Frank Kundrat of St. Cloud, MN also asks:

How much of any given speech does the president contribute? Could you describe the process for putting together a major address?

Ray Price responds:

How much of any given speech the president contributes depends entirely on the president, and on the speech. I worked with Nixon; most – my estimate was about 19 out of 20 – of his speeches were not written at all; he’d been a champion debater since high school, and he was more comfortable without a text than with one. Any speech to the nation from the Oval Office, any to a joint session of Congress, was written, as were selected others. His radio addresses were also written; he had much less of a direct hand in those.

When we did do a written speech other than radio it was pretty much a back-and-forth process, usually through about six or seven drafts, with him editing me and me editing him, until we had what he wanted to say in the way he wanted to say it. Somehow, quite by coincidence, every State of the Union (I did them all) ended up at 14 drafts. He often used this writing process, as he did later when writing his various post-presidency books, as a way of refining ideas – if they don’t work on paper, under the discipline of the written word, they probably don’t work, period.

Ted Sorensen responds:

This varies with each President and Assistant, depending on the President's needs, schedule and confidence in that Assistant. My task was helped by (a) John F Kennedy's own superb intellect and way with words, and (b) our working 11 years together.

Next question...

1) Who was the first president to use a speechwriter?

2) How do you become a speechwriter?

3) How much does a president contribute to his speeches?

4) What are the goals of an inaugural address?

5) What should be the theme of Bush's speech?

6) How long should an inaugural speech be?

Library of Congress: Presidential Inaugurations

National Museum of American History: The American Presidency

George W. Bush's Campaign Speeches