WASHINGTON – Jon Meacham – a Chattanooga native, McCallie School graduate and presidential historian and biographer best known for studying the lives of past presidents – has taken on a relatively unique role in a contemporary political moment: helping to write speeches for the next president.
Meacham has had a hand in crafting many of Joe Biden’s biggest rhetorical moments, according to multiple sources, including helping to write the acceptance speech that Biden delivered Saturday night from Wilmington, Delaware, his first remarks as the president-elect.
In that address, Biden spoke of a mission “to rebuild the soul of America, to rebuild the backbone of this nation, the middle class, and to make America respected around the world again” and was widely credited with striking the right tone about bringing the country back together. The language echoed the title of Meacham’s 2018 book, “The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels,” which has long served as a touchstone for Biden, who has reached out to Meacham in the past to discuss passages he liked.
“To record history doesn’t mean you are removed from it,” Meacham said over the summer, noting that he had been friends with Biden for a long time.
Biden’s speech-writing process is run by Mike Donilon, his longtime adviser. But behind the scenes, Meacham has been playing a larger role than was previously known, writing drafts of speeches and offering edits on others, including one Biden gave in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, last month and his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in August.