Did world leaders write their own speeches?

[Bretrick]

There are certain speeches over the years that I remember, not all of them heard by me, but learnt by me.
I heard Ronald Reagan’s “Tear down this wall” speech; 1987
Mr Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall
Winston Churchill’s speech; 1946
From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe.
Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and
Sofia, all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the
Soviet sphere, and all are subject in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but
to a very high and, in many cases, increasing measure of control from Moscow.
Martin Luther King’s “I have a Dream” speech in 1963;
I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon of hope to millions of slaves, who had been seared in the flames of whithering injustice.
It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity. But one hundred years later, the colored America is still not free.
One hundred years later, the life of the colored American is still sadly crippled by the manacle of segregation and the chains of discrimination.
Mahatma Ghandi’s "Quit India speech 1942
I believe that in the history of the world, there has not been a more genuinely democratic struggle for freedom than ours.
I read Carlyle’s French Resolution while I was in prison, and Pandit Jawaharlal has told me something about the Russian revolution. But it is my conviction that inasmuch as these struggles were fought with the weapon of violence they failed to realize the democratic ideal. In the democracy which I have envisaged, a democracy established by non-violence, there will be equal freedom for all.
Everybody will be his own master. It is to join a struggle for such democracy that I invite you today.
Once you realize this you will forget the differences between the Hindus and Muslims, and think of yourselves as Indians only, engaged in the common struggle for independence.
My question is, Did these people write their own speeches or were there speech writers?
I believe i the last couple of decades that speech writers abound. The speech givers are reading from a script.
Would that assessment be correct?

 

[Davey Do]

World leaders probably do write their own speeches, Bretrick, otherwise it'd be like this:

​

 

[JBR]

My sense of it is that a leader tends to have a certain philosophy or outlook, and probably some key insights, goals, and principles. Some may write more of their speeches than others, of course. But the leaders delegate. Most of the ones in the 20th century and since have probably had certain people they know & trust who are paid to put together a coherent, clear, to-the-point speech. Or to refine one that the leader has sketched out on paper, but might be improved by smoothing and agile wording.

 

[JBR]

Because I did writing for publication as a phase of my work life, I'd heard about speech writers for public figures.

I'd read an article about a very interesting American named Karl Hess, who had written a famous speech delivered by American politician Barry Goldwater. Your post, Bretrick, sparked my curiosity and I did a short internet search. Ted Sorenson was the main speech writer for John Kennedy, both while he was a senator and later when he was president. Peggy Noonan and Peter Robinson wrote speeches for Ronald Reagan. Clarence B. Jones was an advisor to Martin Luther King and contributed to the text of speeches by MLK.

Interesting to me (and British members can correct me if this isn't completely accurate), is that the British Monarch's annual broadcast speeches to the citizenry (the Queen's or King's messages) are written by the government in power at the time, being put in final form by speech writers employed within the government. It's said, though, that Churchill wrote his own speeches.

 

[Paco Dennis]

When they're sober, sometimes.