Richard Blanco discusses his experience writing and performing "One Today," the inaugural poem for the second presidential inauguration of Barack Obama. Blanco describes his development as a poet, and provides details about his engagement with the White House inauguration committee, his reception in the Oval Office by President Obama, and the impact of the experience on his later poetry. Blanco ref lects on the intersections between the policies and rhetoric of the Obama administration and his identity as a gay second-generation Cuban American, and the process of incorporating these intersections into "One Today." Blanco also comments on his involvement in the Obama administration's normalization of relations with Cuba, including discussion of his performance at the reopening of the U.S. Embassy in Havana
Richard Blanco is an American poet. memoirist, teacher, and engineer. He was selected as President Obama's inaugural poet in 2013. Mr. Blanco has received many honors for his writings and performances, including being named a Woodrow Wilson visiting f ellow. In 2021, he was awarded the National Humanities Medal from the National Endowment for the Humanities. At the time of the interview, he serves as the first education ambassador for the Academy of American Poets
Note
Interviewed by Terrell D. Frazier on September 11, 2020. This interview is part of Columbia University: Obama Presidency Oral History
Note (Provenance)
Richard Blanco, Gift, transferred from Columbia Center for Oral History Research 2022