Cody Keenan | |
---|---|
White House Director of Speechwriting | |
In office March 1, 2013 –January 20, 2017 | |
President | Barack Obama |
Preceded by | Jon Favreau |
Succeeded by | Stephen Miller |
Personal details | |
Born | Chicago,Illinois,U.S. | October 14,1980
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse | Kristen Bartoloni |
Education | Northwestern University (BA) Harvard University (MPP) |
Cody Keenan is an American political advisor and speechwriter who served as the director of speechwriting for President Barack Obama. Keenan studied political science at Northwestern University. [1] [2] After graduation,he worked in the U.S. senate office of Ted Kennedy, [3] before studying for a master's in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. [4] After graduation,he took a full-time position on Barack Obama's presidential campaign in 2008. [3] In 2009,he assumed the position of deputy director of speechwriting. After Jon Favreau left the White House in 2013,Keenan took over as director of speechwriting. [4]
Keenan's parents were both advertising executives [5] who lived in Lake View,Chicago,before moving to Evanston,Illinois,Wilmette,Illinois, [5] and later Ridgefield,Fairfield County,Connecticut,where Keenan attended high school. [6] Keenan attended Northwestern University, [7] where he majored in political science, [5] graduating in 2002. [8] Keenan is a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity and recipient of its Significant Sig award. [9]
Keenan's political career began with an internship in the mailroom of Ted Kennedy's senate office in 2003,before going on to become the senator's legislative aide. [10] After a stint as a staff assistant for the Senate Health,Education,Labor and Pensions Committee, [7] Keenan took a master's degree in public policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government,studying speechwriting and delivery under Steve Jarding. [11] In 2007,Keenan took a summer internship in speechwriting on Barack Obama's presidential campaign,working under Jon Favreau, [12] before returning to the Kennedy School to complete the second year of his studies. [13] He remained involved in the campaign during the year,flying to Iowa during the Christmas break to assist in preparation for the Iowa caucuses. [14] After Hillary Clinton conceded in June 2008,Keenan returned as a full-time staffer on Obama's presidential campaign. [7] [13] [15]
After the election,Keenan continued in the role as deputy director of speechwriting,working on a speech about the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, [14] the president's eulogy for Ted Kennedy in 2009, [13] and the president's address after the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords in 2011, [8] among other speeches. He appeared in a visual gag for the 2009 White House Correspondents' Dinner,dressed as a pirate. [16] Prior to Favreau's departure from the White House in March 2013,Keenan took the lead on writing the State of the Union Address in January 2013. [17]
In March 2013,Keenan was promoted to White House director of speechwriting, [7] with overall responsibility for all speechwriting. Writing in The New York Times ,Michael S. Schmidt noted that unlike Favreau,"who was known for his ability to write lofty,big-picture speeches ... Mr. Keenan focuses far more on individual,hard-work stories as parables for what is difficult but still possible in America." [6] In 2015,Keenan wrote the speech delivered by Obama to mark the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday. [18] After leaving the White House in 2017,Keenan spent several more years writing with Barack Obama. [19]
In June 2015,Keenan gave a commencement address to the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. [20] In June 2018,Keenan delivered the convocation speech at his alma mater,Northwestern University. [21]
Keenan is the author of a New York Times Best Seller,Grace:President Obama and Ten Days in the Battle for America (2022),which tells the story of “ten days of the presidency,in June 2015,when a racist massacre and two impending Supreme Court decisions put the character of our country on the line,and a President's words could bring the nation together or tear it apart.” [22] In January 2023,the book was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work –Nonfiction. [23]
Keenan is a partner at the speechwriting firm Fenway Strategies, [24] a visiting professor at Northwestern University, [25] and sits on the board of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate.
Keenan married Kristen Bartoloni in 2016. [26] [27] Bartoloni worked as deputy research director in the Obama White House. [28] The story of their courtship and marriage was included in the CNN Films documentary The End:Inside the Last Days of the Obama White House. [29] In the film,Keenan says he and Bartoloni met during her first day on the job which he describes as "still the best day I've had at the White House." Keenan says he asked Bartoloni to go out with him three times before she agreed. In 2020,Bartoloni gave birth to a daughter named Grace. [30]
In the United States,a designated survivor is a person in the presidential line of succession who is kept distant from others in the line when they are gathered together,to reduce the chance that everyone in the line will be unable to take over the presidency in a catastrophic or mass-casualty event. The person is chosen to stay at an undisclosed secure location,away from such events such as State of the Union addresses and presidential inaugurations. The designation of a survivor is intended to prevent the decapitation of the government and to safeguard continuity in the presidency if the president,the vice president,and others in the presidential line of succession die. The procedure began in the 1950s,during the Cold War,with the idea that nuclear attack could kill government officials and the United States government would collapse.
