Cody Keenan discusses his service as a speechwriter during the presidency of Barack Obama. Keenan outlines the process by which presidential speeches were developed and drafted, and provides details about the composition of several notable speeches with which he was closely involved, including State of the Union addresses, Obama's 2015 speech in Selma, Alabama, and eulogies after the shootings in N ewtown, Connecticut, Tucson, Arizona, and Charleston, South Carolina. Keenan describes the administration's communications strategy around major policy initiatives, such as the economic stimulus, healthcare reform, and climate and energy policy, and reflects on the difficulties of translating technical or complex policies into memorable stories and accessible language. Also discussed are differences between speechwriting on domestic and foreign topics, changes in communications strategy after the 2012 reelection campaign, the administration's messaging around Republican opposition, and the challenge of speechwriting on issues of race and police violence
Presidents--United States; Energy policy--United States; Climatic changes--Government policy--United States; Speechwriters; Sandy Hook Elementary School Massacre, Newtown, Conn., 2012; Charleston Church Shooting, Charleston, S.C., 2015; Mass shootings--United States; Race relations--United States; Police brutality--United States; Keenan, Cody; Obama, Barack; Giffords, Gabrielle D. (Gabrielle Dee), 1970- Assassination attempts; United States; Economic Stimulus Act of 2008
Format
oral histories
Genre
Interviews
Date
2020
Physical Description
241 pages
Note (Biographical)
Cody Keenan served as a staffer for President Obama's 2008 presidential campaign and as deputy director of speechwriting from 2013 to 2017. Post-administration, Keenan served as a collaborator on President Obama's book, A Promised Land, and as his pos t-presidential speechwriter
Note
Interviewed by Dov Weinryb Grohsgal on May 11, and August 27 and 28, 2020. This interview is part of the Columbia University: Obama Presidency Oral History
Note (Provenance)
Cody Keenan, Gift, transferred from Columbia Center for Oral History Research 2022