, lifting all of us along with her. [applause] that is the story of this country, the story that has brought me to this stage tonight, the story of generations of people who felt the lash of bondage, the shame of servitude, the sting of segregation, but who kept on striving and hoping and doing what needed to be done so that today i wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves. [applause] and i watch my daughters, two beautiful, intelligent, black young women, playing with their dogs on the white house lawn. [applause] kristen thank you. [applause] and belatedly, thank you, kristen, for that kind introduction. So each of these clips is so different, and not just because each person had their own voice and their own vision, but because the bully pulpit has so many different purposes. I would like to ask each of you to talk about why you chose that particular clip and what made that speech important to you, and your goals and challenges in writing him. I would like to start with your task in this speech. Who did president clinton want to reach, and what kind of guidance did he give you . How did you work with him on this . Thank you. And thank you for being here tonight. One of these signature accomplishments in the white house was on building one america and bringing us together across race, color, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation. He and i shared that commitment. That is one of the things that drew me close to him. It was one of the things i was most proud of to work on with him in the white house. He, i think, most since lyndon johnson, was focused on building one america and bringing the races together, so that speech was a chance for us to make that point. He always tells me that is one of his favorite speeches. It was a great day, because we actually walked across the Edmund Pettus bridge to reenact bloody sunday. And it was a great occasion. Yeah. Alicia did he stick to your speech . Teery he pretty much did. He liked that, we have another bridge to cross refrain. That was another one of his things with me, because he had sort of an appreciation for the black church and for the black cadence. And, you know, some of you might recall that sometimes he called himself the first black president. [laughter] teery of course until the obamas showed up. He really took that mission to heart. And again, as i said, it was one of my proudest moments working with him. Alicia im just going to move chronologically here. John, that was probably one of the most challenging moments in our nations history. Can you talk a little bit about the white house in the aftermath of september 11, and the difficulties, you know, the president showing leadership as commander in chief and healer in chief. What was the thought process around that speech . John well, it was a moment of national unity. If you are old enough to remember, it was also a moment of greatly mixed feelings. People were shocked and grieving, but the country was also angry, and the country was also terrified of what might be coming next. And the decision was made on monday morning, september 17, six days after the attack, that the president would address a joint session of congress on thursday night. And so my colleagues, mike and matthew, the three of us were working together on virtually all the major addresses, and we were given the instruction. Mike was given the instruction monday morning by karen hughes that the president is probably going to speak to congress, but he will make the decision when he sees the draft, which he expects to see today. [laughter] john mike said, i dont think we can do that. Karen said, well, the president thinks if he can give a speech on thursday, monday is a reasonable day to look at it. And i said, we will give him the option. And so we got to work on it. And it wasnt as if we were lacking on subject matter, obviously. We knew with the speech was going to be about, and we had some general guidance, of course, but early that afternoon we got a call to go to the oval office. So the three of us went over there. Im sure karen hughes was also in the room, and andy carthage, chief of staff, and that is when president bush said that americans have questions. They want to know who attacked us. Want to know why they hate us, they they want to know what is expected of us now, and they want to know, how do we fight and win this war. And from then on we had an organizational principle for the speech, and that is what the speech did. It went through those questions as the president described them to us in the oval office. And so because, as all speechwriters know, one of your Biggest Challenges in writing is organization. How is this going to come together . How my going to lay things out and make it compelling . Because we had that sense of momentum with the questions, we did finish the draft that day, everything but a conclusion, we werent quite there, but we did have a draft for the president to look for that day. And again, it was such a memorable moment because it collected all of those different emotions. Alicia you had to articulate a vision very quickly. Most people, a president s vision develops over time. How did you interact with him . What were the touchstones for coming up with the path forward . John well, it definitely wasnt on the speechwriters. It really was the president who was our guiding force. We knew the man. He wanted us, he never said this, but i always had the feeling he wanted us to know him and how his mind worked. And he was a very close editor on speeches. And so in that speech, although it was still in the first year, we had reached a Comfort Level with president bush where we knew his mind, we knew once we had the concepts that were going to be expressed in the speech, we had a pretty good sense of how he would