Michael John Gerson was an American journalist and speechwriter. He was a neoconservative op-ed columnist for The Washington Post,a Policy Fellow with One Campaign,a visiting fellow with the Center for Public Justice,and a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. He served as President George W. Bush's chief speechwriter from 2001 until June 2006,as a senior policy advisor from 2000 through June 2006,and was a member of the White House Iraq Group.
A speechwriter is a person who is hired to prepare and write speeches that will be delivered by another person. Speechwriters are employed by many senior-level elected officials and executives in the government and private sectors. They can also be employed to write for weddings and other social occasions.
Matthew Scully is an American author,journalist,and political writer who has also written on animal welfare.
Jonathan Edward Favreau is an American political commentator and podcaster and the former director of speechwriting for President Barack Obama.
The keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention (DNC) was given by the Illinois State Senator,United States senatorial candidate,and future President Barack Obama on the night of Tuesday,July 27,2004,in Boston,Massachusetts. His unexpected landslide victory in the March 2004 Illinois U.S. Senate Democratic primary made him a rising star within the national Democratic Party overnight,and led to the reissue of his memoir,Dreams from My Father. His keynote address was well received,which further elevated his status within the Democratic Party and led to his reissued memoir becoming a bestseller.
Marc Alexander Thiessen is an American conservative author,political appointee,and weekly columnist for The Washington Post. Thiessen served as a speechwriter for President George W. Bush from 2007 to 2009 and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld from 2001 to 2006.
Barack Obama,then-president of the United States,delivered a speech at the Together We Thrive:Tucson and America memorial on January 12,2011,held in the McKale Center on the University of Arizona campus.
Robert A. Lehrman is an American novelist,commentator,speechwriter,and teacher.
Barack Obama served as the 44th President of the United States from 2009 to 2017. Before his presidency,he served in the Illinois Senate (1997–2004) and the United States Senate (2005–2008).
On March 7,2015,President of the United States Barack Obama delivered a speech at Edmund Pettus Bridge to mark the 50th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery marches on the subject of race relations within the United States. Among the estimated 40,000 present were former President George W. Bush,former First Lady Laura Bush,and Amelia Boynton Robinson,John Lewis,Diane Nash,Bernard Lafayette,and many other 'foot soldiers' who had taken part in the march in 1965.
Sarah Hurwitz is an American speechwriter. A senior speechwriter for President Barack Obama in 2009 and 2010,and head speechwriter for First Lady Michelle Obama from 2010 to 2017,she was appointed to serve on the United States Holocaust Memorial Council by Barack Obama shortly before he left the White House.
Jonathan Ira Lovett is an American podcaster,comedian,and former speechwriter. Lovett is a co-founder of Crooked Media,along with fellow former White House staffers during the Obama administration Jon Favreau and Tommy Vietor. Lovett is a regular host of the Crooked Media podcasts Pod Save America and Lovett or Leave It. As a speechwriter,he worked for President Barack Obama as well as for Hillary Clinton when she was a United States senator and a 2008 presidential candidate. Lovett also co-created the NBC sitcom 1600 Penn,and was a writer and producer on the third season of HBO's The Newsroom.
Thomas Frederick Vietor IV is an American political commentator and podcaster. He was a spokesperson for President Barack Obama and the United States National Security Council from 2011 to 2012. He is a co-founder of Crooked Media with fellow former Obama staffers Jon Favreau and Jon Lovett,and co-hosts the podcasts Pod Save America and Pod Save the World.
Barack Obama's farewell address was the final public speech of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States,delivered on January 10,2017 at 9:00 p.m. EST. The farewell address was broadcast on various television and radio stations and livestreamed online by the White House. An estimated 24 million people watched the address live on television.
David Litt is an American political speechwriter and author of the comedic memoir Thanks,Obama:My Hopey Changey White House Years. He is currently the head writer/producer for Funny or Die's office in Washington,D.C.
Dylan Loewe is an American speechwriter,political strategist and author. In 2021,Loewe was named chief speechwriter to Apple CEO Tim Cook. He served as chief speechwriter to then-Vice President Joe Biden from 2012 to 2013. He has collaborated with several authors on their memoirs,including the former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres and Vice President Kamala Harris. In 2010,he authored the book Permanently Blue:How Democrats Can End the Republican Party and Rule the Next Generation.
The White House Director of Speechwriting is a role within the Executive Office of the President of the United States. The officeholder serves as senior advisor and chief speechwriter to the president of the United States. They are also responsible for managing the Office of Speechwriting within the Office of Communications.
Vinay Reddy is an American speechwriter and political advisor serving as the White House director of speechwriting. Reddy was chief speechwriter to Joe Biden during his second term as vice president. After the Obama administration,Reddy worked as vice president of strategic communications for the National Basketball Association.