Robert Lehrman is a prolific writer, but he rarely gets credit for his work.
Lehrman is a political speechwriter and author whose most high-profile jobs have included crafting speeches for Al Gore during his vice presidency and for John Kerry during his presidential campaign.
Last night in Huntsman Hall, Lehrman spoke about his career as part of the Fox Leadership Speakers Forum.
Lehrman addressed the need for ghostwriters in politics.
As opposed to those in other professions, like teaching, which also require public speaking skills, "for politicians, every speech is a sort of job interview," Lehrman said.
Politicians require more speeches than they could possibly write themselves, Lehrman said. He estimated that former President Clinton and Vice President Gore each gave 600 to 800 speeches a year when they were in the White House.
Discussing the steps that go into authoring a political piece, Lehrman passed out an op-ed article that appeared in The Boston Globe in the closing days of the 2004 campaign.
Though the article was ostensibly written by Kerry, the actual task of writing was delegated to Lehrman. He composed the article using notes and instructions from Kerry and his political aids.
Lehrman called his career trajectory strange and unplanned. He studied at the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and his original ambitions were more literary than political.
"I wanted to be the next Tolstoy. Jane Austen would have been OK," he said.
Eventually, an interest in politics took hold and Lehrman began writing for political candidates and operatives.
Though he said that not receiving credit for his work could be frustrating at times, he is proud of his accomplishments overall.
The event was organized in part by College senior Andrew Benton, who met Lehrman by chance on an airplane trip.
Benton said he thought students interested in politics would enjoy hearing Lehrman speak, so he pitched the event to Fox Leadership.
"If you're looking to get into a campaign ... he's a great person to know," Benton said.
Throughout his talk, Lehrman emphasized audience interaction and offered advice to attendees looking to break into politics after graduation.
College and Wharton sophomore Max Schapiro said he appreciated Lehrman's discussion on how to balance good writing with public policy rhetoric.
"Speechwriting is one of my passions," he added.
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