want to express them. And if we got it wrong, he would tell us. Alicia did you learn more about him during that period . John yes, and a general sense, just because of the tragedy that had come to the country, and now we are a country at war. It is not that i saw a new person, but i saw definitely some of his strengths that i basically understood him to have coming more to the forefront. What stuck with me was his steadiness at the time. I saw him the morning after 9 11. I did not see him the night of, but the morning after, and it wasnt at all clear to anybody what was going to happen next, and there was a lot of anxiety, to put it lightly. But i just remember being struck by the steadiness of nerve. Teery sarah, that was also a historic moment, a happier historic moment, writing the nomination for the first woman president. That seem to capture mrs. Obamas values and hopes for the nation for her daughters. How did that come about . How did you come to understand her and her voice . Alicia a lot of people ask me how i got her voice and i think they are being polite. I think they want to ask me, how did you, a jewish woman, get the voice of the first lady, an africanamerican woman . [laughter] i think at the end of the day you might be very different from the person you write for in terms of background, which i am from mrs. Obama. You might be a different race, gender, sexual orientation, et cetera. What matters is that you have a similar sensibility of speechwriting, similar sensibility of how you move an audience, persuade, reach peoples hearts. And i think we did. I think there was a click with that. In terms of this particular speech, she is a woman who knows what she is and knows what she wants to say. And that was true of every speech i ever worked with her on. This was in particular, where she so clearly knew this is going to be about our kids, about how this election is the future we want for our kids. She started the speech talking about her own kids, coming to the white house, the first day of school, where she is putting them in the big cars with men with guns and faces pressed against the window and she is thinking, what have i done . And she takes this personal story and started broadening it out, talking about how all of us are worried about our kids. And that was the whole theme for the speech. By the time she got to this part, it was very big, she was talking about people who coached little league, who Teach Sunday School because they care about kids, people who lined up to give blood because there kids could have been in that nightclub where people were killed, and then when she comes back to her daughters playing on the white house lawn, it is the meeting of both, right . The small story of her daughters and the very big story of the arc of American History. She wove those two themes together in the speech in a way that was personal, but she broadened it to the american story. That is why that speech felt both personal, but a lot of people responded thinking it was personal to them as well. Alicia why did it matter to you . Why did you choose that clip . Sara its a beautiful articulation of an uplifting idea of what the american story can be. Im struck by how similar the clips we chose our in that respect. They are aspirational. They are leaders saying, we are not perfect, but here is what we can be. They are very hopeful. I sort of file real sense of Kindred Spirit with both of these guys, even though we may be different parties, but very similar sensibilities about the american democracy, patriotism, and politics. Alicia in that way, these three aspirational speeches, speechwriters are often referred to as storytellers in an administration. There is some more mundane Practical Application of the office of the speechwriter. Can you talk to us a little bit about what is a day in your office in the white house like . How do you start . You ran the office. Give us a little bit of the highs and lows . Terry first of all, there is no typical day in the white house. Every days different. And you have to be ready for the unexpected. You may have a schedule you want to follow, but then some breaking news will come out, like the Oklahoma City bombing happened when i was there, some breaking news, so you have to be ready to react and to produce you have lead time, a couple of quickly. Sometimes weeks or a week or so, to write a speech. Other times you have only minutes to produce something. So there is no typical day. But the types of speeches range from the state of the union, which is the super bowl of speeches. [laughter] teery to pardoning the thanksgiving day turkey. [laughter] teery so you have to be ready to produce that range of speaking. The other thing i would say is that, you mentioned speechwriters are storytellers, that is very true. One of the things that irks me is when people think we are just wordsmiths. And we are not just wordsmiths. We are part of the policymaking team, because no policy comes to life unless it is written down or spoken, especially about the president. So as director of speechwriting, which was my job, i was at the table every morning with the chief of staff and the senior staff of the white house, plotting out, you know, what is our message of the day, how do we get it across, what speeches should the president give, those kinds of things. Alicia was it similar for you, sara . Sara i totally agree with terry that policies dont come alive until they are articulated to the american people. That is a very important aspect of it. In terms of my job, what struck me about the white house is, as terry said, you never have the day you think you are going to have. I think that is especially true in traveling. I dont know what it was like with you guys, but we tended to travel with the president and first lady. And