Michael Waldman

Michael Waldman is director of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law. He was director of speechwriting at the White House from 1995–1999. He has crafted four State of the Union Addresses, two Inaugural Addresses and Clinton’s acceptance speech for the 1996 Democratic convention. Waldman has written or edited nearly 2,000 presidential speeches. Prior to becoming assistant to the president and director of speechwriting, Waldman was special assistant to the President for Policy Coordination at the Domestic Policy Council and the Office of Strategic Planning and Communications. He served as deputy communications director for the Clinton-Gore Campaign and for President Clinton. From 1989–1992 he was director of Public Citizens Congress Watch. Waldman was a fellow at the Institute of Politics in the fall of 1999. He is the author of POTUS Speaks: Finding the Words that Defined the Clinton Presidency. Waldman is an adjunct lecturer at the Kennedy School of Government and is teaching a module on “Speeches and Speechwriting: Beyond the Bully Pulpit.”